An achievement, but how impressive remains to be seen. Tory leadership contenders will pounce on the deal like vultures, and their sharp beaks will tear off any shred that is a breach of UK sovereignty, and wave them at the public & media. Will the vassal state theory be validated? A cost/benefit analysis in caucus will just be the start, and the fate of May’s government will then be determined in the court of public opinion.
Sad though our political systems do not seem to protect the integrity of those systems as it seems clear in Brexit rules were broken, ethics questionable and nobody seems to be in jail over it. Just an enquiry and slap on the wrist is not exactly keeping the democratic process safe.
We have donations scandals in NZ on tape, and yep, no criminal prosecution or any one interested in preserving the integrity of democracy either, in the face of all that free money.
Then we have the women who put needles in the strawberries who faces years in prison in OZ, 8 years even for that Fonterra milk hoax who did not even do it.
Just an example of how lightly we treat political crimes against other crimes that can effect the entire country or industry.
I’m for a revote of the Brexit referendum, not enough people voted and there was electoral tampering. Then see if same result when the people of Britain go in to vote on it, with their eyes open.
You get your chance to vote so should use it wisely. I didn’t like the last US election. Maybe we should have a re-vote on that and if I still lose, then another vote after that.
Elections are different to a total and dysfunctional divorce based on phony pretences. And a huge number of Brits did not vote because among other things, the remain brigade told everyone they had it in the bag!
Also if there is election tampering then not sure of the process but I don’t think the result is considered valid????
Wight discusses Western imperialism and how ideologies of neoliberalism and domination have been inculcated to Western leaders in elite institutions of education.
And if you thought that was good, I highly recommend you watch the whole show.
As one commentator expresses it, this is an “amazing stream of awareness and consciousness here that exactly depicts the current socio-political and economic realities.”
There is nothing left about supporting despots like Putin.
[Drawing a line under this. I’m way over having to scroll past idiots, who in lieu of having nothing to say and nothing to share, slap their dicks on the table as though that should be seen as a contribution of some sort.
You are one of a number who disagree with the arguments of viewpoints of Ed (or those he links to)? Then either offer a reasoned argument to support your perspective, or a thought out critique of why those people (and so their views) might be best considered as suspect.
But as for the vacuous sloganeering, name calling and personalised attacks – take it to your facebook account or your twitter account or wherever that might be elsewhere. But stop subjecting readers of this collective and diverse space to it, day after day and (it seems) always as a predictable reaction to other commentators whose views you don’t share.
‘The Standard’ is for discussion and debate, not schoolyard or sandpit nonsense. Sort your crap out.] – B.
I have offered reasoned argument to Ed pretty damned often actually.
Lacking the skills to support his views, he carries on regardless.
The point is, they’re not his views – they’re copied and pasted from elsewhere, which is part of the reason he can’t defend them – he doesn’t understand them.
I get it – you’re down with supporting despotic regimes. I’m not.
I object.
I won’t sit silently while Ed shills for this murderous dictator.
Your crude crap about dick measuring is utterly false – when Ed posts about anything else I leave him alone.
[Evidently you’re an idiot Stuart. Instead of taking the intelligent route, which would have been taking note and desisting from your crap in future, you’ve doubled down by broadening out your attack to include me. It’s an odd self martyrdom kind of thing to have done. But hey…
You claim I’m “down with supporting despotic regimes”? Okay. You either provide a damned unequivocal link to be backing that one up. Or offer up a straightforward apology and retraction. You won’t be able to provide a link. And so, failing a retraction and an apology (and not some half arsed nonsense either), your summer break from ‘ts’ will be starting presently] – B.
You’ve made multiple posts trying to cast doubt on the British case against Russia with respect to the Skripals. One quoted Craig Murray “of a type developed by liars” for example. No evidence has come to light suggesting any other chemical agent however, the British claim seems to have been factual.
You made another post about the suspects visiting Salisbury cathedral, suggesting that their motives were altogether innocent, which seems to have been in error, as Bellingcat’s Russian colleagues The Insider were able to show.
It would be fair to say that these statements of yours support Russia and the campaign of disinformation and propaganda that they have maintained since their embarrassment over MH17.
I assert that Russia under Putin is a despotic regime – let’s go with Montesquieu’s definition: one in which rule is accomplished by fear. The murder of Politikovskaya was politically motivated and intended not merely silence her, but also like-minded journalists. A number of Russian journalists have been obliged to flee Russia in the years immediately after that.
The murder of Nemtsov probably related to the position he was taking on the invasion of the Ukraine. An awful lot of people inconvenient to Putin are murdered – and inconvenient news organs like the Moscow Times have been shut down under his rule.
Putin’s elections are invariably accomplished with large scale ballot tampering. My friends, collating reports from over twenty journalists right across Russia were able to demonstrate widespread fraud in his first election. Similar reports, if less comprehensive, are available on subsequent elections.
These actions are those of a despotic regime even without the lengthy record of atrocities relating to the Chechen campaign. I have yet to see a word in print from you that qualifies your support of them, to balance your pro-Russian speculations and echoing of Russian propaganda in respect of the Skripal affair.
Ed’s reposting of their propaganda and disinformatzia is not a public service, on the contrary, it is in service of a despotic regime, and undesirable.
[Questioning an official narrative doesn’t imply support of anyone or anything. I can’t see any link in your comment to me voicing support of despotism Stuart. And I can’t see any apology in that there shopping list you’ve flung up either. So I won’t see any comments from you until after Feb 3rd] – B.
As John Wight says,” Ignorance is increasingly a choice in our world.”
That’s an interesting way to put it and he’s right.
As a hunter/gatherer a person couldn’t afford to be ignorant. They may not have known what we know today but they had to know everything that the group knew and to extend that knowledge.
Today people get to choose to be ignorant and not to believe the truth and that’s causing all sorts of problems. Climate change denial, voting for schmucks because they’re blue, defending unethical behaviour because its legal etcetera.
A national leader wants us to believe he sanctioned one nation because in their view they were leaders, invaded and destroyed another becuase evil existed they, but didn’t send a assassination squad to kill a man who just wanted to get married. Russia, Saudi, it’s all half glass full and whose pouring. Russia spent generations securing Crimea, blood, treasure, and only lost it for a few decades, what about any number of U.S. bases… etc.
I stand on my record of arguing for freedom of expression here at TS; even when it’s annoying or steps over the line. It’s way better to SAY stupid things and get feedback on it, than to actually DO stupid things and find out too late what the awful cost was.
Even as a moderate left winger I’m happy with most of Ed’s contributions; he flirts with the edges of reasonable sometimes but for the most part I put that down to youthful enthusiasm.
What does irk me is seeing the personal vendettas that are clearly going on here; hell I’ve been on the wrong end of a few of them myself over the years. A small group gangs up on someone and reflexively shits on anything they say with no attempt at counter argument or informed debate. Tempers will flare from time to time, but unceasing repetition going turns this into an ugly form of bullying.
Most of the time it just runs it’s course, but this one has been going on too long and everyone involved needs to read Bill’s very pointed moderation note above. Otherwise I can guarantee some well deserved ‘holidays’ will soon be taken.
Can I ask a favour? I am looking for background stuff on the US opioid crisis. I keep hearing that the likes of Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, are behid a huge a epidemic of addiction in the USA and I just want some reputable background information…
Qoute: Investigators discovered that a single pharmacy in Mount Gay-Shamrock, population 1,779, received more than 16.5 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills between 2006 and 2016. In nearby Williamson, population 2,900, distributors sent almost 21 million opioids to two pharmacies during that same period.
“How many other communities across the country have received millions more opioids than their communities could reasonably sustain?” Harper asked.
Democrats and Republicans on the committee faulted the distributors for missing what they said were signs that too many opioids were going into the state. Quote end.
it has been obvious for a while now that certain, especially poor areas, where literally flooded with pain killers replacing proper medical care. This has been ongoing for a while. Once these people are addicted they are addicted. Does not matter how you get on the juice, it matters if you can find a way to get of it.
and just because you take away the prescription drugs does not meant you take away the addiction, so people now find other stuff to fix the need
According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 72,000 people in the US are predicted to have died from drug overdoses in 2017 — nearly 200 a day. That’s up from 2016, which was already a record year in which roughly 64,000 people in the US died from overdoses. At least two-thirds of drug overdose deaths in 2016 and 2017 were linked to opioids.
reminds me of the seventies where one could not open a news paper or watch a news cast without reading / hearing of people falling of high roofs or being found dead in public toilets.
