For now the TPP seems dead – but it my be premature to celebrate too soon. We need to continue to let our government know that there are too many sticking points in the TPPA as we know it.
It seems that Canada has sought to delay the signing of the TPP because it has other international agreements that it wants to complete first.
It also seems that Canada and Japan are seen as the dominant parties in the negotiations, as they have the biggest economies of the countries involved. I guess it’s always size, and not some democratic process that decides much of the outcome of such deals.
Excellent article by Kirsty Johnston about leaving Auckland and the city’s declining number of positives and increasing number of negatives.
This could and should prompt a thread on the issues facing our largest city.
Are they insoluble?
Great Link. Basically someone at Auckland Transport seems to get an idea and then it’s pushed through in as lengthy and expensive way as possible by AT.
Look at the Pohutakawa 6 AT were going to remove. Didn’t happen in the end because of public outrage, but the mistake cost millions, wasted hours of the publics time, legal action and so forth. It was all a lie from AT the Pohutakawas should never have been proposed to be removed. Any normal person could. have seen that (like the parking issue in West Lynn) but someone is profiting from the keystone cop decisions supported by expensive and lengthy papers from IYI (intellectual yet idiots).
The shops are right, once Harvest goes down with all the chaos and reduced parking (and people have shopping so to carry it on buses or long distances is not that feasible), West Lynn will go down with it and so will all those people’s livelihoods. Thanks AT!
The other big issue is that is also sounds like the flooding issue has not even been addressed. Too much slope into the shops so that now with the massive levels of oversized construction allowed in the area that discharge into the wastewater rather than being absorbed by gardens spaces, the wastewater will overflow into the shops.
What a great time to be a private lawyer, so much profit from all the stupid preventable decisions and subsequent consequences…
Auckland Transport already get about a billion of funding – this is how they spend it, legal action, tree removal, shutting down small business in the community and flooding any remaining shops.
The shops are right, once Harvest goes down with all the chaos and reduced parking (and people have shopping so to carry it on buses or long distances is not that feasible), West Lynn will go down with it and so will all those people’s livelihoods. Thanks AT!
Actually, shopping via PT is eminently feasible. The problem is that people have been trained to always reach for the car rather than better options.
Although, if our economic system really did bring about the best and most efficient use of resources shopping would be delivered for free.
And if these shops are going down because of a slight change in road design then we have to ask if they’re actually a viable business. Where are all their customers going to?
Gotta remember Orsman was a nimby cheerleader during the unitary plan process.
If you want a more responsible dialogue go here. https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/
Funny that, private business don’t really want prices to fall – that’s the problem when so many things in this country about someone’s profit that there’s an uproar whenever a price is bought down.
The Japanese PM Abe is now trying to pressure Canada to finalise the agreement whilst they are in Vietnam. Can you please help us in tweeting PM Trudeau, Canadian Trade Minister and the Canadian Foreign Minister.
@JustinTrudeau @FP_Champagne @cafreeland
How will you feel about it when you get offered a frankenburger or frankensossie that’s made from animal cells cultured in a vat rather than it being a cunningly engineered and disguised plant product?
i would probably leave it for a few years to see if it kills people but if it had nothing that would make me ill i would eat it , it is the future , real meat will be for the rich .
industrial, highly processed food always becomes a problem. I trust Pollan – “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
What he means by ‘eat food’ is Like: A little meat won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat ”food.”
I also like the one about eating food that your grandparent’s would recognise (or great grandparents etc depending on how old you are).
I think our approach to eating has to improve as well. Mealtime seems to have been slower and more of a social interaction in the past. Pot lucks are good for that now or general community eating now with the tables on the road approach.
Let’s start with its first ingredient by weight: water. Suffice it to say that no quality product uses it as a bulk ingredient.
And at that point there I almost stopped reading as she obviously doesn’t have the knowledge necessary to make any sort of comment.
Coconut oil has a trendy ‘superfood’ ring to it, except that here it isn’t raw, so the inherent nutrition of the nut has been heavily compromised by the harsh industrial refining process to which it has been subjected.
And that bit proved it.
The only people who are going to listen to that drivel are the people who have even less knowledge.
They’ve both got a lot of history in food use. Check the labels on foods like ice cream, salad dressing, anything else that is some sort of emulsion of fats in water.
Tossing in that bit about being used in drilling operations is a straight up scare tactic that’s totally irrelevant to the issue.
There isn’t a single thing you eat or drink that won’t kill you if you ingest sufficient quantities. Dosage is key, for food as for anything else.
With so many new ways to die now (OMGZ! Oxidane!), it’s quite amazing that life expectancy continues to improve the world over. I’d think it a paradox but for the possibility that one of the premises is wrong. Happy days.
Cellular agriculture seems fairly “sciency” to me though. Just like traditional agriculture. Knowing when to plant what doesn’t just happen by your special woo, eh.
I dunno about that. I’m not a veggo and I’m not about to become one while it means giving up some smells and tastes and textures I really enjoy. Plus I’m not ready to make the effort to ensure I’m getting all the nutrients I need from a pure plant diet, when a bit of meat and dairy on a regular basis means I don’t have to worry about it.
But I know a few veggos that have made that sacrifice and commitment, and miss the animal based parts of their eating. They’d be quite happy for non-animal substitutes to become available so they could enjoy them again. If it looks and smells and tastes like a real beef burger but it’s basically a flavoured falafel, they’d be all over it. As would I.
And if they can engineer up something that has the smell and taste and crispy mouthfeel of bacon …
Who’s going on honeymoon with the new Government
9 Nov 17
Credit: TVNZ
More confident than not they’ll be better off under new government
Nearly twice as many New Zealanders are feeling positive rather than negative about the effect the new Labour-led government will have on them personally.
A Horizon Research survey of 1,068 adults nationwide between October 24 and November 1, 2017, finds overall that
49% say the new government will positively affect them personally in the next three years
24% say it will affect them negatively
28% say the affect will be neither positive nor negative.
The numbers do not vary by gender.
Yep! I managed to convince a number of small business owners and professionals that the previous gubbamint wasn’t really their bess fren and that they were more concerned about the largesse of their corporate friends. Even the local dairy owner is rapt with the change.
I’ve never been much of a fan about the term ‘entrepreneur’. It’s what small Bizzniss always used to do – be it the natural entrepreneurial Indian starting the corner store and continuing it on to become a chain that’s not going to be sold off to an offshore interest; or the Chinese Laundry whose owner/operators were happy enough to provide a decent living for family and friends,. It’s becoming as tedious as people claiming ‘passion’ (more often ‘pearshun’) about what they do.
The language of the neo-liberal
Now, if you don’t mind I’m going to schadenfreude TF out of this.
For months, lawsuits have piled up against James O’Keefe, the conservative filmmaker and provocateur, from various targets of his signature undercover videos.
But O’Keefe and his video site Project Veritas have taken some legal action of their own recently — against the insurance company that they claim violated a contractual obligation to pay for mushrooming legal bills.
Now Project Veritas is engaged in a battle with the company it hoped would protect it, a dispute that lays bare the stark challenges faced by O’Keefe for the kind of controversial, litigation-prone hidden camera stings that have made him both a scourge and a conservative media darling.
The 11 nations involved have reconvened today to try to salvage the deal and have agreed to most of the deal but four provisions that have been ‘suspended’, the new agreement has been renamed “The comprehensive progressive pacific partnership agreement”.
On Stuff there is a brilliant set of pictures and video clip and commentary on the Highway rebuild and Kaikoura. Be the best online presentation that I have ever seen. Scroll down to see the best. A big screen would be good
Trans-Pacific Partnership: 11 trade ministers reach deal to keep deal alive
VERNON SMALL
Last updated 14:50, November 11 2017
Crisis talks among Trans Pacific Partnership ministers appear to have pulled the free trade pact back from the brink of collapse, although it still faces an uncertain future.
Late on Friday Canada boycotted a meeting of leaders from the 11 nations involved, throwing the deal into disarray.
But after trade ministers met, with Canada back at the table, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Saturday that though “clarification” was still needed it was sill alive.
She had the impression Canada was back on board: “We are in a more stable place than we were yesterday.”
But she was still not clear why Canada had not shown at the leaders’ meeting.
Trade Minister David Parker, who was part of the crisis meeting, said the text had been “stabilised” so there was a legal agreement about “just about all of it. The ‘just about’ could be important”.
He said there were four provisions of the original TPP that were suspended and work needed to be done on those.
The name of the agreement has also been changed from TPP to CPTPP – the comprehensive progressive TPP.
Parker said it was the most comprehensive agreement when it came to labour laws, environmental standards and the right to regulate that there had ever been in a trade agreement.
That included enforcement mechanisms that can in the end result in trade sanctions if parties breach those standards.
