Putin's war crimes multiply. The strategy here is clear – keeping the Dniepr river in flood to protect the Russian's western flank from an amphibious assault, eventually deny drinking water to millions of Ukrainian civilians and ensure that there will be no grain for export this year from the Ukraine. This is not the actions of a reasonable or even sane regime. It is the unhinged and genocidal actions of criminals and totally unjustified by any norm of civilised behaviour.
So let's be clear. Russia is waging a total war on the Ukraine at a level of demented brutality not seen since the darkest days of the second world war. Millions rely on Ukrainian grain for food in the middle east. Putin appears to be prepared to plunge the entire nations of innocents into hunger in order to achieve whatever ruinous, messianic vision he has descended to in his all-encompassing madness.
Putin and his mob of equally psychopathic gangsters who run Russia are determined to keep raising the stakes on the already high crimes they are guilty of, and they are playing for keeps for maximalist war aims. Surely, such behaviour simply makes a wider war inevitable. Poland is engaged in a crash rearmament, ordering staggering amounts of weapons from especially South Korea. Putin can't conquer the Ukraine, his army is too weak now. If he drags on a demented, genocidal assault on the Ukraine for another year then I can't see the likes of Poland staying out forever.
Poland would have to be the "aggressor" if war were to break out between them and Russia. I doubt whether Russia is planning on attacking Poland. It sounds as though the latter are becoming paranoid. Still, arming themselves is good for the arms manufacturers.
There are two Nations that the Poles hate the most Germany & Russia!
Given that Germany is a democracy & both the EU & NATO.
The other Russia is run by a one man raving lunatic who thinks he's the next Russia Tsar who wants to rebuild the Russian/ USSR Imperial.
Who has invaded another country aka Ukraine Violation of Article 51 of the UN Charter,the Lisbon protocol & Budapest memorandum which Russia signed when Ukraine got its independence in 1991. (well Poot's has invaded a few countries as the Russia President btw).
Russia has also now setup shop Belarus with what 100k+ troops & let's not forget the Russian garrison in Kaliningrad Oblast which shares a border with Poland.
Given what Tsar Poot's has said about Poland over the last decade or so & especially in the last 5yrs.
Poles can be almost be forgiven to be a tad on edge atm, given pass history at the way Imperial & USSR Russia has treated Poland especially from post WW1 onwards!
If Russia & Belarus were too be stupid enough to invade Ukrane from Belarus in the forthcoming Russian Offensive? I wouldn't be surprised if Poland goes all in, while telling the EU & NATO to FUCK OFF!
Plus I'm also sure that Poland has & no doubt the EU along with NATO has read the Riot Act to Belarus. That if it facilitates a Russian invasion of Ukraine from its Borders, it will find itself in trouble & that NATO nor the EU will have any Responsibility for Poland's Actions if it chooses to support Ukraine by Invading Belarus!
Poland has not forgotten what Russia has done to Poland & it will never for give them either!!
That should be post WW2. In 1918-1920 Poland waged two sucessful eastern wars: firstly against a short-lived nascent Ukraine Republic that claimed cities like Lvov, (now Lviv), which had 60% Polish-speaking population, a large Jewish population and minority Ukraine population; and secondly against Russian and Ukraine Soviets.
A 1920-1939 map of Poland shows significant areas now in western Ukraine and Belarus were a part of Poland between WW1 and WW2. Polish veterans were given land grants in those regions.
It was touch an go for the Poles at one stage as they were fighting a two front war for their independence against the remains of the Imperial Germany Armed Forces aka the Freikorps & the Bolsheviks in the East while supporting the newly independent Ukraine as well with the idea of reforming the Polish- Ukranian Commonwealth. Which is an interesting story IRT Ukraine in itself btw, but with a tragic ending of a Greek Opera.
The fighting in the East against the Bolsheviks was some of the Bloodiest, where no quarter was given.
"Note there new book is about to be released on this period of Polish History about fighting Lenin's Red Bolsheviks in the East & it sounds like a ripping read btw".
