Open mike 14/12/2022

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 14th, 2022 - 58 comments
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58 comments on “Open mike 14/12/2022 ”

    • Jenny are we there yet 1.1

      Breaking News: Nuclear Fusion is thirty years away! (and always has been)

      A sparrow farts

      After almost 70 years of effort, and $billions spent, in a world first, net energy gain has been achieved in the lab., but it is far far away from being practical.

      As proof of principal, powerful lasers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories have managed to heat a deuterium pellet to instantaneous temperatures and pressures where fusion occurs, releasing greater energy than the energy needed to run the colossal lasers that achieved this feat. Unfortunately, none of the released fusion energy was in a form that could be used to power the lasers. (that energy still came from the grid).

      Drawing power from the grid, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory can heat one deuterium pellet a day. A sparrow fart could generate more 'usable' energy. To get any usable net energy gain from this process they need to heat up to 50 deuterium pellets a second.

      A nuclear fusion cheerleader interviewed this morning on TVNZ Breakfast said it will take 30 years of research and development to get over the engineering hurdles required to heat 50 pellets a second.

      Whoop-de-doo.

      • bwaghorn 1.1.1

        The first time I mentioned fusion on the standard probably 8 years ago, I was basically laughed at because all the bright people here said it had always been 10 years away, now it's here it's proven watch capitalism pick the batten up and run .

        • lprent 1.1.1.1

          Actually 4 years ago in 2018 unless you have changed handles.

          I would have said that ‘it is always at least 20 years away’ to get to a proof of concept. In fact I did back in 2009. So 13 years on we haven’t further than proving more than we could get more energy out for a short time period.

          Right now in the wake of todays news, I’d still say the same.

          They haven’t even got close to recovering the energy cost to start the reaction

          “It is a big scientific step,” says Ryan McBride, a nuclear engineer at the University of Michigan. But, McBride adds, that does not mean that NIF itself is producing power. For one thing, he says, the lasers require more than 300 megajoules worth of electricity to produce around 2 megajoules of ultraviolet laser light. In other words, even if the energy from the fusion reactions exceeds the energy from the lasers, it’s still only around one percent of the total energy used.

          They don’t have anything like the ability to maintain a continuous reaction suitable for generating power.

          Moreover, it would take many capsules exploding over and over to produce enough energy to feed the power grid. “You’d have to do this many, many times a second,” McBride says. NIF can currently do around one laser “shot” a week.

          Above all, they have no method to make it self-sustaining because they have no way to actually generate power off the excess energy released. There is no transfer mechanism from energy being released from fusion and an ability to use that to power the reaction, or to feed electricity to the grid.

          Betti agrees that the timeline to building a fusion plant is “definitely decades”. But, he adds, that could change. “There’s always a possibility of breakthrough,” he says. And the new NIF results could help spur that breakthrough forward. “You’re going to get more people to look into this form of fusion, to see whether we can turn it into an energy-making system.”

          They’d also have to figure out how to get their raw material costs down from hundreds of thousands of dollars down to pence (as one report put it). This is a engineering research breakthrough rather than an production engineering breakthrough. It isn’t even a scientific breakthrough – that was achieved in the 1950s when the release of energy from fusion agreed with the theoretical results.

          It is of interest – yes. Worth getting excited about – no.

          It is hard to see how without those power generating basics there could be any use from fusion within the time frame to do anything of use for a more immediate problems like dropping greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years to 2042.

          • bwaghorn 1.1.1.1.1

            Feels like I've banged in about it for longer .

            I live this stuff should have been a scientist but the chip on my shoulder weighed me down in 4th form .

            Still gonna get excited though 🤪

          • lprent 1.1.1.1.2

            My first degree was a science degree. But by the end of second year the requirement to spend a further 8-10 years at university before I could get hired to actually do something was somewhat dispiriting.

            It died completely except as a interest topic after I found out what the employment stats in your speciality were like for PhDs. I really don't have that level of myopia. I like working wide rather than really really narrow. Went into management because I was naturally good at kit, then sidetracked into programming because I liked the persistent learning curve and humility it induces, and these days (for some reason) I keep getting called an engineer in my job titles.

          • RedLogix 1.1.1.1.3

            It is of interest – yes. Worth getting excited about – no.

            Totally agree. It will likely be a few more weeks before we see some sober, balanced assessment of the implications of this particular announcement. It is not yet clear to me whether it is the result of some fundamental new insight that can be scaled up rapidly, or it is more the culmination of existing programs finally making good on the net energy milestone. Too much hype, not enough detail.