Parker said on contentious investor-state dispute resolution clauses, New Zealand had tried to get rid of them completely but was unsuccessful.
“We narrowed the scope of them and we have a side arrangement with Australia which means that 80 per cent of the foreign direct investment into New Zealand from TPP countries is not covered by ISDS clauses at all.”
There were “a number of other bilateral arrangements in place” on ISDS that he could not yet talk about.
“We have made substantial progress on ISDS clauses in just a matter of weeks.”
Ardern said the CPTPP was a different one than the TPP before the United States withdrew.
She added it was disappointing the Government only had two week to change what National could have tried to achieve had it negotiated differently.
Parker said the suggestion Canada had problems was because Labour standards were not resolved was not right.
That implied wrongly that New Zealand was not standing up and was not successful on labour standards.
There was no plan at this stage for the CPTPP leaders to meet again at Apec.
TPP opponent Auckland University law professor Jane Kelsey said she was “disappointed, but not surprised” the Labour government had endorsed the TPP, with the suspension of a limited range of items.
The TPP member countries were trying to find a way forward without the US, the biggest economy and, before President Donald Trump took office, one of its most assertive supporters.
Trump had said he preferred country-to-country deals and was seeking to renegotiate several major trade agreements to, as he said, “put America first.”
Trump reiterated his markedly different stance on trade before the 21-member Apec summit convened late Friday with a gala banquet.
The US president told an Apec business conference that “we are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore.”
He lambasted the World Trade Organisation and other trade forums as unfair to the United States and reiterated his preference for bilateral trade deals, saying “I am always going to put America first.”
Trump said he would not enter into large trade agreements, alluding to US involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the TPP.
In contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the same group that nations need to stay committed to economic openness or risk being left behind.
The Chinese president drew loud applause when he urged support for the “multilateral trading regime” and progress toward a free-trade zone in the Asia-Pacific.
China was not part of the TPP.
Apec operated by consensus and customarily issued non-binding statements. TPP commitments would eventually be ratified and enforced by its members.
But even talks this week on a declaration to cap the Apec summit had to be extended for an extra half day as ministers haggled over wording.
It’s unclear what the exact sticking points were, but officials have alluded to differences over the unequal impact more open trade has had on workers and concerns over automation in manufacturing that could leave many millions in a wide array of industries with no work to do.
As a developing country with a fast-growing export sector, this year’s host country, Vietnam, has a strong interest in open trade and access for its exports to consumers in the West.
The summit is an occasion for its leaders to showcase the progress its economy has made thanks largely to foreign investment and trade.
Da Nang, Vietnam’s third-largest city, is in the midst of a construction boom as dozens of resorts and smaller hotels pop up along its scenic coastline.
Apec’s members are New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.
So they have been ‘unsuccessful at getting rid of the investor-state dispute clauses that will control his government, but agreed to it anyway??????
Is he now saying we need to eat dead rats?? Unbelievable.
Cant trust them can we.
quote; “Parker said on contentious investor-state dispute resolution clauses, New Zealand had tried to get rid of them completely but was unsuccessful.”
Yes Grey Area, She is moving to fast to try and achieve anything she can by the looks of it.
She is hurting her base here as we will be all hurt if she does not stand up for us as she said “everyone will have a voice and be heard” but our/her people will begin to doubt it if she doesnt speak up for us as Justin Trudeau did his people.
It is called governing. It was always unthinkable that any New Zealand government would refuse to sign. Trade liberalisation and capital liberalisation and protection of shareholders from vexatious governments. All core New Zealand values that have had bipartisan support for the last 30 years.
We should all be applauding the new Prime Minister for her efforts. Sadly the communist in charge of Canada had other ideas.
Brett J. Talley, President Trump’s nominee to be a federal judge in Alabama, has never tried a case, was unanimously rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Assn.’s judicial rating committee, has practiced law for only three years and, as a blogger last year, displayed a degree of partisanship unusual for a judicial nominee, denouncing “Hillary Rotten Clinton” and pledging support for the National Rifle Assn.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee, on a party-line vote, approved him for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.
Well, I only hope that the Republican Party of the USA no longer claims to be a meritocracy…
Yeah, judicial appointments is one area the Dork from New York is actually achieving something that will have a lasting effect. There’s a shitload of open appointments because McConnell refused to move on filling any vacancies during Obama’s tenure. But whenever the Terracotta Turdface passes along a name the Heritage Foundation puts in front of him, the Repugs fall all over themselves to rubber-stamp it.
Hi Bill it’s the standards fav apply labeled right wing ninja here. For every one that doesn’t know it’s important for political reasons to identify with a tribe for dogmatic reasons. I’m gana be following up on another topic Bill identified with as harmful to his tribe that is the “Oh Fuck” blog he wrote. If you haven’t seen those exchanges please read it, I did a lot of explaining in the comments section that Bill would preferably not want me to repeat. People who don’t want to read about the truth probably don’t want me to either. If you could, please read those comments be for reading this one. But if you don’t like the truth then probably best you stop reading and keep your opinions to yourself. But if you’re just confused you can still follow along.
Ok so last time Bill, I’m just going to assume you got bullied in school. And you went MMA styles all over your bully. And let’s say you rule the internet because you’ve got a bit of power to do stuff other internet users can not. And now you’ve got a bunch of followers on social media and then one day a RWNJ comes along and doesn’t agree with your opinion and it triggers you back into your safe place. And you got so triggered you turned into a father figure out of share rage. And as it turned I was curious about you. So a sent you a message via the standard (and I’m a RWNJ, don’t @me about how I’m coming up with this) when a RWNJ messages you on the standard and say hey look, you’re being an ass again. And then you start having like PTSD from when you got bullied at school. and it’s made you freak out with admin speak. You’re popping keys on keyboards to get over it. And you just came to the conclusion you have to moderate to reinforce your safe place so you don’t get bullied again by RWNJ’s. And so a week or so has past since you lost it over climate change and you’ve mastered you admins skills again because that’s all you’ve really done in that time.
Now you try and attack this RWNJ and this RWNJ is unimpressed because you’re like this angry administrator with a little bit of power over your safe spot and just finesse you with your own hypocrisy or some shit. And then you start getting triggered like oh no it’s coming you know? You felt the beating in your sole like it was reminiscent of those old days at school. And you got triggered like Adam failing to understand finance isn’t always about being a RWNJ. Only this one is a much more controlled version because you’re a super moderator or something, and your a lot more used to it. So your able to go into moderator mode to maximise your opinion over every one, just with a lot of strain.
Now this apply labeled RWNJ just raises an eyebrow because he’s unimpressed and just whips your ass again. As a moderator the lvl of your opinion, Bill, really only increased by a couple questions. That’s what your opinion says. They are really only questions. So you being a moderator really only raises more questions. So basically you wouldn’t really be any different to a baby. Or just a heavily amped moderator version asking why all the time. So you’d bee like multi but buster, maybe small ball buster. And you’d honestly maybe, like maybe at this point be hitting the roof at the speed of light. I say this because Realogix seems to have the ability to moderate other moderators. When he moderated Tracy he was like get back to the point of discussing my safe place, or something like that. And you can go have a look at it some where around here, was about being abused. And then they all like went the speed of light.
Um so with you’re moderating skills being like doubling the amount of questions asked so you’d probably be around the speed of light by this point. And you’d be able to destroy like numerous butts and maybe like some one with smaller balls than me. How ever this RWNJ TS authors and commentators saw fit to label as asks only like one question every now and then just whooping charlatan educator who don’t seem to know much and has many, many questions lined up.
And now you have an epiphany because you’re so weak having to really on your moderating skills to get your opinion spread all over your safe place. Because you can’t handle any criticism. But it’s time to use your amazing moderating skills to your advantage right. You use them to plot to your advantage. You’ve looked deep inside yourself and searched for all of the plot armour that you can. And you find it. You find a third question as moderator. And after your ranted about how debating isn’t fair. This RWNJ is very patient because he just doesn’t care, he’s just waiting for you to transform into the ultimate TS author. I don’t know why I’m so patient, may be I’m just curious. Just waiting for you to transform into the ultimate TS author.
So now your probably hitting insane levels of speed. Because a RWNJ just doesn’t have any questions to ask. Just some opinions he holds about certain issues concerning the well being and prospects of future generations and it turns out that the this RWNJ is actually debating, not an MMA level author with plot armour. But actually debating, and then this thing every one likes to calla RWNJ is actually just finessing something that resembles pre pubescent pre madonnas. So the RWNJ puts a grin on his face and rants about how can do that to.
Now what are you going to do Bill. And there is only one thing left for you to do. And that’s more PLOT ARMOUR.
