TVNZ have spent the last four days reinforcing the notion that Colonialism/Racism was/is a glorious endeavour and should be celebrated in glorious pageantry.
For chrissakes, spare us your drearily-predictable virtue-signaling, all the ludicrous moral & rhetorical posturing bereft of any genuine historical understanding outside of your crude, distorted quasi-religious dogma … the constant desire for in-group prestige-enhancement via perpetual displays of your supposedly superior moral sensibilities (LOL) … just give it a bloody break … even if for only a few days.
It’s like being tied-down & forced to listen endlessly to a turbo-charged Rik from The Young Ones.
You & your Woke dullard chums make Bible-thumping born-again Christians seem absolutely riveting by comparison.
You may be interested in the video link below that Weka posted. Head of the LGBT consortium spouting all sorts of garbage. They have taken the LGB Alliance to Court to remove their charitable status. Not very inclusive if you ask me….
I am not sure who the guy on the u tube clip is but he is very good and funny and talks about the critical social justice movement.
Exactly. Anti-monarchists, LGBT activists, elderly white people, Maori and all that sort of type need to know their place. After all, anything you label as woke is automatically exactly the same as anything else you label as woke.
I mean … just the sheer jaw-dropping confusion & cluelessness embedded within this – let's face it – tragically ill-conceived attempt at mockery.
When people critique Wokedom … it’s about challenging a very specific set of extremist, highly discriminatory, elitist & anti-democratic policies / ideas. A crude dogma that is, in key respects, the antithesis of traditional Social Democratic principles & concerns.
It’s about challenging a very specific set of extremist, highly discriminatory, elitist & anti-democratic policies / ideas.
The policy/ideas are not extreme, they're mainstream. They're not discriminatory, they're anti-discriminatory. They're not elitist, they're from ordinary people. They're not anti-democratic, they're more widely representative.
We normally call for enquiries into things that have been a self-evident failure, not things that have been an obvious success. National's call for an enquiry into the Covid response is an attempt to taint the public perception of that response by smothering it in these negative emotions associated with the word "enquiry". It appears the Government will have to initiate an enquiry to prevent a future National government assembling a kangaroo court to reach the conclusion they want.
Jan Rivers has written an article about the NZ implementation of trans affirming healthcare – the familiar lack of record-keeping and follow up, the excuse of advocacy demands rather than clinical evidence, and the refusal to independently review the basic medical science behind current practice.
…If the figures from Christchurch are typical for New Zealand the referral to medication rate is ten times higher in New Zealand than in England. (High Court of Justice, 2020) (Broughton, 2021) and the overall rate per head of population shows them to be show that the drug could be being prescribed more than 30 times more frequently per head of population in New Zealand.(Fully Informed, 2021) Gender health specialists argue in favour of their very free use in New Zealand.(Oliphant, 2017)
Compared with England, New Zealand treatment is highly devolved, with puberty blockers available from paediatric services, youth health services, endocrinologists and primary health care teams. (Ministry of Health, 2020) Standards of care are variable.(PATHA, 2021)
If you have not taken time to look into this medical response (scandal/failure) then this article provides you with the context and a sound platform to follow up with your own independent research.
We are giving advocacy based – rather than patient centred – therapeutic, medical and surgical interventions to minors that are not clinically evidenced to be of benefit and may:
impair brain and psychological impairment,
induce osteoporosis,
remove capacity for sexual responsiveness and orgasm,
has studies indicating long term increase in suicides,
renders many infertile,
will create a population that requires life-long medical treatments, etc.
I find it difficult to understand those that support this approach, if they are aware of the history behind WPATH recommendations and the lack of clinical evidence.
This is appalling treatment of our young people, and a damaging misuse of limited health funds.
Countless young Females transitioning to Male come through our Mental Health inpatient services. Almost without exception they have a Borderline Personality Disorder. Bodily mutilation, either by supplementary hormones or surgery is just another form of deliberate self harm. The saddest case would be the young bearded man suicidal because after a mastectomy and hysterectomy at eighteen now realizes their mistake.
To allow this mutilation to occur in young people who's sexuality can be very fluid is a huge mistake with lifelong consequences.
