The other day there was a hoo ha about Winston s staffer working on his campaign as it’s not legal for him to use a government played employee .
It struck me that as there are numerous amounts of national party members heading north to campaign ,is there travel and accommodation costs being picked up by the tax payer or does it come from the nat party funding.
The Nats have loads of people working on loopholes… what they do is mostly legal and often questionable (ethically speaking) but I suspect they think ethics are for losers. Fisiani is an example of that.
I understand the guy is on leave. Even if he’s not, the cost of paying him is just another result of FJK’s enabling of Sabin. We wouldn’t been having a byelection if NAct had some ethics.
It is now obvious why he is pushing so hard for ten new bridges
“Will you stand in Northland again in 2017?
Absolutely.
[Q: If you don’t win?] We’d have to cross that bridge if we encountered it but I’m doing everything I can to get elected. We expect … to be elected. So I’m looking forward to that.”
my emphasis
And his answer to how to improve Northland? More roads. And when you have more roads, make more roads. Oh and safer roads. And bridges. Lots of bridges.
Surely, the Nats selection committee could have chosen someone a little better than this poor choice? Don’t they have anyone else better than Sabin and Osborne among them?
He isn’t even a shadow of a match to Winston Peters, Willow-Jean Prime or even that chatty ACT dude!
There is a lot riding on this by election outside the obvious of law changes like the RMA & signing theTPPA. For supporters of the Northland’s rail network expect an announcement the NAL will close within 6 months. During this campaign the opposition party’s need to put the question to Key. As Labours Transport spokesperson Phil Twyford really needs too lift his game, honesty the churhlish pig joke that saw him booted out of the house didn’t serve Labour well. It is surprising the MSM have not pinned Key down on an answer to the future of the NAL.
Yeah, right. (in response to Tracey at 2.1) And the people of Northland when asked say there are more important things than bridges – sealing the dusty roads for one, assisting people with public transport so they can get to hospital, doctor, WINZ is another, creating projects which provide proper jobs so people can feed themselves and their families, upgrading poor housing, the list is endless.
Trevitt is an appalling NACT sycophant, her articles appear mostly with no comments section as granny knows she would be hammered on her blatant bias giving their message massagers lots of work.
It seems very difficult to believe that no comments have been made on this piece by Bryce Edwards, considering it presents itself as open for comments and has had over 800 shares.
#saveourkauri goes corporate. Both the council and Vetor rule out buying out the developers. Plus,
Vector also issued a strongly-worded statement, saying it was “deeply disappointed to have been dragged into the dispute over the Titirangi kauri tree”.
“After following the media coverage with interest, Vector had a confidential conversation with the property owners to explore ways in which Vector could help to save the kauri tree,” it said.
“The owners have chosen not to respect that confidentiality, and as a result Vector sees no potential for further engagement with the owners on this matter.”
Meanwhile, Ms Hulse said the council would look at how it applies its environmental protection laws at a meeting this morning — and hit out at Government ministers for stepping into the kauri tree row when the council “followed your rules”.
The council had “gone through the process” correctly, she said on Newstalk ZB this morning, but would look at whether it was correctly balancing property rights and environmental protection, saying it was timely given the current review of the Resource Management Act.
“However, the fact that [Conservation Minister] Maggie Barry and [Environment Minister] Nick Smith have weighed into this as two ministers who are responsible for removing the tree protection rules, and who are now giving us a hard time for it, I’m saying this is a really good chance to get round the table with them and say, ‘you’re reviewing the process, let’s make sure that we’re not opening ourselves up to this in future, have we dialled back environmental protection too far, and are we cutting the community out too much?’,” she said.
“We followed your rules Nick and Maggie, have we got them right?”
Lines companies gets hammered on outages by the drones at commcomm so they always look to be proactive in such matters rather than let a storm give them too many issues at once.
Dutch scrap surveillance law over privacy concerns,
A data retention law mandating that ISPs retain customer data has been struck down by a court in The Hague. Assailed by privacy rights advocates, the dragnet allowed law enforcement easy access to customer records going back 12 months.
The law violated data protection and privacy rights, the court found, and was more than “strictly necessary” to meet the claimed needs.
Though the Dutch government claimed the requirements were necessary to fight terorrism, a broad coalition of journalists, activists and lawyers took it to court after the EU Court of Justice struck down the union’s own data retention directive last year.
Though ministers said they wanted to keep the data retention rules, despite the EU court ruling, the court’s ruling takes immediate effect.
SHOCKING BREAKING NEWS : KEY’s BLATANT BRIBE, LIES AND NOW BLACKMAIL TO THE NORTHLAND VOTERS.
John Key is warning voters there is no “free lunch” in the Northland by-election, as National claims major roads and free-trade deals will be in doubt if Winston Peters wins.
Dr Rosa Luxemburg …a very well educated feminist and from a very well off middle class family i believe…just as many leaders of the NZ feminist movement have been …ie well educated and from middle class backgrounds…like Helen Clark, Sue Kedgely, Sandra Coney ….
…and OZZy swearing visitor Germaine Greer….and NZ feminists very much influenced by overseas women also well educated ….Kate Millett, Gloria Steinem, Mary Daly, Simone de Beauvoir, Mary Wollstonecraft….
as well as fighting for equality of opportunity in education and the workforce….these feminists fought for contraception, abortion and control of their own fertility
The Equal Pay Campaign of the 40s and 50s = led by women who were well-educated but generally from pretty low income / working class backgrounds.
Let’s remember too that blue collar Socialist and Trade Unionist women were active in feminist politics of one sort or another within the early NZ Labour movement.
yes agree totally…but I am really countering Philip’s impression on other threads that it was working class socialists who were the leaders of feminism ( many working class women were NOT socialist)… and that bourgeois, middle class, educated women like Helen Clark were Not the leaders of the feminist movement and have in fact undermined feminism for working class women…when in actual fact ….well educated middle class women absolutely were leaders for women’s liberation !…and most of them were also egalitarian with socialist sympathies …
…as I recall it the equal pay for equal work issue really got underway in the 1970s…as a teenage university student I leafleted factories where I had worked with another university student ( we roared up on her motorbike at lunch time and delivered the leaflets to the women as they were leaving for lunch) …the women workers there several months later picketted the place and had stop work meetings…eventually they got equal pay
There was a vigorous and highly successful PSA Equal Pay Campaign in the 40s and 50s. Achieved Equal Pay in the New Zealand Public Service by 1960. Tends to be either downplayed or completely ignored by most (though not quite all) Boomer historians in favour of the late 60s/early 70s campaign (associated more with the sort of elite women you’re talking about).
The activists of the 40s and 50s were the wrong Generation (and probably wrong class) for the middle-class Boomer-centric narrative that constitutes the prevailing historiographical orthodoxy. They’re an inconvenient truth. Undermines the mythology that ex-boarding school Boomers were the true pioneers of liberal/progressive thought – A New Generation with a New Explanation and all that sort of self-indulgent tosh.
…i was brought up by the women activists of the 40s and 50s and they were well educated ….some went to boarding schools and to state schools but they were by no means wealthy…so that equation boarding school =wealth is wrong for a start…however their families believed in their girls and their girl’s education ( bourgeois ?…possibly ….certainly by British standards)
….the feminist activists in my experience were/are not the most downtrodden working class women ( no fault of their own) who usually did not have education and often did not work ( remember the Catholic Church, a very strong working class socialist force in those days, did not believe women should work…and did not believe in feminism or birth control…let alone abortion or equal pay for equal work) these working class women stayed at home and dutifully looked after kids and their husbands and if they had jobs , they were menial jobs)
…. NZ feminists and activists were often well educated , some teachers college , nursing , or university educated. They often had professional jobs like teaching…and hence they had independence and could think and act for themselves
Some in the union movement also liked to downplay the role of women. I remember in the 80s, hearing militant “socialists” talking about how women could come along to meetings because scones needed making, etc. Some of them also thought Maori should stick to playing “Ten Guitars.” There was a lot of forgetting of what had done by anyone who hadn’t looked a hell of a lot like the blokes telling the story.
+100…thanks for that MR…I never saw it that bad myself but can believe it….old habits died hard even among male socialists and trade unionists…in the end women and Maori have to liberate themselves and tell their own story …and for 50% approx of the world’s female population there is still a long way to go…increasingly i see war as a feminist issue
Murray, I think that was much more common in the Labour Party than among any militant socialists.
When I was at high school I briefly joined the Labour Party. This was back in the 1970s. It was in a very working class constituency, the old Avon electorate (now Christchurch East). I recall being mystified when at about 9.30pm, all the women suddenly disappeared from the room.
A while later, supper was served and I realised where all the women had gone. They had all gone into the kitchen to make the supper. Those were the days of “Ladies, a plate please”, which meant women were expected to bring food and then prepare it in the kitchen as well, while the men carried on with the political business.
I had been going to all kinds of left-wing and militant socialist meetings at the time, and I’d never seen anything like it. The women never disappeared to make the supper. There was no “Ladies, a plate please” and so on.
I think some people have forgotten how socially reactionary the Labour Party was.
For myself, I left the LP shortly afterwards. I was a radical young person; I wasn’t interested in their archaic practices.
I’m talking specifically about the Auckland Trade Union Centre and the Socialist Unity Party. They weren’t all that bad, but quite a few were. They were militant and called themselves socialists. I called them “socialists” for a reason. There were also Labour people whom I found just as bad.
Yes, working class activists and unions fought for women’s rights all the way through.
In Britain, the new women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s even arose out of three working class women’s struggles, the most prominent probably being the struggle by women in the Ford car plant at Dagenham for equal pay. (The other two were the struggle by London bus conductresses and by Hull fishermen’s wives around trawler safety.)
Chooky, you still haven’t explained what Helen Clark did for working class women.
She kept the cuts in social welfare benefits and she declared that employer-funded paid parental leave would be introduced “over my dead body”.
Helen Clark wasn’t ever prominent in the women’s liberation movement.
I never gave any impression that working class socialists were the leaders of *feminism*. You’re conflating women’s liberation with feminism. Many people fought for women’s liberation who were not feminists.
I think you’re (unintentionally) writing them out of the picture.
Most of the activists in the early women’s liberation movement in NZ (early 1970s) were militantly socialist, some came from middle class backgrounds, some from working class backgrounds. Same with the early gay liberation activists. Indeed, in Auckland Gay Liberation in the early 1970s a swathe of the activists were members and sympathisers of the Socialist Action League, the LP being pretty virulently anti-gay at the time (although this wasn’t true of younger LP people like Clark, Goff etc).
Rosa wasn’t a feminist and consciously chose not to be; the vast majority of revolutionary women of the Second International made the same choice.
She was a communist fighter for the emancipation of the working class and women.
Helen Clark wasn’t a leader of the feminist movement; I doubt she ever belonged to a feminist organisation. That’s not a criticism of her, just a statement of fact.
debatable as to whether Dr Rosa Luxemberg was a feminist or not…most Marxists would like to argue she wasnt …and subsume any feminism and fight for women’s rights to Maxism…others hold a different view…her closest friends were feminist friends and women’s liberation activists
I object to how some males ( hardly ever females) of Marxist/ Socialist Left persuasion like to rewrite history. They try to subsume the fight women made and won for women’s rights to Marxism or discount non Marxist feminist activists altogether . Lets face it Marxism is run by men like yourself
Standardista 1: Well, looks like Winnie’s got the Tories on the run in Northland. At the very least he’ll give them the fright of their life. Meanwhile, Labour’s up in the polls, Little’s almost universally regarded as a more serious proposition than the last 3 leaders and Key and the Nats are displaying all the symptoms of Third Term-itis. And yet the Tory poll ratings are still high. We’ve got two and a half years. What kind of strategy can we pursue that unites us all together and makes the most efficient and effective use of our collective energy ?
Standardista 2: Here’s an idea. How about we indulge ourselves every 3 or 4 days on Open Mike by channelling all of our time and energy into a never-ending, highly abusive and completely fucking futile debate on the merits or otherwise of homeopathy ?
Let’s get, oh I dunno, say 10 or so Left-leaning activists with entrenched positions on the issue, people who are never going to be convinced by the other side, and let them spend all day from 7am to midnight going hammer and tongs, dominating three-quarters of the thread, racking up 200+ angry comments and basically treating each other with complete and utter contempt ?
Standardista 3: Genius. Sheer Genius. If that doesn’t have the Tories quaking in their boots, I don’t know what will !
I wouldn’t mind but my scrolling finger gets sore after 2 minutes and still no end in sight.
I was a young man barely out of my teens and with my whole life ahead of me when I started reading yesterday’s homeopathy thread. By the time I’d finished at comment 32,057, I found I’d grown a long white beard, witnessed the birth of my great-grandchildren and was having more than a few senior moments.
lol…who brought up the homeopathy thing in the first place anyway?….i suspect it is a diversion introduced by tr..ls…..that and vaccination ..and 9/11…..and Truthers….throw in a few insults… and any other arguments a person makes they are branded for life as a nutter….which is exactly as the tr..ls want it
The Contrarian has a bee in his bonnet about homeopathy. Claimed that I champion homeopathy which is weird because it’s not actually one of my favoured approaches.
