Clearer on declaring an autonomous Taiwan without making a claim of independence from China.
Taiwan's corporates will do the Hong Kong shuffle and produce more offshore for the growing world market.
China will one day blockade, and (fast missile) sink any fleet sent to prevent this – thus the 1949 reprise (when the US fleet allowed the Nationalists to move on Taiwan). Then offer Taiwan autonomy within China, rather than invasion/occupation.
Having a delusional geopolitical stance is sensible: it anchors a nation firmly in the traditionalist camp: conservative is good.
Realists do the usual eye-roll at this puerile shit:
Following Taiwan’s election result, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said no matter “whatever changes take place in Taiwan, the basic fact that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China will not change.”
The spokesperson continued: “The one-China principle is the solid anchor for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We believe that the international community will continue to adhere to the one-China principle and understand and support the Chinese people’s just cause of opposing ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities and striving to achieve national reunification.”
A spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office earlier insisted the election result “does not represent the mainstream view on the island.”
The regime quite properly notes that democracy doesn't represent the mainstream view. It's merely a simulation. However, floating this assertion tacitly is so subtle a framing that it will go over the heads of most punters. Any competent political consultant would tell them to spit the dummy: "Guys, ya gotta tell it like it is real simple, y'know?"
Paternalism often works. Give everyone a firm instruction. Use moral authority: "The USA, the UK, and China are adamant that the One China Policy is the verdict of history, and will be retained forever." This is a safe move, given that Brits & Yanks of all political persuasions have been united in promoting this mass delusion my entire life.
Yet conservative solidarity has only ever worked on the basis of the mass moron theory of politics. You give the people shit & they swallow it. Human nature. What if a critical mass of humans don't operate like that? Conservatives don't like to consider such an awful possibility. Like pseudo-progressives (Labour) they pretend reality isn't really there. In reality, you get realpolitik producing outcomes. In geopolitics, this has mostly been driven by the principle of state sovereignty: nations are in the habit of recognising states in control of their territory. Which points to sovereignty in Taiwan being real…
Without US, and Western, support of Taiwan, accompanied by the threat of military backup, I suspect the "one China" theme would have been a reality long since. But the West probably has its own agenda in the region.
Playing both sides of the game – what Stalin excelled at. And it has worked rather well so far for the establishment. It helps to also be part of the UN umpire's admin.
Ukraine's sovereignty over its 1945 and 1991 borders was and is real in international law.
And will be made so to the extent the USA (both parties) is prepared to confront a nuclear armed Russian state to realise this.
The Taiwan peoples desire to be a real nation state will not occur (in the current geo-political order) – China has a veto in the UNSC and in international law is part of China. Independence could only occur by finding military partners prepared to go to war against China and also able to win. Tell it to MacArthur. It is as mad as the PNAC agenda for the 21st C.
Depends if the yanks & brits continue to maintain the status quo: supporting Chinese imperialism. Some kid may point out that the emperor isn't wearing an impressive suit of clothes at all. The delusion only works if nobody breaks the spell.
Red Sea as neolib artery, Yemen as cancer spreading onto the boundary of that…
When the Biden administration removed the Houthis from the list of designated terrorist groups and withdrew Patriot air defence systems from Saudi Arabia, the Saudis had even more reason to doubt America.
Cue Biden's apology to the American people: "Looks like I stuffed up, eh? Sorry, folks, won't do it again. I'll muse over the feasibility of making Donald Trump my resident geopolitical advisor, because clearly our CFR hasn't got an effing clue."
In 2023, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, renewed diplomatic relations with Iran, reopened his country’s Embassy in Tehran after seven years and welcomed a series of high-level Iranian officials to Riyadh. The reconciliation between Tehran and Riyadh was brokered by Beijing, not Washington. Part of this process involved a ceasefire in Yemen which continues today…
…Now, these two states benefit from a fragile peace with Iran and are not interested in a renewed confrontation with Iran’s proxies in Yemen.
Seems like an excellent development in the region. Why on earth would the US (and presumably Israel) not be in favour of this, I wonder?
In a well coordinated operation, a team of thieves has removed a large crop of blueberries from 700 bushes in a Hawkes Bay orchard. The owner of the orchard thinks it would have required vehicles, equipment, lights and crates.
"It was ghastly," Hirst said. "And what it means is, our team is standing there with their work gone. The foreman, the assistant foreman, all planning to work, packhouse people, gate sales and markets, all those people don't have their work and their money."
Unless the farm is folding, what that means is those people have no job security. My questions are,
are horticulture farms not able to get insurance for events like this, or is it that they just don't?
why is this industry allowed to operate like this?
By all means blame the thieves, but it could easily have been weather, so yet again that industry needs to take a long hard look at how it operates.
Picking blueberries under lights can't have been easy.
" vehicles, equipment, lights and crates" should have left plenty of evidence for the police to work on.
Inside job on an outside crop? You'd have to have been familiar with the fruit and the picking process, plus storage and distribution.
It is curious to consider how much packhouse work would have been lost, given the speed with which the crop was picked – how much processing is there in that relatively small amount of crop? Did they pick through the night? How many crates were filled?
"In conclusion, the best time of day to pick blueberries is in the morning when the sun is still low and the berries are at their juiciest. It is important to follow the steps outlined above to ensure you are picking the fruit at its peak and storing it properly. With a little bit of knowledge and preparation, you can enjoy the delicious taste of fresh-picked blueberries all summer long."
Generally crop insurance is completely cost prohibative in terms of orchards etc as there are to many thing that go wrong will the crop is still on the plant so to speak.
In terms of picking teams and packhouses staff move around the various orchards picking to a schedule and the packhouses are seperate again with most staff only working when fruit is coming in. Its always been highly season work. There are quite a few people that follow the circuit around the country its a lifestyle I guess.
Fyi commercial blueberries generally grow to around 1.8m tall and are generally picked over quite carefully as the fruit ripen gradually.
In this case it sounds like they just stripped the plants completely either way its a very strange thing to have happen lots of effort for a few thousand dollars if you can sell them.
Have to wonder if it was done due to a greivance perhaps not paying a picking crew or something?
thanks Cricklewood, all very interesting. It is strange. MSM have done PR pieces for the industry before, so maybe we're not getting the whole picture.
A few thousand dollars is ok for a nights work I guess. Maybe they were picking to order?
I'm aware of the nature of seasonal work and the people that do it as a lifestyle. The industry also relies on overseas visitors who want to make some cash while they travel and don't care so much about things like employment agreements, holiday/sick pay, having enough income to pay for rent and so on.
The problem is that workers don't have their right protected. I can't see a good rationale of that other than this is the way things are done.
Came across an interesting item on National Radio's Evenings show on Jan 13.
Poet Tusiata Avia was recently awarded a $60,000 Prime Minister's award prize for a poem which (quite savagely) attacked colonialism and fantasised about someone killing James Cook instead of welcoming him to New Zealand.
