Would be interesting to know the cost of Crosby Textor PR and tactical advice to the National Party over the years and by whom it has been paid.
Advanced instruction in “trickiness” which of course includes how to accuse everyone else of being ‘tricky’, would not come cheap I imagine.
There was a time in the 30s when post-abdication the Duke and Duchess of Windsor would demand appearance money for attending the fabulous dinner parties of American East Coast high society matrons.
Does the National Party have an ‘Edward & Wallis Fund’ ?
PS – I well recall Patrick Gower in a semi-apoplexy about the more-or-less exculpatory findings of the investigation into Shane Jones’ ministerial actions re the wealthy Asian businessman.
“I AM ANGRY !” boomed Monsieur ‘And-Som with a ferocity that had me scrambling for the remote.
Settle in for white rage from Patrick Gower on TV 3 News tonight………ya reckon ?
That’s why Nat’s propaganda sheets keep publishing rogue polls.
Control the media, control the people.
Solution….find independent sources of media and DNFTT.
Here, my fine feathered Tory, is some analysis I’ve recently completed (and partly posted elsewhere).
What I’ve done is to calculate National’s monthly poll average for the 08 and 11 Election years and then compared it (in parentheses) with National’s actual Party-Vote result at the Election later that year: (so, for example, the Nats averaged 52% in the opinion polls of March 2011 and that was 5 percentage points higher than the proportion they in fact received at the 2011 election):
National 2011
March 52% (+5), April 54% (+7), May 52% (+5), June 53% (+6), July 53% (+6), August 54% (+7), September 55% (+8), October 54% (+7), Early November 52% (+5), Late November 51% (+4), 2011 Election: 47%
National 2008
March 49% (+4), April 51% (+6), May 52% (+7), June 54% (+9), July 51% (+6), August 49% (+4), September 49% (+4), Early/Mid October 48% (+3), Late October/Early November 46% (+1), 2008 Election: 45%
So, all things being equal, I suspect you can probably subtract 4-7 points off National’s current polling (averaging roughly 49% at the moment). Then again, if their current spike in support is only temporary (and they revert to, say, the 44% they were averaging until just a few weeks ago), then perhaps the 4-7 points should come off this lower level of support ?
But, in any case, it’s also important not to assume that these 4-7 points can simply be added on to the Left Bloc vote. Some of it goes to National’s minor support parties on the Right (they tend to receive a little boost after Key’s teacup luncheons) and to NZ First. It does, however, mean that the Left and Right Blocs are a little closer than you might assume from recent polling.
I might add, there are one or two rumours that National’s internal polling is picking up a sharp dip in support for both National and Key. Just rumours at the moment, but very interesting.
Excellent work there Swordy. Thanks for putting in the effort. Illuminating.
The effect of the appearance (note – “appearance”) of ‘Smile & Wave & Invoice’ ?
Age old readily digestible concept that one.
God forbid that the masses get well above their station and latch onto it.
Urgent memo ShonKey Python to Crosby Fester – ” How the hell does one issue a ‘final warning’ to an entire population while maintaining ‘Smile & Wave’ ? “
“The average power bill for a family of four will rise by 2.4 per cent this year, Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said yesterday as he faced questions from political opponents intent on making electricity increases an election-year issue.”
My lines company has raised the daily line cost from $1 t A DAY to $2 A DAY
$365 increase a year
That is about 12% per year!!!!
And UP goes the Official Cash Rate, that which is the indicator of future bank mortgage rates, Reserve Bank Governor is expected to announce the rise to 2.75 at 9 o’clock this morning,
Speeding train hits brick wall,???, You bet, future interest rates on mortgages with the expected 25 point rise are going to go up weekly by 20 bucks for every hundred thousand borrowed,
Those in the bigger cities with a mortgage at the low end of the spectrum, $300,000, will be paying an extra $60 a week, to work out the cost you only need add $20 for every $100,000 of mortgage,
Knee-capping an economy that has just struggled out of the after effects of the Global Financial Crisis aint smart and is more easily explained by pointing out that across the mortgage belt each household will have to shrink their spending into the economy by 60–$100 a week,
Renters will not escape the interest rates rises to follow as it is unlikely that landlords will be willing to shoulder all of the expected cost increases so at least part of this will pass into the economy via higher rents being paid,
Banksters strike again???, You bet, the inflation rate??? a lowly 1.6%, unemployment??? raging along at 6.1%, 150,000 of our fellow Kiwi’s jobless,destitute, and, kicked around for sport by Paula Bennett and WINZ,
The Kiwi$$$, nearly on a par with the Aussie one, expect this to creep up another couple of cents as the interest rates rise,=more unemployment
BERL economist Ganish Nana???, raising the cash rate now with the economic indicators where they are, Stupid!!!,
WestPac bankster economist Dominic Stevens, the cash rate and interest rates has to go up because we should remember the 1970’s, what we should remember is it will be the Banksters and only the Banksters who will profit from this,
Boom, blow another hole in the Government books, more unemployment equals less tax payers, higher benefit costs, along with less spending in the economy from those paying 60 to a $100 dollars more a week in mortgage payments, estimated hole in the Government accounts +half a billion to a billion dollars on top of the already unsustainable 2 billion gap between government spending and revenue,
Ganish Nana? is not stupid I think. He seemed to be saying that it was unnecessary and likely to be depressing on the economy to raise the interest rate. The first
2.75% quarter of a percentage point,first since 2010.
Institute of Economic Research spokesperson Yakob is going to speak to Kathryn Ryan. I think he will be dry, and is probably part of our drought problem here over the country. Thought it would be up by .50 instead of .25 to send strong signals to fix home interest rates to the banks. That’s how you handle the country’s economy folks. I love that bit I heard earlier where that would be so good in keeping the country stable, from an economist of course. That’s while under their ministrations of the financial field they send our exchange rate through the roof and firms teeter on being insolvent as a result. So steady.
Don Brash’s little voice still piping on. Wish someone would eipe him off this sinking ship.
Greywarbler, exactly what He was saying, Stupid Stupid Stupid, perhaps i should have put that in quotation marks as it could be read that i am insinuating He is stupid, which i aint…
Perhaps warbler, you should either wear specs or read a little slower, anyone with a fully functioning nut can see that i am not dissing Nana, and my apologies to the economist i believe His name is Danish…
Got your calculators ready, crunch these numbers, the Reserve Bank governor as expected, has just raised the Official cash rate to 2.75,
For anyone with a 300 grand mortgage that equates to the Banksters sucking 60 bucks a week outta your pockets and that is just the Governors ”teaser”,
The Governor in this mornings statement has indicated that by years end, that’s this year, the OCR will be up to 3.75 and at the end of 2015 a crushing 4.75,
So, for mortgage holders at the low end of the spectrum, $300,000 Kaching, Kaching, the Banksters are going to delve into your pockets by up to 260 dollars a week on top of what your now paying,
Above i consider that the initial interest rates rises will cost an extra 20,000 jobs,
Given what the Reserve Bank Governor ‘plans’ for the economy i would suggest that unemployment by the end of 2015 is likely to be 200,000 and rising,
The internal polling for the Nacts must be truely dreadful – the increase in the cash rate will help them offhsore their money before everything turns to custard…..
I’ve seen in the MSM that power prices are going up between 7% and 24% across the nation. Still, the canvassing wouldn’t be that hard – there’s not that many retailers after all.
It’s weird, because Powershop effectively have pre-paid power, and they don’t charge anything extra. In fact, pre-paid power from Powershop is likely to be slightly cheaper than any post-paid power you might buy from them.
Dunno how it works now but in a flat long ago we had one of the early versions of prepaid power with the swipe card, The machine was fairly unreliable to the point we had a direct dial to the technician who had to come out at all hours and reset it. I have a vague memory of letters indicating higher pre pay prices due to increased servicing costs and providing 24 hour access to top ups….
Slippery the Prime Minister publicly rebuking Judith Collins over the fact that She has been less than open with the ‘truth’ surrounding Her Ministerial visit to China???,
Smacks of the big fish telling the little fish ”stop stealing the lime-light, it is my role to make fools of the press and public and anyway my Lies are better than yours”…
“UNLESS SOMETHING HUGELY DRAMATIC HAPPENS between now and polling day, 20 September, the General Election of 2014 is all but over. The National-led government of Prime Minister, John Key, looks set to be returned for a third term by a margin that may surprise many of those currently insisting that the result will be very close. What may also surprise is the sheer scale and comprehensiveness of the Left’s (especially Labour’s) electoral humiliation.”
A little early, Chris, but your analysis is sound. Unless something major happens, the left, particularly Labour, will be decimated.
oops here you go. you get what you wish for i guess ha ha ha
How it unfolded
• 2010: Businessman Donghua Liu granted NZ citizenship by Nathan Guy, the then-Minister of Internal Affairs, against official advice after being lobbied by Maurice Williamson, Minister of Building and Construction, and John Banks, the Auckland Mayor at the time.
• 2011: Mr Williamson and Prime Minister John Key attend the opening of the first stage of Mr Liu’s $70 million redevelopment in Newmarket, Auckland.
• 2012: Roncon Pacific Hotel Management Holdings Ltd — of which Mr Liu is a director — makes a $22,000 donation to the National Party.
Judith Collins humiliated after being less than forthcoming with the truth, Slippery the Prime Minister humiliated on TV3’s ‘the Nation’ and then again on the 6 o’clock news exposed as a hypocrite over secret 5 grand donations as the ‘price’ of a dinner,
3 days later again the PM is humiliated caught out telling the press ‘less than the truth’ while He tried in vain to defend Collins,
..and/but he is really only strengthening the case that labour have to produce policies that will make that disengaged one million voters want to urge those all around them to go out and vote for labour..
..and as tiger woods confirmed..
..that has to be a poverty-busting/’back-pocket’ package of policies..
..only that will guarantee victory..
..(don’t forget how key came to power..
..he promised big back-pocket policies/tax-cuts..
..learn from that..
..and offer to the middle-class/workers/poor..
..what key promised the rich/middle-class..
..to put a significant more into their ‘back-pockets’..)
Yes, elections are won on back-pocket factors…like mortgages and power bills being more expensive. I think JustLikeTigerWoods optimism about National’s chances is unfounded.
Hi phillip ure. I’ve been trying to ignore politics, mainly because of the current bunch of idiots in power. National simply cannot be reasoned with, mainly because they’re removed from reality and so caught up in their own bullshit that they wouldn’t now the truth to save themselves.
Would pay to keep in mind that it was Trotter on election night television in 2005 I think, who in highly animated and excited style, 45 minutes after the polls closed, proclaimed the demise of Helen Clark’s government. Hang on…… government highly animated
“big picture stuff ”
if the public were actually being shown or told or even winked at about the big picture National would never get near the ninth floor ever again
Yeah well you go with that but would be unwise to overlook that Trotter’s analysis was concluded before the emergence today of the quintessential “back-pocket” issue, the cash rate.
Indeed for many it’s more than a “back-pocket” issue. It’s a backyard-issue, viz. an issue touching the very retention of said backyard by those seduced by Smile and Wave into believing in Cargo Cult and Brighter Future.
What’s the public mood going to be like when those who think they’ve lived the Brighter Future courtesy of the best and nicest PM in our history find they simply can’t meet the cost of it ? And they lose it. What will their relatives say ?
While at the same time there’s a powerful reflection that the high end of town continues to advance its wealth and power. Clay feet are still clay no matter they’re increasingly well shod.
Forget the bullshit that National absolutely and historically triumphed in the last election. That’s theistic fantasy. Defections in the mere thousands will see them done for. The increasing appearance of Smile & Wave & Invoice with increased wealth and power in the hands of many fewer will lead to reprisal.
Perhaps you live your life surrounded by the disenfranchised, which distorts your view.
The polls tell you the truth about what most New Zealanders think. Most are happy with the direction of the country, and most like Key. Labour are down to base levels and Cunliffe’s not even popular amongst Labour voters.
I can sure see “most” who can’t fathom how to meet for a start an extra $60-$80 per week on their mortgage when they’re bloody hard pressed already, being mostly happy. Yeah…….so mostly happy that they’re just gonna chuckle admiringly and say – “Gee, I’d love to have a beer with that great guy…….”
Get real. As the worry and the fear sets in and then the pain hits and mortgagee sales take on a roll, ShonKey Python’s repute will really start to reflect his first name. The heist conceived by the movers and shakers of the National Party and their foreign advisers almost immediately Labour was elected in 1999 is about to be exposed.
There is vast electoral power out there Woods. You know it. Your ‘ace’ is that Cunliffe’s just not up to the challenge. In fact as of today it’s your only argument. That “back-pocket” is ready to bite many bums and ShonKey’s as a consequence.
We’ll see. To me it’s simple science. Leaking vaccums always get filled. ShonKey Python is an increasingly empty vessel personally who is a visibly nasty piece of work under pressure. Couple that with Smile & Wave taking on the appearance of Smile & Wave & Invoice – it just gets worse. Whom, leaving me in the shit with my Brighter Future dreams in tatters, will profit from buying the house I lose for example ? Speculators, the high end of town. ShonKey Python people.
