If the UMR poll is on the money and National polls 29% or thereabouts on election night, and assuming Hutt South is a Labour gain, then they will have to lose 5 electorate seats for Chris Bishop to be returned as a list MP. Similarly Nicola Willis will only be heading back to parliament as a List MP if they lose 7 electorate seats. The wipeout of the (relatively) youngish, more liberal grouping in the pastry could be massive.
Surplus to requirements as National return to their core values lead by true believers Jude n Gez.
Luxon and the hollow men have their work cut out from Saturday with the first prayers of unity Sunday.
Jude can lead that one, she’s well practiced from the campaign.
Well, doesn't matter how much the public deserves to know, Labour will keep refusing to inform them. It wants a blank cheque, and the polls suggest it will get it!
But Tim is right to explore the likely thrust of negotiations with the Greens. Especially as public & media are unlikely to be informed as those happen, which will irritate all immensely! Open govt is something Labour likes to talk about, but hates to do.
No different from National and ACT in 2008, or Labour and the Alliance in 1999.
And – as James Shaw has explained, and Watkin hasn't grasped – it is about the relationship, not the checklist. The first MMP government tried to nail down everything in the negotiations, and it fell apart, and every government since then has learned from that.
In 2017, if Ardern had been asked" "Will you rule out closing the borders and telling people to stay home?" she would have dismissed the stupid question, and ruled it out or said it wasn't on the table or a bottom line or any of those cliches that commentators love. But … events.
In the next 3 years, unexpected things will happen, so positions will change. Budget Responsibility Rules? A clear promise by Labour and the Greens. But then everyone – even Goldsmith – wanted them torn up. So they were.
Dennis Frank MMP relies on those with the most support to set the majority of policy and the support party gets a few of its policies depending on its level of support.
Or the degree of leverage it has over the bigger party – if Labour is reliant upon The Greens for becoming the Government for a second term, The Greens could have an enhanced opportunity to require policy implementation or something resembling it.
When Collins took over from Muller, she said she was done with Nationals dirty tricks. Well that didn't last long did it. How can she ever be trusted again.
If you live in Auckland Central and haven’t seen your candidates in debate, that’s a choice you’ve made. The candidates have engaged in numerous debates. Neither White nor Swarbrick can recall exactly how many, but it’s a lot. They’ve grown accustomed to each other’s answers and thoughts. There’s not much more to learn.
The two grapple over the wealth tax and housing when they meet at the Ponsonby community centre in late September…. White is measured and enunciates clearly. She’s been an employment lawyer for 27 years and knows how to deliver a case. Swarbrick has an arsenal of passion. It’s a polite and policy-focused version of the wars playing out online between the area’s Labour and Green supporters.
New Zealand has largely avoided the splintering of progressive parties seen in recent years across the English-speaking world. In the United States, business-friendly Democrats have ceded ground to an openly socialist and increasingly vocal wing of the party. British Labour is still grappling with the legacy of former leader Jeremy Corbyn. In Canada, the New Democrats face the question of whether to focus on social justice or the traditional union base.
That fragmentation hasn’t happened in New Zealand partly due to the dominant popularity of Jacinda Ardern, as well as MMP. Labour’s hard-left activists are, in many cases, likely to be in the Green Party. One of the only places that debate has played out in New Zealand this election is in Auckland Central. The politicians and thinkers White and Swarbrick reference in conversations are revealing of the progressive schism.
Swarbrick calls on US Democrat Bernie Sanders to defend her party’s wealth tax; he’s at that party’s left-most fringe. Labour’s Michael Joseph Savage is her example of taxes put to good use.
White looks to US Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a progressive character whose politics are closer to the centre but well to the left of presidential candidate Joe Biden. She also reads a lot of Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winning economist critical of globalism and growing inequality.
This dichotomy between pragmatic centrism and genuine progressive politics is a faultline running through western civilisation. Both/and logic applies!
It would be nice to see a bit of pragmatic centrism, frankly. With our massive and growing inequality, and no suggestion of policies to address it, the self-styled centrists aren't much better than the far-right – they just boil the frog a bit slower.
You're right that they're largely an unthinking group – mainstreamers mostly. A cut above sheeple though? To the extent that they're smart enough to not become captive to left/right tribalism, that's so.
Consensus politics works via the muddle through the middle. Inequality is structural and functional. It's a product of capitalism. It will be there as long as democracy empowers capitalism!
Those who see it as a social problem to be resolved by a design solution (like me) are less than 1% of voters. Even the Greens remain clueless about how to get the right result – which is not to demean their alternative solution, in principle, merely to note that it is an attempt to reinvent socialism by stealth. You can't win with that attitude. Corbyn & Sanders proved it.
of or relating to centrists or to their political views; middle-of-the-road.
Generally speaking, pragmatism refers to doing what is physically possible while centrism is about balancing what is physically possible with the delusional.
At best, pragmatic centrism would be an oxymoron because that's what centrism is.
They vote according to whichever mainstream party seems suitable at the time. Nonaligned with either left or right, they have constituted the tertiary division of the system that had previously been binary. They are mainly visible to political scientists & commentators as swing-voters (a small subgroup).
Since the 1980s, they have been measured as around a third of the electorate in all western countries (by election results) – however a large proportion of them don't vote due to lack of faith in democracy.
If, for some reason, you haven't noticed the phenomenon, it could be due to lack of examples in your family & circle of friends. I've always had a majority of them in mine. The few in my circle who are so conservative that they still take the Nat/Lab option seriously are outliers…
I cannot stand swingers. Their willy-waving ways of voting show such lack of commitment and loyalty, it disgusts me. If you want to be a freedom-loving hedonistic libertine, politically speaking, under the pretence of being for pragmatic centrism, then just go full frontal and vote for one of the fringe parties or ACT. Bloody hypocrites, with their both/and logic; they want to have both their pie and feast on it.