The ACT Party put out a press release under their member Todd Stephenson soon after ridiculing Avia for her work, complaining that tax payer money was being spent to support a racist, suggesting indirectly that Tavia was mentally ill and threatening to axe the prize completely if similar material ever happened again.
Here we have the so-called "free speech party" threatening to close down literary works because they don't like the content and using their power as a governing party to publicly abuse someone who cannot fight back, except through words.
ACT and literary achievement are obviously mutually exclusive concepts.
Your link to Act's statement doesn't work. I know they criticised the work as racist. If they threatened to axe the prize, I am utterly against this.
I think its a bad poem from a literary point of view, although I can only claim Stage One English at university as my credential to offer such criticism.
I think it is a highly inflamatory poem though. I think it would be hard to argue with that (see link below).
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/27-02-2023/how-to-read-a-poem
Hey James,
it’s us.
These days
we’re driving round
in SUVs
looking for ya
or white men like you
who might be thieves
or rapists
or kidnappers
or murderers
yeah, or any of your descendants
or any of your incarnations
cos, you know
ay, bitch?
We’re gonna F… YOU UP.
Obviously there would be an absolute outcry if the races were reversed. So the discussion about the poem is worth having. I tend to think it is a silly poem, but would the poet be held responsible if some young kids got out and did what she suggested? In others words is this incitment to violence?
In a world where people cry geniocide if they are “misgendered” thinking this poem is fine, shows a great deal of hypocracy
Obviously there would be an absolute outcry if the races were reversed.
The poem is about brown women's responses to colonial history. Avia is talking about killing white colonialist men who abused their positions of power and raped, kidnapped and murdered Polynesian women.
"Avia is talking about killing white colonialist men who abused their positions of power and raped, kidnapped and murdered Polynesian women."
No, she isn't. 'These days' is today. And there were no SUV's when "white colonialist men…" "…abused their positions of power and raped, kidnapped and murdered Polynesian women."
And if you want to argue she's employing poetic license, you will need to explain away why she says "we're going to F… YOU UP" with reference to any of your descendants".
It's not poetic licence, it's an actual poem. If you read a poem literally as you would say a blog post in prose, you are likely to miss what is being said. It's a piece of art using a range of language forms that require us to set aside our literal brains for a moment. It's not the language of an instruction manual.
No, she isn't. 'These days' is today.
Ok, she is talking about a number of things in the poem.
In my comment to anker, I was referring to anker's idea that the poem is racists and if this were reversed there would be an outcry. My comment was to lay out in simple terms the basic premise of the poem and to ask anker what she thinks would be the reverse of that.
But since you brought it up, colonisation and the impacts of it still exist.
I agree the descendants line is very challenging. Here's one way to understand it,
The poet uses a list to outline the ways in which James Cook and those who carry the colonising mentality, are arseholes: “thieves / or rapists / or kidnappers / or murderers”.
I think the part of the poem where she says'we’re driving round
in SUVs
looking for ya
or white men like you
who might be thieves
or rapists
or kidnappers
or murderers
yeah, or any of your descendants
or any of your incarnations
cos, you know
ay, bitch?
We’re gonna F… YOU UP."
I guess the paralell might be a Moariori from the Chatham Island writing a poem that says "we are looking for brown men like you from the Taranaki Iwi which commited atrocities on the Chatam Island and we are going to F…k you up".
I have been thinking about Pat's post yesterday with an article that is by or quotes Anne Salmond, talking about what happened in Serbia where very suddenly communities that got on well started othering people and it turned into an appalling war (she mentions neighbours raping their next doors wives).
Negative sentiment towards a race can change very quickly it seems and this poem certainly is displaying negative sentiment towards white males. Its not so long ago that Marama said that the violence in the world is cause by cis white males. There have also been many warnings of violence if the opposition goes ahead with the plans of a referendum on the Treaty.
I am not sure what the answer is. I don't think it is banning a poem though.
I'm not sure there would be an absolute outcry if a Chatham Islands poet wrote about their colonisation by Māori. I suspect it would either pass largely unnoticed, or there would be discussion along with racists using it to beat up Māori. Something along the lines of 'Māori are colonisers too' (as if we don't already know that) so shut up about white people. Here I am talking about people using that as part of their racism (which I see), I'm not talking about you.
Negative sentiment towards a race can change very quickly it seems and this poem certainly is displaying negative sentiment towards white males.
See this I don't get. Because the poem is clearly talking about men like Cook. White is a descriptor. She says,
white men like you who might be thieves/rapists/kidnappers/murderers
I'm wondering how you got from that to white men generally.
Its not so long ago that Marama said that the violence in the world is cause by cis white males.
She was very stupid to say that especially in the way that she did. It was compounded by her unwillingness to condemn the violence at Albert Park. If you are following the conversation between Molly and I today, you will see what I wrote about political ineptitude. MD's declaration was that of an activist, not of an MP with responsibilities to voters and constituents. There are ways to have the conversation about the role of Pākehā and men in violence and colonisation without coming across like Rik from the Young ones.
There have also been many warnings of violence if the opposition goes ahead with the plans of a referendum on the Treaty.
There have been a few that I have seen, not many. When they came from MPs like Jackson, that too was politically very unwise imo. MPs have a particular responsibility.
When it comes from people within Māoridom I think it's worth considering why they might be reacting that way, and that calming that situation down comes from pulling back from the referendum and finding other ways to have the conversation.
It's not like having a referendum on self ID, where we would almost certainly win. NZ is tipping towards reactionary pol at a fast rate, and a simplistic referendum on such a deeply important constitutional issues is just a bad, bad move. If we put the people talking about violence aside for a minute, there were also a number of progressives saying this is the hill they would die on. You will be familiar with that phrase from the GC movements.
Imo ACT are trolling liberals with that referendum. It's politicking and unnecessary. I don't believe they misunderstood how deeply protective many people feel about the Treaty, I think they knew exactly what they were doing.
I guess the point of addressing Cook directly and as if he is alive is because his legacy lives on. Hence driving around looking for the next lot of rapists and murders. As I said elsewhere in the thread, I'm ok with people wanting to fuck up rapists and murders.
"but taking out sound bites and not understanding the meaning is a problem".
The poem's meaning is open to interpretation. You've provided one version, but there are others. The expression "we're gonna F… YOU UP" is not a 'sound bite". It is a deliberately provocative, dare I say powerful, expression, that is intended to arouse strong emotions. Perhaps, in the end, the author has made her point.
I assume she got the prize for an entire body of work, not this short verse. So it has to be considered in that context. If this was meant to stand alone as a poem in itself, then it's quite thin conceptually in its understanding of history and emotionally limited to just pure rage. But if it's part of a longer work where many different voices cover the same ground but with differing and overlapping perspectives and emotional tones , then it might be part of quite a rich and rewarding poem. I don't know her writing at all, so couldn't say any more than that. Other than to note that literary quality is a real thing, it's not just a matter of personal preference. But basing the judgment of it on any repeatable set of objective criteria is completely impossible. The people who judge such awards generally have some background that one would expect to help them to make good decisions, but they can also be captured by fashionable agendas.
