Under MMP Labour and the LibDems (43.8 versus 43.6) would have had the same number of seats as the Conservatives and could have formed a government with the SNP, Greens and PCymri.
Yeah, but they don't have mmp, and it sits as a humiliating defeat for Momentum's labour, made even worse by the simple fact they lost to Johnson and the fractured conservative party he was sleepwalking to the morgue of political ineptitude.
The good news is that Brexit may fuck the conservatives over the medium, and Momentum might start to take some constructive criticism and learn how to work more broadly. Yes, I am overly optimistic today.
I can't see how brexit is going to harm the new government. They kicked out all the euro sceptics before the election, so whose going to stop Boris pushing through a leave vote?
Even under the current system if you had 7 people in a room 4 of them would have voted for Boris and 3 of them would have voted for Corbyn under the GE19 result.
A guy did a study of the social media advertising in the UK election that showed that the Tories lied 88% of the time where Labour never lied (google it-I think it was in The Independent).
When 2 of the people who voted for Boris, on hearing this, cross the room to join the Corbyn voters making it 5-2 to Corbyn.
I ran the numbers through the NZ MMP calculator in a rudimentary way. Cons vs L/LD was an exact match, 60 seats each. Didn't do the more complicated maths of factoring in seats vs party vote, but I think it's clear that the left would get to form govt under MMP (assuming we think the LDs are left).
Edit
Thanks for that weka I wondered. I noticed that the vote count was I think around 67% and down on 2017. I wonder if for this type of crucial vote, if they had MMP would they have pulled more to the ballot.
conversely Brexit may well have increased the turnout….I would suggest many of those northern voters wouldnt have bothered if they wernt passionate about 'leave'…so passionate in fact they voted Tory
true, although that could have been offset but the people who are just completely sick of the whole things. So hard to know (don't know if they survey this).
Well, I've used the term 'hard left'. And I've been called a RWNJ here. But I've only used 'hard left' to describe those who apparently think Greens are neoliberal sellouts or there's no difference between National and Labour or Repugs and Democrats are equivalent.
The omission would seem to be that the article does take into account the differences between the electoral systems employed in the UK, the US, Australia and us.
the electoral systems are largely irrelevant to the issue…MMP hasnt reduced disengagement nor has it created broad based parties, indeed in some respects FPP (or electoral college) provides incentive for broad based parties.
Margaret Thatcher was (half) wrong when she said theres no such thing as society….there is a multitude of societies
Yes saw those stats….the disengagement I believe is unrelated to the system employed and those numbers would tend to support that….the type of system probably impacts WHEN the compromise occurs however, in FPP the compromise occurs within the parties (ideally) whereas with MMP the compromise occurs at coalition agreements (or bill by bill), but compromise there will be or governance becomes unstable (revolving door PMs ring any bells?)
OK, if you're looking for glaring omissions in Cooke's piece:
They tried that with Obama and got very little lasting policy wins for it – maybe you need to have lived in the US to appreciate it, but Obamacare really was a BFD. Not only did it deliver actual healthcare to millions in desperate need of it, it's also kept healthcare inequities right to the front of the national conversation since it passed.
The point being that those out at the fringes don't recognise when they actually get a big win, nor do they appreciate what it takes to put together the coalition needed to achieve a big win.
And sometimes we do not recognise who the 'win' most benefits – for example Working For Families being an ongoing subsidy for employers, delaying any transition to a higher wage economy that would require lifting their game.
Yeah, that sort of dog's breakfast of an idea so loaded with hidden inequities and unintended consequences really doesn't help with achieving real lasting progress.
I liked that he posed the where to from here question & answered it by suggesting a bit less ironic Stalinist trolling and infighting. I hadn't realised UK Labour actually does spice up its stalinism with irony. It puts them a rung above NZ Labour on the intellectual ladder, eh?
Maybe – depends on interesting political events really. Have had domestic projects to work thro in recent months. I took the plunge & renewed my membership in the GP this morning after mulling it over for most of last year. The old question of whether it's best to be inside the tent pissing out or outside pissing in…
Tomorrow Corbyn. Next year Sanders. And if that transpires and you think pop media has been complete arse during these days of Trump, then trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Somehow I doubt that Boorish cares enough about Assange to lean on the judicial process one way or the other. And I'll guess the UK judiciary cares enough about maintaining an image of independence that they wouldn't react well to being leaned on.