            I have always said fusion is a bright, shiny goal absolutely worth chasing; but frankly a small fraction of the monumental budgets being spent on it directed toward more immediately achievable goals in the Gen 4 nuclear fission space – would be money better spent.

            • lprent 1.1.1.1.3.1

              Ultimately fusion is likely to be a power source if you need a large plant. Less of an issue with heavy metal radioactive waste with long (by human historical and even up geological) half lives.

              But in many ways some of the micro-fusion reactor projects look more interesting than these progresses towards large fusion. But currently they often look optimistic because I get the sense that they're concentrating on the output above input and not so much on how to get a usable electricity source from it. But this article caught my eye if only because this level of engineering is way faster to determine results and issue than building PoC projects costing in their billions.

              If you can do it at a micro level it probably gets easier to scale by addition. Which in essence is what the solar panels / battery systems are showing. We just don’t have particularly smart grids and probably won’t quite a while.

              With fission, as I keep repeating, we have had engineers building new generation toys every few decades since the 1940s. They have continually neglected to planning in how to clean up their toys and the waste products behind themselves. I'm currently of the opinion that they should demonstrate that they can do really truly do that before letting rip on generating a whole new round of waste.

              • RedLogix

                how to clean up their toys and the waste products behind themselves.

                Which is a fair question. Personally I have taken a reasonably deep dive for a lay person into this topic, but I will attempt to keep this response concise. This is after all a political blog, not a nuclear engineering one.

                Rather than type it all out here, I will reference this excellent link that gives a sound explanation of the problem and one obvious solution.

                The critical insight is that our current nuclear waste repositories are actually a priceless fuel reserve. They arise merely because Gen 2 and 3 reactor technologies using solid fuel systems use barely 3% of the uranium fuel before the assembly must be discarded for purely for reasons of mechanical integrity. 97% of the uranium and energy potential is left sitting literally on the table.

                There are a number of pathways to access this energy, and in the process burn up almost all of the more hazardous, long-lived photon emitting fission by-products. And reducing the volume of high-level waste by a factor of 100 and the storage timeframe to about 300 years. Which is highly achievable.

                The more I learned about radiation, the less I came to fear it. The problem is that we have been told two fatal lies about it:

                One is that it is possible to build reactors that have a vanishingly small chance of ever releasing any radiation. This is demonstrably untrue because we have had Three Miles Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima events that demonstrably contract this claim and undermine trust. And while I firmly believe Gen 4 or better reactors are inherently far less likely to suffer failure events, the number will never be zero.

                But the other big lie is the Linear No Threshold (LNT) model. It told us that any amount of ionising radiation , no matter how small, was harmful and worse still the impact was cumulative in a linear fashion. For this reason the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) mandate was regulated – which has proved insanely expensive to implement. Despite the fact of the model being utter bullshit.

                We live on a planet bathed in background radiation. Life likely needs radiation to evolve efficiently. More importantly it turns out living cells have very effective cellular repair mechanisms that work to repair DNA damage at levels remarkably higher levels of exposure than most people imagine. (Even more interestingly it is the rate of exposure that matters as well.) And for all conceivable nuclear power reactor accident scenarios, the magnitude and rate of ionising exposure is so low as to be well below the threshold of causing any harm whatsoever.

                (Indeed many studies have shown that people fortunate enough to live in places with relatively high background levels may well have somewhat lower levels of cancers than normal. This reality stands in contradiction to all the activist scaremongering thrust on us for several generations now.)

                Once you understand that radiation releases from nuclear power plants are not going to be cataclysmic, that the waste streams are not going to reduce entire continents to unlivable wastelands – then it is no longer necessary to pretend we can make perfect nuclear reactors or waste streams with zero radiation. Once we renounce the Cataclysm Lie, we no longer have any need for the patently false, trust sapping It Will Never Fail lie. An occasional release is tolerable. Now nuclear power can regulated much like any other highly beneficial, hazardous activity.

                And we can get on with building a human future that does not stand in contradiction with a habitable planet.

                • Bearded Git

                  But solar and offshore wind are now cheaper so why would we bother?

                  • RedLogix

                    A reasonable question that I can respond to in three broad directions.

                    One is embedded in my comment above. Essentially the reason why current nuclear tech is more expensive on a nameplate basis than solar and wind is that we have loaded layers of unnecessary costs onto it. All analysis I have seen suggest we have made nuclear at least 3 times more expensive than needed in a pointless, futile effort to reduce radiation releases to levels far, far below the threshold where they might cause harm.