Yes, I live not far from and work in a town where the average annual income is round $17,000. I work in a job where daily I see the gross reflections of that vicious deprivation. Of course it affects, I say informs, my view. Push the fact of it, even the subjective perception of it further and further up the ladder – ShonKey Python has real problems. The arrogant, entitled, suspect crew accompanying him, and for that matter even the fabulousness of a royal tour (the effete obseqious royal courtier fiddling with vast wealth and privilege while Rome burns) will not help.
I don’t know the figure off the top of my head so please you or someone else tell me. How many thousands of votes cast for the Left bloc rather than the Right bloc in 2011 would have seen ShonKey Python back in the US a very unremarkable one term PM. ?
Many many people will ditch ridiculous theism about ShonKey Python. The man was a massive fraud from the start.
Official Cash Rate at 3.75 by the end of the year, that’s something in the order of an extra 160 bucks a week on a 300 grand mortgage by the end of this year across the vast mortgage belt in the bigger cities,
If that aint dramatically ‘back-pocket’ enough for you, how bout the proposed OCR rate at the end of 2015 of 4.75 which adds yet another hundy to a 300,000 dollar mortgage,
Should we be so terribly unlucky and have a National Government still occupying the Treasury Benches i would suggest that interest rates biting those ‘back pockets’ in such a manner will have that Party polling at 20% again….
The Tory formula for countering this is very well known, just set up another speculative expansionary property bubble.
Yes your mortgage is $500 more a month, but when your house is “worth” $2500 more a month, what’s the problem? Sounds like a ‘good deal’ for the homeowner…
Those I know are happy with their lot. They’re fine paying for welfare and the rest, but know there will always be the piss-takers, over-breeders, and cretins bleating about their self-imposed lot. Yawn. They’ll always be with us. Best ignored.
The bolly is flowing, The lolly is increasing. Seize the days, chaps.
“the LabGreen have no credible alternative.” – Just Like Tiger Woods
You are quite right Tiger – the Labour/Greens have no credible alternative – National/Act are not a credible alternative to what the Labour/Greens are offering.
If the election result were a certainty, you wouldn’t need to try so hard.
Key’s problem is that while they could throw the “don’t you know who I am” nobody under the bus, the apparently-corrupt ministers are too big for him to do that. So they’ll hang around and fester.
But we’ll all know for sure at the end of September.
the simple fact of the matter is that nationals one and only plank was that it was their turn. well the’ve had their turn and stolen as much as they could from the treasury and now they are about to be booted out.
If Dave can come up with a few policies that lift the well-being of the lower classes whilst not robbing the middle and upper classes to do it, he might turn things around.
The middle and upper aren’t going to vote for any more tax gouging. Labour need to go away and come up with some new ideas, not a re-run of Muldoonism.
You’ve been lent it for a few years, and soon the true owners will be reconsidering their choice. And you have no friends to help you borrow the gaff for another three years.
30 years of Rogernomics. Life is mighty fine. Join in. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Helen and Michael at least got that….
Or stick with failed ideology in the dead hope that people will vote for a return to Muldoonism, Unionism and a crumbling South Pacific version of Venezuela.
Tiger, If this was so, National would not be spending so much time focussing on ripping him to shreds. The only way they can do so, however, is on shallow and made up points.
National do not fight on policy because they know Cunliffe and Labour are stronger than National in that area.
National Party’s 3D election strategy: Distract and Deflect so that noone notices what Drongos we are.
“a re-run of Muldoonism……….” What a joke. I’ll bet that in the day you were just as much a blowhard protagonist for Muldoon as you are today for ShonKey Python.
The message I have recieived thus far summarised:
The left put people before profit and consider social effects as well as monetary issues. In the medium-to-long run this ends up creating less problems and the country becomes wealthier than when a singular focus on profit for a few (National & Act) is pursued.
As well as this:
Labour are noting that the wealth gap issue, social mobility and job conditions are being adversely affected by this National government and intend to rectify the situation
The Greens include a focus on ensuring the health of the environment with the understanding this positively affects our well-being and economy.
Mana includes a focus on Maori issues, realising there is a shortfall in addressing such. They also have a strong focus on prioritising poverty issues and also have a strong anti-corporate stance.
The problems with the OCR response to inflationary house cost (read AK ),is two parts
a) The absence of rigorous fiscal policy to constrain external interference (read speculators)
b) The OCR response increases the external interference ie higher interest rates and an appreciating NZ dollar a positive feedback.
The RBNZ inflationary response mechanism model a DSGE model (which have been around for 30yrs) are both questionable and have not passed the smell test eg Solow
The protagonists of this idea make a claim to respectability by asserting that it is
founded on what we know about microeconomic behavior,but I think that this claim is generally phony. The advocates no doubt believe what they say, but they seem to have stopped sniffing or to have lost their sense of smell altogether
Reality itself is a major constraint on the theoretically bankrupt DGSE model, but it doesn’t stop the bloody economists and governments from using it to make macro-economic decisions.
“It’ll be different this time! We’ll tax the cr*p out of everything and hand money to poor people, and it will all be great!”
No. No it won’t. It will be a Venezuela-level disaster, minus the oil. Left-wing ideology destroys the very incentives needed to generate the wealth to pay for the state services. Even Marx got that….
You need new ideas. The left needs an economic rebirth. Your old ideas are failed, rejected and will never return from the deep 70’s pit in which they are long buried.
Forget the rich pr*cks and redundant class war. Your real enemy is lack of productivity. Solve that problem and you’ll really be onto something, because I’m not sure the right know the answer to that question, either.
You don’t understand how substantial income inequality effects the economy and you don’t understand how progressive tax systems work to ameliorate those negative effects.
You don’t understand how the relationship between human capital and technological capital has forever changed the landscape of industrial relations.
You avoid the well documented effects of multinational corporations playing the system in a way which is impossible for regular citizens.
You cling to bogus arguments like low productivity which I find particularly amusing because the rightwing industrial relations and low tax policy which you champion are precisely the causes of a weak economy.
An economy can only be strong if the vast majority of people engage in it and benefit from the surpluses generated within it. Low/flat tax rates and no rights for workers has created a system with a few super wealthy people and a decimated middle class which actually isn’t very good for aggregate demand.
Did you even realise that?
The central irony is that rightwing muppets always advocate for ‘growing the pie’ but their short sighted greed for short term profits means they end up implementing policies which shrink the pie.
If you were honest then your true motto would be ‘I believe in fucking the economy so that I can have an ever increasing slice of an ever diminishing pie’
You claim your opponents are stuck in the 70’s but you appear to be stuck in the 20’s. Perhaps you should study up on what happened to the world economy the last time Laissez Faire economic theory was followed through with…
The middle class has been decimated, but not by “the wealthy”. It’s due to a) technology and b) tax structures destroying savings and investment
We have low capital allocation per worker. Why? Partly poor management and partly because it doesn’t pay to invest in them (tax structures).
Technology has replaced a lot of jobs. It’s now eating into the middle class. To counter this, we need to use that very technology to increase productivity. This generates the surplus necessary for a high wage society.
We don’t get that way by endless redistributing and fighting a phoney class war. That is last century’s battle. This century’s battle is firstly understand that technology replaces labour, then understand the way to leverage that technology is to invest in workers.
The right doesn’t have the answer either, but at least they understand the incentives. The left would redistribute and shrink away to nothing. Why? They take capital and force it into consumption. Consumption is not what we need. Savings and investment, and allocation of capital into labour productivity is what we need.
And in this New Zealand, right now, you think the best way to deliver this is what exactly?
Please give examples of countries that have adopted your prescriptions, as well as examples of countries that you think we should emulate, so we can check how they did it.
One publication had a regular column called Felicity Ferret where little titbits were published of an interesting nature.
What about us having a Willy the Weta? I think I heard a whisper that someone in government is going to produce a glossy booklet on where to dine in Beijing and New York.
The quiet places where you don’t get spotted having dinner with your friends in useful places.
A terrible and sad story that one – I hope she gets the help she wants and needs. If we cannot (and I don’t think we can) look after the most vulnerable in society we fail them and ourselves.
Every one wants the latest billion dollar vaccine…no one wants to provide potable water and build toilets for the poor…big profits in one but miniscule in the other…typical and predictable.
McFlock
Why couldn’t it be CV talking about his own opinion rather than a quote? He didn’t say it was a quote. He appears to be saying that improvements in provision of good facilities like clean water and toilet systems would go a long way to preventing disease, but there is more interest in giving money to Big Pharma for providing vaccines
.
Colonial Viper might enlarge on his comment and clarify. I am reading my expected interpretation into it. But that’s my guess.
It is not that he is smarter. McFlock has a fervent belief the Big Pharma model is inherently superior, therefore he dismisses those who challenge it as lacking evidence, without bothering to provide any evidence himself.
No it wasn’t. It was hyperbole for sure, but the implied message is true. Or are you suggesting that pharmaceutical companies aren’t driven by profit and greed, and are really just in business for the good of the world?
Oh I’m sorry, what was the “implied message”? That pharmacy companies aren’t water infrastructure companies? Or that measles is a waterborne disease like cholera?
Because many of the same agencies that fund vac programs in the developing world also fund water programs.
The implied message is really a lament over the fact we allow governments to funnel billions to pharmaceutical companies, rather than into top-notch infrastructure.
Ultimately it is our choice how we allocate resources, but the excessive influence of pharmaceutical companies garners them a disproportionate amount of that resource, and that is why people are concerned.
So now you’re widening “potable water and build toilets” to general infrastructure?
I mean, that “implied message” is untrue too (e.g. road building projects in developing nations), but I just want to see if you’re shifting the goalposts.
Thing is, we’re talking past each other, because you see pharmaceutical companies as altruistic organisations seeking to improve public health, whereas in my view they are corporations that have a place, but their influence is hugely disproportionate.
Just to remind you all the first comment in this thread was.
“Anyone else wondering why so many cases of measles amongst the already vaccinated for measles?….”
CV then attempted to threadjack with
“Every one wants the latest billion dollar vaccine…no one wants to provide potable water and build toilets for the poor…big profits in one but miniscule in the other…typical and predictable.”
As he is fairly vehemently anti vaccination and didn’t want to address the original question which was fallacious.
Vaccines such as MMR are not big money spinners for pharma companions as they are usually only one or two vaccinations over a persons entire lifetime.
You need to get better sources Chooky. Naturalnews is not a reliable source of information. Scheibner doesn’t look that useful either, although ironically, the wikipedia article that northshore links to is also very poor.
Maybe she is, but you just did exactly what Chooky did, which was pull some shit off the internet to support your own view, and present it as evidence, when it’s actually a poor source of information. Like I said, ironic.
Also when your links claim “evidence” but don’t actually link through to any form of data or peer-reviewed research, what they are actually doing is claiming anecdata
The link you just provided doesn’t link through to any form of data or peer-reviewed research. Are you suggesting that that blogpost was written from anecdata?
Not trying to be smart here, and as I said I think Chooky’s links aren’t useful, but let’s hold all sides of the argument to a certain standard.
Avicenna, I don’t have a problem with the idea that Scheibner is all the things you say she is. I’m simply pointing out that in this conversation, and others here on ts, there is an irony to the ‘science is the one true way’ argument not meeting its own standards.
“Actually, I am quoting the papers mentioned on her blog.”
I wasn’t talking about her papers. I was talking about your refutations and statements. Zorr said that claims of evidence need to be backed up (I agree), and I was pointing out that the link Zorr gave didn’t meet their own standard.
(am sure your blogpost makes more sense to people that are following your blog generally, and the Scheibner issues, but Zorr dropping it in to this conversation didn’t help clarify in the way implied).
I’m all for that. Let’s use the standard of “which argument has the overwhelmingly gargantuan majority of qualified adherents and evidence to support it?”
“I’m all for that. Let’s use the standard of “which argument has the overwhelmingly gargantuan majority of qualified adherents and evidence to support it?”
I don’t have too much of a problem with that, although it seems prudent, given how many mistakes get made in science, to allow discussions of dissent where there is a good argument made.
Vaccination isn’t just a science issue, it’s also about ethics. There are very good reasons why we don’t leave ethics solely to scientists.
Ok stirred up a hornets nest there…lol..as expected
sorry weka to let the academic side down ….however it still doesnt answer my question….why are so many people who have been vaccinated against measles still getting them?….would seem simpler to just let kids get measles when they are young and then be imunised for life
also the older i get the more skeptical i become about some aspects of traditional Western medicine..(.this excludes surgery and intensive hospital care) ….it seems that primary health care is not holistically based and is in the grips of multinational big business and its rigid acolytes…..many traditional childhood viruses can be weathered with appropriate living conditions, as CV says , and careful parental care
…if I had my time again i dont think i would get the kids immunised
It’s not just about academics though. It’s about basing beliefs on evidence, or at least putting up a good theoretical argument for the belief. That’s the not owned by academics, all of us can do that. Using bad sources of information both makes the situation worse, and doesn’t answer the questions being raised.
