Yep, heard that. It completely contradicts John, Bill and Steve’s repeated line that a significant net amount of new jobs have been created under their watch….. and even then I think they are referring to more part time jobs amongst that alleged increase.
Bill was on the radio this morning, doing his best to confuse the issue by saying the household labour survey is what has always been used to measure unemployment, which is true, however the statistic that is being debated at the moment is the jobs creation figure, which definitely is not included in the household labour survey. Don’t let Bill confuse you.
But doesn’t the government reject using the Household Labour Survey as a measure of unemployment, preferring the registered unemployed figure?
Ah, Bill says the HLF Survey has always been used to measure “employment”.
Bill was confused himself first he said the data was from Treasury,until his office corrected saying it was the HH labour survey.
The RBNZ Statement had a significant point .
The bank said evidence of the Canterbury rebuild were becoming “more apparent” in official figures than three months ago.
“Offsetting this, fiscal consolidation is constraining demand growth, and the high New Zealand dollar continues to undermine export earnings and encourage substitution toward imported goods and services.”
Despite warning about the strength of the Kiwi dollar, the Reserve Bank appears to hold little hope that it will weaken in the near term.
The other problematic problem is the creation of poorly thought policy initiatives with employment rules eg
Reinhart at Jackson hole suggested this was a forcing mechanism for persistent economic contraction (and unempolyment).
Economic contraction and slow recovery might also feed back on the prospects for aggregate supply. A sustained stretch of below-trend investment and depreciation of human capital prompted by elevated and lengthy spells of unemployment could hit the level and growth rate of potential output. The unemployment rate stays high because it has been high, exhibiting hysteresis as described by Blanchard and Summers (1986).
The forcing mechanism for a reduction in aggregate supply might be policy itself. In adverse economic circumstances, political leaders sometimes grasp for quick fixes that impair, not improve, the situation. Included in the list of unfortunate interventions are restrictions on trade (both domestically and internationally), work rules and pay practices, and the flow of credit. The output effects of crises might be persistent because we make them so, in the manner posited for the Great Depression by Cole and Ohanian (2002).
They keep on quoting from the Household Labour force survey like it’s scripture, and not just another document. And even if you believe what joyce was quoting today, about the 54000 net jobs in the last 4 years, that’s only just above 15000 a year. Now in that time they have tipped about 60000 people out of work and how many left school in that time?? and thats before they get to us at the bottom of the pile. And we ALL want to work.
Frankly John, Bill and Steve are lucky it’s only 13,000. Imagine what the figure would be if we hadn’t had record emigration to Australia in the last few years. No wonder Key’s stopped blathering on about a brighter future.
The chill winds blow in Europe, the storm coming from this will affect the world. The insamity of the neo-lib financiers made plain to see by Ilargi at Theautomaticearth. This no doubt will be their recipe for all.
…demands the Troika placed on Greece today. They want to fire 150.000 civil servants, raise the retirement age to 67 years immediately, cut “lay-off compensation” by 50%, and, wait for it, introduce a 6-day working week, and stretch the working day to 13 hours. In theory, that could lead to a 78-hour working week.
Hey I want to live and buy a house in Holland. They can buy a house on interest only mortgage and the interest is tax deductible. Sounds like sound financing to me, not!
Prism, Nice story don’t you think…wish I had a Dutch income stream to do the deduct against.
What I find interesting about the stories on TAE and the other international sites are the implications for small countries like NZ. Whilst we Standardistas are busy bitching away on local issues (quite rightly), we are in danger of getting dry gulched by these offshore events. If we dont consider these implications we may win battles and lose the war. To use one of the contemptible management speak lines “think globally, act locally”.
Bored 3 1 1
Yes I sometimes feel we get too close to the pollies here, fascinated with their next reverse backwards flip and triplespeak. They could be regarded as a sideshow in a way, to the world, sort of like that fairground game of moving heads with open mouths that has been used as a graphic here I think. I’m hopeless at throwing balls and scoring points though I keep trying, and we all need to try looking at another show often.
I’m down at Turangawaewae for the water hui, and I just wanted to clear up a few things before I go in. You see John, there’s quite a bit of confusion about how Maori are being pushed to help you with your asset sales problem, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a push from your side to help Maori with any of our problems – like poverty, low wages, massive unemployment, poor housing, benefit cuts … you know the rest.
And in the middle, there’s this:
And water really is a taonga to us John, a treasure. It’s hard to explain in English but water is something to cherish, to care for, to respect and to protect for future generations. Moana Jackson says “every tribe has a river” and the people of Whanganui have a saying: “I am the river and the river is me”. Water is part of who we are.
And Maori water rights need to be understood in that context, John. Not as a tradeable commodity, but as part and parcel of our very existence.
Even Pakeha people get that; I think that might be why so many of them oppose asset sales too.
It seems as if some successful wealthy people who are into large scale fishing won’t be happy till they profit and take all the fish available to them. After the stock is so depleted that its uneconomical for them they will probably look at chopping down all the trees that are left or something of that nature. Or something else in the food business, force feeding cattle to make them grow faster perhaps.
The Dutch are trying to heavy Australia over the present two year ban which is very irresponsible of them to take this anti-ecological sustainability line. They have been working on this with the Australian government apparently for seven years. It may have been that the Oz govmnt has been reluctant to turn down investment, letting money and jobs and overseas finance cloud their realities. Dutch attack
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost, operators Seafish Tasmania say….”It seems that after we have met every rule, regulation and request made of us, after years of working with the relevant authorities, that in the end the government reacted to the size of the Abel Tasman and not the size of the quota and the science that supports it,” Mr Geen said. http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/super-trawler-ban-cost-50-063210851.html
It is confusing for a newbie to look at the way company formed 20/4/12 is made up and looking at the registration Dutch interests loom large. But only one share is listed under shareholding. http://www.scribd.com/doc/105580298/Seafish-Tasmania-Pelagic-Pty-Limited-ASIC-Report-Data
It can be embarrassing for politicians to admit they don’t understand scientific findings and ask naive questions that elicit where the facts are not what they appear. All the company needs to do is talk about extra jobs and eureka they get stuffed into a hole appearing in the employment stats.
Seafish partnered with the Dutch business have named this large trawler Abel Tasman.
I see that name as an insult to the person who was a great mariner of his time, and deserves a better memorial. They are reported as scooping up all the fish they can in volume – said to be sending much of it to Africa at $1 a kilo. Their explanation and justification will no doubt be ‘We are feeding the hungry in the world’. So they plan to profit from that and clean out fish stocks around the world. Apparently this large trawler has been in other areas and moved on as they have ‘vacuumed’ up the stocks.
A case for a Rainbow Warrior-type memento perhaps.
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost In my role as an honorary fish I would point out that when all we fish are caught and gone the jobs will be gone too….I say its a red herring.
Radio news on USA this day 13/9/12 No.1
USA ambassador to Libya has been killed plus others in bomb attack on embassy.
This said to be response to an Israeli-Jewish? man’s You-Tube release denigrating Muhammed.
Republican Romney criticises President Obama for sympathising over deaths instead of first being outraged.
This said to be response to an Israeli-Jewish? man
So said Radio NZ, but he is not really an Israeli, says 3 News. Lolwut? (To use Mandy Rice-Davies’ famous phrase, “they would say that, wouldn’t they?”)
