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
What can we make of where National’s current leader Simon Bridges and the Party’s reliable water carrier Paula Bennett are taking their campaign to “win back the Treasury benches”? Going by the often petulant tone he has adopted, and the frequent histrionics of the most ardent supporters: going nowhere, and ...
by Daphna Whitmore It is surprising how rarely the authorities take an evolutionary perspective when dealing with health crises, such as the latest coronavirus spread. They talk about viruses mutating but that is a frequent occurrence, and they treat mutation as though it were equivalent to evolution. A mutation is ...
For over a decade, Heathrow airport has been wanting to add a third runway, to increase air traffic. Its been vigorously opposed by people concerned about the environmental impact. And now, its been ruled illegal on climate change grounds:Plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been ruled illegal ...
Many readers will probably have read this RNZ article (or heard the related interview), or seen calls for consultation on the Ministry of Education’s suggested changes to the number of subjects – and achievement standards – on offer to year 11 students. I’ve been following (& participating, where I ...
Method In Our Madness? When a liberal-democratic society encounters racism its first impulse is to shut it down – not interrogate it. But, is this wise? Is it reasonable to assume that a phenomenon as powerful, pernicious and persistent as racism is entirely without purpose? Surely, there must be, as Shakespeare puts it: ...
Here is the speech that Maya Forstater gave at the Woman’s Place UK Women’s Liberation 2020 conference at UCL on February 1st In a recent newsletter she wrote: it was an amazing day (and brilliant to meet so many people in real life). I talked about what makes people and ...
NZ First portrays itself as an anti-establishment party, standing up for "the little guy" (always a guy) against Big Auckland Money and its tool-parties. But it turns out that its secret slush fund is funded by the very people it claims to oppose:Stuff can reveal a longer list of donors ...
Peter TalleyI really don’t envy Jacinda Ardern’s position as Prime Minister of New Zealand. She’s probably got the hardest job in the country. Not only does she have to ensure her own MPs are behaving properly, she has to negotiate with Winston Peters and other NZ First MPs who seem ...
Will She, Or Won't She? Jacinda’s white vestments may look impressive on the cover of the international edition of TIME magazine, but every day Labour’s relationship with Winston Peters and NZ First continues, her ability to go on wearing them back home in New Zealand – without exciting derision – diminishes.IT WAS ...
BAMS survey of 2018 extreme weather The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published a collection of articles examining unusually extreme weather events of 2018 and connections of those to climate change. These investigations are listed separately below but thanks to the generosity of AMS appear free for ...
Less than two months after China told the WHO there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed cases and countries affected are increasing every day. However, on a scientific and medical level, what is going on to contain, cure and prevent this new disease is truly inspirational. ...
From 2015 to 2019 the NSA ran a program of mass surveillance of Americans' domestic communications. It was intrusive, totalitarian, and a collosal waste of money:A National Security Agency system that analyzed logs of Americans’ domestic phone calls and text messages cost $100 million from 2015 to 2019, but yielded ...
I must say that it’s at loggerheads with the inclusive and free society we want to create in New Zealand that one of our largest media outlets, MediaWorks, would allow Hannah Tamaki to perform on their show, Dancing With The Stars.Hannah Tamaki and her husband Brian are after all well-known ...
The media is reporting that an Auckland man has been charged with terrorism. Unfortunately, that's all we know, because all details have been suppressed. Who are they? What are they alleged to have done? Its all secret. There may be good reason for some of this (e.g. protection of the ...
Dr David ChagnéNew Zealand is involved in a US$12.8 million USDA grant to improve the quality of blueberry and cranberry. The four-year project, led by North Carolina State University, is part of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative, which funds multi-year, multi-institutional collaborative ...
The Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book is now available! The book uses cartoons, humor, and critical thinking to expose how and why some people reject climate science. It's now available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book outlets. If you're near the DC area, you're very welcome to ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...
You’re probably aware that the Achievement Standards used to assess senior school students’ learning are being reviewed. Science is one of the ‘pilot’ subjects in this process, where a ‘Subject Expert Group’ has developed 4 draft Science standards¹ (a significant step away from the current 30+, and a response to ...
John MacCormickTo succeed in an unpredictable and changing world, adaptability is the key. Let’s be chameleons. Technology continues to change people’s jobs and work environments. But change so far is not as fast and extensive as some pundits claim. Nor is it as fast and extensive as it needs ...
It seems we can’t even get through a week these days without the National Party's leader, Simon Bridges, making some sort of silly announcement about a policy that doesn’t actually exist.Usually concerning Bridges’ gut instinct and the undoing of whatever the Government has recently announced, National’s reactionary opinions and uncosted ...