If you think a Albanian or Yugoslavian Blood Feud can be little bit crazy at times?
The Polish & Russia Feud has lasted alot longer & if Russia gives the Poles a half chance/ an excuse? They will be in like Flynn & even God won't help Tsar Poot's!
Yes, but that's what the West is hoping to avoid, by giving Ukraine as much help as possible. Because if Poland goes in, and Russia loses, Putin will try and immolate the world.
It’s in everyone’s interest to get Russia to back off.
Poland "will not take a backward step to Russia"? It certainly does exactly that to Germany, the U.K. and the United States. It's as much of a doormat now as it's ever been.
Robologic, And, like most Soviet satellite states, would do anything to stop the return of a similar overlordship, whether capitalist, fascist, or communist.
RNZ thinks we have an interest in American "news'..or atleast RNZ's limited understanding of what makes American News..that is.."Trump Bad, Shootings and Bad China with its spy balloons"…for anyone here reduced to having RNZ as their only radio news sourse..but with an actual interest in the state of that particular Nation..I would like to share this terrible story…
I suspect on a very slow news day, had this happened in say..India or wherever, RNZ may have reported this story as part of the usuale narrative. about so called third world nations….but we seem to be holding on to the illusion of America being a first World Nation..not to mention our delusions about what that even means…
Yeah..atleast the Democrats, and the rest of us, know how to farm out child labour when its needed..(I was going to say needed for our cheap crap..but then I remember reading this just last week..
I have no idea what RNZ ‘thinks’ or what you’re going on about. You seem to believe that you’re offering some context and balance to the poor Kiwis who need it without even knowing about and/or asking for it. You seem to think that there are people who are ‘reduced’ to only source of information, which clearly is the wrong one, in your mind.
Obviously, it is not a slow news day and RNZ and other NZ MSM sites are understandably dominated by the current event called Gabrielle, which seems to have escaped you.
Your hypotheticals are idle speculation and show your biased thinking, your illusions, and what you think things even mean…
I'm trying to work out how anyone could be reduced to having only RNZ as their radio news.
Surely with communications systems and capitalists all over the place trying to make money out of media the numbers in that boat would be infinitesimal.
Siobhan, I've noticed when scrolling through English-language news sites that the same stories pop up on most. The shrinking number of hard-news on-the-ground journalists inevitably leads to a more homogenous, more limited news reporting. If you shop around, Al Jazeera generates novel Islamic-world news, France 24 reports on North and Central Africa, etc. No one source seems to provide a whole-world news update.
And disaster porn has always been a feature of headline news, hence the preponderance of wildfire/earthquake/flood reporting with little analysis. Also, if I remember from the Ohio train derailment, there's no death toll, only the possibilty if it had occurred in a more populous area.
Amid questions, Biden administration officials have found themselves issuing private assurances there is no evidence they involve extraterrestrial activity, the New York Times reports.
The latest incurious came as US officials were still trying to precisely identify two others objects blown from the sky by F-22 fighter jets over the past two days, and were working to determine whether China was responsible as concerns escalate about what Washington says is Beijing's large-scale aerial surveillance programme.
A precedent now set with the 1st balloon, anything unidentified that flies over North America has to be shot down. Get Mulder and Scully onto it.
Peak insanity. I hope this doesn't impact on the output of global weather forecasting models…..
They can land things on the Moon and Mars, they can bring back manned shuttles to Earth, but they cannot take down a balloon without destroying/losing the evidence?? Have they watched too many movies starring Tom Cruise?
"Centre for Political Research" is one of those innocuous names often favoured by extreme Right astroturfers. They do no more "research" than anyone else who has Google.
Lol. Had a peruse. VERY strange place. Laden with very well known Climate Deniers, Racists,Business vampires, libertarians And, variations…of nutbars (disclaimer…some guests Not so, were maybe allowed a say to show how open they were? )
Was listening to Heather Stupidity-Allan interview her father, Barry Soper, just now.
