looks familiar…’The second change with personalization is that it’s not just entertainers whose PR crews carefully hone an image of ordinariness. It is now much more apparent in politicians, Nigel Farage being an obvious example. Widely publicised photographs of Farage holding a pint of beer conform to an older tradition in election-time iconography. But more sinister is his tactic of appearing humbly and “amusingly” tongue-tied at least once in most of his filmed appearances (a habit proven winsome by Bush and, subsequently, Boris Johnson).’ from a critique of R.Hoggarts…’The Uses of Literacy’.
The Herald have been pimping this finance billionaire for a while.
Now we find out that Bill English has been helping make moment of of education in New Zealand.
‘An American equity fund manager who wants to open charter schools in New Zealand was introduced to Ngai Tahu leaders by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bill English.’
This country continues to slide further and further downhill.
And the NZ education system ends up as an. If you can pay, your child will be educated system. Free education killed off within 9 years by the NACTS. Really makes me want to meet an NACT Polly in a dark alley one night. Charter Schools what a nightmare. I really do worry about what sort of world my son will grow up in.
Not sure what the link is between ‘If you can pay, your child will be educated…’ and your reference to charter schools. Charter schools are not fee paying.
Your statement that ‘Free education killed off within 9 years by the NACT’ isn’t true either. Are you claiming that state education was free at the end of the last Labour government but is fee-paying now? Really.
You also seem to have a few personal issues with aggro if you are making threats about meeting ‘an NACT Polly in a dark alley one night.’
I think posters here on the Standard have been banned for far less than threatening fellow NZers with violence.
That’s a bit harsh. 😉 Charter Schools or Partnership Schools (CS/PS) are not the issue.
Poorly planned, poorly run Charter Schools and Partnership Schools certainly are.
CS/PS ;
;receiving per child funding of up to seven times that of State Schools are a problem.
;not answerable to the same education standards as State Schools are a problem.
;not answerable to the Official Information Act are a problem.
;not answerable to the Ombudsman are a problem.
;not having to report the same information as State Schools are a problem.
But Charter Schools or Partnership Schools as an idea are fine. They already exist throughout NZ and have done so for many years in many different forms and have regularly proven to be successful and popular. Those that existed before 2008 seem to have two major differences to the new bunch though. Firstly they are more closely aligned to the reporting, standards, accountability, protocols and the funding levels of State Schools. The other, more important difference would be those Schools were set up to help educate kids, not simply profit off them.
Doctors in NZ and Australia demand transparency over the TPPA.
‘But despite a letter published today in The Lancet — and signed by 27 health leaders in Australasia as well as the US, Canada, Malaysia and Chile — Trade Minister Tim Groser this afternoon reaffirmed the Government’s stance of not releasing controversial TPP negotiating documents.’
A government of the corporates, for the corporates, by the corporates.
@Paul. Dr Monasterio has explained very clearly the potential impact of TPPA on this country in the Herald article.
“Otago University senior clinical lecturer Dr Erik Monasterio, one of the co-lead authors of the letter, claimed the agreement threatened governmental ability to deliver affordable health care and legislate to protect public health and reduce health inequities.
“And all the while, the text is shrouded in secrecy,” he said.
“The negotiations are not about the way most of us think of trade — you and me buying and selling things.
“Instead they are protecting the massive investment profits of multinational companies that are bigger than the whole New Zealand economy.”
Dr Monasterio described the TPP as “an unprecedented expansion” of intellectual property rights that would “push up the cost of affordable and life-saving medicines, hitting hardest the already vulnerable households in New Zealand and other countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia”.
He also feared governments could be sued for protecting health — but governments cannot sue back.
NZ could be sued by mining corporations if we make laws that prevent them from exploiting our environment.
Here is an example of how Investor-State Dispute Settlements work from the Canadian NAFTA experience.
“Quebec Fracking Ban Lawsuit Shows Perils Of Free Trade Deals:
OTTAWA – Free trade critics say a $250-million damage suit being pursued as a result of Quebec’s moratorium on fracking is proof Canada needs to be careful in negotiating trade pacts around the world.
The Council of Canadians, the Sierra Club and Quebec-based Eau secours say the suit by Lone Pine Resources Inc. (TSX:LPR) shows that trade deals that include investor protection clauses are a bad idea because they can prevent governments from passing laws to protect the environment.
The groups are asking Lone Pine to drop the suit before a NAFTA panel, but company president Tim Granger says he is going ahead unless Quebec lifts its moratorium on fracking for natural gas under the St. Lawrence River.
If you, like me, are concerned about the loss of sovereignty if the TPPA contains an Investor-State Dispute Settlement clause, then the following article will show you are not alone.
The following link is to a scholarly study carried out to assess the impact of ISDS rules on environmental regulation with respect to the TTIP (a parallel Trade agreement to TPPA between US and EU.)
“Investor-state Dispute Settlement under TTIP – a Risk for Environmental Regulation?”
Rules on ISDS in TTIP could have a chiling effect on environmental regulation in the EU and the US”
“The authors conclude that rules on ISDS are not necessary in an agreement between two highly evolved, rule of law legal systems. By contrast, such rules create significant risks for environmental regulation, because of the broad wording of investment rules and the largely unpredictable manner in which they are interpreted by investment tribunals. States may have to compensate investors for taking legitimate environmental measures. The study recommends not to include such rules in TTIP”
Chomsky says the US was unhappy to lose control of China in 1949 when they became independent so the US felt that they no longer controlled all of the world and now US corporations want the TTPA established mainly to isolate China and minimize its influence in the world of commerce. China is apparently not included in the TPPA even though it is a major Pacific country.
Is Chomsky wrong?
Thanks, freedom. I might have been a bit harsh calling Bomber mindless. Thoughtless might have been better. That certainly applies to his misunderstanding about the diverse nature of the authors here and his apparent belief that TS the official blog of the NZLP.
I’ve left a comment correcting Pat’s misunderstanding about POAL, EDDIE and me.
That is because he has Winston Peters doing the moderating.
He only lets a comment show after he has checked that the “grey” in your curtains matches the “grey” in your carpet.
Takes time you know.
“i want to put a short, straight forward message on it, to act as a seed in the minds of those who read it.
ideally the message would be unifying, apolitical, and not a single issue (pollution, economy, food politics.”
What is the purpose of the billboard, gsays? If it’s not political and you want it to reach everyone in a way that brings them together, what is the intended result?
hi tracey,
as bill hicks says, if we realize we are all one, we will not keep building nuclear weapons.
to get folx to aspire to higher ideals.
to perhaps get them to throw off some of their self imposed chains (money, being left or right wing, sexuality).
when we realize and act as we are one, it will not matter what lying prime ministers say and do.
1) He who dies with the most toys…
2) A life of caring is a life of meaning
3) We are stronger working together.
4) Co-operation not competition.
5) Human freedom not market freedom.
cheers freedom, i am right with you ref wtc 7, however as i have found when you dip your toes in that pool, people seem real fixed in their thinking and are quick to pigeon hole you, (and therefore ‘know’ what you are about).
i was accused of being right wing last time i was involved in a 12/9 discussion here on t.s.
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one” (Einstein)
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started” (Mark Twain)
“If you are going through hell, keep going” (Churchill)
Depending on your size. I’m thinking you need a series of signs, with a little bit of humour and pertinent points.
An easy theme is to do it in the style of upcoming television shows, and change the sign monthly. People – even if they don’t agree – will be watching for the next one.
Eg. coming soon:
Sabin’s Heroes – with a picture of Key as Sgt. Schulz – I know nuzzink!
Groucho Marx – with sign about not wanting to be a member of the club etc.
I’ve been out shopping, and am totally non creative at present but the book covers/posters being posted pre election would have a few good ideas.
I get where you are coming from… so perhaps the most pertinent for the Manawatu crowd would be –
A Tui kind of graphic along the lines of:
Government debt:
2008 $18 billion
2015 $100 billion
Good economic manager – Yeah, right!
On reflection, that approach could be used for highlighting a number of issues.
One hour a week counted as employed – Yeah, right
Legislation pass under urgency – yeah, right
Iraq because we care – …
Dirty Politics is OK because “everyone” does it …
TPPA is secret because it is so good – …
We do not collect data on ordinary NZers – ….
I don’t ackshully remember what my office was told – ….
Gay liberation and marxism on Redline. I’ve collected the articles we’ve had on the blog together. They’re mainly about gay marriage, because that’s been the dominant issue in the three years-plus since the Redline blog started, but there’s also a feature one on the 1986 law reform and there’s also one by an Irish gay activist questioning whether gay *liberation* is served by what he sees as mimicking straight, middle class values.
Thanks Phil. Amazing collection of very significant questions. I have been trying to imagine such questions addressed to John Key but really, I come up blank. A straight answer? Never!
-reply patiently awaiting moderation of course but I will say this here & now-
I for one am very confused by the ongoing actions of TDB host. He is apparently on some crusade to attack the vitality and diversity of discussion here at The Standard. For some reason, offering a common platform to people with differing points of view is a bad thing.
Is it really so damaging to the left to admit that within its ranks are those who think hitting people solves problems? This is not exactly news!
Bomber as a passionate man with a big ego that’s been publicly humiliated by the alpha male (Lynn) and reacting in kind (or trying to). Now O’Dea taking his ban from ts personally and spreading lies and conspiracy. Macho politics, it’s probably not a bad reflection of what happens further up the chain, and it shows us how far we still have to go in terms of basic human relations and power.
“it shows us how far we still have to go in terms of basic human relations and power.” this can not be said strongly enough right now
Yet to mention it is to invite pyromaniacs to light up the tumbleweeds of opportunity rolling through this ramshackle town we call Democracy.
-Have enjoyed watching the scifi show Defiance. The community of diverse species shows humanity is basically really lousy at resolving problems of power dynamics.
I have, and always have had, had a particular distaste for Bradbury. He’s an arrogant blowhard. While Lynn is also an arrogant blowhard he is far more reasonable, approachable and allows for someone to call him an arrogant blowhard without moderating the comments out.