Jacinda and Clarke's long awaited wedding was a joyful celebration with their friends and families. I felt relieved and pleased that after all the responsibilities and challenges they have faced they finally had their day to remember. Both looked stunning and very happy.
Shame about the Daily Mail helicopter intrusion and pathetic protesters.
The Beehive Civilian notes that while it is common to marry while pregnant with ones first born, there is an exemption for those PM elect.
And while it is most uncommon for a mother of a child to marry in white, there is an exemption if the bridegroom wears black and it is Hawkeye territory.
And there was I thinking that the woman/white men/black was explained by this old saw.
'A little boy at a wedding asks his Mom, "Mommy how come bride's wear white dresses at their wedding." The Mom responds "Well because it's the happiest day of her life." The kid responds "Then how come the groom wears black?"'
And no, it has absolutely nothing the do with the couple concerned in this story. Jacinda certainly looked great in her dress, didn't she?
I bet those official photos of Jacinda and Clarke have swept around the world. Jacinda looked magnificent. What a contrast she makes to her venom filled detractors of both sexes.
I note a story/podcast plus happy family photo has emerged today about Luxon's wife's views on her marriage, Coincidence? I doubt it. No, I'm not going to link to it. Anyone who is interested can go to the Herald website – Lifestyle section.
Hi Anne … and it's also worth noting the piece about Luxon's wife's views on marriage (who cares), follows directly below the article and photo of Jacinda and Clarke after their wedding!
[Please fix your email address in your next comment, thanks – Incognito]
The " Amanda Luxon" story has not only pushed Jacinda and Clarke's wedding off 'Lifestyle' but she's now got the red revolving headline along the top. 😉
It's all dirty politics, Anne. The Herald piece on Amanda L was not only intended to detract from Jacinda and Clarke's wedding, but also to accentuate fashion clothing, thereby giving the MSM another opportunity to have a dig at Golriz Ghahraman. I'd put money on a link between the family Luxon and the owners of Scotties Boutique – probably a big National donor.
Have you considered the possibility that playing the one-up-man-ship game is common-place in politics, particularly among the right wingers, or are you just ignorant and a misogynist?
Have you considered the possibility that no-one really gives a toss about Ardern, Bennett or anyone else, and that it's only you and a hand full of other tin foil hat wearers who see conspiracy here?
I just read Anne's comments and all she has said is that the timing of the Luxon story was deliberate. That's not Dirty Politics, that's just normal political strategy and comms.
I'm not in moderator mode quite yet, but you certainly have my attention. I suggest backing off from the tinfoil accusations and focusing on the politics, because at the moment you look like a troll.
My comment related to a number of Anne's posts that claimed a variety of events were the result of some kind of conspiracy. Anne seemed to understand and responded with good grace. But thanks, I'll accept the warning.
David @ 8:23pm is probably referring to my comments re – Golriz Ghahraman.
When someone has been leaking information that is not coming from any of the people directly involved (including the Green leaders) and it transpires that the original news source was ZB radio, and one of the tale tellers happens to be closely associated with Cameron Slater who has apparently been twittering about it since, then you just know that dirty politics is in there somewhere. One doesn't need to resort to conspiracy theories to figure that out.
I say to David:
Sorting the facts from the fiction coming from NAct and their enablers as many of us here try to do, does not constitute conspiracy in the accepted sense of the word.
You'd have to be a little (wilfully) naive to pretend Benefit's AMA installment wasn't timed to drop the day after the wedding. I imagine Benefit wanted to do it on the day of the wedding but wiser head prevailed.
In the print precision of the interview it doesn't say anything about Amanda Luxon's career. Has she ever worked outside the family? Her kids are late teens so there has been plenty of time for her to find a job and indeed Benefit herself required mums to get off the couch once their kids turned 5 if I recall correctly…
…also, with the biceps. If you squint she could be a man.
You're obviously well down the rabbit hole. Bennett is more likely setting herself up for a mayoral run than trying to compete with an ex PM. As for the Luxon's, puff pieces like that are common. Do you seriously think either Luxon or Bennett timed their PR campaigns to one-up Ardern?
Benefit is not competing with Jacinda Ardern (that happened already and the result was clear), and her ambitions for Auckland mayoralty are absolutely in line with running puff pieces on Amanda Luxon at convenient moments. How else does Benefit attract the required support and funding?
There would always have to be a few conspiracy theorist misanthropes to try and spoil Jacinda and Clarke's big day. Nutters like that can't help themselves, the gene pool might be seriously small.
"Hesitant hitmen jailed over botched assassination in China
Businessman Tan Youhui hired a hitman to "take out" his competitor for $282,000 (£218,000), a court heard.
But the hitman hired another man to do the job, offering $141,000. That man hired another hitman, who hired another hitman, who hired another hitman.
The plan crumbled when the final hitman met the man, named only as Wei, in a cafe and proposed faking his death.
All six men – the five hitmen and Tan – were convicted of attempted murder by the court in Nanning, Guangxi, following a trial that lasted three years."
Talk about a corrupt court, the 5th hitman only sought to fake Tan's death and planning to have the state declare a living person to be dead, is not an attempt to kill him, but to liberate him from a life as Tan in a communist party ruled nation.
Free enterprise seems to be catching on there. I've got an excellent history of the Chinese triads. Check out the cool photo of the leader of one with a million members holding the broom with which Mao made him sweep the streets of Shanghai in 1950!
It's not surprising there would be some remnants now. The immersion and investment in such organisations would have been huge, and the fear hard to relinquish entirely.
Two minutes of my life I'll never get back reading this somewhat interesting – but ultimately useless – factoid. Which exposed my lack of knowledge, to enjoy your punnish humour.
So (as in the USA) much of the donated support remains in the donor country, not 'bags of money given to Zelenskyy' as russia's supporters like to say.
Be great not to need an arms industry, but then you have countries like russia that force war and subjugation upon their neighbours.
Russia has increased its military budget by 70% year on year, to 40% of its entire expenditure – USD 109 billion military spending planned for 2024. Combined with russia's unprovoked attacks on multiple neighbours and imperialist rhetoric, this forces everyone else to increase their defence spending.
You seem confused. Critiquing the U.S. government and its client states, like Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Israel does not make one a supporter of Russia.
… countries like russia that force war and subjugation upon their neighbours.
Such wildly one-sided and unscholarly rants against Russia tell us nothing about the subject in hand, but they do reveal a lot about you.