Oh look! NZ First's secret slush fund was laundering donations from Talley's:One of the country's biggest fishing companies, Talley's, and its managing director donated nearly $27,000 to the New Zealand First Foundation, which has been bankrolling the New Zealand First Party. The foundation received $26,950 from seafood giant Talley's and ...
Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, Andrew Waa, Nick Wilson, George ThomsonMinister Jenny Salesa announced the Government’s long-awaited Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill on Sunday 23 February. The Bill contains some important provisions as it works to strike a balance between ensuring regulated products are available to ...
Surprisingly enough, one could argue (as I often do) that the day inserted into a leap year is not that we label 29th February, but actually the 24th of February. Here I explain why, briefly. Almost everyone assumes that the day added into February in a leap year is the ...
If you haven’t watched Newsroom’s video showing Oranga Tamariki staff attempting to uplift a newborn baby yet you should do so. Although it's not the worst case as far as interventions go, it’s certainly not a good look for the Government. Because of this controversy there’s been a plethora of ...
Genesis Energy is planning to build the country's biggest PV solar farm:Power generator and retailer Genesis Energy says it is in advanced discussions to build New Zealand's biggest solar farm in northern Waikato. The company, which earlier reported a 15 per cent decline in operating earnings to $167.2 million, said ...
Transport is our second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Any credible effort to reduce emissions to net-zero has to target it. So what is the government doing? Subsidising some of the dirtiest, most inefficient vehicles on the roads:New Zealand's favourite cars - double cab utes - are largely exempt ...
You’ve really got to wonder what the NZ First Party was thinking and drinking last Friday? Not only did they hamstring the Greens by halting one of their main environmental policies, the electric vehicle fee-bate scheme, a policy that the public was led to believe was a done deal…but they ...
High Risk Call: Insensitive though it may seem to even pose the question: how will the electorate respond to what the Prime Minister’s opponents will undoubtedly characterise as an attack on New Zealanders’ freedom of speech? At more than twelve month’s remove from the terrible events of 15 March 2019, ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Climate change leads to more violence against women, girlsRape, domestic violence, forced marriages: A new ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 16, 2020 through Sat, Feb 22, 2020 Editor's Pick JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human raceLeaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says ...
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
The eastern Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki is getting a new harbour, which will create 1,850 new jobs in the region, in a new round of regional services funding announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones. Ōpōtiki's harbour is currently unusable by most ships, but it will receive ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First Law and Order spokesman Darroch Ball has submitted the ‘Sentencing (Priority of Interests in Sentencing) Amendment Bill’ – a Members Bill which introduces a new overarching ‘priority and weighting provision’ that courts must follow when sentencing ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, New Zealand First Deputy Leader A total delivery of 2,000 new Police Officers has been achieved. New Zealand First Deputy Leader, Fletcher Tabuteau attended the latest police graduation of Recruit Wing 335 in Porirua today. Mr Tabuteau said, “Increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one of ...
Taupō District mayor David Trewavas has welcomed today’s announcement from regional economic development minister Shane Jones outlining $5.87m of funding for the re-development of the Taupō Airport. The bulk of the investment ($5 million) will come from the Provincial Growth Fund, while the rest will be from the New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has defended multi-million dollar provincial growth fund money for Northland water storage. The New Zealand First leader, along with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, were recently in Dargaville to announce up to $12.745 million PGF funding top-up for water storage initiatives in the ...
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance, Fletcher Tabuteau has welcomed Statistics New Zealand’s latest report as a timely reminder of the value that this Coalition Government brings to every day New Zealanders: “This Coalition Government has meant a ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
It’s my pleasure to be in Sydney today for our annual meeting, Prime Minister. It’s fair to say that since we last met, tragedy and disaster have befallen our two countries. They say that in moments of that nature, the true character of an individual comes to the fore. I ...
Travel restrictions introduced for Iran from today No exemptions for students from China to enter the country Increased health staff presence at international airports The Government has announced a suite of new actions as it steps up its response to the rapidly changing global spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. This ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Waikato and South Auckland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support for farmers and growers. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on ...
The Crown accounts are in a strong position to weather any economic uncertainty as a result of coronavirus, with the books in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the seven months to January. The operating balance before ...
Supporting New Zealand to make most of digital and data driven technologies will be the focus of a new Digital Council that begins its work today. Minister for Government Digital Services, Kris Faafoi, and Minister of Statistics, James Shaw, have confirmed the group of experts chosen to advise the Government ...
Safety and climate change resilience are behind South Island regional roading projects that are being brought forward as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the NZ Upgrade, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities. “I’m pleased to ...
Digital and air connectivity in Fiordland are getting a big boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme announced in January, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities, to be administered by the Provincial Development Unit. “I’m pleased ...