The site is becoming an echo chamber and has driven away a lot of good authors. and as for those stupid thumbs -i used to bother, now I just hit them randomly
There is not too many who use the alternate address, maybe a dozen a post, but the more people the merrier. Being completely independent of PG means I can call Phil and co’s distaste as they see it. 🙂
shane if you post on his site you are not ‘completely independent’ imo. I’ve had a look at the facebook page – that is a good place to get your message out. If you keep posting on petes blog I won’t read your stuff, because no matter what you are saying, where you say it matters – at least to me.
Hence the alternative location I provide as per criticisms recieved here. I chose YourNZ as it was neither left nor right, no adds, and he was supportive of my position on Medpot, I also tried at the standard etc, but no reply…. I have never met PG personally, and didn’t follow blogs until I needed to get on one, so was not privy to the stirring that occurs over here at the standard. I also have total ownership of my own material that is never edited, and can reblog to my hearts content, unlike the restrictive conditions offered when I tried to Bombers blog……………….
I’m on record campaigning for it in the 2011 election, and one condition for standing for UF was to be able to promote a cannabis debate. See Cannabis deserves a decent debate
Since then I’ve discussed possible ways to address it with Greens and with ALCP.
Perhaps you should stop making things up based on ignorance and petty prejudice.
I sounded out a wide range of people last year for a social media campaign on it. But the timing wasn’t right due to things moving the wrong way with synthetics, and no party wanted to get into it before the election.
If things keep muddling along disjointedly then we’ll arrive at the 2017 election with neither Greens not Labour wanting to risk being too strongly associated with cannabis reform, If they don’t get into Government in 2011 then it could be six years at the earliest before anything could start to happen, and without public pressure Labour/Greens are no going to rush into anything either.
So something has to be generated outside the parties to compel them to at least address medical use.
I know that all the main bloggers support change – Slater, Farrar, Brown, Bradbury and some if not most here.
Imagine what could be achieved by a non-partisan campaign being pushed across the social media spectrum.
However it’s likely too many would prefer petty personal battles rather than trying to achieve something.
To make something happen it needs concerted public pressure.
Yeah well if you don’t want to try anything different for three years and then hope something will suddenly and miraculously happen because there’s some stuff on some blogs then good luck with that.
all posts belong to TDB, no reblogging, and all must be original, so I couldnt use pre existing stuff, and seeing as the political right are the people who need there minds changed being stuck on a far left blog wouldnt suit my long term aims.
if ever the PM was simply encapsulated in his own words while showing why he his understanding of the world he lives in makes him the wrong person to lead a nation it was here
“… Key said there had been strong interest from iwi groups and he would be “amazed” if the likes of the Salvation Army were hesitant to get involved if they saw a way to make money off the investment…” stuff.co.nz 14 Feb 2015 article by hamish rutherford
note charities are legally forbidden from pursuing a profit motive. Read the Act…
Which of course none of the msm puppets pick up on and take him to task over as they lack both the knowledge and direction from their bosses to take him on.
hi tracey, “… Key said there had been strong interest from iwi groups and he would be “amazed” if the likes of the Salvation Army were hesitant to get involved if they saw a way to make money off the investment…”
this always makes me feel very uncomfortable, the kiwi build up a property portfolio and profit from being a landlord.
business wise you are discouraged from retrofitting insulation, dealing with damp rooms etc.
cue responses of ‘an insulated dry dwelling can attract a higher rental’ market driven drivel.
For rangers supporters that will always be the dream now, behind Celtic and Aberdeen if they’re lucky. Once mighty now a basket case with sharks circling.
My recent column about the growth of on-demand jobs like Uber making life less predictable and secure for workers unleashed a small barrage of criticism that workers get what they’re worth in the market.
A Forbes Magazine contributor, for example, writes that jobs exist only “when both employer and employee are happy with the deal being made.” So if the new jobs are low-paying and irregular, too bad.
Much the same argument was voiced in the late nineteenth century over alleged “freedom of contract.” Any deal between employees and workers was assumed to be fine if both sides voluntarily agreed to it.
look at what he is doing now on tdb – I’m embarrassed for him, I thought he was better than that but…
and i’m sad that a Mana spokesperson has such little idea of how to interact with this blog – it’s not that difficult really it’s not and now his personal and spokesperson ideas are not here because of what? ego? pride? fucked if I know but it is all self inflicted imo
Saying “what you do with this comment is up to you” does, however, come across as a bit of an “I dare you to ban me!!!!” given how your previous, far snider comment was, and remains, published.
[Stephanie: I’m assuming this is meant in a joking way, phil, but given our previous interactions I don’t think it’s appropriate or clear what you actually mean.]
This is utter, utter bullshit, phil. People – quite obviously given Penny’s multiple comments questioning Pat O’Dea’s ban – do not get banned merely “for disagreeing.”
And nobody would ever take your “silence” (please note, leaving snide comments is the opposite of silence) as agreeing with anything the moderators do here.
Thanks for confirming what I’ve always suspected: that you’re happy to make excuses for someone who was 100% vile, abusive, aggressive and persistent in posting abuse well past their ban date, as long as you can convince yourself and others that I ~provoked them~. Because that’s not a completely predictable method men have used for generations to shut a woman up. 🙄
My gender comes into it when there’s a clear pattern of my moderation (and other women mods, like karol) being questioned, second-guessed, and ignored while male moderators’ dictates get respected. My gender comes into it when people like you demand the publication of abusive, misogynist comments to “prove” that “justice was done” when bad12 was banned.
And my gender comes into it when there’s literally centuries’ worth of feminist thought outlining how men undermine women and blame them for men’s actions, and your comments fit all those phenomena to a T.
1.
complete absence of sound.
“sirens pierce the silence of the night”
synonyms: quietness, quiet, quietude, still, stillness, hush, tranquillity, noiselessness, soundlessness, peace, peacefulness, peace and quiet
“the sound of falling stones broke the silence of the night”
antonyms: sound, noise
the fact or state of abstaining from speech.
“Karen had withdrawn into sullen silence”
synonyms: speechlessness, wordlessness, voicelessness, dumbness, muteness; More
taciturnity, reticence, uncommunicativeness, unresponsiveness
“she was reduced to silence”
antonyms: speech, loquacity
the avoidance of mentioning or discussing something.
“politicians keep their silence on the big questions”
synonyms: secretiveness, secrecy, reticence, taciturnity, uncommunicativeness, concealment
“politicians keep their silence on the big issues”
antonyms: communication, communicativeness
a short appointed period of time during which people stand still and do not speak as a sign of respect for a dead person or group of people.
“the game was preceded by a two-minute silence in his memory”
verb
verb: silence; 3rd person present: silences; past tense: silenced; past participle: silenced; gerund or present participle: silencing
1.
cause to become silent; prohibit or prevent from speaking.
“she was silenced by the Inspector’s stern look”
synonyms: quieten, quiet, hush, shush, still; More
pedant
ˈpɛd(ə)nt/
noun
noun: pedant; plural noun: pedants
a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning
Pointing out that ‘silent’ is the exact opposite of what you’ve been is not exactly a minor detail.
The “brouhaha” started with Pat making a comment in clear breach of TS policy.
Unless of course you mean I started it all by daring to publish a post which provoked the poor, innocent man into breaking the rules, and then persisting in breaking them after a moderator advised him not to. Given the tenor of every comment you’ve ever made on my moderation, I wouldn’t be surprised. 🙄
I think there is some confusion about why O’Dea got banned, and some of that confusion comes from how he got banned (the rest comes from people assuming he was banned for content, which is just daft).
Not that it matters (I don’t think it has to be visible to readers, nor that moderators have to justify decisions), and it won’t help in regards to people like phil, but it was one of the unclearer moderations I’ve seen and it took me a while to figure it out (the pattern of behaviour that prompted Lynn to ban).
Pat broke a number of rules and his tone was really offensive. And he has continued the blitzkrieg against TS over at TDB. He needs to become a bit more sensitive and discrete and needs to understand others …
I appreciate your comment, weka, but as we continue to see with clear, undeniably-breaking-the-rules-and-being-unpleasant bannings like bad12’s, some people are just determined to undermine the rules and moderation of The Standard.
They haven’t had to deal with this on the residential side yet, primarily because people can sell excess power back to the utilities at fairly high rates — a practice called net metering. But that’s hurting utilities, too, and some have tried to lower the price at which they buy back power, which has been met by furious protests from people leasing panels. If utilities lower the buyback rate too much, however, and batteries get cheap enough, people may just unplug from the grid altogether — or more likely, install systems that let them rely on it only rarely — prompting what those in the industry call “the utility death spiral.” It’s quite a bind: by fighting net metering, utilities would help make battery storage more economically viable, driving the transition to a distributed grid.
Electricity (and other network utilities) can only make a profit if they have a huge number of people paying into them decreasing the cost per customer of maintaining the generating and distributing equipment. As the utility operators try to boost or even just maintain profits they drive customers away killing their profits.
The problem though is that the community is better off with the entire population connected to the network with the ‘customers’ both feeding into the network and taking from it as it would make the network more diverse and thus more resilient. A single network also allows for better utilisation of the power generated. As a single network that is privately owned gets to set it’s own charges (monopoly power) and thus get super-profits the only option left for this single network is state owned and run as a government service. This gets the economies of scale that the network is great at providing while also protecting from the greed of the profiteers.
If the grid was Government owned and operated as a public utility, rather than a profit driven monopoly, then these developments would be applauded as they save us from building power stations, damming rivers and burning coal.
Yes and there’s billions in savings by eliminating 4 profit layers ( generator, transmission, lines, retailer) duplicated finance, maintenance, billing systems and all the management, audit, PR functions that are gorging themselves.
Do that, wave bye bye to Tiwai point encourage customer generation and we’d provide an essential utility at a much better end price.
Oz don’t think they’ll require extra gen capacity for decades and Germany has shut down 25% of its peak gas powered gen capacity as the customer generation has reduced demand that much.