                    The other broad answer is that solar wind battery is only cheap on a nameplate basis – in most places in the world a combination of a very low capacity factor (less than 10%) and the necessary complexity and costs of integrating the inherent intermittency into the grid – has meant that everywhere it has been implemented so far, the cost of electricity to the consumer has risen dramatically. Germany vs France being a prime example.

                    Another factor rarely mentioned is the relatively short lifespans of solar wind installations. Being exposed to the elements these large scale installations are going to be doing well to survive 20 or so years. And then they need replacing at huge cost all over again. By contrast building a nuclear plant with an 80 yr life span is very doable.

                    But perhaps the biggest constraint in my mind is that so far we have been exploiting highly productive locations where there is lots of sunshine and wind. Most of the world, and especially close to where people live, is not like this. We are picking the low hanging fruit for the moment, but there is not an unlimited supply of it.

                    Yet globally the demand for high quality energy over this coming century can be reasonably projected to increase by a factor of 3 – 8 times our current total consumption depending on the assumptions you make. Yet so far all the new solar wind capacity we have installed so far, even when in ideal locations, is barely keeping pace with the rate at which we are closing nuclear plants – often for no good reason.

                    The idea that we can use renewables to both cheaply and fully supply our current total demand, much less our future requirements, is a very long stretch of the bow indeed.

                • lprent

                  This is how you lie if you're a idiot blogger like Jack with an agenda and no conscience.

                  First of all you put up a straw man alternate villain (coal ash) without any details and call it something (in this case 'toxic') without specifying how. Then minimise the danger of your villain with words like 'only 500 years' – ie roughly 20 generations of humans. While never actually show in what happens if either villain escapes.

                  Then you praise the incarceration of your villain without showing the relative levels of incarceration against a level of escape. Never talk about the effects relative or otherwise of either in the event that they do escape.

                  Then emphasise that your villain is stored wealth and should be left easily accessible for future generations. Jez I wonder how long it is before someone cuts open the little fence and breaks it out?

                  //—–

                  Doing a comparison to coal waste is kind of ridiculous. That gets buried and for good reason. Coal ash mostly gets buried in pits these days and has done for a long time. It only needs a decent hard to leach through flooring and walls and a reasonably hard to penetrate top cover. It isn't stacked high because that just makes it vulnerable. It doesn't need a fully leach proof separation because the idea is to diminish but not stop leachates.

                  But it simply isn't that toxic except for locally. There are mountains of coal ash already stored, it can be toxic because it contains small quantities of contamination of heavy metals like cadmium, mercury, arsenic, etc. This is only a problem when it gets leached or blown away too fast and concentrates.

                  Heavy metals are in all environments – the problem happens when they are too concentrated. The biosphere has long adapted to them. It is safer to not live near granite (a known source of heavy metals) or river flood plains (a known collector of heavy metals). But biological organisms are good at encapsulating and excreting them in low doses.

                  This isn't the case for heavy metals with any kind of strong radioactivity of any kind. That is because while they bind to biological matter like most heavy metals (and eventually get excreted) , they also irradiate and damage DNA, RNA, proteins, tissues, and the defence mechanisms around them even when wrapped up for excretion.

                  Id they leach into water or the biosphere, it isn't like holding them in a jar and running them against you most radio-protective organ of your body (the skin). Even the idiot Jack Devanney is aware of this…

                  Few can penetrate the outer layer of skin. In order for alpha particles or electrons to do any damage, they must be ingested or inhaled. Being a bit rhetorical here. To be precise, the alpha and electron emitters must be swallowed for the particles to be harmful.

                  The problem is that is exactly what happens when the containment is cracked and they leak into the water table or biosphere? Because they absolutely will. None of the containment systems have been tested for centuries of inattention

                  So how do you keep these exposed repositories safe for 500+ years. Stop something like a orbital crowbar in a late 21st century orbital war being used to cracking them open. Nuclear waste dumps are a really cool 'accident' deniability target in enemy territory.

                  Make sure that the next New Madrid earthquake doesn't tilt the hillside sideways. Massive continental crust earthquakes in 'stable' areas may not happen often but they are surface changing. You can literally find a nice rolling hill becoming a river bed in an instant.

                  That they can withstand being abraded in the sand storms blasting and eroding their exteriors for a century or so. etc

                  For some reason Jack doesn't describe any layered defence if the cylinder get cracked and stated to leach or abrade. That is because there isn't any. These are destroyable cylinders sitting out in the weather and the rain. Easily targetable looking at google earth or over the net.

