I know it sounds bad but I’m enjoying having no Govt as it’s not as awful as I’m used to.
The downside is while the evil is not being rammed through (under urgency) no good can happen.
I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
I expecially like the free time to think of other things now as we dont have National ‘Spindoctors’ ramming stuff down our ‘mind’ every time they float another stupid idea – or tell us what’s good for us and to be thankful of them.
They were just to bloody blatent and bossy, and way to keen on propadanda and brainwashing, but it failed to work.
With everything going on in NZ and around the world, this piece of nonsense is the headline news in today’s NZH! It should be the plight of the homeless in this country, not a headline featuring John Key’s plans to build a new home. Who gives a flying f**k anyway. Just another obscene rich prick flaunting his wealth!
Nick
You miss the point I think. We are not talking about little girls, so don’t lay on the sarcasm. Being an annoying creep using his position of authority
is what was being criticised.
@ 2.3 Enough is Enough … True, you have a point there. But I saw red as soon as I viewed the headline. I didn’t bother reading the article, because to me I considered the headline alone tabloid trash. Definitely not worthy of being news, indicating to me the low level NZ media has really sunk to.
Good on you mary a – good to know what is happening out there with pollies past and present, and good to not have to read it oneself so don’t bother about grumps and gripes.
This is the property bought for $5 million in 2005 and sold 12 years later for $20 million- a profit of $1.2 million per annum, on top of the retention of 500 sq m. for the new house.
Meanwhile, the Salvation Army ran a fund raising day for the homeless. It quoted the figure of 1:100 New Zealanders who are inadequately housed.
Another legacy of the 2008-17 National government.
Good to see police reevaluating how to stop locking up mentally ill people. Maybe more of an issue in the cities – here in the country there is good coordination between police and crisis mental health as far as i can tell. Locking people up who are suffering in this way is not the answer imo.
Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 14, 2016
Shortly before Donald Trump took the podium at the annual Values Voter Summit, attendees received a pamphlet calling homosexuality a “public health crisis”.
The pamphlet, distributed by the anti-LGBTQ activist organisation MassResistance, claims the “sexual revolution” and the “mainstreaming of homosexuality” have created a public health crisis in America.
Julian Assange embarresses Amy Goodman/Democracy Now! with their unfortunate and misguided obsession with the alleged Russian interference in the US election…
Yes we should all remember it was that the Russians in 1940 did not capitulate to the Germans that saved us all from loosing the war.
As the ‘eastern front’ nazi invasion of Russia action caused Germany to loose most of its military might and later loose the war. Russia was then alied to us all.
Yes we should all remember it was that the Russians in 1940 did not capitulate to the Germans that saved us all from loosing the war.
Yeah, because in 1940 the Russians were way too busy, occupying Poland and invading Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as part of their deal with their Nazi besties to divvy up Europe.
That is a fact, but it is also a fact that the Russians destroyed the power of the German army as an offensive fighting force, thereby saving Europe from fascism.
Facts and enormity of size of losses, would arouse anxiety and stress and
fight or flight response in Russian authority I think and survival and protection
would lead to all sorts of behaviour that would stated coldly now in present conditions sound insupportable.
Google:
How many Russian soldiers were killed in ww2?
America would lose slightly more than 400,000 soldiers (killed or missing) and almost no civilians during World War II and the USSR, depending on which historian you believe, would lose at least 11,000,000 soldiers (killed and missing) as well as somewhere between 7,000,000 and 20,000,000 million of its civilian …
Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College – WWII Soviet Experience http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org/about/living_history/wwii_soviet_experience.dot
Though,had the Germans decided to push straight to Moscow and not waste time going into the Ukraine, things may have been different. The Wehrmact needed to take the Soviet capital before winter, as they were not equipped for a winter war.
Russia historically often had more than one capital – it’s not clear that the Soviet Union would’ve collapsed even if it had fallen. The precedent of the failed French invasion would have been psychologically important – taking Moscow didn’t win the war for Napoleon, perhaps it wouldn’t have for Hitler.
That is a fact, but it is also a fact that the Russians destroyed the power of the German army as an offensive fighting force, thereby saving Europe from fascism.
It’s also a fact that the Wehrmacht hugely damaged the Red Army, thereby saving Europe from communism. I don’t think either fact warrants a vote of thanks.
Agreed, although the USSR figures are pretty suspect – the regime had a vested interest in booking up as many as possible of its own victims to German military action, so there’s no telling what the actual figure is.
joe90
Did you say that you were Polish-connected in one of your comments?
I was looking at the Wikipedia list and the number of civilian kilings in uprisings and put-downs was huge. And so many killed in some countries.
I wonder will the EU go down if Britain exits? And would old enmities flair again? If thy could have the EU amended, with less bureaucracy and some semblance of border control Europe could continue to put up with each other and keep the bogeymen and women from gaining strength.
Yes we should all remember it was that the Russians in 1940 did not capitulate to the Germans that saved us all from loosing the war.
We should all remember something you just made up? The Reich and the Soviet Union were effectively allies in 1940, having made an agreement in 1939 to divide Europe up between them. Europe is certainly very lucky there was a falling-out among the thieves, but there are no Russians to thank for that.
I never travel because I can’t afford to offset the carbon and I’d never go to the states if I did, but I hear you have to hand over all sorts of personal grooming items that have never ever been used in a terrorist attack when going through airports.
Anyway good they caught him because that device would have destroyed a lot of people if it had gone off as planned.
USA Today, Fox News, CBS, NPR are all national. And that’s just the first page of results. While The Intercept is particularly skilled at feeding grievance complexes, they are just as prone to misrepresentation for their own ends as anyone else. Maybe even more so.
Like I said at start Andre, if you actually took the time to read, white terrorism, not a simple crime, but terrorism. That was my criticism of your links as well. Have a look at the pages, joe90 did a good job about my point as well.
So are you happy to push a white supremacist agenda?
Apart from vague references to wanting to start a war, it’s unclear so far if there was any religious or political motive driving Estes. Which would reasonably account for a responsible newsroom being reluctant to call it terrorism. Although if he just wanted random warfare, there would be a case for describing him as an anarchist terrorist.
I’m pretty sure this little tidbit was in at least one of the links further up, but here it is again anyway:
“Though he was described as being white in police press releases while they were searching for him, online jail records list his ethnicity as being a Native American.”
This happened in the USA – where a all to common, and usual approach to politics, is to define people by their skin colour. Do I agree with that approach, no I don’t.
But in the context of where this happen, and what they are reporting, skin colour is relevant. My point simply. The MSM media did not cover this as a raging front page news story about terrorism. Even when the parameters of political motivate violence were made public. Why? As I said, the colour of his skin has major impact, and the fact he is not a Muslim is another major factor.
Hang on noddy ive read joes comments for years and that accusation is fucken bullshit. Just because you framed it as a question doesn’t make it okay imo.
My interest in indigenous rights made this quite clear – i used to reguarily post about under reported struggles and the differing rights some people get including being marginalised by the state and media via the descriptor terrorist.
My only issue with you raising this issue is your racist tag – it’s stupid.
