Open mike 12/11/2022

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 12th, 2022 - 86 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:


Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

86 comments on “Open mike 12/11/2022 ”

  1. Sanctuary 1

    Victory for the Ukrainians in Kherson. Amazing scenes as the population celebrates liberation.

    Take that Putin fan bois.

    • tsmithfield 1.1

      Yes. It makes a really great start to the day.

      A CNN reporter reporting from Kherson as Ukrainian troops march in for those of us who want to BIRG a bit.

      • Jenny are we there yet 1.1.1

        This is obviously the beginning of the end for the Russian Imperialist invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

        Amazing, and joyous.

        The Russians have long signaled a false flag atrocity in Kherson that they can blame on Ukraine, with the purpose of inflaming Russian public opinion against Ukraine to shore up flagging support for this war

        The worry must be:

        Will the Russian imperialists, accept this defeat?
        The realisation of which will be the acceptance of the fact that this is the start of their inevitable total route from all of the occupied territories.
        Or will the Russian Federation imperialists try and rob this hard won victory of any celebration, with a false flag attack, and continue the war?

        • tsmithfield 1.1.1.1

          I guess that is a worry.

          There was some talk about the Russians blowing the Kakhovka dam. But they probably would have done that by now if they were going to, and it really isn't in their interests to do that anyway.

          The Russians could set up their artillery on the other side of the river and start pounding away at Kherson and its regions. But Ukraine now has longer range and more precise artillery, so could probably eliminate that threat fairly quickly.

          The biggest worry at the moment is that the Russians might be getting Iranian ballistic missiles (having used up most of their own). This would allow them to target Ukrainian power infrastructure again, and would be difficult to stop.

          Hence why the US really needs to start sending longer range ATACMs missiles to Ukraine so Ukraine can target the launch sites, and Russian airfields in the region.

            • tsmithfield 1.1.1.1.1.1

              Yes, that is old news, from September. I have seen reports to indicate that things may have changed in that respect.

            • Jenny are we there yet 1.1.1.1.1.2

              As well as not supplying Ukraine with the long range Himars that Ukraine requested, The US vetoed Poland supplying Ukraine with MIG fighter jets.

              https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/9/us-rejects-poland-offer-to-send-mig-29-fighter-jets-to-ukraine

              I find it intriguing, that maybe you are starting to realise that Ukraine is not getting all the support from the US they would have got, if Ukraine was simply a Yankee puppet state, acting in America's interests, against Ukraine's own best interests.

              Sort of makes a lie of pro war trolls lie that this is a proxy war between the US and Russia. And not a war for national independence from a foreign invader.

              For goodness sake even Russia let the Vietnamese have MIG fighter jets to fight their invader.

              https://www.rbth.com/blogs/2015/04/30/vietnam_war_the_critical_role_of_russian_weapons_42917

              And even though that war too was accused of being a proxy war between the super powers it too was a war for national independence from a foreign invader

              Sure the super powers like to see their rivals getting a black eye from one of the countries subject to their imperial expansion, and so will back their effort to liberate themselves. But that alone does not make it a proxy war.

              • mikesh

                The US has always refused to set up a "fly zone", presumably because they wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia for fear of setting off a nuclear war. However they could have sent planes for the Ukrainians themselves to use. Why didn't they? Is it because the Russians would have no way of ascertaining who would have been flying them if the the did?

                And why does Poland need US permission to send planes anyway?

                • Barfly

                  Standard contract of weapons suppliers is that any on selling has to be approved by the country of the weapons manufacturer. We needed USA permission to sell our old Skyhawks (I think the deal fell through)

                  • joe90

                    Complicated by Poland's NATO membership.

                    But Western officials worry that if Ukrainian pilots go to a NATO country to pick up fighter jets and then fly them back into contested Ukrainian airspace, where they might have to engage with Russian fighters, Moscow will view the country they left from as a combatant and therefore fair game.

                    And NATO’s core tenet, spelled out in Article 5 of its charter, is that an attack on any member country is an attack on all, meaning all 30 member states would be obligated to join the fight.

                    “The intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in Russian reaction that could increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.