Its a friggin mess, and just say no ain’t gonna cut. Heck they killed Roseanne on the “Connors’ show with an overdose, after she got addicted to pain killers after knee surgeries.
Great news Cinny (4) … after all these years of being lied to, the cover ups etc, the bereaved families, friends and colleagues of the Pike River 29, will hopefully begin to have some closure early next year.
Well done Andrew Little for demonstrating some humanity and respect, which since the tragedy has been sadly lacking.
The darkening clouds gather, startled and skitterish.
“Donald Trump ramped up his spat with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, with a denigrating tweet in which he said Parisians had started to learn German during the second world war before the US saved them from occupation.”
If the Referendum on cannabis goes ahead there would have to be advance information on how decriminalisation would work.
Dr Eric Crampton is Head of Research with The New Zealand Initiative. He suggests modelling such new laws be modelled on existing Alcohol regulations. Sounds good.
“Want to make sure councils are able to set rules appropriate to their areas and implement smoking-ban areas around parks? Local alcohol policies do that for alcohol; councils can set up liquor-ban areas.
So “experts like Graeme Edgeler suggest the only sensible question to ask voters would be whether they prefer the current Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, or whether they prefer to allow the sale and supply of cannabis as provided for in draft legislation.”
Is it really sensible to ask voters to choose between a law and a proposed law? To a lawyer, it may seem so. Anyone else could point out that only a handful are likely to have read each piece of legalese. So the percentage of the electorate able to make an informed choice would be in the region of 0.0000024%.
The recent conference agreed the referendum ought to ask these two questions:
1. Should adults be allowed to grow and possess cannabis for personal use?
2. Should adults be allowed to purchase cannabis & cannabis products from licensed premises?
I agree with the conference decision. Both questions are simple & concise. Voters are unlikely to have difficulty comprehending them. Sharing with friends is implicit in the first question, so maybe no need to specify that.
“So “experts like Graeme Edgeler suggest the only sensible question to ask voters would be whether they prefer the current Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, or whether they prefer to allow the sale and supply of cannabis as provided for in draft legislation.””
If that is really his suggestion then he is an idiot. because its actually TWO separate questions conjoined and those who dont like either option are abused!
Most referendum that have been put to the public so far have suffered from this fault. (do you want more emphasis on the victims of crime AND harsher penalties comes to mind!)
A REFERENDUM QUESTION MUST ONLY HAVE A SINGLE PREMISE !
A REFERENDUM QUESTION MUST ONLY HAVE A SINGLE PREMISE !
A REFERENDUM QUESTION MUST ONLY HAVE A SINGLE PREMISE !
but yes there may well be several referendum run concurrently to allow for better understanding of the peoples choice
Anyone who supports whistleblowers still has an opportunity to send in a submission to the review. Rare for me to be impressed by the quality of work done by our public service, but I give them 10/10 for their articulation of the issues identified by the process thus far: http://ssc.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Targeted-Consultation-Summary-May-2018.pdf
I suspect the Jami-Lee Ross saga points to a loophole that the review & consultation process haven’t noticed. A parliamentarian acting in the public interest, exposing wrongdoing in their own party, deserves a support mechanism. The status quo seems to enable their party to victimise an MP who blows the whistle on corruption. That’s so obviously wrong that I’m likely to make a submission citing the apparent loophole. I’d like feedback from readers on this – would particularly appreciate opinions on how real the loophole actually is…
Every entity and agency and department has their own policy.
It’s not that little stoush public servants point to.
It’s the MoT massive fraud in which people who spoke up were hunted down and thrown out, and not even the CE believed them.
The net outcome of all of them is simple: you will never work in Wellington again.
Climate change will decrease fertility enough to lower the human population. Apparently.
Derived from 80 years of birth and weather data out of the United States, the study confirmed a higher number of babies being born in August and September (nine months after the depths of winter), while fewer babies were conceived in summer due to higher temperatures.
Fewer kids mean fewer emissions, which means slower climate change. FIFY.
Win/win ???
Do you have any idea at all of what we are facing? I suspect not.
A loophole where MPs do not need to disclose investment properties owned in superannuation schemes – and claim up to $78,000 in taxpayer-funded subsidies each year – is “stinging taxpayers in the pocket”, according to a Government lobby group.
A Herald investigation of property records for all 121 members of Parliament has discovered that six National MPs use their private superannuation schemes to own property that does not need to be disclosed – unlike assets held in trusts. This is because of an exception in the rules of the Register of Pecuniary Interests.
Can the rest of us also get $78000 per year subsidies to pay off our mortgages?
Your link goes to a 2013 article, am I missing something recent that makes it relevant? Surely there are sufficient things to be outraged about the current opposition rather than dragging up articles from 5 years ago.
True enough, may well be still happening as the spot light conveniently gets turned off by the MSM and the rorting bludgers in the article will probably have found another way of doing it anyway.
Whilst I don’t like rorting and fiddling and pushing the legal boundaries, there is a reason why MPs should be paid well, and that they be accommodated for the special nature of their job which requires most to live in two places with huge travel and time commitments.
That is, they are on a three year contract, renewable at the whim of others.
But it’s the afterwards also that matters. I think of my local MP who had five years in the job, was not re-elected and never was able to get a job in his home town, being blacklisted by small town employers. He fell back onto being a small farmer, selling produce at his house gate. On the night he lost his seat someone burnt down his hay barn.
He was a most generous man, and loaned to a constituent the necessary extra funds for this solo mother with two kids to purchase a modest home with the scheme introduced by Labour in 72-75 by Minister of Housing Roger Douglas.
I met him again a month ago, a hale and hearty 90 year old, up with the play and with a passion for politics still. A truly Christian Sally gentleman, who suffered for his political beliefs and activism after being an MP.
Whilst I don’t like rorting and fiddling and pushing the legal boundaries, there is a reason why MPs should be paid well, and that they be accommodated for the special nature of their job which requires most to live in two places with huge travel and time commitments.
I’m pretty sure that paying people extra to prevent corruption doesn’t actually prevent any corruption. Those who are corrupt will still do it.
Having to live in two places at once requires that the government make available housing in Wellington. The best way to do this is a government owned housing complex with no money paid out for rent to MP for housing. This would be cheaper and get rid of the rort.
I think of my local MP who had five years in the job, was not re-elected and never was able to get a job in his home town, being blacklisted by small town employers.
And hows that different from the rest of the precariat?
He fell back onto being a small farmer, selling produce at his house gate.
Ah, he was actually well off and could support himself anyway.
Bin double entry accounting in Govt. organisation, to lead a creative capitalist renaissance of the collective value systems of NZ society & citizenry.
Donald Trump’s deputy national security adviser is reportedly set to be fired following a dispute with the first lady, Melania Trump.
The US first lady took the extraordinary step of publicly pushing for the move against Mira Ricardel, the top aide to the national security adviser, John Bolton, on Tuesday.
[…]
Ricardel, who was hired in April by Bolton after he assumed the role of Trump’s national security adviser, reportedly clashed with members of the first lady’s staff over seating on a plane during Melania Trump’s recent trip to Africa.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have announced a new efficiency record for LEDs based on perovskite semiconductors, reportedly rivaling that of the best organic LEDs (OLEDs).
The team stated that compared to OLEDs, which are widely used in high-end consumer electronics, the perovskite-based LEDs can be made at much lower costs, and can be tuned to emit light across the visible and near-infrared spectra with high color purity.
The researchers have engineered the perovskite layer in the LEDs to show close to 100% internal luminescence efficiency, opening up future applications in display, lighting and communications, as well as next-generation solar cells.
Get that … close to 100% efficiency!!! This puts mono-crystalline silicon PV’s into buggy whip territory. OK so it’s lab stuff and probably a decade away from a product …. but this is how real change will happen.
That article is referring to the quantum efficiencyof one small part of the photosynthesis process. Overall, the efficiency of turning sunlight into useful chemical energy via photosynthesis is in the low single digits percentage. Real-life commercial PV panels convert incoming sunlight to useful electrical energy with an efficiency of 10% to 20%.