Now this brings me to my point. New Zealanders are in an almost impossible position, surrounded by vast oceans and opinions in between our major trading partners. Now we have to make a living around changing trade rulz that are determined to cut off Chinese expansion because American hegemony can only compete with militarily. New Zealand either makes ourselves unusual or face economic ruin. Deciding how to differentiate ourselves means setting out to create a first world oasis on an island in the middle of the Southern Ocean. So we have to create a base for all development. To do that New Zealand must have good infrastructure which isn’t difficult to do. What is more difficult is to have people behave like a first world people.
When you move people from a technologically scarce society with barley a ship to her name to a first world trading nation with ships of our own getting them to stop brining old philosophies out with them prevents or promotes all this. But we must succeed in progressing education, entertainment, leadership. The kids need to behave in a first world way. By stop behaving in a hap hazard way. Or they will face ruin. The children must give us tremendous motivation to try and deliver on improvements to the prospects of future generations.
The most difficult thing to do is to carry out industrialisation of services needed to carry out growth in the middle of the Southern Ocean. Because once you pollute the land then you destroy it, and destroy the living conditions. And when you destroy the living conditions then it’s not worth having this place. So every project that New Zealand puts up, the first concern must be anti-pollution. And the economics of it is a huge price to pay, there is an enormous row. Interested parties are trying to bargain with our future prospects. But our future prospects does not have the philosophical integrity to recognise the position New Zealand is in was once a position held during the lead up to WW2.
Now we must a convince every one of the merits of continuing the policies that our Grandfathers fought for. So carful attention to the environment at the same time looking to industry, growth and population challenges for away out is how New Zealanders will achieve there potential.
Any way guys catcha later. Let me know if you want another one. I don’t know if I should do the next one. Because of the triggers involved. Because the things TS authors can’t mention are a little controversial. Just have to maintain the magnificence of the authors opinion and place a protection around it. It’s a little bit hard to talk about it. But if you want to see more let me know.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Almost impressed that you hesitated long enough to get the full stops in there.
Kinda wish I’d observed all that as a verbal rant mind, because I reckon it would have been quite entertaining – a bit of frothing, a tad of eye bulging and general limb flailing.
Good, though pretty mindless “flow of consciousness” stuff there Sam – very good. 🙂
Not sure what has upset erstwhile centre left commentator, and one time aspiring Labour MP but it seems he still cannot quite bring himself to pen an acknowledgement, let alone celebration, of a Labour prime minister … does he still guest on RNZ’s panel?
He’s lost his former touch. Perhaps his lifestyle is no longer conducive to maintaining as informed a brief re-political matters that once was the case.
It could also be that Labour luminaries are no longer seeking his professional advice like they did in the past.
Edit: I think he might occasionally make an appearance on The Panel but not as frequently as he once did.
Last time he was on the panel with Michelle Boag he sounded a bit vague and there was very little of his usual back chat. Perhaps age is catching up with him. Boag has been on again several times since but with someone else. I can’t remember who and I shut off pretty quickly.
For Christ’s sake, what is wrong with these people? What’s with the pyjamas at these APEC meetings? Someone, anyone, just needs to say no once and we won’t have to look at this shit ever again.
It all looks a bit like a Mao uniform this year. Quite funny seeing Trump in one. Definitely not pjs. And it stops them trying to outdo each other. No gold braid, no see-through clothes, No exaggeratedly short skirts. (They must could have watched Christine Rankin’s videos.) Women won’t be able to wear bhurkas, though I hope they can wear hijabs if they want, and Sikh men should have the right to their headgear.
As srylands said, since 1993 the host country (in this case Vietnam) nominates (decides) the costume – and provides them. The attendees do not provide their own costume.
This year there seems to have been some choice in colour (blue or cream) and in style for the three women attendees. So men had the choice of blue or cream shirts, and the women also could choose between the shirt or a jacket. Hence most of the men seem to have chosen blue shirts, as did one of the women, and Jacinda and the other woman chose the cream jacket. Sizings would have been prearranged in the lead up to the meetings.
Incidentally, the cream bone Maori carving hair comb worn by Jacinda with the Jacket was apparently a gift to her from the Pike River families.
One correction – all thee women chose the jacket. The woman (Chile PM?) who I thought chose the blue shirt actually wore a blue jacket, same style as Jacinda’s. All the shirts and jackets were/are silk.
Did you like the dress that Jacinda wore for her (and Ministers’) swearing in by the Governor-General at Government House?
Probably a recommendation from Jacinda’s DPS bodyguards!
Sorry, I have a twisted sense of humour. Actually have a lot of time for Clarke as he and his mate/business partner in his fishing show are moving more and more into marine protection, species protection etc etc. Apparently they did some/most of the underwater filming etc for the proposed Niue marine sanctuary covering 40% of the waters around Niue.
Haven’t seen Jacindas dress – haven’t tv. But it’s interesting to see what you can get for $599 made in polyester.
I notice that the Hallenstein suit seems tight fitting jacket and trousers. There isn’t a relaxed look about the clothes, all straining at the button or across the leg.
Aren’t men’s suits regimented. And the design seems to have gone across the world as men’s power dressing.
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by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
The Ombudsman has been surveying people about their knowledge of the OIA and the right to information. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that widespread:The Chief Ombudsman says too many New Zealanders were in the dark over their right to access official information. Peter Boshier said an independent survey released yesterday on ...
In the wake of last Friday's climate strike, Peter McKenzie had an article in The Spinoff about protest strategies. The school strike movement is "polite" and cooperates with those in power because that's its kaupapa - its led by schoolkids who understandably don't want to risk arrest. But there's more ...
So, the latest ruminations on the gnews from Westminster (Again, sorry; I'll stop making that pun right now). This follows on from, and likely repeats bits of, my last post, on the suggestion that a Government of National Unity (GNU) should be set up and then oversee a referendum before ...
New Zealand likes to think of itself as not a racist country (despite being founded on the racist dispossession and subjugation of Maori). But for years, we've had a racist refugee policy, which basicly excludes refugees from Africa and the Middle East unless they already have relatives here. Now, the ...
Several people have asked me whether a particular repeat litigant could be declared a vexatious litigant, in light of their recent decision to appeal an adverse High Court ruling. My nascent tweet thread was getting ridiculously long, so it became this blog post instead.The short answer is: no. The particular ...
Appealing To The Past: Action Zealandia, like so many of the organisations springing up on the far-Right, across what they call the “Anglosphere”, is born out of the profound confusion over what a man is supposed to be in the twenty-first century and, more importantly, what he is supposed to do.THE STATUE OF ...
The attempts of anti-democratic transactivists to (often violently) disrupt women’s rights organising is largely ignored by those sections of the left most prone to misogyny and authoritarianism in New Zealand. In Britain, however, scores of trade union and left activists added their names to a letter in July, defending ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill. The Bill would establish an independent, quasi-judicial body to investigate and review potential miscarriages of justice, and refer them back to the Court of appeal if required. It would be a vital backstop to our judiciary, help ...
by The Spark On September 14, a total of 22 drones and cruise missiles struck two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. Abqaiq is the largest oil production facility in the world. For a few days afterwards, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi national ...
How much will NeoLiberal irregulation of the building sector and subsequent leaky homes crisis cost us? $47 billion, according to a new book:The total cost to fix all of New Zealand's leaky homes would be $47 billion, probably. The estimate comes from a new book, Rottenomics written by journalist Peter ...
Below is the start of another excellent article on the Freer Lives blog. Click onto the link at the end of this extract to read the full article. The punch-a-terf, kill-a-terf message pervades social media, always righteously delivered, chin held high. By contrast, the dehumanised “terfs” themselves, that is gender-critical ...
The Reserve Bank is currently planning tighter banking regulation, requiring banks to hold enough local capital to survive a 1-in-200 year financial crisis in order to protect consumers. The big Aussies banks, those foreign leeches who suck $5 billion in profit out of our economy every year, don't like that, ...
Its the usual story: a police officer beats a handcuffed suspect so hard they break one of their own fingers. The IPCA investigates and concludes that the use of force was unlawful. And the police refuse to do anything about it:A man punched repeatedly in the face by a police ...
From time to time we add links to our blogroll. The latest blog we have added is Freer Lives. This is a Marxist gender-critical blog, based in Melbourne, Australia. On it you will find a bunch of excellent articles which use the tools of Marxist analysis to critique the rise ...
Last Friday say the largest protest in a generation, as 170,000 people joined the school strike and marched to demand real action on climate change. The demands of the school strike were simple and clear: declare a climate emergency, set a climate target of net-zero by 2040, impose a total ...
Labour is a rather middle of the road capitalist party and earlier this year we discussed how far from being ‘transformative’, Ardern’s government is. An article published this week in the Guardian, by Bryce Edwards (political scientist and commentator at Victoria University), looks at Ardern’s business as usual performance. Where ...
