Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike …
..thanks travellerev….can someone please translate this into simple English easily understood by non lawyers?
…on a cursory glance it looks a complex legal cunning predatory spiders nest web….. to deny NZers freedom of thought, intellectual rights, entrepreneurship and business…as well as forcing policing /spying on them by their internet providers
….the TPP definitely should NOT be signed!!…we will all become moron zombies imo…( or bigger moron zombies than we already are..speaking for myself)
The fact that it is giving its readers a beginners’ guide says so much about how poorly the paper has kept us informed. Indeed, if Wikileaks hadn’t actually sent the Herald the secret chapter, you wonder if the paper would have bothered.
Why did you like it? To me it looks facile. Of course lots of people decide who they will vote for before the election campaign – that’s everyone who isn’t a swing voter. I know who I will be voting for now. If she had crunched the actual numbers on those percentages I’d be more interested.
She thinks that Labour have to get votes from the GP. Good grief, how long until people understand what MMP is. Taking votes from the GP won’t make Labour any more likely to form govt. While I think there will be inevitable vote shifting between the two parties next year depending on how they campaign, the votes that Labour need are going to come from the 800,000 who didn’t vote last time, and probably from NACT and NZF.
I knew Claire in a former job. She is not a bad person, but she is, without a doubt, the most unimaginative empathy-less mediocre plodder you could ever hope to avoid.
Hopefully for dunney it will be a long drop. There was an item on ventriloquist dummies recently and his head would make for a great political lampoon. Actually a piece of art installation would be to have his head with a light bulb aloft under a shade and label it ‘Politcal Lampoon’.
Despite all the moral concern and outrage expressed on ‘the standard’ about….
1) young girls and alcohol…alcohol use/abuse…drunkenness in general by young New Zealanders
2) teenage boy sex gang Roast Busters and rape and sexual abuse of underage girls….
3)..patriarchy, sexism and abuse of women in general
4.)JT and Willy ‘s insensitive interviewing of a young abuse victim….and their subsequent suspension from radioLive ( much to the outrage of my teenage son!..ha ha)
5)how NZ parents are not being responsible and bringing up children properly
6)the Auckland (Catholic family man) Mayor Len Brown’s sex scandal…two years of frolicking and cavorting conducted on Council sacred property and at Sky City gambling casino with a young Asian whose sympathies were actually with the other side and who was working with the other side
7)the Auckland police and their cynicism, ineptitude or worse…..
….nothing has been said about the building of Aucklands 15 story meg-brothel (opposite the Sky Tower) ….why?….I would like to hear reasons why , because this has the potential to really embed sexual abuse of NZ girls and women…. in the very heart of Auckland City forever
…to me , this Capitalist enterprise allowed by Len’s Auckland Council is a far greater crime than working class male JTs and Willy’s misdemeanors…which have received a lot of noise from the Left and a sound smacking…lets get real here
@ weka…barn farming of women for sex and profit is not conducive to respect of women or children…..it creates a climate of objectification for sexual gratification…..abuse of children can lead to prostitution
1)…how many women are coerced into prostitution?…how many women get into prostitution because of child abuse, lack of education, lack of well paid meaningful work….drug addictions?
2) …..as a woman it restricts your freedom of movement….it restricts where you as a woman or child can safely walk in the streets and areas after dark
3.) …it creates a climate of corruption in which ANY woman is fair game…and all women and girls are potential prostitutes… ordinary women run the risk of being regarded as prostitutes …
….i know this personally because i used to work in a union, next door to a brothel and i was accosted on the street and asked “How Much?”……
4..)….any woman or girl is fair game because society condones this behaviour where women are objectified and used….legalising prostitution has not protected prostitutes…. judging by the numbers of prostitute murders in Christchurch since it was legalised
6.) i have no objection to prostitution if it is hidden and a woman runs her own business discretely…and prostitution does not foul certain streets with condoms and needles
The whole point surely was to expose the industry to regulation.
Take alcohol, gunpowder, abortion, and soon recreational drugs, its better to have them in the tent rather out of sight.
I thought the whole push of National was to provide facilities that Asian visitors would expect in NZ when they come for conferences. i.e along side the conference halls, a casino and a big brothel. Its Key’s social conservatism and free market agenda merging. Selling an airline merely makes vertical the whole package so that it can be mostly foriegned own and so profits flow overseas.
You’ve already posted this comment chooky and you were told two days ago that telling the authors what to do is not good form. If you feel that strongly about it, write a guest post.
Indeed, weka, but “the standard” starts with the authors and if commenters were meant, chooky should have said so. Remember, this comment was posted two days ago on open mike and received the same response. Chooky has decided to repost the comment, ignoring the advice given two days ago and choosing not to define the target in the way you suggest.
Fair enough, and on my first reading today I did automatically think ‘authors’ rather than commenters. I didn’t see the thread the other day, just had a look now.
eerr ummmh….I did not get a warning from Big Daddy Lprent…nobody gave me a warning …just you now!
….I was not criticising ‘the Standard’ as such …just the orientations of some arguments and perspectives …of which i have been party to myself
…We are not all unquestionable Holy Prophets here I hope …it is a continuing dialogue and dialectic….we can change opinions and question opinions I hope!…or are you suggesting that we can not?
@ weka….commenters and comments are questioned all the time here….
thnax for the support Muzza( bro?)….unfortanately I had to dash away after my comments…(some of us cant sit at the computer arguing all day)
1)….interesting that no one has really addressed the arguments I made above about the mega brothel in the heart of Auckland ( are we heading for a Bangkok of the South Pacific?)…the arguments I made strike me as being inherently feminist and working class arguments against capitalist farming women for sex and profit ..(.cf farming cows for milk and profit )…. for fucks sake women should be in charge of their own work , means of production, money making business …if that is the way they choose to go…I am sure Marx would agree)
2)….interesting too that Te Reo Putake has taken such exception to what I say and wants to shut me up ( 3 different commenters have warned me apparently …ha ha……well i am not sure who they are either.. )
…although Bill Drees once before told me to get off ‘the standard’…. .indicating I was not up to standard so to speak….and he keeps saying William Massey …would “smile” at me from his grave and “loves” me….not sure why…and whether this is a compliment?….can someone elucidate muggins me ?