                    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-reject-polands-plan-give-ukraine-soviet-era-fighter-jets-rcna19396

    • mauī 1.2

      Victory due to a Russian planned withdrawal, not bad ay. Just waiting for the imminent Russian army collapse like it was supposed to do after Kharkov.. right?

      For an area that voted to join Russia, my best guess would be that the populace is not celebrating as you depict it.

      • tsmithfield 1.2.1

        So, why did the Russians feel the need to withdraw in the first place.

        And, what was the referendum vote? Nearly 100% as I remember. So, if that result wasn't a complete fabrication as most countries believe, there should be huge protests greeting the Ukrainian arrival. I expect you will be able to post videos of that.

        • mauī 1.2.1.1

          Because their forces are consolidated on the eastern side of the river. Having a single outpost on the western side means its vulnerable. Makes sense to withdraw then right?

          I don't think the result was 100% in Kherson, but how would these countries know what an accurate result was if they're already anti-Russia to begin with. Also there is no doubt that the eastern and southern areas of Ukraine are generally pro Russian, this is backed up by their voting preference for Yanukovych pre-2014 when the situation there wasn't muddied by war and propaganda.

          • tsmithfield 1.2.1.1.1

            "I don't think the result was 100% in Kherson… "

            So you agree the result was bogus then? Voting at the point of a gun generally isn't very democratic.

            "Also there is no doubt that the eastern and southern areas of Ukraine are generally pro Russian,"

            Torturing and killing your "citizens" isn't usually great for patriotism.

            And, how long do you think the Russians will be able to hang there on the other side of the river, with the Ukrainians having longer range and more accurate artillery, especially HIMARS.

            • mauī 1.2.1.1.1.1

              Russia can hold on as long as it likes. They have a stable frontline, air superiority, drone superiority, tank superiority, artillery and missile superiority. They've been destroying NATO equipment en mass as they repel attacks, and each military aid package Ukraine receives from other countries just gets weaker and weaker.

      • Anne 1.2.2

        So, you don't understand what a rigged referendum is? I feel sorry for you. It really must hurt having a brain so easy to manipulate.

        • Francesca 1.2.2.1

          Sounds like Trump and his stolen election

        • weston 1.2.2.2

          There has been much bullshit said, mostly on msm ,about the referendums in the donbas calling them 'rigged ' etc .Their are multiple interviews of actual civilians living in these areas participating in the referendums so before you go accusing others Anne of having brains that are "easy to manipulate "you might like to actually inform yourself !!

          This is one from Eva Bartlett who did many such interviews at the time

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHafLEHaZ6g

          And heres another by Patrick Lancaster he also has done many interviews on this subject .

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgYqusaO2Gg

          In all the material ive seen on these referendums they have been conducted in an orderly lawful manner nothing " rigged " about them.

          • Sanctuary 1.2.2.2.1

            OMG they walk amongst us.

            Anyway, I was wearing my “Armed Forces of the Ukraine” teeshirt at the mall today and I got a “Slava Ukraine!” from a couple of women so I was right pleased.

      • Tony Veitch 1.2.3

        I can't understand Russian reasoning (!!!) Kherson controls the canal which waters the Crimean Peninsula. If Ukraine cuts that off, Crimea must fall.

        What on earth is going on in Putin's head?

      • Sanctuary 1.2.4

        lol what part of "retreat" don't you understand?

  2. Francesca 2

    "Biden said he decided to deny U.S. aircraft to guarantee Ukraine’s skies because, “We’re not going to get into a third world war, taking on Russian aircraft and directly engage.” In a reference to Ukraine’s request for the longer-range Army Tactical Missile System, made by Lockheed Martin, Biden said he’s denied the Ukrainians such missiles, “because I’m not looking for them to start bombing Russian territory.”"

    https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/11/10/biden-ukraine-aid-will-keep-flowing-even-through-a-gop-led-house/

    • Jenny are we there yet 2.1

      – Biden said he’s denied the Ukrainians such missiles, “because I’m not looking for them to start bombing Russian territory.”" –

      Makes a lie of the Russian troll farm claim that this is a 'US/Natzo' proxy war to destroy Russia, Instead of what it is, a war for independence from an expansionist imperial power.