You’d pay back the cost of buying back Nats flogged assets in no time at all relatively.
Thanks so much for this link. This is where people misunderstand Green policies. For example by labelling The greens loony hippies people overlook the very real advantages to themselves (if not the planet) by adopting Green technology. how hard a sell to middle NZ would the subsidising of Telsa batteries in conjunction with the solar panels? given the savings people can make, not hard at all. And installing into low income and State Homes? A no brainer, especially if we use the money from the sales of the electricity companies…
For example by labelling The greens loony hippies people overlook the very real advantages to themselves (if not the planet) by adopting Green technology.
IMO, the labeling of environmentalists as hippies and Taliban is solely to protect the old industries, especially fossil fuels, that are destroying our environment and heading us towards the extinction level event known as Climate Change.
hi draco, do you have any knowledge of how these tesla batteries differ from deep cycle batteries?
and can you explain it as you would to a 10 year old child?
ok cool, i live off grid and deep cycle battery tech hasnt moved for yonks.
the contrast between new lithium ion rechargable batteries and the last generation is remarkable. to have that appled to deep cycle batteries is exciting.
hi cr, true, true.
i have never been an early adapter (adopter?) of tech.
10 yrs time would be about time for us to change our battery bank.
no battery ever dies, they are murdered
By weakening our operating systems, encryption systems, firmware, network hardware etc for their own uses, the NSA makes all of us vulnerable to attack by hackers.
Now US cyber attacks on their enemies have taught countries like Iran how to attack the west back. As Bill Binney says – the NSA does not have a monopoly on smart people.
The Stuxnet story is worth reading… how some malware in off-the-shelf software wormed its way into Iran’s nuclear testing facilities and screwed up their research.
On “Patch Tuesday” this week, a fix was issued for an exploit that requires modifying only a single bit of the Windows operating system.
As part of our research, we revealed this privilege escalation vulnerability which, if exploited, enables a threat actor to complete control of a Windows machine. In other words, a threat actor that gains access to a Windows machine (say, through a phishing campaign) can exploit this vulnerability to bypass all Windows security measures, defeating mitigation measures such as sandboxing, kernel segregation and memory randomization.
We have verified this exploit against all supported Windows desktop versions, including Windows 10 Technical Preview.
Some very interesting trends emerging. As we become more connected we are more likely to be infected. As in the movie “The Imitation Game”, the spooks won’t let on how pwned we/they really are
Excellent article by Philip Matthews in the Dominion Post on the hazards in NZ for academics and intellectuals who speak out on issues.
Dame Anne Salmond
“This is partly because some groups with vested interests do not welcome public scrutiny of their activities and actively seek to suppress it. This happened in the Dirty Politics saga, for example.”
The following video discusses the same issue and illustrates the awesome courage of those who stand up and speak out for the public good despite knowing the dangers. Sadly David Carr died 3 hours after the interview was filmed. http://timestalks.com/laura-poitras-glenn-greenwald-edward-snowden.html
Yes across the ditch gillian triggs the human rights commmissioner has been attacked by abbotts mates at murdoch media in a cruel and personal manner, toady piers ackerman takes it down the odious route.
Her crime: putting on the agenda the torture of children by both parties when in government, which is her job.
Yep TC when I heard Abbott’s comments and I then found out what Triggs had actually said my first response was “Abbott is a complete and utter piece of doggie do and the world would be a better place if he was retired immediately and WTF was Labor doing …” [Edited before posting to remove all the swearing …]
Nothing that happens today compares with the pervasive climate of fear that we all endured during the Helengrad regime. Those were the days were you could be sacked from Government employment because of who your boyfriend voted for.
[lprent: ?link I am sure that your lack of a link to support that was significant. Offhand I can think of only one oossible, and that was simply domr right wing nutters mythic incident. It relied on a pile of repeated unsupported lying from Nationals sockpuppets. Notably from their pollster.
In fact it looked exactly like what you are doing now. If you want to replay such myths, then link to some supporting credible report so others are able to look and judge for themselves.
You have been warned about this prior to the last time I banned you for it. If I see you do this type of smear again I will ban you for double the last time I caught you doing it. I suspect it will a long ban. ]
Was that in Nazi Germany fisi? The only time I can recall it being like this in Aotearoa (apart from the current government) was back in Muldoon’s time …
A link would be helpful to bolster your claim fisiani. As I recall, someone’s press secretary resigned because of a possible conflict of interest as her bf was working for the opposition.
This is one of the many times where “experts” in economics have it all wrong, and the general public’s gut feelings about banks, debt and money are closer to the truth. Bank lending is fundamentally important to the performance of the economy, and it is also fundamentally different to lending between individuals. But mainstream economics has convinced itself of the opposite propositions—that lending (most of the time) has trivial macroeconomic implications (the exception being during a “liquidity trap”), and that bank lending to individuals is really no different to lending between individuals.
Probably one of the simpler explanations of how money works in the real world as compared to how most economists believe it works.
Jeez John Key sounded like a twerp with his “serious” voice on over his calls for war. After 6 years of nothing but child-like smart-alecery and witless jokes he has no gravitas to get even remotely close to sounding grown up.
VTO…….slow down man……all is well…….John Armstrong’s long been reckoning that the GaucheKey’s got “gravitas”. That’s good enough for me – in my scary and sadly recurring Sarah Palin incarnations. Russia “just over there” is heavy.
Warning ! This next observation is not for the ears of fizzy, alwyn, goosie, the late and lamentable ss-lands…….”gravitas” in this instance must be read thus – sort of “not too sure about that fulla” dyed-hair insurance type guy, hangin’ around the rugby club round 4.45 pm winter Saturdays. Buzzed to the point of embarrassment in all listeners, tryin’ to grease up the ‘player-of-the-day’. Or Richie McCaw as the case might be. The lust to bathe in glory ? This makes God ?
We are run by a spoilt, nouveau-riche, not handsomely literate, child. With an apparently attractive gaucheness. It’s a fucking disgrace ! Go back down the years – Clark, Bolger, (omitted Shipley, Palmer, Moore), Lange, Muldoon (yes I know – spooky) , Rowling, Kirk , Marshall, Holyoake. History has not recdorded these as dishonourable people.
There are undeniable scenarios, indicators, fuck-ups, hubris-times, to have history record that the SelfieKey set about for the corruption of our national psyche, the decency in us. For the benefit of the few. That is an ugly and unforgiveable legacy.
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“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
To express concern about foreign ownership and control in New Zealand is often to invite accusations of xenophobia and economic illiteracy. It is worthwhile, therefore, to rehearse the grounds for that concern, and to explore the various forms it can ...
It must be a day ending in Y because the Guardian - remember when it used to be a good paper1 - is running another spurious story about Corbyn's leadership being threatened over anti-Semitism.The headline the Guardian runs is: "MPs tell ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 23 through Sat, June 29, 2019 Editor's Pick When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ...
When people slate the current Government for taking too long on certain issues, or not getting everything right, just check the outrage and quit helping National manufacture consent for their decade of Disaster Economics and much more. Bill couldn’t ...
Robots could soon replace many low-skill jobs, such as President of the United States. US Presidential hopeful and doomsday prophet Andrew Yang went to extreme lengths to make a point in the first round of Democratic primary debates today, replacing ...
More people have died in the shower this year than will die in a KiwiBuild home. KiwiBuild home owners are experiencing a surprise windfall this month, as the price of their houses have begun to rise dramatically, due to growing ...
First way – the state, Keynesian demand management, the working class as the base of support. Second way – free-market, reduce the scope of the state and cut taxes, relative indifference to social justice. Third Way – well that's the ...
E15 is a London-based housing campaign that arose from the eviction of a group of young working-class mothers from a homeless hostel in 2013. Cat Wiener, through her work with the Revolutionary Communist Group, helped get Focus E15 up and ...
Going Upstairs: If we accept the LGBTQI+ community’s untrammelled right to advance their understanding of love, then we must also accept Israel Folau’s right to articulate his own simplistic and inadequate interpretation of the Christian religion.ONE OF THE FIRST things ...
So, some Labour MPs and peers have written Corbyn a letter complaining about the re-admission of loudmouth MP Chris Williamson, who had been suspended over allegations he made anti-Semitic comments.Never mind the Guardian's typically biased headline that Corbyn is facing ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, has reacted with disbelief that the Government’s latest climate proposal includes an option for dairy to voluntarily deal with their emissions over the next six years. ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
DairyNZ has released its submission on the Zero Carbon Bill and is calling on the Government to revise the methane target in the Bill to one that does not put at risk New Zealand’s world-leading dairy sector. Farm profit could ...
July 15 (BusinessDesk) - Foreign Minister Winston Peters will have bi-lateral meetings with two of US president Donald Trump's most hawkish defence and security advisers in a five day trip to Washington D.C. ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero are calling for Members of Parliament to show political courage as the Zero Carbon Bill goes through the crucial Select Committee process. ...
Annual net migration was provisionally estimated at 50,200 (± 800) in the year ended December 2018 compared with 52,600 in the previous year, Stats NZ said today. ...
New Zealanders have the opportunity to contribute to the government’s Review of Retirement Income Policies, including questions around Superannuation and KiwiSaver. Submissions are now open for the Review, being run by the Commission for Financial ...
Yesterday at Mataatua Marae the Tamaki Makaurau Electorate of the Māori party congratulated Rangi Mclean who was appointed to the Vice president Tāne role of the party nation-wide executive. ...
The funding crisis facing the disability sector has become more urgent following the disturbing news that the Ministry of Health will not increase contract prices for providers this year, the New Zealand Disability Support Network said today. ...
The growing number of working poor is an alarming indicator that the regulatory Minimum Wage does not cut it said Closing the Gap spokesperson Peter Malcolm. ...
Historic hui gives overwhelming agreement for a Māori Inquiry The inquiry into state run Oranga Tamariki will be led by whanau, kaimahi and Māori leaders. ...
Drug infiltration into our maximum security prisons is putting prisoners and staff at unnecessary risk, and one tool that would be of huge benefit is a full body scanner. ...
