Open mike 13/02/2025
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6:00 am, February 13th, 2025 - 38 comments
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- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #17 2025
Open access notables Internal variability effect doped by climate change drove the 2023 marine heat extreme in the North Atlantic, Guinaldo et al., Communications Earth & Environment The year 2023 shattered numerous heat records both globally and regionally. We here focus on the drivers of the unprecedented warm sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies which started in ...45 minutes ago - Military denial: the basis of deterrence, and of response if deterrence fails
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...1 hour ago - Fiscal failure
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...3 hours ago - Climate Change: Fucking the ETS again
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...3 hours ago - What’s secret? When is it secret? Well, that’s complicated
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...3 hours ago
- Today’s Headlines: David Seymour’s ECE Risks & Coalition Government Lies
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...7 hours ago - Is The NZ Media Awards Sponsored By a Conspiracy Theorist?
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...7 hours ago - Australia-India defence cooperation should be about more than navies
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...8 hours ago
- When in Rome
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...8 hours ago - Thursday 24 April
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...9 hours ago - John Campbell Investigates Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church
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- Winston Peters Has Lost The Plot
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- The one who left
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A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...17 hours ago - Is Mark Mitchell a racist?
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...1 day ago
- Australian statecraft must restore the link between deterrence and non-proliferation to survive in t...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...1 day ago
- J.K. Rowling – Arsehole of the Week
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- The rotten, unaccountable crown
Between 1950 and 1993 the New Zealand government tortured and abused up to 250,000 children in residential care facilities. They then proceeded to cover it up in order to minimise their liability, dragging out cases, slandering their victims and ultimately denying redress. In its final report, the Inquiry into Abuse ...1 day ago
- To prepare for future threats, treat health security as national security
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- What’s on the Label -vs- What’s in the Tin.
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...1 day ago - Simeon Brown Doesn’t Consider Abortion To Be Healthcare As Services Scaled Back
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...1 day ago - Another Munich crisis? Understanding the limits of policymaking by analogy
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...1 day ago
- Wednesday 23 April
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...1 day ago
- Auckland character rules stop building on 20,000 sections
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...1 day ago - AI is changing Indo-Pacific naval operations
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...1 day ago
- What is a Man?
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...2 days ago - Britain recasts AUKUS for a new era
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- Rob Campbell – Public Private Partnerships: What a Good Idea! OR ‘There will be no free...
There have been recent PPP debacles, both in New Zealand (think Transmission Gully) and globally, with numerous examples across both Australia and Britain of failed projects and extensive litigation by government agencies seeking redress for the failures.Rob Campbell is one of New Zealand’s sharpest critics of PPPs noting that; "There ...2 days ago - RB spending: the Board and the Minister
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2 days ago - AI is reshaping security, and the intelligence review sets good direction
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Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...2 days ago - Gordon Campbell On Papal Picks, And India As A Defence Ally
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- The National Party’s Prison Pipeline Ruining New Zealand
The National Party government is doubling down on a grim, regressive vision for the future: more prisons, more prisoners, and a society fractured by policies that punish rather than heal. This isn’t just a misstep; it’s a deliberate lurch toward a dystopian future where incarceration is the answer to every ...3 days ago
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- National’s Water Done Well Will Cost Ratepayers More
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...5 days ago
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Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...5 days ago
- The ‘China’ challenge: now a multi-generational test for Australian strategy
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- White Rabbit
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...5 days ago - Why Has The World Forgotten About Hollywood?