…Actually from the grave ….I am sure my Father would be smiling at me approvingly ….he was at various times during his life a railway worker, truck driver, freezing worker , fisherman and farmer…….and he voted Labour all his life and then the Alliance….. My Mother has always voted Labour…I have voted Labour( even worked for Labour) , NZF, Green …and increasingly Mana is looking attractive
Which way do you vote Muzza?…or is that too intrusive a question?
. . . The internet backbone — the infrastructure of networks upon which internet traffic travels — went from being a passive infrastructure for communication to an active weapon for attacks.
According to revelations about the QUANTUM program, the NSA can “shoot” (their words) an exploit at any target it desires as his or her traffic passes across the backbone. It appears that the NSA and GCHQ were the first to turn the internet backbone into a weapon; absent Snowdens of their own, other countries may do the same and then say, “It wasn’t us. And even if it was, you started it.”
If the NSA can hack Petrobras, the Russians can justify attacking Exxon/Mobil. If GCHQ can hack Belgicom to enable covert wiretaps, France can do the same to AT&T. If the Canadians target the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Chinese can target the U.S. Department of the Interior. We now live in a world where, if we are lucky, our attackers may be every country our traffic passes through except our own . . .
No wonder the Germans are looking to build and Internetz to keep data completely inside Germany
Deutsche Telekom wants to change this state of affairs by building a purely German Internet, with data packets only sent via German pathways if the sender and recipient are both within the country.
The company is hard at work on technical solutions for such an “Internetz” — a hybrid of “Internet” and the German word for “network.” Managers at Deutsche Telekom say they are in talks with various network operators, looking to bring them onboard with this idea of a unified German solution and to set prices for shared use of the necessary infrastructure.
otoh it may be they’ve had this solution looking for a problem for a while and now they might just be seeing a chance to make some money by building on the fear of being spied on.
It remains to be seen if the NAct part of National will trample all over the negotiators to get the December agreement. It seems unlikely to work though – there’s far too much dissent now in the U.S. for it to get through congress even if an agreement was reached.
I reckon the people that are going to lose face when it falls over are working out around about now how to frame the news that it’s all been a waste of time and money.
As a general rule, state-run and corporate mainstream media networks will only allocate coverage to certain demonstrations, namely those that are aligned with either state-sanctioned political parties or advocacy groups.
Anything else outside of that is normally swept under the control desk. The amnesty-immigration rally that took place on the National Mall in Washington DC during the government shutdown was given prime time by the media because it promoted a political party agenda. This is the globalist, corporatist way of keeping control over “consensus reality” regarding dissident movements. In other words: if it’s not on the BBC, or CNN, then it didn’t really happen.
That old stratagem of control is becoming less and less effective as word of mouth has also become globalized.
Despite the media blackout, this one was still hard to miss – an international Million Mask March organized by demonstrators around the globe and fronted by the hackivist confab known as Anonymous.
On Friday, it’s #IAmSomeone Day across NZ (but hey, the world can join in too). The idea is simple, you tweet, facebook, instagram, tumblr, Google+ (I’m not sure, is it a thing? Do people even use it?) etc your experiences of sexual violence. Be it personal or friends & family (respect people’s privacy obviously). Whether it’s near misses, feeling threatened, the attitudes of people in your community or personal experiences.
Rape culture is news to some, but so many have experienced it for so long. It’s time to add some human faces to the commentary to show how wide spread this hideous phenomena is.
@NZSexism, the NZ branch of Everyday Sexism will be RTing everything using that hashtag, so follow them to see what others are saying. If you like the idea of documenting sexism- check out the Everyday Sexism project, which has had huge success doing exactly that.
There seem to be a number of RW trolls that are just making short contentious comments, not adding anything factual or thoughtful. Is this going to be a trend as we come closer to the election? And is there a possibility of time out for them to give someone who cares and thinks more scope to get through the bumf? Cluster flies is an insect name that would fit them. Also there is a big fly, bumble bee like that has a noisy whine that comes to mind.
Distract and distort seems to be the (Key) intention. Word has gone down the line to follow your leader and start now because the campaign is underway. It’s going to double, treble, quadruple next year and people with something worthy to contribute will become fed up with their comments continuously being misrepresented/distorted and they will go away. It happened on Red Alert and the moderators did nothing for too long. By the time they acted it was too late… many commentators had departed the scene. (Yes, there were other reasons too but that was a significant one.)
Anne
I looked at the posters this morning and many were what seem like RW trolls. I don’t want the discourse to be dominated by RW or rape either. But I want something done to prevent the deterioration of safety for women, and men, too, and thinking how we can set about police improvements.
But Rw trolls are of limited good, ie they can sometimes bring up points that need looking at. But ultimately sincerity of purpose is what is needed. RWs are sincerely uncaring in a concrete mindset. And those two aspects make them barriers to discussion. That’s my observation. We will only get sidetracked in the limited time we have for communication here if we allow these mosquitoes. Have to swat them. When mosquitoes have been at you for a while and you actually get them, they can leave blood marks on the wall! It must not come to that!!
After reading some of the page, I couldn’t handle reading much more, because it makes me ashamed to be a Kiwi male, coming back to the Standard and reading your comment makes me realize how prevalent the attitude in NZ really is. Thank you for your insight into the lower common denominator of a kiwi male mind, you truly did just go full retard.
That’s KK practicing rape culture. That there will be women who have been raped reading this thread, and some of whom will be triggered by what KK wrote, is immaterial to him, because it’s all about him and what he wants.
Works fine right now. I don’t understand. Is it a time of day thing? Sun spots. Perhaps it’s the planets and satellites casting a shadow on me. Somebody is. I’m being…paranoid.