The Socialist Equality Group is hosting a protest rally in Cuba Street, Wellington (at the intersection with Left Bank) on Sunday 14 July at 2:30pm to oppose the persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and to ...
Simon Shepherd: The National Party proposed its own medicinal cannabis scheme last year. Its Health Spokesperson, Michael Woodhouse, says it shouldn’t have been ignored. So I began by asking him what his problem is with the government’s proposed regime. ...
Countries around the world are also dealing with medicinal cannabis. Britain legalised it last year, but the uptake has been slow. Neurologist Professor Mike Barnes wrote the report that convinced UK lawmakers it was a good idea. He's coming here ...
Simon Shepherd: Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s name has become synonymous with drug reform, so following years of campaigning for safe, public access to medicinal cannabis, what does she think of the government’s new plan? Well, Chloe Swarbrick joins me ...
Social Credit is calling for a Government enquiry into the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board over it's handling of the Sarah Preece attack in 2017 and its subsequent report. ...
An overwhelming response sees Māori from across the country pouring into Māngere today. The call for action came from Māori leadership concerned with the practice of tamariki removals by the state. Whānau, experts, and highly skilled Māori from ...
Responding the announcement of a $2.37 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund to a Northland berry farm, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “Why couldn’t this business get a loan from the bank? If no bank was ...
Multicultural NZ is delighted to congratulate former Gisborne Mayor, Meng Foon, who has been appointed as New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner. ...
Award-winning broadcaster, Waatea has been selected by North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to exclusively livestream the historic Māori-led Inquiry on Oranga Tamariki. ...
“The Peace Movement sends an urgent call to Winston Peters to reject any US demands for New Zealand participation in patrolling the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz. New Zealand should have nothing to do with any war on the ...
For generations, women have done the heavy lifting in the fight for social change. What will it take to get more men to give a fuck about their children’s future?At every question and answer session I attend, I get a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney I Need to Know is an ongoing series for teens in search of reliable, confidential advice about life’s tricky questions. If you’re a teen, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katarina Miljkovic, ARC DECRA fellow, Curtin University Look up on a clear night and you can see some circular formations on the face of our lunar neighbour. These are impact craters, circular ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Wolpe, Non-resident senior fellow, United States Study Centre, University of Sydney The past three days in US politics have been very difficult – and ugly. President Donald Trump chosen to exploit ...
Today is the 5oth anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to land humans on the Moon. Astronomer Richard Easther looks back. One of my earliest memories is standing with my father on the ...
In a world of racist tweeting presidents, climate crisis and cricketing travesty, what you need in your life is this palliative conversation about Dunedin’s Baldwin Street losing its crown as world’s steepest street to Ffordd Pen Llech in WalesThe slope ...
Last night on The Block NZ, something incredible happened: James Reid from The Feelers showed up. Every now and again, something completely unexpected happens on reality television that shakes you awake from your slack-jawed couch coma. It’s that jolt of electricity ...
Sam Brooks, lifelong gamer, lost himself on a virtual battlefield in the days after his mother’s death. Here, he reviews a book by a kindred spirit: Lost in A Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can ...
Laura Vincent reviews Golden Boy, a new sitcom from Three skewering small town New Zealand and the colourful characters who populate it.From Twin Peaks to all the shows that copied Twin Peaks, small towns have long been fertile ground for television ...
Bernard Hickey explains why New Zealand's housing market bubble has become armour plated and why it is proving almost impossible to burst, despite the predictions of overseas experts. ...
The government’s reluctance to front up about support for mentally traumatised mosque shooting survivors has shined a spotlight on the limitations of ACC, writes RNZ’s Veronica Schmidt.The difficulty with being held up as a symbol of empathy and compassion is ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Two school girls from East Java, Aeshnina Azzahra (alias Nina), 12, and Zahira Zade, 11, have sent hand-written protest letters to US President Donald Trump over the dumping of toxic plastic waste in Indonesia. The ...
Jacinda Ardern needs to make a stand for the things she says her Government believes in, despite the public preference for strong, dominant and often otherwise repugnant politicians. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentClimate change Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern defends ‘laughable’ ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Options for getting agriculture into ETS unveiled, leading academic savages billion trees programme, and OIO approves Westland Milk sale. A historic day for climate change policy in New Zealand, with agriculture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sumeet Walia, Senior Lecturer and Vice Chancellor’s Fellow, RMIT University What better way to build smarter computer chips than to mimic nature’s most perfect computer – the human brain? Being able to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney Debates about constitutional change in Australia inevitably raise the poor success rate of referendums. Only eight out of 44 attempts have ever succeeded ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Whitehouse, Bennett Chair of Autism, Telethon Kids Institute, Univeristy of Western Australia, University of Western Australia Therapies given to infants before they receive a diagnosis of autism may lead to important ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Fobert, Research Associate, Flinders University Clownfish achieved worldwide fame following Finding Nemo, but it turns out these fish don’t do so well in the spotlight. Our research, published in Biology Letters, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Pollack, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Someone we know recently told us about a team-building event that proved anything but. The chief executive who arranged it loved mountain biking. So he ...
Oskar Howell travels to Otorohanga to interview Danielle Hawkins, author of When It All Turns to Custard, over a delicious two-course home-cooked lunch. ...
Dreamed of traveling long term, but at a loss about how to afford it? Here’s how Kristin Hall and her partner managed it (spoiler: involves a lot of brown rice and cabbage).*Scroll to the end for an important note about ...
Daniel Ziffer’s rollicking account of Australia’s Royal Commission into banking is a jaw-dropping laundry list of scandals, heartbreaking stories, and ‘gotcha’ moments.The Haynes Commission was set up in 2017 to inquire into and report on misconduct in the Australian banking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harry Hobbs, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has announced that the state will begin a conversation about a pathway to treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mair Underwood, Lecturer in Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland Months after a public breakup with her husband, the politician Barnaby Joyce, Natalie Joyce made news when she displayed her “new” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brittany Huber, Postdoctoral researcher, Swinburne University of Technology Most (80%) Australian parents worry children spend too much time with screens. But what children are doing on and off screen matters more than ...
A local photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ requesting they work “unpaid” on Married At First Sight NZ. A wedding photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ on Reddit after the production company requested that they work for ...
How ANZ Bank fought for more than three years to keep its role in New Zealand’s biggest Ponzi scheme quiet and stop a regulator telling out-of-pocket investors the details. ...
Sam Brooks reviews Mean Mums, the new sitcom from Three that manages to make putting a great show together look easy.When it premiered as part of Three’s Pilot Week last year, I called Mean Mums the winner of the bunch. Nearly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Last week on this podcast we talked to Ken Wyatt about the government’s plan for a referendum – hopefully this parliamentary term – to recognise ...
Imagine if we treated our native birds with as little care as we do our precious fish stocks, writes ecologist Stella McQueen.Earlier this year, 900 at-risk native mudfish were relocated to make way for a wastewater development. But despite a ...
For when toast or cereal just doesn’t cut it, but you don’t have the time or inclination to do any actual cooking, try this. If I ever cook rice (or grains of any kind) for dinner, I often make extra to ...
For their latest ageing episode, Hilary Barry joins the On the Rag team to talk wrinkle creams, menopause and why people still think she is Jeremy Wells’ mum. This month’s episode of On the Rag is all about ageing. Time ravages ...
The Auditor-General's investigators are to look into the National Party's complaints about taxpayer funding being used to underwrite KiwiBuild homes. ...
Open mike 14/02/2015 
Open mike is your post.
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...1 hour ago
Yesterday the government released its discussion document on action on agricultural emissions. As sadly usual, it proposed enormous subsidies for farm emissions, including for nitrogen-based fertiliser. This is a huge mistake. In addition to being one of the chief drivers ...1 hour ago
6 hours ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...1 day ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...1 day ago
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...2 days ago
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...3 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...6 days ago
1 week ago
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Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...2 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...2 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...2 weeks ago
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 2 weeks ago
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 23 through Sat, June 29, 2019 Editor's Pick When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ...3 weeks ago
When people slate the current Government for taking too long on certain issues, or not getting everything right, just check the outrage and quit helping National manufacture consent for their decade of Disaster Economics and much more. Bill couldn’t ...3 weeks ago
Robots could soon replace many low-skill jobs, such as President of the United States. US Presidential hopeful and doomsday prophet Andrew Yang went to extreme lengths to make a point in the first round of Democratic primary debates today, replacing ...3 weeks ago
More people have died in the shower this year than will die in a KiwiBuild home. KiwiBuild home owners are experiencing a surprise windfall this month, as the price of their houses have begun to rise dramatically, due to growing ...3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
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happy valentines day – everyone..
..(aww!!!..)
looks familiar…’The second change with personalization is that it’s not just entertainers whose PR crews carefully hone an image of ordinariness. It is now much more apparent in politicians, Nigel Farage being an obvious example. Widely publicised photographs of Farage holding a pint of beer conform to an older tradition in election-time iconography. But more sinister is his tactic of appearing humbly and “amusingly” tongue-tied at least once in most of his filmed appearances (a habit proven winsome by Bush and, subsequently, Boris Johnson).’ from a critique of R.Hoggarts…’The Uses of Literacy’.
The Herald have been pimping this finance billionaire for a while.
Now we find out that Bill English has been helping make moment of of education in New Zealand.
‘An American equity fund manager who wants to open charter schools in New Zealand was introduced to Ngai Tahu leaders by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bill English.’
This country continues to slide further and further downhill.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11401799
And the NZ education system ends up as an. If you can pay, your child will be educated system. Free education killed off within 9 years by the NACTS. Really makes me want to meet an NACT Polly in a dark alley one night. Charter Schools what a nightmare. I really do worry about what sort of world my son will grow up in.
Not sure what the link is between ‘If you can pay, your child will be educated…’ and your reference to charter schools. Charter schools are not fee paying.
Your statement that ‘Free education killed off within 9 years by the NACT’ isn’t true either. Are you claiming that state education was free at the end of the last Labour government but is fee-paying now? Really.