Basically, there are some people with a very tight, rational, intellectually framed view of how things work. I reckon they make up between 5% and 10% of the general population. And they can get severely fucked off with people who think the world works differently to what they personally believe. In fact, they are often what I would describe as “secular fundamentalists” and are damn self-righteous about it.
In previous centuries, they might have laid charges of heresy against people like me and had me slowly dessicated in an outstretched position.
+100 CR….we seem to agree on so many things! ….sigh….lol…as my Mother used to say “All the world is mad except for me and thee…..and sometimes I even have some doubts …about thee”
….no really a good scrap is quite enjoyable …especially when you have allies…however I do wonder sometimes if an attempt is being made by some to put us “free thinkers” into a box labelled “nutters” …..when of course we are not!….as long as the “nutter labelling” does not succeed!…but what the hell…let the fight commence…bring it on homeopathy
Modern medical establishments are going to go into a noticeable decline and reconfiguration with the end of fossil fuels (along with all other features of modern civilisation that we take for granted). That means in the next 20-25 years. There won’t be any choice around it because the money, physical overheads, international logistics and general complexity required to keep the whole medical machine going will be inherently unsustainable.
As a chiropractor using very simple tools, most of which are home repairable, to get my work done I can see myself being very, very busy at that time.
CR +100…my partner sees a chiropractor regularly and swears by it
….and years ago when he was on morphine for severe sciatica and he was advised to have back surgery by Western doctors and specialists… he took the advice of a Chinese acupuncturist that it wasn’t necessary … with acupuncture and Shiatsu his back muscles were realigned , re-balanced and the problem went away without surgery….i know other people and family who have been helped with acupuncture and Chinese herbs…I am one of them
….so like you Western medicine is not necessarily my first port of call….and I am pretty cautious about the Big Pharma drugs dished out
…..homeopathy is just one alternative medicine ( although since the debates here i am getting quite interested in it again…i must say)
….another medical tradition I am interested in is Ayurvedic medicine…and imo nutrition is crucial…the first medicine
Great to hear! Ahhh i am a big fan of Chi Kung and the likes, strengthening and balancing the energy of the organs, bringing the mind back inside to the body.
yes this could be the future of medicine…at least preventative medicine ….when the medical establishments go into decline …or are forced to change to an emphasis on prevention of health problems in the first place
” And they can get severely fucked off with people who think the world works differently to what they personally believe.”
That’s hilarious! No one is “fucked off” – it’s that the world actually does work differently to what you personally believe because despite your personal beliefs, they actually conflict with every thing we know about science and medicine and your personal beliefs have shown time and time again to be false. Where as my beliefs are based up predictive and objective evidence, yours are based on personal anecdote – despite pretending to be interested in evidence, which you clearly aren’t.
Fair point swordfish. Although I will say this. The standard is essentially an argument based culture. We rarely strategise or do activist work within the community here. There’s some very good actual work being done by Bill and OAB on the Rojava thread over the same time period as the homeopathy conversation, but it looks to me like no-one else is engaging, not even the people that aren’t arguing about homeopathy. Just saying.
The politics of science, and of health rights, are just as interesting to me as the politics of the Northland by election or Labour winning the next election. I’d be happy to put aside the former in favour of activism and strategising, but not sure about putting it aside in favour of just arguing about something else.
And throw in the fluoride debate for good measure….
Who else is getting turned off TS by these interminable and thoroughly boring tirades?
Edit: @ weka
Your ‘arguments’ and questions are worth a read because they are invariably based on sound thinking. You don’t indulge in mindless abuse and/or one-up-man-ship.
I think it’s the latter swordfish is talking about.
+ 1 Yep it was dire yesterday – “entrenched positions, never going to be convinced by the other side” – I’d be interested to know if any participants adjusted their thinking even a little by it all.
Sometimes I learn interesting things, or even find that a certain level of self-reflection in a new direction is prompted by debates that themselves might be intractable.
A recent example was my attitudes towards Bain as opposed to Pora, and whether the contrast was due to my bias or a real difference between the cases. I actually ended up mulling over the contrasts, and whether my views were consistent, for a couple of days.
And the background reading the debates bring up are often interesting. I learnt a bit more about the placebo effect, for example.
Capitalism’s hacks are always looking for someone else to blame when the system has problems. One that has been doing the rounds for some years now is that the baby boomers used up all the money.
Capitalist ideology usually coincides in some way with reality, albeit in a highly distorted form; otherwise it wouldn’t work.
The element of reality in this crock is that the baby boomers were a ‘lucky generation’ in that their early lives coincided with something quite rare in capitalism – a massive economic boom that was real (ie it was based on the real economy, not paper ‘values’) and it lasted about a quarter of a century.
However, that boom ended in the early 1970s and the system is so clapped out now that it hasn’t been able to produce another boom like it. Booms these days are based largely on paper ‘values’ and centred in the artificial economy, so when the boom turns to bust there is a massive debt overhang.
The exhaustion of capitalism means that the generation after the baby boomers had a more difficult time, while that generations’ children have the increasingly casualised and precarious work of today inflicted on them.
Phil – what is the neo-Marxist (not sure if that is the correct term to use) critique of different forms of capital? Can you point me to any good writing on the differentiation between natural, social, cultural and financial capital from a holistic perspective (i.e not each one taken as its own sub-discipline, which I am familiar with). I am looking to see whether there is an integrated or integrating theory of capital (from a 21st century perspective), but which retains the premises of Marx’s labour and capital distinction. Thanks in advance.
Wellington’s Green Mayor Wade-Brown is totally losing the plot. In order to get a photo-op with New Zealand’s current favourite cricketer Brendon McCullum the Wellington rate-payers have been forced to cough up $5,750 for a piece of junk.
I am sure McCullum will do his best to “accidentally” lose it at the first possible opportunity.
Where do these politicians get the habit of regarding rate-payers, and tax-payers, money as something they can throw around on anything they feel like?
That was OUR money Celia, it isn’t yours. I suggest you apologise to the Wellington public and pay up out of your own pocket. http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/67287307/City-key-for-Brendon-McCullum-cost-Wellington-ratepayers-5000
I wouldn’t say it has any thing to do with her greenness, the ability to waste public money seems to over come most as soon as they get near a cheque book.
I totally agree. It is a common trait.
That is the reason for the general complaint in the third para “Where do these politicians get the habit … “, and the reference to tax-payers as well as rate-payers.
It is just that this one is an example of hers and she has to cop the blame.
I see it in farming the people who I have worked for that have some skin in the game are cautious and strategic in there spending but the couple of managers I’ve worked for that hold the purse can waste money in ways that just make me shake my head.
You can’t beat someone who has run projects with there own money to know the value of a dollar.
Like ThePMONZKey and his huge band of what Bronagh apparently calls “John’s Boys”, The DPS who go everywhere with him……even Hawaii……even the shitter I’m told. Just you know, to make sure he don’t end up down the dunny case of mistaken (perhaps not so much) identity.
Didn’t their budget blow out in the last year or so ? When are we gonna see AirForceOneKey ? So TheChildKey can be like BFBarak ?
Be a bastard won’t it when at the end of 2017 (sooner maybe) he has to hire Blackwater and pay for his vanities himself ?
Do you have any evidence for your attempt to clear Celia of involvement?
After all, if she really had any recognition at all that this was a total waste of money, (and it is one hell of a lot of money for a piece of rubbish isn’t it?), there would be a record of her voting against it and there would certainly have been an excuse of being out of town so she didn’t present it while dressed in the full robes of office.
You also seem to “realise” things that are only your delusions don’t you.
Why don’t you just read the story I linked to.
She sounds extremely enthusiastic about the whole thing.
No hint there that she thought it was too much is there?
She goes on and on about how appropriate it is doesn’t she.
As a direct quote “”We’ve got a wonderful template for future honours” and “The chosen key was an appropriate recognition of a notable achievement for Wellingtonians and cricket fans everywhere, balanced with the prudent use of ratepayer funds” Direct quotes
Now evidence that she just went along with it and only presented it because she was the Mayor, please?
“there would certainly have been an excuse of being out of town so she didn’t present it while dressed in the full robes of office.”
No. Presenting it would be a mayoral responsibility and she takes her responsibilities seriously. Not like FJK who denies he’s PM at the Prime Ministerial press conference. Take some time over it, because the idea might be a bit novel.
That was OUR money Celia, it isn’t yours. I suggest you apologise to the Wellington public and pay up out of your own pocket.
It’s not your money, it’s the government’s money. Only the government gives it value, only the government issues it, only the government controls the acceptability and supply of it.
You’re only a user of the money that the government approves of and creates.
Excellent little piece by veteran leftie Don Franks:
Every morning we get up and switch on the radio or tv or computer to see what’s happening out there.
On a good day, the big national news will be just some harmless shite about a celeb gaining a kilo, or a cat stuck up a tree, those days are getting fewer.
These days the sun is more likely to rise on a story of some workers getting shafted in a horrible way.
Like the Auckland wharfies being pulled down by a boss who earns $400 an hour.
Or some teachers, rest home workers, firefighters, cleaners, public servants – all the folks who make society function – being laid off, casualised, or forced to kiss arse and reapply for their positions, at worse pay and conditions.
The prevailing social reaction to this brute manipulation of decent working people’s lives is, at best, a craven plea for sympathy. “Vulnerable workers should not be so treated”.
I would so like to find the well-meaning union office idiot who coined the phrase “vulnerable workers” and kick their sorry arse until their nose bleeds a bucket.
Could Mike Hosking’s NewstalkZB show be any more vacuous or witless?
We need new people in media, they’re all out of touch plain stupid now.
NewstalkZB, Friday 13 March 2015, 8:15 a.m.
Mike Hosking, Toni Street, Tim Wilson
A long, appalling record of making racist comments on air; chance after chance after chance; followed by more racist antics: any New Zealander will recognize Jeremy Clarkson‘s irresponsible, provocative, inflammatory behavior as a crass Essex yobbo version of the behavior of the former NewstalkZB breakfast host—and Mike Hosking’s predecessor—Paul Holmes. If Hosking, Toni Street or Tim Wilson had any gumption, they would have drawn that glaringly obvious comparison. But none of these people has any gumption; it’s as absent on this station as is courage, or honesty, or integrity, or wit….
MIKE HOSKING: Okay: Jeremy Clarkson. Should he be fired or not?
TIM WILSON:[speaking slowly, with gravitas] If his name was Charlie Hebdo, we wouldn’t even be asking that question.
….A genuinely baffled silence descends for a few moments. Even in the notoriously bewildered and determinedly ignorant confines of the NewstalkZB studio, that was one of the more bizarre statements to ever be uttered. Its crazed quality was only enhanced by the sad fact that Tim Wilson, who has written a “serious” novel and clearly fancies himself as an intellectual, was trying to be deadly serious….
MIKE HOSKING: Hmmm. Mmm-kaaay.
TONI STREET: You know what the whole Jeremy Clarkson affair reminded me of?
MIKE HOSKING: No, what?
TONI STREET: Jesse Ryder. He’s been given chance after chance after chance. And one of these days he’s going to do something really bad. Is the BBC prepared to risk it?
MIKE HOSKING: Hmmmm. But Ryder amounted to nothing, whereas Clarkson has made something of himself.
TONI STREET: Yes but…..
…..et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam…
Commenting on this sort of vacuity, albeit in an American context, someone on the excellent Gawker site summed it up perfectly the other day….
“What da fuq? Like I said, we need new people in media, they’re all out of touch plain stupid now.”
If that “punching down” is yours Jono then how do I say perfection ?
Isn’t that so true ? The ones we’re told are our media leading lights are so fucking into ‘punching down’. I personally couldn’t give a fuck about their need to ‘kiss up’ (thanks Morrissey). That’s their self-esteem and brown tongue burden. But the punching down. Bloody unforgivable !
For my faults and I’m not really proud of it ssometimes I just lust for the cardboard people, the Holmes’, the Hoskings, the Henry’s to find themselves in places like the Timberlands Public Bar in Tokoroa (gone now) or the East Tamaki Tavern in Otara (also gone now)…….and have the guts (no) to serve up their shit to those fullas……
When I talk cardboard people I do equally refer to John Phillip Key of course.
Apropos whom Campbell Live tonight and the father of the triplets who died in Doha……asserting that John Phillip Key might care to “get some guts”. Funny how words can come back what ?
The Nats have made another “blue” with their 10 bridges proposal for Northland – and I’m not sure if anyone other than Campbell Live has really picked up on it.
One of the 10 “bridges” is the one-way lane between two magnificent kauri called Darby and Joan on the way to the Waipoua Forest. There’s no way this tiny bit of the road could be widened to make way for a two-lane “bridge”. And nor is it necessary. Driving between these two magnificent trees is a crucial part of the tourist experience in this forest.
I kind of thought that mangling the word actually was a give away that I was channeling key,but with my spelling I guess people might be forgiven for thinking that I’d spell it that way. 😉
Thanks for that, weka. I see further down that twitter thread that Patrick Reynolds, photographer artist dude , says there is 300 kauri in the path of the Holiday Highway. Oh Dear……
Quick, someone bring the smelling salts for John Boy!
“and I’m not sure if anyone other than Campbell Live has really picked up on it.”