In the hours since my last interminable wittering about the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain, there has been a slight maybe development:A Corbyn-led caretaker government could then sit for several months while it enacted and delivered a referendum with the support of smaller parties and ...
Jeremy Clarkson says much like Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank “didn’t like what was going on”, but “she didn’t have a tantrum about it.” Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has offered praise to historical figure Anne Frank, comparing her favourably to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he attacked in ...
Press release by Speak Up For Women Lesbians from women’s rights group Speak Up For Women are furious at reports that Rainbow Tick are threatening Massey University with the removal of their ‘tick’ if they let the group’s event go ahead. The group has been under attack from trans ...
By Duncan Garner Before you jump down my throat, nobody cares about the environment more than me. I have a garden, and since my wife and I broke up, I’ve let it grow wildly out of control, so please don’t tell me I’m not doing enough for plants. They’re ten ...
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Another busy week, from speaking with world leaders on the world stage about climate change, to equipping our school leavers with everything they need to get ahead in life. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says Air New Zealand has "an obligation to look after Kiwis", and urged the national carrier not to hike up their prices after Jetstar airline announced their withdrawal from regional flights this week. The Provincial Champion also expressed his disappointment at Jetstar’s decision on ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will help fund a new dredge for the Port of Greymouth to ensure the regional fishing fleet have a reliable and productive harbour, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today “Last year the movements of ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves tomorrow for Dubai, London and Berlin for a series of meetings to advance New Zealand’s trade interests. In Dubai he will visit New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 where construction is underway. There he will meet Minister of State for International Cooperation, Her ...
Confirmation that PHARMAC will fund two new cancer drugs is further evidence of the good progress the Government is making to improve the treatment of New Zealand’s leading cause of death, Health Minister David Clark says. From 1 December PHARMAC will fund alectinib (Alecensa) for ALK positive advanced non-small cell ...
An additional $2.7 million has been announced for the Government Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation on the first anniversary of the strategy’s launch. Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson gave the opening address to the first Sport NZ Women + Girls Summit in Wellington today, ...
As part of its work to ensure businesses can get the skilled workers they need, the Coalition Government is re-opening and re-setting the Parent Category visa programme, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. The move will: support skilled migrants who help fill New Zealand’s skills gaps by providing a pathway for ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has today announced Major General Evan Williams of the New Zealand Defence Force has been selected as the commander of a significant, longstanding peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. In December, Major General Williams takes over as Force Commander for the Multinational Force and Observers ...
A record number of nurses are now working to deliver health services to New Zealanders as the Government’s increased funding and new initiatives rebuild key workforces start to show results, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. • 1458 more DHB nurses since the Government took office • 106 more midwives ...
Farmer and former Nuffield scholar Mel Poulton has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, announced today. The position supports key Government objectives, including raising the value of New Zealand agricultural goods and services. Mel is ...
New Zealand’s Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage is acknowledged and celebrated today as waka of the Tuia 250 voyage flotilla arrive in Tūranga / Gisborne. “Today we celebrate Tangata Whenua, the first people of Aotearoa, and the triumphs of the voyaging tradition that brought our ancestors here from Polynesia 1000 ...
“Fijian Language Week starts on Sunday and the theme reminds us how important it is that we each have something to anchor ourselves to, something that can help us pause and feel in control in a rapidly changing world,” says Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “Family, culture, faith, ...
The Government is establishing an Airspace Integration Trials Programme to support the safe testing and development of advanced unmanned aircraft and accelerate their integration into the aviation system, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods announced today. The Government will work with leading, innovative aviation industry partners to test and ...
It’s the end of an era at Three as MAFS NZ and Guy Williams’ new show canceled and 7 Days cut to bone, writes Duncan Greive.A trio of shows which have been amongst Three’s most important local productions are either being canceled or severely cut back, as the channel’s agonising ...
'Joker' expects viewers not only to understand its cruelty, but to understand the justified violence of a white man when the protests of black men and women in the US are regularly met with condemnation, vilification and exclusion. ...
She runs the women's Aussie Rules and netball programmes at one of Australia's oldest sports clubs, so why is Jane Woodlands-Thompson sitting on the Silver Ferns bench? ...
As someone with a severe chronic illness, Hannah McGowan has a vested interest in getting to the bottom of what cannabis can and can’t do for her health. The reality, she discovers, is complicated.Woo [colloq.]: Mystical, supernatural or pseudo-scientific beliefs not backed up by evidence. I crave a well informed, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The last PM shock jock Alan Jones slapped down was Jacinda Ardern. His language was particularly offensive, advertisers deserted his program and he apologised to New Zealand’s leader. But at least Ardern didn’t have to ...
By Michael Andrew and Sri Krishnamurthi The true story of one of the Pacific’s great waka builders and sailor has been captured in a stirring and visually gripping documentary. Loimata: The Sweetest Tears follows the final years of Ema Siope, a Samoan born kiwi who endured a tumultuous past ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Cowie, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Around one-third of Australians living with hepatitis C have been cured in the last four years. Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C is ...
New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Image AsiaPacificReport.nz/RNZ.Commentators across the political spectrum seem to agree – the Labour-led Government’s popularity is being damaged by its failure to deliver in Jacinda Ardern’s self-proclaimed “Year of Delivery”. Instead, the delivery of bad news to Labour and the Government has come in ...
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Polls Richard Harman (Politik): Ardern now dependent on Peters Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern still standing, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Austin, Professor UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW This is part of a new series looking at the national security challenges facing Australia, how our leaders are responding to them and how these measures are impacting society. Read other stories in the series ...
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...
The increased presence of anti-trans and white supremacist stickers around the University of Auckland campus is proof that inaction is enabling hate groups, write Anisha Sankar and Max Whitehurst.Anisha Sankar is a Chennai-born, Te Awakairangi-raised, South Indian Tamil studying at the University of Auckland. Max Whitehurst is a transgender Pākehā ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Following the Christchurch mosque shootings, the New Zealand government’s first response was to ban the firearms the alleged gunman had used to murder 51 people. Seven months later, the second tranche of this process ...
The nine members for the next three year term of the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) for Auckland have been appointed by the statutory Selection Body. Their appointments begin on 1 November 2019 and continue to 31 October 2022. Mana Whenua ...
“If we are truly to solve the challenge of poverty within the Te Ao Maori world we must lift our people from the low wage and low skills growth side of the economy. At the same time we must continue to ensure our people, no matter where they are, ...
Alex Casey asks Rose Stewart from Family Planning every single question she can think of about New Zealand’s new free IUDs. Listen up, womb-owners who love free shit and long-term contraceptive options: Pharmac announced that they will be fully funding two new long-lasting, reversible contraceptives in New Zealand from November 1, ...
Patients are increasingly being turned away for treatment and there can be no more excuses from the Government over properly funding district health boards to boost specialist numbers in public hospitals, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the ...
Today’s Council of Trade Unions’ report, Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness , provides a much-needed pathway to fair wages and conditions across several major industries, and the Government must deliver on its promise to introduce FPAs ...
The Speaker has limited the number of questions Simon Bridges can ask in the House as a punishment for the National Party defying Trevor Mallard by not pulling down their attack ads. ...
Sunshine capital? Check. Rich artisan tradition? Check. Incredible sausages? That’s a big check. We’ve put together a list of all you need to know before you explore the truly gorgeous Nelson region this summer. If you’ve got friends or relatives visiting Aotearoa, top of their list should be sorting out their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University In the four years since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, countries have debated the fine print of how emissions reduction should be tracked and ...
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...
In recent weeks Responsible Campers Association Incorporated (RCAi) has become involved in some high level discussions about our right to camp. This began out of discussion about the disabled who which to participate in Sport and Recreation activities. ...
In their quest for a cashless society the Japanese have beaten New Zealand to its own next-gen shopping experience.New Zealanders are missing out to the Japanese on a Kiwi technology that is set to eliminate supermarket queues.The first store to implement the SmartCart cashierless shopping system will be in Osaka, ...
If you don’t like Shortland Street, or you’re unconvinced that Michael Galvin actually is a doctor, does that mean all New Zealand television is rubbish? Some say yes. Tara Ward says an emphatic no. The world is our TV oyster, but lately it seems not everyone in Godzone is feeling the ...
The National Party is accusing the Immigration Minister of a "Sroubek 2.0" after revelations he granted residence to a man with multiple drink-driving convictions. ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu urges the Crown to ensure that the Establishment Board of the newly formed Institute of Skills and Technology meets its Treaty obligations and addresses the statutory role of iwi as Treaty partners in redesigning the education ...
The top-selling food magazine in New Zealand is closing its print operation. Niki Bezzant, Healthy Food Guide‘s former editor, reflects on the challenges the title faced.The news that after 14 years and 176 issues Healthy Food Guide magazine is closing its print operation came as a shock to some. It ...