When I walk through the UoA campus and watch people spilling out onto the streets, I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation. It’s really unsettling. Experience can’t always be trusted to see straight, but education can’t be applied by a mind with no experience – a Catch 22. When people can’t afford to eat properly, the argument about what a “positive impact” is, becomes obscene.
I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation.
Lets go back to the concept that education is primarily there to create a compliance and acceptance of the status quo…..educationalists constantly object to that idea and insist upon their independence. They are on the payroll still, what does that tell you?
It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded. Some there, in various disciplines, develop critical thinking. Most are there just go through the motions to get a qualification, and many get jobs… and their main aim is to keep the job, improve their status and pay, get the mortgage etc.
The rest are left to struggle to survive, probably with a certain amount of (non-productive) cynicism about the “system”.
There is always the claim of “critical thinking” being done in the meal ticket subjects. From the graduates I have employed I very much doubt that it becomes inculcated and readily available. We employ graduates who could be described as coming with the right certifications etc, and able to perform well rehearsed mechanistic functions. Usually these are well defined, and very rarely get changed because the graduates apply any thought to it. They do however perform the functions, quietly and without fuss probably because they have a huge debt attached to their pieces of paper.
Interestingly the much maligned (probably deservedly) Bob Jones reputedly said that he only hired arts grads as opposed to meal ticketers, the reason being they could think critically, and he could teach them the rest.
My personal take is that “Degrees” should generally be reserved for subjects that do NOT qualify the holder for a specialist technocratic role. We used to provide these certificates and skills at “Tech”, with excellent results.
Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded.
Get really pissed off with this concept of getting an education to get a job. In it is the inherent assumption that you’ll be working for someone else and, IMO, it’s that socialisation that actually helps cause the mass inequality within our society.
Yep, Totally agree with that DTB. When I trained as a teacher and started teaching, my idea of education for all was a broad one, to do with education for participation in a democratic society. I am still angry about what has been done to education in the western world by “neoliberal” ideologues.
I understand your anger, I never cease to ask what the hell is taught when I get into conversations with young people who have “degrees” etc? So few have any broad literary, historic, scientific, geographic, language, philosophic knowledge. I don’t blame the teachers although I fear (and I would like to be wrong) that they too now know little either (as a result of their own education).
My wish list would definitely include Maori language as a compulsory subject,it is so much easier to understand another culture if you know their language, and as peoples trapped on a couple of small islands together I reckon we need to do this.
My wish list would definitely include Maori language as a compulsory subject…
I’d be supportive of that but you’d have to include a fairly significant teaching of the culture as well as it’s often knowing the cultural significance of a word grammatical position that will transfer the actual meaning.
Also, bi and multi-lingual people often show greater tendencies to creativity.
Additionally, learning a second language helps one understand one’s own language better…better linguistic, historical and cultural literacy all round with Maori taught as a compulsory subject.
As someone who’s done some uni teaching, I think there’s a big difference in capabilities of those that earn grades in the A range, and those that scrape through on Cs. I think the spread of performance between the highest and lowest grades has extended with the increase in numbers of people attending unis.
Some students turn in brilliant work, and are very knowledgeable…. others not so much.
Then there are still others who turn in C; nay – even D work (after moderation), then have their grades arbitrarily “upped” or “downed” at the whim of insecure people running the show. Can’t balme ’em though – all they’ve ever known themselves is a tik-a-box neo-lib inspired tertiary education regime.
“It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded.”
Maybe I’ve been lucky, but my lecturers from within social science have always fully supported my critical stance…often pushing me to be more critical, and then be critical of myself.
They will often take the piss out of our university institutions, and then push the students to be critical of the uni. Did an amazing course on development and postcolonialism…almost the whole course was taught from a postdevelopment perspective. Although they work for an institution, they are hyper critical of it.
Oh, yes, I also think arts and social sciences lecturers still aim for students developing their critical faculties. But these disciplines also get pressure to be more vocationally relevant – many philosophy lecturers in the UK lost their jobs when I was there in the 80s – the subject tended to get recast as “philosophy of….[insert vocationally-oriented topic].
And there is pressure to pass students turning in work at a pretty mediocre and uncritical level.
Look above fatty – couldn’t agree more.
IT all changed when education was commodified. (oops….inadverted captalisation……but speaking of which) IT (now known as ITC) changed too. “Cloud Computing” FFS!
There are a number of other wheels that can be reinvented and repackaged just so long as there’s a buck to be made and silly people to get taken in by used car salesmen masquerading as Prime Minstas
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America – Free download!
Being rolled out to your kids around the globe, ensuring that the gap between the have’s and have nots widens further.
Once the rot is in, the lowered standards, and poorly educated graduates, become “poor” teachers amd so they in turn educate the next generation.
Spiral down its goes, I wonder how dumbed down society will become.
I suspect its past the tipping point, as witnessing what people will tolerate and allow to happen to them, their families, and what they thought were their freedoms, all the while waiting, hoping that those reeking the madness, which they tolerate, are the same people taking their childrens future…
This is bullshit…the earthquake is the never ending excuse. The last thing East Christchurch needs is schools closing.
Stand up Labour…do it now, and make it effective. Do not be afraid to make the earthquake political…it has always been political.
“There is a real concern that the Government will take advantage of the disaster to supersize schools and carry out their undermining of the public education system,” Green Party education spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said today.
“We can see how the closure of these schools will allow the Government to accomplish their unpopular agenda.
The Education Ministry has announced an extraordinary backtracking over its proposal to merge Shirley Boys’ with Christchurch Boys’ High and the merger of Avonside Girls’ with Christchurch Girls’ High.
The ministry has issued a clarification this afternoon explaining that Avonside and Shirley Boys “may be able to stay on their existing sites” if they had favourable geotechnical reports.
1) the Ministry has now retracted the merges after being mauled in the press 😀
2)
The Press understands the plan will merge Shirley Boys’ and Christchurch Boys’ High School.
Even if there was the space for expansion available, the “refined” parents who send their spawn CHBS would revolt in terror at the thought of their snobbish, stupid investment in over-priced, in-zone housing (seriously, for the price of buying an in-zone house you could send a kid or two to Christ’s College, StAC or Bedes) being diminished by allowing the middle and lower class ruffians of SBHS (I should know, I went there).
Sheffield (UK) at Hillsborough 1989 where 96 died, after 23 years, the real story of what happened – and the subsequent cover-up by the police – have finally come to light.
Fresh out of the letterbox “Peter Dunne Reports”. Peter Dunnes’ newsletter to his constituents.
Irrational annoyance coming on at this
“Fair? I don’t think so.(Title of article) blah blah blah………….voted for Labours Mondayising of Waitangi and ANZAC day holidays Bill and the extension to the Paid Parental Leave Bill. In both cases he says his vote was the crucial one………….ok, alright.Then this
“what perplexes me is that Labour seems happy to accept my vote being the one that tips their Bills over the line, while only a few weeks later they were railing very personal and abusive terms against the fact the Mixed Ownership Model Bill was also passed 61-60 on the basis of my vote……………….Now in all three cases my vote was based on long standing UnitedFuture policy positions that I publicly and consistently stood for at the last election”
He then goes on to accuse Labour of being “inconsistent, extremely self serving and not a little hypocritical” What the F does he expect, they are in opposition. They got support from him for their bills, good, fine but like the rest of NZ may have got pissed off with him for supporting the M.O.M Bill.
