And he will be in deep dodah if/when the interest rates increase by a couple of % and or the properties drop in value.
The way the article reads 10 of the properties were bought with 100% mortgage based on increased valuations.
Ed, it could also be related to fear, especially for those who think the social contract between government and the public has been broken. They don’t want to be left vulnerable to life’s unknowables, and tax, investment and housing policy has all contributed to housing being a proven investment for those with capital.
We shouldn’t blame individuals when policy decisions are incentivising such behaviour.
Interestingly the Herald chooses not to be precise about the amount the rich boy got off his parents.
A key detail without which the story is utterly meaningless.
If always stalls at this time of year because houses always look nicer when the sun is shining. The prime time for selling is after Labour weekend so people who want to sell and can wait, will wait till then.
We are seeing evidence of catastrophic climate change across the planet.
We are seeing rampant inequality in the world.
And yet helipads and the Haka is what the Herald decides is news.
The media is a significant part of the media/military/industrial complex which will see life extinguished on this Earth rather than abandon capitalism.
@Gosman
Rampant inequality looks a lot like this…
Statistics New Zealand, this report is from 2007, and as we all know this social obscenity has mushroomed since, especially under the government of John Key.
“Wealth disparity persists in New Zealand, as in other societies. Disparity in wealth holdings is of significant interest in respect of its implications for health outcomes, economic and social well being, opportunities for social participation, ability to withstand life-shocks, and so on.” http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Families/wealth-and-disparities-in-new-zealand.aspx
We are very clearly in a better position to weather the economic storm now appearing with a Labour lead Government with us than having another “sell all to the lowest bidder “John -Key-ism” capitalist carpetbagger government as they would give the whole country to China at the blink of the eye.
Best we keep a socialist government in power at this ‘transitional time’ as the US did in the last depression under FDR.
“Economic Collapse Is Coming! China ‘Weaponize’ Yuan For Dollar Collapse – 2018 Stock Market CRASH!”
you really are a heartless scoundrel. Only a real scumbag would reflect on the level of homelessness in NZ, look at the mansions and empty houses, and decide that the pressing issue is whether the correct description of the level of inequality is “rampant”, or maybe “rife”, or simply “intolerable”.
Boo hoo. Given inequality is “rampant” it is obviously the number one priority of the current left leaning Government. What policies are they implementing that will immediately address this problem?
Only national promise magic wand solutions. In the real world, repairing the damage caused by people like you takes longer than you take to damage it in the first place. And so many problems are rampant, in any normal human use of the word.
People sleep in the goddamned street in NZ. Not just a few, either (as if that would make it any better). Not only do you not care, your “boo hoo” and party-political point-scoring suggest that you don’t even think you should care about anyone else’s misery.
Hell is a myth invented in the dim hope that unregenerate fuckwits like you would at least pretend to act like normal, caring human beings, on the off-chance that it’s real.
It’s a start.
What does the government do with the cash?
How do you judge “taxable income” vs “wealth”?
How do you close loopholes like corporate or trust beneficiaries/expenses?
How do we know that what might be a magic want now will be less applicable in, say, a highly automated society with high unemployment?
Jeez, even your trite solution becomes less simple very quickly. Maybe we should have some sort of working party look at it with official advice for all the various options. I think that’s already started.
What does the Government do with the cash?!? I can’t believe I read that comment from a lefty. I thought there was a huge list of areas of under investment that was crying out for funding.
How about instead of a working group you propose actual policies.
Because of pricks like you trying to point score and derail every goddamn conversation about inequality for literally years – even a decade in your individual case. If the search engine were running I’d bring up some debates we had back when the nats were a young and fresh government and you reckoned everything was fine. Now that it’s someone else’s problem, you’re happy to provide half-arsed suggestions on how to fix the damage.
Are you claiming my arguments are somehow powerful enough that they have the ability to slow the implementation of urgently needed policies to tackle inequality?
Just you and pricks like you. As Marx basically said, the mediocrities who manage to thrive better then most under capitalism will fight to preserve what little advantage they have, thereby serving the interests of the true profiteers of the system.
You, Gosman, are an excellent example of the alienation that capitalism causes, a fracturing of the natural human connections within society. But you are merely one amongst thousands, if not millions.
Fractured, alienated, individual small-mindedness. Hordes of nasty little egoists convinced that they’re better than most other people, little realising that they’ll always just be the expendable pawns of capitalists, thrown just enough crumbs to keep them ravenous.
People like Donald Brash & John Key were the ultimate magician’s, they could just wave their magic wands around and everything was fixed in a jiffy, it was like watching everyone being sprinkled with pixie shit.
Of course it would to you.
Maybe you should read a bit more widely.
Did you see Bill’s post the other day?
Beyond that, I am not doing the research for you.
So you do really think that climate change can extinguish life on earth? So i say again, where is your evidence? What is your argument? That position is certainly not supported by Bill’s last post and that is the only thing you have referenced.
You do understand that it was the processes of life that put the carbon in the ground in the first place?
Climate Change is a serious issue, talking nonsense is not helpful.
Albert Town Community Association chairman Jim Cowie.
I think this gentleman is about to offer to personally put up some of the people in this camping ground about which he is expressing distaste. And he is going to reach out to the community to share space in their back yard and use of facilities so that those suffering from lust for money and lack of kindness and good planning will be able to remedy their faults in a practical and helpful manner.
/Not
Indupitably old bean. The answer lies in the soil.
I just got me broccoli and cauliflower in, the fruit trees are blossoming and little Zealandia birdies are paying their regular visit.
Email to RNZ this morning re; under reporting on Yemen…this should make their day.
Fairness and balance in reporting Yemen and Kim Griggs defending RNZ’s racial bias
Good morning
In an bizarre email exchange earlier this year with the producer of morning report Kim Griggs on this very subject, that producer actually told me at the end of that debate, that people preferred to see/hear stories on people in USA or Europe, to which I replied (in effect) that how would she know what NZ citizens want or not want to hear/see, because she has has never let a balanced world news cycle to exist, so there was nothing for RNZ listeners to compare it too…..
BTW if you know and understand that this is a serious problem of fairness and balance in reporting at RNZ..then change it!
anyway here are some excepts from that exchange….
Kim Griggs
“And no, we’re not racist but there are differences in news values
about deaths during annual monsoons, difficult as these are, versus
unexpected and catastrophic flooding of a large city not used to
flooding.
There are also issues about news production from one area versus the
other which is part and parcel of being part of the Western news
media.”
Adrian Thornton
Thanks for your reply, however Huston has had major floods over the
last three years, so this is not a completely unusual event there of
late, where as the floods in India, Bangladesh and Nepal are the worst
in 30 years, so are in fact an unusual event.
I of course understand your (RNZ) dilemma with being a ‘western’ media
source, however RNZ is the one place where this seemingly natural news
bias should be at it’s lest obvious, which I have to say it is often
not.
Kim Griggs,
“Adrian, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this.
Thirty years of experience in news tells me most people don’t care
about Bangladesh, more people care about Houston.
Right or wrong, it’s happened like that for years. For instance If you
can, without googling, name the ship involved in the deadliest
peacetime maritime disaster in history (and a hint – it’s not the
Titanic), I’ll listen to your arguments harder”.
Adrian Thornton.
I can’t remember it’s name off the top of my head, but I know that a
German troop ship carrying civilians sunk at the end of WW2 by a
Russian submarine is often cited as having the worst causality rate of
a ship lost at sea….no google involved.
I am sad to hear that you have succumbed to just answering the call of
essentially reinforcing the lowest common denominator in human
instinct, instead of helping to fellow citizens to look up higher,
which as I mentioned earlier, is what I thought high level public
funded news and reporting was all about…so I might just as well
listen to Mike Hosking’s then?
Kim Griggs,
“Not at all, it was a ferry in the Philippines. You probably don’t
recall because here in NZ no one took any notice of the fact four
thousand Filipinos had died – then or ever since.
And going back to the original message a) we are not racist and b) we
are not an educational service, we are a news service. As such we
follow the usual news values, which at the moment mean more people
care about Paris over Kenya, Houston over Bangladesh. It may be a sad
fact for you but it’s true.”
Adrian Thornton.
That’s a very strange analogy that you have used, surely you have just reinforced my position? isn’t this is the exact reason why RNZ should cover non european news in a more balanced way…I didn’t remember this tragedy probably because it was covered quite lightly considering it’s epic proportions at the time, whereas if this had happened in a western country I surely would have remembered it from the amount of coverage and human context you would have given it over a long time?
People can only care about what they are informed about (you don’t know what you don’t know), if you took time to humanize and contextualize a human from Bangladesh most other humans would relate to that person just as much as they would if the person was from France, but you never do so they never will have that chance…but that is your production choice not ours.
It is not sad for me personally because I try to take the time to stay informed, but it is sad for the citizens of NZ who trust you as their main news source.
BTW news and education are the same thing, well should be.
So there you have it..RNZ’s racial bias apparently explained.
Best
Adrian Thornton
Adrian T
You have taken this further than I have been able to. I have contacted RNZ
about this and received no answer,
When you get met with the sort of pomposity, complacency, calls to authority, history and precedent it is obvious as to how the recipients of complaints and requests for change view them.l
It is interesting to hear this media person quote that they are not concerned with being educative. In a world where every previoly held idea is being hung by its heels over a long drop, it is obvious that this is so far away from acceptable that one can’t touch wuch ideas with a continent-wide barge pole.
And going back to the original message a) we are not racist and b) we are not an educational service, we are a news service.