A unique deal saw Sky buy the rugby rights and sell some of itself to NZ Rugby. Trevor McKewen breaks down what it all means.The news came thick and fast over a remarkable five-day corporate slugfest, starting last Thursday. First, Spark Sport struck, gobbling up New Zealand Cricket’s domestic broadcasting ...
In what’s thought to be the last piece of writing Peter Wells completed before he died, he wonders about his great-grandfather, and the locket he wore all his life. ‘The Story of a Locket’ is published in part here, and features in the extraordinary collection of essays Queer Objects, released this ...
Relationship expert Holly Dixon explains why the entire Married at First Sight franchise is based on bunk science.As the third MAFS NZ season has come to an end, I thought it relevant to answer the question upon which the entire MAFS enterprise is built: Is it possible to predict attraction and ...
SkyCity Casino workers will be on strike and picketing today as Rob Campbell, the Chair of SkyCity Casino talks to other employers about making pay fair at a “Wellbeing at Work” conference today. ...
He was the prototypical high school nerd, hanging on Don Brash’s every word. Then the financial world turned upside down. This is the story of how Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr became a most unconventional economist.In 2008, Jarrod Kerr was working at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia when the global financial crisis ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriela D’Souza, Affiliate, Monash department of business statistics and econometrics, Monash University For most people the second week in October probably doesn’t hold much promise. Longer days for some, perhaps. But for those is us in the economics profession, come the second ...
One of the important parameters of the agreement’s aims was to ensure there was no threat to food production from the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. ...
A monument to Winston Peters and Think Big projects would both boost the economy, but Argentina learned the hard way they can also impoverish a nation, writes Tony Burton.Everyone who loves New Zealand should visit Argentina. There are more similarities than you might think – large areas of wild natural ...
The Salvation Army foodbank in Waitakere ran out of food last week; an indication of the strain many New Zealand whanau are under as they struggle to afford the cost of living. Wednesday, October 16 is World Food Day, and as demand for services offered ...
Phil Goff was re-elected by a huge margin on Saturday. How will he put that mandate to use this term? Hayden Donnell asks the questions.Phil Goff is once again Auckland’s mayor. Preliminary local election results show him with a lead of nearly 100,000 votes over his nearest challenger, John Tamihere. ...
Catherine Bindon from Ban the Boom has created these colourful and positive posters for you to use to show you don't support the use of fireworks in your neighbourhood over the next few weeks distressing our animals and birds. ...
On Tuesday morning the Operation Burnham inquiry hearing resumed after it was suspended three weeks ago. The hearing is being held at Royal Society of New Zealand, 11 Turnbull St, Thorndon, Wellington on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Lecturer in Critical Thinking; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland It’s not uncommon for science and religion to be framed as two opposing forces. The Catholic church has famously struggled to accommodate scientific research in its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cat Pausé, Senior Lecturer in Human Development, Massey University The British Psychological Society is calling for changes for how we talk about fatness, suggesting we should no longer use the phrase “obese people”, but instead, “people with obesity” or “people living with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The federal government’s much-vaunted Snowy Hydro expansion is supposed to smooth out the bumps in electricity supply as Australia transitions to renewables. But not only is the project a bad deal for taxpayers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By María Yanotti, Lecturer of Economics and Finance Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania The housing market is moving again. In the past month, national prices have climbed 0.9%. What matters most to buyers (and especially to investors), along with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, University of Melbourne It seems appropriate that a painting titled Feng Shui dominates the new exhibition of Guan Wei’s work ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Matthews, Lecturer in Digital Media and Popular Culture Researcher, Auckland University of Technology According to a recent study, the sixth leading cause of death for young men in the United States is the warranted and unwarranted use of police force. With ...
The Council of Trade Unions has today released its report - Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness . The report details the six key principles needed for Fair Pay Agreements to deliver real change for working people, and democratic agreements ...
Too many New Zealanders endure poor working conditions in jobs that don’t pay enough and offer few opportunities for career progression, and the union movement is calling for change. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the latest polls which show a drop in support for Labour are not a concern when it comes to forming a government. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: A pair of polls put pressure on the Labour Party, a wild night of weather in the North Island, and Shane Jones snapped brandishing a semi-automatic.Parliament resumes today after a fortnight recess, and MPs were given a welcome-back present in ...
Mandy Hager, the newly elected head of the New Zealand Society of Authors, is lobbying the government to improve the lot of writers - to no avail, despite the Prime Minister's championing of the arts. ...
Given the vast impacts that poor diet have had on global health, a deficit in nutrition education in medicine represents a big problem, writes Dr Jennifer Crowley. ...
Any time Olympian Luuka Jones needs advice or encouragement in her pursuit of more canoe slalom success, she doesn’t have to look far. Jones’ coach, Campbell Walsh, is also her partner. ...
Competition for the rights to broadcast sports matches involving NZ’s top teams has produced a bonanza for the sporting bodies, forcing media companies to be a lot more innovative. ...
The Wellington suburb’s successful opposition to a proposed Bottle-O shows how the system is biased towards communities with the organisation, capacity and resources to protest effectively, says Jenesa Jeram.For those unfamiliar with Wellington geography, Khandallah is a Very Nice place to live (Aucklanders: think Remuera). So when it was reported ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission conducted an inquiry into mortgage pricing as recently as last year. Now Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has asked it to do another, broader one, in order to ensure the banks’ ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe results of the local government elections appear to show that New Zealanders are generally supportive of a more diverse range of representatives, having voted in greater numbers for candidates from traditionally under-represented groups. The elections have therefore modernised our councils in a small but very significant ...
Open Mike 11/11/2017 
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...13 hours ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...14 hours ago
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...15 hours ago
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...20 hours ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...4 days ago
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For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...6 days ago
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...2 weeks ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...15 hours ago
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It’s the end of an era at Three as MAFS NZ and Guy Williams’ new show canceled and 7 Days cut to bone, writes Duncan Greive.A trio of shows which have been amongst Three’s most important local productions are either being canceled or severely cut back, as the channel’s agonising ...10 mins ago
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For now the TPP seems dead – but it my be premature to celebrate too soon. We need to continue to let our government know that there are too many sticking points in the TPPA as we know it.
It seems that Canada has sought to delay the signing of the TPP because it has other international agreements that it wants to complete first.
It also seems that Canada and Japan are seen as the dominant parties in the negotiations, as they have the biggest economies of the countries involved. I guess it’s always size, and not some democratic process that decides much of the outcome of such deals.
See Toronto Star on this
And CBC News
Excellent article by Kirsty Johnston about leaving Auckland and the city’s declining number of positives and increasing number of negatives.
This could and should prompt a thread on the issues facing our largest city.
Are they insoluble?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11942708
Good one there Ed Thanks for that , I left Auckland when my family moved to HB 66yrs ago.
I left end of Jan 17
Where did you move to?
Christchurch
Interesting article by Bernard Orsman showing how dictatorial AT have become and displaying what a sham their process of consultation is.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11942515
Great Link. Basically someone at Auckland Transport seems to get an idea and then it’s pushed through in as lengthy and expensive way as possible by AT.
Look at the Pohutakawa 6 AT were going to remove. Didn’t happen in the end because of public outrage, but the mistake cost millions, wasted hours of the publics time, legal action and so forth. It was all a lie from AT the Pohutakawas should never have been proposed to be removed. Any normal person could. have seen that (like the parking issue in West Lynn) but someone is profiting from the keystone cop decisions supported by expensive and lengthy papers from IYI (intellectual yet idiots).
The shops are right, once Harvest goes down with all the chaos and reduced parking (and people have shopping so to carry it on buses or long distances is not that feasible), West Lynn will go down with it and so will all those people’s livelihoods. Thanks AT!
The other big issue is that is also sounds like the flooding issue has not even been addressed. Too much slope into the shops so that now with the massive levels of oversized construction allowed in the area that discharge into the wastewater rather than being absorbed by gardens spaces, the wastewater will overflow into the shops.
What a great time to be a private lawyer, so much profit from all the stupid preventable decisions and subsequent consequences…
Auckland Transport already get about a billion of funding – this is how they spend it, legal action, tree removal, shutting down small business in the community and flooding any remaining shops.
Actually, shopping via PT is eminently feasible. The problem is that people have been trained to always reach for the car rather than better options.
Although, if our economic system really did bring about the best and most efficient use of resources shopping would be delivered for free.
And if these shops are going down because of a slight change in road design then we have to ask if they’re actually a viable business. Where are all their customers going to?
Gotta remember Orsman was a nimby cheerleader during the unitary plan process.