” ….however it still doesnt answer my question….why are so many people who have been vaccinated against measles still getting them?”
I don’t know because I haven’t looked at what is happening, but vaccinations aren’t all 100% effective, so that would explain some of it.
“….would seem simpler to just let kids get measles when they are young and then be imunised for life”
The issues here are that some kids die from complications; there is a public health issue because so many people believe that getting ill is inherently bad so if you can prevent it that’s good; now that many people are being vaccinated for measles, most people aren’t getting natural immunity pre-school, so there will be issues of how that affects people in later life (am guessing someone will have done an economic assessment of this); there’s also the issue of both parents working so what happens when the kids get sick (more economics)… etc
Myself, I think parents that decide the natural immunity route are entitled to do that, and find the extremity of the everyone should vaccinate argument a pretty interesting dynamic in our society.
@ Weka …i feel it is a case of the Emperors Clothes…there is a hierarchy of medical acolytes and statisticians supporting blanket vaccination for all children regardless of the fact that they themselves are financially embedded in a system of support for a multi-billion dollar industry.
……and any parent who dares question blanket vaccination for all childhood viruses is made out to be a “Dunce” or a “Kook”…..someone who is too stupid to know anything about it….when actually parents have observations at the grassroots level of their own children and other children and their families…their empirical and anecdotal evidence is either not admissible or is down graded
…..totally ignored also is the fact that there are a number doctors and virologists who have down right reservations, if they are not actually opposed to blanket vaccinations of all children for common childhood viruses
….cases of adverse reactions to vaccination are swept under the carpet , ignored, not counted ..So how valid are the statistics really ?!
( …sorry about your kid but they were sacrificed for the greater good of the herd…No!…sorry this is not good enough!)
…there have been a number of medical interventions/drugs which have ‘impeccable’ statistics and were later found to have harmful if not fatal side effects or long term effects
..when considerable pressure is applied to parents to have their children vaccinated there should be some accountablity for vaccination mishaps and compensation paid for medical misadventure….but this would require REAL statistics
My suggestion is that if you want to address the issues with people here, and you want to use science to do that, then use good science not bad science. If you can’t tell the difference yet, then take some time to learn.
The big thing missing from the conversations lately on ts is the non-science stuff that you refer to… where parents make conscious decisions based on a myriad of knowledges, not just hard cold science (or emotive science)… it’s not part of the culture here. I’m not sure it’s possible to have that conversation here, because the people arguing are pretty much dogmatic in their views, and are really only going to respond to science arguments. That’s why I’m more interested in talking about the meta issues – who gets to decide what are useful ways of knowing. Until that gets looked at I think you are banging your head against a brick wall (unless you want to get good at the science).
“why are so many people who have been vaccinated against measles still getting them?”
Well they’re not, those who have been vaccinated as per MoH guidelines (2 jabs in early childhood) have a 99% chance of being covered should they come into contact with measles. the 1% who have been vaccinated but who aren’t immune have a very high (>90%) chance of developing measles as of course do those who have not been immunised.
We immunise against measles because statistics tell us that about one out of 10 children with measles also gets an ear infection, and up to one out of 20 gets pneumonia. About one out of 1,000 gets encephalitis, and one or two out of 1,000 die. These morbidity and mortality data will be worse in 2nd and 3rd world countries.
Furthermore in immunocompromised children and adults (those who have been undergoing treatment for cancer for example or transplant recipients) measles is most often very severe, prolonged and often fatal.
The recent outbreak at mainly centred on Auckland schools was 100% confined to non vaccinated persons, further more all non vaccinated persons were excluded from school for 3 weeks for their own safety.
“We immunise against measles because statistics tell us that about one out of 10 children with measles also gets an ear infection, and up to one out of 20 gets pneumonia. About one out of 1,000 gets encephalitis, and one or two out of 1,000 die. These morbidity and mortality data will be worse in 2nd and 3rd world countries.”
Looking at the first world countries, when are those stats for? Post introduction of MMR or before? Is there a difference between unimmunised and immunised complication rates?
“Is there a difference between unimmunised and immunised complication rates”
Well yes there is as with only approx 1% of those being immunised being able to develop measles simple mathematics will tell you that there is a significantly decreased risk of complications in the immunised group and before you ask yes even taking into account potential side effects from vaccination itself.
Rather than me doing all the work Weka why don’t you do some desktop research yourself.
I’m actually more interested in the meta debate here, which is around validity of argument. Your previous comment would make more sense to me if it was in context. Chooky gets slammed, rightly so, for linking to useless information. But I also see a lot of justification in medical sciences where figures are used out of context, so for me there are problems on that side too (albeit different ones).
eg
“Is there a difference between unimmunised and immunised complication rates”
Well yes there is as with only approx 1% of those being immunised being able to develop measles simple mathematics will tell you that there is a significantly decreased risk of complications in the immunised group and before you ask yes even taking into account potential side effects from vaccination itself.
I’m sure that seems quite a reasonable response to you, but for me it’s just obfuscation and I’m unclear why it’s not obvious that I would be wanting comparisons of % not overall rates. So, yes, obviously the numbers of immunised kids who get complications would be way less than non-immunised, because there are less immunised kids getting measles, but that’s not what I was asking. Or are you suggesting that the %s are less too?
(what I am asking is what percentage of immunised kids who get measles get complications compared to what percentage of non-immunised kids who get measles get complications).
Where you say decreased risk, you are talking about population, which is fine from a public health perspective. What most parents who don’t immunise are interested in is the risk for the individual.
Risks of vaccination affect one in fifty thousand. Risks of non-immunisation as listed by the good doctor above, are several orders of magnitude greater.
“what I am asking is what percentage of immunised kids who get measles get complications compared to what percentage of non-immunised kids who get measles get complications”
Weka as far as I know there is no large cohort study that has investigated that question, however this small retrospective study may point us in the direction of an answer that there may be a benefit for those who were vaccinated even if they were not fully immune.
Chooky gets slammed, rightly so, for linking to useless information. But I also see a lot of justification in medical sciences where figures are used out of context, so for me there are problems on that side too (albeit different ones).
Personally, I think that those who make more extraordinary claims require the more exhaustive evidence.
Otherwise I’d have to deliver a logical proof as to why “2+2=4” every time I tried to query a bill.
The claim “x is a kook” is not half as extraordinary as “vaccination causes autism and is bad for kids”. So I require pretty good reasons to not get vaccinated regularly, but not a huge amount of evidence to decide that X is a kook.
Yes, I can understand that. My problem is that I see lots of shortcuts on the medical science side when people are defending their beliefs, or criticising others, and sometimes mistaktes get made. Bad ones. Leaving vaccination aside for a minute, I see this alot with alternative health care. The point was made above that we should trust the experts, so it’s always weird when scienceheads start denigrating thigns like TCM or herbalism when they have no training or experience in those things. Honest to god, I’ve heard stuff equally as idiotic coming form scienceheads as I have from the alternative crowd.
All I’m saying here, is that we could improve the situation by applying standards across the board. Otherwise all that happens is a bitter polarity with each side saying I’m right and you people are a bunch of stupidity. Nothing good comes from that, and things are probably getting worse. The general public has very good reasons to not trust science, and science has good reasons to be concerned about scientific illiteracy. But polarising the issues doesn’t offer a solution.
As an aside, re scientific illiteracy, I’ve been noticing in the last while that many wikipedia science articles are far too dense for the general lay reader. Makes me wonder who they are written for, and where people should go to get the basics on any science they are presented with.
“So I require pretty good reasons to not get vaccinated regularly, but not a huge amount of evidence to decide that X is a kook.”
also, while I appreciate your general point, the problem there is that it’s easy to call someone a kook as part of marginalising what they are saying. I think Schreibner most likely is a kook, but all that’s been offered today is opinion, so how would I really know? I’m guessing that the reason that others here were willing to go with the wiki link and the blog link was because (a) they perceived the articles as trustworthy and (b) the links supported their already formed ideas. That’s understandable and human, and it’s also dangerous.
There is a realy failing with many online science writers, who blog about people or issues to critique them but can’t help but getting lost in their own antipathy, or littering the blogpost with their own person invective. Peopel can write what they liek on their own blog, but if what we want here is clear communication that helps build trust and knowledge, then we need better analyses of what are perceived as problems.
Frankly, whenever I end up on a wikipedia article that’s waaaaaaaaaaayyy beyond me (quantum springs to mind), I take it as a hint that maybe I should just take the word of the bulk of people who have spent decades in formalised, structured research in the area. Unless they ping my nutbar meter, of course.
Some stuff cannot be explained with any degree of accuracy in a way that somebody just flipping through an encyclopaedia will be able to find useful. I have no real idea of why blood types match or clot, for example. Some stuff just takes years of research to even come close to figuring out, not just data gathering but also actually tryong to learn about it.
That’s why we still need universities, rather than giving everyone an internet connection and a wikipedia link.
That might all well be true McFlock, but it’s not what I was talking about. I’m talking about someone going to wiki to find out what a salt is. Or how chemicals bond. Or how x physiology works. I’m not talking quantum mechanics. If lay people in conversations about vaccination or whatever are going to be criticised for scientific illiteracy, then my point stands about wikipedia and finding sources of information that are accessible. The argument that I’m a scientist therefore I know and you don’t therefore you should take my word for… that just fails fucking epically now, given all the mistakes that science has made and the damage that has been done using science. It’s just not going to wash.
The scientific illiteracy in the vaccination debate is the belief that because someone said “a vaccine gave my kid autism” it’s plausible enough to be worried about. It’s not that they don’t have perfect knowledge of how to develop a vaccine or the exact diagnostic criteria of disorders on the autism spectrum.
Just because “science has made mistakes” doesn’t mean that Jenny McCarthy or Scheibner deserve the time of day.
Anyone notice that Winston has questioned Collins about the border man at her dinner and was he there to expedite the importation of the milk at a time when imports were held up at the wharf.
A little bottom of the page anonymous update to my current employment situation.
It’s been a tough few weeks this side of orbit.
5 days after my 20/2 post I was assaulted by my boss at work, twice. I was jabbed in the hand with a pitch fork, fortunately only leaving a small scratch, and a few minutes later, dumped on to my back in the middle of the car park and when I complained about my bad back (recovering very slowly from a prolapsed nerve) lifted and dropped on to it again. I called 111 and left work, went to make a complaint, only to be told my 100% perfect record would also be compromised if I submitted it formally, so I left it at that.
My brief was on holiday for the week, but I went to his office to seek assistance any way, only to be told my bosses people had already been on threatening me with suspension, which I was already told by my boss was going to happen before he assaulted me. After returning home to email my guy with my account, I went to the doctors on an emergency appointment, where he noted my injuries and placed me on medication – Citalopram, Zopiclone and Diazepam, which I have been taking since. He also, kindly, hooked me up with counselling, of which I have had one session so far.
My suspension email came through the next day, luckily on pay, and when my lawyer returned, he notified them that the only contract signed by both parties has no provision for suspension, but I would voluntarily remain ‘suspended’ until emergency mediation could be arranged. Between then and now, my boss has rung my daughters school, speaking to the principal, stating he had laid me off and that he had concerns about my parenting that my ex wife should know about. She rang my ex who clearly bothered, returned his call, only to hear no concerns raised, just badgered for information regarding me, our break up and my previous era incidents. My ex saw through him, and despite no love lost between us, kindly noted the conversation, adding I’m a good father, which was passed to my legal team.
At mediation today, which resolved nothing, his lawyer presented statements from an eye witness which my boss couldn’t have written better himself. The witness is a sub tenant at the place of work and is ridiculous as it is made up, containing statements such as “*** threw himself on the floor and called out ***** had hurt his back” and how she’d heard parts of our conversation when she wasn’t present. I’m hoping cctv footage still exists to prove me right, but under oath I wouldn’t guarantee the witness to hold to the story. He has two other statements from another tenant and one of their staff, and they are mostly right, though sadly not witnesses to the assault.
Much has been made by his brief of my past era visits and how they will go against me, as they are painting me as a gold digger, but if I were, I would have taken him to the cleaners in 2013 (I think) when he tried to get me to sign a clause in a new contract saying I wouldn’t weed spray his stock if I were sacked, which I was supposed to have said to another staff member at the time. I rang the D.O.L and visited the local Labour party office, before returning on a Thursday morning (a day off) and telling him how my three month fixed term, trial period, rolled over for a year and a half contract was bull, that I have him bang to rights, and he’d best get busy writing a much better contract. Next day he called me and apologised, saying he’d got it wrong, he’d sort it on Monday and not to worry over the weekend, to which I replied I wasn’t. I never got a new contract, or took his money, settling on being treated with respect and a pair of new $40 warehouse works boots. I think I made a post here about it, but bugger it if I’ll search for it today.
I will not return to work for fears to my safety and mental health, so I have a disciplinary hearing set for next Wednesday when I will be dismissed, losing my 20 hour $15 per hour and WFF tax credits and top up, for gross misconduct.