Furthermore, the whole point of charging Assange and ensuring he remains locked up is to intimidate anyone else thinking of leaking and publicising embarrassing information. That purpose is served just as well by Assange being in a UK slammer as it is him being in a US slammer. So I doubt BloJo will be getting any kind of hurryup from the Tinyfingers Twittertwat.
[Another dim troll who cannot read or simply ignores things, which are two hallmarks of stupid trolls. If you have anything to say here, which is extremely doubtful, there is OM for you]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
If winning means the UK dissolves with Brixit and the Scots form a new country within the EU and NI is on the road back to Ireland (thanks to the boarder issues) and also within the EU – then yes "the English" won – but won what exactly?
It looks like they will lose a shitload of territory, resources and income.
I am looking at financiers and snake-oil merchants selling the product 'insurance swaps'*/ derivatives to Hopeful Farmers.
Swaps are derivatives, which are contracts between you and Westpac that may require you or Westpac to make New Zealand dollar payments to one another. The amounts that must be paid or received (or both) will depend on the level of the underlying fixed and floating interest rates.
eg NZ$ interest rate swap rates are determined by the rates on NZ government bonds and the demand for paying or receiving the fixed rate. A gauge of the level of demand is the difference between the NZ government bond rate and the swap rate, known as the "swap spread".
The major influences on the level of demand are …
– corporate borrowers, who have floating rate borrowings;
– banks, who also want to match fixed rate mortgages against their floating rate borrowing; and
– issuers of fixed rate NZ$ bonds, who typically want to pay the fixed rate.
However, because the New Zealand economy is really just "a housing market with a few other bits tacked on", the biggest influence on New Zealand swap rates usually comes from banks working to manage their mortgage rate risk.
Cant say I really understand the British system but is it true this is one of the worst results for Labour since god knows when? Seems to me like Corbyn really needed to step down like Andrew Little did but do they have a Jacinda type person to takeover?
Chester Borrows – I didn't know there was so much depth in his thinking. He sounds like a good guy who is on a path that leads out of our present immoral, judgmental morality – a path that many of us could wish to follow.
Borrows says he really enjoyed his police career which ended up lasting 24 years and encompassed some major events in New Zealand history.
His first choice for Bookmarks was the Bible. He comes from a religious family and is himself a self-identified Christian, but says he doesn’t like religious people.
“I like the bits of the Bible that I agree with and fit in with my thinking, like most Christians. I know that over the years I’ve changed my view on things as they relate to my faith and I think I recognise more and more that the Bible was written in a certain context.”
He says Jesus Christ sets a good example about overturning commonly held and entrenched views and political structures which conservative Christians could take a page from when it comes to things like gay marriage and the place of women in society.
“I think the other thing I like about the Bible is that it’s very clear Jesus was a politician and was very good at politics. He knew how to play the game.”
Indeed remarkable! Only the oldest group would have a political consciousness formed back when Britain was independent of Europe, right? So the boomers are confident of returning to a status that worked historically, whereas for the younger generations it probably feels like a leap into the unknown.
If I was a Tory grandee, seeing less than a quarter of voters aged 18-34 voting Tory would make me despondent, fearing for the future of the party. I wonder how few of them, glorying in the decisive mandate just achieved, have noticed the ominous trend.
That's a truism. ‘If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.’ Falsely attributed to the prior Winnie (https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/) "Paul Addison of Edinburgh University made this comment: ‘Surely Churchill can’t have used the words attributed to him. He’d been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35!"
But I suspect social science research has indeed established the effect as a general trend. I'd rather frame it as broad-mindedness. I concede that dilutes the point. I'm no longer the resolute foe of the political right, due to understanding them better with age (but still tend to view them with just as much contempt).
Dennis – to my mind that fake truism was made by a shallow social-climber trying to justify his/her own changes of view. Youngsters are prone to rebellion and questioning, so at that age the manipulative social-climbers will chime in with the majority, and often appear to lead the charge, because they seek prominence.