West Coast ports and roads will benefit from an investment of $18.6 million to improve safety and resilience and enable future economic growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The $12 billion NZ Upgrade Programme announced last month allocated $300 million for regional investment opportunities, to be administered ...
Regional roading projects that will improve safety and resilience are being brought forward as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the NZ Upgrade, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities. “I spend a lot of time in ...
The Eastern Bay of Plenty will finally get the harbour development it has wanted for decades, thanks to a $79.4 million central Government investment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. This game-changing project will revitalise the township of Ōpōtiki and the wider Eastern Bay of Plenty, creating hundreds ...
Regional New Zealand will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare for climate change and help grow our economy. As part of the $12 billion NZ Upgrade Programme announced by the Government last ...
A milestone has been reached with the graduation of more than 2,000 new Police officers since the Coalition Government took office in October 2017. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation today of Wing 335 marks a surge of 2,023 new officers, and coincides with some significant breakthroughs against organised ...
Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, and the Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, have welcomed a new cyber security qualification as a step towards countering cyber threats and keeping New Zealanders safe. Attending the launch of the new Level 6 Diploma of Cyber Security at Auckland’s Unitec Institute ...
Government Ministers today celebrated 20 years of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park/ Ko te Pataka kai o Tikapa Moana/ Te Moananui a Toi, and recognise there is much to celebrate and so much more to do to give nature a helping hand. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said “New Zealanders care deeply about nature.I want to ...
Prepared remarks on coronavirus by Finance Minister Grant Robertson to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Massey University. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, The topic of this speech is the Budget 2020 priorities. But, given the considerable interest that I imagine is in the room about COVID-19 coronavirus, I do ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Ni sa bula vinaka. Namaste Thank you Shamima, Hon. Minister Vuniwaqa, community leaders and Women’s Crisis Centre staff for your warm welcome. It’s an honour and privilege to officially ...
The Government has released a comprehensive response to ensuring New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump. This follows the Commerce Commission fuel market study which found motorists were paying more than they should for petrol and includes: Fuel Market Bill drafting, to pass mid-year Industry consultation in ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma Tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula vinaka As-salaam alaikum It is a privilege to be here today. Thank you for welcoming us to your house of prayer. Thank you for your warmth. Thank you for greeting ...
Taupō Airport is to be upgraded and expanded through a $5.9 million Government funding boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Taupō Airport is the gateway to the Central North Island. It is essential for both keeping local people and businesses connected, but also to bring more people ...
The Minister of Housing Megan Woods has confirmed the Government is working with Rotorua Lakes District Council and Te Arawa for the second place-based assessment to better understand the housing and urban issues affecting the city. “Every New Zealander has a right to a warm, safe and secure place to ...
19 new community homes (in addition to 14 opened in December) delivered in Takanini, Auckland 500 people housed by CORT Housing Trust by end of March 2,290 new public housing homes delivered in Auckland (November 2017 – December 2019). Another nineteen new public housing homes are being delivered in Auckland, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss ways to strengthen ties between New Zealand and India. “India is a priority relationship for New Zealand. We share common democratic traditions, growing two-way trade, extensive people-to-people links, ...
Speech to the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) Delhi, India Wednesday 26 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] The Indo-Pacific: from principles to partnerships Distinguished guests, good afternoon and thank you for your invitation. It is good to be here at a time where New Zealand needs less of an introduction than ...
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...
Improved air quality to support better health and environmental wellbeing is the focus of proposed amendments to air quality regulations, says the Associate Minister for the Environment, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. “Although our air quality is good in most places, during winter certain places have spikes in air pollution, mainly from ...
The remote eastern Bay of Plenty community of Raukokere will receive a Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $10.6 million for a water storage facility, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “This is great news for the rural community. The landowner, Te Whānau a Maruhaeremuri Hapū Trust, will use ...
The Lake Ōkaro lakebed has transferred to Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis joined Te Arawa at Te Papaiōuru Marae in Rotorua to celebrate the reinstatement of Te Arawa Lakes Trust as a key decision maker over the bed ...
New legislation is being proposed which aims to reduce the stress and financial hardship caused by late payments to small businesses. The Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash is considering stricter rules around payment practices between businesses. “Late payments from large organisations to smaller suppliers can be crippling for these ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Analysis: The government faces economic strife and uncertainty as the coronavirus continues to spread, four men charged in National's donations case plead not guilty, and more revelations about NZ First's "slush fund". ...
New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 has just been confirmed. Here’s what we know so far.What’s the latest?Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 coronavirus. New Zealand is the 48th country to have a confirmed case of the virus. What do we know about the patient?The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Review: Leviathan, directed by Yaron Lifschitz. Circa in collaboration with Co:3 Australia, MAXIMA Circus and CircusWA for Perth Festival. As the audience takes their seats, two feet poke out from beneath the curtain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Bailey, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland If you’re hot and sticky even before your daily commute, you might ask why you sweat so much. Sweating is usually the body’s way of stopping you overheating. But for some people, sweating becomes ...