When the yanks went after Saddam I was bemused. British capitalists had spent an entire decade arming Iraq. Thatcher, otoh, was likely not amused, in the style of her queen. I found all the media stories about the gung ho British armaments industry quite tedious back then.
However I had years earlier when Reagan was doing his thing written him an angry letter telling him to stop supporting right wing dictatorships all over the place so you could argue that my letter had a belated impact. At least, that's the impression I got when Bush Sr took out Noriega after the little drug-dealing ruler of Panama waved his machete on prime-time tv news too much.
Hmm, I thought, so the CFR finally got it right – time-lag around 4 years, perhaps not too bad a performance for chronic conservatives…
The thumb in the pocket was very much a trad macho stance, back in the days when guys did the wall-flower thing around the fringe of a party. Unusual to see it exhibited by such a young feller.
Auckland’s light rail has officially been tossed on the scrap heap by the National-led coalition government. Transport minister Simeon Brown put the final nail in the coffin of the multi-billion dollar project on Sunday after a stop work notice was issued to the project last year after the government came to power. “Scrapping the expensive project is part of the coalition agreements and we have taken swift action,” Brown said.
The project, which was expected to take up to 14,500 vehicles off the road, was intended to link a light rail system between the city centre and Māngere and Auckland Airport.
Ak's constipation status is no longer under threat! That's the good news. We can expect it to get worse as neolib choke-point, making the incoming govt seem clueless. Ak's destiny as trash-pile now seems inevitable. Labour will be devastated: "It was our Green credibility front-runner. Instead of seeming progressive, we would have gone down in history as actually progressive."
Pre Covid, bus traffic on Symonds St was 100 bus movements per hour in peak times. Symonds St is a bus sewer and it does not matter how any double deckers you put on it, it will not keep up with population pressure.
They have been talking about some sort of light rail or separated busway on Dominion Rd for decades. Auckland City Council even bought some property in strategic areas to enable the transit mode to go around the back of the areas with the most heritage street frontages.
With the major redevelopment in Owairaka, the pressure on Sandringham Rd, Dominion Rd and New North Road will become even greater.
If the last Government had not played silly buggers with expensive tunnels to placate the noisy Dominion Rd business people who did not want the disruption of construction, this could have been well under way by now.
One would expect Luxon to feel obliged to come up with Plan B, even if only to prevent the inevitable Ak swing back to Labour if he doesn't. It will be interesting to see how he handles media questions around that. A professional politician would already have an angle figured out, and added a preliminary consensus in principle with the two minor leaders to that. If he hasn't, he'll seem to be floundering…
A dedicated busway would be the best bet imo, we'll also need to get some land back off the ports for the exchange apperently theres not alot of capacity to put more busses into the city.
Could get rid of the carparks on Dominion road to make space. Theres a massive underutilized carpark on balmoral dominion intersection so should hurt all the resteraunts. Its an improvment that could be done comparativly easily.
Good luck with that idea. The Dominion Rd business people fight for every car parking space. They already complain about every second of the bus lanes.
Of the four news sites that I regularly look at, Leighton Heilkill at Newshub was the only one which didn't credit the wedding photographer. Kind of annoying.
Easy come easy go for those with huge amounts of disposable cash to invest, but why do they cry foul of banks when they themselves have very poor personal security practices?
My debt card was compromised once, the details of which had been sold by some entity I had purchased something from. One day $400 was stolen in a series of small amounts, a modest sum but a lot to my family. The Kiwibank fraud specialist was very good and spent quite a bit of time with me.
Apparently, banks have long wanted increased security measures, particularly cool off periods for online purchases/transactions but consumers, businesses, and governments won't have it because it interferes with ease of business.
So, suck it up soldier, and don't be so arrogantly stupid next time.
COVID levels are two to 19 times higher than numbers being reported around the world, a WHO official said Friday, citing wastewater data.
The news comes as the organization warns of the yet unknown dangers of repeat COVID infection, which can occur without symptoms.
[…]
“Five years, 10 years, 20 years from now, what are we going to see in terms of cardiac impairment, pulmonary impairment, neurologic impairment? It’s year five in the pandemic, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about it.”
Marijuana is neither as risky nor as prone to abuse as other tightly controlled substances and has potential medical benefits, and therefore should be removed from the nation’s most restrictive category of drugs, federal scientists have concluded.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
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Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
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https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/01/13/that-boys-got-hope-the-tiny-gesture-that-gave-a-judge-hope-for-a-troubled-teen/
A ray of hope for youth offending, as long as the nats don't dismantle it for boot camps.
And maybe all judges should be bought down from on high to sit eye to eye with those they judge.
Lai Ching-Te wins the Taiwan election and is very strong on clearer autonomy from China.
Expect Xi to fire up, and Biden to respond. To start with.
Yeah, just like Aotearoa is part of the British empire. History is a powerful dream., particularly when you keep on dreaming it…
Clearer on declaring an autonomous Taiwan without making a claim of independence from China.
Taiwan's corporates will do the Hong Kong shuffle and produce more offshore for the growing world market.
China will one day blockade, and (fast missile) sink any fleet sent to prevent this – thus the 1949 reprise (when the US fleet allowed the Nationalists to move on Taiwan). Then offer Taiwan autonomy within China, rather than invasion/occupation.
And he won despite China's malicious interference in Taiwan's elections.
China's bullying and abuse of its democratic neighbour is appalling.
Having a delusional geopolitical stance is sensible: it anchors a nation firmly in the traditionalist camp: conservative is good.
Realists do the usual eye-roll at this puerile shit:
The regime quite properly notes that democracy doesn't represent the mainstream view. It's merely a simulation. However, floating this assertion tacitly is so subtle a framing that it will go over the heads of most punters. Any competent political consultant would tell them to spit the dummy: "Guys, ya gotta tell it like it is real simple, y'know?"
Paternalism often works. Give everyone a firm instruction. Use moral authority: "The USA, the UK, and China are adamant that the One China Policy is the verdict of history, and will be retained forever." This is a safe move, given that Brits & Yanks of all political persuasions have been united in promoting this mass delusion my entire life.
Yet conservative solidarity has only ever worked on the basis of the mass moron theory of politics. You give the people shit & they swallow it. Human nature. What if a critical mass of humans don't operate like that? Conservatives don't like to consider such an awful possibility. Like pseudo-progressives (Labour) they pretend reality isn't really there. In reality, you get realpolitik producing outcomes. In geopolitics, this has mostly been driven by the principle of state sovereignty: nations are in the habit of recognising states in control of their territory. Which points to sovereignty in Taiwan being real…
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/13/asia/taiwan-presidential-election-results-intl-hnk/index.html
Without US, and Western, support of Taiwan, accompanied by the threat of military backup, I suspect the "one China" theme would have been a reality long since. But the West probably has its own agenda in the region.
the West probably has its own agenda
Playing both sides of the game – what Stalin excelled at. And it has worked rather well so far for the establishment. It helps to also be part of the UN umpire's admin.