Later on, these social-climbers are the first to switch sides, continuing to feather their own nests by new-found 'understanding' of right-wing greed, because they sense that they will remain popular by joining the solid status quo. They are shallow, hollow men, who have actually betrayed the 'brains' they claim to have.
People with true Socialist principles stick with them through adversity, and remain principled, showing far more depth of thought than the shallow social-climbers.
'People with true Socialist principles stick with them through adversity, and remain principled, showing far more depth of thought than the shallow social-climbers.'
That reminds me of Margaret and Jim Thorn who were a beacon of light for ardent socialists.
The guardian shows protesters who are unhappy with the election result clashing with police. Why does the left wing do this & shoot themselves in the foot ? Can they not accept democracy or is it noise & protests they think should determine how the UK should be run ? You don’t see this from the right after an election loss, but if anyone has evidence that the right does the same thing I would appreciate it.
Questions Bazza64. I guess the left aren't as good losers as the right. The left have got less to start with, and when they lose an election, they feel it right through their bodies from head to toe.
A six-year-old boy walked nearly 2km early this morning to get help for his mother, after their vehicle crashed into a river on the West Coast….
Sergeant Mark Kirkwood said a full scale search and rescue operation was launched involving volunteers, Fire and Emergency, Surf Life Saving, the Coastguard and jet boaters.
The woman was found about five hours later, about 7.30am, on a beach north of the rivermouth.
She was being treated for hypothermia in Greymouth Hospital, police said.
Principled tory prick gets caught with his fingers in the till.
Bye..
Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer is resigning.
But he says he will stay on as leader until his replacement is chosen and continue to serve as MP for Regina—Qu’Appelle.
His resignation comes as a direct result of new revelations that he was using Conservative Party money to pay for his children’s private schooling, according to Conservative sources who spoke with Global News.
Senior Conservatives say the expenditures were made without the knowledge or approval of the Conservative fund board, including the chair of the board.
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A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
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A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
Damn that democracy!
[Damn those fake lefty trolls]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Another person who doesn't understand plurality versus majority
Conservatives 43.6
Labour 32.2
LibDems 11.6
Under MMP Labour and the LibDems (43.8 versus 43.6) would have had the same number of seats as the Conservatives and could have formed a government with the SNP, Greens and PCymri.
Yeah, but they don't have mmp, and it sits as a humiliating defeat for Momentum's labour, made even worse by the simple fact they lost to Johnson and the fractured conservative party he was sleepwalking to the morgue of political ineptitude.
The good news is that Brexit may fuck the conservatives over the medium, and Momentum might start to take some constructive criticism and learn how to work more broadly. Yes, I am overly optimistic today.
I can't see how brexit is going to harm the new government. They kicked out all the euro sceptics before the election, so whose going to stop Boris pushing through a leave vote?
I fully expect Brexit to happen. The theory is that as time goes by and post-Brexit causes increasing problems, the Cons will be blamed.
Yes but they should have MMP-its called fairness.
Even under the current system if you had 7 people in a room 4 of them would have voted for Boris and 3 of them would have voted for Corbyn under the GE19 result.
A guy did a study of the social media advertising in the UK election that showed that the Tories lied 88% of the time where Labour never lied (google it-I think it was in The Independent).
When 2 of the people who voted for Boris, on hearing this, cross the room to join the Corbyn voters making it 5-2 to Corbyn.
Nobody in the UK had any illusions about Boris' honesty…and they voted as they did
I ran the numbers through the NZ MMP calculator in a rudimentary way. Cons vs L/LD was an exact match, 60 seats each. Didn't do the more complicated maths of factoring in seats vs party vote, but I think it's clear that the left would get to form govt under MMP (assuming we think the LDs are left).
Saw this
https://twitter.com/uk_domain_names/status/1205447713942200321
Interesting. Who would Labour choose in addition to the LDs? (or, who would they seek to exclude ;- ) )
Edit
Thanks for that weka I wondered. I noticed that the vote count was I think around 67% and down on 2017. I wonder if for this type of crucial vote, if they had MMP would they have pulled more to the ballot.