They are indeed mostly opportunists. I always saw their flip/flop between the establishment parties as braindead, but as I got older I realised it was just mercenary. So I use pragmatism to signal the sensible choice of following the money (when in Rome…) and you can inform yourself of how they think about that via conversation – if you really want to know!
Fwiw, I think a different psychology is in play currently. They got reassured by Grant re adherence to neoliberal bau, which stopped the drift back to National, but it seems clear that there was a significant centrist shift to Labour due to the PM's pandemic leadership prior.
Yes, we have centrist, swinging, voters but centrism is a lie. A balancing act between reality and the delusional but the delusional can't be balanced.
Can't agree with you because nonaligned is a durable stance, whether for persons or groups. It works when binary compression is insufficient to enforce loyalty.
Yeah, they should bury it next to CGT and CC. These are just annoying issues that nobody wants to talk about and that are a major inconvenience for politicians who love nothing more than political expediency.
Well millsy is very anxious that we don't 'snatch defeat from the jaws of victory'. Another cliche' 'It ain't over till the fat lady sings" which refers to opera I think. And this is a clash with high and low emotions par excellence, worthy of some comic opera. (Comic if one was a god or some triffilionaire sitting on high watching.)
Yes, millsy has made it abundantly clear that they are anxious. Although it is understandable, it won’t change a thing. People have a tendency if not habit to avoid stuff that’s perceived (too) hard. That kind of attitude doesn’t change a thing either. Funny that 😉
This is a crucial moment in time, and a crucial decision that we attempt to reason our way towards. Part of that reasoning is knowing that some people don't ever use it and throw gold-painted dice to guide them every morning. (Winston Churchill didn't say that.)
If not now, then when? Excuses, excuses, there are always excuses. Manjana, nek minnit, yeah-nah. It is the duty of our elected politicians to tackle the hard stuff as well; nobody else can and will. This is how the system works. Election time is the perfect time to put the hard stuff on the table as it sets the scene for the next term.
'Term' has a number of meanings. We are already in a term, the election just heralds the next part of it; there is a fork in the road and we want to follow the left way which is essential for getting pretty close to our desired destination.
"If not now, then when?" – YES, now is the time to campaign for and on progressive taxation policies. Labour have their watered down "don't scare the horses" one (better than nothing), and with Ardern ruling out the CGT recommendations of the Tax Working Group, the Green party have taken the opportunity to develop and run with their (much) more progressive/redistributive wealth tax.
National and ACT are promising (unrealistic) tax cuts – nothing new there.
The administration of the tax system 48. The [Tax Working] Group considers there is a need for greater public access to data and information about the tax system. Inland Revenue should review whether the information and data it currently collects offers the most useful insights or whether other datasets would better respond to the needs and interests of the public and future policy development. It is particularly important to have better data about the distribution of wealth in New Zealand. https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/resources/future-tax-final-report-vol-i-html.html
Maybe Labour should put forward an alternative tax policy that will genuinely alleviate poverty rather than the pathetic 39% above $180k policy (which raises one-sixteenth of the WT).
Tax policy alone will never alleviate poverty. To do that we need to re-balance the entire economy.
Minimum incomes
Maximum incomes
Development of the economy (Manufacturing, extraction, processing, education and R&D)
Limiting trade to nations who have the same/similar laws as us so that the pricing system will work
Banning offshore ownership
These are the basic necessities but there is more that needs to be looked at. Taxes could help if they're done properly and discourage excessive ownership.
They can't. The reason is identity politics. When a political party identifies with losers, they marginalise themselves intentionally. The leftist Greens don't see that as a problem. I agree with you – in principle – however. They seem to be gambling that alienating centrists will win them lower-class votes…
Those whom the system is designed to marginalise. Those whom they designed the wealth tax to benefit. I'm using it in the class sense. Because in mass psychology that's the mental category they get put in.
Btw, I do realise that you &/or others may feel it is demeaning to use it as a technical term, but not to do so is to evade reality. I believe the best way to do politics is to engage with how people actually think & feel. To me, that's an ethical pre-requisite! Whenever I'm clearly using a non-pc stance, it's because of a higher priority that informs my decision-making…
You are right, I don't like you referring to me and others of my class as losers. 'Loser' is almost wholly a pejorative in politics. Worse, you're not even trying to be sarcastic but appear to think it's an appropriate term to use. There are two problems here. One is that calling the under class losers renders class analysis less visible. Two, it detracts from the point you are trying to make.
Just because you feel like/think poor people are losers, doesn't make it a useful or meaningful term.
Dennis you have found out how people think and feel. As I understand it you are referring to the mentality of the hard-line capitalist-economic class who divide citizens into winners or losers as they regard the distribution of the nation's resources as a competitive thing.
If that is so you need to make it clear that you are not using the word "loser' as a slur. And because this present economy judges people by their wealth, those with a low income receive many slurs. Perhaps using the word excluded or missing-out would state the meaning better. But it needs to be talked about – it is true that in the winners/losers division it is increasingly more unequal since 1984's free market-neolib.
I believe the best way to do politics is to engage with how people actually think & feel. To me, that's an ethical pre-requisite!
I think this is so presumptuous it borders on arrogance. You don’t know what people actually think & feel. I think it is demeaning to presume to know that they think & feel in these demeaning ways. It says more about you than about the imaginary people you claim to engage with; a classical example of projection. Please remember that here on this site you are actually engaging with only a small group of commenters plus reaching a much larger group of silent readers.
I think it is un-ethical not to say what you mean and mean what you say and to hide behind the presumed thoughts & feelings of some virtual audience. Speak for yourself, own your own thoughts & feelings, and build your arguments on those using your own words. Anything else is dishonest and dishonesty is intrinsically off-putting and rubs people the wrong way.
Whenever I'm clearly using a non-pc stance, it's because of a higher priority that informs my decision-making…
The fact that you prioritise your commenting style here to inform your “decision-making” over honest engagement and debate with others here is deeply disturbing 🙁
I believe the best way to do politics is to engage with how people actually think & feel.