No, your accusations that others are racist because they disputed your specific assertion is stupid. Note I’m not saying you are stupid, I’m not saying racism is stupid, I’m saying what you wrote is stupid. I am not personally attacking you. I am talking about what you wrote not you as a person – whew, hope that ensures no misunderstanding.
This is being swept under the carpet. Just wait till another Muslim explodes a bomb or what ever. The tirade will begin within minutes. We will get wall to wall coverage for days.
The virtual opposite happens if the person is white (US definition – not mine), and not a Muslim. Almost deathly quite, or a very quick spin in the 24 hour news cycle, and it’s gone.
Didn’t the news story (what you reckoned never existed due to “no coverage”) say the latest guy put explosives in a fruit preserving jar and left it outside the terminal? Yeah, lethal, but not exactly going to “kill hundreds of people”, is it. It’s a dick, with no evidence of anyone willing to fight his “war” alongside him, making a bomb that he’s now claiming wasn’t even set to go off.
And your dirty bomb guy was sentenced to 30 years for planning a bomb that the FBI built for him. Not the first time they’ve done that, if I recall correctly, and toes the line between entrapment and giving the suspect enough rope to warrant serious charges. But in that specific case I wouldn’t expect to hear anything for, oh, 25 years or so.
Lots of stories about the white guy who actually shot hundreds of people, though. There’s a clue for ye.
All but two Adelie penguin chicks have starved to death in their east Antarctic colony, in a breeding season described as “catastrophic” by experts….
Adelie penguins are the most southerly breeding bird in the world
Photo: Cultura/Brett Phibbs
Unusually high amounts of ice late in the season meant adults had to travel further for food.
It is the second bad season in five years after no chicks survived in 2015.
Conservation groups are calling for urgent action on a new marine protection area in the east Antarctic to protect the colony of about 36,000.
Perhaps some coming new parents might like to give their wee girl the name Adele, which would be very meaningful in the light of the above.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US was “more than ever isolated” and could not change the nuclear deal.
In a televised speech, Mr Rouhani said Tehran was committed to the deal and accused Mr Trump of making baseless accusations.
In a joint statement, the UK, Germany and France said they were “concerned” by Mr Trump’s move but remained committed to the deal. But they added they also “shared concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile programme and regional activities”.
What this world would be like if the world wars had not occured and all of the deaths, atrocities and world wide suffering had not occured, and all the soldiers hadn’t died or become fucked up from seeing the death of their friends and their enemies.
The world population would be a bit bigger. Would the brains that were left intact have come up with solutions to the issues we face or would we be even worse off now. Does anyone know of an alternative history exploring this?
You might Like Robert Silverberg’s Roma Eterna – in which Rome never fell.
But the outcome might not be as good as might be imagined – public health systems in many countries date from the war, as do many beneficial technologies initially developed for anti-social reasons. Wars, like the deaths of monarchs, present an opportunity for change which sometimes has positive results.
Just a little musing – so much was devastated and those times helped form the attitudes of the west especially, that has led to massive consumption, commodification and so on.
They’re a funny lot the Romans – their early success was very much as a community working together – but their later days were marked by the rise of predatory corporate enterprises like the slave grain farms. These sent the peasants broke, whose second sons had been the mainstay of the legions.
If we’re looking for model governance Jared Diamond’s description of Japan’s response to ecological disaster in the 1700s is probably better than anything Europe has to offer. They fixed things.
The reporter was asking about accounts that soldiers returning from Vietnam had been spat on by antiwar activists. I had told her the stories were not true. I told her that, on the contrary, opponents of the war had actually tried to recruit returning veterans. I told her about a 1971 Harris Poll survey that found that 99 percent of veterans said their reception from friends and family had been friendly, and 94 percent said their reception from age-group peers, the population most likely to have included the spitters, was friendly.
[…]
But you don’t believe the stories, right? she asked. Acknowledging that I could not prove the negative — that they were not true — I went on to say there is no corroboration or documentary evidence, such as newspaper reports from the time, that they are true. Many of the stories have implausible details, like returning soldiers deplaning at San Francisco Airport, where they were met by groups of spitting hippies. In fact, return flights landed at military air bases like Travis, from which protesters would have been barred. Others include claims that military authorities told them on returning flights to change into civilian clothes upon arrival lest they be attacked by protesters. Trash cans at the Los Angeles airport were piled high with abandoned uniforms, according to one eyewitness, a sight that would surely have been documented by news photographers — if it had existed.
A mother of 8 killed when having a skydive in tandem, her instructor collided with another instructor. This is the nail in the coffin of NZ as being a country that should be advertising itself as the (safe) adventure capital of the world, or something alike. We shouldn’t be trusted with running a cake stall. But hey we can’t have cake stalls now because the cakes probably aren’t safe to eat because they haven’t been made in a kitchen that has met commercial standards.
But people can go trustingly into life-risking activities and the self-control to ensure that prevention rules, precautionary approaches are adopted by all, just in case,
and even after the Scottish father came here and criticised the last ‘accident’ and suggested we were careless and irresponsible, we still have this sort of shit occurring. It is disgraceful and makes me ashamed to be a New Zealander.
When can someone start pulling the rug out from under the feet of these smarmy smart-arses, too young, and too little in touch with society to care enough to be given this responsibility for people’s lives.? Does anyone in government feel able to have strong, careful regulations and the regular hard-nosed nosy interfering, checker-upper that the regs are met, and ensure that they haven’t been bought off by business?
I’m sick of watching these free market shits play at running the country, bribing their way into parliament through rising house prices and spurious ‘stable’ financial conditions. The horse has bolted from the stable, and the caretakers overseeing the place are too lazy to go in search of it. They should be harnessed to a machine, bend their backs and start planting out a new crop of promises that will grow to maturity to feed a new set of horses, in a better stable!
And where on Radionz is there any detail about this on their site? Quad bike accident. Toddler found in pool. Forestry success. But mother of 8 killed at Queenstown, I think. I can’t check because I can’t find it. Perhaps it should be kept quiet, embarrassing to tourism.
I don’t think that RNZ is keeping it quiet etc has anything to do with it, Greywarshark. I did check their website and agree that I could not find anything.
As I presume you know, RNZ has been under massive funding restraints for the last nine years under National.
Some big changes have been made in their News area in just the last couple of weeks – eg redundancies of some longstanding staff members, leading to Brent Edwards resigning in protest/support of these staff. Things are in a bit of disarray at present in the News area.
They need our support – not our criticism at the moment.
They need to know we notice. By keeping on being mild-mannered Clark Kent over the years, the neo libs have got away with their bad doings and almost finished us. Time to don our blue suits with the triangle on the front and do our superman saves NZ bit.
Thanks joe90
It was very silly of me to think that I would be hearing NZ news. Of course the news gatherers search for all tragedies of western nations as important for us to know about. You hear more important NZ news listening to Rural Report.
And whatever happens outside English-speaking nations is however relatively unimportant.
A mother of 8 killed when having a skydive in tandem, her instructor collided with another instructor. This is the nail in the coffin of NZ as being a country that should be advertising itself as the (safe) adventure capital of the world, or something alike. We shouldn’t be trusted with running a cake stall. But hey we can’t have cake stalls now because the cakes probably aren’t safe to eat because they haven’t been made in a kitchen that has met commercial standards.
This tragedy happened in Australia, you silly person.