(2017 – The turnout as a percentage of enrolled electors is 79.8% (2014 – 77.9%).
https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2017/new-zealand-2017-general-election-official-results/
I'm guessing that Brexit is a driver for low turn out, but I agree that MMP would probably raise it.
conversely Brexit may well have increased the turnout….I would suggest many of those northern voters wouldnt have bothered if they wernt passionate about 'leave'…so passionate in fact they voted Tory
true, although that could have been offset but the people who are just completely sick of the whole things. So hard to know (don't know if they survey this).
Henry Cooke has attempted an analysis of the Left with one glaringly obvious omission: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/118180532/the-left-keeps-losing-winning-will-take-new-friends
You're such a tease. Which glaring omission are you referring to?
whats the omission?
The omission was omitted?
Deliberately or accidentally, in your opinion?
Prob to get people to read it and see something that is clear to you but not (it seems) to them.
personally I doubt they read it.
It’s not clear to me and I’d welcome feedback. Seems I started it off in a clumsy way and even if people read it they may now be trying to find Wally.
As far as I can see theres not so much an omission as a misnomer…centrism.
The problem is not so much along a spectrum but rather the multitude of enclaves….and ne'er the twain shall meet
Not seeing your omission as such, but does anyone other than righties use the term 'hard left'? Much less apply it to Greens.
Well, I've used the term 'hard left'. And I've been called a RWNJ here. But I've only used 'hard left' to describe those who apparently think Greens are neoliberal sellouts or there's no difference between National and Labour or Repugs and Democrats are equivalent.
The omission would seem to be that the article does take into account the differences between the electoral systems employed in the UK, the US, Australia and us.
Ah. Am so used to that by now from our media that it did not even register. 🙂
the electoral systems are largely irrelevant to the issue…MMP hasnt reduced disengagement nor has it created broad based parties, indeed in some respects FPP (or electoral college) provides incentive for broad based parties.
Margaret Thatcher was (half) wrong when she said theres no such thing as society….there is a multitude of societies
http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-social-indicators/Home/Trust%20and%20participation%20in%20government/voter-turnout.aspx
Based on that, voter turnout has declined since MMP was introduced. 2017 ticked up slightly to 79% (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_voting_in_New_Zealand), but that was still well below the turnout from 1981 through 1996.
@ Paddington
Yes saw those stats….the disengagement I believe is unrelated to the system employed and those numbers would tend to support that….the type of system probably impacts WHEN the compromise occurs however, in FPP the compromise occurs within the parties (ideally) whereas with MMP the compromise occurs at coalition agreements (or bill by bill), but compromise there will be or governance becomes unstable (revolving door PMs ring any bells?)
OK, if you're looking for glaring omissions in Cooke's piece:
They tried that with Obama and got very little lasting policy wins for it – maybe you need to have lived in the US to appreciate it, but Obamacare really was a BFD. Not only did it deliver actual healthcare to millions in desperate need of it, it's also kept healthcare inequities right to the front of the national conversation since it passed.
The point being that those out at the fringes don't recognise when they actually get a big win, nor do they appreciate what it takes to put together the coalition needed to achieve a big win.
And sometimes we do not recognise who the 'win' most benefits – for example Working For Families being an ongoing subsidy for employers, delaying any transition to a higher wage economy that would require lifting their game.
Yeah, that sort of dog's breakfast of an idea so loaded with hidden inequities and unintended consequences really doesn't help with achieving real lasting progress.
I liked that he posed the where to from here question & answered it by suggesting a bit less ironic Stalinist trolling and infighting. I hadn't realised UK Labour actually does spice up its stalinism with irony. It puts them a rung above NZ Labour on the intellectual ladder, eh?
Good to see you again Dennis Frank. Keep coming?
Maybe – depends on interesting political events really. Have had domestic projects to work thro in recent months. I took the plunge & renewed my membership in the GP this morning after mulling it over for most of last year. The old question of whether it's best to be inside the tent pissing out or outside pissing in…
This election prediction didn’t age well:
How long till Assange heads to the US now Boris is in charge.
[If you’re going to quote you have to cite.- weka]
This one too… from Bills post
mod note for you James.
Sure – it was quoting bill from a couple of days ago – I’ll link and cite when I get home.
Somehow I doubt that Boorish cares enough about Assange to lean on the judicial process one way or the other. And I'll guess the UK judiciary cares enough about maintaining an image of independence that they wouldn't react well to being leaned on.