This bit about being a news service being totally self-explanatory is similar to the old idea in sociological research that they were completely scientific without bias. Except when women surveyed their modus operandi and choice of subject, they were pronounced thoroughly sexist and women were considered second-rate. So long-held myths confuse from all sides in every centre of thought and choice.
Interesting – Colin Peacock had a bit of a different take on things in Mediawatch (shame he isn’t Editor in Chief)
TRP (below) may be correct if you subscribe to the idea that a public service broadcaster should only be concerned with what’s popular.
It’s no wonder that some of NZ’s best (and others from that ‘Western media’) fuck off and join Aljazeera
I agree Ed, and well done Adrian. I’ve had a global view since I was a teenager in the sixties and often noticed the relative discounting of news from afar.
Dunno if you’d call this bias Eurocentric or pakeha-centric? A residue of colonialism? I give the RNZ producer credit for honesty though. Unusual, that.
@ Ed, I would be happy to put the whole exchange on a post if there was any interest, never done one before, so don’t know how to go about it, and I am not to tech savvy.
Hey, Adrian. If you’re keen, send the email exchange and your thoughts on it to me and I’ll turn it into a guest post. I’ll send you back a draft for your approval before publishing.
Reporting reflects readership (or in this case, listenership). For an item to be newsworthy it has to meet several tests, such as its impact on the audience (does it directly affect them), proximity (a plane crash in Norway vs a plane crash in Normanby), timeliness and currency (is it fresh, is it engaging?), are people we know or recognise involved (Johnny Depp snapped wearing an AB jersey vs 2nd division Romanian rugby team has bus accident).
There are quite a few principles or rules of newsworthiness that you could look up. They’ll help you understand why and how RNZ (and every other news service in the world) prioritises news. Hint, it’s not the news organisations’ ‘racism’, it’s the practical need to provide news that has value and engagement to the reader or listener.
Even better, enrol in a journalism 101 course. You’ll learn a lot about how the media works in quick time and you’ll be less likely in the future to fall in to Morrissey shaped holes when critiquing media output.
btw, there’s an old newspaper joke headline that goes something like this:
Thousands Killed in Indian Earthquake; One Briton Bruises Toe.
Correct. Only the successful ones share RNZ’s trajectory (and have been doing for hundreds of years).
News values are not exactly a secret; as I wrote, they are taught at beginner level in media studies. If you don’t understand the process, you’ll never be able to successfully critique it.
And, as an aside, there’s nothing racist in this approach. Media in Africa, or Asia, or the Americas all use the exact same principles. You’ll be hard pressed to find regular mention of NZ in overseas news outlets for exactly the same reason.
Racism? No; relevancy.
ps agree about Morrissey’s luminous qualities, and I’ll refrain from cheap jokes about the wattage of his bulb 😉
Er, I illustrated the actual process used for centuries in media, Ed. It’s nothing to do with university (though you can learn about it there). The guiding principles for media reporting are fundamentally unchanged over the years and if you understand them, you can understand why the responses from Kim Griggs are actually correct.
No need for uni, just google ‘newsworthy’. There’s a ton of guidance available. And once you’ve got your head around it, you’ll be able to contextualise media reporting from around the world a hell of a lot easier.
And once you know what the media are doing and why, then you have a basis for quality criticism.
Do they actually teach that Neoliberalism Bullshit at University, I did an Economics Degree at Lincoln University under Professor Bruce Ross, he subsequently joined the OECD and became one of the world’s leading agricultural economists.
We did papers on production economics, international economics & trading, farm management & production systems, financial & management accounting, so what is neoliberal economics ?
“News values are not exactly a secret; as I wrote, they are taught at beginner level in media studies………..”
They certainly are, as are other ideas (such as the news agenda, and gate-keeping) in the hope there’d be some critical thought.
Then there’s a Public Sphere in which people are exposed to other ideas and viewpoints, NOT solely those that an individual might solicit. When we only ever expose ourselves to that which we solicit, we end up living in our own little bubble.
Of course, given that much of what is taught in the (now) BUSINESS of education, where boxes are ticked, and it doesn’t matter if the Media 101 student has plagiarised, or not even written their own assignments, some have reason to worry about the state of our public media.
What I find most interesting in the Adrian Thornton/Kim Griggs exchange is the bit about “thirty years experience………..etc”. She must undoubtably know best.
As I said before, it’s no wonder why many of our best are fucking off to join the likes of Aljazeera.
But then I defer to you TRP – you’re the voice of reason.
@TRP,
I would expect nothing less from you……and here I was thinking that one of the key objectives of the progressive project was helping fellow citizens and one’s self to slowly progress toward evolving to something higher…you know a place where we can care as much about people in Africa as in the USA, as much about someone’s plight in South East Asia as we do about someone in the UK or NZ….maybe not in our life times, but through us standing up to and calling out blatant racism/sexism etc in whatever way we can, we try to make a difference…at lest that is what I think part of being a progressive means.
Obviously you think different, and that’s OK..in the words of Kim Griggs….
“we’ll have to agree to disagree on this.
” … here I was thinking that one of the key objectives of the progressive project was helping fellow citizens and one’s self to slowly progress toward evolving to something higher… ”
And that has precisiely nothing to do with RNZ. They don’t exist as part of a ‘progressive project’. They’re a state owned news outlet, broadly based on the BBC model, and utilising the common news gathering and broadcast methods of all other news outlets.
My take was that TRP wasn’t defending the status quo, merely describing it. Identifying the relevant teaching in media 1.01 explains why journos operate accordingly. Well to a large extent. Obviously supervision of those in the media organisation hierarchy reinforces adherence.
Most commentators believe leftists control & perpetuate education curricula according to the antique formula `those who can, do; those who can’t, teach’. Institutionalisation of the problem is the problem. A progressive agenda would include an education regime fit for purpose.
Then there’s the problem created by those calling out blatant racism/sexism: collateral damage caused by callers who get it wrong…
you know a place where we can care as much about people in Africa as in the USA
I do. I don’t really care about either. Their life and death have no effect upon me.
As TRP said – it’s all about relevancy.
Now, if the African states banded together and started wars the same way that the US does then I’d be interested. If African deaths were caused by US actions or vice versa I’d be interested.
These types of things are interesting as they require a country to respond to them in some way.
Bias can be shown in the MSM but not because they don’t report natural disasters. It’s because they’ll report a single Israeli death to Hamas missiles while the thousands of Palestinians killed by the IDF and Israeli settlers on Palestinian land either doesn’t get mentioned at all or its not more than a line or two.
It is not about relevance it is about balance, I get it that of course we would never have or maybe even want a 50/50 news balance re; west and the rest, but at the moment RNZ would be running on something like 90/10 or worse…I don’t know what the right balance is but it ain’t what it is now, that much is for sure.
No, it really is about relevance. They don’t have a lot of time to put things in and so things need to be prioritised and the simple fact is that things like death outside of the local is of no relevance whatsoever.
Hint, it’s not the news organisations’ ‘racism’, it’s the practical need to provide news that has value and engagement to the reader or listener.
As the way that media operate and have condensed is a change, so the way that media is taught and views itself has to change. It is no use repeating what has been the meme for years. Particularly as change is being thrust upon us because of our ineptitude of understanding received news in the past, and what has been chosen as suitable for us. (Patronising, even authoritarian.) And then there are the enormous number of things we don’t know that we don’t know.
I am interested in expanding my knowledge. It is facile to argue that news should be just about what is popular. Also that it is not educative. People read news to learn – at a populist level just what is going on in their everyday thought playpen, then those who want to be citizens read it to go further, and ask why is this going on and what ramifications does it have. When others choose the information to be presented people are being cheated of the opportunity to be informed people. Then you get bunches of prejudiced stuff flowing round in society that is all artificially flavoured but few will know what the reality looks and smells like.
I like Slavoj Zizek who presents constant clashes between what one thinks is known and his latest perception. He commented on a well-known speech from 2002 by then United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Rumsfeld stated:
Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones…..
(But there was more).
Psychoanalytic philosopher Slavoj Žižek says that beyond these three categories there is a fourth, the unknown known, that which we intentionally refuse to acknowledge that we know: “If *Rumsfeld thinks that the main dangers in the confrontation with Iraq were the ‘unknown unknowns’, that is, the threats from Saddam whose nature we cannot even suspect, then the Abu Ghraib scandal shows that the main dangers lie in the “unknown knowns”—the disavowed beliefs, suppositions and obscene practices we pretend not to know about, even though they form the background of our public values.”[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns
Ever heard of a Johari window? No. Oh that will be because some newsman decided it wasn’t new news that was fit to print.
For a Public Service Broadcaster, in an out-of-the-way place like NZ, not to be delivering a pathway to world news leads to our ignorance, our backwardness and our cringe mentality to ‘clever sophisticated people from overseas'[ which seems fairly well-embedded in us. FGS get off your cliche’s of merely following historical trends that don’t supply what we need in a fraught, taut, endangered and not well-informed nation – that has to change.
And those rules may have made sense in the 1950s where NZ was connected to England … and that was it. But NZ has Bangladeshis living here, it has Africans living here, we tend to be well travelled especially to south east Asia.
I was pretty shocked to hear (on media report on RNZ) that 1,000,000 Yemeni’s are likely to get cholera and that the Saudi’s have bombed the port that medical supplies come through. I had no idea the conflict was at that kind of scale.
The silence isn’t because it’s in part of the world that we are not interested in – it’s silence around who are doing the attacking and who are supplying the millitary equipment … and it’s not Russia.
I concur !! rnz seems to do a good job of giving us a very broad selection of music from around the world , and we get current affairs etc etc but the news as such is a few minutes of msm talking points WTF ??just the same as the crap on tv Does the rnz newsroom not contain any actual journalists ?To make a food analogy its like a constant diet of luncheon sausage and boiled veges and like a row of blackbirds with gaping beaks we,re expected to swallow the spoon fed proffering !!Im sure TRP,s explanation is accurate but it still feels patronising or in this case matronising !!