You also seem to have a few personal issues with aggro if you are making threats about meeting ‘an NACT Polly in a dark alley one night.’
I think posters here on the Standard have been banned for far less than threatening fellow NZers with violence.
“Charter Schools what a nightmare. ”
That’s a bit harsh. 😉 Charter Schools or Partnership Schools (CS/PS) are not the issue.
Poorly planned, poorly run Charter Schools and Partnership Schools certainly are.
CS/PS ;
;receiving per child funding of up to seven times that of State Schools are a problem.
;not answerable to the same education standards as State Schools are a problem.
;not answerable to the Official Information Act are a problem.
;not answerable to the Ombudsman are a problem.
;not having to report the same information as State Schools are a problem.
But Charter Schools or Partnership Schools as an idea are fine. They already exist throughout NZ and have done so for many years in many different forms and have regularly proven to be successful and popular. Those that existed before 2008 seem to have two major differences to the new bunch though. Firstly they are more closely aligned to the reporting, standards, accountability, protocols and the funding levels of State Schools. The other, more important difference would be those Schools were set up to help educate kids, not simply profit off them.
Doctors in NZ and Australia demand transparency over the TPPA.
‘But despite a letter published today in The Lancet — and signed by 27 health leaders in Australasia as well as the US, Canada, Malaysia and Chile — Trade Minister Tim Groser this afternoon reaffirmed the Government’s stance of not releasing controversial TPP negotiating documents.’
A government of the corporates, for the corporates, by the corporates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11401677
@Paul. Dr Monasterio has explained very clearly the potential impact of TPPA on this country in the Herald article.
“Otago University senior clinical lecturer Dr Erik Monasterio, one of the co-lead authors of the letter, claimed the agreement threatened governmental ability to deliver affordable health care and legislate to protect public health and reduce health inequities.
“And all the while, the text is shrouded in secrecy,” he said.
“The negotiations are not about the way most of us think of trade — you and me buying and selling things.
“Instead they are protecting the massive investment profits of multinational companies that are bigger than the whole New Zealand economy.”
Dr Monasterio described the TPP as “an unprecedented expansion” of intellectual property rights that would “push up the cost of affordable and life-saving medicines, hitting hardest the already vulnerable households in New Zealand and other countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia”.
He also feared governments could be sued for protecting health — but governments cannot sue back.
“This will stop important health initiatives on tobacco, alcohol, the obesity epidemic, climate change, antibiotic resistance, and other major future challenges,” he said.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11401677
And this, folks, is just one aspect of the TPPA.
NZ could be sued by mining corporations if we make laws that prevent them from exploiting our environment.
Here is an example of how Investor-State Dispute Settlements work from the Canadian NAFTA experience.
“Quebec Fracking Ban Lawsuit Shows Perils Of Free Trade Deals:
OTTAWA – Free trade critics say a $250-million damage suit being pursued as a result of Quebec’s moratorium on fracking is proof Canada needs to be careful in negotiating trade pacts around the world.
The Council of Canadians, the Sierra Club and Quebec-based Eau secours say the suit by Lone Pine Resources Inc. (TSX:LPR) shows that trade deals that include investor protection clauses are a bad idea because they can prevent governments from passing laws to protect the environment.
The groups are asking Lone Pine to drop the suit before a NAFTA panel, but company president Tim Granger says he is going ahead unless Quebec lifts its moratorium on fracking for natural gas under the St. Lawrence River.
“As an organization we, in good faith, purchased leases, we paid rentals and then to just have been stymied, that’s not acceptable,” he said in an interview.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/03/quebec-fracking-ban-lawsuit_n_4038173.html
Is this what we want for NZ? Wake up NZ!!
If you, like me, are concerned about the loss of sovereignty if the TPPA contains an Investor-State Dispute Settlement clause, then the following article will show you are not alone.
The following link is to a scholarly study carried out to assess the impact of ISDS rules on environmental regulation with respect to the TTIP (a parallel Trade agreement to TPPA between US and EU.)
“Investor-state Dispute Settlement under TTIP – a Risk for Environmental Regulation?”
Rules on ISDS in TTIP could have a chiling effect on environmental regulation in the EU and the US”
“The authors conclude that rules on ISDS are not necessary in an agreement between two highly evolved, rule of law legal systems. By contrast, such rules create significant risks for environmental regulation, because of the broad wording of investment rules and the largely unpredictable manner in which they are interpreted by investment tribunals. States may have to compensate investors for taking legitimate environmental measures. The study recommends not to include such rules in TTIP”
http://www.ecologic.eu/10402
It is well worth flicking through the full report.
http://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/publication/2014/investor-state-dispute-settlement-under-ttip-hbs.pdf
Chomsky says the US was unhappy to lose control of China in 1949 when they became independent so the US felt that they no longer controlled all of the world and now US corporations want the TTPA established mainly to isolate China and minimize its influence in the world of commerce. China is apparently not included in the TPPA even though it is a major Pacific country.
Is Chomsky wrong?
http://rt.com/news/203055-us-russia-war-chomsky/
morena all,
i have a request of the standard community.
i have a frame for a hoarding on a busy rural road in the “armpit of the manawatu”
i want to put a short, straight forward message on it, to act as a seed in the minds of those who read it.
ideally the message would be unifying, apolitical, and not a single issue (pollution, economy, food politics.
for example bill hicks “it’s just a ride” is spot on but too abstract and needs context.
youtube.com/watch?v=YWCOJ3CBlGQ
thanx in advance for any suggestions.
Change, please.
Who Do You Love?
Future Now
@ trp..
a).. beggars’-pitch..
b)..ad for dating site..
c)..exemplar of tired political-cliche..(with disturbing tinges of dun(ne)..
..of course i wd go with ‘stop eating animals- why doncha..?’..
..or..’end poverty/inequality – now..!’
..of course dunne has polluted both of those words – as stirring calls to action – for the forseeable future..
..both ‘future’ and ‘united’..
..it’s a shame..’cos they were good words..
..before he beiged all over them..
a) Could be, but it’s deeper than a request for money (think about it, maaan)
b) Or a question that goes to the heart of each of us
c) Shorter Devo
an aside: TRP you may want to go visit TDB …
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/02/13/blogwatch-the-standard-put-the-case-for-re-invading-iraq/
Thanks, freedom. I might have been a bit harsh calling Bomber mindless. Thoughtless might have been better. That certainly applies to his misunderstanding about the diverse nature of the authors here and his apparent belief that TS the official blog of the NZLP.
I’ve left a comment correcting Pat’s misunderstanding about POAL, EDDIE and me.
PS, pasupial’s on to it!
wierd, completely missed your reply, sorry if i wasted your time 🙂
Visiting NZ’s second, sorry, third most popular left blog is never a waste of time 😉
but we sure grow grey waiting to come out of moderation 😉
That is because he has Winston Peters doing the moderating.
He only lets a comment show after he has checked that the “grey” in your curtains matches the “grey” in your carpet.
Takes time you know.
“i want to put a short, straight forward message on it, to act as a seed in the minds of those who read it.
ideally the message would be unifying, apolitical, and not a single issue (pollution, economy, food politics.”
What is the purpose of the billboard, gsays? If it’s not political and you want it to reach everyone in a way that brings them together, what is the intended result?
hi tracey,
as bill hicks says, if we realize we are all one, we will not keep building nuclear weapons.
to get folx to aspire to higher ideals.
to perhaps get them to throw off some of their self imposed chains (money, being left or right wing, sexuality).
when we realize and act as we are one, it will not matter what lying prime ministers say and do.
1) He who dies with the most toys…
2) A life of caring is a life of meaning
3) We are stronger working together.
4) Co-operation not competition.
5) Human freedom not market freedom.
One grass seed does not make a field.
One grass seed can make a field.
IS THAT A FACT,
or JUST MORE SPIN ?
WHO GOT THE $$$ ??
and it would be remiss of me not to add the message now appearing on billboards and buildings and highway signs in many parts of the world
GOOGLE WTC 7
🙂
LOLOLOLOL very nice haha!
@ freedom..
..’wtc 7′..
..heh..!
cheers freedom, i am right with you ref wtc 7, however as i have found when you dip your toes in that pool, people seem real fixed in their thinking and are quick to pigeon hole you, (and therefore ‘know’ what you are about).
i was accused of being right wing last time i was involved in a 12/9 discussion here on t.s.
*Who do you belong to?
*He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
*Who do you trust?
Something like this perhaps?
hi freedom, that does resonate.
ironically i have been quoting dame whina cooper a lot recently.
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one” (Einstein)
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started” (Mark Twain)
“If you are going through hell, keep going” (Churchill)
“If you are going through hell, keep going”
I’ve never been to the Manawatu but that seems a bit harsh
i think it’s about people trapped in ‘the tron’..
very good puddle.
Lolz puddleglum 😆
Community must exist for NZ to thrive
The common wealth of this country needs to benefit us all
8 hour working day, 40 hour working week
Depending on your size. I’m thinking you need a series of signs, with a little bit of humour and pertinent points.
An easy theme is to do it in the style of upcoming television shows, and change the sign monthly. People – even if they don’t agree – will be watching for the next one.
Eg. coming soon:
Sabin’s Heroes – with a picture of Key as Sgt. Schulz – I know nuzzink!
Groucho Marx – with sign about not wanting to be a member of the club etc.
I’ve been out shopping, and am totally non creative at present but the book covers/posters being posted pre election would have a few good ideas.
cheers molly,
that gave me a good chuckle.
nothing wrong with being current.
in my heart of hearts i know, being the character i am, i will do this once and that will be it.
after all i am talking about a big bit of plywood, painting it white, putting on slogan and (as they say on tv) walk away.
love the images you have put in my mind.
hi gsays,
I get where you are coming from… so perhaps the most pertinent for the Manawatu crowd would be –
A Tui kind of graphic along the lines of:
Government debt:
2008 $18 billion
2015 $100 billion
Good economic manager – Yeah, right!
On reflection, that approach could be used for highlighting a number of issues.