Uhh, that near 100% efficiency is for a perovskite LED turning electrical energy into light. Not quite the same thing as a PV panel turning incoming light into electrical energy. No reversibility going on in those processes.
Some existing commercial LEDs are already very efficient. It was the development of a very efficient blue LED that paved the way for white LEDs (as well as a Nobel for the inventors). At the top end of efficiency, there have been lab demonstrations of white LEDs putting out over 300 lumens/watt (if there were no inefficiencies other than the phosphorescent conversion of some of the blue light to yellow light, the luminous efficacy would be around 370 lumens/watt). But the led bulbs for sale at Bunnings and supermarkets are sadly still only around 80 to 100 lumens per watt, which is still way batter than fluorescent bulbs at 35ish or incandescents at 12ish.
Quote pulled from the link provided by PR:
“A 17-year-old is put in the dock for her choice of underwear, and she was open to meeting someone was the implication, she was asking for it,” Coppinger said.
“Women in this country are getting a little bit weary at the routine victim blaming going on in Irish courts and the failure of lawmakers in this House to do anything about it.”
Recently fake tan and even contraception had been used to discredit women who had the bravery to go to court.
As she held up the pair of underwear in the “incongruous setting” of the Dail, Coppinger asked: “How do you think a rape victim or a woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in the courts, and when is this Dail going to take serious action on the issue of sexual violence?”
She only held the underwear up for a brief moment, and the camera quickly pulled back from her as she did so. The use of props is against the rules of the Dail.”
‘A barrister in the Cork trial told the jury to look at the way the complainant was dressed. That the complainant was “open to meeting someone” because she was “wearing a thong with a lace front”.’
‘Recently fake tan and even contraception had been used to discredit women who had the bravery to go to court’
‘US Vice President Mike Pence has asked to be seated next to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at a dinner on Wednesday evening at the East Asia Summit in Singapore.’
What’s that about?
My first reaction is to say: watch your back, Jacinda. Or am I being unfair?
1+5 my guess. But really i would like to know where “Mother” is gonna sit, considering that he does not want to ‘meet’ women alone without his wife nearby.
My conspiracy theory is that he is going to try to convince her of the error of her ways …. unmarried mother, etc, etc. Whereas she has a long list of subjects such as tariffs, trade etc. LOL. Could be an interesting conversation!
I wonder if he knows that Jacinda is an former Mormon whose uncle is one of the only two NZers who has ever made it to being one of the General Authorities of the worldwide Church of Latter Day Saints?
Aaaah – Pence is actually a born again Catholic … and yes, according to Wikipedia (yes, Adam, Wikipedia) he does follow the Billy Graham Rule.
PS – if anyone wants to know, the PM has gone on this trip without baby or partner. Peters is joining her in Singapore or PNG, from his Paris trip, and Parker is already with her.
Pence is the guy who wants to be caliph at the place of the caliph.
and the caliph needs to go on a tour in Missisipi to help a women win a seat and i think after the last two weeks he just needs to hear a ‘ lock her/him/it/something up” chant to feel all presidential again. I hear all that winning has him packing a sad.
That’s major prestige for Jacinda and New Zealand you ninnys, at an Asian pacific regional meeting. What is this, National Party msm lite?
For our place in the world, what would be most suitable & impactful for NZs image would be if Jacinda could be involved in regular global meet ups with Ivanka Trump and we have a relationship that way – that would give a very popular & memorable image over time in much of the world i would guess, two leading and talented young female ambassadors of their countries on the world stage.
Yes, we like what New Zealand represents, what business links to that can we foster in our own society.
you should buy Ochos, and all other of the NZ artisan made chocolates. There are some really nice products out there and the variety of different chocolates is quite impressive. That does not stop you from also buying Whittakers 🙂 Just don’t ever buy chocolate melts, and cadbury, and Nestle produced chocolates. A lot of that stuff is compound chocolates (vegetable fat vs cocoa butter), contains very little actual chocolate but a lot of sugar.
Don’t worry my wife checks the ingredients list on all chocolate (especially the cooking stuff) we buy but (imho)the best chocolate is Makana chocolate in Blenheim 🙂
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...
Too Much Of Nothing: In many respects it is the power of a free press to keep history’s images vivid and clear that renders it so important to the life of our democracy. It was the Czech writer, Milan Kundera, who said it best: “The struggle of man against power ...
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ...
Yesterday the Greater Wellington Regional Council unanimously declared a climate emergency. They've also set themselves a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, though this only applies to their direct emissions. Still, its a good step, and as usual it invites the question: where is Parliament? When are we going ...
That's the only way to describe the government's plans for a Parliamentary Budget Office to allow opposition parties to get an independent costing of their policies. When the idea was first floated back in 2016 as an office within Treasury, I thought that wasn't independent enough and argued that it ...
Today is a Member's day, and after the third reading of Hamish Walker's KiwiSaver (Oranga Tamariki Guardians) Amendment Bill, Parliament will be continuing the committee stage of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. The bigots have put up another pile of amendments in an effort to delay or wreck ...
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...
It looks like the government has won over the public on its vehicle feebate scheme:A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government ...
When people suggest lowering the voting age, others argue that the young are too uneducated or silly to exercise the duties of citizenship. Australian John Quiggin has just blown that argument out of the water:Looking at the array of ignorant and vindictive old men attacking Greta Thunberg and other young ...
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
‘Original Sin’ of Land Confiscation at Ihumātao is a wrong that can be put right by Government says Justice & Peace Commission of Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a press conference on August 19 that her government is likely to impose new restrictions on prisoners’ rights to send letters. She said the law could be changed in “weeks.” ...
Heart-warming images of House Speaker Trevor Mallard cradling a baby in Parliament have been welcomed around New Zealand, but the Public Service Association warns most families can only dream of such support in the workplace. ...
Applying New Zealand’s international human rights commitments, particularly those in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, can help in resolving the situation at Ihumātao, Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt says. ...
Climate campaigners impersonating bank staff have taken to the streets this week to expose ANZ Bank’s sponsorship of the fossil fuel industry. In the series of satirical actions in Wellington, Dunedin, and Auckland, the ‘bank staff’ promoted ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty joins the Children’s Commissioner , The Green Party , The New Zealand Drugs Foundation , Child Poverty Action Group and other organisations in the calls for an immediate end to the drug testing benefit sanctions. ...
Negotiations between Port Otago workers represented by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and management failed today and the unions have issued notice of an overtime ban from Saturday 7th September. ...
Queenstown Lakes District Council’s comments that it has applied for a consent to pollute waterways to avoid 'prosecutions by the Otago Regional Council' are unacceptable,’ Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says. ...
On March 15, the real world impact of online hate became abundantly, horrifically clear. As a shooter opened fire at two Christchurch mosques, the online image board 8chan anticipated, celebrated and amplified his killing spree. ...
Friday, 23 August: Government delegates from around the world, including New Zealand, are meeting in New York for the third of four meetings at the United Nations to agree a Global Oceans Treaty that could help to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. Greenpeace ...
The excuses about a reportedly unwanted $57,000 payrise for Dunedin City Council CEO Sue Bidrose are laughable, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has launched the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” committing to no more than 2% annual rate hikes over the next Council term, and has written to all Mayoral and Council candidates asking them to sign. The pledge will ...
This Saturday, Pakuranga Hunt Day at the Ellerslie Racecourse will see anti-horse racing protesters demonstrating at the corner of Ascot Avenue and Greenlane East. ...
Mayoral candidate John Tamihere will meet with Pacific Island leaders and community elders today at Puhunui Reserve in South Auckland to commit to a Pasefika Cultural Centre. ...
Cruel and invalid Forced Swim Tests carried out at Victoria University of Wellington, will be exposed at the University Open Day today, so prospective students can be warned about the flawed and unethical research being conducted at the institute. ...
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to pass on information to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques now that the period for submissions has been extended to 27 September. ...
An application was filed in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington today, seeking an injunction to prevent the Board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation from removing the President from office. ...
The Government’s commitment to support literacy and numeracy training in the workplace is a strong signal from Government on recognising the importance of upskilling, reskilling and increasing productivity alongside their commitment to address the challenges ...
“The infrastructure sector sees a major role for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga in lifting the nation’s sagging infrastructure performance,” says Paul Blair, incoming CEO of Infrastructure NZ. ...