I too appreciate you sharing your exchange Adrian, thanks, it is an interesting subject.
I’m not fond of the picket up my bum but I find myself on the fence. When I strip down my personal take on newsworthiness I am more inclined to want to hear more about my neighbour that got struck with lightning than 1000 drowning in Dunedin. Ideally, like you Adrian, I feel that an insight into both events is both attainable and desirable.
In the media smorgasbord we live in I feel a handle on the world view I’m after is attainable but it’s all down to my searching and clicking. Read 3 lines in a Herald World News round-up and go searching for an English spoken Bangladesh TV report.
Wallace talking to Bill Bailey about everything. Wonderful humorous thoughtful intelligent and with interesting comment on England. Bill talks about going round some areas of England and the sad state of boarding up they show wth nothing much to notice except some tech shop. And the government obsessed in trying to make sense over Brexist with things being on hold there which the country needs to attend to. The place sounds in a state of paralysis, and the mind boggles about what will happen when final dates arrive and some areas will just close down.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018657732/bill-bailey-comic-stand-up-who-loves-sup
Bill Bailey’s a man of many talents. As well as making people laugh, he’s an enthusiastic stand-up paddle boarder, passionate conservationist, accomplished musician and an author. He’s back in New Zealand in September with his Earl of Whimsy show which features tales of Britain’s fortunes past and present. He shares his thoughts on many things from Brexit to the best places in the world to paddle board.
Is Jeremy Corbyn’s “anti-Semitism Crisis” a Smear Campaign?
‘UK Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is accused of presiding over a surge of anti-Semitism inside the Labour Party. Author Norman Finkelstein and British scholar Jamie Stern-Weiner say that Corbyn’s foes have cynically concocted a fake scandal to sabotage his progressive agenda and support for Palestinian rights’
Too bad Finkelstein’s microphone/acoustics rendered him mostly incomprehensible, but you get the general picture. Seems worse than a smear campaign when you factor in some of the other reports from recent times. Anybody interested in the extent to which the Israel lobby is operated like a gutting knife in the body of the British Labour Party ought to read this expert commentary & analysis: https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2018-08-08/labour-crisis-israel-anti-semitism/
The party exec committee is looking like a robot with a ray-gun having taken a hit to its control system, gone rogue & now zapping its members with random bursts. Now jews are subdividing themselves into good jews & bad jews!!
Corbyn can support Israel as a whole (including all the Druze and Arabs who are such significant minorities), if he opposes the destructive Netanyahu-affiliated parties and government, and finds common cause engaging with Israel’s own Labor Party and its own potential coalition.
Depends on Winston. As usual. Trotter has to maintain industry to get his columns published in our dwindling newspaper pool. That requires constant conjuring up of new angles from which to view stuff.
13.5% wage drop. Such great times we live in, the greedy got get their fix, and workers are where they getting it, by keeping wages low. How about you just stop. STOP. it’s a simple message, no fighting, no struggle, just stop engaging with this system built on greed and exploitation.
“I know multiple people who have applied to work in the mines, myself included, and get rejected, so it’s not that Aussies don’t want them, it’s that the mining company’s don’t want Aussies,” Stuart Lightman added.
As more migrant workers are flown in to pick up mining jobs, conditions and pay have also begun to deteriorate.
According to Ryan, he and his friends were only out there for the money, which isn’t what it used to be.
Are we truly surprised that big business is lying so as to lower wages and conditions?
The first step in tackling a problem is identifying it. That’s the thinking behind a new effort from the Ad Council and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence designed to promote gun safety in the home.
The organizations today are introducing a new term: “family fire,” aimed at preventing shootings that result from improperly stored weapons or misuse of firearms in households.
The idea for “family fire” takes inspiration from now familiar terms that have helped to address other epidemics in our country: secondhand smoke, designated driver, friendly fire. “Our goal is to make ‘family fire’ a part of the vernacular in an attempt to change behavior and save lives,” says Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council
Turkey’s financial troubles started off as currency issues, and now they’re afflicted with the same woes that sank Greece, debt and liquidity.
The most immediate issue for Turkish policy makers is the financial system, which is exposed to interest- and exchange-rate shocks. Four people with knowledge of the matter said the banking regulator had scheduled calls with some banks on Saturday after asking them to study the potential impact. The regulator, known as BDDK in Turkish, said there was no meeting scheduled for Saturday and that the reviews were routine.
“This is a textbook currency crisis that’s morphing into a debt and liquidity crisis due to policy mistakes,” said Win Thin, a strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. “The way things are going, markets need to be prepared for a hard landing in the economy, corporate defaults on foreign currency debt, and possible bank failures.”
“It’s well known that the racist news website wizard and former Trump confidante Steve Bannon, currently planning a pan-global far-right resurgence called The Motion, was inspired by Jean Raspail’s controversial 1973 French science-fiction novel The Camp of the Saints, which uses an invasion of western Europe by disenchanted brown people from below the equator as a satire of white European privilege and colonial guilt.
But is it possible that Bannon’s current championing of the sunbed magnate and mortgage fraudster Tommy Robinson as “the backbone” of the UK has been inspired by his acquaintance with a less well-known piece of fascist-flavoured fiction?
The Canadian alcoholic Richard Allen is thought to have written 290 novels in his lifetime, and between 1970 and 1980 he penned 18 violent books set in the milieu of Britain’s fractious youth culture, such as Skinhead, Skinhead Escapes, Skinhead Returns, and the martial arts-themed Taekwondo Skinhead…
… Indeed, Steve Bannon seems to be carrying vast sections of dialogue from The Right Honourable Skinhead around in his head, which spill unbidden from his careless face. Bannon said, off-air, to the LBC presenter Theo Usherwood, who had queried his support for Tommy Robinson, “Fuck you. Don’t you fucking say you’re calling me out. You fucking liberal elite. Tommy Robinson is the backbone of this country.”
And on page 103 of The Right Honourable Skinhead, the news magnate Steve Mannon, Robbie Tomlinson’s chief cheerleader, who differs only from Steve Bannon in that he is a Welsh born-again Christian, addresses radio presenter Leo Isherwood thus, “Flip you, boyo! Don’t you flipping say you’re calling me out. You flipping liberal elite. Robbie Tomlinson is the backbone of this country, by which I mean the whole UK not just Wales.””
Not much on how women are faring, but anyhoo, read it and weep.
The decimation of Syria’s male population represents, arguably, the most fundamental shift in the country’s social fabric. As a generation of men has been pared down by death, disability, forced displacement and disappearance, those who remain have largely been sucked into a violent and corrupting system centered around armed factions.
An Alawi family in a coastal village provides a window into the ravaged state of Syria’s male population, even in territory that has remained firmly under government control. Of three brothers, one was killed in battle, a second paralyzed by a bullet to the spine, and a third—an underpaid, 30-year-old civil servant—lives in fear of conscription. Their mother summed up her plight:
We’re tired of war. I gave one martyr, and another son is half-dead. The youngest might be drafted at any moment. I hope for god to end this war; the graveyards are filled with young men.
Good Morning The Am Show Duncan good interview with the science professor John about round up weed killer the owners of that prouduct were cheating and manipulating the data we can not trust there prouduct use all chemicals with causation ban the stuff and come up with some kiwi innovation was to control weed’s
Why did the council not have people on the ground check farms for environmental breaches because shonky backed the GDP money over the enviroment we leave for the mokopuna’s future I could see that happening right before my eyes .
This is letting everyone know how Great tangata whenua O Atearoa Culture really is around Papatuanuku ka pai to who stirred this subject of OUR Haka UP.
Ka kite ano
This is what I say about research data follow the mone and you will be able to see if the subject’s data is being manipulated to suit the mone men’s goal of selling more lie’s to us. The link is below
Huge alcohol clinical trial collapses. ka kite ano
Good morning Newshub Ana to kai national
Aretha Franklin is a exceptional musician one of the best condolences to her whano/family.
Is that evedince for you 2 Europeen boys running Dairy farms were are the tangata whenua farm managers they are younger my sons.????????????? Am I imagineing it all. That it’s 10x harder for tangata whenua to get good well paying jobs.
P.S we served our apprenticeship time in the Dairy industry. Its good that the council are going to check dairy farms effluent systems. You know how it is the many make sure they abide buy the rule and respect the environment and a small % don’t give a toss about the environment those are the idiots that ruin it for the majority OF of farmers. Aotearoa dollar is one of the most trusted traded dollar on Papatuanukue trump won’t shake the Papatuanukue to much his rich M8 will lose to much mone.
I’M a big Cliff Curtis and Jason stratham Fan I liked The Dark Horse.
Is Koepka a tangata whenua of America great golfing. Alex We hope we get some warm weather soon Ka kite ano
Good evening The Crowd goes Wild James and Mulls look like Wendy and her team m8 had a bit of fun after winning the net ball competition.
I tryed to find out Brook Koepka culture can’t find any thing on that subject. The Warriors are doing fine
Ka kite ano P.S the sandflys are grasping at straws of – – – lol
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...
The Committee of Disobedient Women has intercepted an email from Dr Emma Eejut, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Massey University to the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas. Dear Jan, Thank you for your courageous move. I think 10 pages of blether** should tie any of the students game enough to try holding ...
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...
NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...
Behrouz Boochani is an award winning author and journalist. He is also a refugee, who for the past six years has been detained in Australia's offshore gulag on Manus Island, and in Papua New Guinea. But last night, with the cooperation of the WORD Christchurch festival and Amnesty International, he ...