Intelligence agency “man in the middle” internet attacks mimic other websites
To trick targets into visiting a FoxAcid server, the NSA relies on its secret partnerships with US telecoms companies. As part of the Turmoil system, the NSA places secret servers, codenamed Quantum, at key places on the internet backbone. This placement ensures that they can react faster than other websites can. By exploiting that speed difference, these servers can impersonate a visited website to the target before the legitimate website can respond, thereby tricking the target’s browser to visit a Foxacid server.
Grey, when you said before that you could only access via google, what else did you try? eg where you typing the URL in manually? Or using a bookmark? Or what?
Well I had always done it one way and then for a while it has been hard to get in. Not a real clued up type! Anyway what I do is put ‘th; in the address bar, and that brings up a window which includes the standard.org/home and I click on that. I don’t know if it gets up quicker if it doesn’t have home on. Thanks for trying to help weka. I’ll check about the URL.
Interesting, that’s similar to what I do. If I put ‘t’ in the address bar, Firefox fills in thestandard.org.nz/ for me. It might be worth doing it manually for a while to see if you can get rid of the home bit. You could try clearing your history too. Or create a bookmark and use that for a while.
I found a piece in the Dom Post Tues 12/1//13 – a feature on sex assaults and their aftermath by GP Cathy Stephenson and tried to get a digital fix on it. But can’t. There are listings for 2012 on her pieces, on google there are listings about calcium intake from past years.
yes, hips and knees are on the chopping board at our DHB (and the inside line is that there are stealthy cuts being carried out on all limbs.). Furthermore, few GPs are willing to offer after hours service, resulting in ED being loaded with less acute patients. One suggestion is to place a GP at ED but the sawbones are dragging their brogues on that one, so far.
I don’t know how many sawbones get into the decision making process. Local health board seems to have the long-term people with nice faces, and a little understanding of health, and a steady hand on the wheel re-elected. Not inspiring if looking for people to cut through the daily agenda to get a periscope view of direction and method of getting somewhere.
So is there anyone on here that thinks Clare Curran should still be in parliament?
– “Ms Curran’s comments about both my production company and me are untrue and have damaged my professional reputation both presently and in the future. The statements made in the House could well have adversely affected both my application for the Chief Executive position at Māori Television, and also if I choose to apply for any job in the public sector in the future.
For the record, my primary reason for leaving Television New Zealand was that I was satisfied with what I had achieved during my tenure as the General Manager of Māori and Pacific Programmes, and I was also confident that the Māori and Pacific department would be retained in the future and remain under the auspices of Television New Zealand.
I left with a reference from the Head of News and Current Affairs at Television New Zealand. Additionally, I reject the suggestion that the Chairperson of Māori Television would have acted inappropriately in dealing with the shortlisting process. More likely the reason for my shortlisting was that I have twenty-six years of experience in the television industry, having served in various senior roles, and am one of a handful of people with the senior management experience to fill the role of Chief Executive of Māori Television. Ms Curran’s statement in relation to Te Māngai Pāho is also untrue as Te Māngai Pāho has confirmed that I have no current debt to it.”
However Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee this morning rejected the idea, saying after more analysis it was found that initial estimates of moving the port were off the mark….
Cost savings to ferry operators from a move to Clifford Bay were significantly below the levels estimated in 2012.
Cabinet papers on the decision released this morning showed the Clifford Bay investigation had found the Cook Strait passenger market had declined significantly in recent years and was expected to show little if any growth.
The study pointed to increased competition from air travel and changes in travel patterns of international visitors to New Zealand. Since the decision to further investigate the possibility of a move to Clifford Bay in early November 2012 about $1.1m had been spent on the investigation.
Soon however the rising air travel costs could improve numbers using ferry transport. And perhaps some smart customer building moves by rail like Air NZ uses, introducing incentives, reduced costs for return tickets, bring a friend half-price, spot free tickets, complimentary bag of peanuts for monkeys, etc. could make cost benefit ratios of having Picton remain as The Port with improvements, soar. My modest a/c for scenario will follow directly! Who to send it to though? I’m rough round the edges but going for less than a school commissioner @ $100ph.
The government wanted it to be privately built, owned and operated, where by the Picton terminal is owned and operated by the Marlborough District Council owned Port Marlbourogh. A victory for public ownership.
Midday Snooze
New Salvation Army report finds that 1/3 of New Zealanders continue to struggle finding affordable, secure housing, particularly the young, and low-income Baby Boomers (this sector acknowledged as under-served by Nick Smith), while critics of this government say HNZ is not housing enough people and continue making eligibility more difficult.
however, immunisation levels among maori, pacific, hard-to-reach and in-difficult-circumstances children have improved remarkably , thanks to predominantly general practice primary nurses.
I can’t wait to read the report. I listened to a discussion on RNZ just after 9 am on nine to noon this morning.
Housing stock has shrunk and less people are being housed by HNZ. Affordable housing does not seem to be a priority for this government; this is disgraceful.
am very disturbed to listen to the news this a.m. and hear that the national chumps lost a vote in the house last night to amend the employments contracts act and to know that it was never featured here.
Is this just wonk politics on the standard.
How about some real instead of the trademe opinions type drivel.
Thanks bad. I gathered that, I was just accentuating the nonsensical style of hook’s comment (along with the criticism of the being that is the standard).
Time to sling your hook perhaps, it is the Employment Relations Act, Jami-Lee Ross, was trying to repeal the section of the ERA that prohibits replacement labour (aka dirty filthy scabs) being engaged by an employer during a strike or lockout. National did not get the numbers.
Think I agree re the Trade Me style drivel but King ‘meathead’ Kong keeps at it.
Sounds very Gary Larson philip u.
Give me the shotgun Martha – I’ll blast ’em.
The country folk know how to deal with their chickens being sucked up by spaceships – ‘Theer go them dem aliens stealing our chickens agin’. Cows and farts will get dealt to summarily.
I sometimes read the Reader report area on Stuff. It is real, often sad, and shows (I think and hope) real people dealing with the stuff they have to deal with, pretty well like the rest of us.
I read this one and saw this
There is one other thing that will for me be the ultimate insult.
When I die, as with every other parent who has lost a child, those children will not appear on our death certificates.