The AA is calling on the Government to bring forward critical highway projects while time is spent properly developing the plans for a rapid transit system in Auckland. ...
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
At first glance, Simon Bridges’ strident opposition to the government’s proposal to establish an independent office to cost political parties’ election spending plans looks childish and petty. ...
Euthanasia-Free NZ is appalled that Parliament spent so little time debating Part 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill and voted to leave it full of holes. ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
Statistics out today from the Government show that the gender wage imbalance, or gap, in the average wage is 11.9%, a strong 2 percentage point improvement from 13.9% last year. The gender pay imbalance in the median wage is 9.3%. ...
Newstalk ZB Drive host and Herald on Sunday columnist Heather du Plessis-Allan is taking on the challenge of keeping 2019 Auckland Mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere in line and on point in tonight’s live NZ Herald Newstalk ZB debate. ...
On Monday the government announced its new five-year strategy to reduce the Māori prison population. Emilie Rākete looks at another ‘kaupapa Māori’ prison initiative that degrades prisoners and asks if Corrections are capable of seeing it through.On August 19th, the Department of Corrections announced Hōkai Rangi, its new strategy intended ...
By Michael Andrew The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy “separatists” or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these ...
Analysis - The prime minister puts a stake in the ground over petrol prices, National balks at having its election promises costed and the government puts millions into helping the homeless. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The possibility of blackouts affecting half of Victoria has attracted plenty of attention to a document once read only by industry insiders and policy wonks: the Electricity Statement of Opportunities. The Statement, updated ...
George Clooney sold his tequila company for a billion dollars – but is the stuff any good? The Spinoff finds out. Imagine being so stupidly sexy you sneeze and sell a billion-dollar booze company. That’s what George Clooney did last year, flicking off the tequila business he started accidentally with an ...
The departure of "two Pākehā men" from the government's justice reform group will not hurt the quality of its final report, another member of the team says. ...
Combatting internet-related harm is being stymied by inter-industry disagreement and a lack of information about the extent and nature of the problem, a new report says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics and host of The Airport Economist, UNSW Amid the tributes to former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer and the stories of his authenticity, courage and quirky interests – like trains and military history – what ...
Current leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges.Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Is Simon Bridges really trying to channel Donald Trump? Or is he taking his cue from Scott Morrison? Or is he looking to emulate Boris Johnson? Whatever the inspiration, there’s been a clear change in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]Michelle Grattan talks about the sad news of the passing of former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer with University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini. They also discuss Scott Morrison’s recent announcement about joining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel Crowley, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, James Cook University In February, about 600,000 cattle were killed by catastrophic flooding across north Queensland’s Carpentaria Gulf plains. The flood waters rose suddenly, forming a wall of water up to 70km wide. Record depths were ...
Simon Day dined alone at Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant Hiakai, and discovered it was the perfect way to appreciate the meaning of this special food. “Would you like a few more minutes with your phone?” the waitress at Hiakai asked sympathetically as I mashed a final goodbye text to my wife ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Willamson, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Australia’s gender pay gap is diminishing, says a new report, but some contributors to it seem harder to overcome than others. For me, the finding hit close to home. The report, by KPMG for ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and ...
Honey producer Comvita has confirmed a full year net loss of $27.7m with China market access restrictions and tougher regulations locally affecting the company's sales. ...
James Elliott realises John Tamihere's uncosted bridge proposal wasn't actually a metaphor, but a fine example of 'folks is mighty generous with money what they ain’t got'. ...
A new poem by Oamaru-born poet Nick Ascroft.SupermanHalfway up the ascent zigzagging from Royal Terrace to upper Stuart Street carrying four too-heavy grocery bags I begin to understand that I will not make it. My huffing personage – from the fingers, white with the strain, to a face the colour of rhubarb – will ooze into the pavement and roll slowly ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.Sound the alarm, because it’s time for another absolute chaos pod. We’re talking haunted dolls in Waipu, we’re talking giant hands taking over Wellington, we’re talking soft serve cones dipped in powdered Milo. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Press, Adjunct Professor, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania This week, the ABC revealed that the Australian Defence Force wants to roll out military technology in Antarctica. The article raises the issue of what is, or is not, ...
New Zealand teacher aides say their pay reflects an outdated idea of what they do. Elizabeth McLeod hears from four TAs, and one parent, about the classroom realities they face every dayCleaning up poo, defusing violent situations, copping physical and verbal abuse: these are the realities of a teacher aide’s ...
The lanky sidekick from Jono and Ben journeys around New Zealand trying to solve small town problems. Does he succeed?Guy Williams, hardly a shy, retiring type, has been screaming out for his own vehicle for years. A loud, lanky, fearless comic, he’s spent nearly a decade in MediaWorks purgatory, sat ...
Ballot Box.Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – The nature of New Zealand general election campaigns could be significantly changed with the proposed establishment of an “umpire” to adjudicate over political party manifesto policies. A suggestion has been put forward by the Government for the establishment of a parliamentary watchdog ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Ihumātao Delphine Herbert and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Tainui to buy Ihumātao land – sources Danielle ...
Extinction Rebellion takes a tour of downtown Wellington to point out the coal industry stalwarts and ask why they’re still there in the face of a climate emergency. “There are coal companies in Wellington??”That’s the incredulous response every single time we mention taking the public on a tour of the biggest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel A. Ankeny, Professor of History and Philosophy, and Deputy Dean Research (Faculty of Arts), University of Adelaide The South Australian government recently announced its intention to lift the long-standing statewide moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops, following a statutory six-week consultation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vicki Sentas, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Law, UNSW Being strip searched by the police can be intrusive, humiliating and harmful. Typically, strip searches involve being required to strip naked in front of police officers, who often give the direction to “squat and cough”, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Remond, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Hi, I was just wondering if something’s wrong with me because I’m never happy and never want to do anything and I’m getting really lazy and I really hate school. Thanks – Anonymous ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland From as early as Grade 3 teachers start teaching children how to put across their own points of view. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW It’s four years since then Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned Australia had been heading to “a Greek-style economic future”. He was referring to what he said had been happening under the previous Labor government. When Labor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samia Khatun, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London Some 1,000 kilometres inland from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains, past the trees that drink the tributaries of the Darling River, there stands a little, red mosque. It marks where the desert begins. The ...
Online gambling is growing fast in New Zealand, but critics say new government ideas for regulating websites focus on what's good for the industry, rather than protecting people from harm. ...
An "extreme pro-Beijing" writer has caused controversy in the Chinese community and awkwardness for the Labour Party by standing for political office in Auckland. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Concern about slow progress for major transport projects, smoking researcher under pressure over funding, and hikoi marches from Ihumātao to Ardern’s office.NZTA is struggling to get spending out the door, so the money isn’t flowing through the economy, reports Thomas Coughlan ...
Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard will look at whether people making submissions on proposed law changes should be forced to disclose conflicts of interest. ...
Rugby and league legend Honey Hireme has put all her careers on hold - including her Warriors debut - to take care of her mum, who has terminal cancer. ...