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...
Protective Zone: Reading the rules and guidelines released by Massey University, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that its governing body considers the whole concept of free speech a disruptive threat to the orderly imparting of orthodox academic knowledge.IN TRUE ORWELLIAN fashion, Massey University has announced its commitment to ...
Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
Winston Peters is in court today, suing a bunch of former Minister and civil servants over their pre-election leak of his superannuation repayment. He's characterised the leak as malicious, and said that it is repugnant that his information was passed on to Ministers to use for political advantage. And he's ...
Murray CoxDo I have to finish my favourite genome? That’s an often-asked question. Geneticists generally strive to produce high-quality genomes that sequence every last gene, making full use of the state-of-the-art technologies coming on stream. Sequencing DNA means determining the order of the four chemical building blocks – called ...
Transformative Politics: The idea is to turn each recipient into an unwitting accomplice in their own transformation. From interested observer to hyped-up activist, sharing our messages promiscuously with ‘friends’. You’ll be part of an ever-expanding circulatory system, Jennifer, for the ideas that will win us the election.”JENNIFER SKITTERED her chair ...
The boycott is a fundamental tool of protest. By choosing who we buy from, we can send a message, and hopefully change corporate behaviour. Historically, boycotts have been effective, for example over apartheid in South Africa and Israel, in forcing divestment from Myanmar, and in ending bus segregation in the ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence Minister of Defence Ron Mark will today launch the Advancing Pacific Partnerships 2019 Defence Assessment during a speech at Te Papa. The Assessment outlines how Defence will partner with our Pacific Island neighbours and invest in Pacific regional security architecture. The Plan aligns with the Coalition ...
A new Provincial Growth Fund investment could create about 80 new jobs in Gisborne over the next two years, turning a local small business into a “beacon of employment” in the process. Regional Economic Development Parliamentary Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau said the PGF’s Te Ara Mahi funding stream would provide $1.6m ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
The Treasury’s 2019 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) will be released on Wednesday December 11, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Coalition Government will publish the 2020 Budget Policy Statement at the same time, outlining the priorities for Budget 2020. Further details on arrangements for the release will ...
A new initiative to better support small businesses through hands-on mentoring and advice has been launched by the Minister for Small Business. The first event in the Kiwi Business Boost series of regional workshops and online tools has been launched in Wairoa by Stuart Nash. “The Business Boost initiative combines ...
The latest Quarterly Connectivity Report shows that more and more New Zealanders are moving to Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB), with Rolleston having the highest uptake at 74 per cent, as at the end of September. “This means that nearly three quarters of Rolleston’s households and businesses have moved to ultra-fast services. ...
The passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill will help ensure a safe planet for our kids and grandkids, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said today. The landmark legislation which provides a framework to support New Zealanders to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects ...
The review of Oranga Tamariki practice around the planned uplift of a Hastings baby in May shows significant failings by the Ministry and that the planned and funded changes to shift from a child crisis service to a proper care and protection service need to be accelerated, Children’s Minister Tracey ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has wished students the best of luck for this year’s NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams which start tomorrow. Around 140,000 students will have participated in 119 NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams by the end of the exam period on 3 December. “I want to ...
Government has announced a raft of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Minister has said he does not want to be seen to unduly punishing landlords. These changes do more than punish landlords however. They will punish anyone living next ...
Democracy under Fire on Firearms Law Reform - COLFO SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2019 The Government supposedly wants to “hear from all New Zealanders” about firearms law reform – unless you happen to be a licenced firearms owner. ...
From Monday 18 November New Zealand women are working for free until the end of the year because of the gender pay imbalance between men and women. ...
Award-winning investigative team Stuff Circuit is releasing its most hard-hitting documentary yet, exposing a secret the NZ Defence Force doesn’t want Kiwis to know. ...
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...
US Trumpian Inspired Rhetoric From Anti-Trans Group Not a Good Fit with Nz Society Trans-rights support groups around the country have been dismayed by recent divisive and repellent comments by Stand Up For Women (SUFW), a group calling itself feminist ...
Sam Brooks reviews the third season of The Crown, a show that can’t decide whether it wants to humanise the monarchy or tear it all down.This review contains very mild spoilers for world history, 1964-1977.Three seasons in, there’s no doubt that The Crown is the, well, crown jewel in Netflix’s ...
An easy, flavour-packed noodle recipe from Bounty – Cooking With Vegetables, the new cookbook from national food education charity the Garden to Table Trust.The fresh flavours of these noodles are less complex than many Thai dishes, as the simple spice paste uses just a few ingredients. If you’d rather not ...
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...
With the 2020 cannabis referendum fast approaching, New Zealanders have a unique opportunity to let the government know what they want from drug reform. It will then be up to our policy makers to decide whether drug reform will focus on changing outcomes for those struggling under historically racist policy.By ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
Hayden Donnell looks for inspiration and innovation on how to house the city’s future.Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan has enabled a building boom. More than 14,600 building consents were issued in the city in the year to September. Despite that, houses remain extremely expensive and out-of-reach for many first home buyers. ...
Simon Shepherd: David Seymour's euthanasia bill passed this week, and next week he will be putting the finishing touches on his next bill. Is he just a very hard-working politician or is this the longest one-person election campaign known to mankind? ...
Simon Shepherd: It's Transgender Awareness Week, the same week a feminist group, Speak Up For Women, has brought Megan Murphy from Canada to speak in New Zealand. Murphy is a radical feminist who believes trans women aren't women, views that have ...
As a follow-up to our post about police station office hours for the public and in the cause of balance, we bring positive news – or rather, we are passing on the positive news which the police delivered in a press statement, It’s all about the productivity gains achieved – it ...
Books editor Catherine Woulfe follows Wellington author Lawrence Patchett into his extraordinary story of heat and humanity and history repeating. The Burning River begins like the best kind of yarn. “Someone had been there. Someone strange. In the centre of his camp, a new circle of sooted rocks. A campfire, with ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in BrisbaneMelanesian Media Freedom Forum – Day two –The second day of the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum began with praise for the work of young Pacific journalists by Professor David Robie and ended with a warning that threats to journalism in the ...
In this special episode of The Real Pod, brought to you by Nando’s, we chat to the champions of My Restaurant Rules NZ 2019.In the afterglow of Rustic Kitchen’s historic win on My Restaurant Rules NZ, Duncan and Alex got on the blower with Tyson and Denise. Then we forgot ...
Hannah Kronast attends a women’s empowerment panel focused on the huge disparities in training and employment within science and technology. In the far back left-hand corner of a women’s equality and empowerment event, a male stuck up his hand. “What can men do to help?” he asked.It was at a panel ...
Our recent Spinoff Art survey provided a snapshot on gender equality in the local art scene, but it wasn’t the full story. Anna Knox continues the conversation by asking some gallery owners and directors for their responses to our findings.The Spinoff’s survey of gender bias in visual arts found that ...
Based on their study of trans wellbeing Aotearoa, the research team at Counting Ourselves find six data points that highlight the strength of our trans and non-binary community.Last month the first comprehensive national survey on transgender health and wellbeing in Aotearoa was published by the academics and researchers at Counting ...
The SpinoffBy Dr Jaimie Veale, Jack Byrne and Ahi Wi-Hongi
Ten thousand years ago, roasted hares and figs were flat-layed on Levantine flax leaves. Now, we drape prosciutto over strawberries on computer desks. Josie Adams mourns the death of the platter.Three days ago I stumbled on an accidental recreation of a 1950s platter: a giant ham, a cake that was ...
India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains.It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoff Crisp discusses the the week in politics the government’s response to the bush fires as well as the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. They also talk about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The proposed acquisition of infant formula producer Bellamy’s Australia Ltd by China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited has been given approval by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Strict, legally enforceable conditions, have been set by the treasurer, which ...
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is condemning the All Saints Day evening raid on 31 October. With the arrest of over 60 union organisers, human rights defenders and activists in the Philippines province of Negros. The 16th of November is an international ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Assistant professor, University of Canberra What’s happening? Suddenly, at the level of central banks, Australia is regarded as an investment risk. On Wednesday Martin Flodén, the deputy governor of Sweden’s central bank, announced that because Australia and Canada were “not ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in Brisbane Opening session – Day OneThe problems of operating in the Pacific and the impact of online news and the emergence of ‘citizen journalists’ were common concerns for all delegates to this week’s Melanesian Media Freedom Forum.The forum, held at Griffith ...
Standoff between protesters and the police at Yeung Uk Road, Hong Kong. Image by Studio Incendo – 20190825 Tsuen Wan March. CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81751531.The recent surge in social protests world-wide is quantitatively and qualitatively different than in previous ages. The advent of individualised mass communications technologies and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is going to start asking internet service providers to block certain offshore gambling websites. The decision follows former New South Wales premier ...
The Zero Carbon Act (ZCA) is over a week old, but it’s still being heavily debated and analysed. After all, depending on who you listen to, it’s the most significant new law of the year, of this Government, or even of some people’s lifetime. And it deals with a giant ...
Green MP and refugee Golriz Ghahraman was there last night when the former Manus Island detainee and acclaimed writer arrived in New Zealand.Last night, quietly and without fanfare a small group made up of human rights activists, literary folk, and just two journalists, came together at Auckland Airport to welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra D’urso, Researcher, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne To perform an exit is not as simple as it sounds. In fact, exiting a situation can be almost impossible for some. Exit Strategies is a new production by indie performer and theatre ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niro Kandasamy, Tutor, University of Melbourne Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation If you have kids, chances are you’ve worried about their presence on social media. Who are they talking to? What are they posting? Are they being bullied? Do they spend too much time on it? ...