                  It also doesn't account for things like the 140 tonnes of extracted weapons grade plutonium at Sellafield. Which has value in 5kg lots with a little bit if fast acting explosive and fast detonators.

                  Breeder reactors have been developed and looked at since the 1950s. What is notable about their waste is that it produces some real monster dangerous radioactives in its waste. Lower weight elements like radioactive strontium, cesium, and cadmium may not have the longer lives. What they do have is a strong ability to get bound into biological bodies and sit there irradiating them.

                  I'd suggest that you look less at the physics and more at the chemistry, biological, geological and historical aspects of nuclear waste disposal.

                  Shit happens, and containment like this or the 20m above sealevel at Sellafield at present simply aren't realistically designed for containment. They just designed for convenience by some really stupid engineers.

                  The best thing about renewable energy is that they are pretty damn safe if you look across 500+ years. Sure they can kill people when they fail. Dams drop. Windmills cartwheel downhill etc.. They can’t just keep poisoning the biosphere for 20+ human generations in the future when containment fails.

                  From a systems perspective and if you ignore the possibility of a bit of carnage in the short term. Renewable power systems are pretty much inherently safe over historical time. Nuclear power systems are the opposite.

                  • RedLogix

                    The point of Delvany's comparison with coal ash was primarily to compare the relative volume of material produced:

                    If Connecticut Yankee had been a coal plant, it would have produced between 3,000,000 and 6,000,000 tons of toxic ash in its operating life, not to mention 110 million tons of CO2. If we attempted to store this ash on the CY fuel cask pad, we would have a column of ash about 7000 feet high. The volume of solid waste per unit power produced by a nuclear power is 100,000 times less than that produced by a coal plant.

                    That is scarcely a strawman – obviously the nature of the nuclear and coal waste streams are very different – but it is entirely valid to point out that the volume is also very different as well – by four orders of magnitude.

                    A volume that would be reduced by another two orders when properly consumed in the new Gen 4 reactors designed and operated for this purpose. Comparison with Gen 2 breeder reactors from the early days of the industry is not useful.

                    And besides I would not be so blase about coal ash waste.

                    Nor would I neglect to mention that air pollution from fossil fuelburning is reliably estimated by to cause the pre-mature death of about 10,000 people per day. Somehow we manage to live with this astonishing hazard, yet the vanishingly tiny risk of nuclear waste is amplified into a monster.

                    And if we have orbital crowbars capable of disrupting geologic repositories many hundreds of metres deep – then I would politely suggest we have bigger problems to worry about.

        • Jenny are we there yet 1.1.1.2

          8 years ago it was ten years away?

          And now it is 30 years away?

          Talk about moving the goalposts.

          And it gets worse.

          From the link you supplied:

          …..The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project.

          https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/300764379/nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-is-a-milestone-for-climate-clean-energy

          This alleged techno-fix to climate change some time in the future sounds like a lame excuse not to knuckle down in the here and now.

    • Patricia 1.2

      At the Wright Brother's stage but yes

  1. Robert Guyton 2

    Awesome! We'll be able to crank on! Monorail through Fiordland National Park!

    • weka 2.1

      we can also get much more efficient at strip mining the seas of life.

      And BUILDING MOAR ROADS.

      all good then I guess.

    • Jenny are we there yet 2.2

      This greatly lauded proof of principal experiment is an excuse to continue heating up the climate by burning fossil fuels in the hope that we will be saved from total biosphere collapse at the 11th hour by the miraculous advent of this technology.

      Good luck with that.

      • Alan 2.2.1

        Solar, wind, electric, hydrogen and now this breakthrough, I would of thought you would be excited and way less sad sack about it.

    • bwaghorn 2.3

      Monorail from q town to milford, shit that's a good idea. 👍

      You might want to regress to an arboreal life my leafy freind buy we don't,

      Imagine a clean energy system that could desalinate so much see water we could green desert ares.

      • Robert Guyton 2.3.1

        I want to progress to a life that's founded upon the principles displayed by managed woodlands, yes.

        I recognise that you don't, but that's because you haven't yet understood what it means.

        Greening "desert areas" must and will happen – then we'll be able to build the most wonderful Los Vegas imaginable!! Go us!!!!

  2. Peter 4

    The Herald heading today has Luxon reckoning that the PM's "arrogant prick" comment is telling. I agree with him. It's telling me what I already know.