Persistent contrail over Pokeno today. First one I’ve seen in NZ, but I’ve only recently returned from Europe, where reflective climate mitigation is active all summer. What’s the story Kiwis?
So aluminum solid fuel technology can’t be mixed with liquid petroleum fuel systems. Hope you’re right, but from what I remember of third-year chemistry you’re wrong. Trusting Kiwis only allow silica based photo-chemicals. Is catalyst tech to seed clouds also feasible? Just looks like photo-chemical smog to me.
I have no idea what you’re talking about, but then I’m not sure you do, either. Context is a wonderful thing, and links are also quite spectacular in their own right.
Yo, Andre. Any of your mates got a small digger I can borrow? Somewhere around the mid Sep, oh and again for a day in 2020. Scored kauri 😉
“Herald reports that the damage was believed to have been caused by digging for swamp kauri were dismissed as “fake news” by Refining NZ chief executive Sjoerd Post today.” (The NZ Hearld, Sep2017
Not so funny bro. In north western Europe it is just eyes-open-obvious the whole summer long. Are you joking off the idea of climate mitigation? Seems obvious to me that tainting jet fuel would have significant reductions to global temperatures. Don’t forget that photo-chemical smog in the atmosphere approximately balances out the GHG effects of CO2. Basic climate science, son. Are you suggesting the UN is doing nothing with all that Paris Accord money? I thought the deal was to mitigate against the effects of increasing levels of GHGs.
Who pays the UN “Paris Accord money”? That would actually be cool, because that money would be traceable. We wouldn’t have to rely on your word for it, son, we’d have the UN reports showing how many megatonnes of “photo-chemical smog” they dispersed, and where. I just thought countries were doing things like phasing out petrol and diesel cars.
You really think the accounts will be transparent? Our National Security Laws are orthodox, and written to permit censorship of information in the national interest. Info is actively removed from the net. eg. Wikispooks was once chocca with solids. UN goons smashed it (because they care about us so much, yeah right). JFK was talking about weather control before he died, long long ago. Tech has improved. Trust in the State hasn’t improved, eg: https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-10-10-need-a-story-about-the-detroit-mom-who-has-been-thrown-in-jail-for-refusing-to-vaccinate-check-out-330-recording-of-the-court-case.html Yeah truth hurts Mr F, so harden up and play politics, or go find another sport.
…but all that darkness is endless, we need to seek the light. Like the lead-fuel “mistake”, we don’t need more aluminum in our brains. But the silica can be used to support agriculture. Political momentum behind climate mitigation, requires transparency first.
oh, so they are giving billions to car manufacturers for “research”, yeah typical.
Good luck digging out info on where the money goes. I couldn’t find anything other and articles saying how hard the detail is to find.
So who is giving billions to car manufacturers for research?
Because it looks to me like the French are just saying “you have twenty or so years to come up with a compliant product, or you’re out of the car business”.
Chris Hipkins has become New Zealand’s 41st prime minister following Ardern’s unexpected resignation—perhaps the bold and unpredictable move Labour needed to improve its election chances. Just six days into his premiership and Labour had its first lead over National in thirteen weeks. National has had a largely uninterrupted run of ...
Good people can come into your life imperceptibly. It can seem they’re just there one day being remarkable. Nat Torkington, for instance.We were both online from the early days, I’m assuming that’s where we first connected; maybe in the UseNet newsgroups, or maybe later through Public Address.But it was when ...
One of New Zealand’s biggest electricity generators, Genesis Energy, has given the go-ahead for a large solar farm near Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains, an hour’s drive south of Christchurch. It is part of Genesis’ strategy of replacing thermal baseload with renewable generation – a mix of wind and solar. ...
Buzz from the Beehive We found just one fresh announcement on the Beehive website this morning, when we made our first visit since 4 February. It was posted in the name of Nanaia Mahuta, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, and explained why she was not at Waitangi at the weekend. ...
Hipkins is doing the right thing for New Zealanders already living in Australia, but there’s now a growing risk of a fresh surge of net emigration of frustrated young Kiwis across the Tasman. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Employers here in Aotearoa are desperate to keep their best-trained, most-productive ...
This post contains two guest posts from readers, both of which were sent to us after the flooding on Friday 27 January, both of which discuss how we handle our stormwater. This is a guest post from Ed Clayton, who’s written for us before about Auckland’s relationship with freshwater, ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key breaking news, scoops and links I’ve found since 4 am this morning, as of 7 am, including:A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 in Turkey near its border with Syria; ReutersMetService has warned a new cyclone is forming north of Aotearoa that ...
The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. There is a new wave of Maori activism, which sees the Treaty as a living ...
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
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Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
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It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
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Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today held their first bilateral meeting in Canberra. It was Chris Hipkins’ first overseas visit since he took office, reflecting the close relationship between New Zealand and Australia. “New Zealand has no closer partner than Australia. I was pleased to ...
New Zealand will immediately provide humanitarian support to those affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by these earthquakes. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones affected,” ...
An historic Northland pā site with links to Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika is to be handed back to iwi, after collaboration by government, private landowners and local hapū. “It is fitting that the ceremony for the return of the Pākinga Pā site is during Waitangi weekend,” said Regional Development Minister ...
The Government is investing in a suite of initiatives to unlock Māori and Pacific resources, talent and knowledge across the science and research sector, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Two new funds – He tipu ka hua and He aka ka toro – set to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
The Government is supporting one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant historic sites, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, as it continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. “The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a taonga that we should protect and look after. This additional support will mean people can continue to ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
By Ian Chute in Suva Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) board chairman Ajay Bhai Amrit says he has receipts to prove former FBC chief executive officer Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum received an annual package of $387,790 including benefits and entitlements. He said this worked out to $32,315 a month and that the board ...
PNG Post-Courier PNG Defence Force Commander Major-General Mark Goina says “appropriate force” will be dealt to the gunmen who ambushed and wounded two soldiers in Saugurap, Enga Province, last week. In a statement Major-General Goina said: “A section from the PNGDF contingent deployed in Enga Province were on routine duty, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team. In this podcast Michelle and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe.Lukas Coch/AAP Australia’s cash rate has hit 3.35%, after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the ninth time in a row – and signalled ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Della Bosca, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney Shutterstock While the days of overt climate denial are mostly over, there’s a distinct form of denial emerging in its stead. You may have experienced ...
A potential cyclone that could bring more severe wet weather to the upper North Island is now forecast to form a day earlier, Stuff reports. Due to ideal cyclone-formation conditions over the Coral Sea, a low south of the Solomon Islands has a high chance of turning into a cyclone ...
Author I.S. Belle reveals the top five influences on her debut LGBT horror/paranormal YA novel, Zombabe.Zombabe is a LGBT found family horror/paranormal YA about a group of friends putting down an ancient evil inextricably linked to their sleepy town of Bulldeen, Maine. Does all of that bring anything to ...
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese are holding a joint press conference in Canberra. Watch live here. ...
The New Zealand government is providing $1.5 million in humanitarian support to those affected by destructive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last night, foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced. The contribution of $1m to Turkey and $500,000 to Syria will be made via the International Federation of Red Cross and ...