Three Waters came up (of course) and Soper played an audio clip of a recent exchange between Rawiri Waititi and David Seymour. Waititi accused Seymour of using racist rhetoric. Seymour used the handbook for racists who don't want to appear racist and asks Waititi to say specifically what Seymour has said that is racist.
Waititi demurred. Soper, his daughter, and boomers up and down the country laughed.
If the Maori Party are going to be combative they need to have ready answers when Seymour asks what he has said that is racist.
Rawiri should have held his line, repeated his certainty and shown that the ACT guy's "dive down into the detail"is a technique designed to befuddle the listener. TPM are correct. ACT are duplicitous 🙂
"Jong Khee did not do detail when he accused the Labour Party of backing rapists and murderers."
Actually, he did.
"Key's justification is that the Australian's have supplied him with a list revealing that some of the Kiwi detainees are rapists and murders. Australia's immigration minister has also labelled them the worst sort of criminals. But that contradicts what Davis and others have been claiming about the petty nature of some of the crimes of those who are detained. Key's office later released a list compiled by the Australian government earlier this year to prove his claim, though whether or not it does is a moot point. It showed that as of May there were 34 child sex offenders, 22 murderers and 16 rapists and sex offenders on Australia's hit list, along with 121 Kiwis convicted of assault, 83 with theft, robbery and breaking and entering offences to their name and 64 drug offenders. But that's out of a total 585 New Zealanders who are in the system for visa cancellation. Presumably that leaves 140 or more who are being deported for less serious offences."
“Bless, by linking the Tracy Watkins article your defence of Key and the political right did not turn out how you wanted.”
I don’t know what you mean by ‘how I wanted’. It turned out that John Key did provide detail to justify his comments about the 501’s.
I agree. Seymour asked a simple question that Rawiri couldn't answer because people like Rawiri have become accustomed to spouting racist rhetoric with little fear of being taken to task for their comments.
The question is: should this clown hold the balance of power at election time, I can't see either Labour or National gaining from going into coalition with the Maori Party. National would lose a massive voter base, and Labour would be forced into more Three Waters type sops to accommodate a coalition agreement. The result for either party would probably be a one term tenure before getting the boot.
In practice Seymour is about as Maori as I am which is zero. It hurts actual Maori people to have him claim whakapapa but never ever use it for the good of Maori. In fact his policies actively work against a Maori renaissance, rather amalgamating and diluting Te Ao into a One NZ where cultural identity comes second to the economic power of the individual.
For ACT it's all about locking in those gains of the 17th Century, and more recently here locking in the illicit gains wayward European settlers made in the dead of the night.
For them Maori have the right to exist but in no way should that be at the expense or inconvenience of the very white people who have benefitted from proceedings thus far.
It shouldn't be difficult, but Seymour is a wily politician with 8 years of sharpening rhetoric under his belt, and Waititi is a first term MP
The racism is covert dogwhistling. Calls for one nation. Accusing Māori activists of separatism, apartheid, etc. Extremely dishonest shit.
The problem is what Seymour doesn't say. He talks about equality and opportunity, but his party's sociopathic policies do exactly the opposite.
Seymour is a skilled and amoral liar.
We like to joke about him twerking on TV and looking like Rimmer the hologram, but he’s probably the most dangerous politician in NZ right now. If he gets into government NZ will descend into a “BoJo Britain” level of dysfunction.
I'm glad you mentioned Boris Johnson because I suspect his style is what David Seymour is trying to copy. His 'state of the nation' speech was about European superiority in the 17th Century. Boris Johnson is a gregarious Classics buffoon and Seymour is emulating that.
The problem is what Seymour doesn't say. He talks about equality and opportunity, but his party's sociopathic policies do exactly the opposite. Seymour is a skilled and amoral liar.
So true and this is what I'd like to see the Maori Party and others really highlight. That is the inherent racism of the ACT Party.
At 9am on Monday, MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker said the former tropical cyclone system was sitting a couple of hundred kilometres almost directly north of Great Barrier Island.