As if they didn’t exist.
Is that true and why would it be like that? I just don’t get it.
I fail to see why there is any need for a list of children to appear on someone’s death certificate. The purpose of a death certificate is as an official record of someone’s death, so it is obviously important that the individual is clearly identified, by their date and place of birth, and details of their parents. The fact that a list of children do not appear on an official document issued by the government does not mean that they do not exist, it just means they are not thought to be important for the purposes of that document. You can still go ahead and list them in your memoirs or gravestone or whatever, and of course they still exist in the most important place – in our memories and the memories of others who knew them.
Sure re the death cert thingy but if they are putting children on then children that have died are still their children – but really just sad all around.
I wasn’t aware children, living or deceased, appeared on the parent’s death certificate.
They’re aren’t, as far as I know. I was just pointing out that although the bereaved parents in the Stuff article would like them to be, it isn’t really necessary.
Yes there is. They fired Jenny Michie (can’t remember what it was. Homophobia or racism, one of the two) and apparently I have heard they are about to cut ties with some Asian goofball…oops
I wonder what makes someone want to publicly present themselves as a delusional oversized monkey? The right wing sure have some high calibre support……I guess that’s the best they can achieve…
“I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. ”
John Stuart Mill, in a Parliamentary debate with the Conservative MP, John Pakington (May 31, 1866);
Today, it was announced by the Ministry of Fair Goes that a man has become rich through winning Lotto.
“We are particularly proud that a man has won millions of dollars by buying a Lotto ticket and that he looks good on television”, said a spokespeoploid, Camille Simulacrum today.
The winner, Brian Noman, who has stunning blonde hair that doesn’t look like a wig at all and a fantastic moustache modelled on those of porn stars, said, “It was a hard selecting each number, but I was able to struggle through adversity to reach my goal of filling out my card. I know that life is a gamble, but I am absolutely delighted that random chance recognised the inherent excellence of my choices and rewarded me as I deserve.”
Edna Wibble, speaking for the Ministry of Fair Goes announced that this once again demonstrates the fairness of the market. “Random chance always reveals deserving talent, as my own relationship with the minister enabled my talent to be recognised.”
Surprise, surprise (not): Susan Baldacci hasn’t read Orwell;
And Steve McCabe dishes out a scolding to Jim Mora
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Thursday 14 November 2013
Jim Mora, Vicky Hyde, Steve McCabe
Most of the pre-show today was uneventful. But then this awkward little exposé occurred….
JIM MORA: All right, what else have you got?
SUSAN BALDACCI: Well, the Conservative Party has attempted to delete all its speeches and press releases online from the past ten years, including one in which David Cameron promises to use the internet to make politicians “more accountable”.
MORA: Oh yes? Ha ha ha ha!
SUSAN BALDACCI: They have deleted the backlog of speeches from the party’s main website and from the Internet Archive between 2000 and May 2010. [1]
STEVE McCABE: That was Winston Smith’s job!
…..[Awkward, confused silence]…..
STEVE McCABE: In Nineteen Eighty-Four.
…..[More bewildered silence]…..
SUSAN BALDACCI: Oooooooh. Spooky. I’m sure they won’t be able to get away with this, though….
The advent of the 4 o’clock time signal saved Ms. Baldacci from any further mortification. After the news, the first discussion was about the Government’s decision to keep the inter-island ferry terminal at Picton, and not to move it to Clifford Bay. The expert “talent” brought on to the Panel is, as so often, another regular Panelist—in this case Bernard Hickey, the owner of the interest.com website. Hickey spoke wistfully of how the Chinese regime just goes ahead and builds whatever it wants, and worries about cleaning up the mess afterwards. This admiration for Chinese dictatorship, and the impatience with democracy, is a common theme with business and right wing politicians, as is what Jim Mora had to say: something inane and approving about the way Margaret Thatcher got things done.
Vicky Hyde and Steve McCabe let Hickey’s expression of support for Chinese dictatorship go unchallenged, but the Manchester-raised McCabe was clearly irritated by Mora’s advocacy of Pol Pot’s and Pinochet’s English girlfriend [2]….
STEVE McCABE: Jim, you mentioned Margaret Thatcher. I think that is unwise, especially when talking to someone like me from the north of England. Her attacks on public life were ideologically based; her decisions to sell off and privatize public assets was not based on rigorous analysis, it was ideologically driven.
MORA: Well, that’s quite enough about Clifford Bay for today….
And that was that. Mora refused to engage in discussion, and another chance for interesting debate was stymied. The decline of this program seems to be terminal.
“Labour’s controversial policy to increase female representation in the Parliamentary Labour Party appears to have driven men away from Labour and across to National in large numbers over the past fortnight. Driving the increase in support for National was a large jump in support by men, who this week deserted Labour. New Zealand men now clearly favour National (50.5%, up 10%) over Labour (29%, down 5.5%) while female support was down for both of the major parties – National (41%, down 2.5%) and Labour (35%, down 2%).
That’s pretty much the immediate political result I expected from the gender quota stuff: men didn’t like it and women didn’t care for it.
When I said “women don’t care for it” I mean that there was zero increase in support from women for Labour which would have been nice to offset the large (well above margin of error) drop in male support for Labour.
Also it appears that previously “don’t know” males have now swung strongly to National.
From memory the quota stuff was coming out again in the MSM about 4-6 weeks ago. It was in the briefing docs available on web about then for the upcoming conference.
FFS.. This is about shifting from 41% of the caucus to 45% this election and to 50% in 2016. It isn’t the frigging National party where they tend to drag any half trained woman in (Tolley, Wilkinson, Collins etc – and those are the known ones) and drop them way past their skills. Bennett is merely a skilled arsehole – which tends to make her fit in pretty well.
But the attrition rate amongst National’s women is why they remain trying to get above a quarter of the caucus being XX. It isn’t that they don’t have competent women to call upon (I know quite a few who lean right). It is simply that National are the worst party to be a women in. Even NZ First is better and that is one boys club…
BTW: figure it out the way I tend to. We get a poll result now. They finished collecting data about a week ago. The sample period is usually about 2 weeks. If something happens during that two weeks the effect is diluted. It takes a few weeks for most things to circulate quite a bit anyway..