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Thousands of senior medical doctors have voted to go on strike for 24 hours overpay at the beginning of next month. Callaghan Innovation has confirmed dozens more jobs are on the chopping block as the organisation disestablishes. Palmerston North hospital staff want improved security after a gun-wielding man threatened their ...1 week ago
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- Release: Govt’s flagship cost of living policy a failure
After promising $250 a fortnight to many families, the Government has been forced to admit just a couple hundred families are receiving it. ...7 hours ago - Release: Transparency needed on changes to early childhood education
The Government is putting children at risk in early childhood education (ECE) by proposing to loosen the requirement for qualified teachers. ...9 hours ago
- Release: Govt funding needed to combat invasive seaweed
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...2 days ago
- New Zealand First Introduces Bill Defining ‘Woman’ and ‘Man’ in Law
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...2 days ago - Release: Labour marks the passing of Pope Francis
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins joins those mourning the passing of Pope Francis. ...3 days ago
- Release: Boot camps blog post fails to provide clarity
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...1 week ago
- Release: Inflation rises and families feel the squeeze
Inflation is rising again and it’s landing hardest on families already stretched thin. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt doesn’t know how to fund new hospitals
The Government’s health infrastructure plan is big on promises but coy on where the money is coming from. ...1 week ago
- Release: $10 million for only 215 students in charter schools
David Seymour is pouring $10 million into charter schools that only have 215 students enrolled. ...1 week ago
- Release: Food prices further stretching the family budget
Families already stretched by rising costs will struggle with the news food prices are going up again. ...1 week ago
- Release: Mental health staff and patients at risk without plan
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...1 week ago
- Release: Driver licensing proposal doesn’t put safety first
The Government’s proposal to change driver licensing rules is a mixed bag of sensible and careless. ...1 week ago
- Release: Students struggling as Govt sits on hands
The Government is continuing to sit on its hands as students struggle to pay rent due to delays with StudyLink. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: More must be done to stop children going hungry
More children are going hungry and statistics showing children in material hardship continue to get worse. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens continue to call for Pacific Visa Waiver
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...2 weeks ago - More children going hungry under Coalition govt
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Longer wait for treatment under National
New Zealanders have waited longer to get an appointment with a specialist and to get elective surgery under the National Government. ...2 weeks ago
- Ka mate te Pire- Ka ora te mana o Te Tiriti o Waitangi me te iwi Māori
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...2 weeks ago
- Chris Hipkins speech: Treaty Principles Bill second reading
Normally, when I rise in this House to speak on a bill, I say it's a great privilege to speak on the bill. That is not the case today. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: End to the Treaty Principles Bill, but challenges remain ahead for Aotearoa
Ka mate te pire I te rā neiThe bill dies today ...2 weeks ago
- Ka mate te Pire, ka ora Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty Principles Bill dead, Te Tiriti o Waitangi m...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...2 weeks ago
- Member’s Bill an opportunity for climate action
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Bill to make trading laws fairer passes first hurdle
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Reserve Bank acts while Govt shrugs
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Property Law Amendment Bill pulled from ballot
A Bill to protect first home buyers and others from bad faith property vendors has been drawn from the Member’s Ballot. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: More children at risk of losing family connections
Karen Chhour is proposing to scrap Oranga Tamariki targets which aim to connect more children under state care with family and their culture. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: David Parker made a difference – Hipkins
The Labour Leader today acknowledged and celebrated David Parker’s 23-year contribution to the Labour Party and to Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: David Parker to step down from Parliament
Long-serving Labour MP and former Minister David Parker has today announced his intention to leave Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Flaws in Govt’s climate strategy will cost us money
The Government’s plan to achieve our climate goals falls short, and will cost New Zealanders money and jobs. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party differing view on the Treaty Principles Bill
Read the Green Party's differing view on the Treaty Principles Bill, prepared by Tamatha Paul. ...2 weeks ago
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- Back to the fuel guzzlers? Coalition plans to end EV tax breaks would hobble the clean transport tra...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Mortimore, Lecturer, Griffith Business School, Griffith University wedmoment.stock/Shutterstock If elected, the Coalition has pledged to end Labor’s substantial tax break for new zero- or low-emissions vehicles. This, combined with an earlier promise to roll back new fuel efficiency standards, ...1 hour ago - Many experienced tradies don’t have formal qualifications. Could fast-tracked recognition ease the...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University Once again, housing affordability is at the forefront of an Australian federal election. Both major parties have put housing policies at the centre of their respective campaigns. But there are still ...1 hour ago
- Our piping hot first reactions to Lorde’s brand new single ‘What Was That’
After a nearly four year hiatus, New Zealand’s premiere popstar is back with a brand new single. It’s been a thrilling few weeks of breadcrumbing for Lorde fans, as the New Zealand popstar has been teasing her return to the zeitgeist through mysterious silver duct tape on her shoes, rainbow ...2 hours ago - This may be as good as it gets: NZ and Australia face a complicated puzzle when it comes to supermar...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Meade, Adjunct Associate Professor, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University Daria Nipot/Shutterstock With ongoing cost of living pressures, the Australian and New Zealand supermarket sectors are attracting renewed political attention on both sides of the Tasman. ...2 hours ago
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Richard Murphy – Trump will more than likely crash world markets, and a lot of people will be made very uncomfortable with that!