Really. I might print a t shirt saying “I am surrounded by idiots” and wear it on polling day here in Ohariu. Too antigonistic?
uturn donthold your breath.
the standard of all roundedness is taking a rapid nosedive in this country.
just listen to a radio station like m*refm for example and you will hear the most inane banal drivel you have ever heard and these are the role models for the current crop of no-brainers.
There was a radio ad the other day for an educational something. Oh yeah, the NZIM. It said something like, “Ralph wants to be a manager…” and I shook my head and wondered, a manager of what? Turns out it doesn’t matter. You just have to want to manage something.
Then there was another really good one, some kind of workforce/labouring employment service with a motherly voice waffling on about how little Johnny was at school arguing with his little friends over whose Dad has the better Job. Mother voice says all jobs are good. I thought it was some kind of political broadcast. Turns out that Mother voice just wants all the Dads on her books.
alright already, u get me! Capiche (now there is a show that will remind you of NAct)
whomever writes as U-Turn is Very, Very, Clever (excellent)
any way, gotta go plant some beans and pumkins-soup while i am waiting for a job
(…waiting for the sun,….waiting,…..waiting,….waiting for U to come along)
for into this House we’re born, Maurice.
when u Open Your Eyes signs are everywhere
He certainly does move in Mysterious Ways and it will be October soon
(interesting music on 63 already)
any way, as i once said to the arresting police, who are now my friends, “opinions are like Bums-
everybody has got one”
yet,
Where will the Children Play
remember, “you don’t have to live like a Refugee”
what will be, will be
however, Great developments for Tuhoe (Russian, German, French and Scots connections)
they have had prophets in the past. i believe that this Time.
fnjckg. I hope you don’t mind me acknowledging your unique style. I appreciate the song titles you introduce into your conversation.
Yes, great developments for Tuhoe – a long time coming. They suffered like many Iwi under colonisation however their experience of it was unique and extremely brutal. They still held on and even thrived for some time during Rua Kenana’s leadership at Maungapohatu. They have spirit, perserverance and Mana. I hope the way ahead is now clearer for them and they can thrive again.
Mr D Parker has recently posted a series of posts in relation to the talks he has been having with overseas experts in the financial and economic fields. Mr D Cunliffe has also been researching in Finland recently and has posted an interesting post on this and Mr Parker’s activities.
I consider these activities that the 2 Labour Party members are conducting as extremely heartening and it would be great to see some of this information being posted & discussed on this site.
It appears to me that discussing National’s phony activities has distracted us all from some more positive things going on in our political scene.
[lprent: So write a guest post and sent it in to thestandardnz@gmail.com. If it is interesting, opinionated, and well written then one of the people who reads the email might decide to pop it up. Here are the previous ones to give you an idea – http://thestandard.org.nz/author/guest-post/
Authors pretty much write about whatever they find interesting. It is entirely likely that they haven’t read those posts or haven’t found them interesting.
Writing anything to “The Standard” will get me by default (since The Standard is a dumbarse computer program running a blog site that I maintain). Since I seldom write posts these days (http://thestandard.org.nz/author/admin/) it isn’t an appeal that is likely to get much of a proactive response… ]
Guess I was hoping for one of your articles that syndicates other posts.
I think that these Labour politicians are doing positive work and the focus is so easily placed on the negatives.
I noticed that Red Alert got more interest in a thread criticizing Nat than these series of posts regarding the researching of finances and different economical approaches.
I conclude it is not only the politicians that need to lift their game…we all do.
Problem is they’re too long. Few people have the time to spend reading them. I know this is something that Labour has been told over and over again. Make your points succinctly and you will get a better response.
There are some very bright people of both genders on this site who can do it. So why can’t our top Labour pollies do it?
Sometimes the National Party’s arrogance and contempt for ordinary people just blows me away.
This week the news coming into Parliament has been horrible and unrelenting. We have received report after report after report of lost jobs and lost hope.
And today we also have a joint Cunliffe/Parker post on the Labour website, and as a press release on Scoop.:
I think such press releases are aimed more at the media, which the journos don’t usually reprint in full – just pick out bits and summarise. But I guess a press release should aim to be reported as the author desires/
Yes, I agree Carol, Cunliffe’s posts are very good. Darien Fenton is another whose posts are succinct and to the point. It’s not surprising therefore that they usually attract a reasonable number of comments. I accept also there are occasions when longer articles are appropriate – such as David Parker’s recent posts on his overseas fact-finding tour.
However anyone who has been in Labour for any length of time would be well aware of the tendency of Labour pollies to produce long-winded diatribes simply for the sake of it. It’s almost as if they like the look of their own words as well as the sound of their own voices – the latter part of this sentence being attributed to pollies of all stripes of course.
Interesting result in the Dutch elections, with the centre right VVD edging the Labour party by 2 seats, 41-39. Both are well short of a majority in the 150 seat Parliament and the most likely outcome is for them to form a left/right coalition. Voters have rejected the anti-european parties, though the Socialist party will not lose any seats as a result and will probably come 4th.
The really good news is that the racist Freedom Party, led by the loony Geert Wilders, has taken a hammering, echoing the declining fortunes of England’s BNP.
Voters rejected anti eur0pean parties, which actually means the rac*sts are still holding power.
In case you can;t work it out, that those who are unelected and pulling the strings at the EU, who control the Central Banks, those types are the real rac*sts
All the while silly people focus in unimportant factors such as the BNP type political parties.
Ill spell it out for you: Most people are not rac*sts, but those in charge almost exclusively, and exhaustively will be!
Result for this election – Holland goes down the pan, because they voted for the rac*sts, you just don’t realise it because you only see the little picture, probably the same as the Dutch!
a thought, while raking; a recent aquaintence, and now friend of mine, is The head unionist at a local manufacturer, where they have established their own site-specific incorporated society Union.
-learn something every day
We were discussing backgrounds and concurred on the relationship between experiencing poverty as a child and the development of shopping (therefore consumption) habits/addictions
isn’t it interesting that there is a suggested positive correlation between
Poverty and Consumption
i hear about this phenomena regularly, now that boomers and Gen X are maturing and reflecting on their developmental histories
fnjckg 16
I heard the story that Sophia Loren who was a gorgeous voluptuous Italian film star had been a skinny hungry street kid. After her success and money came in, she stocked her pantry to overflowing with all sorts of pasta. It gave her great comfort to know she wouldn’t go hungry again.
Yet another case of screw you
Water Cares new regime has gone from quarterly charging to monthly, but how is it that in our case 3 months costs was $195 and now monthly it is $95. Because this CCO s giving it to its customers.
The unit rate has increased from $1.3/kL to $1.343/kT
Waste water fixed cost have reduced from $426.36 p.a. to $190, but also a NEW cost volumetric charging of Wastewater @ $2.81/kL with waste water being calculated as 78.5% of water usage. So to maintain the same annual waste water costs i.e. $426.36 less $190 = $236.36 variable costs which equate to 84.11 kL p.a. or the same usage as a single person household at 84kL or 230L/Day. Yet from Watercare’s own data a family of 4 uses 600L/day of 219 kL or an increase of $380 p.a. or in total a 25% increase. This when inflation is at less than 3%, and not factoring in the theoretical cost to a household from going from quarterly to monthly charging. Thanks Auckland council and your CCO.
It would be of interest to see how many others have picked up the cost increase as to those that have not noticed thru the shortening billing period. Just wait until summer hots us and watering the vege patch.