In a state-of-the-nation-style lunchtime speech in Auckland today, the leader of the Act Party has taken aim at both major party leaders. “Throughout this speech,” David Seymour told supporters at the Maritime Museum, “I will do my best to differentiate between the Chrisses, but it may not be easy.” Seymour ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has met with Australia’s Anthony Albanese in Canberra, exchanging a few brief words to gathered reporters before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Hipkins was driven into the courtyard of Parliament House, where he was greeted by Albanese in person. “Welcome prime minister,” said Albanese. A beaming ...
The acclaimed fashion designer has been crowned the ‘undisputed king of the frock’ – but with identical dresses widely available on fast fashion outlets, questions are being asked about his design practices.This story was first published on Stuff. He has been described as the “knight of New Zealand fashion”, his ...
In Canberra New Zealand’s media pack has arrived at Australia’s parliament ahead of this afternoon’s visit from prime minister Chris Hipkins. The PM will be met by his counterpart Anthony Albanese in the courtyard of parliament house, before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Following the 45 minute meeting, ...
Two new funding initiatives, totalling $22 million, have been approved by Cabinet today to help ensure the cultural sector has the “certainty and support to thrive”, announced Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. $10 million of Covid-19 recovery funding will support established arts, cultural and diversity festivals, while $12 ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayWAITANGI, CO-GOVERNANCE, THREE WATERS Thomas Cranmer: Waitangi Day and the quiet revolution Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Waitangi in 2023: Plenty ...
ACT leader David Seymour has delivered a speech painting National and Labour as two sides of the same coin, and calling co-governance a "culture war". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Quigley, Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of Melbourne Mustafa Karali / AP A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced. The first quake, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kalinda Griffiths, Scientia lecturer, UNSW Sydney Getty/Marianne Purdie Cancer figures provide stark evidence of the gap between the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people in Australia. The difference is confronting – and it’s increasing over ...
NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have used a joint media conference to affirm the nations' relationship is that of "family". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Alcohol bans are being reimposed on Northern Territory Indigenous communities, as the federal and territory governments grapple with intractable problems in Alice Springs and elsewhere in the NT. The situation in Alice Springs and the ...
I was told to avoid gluten. I was told it was all in my head. When 10% of women experience endometriosis, why does it take so long for its classic symptoms to be recognised? It was 2011 when I had my first period. It felt like a very exciting moment ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has touched down in Australia’s capital – his first overseas visit since becoming prime minister just three weeks ago. After disembarking from the Airforce Boeing, Hipkins was greeted by his former caucus colleague and current high commissioner to Australia, Dame Annette King. The pair hugged on ...
The rise of TikTok-inspired ‘algospeak’ is making online communication even more of a nightmare, writes SYSCA‘s Lucy Blakiston.This is an excerpt from the Shit You Should Care About daily newsletter – sign up here.Content warning: sexual assault The other day I was chatting with a friend about algospeak – ...
School, finally, is back this week in the nation’s largest city to howls of relief from many parents and (one hopes) some students also. Yet the resumption of normal service shouldn’t obscure a curious inconsistency. The past few weeks have shown ...
MediaRoom column: On the eve of a Cabinet decision on the fate of the proposed public broadcasting merger, questions emerge over the engagement by the TVNZ chief executive of two former National government aides to change the narrative and push TVNZ's view on the Government's plan Within weeks of taking over ...
Olivia Sisson performs a good old-fashioned cost comparison – and it might change the way you buy your veges.The price of food in New Zealand is shocking. So, how to cope? The recommendations are starting to feel like the avo-toast-flat-white trope. Cut those items out and there it is, ...
An early morning fire at an egg-laying farm in Orini, Waikato yesterday has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 hens. The farm is operated by New Zealand’s largest egg producer Zeagold, the country’s biggest egg producer, whose eggs are sold under ...
The Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill will make resource management issues worse and should be withdrawn, Federated Farmers has told the Environment Select Committee. "Farmers agree the costly, slow and unpredictable processes ...
New police minister Stuart Nash has met with new health minister Ayesha Verrall to talk about the issue with the aim of preventing ram raids. Nash wants to speed up the scheduled reduction of dairies that can sell cigarettes. Nash made the comments at a police graduation ceremony in Porirua last ...
It’s Tuesday, February 7 and welcome to a special edition of The Spinoff’s live updates. Stewart Sowman-Lund will be on the ground in Canberra today as PM Chris Hipkins meets with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. What you need to know Chris Hipkins will meet Australian PM ...
Politicking by politicians was less overt but whether there was less politics probably depends on your definition of the word and what lay beneath the optics, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Why is it becoming harder to achieve debt-free status? Money Sweetspot is a new company that uses compassion and incentives to help people pay off their debts. Co-founder Sasha Lockley talks to Simon about using gamification to increase financial literacy, breaking the cycle of poverty, and how she intends to ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins is heading to Australia today for his first face-to-face meeting with an international leader. He’ll be meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese during his single-day visit to Canberra. The Spinoff live updates will be on the ground in Australia as the meeting takes place and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney Pexels/Uriel Mont The question of whether and to what extent face masks work to prevent respiratory infections such as COVID and influenza ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Mackinnon, Professor and Director, Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, Queensland University of Technology Superconducting cables transmit electicity without lossesShutterstock For most of us, transmitting power is an invisible part of modern life. You flick the switch and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University Shutterstock Many students are returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit teaching of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Dudek, Associate professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University Universal Life is full of surprises – some pleasant and some painful – but there can be no surprises without expectations. We expect the sun to come up ...
News stories have honed in on the fact Wayne Brown and his staff were left off a ‘vital’ email distribution list on the night of the Auckland floods. But internal emails from the mayor’s chief of staff show he was getting regular briefings from officials.Internal council emails obtained by ...
In a reality shaped by climate crisis, how do you think and feel about the changed present – and the changing future – without spiralling into despair?In the midst of a flood there’s not much time to think about the future. But when the water recedes, the reality of ...
06 Feb The news today of the death of 75,000 chickens at an egg farm in Waikato is yet another outrageous and avoidable tragedy. “The fact that so many hens died in this fire in the Waikato is a testament to the systemic neglect and disregard ...
Lawmakers are being urged to bridge the legal and scientific divide over braided rivers. David Williams reports What is a river? More particularly, what is a braided river? An expert group known as The Land The Law Forgot is urging politicians considering the Natural and Built Environment Bill – one ...
UK and US deals for NZ novels Three of the best New Zealand novels of recent years are about to be published in the UK and the US. All three books – She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall, Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly, and The New Animals ...
Confidence from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell kept markets buoyant. But mortgage payments and job losses could dampen consumer spending in NZ ...
Someone left the Swift out in the rain - insurance agents are overloaded with calls about flood-damaged vehicles It’s been a big week for testing the submarining abilities of the family station wagon. Thousands of cars around the upper North Island have been written off following the devastating floods of ...
The first of the air force's new Poseidon aircraft has landed in New Zealand. But is this the sort of workhorse the military needs? Our old heroes of the Air Force, the P-3 Orions, have retired after 56 years of service - and the first of the flash new Poseidon ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as Prime Minister comes on relatively friendly territory. But while there have been marked improvements in the trans-Tasman relationship since a change in Canberra, there is still plenty to discuss, as Sam Sachdeva writes In many ways, it is fitting Chris Hipkins should make Australia the ...