Furthermore, the whole point of charging Assange and ensuring he remains locked up is to intimidate anyone else thinking of leaking and publicising embarrassing information. That purpose is served just as well by Assange being in a UK slammer as it is him being in a US slammer. So I doubt BloJo will be getting any kind of hurryup from the Tinyfingers Twittertwat.
We won, you lost – eat that.
[Another dim troll who cannot read or simply ignores things, which are two hallmarks of stupid trolls. If you have anything to say here, which is extremely doubtful, there is OM for you]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
If winning means the UK dissolves with Brixit and the Scots form a new country within the EU and NI is on the road back to Ireland (thanks to the boarder issues) and also within the EU – then yes "the English" won – but won what exactly?
It looks like they will lose a shitload of territory, resources and income.
I am looking at financiers and snake-oil merchants selling the product 'insurance swaps'*/ derivatives to Hopeful Farmers.
Swaps are derivatives, which are contracts between you and Westpac that may require you or Westpac to make New Zealand dollar payments to one another. The amounts that must be paid or received (or both) will depend on the level of the underlying fixed and floating interest rates.
https://www.westpac.co.nz/assets/Who-we-are/About-Westpac-NZ/Disclosure-statements/Derivatives-Product-Disclosure-Statements/Westpac-Interest-Rate-Swaps-Product-Disclosure-Statement.pdf
.
There is a lot of understandable sense to be gained from reading – https://www.interest.co.nz/charts/interest-rates/swap-rates
eg NZ$ interest rate swap rates are determined by the rates on NZ government bonds and the demand for paying or receiving the fixed rate. A gauge of the level of demand is the difference between the NZ government bond rate and the swap rate, known as the "swap spread".
The major influences on the level of demand are …
– corporate borrowers, who have floating rate borrowings;
– banks, who also want to match fixed rate mortgages against their floating rate borrowing; and
– issuers of fixed rate NZ$ bonds, who typically want to pay the fixed rate.
However, because the New Zealand economy is really just "a housing market with a few other bits tacked on", the biggest influence on New Zealand swap rates usually comes from banks working to manage their mortgage rate risk.
Cant say I really understand the British system but is it true this is one of the worst results for Labour since god knows when? Seems to me like Corbyn really needed to step down like Andrew Little did but do they have a Jacinda type person to takeover?
Chester Borrows – I didn't know there was so much depth in his thinking. He sounds like a good guy who is on a path that leads out of our present immoral, judgmental morality – a path that many of us could wish to follow.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018726450/bookmarks-chester-borrows 11 Dec 2019
Borrows says he really enjoyed his police career which ended up lasting 24 years and encompassed some major events in New Zealand history.
His first choice for Bookmarks was the Bible. He comes from a religious family and is himself a self-identified Christian, but says he doesn’t like religious people.
“I like the bits of the Bible that I agree with and fit in with my thinking, like most Christians. I know that over the years I’ve changed my view on things as they relate to my faith and I think I recognise more and more that the Bible was written in a certain context.”
He says Jesus Christ sets a good example about overturning commonly held and entrenched views and political structures which conservative Christians could take a page from when it comes to things like gay marriage and the place of women in society.
“I think the other thing I like about the Bible is that it’s very clear Jesus was a politician and was very good at politics. He knew how to play the game.”
'Jesus knew how to play the game.' And won it even as he lost – his life.
Maybe left wing parties should avoid getting celebrities to back them, seems like the death knell in US & UK elections.
Next time Lilly Allen, Hugh Grant, Beyoncé etc should ask the punters to vote Republican or Conservative & then might get the result they want ?
OK Boomers.
https://www.twitter.com/georgeeaton/status/1205535498065846272
Indeed remarkable! Only the oldest group would have a political consciousness formed back when Britain was independent of Europe, right? So the boomers are confident of returning to a status that worked historically, whereas for the younger generations it probably feels like a leap into the unknown.
If I was a Tory grandee, seeing less than a quarter of voters aged 18-34 voting Tory would make me despondent, fearing for the future of the party. I wonder how few of them, glorying in the decisive mandate just achieved, have noticed the ominous trend.
Do we know if people vote more conservatively as they age? I'm guessing they do.