Ukraine's sovereignty over its 1945 and 1991 borders was and is real in international law.
And will be made so to the extent the USA (both parties) is prepared to confront a nuclear armed Russian state to realise this.
The Taiwan peoples desire to be a real nation state will not occur (in the current geo-political order) – China has a veto in the UNSC and in international law is part of China. Independence could only occur by finding military partners prepared to go to war against China and also able to win. Tell it to MacArthur. It is as mad as the PNAC agenda for the 21st C.
Depends if the yanks & brits continue to maintain the status quo: supporting Chinese imperialism. Some kid may point out that the emperor isn't wearing an impressive suit of clothes at all. The delusion only works if nobody breaks the spell.
And will be made so to the extent the USA (both parties) is prepared to confront a nuclear armed Russian state to realise this.
Which they are not prepared to do. They are prepared to sacrifice Ukrainian lives in their proxy war, however.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-blinkens-kyiv-visit-says-us-is-ready-fund-war-the-last-ukrainian-2023-09-06/
Red Sea as neolib artery, Yemen as cancer spreading onto the boundary of that…
Cue Biden's apology to the American people: "Looks like I stuffed up, eh? Sorry, folks, won't do it again. I'll muse over the feasibility of making Donald Trump my resident geopolitical advisor, because clearly our CFR hasn't got an effing clue."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_Council_on_Foreign_Relations
I'll muse over the feasibility of making Donald Trump my resident geopolitical advisor,
Because, of course, Kissenger is no longer with us.
Seems like an excellent development in the region. Why on earth would the US (and presumably Israel) not be in favour of this, I wonder?
In a well coordinated operation, a team of thieves has removed a large crop of blueberries from 700 bushes in a Hawkes Bay orchard. The owner of the orchard thinks it would have required vehicles, equipment, lights and crates.
Now that's organised crime for you.
Seems a lot of effort for a few hundred kilos of blueberries….cant imagine theres much of a black market for them.
yeah, I'm trying to see how they could be sold. Farmers Markets?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/506517/hundreds-of-kilograms-of-blueberries-stolen-from-hawke-s-bay-farm
Also of note,
Unless the farm is folding, what that means is those people have no job security. My questions are,
By all means blame the thieves, but it could easily have been weather, so yet again that industry needs to take a long hard look at how it operates.
Picking blueberries under lights can't have been easy.
" vehicles, equipment, lights and crates" should have left plenty of evidence for the police to work on.
Inside job on an outside crop? You'd have to have been familiar with the fruit and the picking process, plus storage and distribution.
It is curious to consider how much packhouse work would have been lost, given the speed with which the crop was picked – how much processing is there in that relatively small amount of crop? Did they pick through the night? How many crates were filled?
It's an odd tale…
headlamps? Blueberry bushes aren't that tall right?
Maybe it was former blueberry industry workers who have lost work/jobs 😈 Blackmarket unions arising in the vacuum created by NZ’s employment law.
"In conclusion, the best time of day to pick blueberries is in the morning when the sun is still low and the berries are at their juiciest. It is important to follow the steps outlined above to ensure you are picking the fruit at its peak and storing it properly. With a little bit of knowledge and preparation, you can enjoy the delicious taste of fresh-picked blueberries all summer long."
https://shuncy.com/article/best-time-of-day-to-pick-blueberries
I agree it seems a bit strange – sounds like quite a lot of work.
Surely there are easier ways to make a dishonest living?
I suspect a gang, led by Violet Beauregarde.
The birds got all of our crop – except for 3! hehehe I got a taste.![cheeky cheeky](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/tongue_smile.png?x42494)
I'm not sure making a dishonest living is easy at the best of times. Maybe someone wanted a big feed? Or they're making jam.
Generally crop insurance is completely cost prohibative in terms of orchards etc as there are to many thing that go wrong will the crop is still on the plant so to speak.
In terms of picking teams and packhouses staff move around the various orchards picking to a schedule and the packhouses are seperate again with most staff only working when fruit is coming in. Its always been highly season work. There are quite a few people that follow the circuit around the country its a lifestyle I guess.
Fyi commercial blueberries generally grow to around 1.8m tall and are generally picked over quite carefully as the fruit ripen gradually.
In this case it sounds like they just stripped the plants completely either way its a very strange thing to have happen lots of effort for a few thousand dollars if you can sell them.
Have to wonder if it was done due to a greivance perhaps not paying a picking crew or something?
thanks Cricklewood, all very interesting. It is strange. MSM have done PR pieces for the industry before, so maybe we're not getting the whole picture.
A few thousand dollars is ok for a nights work I guess. Maybe they were picking to order?
I'm aware of the nature of seasonal work and the people that do it as a lifestyle. The industry also relies on overseas visitors who want to make some cash while they travel and don't care so much about things like employment agreements, holiday/sick pay, having enough income to pay for rent and so on.
The problem is that workers don't have their right protected. I can't see a good rationale of that other than this is the way things are done.
Avocados went the same way, not so long ago.
Good though, that Kiwis are eating fresh fruit!
Came across an interesting item on National Radio's Evenings show on Jan 13.
Poet Tusiata Avia was recently awarded a $60,000 Prime Minister's award prize for a poem which (quite savagely) attacked colonialism and fantasised about someone killing James Cook instead of welcoming him to New Zealand.
The ACT Party put out a press release under their member Todd Stephenson soon after ridiculing Avia for her work, complaining that tax payer money was being spent to support a racist, suggesting indirectly that Tavia was mentally ill and threatening to axe the prize completely if similar material ever happened again.
Here we have the so-called "free speech party" threatening to close down literary works because they don't like the content and using their power as a governing party to publicly abuse someone who cannot fight back, except through words.
ACT and literary achievement are obviously mutually exclusive concepts.
links:
http://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018922108
https://www.act.org.nz/act_condemns_60_000_poetry_award
[link fixed to replace the https]
If Cook had been killed instead of du Fresne we'd have no Treaty but better cooking standards.
We'd be French toast!
Your link to Act's statement doesn't work. I know they criticised the work as racist. If they threatened to axe the prize, I am utterly against this.
I think its a bad poem from a literary point of view, although I can only claim Stage One English at university as my credential to offer such criticism.
I think it is a highly inflamatory poem though. I think it would be hard to argue with that (see link below).
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/27-02-2023/how-to-read-a-poem
Hey James,
it’s us.
These days
we’re driving round
in SUVs
looking for ya
or white men like you
who might be thieves
or rapists
or kidnappers
or murderers
yeah, or any of your descendants
or any of your incarnations
cos, you know
ay, bitch?
We’re gonna F… YOU UP.
Obviously there would be an absolute outcry if the races were reversed. So the discussion about the poem is worth having. I tend to think it is a silly poem, but would the poet be held responsible if some young kids got out and did what she suggested? In others words is this incitment to violence?