It isn’t that it takes 4-6 weeks to penetrate. It is that it takes at least 3 weeks for the results to process.
They seem to have asked a supplementary question, Karol:
“New Zealand men now clearly favour National (50.5%, up 10%) over Labour (29%, down 5.5%) while female support was down for both of the major parties – National (41%, down 2.5%) and Labour (35%, down 2%).”
That just looks like a gender breakdown of party preferences – ie a question would have been: “Are you male or female?” And that would have been correlated with party preference.
Its not a correlation. A correlation is an inference between two variables. What we have here is the direct statistic. Male support for Labour fell significantly while male support for National increased by a quarter.
In light of the nationwide conversation about misogyny in the past week, what does RM’s headline tell us?
National Party (45.5%) now ahead of Labour/ Greens (44.5%) as Labour’s new policy on female representation drives men to support National and away from Labour
(I haven’t looked yet, but I am assuming that RM made that up that rather than polling a question on Labour policy)
Edit: just seen CV’s comment above. A few RM assumptions in there. How do they know that there is a direct transfer of vote from Labour to National? Do they ask that in the poll?
Edit: just seen CV’s comment above. A few RM assumptions in there. How do they know that there is a direct transfer of vote from Labour to National? Do they ask that in the poll?
Some of the male vote going to National will be from previously undecided men who were on the sidelines and have now decided against voting Labour. Others will be from Labour’s male vote walking and dropping from 34.5% to 29.0%
NAT increase from 40.5% of men to 50.5% of men in one poll is massively over the margin of error and indicates a substantial and rapid shift in support, with zero corresponding increase in support for Labour by females.
BM
That remark is beneath you. And beneath this blog. We only make fun of pricks here,
Because they are more obvious and there are a considerable number that are stand outs for being named. Leave the ladies alone BM.
But really, the Nats always have been the menz party, IMO.
Really? Consider the working class men and the massive unions which Labour was built on. But National will be quite happy for you to see them in that way today.
Well, if guys are shifted in their views by that issue…. then they are as much the problem as the Labour Party. It means any attempt to be more equal meets with their resistance.
Don’t forget Karol that in politics the truism is the same as retail business: The customer (voter) is always right.
If Labour has lost support because of their equality quota then they need to consider whether they wish to continue with the quota and risk losing that support permanently.
Jimmie, that is not how I see politics. To me your prescription is very much of the neoliberal era.
For me it’s about principles and related policies. Tell me what you stand for, and I’ll decide whether or not to vote for you. If the people standing don’t get my vote, I’ll be putting on pressure for different people.
What you are talking about is the professionalisation of politics. And it’s become so insincere, treated like a game (too much poll watching), and like a marketable “business” (or brand), that many have lost interest.
I say, bring back a bit of conviction politics. Sometimes politicians should lead on principle, and then do their best to convince the public why they should vote for the principles.
I think it’s not so much to do with the policy itself, more to do with voters (particularly male) getting pissed off with Labour getting distracted on issues like gender balance, rather than focusing on things that are more important.
As someone who’s actually looked into the conference, I do know it was only a small matter compared to the other things which went through (such as the TPPA, KiwiAssure, Housing, etc), but as usual, the media picked up on that one issue and spun it out of proportion.
I don’t believe that this will affect Labour by much in the long term, and I’m glad the issue has been dealt with now rather than coming up in election year (though there still is a possibility of the media raising it again). Once more important issues spring up, I’m sure that will change.
It’s good to see that some of the more controversial policies (particularly the socially liberal ones) are being sidelined for now. Labour needs to be focused on it’s core policies, particularly supporting workers, if it’s to win the next election. If it’s seen to be too focused on other issues, the non-voters they’re trying to attract will not vote for them (nor even the swing voters).
PS: I should have said it’s only 5 of the sample – the bigger the sample, the more likely to be representative. Such a small number of people are a lot to hinge evidence of significant change on.
For sure. It’s the 10% jump in male support for National with 5.5% loss in male support for Labour which are the truly significant results.
You might also say that the absolute lack of additional support from women for Labour (actually it’s a drop but within the margin of error) is also a significant result.
Again, it seems a bit sudden to me to be taken too seriously, Because, overall, while there may be that gender shift, overall the relative support for each party hasn’t changed that much.
Not necessarily, it’s probably more that the issue has been really spun up by the media. The previous policy, which allowed electorate seats to become “female-only”, is the one which a lot of people didn’t like (understandably too. I agree that it’s a rather bad idea).
This one only places a quota on female candidates on the list (which is already at around 41%), though it’s been spun to be exactly the same as the previous policy.
A question for Karol, in brief what did you learn from the Labour Party conference that you agreed with to a point you ‘might’ vote for that Party besides the ‘gender equality’ of the party’s Parliamentary wing set down to be the norm into the future…
I think aiming for a reasonable gender equality is good. Quotas have their place, but I’m more interested in seeing a shift away from the dominance of masculine values/culture in the Labour Party and it’s priorities. And, related to that, I’d like to see more positive support for beneficiaries and those struggling on low incomes (women over-represented in that section of society).
– they are missing a policy to increase state housing, community housing and safe and affordable rentals.More needed on regaining state assets.
I agree with their focus on regional development, employment legislation that improves the lot of workers, supporting NZ enterprises and investments in NZ, R&D…. some other stuff I can’t think of right now … oh, pleased to see no guarantees on Sky City compensation. Pleased to see Cunliffe unhappy on the leaked wikileaks TPP info. Glad to see they will do away with Charter schools.
Would like a slightly stronger guarantee on repealing GCSB legislation. Mostly OK with them on education – would like to see stronger policies to return to ACC as was meant, and the health system. And would like to see re-strengthening local authorities as community entities.
PS; Will still vote Green on the stuff at the top of this list.