New Zealand Police has won a prestigious World Class Policing Award for its ‘more street than station approach’ Mobility programme, which has saved millions of hours of officers’ time. ...
SEA-Unite SkyCity workers are expected to strike this weekend after 50 called in sick with symptoms linked to smoke inhalation from the convention centre fire. ...
In a powerful rebuff to critics who question whether the prime minister is willing to use her political capital, this morning she powerfully demonstrated her commitment to New Zealand culture.For two years, my professional life has been devoted to winning respect for the lowbrow, beaten-up, off-brand artefacts that truly define ...
MPs and staffers will likely begin moving out of their Bowen House offices over the next six months, so the building can undergo earthquake strengthening work. ...
The party that sold off the BNZ, NZ Rail, Petrocorp, Postbank, the Shipping Corporation, Air New Zealand, the State Insurance Office, the Tourist Hotel Corporation and a host of other New Zealand assets is at it again – with the assistance of its coalition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trent Penman, Associate professor, University of Melbourne As sure as night follows day, this week’s bushfires prompted inevitable debate about whether fire authorities should have carried out more hazard reduction burning, and whether opposition from conservationists prevented this. There are two key ...
A new poem by writer and performer Freya Daly Sadgrove.TURDUCKEN I blow my body around like the huge clump of brown hairthat I once saw blowing up Cuba StreetI follow its movements with interestI put a video of it on the internet my favourite bragis that a groundskeeper ...
PHARMAC has backed down on a controversial drug brand switch affecting patients with epilepsy and mental health conditions after three people died following the change. ...
Tara Ward reviews Goodnight Kiwi, a new series that features well-known New Zealanders reading bedtime stories to kids. It’s strange to think that New Zealand television wasn’t always the 24-hour, infomercial-tastic extravangza that it is today. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, our televisions used to go dark every night at ...
FIRST Union members at Countdown have ratified a new agreement that will set their supermarket team on a path towards a living wage, and significantly raise the pay of 15,000 workers across the country. ...
13 moments that prove the music awards are so much > than all other award showsBENEE cleaned up, every performance was somewhere between an eight and a ten, there was an unfeasible quantity of award presenter awkwardness and many nights ended very late. The music awards are over 50 and ...
While the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission are examining whether New Zealand laws properly balance the issues of freedom of speech and hate speech (whatever that might be), taxpayers are helping to finance Chinese propaganda. Hateful propaganda, we suggest. The Screen Production Grant has handed a $243,000 subsidy to a ...
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.Media Peter Thompson (Stuff): A new model for public media – but have the old ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin $35)“Olive struggles to figure herself out, and has an urgent ...
After more than seven months of trying to end a tenancy to protect neighbours, a Rotorua property manager has finally received approval from the High Court to end the tenancy. ...
We agree with the Ombudsman Peter Boshier in his new report on councils QUOTE ; “leaders, officials lack of action to "ensure an approach is adopted that is consistent with openness and transparency" Un-quote. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00186/chief-ombudsman-new-report-wakeup-call-for-council-leaders.htm ...
Māori food systems are rich with potential, and whānau-based food producers across the country are looking to traditional ways to ensure their communities thrive in the future. Alice Neville reports from the Eat New Zealand Food Hui.In recent years there has been much talk – in food business, hospitality, tourism ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) commends the Government’s proposal to take school zoning responsibilities out of the hands of school boards and principals and instead have these taken up by a new Education Service Agency. ...
SINGAPORE, Nov 15, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Global BioLife Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore eDevelopment Ltd (SeD), will present its 3F Antimicrobial Fragrance as a new method to prevent and treat Tuberculosis at the ASM Biothreats Conference, ...
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...
Responding to news that the Screen Production Grant handed a $243,000 subsidy to a propaganda film produced by Chinese state-owned enterprises, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Louis Houlbrooke says: “Taxpayers have all been made complicit ...
The campaign to take more colour coded bins into the regions has been developed by The Packaging Forum which promotes recycling under the Government’s Love NZ brand and The Auckland Litter Prevention Steering Group which manages the Be a Tidy Kiwi ...
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodie Bradby, Professor of Physics, Australian National University There’s a lot of uncertainty in a research career. Most funding – and most jobs – are doled out by the project, or in chunks of a few years at a time. Recently, however, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney The Australian government has indicated that “diaspora communities” are crucial to Australia’s public diplomacy mission to promote the country abroad. It has also identified online and social media as essential ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bright, Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University For many parents whose teenage children are completing Year 12, this time of year means mixed emotions. Parents might feel proud, exhausted and excited. And as young people start heading to schoolies and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heiko Timmers, Associate Professor of Physics, School of Science, UNSW Canberra, UNSW Much is made of the “next generation” of nuclear reactors in the debate over nuclear power in Australia. They are touted as safer than older reactors, and suitable for helping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fran Gale, Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare, School of Social Science and Psychology, Western Sydney University Children are too rarely asked their perspectives on public spaces. Traditionally, adults make choices for children, particularly about how they live and play. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW What do a billionaire, a former vice president, and a US democratic socialist have to do with Australia’s nearly three-decade run of economic growth? More than you might think. The race for the Democratic Party’s 2020 ...
Open Mike 12/08/2018 
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And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
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Looks like the property market has stalled, the Herald is trying to pimp it again;
“Aucklander, 21, already owns 11 properties around New Zealand ”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12102563
The abridged version: You too can be rich…. if your parents can (and will) bankroll you.
All they really achieve there is to highlight the inequality in this country IMO.
The NZ Herald purveyors of property porn since……..forever
Yeah, they must really need the advertising revenue from the real estate industry.
Because real estate has sadly become one of the pillars of New Zealand’s FIRE economy.
Finance
Insurance
and
Real Estate
35 years of neoliberalism……
And he will be in deep dodah if/when the interest rates increase by a couple of % and or the properties drop in value.
The way the article reads 10 of the properties were bought with 100% mortgage based on increased valuations.
Greed.
The epitome of the Randian cult.
Ed, it could also be related to fear, especially for those who think the social contract between government and the public has been broken. They don’t want to be left vulnerable to life’s unknowables, and tax, investment and housing policy has all contributed to housing being a proven investment for those with capital.
We shouldn’t blame individuals when policy decisions are incentivising such behaviour.
Good point
Interestingly the Herald chooses not to be precise about the amount the rich boy got off his parents.
A key detail without which the story is utterly meaningless.
Yeah they were certainly a bit vague on the details weren’t they.
It’s the parents guaranteeing the loan that tells the main story. No typical 18yr old can walk in to the bank and get a mortgage like that.
Ah, the Herald propagandising for the bludgers.
If always stalls at this time of year because houses always look nicer when the sun is shining. The prime time for selling is after Labour weekend so people who want to sell and can wait, will wait till then.
We are seeing evidence of catastrophic climate change across the planet.
We are seeing rampant inequality in the world.
And yet helipads and the Haka is what the Herald decides is news.
The media is a significant part of the media/military/industrial complex which will see life extinguished on this Earth rather than abandon capitalism.
What is rampant inequality?
See #3 below
Pay attention Gosman
@Gosman
Rampant inequality looks a lot like this…
Statistics New Zealand, this report is from 2007, and as we all know this social obscenity has mushroomed since, especially under the government of John Key.
“Wealth disparity persists in New Zealand, as in other societies. Disparity in wealth holdings is of significant interest in respect of its implications for health outcomes, economic and social well being, opportunities for social participation, ability to withstand life-shocks, and so on.”
http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Families/wealth-and-disparities-in-new-zealand.aspx
or this
‘10% richest Kiwis own 60% of NZ’s wealth’
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/307458/10-percent-richest-kiwis-own-60-percent-of-nz%27s-wealth
or maybe this
‘Rich man, poor man: inequality gap grew in 2017, Oxfam report reveal’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/100751224/rich-man-poor-man-inequality-gap-grew-in-2017-oxfam-report-reveals
Umm… That might define inequality but you haven’t explained why it is rampant? What makes the level of inequality in NZ rampant?
Do your own research.
Pay attention Gosman
The global economic war has begun!!!
We are very clearly in a better position to weather the economic storm now appearing with a Labour lead Government with us than having another “sell all to the lowest bidder “John -Key-ism” capitalist carpetbagger government as they would give the whole country to China at the blink of the eye.
Best we keep a socialist government in power at this ‘transitional time’ as the US did in the last depression under FDR.
“Economic Collapse Is Coming! China ‘Weaponize’ Yuan For Dollar Collapse – 2018 Stock Market CRASH!”
you really are a heartless scoundrel. Only a real scumbag would reflect on the level of homelessness in NZ, look at the mansions and empty houses, and decide that the pressing issue is whether the correct description of the level of inequality is “rampant”, or maybe “rife”, or simply “intolerable”.
Some days you just really make me want to puke.
Boo hoo. Given inequality is “rampant” it is obviously the number one priority of the current left leaning Government. What policies are they implementing that will immediately address this problem?
Only national promise magic wand solutions. In the real world, repairing the damage caused by people like you takes longer than you take to damage it in the first place. And so many problems are rampant, in any normal human use of the word.
People sleep in the goddamned street in NZ. Not just a few, either (as if that would make it any better). Not only do you not care, your “boo hoo” and party-political point-scoring suggest that you don’t even think you should care about anyone else’s misery.
Hell is a myth invented in the dim hope that unregenerate fuckwits like you would at least pretend to act like normal, caring human beings, on the off-chance that it’s real.
Fixing inequality is easy. Higher income taxes and a wealth tax. That doesn’t take much more than a single budget cycle.
It’s a start.
What does the government do with the cash?