OK. It’s only ethical to note that you come across like a pompous git of the highest order here, Dennis. Can't possibly imagine how the Green party resisted your enduring influence, how they spurned the precious gems you offered.
Fortunately younger citizens are brighter and your dim moon is setting below yon horizon. Enjoy a happy and quiet retirement. We will all feel better for it.
Agree with millsy. They've made their point now shut up! There's plenty of time to argue the toss after the election is over. If they're not careful they could stop Labour voters who are considering a party vote for the Greens to help them back into parliament. I'm one of them.
Making my mind up after the last poll results tomorrow.
Ardern is countering National's they'll take your money taxinda propaganda including getting the Greens numbers wrong.The truth is after Covid I trust this govt to deliver for the good of NZders. There are more than one way to skin a cat. Wealth tax is just one way of bringing inequality. Rightly or wrongly a large number of NZders have made money from the property market. They are the voters of the centre and likely are fairly self interested. One of the reasons Labour’s polling went up after Covid is that it effected everyone. Those centre voters could see a competent plan that kept them safe.
If the wealth tax was a vote winner, Greens TOP would have surging polls numbers. But there is still some uncertainly Greens will make it back in. I hope they do.
The Greens also have a much more comprehensive income tax policy with higher rates at the upper end. That is an area that could be negotiated about. And having the greens there will support the lefter leaning Labour.
There is also a wealth deal that could be done around estate and stamp duty taxes going on and capping the 100% asset tax that applies now to the small portion of elders who end up in full care. The 100% care tax falls pretty unevenly.
The odious stuff.co is certainly out to get Billy. Funny that, the tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in New Zealand, in an attempt to take down this wonderful man. How dare they explain a "Tour of Duty" to a military man. I think Billy would know his work history better than stuff.co!
[Good morning. You still have a Moderation note to respond to here: https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-02-10-2020/#comment-1755893. Today is your last chance and after that, I will move you from Pre-Moderation to the Blacklist for a month for making unsupported assertions and wasting moderator time – Incognito]
[Since you have not given a satisfactory response to moderation, we might see you again in one month – Incognito]
I think Stunned that there might have been a nuance in maui's comment which was meant to be ironic, but you missed it.
I think /sarc at end might be best in these cases as some here think that ironic isn’t something to trip your thinking up, but a metal bar that you either trip over or that stuns you!
Maui, the policies of the Public Party are so muddled and vague
Their Covid stuff is so demonstrably untrue.
"Initial predictions of death have not materialised around the world, and COVID-19’s case fatality rate is not unlike that of seasonal influenza."
The worst year of influenza in the US in recent years produced a little over 80,000 deaths
The US under current administration has been initially dismissive and laissez faire of the dangers of Covid .The current death rate from Covid is far in excess of 80,000, it's now about 215,000, most unlike that of seasonal influenza
It's those countries who recognised the risk Covid posed and acted early who have very low death rates, and incidentally have suffered less economic decline
Advance and Public Party are a ragbag of incoherent, poorly researched policies, full of aspirational bluster but no hard facts.Jamie Lee Ross and Billy TK are cynical carpet baggers predating on the disenfranchised poor
I guess the rats are one by one deserting the sinking ship SS Judith Collins. She's toast post election, that is increasingly clear. Mark Mitchell would probably be a good leader for the Nats, certainly better than the divisive falsity of Collins.
Peter chch, Mark Mitchell is the very bottom of their barrel. A mercenary no less.
They need to go back to the drawing board for at least 10 years, as they all worship wealth for some, and believe in trickle down theories, and small state. Wow that has really worked in the USA and the UK!! sarc.
I don't agree with their wealth tax or even their cannabis policy (haven’t decided on that yet, it’s one for the polling booth), but at least they represent a departure from the current system. A left government needs these people as balance to the right wing of the Labour Party. You know the types, they advocate beating capitalists at their own game rather than changing the game.
Our basic older systems are working to control Covid 19 but we aren't doing it right because we aren't utilising the most advanced technology trackers. This item from Radionz has a number of quotes from different people with different viewpoints and has to be read in full to get the gist of who is suggesting what.
New Zealand needs to start having a conversation about more modern responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as mobile phone tracking, a specialist in disasters says. (I'm not sure which specialist is being referred to here.)
University of Canterbury law professor John Hopkins told Morning Report New Zealand needs to think about whether it would use technology as a tool in fighting the virus like other countries have.
He said Taiwan has used some similar measures to New Zealand "…but the main difference is their heavy use of IT and some pretty invasive use of mobile phone tracking and other similar mechanisms to control individuals and to pinpoint who's at risk of having the virus".
He said although the methods New Zealand uses are effective, "they're old fashioned".
My feeling about wanting to force us all to have devices is that this adoption (for efficiency and speed of contact particularly of the precariat) is the hardest, biggest marketing ploy ever seen in the world. The corps(e) want them embedded in our society, pecking away at our lives like vicious magpies. We must be encouraged forced to give up our old, cheap, practical and user-friendly systems and become totally reliant on tech devices to do everything, and be watched through them by authorities of some sort, not necessarily gummint, throughout our daily lives. Tech is great, all bow down.
About the Brit Chancellor – "You entitled horse-faced prick" is I am sure very apt to those in the UK who can glue two thoughts together.
But in today's world where ordinary citizens have retreated so far from reality that they believe anything that a politician tells them is true and moral in a tone of confidence, firmness while looking them steadily in the eye, then they are just like my very nice hairdresser. Who thinks if parents do the right things in helping their children, they will find their way to a good job and a future. Yes, partly true, but there are other children who won't. Well they should stay off drugs. But there are so many other factors? No, you are worrying too much.
It's all a bit hard to cope with and maybe we should let the politicians and authorities get on with it – after all we pay them enough don't we!
Sky rocketing house prices are not sustainable for the local economy, according to Real Estate Institute of New Zealand chief executive Bindi Norwell….
"There's approximately $10 billion that people would traditionally spend on overseas travel and now they're thinking 'what can I do with this extra additional cash that I've got' and so property has been a popular choice and it's because people are thinking it's a good long-term investment.