The jump in the Green Party vote and the dip in the Labour Party vote say that except for the core of the Party ‘Nothing’ of any import came out of the Labour Conference,
A ‘RED” Labour Party with David Cunliffe as the Leader???lets paint the town, but there wont be any more bread nor butter on the table afterwards, that’s what i gather from the recent Conference, and ‘Nothing’ delivered in a gender balanced way still equates for those most in need to ‘Nothing’…
Personally I think calling what Labour are aiming for a “quota” is a bit overstating it.
The man ban in electorates definitely would be a quota. But they aren’t aiming for that (as far as I know? haven’t followed this closely so could be wrong), they’ve just set aims for where they want their MP balance to be, which can be pretty easily achieved in the list rankings I would have thought, without it being a ‘quota’.
Yes. I agree. The aim was for a reasonable gender balance, but quotas weren’t talked about as some strict option. Also, i didn’t think it got so much media attention, especially negative media attention, for it to have had a significant influence on voting preferences.
To be clear, the “reasonable gender balance” you mention is the capping of likely male participation in caucus by 2017 at a maximum of 50%, with no similar limit placed on the likely proportion of women in caucus.
if the wording were reversed to limit female participation in caucus, I would regard it as a clearly sexist and gender unbalanced rule.
Surely they have made a policy to aim for 50% female representation in parliament. By stating an aim it behooves them to actually do stuff to achieve it. THAT is the point, imo.
Unlike the Nats and supporters like BM who like to believe that everyone is equal now and the “best person” already has the job and so nothing is required to even up representation.
more accurately, the policy is minimum 50% female participation and maximum 50% male participation in caucus. If the wording were reversed, I would say that the wording was sexist and inequitable.
The Chilean people endured much after the Pinochet coup in 1973, and they fought long to regain some democratic rights, which are still compromised by the powers in control, that favour such as present President Pinera, a major shareholder in Lan Chile airlines and one of the richest “pricks” in Latin America, who has his mates manipulate the population and system to serve their interests.
Time to be alert and realise the same happens in NZ, like under John Key, the rich one that got there with connections and working the Wall Street and allied systems. Same as Pinera, and they are both “mates”, by the way!
Stop the rot and shit to spread, take em on and challenge the rotten capitalist self serving bastards NOW!
I am trying again, with useless NZ internet services making my connection crash just before. This is what maybe should rather go on weekend social, but I present it today anyway. This is some choice Chilean music, that may be a bit “old” for some, but it is for that reason top and class A:
The Chilean people endured a lot after the Pinochet led coup in 1973, and it took a long time to regain some basic democratic rights. Still now those rights are compromised by their capitalist system, which favours persons like their present president Pinera, who is a major share holder in Lan Chile, and one of the richest persons in Latin America.
By the way, John Key is on great mates terms with him as they seem to be having similar “connections”. So Key and Pinera represent the Chicago Boy winners, those that gained from radical market “reforms” that we also saw under Roger Douglas here, but that left many behind.
Let us not forget what all this is about, it is an attempted dictatorial rule of the rich and their mates against the rest of us. The sooner the mostly docile Kiwis realise this and wake up, and take a stand, the sooner we may have a fairer society. Best wishes for tonight, X
Where did El presidente get his fortune? The megarich in Brazil got theirs through a trough filled by the military government, then filthy privatisations by the PSDB (Social democratic party of Brazil, which is like ACT with extra corruption thrown in).
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The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
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Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
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The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Breaking: Wiki Leaks Publishes Part Of The Secret TPP Proposals!!!
Happy analyzing!
..thanks travellerev….can someone please translate this into simple English easily understood by non lawyers?
…on a cursory glance it looks a complex legal cunning predatory spiders nest web….. to deny NZers freedom of thought, intellectual rights, entrepreneurship and business…as well as forcing policing /spying on them by their internet providers
….the TPP definitely should NOT be signed!!…we will all become moron zombies imo…( or bigger moron zombies than we already are..speaking for myself)
NZ Herald takes a pitch at it. Maybe our negotiators are showing some good backbone?
Or if I were to be more cynical – is this leak part of a PR softening up campaign?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11156737
thanx CV
I’m not sure wikileaks is in the business of providing PR cover for multinational trade talks.
The Herald gets leaked the TPP secret chapters by Wikileaks
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11156737
..then realises it has to explain what the TPP is to its readers as it has signally failed to tell them about the deal for the past 2 years.
Beginner’s guide: What is the TPP? – National – NZ Herald News http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11157100
The fact that it is giving its readers a beginners’ guide says so much about how poorly the paper has kept us informed. Indeed, if Wikileaks hadn’t actually sent the Herald the secret chapter, you wonder if the paper would have bothered.
puke-inducing politicians..
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/it-was-hard-to-stomach-david-cameron-preaching-austerity-from-a-golden-throne-comment-ed-and-what-makes-me-gag-here/
and the corporate-media whores who ‘service’ them..
phillip ure..
Not even that lady with the plum in her mouth was so blatant….
A nice write up on the election next year:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/future-of-nz-celebrating-the-new-zealand-herald-150-years/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503557&objectid=11156358
Why did you like it? To me it looks facile. Of course lots of people decide who they will vote for before the election campaign – that’s everyone who isn’t a swing voter. I know who I will be voting for now. If she had crunched the actual numbers on those percentages I’d be more interested.
She thinks that Labour have to get votes from the GP. Good grief, how long until people understand what MMP is. Taking votes from the GP won’t make Labour any more likely to form govt. While I think there will be inevitable vote shifting between the two parties next year depending on how they campaign, the votes that Labour need are going to come from the 800,000 who didn’t vote last time, and probably from NACT and NZF.
From Claire Robinson, Nat cheerleader?
I knew Claire in a former job. She is not a bad person, but she is, without a doubt, the most unimaginative empathy-less mediocre plodder you could ever hope to avoid.
for starters shes her prediction of a nat lead coalition relies on a few less than certain outcomes
1) the nats retaining or gaining seats
2) dunne and act both getting backin
3) or colin craig getting in
which are all pretty damn big assumptions
so nah – its a pretty weak write up
Hopefully for dunney it will be a long drop. There was an item on ventriloquist dummies recently and his head would make for a great political lampoon. Actually a piece of art installation would be to have his head with a light bulb aloft under a shade and label it ‘Politcal Lampoon’.