And, as usual, our CoC won't have a f****** clue how to deal with it.
So brace yourselves!
10.35 mins long
The vampire squid playbook; buy, strip, and flip.
/
Feb. 12, 2025
WASHINGTON — House Republicans released a budget plan Wednesday that sets the stage for advancing many of President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities, providing for up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit so that the U.S. can continue financing its bills
https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/politics/2025/02/12/house-republicans-budget-plan-debt-ceiling
America's Year Zero?
Opening sentence: “They are young and seizing the reins of government on their master’s behalf with an imperial swagger. It will end in many tears”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/12/elon-musk-america-government-doge
Thanks for that great (brief) opinion piece, especially the zingers in the last paragraph.
As governments 'slim down', the already very wealthy will be lining their pockets.
Nat Energy Minister Sherlock Simon Watts, stating the obvious…..
Another non event..
Well past time for a shakeup….lets not leave it till winter. Oh, riiight.
Link within the link reveal the upcoming danger.
I had earlier posted about this,
But here's another . Economist nails them…
Labour. How about a New Energy Deal ? Many people at the lower end economically, are going to be majorly impacted by this.
Give us something different to shake this Lab/Nat similarity off. Take back our NZ Electricity.
Maybe have a list of the various idiot things done by the Luxon and Key governments that you are going to reverse. Make sure you describe these things as vandalism by an economically illiterate and self-serving elite who despise ordinary people. You could even take the piss out of the fallacious, self-aggrandizing CEO target-setting bullshit by chopping the list up into the first 27.35 days and the next 41.052 days etc.
That dangerous idiot list is growing longer daily. Surely we (Left opposition) can knock them for six !
Return power generation and supply to full public ownership and control. Some compensation if the gentailers go quietly.
A transitional period could reward those that reduce dividend payments in favour of sustainable generation-wind, solar, marine to tide over the dry hydro times.
Capitalist power operators have relentlessly price gouged and rewarded shareholders instead of developing infrastructure, parasites that need to go. A vote winner for Labour/Green/TPM.
Yep. Good summation of What we need to see. And…
I reckon !
Spot on Tiger.
Set up a state owned renewable power company, where all renewables have battery storage attached, funding this through a wealth tax and a tax on bank excess profits.
This would rapidly become self financing
Humph. Probably only got the job through what's sometimes called "nominative determinism".
Not having struck that particular term before…I do like that the Standard can be a language/Idea expander. Cheers : )
How this fits Simon…could have differing interpretation.
More likely ignoring, rather than openly challenging the 4 year term in office of POTUS 47.
Trump is McKinley era, tariffs and American empire and thus was a Buchanan economic and foreign relations isolationist in 2000.
It helped his cause that Bush discredited the rules based order (previous adventurism had been Cold War era global "security" excused – such as Mossadeq to Shah and onto Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Hosseini Khamenei) aided by Blair via 2003 regime change in Iraq (and less well known the move to a Panopticon Society surveillance state, turning democracy into a manged regime suppressing dissent against a God and mammon regime – now manifest in Project 2025).
And that trade got blamed for rising inequality.
Trump's American empire co-exists with others.
Fraser was wary of the impact of the UNSC veto enabling a world cartel. Two power blocs doing bad things. This enabled the Warsaw Pact (and thus NATO) and then the US navy dividing China in 1949 by enabling the Nationalists to occupy Taiwan. Thus the Korean War.