Fiordland National Park is the crowning jewel of our national parks and arguably our greatest tourist magnet. But conservationists warn that marine life has been put at risk because the park’s waters are unprotected. Heidi Bendikson’s investigation shows they are right. Tourists on the 'M.V Sinbad' clamber to the bow to ...
As Auckland copes with unprecedented flooding, Mairi Jay points to lessons from extreme weather events in British Columbia that could be vitally important for policy-makers and administrators here “Expect extreme weather events” the climate scientists tell us. But sometimes the extreme is beyond our imagining. On Thursday January 26, New Zealand’s Met Service predicted ...
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RNZ News New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described today’s Waitangi Day dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. Hundreds of people gathered before dawn to commemorate 183 years since Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed. Hipkins said the national ...
By Hilaire Bule, RNZ Pacific Vanuatu correspondent in Port Vila Vanuatu’s prime minister has stressed any future employment within the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat must be from MSG member countries. Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, who is also chair of the MSG Secretariat, made the statement following the recruitment of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Yamin Kogoya On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces. The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was ...
By Kālino Lātū, editor of Kaniva News Dr Sitiveni Halapua, former deputy leader of Tonga’s Democratic Movement, has died aged 74. Born on February 13, 1949, he was a respected academic, a pioneer of Tonga’s democratic reforms and pioneer of a conflict resolution system based on traditional practices. Halapua earned ...
COMMENTARY:By Richard Naidu in Suva Five weeks on from Christmas Eve, I think most of us are still a bit stunned at what has happened in Fiji. A new government came to power in dramatic circumstances. It took not one but two Sodelpa management board meetings to change it, ...
By Red Tsounga Another house done, and onto the next . . . Volunteers working in Mount Roskill community over the past few days helping those suffering from Auckland’s flash flood devastation have done us proud. Tremendous work by everybody. Here are some random photos of our volunteer teams on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP Senator Lidia Thorpe announced on Monday that she would be leaving the Greens. Thorpe had split with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast The news of a so-called “Chinese spy balloon” being shot down over the US has reignited interest in how nation-states spy on one another. It’s not confirmed that the ...
Today, at a Waitangi ki Waititi concert hosted by Te Whānau o Waipareira at Hoani Waititi Marae, West Auckland; Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp was officially announced as Te Pāti Māori Candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau for the 2023 Election. Hailing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Sure, Scotty Morrison’s Māori At Work is a wonderful resource for Aotearoa’s collective te reo Māori journey. But is it judgemental enough for the modern office environment?First published September 12 2019 The growing strength of te reo is palpable across Aotearoa, with record numbers of people participating in Mahuru ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Mills, Professor and Dean La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Shutterstock It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University Chad Fish/AP Was the balloon that suddenly appeared over the US last week undertaking surveillance? Or was it engaging in research, as China has claimed? While the answers to these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, ...
I know it sounds bad but I’m enjoying having no Govt as it’s not as awful as I’m used to.
The downside is while the evil is not being rammed through (under urgency) no good can happen.
I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
You and me both – Her.
I expecially like the free time to think of other things now as we dont have National ‘Spindoctors’ ramming stuff down our ‘mind’ every time they float another stupid idea – or tell us what’s good for us and to be thankful of them.
They were just to bloody blatent and bossy, and way to keen on propadanda and brainwashing, but it failed to work.
With everything going on in NZ and around the world, this piece of nonsense is the headline news in today’s NZH! It should be the plight of the homeless in this country, not a headline featuring John Key’s plans to build a new home. Who gives a flying f**k anyway. Just another obscene rich prick flaunting his wealth!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11932527
That’s what I thought. Waste of space as per usual.
Interesting article.
The solid platinum taps are a classy touch, you’d expect that with Sir John though.
You actually read it!
Yep, probably one of the better articles they’ve had on the Herald lately.
If they had articles of this quality more regularly I’d be sorely tempted to go out and buy a copy at the moment it’s all a bit left wing for me.
Lol comedy gold
BM = ashamedly a national voter.
Haha exactly Ffloyd
Read it? He positively drooled
Yeah his unwanted creepy touch of the hair of women. Real classy old dim jonny.
Yes Marty, little girls, disgusting creep.
Nick
You miss the point I think. We are not talking about little girls, so don’t lay on the sarcasm. Being an annoying creep using his position of authority
is what was being criticised.
“solid platinum taps are a classy touch”
Yes totally – along with the gold-plated a*se-wipes – so many of whom one encounters online.
You mean classy, as in the life and times of the nouveau riche? Do you know if Paula has her own guest room?
To answeryour question, clearly you give a fuck to have come here and given the story oxygen, and greater coverage though your link.
@ 2.3 Enough is Enough … True, you have a point there. But I saw red as soon as I viewed the headline. I didn’t bother reading the article, because to me I considered the headline alone tabloid trash. Definitely not worthy of being news, indicating to me the low level NZ media has really sunk to.
Yes MARY_A
I dont even read that rag, it would insult my intellegence.
+1
Good on you mary a – good to know what is happening out there with pollies past and present, and good to not have to read it oneself so don’t bother about grumps and gripes.
This is the property bought for $5 million in 2005 and sold 12 years later for $20 million- a profit of $1.2 million per annum, on top of the retention of 500 sq m. for the new house.
Meanwhile, the Salvation Army ran a fund raising day for the homeless. It quoted the figure of 1:100 New Zealanders who are inadequately housed.
Another legacy of the 2008-17 National government.
Are you listening, please, Winston?
Good to see police reevaluating how to stop locking up mentally ill people. Maybe more of an issue in the cities – here in the country there is good coordination between police and crisis mental health as far as i can tell. Locking people up who are suffering in this way is not the answer imo.
Can’t link to Herald article sorry.
This one presumably – very interesting. Lets just hope it works.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931965
Thank you
You’re welcome. Had just read it and still had it on another tab.
Always a tweet.
Shortly before Donald Trump took the podium at the annual Values Voter Summit, attendees received a pamphlet calling homosexuality a “public health crisis”.
The pamphlet, distributed by the anti-LGBTQ activist organisation MassResistance, claims the “sexual revolution” and the “mainstreaming of homosexuality” have created a public health crisis in America.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-speech-values-voter-summit-massresistance-anti-lgbtq-pamphlet-homosexuality-health-hazard-a7999501.html
Julian Assange embarresses Amy Goodman/Democracy Now! with their unfortunate and misguided obsession with the alleged Russian interference in the US election…
Yes we should all remember it was that the Russians in 1940 did not capitulate to the Germans that saved us all from loosing the war.
As the ‘eastern front’ nazi invasion of Russia action caused Germany to loose most of its military might and later loose the war. Russia was then alied to us all.
So why do they treat the Russians so badly now??
Um… Stalins post war atrocities?
Stalin died over 50 years ago, so I fail to see why that is relevant.
Because Putin seems to be following in his footsteps?
Yeah, because in 1940 the Russians were way too busy, occupying Poland and invading Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as part of their deal with their Nazi besties to divvy up Europe.
/
That is a fact, but it is also a fact that the Russians destroyed the power of the German army as an offensive fighting force, thereby saving Europe from fascism.