In a world where people cry geniocide if they are “misgendered” thinking this poem is fine, shows a great deal of hypocracy
And because Mike fundamentally misrepresented what ACT said, here's a link to the press release:
ACT Condemns $60,000 Poetry Award | Scoop News
Let Tusiata fund her racist, vile rantings on her own dime.
The poem is about brown women's responses to colonial history. Avia is talking about killing white colonialist men who abused their positions of power and raped, kidnapped and murdered Polynesian women.
What would be the reverse of that?
"Avia is talking about killing white colonialist men who abused their positions of power and raped, kidnapped and murdered Polynesian women."
No, she isn't. 'These days' is today. And there were no SUV's when "white colonialist men…" "…abused their positions of power and raped, kidnapped and murdered Polynesian women."
And if you want to argue she's employing poetic license, you will need to explain away why she says "we're going to F… YOU UP" with reference to any of your descendants".
The poem is filth, plain and simple.
It's not poetic licence, it's an actual poem. If you read a poem literally as you would say a blog post in prose, you are likely to miss what is being said. It's a piece of art using a range of language forms that require us to set aside our literal brains for a moment. It's not the language of an instruction manual.
Ok, she is talking about a number of things in the poem.
In my comment to anker, I was referring to anker's idea that the poem is racists and if this were reversed there would be an outcry. My comment was to lay out in simple terms the basic premise of the poem and to ask anker what she thinks would be the reverse of that.
But since you brought it up, colonisation and the impacts of it still exist.
I agree the descendants line is very challenging. Here's one way to understand it,
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/27-02-2023/how-to-read-a-poem
We can take 'descendants' as the cultural children of Cook.
There's no problem with you hating the poem, but taking out sound bites and not understanding the meaning is a problem.
I think the part of the poem where she says'we’re driving round
in SUVs
looking for ya
or white men like you
who might be thieves
or rapists
or kidnappers
or murderers
yeah, or any of your descendants
or any of your incarnations
cos, you know
ay, bitch?
We’re gonna F… YOU UP."
I guess the paralell might be a Moariori from the Chatham Island writing a poem that says "we are looking for brown men like you from the Taranaki Iwi which commited atrocities on the Chatam Island and we are going to F…k you up".
I have been thinking about Pat's post yesterday with an article that is by or quotes Anne Salmond, talking about what happened in Serbia where very suddenly communities that got on well started othering people and it turned into an appalling war (she mentions neighbours raping their next doors wives).
Negative sentiment towards a race can change very quickly it seems and this poem certainly is displaying negative sentiment towards white males. Its not so long ago that Marama said that the violence in the world is cause by cis white males. There have also been many warnings of violence if the opposition goes ahead with the plans of a referendum on the Treaty.
I am not sure what the answer is. I don't think it is banning a poem though.
I'm not sure there would be an absolute outcry if a Chatham Islands poet wrote about their colonisation by Māori. I suspect it would either pass largely unnoticed, or there would be discussion along with racists using it to beat up Māori. Something along the lines of 'Māori are colonisers too' (as if we don't already know that) so shut up about white people. Here I am talking about people using that as part of their racism (which I see), I'm not talking about you.
See this I don't get. Because the poem is clearly talking about men like Cook. White is a descriptor. She says,
I'm wondering how you got from that to white men generally.
She was very stupid to say that especially in the way that she did. It was compounded by her unwillingness to condemn the violence at Albert Park. If you are following the conversation between Molly and I today, you will see what I wrote about political ineptitude. MD's declaration was that of an activist, not of an MP with responsibilities to voters and constituents. There are ways to have the conversation about the role of Pākehā and men in violence and colonisation without coming across like Rik from the Young ones.
There have been a few that I have seen, not many. When they came from MPs like Jackson, that too was politically very unwise imo. MPs have a particular responsibility.
When it comes from people within Māoridom I think it's worth considering why they might be reacting that way, and that calming that situation down comes from pulling back from the referendum and finding other ways to have the conversation.
It's not like having a referendum on self ID, where we would almost certainly win. NZ is tipping towards reactionary pol at a fast rate, and a simplistic referendum on such a deeply important constitutional issues is just a bad, bad move. If we put the people talking about violence aside for a minute, there were also a number of progressives saying this is the hill they would die on. You will be familiar with that phrase from the GC movements.
Imo ACT are trolling liberals with that referendum. It's politicking and unnecessary. I don't believe they misunderstood how deeply protective many people feel about the Treaty, I think they knew exactly what they were doing.
But Avia is a poet, not an MP. The rules are different for poets.
"Because the poem is clearly talking about men like Cook. White is a descriptor."
Yes, men like Cook (who are white), who 'might be thieves or kidnappers or murderers' (emphasis mine).
Don't you see the racial profiling going on there?
No, I don't. She's talking about the people of European descent that colonised the Pacific since the 1700s. What is wrong with naming them as white?
She is clearly expressing non-literal truths, ideas and emotion. No-one here thinks Cook is still alive, so why take the other lines literally?
I guess the point of addressing Cook directly and as if he is alive is because his legacy lives on. Hence driving around looking for the next lot of rapists and murders. As I said elsewhere in the thread, I'm ok with people wanting to fuck up rapists and murders.
Perhaps the words 'might be' are problematic to me. Anyway, clearly we see this differently.
might seems to me to be a poetic word in this context.
She’s a poet not a policeman.
"I don't think it is banning a poem though."
Of course not. But I'm unsure why we fund this kind of work that is essentially cultural elitism.
"but taking out sound bites and not understanding the meaning is a problem".
The poem's meaning is open to interpretation. You've provided one version, but there are others. The expression "we're gonna F… YOU UP" is not a 'sound bite". It is a deliberately provocative, dare I say powerful, expression, that is intended to arouse strong emotions. Perhaps, in the end, the author has made her point.
or perhaps she is expressing strong emotions that brown women often haven't been able to.
Myself, I don't have too much trouble with her wanting to fuck up rapists and murderers, but then I'm taking her literally.
I assume she got the prize for an entire body of work, not this short verse. So it has to be considered in that context. If this was meant to stand alone as a poem in itself, then it's quite thin conceptually in its understanding of history and emotionally limited to just pure rage. But if it's part of a longer work where many different voices cover the same ground but with differing and overlapping perspectives and emotional tones , then it might be part of quite a rich and rewarding poem. I don't know her writing at all, so couldn't say any more than that. Other than to note that literary quality is a real thing, it's not just a matter of personal preference. But basing the judgment of it on any repeatable set of objective criteria is completely impossible. The people who judge such awards generally have some background that one would expect to help them to make good decisions, but they can also be captured by fashionable agendas.
AB the full poem is in the link. It is part of a longer body of work, a book by the same name as the poem I think
Jacinda and Clarke's long awaited wedding was a joyful celebration with their friends and families. I felt relieved and pleased that after all the responsibilities and challenges they have faced they finally had their day to remember. Both looked stunning and very happy.