Perhaps the government should issue some more bonds and mop up some of this excess money. Crazy isn't it, with so many having more credits than they know how to spend, and some hardly having enough to live and their way blocked from getting decent employment by the government running down local enterprise in favour of importing cheap goods in its place.
Perhaps government could raise bonds to help struggling local business keep going and defend themselves against mechanical shredders of enterprise – the landlords and others. That way we will keep a semblance of an enterprise- oriented country through production rather than just being service lackeys to the rich.
I could see some of the local publicly listed companies borrowing off the market rather than the banks. A composite bond that covers a number of listed companies borrowings might be a good idea. Be interesting to see to if local mortgage borrowing starts to bypass the banks by way of composite borrowiing – but not junk bonds.
Perhaps the government should issue some more bonds and mop up some of this excess money. Crazy isn't it, with so many having more credits than they know how to spend, and some hardly having enough to live and their way blocked from getting decent employment by the government running down local enterprise in favour of importing cheap goods in its place.
That's what you get when you base society upon bludging. The successful bludgers get richer and thus deprive others of the necessities of life.
To even start to divert equity out of housing and into more productive assets like businesses, there needs to be both an active sharemarket (ours is moribund), and a massive VIF sector (ours is tiny).
Maybe they need to stretch their legs and just have a huge tax cut for those investing in businesses, so that even future house rises get slightly less appealing.
Not happening under either alternative government option.
Yes it's a worry. I wonder if the situation is a bit like that in England when the Irish Famine was starting (for the second time).
Like this? Damn, that is an unpleasant little scene over there in Ireland. Yes, but I think reports are a bit exaggerated, it will be only tough for a few short weeks and then supplies will be available. Oh no, they are committed in entirety to… What's to be done then? Oh they will just have to batten down, and they can struggle through. The Irish are a hardy lot you know. etc.
In other words, no ideas from the employed leaders, no effort, no impetus, and no responsibility, no-one to call them to order with expectations of fruitful and intelligent action.
Try giving the country a short burst of 5% inflation, bring up the OCR or whatever then it costs more to borrow for houses and at the same time offer the bonds at a slightly teeny bit higher. We haven't had a level playing field for a while so tilt it differently.
Sharemarkets don't actually encourage investment in productive businesses. Once the IPO is done none of the money exchanged on the sharemarket goes to the business of which the shares of which the shares give ownership.
Buying and selling of shares is nothing but pure speculation.
Business and society would be better off if the business just took out a loan.
The difference between owning a business and expanding through private loan, or listing your growing business on the sharemarket, is best summed up by Fiddy Cent:
We can't afford the sudden shock of losing all the financial structure we have. We need to utilise what we have. Going for completely different theories is for med-long term not a short term thing.
There are clever, agile minds around who get organised into criminality. The latest is stealing from glasshouses. (This might be a feature of wanting staff from overseas – less local connections to utilise the info of saleable stock and procedures from local staff?)
Jan 21, 2005 — Lee Simpson forged Janet Frame's signature to improve the value of her books and hid rare and valuable collections in a Christchurch riverbed as he waited for a buyer. He stole from libraries up and down the country for 10 years, making at least $150,000.
Friend on the Sunshine coast tells us his friend in France says 9000 cases overnight and many people were put in hospitals last night and they are overwhelmed.
The second wave is turning into a tsunami.
We are so blessed here, having the luxury of choosing and voting for continued success.
National MP's social media prowess from an MP in a marginal seat according to JC, that David Bennett chap.
Dirty politicking the seniors about how they'll get 7100 tax p.a under a Lab/Green banner.
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The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted ‘Remain’ rather than Brexit (or ‘Leave’). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
But Will She Keep Smiling? Kindness is as kindness does. And the one thing kindness cannot do is force people to be kind. Understanding that was the single most important factor in the Prime Minister’s success at stamping out the Coronavirus. She took New Zealanders with her; she encouraged them ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
“It is basic human decency to speak up and protect any vulnerable child from harm, so withholding information in child abuse cases and allowing the abuse to happen by not speaking up is, put simply, a cowardly move,” says Jess McVicar Co-Leader ...
Allowing 1,000 returning international students back to New Zealand is the right move by the Government, and hopefully we will be able to welcome more, says ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard. "International education has contributed ...
A majority of the House of Representatives have voted to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. Follow the ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We believe it is vital to hold our new Labour-led government to account ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Rotorua Lakes District Council to urgently release the engineering report on the public safety and structural integrity of the visible foundation-misalignment and lean of the City’s Hemo Gorge monument to government ...
Changes in income and movement in and out of poverty over time are only weakly associated with higher rates of child hospitalisation in New Zealand, according to a new University of Auckland study. Published today in PLOS ONE, the collaborative study led by Dr ...
With a long, hot summer upon us, pet owners are urged to be extra mindful of their pet’s health and safety. Unusually warm weather can quickly take its toll on furry family members, who aren’t well equipped for dealing with blazing heat. The National ...
The Council for Civil Liberties is challenging a claim by former National Party leader Simon Bridges that people should have total freedom of expression on Twitter. ...
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study. The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences. The study indicates ...
62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By Arturo López-LevyOakland, CaliforniaUnfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values ...
The threatened Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will keep operating through to the end of December 2024, in a new deal just announced to the New Zealand stock exchange. Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto announced last year it was closing Tiwai due to high energy and transmission costs. Meridian Energy said that ...
The lack of Māori language or symbolism on the SuperGold Card isn’t just a design issue – it’s emblematic of the overwhelming whiteness of Aotearoa’s superannuant population, writes former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.I’ve enjoyed the SuperGold Card since I retired eight years ago. I appreciate the free public ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Brumm, Professor, Griffith University The dating of an exceptionally old cave painting of animals that was found recently on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is reported in our paper out today. The painting portrays images of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Garrick, University Fellow in Law, Charles Darwin University Just over a year has gone by since the novel coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and the world still has many questions about where and how it originated. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Young, Lecturer, Deakin University Medievalist references littered the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th. Rudy Giuliani called for a “trial by combat”; the “Q Shaman”, Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli), was covered in Norse tattoos; rioters brandished ...