And now its the USA and Russia carving up the rare earth minerals of Ukraine. And Trump posing as some sort of new world under God figure, with his new philistine real estate development in Gaza.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/13/as-trump-abandons-the-old-world-order-nz-must-find-a-place-the-new-one/
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/13/trump-says-he-and-putin-have-agreed-to-negotiations-to-end-ukraine-war/
Train goes t …o …o …t t…o…o…t
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/13/first-test-train-travels-through-aucklands-city-rail-link/
Economic growth starts slowly under C of C policy.
Might even occur in the next electoral cycle.
Oh my god this is hilarious! It needs an honest trailers approach.
From the team who brought you roads, roads and more roads brings you…late by two months,
the CRL, yes we did Key or Simon Wotsit did or something even though we clearly wouldn’t now, we did…
though it was due to be ready a year ago, and is a woke disaster..
but all the brilliant proper city part was all us, though it’s a late woke disaster.
Bernard Osman in the continuing miserable old bugger, struggling to ever be happy in Auckland…with Chris Bishop and WAYNE mcfkn BROWN genuinely bringing the upbeat optimism!!
Ahh New Zealand.
Standing as the Green candidate for Mayor.
https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2024/04/council-taking-over-some-projects-from-lets-get-wellington-moving
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541699/wellington-s-golden-mile-upgrade-final-design-revealed
The past 3 years.
What to do about (and correct answers)
1.the Library, restore (but should have remained in use longer before work began and a shorter time in temporary spaces).
2.the Town Hall rebuild ongoing in 2025. The St James Theatre reopened in 2023.(real community assets)
3.Regent Theatre (nothing, right in the end, do not subsidise the private sector).
4.the overbridge to be or not to be (keep it and have guardians keep numbers on it down at events while consider future options when there is funding).
5.Begonia to be or not to be (money saved above covers the cost of retaining).
6.airport shares (sell, minority stakes do not allow any public good to be done. Only wealth funds invested outside the region allow a secure provision for insurance risk).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541746/council-meets-over-future-of-wellington-s-begonia-house
If the library needed restoration (because of risk of catastrophic failure in an earthquake) – then it could not have been occupied while assessment and planning went on. If it's not safe, then it's not safe. If it's safe to occupy, then the rebuild was unnecessary.
However, the ….lack of urgency…. displayed by the council to resolve this situation was notable.
Making a decision (almost any decision) would have been better than the ongoing flip-flopping.
Any of their building/planning staff could have told them that the cost of remediation would absolutely blow out (indeed, just looking at the ongoing rehab projects could have told them that).
It came down to three choices (which should have been made on service/philosophy ctriteria, not cost):
Any of the solutions, implemented in a timely fashion, would have been better than what's happened.
They chose to continue with a central amenity.
And they did a mix of the first 2, not either. The restore did involve changes – reassessed needs.
https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2022/04/take-a-look-at-wellingtons-new-central-library-design
The building was obviously safe to continue with as a library – but the structural damage meant it was no longer up to current standards.
There are a number of buildings in current use that have to meet higher standards to remain in use.
Masterton.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/shock-as-new-trust-buildings-fail-quake-standards/VSOC7GAR3M3XDHB4EO5M7B3XC4/
Palmerston North.
https://www.boinz.org.nz/Site/resources/News-and-Media-Releases/palmerston-north-buildings-possibly-have-design-problems.aspx
My understanding is that it had to be closed (as in no staff access, let alone public access) as it had the same structural issues that caused the StatsNZ building to pancake.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/200m-problem-why-is-wellingtons-central-library-closed/TDMLEBJV3DGMQXISYPC6NTTZKI/
If you accept the argument that it was at 60% of rating – and wasn't an immediate risk. It never should have been closed at all. And, with the amount of work on the Council's books to remediate the critically risky buildings, it shouldn't even have been a project.
TBH, I can understand the risk-averse nature of the Council over this one – if there had been a major quake during opening hours, and there had been a structural collapse, there was the potential for hundreds of people to have been killed. cf the CTV building in Christchurch.
But, nothing prevented them from identifying an immediate strategy and following through (if they accepted the argument that it was a critical risk). The backwards and forwards over cost (which option was going to cost more) – resulted in the project being more expensive (whichever option was chosen), and the ratepayers being denied the amenity for much longer, than was necessary.