Facts and enormity of size of losses, would arouse anxiety and stress and
fight or flight response in Russian authority I think and survival and protection
would lead to all sorts of behaviour that would stated coldly now in present conditions sound insupportable.
Google:
How many Russian soldiers were killed in ww2?
America would lose slightly more than 400,000 soldiers (killed or missing) and almost no civilians during World War II and the USSR, depending on which historian you believe, would lose at least 11,000,000 soldiers (killed and missing) as well as somewhere between 7,000,000 and 20,000,000 million of its civilian …
Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College – WWII Soviet Experience
http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org/about/living_history/wwii_soviet_experience.dot
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
The facts and images lead me to believe that war is a no-win project!
Though,had the Germans decided to push straight to Moscow and not waste time going into the Ukraine, things may have been different. The Wehrmact needed to take the Soviet capital before winter, as they were not equipped for a winter war.
Russia historically often had more than one capital – it’s not clear that the Soviet Union would’ve collapsed even if it had fallen. The precedent of the failed French invasion would have been psychologically important – taking Moscow didn’t win the war for Napoleon, perhaps it wouldn’t have for Hitler.
Apparently Stalin was basically not going to leave Moscow – he was all in.
Dunno how true that is, but it’s an interesting question as to whether the Soviet Union would have survived losing both Moscow and Stalin together.
That is a fact, but it is also a fact that the Russians destroyed the power of the German army as an offensive fighting force, thereby saving Europe from fascism.
It’s also a fact that the Wehrmacht hugely damaged the Red Army, thereby saving Europe from communism. I don’t think either fact warrants a vote of thanks.
It’s shocking how hard hit the stats show for those countries in Joe90s comment.
Look down the last column – % of deaths of 1939 population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
Agreed, although the USSR figures are pretty suspect – the regime had a vested interest in booking up as many as possible of its own victims to German military action, so there’s no telling what the actual figure is.
The 1929-1933 collectivization claimed between 6 and 11 million lives and the purges of 1936-38 another 700,000 . Stalin’s orders 270 and 227 and his barrier troops saw 157,593 Red Army troops executed for cowardice and nearly half a million sent to penal battalions, where the majority perished.
And then there were combat casualties….
joe90
Did you say that you were Polish-connected in one of your comments?
I was looking at the Wikipedia list and the number of civilian kilings in uprisings and put-downs was huge. And so many killed in some countries.
I wonder will the EU go down if Britain exits? And would old enmities flair again? If thy could have the EU amended, with less bureaucracy and some semblance of border control Europe could continue to put up with each other and keep the bogeymen and women from gaining strength.
Yes we should all remember it was that the Russians in 1940 did not capitulate to the Germans that saved us all from loosing the war.
We should all remember something you just made up? The Reich and the Soviet Union were effectively allies in 1940, having made an agreement in 1939 to divide Europe up between them. Europe is certainly very lucky there was a falling-out among the thieves, but there are no Russians to thank for that.
“So why do they treat the Russians so badly now??”
You ever go behind the Iron Curtain?
The Iron Curtain sounds like last century’s decoration.
May it never come back.
Anyone got the link to Bryce Edwars follow up article?
Lynn? Did he contact you?
” A follow-up column will look at signs of a Labour-NZ government. “
if that gets put up a few here will have to eat some humble pie after the outrage at his one the day before on the nats chances, should be funny
All anyone needed to do was go to the Harold website, go to the politics tab, and it’s right there.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11932628
Come on Winston, don’t keep us hanging on .. we might lose interest in democracy.
[Sade sings ‘Smooth Operator’ in the background …]
White terrorists get away with no coverage. Big ups to theintercept for getting this story out.
https://theintercept.com/2017/10/11/terrorist-donald-trump-airport-bomber-estes-asheville/
Why are the NZ media not covering this stuff?
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=nz+news+North+Carolina+bomb&oq=nz+news+North+Carolina+bomb&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64l2.8698j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
White terrorism – free pass.
Probably if it had gone off it would have made the news as terrorism – it certainly fits the criteria imo.
I notice at the bottom of the article a link to a Greenwald article declaring the word terrorism a meaningless propaganda term.
Correct he if I’m wrong, but you still take your shoes off at USA airports, becasue of a failed bomber.
I like the Greenwald piece too.
I never travel because I can’t afford to offset the carbon and I’d never go to the states if I did, but I hear you have to hand over all sorts of personal grooming items that have never ever been used in a terrorist attack when going through airports.
Anyway good they caught him because that device would have destroyed a lot of people if it had gone off as planned.
It was in plenty of US news outlets.
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=asheville+airport+bomb&rlz=1C1CHZL_enNZ731NZ731&ei=fnPhWbyqNYWy0ATluo6AAw&start=10&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=662
I’m going to call BS on your google search there Andre. The bulk of the reporting was local and affiliates. Not very much from the MSM.
Edit: or like the MSM CBS piece, hidden under the crime section.
USA Today, Fox News, CBS, NPR are all national. And that’s just the first page of results. While The Intercept is particularly skilled at feeding grievance complexes, they are just as prone to misrepresentation for their own ends as anyone else. Maybe even more so.
Like I said at start Andre, if you actually took the time to read, white terrorism, not a simple crime, but terrorism. That was my criticism of your links as well. Have a look at the pages, joe90 did a good job about my point as well.
So are you happy to push a white supremacist agenda?
If anyone wants a more balanced look at why this incident received the coverage it did, here’s a couple to start with.
http://www.snopes.com/2017/10/12/asheville-airport-bomb-attempted/
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/13/557629826/suspect-in-would-be-airport-bombing-nabbed-with-help-from-rei
Apart from vague references to wanting to start a war, it’s unclear so far if there was any religious or political motive driving Estes. Which would reasonably account for a responsible newsroom being reluctant to call it terrorism. Although if he just wanted random warfare, there would be a case for describing him as an anarchist terrorist.
Now it’s not terrorism, why am I not surprised by your response Andre.
Are you a white supremacist?
I’m pretty sure this little tidbit was in at least one of the links further up, but here it is again anyway:
“Though he was described as being white in police press releases while they were searching for him, online jail records list his ethnicity as being a Native American.”
http://heavy.com/news/2017/10/michael-christopher-estes-asheville-airport-bomber-suspect/
Given that, it seems to me there would be a lot more grounds for complaint about racism and white privilege if he had been called a terrorist.
Skin colour is a shit proxy for ethnicity. Personally, saying someone is white is pretty meaningless imo unless it is an attempt to show privilege.
This happened in the USA – where a all to common, and usual approach to politics, is to define people by their skin colour. Do I agree with that approach, no I don’t.
But in the context of where this happen, and what they are reporting, skin colour is relevant. My point simply. The MSM media did not cover this as a raging front page news story about terrorism. Even when the parameters of political motivate violence were made public. Why? As I said, the colour of his skin has major impact, and the fact he is not a Muslim is another major factor.
Yep your point was simple and a pity you’re so arrogant you can’t see the other arguments for what they are.
What other arguments – that he was not a terrorist, and he was not white?