I’m beat up and a bit of a mess right now, but I’m strong. I will get a covenant put on my house and get legal aid to fight this perve at full hearing. Odds not stacked in my favour it must be said, but right is right, right?
@ Allen…sounds like your ex boss is a psychopath…it is always a shock when you come up against such people …and sometimes you have to walk away
….sounds like you are doing everything correctly by taking it to the authorities…try and get as much outside support as possible from individuals, friends , professionals and organisations and unions that deal with such issues and try not to take it personally …accept any help where it is offered …the more help you get the less personal stress on yourself.
lol @ ex boss a week before the fact, though like I didn’t know that was happening after I pulled him up for being a dirty old man, took two weeks off and returned to the four page legal letter with eight hours notice to get representation before a planned hearing the next day.
Best thing is it won’t be kept secret at the hearing, so win, lose or draw you’ll be able to read it in the papers. It won’t be my refusal to follow (un)reasonable demands and trumped up floor flinging and self hand stabbing (yes, really accused of that as his defence), but all about his sexual harassment.
I don’t have a large support group, what with being the only al1en in the village, but I’ll make use of what I have closest and what’s on offer from the quacks. A nasty(er) lawyer wouldn’t go amiss, but I’ll settle for a good nights kip for starters. 🙂
Marzipans and zohans free, with no pharm script repeats available, a bit of a clearer head this morning 🙂
I think I will take the risk to my record and formalise my assault complaint with the police today. I had a clean police check when I was granted residency back in 2000, and I’ve had no dealings with them here since, not even a parking ticket.
If after being stabbed in the hand, I, a couple of minutes later, when told again that he’d say I did it myself, took a note book from my bosses shirt, before being bundled to the ground and dominated, gets me arrested and charged, then so be it. Worth it if the ‘eye witness’ has to be interviewed by a uniform. Lying in a statement to era is one thing, to a rozzer, another altogether. They can check for cctv footage while they’re at it, as my lawyer seems incapable of making the request for it.
Takes it out of my hands, my bosses control and shares the stress about a bit.
Next time I report in, I might be an official note book pinching villain – Oh the shame of it. What will mother say? 🙂
Good luck with that Allen. Just remember never say too much, just enough to make your point, and don’t get chatty, don’t talk about anything that isn’t completely relevant, not about your feelings if not relevant, not look at someone contemptuously or arrogantly. Just be self-contained and stick to your point firmly, answering appropriate questions. You don’t want to say the wrong word or term that plugs into whatever incipient prejudice that waits to pop up in the minds of the authority or powerful one you are dealing with.
Thanks for that, all good advice duly noted, though not always easy under some circumstances and conditions, but I’ll do me best.
I work on telling the truth, and if you lie once, you’re out. One slip up by his ‘witnesses’ and it’s all over. Don’t lie and you can’t be caught out… As all politicians should note 🙂
Not been in to the cops yet as I’m waiting on a conversation with my brief before going in, but he did mail me saying he has requested complete records from commencement of my employment, including for each pay period, holiday/leave taken and sick leave taken and any accruals.
Knowing my boss hasn’t got any records for any of his staff, including me, he has been informed that as we would expect in light of the legal requirements surrounding the keeping of records that this information is readily available and therefore would expect it without delay, if not received by the close of business today, it will be referred to a Labour inspector for further investigation.
A bit of mongrel in my guy after all. More of it, please.
Sound familiar.
Also
Educational research is mostly crap.
Dumbing down education means that kids will learn less.
Universities have gone out of their way to shoot themselves in the foot.
Irish universities used to provide ok education with run-down facilities and poor administration. This has changed now, there are many administrators.
Research has to be competed for.
Administrators earn as much as lecturers.
Austerity has kicked in and the number of academics has fallen by 20%. And that has caused international rankings to fall. They are not worth much but they do seem to matter.
Graduates are not well-trained and therefore it screws up the future to the Irish recovery.
Going to WINZ for help is no longer, well, helpful:
I was incredibly nervous about the appointment. It’s pretty difficult to walk into this place when you have no idea how you’re going to be treated, and when their role is not to help you, as it would appear, but actually do all they possibly can to get you back into work – even if that’s to your detriment.
Did you know, WINZ has an actual policy to publicly celebrate when people get work? I witnessed this today. A bell was rung, and all the workers stood up and clapped – meanwhile, the poor man who supposedly the happy recipient of this “positive reinforcement” sat still and looked utterly and completely mortified. Apparently WINZ says clients enjoy this.
It was fucking horrifying.
Going to WINZ is now torture which, last time I looked, was against the Geneva Conventions.
It’s the sort of thing someone has read is a good idea. It has the stink of ‘theory’ about it with no common sense to back it up. It might work in some places but not our self effacing nation.
If it was me being applauded I’d just feel embarrassed.
How work and income and times have changed. When I had my last leaving meet with winz back in 2011, they asked me if I wanted to ring the bell. Now they employ someone to ring the bell for you.
All those kids forced into lofts at minimum wage and under houses as part of the old insulation program, should band together with the national cycle way builders and form an orderly queue for the job when the office security guard needs his biscuit dunking at tea time.
And no, I didn’t ding. I threw a look of contempt at the case manager instead. Much more satisfying 😉
“Going to WINZ for help is no longer, well, helpful:”
No longer? That story is bad, but it’s not new unfortunately. Same old shit, new suit. The thing I wish for is support for people in her situation to deal with this. Beneficiaries need a union, and they need support to push back.
It’s been getting worse over the last few years but that’s generally what we should expect from National. Their policies to maintain a high unemployment so as to keep wages down causes them to have to shift the blame onto the unemployed themselves so that they can hope to be re-elected.
Beneficiaries used to have a union – wonder what happened to it.
Really doesn’t show any respect for the person’s own views thought and emotions – not being allowed to make their own decision. An outgrowth of the face book world where everyone has to hang all their fdeelings out in public.
Penny Bright needs to have her water supply and sewerage disconnected by the council. Her rubbish collection should stop also until her debt is paid. How do Jaffa’s like subsidising people like her?
High. And been climbing too. I wouldn’t mind if we were close to a decent integrated transport system rather than paying huge salaries to executives and boards of watercare etc for running monopoly
BUT also high in Malrborough where apiece of land with no council amenities is paying $1400 in rates per year.
Watercare is an Auckland City organisation, a CCO I believe Mr Hide calls them? CCO or arms length company paying large salaries to people to make a monopoly work profitably (insert laughter).
“Who we are owned by
Watercare is a council organisation, wholly owned by the Auckland Council. The council appoints the company’s board of directors who in turn appoint the chief executive.”
So they charge for water into the house and then they charge for water leaving the house. I think 75% of water exiting the house is charged for. I have lived in homes on individual water meters in Auckland for over 15 years.
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The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
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this has lifted my morning..
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/mar/12/johnny-cash-she-used-to-love-me-a-lot-exclusive-video
“..Acclaimed director John Hillcoat has made a video for a song from Johnny Cash’s forthcoming ‘lost’ album..”
phillip ure..
And the Nats business as usual. And here comes yet another shit storm for the Nats.(With any Luck)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11218598
Theyhad a go at Shane Jones about this, and he was cleared. But now it seems a case of pot calling Kettle black yet again..
3 scandals in a week. Well done National.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11218598
This has the look of ‘appearance money’.
Would be interesting to know the cost of Crosby Textor PR and tactical advice to the National Party over the years and by whom it has been paid.
Advanced instruction in “trickiness” which of course includes how to accuse everyone else of being ‘tricky’, would not come cheap I imagine.
There was a time in the 30s when post-abdication the Duke and Duchess of Windsor would demand appearance money for attending the fabulous dinner parties of American East Coast high society matrons.
Does the National Party have an ‘Edward & Wallis Fund’ ?
PS – I well recall Patrick Gower in a semi-apoplexy about the more-or-less exculpatory findings of the investigation into Shane Jones’ ministerial actions re the wealthy Asian businessman.
“I AM ANGRY !” boomed Monsieur ‘And-Som with a ferocity that had me scrambling for the remote.
Settle in for white rage from Patrick Gower on TV 3 News tonight………ya reckon ?
More National sleaze
How the NSA plans to infect millions of computers with malware:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/
Hmmmm they already did that, it’s called Windows (and OS X is no better).
d’ya know any libertarians..?
..confused wee souls..aren’t they..
“..3 Things That Make Libertarian Heads Explode..
..Libertarians tend to ride on theoretical unicorns –
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/economy/3-things-make-libertarian-heads-explode
phillip ure..
I’m all for unregulated business, as long as workers are armed, and the state leaves us to sort it out 🙂
Sounds like unions and business in the good old days in the USA. Sigh – nostalgia!
It must hurt.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/all-over-bar-counting.html
That’s why Nat’s propaganda sheets keep publishing rogue polls.
Control the media, control the people.
Solution….find independent sources of media and DNFTT.
@ The aptly named drongo:
Here, my fine feathered Tory, is some analysis I’ve recently completed (and partly posted elsewhere).
What I’ve done is to calculate National’s monthly poll average for the 08 and 11 Election years and then compared it (in parentheses) with National’s actual Party-Vote result at the Election later that year: (so, for example, the Nats averaged 52% in the opinion polls of March 2011 and that was 5 percentage points higher than the proportion they in fact received at the 2011 election):
National 2011
March 52% (+5), April 54% (+7), May 52% (+5), June 53% (+6), July 53% (+6), August 54% (+7), September 55% (+8), October 54% (+7), Early November 52% (+5), Late November 51% (+4), 2011 Election: 47%
National 2008
March 49% (+4), April 51% (+6), May 52% (+7), June 54% (+9), July 51% (+6), August 49% (+4), September 49% (+4), Early/Mid October 48% (+3), Late October/Early November 46% (+1), 2008 Election: 45%
So, all things being equal, I suspect you can probably subtract 4-7 points off National’s current polling (averaging roughly 49% at the moment). Then again, if their current spike in support is only temporary (and they revert to, say, the 44% they were averaging until just a few weeks ago), then perhaps the 4-7 points should come off this lower level of support ?
But, in any case, it’s also important not to assume that these 4-7 points can simply be added on to the Left Bloc vote. Some of it goes to National’s minor support parties on the Right (they tend to receive a little boost after Key’s teacup luncheons) and to NZ First. It does, however, mean that the Left and Right Blocs are a little closer than you might assume from recent polling.
I might add, there are one or two rumours that National’s internal polling is picking up a sharp dip in support for both National and Key. Just rumours at the moment, but very interesting.
chrs 4 that swordfish..
phillip ure..
Excellent work there Swordy. Thanks for putting in the effort. Illuminating.
The effect of the appearance (note – “appearance”) of ‘Smile & Wave & Invoice’ ?
Age old readily digestible concept that one.
God forbid that the masses get well above their station and latch onto it.
Urgent memo ShonKey Python to Crosby Fester – ” How the hell does one issue a ‘final warning’ to an entire population while maintaining ‘Smile & Wave’ ? “
Dont use facts. Drongos head will explode… oh wait
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11218505
“The average power bill for a family of four will rise by 2.4 per cent this year, Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said yesterday as he faced questions from political opponents intent on making electricity increases an election-year issue.”
My lines company has raised the daily line cost from $1 t A DAY to $2 A DAY
$365 increase a year
That is about 12% per year!!!!
And UP goes the Official Cash Rate, that which is the indicator of future bank mortgage rates, Reserve Bank Governor is expected to announce the rise to 2.75 at 9 o’clock this morning,
Speeding train hits brick wall,???, You bet, future interest rates on mortgages with the expected 25 point rise are going to go up weekly by 20 bucks for every hundred thousand borrowed,
Those in the bigger cities with a mortgage at the low end of the spectrum, $300,000, will be paying an extra $60 a week, to work out the cost you only need add $20 for every $100,000 of mortgage,
Knee-capping an economy that has just struggled out of the after effects of the Global Financial Crisis aint smart and is more easily explained by pointing out that across the mortgage belt each household will have to shrink their spending into the economy by 60–$100 a week,
Renters will not escape the interest rates rises to follow as it is unlikely that landlords will be willing to shoulder all of the expected cost increases so at least part of this will pass into the economy via higher rents being paid,
Expect 20,000 more unemployed in a years time…
Banksters strike again???, You bet, the inflation rate??? a lowly 1.6%, unemployment??? raging along at 6.1%, 150,000 of our fellow Kiwi’s jobless,destitute, and, kicked around for sport by Paula Bennett and WINZ,
The Kiwi$$$, nearly on a par with the Aussie one, expect this to creep up another couple of cents as the interest rates rise,=more unemployment
BERL economist Ganish Nana???, raising the cash rate now with the economic indicators where they are, Stupid!!!,
WestPac bankster economist Dominic Stevens, the cash rate and interest rates has to go up because we should remember the 1970’s, what we should remember is it will be the Banksters and only the Banksters who will profit from this,
Boom, blow another hole in the Government books, more unemployment equals less tax payers, higher benefit costs, along with less spending in the economy from those paying 60 to a $100 dollars more a week in mortgage payments, estimated hole in the Government accounts +half a billion to a billion dollars on top of the already unsustainable 2 billion gap between government spending and revenue,
Outlook for next 3 years= ROCK-BOTTOM ECONOMY…
Ganish Nana? is not stupid I think. He seemed to be saying that it was unnecessary and likely to be depressing on the economy to raise the interest rate. The first
2.75% quarter of a percentage point,first since 2010.