Herodotus
That comment should be copies by all concerned so they can read over it and then again and compare their past and present a/cs till they see just what this complicated system achieves. Does the 22% not going into the waste water go into you, or evaporate or where?
The 22.5% was to pacify many who claimed that there was no recognition for gardening and other water usage that does not flow back into the waste water system. What they don’t understand is that if 100% was used then the rate would reduce, so by reducing the % to 77.5% all that happened (Though I would find it hard to imagine anyone connect to confirm this) was that the $ rate was lifted over time. My experience related to Manukau Water activities. The same applies to normal rates whereby should valuations over the area increase/decrease then the $ rate to apply would increase/decrease accordingly, we all end up paying roughly the same amount (Unless something like the fixed charge component radically moves)
herodotus 17 1 1
On rates – I think that some Councils set up a particular area rating charge when they do large works that contribute to that area mainly. Which would stop the spread of cost over all. I think that’s a good idea.
We in Nelson have had meters installed which in theory is good because it helps you to monitor your use and control it. We had to put in a large filtering system because our water quality was I think low at D or E. I think we pay for it or most out of our meterage. When people started being more careful with water to keep their costs down, there was less cash coming in to meet the repayment of the new water system, so then the rates went up. Practical and follows logical principles but not what individuals had hoped.
Incidentally our chargeable rate is $1.62 per cubic metre (not litres as I suppose yours is) and daily line charge at 44.60c and 6 month charge is $174.
Did the media tell the Labour leader to disappear into the provinces? Are the media responsible for the Greens getting more and better coverage than Labour, most days?
If you’d like a basic tutorial on how to get stories into the media, ask the Greens, or Winston, or Hone, or Louisa Wall, or pretty much anybody … except Labour’s front man.
It’s HIS job. It’s tiresome and just false, to keep blaming the media for Shearer’s inability to communicate his message (last Sunday was the exception, but when else?).
I’m unclear of the details of how the game works, however I am capable of observing the general trends in reporting.
Perhaps you are right, that it is all up to the political party to keep their faces on the News, however, considering the massive fodder that is available on National stuff ups and has been all last term too, I question the NZ journalists interests in keeping the general public interested, let alone informed.
I wouldn’t make the previous comment had not the bias on NZ TV toward Key been palpable over the elections. This went so far as to ban one left-wing commentator and take another journalist to court for finding out a little too much against National’s interests.
I consider left wing parties are up against a distinct bias with our media at present, although, as you say, perhaps there are tactics that could be used to overcome this.
There has been highly faourable – fawning, in fact – coverage of John Key during the first term. No doubt about that.
It began to fade with the “teapot tape” story. Police raids on media organisations weren’t a great goodwill gesture by Key. The love-in ended.
So this year, the tone of the coverage has clearly changed, and the opportunities for the opposition have been there for the taking. The Greens (with far fewer resources) have been astute and effective, whereas Labour have been bumbling and stumbling.
We just can’t keep blaming the MSM. Labour need to have something to communicate, and know how to communicate it. Usually they don’t.
I agree the tone has improved, yet I note that still they are very quick to put in the Nat election line-for example the “see how they will find the money to afford it” comment after the piece about the recent education speech.
It would be nice if they were equally scathing about National-there is plenty of room for it.
You do make a good point about the Greens though, they do manage to get their point across regularly and clearly.
There appears to be some lack of savvy from Labour, yet on balance I still consider that the bias is toward the National paradigm (…or maybe JK worship based on money-whore-fawning-mentality…).
dunno.
If nat go up again next time I’ll start being wary. I’d expect a change in tack by labour post-pag, for better or worse (the new strategist could end up going even more vanilla, god forbid) .
Of course you are correct. Especially if it’s the unelected,hired strategists who determine how Left or Right (or “vanilla”) Labour is, not caucus, or god forbid, the Leadership.
My impression of the labour caucus collectively (one or two individuals are willing to call a spade a spade) is that what strategy their is is focus-group driven, and scheduled according to an imaginary “optimum” election cycle timetable rather than as circumstances change.
I could be very wrong, of course. It’s just what it looks like to me from the outside.
Interesting. The Maori hui on water is in progress still, but this report has King Tuheitia asking the powerful Iwi Leaders to stand down from individual negotiations with the government, until a pan-Maori agreement is completed:
A hui on water has called on the Government to halt asset sales till it negotiates a deal recognising Maori rights and interests with a new pan-Maori body.
It has also urged Iwi to “stand down” from individual negotiations with the Government on the effect of the sale of shares on the state owned power companies on their Treaty claims. The resolve to present a united front could throw the governments timetable for selling the SOE shares into turmoil.
….
Among the first speakers was Tuwharetoa chairman Sir Tumu te Heuheu, who said any enduring and sustainable framework for the future management of fresh water in New Zealand had to appropriately recognise and provide for the “rights, interests and responsibilities of iwi and hapu in relation to water.”
He urged attendees to separate the issues of Maori rights and interests in fresh water from the government’s plan to sell power company shares.
“Let us be clear, our rights and interests and responsibilities in relation to water do not just exist on awa and moana that are used by power companies.
Thanks Carol, that whole article makes interesting reading.
In a speech to as many as 1000 of Maoridom’s movers and shakers, King Tuheitia said Maori had always owned the water and their rights over the water had been handed down from generation to generation. “From birth we have been taught that the Waikato river is the life force of my people….simply, it has given life to our people.” But the crystal clear river which he used to swim in as a child was “a degraded body of water”. “From Ngaruawahia out to the sea you cannot swim or take kai from it. This is not the legacy I want to leave for our children.”
How can anyone own water?
I feel that the message that Maori are trying to give is being lost in the whole ownership argument that leaves most of us believing it is about greed
Cool, so I can use your pool? Be round in the morning. Oh yeah I’ll be bringing a few mates and having some beers in the afternoon, maybe a bit of a party friday night. We’ll be selling beers and Woodstocks to cover the cost of the sound system and the bands.
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Saturday we’ll run a sausage sizzle most of the day and if it all goes well we’ll be back to do the same every weekend this summer.
In the 1930’s Labour decided that every child should have a chance at secondary school. So, under the guidance of one Clarence Beeby, secondary education was universalised and made free for all students, and schools given the tools to ensure a quality education for ALL.
In the 2010’s National decided that every child should have a chance at early childhood education. So, under the guidance of one Paula Bennett, they forced the poorest of single parents to purchase ECE services of dubious quality, threatening to cut their benefits if they didn’t.
It goes to show how far to the dogs this country has gone really..
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted ‘Remain’ rather than Brexit (or ‘Leave’). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
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.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
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A naughty Banksie… coveting the neighbours gal too.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7664819/John-Banks-told-lawyer-of-Dotcom-donation
jeez if the PM can let this slide because of the 6 month limit that Richard Worth must have been incredibly, majorly, naughty.
Me, I still want know who was it that stole his Harley…
statistics nz as reported by rnz says there is a net job loss of 13000.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/115734/nz-economy-lost-jobs
Yep, heard that. It completely contradicts John, Bill and Steve’s repeated line that a significant net amount of new jobs have been created under their watch….. and even then I think they are referring to more part time jobs amongst that alleged increase.
Bill was on the radio this morning, doing his best to confuse the issue by saying the household labour survey is what has always been used to measure unemployment, which is true, however the statistic that is being debated at the moment is the jobs creation figure, which definitely is not included in the household labour survey. Don’t let Bill confuse you.