Clausewitz
“War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.”
meh
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/10/10/north-carolina-airport-bomb-suspect/749938001/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-man-left-jar-filled-with-explosive-chemicals-nails-at-north-carolina-airport/
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/13/man-who-planted-bomb-at-nc-airport-wanted-to-fight-war-on-u-s-soil-fbi-says.html
joe90 did you look at any of you links and where they came up within their own services?
Obviously not…
And as I said THIS WAS AN ACT OF TERRORISM!!! not a crime for the crime pages.
Should I surmise from your meh, you happy pushing a racist agenda?
Hang on noddy ive read joes comments for years and that accusation is fucken bullshit. Just because you framed it as a question doesn’t make it okay imo.
I’m not accusing him of anything, I’m just saying meh is open for interpretation.
He is big enough and ugly enough to respond in more than one word.
I’m not talking for him but I note he put THREE links in as well. You gone rogue now?
I was talking about all three links. Have a look what section they are in.
My point is simple. If your white and terrorist you get a free pass. If saying that offends you or is rouge – then I’m rogue.
My interest in indigenous rights made this quite clear – i used to reguarily post about under reported struggles and the differing rights some people get including being marginalised by the state and media via the descriptor terrorist.
My only issue with you raising this issue is your racist tag – it’s stupid.
So racism is stupid?
No, your accusations that others are racist because they disputed your specific assertion is stupid. Note I’m not saying you are stupid, I’m not saying racism is stupid, I’m saying what you wrote is stupid. I am not personally attacking you. I am talking about what you wrote not you as a person – whew, hope that ensures no misunderstanding.
This is being swept under the carpet. Just wait till another Muslim explodes a bomb or what ever. The tirade will begin within minutes. We will get wall to wall coverage for days.
The virtual opposite happens if the person is white (US definition – not mine), and not a Muslim. Almost deathly quite, or a very quick spin in the 24 hour news cycle, and it’s gone.
Remember this guy? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/19/death-ray-plot-muslims-obama-glendon-scott-crawford-new-york
One day in the news, then out. Never to be spoken of again.
How long will this last in the news cycle? This is a guy who tried to kill hundreds of people to start a war.
Didn’t the news story (what you reckoned never existed due to “no coverage”) say the latest guy put explosives in a fruit preserving jar and left it outside the terminal? Yeah, lethal, but not exactly going to “kill hundreds of people”, is it. It’s a dick, with no evidence of anyone willing to fight his “war” alongside him, making a bomb that he’s now claiming wasn’t even set to go off.
And your dirty bomb guy was sentenced to 30 years for planning a bomb that the FBI built for him. Not the first time they’ve done that, if I recall correctly, and toes the line between entrapment and giving the suspect enough rope to warrant serious charges. But in that specific case I wouldn’t expect to hear anything for, oh, 25 years or so.
Lots of stories about the white guy who actually shot hundreds of people, though. There’s a clue for ye.
So terrorist bombs are OK now if they don’t kill to many people McFlock?
Hard to find your point when you keep changing what it means to be a terrorist.
Am I right in thinking political motivation is no longer on the table, as a definition of terrorist, even for a lone wolf?
So lets be clear you are say terrorism needs to not only cause terror, but they must not act alone, and must not be a dickhead? Is that right?
World news –
The climate change that the vulnerable can do nothing to alter and maybe people can limit it to bearable but for what or whom?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/341564/penguin-chicks-starve-in-catastrophic-antarctic-season
All but two Adelie penguin chicks have starved to death in their east Antarctic colony, in a breeding season described as “catastrophic” by experts….
Adelie penguins are the most southerly breeding bird in the world
Photo: Cultura/Brett Phibbs
Unusually high amounts of ice late in the season meant adults had to travel further for food.
It is the second bad season in five years after no chicks survived in 2015.
Conservation groups are calling for urgent action on a new marine protection area in the east Antarctic to protect the colony of about 36,000.
Perhaps some coming new parents might like to give their wee girl the name Adele, which would be very meaningful in the light of the above.
and
Trump – nuclear power, people in other countries not renegging on nuclear deal,
big thumbs down on facing reality and caring.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/341539/trump-strikes-blow-against-iran-nuclear-deal
Herbs sang our ideas in Ne Nukes.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US was “more than ever isolated” and could not change the nuclear deal.
In a televised speech, Mr Rouhani said Tehran was committed to the deal and accused Mr Trump of making baseless accusations.
In a joint statement, the UK, Germany and France said they were “concerned” by Mr Trump’s move but remained committed to the deal. But they added they also “shared concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile programme and regional activities”.
NZ music:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/musicalchairs/audio/2530442/no-nukes-how-nz-music-helped-us-ban-the-bomb
I have been wondering
What this world would be like if the world wars had not occured and all of the deaths, atrocities and world wide suffering had not occured, and all the soldiers hadn’t died or become fucked up from seeing the death of their friends and their enemies.
The world population would be a bit bigger. Would the brains that were left intact have come up with solutions to the issues we face or would we be even worse off now. Does anyone know of an alternative history exploring this?
Many of the people who write Alternative history fiction, do it within the war. A good book is 1632 by Eric Flint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_series
Stephen Fry comes close with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_History_(novel) I found it morbid.
So you have an opening to write a novel marty mars.
Thanks
You might Like Robert Silverberg’s Roma Eterna – in which Rome never fell.
But the outcome might not be as good as might be imagined – public health systems in many countries date from the war, as do many beneficial technologies initially developed for anti-social reasons. Wars, like the deaths of monarchs, present an opportunity for change which sometimes has positive results.
Agreed, Rome never fell, their militancy just went underground – no secret who runs BIS in Basel.
Thanks Stuart.
Just a little musing – so much was devastated and those times helped form the attitudes of the west especially, that has led to massive consumption, commodification and so on.
They’re a funny lot the Romans – their early success was very much as a community working together – but their later days were marked by the rise of predatory corporate enterprises like the slave grain farms. These sent the peasants broke, whose second sons had been the mainstay of the legions.
If we’re looking for model governance Jared Diamond’s description of Japan’s response to ecological disaster in the 1700s is probably better than anything Europe has to offer. They fixed things.
Surprise, a RWNJ/sewer mainstay is made up.
“So where do these stories come from?”
The reporter was asking about accounts that soldiers returning from Vietnam had been spat on by antiwar activists. I had told her the stories were not true. I told her that, on the contrary, opponents of the war had actually tried to recruit returning veterans. I told her about a 1971 Harris Poll survey that found that 99 percent of veterans said their reception from friends and family had been friendly, and 94 percent said their reception from age-group peers, the population most likely to have included the spitters, was friendly.
[…]
But you don’t believe the stories, right? she asked. Acknowledging that I could not prove the negative — that they were not true — I went on to say there is no corroboration or documentary evidence, such as newspaper reports from the time, that they are true. Many of the stories have implausible details, like returning soldiers deplaning at San Francisco Airport, where they were met by groups of spitting hippies. In fact, return flights landed at military air bases like Travis, from which protesters would have been barred. Others include claims that military authorities told them on returning flights to change into civilian clothes upon arrival lest they be attacked by protesters. Trash cans at the Los Angeles airport were piled high with abandoned uniforms, according to one eyewitness, a sight that would surely have been documented by news photographers — if it had existed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/opinion/myth-spitting-vietnam-protester.html?