Open Mike 14/11/2018 
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...12 hours ago
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...13 hours ago
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...18 hours ago
20 hours ago
Nothing from me tody - I'm off to Christchurch to pretend to be other people for a weekend. Normal bloggage should resume on Tuesday. ...20 hours ago
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...1 day ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...1 day ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 1 day ago
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...3 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...4 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...4 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...6 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...6 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...1 week ago
1 week ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...1 week ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...1 week ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...1 week ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...1 week ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...1 week ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...1 week ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 1 week ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...2 weeks ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...2 weeks ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...2 weeks ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
‘Original Sin’ of Land Confiscation at Ihumātao is a wrong that can be put right by Government says Justice & Peace Commission of Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...11 hours ago
On Monday the government announced its new five-year strategy to reduce the Māori prison population. Emilie Rākete looks at another ‘kaupapa Māori’ prison initiative that degrades prisoners and asks if Corrections are capable of seeing it through.On August 19th, the Department of Corrections announced Hōkai Rangi, its new strategy intended ...1 hour ago
By Michael Andrew The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy “separatists” or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these ...6 hours ago
Analysis - The prime minister puts a stake in the ground over petrol prices, National balks at having its election promises costed and the government puts millions into helping the homeless. ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The possibility of blackouts affecting half of Victoria has attracted plenty of attention to a document once read only by industry insiders and policy wonks: the Electricity Statement of Opportunities. The Statement, updated ...13 hours ago
Internet freedom advocates have slammed the Government for proposing censorship of online gambling sites. ...13 hours ago
George Clooney sold his tequila company for a billion dollars – but is the stuff any good? The Spinoff finds out. Imagine being so stupidly sexy you sneeze and sell a billion-dollar booze company. That’s what George Clooney did last year, flicking off the tequila business he started accidentally with an ...13 hours ago
As Indonesia cracks down on protests in the disputed West Papua territory, the Government has declined to condemn the violence. ...13 hours ago
Combatting internet-related harm is being stymied by inter-industry disagreement and a lack of information about the extent and nature of the problem, a new report says. ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics and host of The Airport Economist, UNSW Amid the tributes to former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer and the stories of his authenticity, courage and quirky interests – like trains and military history – what ...14 hours ago
15 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel Crowley, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, James Cook University In February, about 600,000 cattle were killed by catastrophic flooding across north Queensland’s Carpentaria Gulf plains. The flood waters rose suddenly, forming a wall of water up to 70km wide. Record depths were ...15 hours ago
Simon Day dined alone at Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant Hiakai, and discovered it was the perfect way to appreciate the meaning of this special food. “Would you like a few more minutes with your phone?” the waitress at Hiakai asked sympathetically as I mashed a final goodbye text to my wife ...15 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Willamson, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Australia’s gender pay gap is diminishing, says a new report, but some contributors to it seem harder to overcome than others. For me, the finding hit close to home. The report, by KPMG for ...16 hours ago
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and ...16 hours ago
Honey producer Comvita has confirmed a full year net loss of $27.7m with China market access restrictions and tougher regulations locally affecting the company's sales. ...17 hours ago
James Elliott realises John Tamihere's uncosted bridge proposal wasn't actually a metaphor, but a fine example of 'folks is mighty generous with money what they ain’t got'. ...17 hours ago
Fees for company directors are not keeping pace with their rising workload, according to a new survey. ...19 hours ago
New Zealand teacher aides say their pay reflects an outdated idea of what they do. Elizabeth McLeod hears from four TAs, and one parent, about the classroom realities they face every dayCleaning up poo, defusing violent situations, copping physical and verbal abuse: these are the realities of a teacher aide’s ...19 hours ago
The Warehouse Group has upgraded its full year profit expectations again. ...19 hours ago
New Zealand-owned Kiwibank says it is winning more customers, demonstrated by a strong increase in deposits and lending. ...20 hours ago
Dairy's huge role earning export dollars for New Zealand is facing a threat some say could bring it to its knees. ...22 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vicki Sentas, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Law, UNSW Being strip searched by the police can be intrusive, humiliating and harmful. Typically, strip searches involve being required to strip naked in front of police officers, who often give the direction to “squat and cough”, ...22 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Remond, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Hi, I was just wondering if something’s wrong with me because I’m never happy and never want to do anything and I’m getting really lazy and I really hate school. Thanks – Anonymous ...22 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland From as early as Grade 3 teachers start teaching children how to put across their own points of view. ...22 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW It’s four years since then Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned Australia had been heading to “a Greek-style economic future”. He was referring to what he said had been happening under the previous Labor government. When Labor ...22 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samia Khatun, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London Some 1,000 kilometres inland from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains, past the trees that drink the tributaries of the Darling River, there stands a little, red mosque. It marks where the desert begins. The ...22 hours ago
Online gambling is growing fast in New Zealand, but critics say new government ideas for regulating websites focus on what's good for the industry, rather than protecting people from harm. ...23 hours ago
More than 100,000 Chinese citizens have studied in New Zealand in the past 20 years. ...23 hours ago
An "extreme pro-Beijing" writer has caused controversy in the Chinese community and awkwardness for the Labour Party by standing for political office in Auckland. ...24 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Concern about slow progress for major transport projects, smoking researcher under pressure over funding, and hikoi marches from Ihumātao to Ardern’s office.NZTA is struggling to get spending out the door, so the money isn’t flowing through the economy, reports Thomas Coughlan ...24 hours ago
New Zealand's only national book sales chart, as recorded by Nielsen BookScan New Zealand and described by Steve Braunias. ...1 day ago
A ban on fossil fuel vehicle imports from 2035 was set to go to Cabinet, before a change of heart. ...1 day ago
Rugby and league legend Honey Hireme has put all her careers on hold - including her Warriors debut - to take care of her mum, who has terminal cancer. ...1 day ago
Looks like Prime Minister may has got her Brexit deal.
She’s called an emergency Cabinet meeting to get it signed off.
That would be an impressive achievement for her, and will truly box her caucus opponents.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/13/cabinet-members-called-in-to-sign-off-mays-brexit-deal
An achievement, but how impressive remains to be seen. Tory leadership contenders will pounce on the deal like vultures, and their sharp beaks will tear off any shred that is a breach of UK sovereignty, and wave them at the public & media. Will the vassal state theory be validated? A cost/benefit analysis in caucus will just be the start, and the fate of May’s government will then be determined in the court of public opinion.
Notably she is briefing each of her Cabinet individually.
Corbyn won’t have an easy time of it.
She won’t get it through parliament.
An unholy alliance of hard-Brexiters, the DUP, tory-Remainers, the SNP and most of the Labour Party will vote it down.
Jo Johnson is sticking it to May at a Remain /People’s Vote event right now. This is a disaster for May who will be gone before Xmas.
Historians will not believe sheer ignorance of Brexit supporters
Future chroniclers will in fact have to distinguish between three kinds of ignorance
“And then there’s pig ignorance – the genuine hallmarked, unadulterated, slack-jawed, open-mouthed, village idiot variety”
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-historians-will-not-believe-sheer-ignorance-of-brexit-supporters-1.3695347
Sad though our political systems do not seem to protect the integrity of those systems as it seems clear in Brexit rules were broken, ethics questionable and nobody seems to be in jail over it. Just an enquiry and slap on the wrist is not exactly keeping the democratic process safe.
We have donations scandals in NZ on tape, and yep, no criminal prosecution or any one interested in preserving the integrity of democracy either, in the face of all that free money.
Then we have the women who put needles in the strawberries who faces years in prison in OZ, 8 years even for that Fonterra milk hoax who did not even do it.
Just an example of how lightly we treat political crimes against other crimes that can effect the entire country or industry.
If Cameron and May’s Brexit leadership leads to the gradual breakup of the EU, I suspect New Zealand will miss it when it’s gone.
I’m for a revote of the Brexit referendum, not enough people voted and there was electoral tampering. Then see if same result when the people of Britain go in to vote on it, with their eyes open.
Too bad.
You get your chance to vote so should use it wisely. I didn’t like the last US election. Maybe we should have a re-vote on that and if I still lose, then another vote after that.
Elections are different to a total and dysfunctional divorce based on phony pretences. And a huge number of Brits did not vote because among other things, the remain brigade told everyone they had it in the bag!
Also if there is election tampering then not sure of the process but I don’t think the result is considered valid????
You get another shot at that in a couple of years kevvy.
That “vote” was marked by massive disenfranchisement, voter suppression, voting machine “malfunctions” and gerrymandering.
Are you pretending Trump and his gang were installed after a fair and transparent process?
And no, I do not endorse the desperate Clintonista fantasy that “the Russians” put him in; it was all Republican Party dirty tricks.
AKA “the Epsom voter”.
John Wight on Western Imperialism.
Wight discusses Western imperialism and how ideologies of neoliberalism and domination have been inculcated to Western leaders in elite institutions of education.
And if you thought that was good, I highly recommend you watch the whole show.
As one commentator expresses it, this is an “amazing stream of awareness and consciousness here that exactly depicts the current socio-political and economic realities.”
Open your minds.
Oh the irony.
[On the assumption that’s to be read as yet another snide dig at another commentator, see below] – B.
You would never listen to John Wight.
Stick to Mike Hosking and Duncan Garner.
They operate at your level.
As John Wight says,” Ignorance is increasingly a choice in our world.”
Keep it up Lord HawHaw – you wretched sell out.
There is nothing left about supporting despots like Putin.