But doesn’t the government reject using the Household Labour Survey as a measure of unemployment, preferring the registered unemployed figure?
Ah, Bill says the HLF Survey has always been used to measure “employment”.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/115734/nz-economy-lost-jobs
Bill was confused himself first he said the data was from Treasury,until his office corrected saying it was the HH labour survey.
The RBNZ Statement had a significant point .
The bank said evidence of the Canterbury rebuild were becoming “more apparent” in official figures than three months ago.
“Offsetting this, fiscal consolidation is constraining demand growth, and the high New Zealand dollar continues to undermine export earnings and encourage substitution toward imported goods and services.”
Despite warning about the strength of the Kiwi dollar, the Reserve Bank appears to hold little hope that it will weaken in the near term.
The other problematic problem is the creation of poorly thought policy initiatives with employment rules eg
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7666692/Work-trials-adding-to-skills-shortages
Reinhart at Jackson hole suggested this was a forcing mechanism for persistent economic contraction (and unempolyment).
Economic contraction and slow recovery might also feed back on the prospects for aggregate supply. A sustained stretch of below-trend investment and depreciation of human capital prompted by elevated and lengthy spells of unemployment could hit the level and growth rate of potential output. The unemployment rate stays high because it has been high, exhibiting hysteresis as described by Blanchard and Summers (1986).
The forcing mechanism for a reduction in aggregate supply might be policy itself. In adverse economic circumstances, political leaders sometimes grasp for quick fixes that impair, not improve, the situation. Included in the list of unfortunate interventions are restrictions on trade (both domestically and internationally), work rules and pay practices, and the flow of credit. The output effects of crises might be persistent because we make them so, in the manner posited for the Great Depression by Cole and Ohanian (2002).
They keep on quoting from the Household Labour force survey like it’s scripture, and not just another document. And even if you believe what joyce was quoting today, about the 54000 net jobs in the last 4 years, that’s only just above 15000 a year. Now in that time they have tipped about 60000 people out of work and how many left school in that time?? and thats before they get to us at the bottom of the pile. And we ALL want to work.
Frankly John, Bill and Steve are lucky it’s only 13,000. Imagine what the figure would be if we hadn’t had record emigration to Australia in the last few years. No wonder Key’s stopped blathering on about a brighter future.
And what percentage of these losses concern youth?
The chill winds blow in Europe, the storm coming from this will affect the world. The insamity of the neo-lib financiers made plain to see by Ilargi at Theautomaticearth. This no doubt will be their recipe for all.
…demands the Troika placed on Greece today. They want to fire 150.000 civil servants, raise the retirement age to 67 years immediately, cut “lay-off compensation” by 50%, and, wait for it, introduce a 6-day working week, and stretch the working day to 13 hours. In theory, that could lead to a 78-hour working week.
http://theautomaticearth.com/Finance/those-dutch-tulips-aint-looking-all-that-rosy.html
Hey I want to live and buy a house in Holland. They can buy a house on interest only mortgage and the interest is tax deductible. Sounds like sound financing to me, not!
Prism, Nice story don’t you think…wish I had a Dutch income stream to do the deduct against.
What I find interesting about the stories on TAE and the other international sites are the implications for small countries like NZ. Whilst we Standardistas are busy bitching away on local issues (quite rightly), we are in danger of getting dry gulched by these offshore events. If we dont consider these implications we may win battles and lose the war. To use one of the contemptible management speak lines “think globally, act locally”.
Bored 3 1 1
Yes I sometimes feel we get too close to the pollies here, fascinated with their next reverse backwards flip and triplespeak. They could be regarded as a sideshow in a way, to the world, sort of like that fairground game of moving heads with open mouths that has been used as a graphic here I think. I’m hopeless at throwing balls and scoring points though I keep trying, and we all need to try looking at another show often.
prism
Until after Holland’s election today – then watch this space.
fortran
Thanks I will. I’m not up on Dutch politics though I believe they were tilting right, with immigration being a sore point.
Surely this illustrates just how powerful those behind the scenes really are.
An Germany will be bankrupted to front the leveredged funds, following the court ruling yesterday!
Hone calls for “cup of tea” time…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10833597
well someone has to be the eager beaver linker each day…
Thanks. Excellent! It starts:
And in the middle, there’s this:
I wish they’d start throwing Rio Tinto and Norske Skog into the ring.
All too easy to blame the maaari’s when these 2 big companies (y’know that big business NACT love so much) are one of the major reasons to delay.
Wonder what dodgy deal they’ll attempt with those 2 to prop up the demand they place on our generation..
Thanks TM
It seems as if some successful wealthy people who are into large scale fishing won’t be happy till they profit and take all the fish available to them. After the stock is so depleted that its uneconomical for them they will probably look at chopping down all the trees that are left or something of that nature. Or something else in the food business, force feeding cattle to make them grow faster perhaps.
The Dutch are trying to heavy Australia over the present two year ban which is very irresponsible of them to take this anti-ecological sustainability line. They have been working on this with the Australian government apparently for seven years. It may have been that the Oz govmnt has been reluctant to turn down investment, letting money and jobs and overseas finance cloud their realities. Dutch attack
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost, operators Seafish Tasmania say….”It seems that after we have met every rule, regulation and request made of us, after years of working with the relevant authorities, that in the end the government reacted to the size of the Abel Tasman and not the size of the quota and the science that supports it,” Mr Geen said. http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/super-trawler-ban-cost-50-063210851.html
It is confusing for a newbie to look at the way company formed 20/4/12 is made up and looking at the registration Dutch interests loom large. But only one share is listed under shareholding. http://www.scribd.com/doc/105580298/Seafish-Tasmania-Pelagic-Pty-Limited-ASIC-Report-Data
It can be embarrassing for politicians to admit they don’t understand scientific findings and ask naive questions that elicit where the facts are not what they appear. All the company needs to do is talk about extra jobs and eureka they get stuffed into a hole appearing in the employment stats.
Seafish partnered with the Dutch business have named this large trawler Abel Tasman.
I see that name as an insult to the person who was a great mariner of his time, and deserves a better memorial. They are reported as scooping up all the fish they can in volume – said to be sending much of it to Africa at $1 a kilo. Their explanation and justification will no doubt be ‘We are feeding the hungry in the world’. So they plan to profit from that and clean out fish stocks around the world. Apparently this large trawler has been in other areas and moved on as they have ‘vacuumed’ up the stocks.
A case for a Rainbow Warrior-type memento perhaps.
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost In my role as an honorary fish I would point out that when all we fish are caught and gone the jobs will be gone too….I say its a red herring.
Radio news on USA this day 13/9/12 No.1
USA ambassador to Libya has been killed plus others in bomb attack on embassy.
This said to be response to an Israeli-Jewish? man’s You-Tube release denigrating Muhammed.
Republican Romney criticises President Obama for sympathising over deaths instead of first being outraged.
So said Radio NZ, but he is not really an Israeli, says 3 News. Lolwut? (To use Mandy Rice-Davies’ famous phrase, “they would say that, wouldn’t they?”)
Where does the education go?
When I walk through the UoA campus and watch people spilling out onto the streets, I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation. It’s really unsettling. Experience can’t always be trusted to see straight, but education can’t be applied by a mind with no experience – a Catch 22. When people can’t afford to eat properly, the argument about what a “positive impact” is, becomes obscene.