If you want a more responsible dialogue go here. https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/
Ten Reasons We Got Rid of the Nasty Party
No. 7: Keeping these zombies out of the grave
https://cdn.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/John-Banks-in-dock.jpg?x57220
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11210988
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/89523/acts-david-seymour-looks-be-fighting-stay-relevant-election-national-odds-need-winston
Funny that, private business don’t really want prices to fall – that’s the problem when so many things in this country about someone’s profit that there’s an uproar whenever a price is bought down.
Christchurch council’s cheaper carpark prices ruffle feathers
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11942951
When a public utility does it cheaper and more efficiently. LOL.
The Japanese PM Abe is now trying to pressure Canada to finalise the agreement whilst they are in Vietnam. Can you please help us in tweeting PM Trudeau, Canadian Trade Minister and the Canadian Foreign Minister.
@JustinTrudeau @FP_Champagne @cafreeland
(from Daily blog)
http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/fake-meat-impossibly-hard-to-swallow/
still want you fake meat?
Yep.
i cant eat soy or anything with gluten so i’ll be sidestepping the frankin foods
How will you feel about it when you get offered a frankenburger or frankensossie that’s made from animal cells cultured in a vat rather than it being a cunningly engineered and disguised plant product?
i would probably leave it for a few years to see if it kills people but if it had nothing that would make me ill i would eat it , it is the future , real meat will be for the rich .
industrial, highly processed food always becomes a problem. I trust Pollan – “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
What he means by ‘eat food’ is Like: A little meat won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat ”food.”
I also like the one about eating food that your grandparent’s would recognise (or great grandparents etc depending on how old you are).
Pollan quote from http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/unhappy-meals/
I think our approach to eating has to improve as well. Mealtime seems to have been slower and more of a social interaction in the past. Pot lucks are good for that now or general community eating now with the tables on the road approach.
And at that point there I almost stopped reading as she obviously doesn’t have the knowledge necessary to make any sort of comment.
And that bit proved it.
The only people who are going to listen to that drivel are the people who have even less knowledge.
”Konjac and xanthan are industrial hydrocolloid gums. (The latter was designed to thicken the drilling mud in the oil industry.) ”
what about that bit
You could try googling them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthan_gum
They’ve both got a lot of history in food use. Check the labels on foods like ice cream, salad dressing, anything else that is some sort of emulsion of fats in water.
Tossing in that bit about being used in drilling operations is a straight up scare tactic that’s totally irrelevant to the issue.
Perfect propaganda: true, but mentioned only for the purposes of provoking a hostile emotional response against the propaganda’s target.
Being included in such highly processed, unhealthy and unnatural products, Andre
You managed to prove the point waghorn was making…
You’ve stated before that eating, drinking or inhaling chemical laboratory products is no issue for you..
The position you take is because you believe you understand the ‘science’…
But you don’t…your comments illustrate it..
There isn’t a single thing you eat or drink that won’t kill you if you ingest sufficient quantities. Dosage is key, for food as for anything else.
With so many new ways to die now (OMGZ! Oxidane!), it’s quite amazing that life expectancy continues to improve the world over. I’d think it a paradox but for the possibility that one of the premises is wrong. Happy days.
‘Life expectancy increasing ‘..
That’s the depth of your response?
Not at all, but who wants an exhaustive list of things that are continuing to improve? It’d take too long to scroll past the thing.
Life expectancy increasing means that far more people die of cancer, rather than the diseases that used to kill us.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Who can tell? After all, optimism doesn’t sell advertising.
Increasing…
Allergies…
Autism …
CO2 levels…
Debt levels…
Diabetes…
Environmental degradation..
Homelessness…
Inequality…
Malnutrition…
Mental illness…
Over medication…
Poverty…
Suicide rates…
War/weapons industry…
Etc
To your query though..”who can tell”…
The only reason you even know about most of those problems is because of science.
Without Epidemiology, for example, “inequality” would not be on your list at all.
Malnutrition is decreasing globally. Where it’s increasing, I suggest you look to the National Party and eg: Katherine Rich, rather than “science”.
Who can tell? Not you, that’s for sure.
You…are…
Lost…
The list was not about ‘science’…
HINT:
Increasing….
Autism rates are up, but is it really on the rise?
Answer: Probably not.
All as a result of capitalism.
@One Two: Hint: decreasing, increasing; your list was implicit in my very first remark. Your arrogant patronising drivel blinds you to the message.
Yes, I know you don’t get it. Perhaps you should learn to actually read what people are saying for a change.
It’s decreasing in the US.
Indeed. I should have said the global average.
“Good health unfolds through total acceptance of reality”
Just scaremongering which seems to be about all that article is about. It’s unscientific BS.
While the article is poorly written, and ill informed as you point out, earlier…
It’s not meant to be ‘scientific’, nor should it need to be written as such..
That said…monsanto pay ‘scientists’ and ‘journalists’, as well as owning journals to publish in…
‘Science’…
Nah…it’s not!
But it should be written to inform with all the information in it backed by science. This clearly is not the case.
The article doesn’t mention Monsanto once.
Cellular agriculture seems fairly “sciency” to me though. Just like traditional agriculture. Knowing when to plant what doesn’t just happen by your special woo, eh.
Any vegetarians who want food tech companies to make fake meat for them out of vegetables should reconsider whether vegetarianism’s for them.
I dunno about that. I’m not a veggo and I’m not about to become one while it means giving up some smells and tastes and textures I really enjoy. Plus I’m not ready to make the effort to ensure I’m getting all the nutrients I need from a pure plant diet, when a bit of meat and dairy on a regular basis means I don’t have to worry about it.
But I know a few veggos that have made that sacrifice and commitment, and miss the animal based parts of their eating. They’d be quite happy for non-animal substitutes to become available so they could enjoy them again. If it looks and smells and tastes like a real beef burger but it’s basically a flavoured falafel, they’d be all over it. As would I.
And if they can engineer up something that has the smell and taste and crispy mouthfeel of bacon …
Meanwhile. From the Horizon poll results.
The only people not happy about the new Government, are corporate ladder climbers and land speculators.
Entrepreneurs, small business, professionals and workers are mainly optimistic.
Yes KJT;
It was a positve poll for the new Labour/NZF Government but I wonder are the media all going to cover this poll?
https://horizonpoll.co.nz/page/489/whos-going-?gtid=3831264570538CNT
Who’s going on honeymoon with the new Government
9 Nov 17
Credit: TVNZ
More confident than not they’ll be better off under new government
Nearly twice as many New Zealanders are feeling positive rather than negative about the effect the new Labour-led government will have on them personally.
A Horizon Research survey of 1,068 adults nationwide between October 24 and November 1, 2017, finds overall that
49% say the new government will positively affect them personally in the next three years
24% say it will affect them negatively
28% say the affect will be neither positive nor negative.
The numbers do not vary by gender.
Yep! I managed to convince a number of small business owners and professionals that the previous gubbamint wasn’t really their bess fren and that they were more concerned about the largesse of their corporate friends. Even the local dairy owner is rapt with the change.
I’ve never been much of a fan about the term ‘entrepreneur’. It’s what small Bizzniss always used to do – be it the natural entrepreneurial Indian starting the corner store and continuing it on to become a chain that’s not going to be sold off to an offshore interest; or the Chinese Laundry whose owner/operators were happy enough to provide a decent living for family and friends,. It’s becoming as tedious as people claiming ‘passion’ (more often ‘pearshun’) about what they do.
The language of the neo-liberal
Pearshun isn’t enough though, as they have begun to realise after nine long years. And community is everything. It can even sustain business.
If it headlines it will have a Big business confidence drops…
Now, if you don’t mind I’m going to schadenfreude TF out of this.
For months, lawsuits have piled up against James O’Keefe, the conservative filmmaker and provocateur, from various targets of his signature undercover videos.
But O’Keefe and his video site Project Veritas have taken some legal action of their own recently — against the insurance company that they claim violated a contractual obligation to pay for mushrooming legal bills.
Now Project Veritas is engaged in a battle with the company it hoped would protect it, a dispute that lays bare the stark challenges faced by O’Keefe for the kind of controversial, litigation-prone hidden camera stings that have made him both a scourge and a conservative media darling.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/stevenperlberg/james-okeefe-is-fighting-his-insurance-company?utm_term=.khO555LkKe#.wfMeeeaPKB
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018621303
Radio NZ News flash 3pm 11/11/17.
Start;
The 11 nations involved have reconvened today to try to salvage the deal and have agreed to most of the deal but four provisions that have been ‘suspended’, the new agreement has been renamed “The comprehensive progressive pacific partnership agreement”.
End.
On Stuff there is a brilliant set of pictures and video clip and commentary on the Highway rebuild and Kaikoura. Be the best online presentation that I have ever seen. Scroll down to see the best. A big screen would be good
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2017/11/the-road/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/98790099/transpacific-partnership-11-trade-ministers-reach-deal-to-keep-deal-alive
Trans-Pacific Partnership: 11 trade ministers reach deal to keep deal alive
VERNON SMALL
Last updated 14:50, November 11 2017
Crisis talks among Trans Pacific Partnership ministers appear to have pulled the free trade pact back from the brink of collapse, although it still faces an uncertain future.