A Whakatāne therapist says the Whakaari eruption and Christchurch mosque shooting reveal a health system unable to deal with mass casualty events. Whakaari after its eruption in 2019. Photo: Supplied/Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust This comes amid calls for millions of dollars of promised mental health funding to be urgently re-routed to Canterbury ...
Summer reissue: Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Stacy Gregg, author of Pony Club Secrets and The Princess and ...
Summer reissue: The latest episode of Bad News follows Alice Snedden on a quest to expose the double standards around nudity, and break down the barriers by getting the first-ever topless scene on Shortland Street.First published August 25, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
While the protests at Waikeria shine a light on prisoner conditions, abuses of power and inhumane treatment in prison are not new and will continue until prisoner numbers significantly reduce, writes Christine McCarthy The recent six-day Waikeria protest highlighted problems at that prison, but it is not unique. The December ...
If the UMR poll is on the money and National polls 29% or thereabouts on election night, and assuming Hutt South is a Labour gain, then they will have to lose 5 electorate seats for Chris Bishop to be returned as a list MP. Similarly Nicola Willis will only be heading back to parliament as a List MP if they lose 7 electorate seats. The wipeout of the (relatively) youngish, more liberal grouping in the pastry could be massive.
What are Goldsmith’s chances – as National have chosen to gift Epsom to the ACT Party again?
He'll be the first one in off the list, so he is 99% certain to be there.
The overhang scenario is fun to imagine, but it won't happen. If the party vote is that bad, National will be losing electorates too.
Surplus to requirements as National return to their core values lead by true believers Jude n Gez.
Luxon and the hollow men have their work cut out from Saturday with the first prayers of unity Sunday.
Jude can lead that one, she’s well practiced from the campaign.
… grouping in the pastry …
I read that and got a sudden mental image of road-kill skunk pie.
And I read, "groping" and my mental picture was even worse!
Really shouldn’t post in a hurry while waiting for the bus to work.
Why? Did it break down and stop working or something? 😛
Tim Watkin considers the policy options for "potential coalition negotiations between Labour and the Greens, which could begin next week".
Well, doesn't matter how much the public deserves to know, Labour will keep refusing to inform them. It wants a blank cheque, and the polls suggest it will get it!
But Tim is right to explore the likely thrust of negotiations with the Greens. Especially as public & media are unlikely to be informed as those happen, which will irritate all immensely! Open govt is something Labour likes to talk about, but hates to do.
No different from National and ACT in 2008, or Labour and the Alliance in 1999.
And – as James Shaw has explained, and Watkin hasn't grasped – it is about the relationship, not the checklist. The first MMP government tried to nail down everything in the negotiations, and it fell apart, and every government since then has learned from that.
In 2017, if Ardern had been asked" "Will you rule out closing the borders and telling people to stay home?" she would have dismissed the stupid question, and ruled it out or said it wasn't on the table or a bottom line or any of those cliches that commentators love. But … events.
In the next 3 years, unexpected things will happen, so positions will change. Budget Responsibility Rules? A clear promise by Labour and the Greens. But then everyone – even Goldsmith – wanted them torn up. So they were.
Dennis Frank MMP relies on those with the most support to set the majority of policy and the support party gets a few of its policies depending on its level of support.
Or the degree of leverage it has over the bigger party – if Labour is reliant upon The Greens for becoming the Government for a second term, The Greens could have an enhanced opportunity to require policy implementation or something resembling it.
Collins has gone even lower showing her true character which will be a massive turn off for voters.
Desperation .
She was left with no choice, she tried being nice and it was as natural as a horse walking backwards.
When Collins took over from Muller, she said she was done with Nationals dirty tricks. Well that didn't last long did it. How can she ever be trusted again.
The Spinoff political editor examines how "the progressive schism" is playing out in a local microcosm: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/13-10-2020/the-battle-for-central-auckland-is-splitting-the-left/
This dichotomy between pragmatic centrism and genuine progressive politics is a faultline running through western civilisation. Both/and logic applies!
It would be nice to see a bit of pragmatic centrism, frankly. With our massive and growing inequality, and no suggestion of policies to address it, the self-styled centrists aren't much better than the far-right – they just boil the frog a bit slower.
You're right that they're largely an unthinking group – mainstreamers mostly. A cut above sheeple though? To the extent that they're smart enough to not become captive to left/right tribalism, that's so.
Consensus politics works via the muddle through the middle. Inequality is structural and functional. It's a product of capitalism. It will be there as long as democracy empowers capitalism!
Those who see it as a social problem to be resolved by a design solution (like me) are less than 1% of voters. Even the Greens remain clueless about how to get the right result – which is not to demean their alternative solution, in principle, merely to note that it is an attempt to reinvent socialism by stealth. You can't win with that attitude. Corbyn & Sanders proved it.
The article finally manages to mention green issues near the end…….certainly pushing White over Swarbrick.
Is there even such a thing?
Pragmatic:
Centrist:
Generally speaking, pragmatism refers to doing what is physically possible while centrism is about balancing what is physically possible with the delusional.
At best, pragmatic centrism would be an oxymoron because that's what centrism is.
They vote according to whichever mainstream party seems suitable at the time. Nonaligned with either left or right, they have constituted the tertiary division of the system that had previously been binary. They are mainly visible to political scientists & commentators as swing-voters (a small subgroup).
Since the 1980s, they have been measured as around a third of the electorate in all western countries (by election results) – however a large proportion of them don't vote due to lack of faith in democracy.
If, for some reason, you haven't noticed the phenomenon, it could be due to lack of examples in your family & circle of friends. I've always had a majority of them in mine. The few in my circle who are so conservative that they still take the Nat/Lab option seriously are outliers…
I cannot stand swingers. Their willy-waving ways of voting show such lack of commitment and loyalty, it disgusts me. If you want to be a freedom-loving hedonistic libertine, politically speaking, under the pretence of being for pragmatic centrism, then just go full frontal and vote for one of the fringe parties or ACT. Bloody hypocrites, with their both/and logic; they want to have both their pie and feast on it.