It might seem odd suggesting that if there are "countless" young females transitioning to male coming through our Mental Health inpatient services, someone would think a number be put up.
'Countless' suggests there's a veritable torrent, tsunamis of people, too many to count.
Is that so? How do you know? If someone working in the industry says they are 'inundated' with such cases, what does that mean?
Molly's concern about standard data collection is fair. Simply knowing the numbers might at least give us just reason to not use words like 'countless,' not just in numerical terms but in generalised 'shock, horror' terms.
I would posit that in our city there are not masses of young females transitioning to male let alone going through the mental health services.
Jan River's article does reference some of the available data we have in NZ, and extrapolates acknowledged estimates from that.
Regardless of where you stand on the quality of healthcare, everyone should be demanding collection of comprehensive data, and review of clinical evidence that informed this approach.
I imagine psych nurse is working flat out on a busy understaffed unit, so countless might be impressionistic, but gives an idea that de=transistioners are the rare minority that the Trans Rights Activists would have us believe.
Thanks for posting this excellent article Molly. And many thanks psych nurse for letting us know what is being seen in psych services.
The case you mention is an utter tragedy. And the denial of de-transitioners by trans rights activists is shocking and unacceptable.
In a world where we have big problems, such as climate change, which appear to be very difficult to solve, I would have thought that halting this trend of medically transitioning young people would be something everyone would want to see happen.
Its about enough people standing up to the trans lobby and the govt taking the same measures that Dr Hilary Cass has in her review of Tavistock.
Not doind so means there will be more and more of the young people psych nurse describes.
“If New Zealand can't do it, well, then nobody can. So I do feel a great sense of responsibility, not just because of New Zealand’s emissions profile, but actually because I think we’re at the vanguard of something that many, many other countries are going to be grappling with,” he said."
Meanwhile, state of play with the gender wars in the UK.
Gender identity activists have gone to court seeking to remove the charitable status of LGB Alliance because they’re organising around sexual orientation rather than gender identity. Here’s a man, head of a consortium of LGBT organisations saying that sexual orientation is against their values. This is homophobia, the position is that people aren’t attracted to sex but gender identity and arguing for same sex attraction is transphobic. If you’re confused, this is because some TW who are attracted to females ie they’re het makes, insist on calling themselves lesbian and hassling lesbians to date them even if they still have fully male bodies. Girl dick is meant to be different to man dick and lesbians are transphobic for not wanting it.
for the people who said none of this was happening, it’s now in a British court being hashed out.
and it makes perfect sense to hold that view if you think that Gender equals sex.
IF one is a heterosexual 'woman' in their parlance they are opposite gender attracted and should be able to have sexual relationships with men and transmen. 🙂 Ditto for heterosexual men. They should be able to have sexual relationships with woman and transwoman. Its all the same. No dif.
We are now all queer and bisexual.
edit: definition of terms ‘ woman ‘= female human adult and ‘men’ = male human adult.
Complexity is in the interest of the oligarchy. “The government are agents of the oligarchy. They are crooks and they are thieves.”
Yanis Varoufakis picks apart the corrupt European energy system – parts of this echo the New Zealand experience. His comment about getting to speak in the msm for 20 seconds before interruption is right on the button.
Why are they doing this? Because complexity is in the interest of the oligarchy. I just took 23 minutes to explain this to you. No media are going to give me 23 minutes in Greece to explain this to people out there. Nobody’s going to allow the people of France, the people of Portugal, the people Slovakia, 23 minutes in order to have somebody explain this to them. You get 20 seconds and then you are interrupted.
Gattung said: “Think about pricing. What has every telco in the world done in the past? It has used confusion as its chief marketing tool. And that’s fine.
There is a complex replay of the decline and fall of the Weimar Republic era. Once again a combination of economic difficulty (this time a global supply chain disruption and nations indebted because of the GFC and pandemic), a struggle between necessary evolution to social democracy (financial and tax reform) and the neo liberal and fascist alternatives (a combination of which is oligarchy), an imperial ambition impasse (risk of war) and of course the global warming problem.