    • tWiggle 4.1

      I feel this will be a plus for the PM, as it breaks her sometimes tiring, goody-good head-prefect persona, to show a more usual human response underneath. The apology was spot-on, slightly toothy. A bit more of the relatable Jacinda, please.

    • observer 4.2

      If this is the story you're referring to, it's yet another example of Luxon being … well, just a little bit weird. He talks and keeps talking and ends up saying things like:

      "David was my neighbour for many years. He was a very good neighbour I can tell you that. He was very well behaved, kept his music under control."

      OK. Music. That's the issue. Jolly good. What are you on about, man?

      In all seriousness, the more Luxon talks the worse for National. His mouth runs away from him, he has no verbal discipline. He’s a gaffe-aholic, and in an election campaign he has to talk a lot more. Good.

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nationals-luxon-says-pm-jacinda-arderns-arrogant-prick-david-seymour-comment-sign-of-pressure/DMR5WHD46BF23LXM7O3FO5J2VE/

      • Chris 4.2.1

        Totally, the guy's an idiot. The only trouble is that too few NZers see it. They love the fact 'National's back' with 'a man as their leader'. And it looks like there ain't a thing Labour can do about it.

        • observer 4.2.1.1

          I don't think it's as bad as that. The details of polling won't make headlines, but they are quite revealing. The latest poll tells us that Luxon is negative 29 with undecided voters.

          Right now National is 'Other'. People are dissatisfied for various reasons, and the Opposition reap the benefit. The 'Not Government' party.

          But the more people learn about the alternative PM, the less impressed they are. They want … another 'Other'.

          https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/national-and-act-in-government-on-latest-poll/GQ3QPZBNUJAQRKEEFDXAUPMW6I/

          • Belladonna 4.2.1.1.1

            However, how many of those 'undecideds' will get out and vote? If they like Ardern, but don't like her government's policies – it seems to me that they're more likely to just stay home.

            I agree that there is still an opportunity for Labour to turn this around. But it's going to take some radical pruning of unpopular policies (and politicians).

      • Bearded Git 4.2.2

        Thank you Observer for making me laugh out loud in a Spanish motorway cafe …the locals think I am a weirdo like Luxon too.

  3. RP Mcmurphy 5

    it was fun watching dave seemore get squelched by the speaker yesterday. eemore wanted AR to sanction the PM over something somebody had heard on the radio and rung him up about. no dice dave. hansard is the record and poo must be raised at the time.

    • Nic the NZer 5.1

      I do hope lprent is working on a plugin which notifies somebody in David's orbit by text every time Seymour's name comes up in a comment here.

      Does this mean he had his phone on in class?

  4. Jimmy 6

    What's the world coming to when people are prepared to threaten people with a machete all for a bottle of Fanta and an packet of chips!

    Watch: Machete-wielding thief flees from Upper Hutt dairy fog cannon – NZ Herald

    • observer 6.1

      That report shows you how so much of the crime "debate" is completely missing the point. Rhetoric versus reality.

      Look at what happened (allegedly, we're obliged to say). Man commits (potentially) aggravated robbery. Offence has potential sentence of 10 years' jail.

      He then returns to the same shop, even after the alarm has gone off. He is (not surprisingly) caught, minutes later. He does all this for no material gain.

      Very high risk, very low reward, and nobody who thinks about it would attempt such a crime. So the "deterrent" is totally irrelevant. Stupid people do stupid crimes. Issues like drugs, alcohol etc may be a factor too.

      Crimes like this would happen even if we had capital punishment for stealing Fanta.

      • Craig H 6.1.1

        Aggravated robbery is a maximum of 14 years if that's where it ends up, but agree with your general points. On the capital punishment point, it wasn't unknown in earlier times in England and Great Britain for pickpockets to be publicly executed (usually by hanging), and for other pickpockets to be active in the crowd at the public execution.

  5. Anne 7

    Watched the Zelensky address to parliament this morning. Good speeches all round bar one. Yes, David Seymour. He used the occasion to pour contempt on the $3 million dollars of extra aid announced by Jacinda Ardern. Ignored the fact we have given nearly $60 million in aid of one sort or another and we are a very small country in the scheme of things.

    The aid is in addition to almost $8m in humanitarian help already provided, and $48m of military spending including on training deployments, donation of surplus equipment, and procurement of weapons and ammunition.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/480691/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky-addresses-new-zealand-parliament

    Living up to his newly found fame as an "arrogant prick".