I notice on my last email from James Shaw that he signs off as co leader – does anyone know when the process to select the other co leader begins?
Next party conference.
Thanks mate
A mother of 8 killed when having a skydive in tandem, her instructor collided with another instructor. This is the nail in the coffin of NZ as being a country that should be advertising itself as the (safe) adventure capital of the world, or something alike. We shouldn’t be trusted with running a cake stall. But hey we can’t have cake stalls now because the cakes probably aren’t safe to eat because they haven’t been made in a kitchen that has met commercial standards.
But people can go trustingly into life-risking activities and the self-control to ensure that prevention rules, precautionary approaches are adopted by all, just in case,
and even after the Scottish father came here and criticised the last ‘accident’ and suggested we were careless and irresponsible, we still have this sort of shit occurring. It is disgraceful and makes me ashamed to be a New Zealander.
When can someone start pulling the rug out from under the feet of these smarmy smart-arses, too young, and too little in touch with society to care enough to be given this responsibility for people’s lives.? Does anyone in government feel able to have strong, careful regulations and the regular hard-nosed nosy interfering, checker-upper that the regs are met, and ensure that they haven’t been bought off by business?
I’m sick of watching these free market shits play at running the country, bribing their way into parliament through rising house prices and spurious ‘stable’ financial conditions. The horse has bolted from the stable, and the caretakers overseeing the place are too lazy to go in search of it. They should be harnessed to a machine, bend their backs and start planting out a new crop of promises that will grow to maturity to feed a new set of horses, in a better stable!
And where on Radionz is there any detail about this on their site? Quad bike accident. Toddler found in pool. Forestry success. But mother of 8 killed at Queenstown, I think. I can’t check because I can’t find it. Perhaps it should be kept quiet, embarrassing to tourism.
I don’t think that RNZ is keeping it quiet etc has anything to do with it, Greywarshark. I did check their website and agree that I could not find anything.
As I presume you know, RNZ has been under massive funding restraints for the last nine years under National.
Some big changes have been made in their News area in just the last couple of weeks – eg redundancies of some longstanding staff members, leading to Brent Edwards resigning in protest/support of these staff. Things are in a bit of disarray at present in the News area.
They need our support – not our criticism at the moment.
They need to know we notice. By keeping on being mild-mannered Clark Kent over the years, the neo libs have got away with their bad doings and almost finished us. Time to don our blue suits with the triangle on the front and do our superman saves NZ bit.
Queensland,
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2017/10/14/experienced-skydiver-among-three-killed.html
Thanks joe90
It was very silly of me to think that I would be hearing NZ news. Of course the news gatherers search for all tragedies of western nations as important for us to know about. You hear more important NZ news listening to Rural Report.
And whatever happens outside English-speaking nations is however relatively unimportant.
A mother of 8 killed when having a skydive in tandem, her instructor collided with another instructor. This is the nail in the coffin of NZ as being a country that should be advertising itself as the (safe) adventure capital of the world, or something alike. We shouldn’t be trusted with running a cake stall. But hey we can’t have cake stalls now because the cakes probably aren’t safe to eat because they haven’t been made in a kitchen that has met commercial standards.
This tragedy happened in Australia, you silly person.
Streuth!
https://www.3wisemen.co.nz/the-streuth.html
Struggling to find peps to Bully tonight BM…
BBC 100 Women names 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year.
“Indonesia has never had a political figure like Susi Pudjiastuti.
When President Joko Widodo was asked why he appointed her back in 2014, he said he needed “a crazy person in order to make a breakthrough”.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41438279
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ebZRQSieY
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/10/05/prince-charles-to-susi-you-are-a-pioneer.html
https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/45159/countries-fight-illegal-fishing/
Go Susi!
Bob Dylan at the March on Washington.
Persistent contrail over Pokeno today. First one I’ve seen in NZ, but I’ve only recently returned from Europe, where reflective climate mitigation is active all summer. What’s the story Kiwis?
Are you talking about chemtrails? Is it actually a thing these days, or are you just spraying vinegar over your lawn to disperse them?
NZs population density is so low it’s a waste of the chemicals to use them south of the Bombays. The pilot must have forgot to turn the valves off.
So aluminum solid fuel technology can’t be mixed with liquid petroleum fuel systems. Hope you’re right, but from what I remember of third-year chemistry you’re wrong. Trusting Kiwis only allow silica based photo-chemicals. Is catalyst tech to seed clouds also feasible? Just looks like photo-chemical smog to me.
I have no idea what you’re talking about, but then I’m not sure you do, either. Context is a wonderful thing, and links are also quite spectacular in their own right.
http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/
oka-ay…
my doubt is increasing…
Oh wow. The things that happen when you see a bit of fun snark and play along a bit. Then it turns out we’ve got a real live one on our hands.
Yo, Andre. Any of your mates got a small digger I can borrow? Somewhere around the mid Sep, oh and again for a day in 2020. Scored kauri 😉
“Herald reports that the damage was believed to have been caused by digging for swamp kauri were dismissed as “fake news” by Refining NZ chief executive Sjoerd Post today.” (The NZ Hearld, Sep2017
Not so funny bro. In north western Europe it is just eyes-open-obvious the whole summer long. Are you joking off the idea of climate mitigation? Seems obvious to me that tainting jet fuel would have significant reductions to global temperatures. Don’t forget that photo-chemical smog in the atmosphere approximately balances out the GHG effects of CO2. Basic climate science, son. Are you suggesting the UN is doing nothing with all that Paris Accord money? I thought the deal was to mitigate against the effects of increasing levels of GHGs.
Math would help, son.
Who pays the UN “Paris Accord money”? That would actually be cool, because that money would be traceable. We wouldn’t have to rely on your word for it, son, we’d have the UN reports showing how many megatonnes of “photo-chemical smog” they dispersed, and where. I just thought countries were doing things like phasing out petrol and diesel cars.
You really think the accounts will be transparent? Our National Security Laws are orthodox, and written to permit censorship of information in the national interest. Info is actively removed from the net. eg. Wikispooks was once chocca with solids. UN goons smashed it (because they care about us so much, yeah right). JFK was talking about weather control before he died, long long ago. Tech has improved. Trust in the State hasn’t improved, eg: https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-10-10-need-a-story-about-the-detroit-mom-who-has-been-thrown-in-jail-for-refusing-to-vaccinate-check-out-330-recording-of-the-court-case.html Yeah truth hurts Mr F, so harden up and play politics, or go find another sport.
…but all that darkness is endless, we need to seek the light. Like the lead-fuel “mistake”, we don’t need more aluminum in our brains. But the silica can be used to support agriculture. Political momentum behind climate mitigation, requires transparency first.
So, no indication of payments to the UN in the Paris Accord, then.
Which means no UN money for chemtrail distribution.
Which means you need to come up with another fantasy to fervently believe.
oh, so they are giving billions to car manufacturers for “research”, yeah typical.
Good luck digging out info on where the money goes. I couldn’t find anything other and articles saying how hard the detail is to find.
So who is giving billions to car manufacturers for research?
Because it looks to me like the French are just saying “you have twenty or so years to come up with a compliant product, or you’re out of the car business”.
Well, if it truly was a social-creditor that shot JFK, then I need to score better buds – http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/