Of course those governments with pretensions of being left of centre and which might take opportunity to openly declare a social democratic platform will face considerable opposition – from the establishment neo liberal public service and the middle class media estate. They will however partner up on the progressive social reform and increase in government power over the people (either to manage the public narrative or to enforce an order). Of course the government plan to bring in “hate speech” law has already met a response – most obviously the free speech coalition and NACT opposition, but also a number of conspiracy theory groups (such as control of the public space via government funding of media media and censorship because they are part of some global plan to do x and y to democracy etc).
In that matter, restraint by government is the grown up example. For example online anonymity protects people from (real life) persecution for the exercise of their free speech. All the current system needs is the ability to identify those making threats to others (which are a matter of existing law) and removing some of them from the right to legally possess weapons.
To this point the government has moved on interest deductability (and bright line extension) but not moved on wealth accumulation (one reason to vote Green).
It has collectivIsed health to centralise supply of scarce resources, but labour shortage constraints remain. When will it end requirement of staff working here to pay back their TD? Where is the set up of an investment fund for smart investment in drugs that maintain health that reduce dependence on hospital care cost?
In housing it has yet to reposition from use of motels to acting in the private market (as prices decline) to increase the number of properties it has to rent out at income related rent and playing smarter on supply boost.
House prices have now dropped by the largest in 6 months bringing median NZ prices to 800k,and more to come as the bubble contracts to sustainable levels.
Global property markets are expected to contract until at least 2024,due to risk realignment with increasing interest rates (US least affected due to long term fixed rates)
Yeah the long fixed rate mortgages (bank culpability for bad debts if the sale price is less than the mortgage loan) mean their housing market is less impacted by the raising of rates to manage inflation.
It’s a complicated world economy atm …
Computing all their cost and trouble …
Quantum game theory is an extension of classical game theory to the quantum domain. It differs from classical game theory in three primary ways:
Superimposed initial states,
Quantum entanglement of initial states,
Superposition of strategies to be used on the initial states.
This theory is based on the physics of information much like quantum computing
People leveraged debt on the imaginary wealth growth,to buy investment property,etc. the bubble was around 42% fueled by low interest rates,changes in lending rules,it now relaxes to its natural limits of ability to pay.
The scary thing is he received 25 votes. I was hoping he'd get a few votes at best. My guess is each of those 25 voters don't live in a ideological bubble. They have hubs of people around them who have similar views, and are probably indoctrinating their children to hate without reason.
Whilst there is a an substantive increased cost, now apparent with the closure of Marsden point (where transformation costs were realised in NZ,and can be seen in the increased import of other chemical products.There is also a substantive waste in the import of product that will not increase either efficiency or import substitution.
When 'bulk mass products' are all you have to offer its probably not a great idea to get rid of them…especially when you need the products they enable.
It won't change until this government keeps propping up Fonterra with yet more enabling legislation to give them more power over farmer shareholders, and less and less reason to shift away from being a commodity producer.
Trying to reinvent the wheel with value added did not work with Fonterra.
A good example -they introduced First Start a breakfast drink to compete with Up and Go…it was going good…Sanitarium (the charity)indicated they would pull their supply contracts with Fonterra ..if they continued to compete.
You know if the exchange rate did collapse under trade deficits then balance of payments would be basically "self correcting" (not that there is a correct balance anyway). I'm not really convinced that the "reality" your expecting describes these aspects of the economy. We have certainly seen continuous trade deficits with a high NZ dollar simultaneously favouring importers.
So your forecasting a Sri Lankan currency crisis for New Zealand? Or actually your not committing to that forecast either (or even any forecast in fact)?
If my recons moved the NZ forex markets I wouldn't be commenting, would I. But it seems that (despite your need to counter comment) your expections basically match mine anyway.
For clarity my expections are that the trade deficit will largely persist and thats not going to move the exchange rate. I expect after the next RBNZ OCR increase the exchange rate will strengthen in fact.
Watch the interest rates rise (as they are globally) as large scale wish list projects get prices out,with both credit agencies and the IMF looking over shoulders.