At a tense press conference in Sydney, the New Zealand prime minister has just issued a stark challenge to Australia over its treatment of NZ citizens. Here’s what she said. We appreciate that many Kiwis have taken up the opportunity to live and work in Australia – many more than has ...
New Zealand has widened, not narrowed, its coronavirus travel ban despite universities pleading for an exemption for international students The Government has extended its coronavirus-related travel restrictions to include Iran, while resisting calls from universities to provide an exemption for international students from China. Health officials will also monitor an ...
The Serious Fraud Office has today received a referral from NZ Police in relation to Phil Goff’s election expenses. The SFO will be assessing the matter and has no further comment at this time. ...
The series, a collaboration between Spinoff Members and Verb Wellington, kicks off with a discussion on politics and the media. As all right thinking people know, there are a mere 204 days until the general election. To get in the mood, we’re launching a new series of live events. And not ...
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 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What are you even up to, Auckland.2 Eleanor ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson insists NZ is in a strong position to weather the fallout from coronavirus, even though Australia has declared it a pandemic. He underlines the Crown accounts are buoyant, the fundamentals of the economy are strong and careful management has seen the economy continue to grow in ...
On the heels of the arrival of The Outsider on NEON, Jean Sergent explores how screen adaptations of Stephen King’s work are able to take on a life of their own. Stephen King, the 72 year old horror author from Portland, has a better work ethic than you or I and ...
Iwi are too reliant on investments in property and primary industries, restricting returns for their members, according to a new report. The annual Iwi Investment Report by consulting firm TDB Advisory, showed the country's eight largest iwi with a collective $9 billion worth of assets, had weak growth in the ...
Announcing a package of regional capital projects worth about $190 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones mentioned climate change. He said Regional New Zealand “will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare ...
The people of India have been holding mass protests all over India ever since the anti Muslim and anti working class Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted into law on 12 December 2019. The state has made many attempts to suppress the rising ...
New Zealand consumer confidence remains high, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index. The index was down just one point on last month to 122. "Consumers are feeling pretty happy with their lot at the moment - the lifting housing market is making homeowners feel richer, job opportunities are ...
Jacinda Ardern has described difficult conversations with Australia as being "gnarly'' - but says the trans-Tasman relationship is strong enough to get through them. ...
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 contentPolitical donations Yvette McCullough (RNZ): Transparency International warns need for political funding reform is urgent Gordon Campbell: On where the ...
Continued strong demand for chicken, burgers and tacos has resulted in another strong year for Restaurant Brands. The fast food operator's net profit for the year ended December fell nearly 16 percent to $30.1m, but that was for a 44-week period, versus the year earlier's 52-week period. That company changed ...
The New Zealand share market opened lower on Friday, following a sixth day of world market losses as investors respond to the economic threat of coronavirus. The NZX benchmark top 50 index opened down 1.5 percent, after last night's 0.9 percent fall. The benchmark top 50 Index has fallen more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maggie Tonkin, Senior Lecturer, English and Creative Writing, University of Adelaide Review: Dance Nation, directed by Imara Savage. State Theatre Company South Australia and Belvoir for the Adelaide Festival Dance is at the heart of playwright Clare Barron’s Dance Nation, from the ...
The Government’s response to new revelations that one of the country’s biggest fishing companies, Talley’s, and its managing director has donated tens of thousands of undisclosed dollars to the New Zealand First Foundation is unacceptable. “The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the implementation of an emergency plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus, the major parties’ policies on climate change, national security ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University On Churchill Island, southeast of Melbourne, small cone-shaped, shallow holes (digs) puncture the grass. They’re widespread, and reveal moist soil below ...
The University of Auckland's Tim Dare examines what SkyCity's 'de-platforming' of controversial speaker Peter Singer might mean for free speech In work first appearing in the late 1970s, Princeton Philosophy Professor Peter Singer argued that in a limited range of circumstances parents ought to be able to ask doctors to end ...
By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News in Brisbane Thousands of New Zealanders who are denied disability support are hoping Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will take the issue up with her counterpart Scott Morrison when they meet today. Despite paying taxes and the NDIS levy, New Zealanders who have come ...
The Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and her Australian counterpart have met in Sydney and formally agreed to share ideas on how to better support each country's indegineous people ...
Apparently you have a vacancy on your programme after Kanoa Lloyd decided she didn’t “need to see a homophobic Pasodoble or a xenophobic Cha Cha.” Now, we have to admit we don’t know what a Pasodoble is. But we do know xenophobia when we see ...