      • Jenny are we there yet 2.1.1

        Growth and expansion is innate to capitalism.

        Unfortunately for the Russian Federation, (and China), they have come late to the imperialist carve up of the world.

        And as their growth economies butt up against the established global powers, (which are having their own struggles with 'growth'), war is the inevitable result.

        Infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible War and biosphere collapse are the result.

    • tsmithfield 2.2

      You would be surprised how things change. A lot of stuff Ukraine is using now was denied them at the start of the war.

    • tsmithfield 2.3

      Either this is an old man moment, or Biden has let the cat out of the bag:

      https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-joe-bidens-claim-himars-given-ukraine-have-160-mile-range-1758739

      Biden said there are 600 mile range rockets for Himars and 160 mile rockets, and that they haven't given Ukraine the 600 mile versions.

    • Sanctuary 2.4

      I wpould bet dollars to donuts the US has provided a limited number of ATACMS to Ukraine.

  3. weston 3

    Funniest event of the week for me was Zelensky picking up the Oscar !!!!

    From the Evening Standard

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0Hh3RZJwuwo

  4. Adrian 4

    Yes its a funny old war.. it appears as though once again Russia has come to Ukraines aid by donating huge stockpiles of weaponry. Nice one Vlad.

  5. I agree with Jan Logie on this one. If it's too dangerous for Fisheries observers to work on these small ships – because they drift with no active watch, and are at risk of collision; then those vessels should not be eligible for or be granted NZ fisheries quota.

    Maritime NZ says that watchkeeping is a requirement, but FNZ has no capacity to enforce it. Yanking the fishing quota would be a fine enforcement method.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/130411297/fisheries-observers-removed-over-health-and-safety-fears

    • Stuart Munro 5.1

      Maritime NZ should be deticketing anyone failing to keep a watch.

      But they're useless – only good for prosecuting the survivors of things like White Island.

      They're a disgrace to the profession.

    • Terrible for those small business owners (it's in the neighbourhood for me – so I know the businesses concerned). Many of them (e.g. the Malaysian cafe or Subway) won't have anything significantly 'saleable' on the premises, or any cash – so it's pure love of destruction driving these criminals.

      Not excusing them when they do target shops to steal to order – but at least it's understandable.

  6. Anker 7

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/aut-nursing-students-cared-for-convicts-put-in-dangerous-situations-on-placement-student/BYW4KOTVVREKTCW464KVUMZKP4/

    Something is going very wrong with nursing training. We will lose these trainees nurses before they even are registered nurses.

    Student nurses to be paid well for placements, petrol money, car parking would be a good start.

    Dumping them in potential unsafe situations not o.k.

  7. Sanctuary 8

    China has peaked, Russia is being routed, Trump is finished – there is hope in the world.

  8. Joe90 9

    When you appoint a profiteer to run your wars.

    How General Surovikin helped Putin and oligarch Gennady Timchenko enrich themselves in Syria.

    https://twitter.com/pevchikh/status/1590740802116145154

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1590740802116145154.html

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QWad-NOAlYk&feature=youtu.be

    (English subtitles)

  9. Poission 10

    Semper Augustus harvest as Crypto economy shrinks to small economy.

    https://twitter.com/Schuldensuehner/status/1591017390598340608?cxt=HHwWgICq4eP4tpQsAAAA

    FBX in Chapter 11 bankruptcy as associated Zombies,fall over.

    https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1590951516860387328?cxt=HHwWgMColbb-mJQsAAAA

  10. adam 11

    The warmongers out in force today.

    Too soon.

    https://www.usip.org/drafting-peace-agreement-five-phases

    • Grey Area 11.1

      A bit cryptic.

      • Stuart Munro 11.1.1

        Needs to be – he means rolling over to give Vlad a last quarter win.

        • adam 11.1.1.1

          Say's Stuart Munro, your one of the worst spreading pro war propaganda.

          But like all warmongering trolls, your only defence is to smear anyone who is anti- war, as putin puppet.