How do you judge “taxable income” vs “wealth”?
How do you close loopholes like corporate or trust beneficiaries/expenses?
How do we know that what might be a magic want now will be less applicable in, say, a highly automated society with high unemployment?
Jeez, even your trite solution becomes less simple very quickly. Maybe we should have some sort of working party look at it with official advice for all the various options. I think that’s already started.
What does the Government do with the cash?!? I can’t believe I read that comment from a lefty. I thought there was a huge list of areas of under investment that was crying out for funding.
How about instead of a working group you propose actual policies.
Start by reading the 2017 manifestos of the Labour and Green parties.
While you’re at it, get a dictionary and find out what “rampant” means.
has been done, NZ pre 1984…and its progressive taxation rather than increased.
Whatever. The point is it is easy enough to implement so why isn’t the current Government implementing it?
might have something to do with the pledge not to alter taxation this parliamentry term
Because of pricks like you trying to point score and derail every goddamn conversation about inequality for literally years – even a decade in your individual case. If the search engine were running I’d bring up some debates we had back when the nats were a young and fresh government and you reckoned everything was fine. Now that it’s someone else’s problem, you’re happy to provide half-arsed suggestions on how to fix the damage.
Are you claiming my arguments are somehow powerful enough that they have the ability to slow the implementation of urgently needed policies to tackle inequality?
not you by yourself.
Just you and pricks like you. As Marx basically said, the mediocrities who manage to thrive better then most under capitalism will fight to preserve what little advantage they have, thereby serving the interests of the true profiteers of the system.
You, Gosman, are an excellent example of the alienation that capitalism causes, a fracturing of the natural human connections within society. But you are merely one amongst thousands, if not millions.
But united we stand McFlock!
How ironic that the power of collective action is defeated by collective resistance.
Not collective resistance.
Fractured, alienated, individual small-mindedness. Hordes of nasty little egoists convinced that they’re better than most other people, little realising that they’ll always just be the expendable pawns of capitalists, thrown just enough crumbs to keep them ravenous.
People like Donald Brash & John Key were the ultimate magician’s, they could just wave their magic wands around and everything was fixed in a jiffy, it was like watching everyone being sprinkled with pixie shit.
“The Art of the Illusion?”
Have you seen Adrian’s response below?
As you asked, it might be nice to respond.
Zzzzzzz….
What evidence do you have for the claim that climate change will “see life extinguished on this Earth”? Sounds like bullshit to me.
Of course it would to you.
Maybe you should read a bit more widely.
Did you see Bill’s post the other day?
Beyond that, I am not doing the research for you.
So i think you meant to say “some life forms”. It would not be possible for it to “extinguish life”.
Thank you Ed.
What are you thanking him for?
You really don’t like alternative viewpoints, do you?
You sound like the playground bully the way you stamp on other people’s comments.
So you do really think that climate change can extinguish life on earth? So i say again, where is your evidence? What is your argument? That position is certainly not supported by Bill’s last post and that is the only thing you have referenced.
You do understand that it was the processes of life that put the carbon in the ground in the first place?
Climate Change is a serious issue, talking nonsense is not helpful.
Zzzzzzzz
The question seems valid one. Simply because you can’t be bothered backing up your claim does not invalidate it.
Yawn…
As usual you are not prepared to back up what you say. It is all just propaganda. All you really do here is fart.
We all fart, and Ed’s ‘farts’ have value.
It’s possible that man-made climate change will extinguish all capitalism on Earth, but prokaryotes at least would survive.
Then just wait a billion years or so for the farting to begin again. Humans – so smart (we fart), so slow to learn.
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.“
You are a bully.
A pity ed didnt just say ,’ha yeah you’re correct I didn’t mean extinguish ALL life but rather all HUMAN life. Thanks for pointing out my hyperbole.
But no we don’t get that do we.
If that is what he actually thinks. It is often hard to be sure with Ed. But yeh, most of us just laugh it off when we get our words wrong.
And so this has happened.
Lady with 3 kids living IN A NZ SHANTY TOWN.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/106078431/the-shanty-town-of-wanaka
I bet they get booted or their illegal (but necessary) structures get torched soon given that tourist $$$$ and visual impact matters more than people.
Yeah no crisis at all
Albert Town Community Association chairman Jim Cowie.
I think this gentleman is about to offer to personally put up some of the people in this camping ground about which he is expressing distaste. And he is going to reach out to the community to share space in their back yard and use of facilities so that those suffering from lust for money and lack of kindness and good planning will be able to remedy their faults in a practical and helpful manner.
/Not
What a sparkly gardening day
Indupitably old bean. The answer lies in the soil.
I just got me broccoli and cauliflower in, the fruit trees are blossoming and little Zealandia birdies are paying their regular visit.
Indupitably.. lovely word. I like it.
Best Ms Alyokhina be careful, because, you know, accidental suicide is a thing.
https://www.thecut.com/2018/08/pussy-riot-smuggled-russia-music-festival.html
Email to RNZ this morning re; under reporting on Yemen…this should make their day.
Fairness and balance in reporting Yemen and Kim Griggs defending RNZ’s racial bias
Good morning
In an bizarre email exchange earlier this year with the producer of morning report Kim Griggs on this very subject, that producer actually told me at the end of that debate, that people preferred to see/hear stories on people in USA or Europe, to which I replied (in effect) that how would she know what NZ citizens want or not want to hear/see, because she has has never let a balanced world news cycle to exist, so there was nothing for RNZ listeners to compare it too…..
BTW if you know and understand that this is a serious problem of fairness and balance in reporting at RNZ..then change it!
anyway here are some excepts from that exchange….
Kim Griggs
“And no, we’re not racist but there are differences in news values
about deaths during annual monsoons, difficult as these are, versus
unexpected and catastrophic flooding of a large city not used to
flooding.
There are also issues about news production from one area versus the
other which is part and parcel of being part of the Western news
media.”
Adrian Thornton
Thanks for your reply, however Huston has had major floods over the
last three years, so this is not a completely unusual event there of
late, where as the floods in India, Bangladesh and Nepal are the worst
in 30 years, so are in fact an unusual event.
I of course understand your (RNZ) dilemma with being a ‘western’ media
source, however RNZ is the one place where this seemingly natural news
bias should be at it’s lest obvious, which I have to say it is often
not.
Kim Griggs,
“Adrian, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this.
Thirty years of experience in news tells me most people don’t care
about Bangladesh, more people care about Houston.
Right or wrong, it’s happened like that for years. For instance If you
can, without googling, name the ship involved in the deadliest
peacetime maritime disaster in history (and a hint – it’s not the
Titanic), I’ll listen to your arguments harder”.
Adrian Thornton.
I can’t remember it’s name off the top of my head, but I know that a
German troop ship carrying civilians sunk at the end of WW2 by a
Russian submarine is often cited as having the worst causality rate of
a ship lost at sea….no google involved.
I am sad to hear that you have succumbed to just answering the call of
essentially reinforcing the lowest common denominator in human
instinct, instead of helping to fellow citizens to look up higher,
which as I mentioned earlier, is what I thought high level public
funded news and reporting was all about…so I might just as well
listen to Mike Hosking’s then?
Kim Griggs,
“Not at all, it was a ferry in the Philippines. You probably don’t
recall because here in NZ no one took any notice of the fact four
thousand Filipinos had died – then or ever since.
And going back to the original message a) we are not racist and b) we
are not an educational service, we are a news service. As such we
follow the usual news values, which at the moment mean more people
care about Paris over Kenya, Houston over Bangladesh. It may be a sad
fact for you but it’s true.”
Adrian Thornton.
That’s a very strange analogy that you have used, surely you have just reinforced my position? isn’t this is the exact reason why RNZ should cover non european news in a more balanced way…I didn’t remember this tragedy probably because it was covered quite lightly considering it’s epic proportions at the time, whereas if this had happened in a western country I surely would have remembered it from the amount of coverage and human context you would have given it over a long time?
People can only care about what they are informed about (you don’t know what you don’t know), if you took time to humanize and contextualize a human from Bangladesh most other humans would relate to that person just as much as they would if the person was from France, but you never do so they never will have that chance…but that is your production choice not ours.
It is not sad for me personally because I try to take the time to stay informed, but it is sad for the citizens of NZ who trust you as their main news source.
BTW news and education are the same thing, well should be.
So there you have it..RNZ’s racial bias apparently explained.
Best
Adrian Thornton
This conversation needs a post in its own right.
There you have the biases of the msm laid bare.
Adrian T
You have taken this further than I have been able to. I have contacted RNZ
about this and received no answer,
When you get met with the sort of pomposity, complacency, calls to authority, history and precedent it is obvious as to how the recipients of complaints and requests for change view them.l
It is interesting to hear this media person quote that they are not concerned with being educative. In a world where every previoly held idea is being hung by its heels over a long drop, it is obvious that this is so far away from acceptable that one can’t touch wuch ideas with a continent-wide barge pole.
This bit about being a news service being totally self-explanatory is similar to the old idea in sociological research that they were completely scientific without bias. Except when women surveyed their modus operandi and choice of subject, they were pronounced thoroughly sexist and women were considered second-rate. So long-held myths confuse from all sides in every centre of thought and choice.
Interesting – Colin Peacock had a bit of a different take on things in Mediawatch (shame he isn’t Editor in Chief)
TRP (below) may be correct if you subscribe to the idea that a public service broadcaster should only be concerned with what’s popular.
It’s no wonder that some of NZ’s best (and others from that ‘Western media’) fuck off and join Aljazeera
I agree Ed, and well done Adrian. I’ve had a global view since I was a teenager in the sixties and often noticed the relative discounting of news from afar.