As of 1pm, Cyclone Gabrielle was sitting about 250km to the north, northeast of Great Barrier Island, MetService meteorologist Peter Little said….
….Cyclone Gabrielle is forecast to continue to take a more southerly course, bringing it down to Great Barrier (just shy of 100km from Auckland), and Coromandel Peninsula on Monday night….
….“We can say with pretty good certainty that [Gabrielle] will come closer to Great Barrier Island today.”
Putin's hypocrisy, continuing their attacks on civilians in Ukraine the Russian Federation does not let up on its attacks on the people of Syria.
Despite the suffering caused by the devastating earthquake Russia uses its veto in the UN to stop the free flow of humanitarian aid into North West Syria. While demanding the sanctions on its ally the genocidal Assad regime be lifted.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
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A tragic and completely avoidable scandal.
GIDS ignored children’s histories of sexual abuse
https://twitter.com/hadleyfreeman/status/1624470873527705601?s=46&t=NI8SGvk3IMQ1knONqyaDpQ
And ongoing in many places. And they still don't want to know.
"GIDS ignored children’s histories of sexual abuse"
…and a range of other issues as well.
"Former clinicians at the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London, have detailed how some “incredibly complex” children were placed on medication after one face-to-face assessment, despite many having a variety of mental health or family background problems.
More than a third of young people referred to the service had moderate to severe autistic traits, compared with fewer than 2 per cent of children in the general population. Some identified not just as a different gender, but a different ethnic background, such as Japanese or Korean. One young person had “three different alter egos, two of whom spoke in an Australian accent”.
It's frightening what has been done to these children.
Fortunately, the USA is beginning to have its whistle blowers also.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11734551/St-Louis-trans-clinic-investigated-harming-600-teens.html?fbclid=IwAR19PDd77gWo0OZWl0MIM0XYH9bYdtZ95YzXXaIgd-KlB8ukzMetUkfWgYE
Horrible. I wonder what the consequences will be on those doctors if the allegations are proven?
Putin's war crimes multiply. The strategy here is clear – keeping the Dniepr river in flood to protect the Russian's western flank from an amphibious assault, eventually deny drinking water to millions of Ukrainian civilians and ensure that there will be no grain for export this year from the Ukraine. This is not the actions of a reasonable or even sane regime. It is the unhinged and genocidal actions of criminals and totally unjustified by any norm of civilised behaviour.
So let's be clear. Russia is waging a total war on the Ukraine at a level of demented brutality not seen since the darkest days of the second world war. Millions rely on Ukrainian grain for food in the middle east. Putin appears to be prepared to plunge the entire nations of innocents into hunger in order to achieve whatever ruinous, messianic vision he has descended to in his all-encompassing madness.
Putin and his mob of equally psychopathic gangsters who run Russia are determined to keep raising the stakes on the already high crimes they are guilty of, and they are playing for keeps for maximalist war aims. Surely, such behaviour simply makes a wider war inevitable. Poland is engaged in a crash rearmament, ordering staggering amounts of weapons from especially South Korea. Putin can't conquer the Ukraine, his army is too weak now. If he drags on a demented, genocidal assault on the Ukraine for another year then I can't see the likes of Poland staying out forever.
Poland will look at what has eventuated in the Ukraine and it will stay out forever (if it has the option).
Poland is preparing for war. It will not take a backward step to Russia. References
Poland would have to be the "aggressor" if war were to break out between them and Russia. I doubt whether Russia is planning on attacking Poland. It sounds as though the latter are becoming paranoid. Still, arming themselves is good for the arms manufacturers.
Are you annoying Polish History?
There are two Nations that the Poles hate the most Germany & Russia!
Given that Germany is a democracy & both the EU & NATO.
The other Russia is run by a one man raving lunatic who thinks he's the next Russia Tsar who wants to rebuild the Russian/ USSR Imperial.
Who has invaded another country aka Ukraine Violation of Article 51 of the UN Charter,the Lisbon protocol & Budapest memorandum which Russia signed when Ukraine got its independence in 1991. (well Poot's has invaded a few countries as the Russia President btw).