The worms will live in every hostIt's hard to pick which one they eat the mostThe horrible people, the horrible peopleIt's as anatomic as the size of your steepleCapitalism has made it this wayOld-fashioned fascism will take it awaySongwriter: Twiggy Ramirez Read more ...
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30am include:Rachel Helyer Donaldson’s scoop via RNZ last night of cuts to maternity jobs in the health system;Maddy Croad’s scoop via The Press-$ this morning on funding cuts for Christchurch’s biggest food rescue charity;Benedict Collins’ scoop last night via 1News on a last-minute ...
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Kiwis planning a swim or heading out on a boat this summer should remember to stop and think about water safety, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop and ACC and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand’s beaches, lakes and rivers are some of the most beautiful in the ...
The Government is urging Kiwis to drive safely this summer and reminding motorists that Police will be out in force to enforce the road rules, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This time of year can be stressful and result in poor decision-making on our roads. Whether you are travelling to see ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
A separate passport, citizenship and membership of the United Nations are only available to fully independent nations, Winston Peters' office says. ...
By Emma Andrews, Henare te Ua Māori Journalism Intern at RNZ News The New Zealand fuel company Z Energy is swapping out street names for “correct” kupu on service stops around the country, with the help of local hapū. When Z took over 226 fuel sites from Shell in 2010, ...
Summer reissue: Was it a false measurement, a full-blown conspiracy or just some mild incompetence? Mad Chapman uncovers the truth of Maddi Wesche’s final throw. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Old, Associate Professor, Biology, Zoology, Animal Science, Western Sydney University Dmitry Chulov, Shutterstock At this time of year, images of reindeer are everywhere. I’ve had a soft spot for reindeer ever since I was a little girl. Doesn’t everyone? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grozdana Manalo, Career Services Manager (Education), University of Sydney hedgehog94/Shutterstock Getting casual work over summer, or a part-time job that you might continue once your tertiary course starts, can be a great way to get workplace experience and earn some extra ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ty Ferguson, Research associate in exercise, nutrition and activity, University of South Australia Peera_Stockfoto/Shutterstock It’s never been easier to stay connected to work. Even when we’re on leave, our phones and laptops keep us tethered. Many of us promise ourselves we ...
The NZ Media Council upheld the complaint under principle four: comment and fact On 5 September 2024, The Spinoff published a brief article titled Made in Palestine, found in 1970s Hastings, which highlighted an upcoming art exhibition featuring photographs of vintage cosmetic products labelled “Made in Palestine.” The piece, described ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kasey Symons, Lecturer of Communication, Sports Media, Deakin University We are well and truly in cricket season. The Australian men’s cricket team is taking centre stage against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series while the Big Bash League is underway, as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Woods, Lecturer, Nursing, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University FTiare/Shutterstock Summer is here and for many that means going to the beach. You grab your swimmers, beach towel and sunscreen then maybe check the weather forecast. Did you think to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saman Khalesi, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead in Nutrition, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity Australia Dean Clarke/Shutterstock The holiday season can be a time of joy, celebration, and indulgence in delicious foods and meals. However, for many, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Late Night With The Devil. Maslow Entertainment Marketing is critical to the success of commercial films, and companies will often spend half as much again on top of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francisco Jose Testa, Lecturer in Earth Sciences (Mineralogy, Petrology & Geochemistry), University of Tasmania The Conversation As a kid, it was tough for me to grasp the massive time scale of Earth’s history. Now, with nearly two decades of experience as ...
Te Pāti Māori has had to adopt a new way of debating, operating and even thinking in Parliament in response to the Government’s “onslaught” against te ao Māori, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.In an end-of-year interview with Newsroom, the Te Tai Hauauru MP reflected on how 2024 has differed from her ...
Opinion: The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science report was announced earlier this month, yet it didn’t get the flurry of media attention and political hand-wringing that typically accompanies these announcements. This might be because it presented good news, or you could argue, no news; the results paint a ...
NewsroomBy Dr Lisa Darragh, Dr Raewyn Eden and Dr David Pomeroy
At long last, The Spinoff shells out for a nut ranking. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.It recently came to The Spinoff’s attention ...