Actually it was raised in Parliament first, and Campbell Live followed it up after that.
“There’s no way this tiny bit of the road could be widened to make way for a two-lane “bridge”.”
Having a two-lane bridge is cost-effective. Of course there’s no reason you can’t have two single-lane bridges, going in opposite directions, if you have a good reason to build it that way.
Ok, but what does that have to do with this conversation about an existing one lane bridge that Key wants to make into a two lane bridge that would involve cutting down 2 kauri trees?
Lanthanide hasn’t clarified, Weka – but I’m wondering if he means that having a two-way bridge being more cost-effective is anything to do with logging trucks which I’ve seen trundle up the road past the Waipoua Forest and over that tiny one-lane strip between the two kauri trees.
ie it being more cost-effective to chop down two old kauri to make way for two-way road for logging trucks. Is this what you meant, Lanthanide @ 14.3.1.1.1.1. ? ?
Thanks jenny. I’ve been assuming the widening of the bridges is mostly bribe and not something that’s really necessary, but then I think one lane bridges are normal even on quite busy roads. I don’t know the area though.
If instead of tearing down the current bridge and replacing it with a 2 lane bridge, they build another single lane bridge, they won’t have to cut down or affect the trees in any way. This solution would ultimately cost more.
Who out there is constantly seeing reality butt up against fiction? Headlines and opinions going contrary to what your senses tell you?
Today’s Stuff editorial comments on keeping inflation at bay. Given the depths of recession the world economy really is in who honestly believes the official numbers? Recessions are by definition deflationary. There’s some trickery afoot however because somehow wages and prices do go up but purchasing power goes down. Inflation and deflation all at once. I can’t help but think that we are getting so detached from reality that we cannot accept the validity of anything our “leaders” and their media tell us.
all these media outlets are fundamentally ignorant. Mix that in with needing to project and repeat the fashionable narrative of the day from the power elite, and you get stupid situations where a story on desperate homeless families is placed right next to one on the positive wealth effect of ever increasing house prices and how to make use of the market to secure your financial future.
Kerry Anne Walsh talked, in her regular report from Oz this morning, about the young jihadist from Australia. He had lost his mother recently and appeared to be a bit lost and with no firm beliefs.
So perhaps he was someone open to a strong message and a feeling of belonging to something definite, and rather mysterious, both tangible and intangible.
It reminded me of the magnetic attraction of many cults in past decades, particularly in the USA. Well-off parents virtually lost their children who stopped communicating and isolated themselves from their parents. They then had to hire people with experience to kidnap their children from the cults, and de-program them. Ones I heard about may have been professed Christians, some Catholics I think, but the children didn’t feel their faith strongly and meaningfully in their lives, and it almost seemed that having been part of a religion made them more usceptaible to be won over by another sect.
It was an unpleasant cultural phenomenon which I haven’t heard much about recently, but no doubt is still continuing. There were the Moonies, the Jones group that went to South America, Charles Manson’s ‘family’ amongst many others. The thing that recurs in explanations seems to be that these are young people who don’t feel they have some firm path and moral life as a basis for their life, and are attracted to join a ‘gang’ where they will be accepted, follow rules, join in a united enterprise of some sort. This is the explanation given for many Maori gangs,
I think this viewpoint gives a very valid explanation for recruitment of western youth as well as Muslim youth into this new wr of minds and power.
The edible rubbish was uncovered in a national study Nelson City and Tasman District councils were involved in, surveying exactly what food New Zealanders were tossing in the trash.
The study surveyed 1365 people and 1402 rubbish bins nationwide and discovered the average New Zealand family throws away more than $563 worth of edible food each year.
In Nelson and Tasman, 19 families were chosen to take part in a kitchen diary project where they had to record all their food waste in a week. An average of 3.3kg of edible food was binned by each family during the week.
What to do – I think we need to make it easier for people to get unwanted food to where it is wanted. Plus composting, worm farms, feeding pigs and chickens – all of these can make use of discarded food and recycle it back rather than just be biffed.
I was thinking that a judge from the Whangarei High Court could be up for a knighthood soon, or maybe elevation to the Supreme Court? I don’t think there’s much FJK wouldn’t do.
Cameron Slater calling uninsured people in Christchurch “scum”. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cameron-slater-says-christchurch-quake-victims-still-scum-6254379
Maybe he should look in the mirror and see what that definition truly means. According to the urban dictionary definition. – It is hard to define the word, but it is basically used to describe someone so disgraceful that they are seen as the lowest form of life. “Worthlessness”, “waste of skin”, “dirt”. “Nothing”.
Sounds very like Cameron Slater. So disgraceful i.e. a person with no ethics, compassion, a highly manipulative malicious person that is completely obsessed with their own self interest. Like the froth on the top of the contents of a sewer pipe. That description fits him like a glove.
I saw Ryder and the slug face up for one of those pre fight things they do in boxing ,Slater was in my opinion shifting him self I reckon Ryder will do him like a dinner.
@ Lorraine
+1
But I fear that only adds to his vanity. He has been very screwed up while growing up. There was a book called The Bad Seed in the 1950’s along the lines of people being ‘born bad’ but I don’t believe it. It’s children not taught how to deal with feelings of anger, failure or other’s taunts. They are not taught how to deal with them calmly but learn the art of bouncing them on to others. And then attack first before the others get a chance. Thus you get Slater. His parents and schooling have a lot to answer for.
I didn’t know him well, but I remember him as being well adjusted, not stupid, didn’t need attention, wasn’t a bully.
I took me a while to reconcile the kid I remember with modern day Slater. I refused to believe it initially.
It bothered me enough though that I sat down and worked out his age, and the school he was most likely to go to at that time.
@ Naturesong
Didn’t need attention etc. Was he one of those youngsters who are a bit repressed which is apparently the case in the bad violence in schoolkids in USA. Something triggers it off. Perhaps he needs a school environment to stay on the straight and narrow. It’s a puzzle.
He didn’t seem repressed, but we did have different circles, I hung out with the other kids that liked cricket, no idea who he spent his time with.
My guess is that the cause of a change that fundamental is likely to very close to him, likely family or loved one – be it a death, or abuse or whatever, who knows.
But something clearly changed him. May even be the cause of his depression.
Anyway, enough time spent on speculation about Slater.
While I’m sorry that he’s suffered in his life, I am resolutely opposed to the poisonous influence he has on public discourse in NZ (which mostly involves debunking the WO lines my brother repeats)
@ Naturesong
That’s a bummer. Trying to insert a little reason into the mess of stuff being transmitted by WO is a dirty job so thank goodness you are trying to do it.
On the news this morning – Otago hospital meals may be prepared in Auckland and trucked or flown down to Dunedin! This is another sign of the crazy economic system we use. Cheapness and efficiency is all. And presumably they have got a cheaper price in Auckland. I wonder what nutritional food will be left off to allow the decent profit margin.
Or which possible local company in Otago is being undercut in order to create a monopoly..
Recently Orwell and Huxley were referred to here in the context of efficiency. http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/03/1984-v-brave-new-world.html I feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-Four is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World. The change will be brought about as a result of a felt need for increased efficiency.
More thoughts on efficiency. and decision making. http://www.forbes.com/sites/howardbaldwin/2015/02/22/what-would-orwell-and-huxley-think-about-big-data/ Seek out critical thinking and diverse skill sets. “To avoid misinterpretation means valuing not only math and engineering but also social sciences and humanities. … Without a balance of critical thinking, business knowledge and smart analytics tools, we’re in danger of making the wrong decision much more efficiently, quickly, and with far greater impact.”
Insist on ethical data use and transparent disclosure. “As organizations become more data centric, for their own benefit as well as their customers’, they must also look closely at the affirmative and passive decisions they make about [how they use and analyze data] and how transparently they disclose these actions.”
Reward and reinforce humility and learning. “The world is just starting to come to terms with the impact of data ubiquity [the most difficult impact of which] is that it radically undermines traditional methods of analysis and laughs at our desire for certainty. [Enterprises must develop an appetite for continuous learning, whether the goal is to sell a pair of shoes or to help prevent cancer.]
The Southern District Health Board is yet to decide whether to approve the proposal. The meals on wheels would be frozen, and reheated in local hospital kitchens.
Patient meals would be prepared on-site, using components driven ”around New Zealand” in trucks…
Asked how often the meals would arrive in trucks, Compass said it was yet to be determined.
Asked what contingency plans were in place for adverse weather, Compass said it was part of planning work that would happen with the health board…
Service and Food Workers Union organiser Anna Huffstutler, of Southland, said producing meals on wheels in Auckland reduced the amount of work available for local staff.
She also questioned the logistics of transporting meals during a civil defence emergency.
”What’s the back-up plan?”
What do the evidenced based conventional medicine types say about this move? Where is the evidence for and against in terms of patient health outcomes? Anything?
traditional Chinese, Maori, Indian (including Indian Nations) and other healing traditions have plenty to say on the importance of food and its correct contents and preparation for people recovering from illnesses and injury. Just saying.
+100 CR…”traditional Chinese, Maori, Indian (including Indian Nations) and other healing traditions have plenty to say on the importance of food”…. …Western medicine has a lot to learn from these traditions
traditional Chinese, Maori, Indian (including Indian Nations) and other healing traditions have plenty to say on the importance of food and its correct contents and preparation for people recovering from illnesses and injury.
If only western medicine had grasped the idea that nutrition could have effects on health, eh? What a shameful fucking lost opportunity right there…
I’d like to know if they intend to remove the hospital kitchens and then what they will do in 10 years time when the transport costs make Aucklad meals not cost effective due to Peak Oil
If the kitchens are any decent size, they’ll probably be stripped for space. Which will almost certainly involve blown costs when they find asbestos or something else that wasn’t factored into the equation. And then eventually they’ll have to build a new structure anyway, so it’s all for nought.
Then the board will be locked in to contracting for offsite cooking, be it in auckland or dunedin. But the annual sticker costs are cheaper, so they’ll do it.
And meanwhile otago continues to be fucked by an idiotic per capita funding system (as well as a sociopathic IT fraudster).
Now there are four contenders, but I’m still picking Hague (even though my personal preference is for Hughes, Tava is even more unlikely now that the Blue-Green vote will be split):
A first-term MP with a corporate business background has joined the race for the Green Party co-leadership.
James Shaw promises that despite his inexperience as an MP, he is the “right person at the right time” for the job.
I’m glad Shaw is running, I’d like to have a better look at how he conducts himself and the way he approaches policy discussions.
He may be a good leader in the future, he’s signalled that he wants to be.
Although I identify more with Hughes than Hague, I wont be voting for him.
Hague has a long and honerable history, and to my mind it the most able of all the condenders to lead the Greens at this time. He currently has my vote.
But …. if Graham put his hand up I’m done. I wouldn’t be able to choose between those two.
He wasn’t an MP when he ran in Wellington Central last year yet more people there voted Green than any other electorate in the country. The Greens need to grow their vote if they’re going to break out of their marginal position in Parliament, and James can do that. Some of the other candidates in the race have (many) more years of Parliamentary experience than him – but the Greens already have a very experienced co-leader in Metiria Turei.
The graph showing the Wellington Central vote is quite impressive – outperforming even Rongotai (Norman) and Dunedin North (Turei). However as the first commentor to the post (phil) says:
that’s a very poor starting point for a data-based argument. Wellington Central is choc-full of green votes because the demographics of the seat heavily lean to young urban liberals.
It also disregards the work that Kedgley and her team did in growing the GP vote from; 6,530 in 2005, to; 8,494 in 2008. Shaw, and his team, did fine work in building upon this in; 2011 to 10,903, but frankly stalled in; 2014 at 11,545. Meanwhile Shaw’s own electorate vote dropped from; 5,225 in 2011, to; 5,077 in 2014. By comparison, Kedgley’s EV in 2008 was; 5,971.
I feel cagey about giving Shaw too much credit for the Green party vote in Wellington Central. Based on nothing more than having lived there a few years (and been a Robertson/Greens split-voter in 2008) I’d assume a much bigger factor is the number of students/young liberal folk who either couldn’t bring themselves to party-vote Labour for whatever reason or who wanted to ensure that a Labour government, if one eventuated, needed to go into coalition with the Greens rather that, say, Winston. (This may reflect my own thinking at the time!)
And while I was looking at the unpalatable drinking water piece I saw a bit on Russian fighter cowboy-style off Norway. From December 2014.
Two top guns came into very close contact when a Russian MiG-31 aircraft overtook a Norwegian F-16 fighter and cut practically in front of it, forcing the NATO pilot to veer away sharply.
The Russian jet passed the F-16 within a mere 20 meters, causing the Norwegian pilot to exclaim, “What the hell!” before darting away hastily.
Norway’s Air Force had to scramble Russian military planes 43 times this year and 42 times in 2013. The number has been consistent over the last five years.
When NATO fighter jets intercept Russian bombers and other warplanes, or vice versa, pilots are usually polite and keep their distance. The previous incident with hazardous proximity took place back in 2012, when a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet intercepted and approached “uncomfortably close” to a Norwegian Orion reconnaissance aircraft over the Barents Sea.
The Mikoyan MiG-31 (NATO code name Foxhound) is a Soviet-design supersonic interceptor, the world’s fastest aircraft in service today.