They are indeed mostly opportunists. I always saw their flip/flop between the establishment parties as braindead, but as I got older I realised it was just mercenary. So I use pragmatism to signal the sensible choice of following the money (when in Rome…) and you can inform yourself of how they think about that via conversation – if you really want to know!
Fwiw, I think a different psychology is in play currently. They got reassured by Grant re adherence to neoliberal bau, which stopped the drift back to National, but it seems clear that there was a significant centrist shift to Labour due to the PM's pandemic leadership prior.
Yes, we have centrist, swinging, voters but centrism is a lie. A balancing act between reality and the delusional but the delusional can't be balanced.
Can't agree with you because nonaligned is a durable stance, whether for persons or groups. It works when binary compression is insufficient to enforce loyalty.
I consider loyalty to be rather stupid but I also consider believing the delusional to also be rather stupid.
Some people are behaving as if the election has already taken place.
The Greens really need to shut up about the wealth tax. Too much is at stake at the moment.
Yeah, they should bury it next to CGT and CC. These are just annoying issues that nobody wants to talk about and that are a major inconvenience for politicians who love nothing more than political expediency.
Well millsy is very anxious that we don't 'snatch defeat from the jaws of victory'. Another cliche' 'It ain't over till the fat lady sings" which refers to opera I think. And this is a clash with high and low emotions par excellence, worthy of some comic opera. (Comic if one was a god or some triffilionaire sitting on high watching.)
Yes, millsy has made it abundantly clear that they are anxious. Although it is understandable, it won’t change a thing. People have a tendency if not habit to avoid stuff that’s perceived (too) hard. That kind of attitude doesn’t change a thing either. Funny that 😉
This is a crucial moment in time, and a crucial decision that we attempt to reason our way towards. Part of that reasoning is knowing that some people don't ever use it and throw gold-painted dice to guide them every morning. (Winston Churchill didn't say that.)
If not now, then when? Excuses, excuses, there are always excuses. Manjana, nek minnit, yeah-nah. It is the duty of our elected politicians to tackle the hard stuff as well; nobody else can and will. This is how the system works. Election time is the perfect time to put the hard stuff on the table as it sets the scene for the next term.
'Term' has a number of meanings. We are already in a term, the election just heralds the next part of it; there is a fork in the road and we want to follow the left way which is essential for getting pretty close to our desired destination.
"If not now, then when?" – YES, now is the time to campaign for and on progressive taxation policies. Labour have their watered down "don't scare the horses" one (better than nothing), and with Ardern ruling out the CGT recommendations of the Tax Working Group, the Green party have taken the opportunity to develop and run with their (much) more progressive/redistributive wealth tax.
National and ACT are promising (unrealistic) tax cuts – nothing new there.
Too transformative for you Millsy?
Maybe Labour should put forward an alternative tax policy that will genuinely alleviate poverty rather than the pathetic 39% above $180k policy (which raises one-sixteenth of the WT).
Tax policy alone will never alleviate poverty. To do that we need to re-balance the entire economy.
These are the basic necessities but there is more that needs to be looked at. Taxes could help if they're done properly and discourage excessive ownership.
shut up about the wealth tax
They can't. The reason is identity politics. When a political party identifies with losers, they marginalise themselves intentionally. The leftist Greens don't see that as a problem. I agree with you – in principle – however. They seem to be gambling that alienating centrists will win them lower-class votes…
sorry, who are the losers that the GP is identifying with?
Those whom the system is designed to marginalise. Those whom they designed the wealth tax to benefit. I'm using it in the class sense. Because in mass psychology that's the mental category they get put in.
Btw, I do realise that you &/or others may feel it is demeaning to use it as a technical term, but not to do so is to evade reality. I believe the best way to do politics is to engage with how people actually think & feel. To me, that's an ethical pre-requisite! Whenever I'm clearly using a non-pc stance, it's because of a higher priority that informs my decision-making…
You are right, I don't like you referring to me and others of my class as losers. 'Loser' is almost wholly a pejorative in politics. Worse, you're not even trying to be sarcastic but appear to think it's an appropriate term to use. There are two problems here. One is that calling the under class losers renders class analysis less visible. Two, it detracts from the point you are trying to make.
Just because you feel like/think poor people are losers, doesn't make it a useful or meaningful term.
Dennis you have found out how people think and feel. As I understand it you are referring to the mentality of the hard-line capitalist-economic class who divide citizens into winners or losers as they regard the distribution of the nation's resources as a competitive thing.
If that is so you need to make it clear that you are not using the word "loser' as a slur. And because this present economy judges people by their wealth, those with a low income receive many slurs. Perhaps using the word excluded or missing-out would state the meaning better. But it needs to be talked about – it is true that in the winners/losers division it is increasingly more unequal since 1984's free market-neolib.
I think this is so presumptuous it borders on arrogance. You don’t know what people actually think & feel. I think it is demeaning to presume to know that they think & feel in these demeaning ways. It says more about you than about the imaginary people you claim to engage with; a classical example of projection. Please remember that here on this site you are actually engaging with only a small group of commenters plus reaching a much larger group of silent readers.
I think it is un-ethical not to say what you mean and mean what you say and to hide behind the presumed thoughts & feelings of some virtual audience. Speak for yourself, own your own thoughts & feelings, and build your arguments on those using your own words. Anything else is dishonest and dishonesty is intrinsically off-putting and rubs people the wrong way.
The fact that you prioritise your commenting style here to inform your “decision-making” over honest engagement and debate with others here is deeply disturbing 🙁
OK. It’s only ethical to note that you come across like a pompous git of the highest order here, Dennis. Can't possibly imagine how the Green party resisted your enduring influence, how they spurned the precious gems you offered.