I was one of hundreds of people who lost my government job this week. Here’s exactly how it played out. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
Summer reissue: One anxiously attentive passenger pays attention to an in-flight safety video, and wonders ‘Why can’t I pick up my own phone?’ The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up ...
Summer reissue: Why do those Lange-Douglas years cast such a long shadow 40 years on? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today. First published June ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 23 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The Government’s social housing agency has backed out of a billion-dollar infrastructure alliance that would have built about 6000 new homes in Auckland – less than 18 months after signing a five-year extension.Labour says the decision to rip up the contract and sell off existing state houses could lead to ...
An unrelenting faith in “swift transition” has driven Tauranga Whai to their first Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa championship. At a boisterous Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, the visiting Tokomanawa Queens were blown away 90-71 in the final.Whai led by 20 points at halftime as their urgent movement and unflinching faith in three-point shooting from anywhere ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
TVNZ have spent the last four days reinforcing the notion that Colonialism/Racism was/is a glorious endeavour and should be celebrated in glorious pageantry.
I'd suggest giving her time to get cold in there, but she was cold to start with.
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For chrissakes, spare us your drearily-predictable virtue-signaling, all the ludicrous moral & rhetorical posturing bereft of any genuine historical understanding outside of your crude, distorted quasi-religious dogma … the constant desire for in-group prestige-enhancement via perpetual displays of your supposedly superior moral sensibilities (LOL) … just give it a bloody break … even if for only a few days.
It’s like being tied-down & forced to listen endlessly to a turbo-charged Rik from The Young Ones.
You & your Woke dullard chums make Bible-thumping born-again Christians seem absolutely riveting by comparison.
Well said as usual Swordfish.
You may be interested in the video link below that Weka posted. Head of the LGBT consortium spouting all sorts of garbage. They have taken the LGB Alliance to Court to remove their charitable status. Not very inclusive if you ask me….
I am not sure who the guy on the u tube clip is but he is very good and funny and talks about the critical social justice movement.
Exactly. Anti-monarchists, LGBT activists, elderly white people, Maori and all that sort of type need to know their place. After all, anything you label as woke is automatically exactly the same as anything else you label as woke.
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I mean … just the sheer jaw-dropping confusion & cluelessness embedded within this – let's face it – tragically ill-conceived attempt at mockery.
When people critique Wokedom … it’s about challenging a very specific set of extremist, highly discriminatory, elitist & anti-democratic policies / ideas. A crude dogma that is, in key respects, the antithesis of traditional Social Democratic principles & concerns.
The policy/ideas are not extreme, they're mainstream. They're not discriminatory, they're anti-discriminatory. They're not elitist, they're from ordinary people. They're not anti-democratic, they're more widely representative.
I'm reminded of Oscar Wilde's observation on fox hunting.
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How remarkably erudite of you to say so.
Very Left bank of the Bloomsbury Set.
I'm beginning to see you as a kind of Bavarian Noel Coward.
Thanks for your thoughtful and rational contribution to debate. The pages of TheStandard wouldn’t be the same without you.
We normally call for enquiries into things that have been a self-evident failure, not things that have been an obvious success. National's call for an enquiry into the Covid response is an attempt to taint the public perception of that response by smothering it in these negative emotions associated with the word "enquiry". It appears the Government will have to initiate an enquiry to prevent a future National government assembling a kangaroo court to reach the conclusion they want.
Well said. The Nactzis are as cunning as an outhouse rat.
Shows that Cluxon does have his marbles they're rattling around in his scrotum. And, Nicola's Willie is standing erect alongside.
Sorry it's the 'head' that ferments grubby thoughts.
Jan Rivers has written an article about the NZ implementation of trans affirming healthcare – the familiar lack of record-keeping and follow up, the excuse of advocacy demands rather than clinical evidence, and the refusal to independently review the basic medical science behind current practice.
https://www.publicgood.org.nz/2022/09/13/the-closure-of-englands-youth-gender-medicine-clinic-and-its-impacts-for-new-zealand/
If you have not taken time to look into this medical response (scandal/failure) then this article provides you with the context and a sound platform to follow up with your own independent research.