Institute of Economic Research spokesperson Yakob is going to speak to Kathryn Ryan. I think he will be dry, and is probably part of our drought problem here over the country. Thought it would be up by .50 instead of .25 to send strong signals to fix home interest rates to the banks. That’s how you handle the country’s economy folks. I love that bit I heard earlier where that would be so good in keeping the country stable, from an economist of course. That’s while under their ministrations of the financial field they send our exchange rate through the roof and firms teeter on being insolvent as a result. So steady.
Don Brash’s little voice still piping on. Wish someone would eipe him off this sinking ship.
Greywarbler, exactly what He was saying, Stupid Stupid Stupid, perhaps i should have put that in quotation marks as it could be read that i am insinuating He is stupid, which i aint…
Yes you should have put quotes! Don’t want to appear to be dissing any of the informed seekers of facts and truth we are lucky enough to have.
Perhaps warbler, you should either wear specs or read a little slower, anyone with a fully functioning nut can see that i am not dissing Nana, and my apologies to the economist i believe His name is Danish…
No that’s a crunchy sweet pastry.
Third time lucky, Danesh…
Got your calculators ready, crunch these numbers, the Reserve Bank governor as expected, has just raised the Official cash rate to 2.75,
For anyone with a 300 grand mortgage that equates to the Banksters sucking 60 bucks a week outta your pockets and that is just the Governors ”teaser”,
The Governor in this mornings statement has indicated that by years end, that’s this year, the OCR will be up to 3.75 and at the end of 2015 a crushing 4.75,
So, for mortgage holders at the low end of the spectrum, $300,000 Kaching, Kaching, the Banksters are going to delve into your pockets by up to 260 dollars a week on top of what your now paying,
Above i consider that the initial interest rates rises will cost an extra 20,000 jobs,
Given what the Reserve Bank Governor ‘plans’ for the economy i would suggest that unemployment by the end of 2015 is likely to be 200,000 and rising,
Rock-Bottom economy here we come…
The internal polling for the Nacts must be truely dreadful – the increase in the cash rate will help them offhsore their money before everything turns to custard…..
Same here what a fucking liar The minister for funny talking is.
If that was in Question Time, as seems to be the case, then there must be a case to have him up on misleading the House.
Not on a single anecdote. You’d have to canvass the averages.
I’ve seen in the MSM that power prices are going up between 7% and 24% across the nation. Still, the canvassing wouldn’t be that hard – there’s not that many retailers after all.
if you want exclamation marks..
..how about the extra $700 a year the poorest forced onto pre-paid power by their supplier have to pay the power company run by jenny shipley..
..(she really has made a life-long career of screwing over the poorest as much as she can..
..that shipley..eh..?.)
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/former-prime-minister-jenny-shipley-heads-power-company-that-rips-offprofiteers-from-the-poorest-new-zealanders/
phillip ure..
It’s weird, because Powershop effectively have pre-paid power, and they don’t charge anything extra. In fact, pre-paid power from Powershop is likely to be slightly cheaper than any post-paid power you might buy from them.
Dunno how it works now but in a flat long ago we had one of the early versions of prepaid power with the swipe card, The machine was fairly unreliable to the point we had a direct dial to the technician who had to come out at all hours and reset it. I have a vague memory of letters indicating higher pre pay prices due to increased servicing costs and providing 24 hour access to top ups….
I’m with Powershop and am very satisfied with the service I receive
Steven Joyce will receive a lot of focus when Collins resigns/gets fired shortly.
As the only heir apparent the National Party succession will become clearer to the general public.
It is an opportunity for Labour to portray uncertainty and to contract popular/suave Key with four o’clock shadow/boring Joyce.
Slippery the Prime Minister publicly rebuking Judith Collins over the fact that She has been less than open with the ‘truth’ surrounding Her Ministerial visit to China???,
Smacks of the big fish telling the little fish ”stop stealing the lime-light, it is my role to make fools of the press and public and anyway my Lies are better than yours”…
“One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible”.
Henry Brooks Adams.
He never met Judith.
@ arthur..
..heh..!
phillip ure..
every problem has a solution
http://i.imgur.com/opMconr.jpg
“UNLESS SOMETHING HUGELY DRAMATIC HAPPENS between now and polling day, 20 September, the General Election of 2014 is all but over. The National-led government of Prime Minister, John Key, looks set to be returned for a third term by a margin that may surprise many of those currently insisting that the result will be very close. What may also surprise is the sheer scale and comprehensiveness of the Left’s (especially Labour’s) electoral humiliation.”
A little early, Chris, but your analysis is sound. Unless something major happens, the left, particularly Labour, will be decimated.
Jones looking good, tho…
oops here you go. you get what you wish for i guess ha ha ha
How it unfolded
• 2010: Businessman Donghua Liu granted NZ citizenship by Nathan Guy, the then-Minister of Internal Affairs, against official advice after being lobbied by Maurice Williamson, Minister of Building and Construction, and John Banks, the Auckland Mayor at the time.
• 2011: Mr Williamson and Prime Minister John Key attend the opening of the first stage of Mr Liu’s $70 million redevelopment in Newmarket, Auckland.
• 2012: Roncon Pacific Hotel Management Holdings Ltd — of which Mr Liu is a director — makes a $22,000 donation to the National Party.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11218598
Labour had already granted him P.R. though, which kind of blunts that attack. Did they receive any donations?
“UNLESS SOMETHING HUGELY DRAMATIC HAPPENS”
Like journalists doing their job ?
Like interviewers listening to the answers ?
Like the Media telling the truth ?
yeah that would be hugely dramatic
but the left is grabbing those reigns back anyway, don’t worry about that
Judith Collins humiliated after being less than forthcoming with the truth, Slippery the Prime Minister humiliated on TV3’s ‘the Nation’ and then again on the 6 o’clock news exposed as a hypocrite over secret 5 grand donations as the ‘price’ of a dinner,
3 days later again the PM is humiliated caught out telling the press ‘less than the truth’ while He tried in vain to defend Collins,
Dramatic enough for you???…
Not really.
Collins has been stupid, certainly. Granting of citizenship never affected Labour. So, beltway issues.
Elections are won on back-pocket factors, and whether people like the party leader. Everything else is chattering classes politi-geek fluff.
Something Trotter understands.
grr..!!..i have to agree with tiger woods..
..and/but he is really only strengthening the case that labour have to produce policies that will make that disengaged one million voters want to urge those all around them to go out and vote for labour..
..and as tiger woods confirmed..
..that has to be a poverty-busting/’back-pocket’ package of policies..
..only that will guarantee victory..
..(don’t forget how key came to power..
..he promised big back-pocket policies/tax-cuts..
..learn from that..
..and offer to the middle-class/workers/poor..
..what key promised the rich/middle-class..
..to put a significant more into their ‘back-pockets’..)
..phillip ure..
Yes, elections are won on back-pocket factors…like mortgages and power bills being more expensive. I think JustLikeTigerWoods optimism about National’s chances is unfounded.
hello jackal..where have u been..?
..and i agree tiger is getting a tad carried away..
..and labour/left could well scrape in..
..if the sleaze/hubris continues to build for/from national…
..this will help this happen..
..but i would contend that winning an election with a serious mandate to get on with it..
.means labour/with the support of the greens..
..must promise those poverty-busting ‘back pocket’ policies to get that one million out and voting..
..to ensure that mandate..
phillip ure..
Hi phillip ure. I’ve been trying to ignore politics, mainly because of the current bunch of idiots in power. National simply cannot be reasoned with, mainly because they’re removed from reality and so caught up in their own bullshit that they wouldn’t now the truth to save themselves.
Thank you for your hopeful (s)p(l)utter @ 12.3.1 just…woods.
Are you so sure ?
Check out Disraeli Galdstone @ 1 on “Scandals” – link below.
http://thestandard.org.nz/scandals/#comment-785328
Would pay to keep in mind that it was Trotter on election night television in 2005 I think, who in highly animated and excited style, 45 minutes after the polls closed, proclaimed the demise of Helen Clark’s government. Hang on…… government highly animated
2005? That’s your example?
I think Trotter is premature, but his reasoning is correct. It’s the basic, big picture stuff that wins elections.
Labour aren’t proposing anything better for most, and their leader doesn’t resonate.
“big picture stuff ”
if the public were actually being shown or told or even winked at about the big picture National would never get near the ninth floor ever again
Yeah well you go with that but would be unwise to overlook that Trotter’s analysis was concluded before the emergence today of the quintessential “back-pocket” issue, the cash rate.
Indeed for many it’s more than a “back-pocket” issue. It’s a backyard-issue, viz. an issue touching the very retention of said backyard by those seduced by Smile and Wave into believing in Cargo Cult and Brighter Future.
What’s the public mood going to be like when those who think they’ve lived the Brighter Future courtesy of the best and nicest PM in our history find they simply can’t meet the cost of it ? And they lose it. What will their relatives say ?
While at the same time there’s a powerful reflection that the high end of town continues to advance its wealth and power. Clay feet are still clay no matter they’re increasingly well shod.
Forget the bullshit that National absolutely and historically triumphed in the last election. That’s theistic fantasy. Defections in the mere thousands will see them done for. The increasing appearance of Smile & Wave & Invoice with increased wealth and power in the hands of many fewer will lead to reprisal.
Perhaps you live your life surrounded by the disenfranchised, which distorts your view.
The polls tell you the truth about what most New Zealanders think. Most are happy with the direction of the country, and most like Key. Labour are down to base levels and Cunliffe’s not even popular amongst Labour voters.
“Most” wins elections.
Surrounding yourself with the top 5% is what fucks a person’s view IMO.
I can sure see “most” who can’t fathom how to meet for a start an extra $60-$80 per week on their mortgage when they’re bloody hard pressed already, being mostly happy. Yeah…….so mostly happy that they’re just gonna chuckle admiringly and say – “Gee, I’d love to have a beer with that great guy…….”
Get real. As the worry and the fear sets in and then the pain hits and mortgagee sales take on a roll, ShonKey Python’s repute will really start to reflect his first name. The heist conceived by the movers and shakers of the National Party and their foreign advisers almost immediately Labour was elected in 1999 is about to be exposed.
There is vast electoral power out there Woods. You know it. Your ‘ace’ is that Cunliffe’s just not up to the challenge. In fact as of today it’s your only argument. That “back-pocket” is ready to bite many bums and ShonKey’s as a consequence.
We’ll see. To me it’s simple science. Leaking vaccums always get filled. ShonKey Python is an increasingly empty vessel personally who is a visibly nasty piece of work under pressure. Couple that with Smile & Wave taking on the appearance of Smile & Wave & Invoice – it just gets worse. Whom, leaving me in the shit with my Brighter Future dreams in tatters, will profit from buying the house I lose for example ? Speculators, the high end of town. ShonKey Python people.
Yes, I live not far from and work in a town where the average annual income is round $17,000. I work in a job where daily I see the gross reflections of that vicious deprivation. Of course it affects, I say informs, my view. Push the fact of it, even the subjective perception of it further and further up the ladder – ShonKey Python has real problems. The arrogant, entitled, suspect crew accompanying him, and for that matter even the fabulousness of a royal tour (the effete obseqious royal courtier fiddling with vast wealth and privilege while Rome burns) will not help.
I don’t know the figure off the top of my head so please you or someone else tell me. How many thousands of votes cast for the Left bloc rather than the Right bloc in 2011 would have seen ShonKey Python back in the US a very unremarkable one term PM. ?
Many many people will ditch ridiculous theism about ShonKey Python. The man was a massive fraud from the start.
+100,000,000 North!
Official Cash Rate at 3.75 by the end of the year, that’s something in the order of an extra 160 bucks a week on a 300 grand mortgage by the end of this year across the vast mortgage belt in the bigger cities,
If that aint dramatically ‘back-pocket’ enough for you, how bout the proposed OCR rate at the end of 2015 of 4.75 which adds yet another hundy to a 300,000 dollar mortgage,
Should we be so terribly unlucky and have a National Government still occupying the Treasury Benches i would suggest that interest rates biting those ‘back pockets’ in such a manner will have that Party polling at 20% again….
The Tory formula for countering this is very well known, just set up another speculative expansionary property bubble.
Yes your mortgage is $500 more a month, but when your house is “worth” $2500 more a month, what’s the problem? Sounds like a ‘good deal’ for the homeowner…
Those I know are happy with their lot. They’re fine paying for welfare and the rest, but know there will always be the piss-takers, over-breeders, and cretins bleating about their self-imposed lot. Yawn. They’ll always be with us. Best ignored.
The bolly is flowing, The lolly is increasing. Seize the days, chaps.