[Drawing a line under this. I’m way over having to scroll past idiots, who in lieu of having nothing to say and nothing to share, slap their dicks on the table as though that should be seen as a contribution of some sort.
You are one of a number who disagree with the arguments of viewpoints of Ed (or those he links to)? Then either offer a reasoned argument to support your perspective, or a thought out critique of why those people (and so their views) might be best considered as suspect.
But as for the vacuous sloganeering, name calling and personalised attacks – take it to your facebook account or your twitter account or wherever that might be elsewhere. But stop subjecting readers of this collective and diverse space to it, day after day and (it seems) always as a predictable reaction to other commentators whose views you don’t share.
‘The Standard’ is for discussion and debate, not schoolyard or sandpit nonsense. Sort your crap out.] – B.
I have offered reasoned argument to Ed pretty damned often actually.
Lacking the skills to support his views, he carries on regardless.
The point is, they’re not his views – they’re copied and pasted from elsewhere, which is part of the reason he can’t defend them – he doesn’t understand them.
I get it – you’re down with supporting despotic regimes. I’m not.
I object.
I won’t sit silently while Ed shills for this murderous dictator.
Your crude crap about dick measuring is utterly false – when Ed posts about anything else I leave him alone.
[Evidently you’re an idiot Stuart. Instead of taking the intelligent route, which would have been taking note and desisting from your crap in future, you’ve doubled down by broadening out your attack to include me. It’s an odd self martyrdom kind of thing to have done. But hey…
You claim I’m “down with supporting despotic regimes”? Okay. You either provide a damned unequivocal link to be backing that one up. Or offer up a straightforward apology and retraction. You won’t be able to provide a link. And so, failing a retraction and an apology (and not some half arsed nonsense either), your summer break from ‘ts’ will be starting presently] – B.
Bill we all know you’re a denialist.
You’ve made multiple posts trying to cast doubt on the British case against Russia with respect to the Skripals. One quoted Craig Murray “of a type developed by liars” for example. No evidence has come to light suggesting any other chemical agent however, the British claim seems to have been factual.
You made another post about the suspects visiting Salisbury cathedral, suggesting that their motives were altogether innocent, which seems to have been in error, as Bellingcat’s Russian colleagues The Insider were able to show.
It would be fair to say that these statements of yours support Russia and the campaign of disinformation and propaganda that they have maintained since their embarrassment over MH17.
I assert that Russia under Putin is a despotic regime – let’s go with Montesquieu’s definition: one in which rule is accomplished by fear. The murder of Politikovskaya was politically motivated and intended not merely silence her, but also like-minded journalists. A number of Russian journalists have been obliged to flee Russia in the years immediately after that.
The murder of Nemtsov probably related to the position he was taking on the invasion of the Ukraine. An awful lot of people inconvenient to Putin are murdered – and inconvenient news organs like the Moscow Times have been shut down under his rule.
Putin’s elections are invariably accomplished with large scale ballot tampering. My friends, collating reports from over twenty journalists right across Russia were able to demonstrate widespread fraud in his first election. Similar reports, if less comprehensive, are available on subsequent elections.
These actions are those of a despotic regime even without the lengthy record of atrocities relating to the Chechen campaign. I have yet to see a word in print from you that qualifies your support of them, to balance your pro-Russian speculations and echoing of Russian propaganda in respect of the Skripal affair.
Ed’s reposting of their propaganda and disinformatzia is not a public service, on the contrary, it is in service of a despotic regime, and undesirable.
[Questioning an official narrative doesn’t imply support of anyone or anything. I can’t see any link in your comment to me voicing support of despotism Stuart. And I can’t see any apology in that there shopping list you’ve flung up either. So I won’t see any comments from you until after Feb 3rd] – B.
Bellingcat
The Insider
My friends
Quite the hyporcrite aren’t you, Stu…
That’s an interesting way to put it and he’s right.
As a hunter/gatherer a person couldn’t afford to be ignorant. They may not have known what we know today but they had to know everything that the group knew and to extend that knowledge.
Today people get to choose to be ignorant and not to believe the truth and that’s causing all sorts of problems. Climate change denial, voting for schmucks because they’re blue, defending unethical behaviour because its legal etcetera.
A national leader wants us to believe he sanctioned one nation because in their view they were leaders, invaded and destroyed another becuase evil existed they, but didn’t send a assassination squad to kill a man who just wanted to get married. Russia, Saudi, it’s all half glass full and whose pouring. Russia spent generations securing Crimea, blood, treasure, and only lost it for a few decades, what about any number of U.S. bases… etc.
For those interested here is a link to one of the UK left wing best writers and thinkers.
https://twitter.com/johnwight1?lang=en
He is also a brilliant speaker.
He is a brilliant speaker. Thanks Ed
Good on you Ed. Please keep up your good work. You are one of the precious few real lefties on this site.
I stand on my record of arguing for freedom of expression here at TS; even when it’s annoying or steps over the line. It’s way better to SAY stupid things and get feedback on it, than to actually DO stupid things and find out too late what the awful cost was.
Even as a moderate left winger I’m happy with most of Ed’s contributions; he flirts with the edges of reasonable sometimes but for the most part I put that down to youthful enthusiasm.
What does irk me is seeing the personal vendettas that are clearly going on here; hell I’ve been on the wrong end of a few of them myself over the years. A small group gangs up on someone and reflexively shits on anything they say with no attempt at counter argument or informed debate. Tempers will flare from time to time, but unceasing repetition going turns this into an ugly form of bullying.
Most of the time it just runs it’s course, but this one has been going on too long and everyone involved needs to read Bill’s very pointed moderation note above. Otherwise I can guarantee some well deserved ‘holidays’ will soon be taken.
Cheers for your comment garibaldi (2.1.2.1.1.1) and to those of Ed as well.
Thank you Garibaldi.
Yes, keep posting Ed. I value your input and am appalled at the attacks on you.
Thanks Ed well worth watching didnt know about Renegade Inc till now John Wright straight shooter damn good stuff .
Worth following on Twitter.
John Wight wrote a brilliant article on Remembrance Day.
Can I ask a favour? I am looking for background stuff on the US opioid crisis. I keep hearing that the likes of Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, are behid a huge a epidemic of addiction in the USA and I just want some reputable background information…
I’d try the agencies that are left to clean up the mess. They won’t pull their punches so there’ll be a bias, but it’s better than cover ups.
I theorise the nasty right wing middle class are mostly just high. And when they clean up, oh, the shame.
Sanctuary,
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/drugs-opioid-oxycontin-drug-addiction-patent-new-drug-richard-sackler-a8529711.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxycontin.html
https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/oxycontin-time-bomb/
https://centerfordiscovery.com/blog/netflix-documentary-heroine-highlights-opioid-documentary/
company sponsored over prescription of certain medication that in the end proved very addictive to certain people.
take West Virginia
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/drug-distributors-missed-suspicious-opioid-sales-to-west-virginia-lawmakers-say
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=over+prescription+of+opiods+in+west+virginia&oq=over+prescription+of+opiods+in+west+virginia&aqs=chrome..69i57.9151j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
trying to turn the tide with legislation
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/politics/justice-oks-legislation-to-reduce-opioid-prescribing-in-wv/article_e9331e45-90e7-50c4-b9d8-5c3e2f83d2ee.html
document on how to turn the tide, large read
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdhhr.wv.gov%2Fbph%2FDocuments%2FODCP%2520Reports%25202017%2FProposed%2520Opioid%2520Response%2520Plan%2520for%2520the%2520State%2520of%2520West%2520Virginia%25201%252010%252018.pdf
company says, surly not us
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/08/drug-crisis-distributor-apologizes-large-opioid-shipments/589760002/
Qoute: Investigators discovered that a single pharmacy in Mount Gay-Shamrock, population 1,779, received more than 16.5 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills between 2006 and 2016. In nearby Williamson, population 2,900, distributors sent almost 21 million opioids to two pharmacies during that same period.
“How many other communities across the country have received millions more opioids than their communities could reasonably sustain?” Harper asked.