One hour a week counted as employed – Yeah, right
Legislation pass under urgency – yeah, right
Iraq because we care – …
Dirty Politics is OK because “everyone” does it …
TPPA is secret because it is so good – …
We do not collect data on ordinary NZers – ….
I don’t ackshully remember what my office was told – ….
Gay liberation and marxism on Redline. I’ve collected the articles we’ve had on the blog together. They’re mainly about gay marriage, because that’s been the dominant issue in the three years-plus since the Redline blog started, but there’s also a feature one on the 1986 law reform and there’s also one by an Irish gay activist questioning whether gay *liberation* is served by what he sees as mimicking straight, middle class values.
The collection of articles is here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/marxism-and-gay-liberation-on-redline/
Phil
Very good piece by Otago University professor Richard Jackson on war propaganda, ‘terrorism’ and minimal journalistic standards in NZ:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/11/19/otago-professor-challenges-mainstream-media-on-terrorism-threat-minimal-standards-of-journalism/
Phil
Thanks Phil. Amazing collection of very significant questions. I have been trying to imagine such questions addressed to John Key but really, I come up blank. A straight answer? Never!
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
WTF ??? WTF ??? WTF ??? WTF ??? WTF ??? WTF ???
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/02/13/blogwatch-the-standard-put-the-case-for-re-invading-iraq/
-reply patiently awaiting moderation of course but I will say this here & now-
I for one am very confused by the ongoing actions of TDB host. He is apparently on some crusade to attack the vitality and diversity of discussion here at The Standard. For some reason, offering a common platform to people with differing points of view is a bad thing.
Is it really so damaging to the left to admit that within its ranks are those who think hitting people solves problems? This is not exactly news!
Somebody help them find the plot because they seem to have lost it.
Bomber as a passionate man with a big ego that’s been publicly humiliated by the alpha male (Lynn) and reacting in kind (or trying to). Now O’Dea taking his ban from ts personally and spreading lies and conspiracy. Macho politics, it’s probably not a bad reflection of what happens further up the chain, and it shows us how far we still have to go in terms of basic human relations and power.
both of them are just ego-wanking themselves into frenzy – i’ve got very little respect for their lines or motivation now
“it shows us how far we still have to go in terms of basic human relations and power.” this can not be said strongly enough right now
Yet to mention it is to invite pyromaniacs to light up the tumbleweeds of opportunity rolling through this ramshackle town we call Democracy.
-Have enjoyed watching the scifi show Defiance. The community of diverse species shows humanity is basically really lousy at resolving problems of power dynamics.
And Bradbury has misidentified The Standard as “Labour’s online voice”. As he must know better I assume he’s done that on purpose.
+1. Which makes him not to be trusted 🙁
i find it quite strange that bradbury labels the standard as ‘labour’..(with the underlying-sneer they are more ‘conservative’ than radical him..)
..yet i am allowed to comment here..and i (and others) are very far from ‘labour’..
..and my comments wd be radical/challenging to many labour people..(worshipping clark as many do..as just one example.)..
..yet they are allowed/discussed..
..whereas any time i have attempted to post a comment @ the daily blog..that criticises the ‘voice’ there..
..it is censored out…
..funny that..!
..and/but actually i wd like the main-combatants to ‘get a room together’..
..and sort it all out..
..it is all far too much like that palestinian-schism scene in monty python..
..it is far too close to that for comfort..
..to my mind..
..and all just a bit silly…
…we are all..after all..pretty much marching in the same direction..eh..?
I have, and always have had, had a particular distaste for Bradbury. He’s an arrogant blowhard. While Lynn is also an arrogant blowhard he is far more reasonable, approachable and allows for someone to call him an arrogant blowhard without moderating the comments out.
Martyn can fuck right off.
The site is becoming an echo chamber and has driven away a lot of good authors.
and as for those stupid thumbs -i used to bother, now I just hit them randomly
So time for my weekly Medpot blog post, this time as a rebuttal to the templated response email received from my Nelson Electorate MP on the issue.
http://yournz.org/2015/02/14/nationals-stance-another-rebuttal-on-medicinal-cannabis/
Alternate address for the beige haters. 🙂
https://mmj4chronicpain.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/a-rebuttal-to-nationals-stance-on-cannabis-as-a-medicine/
“beige haters”? Not a good way to encourage people to read your blog 🙁
@ weka..
..wd u like any attempts @ humour leeched out of this place..?
..and ‘beige-hater’ is an accurate description of those who recoil in horror @ the beige-one…
..surely..?
There is not too many who use the alternate address, maybe a dozen a post, but the more people the merrier. Being completely independent of PG means I can call Phil and co’s distaste as they see it. 🙂
shane if you post on his site you are not ‘completely independent’ imo. I’ve had a look at the facebook page – that is a good place to get your message out. If you keep posting on petes blog I won’t read your stuff, because no matter what you are saying, where you say it matters – at least to me.
Hence the alternative location I provide as per criticisms recieved here. I chose YourNZ as it was neither left nor right, no adds, and he was supportive of my position on Medpot, I also tried at the standard etc, but no reply…. I have never met PG personally, and didn’t follow blogs until I needed to get on one, so was not privy to the stirring that occurs over here at the standard. I also have total ownership of my own material that is never edited, and can reblog to my hearts content, unlike the restrictive conditions offered when I tried to Bombers blog……………….
@ shane..
“..I chose YourNZ as it was neither left nor right..’
um..!..heads up..!
..part of the reason the beige-one wears so much vitriol..
..is because he attempts that canard…
..the beige-one is right..be quite clear about that..
..i mean..he was a dunne-disciple..(just that is ‘enough’..)
..and while i welcome as many voices as possible speaking up on this issue..
..from left or right…
..tying yrslf to the s.s. beige..
..must paint you in that camp..
..and that compounded by being under that tatty/shabby-beige-flag..
..so your call..
..b.t.w..it has crossed my mind you are him..
..but he doesn’t have the intelligence to create yr backstory..
..and he has no history of pushing the green..
…(the colour is probably too bright/jarring for him..)
“and he has no history of pushing the green”
Showing your ignorance Phil. Or making things up.
I’m on record campaigning for it in the 2011 election, and one condition for standing for UF was to be able to promote a cannabis debate. See Cannabis deserves a decent debate
Since then I’ve discussed possible ways to address it with Greens and with ALCP.
Perhaps you should stop making things up based on ignorance and petty prejudice.
yeah that’s right..yr a drug-warrior..
..i forgot..
..there was that article back in 2011..
I sounded out a wide range of people last year for a social media campaign on it. But the timing wasn’t right due to things moving the wrong way with synthetics, and no party wanted to get into it before the election.
If things keep muddling along disjointedly then we’ll arrive at the 2017 election with neither Greens not Labour wanting to risk being too strongly associated with cannabis reform, If they don’t get into Government in 2011 then it could be six years at the earliest before anything could start to happen, and without public pressure Labour/Greens are no going to rush into anything either.
So something has to be generated outside the parties to compel them to at least address medical use.
I know that all the main bloggers support change – Slater, Farrar, Brown, Bradbury and some if not most here.
Imagine what could be achieved by a non-partisan campaign being pushed across the social media spectrum.
However it’s likely too many would prefer petty personal battles rather than trying to achieve something.
To make something happen it needs concerted public pressure.
Would you work with me on it?
The timing wasn’t right due to widespread contempt for me, because everyone knows I’m the way to make your project fail. FIFY, Wormtongue.
Ah, yeah OAB, about the only thing you’ve managed here is irony. What you actually hope to achieve isn’t apparent?
You must have some sort of end result in mind. Or is it just ongoing attempts of futility, but it’s not just your nest you keep shitting in?
Did you suddenly become a moderator here, Wormtongue? Who’s nest are you a guest in?
The job of countering racist liars is never done, more’s the pity.
“..Would you work with me on it?..?
..i already do..’work on it’..
..have been for quite some time
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=cannabis..
since january last yr i have posted 215 stories/links/evidence on this issue..
Isolated blog bubbles of activity aren’t achieving anything significant.
Would you work with others on a wider campaign?
f.f.s…p.g..
..u said u want to get sites to work on this issue..
..i am just saying you can cross me off yr list of people u need to talk to..
..as i am already doing just that..
..if anyone wants to trawl thru my massive archive/cache on this subject for material to use..
..anyone is welcome to do that..
..i can’t see what else i can do..
..and the fact is the winds of change are already blowing..
..but these arseholes (the nats) won’t do anything about it..
..it will need a change of govt. to achieve any change..
..it ain’t gonna happen until that happens..
Yeah well if you don’t want to try anything different for three years and then hope something will suddenly and miraculously happen because there’s some stuff on some blogs then good luck with that.
“..the restrictive conditions offered when I tried to Bombers blog..”
what were those ‘conditions’..?
all posts belong to TDB, no reblogging, and all must be original, so I couldnt use pre existing stuff, and seeing as the political right are the people who need there minds changed being stuck on a far left blog wouldnt suit my long term aims.
ta for that..
if ever the PM was simply encapsulated in his own words while showing why he his understanding of the world he lives in makes him the wrong person to lead a nation it was here
“… Key said there had been strong interest from iwi groups and he would be “amazed” if the likes of the Salvation Army were hesitant to get involved if they saw a way to make money off the investment…” stuff.co.nz 14 Feb 2015 article by hamish rutherford
note charities are legally forbidden from pursuing a profit motive. Read the Act…
Which of course none of the msm puppets pick up on and take him to task over as they lack both the knowledge and direction from their bosses to take him on.
More of those higher standards.
hi tracey, “… Key said there had been strong interest from iwi groups and he would be “amazed” if the likes of the Salvation Army were hesitant to get involved if they saw a way to make money off the investment…”
this always makes me feel very uncomfortable, the kiwi build up a property portfolio and profit from being a landlord.
business wise you are discouraged from retrofitting insulation, dealing with damp rooms etc.
cue responses of ‘an insulated dry dwelling can attract a higher rental’ market driven drivel.
whats happened to the “feeds”? 4 days old now.