Late on Friday Canada boycotted a meeting of leaders from the 11 nations involved, throwing the deal into disarray.
But after trade ministers met, with Canada back at the table, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Saturday that though “clarification” was still needed it was sill alive.
She had the impression Canada was back on board: “We are in a more stable place than we were yesterday.”
But she was still not clear why Canada had not shown at the leaders’ meeting.
Trade Minister David Parker, who was part of the crisis meeting, said the text had been “stabilised” so there was a legal agreement about “just about all of it. The ‘just about’ could be important”.
He said there were four provisions of the original TPP that were suspended and work needed to be done on those.
The name of the agreement has also been changed from TPP to CPTPP – the comprehensive progressive TPP.
Parker said it was the most comprehensive agreement when it came to labour laws, environmental standards and the right to regulate that there had ever been in a trade agreement.
That included enforcement mechanisms that can in the end result in trade sanctions if parties breach those standards.
Parker said on contentious investor-state dispute resolution clauses, New Zealand had tried to get rid of them completely but was unsuccessful.
“We narrowed the scope of them and we have a side arrangement with Australia which means that 80 per cent of the foreign direct investment into New Zealand from TPP countries is not covered by ISDS clauses at all.”
There were “a number of other bilateral arrangements in place” on ISDS that he could not yet talk about.
“We have made substantial progress on ISDS clauses in just a matter of weeks.”
Ardern said the CPTPP was a different one than the TPP before the United States withdrew.
She added it was disappointing the Government only had two week to change what National could have tried to achieve had it negotiated differently.
Parker said the suggestion Canada had problems was because Labour standards were not resolved was not right.
That implied wrongly that New Zealand was not standing up and was not successful on labour standards.
There was no plan at this stage for the CPTPP leaders to meet again at Apec.
TPP opponent Auckland University law professor Jane Kelsey said she was “disappointed, but not surprised” the Labour government had endorsed the TPP, with the suspension of a limited range of items.
The TPP member countries were trying to find a way forward without the US, the biggest economy and, before President Donald Trump took office, one of its most assertive supporters.
Trump had said he preferred country-to-country deals and was seeking to renegotiate several major trade agreements to, as he said, “put America first.”
Trump reiterated his markedly different stance on trade before the 21-member Apec summit convened late Friday with a gala banquet.
The US president told an Apec business conference that “we are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore.”
He lambasted the World Trade Organisation and other trade forums as unfair to the United States and reiterated his preference for bilateral trade deals, saying “I am always going to put America first.”
Trump said he would not enter into large trade agreements, alluding to US involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the TPP.
In contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the same group that nations need to stay committed to economic openness or risk being left behind.
The Chinese president drew loud applause when he urged support for the “multilateral trading regime” and progress toward a free-trade zone in the Asia-Pacific.
China was not part of the TPP.
Apec operated by consensus and customarily issued non-binding statements. TPP commitments would eventually be ratified and enforced by its members.
But even talks this week on a declaration to cap the Apec summit had to be extended for an extra half day as ministers haggled over wording.
It’s unclear what the exact sticking points were, but officials have alluded to differences over the unequal impact more open trade has had on workers and concerns over automation in manufacturing that could leave many millions in a wide array of industries with no work to do.
As a developing country with a fast-growing export sector, this year’s host country, Vietnam, has a strong interest in open trade and access for its exports to consumers in the West.
The summit is an occasion for its leaders to showcase the progress its economy has made thanks largely to foreign investment and trade.
Da Nang, Vietnam’s third-largest city, is in the midst of a construction boom as dozens of resorts and smaller hotels pop up along its scenic coastline.
Apec’s members are New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.
– Stuff, with AP
So they have been ‘unsuccessful at getting rid of the investor-state dispute clauses that will control his government, but agreed to it anyway??????
Is he now saying we need to eat dead rats?? Unbelievable.
Cant trust them can we.
quote; “Parker said on contentious investor-state dispute resolution clauses, New Zealand had tried to get rid of them completely but was unsuccessful.”
“Cant trust them can we.”
Nope. I felt Labour were always going to let us down over TPP and that’s exactly what’s happening.
Yes Grey Area, She is moving to fast to try and achieve anything she can by the looks of it.
She is hurting her base here as we will be all hurt if she does not stand up for us as she said “everyone will have a voice and be heard” but our/her people will begin to doubt it if she doesnt speak up for us as Justin Trudeau did his people.
And Winston is very quiet. Hard to take that as anything other than acquiesence
It is called governing. It was always unthinkable that any New Zealand government would refuse to sign. Trade liberalisation and capital liberalisation and protection of shareholders from vexatious governments. All core New Zealand values that have had bipartisan support for the last 30 years.
We should all be applauding the new Prime Minister for her efforts. Sadly the communist in charge of Canada had other ideas.
It’s never unthinkable that a government would rule in the interests of its people.
Not unthinkable but unheard of.
You people do spout some shit, don’t you? How on earth do you know the details of this deal since none have been made public, ever.
Why should shareholders get protection and not the general populace who need protection from those shareholders?
EDIT: And I actually thought that you were in favour removing protections.
EDIT 2: It seems that the only protections you like removing are those on the poor which protect them from the rich
And before that we had other values like looking after everyone and not just ‘shareholders’.
It’s unthinkable that any government that was doing the best for their people would sign.
Trump judge nominee, 36, who has never tried a case, wins approval of Senate panel
Well, I only hope that the Republican Party of the USA no longer claims to be a meritocracy…
Yeah, can’t see that happening.
Yeah, judicial appointments is one area the Dork from New York is actually achieving something that will have a lasting effect. There’s a shitload of open appointments because McConnell refused to move on filling any vacancies during Obama’s tenure. But whenever the Terracotta Turdface passes along a name the Heritage Foundation puts in front of him, the Repugs fall all over themselves to rubber-stamp it.
A very well dressed “nervous” man stalks then mugs a government MP in broad daylight, steals her handbag, just after her return from a Parliamentary visit to Bangladesh.
Police seem baffled, can’t locate the offender. Haven’t even mentioned who the getaway car belongs to.
Something to keep an eye on.
Hi Bill it’s the standards fav apply labeled right wing ninja here. For every one that doesn’t know it’s important for political reasons to identify with a tribe for dogmatic reasons. I’m gana be following up on another topic Bill identified with as harmful to his tribe that is the “Oh Fuck” blog he wrote. If you haven’t seen those exchanges please read it, I did a lot of explaining in the comments section that Bill would preferably not want me to repeat. People who don’t want to read about the truth probably don’t want me to either. If you could, please read those comments be for reading this one. But if you don’t like the truth then probably best you stop reading and keep your opinions to yourself. But if you’re just confused you can still follow along.
Ok so last time Bill, I’m just going to assume you got bullied in school. And you went MMA styles all over your bully. And let’s say you rule the internet because you’ve got a bit of power to do stuff other internet users can not. And now you’ve got a bunch of followers on social media and then one day a RWNJ comes along and doesn’t agree with your opinion and it triggers you back into your safe place. And you got so triggered you turned into a father figure out of share rage. And as it turned I was curious about you. So a sent you a message via the standard (and I’m a RWNJ, don’t @me about how I’m coming up with this) when a RWNJ messages you on the standard and say hey look, you’re being an ass again. And then you start having like PTSD from when you got bullied at school. and it’s made you freak out with admin speak. You’re popping keys on keyboards to get over it. And you just came to the conclusion you have to moderate to reinforce your safe place so you don’t get bullied again by RWNJ’s. And so a week or so has past since you lost it over climate change and you’ve mastered you admins skills again because that’s all you’ve really done in that time.
Now you try and attack this RWNJ and this RWNJ is unimpressed because you’re like this angry administrator with a little bit of power over your safe spot and just finesse you with your own hypocrisy or some shit. And then you start getting triggered like oh no it’s coming you know? You felt the beating in your sole like it was reminiscent of those old days at school. And you got triggered like Adam failing to understand finance isn’t always about being a RWNJ. Only this one is a much more controlled version because you’re a super moderator or something, and your a lot more used to it. So your able to go into moderator mode to maximise your opinion over every one, just with a lot of strain.