Democrats and Republicans on the committee faulted the distributors for missing what they said were signs that too many opioids were going into the state. Quote end.
it has been obvious for a while now that certain, especially poor areas, where literally flooded with pain killers replacing proper medical care. This has been ongoing for a while. Once these people are addicted they are addicted. Does not matter how you get on the juice, it matters if you can find a way to get of it.
and just because you take away the prescription drugs does not meant you take away the addiction, so people now find other stuff to fix the need
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/west-virginia-saw-drop-in-opioid-painkillers-prescribed-deaths-rose.html
however if you are really in need of pain medication you are now out of luck in many cases
https://www.timeswv.com/news/chronic-pain-patients-say-opioid-crackdown-is-hurting-them/article_0418958e-54a0-11e7-907f-533b65b2b713.html
The story repeats across the country.
Overdoses killed up to 200 people a day in 2017 according to Study.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/8/16/17698204/opioid-epidemic-overdose-deaths-2017
According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 72,000 people in the US are predicted to have died from drug overdoses in 2017 — nearly 200 a day. That’s up from 2016, which was already a record year in which roughly 64,000 people in the US died from overdoses. At least two-thirds of drug overdose deaths in 2016 and 2017 were linked to opioids.
reminds me of the seventies where one could not open a news paper or watch a news cast without reading / hearing of people falling of high roofs or being found dead in public toilets.
Its a friggin mess, and just say no ain’t gonna cut. Heck they killed Roseanne on the “Connors’ show with an overdose, after she got addicted to pain killers after knee surgeries.
Look at veterans care, it’s federally run for ex service folk.
Some have been trying to get a switch off opiods onto the growing THC/CBD based medications. Being federal that’s illegal so can’t be done.
They’ve been collating some stats on their opioid addictions and side effects so check them out. Sorry can’t recall what they were called.
Hi sanctuary, you may have seen this or may not be what you are after.
After watching Oxyana a couple of years ago, I can’t stop thinking about it.
Grim viewing.
Red state white people are overdosing in record numbers.
That is all.
THEY ARE GOING IN TO PIKE
Thrilled for the families, so much respect goes out to them for never giving up. May they find answers and closure in due course.
Kudos Andrew Little.
According to police, whose forensic team will be going in… manslaughter charges could be a possibility.
this indeed is good news.
I do hope this brings much needed relieve to their pain, and that hopefully they may lay their loved ones to rest.
Wonderful news
Hopefully Winnie’s going in first show JK how it’s done.
Great news Cinny (4) … after all these years of being lied to, the cover ups etc, the bereaved families, friends and colleagues of the Pike River 29, will hopefully begin to have some closure early next year.
Well done Andrew Little for demonstrating some humanity and respect, which since the tragedy has been sadly lacking.
The darkening clouds gather, startled and skitterish.
“Donald Trump ramped up his spat with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, with a denigrating tweet in which he said Parisians had started to learn German during the second world war before the US saved them from occupation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/13/trump-macron-eu-army-german-second-world-war
If the Referendum on cannabis goes ahead there would have to be advance information on how decriminalisation would work.
Dr Eric Crampton is Head of Research with The New Zealand Initiative. He suggests modelling such new laws be modelled on existing Alcohol regulations. Sounds good.
“Want to make sure councils are able to set rules appropriate to their areas and implement smoking-ban areas around parks? Local alcohol policies do that for alcohol; councils can set up liquor-ban areas.
A lot of the problems any regulated cannabis regime would need to solve have already been dealt with in our existing alcohol regulations. The rules may not be perfect, but they are the ones with which we are familiar….”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/13/318388/crampton-a-framework-for-legalisation
So “experts like Graeme Edgeler suggest the only sensible question to ask voters would be whether they prefer the current Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, or whether they prefer to allow the sale and supply of cannabis as provided for in draft legislation.”
Is it really sensible to ask voters to choose between a law and a proposed law? To a lawyer, it may seem so. Anyone else could point out that only a handful are likely to have read each piece of legalese. So the percentage of the electorate able to make an informed choice would be in the region of 0.0000024%.
The recent conference agreed the referendum ought to ask these two questions:
1. Should adults be allowed to grow and possess cannabis for personal use?
2. Should adults be allowed to purchase cannabis & cannabis products from licensed premises?
It was organised by the Cannabis Referendum Coalition, a network of individuals and organisations campaigning for cannabis law reform, website here: http://makeitlegal.nz/?fbclid=IwAR3RkPfB7DzQVBNcr4uQU17ptF1PDWyYIZnzpPHtfP9SlFLiDcxtHbAdjfA
I agree with the conference decision. Both questions are simple & concise. Voters are unlikely to have difficulty comprehending them. Sharing with friends is implicit in the first question, so maybe no need to specify that.
“So “experts like Graeme Edgeler suggest the only sensible question to ask voters would be whether they prefer the current Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, or whether they prefer to allow the sale and supply of cannabis as provided for in draft legislation.””
If that is really his suggestion then he is an idiot. because its actually TWO separate questions conjoined and those who dont like either option are abused!
Most referendum that have been put to the public so far have suffered from this fault. (do you want more emphasis on the victims of crime AND harsher penalties comes to mind!)
A REFERENDUM QUESTION MUST ONLY HAVE A SINGLE PREMISE !
A REFERENDUM QUESTION MUST ONLY HAVE A SINGLE PREMISE !
A REFERENDUM QUESTION MUST ONLY HAVE A SINGLE PREMISE !
but yes there may well be several referendum run concurrently to allow for better understanding of the peoples choice
Anyone who supports whistleblowers still has an opportunity to send in a submission to the review. Rare for me to be impressed by the quality of work done by our public service, but I give them 10/10 for their articulation of the issues identified by the process thus far: http://ssc.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Targeted-Consultation-Summary-May-2018.pdf
I suspect the Jami-Lee Ross saga points to a loophole that the review & consultation process haven’t noticed. A parliamentarian acting in the public interest, exposing wrongdoing in their own party, deserves a support mechanism. The status quo seems to enable their party to victimise an MP who blows the whistle on corruption. That’s so obviously wrong that I’m likely to make a submission citing the apparent loophole. I’d like feedback from readers on this – would particularly appreciate opinions on how real the loophole actually is…
Every entity and agency and department has their own policy.
It’s not that little stoush public servants point to.
It’s the MoT massive fraud in which people who spoke up were hunted down and thrown out, and not even the CE believed them.
The net outcome of all of them is simple: you will never work in Wellington again.
Climate change will decrease fertility enough to lower the human population. Apparently.
Derived from 80 years of birth and weather data out of the United States, the study confirmed a higher number of babies being born in August and September (nine months after the depths of winter), while fewer babies were conceived in summer due to higher temperatures.
https://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-reduces-male-fertility-could-help-drive-extinction/a-46276058
Winter just can’t come quick enough.
Less kids means less emissions means slower climate change
Win/win
Fewer kids mean fewer emissions, which means slower climate change. FIFY.
Win/win ???
Do you have any idea at all of what we are facing? I suspect not.
+ 1. Yes exactly. He doesn’t.
MPs’ property loophole ‘stings taxpayers’
Can the rest of us also get $78000 per year subsidies to pay off our mortgages?
Or is that only for ‘special’ people?
Your link goes to a 2013 article, am I missing something recent that makes it relevant? Surely there are sufficient things to be outraged about the current opposition rather than dragging up articles from 5 years ago.
😳
Been awhile that I’ve forgotten to check the date.
Still, I haven’t heard that this rort has been ended.
True enough, may well be still happening as the spot light conveniently gets turned off by the MSM and the rorting bludgers in the article will probably have found another way of doing it anyway.
Whilst I don’t like rorting and fiddling and pushing the legal boundaries, there is a reason why MPs should be paid well, and that they be accommodated for the special nature of their job which requires most to live in two places with huge travel and time commitments.
That is, they are on a three year contract, renewable at the whim of others.
But it’s the afterwards also that matters. I think of my local MP who had five years in the job, was not re-elected and never was able to get a job in his home town, being blacklisted by small town employers. He fell back onto being a small farmer, selling produce at his house gate. On the night he lost his seat someone burnt down his hay barn.
He was a most generous man, and loaned to a constituent the necessary extra funds for this solo mother with two kids to purchase a modest home with the scheme introduced by Labour in 72-75 by Minister of Housing Roger Douglas.
I met him again a month ago, a hale and hearty 90 year old, up with the play and with a passion for politics still. A truly Christian Sally gentleman, who suffered for his political beliefs and activism after being an MP.