Despite all the moral concern and outrage expressed on ‘the standard’ about….
1) young girls and alcohol…alcohol use/abuse…drunkenness in general by young New Zealanders
2) teenage boy sex gang Roast Busters and rape and sexual abuse of underage girls….
3)..patriarchy, sexism and abuse of women in general
4.)JT and Willy ‘s insensitive interviewing of a young abuse victim….and their subsequent suspension from radioLive ( much to the outrage of my teenage son!..ha ha)
5)how NZ parents are not being responsible and bringing up children properly
6)the Auckland (Catholic family man) Mayor Len Brown’s sex scandal…two years of frolicking and cavorting conducted on Council sacred property and at Sky City gambling casino with a young Asian whose sympathies were actually with the other side and who was working with the other side
7)the Auckland police and their cynicism, ineptitude or worse…..
….nothing has been said about the building of Aucklands 15 story meg-brothel (opposite the Sky Tower) ….why?….I would like to hear reasons why , because this has the potential to really embed sexual abuse of NZ girls and women…. in the very heart of Auckland City forever
…to me , this Capitalist enterprise allowed by Len’s Auckland Council is a far greater crime than working class male JTs and Willy’s misdemeanors…which have received a lot of noise from the Left and a sound smacking…lets get real here
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1211/S00185/auckland-mega-brothel-hearings-labeled-a-sham.htm
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11134209
Out of curiosity, what is your objection to the brothel, and how do you connect it with sexual abuse of children?
@ weka…barn farming of women for sex and profit is not conducive to respect of women or children…..it creates a climate of objectification for sexual gratification…..abuse of children can lead to prostitution
1)…how many women are coerced into prostitution?…how many women get into prostitution because of child abuse, lack of education, lack of well paid meaningful work….drug addictions?
2) …..as a woman it restricts your freedom of movement….it restricts where you as a woman or child can safely walk in the streets and areas after dark
3.) …it creates a climate of corruption in which ANY woman is fair game…and all women and girls are potential prostitutes… ordinary women run the risk of being regarded as prostitutes …
….i know this personally because i used to work in a union, next door to a brothel and i was accosted on the street and asked “How Much?”……
4..)….any woman or girl is fair game because society condones this behaviour where women are objectified and used….legalising prostitution has not protected prostitutes…. judging by the numbers of prostitute murders in Christchurch since it was legalised
6.) i have no objection to prostitution if it is hidden and a woman runs her own business discretely…and prostitution does not foul certain streets with condoms and needles
The whole point surely was to expose the industry to regulation.
Take alcohol, gunpowder, abortion, and soon recreational drugs, its better to have them in the tent rather out of sight.
I thought the whole push of National was to provide facilities that Asian visitors would expect in NZ when they come for conferences. i.e along side the conference halls, a casino and a big brothel. Its Key’s social conservatism and free market agenda merging. Selling an airline merely makes vertical the whole package so that it can be mostly foriegned own and so profits flow overseas.
an interesting appraisal
You’ve already posted this comment chooky and you were told two days ago that telling the authors what to do is not good form. If you feel that strongly about it, write a guest post.
…what authors?
“Despite all the moral concern and outrage expressed on ‘the standard’ about…
..nothing has been said about the building of Aucklands 15 story meg-brothel (opposite the Sky Tower) ….why?….I would like to hear reasons why ”
edit: http://thestandard.org.nz/policy/
Could be aimed at commenters though.
Indeed, weka, but “the standard” starts with the authors and if commenters were meant, chooky should have said so. Remember, this comment was posted two days ago on open mike and received the same response. Chooky has decided to repost the comment, ignoring the advice given two days ago and choosing not to define the target in the way you suggest.
Fair enough, and on my first reading today I did automatically think ‘authors’ rather than commenters. I didn’t see the thread the other day, just had a look now.
@ Te Reo Putake
eerr ummmh….I did not get a warning from Big Daddy Lprent…nobody gave me a warning …just you now!
….I was not criticising ‘the Standard’ as such …just the orientations of some arguments and perspectives …of which i have been party to myself
…We are not all unquestionable Holy Prophets here I hope …it is a continuing dialogue and dialectic….we can change opinions and question opinions I hope!…or are you suggesting that we can not?
@ weka….commenters and comments are questioned all the time here….
” … nobody gave me a warning ..”
er, no:
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12112013/#comment-726304
Bit subtle that TRP.
Voice, that’s sad bro, weak, like the All Whites defensive tactics.
Weak, muzza? I was pointing out that Chooky was warned, by 3 different commenters. The weakness may be in your head.
You pointed out some words, which did not equal any such thing you claim.
You’re not a mod/enforcer of this site are you ? Or did your guest post (hat tip), elevate your status ?
Is English not your first language, muz? Or is it dyslexia that holds back your comprehension?
No warning there bro, nor anything which you need to busy yourself with!
But you chose to. . .
FFS, do we really have to have a sullen kids fighting in the sandpit derail so early in the day?
Good call, weka.
Weka, run along silly
Voice involved himself , I then chose to do the same as a counter to his comments which I found to be out of place, now you’re in on it too.
I’ll leave the pseudo moderation and sense of self importance to you non mods.
🙂 (at TRP)
You just carry on muzza, doing whatever you want irrespective of how it affects other people.
thnax for the support Muzza( bro?)….unfortanately I had to dash away after my comments…(some of us cant sit at the computer arguing all day)
1)….interesting that no one has really addressed the arguments I made above about the mega brothel in the heart of Auckland ( are we heading for a Bangkok of the South Pacific?)…the arguments I made strike me as being inherently feminist and working class arguments against capitalist farming women for sex and profit ..(.cf farming cows for milk and profit )…. for fucks sake women should be in charge of their own work , means of production, money making business …if that is the way they choose to go…I am sure Marx would agree)
2)….interesting too that Te Reo Putake has taken such exception to what I say and wants to shut me up ( 3 different commenters have warned me apparently …ha ha……well i am not sure who they are either.. )
…although Bill Drees once before told me to get off ‘the standard’…. .indicating I was not up to standard so to speak….and he keeps saying William Massey …would “smile” at me from his grave and “loves” me….not sure why…and whether this is a compliment?….can someone elucidate muggins me ?