I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation.
Lets go back to the concept that education is primarily there to create a compliance and acceptance of the status quo…..educationalists constantly object to that idea and insist upon their independence. They are on the payroll still, what does that tell you?
It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded. Some there, in various disciplines, develop critical thinking. Most are there just go through the motions to get a qualification, and many get jobs… and their main aim is to keep the job, improve their status and pay, get the mortgage etc.
The rest are left to struggle to survive, probably with a certain amount of (non-productive) cynicism about the “system”.
There is always the claim of “critical thinking” being done in the meal ticket subjects. From the graduates I have employed I very much doubt that it becomes inculcated and readily available. We employ graduates who could be described as coming with the right certifications etc, and able to perform well rehearsed mechanistic functions. Usually these are well defined, and very rarely get changed because the graduates apply any thought to it. They do however perform the functions, quietly and without fuss probably because they have a huge debt attached to their pieces of paper.
Interestingly the much maligned (probably deservedly) Bob Jones reputedly said that he only hired arts grads as opposed to meal ticketers, the reason being they could think critically, and he could teach them the rest.
My personal take is that “Degrees” should generally be reserved for subjects that do NOT qualify the holder for a specialist technocratic role. We used to provide these certificates and skills at “Tech”, with excellent results.
Get really pissed off with this concept of getting an education to get a job. In it is the inherent assumption that you’ll be working for someone else and, IMO, it’s that socialisation that actually helps cause the mass inequality within our society.
Yep, Totally agree with that DTB. When I trained as a teacher and started teaching, my idea of education for all was a broad one, to do with education for participation in a democratic society. I am still angry about what has been done to education in the western world by “neoliberal” ideologues.
I understand your anger, I never cease to ask what the hell is taught when I get into conversations with young people who have “degrees” etc? So few have any broad literary, historic, scientific, geographic, language, philosophic knowledge. I don’t blame the teachers although I fear (and I would like to be wrong) that they too now know little either (as a result of their own education).
My wish list would definitely include Maori language as a compulsory subject,it is so much easier to understand another culture if you know their language, and as peoples trapped on a couple of small islands together I reckon we need to do this.
I’d be supportive of that but you’d have to include a fairly significant teaching of the culture as well as it’s often knowing the cultural significance of a word grammatical position that will transfer the actual meaning.
Also, bi and multi-lingual people often show greater tendencies to creativity.
+1 Bored and Draco T Bastard
Additionally, learning a second language helps one understand one’s own language better…better linguistic, historical and cultural literacy all round with Maori taught as a compulsory subject.
I am multi-lingual, in 5 European languages and one Asian language… Will that do?
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do. 😀
As someone who’s done some uni teaching, I think there’s a big difference in capabilities of those that earn grades in the A range, and those that scrape through on Cs. I think the spread of performance between the highest and lowest grades has extended with the increase in numbers of people attending unis.
Some students turn in brilliant work, and are very knowledgeable…. others not so much.
Then there are still others who turn in C; nay – even D work (after moderation), then have their grades arbitrarily “upped” or “downed” at the whim of insecure people running the show. Can’t balme ’em though – all they’ve ever known themselves is a tik-a-box neo-lib inspired tertiary education regime.
“It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded.”
Maybe I’ve been lucky, but my lecturers from within social science have always fully supported my critical stance…often pushing me to be more critical, and then be critical of myself.
They will often take the piss out of our university institutions, and then push the students to be critical of the uni. Did an amazing course on development and postcolonialism…almost the whole course was taught from a postdevelopment perspective. Although they work for an institution, they are hyper critical of it.
Oh, yes, I also think arts and social sciences lecturers still aim for students developing their critical faculties. But these disciplines also get pressure to be more vocationally relevant – many philosophy lecturers in the UK lost their jobs when I was there in the 80s – the subject tended to get recast as “philosophy of….[insert vocationally-oriented topic].
And there is pressure to pass students turning in work at a pretty mediocre and uncritical level.
Sort of the same in my science courses, though it was easy to tell which lecturers would rather not be teaching undergrads 😉
Look above fatty – couldn’t agree more.
IT all changed when education was commodified. (oops….inadverted captalisation……but speaking of which) IT (now known as ITC) changed too. “Cloud Computing” FFS!
There are a number of other wheels that can be reinvented and repackaged just so long as there’s a buck to be made and silly people to get taken in by used car salesmen masquerading as Prime Minstas
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America – Free download!
Being rolled out to your kids around the globe, ensuring that the gap between the have’s and have nots widens further.
Once the rot is in, the lowered standards, and poorly educated graduates, become “poor” teachers amd so they in turn educate the next generation.
Spiral down its goes, I wonder how dumbed down society will become.
I suspect its past the tipping point, as witnessing what people will tolerate and allow to happen to them, their families, and what they thought were their freedoms, all the while waiting, hoping that those reeking the madness, which they tolerate, are the same people taking their childrens future…
Not alot of noise, given whats going on is there…
Hi. Um, what?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/7669865/13-Canterbury-schools-to-close-18-to-merge
13 Canterbury schools to close, 18 to merge
The Press understands the plan will merge Shirley Boys’ and Christchurch Boys’ High School.
Avonside Girls will be merged with Christchurch Girls’ High School.
Aranui High school will be clustered with Aranui primary, Avondlate and Chisnalwood, into a learning cluster.
This is bullshit…the earthquake is the never ending excuse. The last thing East Christchurch needs is schools closing.
Stand up Labour…do it now, and make it effective. Do not be afraid to make the earthquake political…it has always been political.
And the Greens have a <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1209/S00203/government-closing-schools-and-giving-up-on-the-east.htm"Press Release about that out:
Corrected link
OOPS
The Education Ministry has announced an extraordinary backtracking over its proposal to merge Shirley Boys’ with Christchurch Boys’ High and the merger of Avonside Girls’ with Christchurch Girls’ High.
The ministry has issued a clarification this afternoon explaining that Avonside and Shirley Boys “may be able to stay on their existing sites” if they had favourable geotechnical reports.
I smell charter schools for Christchurch.
1) the Ministry has now retracted the merges after being mauled in the press 😀
2)
Even if there was the space for expansion available, the “refined” parents who send their spawn CHBS would revolt in terror at the thought of their snobbish, stupid investment in over-priced, in-zone housing (seriously, for the price of buying an in-zone house you could send a kid or two to Christ’s College, StAC or Bedes) being diminished by allowing the middle and lower class ruffians of SBHS (I should know, I went there).
Sheffield (UK) at Hillsborough 1989 where 96 died, after 23 years, the real story of what happened – and the subsequent cover-up by the police – have finally come to light.
Sucks to live in the Ohariu electorate
Fresh out of the letterbox “Peter Dunne Reports”. Peter Dunnes’ newsletter to his constituents.
Irrational annoyance coming on at this
“Fair? I don’t think so.(Title of article) blah blah blah………….voted for Labours Mondayising of Waitangi and ANZAC day holidays Bill and the extension to the Paid Parental Leave Bill. In both cases he says his vote was the crucial one………….ok, alright.Then this
“what perplexes me is that Labour seems happy to accept my vote being the one that tips their Bills over the line, while only a few weeks later they were railing very personal and abusive terms against the fact the Mixed Ownership Model Bill was also passed 61-60 on the basis of my vote……………….Now in all three cases my vote was based on long standing UnitedFuture policy positions that I publicly and consistently stood for at the last election”
He then goes on to accuse Labour of being “inconsistent, extremely self serving and not a little hypocritical” What the F does he expect, they are in opposition. They got support from him for their bills, good, fine but like the rest of NZ may have got pissed off with him for supporting the M.O.M Bill.