          Sad man, just fucking sad.

          • Stuart Munro 11.1.1.1.1

            No need to smear you – you chose that hill to die on.

            Thinking folk aren't too keen to get behind murderous despots – why are you?

            • adam 11.1.1.1.1.1

              Think you better put up where I supported a despot, or shut the fuck up with you bullshit lies and trolling.

              • Stuart Munro

                Do you deny supporting Putin, or do you deny that he's a despot?

                • adam

                  But wait, you double down with your lies and bullshit.

                  You really are a total fucking loser.

                  • Stuart Munro

                    Oh, you're offended? After calling everyone else warmongers?

                    Wow solipsism – so hypocrisy.

                    But of course you didn’t answer the question. What are you trying to hide Adam? Do you deny an uncritical admiration for Putin, even after all his crimes?

                    • adam

                      You just can't stop can you. Lies, misdirection and making shit up.

                      Is the president of Indonesia a Putin puppet, or uncritical of his admiration of Putin now as well? In that he is calling for what I'm calling for. In your world obviously that must be the case.

                      Can't think that the war is wasteful, otherwise your a Putin supporter in Stuart Munro's small little world.

                      So let me ask once again, prove I support a despot, just once, anywhere on this site. One example. You must have something with which to back your claims?

                      No, nothing, then may I suggest, you're full of shit.

                  • Stuart Munro

                    You know, if your constant ad homs did not demonstrate what a shriveled husk of a human being you were, I might be offended.

                    Answer the question, Putin poppet.

                    Do you deny you support him, or do you deny he's a despot?

                    Come clean – speak your truth as you see it and stop slinking away like some cowardly postmodern poseur.

                    • adam

                      Now your back to calling me a putin puppet – how very droll.

                      Can you read? Obviously via your comments, comprehension is a major problem for you.

                      Let me make it simpler for you – your boy Zelenskyy is a dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. On the other side is another dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. Both of which are war warmongers getting civilians killed to boost their egos.

                      Both swinging dicks around, rather than sorting out a settlement.

                      But then again, you might find that hard to comprehend. Someone who loathes all sides in this conflict.

                      Let me reiterate because of your inability to think, my position has not changed from day one of this war. This war is stupid, and should end before it spills out into something worse.

                      Leaving me with one conclusion, Stuart Munro you are just another tool for spreading hate and war.

                  • Stuart Munro

                    Zelenskyy is a dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. On the other side is another dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy.

                    Ah the old false equivalence – how original.

                    Invasion – everybody does it, right?

                    Except, my little cabbage, Ukraine does not.

                    It's difficult keeping international politics straight I suppose – we just expected too much of you.

                    • adam

                      Ah the old false equivalence – how original.

                      No prizes for seconds..

                      As I don't support rulers who use civilians as human shields, pass anti worker laws, arrest and detain people for trying to leave the country. I'm not shocked you give them a free pass.

                      The Ukraine Oligarchs are proving themselves to be far right Anti-worker assholes, so I see why you support them.

                      At this point I'm not surprised to see you cluching your pearls. It's all you got left.

                    • RedLogix

                      @Adam

                      Millions of ordinary Ukrainians are putting body and soul on the line to defend their nation; either on the front or in support. The astonishing morale and commitment of their military is well understood as one of the key reasons why they have outperformed all pre-war expectations this past year.

                      Your shameful false equivalence spits on their sacrifice.

                  • Stuart Munro

                    As I don't support rulers who use civilians as human shields, pass anti worker laws, arrest and detain people for trying to leave the country. I'm not shocked you give them a free pass.

                    Oh but you do – you consistently take the side of Putin like some soulless soviet aparatchik.

                    Putin's regime surpasses all your unsupported (as usual) allegations against Ukraine by orders of magnitude.

                    But you consistently ignore any evidence that does not support your inane prejudices, and thus you have become a Judas goat, a flagrant fascist supporter running agit prop against a Left site.

                    Shameless.

                    • adam

                      you consistently take the side of Putin like some soulless soviet aparatchik.

                      See your back to lies again, I don't take the side of Putin and if you read anything I said, rather than fall into know it all, fucktard mod. You'd comprehend that.