We are giving advocacy based – rather than patient centred – therapeutic, medical and surgical interventions to minors that are not clinically evidenced to be of benefit and may:
I find it difficult to understand those that support this approach, if they are aware of the history behind WPATH recommendations and the lack of clinical evidence.
This is appalling treatment of our young people, and a damaging misuse of limited health funds.
Countless young Females transitioning to Male come through our Mental Health inpatient services. Almost without exception they have a Borderline Personality Disorder. Bodily mutilation, either by supplementary hormones or surgery is just another form of deliberate self harm. The saddest case would be the young bearded man suicidal because after a mastectomy and hysterectomy at eighteen now realizes their mistake.
To allow this mutilation to occur in young people who's sexuality can be very fluid is a huge mistake with lifelong consequences.
That's a sobering story, but one that is familiar if you are keeping up to date with transition/ detransition stories.
What is the culture like amongst your Mental Health professionals?
Are there any concerns or discussions around this issue?
Are there standard data collection and follow up protocols?
It might seem odd suggesting that if there are "countless" young females transitioning to male coming through our Mental Health inpatient services, someone would think a number be put up.
'Countless' suggests there's a veritable torrent, tsunamis of people, too many to count.
Is that so? How do you know? If someone working in the industry says they are 'inundated' with such cases, what does that mean?
Molly's concern about standard data collection is fair. Simply knowing the numbers might at least give us just reason to not use words like 'countless,' not just in numerical terms but in generalised 'shock, horror' terms.
I would posit that in our city there are not masses of young females transitioning to male let alone going through the mental health services.
Jan River's article does reference some of the available data we have in NZ, and extrapolates acknowledged estimates from that.
Regardless of where you stand on the quality of healthcare, everyone should be demanding collection of comprehensive data, and review of clinical evidence that informed this approach.
Just wanted to point out that the standard threat of suicides by non-affirmation responses, was never a robust data driven reality.
Despite this, and the ignored recommendation of guidelines regarding suicide ideation, this has repeatedly been reported as factual.
I imagine psych nurse is working flat out on a busy understaffed unit, so countless might be impressionistic, but gives an idea that de=transistioners are the rare minority that the Trans Rights Activists would have us believe.
Thanks for posting this excellent article Molly. And many thanks psych nurse for letting us know what is being seen in psych services.
The case you mention is an utter tragedy. And the denial of de-transitioners by trans rights activists is shocking and unacceptable.
In a world where we have big problems, such as climate change, which appear to be very difficult to solve, I would have thought that halting this trend of medically transitioning young people would be something everyone would want to see happen.
Its about enough people standing up to the trans lobby and the govt taking the same measures that Dr Hilary Cass has in her review of Tavistock.
Not doind so means there will be more and more of the young people psych nurse describes.
This man is our best bet:
“If New Zealand can't do it, well, then nobody can. So I do feel a great sense of responsibility, not just because of New Zealand’s emissions profile, but actually because I think we’re at the vanguard of something that many, many other countries are going to be grappling with,” he said."
James Shaw. bigger than he appears on tv 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129854910/i-lost-my-job-shaw-on-being-back-leading-the-greens-and-tackling-farm-emissions
When's he doing an Auckland gig for the public?
Meanwhile, state of play with the gender wars in the UK.
Gender identity activists have gone to court seeking to remove the charitable status of LGB Alliance because they’re organising around sexual orientation rather than gender identity. Here’s a man, head of a consortium of LGBT organisations saying that sexual orientation is against their values. This is homophobia, the position is that people aren’t attracted to sex but gender identity and arguing for same sex attraction is transphobic. If you’re confused, this is because some TW who are attracted to females ie they’re het makes, insist on calling themselves lesbian and hassling lesbians to date them even if they still have fully male bodies. Girl dick is meant to be different to man dick and lesbians are transphobic for not wanting it.
for the people who said none of this was happening, it’s now in a British court being hashed out.
https://twitter.com/tribunaltweets/status/1569271096540803073
Paul Roberts – OBE – but self-declared "not an expert" on any LGBT research or data.
Not only CEO of Consortium of which provides "expertise" to multiple organisations, but also apparently a member of the advisory panel to the Government Equalities Office.