That's a truism. ‘If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.’ Falsely attributed to the prior Winnie (https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/) "Paul Addison of Edinburgh University made this comment: ‘Surely Churchill can’t have used the words attributed to him. He’d been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35!"
But I suspect social science research has indeed established the effect as a general trend. I'd rather frame it as broad-mindedness. I concede that dilutes the point. I'm no longer the resolute foe of the political right, due to understanding them better with age (but still tend to view them with just as much contempt).
same with me, although it hasn't made my voting more conservative.
Someone just pointed out to me on twitter that lefties die younger than conservatives, so that will alter the 65+ demogaphic.
Dennis – to my mind that fake truism was made by a shallow social-climber trying to justify his/her own changes of view. Youngsters are prone to rebellion and questioning, so at that age the manipulative social-climbers will chime in with the majority, and often appear to lead the charge, because they seek prominence.
Later on, these social-climbers are the first to switch sides, continuing to feather their own nests by new-found 'understanding' of right-wing greed, because they sense that they will remain popular by joining the solid status quo. They are shallow, hollow men, who have actually betrayed the 'brains' they claim to have.
People with true Socialist principles stick with them through adversity, and remain principled, showing far more depth of thought than the shallow social-climbers.
'People with true Socialist principles stick with them through adversity, and remain principled, showing far more depth of thought than the shallow social-climbers.'
That reminds me of Margaret and Jim Thorn who were a beacon of light for ardent socialists.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4t16/thorn-margaret
what % of each age group voted?
Unfortunately the graph does not show the percentages that belong to each cohort.
The guardian shows protesters who are unhappy with the election result clashing with police. Why does the left wing do this & shoot themselves in the foot ? Can they not accept democracy or is it noise & protests they think should determine how the UK should be run ? You don’t see this from the right after an election loss, but if anyone has evidence that the right does the same thing I would appreciate it.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2019/dec/13/not-my-prime-minister-protesters-clash-with-police-after-boris-johnson-elected-video
Questions Bazza64. I guess the left aren't as good losers as the right. The left have got less to start with, and when they lose an election, they feel it right through their bodies from head to toe.
There is a substantial history of violent right-wing protests in, dare I say it, Venezuela.
You can find good examples and explanations of the phenomenon in Pilger's War on Democracy.
Hopefully good news.
New Zealand West Coast 12:26 pm today
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/405498/boy-goes-for-help-after-mum-swept-downriver-on-west-coast
A six-year-old boy walked nearly 2km early this morning to get help for his mother, after their vehicle crashed into a river on the West Coast….
Sergeant Mark Kirkwood said a full scale search and rescue operation was launched involving volunteers, Fire and Emergency, Surf Life Saving, the Coastguard and jet boaters.
The woman was found about five hours later, about 7.30am, on a beach north of the rivermouth.
She was being treated for hypothermia in Greymouth Hospital, police said.
Be best, right?
/
https://twitter.com/MattMurph24/status/1205577289850851328
Of course Bernie didn't say say he was wrong to to endorse this pig in the first place.
https://twitter.com/notcapnamerica/status/1205250885896540162
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1205590453351006208
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-rescinds-endorsement-after-womens-groups-blast-misogynist-cenk-uygur
Your woke misrepresentation of this guy is really quite despicable joe90.
People change and grow up. To reach back and pick pick stupid things they have done – is really quite pathetic.
Yeap cenk was a misogynist prat when he was younger – guess what, he did actually grow up and see the error of his ways.
Shame people like you can't accept that.
His 2016 riff about how it's all A okay for men to rate young women on their doableness was something he did when he a young misogynist prat?
Principled tory prick gets caught with his fingers in the till.
Bye..
Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer is resigning.
But he says he will stay on as leader until his replacement is chosen and continue to serve as MP for Regina—Qu’Appelle.
His resignation comes as a direct result of new revelations that he was using Conservative Party money to pay for his children’s private schooling, according to Conservative sources who spoke with Global News.
Senior Conservatives say the expenditures were made without the knowledge or approval of the Conservative fund board, including the chair of the board.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6288286/andrew-scheer-resignation/
Funny as anything, Jacinda does not realise that the more she hugs actual voting Kiwis are turned off.
[You may not have been hugged enough, which is why you are a troll and a huge turnoff]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Not if she wins over the non-voting 20%