                      Your Bush like, your with us or you against us logic is fubar.

                      https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-labour-law-wrecks-workers-rights/

                      https://www.solidaritycenter.org/more-attacks-on-rights-of-ukrainian-workers/

                      https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/19/zrjy-j19.html

                      https://www.dw.com/en/how-ukrainian-men-try-to-get-around-the-ban-to-leave-the-country/a-62529639

                      Totally supported facts just to counter all the propaganda you have been spoon feed. .

                      How about you grow up Stuart Munro and realise this is probably the most propagandized war in history. And knowing the truth is quite difficult.

                      I'm calling for an end to the war, a negotiated settlement to stop the insanity. And what do I get from you and the other war monger fuck trads on this site – YOUR A FUCKING PUTIN PUPPET – shut the fuck up.

                      How about you go on line and read what the people who actually support putin are saying, it's very far from what I'm saying.

                      War never helps working people. It only enriches weapons makers and other war profiteering scum. They must be laughing their heads off at how simple it is to manipulate people like you.

                    • weka []

                      tone down the abuse please adam.

                    • weka

                      please stop the abuse and personal attacks. If the conversation has gotten to the point where this is all you can do, then maybe it's time to step away and focus on something else.

                    • adam

                      @ RedLogix

                      You can't call out bad leaders, because sacrifice….

                      You really are just an out and out jingoist these days Red.

                    • adam

                      Come on weka, I've been called a putin puppet over and over with no fucking evidence that I am. It's tiresome.

                      I'm sick to fucking death of everytime I argue for a settlement to this conflict, I'm attacked for supporting putin. Or some other bullshit.

                      I'll stop now, as you obviously can't support peace on this web site.

                    • weka []

                      Well I’ve also just told Stuart to pull his head in, so I’m not sure that is quite true.

                      I don’t read every comment on TS. I don’t like reading the war debate, because I find them tedious. You can always reply to me somewhere on site with a link pointing out that someone is lying about your views. You know me well enough that I have a very low tolerance for people making shit up about others and I will act if I see that happening.

                      I do have limits on my time, so getting my attention is a better bet than taking the chance that I will read something off my own bat.

                  • Stuart Munro

                    You are called a Putin dupe repeatedly because you repeat his propaganda, and link his propaganda sites ad nauseum.

                    There is no sign of balance, or thought, or anything resembling morality – but you seem to imagine that your ill-founded reckons are not merely worthy of our attention, but are more persuasive and informed than those of the people on the ground.

                    The people on the ground are in this instance the Ukrainians. They want self-determination – but your version of political morality is so empty that you appear to believe that they must instead suffer the oppressive rule of Russian kleptocracy.

                    As a apologist for that regime, and a consistent and untiring enemy of Ukraine, you have no claim to enlightened values, nor to any pretention to the Left.

                    You're just a latter day Jean Brodie who's swapped Putin for Mussolini.

        • joe90 11.1.1.2

          Eric Blair had pacifism's number.

          Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist.

          https://archive.ph/XxZj#selection-59.0-65.129

          • RedLogix 11.1.1.2.1

            From your link:

            Pacifism. Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, ‘he that is not with me is against me’. The idea that you can somehow remain aloof from and superior to the struggle, while living on food which British sailors have to risk their lives to bring you, is a bourgeois illusion bred of money and security. Mr Savage remarks that ‘according to this type of reasoning, a German or Japanese pacifist would be “objectively pro-British”.’ But of course he would be! That is why pacifist activities are not permitted in those countries (in both of them the penalty is, or can be, beheading) while both the Germans and the Japanese do all they can to encourage the spread of pacifism in British and American territories. The Germans even run a spurious ‘freedom’ station which serves out pacifist propaganda indistinguishable from that of the P.P.U. They would stimulate pacifism in Russia as well if they could, but in that case they have tougher babies to deal with. In so far as it takes effect at all, pacifist propaganda can only be effective against those countries where a certain amount of freedom of speech is still permitted; in other words it is helpful to totalitarianism.