Last week advising the European Union, delivering 'expertise on 'Experiences of LGBT+ Leadership'' in a 'flagship programme' funded by the European Union.
He's a grifter:
https://youtu.be/q09u65rAi_E?t=326
'I guess'
Quote unquote Paul Roberts.
An incredible 'performance'. Would be funny if not so serious.
and it makes perfect sense to hold that view if you think that Gender equals sex.
IF one is a heterosexual 'woman' in their parlance they are opposite gender attracted and should be able to have sexual relationships with men and transmen. 🙂 Ditto for heterosexual men. They should be able to have sexual relationships with woman and transwoman. Its all the same. No dif.
We are now all queer and bisexual.
edit: definition of terms ‘ woman ‘= female human adult and ‘men’ = male human adult.
Yanis Varoufakis picks apart the corrupt European energy system – parts of this echo the New Zealand experience. His comment about getting to speak in the msm for 20 seconds before interruption is right on the button.
https://diem25.org/yanis-varoufakis-picks-apart-the-corrupt-european-energy-system/
Ever tried to work out what an Air NZ flight is really worth recently ?
Theresa Gattung 2006:
https://billbennett.co.nz/commerce-commission-mobile-price-confusion/
There is a complex replay of the decline and fall of the Weimar Republic era. Once again a combination of economic difficulty (this time a global supply chain disruption and nations indebted because of the GFC and pandemic), a struggle between necessary evolution to social democracy (financial and tax reform) and the neo liberal and fascist alternatives (a combination of which is oligarchy), an imperial ambition impasse (risk of war) and of course the global warming problem.
Of course those governments with pretensions of being left of centre and which might take opportunity to openly declare a social democratic platform will face considerable opposition – from the establishment neo liberal public service and the middle class media estate. They will however partner up on the progressive social reform and increase in government power over the people (either to manage the public narrative or to enforce an order). Of course the government plan to bring in “hate speech” law has already met a response – most obviously the free speech coalition and NACT opposition, but also a number of conspiracy theory groups (such as control of the public space via government funding of media media and censorship because they are part of some global plan to do x and y to democracy etc).
In that matter, restraint by government is the grown up example. For example online anonymity protects people from (real life) persecution for the exercise of their free speech. All the current system needs is the ability to identify those making threats to others (which are a matter of existing law) and removing some of them from the right to legally possess weapons.
To this point the government has moved on interest deductability (and bright line extension) but not moved on wealth accumulation (one reason to vote Green).
It has collectivIsed health to centralise supply of scarce resources, but labour shortage constraints remain. When will it end requirement of staff working here to pay back their TD? Where is the set up of an investment fund for smart investment in drugs that maintain health that reduce dependence on hospital care cost?
In housing it has yet to reposition from use of motels to acting in the private market (as prices decline) to increase the number of properties it has to rent out at income related rent and playing smarter on supply boost.
Swift 1721
https://twitter.com/business/status/1569463124897714178?cxt=HHwWhMDS-bGZ7ccrAAAA
House prices have now dropped by the largest in 6 months bringing median NZ prices to 800k,and more to come as the bubble contracts to sustainable levels.
Global property markets are expected to contract until at least 2024,due to risk realignment with increasing interest rates (US least affected due to long term fixed rates)
Yeah the long fixed rate mortgages (bank culpability for bad debts if the sale price is less than the mortgage loan) mean their housing market is less impacted by the raising of rates to manage inflation.
It’s a complicated world economy atm …
Computing all their cost and trouble …
Quantum game theory is an extension of classical game theory to the quantum domain. It differs from classical game theory in three primary ways:
This theory is based on the physics of information much like quantum computing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_game_theory
They said on Morning Report this morning that house prices in NZ are still 19% above what they were in 2020. And in 2020 they were far too high.
Crisis? What crisis?
People leveraged debt on the imaginary wealth growth,to buy investment property,etc. the bubble was around 42% fueled by low interest rates,changes in lending rules,it now relaxes to its natural limits of ability to pay.