Really. I might print a t shirt saying “I am surrounded by idiots” and wear it on polling day here in Ohariu. Too antigonistic?
uturn donthold your breath.
the standard of all roundedness is taking a rapid nosedive in this country.
just listen to a radio station like m*refm for example and you will hear the most inane banal drivel you have ever heard and these are the role models for the current crop of no-brainers.
There was a radio ad the other day for an educational something. Oh yeah, the NZIM. It said something like, “Ralph wants to be a manager…” and I shook my head and wondered, a manager of what? Turns out it doesn’t matter. You just have to want to manage something.
Then there was another really good one, some kind of workforce/labouring employment service with a motherly voice waffling on about how little Johnny was at school arguing with his little friends over whose Dad has the better Job. Mother voice says all jobs are good. I thought it was some kind of political broadcast. Turns out that Mother voice just wants all the Dads on her books.
alright already, u get me! Capiche (now there is a show that will remind you of NAct)
whomever writes as U-Turn is Very, Very, Clever (excellent)
any way, gotta go plant some beans and pumkins-soup while i am waiting for a job
(…waiting for the sun,….waiting,…..waiting,….waiting for U to come along)
for into this House we’re born, Maurice.
to the community
Thank You (Led Zep)
when u Open Your Eyes signs are everywhere
He certainly does move in Mysterious Ways and it will be October soon
(interesting music on 63 already)
any way, as i once said to the arresting police, who are now my friends, “opinions are like Bums-
everybody has got one”
yet,
Where will the Children Play
remember, “you don’t have to live like a Refugee”
what will be, will be
however, Great developments for Tuhoe (Russian, German, French and Scots connections)
they have had prophets in the past. i believe that this Time.
Are Friends Electric?
me? i disconnect from u
fnjckg. I hope you don’t mind me acknowledging your unique style. I appreciate the song titles you introduce into your conversation.
Yes, great developments for Tuhoe – a long time coming. They suffered like many Iwi under colonisation however their experience of it was unique and extremely brutal. They still held on and even thrived for some time during Rua Kenana’s leadership at Maungapohatu. They have spirit, perserverance and Mana. I hope the way ahead is now clearer for them and they can thrive again.
Dear The Standard,
Mr D Parker has recently posted a series of posts in relation to the talks he has been having with overseas experts in the financial and economic fields. Mr D Cunliffe has also been researching in Finland recently and has posted an interesting post on this and Mr Parker’s activities.
I consider these activities that the 2 Labour Party members are conducting as extremely heartening and it would be great to see some of this information being posted & discussed on this site.
It appears to me that discussing National’s phony activities has distracted us all from some more positive things going on in our political scene.
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/09/12/the-cult-of-national-party-economics/
[lprent: So write a guest post and sent it in to thestandardnz@gmail.com. If it is interesting, opinionated, and well written then one of the people who reads the email might decide to pop it up. Here are the previous ones to give you an idea – http://thestandard.org.nz/author/guest-post/
Authors pretty much write about whatever they find interesting. It is entirely likely that they haven’t read those posts or haven’t found them interesting.
Writing anything to “The Standard” will get me by default (since The Standard is a dumbarse computer program running a blog site that I maintain). Since I seldom write posts these days (http://thestandard.org.nz/author/admin/) it isn’t an appeal that is likely to get much of a proactive response… ]
Cheers lprent,
Guess I was hoping for one of your articles that syndicates other posts.
I think that these Labour politicians are doing positive work and the focus is so easily placed on the negatives.
I noticed that Red Alert got more interest in a thread criticizing Nat than these series of posts regarding the researching of finances and different economical approaches.
I conclude it is not only the politicians that need to lift their game…we all do.
Problem is they’re too long. Few people have the time to spend reading them. I know this is something that Labour has been told over and over again. Make your points succinctly and you will get a better response.
There are some very bright people of both genders on this site who can do it. So why can’t our top Labour pollies do it?
I think Parker’s RA posts particularly have that draw back. But Cunliffe’s press releases/posts on the Labour Party site are reasonably succinct.
And I think there is a place for longer pieces for discussion by the more hardcore lefties.
e.g. this rather angry piece by Cunliffe today, slamming Joyce and National re the country’s jobs.
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/09/13/they-dont-care-about-your-job/
It begins:
And today we also have a joint Cunliffe/Parker post on the Labour website, and as a press release on Scoop.:
http://www.labour.org.nz/news/national%E2%80%99s-selective-figures-hide-problems-in-the-real-economy
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1209/S00213/nationals-selective-figures-hide-problems.htm
I think such press releases are aimed more at the media, which the journos don’t usually reprint in full – just pick out bits and summarise. But I guess a press release should aim to be reported as the author desires/
Yes, I agree Carol, Cunliffe’s posts are very good. Darien Fenton is another whose posts are succinct and to the point. It’s not surprising therefore that they usually attract a reasonable number of comments. I accept also there are occasions when longer articles are appropriate – such as David Parker’s recent posts on his overseas fact-finding tour.
However anyone who has been in Labour for any length of time would be well aware of the tendency of Labour pollies to produce long-winded diatribes simply for the sake of it. It’s almost as if they like the look of their own words as well as the sound of their own voices – the latter part of this sentence being attributed to pollies of all stripes of course.
‘National day of action against welfare reform oct 5th 2012’
This is on the scoop site,sorry can’t link it.
Welfare changes come in on the 15th oct.
Interesting result in the Dutch elections, with the centre right VVD edging the Labour party by 2 seats, 41-39. Both are well short of a majority in the 150 seat Parliament and the most likely outcome is for them to form a left/right coalition. Voters have rejected the anti-european parties, though the Socialist party will not lose any seats as a result and will probably come 4th.
The really good news is that the racist Freedom Party, led by the loony Geert Wilders, has taken a hammering, echoing the declining fortunes of England’s BNP.
Voters rejected anti eur0pean parties, which actually means the rac*sts are still holding power.
In case you can;t work it out, that those who are unelected and pulling the strings at the EU, who control the Central Banks, those types are the real rac*sts
All the while silly people focus in unimportant factors such as the BNP type political parties.
Ill spell it out for you: Most people are not rac*sts, but those in charge almost exclusively, and exhaustively will be!
Result for this election – Holland goes down the pan, because they voted for the rac*sts, you just don’t realise it because you only see the little picture, probably the same as the Dutch!
I take it you had the Amsterdam space cake for breakfast this morning, Muzza. Get in touch when you come down.
a thought, while raking; a recent aquaintence, and now friend of mine, is The head unionist at a local manufacturer, where they have established their own site-specific incorporated society Union.
-learn something every day
We were discussing backgrounds and concurred on the relationship between experiencing poverty as a child and the development of shopping (therefore consumption) habits/addictions
isn’t it interesting that there is a suggested positive correlation between
Poverty and Consumption
i hear about this phenomena regularly, now that boomers and Gen X are maturing and reflecting on their developmental histories
-Big Cars? -Alain de Botton: Status Anxiety
(vouch)
fnjckg 16
I heard the story that Sophia Loren who was a gorgeous voluptuous Italian film star had been a skinny hungry street kid. After her success and money came in, she stocked her pantry to overflowing with all sorts of pasta. It gave her great comfort to know she wouldn’t go hungry again.