Dunno if you’d call this bias Eurocentric or pakeha-centric? A residue of colonialism? I give the RNZ producer credit for honesty though. Unusual, that.
A residue of power as well.
Only important people and countries are news
@ Ed, I would be happy to put the whole exchange on a post if there was any interest, never done one before, so don’t know how to go about it, and I am not to tech savvy.
Hey, Adrian. If you’re keen, send the email exchange and your thoughts on it to me and I’ll turn it into a guest post. I’ll send you back a draft for your approval before publishing.
tereoputake@gmail.com
Will do. thanks.
Kim Griggs is correct.
Reporting reflects readership (or in this case, listenership). For an item to be newsworthy it has to meet several tests, such as its impact on the audience (does it directly affect them), proximity (a plane crash in Norway vs a plane crash in Normanby), timeliness and currency (is it fresh, is it engaging?), are people we know or recognise involved (Johnny Depp snapped wearing an AB jersey vs 2nd division Romanian rugby team has bus accident).
There are quite a few principles or rules of newsworthiness that you could look up. They’ll help you understand why and how RNZ (and every other news service in the world) prioritises news. Hint, it’s not the news organisations’ ‘racism’, it’s the practical need to provide news that has value and engagement to the reader or listener.
Even better, enrol in a journalism 101 course. You’ll learn a lot about how the media works in quick time and you’ll be less likely in the future to fall in to Morrissey shaped holes when critiquing media output.
btw, there’s an old newspaper joke headline that goes something like this:
Thousands Killed in Indian Earthquake; One Briton Bruises Toe.
Not all media follow the same trajectory.
I disagree with you and side with Adrian.
And Morrissey is a beacon of light on the Standard.
Correct. Only the successful ones share RNZ’s trajectory (and have been doing for hundreds of years).
News values are not exactly a secret; as I wrote, they are taught at beginner level in media studies. If you don’t understand the process, you’ll never be able to successfully critique it.
And, as an aside, there’s nothing racist in this approach. Media in Africa, or Asia, or the Americas all use the exact same principles. You’ll be hard pressed to find regular mention of NZ in overseas news outlets for exactly the same reason.
Racism? No; relevancy.
ps agree about Morrissey’s luminous qualities, and I’ll refrain from cheap jokes about the wattage of his bulb 😉
Economics 101 teaches neoliberalism as a fact not a theory.’what is taught at University is not necessarily either correct or true.
Er, I illustrated the actual process used for centuries in media, Ed. It’s nothing to do with university (though you can learn about it there). The guiding principles for media reporting are fundamentally unchanged over the years and if you understand them, you can understand why the responses from Kim Griggs are actually correct.
No need for uni, just google ‘newsworthy’. There’s a ton of guidance available. And once you’ve got your head around it, you’ll be able to contextualise media reporting from around the world a hell of a lot easier.
And once you know what the media are doing and why, then you have a basis for quality criticism.
@ Ed
Exactly right +1
Do they actually teach that Neoliberalism Bullshit at University, I did an Economics Degree at Lincoln University under Professor Bruce Ross, he subsequently joined the OECD and became one of the world’s leading agricultural economists.
We did papers on production economics, international economics & trading, farm management & production systems, financial & management accounting, so what is neoliberal economics ?
You know this how?
“News values are not exactly a secret; as I wrote, they are taught at beginner level in media studies………..”
They certainly are, as are other ideas (such as the news agenda, and gate-keeping) in the hope there’d be some critical thought.
Then there’s a Public Sphere in which people are exposed to other ideas and viewpoints, NOT solely those that an individual might solicit. When we only ever expose ourselves to that which we solicit, we end up living in our own little bubble.
Of course, given that much of what is taught in the (now) BUSINESS of education, where boxes are ticked, and it doesn’t matter if the Media 101 student has plagiarised, or not even written their own assignments, some have reason to worry about the state of our public media.
What I find most interesting in the Adrian Thornton/Kim Griggs exchange is the bit about “thirty years experience………..etc”. She must undoubtably know best.
As I said before, it’s no wonder why many of our best are fucking off to join the likes of Aljazeera.
But then I defer to you TRP – you’re the voice of reason.
@TRP,
I would expect nothing less from you……and here I was thinking that one of the key objectives of the progressive project was helping fellow citizens and one’s self to slowly progress toward evolving to something higher…you know a place where we can care as much about people in Africa as in the USA, as much about someone’s plight in South East Asia as we do about someone in the UK or NZ….maybe not in our life times, but through us standing up to and calling out blatant racism/sexism etc in whatever way we can, we try to make a difference…at lest that is what I think part of being a progressive means.
Obviously you think different, and that’s OK..in the words of Kim Griggs….
“we’ll have to agree to disagree on this.
” … here I was thinking that one of the key objectives of the progressive project was helping fellow citizens and one’s self to slowly progress toward evolving to something higher… ”
And that has precisiely nothing to do with RNZ. They don’t exist as part of a ‘progressive project’. They’re a state owned news outlet, broadly based on the BBC model, and utilising the common news gathering and broadcast methods of all other news outlets.
You’re simply expecting too much from them.
“Er, I illustrated the actual proces…………”
Don’t you mean ” WHY Er HELLO!!!!, I illustrated the actual proce…………”
And just btw (that’s ‘by the way’), people are actually expecting a bare minimum
Er er er er er
@TRP
No it is you who you expects too little.
My take was that TRP wasn’t defending the status quo, merely describing it. Identifying the relevant teaching in media 1.01 explains why journos operate accordingly. Well to a large extent. Obviously supervision of those in the media organisation hierarchy reinforces adherence.
Most commentators believe leftists control & perpetuate education curricula according to the antique formula `those who can, do; those who can’t, teach’. Institutionalisation of the problem is the problem. A progressive agenda would include an education regime fit for purpose.
Then there’s the problem created by those calling out blatant racism/sexism: collateral damage caused by callers who get it wrong…
I do. I don’t really care about either. Their life and death have no effect upon me.
As TRP said – it’s all about relevancy.
Now, if the African states banded together and started wars the same way that the US does then I’d be interested. If African deaths were caused by US actions or vice versa I’d be interested.
These types of things are interesting as they require a country to respond to them in some way.
Bias can be shown in the MSM but not because they don’t report natural disasters. It’s because they’ll report a single Israeli death to Hamas missiles while the thousands of Palestinians killed by the IDF and Israeli settlers on Palestinian land either doesn’t get mentioned at all or its not more than a line or two.
It is not about relevance it is about balance, I get it that of course we would never have or maybe even want a 50/50 news balance re; west and the rest, but at the moment RNZ would be running on something like 90/10 or worse…I don’t know what the right balance is but it ain’t what it is now, that much is for sure.
No, it really is about relevance. They don’t have a lot of time to put things in and so things need to be prioritised and the simple fact is that things like death outside of the local is of no relevance whatsoever.
Hint, it’s not the news organisations’ ‘racism’, it’s the practical need to provide news that has value and engagement to the reader or listener.
As the way that media operate and have condensed is a change, so the way that media is taught and views itself has to change. It is no use repeating what has been the meme for years. Particularly as change is being thrust upon us because of our ineptitude of understanding received news in the past, and what has been chosen as suitable for us. (Patronising, even authoritarian.) And then there are the enormous number of things we don’t know that we don’t know.
I am interested in expanding my knowledge. It is facile to argue that news should be just about what is popular. Also that it is not educative. People read news to learn – at a populist level just what is going on in their everyday thought playpen, then those who want to be citizens read it to go further, and ask why is this going on and what ramifications does it have. When others choose the information to be presented people are being cheated of the opportunity to be informed people. Then you get bunches of prejudiced stuff flowing round in society that is all artificially flavoured but few will know what the reality looks and smells like.
I like Slavoj Zizek who presents constant clashes between what one thinks is known and his latest perception. He commented on a well-known speech from 2002 by then United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Rumsfeld stated:
Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones…..
(But there was more).
Psychoanalytic philosopher Slavoj Žižek says that beyond these three categories there is a fourth, the unknown known, that which we intentionally refuse to acknowledge that we know: “If *Rumsfeld thinks that the main dangers in the confrontation with Iraq were the ‘unknown unknowns’, that is, the threats from Saddam whose nature we cannot even suspect, then the Abu Ghraib scandal shows that the main dangers lie in the “unknown knowns”—the disavowed beliefs, suppositions and obscene practices we pretend not to know about, even though they form the background of our public values.”[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns
Ever heard of a Johari window? No. Oh that will be because some newsman decided it wasn’t new news that was fit to print.
For a Public Service Broadcaster, in an out-of-the-way place like NZ, not to be delivering a pathway to world news leads to our ignorance, our backwardness and our cringe mentality to ‘clever sophisticated people from overseas'[ which seems fairly well-embedded in us. FGS get off your cliche’s of merely following historical trends that don’t supply what we need in a fraught, taut, endangered and not well-informed nation – that has to change.
And those rules may have made sense in the 1950s where NZ was connected to England … and that was it. But NZ has Bangladeshis living here, it has Africans living here, we tend to be well travelled especially to south east Asia.
I was pretty shocked to hear (on media report on RNZ) that 1,000,000 Yemeni’s are likely to get cholera and that the Saudi’s have bombed the port that medical supplies come through. I had no idea the conflict was at that kind of scale.
The silence isn’t because it’s in part of the world that we are not interested in – it’s silence around who are doing the attacking and who are supplying the millitary equipment … and it’s not Russia.
Brilliant post Adrian. RNZ needs to get rid of Kim Griggs-terrible sentiments, terrible opinions.