Fortunately younger citizens are brighter and your dim moon is setting below yon horizon. Enjoy a happy and quiet retirement. We will all feel better for it.
Agree with millsy. They've made their point now shut up! There's plenty of time to argue the toss after the election is over. If they're not careful they could stop Labour voters who are considering a party vote for the Greens to help them back into parliament. I'm one of them.
Making my mind up after the last poll results tomorrow.
Agree Anne, re make their point now shut up.
Ardern is countering National's they'll take your money taxinda propaganda including getting the Greens numbers wrong.The truth is after Covid I trust this govt to deliver for the good of NZders. There are more than one way to skin a cat. Wealth tax is just one way of bringing inequality. Rightly or wrongly a large number of NZders have made money from the property market. They are the voters of the centre and likely are fairly self interested. One of the reasons Labour’s polling went up after Covid is that it effected everyone. Those centre voters could see a competent plan that kept them safe.
If the wealth tax was a vote winner, Greens TOP would have surging polls numbers. But there is still some uncertainly Greens will make it back in. I hope they do.
Maybe we'll see a 'kiwibuild levy' on house sales. Surjonkyponyboy was pretty clear on levies not being taxes, I seem to recall.
The Greens also have a much more comprehensive income tax policy with higher rates at the upper end. That is an area that could be negotiated about. And having the greens there will support the lefter leaning Labour.
There is also a wealth deal that could be done around estate and stamp duty taxes going on and capping the 100% asset tax that applies now to the small portion of elders who end up in full care. The 100% care tax falls pretty unevenly.
The odious stuff.co is certainly out to get Billy. Funny that, the tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in New Zealand, in an attempt to take down this wonderful man. How dare they explain a "Tour of Duty" to a military man. I think Billy would know his work history better than stuff.co!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/stuff-circuit/300131103/false-profit-full-and-unedited-video-with-advance-nz-coleader-billy-te-kahika
[Good morning. You still have a Moderation note to respond to here: https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-02-10-2020/#comment-1755893. Today is your last chance and after that, I will move you from Pre-Moderation to the Blacklist for a month for making unsupported assertions and wasting moderator time – Incognito]
[Since you have not given a satisfactory response to moderation, we might see you again in one month – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 8:53 AM.
I have a theory you think it's a conspiracy 😆
I suppose his nutty antisemitism is also the sign of a 'wonderful man' ?
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2020/10/a-darker-truth-anti-semitism-billy-tk-jr-conspiracy/?cid=app-iPhone
I think Stunned that there might have been a nuance in maui's comment which was meant to be ironic, but you missed it.
I think /sarc at end might be best in these cases as some here think that ironic isn’t something to trip your thinking up, but a metal bar that you either trip over or that stuns you!
Maui, the policies of the Public Party are so muddled and vague
Their Covid stuff is so demonstrably untrue.
"Initial predictions of death have not materialised around the world, and COVID-19’s case fatality rate is not unlike that of seasonal influenza."
Bungled the quote marks sorry
The big quotemarks are redundant..my words
I think Billy knows the stuff he makes up. He mightn’t be entirely sure what stuff he makes up though.
See my last Moderation note to you @ 8:53 AM.
I guess the rats are one by one deserting the sinking ship SS Judith Collins. She's toast post election, that is increasingly clear. Mark Mitchell would probably be a good leader for the Nats, certainly better than the divisive falsity of Collins.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2020-gerry-brownlee-says-weight-is-his-responsibility-judith-collins-says-obese-people-must-own-personal-choices/EWPIXPGKXMUW5BBWAPPEGIZMNI/
Peter chch, Mark Mitchell is the very bottom of their barrel. A mercenary no less.
They need to go back to the drawing board for at least 10 years, as they all worship wealth for some, and believe in trickle down theories, and small state. Wow that has really worked in the USA and the UK!! sarc.
Total agreement here Patricia. Mitchell is about the last person anyone needs in the role.
Absolutely with you both Patricia and RedBaron.
I didn't know anything about his history but looking at what is available via google he appears to have a reasonably good history for an MP
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/4810730/In-the-line-of-duty
Luxon
What sort of question is Luxie the answer to?
Do you love your soft skin?
it really gets in
Aww, nice photo.
I don't agree with their wealth tax or even their cannabis policy (haven’t decided on that yet, it’s one for the polling booth), but at least they represent a departure from the current system. A left government needs these people as balance to the right wing of the Labour Party. You know the types, they advocate beating capitalists at their own game rather than changing the game.
Tis a nice photo. And that's from a two ticks labour voter
Our basic older systems are working to control Covid 19 but we aren't doing it right because we aren't utilising the most advanced technology trackers. This item from Radionz has a number of quotes from different people with different viewpoints and has to be read in full to get the gist of who is suggesting what.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428301/nz-s-covid-19-methods-are-effective-but-old-fashioned-disaster-expert 11:11 am today
New Zealand needs to start having a conversation about more modern responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as mobile phone tracking, a specialist in disasters says. (I'm not sure which specialist is being referred to here.)
University of Canterbury law professor John Hopkins told Morning Report New Zealand needs to think about whether it would use technology as a tool in fighting the virus like other countries have.
He said Taiwan has used some similar measures to New Zealand "…but the main difference is their heavy use of IT and some pretty invasive use of mobile phone tracking and other similar mechanisms to control individuals and to pinpoint who's at risk of having the virus".
He said although the methods New Zealand uses are effective, "they're old fashioned".
My feeling about wanting to force us all to have devices is that this adoption (for efficiency and speed of contact particularly of the precariat) is the hardest, biggest marketing ploy ever seen in the world. The corps(e) want them embedded in our society, pecking away at our lives like vicious magpies. We must be
encouragedforced to give up our old, cheap, practical and user-friendly systems and become totally reliant on tech devices to do everything, and be watched through them by authorities of some sort, not necessarily gummint, throughout our daily lives. Tech is great, all bow down.If old fashioned works I'm fine with that. Anyone pushing the high tech can have a lot of other motives unrelated to disease.