Too Soon
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%253A%252F%252Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%252Fpublic%252Fimages%252Fd78ed516-b35e-43b1-a535-0d42da0b7cc4_5400x4320.jpeg
Just when Poots is as busy AF….
https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1569442037958844419
https://www.reuters.com/world/fresh-clashes-erupt-between-azerbaijan-armenia-2022-09-12/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_Armenia%E2%80%93Azerbaijan_border_crisis
Yeah…scumbag. I'm hopeful that any publicity this slime got…reinforces how absolutely hateful/hatefilled he and his ilk are.
The scary thing is he received 25 votes. I was hoping he'd get a few votes at best. My guess is each of those 25 voters don't live in a ideological bubble. They have hubs of people around them who have similar views, and are probably indoctrinating their children to hate without reason.
Weka had a link to…
Indocrinating with hate. Disgusting!
NZ merchandise trade deficit rises to 11.6 billion an increase of 10.5 billion in 12 months.
There will be big alarm bells ringing at the rating agencies,as we await the current account release.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/overseas-merchandise-trade-july-2022/
Depressing at 3.5% unemployed we work damn hard, yet fall further and further away from exporting to pay our way.
Our GDP quarter can't be good.
Whilst there is a an substantive increased cost, now apparent with the closure of Marsden point (where transformation costs were realised in NZ,and can be seen in the increased import of other chemical products.There is also a substantive waste in the import of product that will not increase either efficiency or import substitution.
And yet you advocate applying the hammer to our major export…go figure.
More cheap bulk mass products won't cure our trade position.
Figured pretty easily actually.
When 'bulk mass products' are all you have to offer its probably not a great idea to get rid of them…especially when you need the products they enable.
They aren't if the milk companies do their job.
It won't change until this government keeps propping up Fonterra with yet more enabling legislation to give them more power over farmer shareholders, and less and less reason to shift away from being a commodity producer.
Fonterra is NZ's biggest coy..booking $600mil in profits…the big 4 banks take out 10x ..that!
That's the new world order…financial 'products'…vs productive activity…all good..who cares!
Then get your massive brain elected to the board of Fonterra and solve the problems that others have been unable to solve for 40 plus years
Dairy exports increased 2.8 billion by value in the last 12 months,volume was down 9% prices up 28%.
Overall value of dairy exports increases by 17 percent | RNZ News
There's the link for you. Milk powder, cheese and butter, sold by the tonne.
In its first decade Fonterra had the ambition to aim for value over volume.
Since 2017 it's been sold down and stripped back to solely this country. A pretty poor definition of value-add.
No one should be praising an industry for making basically the same stuff we were making after World War 1.
Here is the original link from stats.(for the bulk mass products)
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/dairy-commodities-sustain-high-prices/
Why not?
The demand is there.
Trying to reinvent the wheel with value added did not work with Fonterra.
A good example -they introduced First Start a breakfast drink to compete with Up and Go…it was going good…Sanitarium (the charity)indicated they would pull their supply contracts with Fonterra ..if they continued to compete.
Fonterra buckled.
Agreed Poission. The chronic increase in the trade deficit has largely flown under the radar. Look for the NZ dollar to plummet when reality hits.
You know if the exchange rate did collapse under trade deficits then balance of payments would be basically "self correcting" (not that there is a correct balance anyway). I'm not really convinced that the "reality" your expecting describes these aspects of the economy. We have certainly seen continuous trade deficits with a high NZ dollar simultaneously favouring importers.
Whether you are convinced matters not…whether those doing business are however is a different story.
https://tradingeconomics.com/sri-lanka/currency
So your forecasting a Sri Lankan currency crisis for New Zealand? Or actually your not committing to that forecast either (or even any forecast in fact)?
Neither…Im pointing out that your reckons count for little when it comes to the desirability of any currency
If my recons moved the NZ forex markets I wouldn't be commenting, would I. But it seems that (despite your need to counter comment) your expections basically match mine anyway.
For clarity my expections are that the trade deficit will largely persist and thats not going to move the exchange rate. I expect after the next RBNZ OCR increase the exchange rate will strengthen in fact.
Watch the interest rates rise (as they are globally) as large scale wish list projects get prices out,with both credit agencies and the IMF looking over shoulders.