Shame about the Daily Mail helicopter intrusion and pathetic protesters.
The Beehive Civilian notes that while it is common to marry while pregnant with ones first born, there is an exemption for those PM elect.
And while it is most uncommon for a mother of a child to marry in white, there is an exemption if the bridegroom wears black and it is Hawkeye territory.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/01/the-big-day-everything-we-know-about-dame-jacinda-ardern-s-wedding.html
And there was I thinking that the woman/white men/black was explained by this old saw.
'A little boy at a wedding asks his Mom, "Mommy how come bride's wear white dresses at their wedding." The Mom responds "Well because it's the happiest day of her life." The kid responds "Then how come the groom wears black?"'
And no, it has absolutely nothing the do with the couple concerned in this story. Jacinda certainly looked great in her dress, didn't she?
I bet those official photos of Jacinda and Clarke have swept around the world. Jacinda looked magnificent. What a contrast she makes to her venom filled detractors of both sexes.
I note a story/podcast plus happy family photo has emerged today about Luxon's wife's views on her marriage, Coincidence? I doubt it. No, I'm not going to link to it. Anyone who is interested can go to the Herald website – Lifestyle section.
It’s strategic from Paula Benefit and the Herald. They couldn’t let Jacinda marry, hog the spotlight, and send out those photos without having a cry.
A Paula Bennett heist to steal limelight from Jacinda. That woman is so transparent.
Hi Anne … and it's also worth noting the piece about Luxon's wife's views on marriage (who cares), follows directly below the article and photo of Jacinda and Clarke after their wedding!
[Please fix your email address in your next comment, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
The " Amanda Luxon" story has not only pushed Jacinda and Clarke's wedding off 'Lifestyle' but she's now got the red revolving headline along the top. 😉
Jacinda probably doesn't give.
It's all dirty politics, Anne. The Herald piece on Amanda L was not only intended to detract from Jacinda and Clarke's wedding, but also to accentuate fashion clothing, thereby giving the MSM another opportunity to have a dig at Golriz Ghahraman. I'd put money on a link between the family Luxon and the owners of Scotties Boutique – probably a big National donor.
(all /sarc).
It's all dirty politics, Anne.
Nah. Just the Nats and cohorts playing their usual game of 'one-up-man-ship'. (not sarc.)
Silly attempt, because she doesn't come within coo-ee of Jacinda Ardern. 🙂
Have you considered the possibility that you’re over-egging the whole thing just a little?
Have you considered the possibility that playing the one-up-man-ship game is common-place in politics, particularly among the right wingers, or are you just ignorant and a misogynist?
Have you considered the possibility that no-one really gives a toss about Ardern, Bennett or anyone else, and that it's only you and a hand full of other tin foil hat wearers who see conspiracy here?
sounds like you are the one over-egging things.
I just read Anne's comments and all she has said is that the timing of the Luxon story was deliberate. That's not Dirty Politics, that's just normal political strategy and comms.
I'm not in moderator mode quite yet, but you certainly have my attention. I suggest backing off from the tinfoil accusations and focusing on the politics, because at the moment you look like a troll.
Read the site Policy too (top of the page).
My comment related to a number of Anne's posts that claimed a variety of events were the result of some kind of conspiracy. Anne seemed to understand and responded with good grace. But thanks, I'll accept the warning.
it would help if you were specific when you are referring to past comments and discussions ie link.
@ weka,
David @ 8:23pm is probably referring to my comments re – Golriz Ghahraman.
When someone has been leaking information that is not coming from any of the people directly involved (including the Green leaders) and it transpires that the original news source was ZB radio, and one of the tale tellers happens to be closely associated with Cameron Slater who has apparently been twittering about it since, then you just know that dirty politics is in there somewhere. One doesn't need to resort to conspiracy theories to figure that out.
I say to David:
Sorting the facts from the fiction coming from NAct and their enablers as many of us here try to do, does not constitute conspiracy in the accepted sense of the word.
You'd have to be a little (wilfully) naive to pretend Benefit's AMA installment wasn't timed to drop the day after the wedding. I imagine Benefit wanted to do it on the day of the wedding but wiser head prevailed.
In the print precision of the interview it doesn't say anything about Amanda Luxon's career. Has she ever worked outside the family? Her kids are late teens so there has been plenty of time for her to find a job and indeed Benefit herself required mums to get off the couch once their kids turned 5 if I recall correctly…
…also, with the biceps. If you squint she could be a man.
You're obviously well down the rabbit hole. Bennett is more likely setting herself up for a mayoral run than trying to compete with an ex PM. As for the Luxon's, puff pieces like that are common. Do you seriously think either Luxon or Bennett timed their PR campaigns to one-up Ardern?
I see comprehension isn't your strong point.
Benefit is not competing with Jacinda Ardern (that happened already and the result was clear), and her ambitions for Auckland mayoralty are absolutely in line with running puff pieces on Amanda Luxon at convenient moments. How else does Benefit attract the required support and funding?
"If you squint she could be a man."
So good, Muttonbird. I appreciate your sense of humour here.
There would always have to be a few conspiracy theorist misanthropes to try and spoil Jacinda and Clarke's big day. Nutters like that can't help themselves, the gene pool might be seriously small.
I note that Amanda Luxon doesn't want be referred to as "First Lady". Just as well as we don't use that term in Aotearoa New Zealand.
haha.
@ Grey Area (8) … we could call her " the Gym Lady."
Just a Sunday afternoon musing, but did anyone catch this real-life Coen brother happening in China in 2019?
Came up on my twitter feed, and I found the BBC article which gave me a chuckle. …Can't find anyone to do the work these days….
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50137450
Talk about a corrupt court, the 5th hitman only sought to fake Tan's death and planning to have the state declare a living person to be dead, is not an attempt to kill him, but to liberate him from a life as Tan in a communist party ruled nation.
I did admire the resourcefulness of the final hitman, who met up with the target to discuss faking his death.
No stylised John Wick movie script, rather a comedy of errors along the lines of Fargo.
Wei=Tan.
Free enterprise seems to be catching on there. I've got an excellent history of the Chinese triads. Check out the cool photo of the leader of one with a million members holding the broom with which Mao made him sweep the streets of Shanghai in 1950!
It's in Zhang Zhiheng's account of it: https://www.quora.com/Do-triads-still-exist-in-China-today
Just scroll down the contributors to the answer & you'll see his name.
Thanks, Dennis.
It's not surprising there would be some remnants now. The immersion and investment in such organisations would have been huge, and the fear hard to relinquish entirely.
Isn't Phaic Tan a Tai tourist beach?
Thanks for that Ad.
Two minutes of my life I'll never get back reading this somewhat interesting – but ultimately useless – factoid. Which exposed my lack of knowledge, to enjoy your punnish humour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaic_T%C4%83n#:~:text=misusing%20a%20gun.-,Geography%20and%20provinces,the%20north%20and%20east%20respectively.