    • lprent 7.1

      I just keep thinking of him as rather strategically stupid.

      The one bit of amusement I have if National finally win the election in 2026 (maybe 2023 – but it seems unlikely) is just how useless the prick will be at combining the demands of his caucus with what is possible to negotiate with a larger coalition partner.

      He really isn't a Prebble or Hide or even a Banks. It is hard to see him managing both sides of that management role of being small party within government with a rather diverse pile of hungry fringe nut-bars with varying objectives to satisfy.

      • Cricklewood 7.1.1

        Might get mocked, but after a move he's my electorate mp. (was in Mt Roskill previously). Anywhere I ran into a bit of an issue and contacted his office for some help. He went into bat for me via a phone call and letter and had my issue sorted quick smart. Will be weird but he's earnt my electorate vote.

        • Craig H 7.1.1.1

          Realistically, that has to be his road to retaining the electorate, being a good electorate MP, but it's always good to hear about it actually happening.

          • Belladonna 7.1.1.1.1

            I do hear anecdotally, that he's a very good electorate MP. Door knocks regularly. Turns up at events. Goes in to bat with the bureaucracy for his constituents.

            • Robert Guyton 7.1.1.1.1.1

              As was Peter Dunne.

              • I believe Anderton was, as well (don't have direct knowledge of either of them).

                I think it's something that's often overlooked. And, is, actually, a really important part of being an electorate MP. Some MPs are really good at it. Others are just not.

                Which of the current crop of MPs do you think are good electorate ones? I’m hearing good things about Swarbrick – which will certainly help cement her hold on Auckland Central.

  6. weka 8

    Standardistas, I’m thinking about putting up periodic current affairs debate topic posts, short intro and links from me and some guidelines for debate. On days when there are no new posts.

    Haven’t talked with the other authors yet, but hoping for some suggestions from commenters for a name. eg

    Today’s Debate: [name of topic].

    where ‘today’s debate’ is replaced with something catchier.

    hit me with your good ideas.

    • Craig H 8.1

      Circadian Discourse:

      • weka 8.1.1

        clever but probably a bit obscure for a regular post title

        • Craig H 8.1.1.1

          Fair. If it's a daily post, synonyms for daily are quite obscure, but debate has a few options that people will have heard of. Discourse was the one I posted, but even something like discussion is fine. That said, daily debate is alliterative, so it has that going for it.

    • Incognito 8.2

      Hot Topic of the Day

      Hot Potatoe of the Day

      Today's Special Topic

      Today's Noteworthy Topic (TNT)

  7. roy cartland 9

    Stuff not even bothering to hide it any more:

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130757871/christopher-luxon-the-statesman-emerges-as-the-ukraine-war-beams-into-parliament

    Shilling for a strongly disliked oppo leader is as pathetic as it is boring.

    • Tony Veitch 9.1

      That article/opinion is so blatantly pro-National that it would almost warrant a complaint to the Media Council (if there is such a body)!

      I listened to Luxy's speech and thought it just stuck it's head above the mediocre!

    • observer 9.2

      It is also yet another failure by a journalist to ask the obvious question: "What do the words actually mean? What are the implications here?"

      He provided some insight into his view of the world in light of the war, advocating for muscular militaries and criticising a “weak” United Nations. … (says) “But this war has proved that when you have to fight for what you believe in, you need an army, weapons, ammunition, and friends to help defend your interests.”

      Luxon is calling for a stronger military. That means spending more money. Taxpayers' money. Now that is a position that can be debated and/or defended but Luxon is never asked to.

      He says the same thing about health, education, transport, police/justice … everything really. Do more = invest more = spend more.

      I don't mind having an opposition that wants to spend more. But they claim to be wanting to spend less. It's a fraud and yet Luxon is rarely challenged on it.

    • Anne 9.3

      I concluded he didn't write it. Someone with much more speech composing flair than him wrote it. But he delivered it well.

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    The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • What makes us tick

    This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 day ago
  • Foreshore and seabed 2.0

    In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission report into abuse in care

    Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Weekly Roundup 26-July-2024

    Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago
  • God what a relief

    1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Trust In Me

    Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 26

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care report released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced $802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Radical law changes needed to build road

    The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2024

    Open access notables Could an extremely cold central European winter such as 1963 happen again despite climate change?, Sippel et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics: Here, we first show based on multiple attribution methods that a winter of similar circulation conditions to 1963 would still lead to an extreme seasonal ...
    2 days ago
  • First they came for the Māori

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

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