            I am not interested in pacifism as a ‘moral phenomenon’. If Mr Savage and others imagine that one can somehow ‘overcome’ the German army by lying on one’s back, let them go on imagining it, but let them also wonder occasionally whether this is not an illusion due to security, too much money and a simple ignorance of the way in which things actually happen. As an ex-Indian civil servant, it always makes me shout with laughter to hear, for instance, Gandhi named as an example of the success of non-violence. As long as twenty years ago it was cynically admitted in Anglo-Indian circles that Gandhi was very useful to the British government. So he will be to the Japanese if they get there. Despotic governments can stand ‘moral force’ till the cows come home; what they fear is physical force. But though not much interested in the ‘theory’ of pacifism, I am interested in the psychological processes by which pacifists who have started out with an alleged horror of violence end up with a marked tendency to be fascinated by the success and power of Nazism. Even pacifists who wouldn’t own to any such fascination are beginning to claim that a Nazi victory is desirable in itself.

          • Drowsy M. Kram 11.1.1.2.2

            If you judge a man by the company he keeps, then Blair was all over the place.

            A Brief History of Cranks
            On bearded fruit juice drinkers, nudists, and sandal-wearers

            Socialism,” George Orwell famously wrote in The Road to Wigan Pier (1936), draws towards it ”with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist and feminist in England.” His tirade against such “cranks” is memorably extended in other passages of the book to include “vegetarians with wilting beards,” the “outer-suburban creeping Jesus” eager to begin his yoga exercises, and ”that dreary tribe of high-minded women and sandal-wearers and bearded fruit-juice drinkers who come flocking towards the smell of ‘progress’ like bluebottles to a dead cat.

            Pacifists get a bad rap in wartime, but they're not all quaking in their sandals.

            Quakers
            Though a small religious movement, the Society of Friends (Quakers) organized relief and advocated rescue in Europe before, during, and after the Holocaust. The American Friends Service Committee became an important part of a rescue network helping refugees. The group worked in French internment camps, hid Jewish children, and assisted thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish refugees with immigration and resettlement to the United States.

            Early Quakers were among the leaders of the anti-slavery movement in the United States. Quakers are also pacifists, responding to wartime calls for service seeking out non-combat roles such driving ambulances or serving in conscientious objector work camps.

            For their relief efforts, their work with refugees, and for their overall promotion of peace, the American Friends Service Committee and their British counterparts, the Friends Service Council, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.

            Beating the peace drum isn't always a pointless / thankless task – takes all kinds.

            https://quaker.org/legacy/minnfm/peace/integrity_of_german_friends_duri.htm

            • Belladonna 11.1.1.2.2.1

              Family story. My grandfather went to WW1 and served in the trenches. Family history is (he'd died before I was born) that he and his mates had the utmost respect for the Quaker ambulance drivers and medics on the front lines – 'they risked their lives every day to save others – without even the means to protect themselves'.

              OTOH, they had nothing but contempt for the 'Conshies' – regarding them as cowards.

            • millsy 11.1.1.2.2.2

              If Orwell was alive today, he would be regarded as 'anti-woke'.

          • adam 11.1.1.2.3

            So if you don't kill Russians, and support the killing of Russians, your a fascist now.

            Your arguments are getting desperate joe90

            And sound somewhat like those who support Putin and co. Which I think the word I’m look for is…..

        • Grey Area 11.1.1.3

          I guessed as much. The huge waste of human life and destruction of infrastructure profoundly saddens me but there is one way to end this – for the Russians leave to Ukraine. The negotiations about reparations to rebuild Ukraine can begin then.

  11. Grey Area 12

    Looks like we're seeing the return of plague ships. Why in the age of Covid do people think going on a cruise is a good idea? Humans I guess.

    Cruise ship with 800 cases docks in Sydney.

  12. Poission 13

    FTX after filing chapter 11 bankruptcy, freezing accounts,and freezing transactions,has now been hacked with a substantive number of irregularities ( 260-600m$ into the ether)

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1591309921185923072?cxt=HHwWgIC8vab8u5UsAAAA

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    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    8 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    9 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    9 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    10 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    14 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    16 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    18 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
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