After the US Air Force decommissioned Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, which achieved a speed of slightly more than Mach 3.2 (3,540kph), the MiG-31 with its 3,000kph remains the world’s fastest manned aircraft in service.
Further headlines for March 2015:
* Russian battleships in the English Channel, say they’re training
* Argentina and UK Falklands spat spiced up by Russian jets.
* Long range air patrols put Russian strategic bombers near Guam
* Northern Europe beefs up air patrols to oppose “Russian invasion”
* Russia to expand aviation patrol mission to Gulf of Mexico – defence minister
plus another six items all about Russian defence moves
This blog is called RT Question More – it’s strange that all the items were about Russian behaviours. It’s the general news. There was little about NATO moves to be aggressive. I question whether it’s a Janus-type blog, looks one way to me.
Hmmmm, RT receives most of its funding by the Russian government. If there is news on some Russian military exercise or introduction of some new weapon system, I presume it means that they want the west to know about it.
For more than 10 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russians could no longer afford to conduct regular nuclear submarine or strategic bomber patrols. They relatively recently restarted those patrols. Its been portrayed in the west as being “provocative” or “unhelpful.”
What is very rarely mentioned is that AFAIK the Americans never stopped doing their strategic nuclear patrols through that entire time.
CR
Well that’s interesting. I wondered at the heavy coverge of Russian stuff. But I was not able to look further, so thanks for info. Perhaps they are going to report their own stuff so that the west doesn’t only look at their own biased news wfor updates and background.
Mora and Moffett’s nasty double-act today was like something out of Maoist China.
Lisa Scott’s vacuous laughter played an important role too. The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 13 March 2015, 3:45 p.m.
Jim Mora, Steve McCabe, Lisa Scott, Julie Moffett
Regular sufferers of this dismal chat show will probably have gritted their teeth listening to Lisa Scott before. She never has much to say, but she is adept at laughing supportively—no matter how depraved the discussion gets….
Today, she was even more inane and giggly than normal. But her empty-headed snorting was important to offset the nasty political smearing that the host and his producer were engaged in….
JIM MORA: What the World is Talking About with Julie Moffett shortly. WHERE ARE OUR UNIVERSITIES on the latest reputation rankings? Good question. The sexism of opening doors for women. More bad news about smoking weed when you are young; you end up with part of your brain bent. The biggest fish ever bent by a rod! Ever caught by rod. The new stand-alone Star Wars film gets a title. To what extent nutrition can prevent dementia: new findings. And what we’d call products if we named them literally. On the Panel today, Lisa Scott. How would you BE, Lisa? LISA SCOTT: Really incredibly caffeinated. Ha! How are YOU? MORA: You’re highly caffeinated as you join us! LISA SCOTT: Highly! I could be toxic. Don’t draw my blood at any stage, Jim! MORA: And Steve McCabe, who’s usually here at this juncture, but not today. The possibilities with Cyclone Pam, ahhhh, Terry Pratchett’s thoughts on aging, the subject is revived of the effects on the young of music videos, especially violence in music vids, and, errr, who’s saluting as we run the new ideas for our national symbol up the flag-pole? With Lisa and Steve, after four. ….
For a couple of minutes, he reads out some listeners’ correspondence about homeopathy, which was discussed yesterday, then a poem and a letter about the Titirangi kauri controversy. Lisa Scott giggles winsomely several times….
MORA: But it’s ten to four, and Julie, I think we’d better unleash your stories. JULIE MOFFETT: Well, THIS one has got Russia’s internet abuzz. People are questioning: is Vladimir Putin DEAD? LISA SCOTT: A ha ha! MORA: How long since he’s been sighted? JULIE MOFFETT: It’s been eight days. MORA: Has it really? JULIE MOFFETT: Eight days now! And the last time he was seen—I think this could be a clue!—the last time he was seen was with a group of women at the Kremlin on March the eighth— LISA SCOTT:[snickering] He, he! JULIE MOFFETT: That’s not eight days, is it?—celebrating International Women’s Day. MORA: It’s FIVE days! LISA SCOTT: He he! MORA: He’s only been missing five days! JULIE MOFFETT: Still quite a long time though! MORA: So the last time he made a public appearance was on International Women’s Day. LISA SCOTT: He he! They knocked him off! That’s brilliant! MORA: A hur hur hur hur hur hur hur! JULIE MOFFETT: Possiblyyyyyy… Ah, yeah, apparently there’s a huge stir in, ahh, Russia. Aaahm, “Путин мертв”—“Putin is dead”—is a trending search across Russia. LISA SCOTT: He he! JULIE MOFFETT: Ahhh, “hashtag Putin is dead” is ex-PLODING on Twitter— LISA SCOTT: He he he! JULIE MOFFETT:—and blogs have been posting serious claims about this as well. LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha! JULIE MOFFETT: One says that, ahhhh, Putin’s, ahhhh, actually suffered a STROKE and he’s in a Moscow hospital— MORA: They’re interviewing their typewriters, we know this don’t we! JULIE MOFFETT: Ha ha ha ha! That’s right! And, ahhhhmm, other people are saying that he’s got advanced CANCER! So this is really, a bit like the Paul McCartney Abbey Road conspiracy. MORA: Which he developed in the last five days. This advanced form of cancer. LISA SCOTT: He hasn’t come and said “Rumors of my demise” at any point? MORA: He’s just gonna stage a big, you know— JULIE MOFFETT: Comeback. MORA: Yeah. Bare-shirted. LISA SCOTT: A ha ha ha! Yeah, it always is! MORA: Is there any–I mean, are there any complicating factors which add any credence to the supposition— JULIE MOFFETT: Well, he HAS been canceling meetings! So he’s, ahhh, cancelled a meeting with the new, ahhhh, head of the office that used to be the KGB, ahmmmmm, and he has also cancelled a trip to, errr, Kazakhstan as well. MORA: Oooohh, that could be serious, ‘cos of course we know that he likes to go to Kazakhstan. JULIE MOFFETT:[chortling] He’s DYING to go to there! Literally.
So there’s nothing to it really. JULIE MOFFETT: N-n-no, it doesn’t SOUND like it, but hey! You never know! Maybe he’ll come back and he’s had a facelift! LISA SCOTT: A ha ha! MORA: Interesting. But five days, I suppose, for Vladimir Putin is a long time. JULIE MOFFETT: Mmm, mmmm. Mmm. MORA: Okay.
….Pause….
JULIE MOFFETT: Ummmmm, the top one hundred universities in the world by reputation has been done. MORA: Interesting way of ranking it. This is the Times Educational Supplement one, isn’t it. JULIE MOFFETT: Yeah. And there are no New Zealand universities in it. MORA: Yeah what’s happened to our varsities?
….et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam….
I didn’t have the stomach to listen to any more of this crap, but I note that later in the program they were scheduled to feign seriousness and “discuss” the effects of music videos on young people. Perhaps Mora, Moffett and Scott would have been better to examine themselves instead, and consider whether New Zealanders’ brains are rotted by listening to the kind of nasty and moronic banter they served up on The Panel preshow this afternoon.
Steve McCabe (was it?) wasn’t bad though Morrissey. Had a bit of a spray about ThePonceKey……to be answered, mockingly, patronisingly by Mora with “Well YOU”VE nailed your colours to the mast Steve McCabe !”
Whereas in response to Key worshippers like that insufferable political science graduate now Beer Expert Neil Miller Old Suckarse Jimmy just goes on being The Nicest Man In The World.
Steve McCabe (was it?) wasn’t bad though Morrissey. Had a bit of a spray about ThePonceKey……to be answered, mockingly, patronisingly by Mora with “Well YOU”VE nailed your colours to the mast Steve McCabe !”
Thanks for that, North. I listened only to the part I transcribed, and Steve McCabe had not arrived in the studio at that point. I have generally been most impressed with his contributions in the past. Like Dita Di Boni, he is not afraid to speak clearly and honestly, and has a limited tolerance for fools.
Whereas in response to Key worshippers like that insufferable political science graduate now Beer Expert Neil Miller Old Suckarse Jimmy just goes on being The Nicest Man In The World.
Yes, his bias is irrefutable. He told me in an email a few years ago that he lets “both sides have their say.” That was untrue then, and it’s even more untrue now.
Morrissey you deserve a medal. This is light magazine stuff for airheads. They should stick to it and not get into grown up matters. It’s dinner table chat stuff as no doubt heard at their houses, and not taxing on people who don’t like to be taxed. Hah,hah…laughs winsomely.
Auckland Council’s poor judgement on what it wastes ratepayers money on.
It infuriates me to hear of another complete waste our rates money on something that provides no benefit to ratepayer. i.e. the thousands wasted on an image consultant to teach staff to dress better.
They don’t seem to think they are accountable to us at all.
Who makes these stupid decisions. They should be sacked.
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Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
The new minister of transport has opened the door for public consultation on at least some of the speed limit changes the government said would be automatic. ...
Officially, they’re called ‘memecoins,’ but Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon says the crypto world has another name for them: ‘shitcoins’.In digital finance, that phrase is used for tokens that have no true value – in essence, a money-grab.A few days before his inauguration, US President Donald Trump launched his own ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. Guy Williams has made a whole show off the joke that he is a “volunteer” journalist. So getting publicly owned by David Seymour while trying to act as a journalist is a good and timely reminder not to underestimate the nuance and ...
Many of Sāmoa’s beloved dishes are the result of cultural collaboration, writes Madeleine Chapman. All photos by Jin FelletIf you ever find yourself at a barbecue in a Sāmoan home, there’s 99% chance that sapasui (chop suey) will be on the table. For the past century, sapasui has ...
The funnyman takes us through his life in television, including Jono and Ben mayhem, live Telethon flubs, and funnelling all those experiences into his new comedy Vince. There’s an inciting incident in Three’s new comedy Vince where morning television presenter Vince Walters (Jono Pryor) is visiting sick kids in hospital ...
People often claim they just want Waitangi Day to be a celebration. At Waitangi, away from the headlined political acrimony and the marae ātea, celebrating is what most people are doing. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous ...
Is there anything more fashionable than a Māori get together? One of the best things about Northland is that nobody cares what they look like — probably because they’re all naturally more stylish than the rest of us, famously. Māori from the Far North, especially. In 27 degree heat, wearing ...
I’ve been in love with him since last July, but it’s only now in this tepid hotel room that I find myself wondering why. The first thing he does when we arrive is smoke a cone in the bathroom – he emerges, hacking up a lung, fists thrust into his ...
MONDAY“Name,” barked a representative of the lower orders.I regarded him with a look of stern disapproval, and told him from up high, “May I remind you that I have name suppression. I shall also thank you to ask with more respect as befits a former president of the Act Party, ...
Books of Mana: 180 Māori-Authored Books of Significance, edited by Jacinta Ruru, Angela Wanhalla and Jeanette Wikaira has just been released by Otago University Press. In this essay, Books are Taonga, Jeanette Wikaira explores her personal relationship to books and their value.For me, books are taonga. The knowledge ...
Get to know Tara, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Tara’s human for their support! Dog name: Tara Age: Two Breed: Mostly Border Collie and a little bit Catahoula Leopard dog If dog ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Western Australian state election will be held on March 8. A Newspoll, conducted January 29 to February 4 from a sample ...
She’s back behind the wheel, and this time, she wants to find out what it is that makes us tick. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. After a prolific career on stage and screen, 83-year-old Miriam Margolyes is on the road again. ...
A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Real Poet Every word earned its place and so did he, so should you. Real poet lives in the capital but writes himself into the Mackenzie country golden hour, man of the paper land, he neglects to mention his pollen ...
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 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25) No better time to get ...
The committee has published this list to inform the public about its work, and to give clarity to submitters who have contacted the committee asking if they will be invited to make an oral submission. ...
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The other day there was a hoo ha about Winston s staffer working on his campaign as it’s not legal for him to use a government played employee .
It struck me that as there are numerous amounts of national party members heading north to campaign ,is there travel and accommodation costs being picked up by the tax payer or does it come from the nat party funding.
The Nats have loads of people working on loopholes… what they do is mostly legal and often questionable (ethically speaking) but I suspect they think ethics are for losers. Fisiani is an example of that.
I understand the guy is on leave. Even if he’s not, the cost of paying him is just another result of FJK’s enabling of Sabin. We wouldn’t been having a byelection if NAct had some ethics.
Trevatt from NZH has always been a big National party cheerleader, in this article she first attacks Peter’s then does a PR job on Osbourne…The NZH shamelessly biased towards the Nats.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11416419
Osborne did a Q and A.
It is now obvious why he is pushing so hard for ten new bridges
“Will you stand in Northland again in 2017?
Absolutely.
[Q: If you don’t win?] We’d have to cross that bridge if we encountered it but I’m doing everything I can to get elected. We expect … to be elected. So I’m looking forward to that.”
my emphasis
And his answer to how to improve Northland? More roads. And when you have more roads, make more roads. Oh and safer roads. And bridges. Lots of bridges.
http://yournz.org/2015/03/13/northland-mark-osborne-q-a/
Surely, the Nats selection committee could have chosen someone a little better than this poor choice? Don’t they have anyone else better than Sabin and Osborne among them?