Now this apply labeled RWNJ just raises an eyebrow because he’s unimpressed and just whips your ass again. As a moderator the lvl of your opinion, Bill, really only increased by a couple questions. That’s what your opinion says. They are really only questions. So you being a moderator really only raises more questions. So basically you wouldn’t really be any different to a baby. Or just a heavily amped moderator version asking why all the time. So you’d bee like multi but buster, maybe small ball buster. And you’d honestly maybe, like maybe at this point be hitting the roof at the speed of light. I say this because Realogix seems to have the ability to moderate other moderators. When he moderated Tracy he was like get back to the point of discussing my safe place, or something like that. And you can go have a look at it some where around here, was about being abused. And then they all like went the speed of light.
Um so with you’re moderating skills being like doubling the amount of questions asked so you’d probably be around the speed of light by this point. And you’d be able to destroy like numerous butts and maybe like some one with smaller balls than me. How ever this RWNJ TS authors and commentators saw fit to label as asks only like one question every now and then just whooping charlatan educator who don’t seem to know much and has many, many questions lined up.
And now you have an epiphany because you’re so weak having to really on your moderating skills to get your opinion spread all over your safe place. Because you can’t handle any criticism. But it’s time to use your amazing moderating skills to your advantage right. You use them to plot to your advantage. You’ve looked deep inside yourself and searched for all of the plot armour that you can. And you find it. You find a third question as moderator. And after your ranted about how debating isn’t fair. This RWNJ is very patient because he just doesn’t care, he’s just waiting for you to transform into the ultimate TS author. I don’t know why I’m so patient, may be I’m just curious. Just waiting for you to transform into the ultimate TS author.
So now your probably hitting insane levels of speed. Because a RWNJ just doesn’t have any questions to ask. Just some opinions he holds about certain issues concerning the well being and prospects of future generations and it turns out that the this RWNJ is actually debating, not an MMA level author with plot armour. But actually debating, and then this thing every one likes to calla RWNJ is actually just finessing something that resembles pre pubescent pre madonnas. So the RWNJ puts a grin on his face and rants about how can do that to.
Now what are you going to do Bill. And there is only one thing left for you to do. And that’s more PLOT ARMOUR.
Now this brings me to my point. New Zealanders are in an almost impossible position, surrounded by vast oceans and opinions in between our major trading partners. Now we have to make a living around changing trade rulz that are determined to cut off Chinese expansion because American hegemony can only compete with militarily. New Zealand either makes ourselves unusual or face economic ruin. Deciding how to differentiate ourselves means setting out to create a first world oasis on an island in the middle of the Southern Ocean. So we have to create a base for all development. To do that New Zealand must have good infrastructure which isn’t difficult to do. What is more difficult is to have people behave like a first world people.
When you move people from a technologically scarce society with barley a ship to her name to a first world trading nation with ships of our own getting them to stop brining old philosophies out with them prevents or promotes all this. But we must succeed in progressing education, entertainment, leadership. The kids need to behave in a first world way. By stop behaving in a hap hazard way. Or they will face ruin. The children must give us tremendous motivation to try and deliver on improvements to the prospects of future generations.
The most difficult thing to do is to carry out industrialisation of services needed to carry out growth in the middle of the Southern Ocean. Because once you pollute the land then you destroy it, and destroy the living conditions. And when you destroy the living conditions then it’s not worth having this place. So every project that New Zealand puts up, the first concern must be anti-pollution. And the economics of it is a huge price to pay, there is an enormous row. Interested parties are trying to bargain with our future prospects. But our future prospects does not have the philosophical integrity to recognise the position New Zealand is in was once a position held during the lead up to WW2.
Now we must a convince every one of the merits of continuing the policies that our Grandfathers fought for. So carful attention to the environment at the same time looking to industry, growth and population challenges for away out is how New Zealanders will achieve there potential.
Any way guys catcha later. Let me know if you want another one. I don’t know if I should do the next one. Because of the triggers involved. Because the things TS authors can’t mention are a little controversial. Just have to maintain the magnificence of the authors opinion and place a protection around it. It’s a little bit hard to talk about it. But if you want to see more let me know.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Almost impressed that you hesitated long enough to get the full stops in there.
Kinda wish I’d observed all that as a verbal rant mind, because I reckon it would have been quite entertaining – a bit of frothing, a tad of eye bulging and general limb flailing.
Good, though pretty mindless “flow of consciousness” stuff there Sam – very good. 🙂
Message received.
Brian Edwards media blog. http://brianedwardsmedia.co.nz
Not sure what has upset erstwhile centre left commentator, and one time aspiring Labour MP but it seems he still cannot quite bring himself to pen an acknowledgement, let alone celebration, of a Labour prime minister … does he still guest on RNZ’s panel?
Hi Logie,
I can’t remember if Brian Edwards sits on any panel now as I haven’t sen him for ages, so perhaps this is why he is upset I wonder?
He was good though.
He’s lost his former touch. Perhaps his lifestyle is no longer conducive to maintaining as informed a brief re-political matters that once was the case.
It could also be that Labour luminaries are no longer seeking his professional advice like they did in the past.
Edit: I think he might occasionally make an appearance on The Panel but not as frequently as he once did.
I think that Edwards shifted so far right on his chair that he has fallen off it.
😀
Last time he was on the panel with Michelle Boag he sounded a bit vague and there was very little of his usual back chat. Perhaps age is catching up with him. Boag has been on again several times since but with someone else. I can’t remember who and I shut off pretty quickly.
For Christ’s sake, what is wrong with these people? What’s with the pyjamas at these APEC meetings? Someone, anyone, just needs to say no once and we won’t have to look at this shit ever again.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/98788213/jacinda-ardern-justin-trudeau-and-donald-trump-together-at-apec
You are being disrespectful. It is a tradition. They have worn the host nominated costume every meeting since 1993.
and for the last 25 years, it’s been a bit shit.
Although this year isn’t as bad as some – ISTR one year where it was sort of palm-leaf prints like Hawaiian shirts. That photo op was blinding…
It all looks a bit like a Mao uniform this year. Quite funny seeing Trump in one. Definitely not pjs. And it stops them trying to outdo each other. No gold braid, no see-through clothes, No exaggeratedly short skirts. (They must could have watched Christine Rankin’s videos.) Women won’t be able to wear bhurkas, though I hope they can wear hijabs if they want, and Sikh men should have the right to their headgear.
.
Hill’s hand-me-downs.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/10/18/2983DA9600000578-3118742-image-m-14_1433958312512.jpg
http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/trump-asia-vietnam-apec-4-gty-jt-171110_12x5_992.jpg
As srylands said, since 1993 the host country (in this case Vietnam) nominates (decides) the costume – and provides them. The attendees do not provide their own costume.
This year there seems to have been some choice in colour (blue or cream) and in style for the three women attendees. So men had the choice of blue or cream shirts, and the women also could choose between the shirt or a jacket. Hence most of the men seem to have chosen blue shirts, as did one of the women, and Jacinda and the other woman chose the cream jacket. Sizings would have been prearranged in the lead up to the meetings.
Incidentally, the cream bone Maori carving hair comb worn by Jacinda with the Jacket was apparently a gift to her from the Pike River families.
Oh thanks that’s the sort of goss that’s interesting.
One correction – all thee women chose the jacket. The woman (Chile PM?) who I thought chose the blue shirt actually wore a blue jacket, same style as Jacinda’s. All the shirts and jackets were/are silk.
Did you like the dress that Jacinda wore for her (and Ministers’) swearing in by the Governor-General at Government House?
My ‘sources’ told me that it is a Kate Sylvester Nadia dress
https://katesylvester.com/shop/nz/217k524h-10
According to Clarke, his suit (apparently his only dry one anyway; he has plenty of wetsuits!) was from Hallensteins. Perhaps this one?
https://www.hallensteins.com/product/n-pv-stretch-baxter-st-jacket?i=8347298&b=8347859&country=NZ&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=NZ+-+Shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=sCAQn3xv0|pcrid|178120534930|pkw||pmt||pdv|c|pid|8347859&gclid=CjwKCAiA3JrQBRBtEiwAN7cEGj45EWYIC75BPQwxbiiquxWLWGJ_07xycJD9lMAHowYQlqLyxNthnxoCeBYQAvD_BwE
Probably a recommendation from Jacinda’s DPS bodyguards!
Sorry, I have a twisted sense of humour. Actually have a lot of time for Clarke as he and his mate/business partner in his fishing show are moving more and more into marine protection, species protection etc etc. Apparently they did some/most of the underwater filming etc for the proposed Niue marine sanctuary covering 40% of the waters around Niue.
Haven’t seen Jacindas dress – haven’t tv. But it’s interesting to see what you can get for $599 made in polyester.
I notice that the Hallenstein suit seems tight fitting jacket and trousers. There isn’t a relaxed look about the clothes, all straining at the button or across the leg.
Aren’t men’s suits regimented. And the design seems to have gone across the world as men’s power dressing.
Yes ridiculious eh?
Perhaps they need to be wearing prison wear?
Must be a corporate ploy to ‘unform everyone’