Russia has also now setup shop Belarus with what 100k+ troops & let's not forget the Russian garrison in Kaliningrad Oblast which shares a border with Poland.
Given what Tsar Poot's has said about Poland over the last decade or so & especially in the last 5yrs.
Poles can be almost be forgiven to be a tad on edge atm, given pass history at the way Imperial & USSR Russia has treated Poland especially from post WW1 onwards!
If Russia & Belarus were too be stupid enough to invade Ukrane from Belarus in the forthcoming Russian Offensive? I wouldn't be surprised if Poland goes all in, while telling the EU & NATO to FUCK OFF!
Plus I'm also sure that Poland has & no doubt the EU along with NATO has read the Riot Act to Belarus. That if it facilitates a Russian invasion of Ukraine from its Borders, it will find itself in trouble & that NATO nor the EU will have any Responsibility for Poland's Actions if it chooses to support Ukraine by Invading Belarus!
Poland has not forgotten what Russia has done to Poland & it will never for give them either!!
That should be post WW2. In 1918-1920 Poland waged two sucessful eastern wars: firstly against a short-lived nascent Ukraine Republic that claimed cities like Lvov, (now Lviv), which had 60% Polish-speaking population, a large Jewish population and minority Ukraine population; and secondly against Russian and Ukraine Soviets.
A 1920-1939 map of Poland shows significant areas now in western Ukraine and Belarus were a part of Poland between WW1 and WW2. Polish veterans were given land grants in those regions.
It was touch an go for the Poles at one stage as they were fighting a two front war for their independence against the remains of the Imperial Germany Armed Forces aka the Freikorps & the Bolsheviks in the East while supporting the newly independent Ukraine as well with the idea of reforming the Polish- Ukranian Commonwealth. Which is an interesting story IRT Ukraine in itself btw, but with a tragic ending of a Greek Opera.
The fighting in the East against the Bolsheviks was some of the Bloodiest, where no quarter was given.
"Note there new book is about to be released on this period of Polish History about fighting Lenin's Red Bolsheviks in the East & it sounds like a ripping read btw".
If you think a Albanian or Yugoslavian Blood Feud can be little bit crazy at times?
The Polish & Russia Feud has lasted alot longer & if Russia gives the Poles a half chance/ an excuse? They will be in like Flynn & even God won't help Tsar Poot's!
Yes, but that's what the West is hoping to avoid, by giving Ukraine as much help as possible. Because if Poland goes in, and Russia loses, Putin will try and immolate the world.
It’s in everyone’s interest to get Russia to back off.
Yep and that's what some people are forgetting, helping Ukraine defend itself is going to be better than the alternative….
Poland "will not take a backward step to Russia"? It certainly does exactly that to Germany, the U.K. and the United States. It's as much of a doormat now as it's ever been.
.
Poland is a member of NATO because they have a belligerent genocidal madman living next door. Perfectly sensible
And that's just Alexander Lukashenko!
Robologic, And, like most Soviet satellite states, would do anything to stop the return of a similar overlordship, whether capitalist, fascist, or communist.
Prison of the peoples
I'm sorry, but I'm not going near your references link, on my screen its gobbledygook
Poland is a little more circumspect about providing fighter jets than it's gung ho days last year
https://www.rferl.org/a/poland-ukraine-fighter-jets-nato/32266934.html
Pastebin is just a boring copy/paste site for text documents. That particular link was to a list of URLs detailing Poland's military buildup
Interesting opinion piece by Gareth Hughes over whether the Greens should make a serious bid for more electorate seats in 2023.