He isn’t even a shadow of a match to Winston Peters, Willow-Jean Prime or even that chatty ACT dude!
The committee had six candidates to choose from. You should see the other five.
Oh I dunno……that pretty boy (or thinks he is) ex-cop……Matt someone……he was in there……oh shit, sorry…….ex-cop. Forgot. Shame !
There is a lot riding on this by election outside the obvious of law changes like the RMA & signing theTPPA. For supporters of the Northland’s rail network expect an announcement the NAL will close within 6 months. During this campaign the opposition party’s need to put the question to Key. As Labours Transport spokesperson Phil Twyford really needs too lift his game, honesty the churhlish pig joke that saw him booted out of the house didn’t serve Labour well. It is surprising the MSM have not pinned Key down on an answer to the future of the NAL.
Yeah, right. (in response to Tracey at 2.1) And the people of Northland when asked say there are more important things than bridges – sealing the dusty roads for one, assisting people with public transport so they can get to hospital, doctor, WINZ is another, creating projects which provide proper jobs so people can feed themselves and their families, upgrading poor housing, the list is endless.
Trevitt is an appalling NACT sycophant, her articles appear mostly with no comments section as granny knows she would be hammered on her blatant bias giving their message massagers lots of work.
Speaking of comments
It seems very difficult to believe that no comments have been made on this piece by Bryce Edwards, considering it presents itself as open for comments and has had over 800 shares.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11416244
and then, with the flick of a switch, over 104 comments appear … 🙂
Trev’s a shocker !
Corrupt lackey working for a sleazy rag.
What do you expect?!
Wonderful cartoon
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11416399
#saveourkauri goes corporate. Both the council and Vetor rule out buying out the developers. Plus,
Heh.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11416203
I’d wondered how Vector’s name had come into the conversation!
Vector is the power lines company right? What on earth have they got to do with it, other than being a large company with deep pockets?
Powerlines and trees, it was probably a significant issue on that site.
Lines companies gets hammered on outages by the drones at commcomm so they always look to be proactive in such matters rather than let a storm give them too many issues at once.
plus the logistics of getting power to two houses on a steep site with lots of trees where you can’t just dig big straight trenches.
It’ll be sewer, power, gas, water and comms, dig it, bore it, thrust it, rip it, do whatever it takes, stacked in the same hole.
Vector own a large chunk of Treescape, the conractor that was going to cut the tree down.
Ahh, that makes more sense. Thanks.
Stiassney interested in saving trees …yeah right!
Dutch scrap surveillance law over privacy concerns,
http://boingboing.net/2015/03/11/dutch-scrap-surveillance-law-o.html
So it IS possible to resist. Dont they know that it was good for them?
SHOCKING BREAKING NEWS : KEY’s BLATANT BRIBE, LIES AND NOW BLACKMAIL TO THE NORTHLAND VOTERS.
John Key is warning voters there is no “free lunch” in the Northland by-election, as National claims major roads and free-trade deals will be in doubt if Winston Peters wins.
MORE HERE:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67315696/nats-roads-in-doubt-if-winston-wins
That’s called blackmail !
Now isn’t that what Key called the 1080 threat to milkpowder?
Just add spiteful and vindictive to the growing list of undesirable traits Dear Leader has.
Some interesting pieces on the fight for women’s rights in early 1900s, one by Rosa Luxemburg and other about the Militant Women’s Movement (MWM) in Australia in the 1920s and 1930s.
Rosa Luxemburg on class struggle and the fight for women’s right to vote: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/rosa-luxemburg-on-class-struggle-and-the-fight-for-womens-right-to-vote/
The working class militants who brought International Women’s Day to Australia: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/the-working-class-militants-who-took-international-womens-day-to-australia/
Phil
Dr Rosa Luxemburg …a very well educated feminist and from a very well off middle class family i believe…just as many leaders of the NZ feminist movement have been …ie well educated and from middle class backgrounds…like Helen Clark, Sue Kedgely, Sandra Coney ….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg
…add to this list Marilyn Waring, Margaret Wilson, Laila Harre, Christine Dann, Ettie Rout , Elsie Locke,….all very well educated NZ feminists
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/womens-movement
…and OZZy swearing visitor Germaine Greer….and NZ feminists very much influenced by overseas women also well educated ….Kate Millett, Gloria Steinem, Mary Daly, Simone de Beauvoir, Mary Wollstonecraft….
as well as fighting for equality of opportunity in education and the workforce….these feminists fought for contraception, abortion and control of their own fertility
The Equal Pay Campaign of the 40s and 50s = led by women who were well-educated but generally from pretty low income / working class backgrounds.
Let’s remember too that blue collar Socialist and Trade Unionist women were active in feminist politics of one sort or another within the early NZ Labour movement.
yes agree totally…but I am really countering Philip’s impression on other threads that it was working class socialists who were the leaders of feminism ( many working class women were NOT socialist)… and that bourgeois, middle class, educated women like Helen Clark were Not the leaders of the feminist movement and have in fact undermined feminism for working class women…when in actual fact ….well educated middle class women absolutely were leaders for women’s liberation !…and most of them were also egalitarian with socialist sympathies …
…as I recall it the equal pay for equal work issue really got underway in the 1970s…as a teenage university student I leafleted factories where I had worked with another university student ( we roared up on her motorbike at lunch time and delivered the leaflets to the women as they were leaving for lunch) …the women workers there several months later picketted the place and had stop work meetings…eventually they got equal pay
http://www.dol.govt.nz/services/PayAndEmploymentEquity/history.asp
There was a vigorous and highly successful PSA Equal Pay Campaign in the 40s and 50s. Achieved Equal Pay in the New Zealand Public Service by 1960. Tends to be either downplayed or completely ignored by most (though not quite all) Boomer historians in favour of the late 60s/early 70s campaign (associated more with the sort of elite women you’re talking about).
The activists of the 40s and 50s were the wrong Generation (and probably wrong class) for the middle-class Boomer-centric narrative that constitutes the prevailing historiographical orthodoxy. They’re an inconvenient truth. Undermines the mythology that ex-boarding school Boomers were the true pioneers of liberal/progressive thought – A New Generation with a New Explanation and all that sort of self-indulgent tosh.
…i was brought up by the women activists of the 40s and 50s and they were well educated ….some went to boarding schools and to state schools but they were by no means wealthy…so that equation boarding school =wealth is wrong for a start…however their families believed in their girls and their girl’s education ( bourgeois ?…possibly ….certainly by British standards)
….the feminist activists in my experience were/are not the most downtrodden working class women ( no fault of their own) who usually did not have education and often did not work ( remember the Catholic Church, a very strong working class socialist force in those days, did not believe women should work…and did not believe in feminism or birth control…let alone abortion or equal pay for equal work) these working class women stayed at home and dutifully looked after kids and their husbands and if they had jobs , they were menial jobs)
…. NZ feminists and activists were often well educated , some teachers college , nursing , or university educated. They often had professional jobs like teaching…and hence they had independence and could think and act for themselves
Some in the union movement also liked to downplay the role of women. I remember in the 80s, hearing militant “socialists” talking about how women could come along to meetings because scones needed making, etc. Some of them also thought Maori should stick to playing “Ten Guitars.” There was a lot of forgetting of what had done by anyone who hadn’t looked a hell of a lot like the blokes telling the story.
+100…thanks for that MR…I never saw it that bad myself but can believe it….old habits died hard even among male socialists and trade unionists…in the end women and Maori have to liberate themselves and tell their own story …and for 50% approx of the world’s female population there is still a long way to go…increasingly i see war as a feminist issue
Murray, I think that was much more common in the Labour Party than among any militant socialists.
When I was at high school I briefly joined the Labour Party. This was back in the 1970s. It was in a very working class constituency, the old Avon electorate (now Christchurch East). I recall being mystified when at about 9.30pm, all the women suddenly disappeared from the room.
A while later, supper was served and I realised where all the women had gone. They had all gone into the kitchen to make the supper. Those were the days of “Ladies, a plate please”, which meant women were expected to bring food and then prepare it in the kitchen as well, while the men carried on with the political business.
I had been going to all kinds of left-wing and militant socialist meetings at the time, and I’d never seen anything like it. The women never disappeared to make the supper. There was no “Ladies, a plate please” and so on.
I think some people have forgotten how socially reactionary the Labour Party was.
For myself, I left the LP shortly afterwards. I was a radical young person; I wasn’t interested in their archaic practices.
Phil
I’m talking specifically about the Auckland Trade Union Centre and the Socialist Unity Party. They weren’t all that bad, but quite a few were. They were militant and called themselves socialists. I called them “socialists” for a reason. There were also Labour people whom I found just as bad.
Yes, working class activists and unions fought for women’s rights all the way through.
In Britain, the new women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s even arose out of three working class women’s struggles, the most prominent probably being the struggle by women in the Ford car plant at Dagenham for equal pay. (The other two were the struggle by London bus conductresses and by Hull fishermen’s wives around trawler safety.)
See, for instance, https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/class-gender-the-1960s-and-made-in-dagenham/
Phil
Chooky, you still haven’t explained what Helen Clark did for working class women.
She kept the cuts in social welfare benefits and she declared that employer-funded paid parental leave would be introduced “over my dead body”.
Helen Clark wasn’t ever prominent in the women’s liberation movement.
I never gave any impression that working class socialists were the leaders of *feminism*. You’re conflating women’s liberation with feminism. Many people fought for women’s liberation who were not feminists.
I think you’re (unintentionally) writing them out of the picture.
Most of the activists in the early women’s liberation movement in NZ (early 1970s) were militantly socialist, some came from middle class backgrounds, some from working class backgrounds. Same with the early gay liberation activists. Indeed, in Auckland Gay Liberation in the early 1970s a swathe of the activists were members and sympathisers of the Socialist Action League, the LP being pretty virulently anti-gay at the time (although this wasn’t true of younger LP people like Clark, Goff etc).
Phil
Rosa wasn’t a feminist and consciously chose not to be; the vast majority of revolutionary women of the Second International made the same choice.
She was a communist fighter for the emancipation of the working class and women.
Helen Clark wasn’t a leader of the feminist movement; I doubt she ever belonged to a feminist organisation. That’s not a criticism of her, just a statement of fact.
Phil
debatable as to whether Dr Rosa Luxemberg was a feminist or not…most Marxists would like to argue she wasnt …and subsume any feminism and fight for women’s rights to Maxism…others hold a different view…her closest friends were feminist friends and women’s liberation activists
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/002/MR30189.PDF
Helen Clark was and is a feminist and a leader of the feminist movement by her example
http://www.keywiki.org/Helen_Clark#Clark_a_feminist
I object to how some males ( hardly ever females) of Marxist/ Socialist Left persuasion like to rewrite history. They try to subsume the fight women made and won for women’s rights to Marxism or discount non Marxist feminist activists altogether . Lets face it Marxism is run by men like yourself
Standardista 1: Well, looks like Winnie’s got the Tories on the run in Northland. At the very least he’ll give them the fright of their life. Meanwhile, Labour’s up in the polls, Little’s almost universally regarded as a more serious proposition than the last 3 leaders and Key and the Nats are displaying all the symptoms of Third Term-itis. And yet the Tory poll ratings are still high. We’ve got two and a half years. What kind of strategy can we pursue that unites us all together and makes the most efficient and effective use of our collective energy ?
Standardista 2: Here’s an idea. How about we indulge ourselves every 3 or 4 days on Open Mike by channelling all of our time and energy into a never-ending, highly abusive and completely fucking futile debate on the merits or otherwise of homeopathy ?
Let’s get, oh I dunno, say 10 or so Left-leaning activists with entrenched positions on the issue, people who are never going to be convinced by the other side, and let them spend all day from 7am to midnight going hammer and tongs, dominating three-quarters of the thread, racking up 200+ angry comments and basically treating each other with complete and utter contempt ?
Standardista 3: Genius. Sheer Genius. If that doesn’t have the Tories quaking in their boots, I don’t know what will !
yes PG would’ve been proud of that thread yesterday
+1 Swordfish
So much scanning, so little worth reading ….
+ 100%
I wouldn’t mind but my scrolling finger gets sore after 2 minutes and still no end in sight.
I was a young man barely out of my teens and with my whole life ahead of me when I started reading yesterday’s homeopathy thread. By the time I’d finished at comment 32,057, I found I’d grown a long white beard, witnessed the birth of my great-grandchildren and was having more than a few senior moments.
There’s a vaccination for that. Maybe even a homeopathic one.
😀 ….. (or do I mean 😈 )
lol…who brought up the homeopathy thing in the first place anyway?….i suspect it is a diversion introduced by tr..ls…..that and vaccination ..and 9/11…..and Truthers….throw in a few insults… and any other arguments a person makes they are branded for life as a nutter….which is exactly as the tr..ls want it
The Contrarian has a bee in his bonnet about homeopathy. Claimed that I champion homeopathy which is weird because it’s not actually one of my favoured approaches.
Basically, there are some people with a very tight, rational, intellectually framed view of how things work. I reckon they make up between 5% and 10% of the general population. And they can get severely fucked off with people who think the world works differently to what they personally believe. In fact, they are often what I would describe as “secular fundamentalists” and are damn self-righteous about it.