Public services are increasingly migrating to the internet, but as the government prioritises digital interaction many of the people who need those services the most are left behind, according to a new report. Pita, an elderly gentleman, received a letter from the IRD that claimed he hadn’t paid his tax obligations ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Philippines Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has dismissed comments by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go that “politics” is behind the filing of a proposed concurrent resolution calling on regulators to temporarily allow television giant ABS-CBN to operate as Congress deliberates on its ...
The Serious Fraud Office has received a referral from NZ Police in relation to Lianne Dalziel’s election expenses. The SFO will be assessing the matter and has no further comment at this time. ...
Employers are encouraged to sign up for Road Safety Week 2020 (4-10 May), and join hundreds of communities, schools and organisations running activities to raise awareness of road safety issues. Brake, the road safety charity, which coordinates the event, ...
A poem by US National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson.i woke up and the day caught me in its mouth like a strand of yarni am usefulthe motivation for a scarf, maybe some stitch started to be finishedi will make up someone’sheat i will be a fireso intricate it can be worn i ...
The euthanasia debate took an unusual turn this week when Vision NZ, the political party associated with the Destiny Church, made an unexpected policy announcement. It appeared that Vision NZ supported voluntary euthanasia, but just for one person, co-host of TV3’s The Project, Kanoa Lloyd. The now former campaign manager ...
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has today announced the findings of an inquiry into how Budget-sensitive material was accessed at the Treasury. The inquiry, led by Ms Jenn Bestwick, was launched by the Commission at the request of the Treasury ...
A scathing report into the accidental release of sensitive Budget 2019 information by the Treasury has found poor procurement processes and governance failures by senior leadership were to blame for security flaws in its website not being identified earlier The inquiry into the accidental release of Budget 2019 information prior ...
The Port of Tauranga's first half result is flat, despite a drop in cargo handled through the country's biggest port. The port company's net profit dropped 1.4 percent to $48.3 million in the six months to December, but was otherwise flat after accounting for a tax adjustment of $0.6m. Revenue ...
For those mothers who gave birth by non-elective Caesarean section, feelings of sadness – even of failure – can be overwhelming, writes Janice Sharan.I’m sitting next to my 15-month-old. He’s sleeping peacefully, his mop of dark hair damp with sweat, lips pursed and his chest rising and falling as he ...
Today is the last day Kiwibank will accept cheques, and its customers will no longer be able to make a payment by cheque. Inland Revenue and ACC will also follow suit on 1 March. The number of cheques has been going down by about 20 percent year-on-year and last year ...
Television New Zealand has reported a strong increase in first half profit, driven up by an increase in advertising revenue. The state-owned broadcaster made a net profit of $15.8 million in the six months to December, beating the year earlier by $5m or 47 percent. "Strong ratings performance for our ...
Air New Zealand has launched its latest safety video that moves away from celebrity appearances to push an environmental message on New Zealand's endangered native birds. The video A Journey to Safety takes a different approach from the widely criticised video of two years ago - called a 'weird mish-mash' ...
A report into how sensitive documents were accessed by the National Party before last year's Budget has found Treasury governance, oversight and risk management processes fell short. ...
In the lead up to Children’s Day in New Zealand on Sunday 1 March, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Aotearoa NZ President Dr Jeff Brown says the wellbeing of children and their whānau must remain a priority for all of society, not only ...
A Kiwi firm is trialling a mobile device and app that could test for Covid-19 in hospitals, schools, factories and homes anywhere in the world within 40 minutes No-one wishes harm on anyone, but sometimes a crisis is also an opportunity to quickly develop new technologies and systems to solve ...
Ahead of the forthcoming public meeting on Monday 2 March regarding the Newlands Volunteer Fire Brigade former Ohariu MP Hon Peter Dunne is extending his best wishes to all those involved in the current campaign to keep the station open. "Although ...
Sure, the new wave of RTDs might have cool labels and no carbs or whatever, but for Sam Brooks, none come close to the perfection held within that little yellow can.RTDs are coming back, if they were ever really gone. I remember the halcyon days of getting drunk off Purple ...
The ongoing strike by NorthTec tutors steps up a notch today with a public rally. For two weeks the members of Te Hautū Kahurangi | New Zealand Tertiary Education Union have been on strike. The action has meant not completing attendance registers; ...
The cut price fuel retailer, Waitomo says the Government’s proposed changes to the fuel market will mean customers will be able to see if they are getting fleeced. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will use today’s meeting with counterpart Scott Morrison in Sydney to tell him his Government is deporting Australian criminals to New Zealand. ...
Coronavirus: Finance Minister Grant Robertson - NZ in shadow of the biggest economic uncertainty in recent times; and A2 Milk result: Net profit leaps 21% on China sales. ...