Noting that there are realistic options in Wellington Central & Rongotai.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/131200840/gareth-hughes-time-for-the-greens-to-ditch-a-key-election-strategy#comments
The fight for the rights of Julian Assange (and all of us) goes on
https://alphaville451.wordpress.com/2023/02/12/night-carnival-for-julian-assange-11-feb-2023/
RNZ thinks we have an interest in American "news'..or atleast RNZ's limited understanding of what makes American News..that is.."Trump Bad, Shootings and Bad China with its spy balloons"…for anyone here reduced to having RNZ as their only radio news sourse..but with an actual interest in the state of that particular Nation..I would like to share this terrible story…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/02/12/east-palestine-ohio-derailment-residents/
Though even the poor old washington post couldn't bring themselves to acknowledge the absolutely illusion shattering irony…
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/11/health/ohio-train-derailment-white-noise/index.html
I suspect on a very slow news day, had this happened in say..India or wherever, RNZ may have reported this story as part of the usuale narrative. about so called third world nations….but we seem to be holding on to the illusion of America being a first World Nation..not to mention our delusions about what that even means…
While we're doing terrible; Republicans in at least four states want to expand permissible child work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers and in another state Republicans are arguing that putting "arbitrary" limits on child marriage interferes with parental rights and religious liberty.
Yeah..atleast the Democrats, and the rest of us, know how to farm out child labour when its needed..(I was going to say needed for our cheap crap..but then I remember reading this just last week..
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/03/child-labour-toxic-leaks-the-price-we-could-pay-for-a-greener-future
Gotta love that Guardian headline.."the price we pay.." LOL
https://www.worldvision.org.nz/getmedia/6904e490-14b7-4fbf-b11e-308ddf99c44a/WVNZ-research-risky-goods-nz-imports/
I have no idea what RNZ ‘thinks’ or what you’re going on about. You seem to believe that you’re offering some context and balance to the poor Kiwis who need it without even knowing about and/or asking for it. You seem to think that there are people who are ‘reduced’ to only source of information, which clearly is the wrong one, in your mind.
Obviously, it is not a slow news day and RNZ and other NZ MSM sites are understandably dominated by the current event called Gabrielle, which seems to have escaped you.
Your hypotheticals are idle speculation and show your biased thinking, your illusions, and what you think things even mean…
Your boring whining sounds familiar.
I'm trying to work out how anyone could be reduced to having only RNZ as their radio news.
Surely with communications systems and capitalists all over the place trying to make money out of media the numbers in that boat would be infinitesimal.
Looks round, sheepishly raises hand.
Its Radio Control or RNZ for me, I don't go near commercial radio unless the cricket commentary is on. I am sure there are more of us…
Siobhan, I've noticed when scrolling through English-language news sites that the same stories pop up on most. The shrinking number of hard-news on-the-ground journalists inevitably leads to a more homogenous, more limited news reporting. If you shop around, Al Jazeera generates novel Islamic-world news, France 24 reports on North and Central Africa, etc. No one source seems to provide a whole-world news update.
And disaster porn has always been a feature of headline news, hence the preponderance of wildfire/earthquake/flood reporting with little analysis. Also, if I remember from the Ohio train derailment, there's no death toll, only the possibilty if it had occurred in a more populous area.
The cost of corruption.
https://twitter.com/WarInUkraineYet/status/1623815342207168512
https://twitter.com/WarInUkraineYet/status/1623815409739726849
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/us-canada/300805292/its-not-aliens-us-officials-quietly-say-after-4th-mystery-object-shot-down
A precedent now set with the 1st balloon, anything unidentified that flies over North America has to be shot down. Get Mulder and Scully onto it.
Peak insanity. I hope this doesn't impact on the output of global weather forecasting models…..
They can land things on the Moon and Mars, they can bring back manned shuttles to Earth, but they cannot take down a balloon without destroying/losing the evidence?? Have they watched too many movies starring Tom Cruise?
Slash Cam – Hikuwai River at Willowflat.
https://www.gdc.govt.nz/environment/river-webcam
Good grief. What next. She gives the weather information in English as well! You will never please these people.
https://twitter.com/KarinMary1/status/1624658544091090944
"Centre for Political Research" is one of those innocuous names often favoured by extreme Right astroturfers. They do no more "research" than anyone else who has Google.
Average age 108.