If I'm ever in the unlikely position of being on a popular quiz show, I may be in touch to ask if you will be my "Phone a Friend"…![laugh laugh](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png?x42494)
Subcontracting gone mad.
Does Britain have an armaments industry? And, if so, is that industry expecting to receive a billion pounds worth of business from Ukraine?
Or am I just being a bit too cynical?
I'm sure you know – the UK has a huge arms industry.
So (as in the USA) much of the donated support remains in the donor country, not 'bags of money given to Zelenskyy' as russia's supporters like to say.
Be great not to need an arms industry, but then you have countries like russia that force war and subjugation upon their neighbours.
Russia has increased its military budget by 70% year on year, to 40% of its entire expenditure – USD 109 billion military spending planned for 2024. Combined with russia's unprovoked attacks on multiple neighbours and imperialist rhetoric, this forces everyone else to increase their defence spending.
as russia's supporters like to say.
You seem confused. Critiquing the U.S. government and its client states, like Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Israel does not make one a supporter of Russia.
… countries like russia that force war and subjugation upon their neighbours.
Such wildly one-sided and unscholarly rants against Russia tell us nothing about the subject in hand, but they do reveal a lot about you.
The point is, it is wildly one-sided.
When did another country make war against russia, invade or subjugate it, post WWII?
While the list of countries that russia has invaded and/or subjugated since WWII, is long.
It's about one-twentieth of the number of countries invaded and subjugated by the United States.
List of countries with highest military expenditures:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_highest_military_expenditures
When the yanks went after Saddam I was bemused. British capitalists had spent an entire decade arming Iraq. Thatcher, otoh, was likely not amused, in the style of her queen. I found all the media stories about the gung ho British armaments industry quite tedious back then.
However I had years earlier when Reagan was doing his thing written him an angry letter telling him to stop supporting right wing dictatorships all over the place so you could argue that my letter had a belated impact. At least, that's the impression I got when Bush Sr took out Noriega after the little drug-dealing ruler of Panama waved his machete on prime-time tv news too much.
Hmm, I thought, so the CFR finally got it right – time-lag around 4 years, perhaps not too bad a performance for chronic conservatives…
https://i.imgur.com/7UbFp7Q.jpeg
Beautiful photo
The thumb in the pocket was very much a trad macho stance, back in the days when guys did the wall-flower thing around the fringe of a party. Unusual to see it exhibited by such a young feller.
A lovely couple, looking so happy.
A lovely couple. So pleased for them.
Is this a good news story or what?!
Ak's constipation status is no longer under threat! That's the good news. We can expect it to get worse as neolib choke-point, making the incoming govt seem clueless. Ak's destiny as trash-pile now seems inevitable. Labour will be devastated: "It was our Green credibility front-runner. Instead of seeming progressive, we would have gone down in history as actually progressive."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/301039545/government-pulls-the-pin-on-multibillion-dollar-auckland-light-rail-project
Pre Covid, bus traffic on Symonds St was 100 bus movements per hour in peak times. Symonds St is a bus sewer and it does not matter how any double deckers you put on it, it will not keep up with population pressure.
They have been talking about some sort of light rail or separated busway on Dominion Rd for decades. Auckland City Council even bought some property in strategic areas to enable the transit mode to go around the back of the areas with the most heritage street frontages.
With the major redevelopment in Owairaka, the pressure on Sandringham Rd, Dominion Rd and New North Road will become even greater.
If the last Government had not played silly buggers with expensive tunnels to placate the noisy Dominion Rd business people who did not want the disruption of construction, this could have been well under way by now.
One would expect Luxon to feel obliged to come up with Plan B, even if only to prevent the inevitable Ak swing back to Labour if he doesn't. It will be interesting to see how he handles media questions around that. A professional politician would already have an angle figured out, and added a preliminary consensus in principle with the two minor leaders to that. If he hasn't, he'll seem to be floundering…
A dedicated busway would be the best bet imo, we'll also need to get some land back off the ports for the exchange apperently theres not alot of capacity to put more busses into the city.
Could get rid of the carparks on Dominion road to make space. Theres a massive underutilized carpark on balmoral dominion intersection so should hurt all the resteraunts. Its an improvment that could be done comparativly easily.
Good luck with that idea. The Dominion Rd business people fight for every car parking space. They already complain about every second of the bus lanes.
Of the four news sites that I regularly look at, Leighton Heilkill at Newshub was the only one which didn't credit the wedding photographer. Kind of annoying.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/01/the-big-day-everything-we-know-about-dame-jacinda-ardern-s-wedding.html
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Easy come easy go for those with huge amounts of disposable cash to invest, but why do they cry foul of banks when they themselves have very poor personal security practices?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/consumer-nz-calls-for-asb-to-refund-scam-victims-100k-loss-due-to-substandard-bank-security-systems/76EFIOGKBBDK7IAGCOARDPAO7M/
My debt card was compromised once, the details of which had been sold by some entity I had purchased something from. One day $400 was stolen in a series of small amounts, a modest sum but a lot to my family. The Kiwibank fraud specialist was very good and spent quite a bit of time with me.
Apparently, banks have long wanted increased security measures, particularly cool off periods for online purchases/transactions but consumers, businesses, and governments won't have it because it interferes with ease of business.
So, suck it up soldier, and don't be so arrogantly stupid next time.
Our most recent waste water data is incomplete.
@drseanmullen
Explain to me how this TikTok’r gets it and “public health experts” don’t. MDs don’t. Share widely on multiple platforms.
https://twitter.com/drseanmullen/status/1745635997558153369
COVID levels are two to 19 times higher than numbers being reported around the world, a WHO official said Friday, citing wastewater data.
The news comes as the organization warns of the yet unknown dangers of repeat COVID infection, which can occur without symptoms.
[…]
“Five years, 10 years, 20 years from now, what are we going to see in terms of cardiac impairment, pulmonary impairment, neurologic impairment? It’s year five in the pandemic, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about it.”
https://fortune.com/well/2024/01/12/covid-jn1-pandemic-world-health-organization-warns-dangers-repeat-covid-infection-cardiac-pulmonary-neurologic/
JAMA freebie.
From “Immunity Debt” to “Immunity Theft”—How COVID-19 Might Be Tied to Recent Respiratory Disease Surges
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2814028?guestAccessKey
edit:
direct link to X vid
https://www.tiktok.com/@mudflapbrokentire/video/7318832123119553823
National the government that will not be of any help.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/fifth-wave-of-covid-19-hits-new-high-in-nz-as-govt-looks-at-ending-free-rats/XKFST2TBBFHW5BIEZXYAQ6YA6Q/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/health/marijuana-fda-dea.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Nk0.OnWm.oMx4dSB0NpMo&smid=url-share