Thousands of Kiwis are expected to attend the March for Life in Auckland this Saturday (29 February). With Parliament just days away from voting on a Bill to liberalise abortion-up-to-birth in New Zealand those marching will be making a public stand ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Tormey, Professor of Politics, University of Bristol Of the many issues thrown up by Brexit, one of the most pressing is the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom. Brexit was in large measure a revolt by a certain section of English ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Gibney, NHMRC early career fellow, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity While countries around the globe have been taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, it has now been reported in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Baumgartner, Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Institute for Land, Water, and Society, Charles Sturt University As this summer draws to a close, it marks just over a year since successive fish death events at Menindee in Lower Darling River made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Every January Larry Fink, the head of the world’s largest funds manager, BlackRock, sends a letter to the chief executives of major public companies. This year’s letter focused on climate risk. “Climate change has become a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Davis, Professor of Finance, University of Melbourne The government’s financial system inquiry, on which I sat, reported five years ago. It recommended that the creators of financial products be subject to a design and distribution obligation (DDO), which would mean the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Simionato, Lecturer, RMIT University Books are always transforming. The book we hold today has arrived through a number of materials (clay, papyrus, parchment, paper, pixels) and forms (tablet, scroll, codex, kindle). The book can be a tool for communication, reading, entertainment, ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Ardern gets diplomatic, fuel market legislation released, and police pinged over employment records breach.There hasn’t really been much coverage of it in The Bulletin, but it’s worth looking back at quite an important diplomatic week for the PM. She has been ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.Fiction 1 The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press, $35) ReadingRoom broke the storydetailing how Knox’s novel was fought over by US publishers in a ...
Sky Sport News presenters Kate King and Goran Paladin deliver the latest news of Kiwi sporting women at home and around the globe. *WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE* Hurdler Portia Bing has reinvented herself in a bid to make the Tokyo Olympics and take another step towards putting last year's disqualification at ...
Embarrassingly for the Department of Conservation, a scheduled ministerial announcement last year was postponed. David Williams reports A much-delayed project to better protect the Mackenzie Basin’s stunning landscapes and bolster biodiversity has a new boss. In the 2018 Budget, Conservation and Lands Minister Eugenie Sage announced $2.6 million to find ...
Trying to reduce drownings - and bring on a new generation of surfers - the Wave Warriors teach kids from low-decile schools water safety wrapped in a surf lesson. Eight-year-old Athena Talavai is less than half the height of the surfboard she’s expected to stand on, and probably only a quarter of the weight. She ...
The decision to give Ihumātao the highest heritage listing available sends a strong signal to the Government and Auckland Council, write Dr Frances Hancock and Nicola Short Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) has upgraded the heritage listing of the Ōtuataua Stonefields Reserve and included adjacent and long-contested land at ...
If Simon Bridges manages to pull off an election victory, his next headache will be choosing his Cabinet from a somewhat uninspiring line-up, writes Peter Dunne Every election year there is a call to use the election as a chance to refresh Parliament and get rid of at least some ...
An anonymous Department of Conservation staff member, who wishes to be known only as the Carefree Vigilante, provides a handy guide to dealing with menstruation, and menstrual products, in the wild.This post was first published on the Department of Conservation blog.I’ve got six or seven rational fears and about 900 ...
There is a surge of cases of the virus outside China. Australia says it expects Covid-19 to turn into a global pandemic. We cannot afford to panic in New Zealand. But we must prepare, writes Dr Siouxsie Wiles.It’s now clear to me that the new coronavirus responsible for Covid-19 is ...
The Serious Fraud Office is once again investigating a headline-generating case. But is it prosecuting the right crimes - or just the winnable ones? Compared with previous famous finance company collapses involving hundreds of millions of dollars the numbers are small; sitting MP Jami-Lee Ross and three Auckland businessmen face SFO charges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government would be looking for the private sector to put in four or five times as much as it invests in research and development of particular technologies to reduce emissions, Energy Minister Angus Taylor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Two issues are currently presenting the Morrison government with fast-moving targets. One is the fallout from the coronavirus, where the picture has been altering on a near-daily basis. The other is very different – the ...