We need an electorate ready to guarantee full time work to everyone who wants it, not just pay for welfare.
Woods proving my point with an ugly “Fuck You” caraciture. Ironically, as of today it will catch on even faster. Watch your hubris there mate.
LabGreen have no credible alternative. They’re promising to spend more, and the Australian is promising to print more.
That’s not going to do the OCR much good, is it.
“the LabGreen have no credible alternative.” – Just Like Tiger Woods
You are quite right Tiger – the Labour/Greens have no credible alternative – National/Act are not a credible alternative to what the Labour/Greens are offering.
heh
The nation thinks otherwise. LabGreen are just not as popular, and their leader is not well liked.
If the election result were a certainty, you wouldn’t need to try so hard.
Key’s problem is that while they could throw the “don’t you know who I am” nobody under the bus, the apparently-corrupt ministers are too big for him to do that. So they’ll hang around and fester.
But we’ll all know for sure at the end of September.
Not trying hard at all. That’s National’s problem – complacency in the face of a deeply unpopular opposition.
Ah, so you suffer from a lack of effort rather than gross incompetence. You must be one of the more highly-skilled tory spinmerchants, then.
National’s problem is also that they can’t fire Adams, Guy and Collins all in one week, even if they had replacements.
Oh Tiger, how disappointing- I thought for once you’d got something correct 😀
Blue
Good comment but am still waiting to hear a concise declaration of the Labour/Greens Election policies – please do you know them ? – then please tell.
All appears is to remember to hate the NACTS – Key particularly – entirely negative – let go positive.
the simple fact of the matter is that nationals one and only plank was that it was their turn. well the’ve had their turn and stolen as much as they could from the treasury and now they are about to be booted out.
Their policy appears to be “hate on Key”
If Dave can come up with a few policies that lift the well-being of the lower classes whilst not robbing the middle and upper classes to do it, he might turn things around.
The middle and upper aren’t going to vote for any more tax gouging. Labour need to go away and come up with some new ideas, not a re-run of Muldoonism.
Who said anything about raising the tax rate for middle income earners?
I doubt you can manage substantive criticism, which explains your pathological need to make up strawmen.
Whatever. We own the gaff.
No you don’t.
You’ve been lent it for a few years, and soon the true owners will be reconsidering their choice. And you have no friends to help you borrow the gaff for another three years.
You dont own it but you are selling it, in a myriad of ways, to the highest bidder… your lot are stealing the future of young and as yet unborn kiwis.
@tracey..
plus 1
phillip ure..
Yeah, we do.
30 years of Rogernomics. Life is mighty fine. Join in. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Helen and Michael at least got that….
Or stick with failed ideology in the dead hope that people will vote for a return to Muldoonism, Unionism and a crumbling South Pacific version of Venezuela.
and all we have to do to “join in” is not care when children die.
…and not listen to the IMF and their meddling reality check.
“Won’t anyone think of the children!”
No who’s being a caricature….
Children aren’t dying. Some suffer the moral and intellectual poverty of their “parent”, of course.
JLTW, it’s time for your reality check.
Figure 2.1a
“hate on key”, what about the rights “hate on cunliffe” ? more pot calling the kettle black.
More “feel a bit sorry for” than “hate”
Cunliffe is not even a contender. Jones is, but you didn’t pick him.
That was a bit silly, wasn’t it.
‘Cunliffe isn’t even a contender’
Tiger, If this was so, National would not be spending so much time focussing on ripping him to shreds. The only way they can do so, however, is on shallow and made up points.
National do not fight on policy because they know Cunliffe and Labour are stronger than National in that area.
National Party’s 3D election strategy: Distract and Deflect so that noone notices what Drongos we are.
“a re-run of Muldoonism……….” What a joke. I’ll bet that in the day you were just as much a blowhard protagonist for Muldoon as you are today for ShonKey Python.
@ PapaMike
Labour party principles
Issues Labour supports
Green party values
Green party policy
Mana’s principles
Mana policies
The message I have recieived thus far summarised:
The left put people before profit and consider social effects as well as monetary issues. In the medium-to-long run this ends up creating less problems and the country becomes wealthier than when a singular focus on profit for a few (National & Act) is pursued.
As well as this:
Labour are noting that the wealth gap issue, social mobility and job conditions are being adversely affected by this National government and intend to rectify the situation
The Greens include a focus on ensuring the health of the environment with the understanding this positively affects our well-being and economy.
Mana includes a focus on Maori issues, realising there is a shortfall in addressing such. They also have a strong focus on prioritising poverty issues and also have a strong anti-corporate stance.
The problems with the OCR response to inflationary house cost (read AK ),is two parts
a) The absence of rigorous fiscal policy to constrain external interference (read speculators)
b) The OCR response increases the external interference ie higher interest rates and an appreciating NZ dollar a positive feedback.
The RBNZ inflationary response mechanism model a DSGE model (which have been around for 30yrs) are both questionable and have not passed the smell test eg Solow
The protagonists of this idea make a claim to respectability by asserting that it is
founded on what we know about microeconomic behavior,but I think that this claim is generally phony. The advocates no doubt believe what they say, but they seem to have stopped sniffing or to have lost their sense of smell altogether
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research_and_publications/research_programme/additional_research/kitt/
https://web.archive.org/web/20110204034313/http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/file/Commdocs/hearings/2010/Oversight/20july/Solow_Testimony.pdf
The major constraint on the DGSE model is its inablity to forecast anything.
Reality itself is a major constraint on the theoretically bankrupt DGSE model, but it doesn’t stop the bloody economists and governments from using it to make macro-economic decisions.
Always the same with the left.
“It’ll be different this time! We’ll tax the cr*p out of everything and hand money to poor people, and it will all be great!”
No. No it won’t. It will be a Venezuela-level disaster, minus the oil. Left-wing ideology destroys the very incentives needed to generate the wealth to pay for the state services. Even Marx got that….
You need new ideas. The left needs an economic rebirth. Your old ideas are failed, rejected and will never return from the deep 70’s pit in which they are long buried.
Forget the rich pr*cks and redundant class war. Your real enemy is lack of productivity. Solve that problem and you’ll really be onto something, because I’m not sure the right know the answer to that question, either.
@Tiger
You don’t understand how substantial income inequality effects the economy and you don’t understand how progressive tax systems work to ameliorate those negative effects.
You don’t understand how the relationship between human capital and technological capital has forever changed the landscape of industrial relations.
You avoid the well documented effects of multinational corporations playing the system in a way which is impossible for regular citizens.
You cling to bogus arguments like low productivity which I find particularly amusing because the rightwing industrial relations and low tax policy which you champion are precisely the causes of a weak economy.
An economy can only be strong if the vast majority of people engage in it and benefit from the surpluses generated within it. Low/flat tax rates and no rights for workers has created a system with a few super wealthy people and a decimated middle class which actually isn’t very good for aggregate demand.
Did you even realise that?
The central irony is that rightwing muppets always advocate for ‘growing the pie’ but their short sighted greed for short term profits means they end up implementing policies which shrink the pie.
If you were honest then your true motto would be ‘I believe in fucking the economy so that I can have an ever increasing slice of an ever diminishing pie’
You claim your opponents are stuck in the 70’s but you appear to be stuck in the 20’s. Perhaps you should study up on what happened to the world economy the last time Laissez Faire economic theory was followed through with…
+1. Very good. David Cunliffe please note. This is how to say it (maybe without the “f” word). 🙂
The middle class has been decimated, but not by “the wealthy”. It’s due to a) technology and b) tax structures destroying savings and investment
We have low capital allocation per worker. Why? Partly poor management and partly because it doesn’t pay to invest in them (tax structures).
Technology has replaced a lot of jobs. It’s now eating into the middle class. To counter this, we need to use that very technology to increase productivity. This generates the surplus necessary for a high wage society.
We don’t get that way by endless redistributing and fighting a phoney class war. That is last century’s battle. This century’s battle is firstly understand that technology replaces labour, then understand the way to leverage that technology is to invest in workers.
The right doesn’t have the answer either, but at least they understand the incentives. The left would redistribute and shrink away to nothing. Why? They take capital and force it into consumption. Consumption is not what we need. Savings and investment, and allocation of capital into labour productivity is what we need.
And in this New Zealand, right now, you think the best way to deliver this is what exactly?
Please give examples of countries that have adopted your prescriptions, as well as examples of countries that you think we should emulate, so we can check how they did it.
One publication had a regular column called Felicity Ferret where little titbits were published of an interesting nature.
What about us having a Willy the Weta? I think I heard a whisper that someone in government is going to produce a glossy booklet on where to dine in Beijing and New York.
The quiet places where you don’t get spotted having dinner with your friends in useful places.
Our mental health system has been run so far into the ground that people needing help must resort to crime in order to get the support needed:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9823109/Woman-desperate-to-be-jailed
A terrible and sad story that one – I hope she gets the help she wants and needs. If we cannot (and I don’t think we can) look after the most vulnerable in society we fail them and ourselves.
This government has no idea on how to manage an economy.
Here come the rate rises. Everyone is going to start feeling the pinch now as mortgage rates sky rocket over the next 12 months.
You have National to thank for that.
Lost his mojo just like tiger woods.
Chris trotter is dog whistling the left into action .
Well, that’s what he’ll claim if labgrn win.
Yup totally agree with both of ya
“..10 famous geniuses and their drugs of choice..
..Is intelligence related to an increased likelihood of recreational drug use?..”
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/16/10_famous_geniuses_who_used_drugs_and_were_better_off_for_it_partner/
phillip ure..
spare a thought for the stay at home voter.
his empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows.
A parade of gray suited grafters.
Lung cancer or polio….
Added “Clarke” to the auto-moderation especially for the fools who mean Helen Clark
This subtle technique worked for Hooton and the morons with a silent T fetish 😈
http://www.3news.co.nz/Russel-Norman-target-of-Shane-Jones-anti-Aussie-rant/tabid/1607/articleID/335636/Default.aspx
Any chance of getting Shane Jones to defect to National? I’m liking the fire in his belly.
PR – sure you’re not talking about the ‘wire’ in his ‘felly’ ?
He’d be the least embarrassing member of the current cabinet, that’s for sure.
🙂
nah..!..peters/nz first is his natural home..
..why doesn’t he go there..?
..and succeed peters..?
..he’s got a snowballs’ chance in hell of ever leading labour..
..most wouldn’t trust him to lead a lolly-scramble..
..off ya go..!..shane..!
..you’ll find more of yr kind there..!
..go on..!
..run free..!..
phillip ure..
Anyone else wondering why so many cases of measles amongst the already vaccinated for measles?….
http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2013/01/18/the-ineffectiveness-of-measles-vaccines-and-other-unintended-consequences-by-dr-viera-scheibner-phd
http://www.naturalnews.com/033399_vaccines_measles.html
Every one wants the latest billion dollar vaccine…no one wants to provide potable water and build toilets for the poor…big profits in one but miniscule in the other…typical and predictable.
I suppose that’s the sort of lie you have to make up to maintain the delusion.
mcflock what are you on about?
meh. What was the quote, how true was it, and what was it supposed to justify.
McFlock
Why couldn’t it be CV talking about his own opinion rather than a quote? He didn’t say it was a quote. He appears to be saying that improvements in provision of good facilities like clean water and toilet systems would go a long way to preventing disease, but there is more interest in giving money to Big Pharma for providing vaccines
.
Colonial Viper might enlarge on his comment and clarify. I am reading my expected interpretation into it. But that’s my guess.
CV didn’t quote a thing.
I did.
His comment was untrue.
You’re too smart for me. Adieu.
It is not that he is smarter. McFlock has a fervent belief the Big Pharma model is inherently superior, therefore he dismisses those who challenge it as lacking evidence, without bothering to provide any evidence himself.
not big pharma.
Vaccines are superior to leaving diseases to sread normally, hygiene or no.
Evidence: small pox rates. Polio rates. MMR rates. And so on.
“His comment was untrue.”
No it wasn’t. It was hyperbole for sure, but the implied message is true. Or are you suggesting that pharmaceutical companies aren’t driven by profit and greed, and are really just in business for the good of the world?
Oh I’m sorry, what was the “implied message”? That pharmacy companies aren’t water infrastructure companies? Or that measles is a waterborne disease like cholera?
Because many of the same agencies that fund vac programs in the developing world also fund water programs.
The implied message is really a lament over the fact we allow governments to funnel billions to pharmaceutical companies, rather than into top-notch infrastructure.
Ultimately it is our choice how we allocate resources, but the excessive influence of pharmaceutical companies garners them a disproportionate amount of that resource, and that is why people are concerned.
So now you’re widening “potable water and build toilets” to general infrastructure?
I mean, that “implied message” is untrue too (e.g. road building projects in developing nations), but I just want to see if you’re shifting the goalposts.
Thing is, we’re talking past each other, because you see pharmaceutical companies as altruistic organisations seeking to improve public health, whereas in my view they are corporations that have a place, but their influence is hugely disproportionate.
You think I give a damn about companies.