Yet another case of screw you
Water Cares new regime has gone from quarterly charging to monthly, but how is it that in our case 3 months costs was $195 and now monthly it is $95. Because this CCO s giving it to its customers.
The unit rate has increased from $1.3/kL to $1.343/kT
Waste water fixed cost have reduced from $426.36 p.a. to $190, but also a NEW cost volumetric charging of Wastewater @ $2.81/kL with waste water being calculated as 78.5% of water usage. So to maintain the same annual waste water costs i.e. $426.36 less $190 = $236.36 variable costs which equate to 84.11 kL p.a. or the same usage as a single person household at 84kL or 230L/Day. Yet from Watercare’s own data a family of 4 uses 600L/day of 219 kL or an increase of $380 p.a. or in total a 25% increase. This when inflation is at less than 3%, and not factoring in the theoretical cost to a household from going from quarterly to monthly charging. Thanks Auckland council and your CCO.
It would be of interest to see how many others have picked up the cost increase as to those that have not noticed thru the shortening billing period. Just wait until summer hots us and watering the vege patch.
Herodotus
That comment should be copies by all concerned so they can read over it and then again and compare their past and present a/cs till they see just what this complicated system achieves. Does the 22% not going into the waste water go into you, or evaporate or where?
The 22.5% was to pacify many who claimed that there was no recognition for gardening and other water usage that does not flow back into the waste water system. What they don’t understand is that if 100% was used then the rate would reduce, so by reducing the % to 77.5% all that happened (Though I would find it hard to imagine anyone connect to confirm this) was that the $ rate was lifted over time. My experience related to Manukau Water activities. The same applies to normal rates whereby should valuations over the area increase/decrease then the $ rate to apply would increase/decrease accordingly, we all end up paying roughly the same amount (Unless something like the fixed charge component radically moves)
herodotus 17 1 1
On rates – I think that some Councils set up a particular area rating charge when they do large works that contribute to that area mainly. Which would stop the spread of cost over all. I think that’s a good idea.
We in Nelson have had meters installed which in theory is good because it helps you to monitor your use and control it. We had to put in a large filtering system because our water quality was I think low at D or E. I think we pay for it or most out of our meterage. When people started being more careful with water to keep their costs down, there was less cash coming in to meet the repayment of the new water system, so then the rates went up. Practical and follows logical principles but not what individuals had hoped.
Incidentally our chargeable rate is $1.62 per cubic metre (not litres as I suppose yours is) and daily line charge at 44.60c and 6 month charge is $174.
Latest poll, minor changes (margin of error), but no traction for Labour –
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2012/4821/
That’s in line with the Herald Digi-poll this week.
No change = need to change. Time is being wasted under Labour’s caretaker leader.
Maybe National just needs to stuff up a bit more?
…or maybe our media need to start reporting on just how much they are stuffing up
(…I mean how much MORE stuff ups does it take….)
🙁
Did the media tell the Labour leader to disappear into the provinces? Are the media responsible for the Greens getting more and better coverage than Labour, most days?
If you’d like a basic tutorial on how to get stories into the media, ask the Greens, or Winston, or Hone, or Louisa Wall, or pretty much anybody … except Labour’s front man.
It’s HIS job. It’s tiresome and just false, to keep blaming the media for Shearer’s inability to communicate his message (last Sunday was the exception, but when else?).
I’m unclear of the details of how the game works, however I am capable of observing the general trends in reporting.
Perhaps you are right, that it is all up to the political party to keep their faces on the News, however, considering the massive fodder that is available on National stuff ups and has been all last term too, I question the NZ journalists interests in keeping the general public interested, let alone informed.
I wouldn’t make the previous comment had not the bias on NZ TV toward Key been palpable over the elections. This went so far as to ban one left-wing commentator and take another journalist to court for finding out a little too much against National’s interests.
I consider left wing parties are up against a distinct bias with our media at present, although, as you say, perhaps there are tactics that could be used to overcome this.
There has been highly faourable – fawning, in fact – coverage of John Key during the first term. No doubt about that.
It began to fade with the “teapot tape” story. Police raids on media organisations weren’t a great goodwill gesture by Key. The love-in ended.
So this year, the tone of the coverage has clearly changed, and the opportunities for the opposition have been there for the taking. The Greens (with far fewer resources) have been astute and effective, whereas Labour have been bumbling and stumbling.
We just can’t keep blaming the MSM. Labour need to have something to communicate, and know how to communicate it. Usually they don’t.
I agree the tone has improved, yet I note that still they are very quick to put in the Nat election line-for example the “see how they will find the money to afford it” comment after the piece about the recent education speech.
It would be nice if they were equally scathing about National-there is plenty of room for it.
You do make a good point about the Greens though, they do manage to get their point across regularly and clearly.
There appears to be some lack of savvy from Labour, yet on balance I still consider that the bias is toward the National paradigm (…or maybe JK worship based on money-whore-fawning-mentality…).
dunno.
If nat go up again next time I’ll start being wary. I’d expect a change in tack by labour post-pag, for better or worse (the new strategist could end up going even more vanilla, god forbid) .
Of course you are correct. Especially if it’s the unelected,hired strategists who determine how Left or Right (or “vanilla”) Labour is, not caucus, or god forbid, the Leadership.
too true.
My impression of the labour caucus collectively (one or two individuals are willing to call a spade a spade) is that what strategy their is is focus-group driven, and scheduled according to an imaginary “optimum” election cycle timetable rather than as circumstances change.
I could be very wrong, of course. It’s just what it looks like to me from the outside.
4 teh Lulz
Oh Petey. Oh dear.
Interesting. The Maori hui on water is in progress still, but this report has King Tuheitia asking the powerful Iwi Leaders to stand down from individual negotiations with the government, until a pan-Maori agreement is completed:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7665035/Hui-calls-for-new-deal-on-Maori-rights
Thanks Carol, that whole article makes interesting reading.
In a speech to as many as 1000 of Maoridom’s movers and shakers, King Tuheitia said Maori had always owned the water and their rights over the water had been handed down from generation to generation.
“From birth we have been taught that the Waikato river is the life force of my people….simply, it has given life to our people.”
But the crystal clear river which he used to swim in as a child was “a degraded body of water”.
“From Ngaruawahia out to the sea you cannot swim or take kai from it. This is not the legacy I want to leave for our children.”
How can anyone own water?
I feel that the message that Maori are trying to give is being lost in the whole ownership argument that leaves most of us believing it is about greed
Cool, so I can use your pool? Be round in the morning. Oh yeah I’ll be bringing a few mates and having some beers in the afternoon, maybe a bit of a party friday night. We’ll be selling beers and Woodstocks to cover the cost of the sound system and the bands.
\
Saturday we’ll run a sausage sizzle most of the day and if it all goes well we’ll be back to do the same every weekend this summer.
In the 1930’s Labour decided that every child should have a chance at secondary school. So, under the guidance of one Clarence Beeby, secondary education was universalised and made free for all students, and schools given the tools to ensure a quality education for ALL.
In the 2010’s National decided that every child should have a chance at early childhood education. So, under the guidance of one Paula Bennett, they forced the poorest of single parents to purchase ECE services of dubious quality, threatening to cut their benefits if they didn’t.
It goes to show how far to the dogs this country has gone really..