Lol. Had a peruse. VERY strange place. Laden with very well known Climate Deniers, Racists,Business vampires, libertarians And, variations…of nutbars (disclaimer…some guests Not so, were maybe allowed a say to show how open they were? )
https://www.nzcpr.com/guest-articles-archive/
Did feel my Sanity Warning alert going off..the scale : ).
Had to smile at..an old one from the "iron duke" himself….dooming about the evils of the Minimum wage ! 2009
And, this guy…who knew? 2011
And..escaped. with no urge to vote act. : )
Whangarei and Mercury Bay (Coromandel) getting the worst of Gabrielle so far. Last night was pretty darn windy in Auckland but no massive deluge (yet)
https://twitter.com/MattDyer01/status/1624938686449336320?s=20
https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1624954476124688390?s=20
The Hikuwai river (Gisborne) is looking ominous. *13* m over its normal level.
River webcam | Gisborne District Council (gdc.govt.nz)
nz centre for political research staff
Set up by ex-Act member. Busy pushing Māori 'apartheit' and evil Jacinda messages
Was listening to Heather Stupidity-Allan interview her father, Barry Soper, just now.
Three Waters came up (of course) and Soper played an audio clip of a recent exchange between Rawiri Waititi and David Seymour. Waititi accused Seymour of using racist rhetoric. Seymour used the handbook for racists who don't want to appear racist and asks Waititi to say specifically what Seymour has said that is racist.
Waititi demurred. Soper, his daughter, and boomers up and down the country laughed.
If the Maori Party are going to be combative they need to have ready answers when Seymour asks what he has said that is racist.
It should not be difficult!
Waititi 'demurred' (in the sense of hesitating), because he made an accusation he couldn't back up. It wasn't a good look.
Edit: the full exchange is https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/02/act-s-david-seymour-rejects-racist-rhetoric-allegations-in-heated-am-clash-with-te-p-ti-m-ori-co-leader-rawiri-waititi.html
Rawiri should have held his line, repeated his certainty and shown that the ACT guy's "dive down into the detail"is a technique designed to befuddle the listener. TPM are correct. ACT are duplicitous 🙂
I would expect someone accusing a parliamentary colleague on national television of racist rhetoric would be able to dive down into the detail.
Jong Khee did not do detail when he accused the Labour Party of backing rapists and murderers.
Even had his diplomatic squad rough up Kelvin Davis, as if a nod to the settler takeover of Maori assets way back when.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73884590/john-key-sparks-walk-out-after-saying-labour-backs-rapists-and-murderers
Nats are cunts, always will be. ACT are worse.
"Even had his diplomatic squad rough up Kelvin Davis…"
Well that's one side of the story. Here's another:
"It's one thing to have your opponents yelling insults across the House, and quite another to be waylaid by a fellow MP in the corridor and verbally abused. "
"Jong Khee did not do detail when he accused the Labour Party of backing rapists and murderers."
Actually, he did.
"Key's justification is that the Australian's have supplied him with a list revealing that some of the Kiwi detainees are rapists and murders. Australia's immigration minister has also labelled them the worst sort of criminals. But that contradicts what Davis and others have been claiming about the petty nature of some of the crimes of those who are detained. Key's office later released a list compiled by the Australian government earlier this year to prove his claim, though whether or not it does is a moot point. It showed that as of May there were 34 child sex offenders, 22 murderers and 16 rapists and sex offenders on Australia's hit list, along with 121 Kiwis convicted of assault, 83 with theft, robbery and breaking and entering offences to their name and 64 drug offenders. But that's out of a total 585 New Zealanders who are in the system for visa cancellation. Presumably that leaves 140 or more who are being deported for less serious offences."
Key ramps up the politics on Kiwi detainees | Stuff.co.nz
Bless, by linking the Tracy Watkins article your defence of Key and the political right did not turn out how you wanted.
It highlights that the current problems NZ has with retail, ram-raid, and gang related firearms crime is down to one John Keys.
He did meekly provide the pathway for Australian based problems to manifest here. We are now paying that price.