I don’t.
I just like the vaccines. They save lives.
Just to remind you all the first comment in this thread was.
“Anyone else wondering why so many cases of measles amongst the already vaccinated for measles?….”
CV then attempted to threadjack with
“Every one wants the latest billion dollar vaccine…no one wants to provide potable water and build toilets for the poor…big profits in one but miniscule in the other…typical and predictable.”
As he is fairly vehemently anti vaccination and didn’t want to address the original question which was fallacious.
Vaccines such as MMR are not big money spinners for pharma companions as they are usually only one or two vaccinations over a persons entire lifetime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viera_Scheibner
‘nuf said……..
Sounds cretinaceous to me.
Indeed, a real Moronosaurus Rex.
You need to get better sources Chooky. Naturalnews is not a reliable source of information. Scheibner doesn’t look that useful either, although ironically, the wikipedia article that northshore links to is also very poor.
Really ? I thought for a 5 second google search it was a pretty good summary of how enormous a nut Viera Scheibner is, she’s really barking mad.
Maybe she is, but you just did exactly what Chooky did, which was pull some shit off the internet to support your own view, and present it as evidence, when it’s actually a poor source of information. Like I said, ironic.
This will be much more useful:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/amilliongods/2013/05/01/viera-scheibners-quick-points-a-rebuttal/
Also when your links claim “evidence” but don’t actually link through to any form of data or peer-reviewed research, what they are actually doing is claiming anecdata
The link you just provided doesn’t link through to any form of data or peer-reviewed research. Are you suggesting that that blogpost was written from anecdata?
Not trying to be smart here, and as I said I think Chooky’s links aren’t useful, but let’s hold all sides of the argument to a certain standard.
Actually, I am quoting the papers mentioned on her blog.
It’s simple. Vaccination works. The discussion is over. We have proven it works. We have eliminated a lot of childhood killers with them.
She pretends to be a “real Doctor” of medicine (She’s a doctor of Paleontology) and flogs fake physiology.
She and her followers could not even explain the basics of human immunity. She is a quack and a quack whose beliefs have killed children.
Avicenna, I don’t have a problem with the idea that Scheibner is all the things you say she is. I’m simply pointing out that in this conversation, and others here on ts, there is an irony to the ‘science is the one true way’ argument not meeting its own standards.
“Actually, I am quoting the papers mentioned on her blog.”
I wasn’t talking about her papers. I was talking about your refutations and statements. Zorr said that claims of evidence need to be backed up (I agree), and I was pointing out that the link Zorr gave didn’t meet their own standard.
(am sure your blogpost makes more sense to people that are following your blog generally, and the Scheibner issues, but Zorr dropping it in to this conversation didn’t help clarify in the way implied).
I’m all for that. Let’s use the standard of “which argument has the overwhelmingly gargantuan majority of qualified adherents and evidence to support it?”
“I’m all for that. Let’s use the standard of “which argument has the overwhelmingly gargantuan majority of qualified adherents and evidence to support it?”
I don’t have too much of a problem with that, although it seems prudent, given how many mistakes get made in science, to allow discussions of dissent where there is a good argument made.
Vaccination isn’t just a science issue, it’s also about ethics. There are very good reasons why we don’t leave ethics solely to scientists.
Ok stirred up a hornets nest there…lol..as expected
sorry weka to let the academic side down ….however it still doesnt answer my question….why are so many people who have been vaccinated against measles still getting them?….would seem simpler to just let kids get measles when they are young and then be imunised for life
also the older i get the more skeptical i become about some aspects of traditional Western medicine..(.this excludes surgery and intensive hospital care) ….it seems that primary health care is not holistically based and is in the grips of multinational big business and its rigid acolytes…..many traditional childhood viruses can be weathered with appropriate living conditions, as CV says , and careful parental care
…if I had my time again i dont think i would get the kids immunised
“sorry weka to let the academic side down”
It’s not just about academics though. It’s about basing beliefs on evidence, or at least putting up a good theoretical argument for the belief. That’s the not owned by academics, all of us can do that. Using bad sources of information both makes the situation worse, and doesn’t answer the questions being raised.
” ….however it still doesnt answer my question….why are so many people who have been vaccinated against measles still getting them?”
I don’t know because I haven’t looked at what is happening, but vaccinations aren’t all 100% effective, so that would explain some of it.
“….would seem simpler to just let kids get measles when they are young and then be imunised for life”
The issues here are that some kids die from complications; there is a public health issue because so many people believe that getting ill is inherently bad so if you can prevent it that’s good; now that many people are being vaccinated for measles, most people aren’t getting natural immunity pre-school, so there will be issues of how that affects people in later life (am guessing someone will have done an economic assessment of this); there’s also the issue of both parents working so what happens when the kids get sick (more economics)… etc
Myself, I think parents that decide the natural immunity route are entitled to do that, and find the extremity of the everyone should vaccinate argument a pretty interesting dynamic in our society.
@ Weka …i feel it is a case of the Emperors Clothes…there is a hierarchy of medical acolytes and statisticians supporting blanket vaccination for all children regardless of the fact that they themselves are financially embedded in a system of support for a multi-billion dollar industry.
……and any parent who dares question blanket vaccination for all childhood viruses is made out to be a “Dunce” or a “Kook”…..someone who is too stupid to know anything about it….when actually parents have observations at the grassroots level of their own children and other children and their families…their empirical and anecdotal evidence is either not admissible or is down graded
…..totally ignored also is the fact that there are a number doctors and virologists who have down right reservations, if they are not actually opposed to blanket vaccinations of all children for common childhood viruses
….cases of adverse reactions to vaccination are swept under the carpet , ignored, not counted ..So how valid are the statistics really ?!
( …sorry about your kid but they were sacrificed for the greater good of the herd…No!…sorry this is not good enough!)
…there have been a number of medical interventions/drugs which have ‘impeccable’ statistics and were later found to have harmful if not fatal side effects or long term effects
..when considerable pressure is applied to parents to have their children vaccinated there should be some accountablity for vaccination mishaps and compensation paid for medical misadventure….but this would require REAL statistics
“….cases of adverse reactions to vaccination are swept under the carpet , ignored, not counted ..So how valid are the statistics really ?!”
Links please or stop making unfounded and continual disparaging assertions about my profession.
I largely agree with that Chooky 🙂
My suggestion is that if you want to address the issues with people here, and you want to use science to do that, then use good science not bad science. If you can’t tell the difference yet, then take some time to learn.
The big thing missing from the conversations lately on ts is the non-science stuff that you refer to… where parents make conscious decisions based on a myriad of knowledges, not just hard cold science (or emotive science)… it’s not part of the culture here. I’m not sure it’s possible to have that conversation here, because the people arguing are pretty much dogmatic in their views, and are really only going to respond to science arguments. That’s why I’m more interested in talking about the meta issues – who gets to decide what are useful ways of knowing. Until that gets looked at I think you are banging your head against a brick wall (unless you want to get good at the science).
FFS !!!
“why are so many people who have been vaccinated against measles still getting them?”
Well they’re not, those who have been vaccinated as per MoH guidelines (2 jabs in early childhood) have a 99% chance of being covered should they come into contact with measles. the 1% who have been vaccinated but who aren’t immune have a very high (>90%) chance of developing measles as of course do those who have not been immunised.
We immunise against measles because statistics tell us that about one out of 10 children with measles also gets an ear infection, and up to one out of 20 gets pneumonia. About one out of 1,000 gets encephalitis, and one or two out of 1,000 die. These morbidity and mortality data will be worse in 2nd and 3rd world countries.
Furthermore in immunocompromised children and adults (those who have been undergoing treatment for cancer for example or transplant recipients) measles is most often very severe, prolonged and often fatal.
The recent outbreak at mainly centred on Auckland schools was 100% confined to non vaccinated persons, further more all non vaccinated persons were excluded from school for 3 weeks for their own safety.
“We immunise against measles because statistics tell us that about one out of 10 children with measles also gets an ear infection, and up to one out of 20 gets pneumonia. About one out of 1,000 gets encephalitis, and one or two out of 1,000 die. These morbidity and mortality data will be worse in 2nd and 3rd world countries.”
Looking at the first world countries, when are those stats for? Post introduction of MMR or before? Is there a difference between unimmunised and immunised complication rates?
oh, and what’s the rate in NZ currently of kids getting measles?
“Is there a difference between unimmunised and immunised complication rates”
Well yes there is as with only approx 1% of those being immunised being able to develop measles simple mathematics will tell you that there is a significantly decreased risk of complications in the immunised group and before you ask yes even taking into account potential side effects from vaccination itself.
Rather than me doing all the work Weka why don’t you do some desktop research yourself.
I’ll start you off with the links below.
http://www.arphs.govt.nz/health-information/communicable-disease/measles
http://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/diseases-and-illnesses/measles
http://www.cdc.gov/measles/
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles/Pages/Introduction.aspx
http://www.who.int/topics/measles/en/
http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/m/MMRIIinj.pdf
http://scholar.google.co.nz/scholar?hl=en&q=measles&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5
Ok, I thought you might just have already known.
I’m actually more interested in the meta debate here, which is around validity of argument. Your previous comment would make more sense to me if it was in context. Chooky gets slammed, rightly so, for linking to useless information. But I also see a lot of justification in medical sciences where figures are used out of context, so for me there are problems on that side too (albeit different ones).
eg
“Is there a difference between unimmunised and immunised complication rates”
Well yes there is as with only approx 1% of those being immunised being able to develop measles simple mathematics will tell you that there is a significantly decreased risk of complications in the immunised group and before you ask yes even taking into account potential side effects from vaccination itself.
I’m sure that seems quite a reasonable response to you, but for me it’s just obfuscation and I’m unclear why it’s not obvious that I would be wanting comparisons of % not overall rates. So, yes, obviously the numbers of immunised kids who get complications would be way less than non-immunised, because there are less immunised kids getting measles, but that’s not what I was asking. Or are you suggesting that the %s are less too?
(what I am asking is what percentage of immunised kids who get measles get complications compared to what percentage of non-immunised kids who get measles get complications).
Where you say decreased risk, you are talking about population, which is fine from a public health perspective. What most parents who don’t immunise are interested in is the risk for the individual.
Risks of vaccination affect one in fifty thousand. Risks of non-immunisation as listed by the good doctor above, are several orders of magnitude greater.
“what I am asking is what percentage of immunised kids who get measles get complications compared to what percentage of non-immunised kids who get measles get complications”
Weka as far as I know there is no large cohort study that has investigated that question, however this small retrospective study may point us in the direction of an answer that there may be a benefit for those who were vaccinated even if they were not fully immune.
https://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/assets/documents/Publications/JPHC/June-2013/JPHCOSPMitchellJune2013.pdf
Thanks doc, much appreciated, will have a look when I get the chance.
OAB, not sure if that was a reply to me, but if it was, it misses the point.
Personally, I think that those who make more extraordinary claims require the more exhaustive evidence.
Otherwise I’d have to deliver a logical proof as to why “2+2=4” every time I tried to query a bill.
The claim “x is a kook” is not half as extraordinary as “vaccination causes autism and is bad for kids”. So I require pretty good reasons to not get vaccinated regularly, but not a huge amount of evidence to decide that X is a kook.
Yes, I can understand that. My problem is that I see lots of shortcuts on the medical science side when people are defending their beliefs, or criticising others, and sometimes mistaktes get made. Bad ones. Leaving vaccination aside for a minute, I see this alot with alternative health care. The point was made above that we should trust the experts, so it’s always weird when scienceheads start denigrating thigns like TCM or herbalism when they have no training or experience in those things. Honest to god, I’ve heard stuff equally as idiotic coming form scienceheads as I have from the alternative crowd.
All I’m saying here, is that we could improve the situation by applying standards across the board. Otherwise all that happens is a bitter polarity with each side saying I’m right and you people are a bunch of stupidity. Nothing good comes from that, and things are probably getting worse. The general public has very good reasons to not trust science, and science has good reasons to be concerned about scientific illiteracy. But polarising the issues doesn’t offer a solution.
As an aside, re scientific illiteracy, I’ve been noticing in the last while that many wikipedia science articles are far too dense for the general lay reader. Makes me wonder who they are written for, and where people should go to get the basics on any science they are presented with.
“So I require pretty good reasons to not get vaccinated regularly, but not a huge amount of evidence to decide that X is a kook.”
also, while I appreciate your general point, the problem there is that it’s easy to call someone a kook as part of marginalising what they are saying. I think Schreibner most likely is a kook, but all that’s been offered today is opinion, so how would I really know? I’m guessing that the reason that others here were willing to go with the wiki link and the blog link was because (a) they perceived the articles as trustworthy and (b) the links supported their already formed ideas. That’s understandable and human, and it’s also dangerous.
There is a realy failing with many online science writers, who blog about people or issues to critique them but can’t help but getting lost in their own antipathy, or littering the blogpost with their own person invective. Peopel can write what they liek on their own blog, but if what we want here is clear communication that helps build trust and knowledge, then we need better analyses of what are perceived as problems.