One man's view of Covid in the UK could lead to some thinking, "We don't know how lucky we are."
Indeed!
except for a cameo of Richard Prebble of doubtful memory!
Does Tom write his own Jonathan Pie stuff?
About the Brit Chancellor – "You entitled horse-faced prick" is I am sure very apt to those in the UK who can glue two thoughts together.
But in today's world where ordinary citizens have retreated so far from reality that they believe anything that a politician tells them is true and moral in a tone of confidence, firmness while looking them steadily in the eye, then they are just like my very nice hairdresser. Who thinks if parents do the right things in helping their children, they will find their way to a good job and a future. Yes, partly true, but there are other children who won't. Well they should stay off drugs. But there are so many other factors? No, you are worrying too much.
It's all a bit hard to cope with and maybe we should let the politicians and authorities get on with it – after all we pay them enough don't we!
Jaw dropping. Who'd have thunk it.
Sky rocketing house prices are not sustainable for the local economy, according to Real Estate Institute of New Zealand chief executive Bindi Norwell….
"There's approximately $10 billion that people would traditionally spend on overseas travel and now they're thinking 'what can I do with this extra additional cash that I've got' and so property has been a popular choice and it's because people are thinking it's a good long-term investment.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/428297/surging-house-prices-can-t-last-forever-reinz
Perhaps the government should issue some more bonds and mop up some of this excess money. Crazy isn't it, with so many having more credits than they know how to spend, and some hardly having enough to live and their way blocked from getting decent employment by the government running down local enterprise in favour of importing cheap goods in its place.
Perhaps government could raise bonds to help struggling local business keep going and defend themselves against mechanical shredders of enterprise – the landlords and others. That way we will keep a semblance of an enterprise- oriented country through production rather than just being service lackeys to the rich.
I could see some of the local publicly listed companies borrowing off the market rather than the banks. A composite bond that covers a number of listed companies borrowings might be a good idea. Be interesting to see to if local mortgage borrowing starts to bypass the banks by way of composite borrowiing – but not junk bonds.
That's what you get when you base society upon bludging. The successful bludgers get richer and thus deprive others of the necessities of life.
No one is taking up bonds at this interest rate.
To even start to divert equity out of housing and into more productive assets like businesses, there needs to be both an active sharemarket (ours is moribund), and a massive VIF sector (ours is tiny).
Maybe they need to stretch their legs and just have a huge tax cut for those investing in businesses, so that even future house rises get slightly less appealing.
Not happening under either alternative government option.
Yes it's a worry. I wonder if the situation is a bit like that in England when the Irish Famine was starting (for the second time).
Like this? Damn, that is an unpleasant little scene over there in Ireland. Yes, but I think reports are a bit exaggerated, it will be only tough for a few short weeks and then supplies will be available. Oh no, they are committed in entirety to… What's to be done then? Oh they will just have to batten down, and they can struggle through. The Irish are a hardy lot you know. etc.
In other words, no ideas from the employed leaders, no effort, no impetus, and no responsibility, no-one to call them to order with expectations of fruitful and intelligent action.
Try giving the country a short burst of 5% inflation, bring up the OCR or whatever then it costs more to borrow for houses and at the same time offer the bonds at a slightly teeny bit higher. We haven't had a level playing field for a while so tilt it differently.
Sharemarkets don't actually encourage investment in productive businesses. Once the IPO is done none of the money exchanged on the sharemarket goes to the business of which the shares of which the shares give ownership.
Buying and selling of shares is nothing but pure speculation.
Business and society would be better off if the business just took out a loan.
The difference between owning a business and expanding through private loan, or listing your growing business on the sharemarket, is best summed up by Fiddy Cent:
We can't afford the sudden shock of losing all the financial structure we have. We need to utilise what we have. Going for completely different theories is for med-long term not a short term thing.
Doesn't have to be a private loan. In fact, a government loan on 0% interest would be best.
You're still trying to hold on to the failed economics of the past and the completely wrong idea that we need savings to make loans.
There are clever, agile minds around who get organised into criminality. The latest is stealing from glasshouses. (This might be a feature of wanting staff from overseas – less local connections to utilise the info of saleable stock and procedures from local staff?)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428292/exotic-plants-stolen-from-wellington-botanic-garden
A dozen plants were taken from the Begonia House overnight on Monday.
They are a mix of rare and common, and range from small ones to over a metre tall.
Police said they been told about the incident and were assessing the information.
Manager David Sole said the plants were worth thousands of dollars and and there was no signs of a break-in.
He said he thought the theft was linked to a similar one at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens last month, with glasshouses around the country having also been targeted recently.
I remember a library book stealing system.
Book thief who pillaged libraries gets 5 1/2 years – NZ Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz › nz › news › article
Jan 21, 2005 — Lee Simpson forged Janet Frame's signature to improve the value of her books and hid rare and valuable collections in a Christchurch riverbed as he waited for a buyer. He stole from libraries up and down the country for 10 years, making at least $150,000.
'PM in waiting' wrestles with supporter over a MAGA sign.
Car crash politics.
I think she is turning it to the camera for the best view.
Oh dear. Half the National Party caucus in trouble here.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/10/finland-moves-to-ban-unsolicited-dick-pics.html
Friend on the Sunshine coast tells us his friend in France says 9000 cases overnight and many people were put in hospitals last night and they are overwhelmed.
The second wave is turning into a tsunami.
We are so blessed here, having the luxury of choosing and voting for continued success.
National MP's social media prowess from an MP in a marginal seat according to JC, that David Bennett chap.
Dirty politicking the seniors about how they'll get 7100 tax p.a under a Lab/Green banner.
Strange , the atmosphere here 3 days before an election. No passion, all details.
What matters: only climate change.
Did you see Robertson's ad on utube where he tried to persuade former John Key supporters he was following in his steps.
There is this small matter … of reality.
We have enough growed-to-adulthood Welfare State fellows to address this crisis with keen sharp teeth. It would involve destroying this l-a-b-o-u-r.