In previous centuries, they might have laid charges of heresy against people like me and had me slowly dessicated in an outstretched position.
+100 CR….we seem to agree on so many things! ….sigh….lol…as my Mother used to say “All the world is mad except for me and thee…..and sometimes I even have some doubts …about thee”
….no really a good scrap is quite enjoyable …especially when you have allies…however I do wonder sometimes if an attempt is being made by some to put us “free thinkers” into a box labelled “nutters” …..when of course we are not!….as long as the “nutter labelling” does not succeed!…but what the hell…let the fight commence…bring it on homeopathy
Heh 🙂
Modern medical establishments are going to go into a noticeable decline and reconfiguration with the end of fossil fuels (along with all other features of modern civilisation that we take for granted). That means in the next 20-25 years. There won’t be any choice around it because the money, physical overheads, international logistics and general complexity required to keep the whole medical machine going will be inherently unsustainable.
As a chiropractor using very simple tools, most of which are home repairable, to get my work done I can see myself being very, very busy at that time.
CR +100…my partner sees a chiropractor regularly and swears by it
….and years ago when he was on morphine for severe sciatica and he was advised to have back surgery by Western doctors and specialists… he took the advice of a Chinese acupuncturist that it wasn’t necessary … with acupuncture and Shiatsu his back muscles were realigned , re-balanced and the problem went away without surgery….i know other people and family who have been helped with acupuncture and Chinese herbs…I am one of them
….so like you Western medicine is not necessarily my first port of call….and I am pretty cautious about the Big Pharma drugs dished out
…..homeopathy is just one alternative medicine ( although since the debates here i am getting quite interested in it again…i must say)
….another medical tradition I am interested in is Ayurvedic medicine…and imo nutrition is crucial…the first medicine
Taoist medicine is also very interesting…moving energy around the body with Taoist yoga meditation , especially so
Great to hear! Ahhh i am a big fan of Chi Kung and the likes, strengthening and balancing the energy of the organs, bringing the mind back inside to the body.
yes this could be the future of medicine…at least preventative medicine ….when the medical establishments go into decline …or are forced to change to an emphasis on prevention of health problems in the first place
” And they can get severely fucked off with people who think the world works differently to what they personally believe.”
That’s hilarious! No one is “fucked off” – it’s that the world actually does work differently to what you personally believe because despite your personal beliefs, they actually conflict with every thing we know about science and medicine and your personal beliefs have shown time and time again to be false. Where as my beliefs are based up predictive and objective evidence, yours are based on personal anecdote – despite pretending to be interested in evidence, which you clearly aren’t.
And you fail to address any of it.
You know how the world works? You believe that science and medicine combined know what there is worth knowing about how the world works? Good for you.
You’re in a small minority.
rip van winkle indeed.
Fair point swordfish. Although I will say this. The standard is essentially an argument based culture. We rarely strategise or do activist work within the community here. There’s some very good actual work being done by Bill and OAB on the Rojava thread over the same time period as the homeopathy conversation, but it looks to me like no-one else is engaging, not even the people that aren’t arguing about homeopathy. Just saying.
The politics of science, and of health rights, are just as interesting to me as the politics of the Northland by election or Labour winning the next election. I’d be happy to put aside the former in favour of activism and strategising, but not sure about putting it aside in favour of just arguing about something else.
And throw in the fluoride debate for good measure….
Who else is getting turned off TS by these interminable and thoroughly boring tirades?
Edit: @ weka
Your ‘arguments’ and questions are worth a read because they are invariably based on sound thinking. You don’t indulge in mindless abuse and/or one-up-man-ship.
I think it’s the latter swordfish is talking about.
+ 1 Yep it was dire yesterday – “entrenched positions, never going to be convinced by the other side” – I’d be interested to know if any participants adjusted their thinking even a little by it all.
Sometimes I learn interesting things, or even find that a certain level of self-reflection in a new direction is prompted by debates that themselves might be intractable.
A recent example was my attitudes towards Bain as opposed to Pora, and whether the contrast was due to my bias or a real difference between the cases. I actually ended up mulling over the contrasts, and whether my views were consistent, for a couple of days.
And the background reading the debates bring up are often interesting. I learnt a bit more about the placebo effect, for example.
But yeah, all that being said, point taken.
All good – I like a good debate too 🙂
Some though are indeed intractable but at least you weren’t debating the dress colours…
+1
Sometimes I despair.
Capitalism’s hacks are always looking for someone else to blame when the system has problems. One that has been doing the rounds for some years now is that the baby boomers used up all the money.
Capitalist ideology usually coincides in some way with reality, albeit in a highly distorted form; otherwise it wouldn’t work.
The element of reality in this crock is that the baby boomers were a ‘lucky generation’ in that their early lives coincided with something quite rare in capitalism – a massive economic boom that was real (ie it was based on the real economy, not paper ‘values’) and it lasted about a quarter of a century.
However, that boom ended in the early 1970s and the system is so clapped out now that it hasn’t been able to produce another boom like it. Booms these days are based largely on paper ‘values’ and centred in the artificial economy, so when the boom turns to bust there is a massive debt overhang.
The exhaustion of capitalism means that the generation after the baby boomers had a more difficult time, while that generations’ children have the increasingly casualised and precarious work of today inflicted on them.
Interesting article that looks at what has happened in Britain, but highly relevant to NZ, is by the excellent Mike Roberts: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/the-lucky-generation/
Phil
And on the subject of scapegoating, here’s a big piece on the first anti-Chinese exclusionary legislation which began the White Zealand policy, later, after WW1, so favoured by the LIberals, Reform and Labour.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/the-white-new-zealand-policy-subordination-racialisation-and-the-first-exclusionary-legislation/
Phil
Phil – what is the neo-Marxist (not sure if that is the correct term to use) critique of different forms of capital? Can you point me to any good writing on the differentiation between natural, social, cultural and financial capital from a holistic perspective (i.e not each one taken as its own sub-discipline, which I am familiar with). I am looking to see whether there is an integrated or integrating theory of capital (from a 21st century perspective), but which retains the premises of Marx’s labour and capital distinction. Thanks in advance.
Wellington’s Green Mayor Wade-Brown is totally losing the plot. In order to get a photo-op with New Zealand’s current favourite cricketer Brendon McCullum the Wellington rate-payers have been forced to cough up $5,750 for a piece of junk.
I am sure McCullum will do his best to “accidentally” lose it at the first possible opportunity.
Where do these politicians get the habit of regarding rate-payers, and tax-payers, money as something they can throw around on anything they feel like?
That was OUR money Celia, it isn’t yours. I suggest you apologise to the Wellington public and pay up out of your own pocket.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/67287307/City-key-for-Brendon-McCullum-cost-Wellington-ratepayers-5000
I wouldn’t say it has any thing to do with her greenness, the ability to waste public money seems to over come most as soon as they get near a cheque book.
I totally agree. It is a common trait.
That is the reason for the general complaint in the third para “Where do these politicians get the habit … “, and the reference to tax-payers as well as rate-payers.
It is just that this one is an example of hers and she has to cop the blame.
I see it in farming the people who I have worked for that have some skin in the game are cautious and strategic in there spending but the couple of managers I’ve worked for that hold the purse can waste money in ways that just make me shake my head.
You can’t beat someone who has run projects with there own money to know the value of a dollar.
Like ThePMONZKey and his huge band of what Bronagh apparently calls “John’s Boys”, The DPS who go everywhere with him……even Hawaii……even the shitter I’m told. Just you know, to make sure he don’t end up down the dunny case of mistaken (perhaps not so much) identity.
Didn’t their budget blow out in the last year or so ? When are we gonna see AirForceOneKey ? So TheChildKey can be like BFBarak ?
Be a bastard won’t it when at the end of 2017 (sooner maybe) he has to hire Blackwater and pay for his vanities himself ?
Shearer likes mercenaries. Maybe he can get FJK a discount from Blackwater, or Xe or whatever it’s called now.
From the looks of it, CWB seems to be hell bent on turning Wellington into some kind of hipster capital of NZ.
Happened a couple of months ago and looks like the decision had very little to do with Wade-Brown (she simply presented it as Mayor).
So, no, not “completely losing the plot in order to get a photo-op”. I realise, of course, you Tories are still bitter about John Morrison’s defeat.
Do you have any evidence for your attempt to clear Celia of involvement?
After all, if she really had any recognition at all that this was a total waste of money, (and it is one hell of a lot of money for a piece of rubbish isn’t it?), there would be a record of her voting against it and there would certainly have been an excuse of being out of town so she didn’t present it while dressed in the full robes of office.
You also seem to “realise” things that are only your delusions don’t you.
You’re the one that needs to stump up with the evidence to back-up your sweeping assertion, alwyn.
Why don’t you just read the story I linked to.
She sounds extremely enthusiastic about the whole thing.
No hint there that she thought it was too much is there?
She goes on and on about how appropriate it is doesn’t she.
As a direct quote “”We’ve got a wonderful template for future honours” and “The chosen key was an appropriate recognition of a notable achievement for Wellingtonians and cricket fans everywhere, balanced with the prudent use of ratepayer funds” Direct quotes
Now evidence that she just went along with it and only presented it because she was the Mayor, please?
“there would certainly have been an excuse of being out of town so she didn’t present it while dressed in the full robes of office.”
No. Presenting it would be a mayoral responsibility and she takes her responsibilities seriously. Not like FJK who denies he’s PM at the Prime Ministerial press conference. Take some time over it, because the idea might be a bit novel.
It’s not your money, it’s the government’s money. Only the government gives it value, only the government issues it, only the government controls the acceptability and supply of it.
You’re only a user of the money that the government approves of and creates.
My last plug of the day.
Excellent little piece by veteran leftie Don Franks:
Every morning we get up and switch on the radio or tv or computer to see what’s happening out there.
On a good day, the big national news will be just some harmless shite about a celeb gaining a kilo, or a cat stuck up a tree, those days are getting fewer.
These days the sun is more likely to rise on a story of some workers getting shafted in a horrible way.
Like the Auckland wharfies being pulled down by a boss who earns $400 an hour.
Or some teachers, rest home workers, firefighters, cleaners, public servants – all the folks who make society function – being laid off, casualised, or forced to kiss arse and reapply for their positions, at worse pay and conditions.
The prevailing social reaction to this brute manipulation of decent working people’s lives is, at best, a craven plea for sympathy. “Vulnerable workers should not be so treated”.
I would so like to find the well-meaning union office idiot who coined the phrase “vulnerable workers” and kick their sorry arse until their nose bleeds a bucket.
Pleading the case for “vulnerable workers” is on the same loser page . . .
full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/have-faith-in-the-working-class/
Could Mike Hosking’s NewstalkZB show be any more vacuous or witless?
We need new people in media, they’re all out of touch plain stupid now.
NewstalkZB, Friday 13 March 2015, 8:15 a.m.
Mike Hosking, Toni Street, Tim Wilson
A long, appalling record of making racist comments on air; chance after chance after chance; followed by more racist antics: any New Zealander will recognize Jeremy Clarkson‘s irresponsible, provocative, inflammatory behavior as a crass Essex yobbo version of the behavior of the former NewstalkZB breakfast host—and Mike Hosking’s predecessor—Paul Holmes. If Hosking, Toni Street or Tim Wilson had any gumption, they would have drawn that glaringly obvious comparison. But none of these people has any gumption; it’s as absent on this station as is courage, or honesty, or integrity, or wit….
MIKE HOSKING: Okay: Jeremy Clarkson. Should he be fired or not?
TIM WILSON: [speaking slowly, with gravitas] If his name was Charlie Hebdo, we wouldn’t even be asking that question.
….A genuinely baffled silence descends for a few moments. Even in the notoriously bewildered and determinedly ignorant confines of the NewstalkZB studio, that was one of the more bizarre statements to ever be uttered. Its crazed quality was only enhanced by the sad fact that Tim Wilson, who has written a “serious” novel and clearly fancies himself as an intellectual, was trying to be deadly serious….
MIKE HOSKING: Hmmm. Mmm-kaaay.
TONI STREET: You know what the whole Jeremy Clarkson affair reminded me of?
MIKE HOSKING: No, what?
TONI STREET: Jesse Ryder. He’s been given chance after chance after chance. And one of these days he’s going to do something really bad. Is the BBC prepared to risk it?
MIKE HOSKING: Hmmmm. But Ryder amounted to nothing, whereas Clarkson has made something of himself.
TONI STREET: Yes but…..
…..et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam…
Commenting on this sort of vacuity, albeit in an American context, someone on the excellent Gawker site summed it up perfectly the other day….
“What da fuq? Like I said, we need new people in media, they’re all out of touch plain stupid now.”
http://gawker.com/morning-joe-hosts-blame-rappers-for-sae-frats-racist-ch-1690754211
Clarkson can be quite hardcase, but he ruins it by putting the boot into minorities, etc.
He has also made some deeply offensive–and violent—comments against political dissidents.
I agree he is often very funny, and a talented broadcaster.
He is always punching down, thats the problem. Just like our own Henry and Hoskings, and most of the others we are subjected to on a daily basis.
Punching down, and kissing up. He’s absolutely slavish in his displays of prostration before the wealthy and the powerful.