Open Mike 12/08/2018 
What can we make of where National’s current leader Simon Bridges and the Party’s reliable water carrier Paula Bennett are taking their campaign to “win back the Treasury benches”? Going by the often petulant tone he has adopted, and the frequent histrionics of the most ardent supporters: going nowhere, and ...27 mins ago
by Daphna Whitmore It is surprising how rarely the authorities take an evolutionary perspective when dealing with health crises, such as the latest coronavirus spread. They talk about viruses mutating but that is a frequent occurrence, and they treat mutation as though it were equivalent to evolution. A mutation is ...57 mins ago
With sincere apologies to Martin Niemöller ...3 hours ago
For over a decade, Heathrow airport has been wanting to add a third runway, to increase air traffic. Its been vigorously opposed by people concerned about the environmental impact. And now, its been ruled illegal on climate change grounds:Plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been ruled illegal ...4 hours ago
Many readers will probably have read this RNZ article (or heard the related interview), or seen calls for consultation on the Ministry of Education’s suggested changes to the number of subjects – and achievement standards – on offer to year 11 students. I’ve been following (& participating, where I ...9 hours ago
Method In Our Madness? When a liberal-democratic society encounters racism its first impulse is to shut it down – not interrogate it. But, is this wise? Is it reasonable to assume that a phenomenon as powerful, pernicious and persistent as racism is entirely without purpose? Surely, there must be, as Shakespeare puts it: ...11 hours ago
A New Hope from the National Party leader ...1 day ago
1 day ago
BAMS survey of 2018 extreme weather The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published a collection of articles examining unusually extreme weather events of 2018 and connections of those to climate change. These investigations are listed separately below but thanks to the generosity of AMS appear free for ...2 days ago
Fans are outraged at the prospect of Destiny Church pastor Hannah Tamaki joining the Black Caps ...2 days ago
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...6 days ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...1 week ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...2 weeks ago
The eastern Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki is getting a new harbour, which will create 1,850 new jobs in the region, in a new round of regional services funding announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones. Ōpōtiki's harbour is currently unusable by most ships, but it will receive ...8 hours ago
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...2 days ago
It’s my pleasure to be in Sydney today for our annual meeting, Prime Minister. It’s fair to say that since we last met, tragedy and disaster have befallen our two countries. They say that in moments of that nature, the true character of an individual comes to the fore. I ...3 hours ago
Analysis: The government faces economic strife and uncertainty as the coronavirus continues to spread, four men charged in National's donations case plead not guilty, and more revelations about NZ First's "slush fund". ...28 mins ago
New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 has just been confirmed. Here’s what we know so far.What’s the latest?Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 coronavirus. New Zealand is the 48th country to have a confirmed case of the virus. What do we know about the patient?The ...33 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Review: Leviathan, directed by Yaron Lifschitz. Circa in collaboration with Co:3 Australia, MAXIMA Circus and CircusWA for Perth Festival. As the audience takes their seats, two feet poke out from beneath the curtain. ...2 hours ago
A gun safety expert says a firearm registry is the most important gun control measure NZ does not yet have. ...2 hours ago
New Zealand has widened, not narrowed, its coronavirus travel ban despite universities pleading for an exemption for international students The Government has extended its coronavirus-related travel restrictions to include Iran, while resisting calls from universities to provide an exemption for international students from China. Health officials will also monitor an ...3 hours ago
The Serious Fraud Office has today received a referral from NZ Police in relation to Phil Goff’s election expenses. The SFO will be assessing the matter and has no further comment at this time. ...3 hours ago
How clever technology that gives people access to their wages every day might help keep people from out-of-control debt. ...4 hours ago
Finance Minister Grant Robertson insists NZ is in a strong position to weather the fallout from coronavirus, even though Australia has declared it a pandemic. He underlines the Crown accounts are buoyant, the fundamentals of the economy are strong and careful management has seen the economy continue to grow in ...5 hours ago
Iwi are too reliant on investments in property and primary industries, restricting returns for their members, according to a new report. The annual Iwi Investment Report by consulting firm TDB Advisory, showed the country's eight largest iwi with a collective $9 billion worth of assets, had weak growth in the ...5 hours ago
Announcing a package of regional capital projects worth about $190 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones mentioned climate change. He said Regional New Zealand “will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare ...5 hours ago
New Zealand consumer confidence remains high, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index. The index was down just one point on last month to 122. "Consumers are feeling pretty happy with their lot at the moment - the lifting housing market is making homeowners feel richer, job opportunities are ...5 hours ago
Continued strong demand for chicken, burgers and tacos has resulted in another strong year for Restaurant Brands. The fast food operator's net profit for the year ended December fell nearly 16 percent to $30.1m, but that was for a 44-week period, versus the year earlier's 52-week period. That company changed ...5 hours ago