Frankly, whenever I end up on a wikipedia article that’s waaaaaaaaaaayyy beyond me (quantum springs to mind), I take it as a hint that maybe I should just take the word of the bulk of people who have spent decades in formalised, structured research in the area. Unless they ping my nutbar meter, of course.
Some stuff cannot be explained with any degree of accuracy in a way that somebody just flipping through an encyclopaedia will be able to find useful. I have no real idea of why blood types match or clot, for example. Some stuff just takes years of research to even come close to figuring out, not just data gathering but also actually tryong to learn about it.
That’s why we still need universities, rather than giving everyone an internet connection and a wikipedia link.
That might all well be true McFlock, but it’s not what I was talking about. I’m talking about someone going to wiki to find out what a salt is. Or how chemicals bond. Or how x physiology works. I’m not talking quantum mechanics. If lay people in conversations about vaccination or whatever are going to be criticised for scientific illiteracy, then my point stands about wikipedia and finding sources of information that are accessible. The argument that I’m a scientist therefore I know and you don’t therefore you should take my word for… that just fails fucking epically now, given all the mistakes that science has made and the damage that has been done using science. It’s just not going to wash.
The scientific illiteracy in the vaccination debate is the belief that because someone said “a vaccine gave my kid autism” it’s plausible enough to be worried about. It’s not that they don’t have perfect knowledge of how to develop a vaccine or the exact diagnostic criteria of disorders on the autism spectrum.
Just because “science has made mistakes” doesn’t mean that Jenny McCarthy or Scheibner deserve the time of day.
+100 CV……Yes you are correct as usual…the answer is very simple
Anyone notice that Winston has questioned Collins about the border man at her dinner and was he there to expedite the importation of the milk at a time when imports were held up at the wharf.
Yes, ianmac. I alsoo noticed that but have not had time to focus on it …
A little bottom of the page anonymous update to my current employment situation.
It’s been a tough few weeks this side of orbit.
5 days after my 20/2 post I was assaulted by my boss at work, twice. I was jabbed in the hand with a pitch fork, fortunately only leaving a small scratch, and a few minutes later, dumped on to my back in the middle of the car park and when I complained about my bad back (recovering very slowly from a prolapsed nerve) lifted and dropped on to it again. I called 111 and left work, went to make a complaint, only to be told my 100% perfect record would also be compromised if I submitted it formally, so I left it at that.
My brief was on holiday for the week, but I went to his office to seek assistance any way, only to be told my bosses people had already been on threatening me with suspension, which I was already told by my boss was going to happen before he assaulted me. After returning home to email my guy with my account, I went to the doctors on an emergency appointment, where he noted my injuries and placed me on medication – Citalopram, Zopiclone and Diazepam, which I have been taking since. He also, kindly, hooked me up with counselling, of which I have had one session so far.
My suspension email came through the next day, luckily on pay, and when my lawyer returned, he notified them that the only contract signed by both parties has no provision for suspension, but I would voluntarily remain ‘suspended’ until emergency mediation could be arranged. Between then and now, my boss has rung my daughters school, speaking to the principal, stating he had laid me off and that he had concerns about my parenting that my ex wife should know about. She rang my ex who clearly bothered, returned his call, only to hear no concerns raised, just badgered for information regarding me, our break up and my previous era incidents. My ex saw through him, and despite no love lost between us, kindly noted the conversation, adding I’m a good father, which was passed to my legal team.
At mediation today, which resolved nothing, his lawyer presented statements from an eye witness which my boss couldn’t have written better himself. The witness is a sub tenant at the place of work and is ridiculous as it is made up, containing statements such as “*** threw himself on the floor and called out ***** had hurt his back” and how she’d heard parts of our conversation when she wasn’t present. I’m hoping cctv footage still exists to prove me right, but under oath I wouldn’t guarantee the witness to hold to the story. He has two other statements from another tenant and one of their staff, and they are mostly right, though sadly not witnesses to the assault.
Much has been made by his brief of my past era visits and how they will go against me, as they are painting me as a gold digger, but if I were, I would have taken him to the cleaners in 2013 (I think) when he tried to get me to sign a clause in a new contract saying I wouldn’t weed spray his stock if I were sacked, which I was supposed to have said to another staff member at the time. I rang the D.O.L and visited the local Labour party office, before returning on a Thursday morning (a day off) and telling him how my three month fixed term, trial period, rolled over for a year and a half contract was bull, that I have him bang to rights, and he’d best get busy writing a much better contract. Next day he called me and apologised, saying he’d got it wrong, he’d sort it on Monday and not to worry over the weekend, to which I replied I wasn’t. I never got a new contract, or took his money, settling on being treated with respect and a pair of new $40 warehouse works boots. I think I made a post here about it, but bugger it if I’ll search for it today.
I will not return to work for fears to my safety and mental health, so I have a disciplinary hearing set for next Wednesday when I will be dismissed, losing my 20 hour $15 per hour and WFF tax credits and top up, for gross misconduct.
I’m beat up and a bit of a mess right now, but I’m strong. I will get a covenant put on my house and get legal aid to fight this perve at full hearing. Odds not stacked in my favour it must be said, but right is right, right?
good luck.
Thanks
@ Allen…sounds like your ex boss is a psychopath…it is always a shock when you come up against such people …and sometimes you have to walk away
….sounds like you are doing everything correctly by taking it to the authorities…try and get as much outside support as possible from individuals, friends , professionals and organisations and unions that deal with such issues and try not to take it personally …accept any help where it is offered …the more help you get the less personal stress on yourself.
lol @ ex boss a week before the fact, though like I didn’t know that was happening after I pulled him up for being a dirty old man, took two weeks off and returned to the four page legal letter with eight hours notice to get representation before a planned hearing the next day.
Best thing is it won’t be kept secret at the hearing, so win, lose or draw you’ll be able to read it in the papers. It won’t be my refusal to follow (un)reasonable demands and trumped up floor flinging and self hand stabbing (yes, really accused of that as his defence), but all about his sexual harassment.
I don’t have a large support group, what with being the only al1en in the village, but I’ll make use of what I have closest and what’s on offer from the quacks. A nasty(er) lawyer wouldn’t go amiss, but I’ll settle for a good nights kip for starters. 🙂
Marzipans and zohans free, with no pharm script repeats available, a bit of a clearer head this morning 🙂
I think I will take the risk to my record and formalise my assault complaint with the police today. I had a clean police check when I was granted residency back in 2000, and I’ve had no dealings with them here since, not even a parking ticket.
If after being stabbed in the hand, I, a couple of minutes later, when told again that he’d say I did it myself, took a note book from my bosses shirt, before being bundled to the ground and dominated, gets me arrested and charged, then so be it. Worth it if the ‘eye witness’ has to be interviewed by a uniform. Lying in a statement to era is one thing, to a rozzer, another altogether. They can check for cctv footage while they’re at it, as my lawyer seems incapable of making the request for it.
Takes it out of my hands, my bosses control and shares the stress about a bit.
Next time I report in, I might be an official note book pinching villain – Oh the shame of it. What will mother say? 🙂
Good luck with that Allen. Just remember never say too much, just enough to make your point, and don’t get chatty, don’t talk about anything that isn’t completely relevant, not about your feelings if not relevant, not look at someone contemptuously or arrogantly. Just be self-contained and stick to your point firmly, answering appropriate questions. You don’t want to say the wrong word or term that plugs into whatever incipient prejudice that waits to pop up in the minds of the authority or powerful one you are dealing with.
Thanks for that, all good advice duly noted, though not always easy under some circumstances and conditions, but I’ll do me best.
I work on telling the truth, and if you lie once, you’re out. One slip up by his ‘witnesses’ and it’s all over. Don’t lie and you can’t be caught out… As all politicians should note 🙂
Not been in to the cops yet as I’m waiting on a conversation with my brief before going in, but he did mail me saying he has requested complete records from commencement of my employment, including for each pay period, holiday/leave taken and sick leave taken and any accruals.
Knowing my boss hasn’t got any records for any of his staff, including me, he has been informed that as we would expect in light of the legal requirements surrounding the keeping of records that this information is readily available and therefore would expect it without delay, if not received by the close of business today, it will be referred to a Labour inspector for further investigation.
A bit of mongrel in my guy after all. More of it, please.
Morgan Kelly Economist in Ireland
Good quote –
The Irish Government boasts about its lack of policy.
They have raised purposelessness to a high art.
http://www.thejournal.ie/morgan-kelly-joan-burton-smes-1352622-Mar2014/
Sound familiar.
Also
Educational research is mostly crap.
Dumbing down education means that kids will learn less.
Universities have gone out of their way to shoot themselves in the foot.
Irish universities used to provide ok education with run-down facilities and poor administration. This has changed now, there are many administrators.
Research has to be competed for.
Administrators earn as much as lecturers.
Austerity has kicked in and the number of academics has fallen by 20%. And that has caused international rankings to fall. They are not worth much but they do seem to matter.
Graduates are not well-trained and therefore it screws up the future to the Irish recovery.
Going to WINZ for help is no longer, well, helpful:
Going to WINZ is now torture which, last time I looked, was against the Geneva Conventions.
It’s the sort of thing someone has read is a good idea. It has the stink of ‘theory’ about it with no common sense to back it up. It might work in some places but not our self effacing nation.
If it was me being applauded I’d just feel embarrassed.
How work and income and times have changed. When I had my last leaving meet with winz back in 2011, they asked me if I wanted to ring the bell. Now they employ someone to ring the bell for you.
All those kids forced into lofts at minimum wage and under houses as part of the old insulation program, should band together with the national cycle way builders and form an orderly queue for the job when the office security guard needs his biscuit dunking at tea time.
And no, I didn’t ding. I threw a look of contempt at the case manager instead. Much more satisfying 😉
Really, read the whole article.
Don’t know if that’s to me, but yerp, I read it, shameful stuff.
That bell ringing and applause sounds sooooo Paula Bennett.
“Going to WINZ for help is no longer, well, helpful:”
No longer? That story is bad, but it’s not new unfortunately. Same old shit, new suit. The thing I wish for is support for people in her situation to deal with this. Beneficiaries need a union, and they need support to push back.
It’s been getting worse over the last few years but that’s generally what we should expect from National. Their policies to maintain a high unemployment so as to keep wages down causes them to have to shift the blame onto the unemployed themselves so that they can hope to be re-elected.
Beneficiaries used to have a union – wonder what happened to it.
Really doesn’t show any respect for the person’s own views thought and emotions – not being allowed to make their own decision. An outgrowth of the face book world where everyone has to hang all their fdeelings out in public.
Penny Bright in the news about being threatened with eviction and her house being sold, for her protest of not paying her rates.
Penny Bright needs to have her water supply and sewerage disconnected by the council. Her rubbish collection should stop also until her debt is paid. How do Jaffa’s like subsidising people like her?
Better than we feel about subsidising Rio Tinto, Warner Bros, and SkyCity.
Water and sewerage aren’t run by the council.
goddamn facts…
“Water and sewerage aren’t run by the council.”
Why not? They are in lots of other places.
$29,000 seems like a lot. She’s not paid for 6 years, what’s the average yearly rate bill for Auckland?
It’s effectively an SoE and, yes, the council use it as a cash cow.
“Auckland Council wrote to activist Penny Bright this month to demand $29,000 to cover overdue rates, penalties and legal costs.”
“Auckland Council wrote to activist Penny Bright this month to demand $29,000 to cover overdue rates, penalties and legal costs.”
Yes, so it looks like the rates is the smaller part of that. I don’t know what Auckland rates are like though.
High. And been climbing too. I wouldn’t mind if we were close to a decent integrated transport system rather than paying huge salaries to executives and boards of watercare etc for running monopoly
BUT also high in Malrborough where apiece of land with no council amenities is paying $1400 in rates per year.
Watercare is an Auckland City organisation, a CCO I believe Mr Hide calls them? CCO or arms length company paying large salaries to people to make a monopoly work profitably (insert laughter).
“Who we are owned by
Watercare is a council organisation, wholly owned by the Auckland Council. The council appoints the company’s board of directors who in turn appoint the chief executive.”
So they charge for water into the house and then they charge for water leaving the house. I think 75% of water exiting the house is charged for. I have lived in homes on individual water meters in Auckland for over 15 years.
Beats me. My rates are about $900pa for a single bedroom apartment.
The 3 bedroom Grey Lynn town house we were in from 2009-2012 has rates of $1,624.28 pa
The 3 bedroom Grey Lynn villa we were in before that has rates of $2,965.24 pa
I gather that 3 bedroom houses around Ponsonby & Grey Lynn are expensive. But have a look at http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/RATESBUILDINGPROPERTY/RATESVALUATIONS/RATESPROPERTYSEARCH/Pages/RatesSearch.aspx
Ladies and Gents, the authoritarian right wing.
Eagerly supporting big govt exerting power over the individual since ages ago,
Oh how it hates the individual who rails against big business, unless they are doing so with a tax lawyer.
Judith Collins close to tears………sensitive wee sausage she.