If that “punching down” is yours Jono then how do I say perfection ?
Isn’t that so true ? The ones we’re told are our media leading lights are so fucking into ‘punching down’. I personally couldn’t give a fuck about their need to ‘kiss up’ (thanks Morrissey). That’s their self-esteem and brown tongue burden. But the punching down. Bloody unforgivable !
For my faults and I’m not really proud of it ssometimes I just lust for the cardboard people, the Holmes’, the Hoskings, the Henry’s to find themselves in places like the Timberlands Public Bar in Tokoroa (gone now) or the East Tamaki Tavern in Otara (also gone now)…….and have the guts (no) to serve up their shit to those fullas……
When I talk cardboard people I do equally refer to John Phillip Key of course.
Apropos whom Campbell Live tonight and the father of the triplets who died in Doha……asserting that John Phillip Key might care to “get some guts”. Funny how words can come back what ?
I have the same sort of lustful feelings, North. Those pricks should be ashamed of how they inspire them in us.
The Nats have made another “blue” with their 10 bridges proposal for Northland – and I’m not sure if anyone other than Campbell Live has really picked up on it.
One of the 10 “bridges” is the one-way lane between two magnificent kauri called Darby and Joan on the way to the Waipoua Forest. There’s no way this tiny bit of the road could be widened to make way for a two-lane “bridge”. And nor is it necessary. Driving between these two magnificent trees is a crucial part of the tourist experience in this forest.
Awksuully there just old trees
yeah, right !
b waghorn. So they are old trees so what does your post actually suggest?
That John Key is ecologically illiterate.
It was a poke at key s comment the other day about the waitakiri trees being old I should of put SARC or something after it.
Yeah definitely put sarc – sometimes one feels raw after listening to and reading political bozos – the sense of proportion and humour just goes.
I kind of thought that mangling the word actually was a give away that I was channeling key,but with my spelling I guess people might be forgiven for thinking that I’d spell it that way. 😉
@bwaghorn
Yes, true!
Do you HAVE to be such a sensitive wee sausage Mr Shears ?
Those kauri are safe. It’s TheBigTreeKey who’s on the way out.
Mr Shears was my Fathers name my name is John.
I was simply asking bw what he meant and he explained , thanks bw.
Picture of trees and bridge https://twitter.com/annabf/status/575571273650159616
Thanks for that, weka. I see further down that twitter thread that Patrick Reynolds, photographer artist dude , says there is 300 kauri in the path of the Holiday Highway. Oh Dear……
Quick, someone bring the smelling salts for John Boy!
“and I’m not sure if anyone other than Campbell Live has really picked up on it.”
Actually it was raised in Parliament first, and Campbell Live followed it up after that.
“There’s no way this tiny bit of the road could be widened to make way for a two-lane “bridge”.”
Having a two-lane bridge is cost-effective. Of course there’s no reason you can’t have two single-lane bridges, going in opposite directions, if you have a good reason to build it that way.
“Having a two-lane bridge is cost-effective”
How so?
It’s cheaper to build 1 larger bridge than 2 smaller ones.
Nippon Clippon for Auckland’s bridge, for example.
Ok, but what does that have to do with this conversation about an existing one lane bridge that Key wants to make into a two lane bridge that would involve cutting down 2 kauri trees?
I would have thought that would be fairly obvious.
huh, then why would I be asking? I don’t understand the point you are trying to make. Will you clarify?
Lanthanide hasn’t clarified, Weka – but I’m wondering if he means that having a two-way bridge being more cost-effective is anything to do with logging trucks which I’ve seen trundle up the road past the Waipoua Forest and over that tiny one-lane strip between the two kauri trees.
ie it being more cost-effective to chop down two old kauri to make way for two-way road for logging trucks. Is this what you meant, Lanthanide @ 14.3.1.1.1.1. ? ?
Thanks jenny. I’ve been assuming the widening of the bridges is mostly bribe and not something that’s really necessary, but then I think one lane bridges are normal even on quite busy roads. I don’t know the area though.
If instead of tearing down the current bridge and replacing it with a 2 lane bridge, they build another single lane bridge, they won’t have to cut down or affect the trees in any way. This solution would ultimately cost more.
ok, thanks.
Who out there is constantly seeing reality butt up against fiction? Headlines and opinions going contrary to what your senses tell you?
Today’s Stuff editorial comments on keeping inflation at bay. Given the depths of recession the world economy really is in who honestly believes the official numbers? Recessions are by definition deflationary. There’s some trickery afoot however because somehow wages and prices do go up but purchasing power goes down. Inflation and deflation all at once. I can’t help but think that we are getting so detached from reality that we cannot accept the validity of anything our “leaders” and their media tell us.
all these media outlets are fundamentally ignorant. Mix that in with needing to project and repeat the fashionable narrative of the day from the power elite, and you get stupid situations where a story on desperate homeless families is placed right next to one on the positive wealth effect of ever increasing house prices and how to make use of the market to secure your financial future.
Kerry Anne Walsh talked, in her regular report from Oz this morning, about the young jihadist from Australia. He had lost his mother recently and appeared to be a bit lost and with no firm beliefs.
So perhaps he was someone open to a strong message and a feeling of belonging to something definite, and rather mysterious, both tangible and intangible.
It reminded me of the magnetic attraction of many cults in past decades, particularly in the USA. Well-off parents virtually lost their children who stopped communicating and isolated themselves from their parents. They then had to hire people with experience to kidnap their children from the cults, and de-program them. Ones I heard about may have been professed Christians, some Catholics I think, but the children didn’t feel their faith strongly and meaningfully in their lives, and it almost seemed that having been part of a religion made them more usceptaible to be won over by another sect.
It was an unpleasant cultural phenomenon which I haven’t heard much about recently, but no doubt is still continuing. There were the Moonies, the Jones group that went to South America, Charles Manson’s ‘family’ amongst many others. The thing that recurs in explanations seems to be that these are young people who don’t feel they have some firm path and moral life as a basis for their life, and are attracted to join a ‘gang’ where they will be accepted, follow rules, join in a united enterprise of some sort. This is the explanation given for many Maori gangs,
I think this viewpoint gives a very valid explanation for recruitment of western youth as well as Muslim youth into this new wr of minds and power.
Some links about cults –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_religious_movement
http://listverse.com/2007/09/15/top-10-cults/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprogramming
So, our war effort in Iraq will be training Iraqis.
This came up on my twitter feed this morning: US-Trained Iraqi Forces Investigated for War Crimes
I wonder if any of the NZ press will pick it up – looks timely and extremely relevant to NZ’s current position.
So probably not.
Those are US-trained war crimes. FJK can find other ones.
An eye-opener this one
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/67264515/NZ-bins-872m-of-food-yearly
What to do – I think we need to make it easier for people to get unwanted food to where it is wanted. Plus composting, worm farms, feeding pigs and chickens – all of these can make use of discarded food and recycle it back rather than just be biffed.
Less than a week to go until “a prominent New Zealander” loses name suppression:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11404727
Anyone know if “APNZ” has lodged an appeal?
no, but I am happy to place a bet Key is pulling every trick out of his top drawer to ensure suppression continues.
I was thinking that a judge from the Whangarei High Court could be up for a knighthood soon, or maybe elevation to the Supreme Court? I don’t think there’s much FJK wouldn’t do.
Cameron Slater calling uninsured people in Christchurch “scum”.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cameron-slater-says-christchurch-quake-victims-still-scum-6254379
Maybe he should look in the mirror and see what that definition truly means. According to the urban dictionary definition. – It is hard to define the word, but it is basically used to describe someone so disgraceful that they are seen as the lowest form of life. “Worthlessness”, “waste of skin”, “dirt”. “Nothing”.
Sounds very like Cameron Slater. So disgraceful i.e. a person with no ethics, compassion, a highly manipulative malicious person that is completely obsessed with their own self interest. Like the froth on the top of the contents of a sewer pipe. That description fits him like a glove.
Not only that but the fool is pig-ignorant wrong on the point he is making. 100% wrong.
The issue of whether having private insurance should affect redzone offers from the crown was something looked at by the high court just 3-4weeks ago.
Mr Blobby is flat out wrong.
Cant insure bare land.
Exactly – Slater should know that
And……you know……issues not essentially physical which we’re not allowed to identify with any particularity.
I hope Ryder pounds the shit out of him. It will make up for him choosing to perfect his drinking skills at the expense of his batting skills.
I saw Ryder and the slug face up for one of those pre fight things they do in boxing ,Slater was in my opinion shifting him self I reckon Ryder will do him like a dinner.
@ Lorraine
+1
But I fear that only adds to his vanity. He has been very screwed up while growing up. There was a book called The Bad Seed in the 1950’s along the lines of people being ‘born bad’ but I don’t believe it. It’s children not taught how to deal with feelings of anger, failure or other’s taunts. They are not taught how to deal with them calmly but learn the art of bouncing them on to others. And then attack first before the others get a chance. Thus you get Slater. His parents and schooling have a lot to answer for.
We were in the same class at intermediate school.
I didn’t know him well, but I remember him as being well adjusted, not stupid, didn’t need attention, wasn’t a bully.
I took me a while to reconcile the kid I remember with modern day Slater. I refused to believe it initially.
It bothered me enough though that I sat down and worked out his age, and the school he was most likely to go to at that time.
@ Naturesong
Didn’t need attention etc. Was he one of those youngsters who are a bit repressed which is apparently the case in the bad violence in schoolkids in USA. Something triggers it off. Perhaps he needs a school environment to stay on the straight and narrow. It’s a puzzle.
Nope, seemed like a perfectly normal kid.
He didn’t seem repressed, but we did have different circles, I hung out with the other kids that liked cricket, no idea who he spent his time with.
My guess is that the cause of a change that fundamental is likely to very close to him, likely family or loved one – be it a death, or abuse or whatever, who knows.
But something clearly changed him. May even be the cause of his depression.
Anyway, enough time spent on speculation about Slater.
While I’m sorry that he’s suffered in his life, I am resolutely opposed to the poisonous influence he has on public discourse in NZ (which mostly involves debunking the WO lines my brother repeats)
@ Naturesong
That’s a bummer. Trying to insert a little reason into the mess of stuff being transmitted by WO is a dirty job so thank goodness you are trying to do it.
On the news this morning – Otago hospital meals may be prepared in Auckland and trucked or flown down to Dunedin! This is another sign of the crazy economic system we use. Cheapness and efficiency is all. And presumably they have got a cheaper price in Auckland. I wonder what nutritional food will be left off to allow the decent profit margin.
Or which possible local company in Otago is being undercut in order to create a monopoly..
Recently Orwell and Huxley were referred to here in the context of efficiency.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/03/1984-v-brave-new-world.html
I feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-Four is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World. The change will be brought about as a result of a felt need for increased efficiency.
More thoughts on efficiency. and decision making. http://www.forbes.com/sites/howardbaldwin/2015/02/22/what-would-orwell-and-huxley-think-about-big-data/
Seek out critical thinking and diverse skill sets. “To avoid misinterpretation means valuing not only math and engineering but also social sciences and humanities. … Without a balance of critical thinking, business knowledge and smart analytics tools, we’re in danger of making the wrong decision much more efficiently, quickly, and with far greater impact.”
Insist on ethical data use and transparent disclosure. “As organizations become more data centric, for their own benefit as well as their customers’, they must also look closely at the affirmative and passive decisions they make about [how they use and analyze data] and how transparently they disclose these actions.”
Reward and reinforce humility and learning. “The world is just starting to come to terms with the impact of data ubiquity [the most difficult impact of which] is that it radically undermines traditional methods of analysis and laughs at our desire for certainty. [Enterprises must develop an appetite for continuous learning, whether the goal is to sell a pair of shoes or to help prevent cancer.]
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/336112/frozen-meals-sent-auckland
What do the evidenced based conventional medicine types say about this move? Where is the evidence for and against in terms of patient health outcomes? Anything?
healthcare supplied by the lowest bidder – what could possibly go wrong 😉
🙄
traditional Chinese, Maori, Indian (including Indian Nations) and other healing traditions have plenty to say on the importance of food and its correct contents and preparation for people recovering from illnesses and injury. Just saying.
Yes, “conventional medicine” completely ignores the importance of nutrition. /sarc
Thankfully, all we need to do is dilute one meal 30 times and we can feed the entire hospital.
lol funny one
*shrug*
Enjoy your snap frozen meal from Auckland.
+100 CR…”traditional Chinese, Maori, Indian (including Indian Nations) and other healing traditions have plenty to say on the importance of food”…. …Western medicine has a lot to learn from these traditions
traditional Chinese, Maori, Indian (including Indian Nations) and other healing traditions have plenty to say on the importance of food and its correct contents and preparation for people recovering from illnesses and injury.
If only western medicine had grasped the idea that nutrition could have effects on health, eh? What a shameful fucking lost opportunity right there…
The fat hypothesis hasn’t worked out too well though has it.
Tell me how many hours of a medical degree are spent on nutrition.
I suspect the decisions at this level are made by MBAs and accountants. Money is the only outcome they recognise.