I’m pretty sure that paying people extra to prevent corruption doesn’t actually prevent any corruption. Those who are corrupt will still do it.
Having to live in two places at once requires that the government make available housing in Wellington. The best way to do this is a government owned housing complex with no money paid out for rent to MP for housing. This would be cheaper and get rid of the rort.
And hows that different from the rest of the precariat?
Ah, he was actually well off and could support himself anyway.
Most MP’s are professional bludgers IMHO ?
Wouldn’t get a job in the real world ?
Hopefully Winnie’s going in first show JK & the Natzi’s how it’s done ?
Bin double entry accounting in Govt. organisation, to lead a creative capitalist renaissance of the collective value systems of NZ society & citizenry.
NZ1st!
Imelda Marcos, come on down!
Donald Trump’s deputy national security adviser is reportedly set to be fired following a dispute with the first lady, Melania Trump.
The US first lady took the extraordinary step of publicly pushing for the move against Mira Ricardel, the top aide to the national security adviser, John Bolton, on Tuesday.
[…]
Ricardel, who was hired in April by Bolton after he assumed the role of Trump’s national security adviser, reportedly clashed with members of the first lady’s staff over seating on a plane during Melania Trump’s recent trip to Africa.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/13/melania-trump-mira-ricardel-aide-to-be-fired-white-house-latest
Meanwhile in Australia this news will surprise many who haven’t been watching closely:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-14/woodside-ceo-peter-coleman-argues-for-carbon-price/10494026
This is how real change will happen. (And yes I’m sure you can find the self-interest in this, but that’s how things work in the world.)
Eyeroll from Turnbull.
Real change is doing something (as opposed to talking about doing something)
such as the new LNG powered Russian aframax tankers.
http://sovcomflot.ru/en/press_office/press_releases/item99167.html
Game changer:
https://www.perovskite-info.com/cambridge-team-sets-new-efficiency-record-perovskite-leds
Get that … close to 100% efficiency!!! This puts mono-crystalline silicon PV’s into buggy whip territory. OK so it’s lab stuff and probably a decade away from a product …. but this is how real change will happen.
Gee close to 100% efficiency that is well about as efficient as a plant.
http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/PBD-quantum-secrets.html
That article is referring to the quantum efficiencyof one small part of the photosynthesis process. Overall, the efficiency of turning sunlight into useful chemical energy via photosynthesis is in the low single digits percentage. Real-life commercial PV panels convert incoming sunlight to useful electrical energy with an efficiency of 10% to 20%.
Uhh, that near 100% efficiency is for a perovskite LED turning electrical energy into light. Not quite the same thing as a PV panel turning incoming light into electrical energy. No reversibility going on in those processes.
Some existing commercial LEDs are already very efficient. It was the development of a very efficient blue LED that paved the way for white LEDs (as well as a Nobel for the inventors). At the top end of efficiency, there have been lab demonstrations of white LEDs putting out over 300 lumens/watt (if there were no inefficiencies other than the phosphorescent conversion of some of the blue light to yellow light, the luminous efficacy would be around 370 lumens/watt). But the led bulbs for sale at Bunnings and supermarkets are sadly still only around 80 to 100 lumens per watt, which is still way batter than fluorescent bulbs at 35ish or incandescents at 12ish.
https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/advanced-physicsprize2014.pdf
Yeah the article makes that clear, but it’s an impressive step all the same. It demonstrates what is possible
Damn…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/108586673/irish-politician-uses-womens-thong-in-parliament-sex-assault-protest
sometimes you need to show the evidence.
Quote pulled from the link provided by PR:
“A 17-year-old is put in the dock for her choice of underwear, and she was open to meeting someone was the implication, she was asking for it,” Coppinger said.
“Women in this country are getting a little bit weary at the routine victim blaming going on in Irish courts and the failure of lawmakers in this House to do anything about it.”
Recently fake tan and even contraception had been used to discredit women who had the bravery to go to court.
As she held up the pair of underwear in the “incongruous setting” of the Dail, Coppinger asked: “How do you think a rape victim or a woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in the courts, and when is this Dail going to take serious action on the issue of sexual violence?”
She only held the underwear up for a brief moment, and the camera quickly pulled back from her as she did so. The use of props is against the rules of the Dail.”
Wow PR, just wow.
‘A barrister in the Cork trial told the jury to look at the way the complainant was dressed. That the complainant was “open to meeting someone” because she was “wearing a thong with a lace front”.’
‘Recently fake tan and even contraception had been used to discredit women who had the bravery to go to court’
That’s so messed up.
Yup
‘US Vice President Mike Pence has asked to be seated next to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at a dinner on Wednesday evening at the East Asia Summit in Singapore.’
What’s that about?
My first reaction is to say: watch your back, Jacinda. Or am I being unfair?
where will his wife be seated?
poor Jacinda.
1. He’s a racist who only wants to sit next to european looking people.
2. Photo’s with Jacinda would be excellent publicity for Pence and co.
3. He’s a dirty old man.
4. He genuinely thinks she’s awesome.
5. Something else
1+5 my guess. But really i would like to know where “Mother” is gonna sit, considering that he does not want to ‘meet’ women alone without his wife nearby.
But maybe sitting next to is OK?
In that case it sounds like a very trusting relationship sarc.
Thought of another option lmao
6. Red is also his favourite colour.
Billy Graham rule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Graham_rule
ROFL!!!!!!!!!!
My conspiracy theory is that he is going to try to convince her of the error of her ways …. unmarried mother, etc, etc. Whereas she has a long list of subjects such as tariffs, trade etc. LOL. Could be an interesting conversation!
I wonder if he knows that Jacinda is an former Mormon whose uncle is one of the only two NZers who has ever made it to being one of the General Authorities of the worldwide Church of Latter Day Saints?
Aaaah – Pence is actually a born again Catholic … and yes, according to Wikipedia (yes, Adam, Wikipedia) he does follow the Billy Graham Rule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pence#Personal_life
PS – if anyone wants to know, the PM has gone on this trip without baby or partner. Peters is joining her in Singapore or PNG, from his Paris trip, and Parker is already with her.
Random thought of the day: it seems the rule forbids dining alone with female family members as well as unrelated females not one’s spouse. Hmmm …
His wife apparently sat between him and Jacinda.
bwhahahahahahahahahahah
7.) Pence wants to know – if he’s allowed to build a bunker in Wanaka
and how much NZ citizenship costs
Pence considers her an enemy and is keeping his friends and enemies close.
Saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’. imo
Pence is the guy who wants to be caliph at the place of the caliph.
and the caliph needs to go on a tour in Missisipi to help a women win a seat and i think after the last two weeks he just needs to hear a ‘ lock her/him/it/something up” chant to feel all presidential again. I hear all that winning has him packing a sad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iznogoud
That’s major prestige for Jacinda and New Zealand you ninnys, at an Asian pacific regional meeting. What is this, National Party msm lite?
For our place in the world, what would be most suitable & impactful for NZs image would be if Jacinda could be involved in regular global meet ups with Ivanka Trump and we have a relationship that way – that would give a very popular & memorable image over time in much of the world i would guess, two leading and talented young female ambassadors of their countries on the world stage.
Yes, we like what New Zealand represents, what business links to that can we foster in our own society.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/108568669/chocs-to-drop-after-record-crowdfunding-campaign-for-kiwi-chocolate-company-ocho
Well done Ocho, I normally buy Whittakers but I’m sure I could be convinced to try Ochos 🙂
you should buy Ochos, and all other of the NZ artisan made chocolates. There are some really nice products out there and the variety of different chocolates is quite impressive. That does not stop you from also buying Whittakers 🙂 Just don’t ever buy chocolate melts, and cadbury, and Nestle produced chocolates. A lot of that stuff is compound chocolates (vegetable fat vs cocoa butter), contains very little actual chocolate but a lot of sugar.
personally i am loving this story.
Don’t worry my wife checks the ingredients list on all chocolate (especially the cooking stuff) we buy but (imho)the best chocolate is Makana chocolate in Blenheim 🙂
Breaking News…
CIA says Saudi crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s murder.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/cia-concludes-saudi-crown-prince-ordered-khashoggi-murder-report-181117004639742.html
Should be on today’s Open Mike
I knew it!