The New Zealand share market opened lower on Friday, following a sixth day of world market losses as investors respond to the economic threat of coronavirus. The NZX benchmark top 50 index opened down 1.5 percent, after last night's 0.9 percent fall. The benchmark top 50 Index has fallen more ...5 hours ago
The University of Auckland's Tim Dare examines what SkyCity's 'de-platforming' of controversial speaker Peter Singer might mean for free speech In work first appearing in the late 1970s, Princeton Philosophy Professor Peter Singer argued that in a limited range of circumstances parents ought to be able to ask doctors to end ...6 hours ago
Dr Eric Crampton worries we may be thinking about the coronavirus outbreak as a one-off when it could be a new normal. ...6 hours ago
The Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and her Australian counterpart have met in Sydney and formally agreed to share ideas on how to better support each country's indegineous people ...6 hours ago
The euthanasia debate took an unusual turn this week when Vision NZ, the political party associated with the Destiny Church, made an unexpected policy announcement. It appeared that Vision NZ supported voluntary euthanasia, but just for one person, co-host of TV3’s The Project, Kanoa Lloyd. The now former campaign manager ...8 hours ago
A scathing report into the accidental release of sensitive Budget 2019 information by the Treasury has found poor procurement processes and governance failures by senior leadership were to blame for security flaws in its website not being identified earlier The inquiry into the accidental release of Budget 2019 information prior ...8 hours ago
The Port of Tauranga's first half result is flat, despite a drop in cargo handled through the country's biggest port. The port company's net profit dropped 1.4 percent to $48.3 million in the six months to December, but was otherwise flat after accounting for a tax adjustment of $0.6m. Revenue ...8 hours ago
Today is the last day Kiwibank will accept cheques, and its customers will no longer be able to make a payment by cheque. Inland Revenue and ACC will also follow suit on 1 March. The number of cheques has been going down by about 20 percent year-on-year and last year ...8 hours ago
Television New Zealand has reported a strong increase in first half profit, driven up by an increase in advertising revenue. The state-owned broadcaster made a net profit of $15.8 million in the six months to December, beating the year earlier by $5m or 47 percent. "Strong ratings performance for our ...8 hours ago
Air New Zealand has launched its latest safety video that moves away from celebrity appearances to push an environmental message on New Zealand's endangered native birds. The video A Journey to Safety takes a different approach from the widely criticised video of two years ago - called a 'weird mish-mash' ...8 hours ago
A Kiwi firm is trialling a mobile device and app that could test for Covid-19 in hospitals, schools, factories and homes anywhere in the world within 40 minutes No-one wishes harm on anyone, but sometimes a crisis is also an opportunity to quickly develop new technologies and systems to solve ...9 hours ago
The cut price fuel retailer, Waitomo says the Government’s proposed changes to the fuel market will mean customers will be able to see if they are getting fleeced. ...10 hours ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will use today’s meeting with counterpart Scott Morrison in Sydney to tell him his Government is deporting Australian criminals to New Zealand. ...11 hours ago
Coronavirus: Finance Minister Grant Robertson - NZ in shadow of the biggest economic uncertainty in recent times; and A2 Milk result: Net profit leaps 21% on China sales. ...11 hours ago
Cycling the length of NZ has got Rod Oram thinking about farming in the climate change era ...12 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. Fiction 1 The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press, $35) ReadingRoom broke the story detailing how Knox’s novel was fought over by US publishers in a ...13 hours ago
Sky Sport News presenters Kate King and Goran Paladin deliver the latest news of Kiwi sporting women at home and around the globe. *WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE* Hurdler Portia Bing has reinvented herself in a bid to make the Tokyo Olympics and take another step towards putting last year's disqualification at ...14 hours ago
Embarrassingly for the Department of Conservation, a scheduled ministerial announcement last year was postponed. David Williams reports A much-delayed project to better protect the Mackenzie Basin’s stunning landscapes and bolster biodiversity has a new boss. In the 2018 Budget, Conservation and Lands Minister Eugenie Sage announced $2.6 million to find ...14 hours ago
Trying to reduce drownings - and bring on a new generation of surfers - the Wave Warriors teach kids from low-decile schools water safety wrapped in a surf lesson. Eight-year-old Athena Talavai is less than half the height of the surfboard she’s expected to stand on, and probably only a quarter of the weight. She ...14 hours ago
The decision to give Ihumātao the highest heritage listing available sends a strong signal to the Government and Auckland Council, write Dr Frances Hancock and Nicola Short Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) has upgraded the heritage listing of the Ōtuataua Stonefields Reserve and included adjacent and long-contested land at ...14 hours ago
If Simon Bridges manages to pull off an election victory, his next headache will be choosing his Cabinet from a somewhat uninspiring line-up, writes Peter Dunne Every election year there is a call to use the election as a chance to refresh Parliament and get rid of at least some ...14 hours ago
The Serious Fraud Office is once again investigating a headline-generating case. But is it prosecuting the right crimes - or just the winnable ones? Compared with previous famous finance company collapses involving hundreds of millions of dollars the numbers are small; sitting MP Jami-Lee Ross and three Auckland businessmen face SFO charges ...14 hours ago
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