It is because of people like her that all we hear is Trump Trump Trump…
I concur !! rnz seems to do a good job of giving us a very broad selection of music from around the world , and we get current affairs etc etc but the news as such is a few minutes of msm talking points WTF ??just the same as the crap on tv Does the rnz newsroom not contain any actual journalists ?To make a food analogy its like a constant diet of luncheon sausage and boiled veges and like a row of blackbirds with gaping beaks we,re expected to swallow the spoon fed proffering !!Im sure TRP,s explanation is accurate but it still feels patronising or in this case matronising !!
I too appreciate you sharing your exchange Adrian, thanks, it is an interesting subject.
I’m not fond of the picket up my bum but I find myself on the fence. When I strip down my personal take on newsworthiness I am more inclined to want to hear more about my neighbour that got struck with lightning than 1000 drowning in Dunedin. Ideally, like you Adrian, I feel that an insight into both events is both attainable and desirable.
In the media smorgasbord we live in I feel a handle on the world view I’m after is attainable but it’s all down to my searching and clicking. Read 3 lines in a Herald World News round-up and go searching for an English spoken Bangladesh TV report.
Wallace talking to Bill Bailey about everything. Wonderful humorous thoughtful intelligent and with interesting comment on England. Bill talks about going round some areas of England and the sad state of boarding up they show wth nothing much to notice except some tech shop. And the government obsessed in trying to make sense over Brexist with things being on hold there which the country needs to attend to. The place sounds in a state of paralysis, and the mind boggles about what will happen when final dates arrive and some areas will just close down.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018657732/bill-bailey-comic-stand-up-who-loves-sup
Bill Bailey’s a man of many talents. As well as making people laugh, he’s an enthusiastic stand-up paddle boarder, passionate conservationist, accomplished musician and an author. He’s back in New Zealand in September with his Earl of Whimsy show which features tales of Britain’s fortunes past and present. He shares his thoughts on many things from Brexit to the best places in the world to paddle board.
From Bill Maher
Is Jeremy Corbyn’s “anti-Semitism Crisis” a Smear Campaign?
‘UK Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is accused of presiding over a surge of anti-Semitism inside the Labour Party. Author Norman Finkelstein and British scholar Jamie Stern-Weiner say that Corbyn’s foes have cynically concocted a fake scandal to sabotage his progressive agenda and support for Palestinian rights’
Too bad Finkelstein’s microphone/acoustics rendered him mostly incomprehensible, but you get the general picture. Seems worse than a smear campaign when you factor in some of the other reports from recent times. Anybody interested in the extent to which the Israel lobby is operated like a gutting knife in the body of the British Labour Party ought to read this expert commentary & analysis: https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2018-08-08/labour-crisis-israel-anti-semitism/
The party exec committee is looking like a robot with a ray-gun having taken a hit to its control system, gone rogue & now zapping its members with random bursts. Now jews are subdividing themselves into good jews & bad jews!!
Corbyn can support Israel as a whole (including all the Druze and Arabs who are such significant minorities), if he opposes the destructive Netanyahu-affiliated parties and government, and finds common cause engaging with Israel’s own Labor Party and its own potential coalition.
The 2019 Israel election awaits.
Anyone for chess?
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2018/08/checkmate-in-two-years.html
Depends on Winston. As usual. Trotter has to maintain industry to get his columns published in our dwindling newspaper pool. That requires constant conjuring up of new angles from which to view stuff.
Granted he has a living to make but some of the observations are not without merit
13.5% wage drop. Such great times we live in, the greedy got get their fix, and workers are where they getting it, by keeping wages low. How about you just stop. STOP. it’s a simple message, no fighting, no struggle, just stop engaging with this system built on greed and exploitation.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz//business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12096031&ref=clavis
Are we truly surprised that big business is lying so as to lower wages and conditions?
‘Murica
The first step in tackling a problem is identifying it. That’s the thinking behind a new effort from the Ad Council and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence designed to promote gun safety in the home.
The organizations today are introducing a new term: “family fire,” aimed at preventing shootings that result from improperly stored weapons or misuse of firearms in households.
The idea for “family fire” takes inspiration from now familiar terms that have helped to address other epidemics in our country: secondhand smoke, designated driver, friendly fire. “Our goal is to make ‘family fire’ a part of the vernacular in an attempt to change behavior and save lives,” says Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council
http://adage.com/article/advertising/family-fire-words-taking-home-gun-tragedies-head/314536/
Turkey’s financial troubles started off as currency issues, and now they’re afflicted with the same woes that sank Greece, debt and liquidity.
The most immediate issue for Turkish policy makers is the financial system, which is exposed to interest- and exchange-rate shocks. Four people with knowledge of the matter said the banking regulator had scheduled calls with some banks on Saturday after asking them to study the potential impact. The regulator, known as BDDK in Turkish, said there was no meeting scheduled for Saturday and that the reviews were routine.
“This is a textbook currency crisis that’s morphing into a debt and liquidity crisis due to policy mistakes,” said Win Thin, a strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. “The way things are going, markets need to be prepared for a hard landing in the economy, corporate defaults on foreign currency debt, and possible bank failures.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-11/with-turkey-crisis-erupting-bankers-gather-for-emergency-talks
Suggested new names for Act
Whact, Cract, Sact, Sect, Suct, *uct.
Fuckt
Classic read and interesting too
“It’s well known that the racist news website wizard and former Trump confidante Steve Bannon, currently planning a pan-global far-right resurgence called The Motion, was inspired by Jean Raspail’s controversial 1973 French science-fiction novel The Camp of the Saints, which uses an invasion of western Europe by disenchanted brown people from below the equator as a satire of white European privilege and colonial guilt.
But is it possible that Bannon’s current championing of the sunbed magnate and mortgage fraudster Tommy Robinson as “the backbone” of the UK has been inspired by his acquaintance with a less well-known piece of fascist-flavoured fiction?
The Canadian alcoholic Richard Allen is thought to have written 290 novels in his lifetime, and between 1970 and 1980 he penned 18 violent books set in the milieu of Britain’s fractious youth culture, such as Skinhead, Skinhead Escapes, Skinhead Returns, and the martial arts-themed Taekwondo Skinhead…
… Indeed, Steve Bannon seems to be carrying vast sections of dialogue from The Right Honourable Skinhead around in his head, which spill unbidden from his careless face. Bannon said, off-air, to the LBC presenter Theo Usherwood, who had queried his support for Tommy Robinson, “Fuck you. Don’t you fucking say you’re calling me out. You fucking liberal elite. Tommy Robinson is the backbone of this country.”
And on page 103 of The Right Honourable Skinhead, the news magnate Steve Mannon, Robbie Tomlinson’s chief cheerleader, who differs only from Steve Bannon in that he is a Welsh born-again Christian, addresses radio presenter Leo Isherwood thus, “Flip you, boyo! Don’t you flipping say you’re calling me out. You flipping liberal elite. Robbie Tomlinson is the backbone of this country, by which I mean the whole UK not just Wales.””
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/12/stewart-lee-bannons-crush-on-britains-old-bootboys
Not much on how women are faring, but anyhoo, read it and weep.
The decimation of Syria’s male population represents, arguably, the most fundamental shift in the country’s social fabric. As a generation of men has been pared down by death, disability, forced displacement and disappearance, those who remain have largely been sucked into a violent and corrupting system centered around armed factions.
An Alawi family in a coastal village provides a window into the ravaged state of Syria’s male population, even in territory that has remained firmly under government control. Of three brothers, one was killed in battle, a second paralyzed by a bullet to the spine, and a third—an underpaid, 30-year-old civil servant—lives in fear of conscription. Their mother summed up her plight:
http://www.synaps.network/picking-up-the-pieces
Good Morning The Am Show Duncan good interview with the science professor John about round up weed killer the owners of that prouduct were cheating and manipulating the data we can not trust there prouduct use all chemicals with causation ban the stuff and come up with some kiwi innovation was to control weed’s
Why did the council not have people on the ground check farms for environmental breaches because shonky backed the GDP money over the enviroment we leave for the mokopuna’s future I could see that happening right before my eyes .
This is letting everyone know how Great tangata whenua O Atearoa Culture really is around Papatuanuku ka pai to who stirred this subject of OUR Haka UP.
Ka kite ano
This is what I say about research data follow the mone and you will be able to see if the subject’s data is being manipulated to suit the mone men’s goal of selling more lie’s to us. The link is below
Huge alcohol clinical trial collapses. ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/106158271/huge-alcohol-clinical-trial-collapses
Good morning Newshub Ana to kai national
Aretha Franklin is a exceptional musician one of the best condolences to her whano/family.
Is that evedince for you 2 Europeen boys running Dairy farms were are the tangata whenua farm managers they are younger my sons.????????????? Am I imagineing it all. That it’s 10x harder for tangata whenua to get good well paying jobs.
P.S we served our apprenticeship time in the Dairy industry. Its good that the council are going to check dairy farms effluent systems. You know how it is the many make sure they abide buy the rule and respect the environment and a small % don’t give a toss about the environment those are the idiots that ruin it for the majority OF of farmers. Aotearoa dollar is one of the most trusted traded dollar on Papatuanukue trump won’t shake the Papatuanukue to much his rich M8 will lose to much mone.
I’M a big Cliff Curtis and Jason stratham Fan I liked The Dark Horse.
Is Koepka a tangata whenua of America great golfing. Alex We hope we get some warm weather soon Ka kite ano
Good evening The Crowd goes Wild James and Mulls look like Wendy and her team m8 had a bit of fun after winning the net ball competition.
I tryed to find out Brook Koepka culture can’t find any thing on that subject. The Warriors are doing fine
Ka kite ano P.S the sandflys are grasping at straws of – – – lol