Open mike 13/02/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 13th, 2025 - 38 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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

Step up to the mike …

38 comments on “Open mike 13/02/2025 ”

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  1. Tony Veitch 1
    13 February 2025 at 6:38 am

    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

  2. Obtrectator 2
    13 February 2025 at 8:44 am

    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

  3. PsyclingLeft.Always 3
    13 February 2025 at 9:06 am

    Nat Energy Minister Sherlock Simon Watts, stating the obvious…..

    'Winter is coming': Energy minister says next 150 days will be challenging

    Another non event..

    The new Energy Minister Simon Watts has met with gentailers to discuss progress and cooperation ahead of the expected winter energy price spike.

    RNZ sought answers over how the meeting with the four generator-retailers – Genesis Energy, Mercury, Meridian and Contact – went, but the minister did not respond in time.

    Well past time for a shakeup….lets not leave it till winter. Oh, riiight.

    Watts on Tuesday announced Frontier Economics would lead the government's market review.

    But the final report will not be delivered until the end of June – well into winter, when energy supply and prices will be under more pressure.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/541726/winter-is-coming-energy-minister-says-next-150-days-will-be-challenging

    Link within the link reveal the upcoming danger.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/540613/real-risk-of-double-digit-increases-in-power-prices

    I had earlier posted about this,

    https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07-02-2025/#comment-2024000

    But here's another . Economist nails them…

    Economist Geoff Bertram told RNZ that a key issue was that many electricity companies were too focussed on making money.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/526620/power-companies-failed-to-plan-ahead-economist

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1
      13 February 2025 at 9:12 am

      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.

      • AB 3.1.1
        13 February 2025 at 10:12 am

        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.

        • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1.1.1
          13 February 2025 at 7:24 pm

          That dangerous idiot list is growing longer daily. Surely we (Left opposition) can knock them for six !

      • Tiger Mountain 3.1.2
        13 February 2025 at 11:38 am

        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.

        • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1.2.1
          13 February 2025 at 7:11 pm

          Yep. Good summation of What we need to see. And…

          A vote winner for Labour/Green/TPM.

          I reckon !

        • Bearded Git 3.1.2.2
          14 February 2025 at 3:17 am

          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

    • Obtrectator 3.2
      13 February 2025 at 1:21 pm

      Humph. Probably only got the job through what's sometimes called "nominative determinism".

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.2.1
        13 February 2025 at 7:21 pm

        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.

        It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt

  4. SPC 4
    13 February 2025 at 11:24 am

    New Zealand has been ranked as one of the few countries capable of resisting President Trump's slide from the 'Pax Americana' world order of the past 80 years to the 'Pax Autocratica' one he appears determined to create.

    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/

  5. SPC 5
    13 February 2025 at 11:34 am

    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.

  6. SPC 6
    13 February 2025 at 11:46 am

    Standing as the Green candidate for Mayor.

    The controversial $140 million Golden Mile development was part of the now-disestablished Let's Get Wellington Moving transport programme.

    It will see will see cars banned between Lambton Quay and Courtenay Place, along with widened footpaths and a cycle lane.

    Legacy. On 17 December 2023, the Government agreed with the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, the Wellington City Council and the Greater Wellington Regional Council to halt "Let's Get Wellington Moving".

    https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2024/04/council-taking-over-some-projects-from-lets-get-wellington-moving

    Wellington's mayor admits a controversial revamp of Courtenay Place could cost her the mayoralty, but says it's so important she's pushing on anyway.

    The Wellington City Council has revealed the final design for the Golden Mile upgrade on Courtenay Place.

    But a contractor for the majority of the project is yet to be signed on.

    As RNZ reported earlier this week, the council confirmed construction would begin on the Courtenay Place element of it in April, with the work expected to take two years.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541699/wellington-s-golden-mile-upgrade-final-design-revealed

    • SPC 6.1
      13 February 2025 at 12:07 pm

      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

      • Belladonna 6.1.1
        13 February 2025 at 1:36 pm

        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):

        • Rebuild the Ian Athfield designed building (regardless of cost). Because they valued that architectural heritage.
        • Bowl the current building and build a new library to current specifications. Cost is likely to be comparable to the above, but they get a building which meets current needs – not those of 30 years ago)
        • Bowl the current building. Abandon the desire for a large central library, and look at the provision of services in a distributed fashion (i.e. what they've been doing over the last few years, but invest in the solution – don't regard it as a bandaid). This would have been the cheapest solution – but removed a central amenity.

        Any of the solutions, implemented in a timely fashion, would have been better than what's happened.

        • SPC 6.1.1.1
          13 February 2025 at 2:10 pm

          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

          • Belladonna 6.1.1.1.1
            13 February 2025 at 2:28 pm

            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

            • SPC 6.1.1.1.1.1
              13 February 2025 at 2:49 pm

              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.

              They're weighing up a moral obligation to have their buildings checked against best advice, with the prospect of forking out millions of dollars when there's no legal requirement to do so.

              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.

              • Belladonna …
                13 February 2025 at 3:21 pm

                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.

    • Tiger Mountain 6.2
      13 February 2025 at 12:34 pm

      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.

      • SPC 6.2.1
        13 February 2025 at 1:02 pm

        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.

  7. Phillip ure 7
    13 February 2025 at 12:35 pm

    Note to moderators: where have all the comments from the 'dire' thread gone…?

    • Obtrectator 7.1
      13 February 2025 at 1:29 pm

      Come to that, why have the comments for that thread been closed off altogether? Pretty unusual.

      • Anne 7.1.1
        13 February 2025 at 5:03 pm

        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.

  8. SPC 8
    13 February 2025 at 2:31 pm

    VP JD Vance warning to the European Union against heavily regulating artificial intelligence, coupled with the US and UK refusal to sign the “inclusive and sustainable” AI declaration at the Paris AI Action Summit, signals a significant shift in the global approach to AI governance.

    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

  9. ianmac 9
    13 February 2025 at 3:38 pm

    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.