No one in the Council (either the current administration or the previous one) has come out of this with anything but mud on their faces.
Also, the option they've (finally) chosen is the most expensive of all. Restoration, with a partial re-build. And will take the longest to deliver on.
Not to mention, almost certainly resulting in fewer books immediately available (forgive my bias, here – I'm pro books, rather than space to house Council services in a public library building)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/130677235/fewer-books-new-heritage-area-on-the-cards-for-wellington-central-library
No, the article did not indicate it had to close.
The council was not required to act.
Legally, it could have planned for remedial action and kept the building in use until that was ready to begin.
As for time deciding on a preferred option, this would have coincided engineers deciding on the best alternative for a pre-set concrete base (whether a refit or new build) for a building of that type.
Legally they could have decided not to close it. Practically and morally, I doubt whether they felt they had an option.
And, if they didn't have to close the building, then it didn't need to be at the top of the rebuild queue – i.e. the whole project didn’t need to happen in the short/medium term, at all.
Wellington is in a continued decline for various reasons, including the vandal CoC Govt. the whole downtown looks like it needs a good water blast really.
Why bother with this kind of street rearrangement bollocks till for instance…public transport works better, and exploding showers of shit from ancient pipes are rectified?
Not going to bag Tory, Wellington has a history of dodgy Mayors-Mark Blumsky anyone…and around the country Mayors typically preside over narrowly divided Councils.
They have funding for the Golden Mile project from the previous government. A case of use it, or lose it.
The Kaikoura earthquake had an impact on the state of the already aging pipes.
Note to moderators: where have all the comments from the 'dire' thread gone…?
Come to that, why have the comments for that thread been closed off altogether? Pretty unusual.
Interesting. Been coming to this site for many years. Don't recall it happening before.
Someone issued a threat of legal action cos they don't like what is being said? I wouldn't put anything past the current lot in power.
It might be a ‘human error’; I’ve followed up in the back-end.
..and..?…any luck with finding what has happened…?
butter fingers, fixed now.
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/opinion/the-ai-guardrails-schism-where-should-nz-stand
New Zealand signed up to the 2023 standard.
This complicates AUKUS Pillar 2, as the EU, India, China, Japan, Oz and Canada signed up to the 2025 Paris AI Action plan. As AI is one of the included areas for co-operation.
https://insidegovernment.co.nz/nz-to-join-uk-bletchley-declaration-on-ai-safety/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/11/us-uk-paris-ai-summit-artificial-intelligence-declaration
Droit du seigneur…
/
A consultation on changes to UK copyright law is “fixed” in favour of artificial intelligence companies and will lead to a “wholesale” transfer of wealth from the creative industries to the tech sector, according to a crossbench peer campaigning against the mooted overhauls.
Beeban Kidron said the government was undermining its own growth agenda with proposals to let AI companies train their algorithms on creative works under a new copyright exemption.
Lady Kidron, an award-winning film director whose work includes Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, said the government consultation on amending copyright law appeared to be a foregone conclusion.
“We’ve got an open consultation but that consultation is fixed and inadequate,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/11/uk-copyright-law-consultation-fixed-favour-ai-firms-peer-says?
What tech bros exploiting talent for mercenary gain?
Highway 6 Blenheim to Nelson has a max limit 90kph. Where do. I go to voice my desire to maintain limit at that level? Hunted on line but blank.
Hi ianmac, “Start the survey” could be a starting point – best of luck.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/safety/driving-safely/speed/state-highway-speed-management/speed-reversals-and-consultation-transitional-changes-in-2024-25/top-of-the-south/
Thanks muchly Drowsy. Will act on the link. But why is it so poorly advertised? My own view on travelling that route is that traffic seems so much steadier with seldom being overtaken above the 90kph. The data on significant lowering of the accident rate is so real. (Will check the numbers.)
I will also contact Marl District Council and Marlborough Express to ask for more public access/publicity to "Speed limit reviews in your region" ““Start the survey”
Ianmac, agree with your POV and thanks for the reminder to respond.