I’d like to know if they intend to remove the hospital kitchens and then what they will do in 10 years time when the transport costs make Aucklad meals not cost effective due to Peak Oil
If the kitchens are any decent size, they’ll probably be stripped for space. Which will almost certainly involve blown costs when they find asbestos or something else that wasn’t factored into the equation. And then eventually they’ll have to build a new structure anyway, so it’s all for nought.
Then the board will be locked in to contracting for offsite cooking, be it in auckland or dunedin. But the annual sticker costs are cheaper, so they’ll do it.
And meanwhile otago continues to be fucked by an idiotic per capita funding system (as well as a sociopathic IT fraudster).
Now there are four contenders, but I’m still picking Hague (even though my personal preference is for Hughes, Tava is even more unlikely now that the Blue-Green vote will be split):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11416709
This contest will be a great measure of the blue green sentiment in the GP.
@ Colonial Viper
And a concern for the left if that sentiment is shown to be strong.
The Greens help to keep Labour left, thus moving further right will remove that handbrake, allowing Labour to move further right.
I’m glad Shaw is running, I’d like to have a better look at how he conducts himself and the way he approaches policy discussions.
He may be a good leader in the future, he’s signalled that he wants to be.
Although I identify more with Hughes than Hague, I wont be voting for him.
Hague has a long and honerable history, and to my mind it the most able of all the condenders to lead the Greens at this time. He currently has my vote.
But …. if Graham put his hand up I’m done. I wouldn’t be able to choose between those two.
The Shaw camp’s position seems to be that:
https://dimpost.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/shaw-up-the-greens/
The graph showing the Wellington Central vote is quite impressive – outperforming even Rongotai (Norman) and Dunedin North (Turei). However as the first commentor to the post (phil) says:
It also disregards the work that Kedgley and her team did in growing the GP vote from; 6,530 in 2005, to; 8,494 in 2008. Shaw, and his team, did fine work in building upon this in; 2011 to 10,903, but frankly stalled in; 2014 at 11,545. Meanwhile Shaw’s own electorate vote dropped from; 5,225 in 2011, to; 5,077 in 2014. By comparison, Kedgley’s EV in 2008 was; 5,971.
I feel cagey about giving Shaw too much credit for the Green party vote in Wellington Central. Based on nothing more than having lived there a few years (and been a Robertson/Greens split-voter in 2008) I’d assume a much bigger factor is the number of students/young liberal folk who either couldn’t bring themselves to party-vote Labour for whatever reason or who wanted to ensure that a Labour government, if one eventuated, needed to go into coalition with the Greens rather that, say, Winston. (This may reflect my own thinking at the time!)
billions of litres of Calif. fracking water full of hazardous chemicals
http://rt.com/usa/240145-california-fracking-wastewater-chemicals/
and coming to a fresh water table near you … courtesy of the lovely boy bridges.
And while I was looking at the unpalatable drinking water piece I saw a bit on Russian fighter cowboy-style off Norway. From December 2014.
Two top guns came into very close contact when a Russian MiG-31 aircraft overtook a Norwegian F-16 fighter and cut practically in front of it, forcing the NATO pilot to veer away sharply.
The Russian jet passed the F-16 within a mere 20 meters, causing the Norwegian pilot to exclaim, “What the hell!” before darting away hastily.
Norway’s Air Force had to scramble Russian military planes 43 times this year and 42 times in 2013. The number has been consistent over the last five years.
When NATO fighter jets intercept Russian bombers and other warplanes, or vice versa, pilots are usually polite and keep their distance. The previous incident with hazardous proximity took place back in 2012, when a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet intercepted and approached “uncomfortably close” to a Norwegian Orion reconnaissance aircraft over the Barents Sea.
The Mikoyan MiG-31 (NATO code name Foxhound) is a Soviet-design supersonic interceptor, the world’s fastest aircraft in service today.
After the US Air Force decommissioned Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, which achieved a speed of slightly more than Mach 3.2 (3,540kph), the MiG-31 with its 3,000kph remains the world’s fastest manned aircraft in service.
Further headlines for March 2015:
* Russian battleships in the English Channel, say they’re training
* Argentina and UK Falklands spat spiced up by Russian jets.
* Long range air patrols put Russian strategic bombers near Guam
* Northern Europe beefs up air patrols to oppose “Russian invasion”
* Russia to expand aviation patrol mission to Gulf of Mexico – defence minister
plus another six items all about Russian defence moves
This blog is called RT Question More – it’s strange that all the items were about Russian behaviours. It’s the general news. There was little about NATO moves to be aggressive. I question whether it’s a Janus-type blog, looks one way to me.
Hmmmm, RT receives most of its funding by the Russian government. If there is news on some Russian military exercise or introduction of some new weapon system, I presume it means that they want the west to know about it.
For more than 10 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russians could no longer afford to conduct regular nuclear submarine or strategic bomber patrols. They relatively recently restarted those patrols. Its been portrayed in the west as being “provocative” or “unhelpful.”
What is very rarely mentioned is that AFAIK the Americans never stopped doing their strategic nuclear patrols through that entire time.
CR
Well that’s interesting. I wondered at the heavy coverge of Russian stuff. But I was not able to look further, so thanks for info. Perhaps they are going to report their own stuff so that the west doesn’t only look at their own biased news wfor updates and background.
Mora and Moffett’s nasty double-act today was like something out of Maoist China.
Lisa Scott’s vacuous laughter played an important role too.
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 13 March 2015, 3:45 p.m.
Jim Mora, Steve McCabe, Lisa Scott, Julie Moffett
Regular sufferers of this dismal chat show will probably have gritted their teeth listening to Lisa Scott before. She never has much to say, but she is adept at laughing supportively—no matter how depraved the discussion gets….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11122013/#comment-743070
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04122013/#comment-738941
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19072013/#comment-664870
Today, she was even more inane and giggly than normal. But her empty-headed snorting was important to offset the nasty political smearing that the host and his producer were engaged in….
JIM MORA: What the World is Talking About with Julie Moffett shortly. WHERE ARE OUR UNIVERSITIES on the latest reputation rankings? Good question. The sexism of opening doors for women. More bad news about smoking weed when you are young; you end up with part of your brain bent. The biggest fish ever bent by a rod! Ever caught by rod. The new stand-alone Star Wars film gets a title. To what extent nutrition can prevent dementia: new findings. And what we’d call products if we named them literally. On the Panel today, Lisa Scott. How would you BE, Lisa?
LISA SCOTT: Really incredibly caffeinated. Ha! How are YOU?
MORA: You’re highly caffeinated as you join us!
LISA SCOTT: Highly! I could be toxic. Don’t draw my blood at any stage, Jim!
MORA: And Steve McCabe, who’s usually here at this juncture, but not today. The possibilities with Cyclone Pam, ahhhh, Terry Pratchett’s thoughts on aging, the subject is revived of the effects on the young of music videos, especially violence in music vids, and, errr, who’s saluting as we run the new ideas for our national symbol up the flag-pole? With Lisa and Steve, after four. ….
For a couple of minutes, he reads out some listeners’ correspondence about homeopathy, which was discussed yesterday, then a poem and a letter about the Titirangi kauri controversy. Lisa Scott giggles winsomely several times….
MORA: But it’s ten to four, and Julie, I think we’d better unleash your stories.
JULIE MOFFETT: Well, THIS one has got Russia’s internet abuzz. People are questioning: is Vladimir Putin DEAD?
LISA SCOTT: A ha ha!
MORA: How long since he’s been sighted?
JULIE MOFFETT: It’s been eight days.
MORA: Has it really?
JULIE MOFFETT: Eight days now! And the last time he was seen—I think this could be a clue!—the last time he was seen was with a group of women at the Kremlin on March the eighth—
LISA SCOTT: [snickering] He, he!
JULIE MOFFETT: That’s not eight days, is it?—celebrating International Women’s Day.
MORA: It’s FIVE days!
LISA SCOTT: He he!
MORA: He’s only been missing five days!
JULIE MOFFETT: Still quite a long time though!
MORA: So the last time he made a public appearance was on International Women’s Day.
LISA SCOTT: He he! They knocked him off! That’s brilliant!
MORA: A hur hur hur hur hur hur hur!
JULIE MOFFETT: Possiblyyyyyy… Ah, yeah, apparently there’s a huge stir in, ahh, Russia. Aaahm, “Путин мертв”—“Putin is dead”—is a trending search across Russia.
LISA SCOTT: He he!
JULIE MOFFETT: Ahhh, “hashtag Putin is dead” is ex-PLODING on Twitter—
LISA SCOTT: He he he!
JULIE MOFFETT:—and blogs have been posting serious claims about this as well.
LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha!
JULIE MOFFETT: One says that, ahhhh, Putin’s, ahhhh, actually suffered a STROKE and he’s in a Moscow hospital—
MORA: They’re interviewing their typewriters, we know this don’t we!
JULIE MOFFETT: Ha ha ha ha! That’s right! And, ahhhhmm, other people are saying that he’s got advanced CANCER! So this is really, a bit like the Paul McCartney Abbey Road conspiracy.
MORA: Which he developed in the last five days. This advanced form of cancer.
LISA SCOTT: He hasn’t come and said “Rumors of my demise” at any point?
MORA: He’s just gonna stage a big, you know—
JULIE MOFFETT: Comeback.
MORA: Yeah. Bare-shirted.
LISA SCOTT: A ha ha ha! Yeah, it always is!
MORA: Is there any–I mean, are there any complicating factors which add any credence to the supposition—
JULIE MOFFETT: Well, he HAS been canceling meetings! So he’s, ahhh, cancelled a meeting with the new, ahhhh, head of the office that used to be the KGB, ahmmmmm, and he has also cancelled a trip to, errr, Kazakhstan as well.
MORA: Oooohh, that could be serious, ‘cos of course we know that he likes to go to Kazakhstan.
JULIE MOFFETT: [chortling] He’s DYING to go to there! Literally.
So there’s nothing to it really.
JULIE MOFFETT: N-n-no, it doesn’t SOUND like it, but hey! You never know! Maybe he’ll come back and he’s had a facelift!
LISA SCOTT: A ha ha!
MORA: Interesting. But five days, I suppose, for Vladimir Putin is a long time.
JULIE MOFFETT: Mmm, mmmm. Mmm.
MORA: Okay.
….Pause….
JULIE MOFFETT: Ummmmm, the top one hundred universities in the world by reputation has been done.
MORA: Interesting way of ranking it. This is the Times Educational Supplement one, isn’t it.
JULIE MOFFETT: Yeah. And there are no New Zealand universities in it.
MORA: Yeah what’s happened to our varsities?
….et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam….
I didn’t have the stomach to listen to any more of this crap, but I note that later in the program they were scheduled to feign seriousness and “discuss” the effects of music videos on young people. Perhaps Mora, Moffett and Scott would have been better to examine themselves instead, and consider whether New Zealanders’ brains are rotted by listening to the kind of nasty and moronic banter they served up on The Panel preshow this afternoon.
Steve McCabe (was it?) wasn’t bad though Morrissey. Had a bit of a spray about ThePonceKey……to be answered, mockingly, patronisingly by Mora with “Well YOU”VE nailed your colours to the mast Steve McCabe !”
Whereas in response to Key worshippers like that insufferable political science graduate now Beer Expert Neil Miller Old Suckarse Jimmy just goes on being The Nicest Man In The World.
Steve McCabe (was it?) wasn’t bad though Morrissey. Had a bit of a spray about ThePonceKey……to be answered, mockingly, patronisingly by Mora with “Well YOU”VE nailed your colours to the mast Steve McCabe !”
Thanks for that, North. I listened only to the part I transcribed, and Steve McCabe had not arrived in the studio at that point. I have generally been most impressed with his contributions in the past. Like Dita Di Boni, he is not afraid to speak clearly and honestly, and has a limited tolerance for fools.
Whereas in response to Key worshippers like that insufferable political science graduate now Beer Expert Neil Miller Old Suckarse Jimmy just goes on being The Nicest Man In The World.
Yes, his bias is irrefutable. He told me in an email a few years ago that he lets “both sides have their say.” That was untrue then, and it’s even more untrue now.
Morrissey you deserve a medal. This is light magazine stuff for airheads. They should stick to it and not get into grown up matters. It’s dinner table chat stuff as no doubt heard at their houses, and not taxing on people who don’t like to be taxed. Hah,hah…laughs winsomely.
John Key is NZ’s ‘number one eco-terrorist’, says campaigner.
Read more here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11416780
Brilliant ! thanks for putting this up Clem ! I hadn’t seen it before now.
How very excellent! 😀 Go Steve Abel.
I also liked the one the other day here, JK as an ego-terrorist.
oooh …… burn!
And New Zealand wins the cricket! 🙂
Auckland Council’s poor judgement on what it wastes ratepayers money on.
It infuriates me to hear of another complete waste our rates money on something that provides no benefit to ratepayer. i.e. the thousands wasted on an image consultant to teach staff to dress better.
They don’t seem to think they are accountable to us at all.
Who makes these stupid decisions. They should be sacked.
It seems surprising that no-one has linked to this yet:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-shocks-as-he-eats-a-raw-onion-whole-20150313-143syz.html
When I saw this, I assumed it was from some satirical news website like the onion *snicker* or the civilian. How wrong I was.
Definitely Abbott’s “presenting snapper in Parliament” moment.
Goner.