In Scotland there is an acronym in football, WATP.
Some say it means We Are The People, but actually it means We Are Third Place.
@ the standard there is an acronym..
..it is..i.f.a.f..(pronounced ‘eye-faff’..)
..which stands for ‘isn’t fisi a fuckwit’..
For rangers supporters that will always be the dream now, behind Celtic and Aberdeen if they’re lucky. Once mighty now a basket case with sharks circling.
Robert Reich follows up on the sharing economy.
My recent column about the growth of on-demand jobs like Uber making life less predictable and secure for workers unleashed a small barrage of criticism that workers get what they’re worth in the market.
A Forbes Magazine contributor, for example, writes that jobs exist only “when both employer and employee are happy with the deal being made.” So if the new jobs are low-paying and irregular, too bad.
Much the same argument was voiced in the late nineteenth century over alleged “freedom of contract.” Any deal between employees and workers was assumed to be fine if both sides voluntarily agreed to it.
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/10/robert_reich_america_is_heading_full_speed_back_to_the_19th_century_partner/
In my considered opinion, Pat O’Dea should not have been banned from The Standard.
What you do with this comment is up to you – but I will call it as I see it.
You don’t have to like it
So be it.
Penny Bright
look at what he is doing now on tdb – I’m embarrassed for him, I thought he was better than that but…
and i’m sad that a Mana spokesperson has such little idea of how to interact with this blog – it’s not that difficult really it’s not and now his personal and spokesperson ideas are not here because of what? ego? pride? fucked if I know but it is all self inflicted imo
You left much the same comment two weeks ago, Penny, but it’s nice to see you’ve lightened up on the passive-aggressive digs at my employer.
Saying “what you do with this comment is up to you” does, however, come across as a bit of an “I dare you to ban me!!!!” given how your previous, far snider comment was, and remains, published.
sshhh!!!..phillip..!..ssshhh!!!!
..bite that tongue harder..!
[Stephanie: I’m assuming this is meant in a joking way, phil, but given our previous interactions I don’t think it’s appropriate or clear what you actually mean.]
get over it tiger and put your energy into more productive stuff ffs
(seeing as you asked..)
it means that i have quite a strong opinion on this..(the initial banning..)
..but the power imbalance means if i voice it..you will ban me..
..hence i am ‘biting my tongue’..
..so i guess it is my version of a silent-protest..a turning of the back..
..signifying that my silence does not mean agreement..
.(hope that clarifies that..)
This is utter, utter bullshit, phil. People – quite obviously given Penny’s multiple comments questioning Pat O’Dea’s ban – do not get banned merely “for disagreeing.”
And nobody would ever take your “silence” (please note, leaving snide comments is the opposite of silence) as agreeing with anything the moderators do here.
“..do not get banned merely “for disagreeing.”..”
oh..good..!
..i think the initial banning of pat o’dea was unjustified..
..i think you interpreted what he said incorrectly..
..and it escalated from there..
..i think he was/is a dick in his reaction..
..and to my mind this one follows the pattern of the banning of bad..
..(even tho’ i battled with him..i wd like him back..he had much intelligent comment to make..)
..yes..he also over-reacted as it escalated..
..but i see that largely his reaction to what he felt was a totally unjustified initial censure/miss-reading of his words/intent..
..much as what pat has done…is doing..
..that is why i oppose the initial banning of pat..
Thanks for confirming what I’ve always suspected: that you’re happy to make excuses for someone who was 100% vile, abusive, aggressive and persistent in posting abuse well past their ban date, as long as you can convince yourself and others that I ~provoked them~. Because that’s not a completely predictable method men have used for generations to shut a woman up. 🙄
“..Because that’s not a completely predictable method men have used for generations to shut a woman up..”
..why bring gender into it..?..where did that come from..?
..yr gender is irrelevant in this case..it the moderating-decisions that are being discussed..
..i made clear that i did not agree with the escalation of both bad and pat..
..i was talking about the initial-misunderstanding that is common to both..
..and you see absolutely no possibility that you ‘got it wrong’ in either of those cases..?
..(‘wrong’ in yr initial-assesment..i am not talking about the escalations..)
..you see no chance of that having happened..?
My gender comes into it when there’s a clear pattern of my moderation (and other women mods, like karol) being questioned, second-guessed, and ignored while male moderators’ dictates get respected. My gender comes into it when people like you demand the publication of abusive, misogynist comments to “prove” that “justice was done” when bad12 was banned.
And my gender comes into it when there’s literally centuries’ worth of feminist thought outlining how men undermine women and blame them for men’s actions, and your comments fit all those phenomena to a T.
right ho..!
..throws hands in air..
..and walks off..
factcheck:..i did not ask for the ‘publication’ of anything..let alone ‘demand it’..
..where on earth did you get that from..?
(and how can this not be an example of ‘getting it wrong’..
..you have accused me of something that is a total fiction..)
..i asked you if there was any chance you misunderstood what was initially said..that was all..
..i made the point repeatedly i was not talking about the escalations..from either..
..and that i think/thought they were both dicks in that escalation..(i think this is the third time i have said that..)
..and you will note how polite i am..
..and is penny also questioning for ‘gender-reasons’..is she..?
..i mean..c;mon..!
..she feels an injustice was done..in the initial judgement of what was said..and i agree with her..
..gender does not come within a bulls-roar of this..
..and i think i will/shd now return to my previous biting-tongue mode..
..there is so much more i wd like to say..but shouldn’t..
..and y’know..!..if you are constantly looking for seagulls..
..you’ll probably get to see quite a few..
.
and f.w.i.w..
..i don’t know pat o’dea well..
..but from what i have seen of him..i do not doubt he is a man of integrity/sincerity..
..and his long history of political actions on.for ‘our’ side..confirms that..
noun
noun: silence; plural noun: silences
1.
complete absence of sound.
“sirens pierce the silence of the night”
synonyms: quietness, quiet, quietude, still, stillness, hush, tranquillity, noiselessness, soundlessness, peace, peacefulness, peace and quiet
“the sound of falling stones broke the silence of the night”
antonyms: sound, noise
the fact or state of abstaining from speech.
“Karen had withdrawn into sullen silence”
synonyms: speechlessness, wordlessness, voicelessness, dumbness, muteness; More
taciturnity, reticence, uncommunicativeness, unresponsiveness
“she was reduced to silence”
antonyms: speech, loquacity
the avoidance of mentioning or discussing something.
“politicians keep their silence on the big questions”
synonyms: secretiveness, secrecy, reticence, taciturnity, uncommunicativeness, concealment
“politicians keep their silence on the big issues”
antonyms: communication, communicativeness
a short appointed period of time during which people stand still and do not speak as a sign of respect for a dead person or group of people.
“the game was preceded by a two-minute silence in his memory”
verb
verb: silence; 3rd person present: silences; past tense: silenced; past participle: silenced; gerund or present participle: silencing
1.
cause to become silent; prohibit or prevent from speaking.
“she was silenced by the Inspector’s stern look”
synonyms: quieten, quiet, hush, shush, still; More
all hail the pedant..!
Pointing out that ‘silent’ is the exact opposite of what you’ve been is not exactly a minor detail.
all hail the pedants’ assistant..!
lol
Nope. See above for why.
“..but the power imbalance means if i voice it..you will ban me..”
go and check the link out again and see who did the banning phil
You are smarting about the comments made on the thread re weka/shane.
ffs at least be honest with yourself
“..You are smarting about the comments made on the thread re weka/shane…”
sorry..i haven’t a clue what u r talking about..
..cd u point at what i am meant to be ‘smarting’ about..?
..heh..!
.at the moment..i am ‘smarting’-free..eh..?
..should i ‘steel’ myself..?
“.. and see who did the banning phil..”..yes..someone else banned after the escalation..
..but the brouhaha started with that misunderstanding with stephanie..to my memory..
..if i am incorrect..i will withdraw that..but i am pretty sure i am right..
The “brouhaha” started with Pat making a comment in clear breach of TS policy.
Unless of course you mean I started it all by daring to publish a post which provoked the poor, innocent man into breaking the rules, and then persisting in breaking them after a moderator advised him not to. Given the tenor of every comment you’ve ever made on my moderation, I wouldn’t be surprised. 🙄
as an aside to this conversation, Stephanie, can you please clarify if this comment was moved from another thread to OM?
I think there is some confusion about why O’Dea got banned, and some of that confusion comes from how he got banned (the rest comes from people assuming he was banned for content, which is just daft).
Not that it matters (I don’t think it has to be visible to readers, nor that moderators have to justify decisions), and it won’t help in regards to people like phil, but it was one of the unclearer moderations I’ve seen and it took me a while to figure it out (the pattern of behaviour that prompted Lynn to ban).
I’m pretty sure the genesis of the ban of pat stemmed from this thread and series of comments
sure new commenters need latitude but the onus is on them to learn the rules – end of story.
Thanks marty. That’s what I was thinking, having followed some other links today. It reads like someone commenting who hasn’t read the Policy.
Pat broke a number of rules and his tone was really offensive. And he has continued the blitzkrieg against TS over at TDB. He needs to become a bit more sensitive and discrete and needs to understand others …
He only impressed me as being a gormless egotistical dickhead who knew very little about either his topic, or how to behave on the net.
That could just be because he was a newbie.
But I’d prefer that he does his learning in other sites. Damaging TDB is preferable to him damaging anything that I am responsible for.
It ius however disappointing that Mana lets them damage their name. But they do seem to a bit moribund – which is disappointing.
Thanks marty, that’s where it comes from.
I appreciate your comment, weka, but as we continue to see with clear, undeniably-breaking-the-rules-and-being-unpleasant bannings like bad12’s, some people are just determined to undermine the rules and moderation of The Standard.
thanks Stephanie and micky. This subthread probably wasn’t the best timing or place for me to bring it up.
No problem. I think the left need to clear the air on this issue and anticipate this will happen soon!
@lprent..