“Bless, by linking the Tracy Watkins article your defence of Key and the political right did not turn out how you wanted.”
I don’t know what you mean by ‘how I wanted’. It turned out that John Key did provide detail to justify his comments about the 501’s.
I agree. Seymour asked a simple question that Rawiri couldn't answer because people like Rawiri have become accustomed to spouting racist rhetoric with little fear of being taken to task for their comments.
The question is: should this clown hold the balance of power at election time, I can't see either Labour or National gaining from going into coalition with the Maori Party. National would lose a massive voter base, and Labour would be forced into more Three Waters type sops to accommodate a coalition agreement. The result for either party would probably be a one term tenure before getting the boot.
You have read my comment so you will be aware I have asked Rawiri Waititi to be more prepared to combat Seymour's Age of Enlightenment points.
These scumbags will do whatever to minimise a similar Maori renaissance because they know the value of what has been taken without permission.
Land owning farmers which NACT represent are terrified the accusation of their multi billion dollar estate might be subject to scrutiny…
…imagine those bloody Maoris having a say in what we can do with NZ land!
A strange comment, considering of their 10 MP's, three are Maori, including the party leader, and the #3 and #6 on the party list.
In practice Seymour is about as Maori as I am which is zero. It hurts actual Maori people to have him claim whakapapa but never ever use it for the good of Maori. In fact his policies actively work against a Maori renaissance, rather amalgamating and diluting Te Ao into a One NZ where cultural identity comes second to the economic power of the individual.
For ACT it's all about locking in those gains of the 17th Century, and more recently here locking in the illicit gains wayward European settlers made in the dead of the night.
For them Maori have the right to exist but in no way should that be at the expense or inconvenience of the very white people who have benefitted from proceedings thus far.
We'll have to agree to disagree. Keep safe wherever you are.
I'm not agreeing to anything, but thanks anyway.
It shouldn't be difficult, but Seymour is a wily politician with 8 years of sharpening rhetoric under his belt, and Waititi is a first term MP
The racism is covert dogwhistling. Calls for one nation. Accusing Māori activists of separatism, apartheid, etc. Extremely dishonest shit.
The problem is what Seymour doesn't say. He talks about equality and opportunity, but his party's sociopathic policies do exactly the opposite.
Seymour is a skilled and amoral liar.
We like to joke about him twerking on TV and looking like Rimmer the hologram, but he’s probably the most dangerous politician in NZ right now. If he gets into government NZ will descend into a “BoJo Britain” level of dysfunction.
I'm glad you mentioned Boris Johnson because I suspect his style is what David Seymour is trying to copy. His 'state of the nation' speech was about European superiority in the 17th Century. Boris Johnson is a gregarious Classics buffoon and Seymour is emulating that.
So true and this is what I'd like to see the Maori Party and others really highlight. That is the inherent racism of the ACT Party.
apartheid
Autocrats of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your….
Oh wait; You have everything to lose.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2023/02/13/world-government-summit-2023-live/
Elon Musk and Egypt's El Sisi among key speakers at the three-day event
For some unstated reason, Basha Al Assad was not able to attend in person.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47483714
No matter. If Assad can't go to the UAE the UAE can go to Assad.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2023/02/12/sheikh-abdullah-bin-zayed-meets-syrian-president-in-damascus/
There is a reason they call it the Great Barrier.
Long may it stand between cyclones and me.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/weather-news/300805400/cyclone-gabrielle-to-reach-closest-point-to-auckland-on-monday-tracking-southeast
Putin's hypocrisy, continuing their attacks on civilians in Ukraine the Russian Federation does not let up on its attacks on the people of Syria.
Despite the suffering caused by the devastating earthquake Russia uses its veto in the UN to stop the free flow of humanitarian aid into North West Syria. While demanding the sanctions on its ally the genocidal Assad regime be lifted.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/syria/2023/02/12/white-helmets-demand-extra-border-crossings-to-allow-earthquake-aid-into-north-west-syria/