“..But they do seem to a bit moribund – which is disappointing…”
um..!..no…i am going to a meeting this week…
Why Tesla’s battery for your home should terrify utilities
Electricity (and other network utilities) can only make a profit if they have a huge number of people paying into them decreasing the cost per customer of maintaining the generating and distributing equipment. As the utility operators try to boost or even just maintain profits they drive customers away killing their profits.
The problem though is that the community is better off with the entire population connected to the network with the ‘customers’ both feeding into the network and taking from it as it would make the network more diverse and thus more resilient. A single network also allows for better utilisation of the power generated. As a single network that is privately owned gets to set it’s own charges (monopoly power) and thus get super-profits the only option left for this single network is state owned and run as a government service. This gets the economies of scale that the network is great at providing while also protecting from the greed of the profiteers.
If the grid was Government owned and operated as a public utility, rather than a profit driven monopoly, then these developments would be applauded as they save us from building power stations, damming rivers and burning coal.
Which means we could easily start divesting ourselves from the use of fossil fuels.
and that won’t happen..(the power companies working in/for the common-good..)
..until they are re-nationalisd..
..thinking otherwise is just blowing smoke..
..and the more the environmental-consequences kick in/hurt us..
..the stronger will become that imperative..
..it isn’t a matter of ‘if’..it’s ‘when’..
..so..the sooner the better..eh..?
Which should tell you why they were sold.
i dunno if they are that machiavellian/intelligent..thinking that far ahead..
..i think that was just good old-fashioned rightwing dismantling/privatising all/any common-good initiatives..
..using greed/personal-enrichment as their carrot..
..and if they thought they wd get away with totally privatising them..they wd have done that..
..they are just thieving-bastards..
..who steal from the common-pool..
..and this crew is becoming more obviously naked to all..
..by the day..
Yes and there’s billions in savings by eliminating 4 profit layers ( generator, transmission, lines, retailer) duplicated finance, maintenance, billing systems and all the management, audit, PR functions that are gorging themselves.
Do that, wave bye bye to Tiwai point encourage customer generation and we’d provide an essential utility at a much better end price.
Oz don’t think they’ll require extra gen capacity for decades and Germany has shut down 25% of its peak gas powered gen capacity as the customer generation has reduced demand that much.
You’d pay back the cost of buying back Nats flogged assets in no time at all relatively.
Draco
Thanks so much for this link. This is where people misunderstand Green policies. For example by labelling The greens loony hippies people overlook the very real advantages to themselves (if not the planet) by adopting Green technology. how hard a sell to middle NZ would the subsidising of Telsa batteries in conjunction with the solar panels? given the savings people can make, not hard at all. And installing into low income and State Homes? A no brainer, especially if we use the money from the sales of the electricity companies…
IMO, the labeling of environmentalists as hippies and Taliban is solely to protect the old industries, especially fossil fuels, that are destroying our environment and heading us towards the extinction level event known as Climate Change.
the thing is..that ‘hippie/taliban’ bullshit sure has legs…
..how much more information/warnings do people/the-dumb-masses need..?
..i can understand that latest result snapping normans’ will to continue..
..ten fucken percent..all those years..and ten fucken percent..
..even most republicans in america are now ‘green/climate-change believers..
..to norman/the greens..the nz populace must seem to be an iceberg of ignorance..
..and it’s not hard to see why..
..all around them are flashing neon signs going ‘pull-up!..pull-up..!’
..but they still support vote for drill baby drill!/mine baby mine..! key..
..how can they not be as dumb as fucken doorknobs..?
hi draco, do you have any knowledge of how these tesla batteries differ from deep cycle batteries?
and can you explain it as you would to a 10 year old child?
Besides the fact that they’re probably lithium ion batteries, Nope.
ok cool, i live off grid and deep cycle battery tech hasnt moved for yonks.
the contrast between new lithium ion rechargable batteries and the last generation is remarkable. to have that appled to deep cycle batteries is exciting.
Thing is, you will want to see installations of this new tech prove themselves over 5-10 years of real life use before swapping over to the new tech.
hi cr, true, true.
i have never been an early adapter (adopter?) of tech.
10 yrs time would be about time for us to change our battery bank.
no battery ever dies, they are murdered
Apparently they are a variation or extension of the Li-ion battery set up that they use for their vehicles, described here:
http://my.teslamotors.com/roadster/technology/battery
By weakening our operating systems, encryption systems, firmware, network hardware etc for their own uses, the NSA makes all of us vulnerable to attack by hackers.
Now US cyber attacks on their enemies have taught countries like Iran how to attack the west back. As Bill Binney says – the NSA does not have a monopoly on smart people.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/10/nsa-iran-developing-sophisticated-cyber-attacks-learning-attacks/
The Stuxnet story is worth reading… how some malware in off-the-shelf software wormed its way into Iran’s nuclear testing facilities and screwed up their research.
On “Patch Tuesday” this week, a fix was issued for an exploit that requires modifying only a single bit of the Windows operating system.
A top hacker shows how it’s done in this TED talk.
Some very interesting trends emerging. As we become more connected we are more likely to be infected. As in the movie “The Imitation Game”, the spooks won’t let on how pwned we/they really are
omg. what a convenient little bug. thx r:r.
Excellent article by Philip Matthews in the Dominion Post on the hazards in NZ for academics and intellectuals who speak out on issues.
Dame Anne Salmond
“This is partly because some groups with vested interests do not welcome public scrutiny of their activities and actively seek to suppress it. This happened in the Dirty Politics saga, for example.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/66191857/School-of-thought-On-the-dangers-of-intellectualism
The following video discusses the same issue and illustrates the awesome courage of those who stand up and speak out for the public good despite knowing the dangers. Sadly David Carr died 3 hours after the interview was filmed.
http://timestalks.com/laura-poitras-glenn-greenwald-edward-snowden.html
Yes across the ditch gillian triggs the human rights commmissioner has been attacked by abbotts mates at murdoch media in a cruel and personal manner, toady piers ackerman takes it down the odious route.
Her crime: putting on the agenda the torture of children by both parties when in government, which is her job.
Yep TC when I heard Abbott’s comments and I then found out what Triggs had actually said my first response was “Abbott is a complete and utter piece of doggie do and the world would be a better place if he was retired immediately and WTF was Labor doing …” [Edited before posting to remove all the swearing …]
Nothing that happens today compares with the pervasive climate of fear that we all endured during the Helengrad regime. Those were the days were you could be sacked from Government employment because of who your boyfriend voted for.
[lprent: ?link I am sure that your lack of a link to support that was significant. Offhand I can think of only one oossible, and that was simply domr right wing nutters mythic incident. It relied on a pile of repeated unsupported lying from Nationals sockpuppets. Notably from their pollster.
In fact it looked exactly like what you are doing now. If you want to replay such myths, then link to some supporting credible report so others are able to look and judge for themselves.
You have been warned about this prior to the last time I banned you for it. If I see you do this type of smear again I will ban you for double the last time I caught you doing it. I suspect it will a long ban. ]
Was that in Nazi Germany fisi? The only time I can recall it being like this in Aotearoa (apart from the current government) was back in Muldoon’s time …
comparing clark to stalin is worse than comparing key to hitler.
discuss
in this govt you get hired cos of who your sisters are and who you are friends with.
A link would be helpful to bolster your claim fisiani. As I recall, someone’s press secretary resigned because of a possible conflict of interest as her bf was working for the opposition.
Meanwhile there are very real reports of the NACTUM smear machine intimidating academics, principals, beneficiaries, and siccing the Police on to reporters.
The delusion is strong in this one.
“.. the pervasive climate of fear that we all endured during the Helengrad regime..”
..if you are talking about the poor…yes..
The documentation clearly shows that the cronyism is all on National’s side. And cronyism is just another form of corruption.
Hooten and Odgers published Hager’s address hoping that the Triads would rough him up, or worse. Is that normal behaviour for people like you fisi ?
Fizzy Anus – Kia Ora dog. “Honest John !” You’re a noisy gargoyle Fiz’. Fuck off to Cheaplands where you belong if not welcomed.
Tweet of the day (shame we can’t embed images…this is a good one)
Nobody Understands Debt — Including Paul Krugman
Probably one of the simpler explanations of how money works in the real world as compared to how most economists believe it works.
John Key never fails to stick up for the ‘big end’ of town. Here he is in this article patting the back of the Foodstuff-Progressive duopoly cartel .. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/66179219/hub-raises-stakes-in-battle-for-mainland-market-share conveniently forgetting the history and Australian cities of the same population.
And here “That’s sort of been quite standard in a lot of New Zealand industries.”
So wrong in so many ways
e.g ever heard him sticking up for the poor like this?
Jeez John Key sounded like a twerp with his “serious” voice on over his calls for war. After 6 years of nothing but child-like smart-alecery and witless jokes he has no gravitas to get even remotely close to sounding grown up.
What a dick
VTO…….slow down man……all is well…….John Armstrong’s long been reckoning that the GaucheKey’s got “gravitas”. That’s good enough for me – in my scary and sadly recurring Sarah Palin incarnations. Russia “just over there” is heavy.
Warning ! This next observation is not for the ears of fizzy, alwyn, goosie, the late and lamentable ss-lands…….”gravitas” in this instance must be read thus – sort of “not too sure about that fulla” dyed-hair insurance type guy, hangin’ around the rugby club round 4.45 pm winter Saturdays. Buzzed to the point of embarrassment in all listeners, tryin’ to grease up the ‘player-of-the-day’. Or Richie McCaw as the case might be. The lust to bathe in glory ? This makes God ?
We are run by a spoilt, nouveau-riche, not handsomely literate, child. With an apparently attractive gaucheness. It’s a fucking disgrace ! Go back down the years – Clark, Bolger, (omitted Shipley, Palmer, Moore), Lange, Muldoon (yes I know – spooky) , Rowling, Kirk , Marshall, Holyoake. History has not recdorded these as dishonourable people.
There are undeniable scenarios, indicators, fuck-ups, hubris-times, to have history record that the SelfieKey set about for the corruption of our national psyche, the decency in us. For the benefit of the few. That is an ugly and unforgiveable legacy.