…Actually from the grave ….I am sure my Father would be smiling at me approvingly ….he was at various times during his life a railway worker, truck driver, freezing worker , fisherman and farmer…….and he voted Labour all his life and then the Alliance….. My Mother has always voted Labour…I have voted Labour( even worked for Labour) , NZF, Green …and increasingly Mana is looking attractive
Which way do you vote Muzza?…or is that too intrusive a question?
worst coaching ever. 🙁
‘
The internet is now weaponised . . .
No wonder the Germans are looking to build and Internetz to keep data completely inside Germany
otoh it may be they’ve had this solution looking for a problem for a while and now they might just be seeing a chance to make some money by building on the fear of being spied on.
Brazil too. This could be the start of the fragmentation of the internet…where what you can see and access depends on where you are…
http://www.dw.de/brazil-wants-internet-independence-from-the-us/a-17134352
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/nsa-surveillance-cause-internet-breakup-edward-snowden
https://wikileaks.org/tpp/
So one good thing thats come out is this shows Nationals opposing major parts TPP including fighting for Pharmac
Good eh 🙂
It remains to be seen if the NAct part of National will trample all over the negotiators to get the December agreement. It seems unlikely to work though – there’s far too much dissent now in the U.S. for it to get through congress even if an agreement was reached.
I reckon the people that are going to lose face when it falls over are working out around about now how to frame the news that it’s all been a waste of time and money.
Guy Fawkes Million Mask March
Never saw much coverage of this anywhere…
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/protesters-gather-million-mask-march
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d69cxTSBx7k
And good old RT
http://rt.com/op-edge/million-mask-march-media-436/
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/11/14/iamsomeone-this-friday/
Karol, any chance this could to up as a dedicated post tomorrow, and then standardistas can share in once place on the standard?
Hmmm… have a load of stuff to attend to today and first thing tomorrow. Will look at it later, weka.
Ok, thanks karol. Maybe QoT or Bill or someone could put it up. Might need moderation too though.
http://iamsomeonenz.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1422866911263436/?source=1
https://twitter.com/NZSexism
I hate to point this out, but do the organisers realise that they are just about to compile some sick fucks ultimate beat off material.
Fuck off you complete and utter imbecile.
There seem to be a number of RW trolls that are just making short contentious comments, not adding anything factual or thoughtful. Is this going to be a trend as we come closer to the election? And is there a possibility of time out for them to give someone who cares and thinks more scope to get through the bumf? Cluster flies is an insect name that would fit them. Also there is a big fly, bumble bee like that has a noisy whine that comes to mind.
Agree greywarbler.
Distract and distort seems to be the (Key) intention. Word has gone down the line to follow your leader and start now because the campaign is underway. It’s going to double, treble, quadruple next year and people with something worthy to contribute will become fed up with their comments continuously being misrepresented/distorted and they will go away. It happened on Red Alert and the moderators did nothing for too long. By the time they acted it was too late… many commentators had departed the scene. (Yes, there were other reasons too but that was a significant one.)
Anne
I looked at the posters this morning and many were what seem like RW trolls. I don’t want the discourse to be dominated by RW or rape either. But I want something done to prevent the deterioration of safety for women, and men, too, and thinking how we can set about police improvements.
But Rw trolls are of limited good, ie they can sometimes bring up points that need looking at. But ultimately sincerity of purpose is what is needed. RWs are sincerely uncaring in a concrete mindset. And those two aspects make them barriers to discussion. That’s my observation. We will only get sidetracked in the limited time we have for communication here if we allow these mosquitoes. Have to swat them. When mosquitoes have been at you for a while and you actually get them, they can leave blood marks on the wall! It must not come to that!!
Sick fucks like yourself, King Kong?
Beat it then.
After reading some of the page, I couldn’t handle reading much more, because it makes me ashamed to be a Kiwi male, coming back to the Standard and reading your comment makes me realize how prevalent the attitude in NZ really is. Thank you for your insight into the lower common denominator of a kiwi male mind, you truly did just go full retard.
Make sure you give yourself a bit of a fan with your hanky to stop you from fainting.
You really are a sick individual KK, you must be a Slater.
That’s KK practicing rape culture. That there will be women who have been raped reading this thread, and some of whom will be triggered by what KK wrote, is immaterial to him, because it’s all about him and what he wants.
I wonder why I can’t get on to The Standard page without going through google? Is my old computer too slow perhaps? Any ideas please.
what happens if you click on this link?
http://thestandard.org.nz
Works fine right now. I don’t understand. Is it a time of day thing? Sun spots. Perhaps it’s the planets and satellites casting a shadow on me. Somebody is. I’m being…paranoid.
Intelligence agency “man in the middle” internet attacks mimic other websites
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131004/10522324753/
Grey, when you said before that you could only access via google, what else did you try? eg where you typing the URL in manually? Or using a bookmark? Or what?
Well I had always done it one way and then for a while it has been hard to get in. Not a real clued up type! Anyway what I do is put ‘th; in the address bar, and that brings up a window which includes the standard.org/home and I click on that. I don’t know if it gets up quicker if it doesn’t have home on. Thanks for trying to help weka. I’ll check about the URL.
Interesting, that’s similar to what I do. If I put ‘t’ in the address bar, Firefox fills in thestandard.org.nz/ for me. It might be worth doing it manually for a while to see if you can get rid of the home bit. You could try clearing your history too. Or create a bookmark and use that for a while.
I found a piece in the Dom Post Tues 12/1//13 – a feature on sex assaults and their aftermath by GP Cathy Stephenson and tried to get a digital fix on it. But can’t. There are listings for 2012 on her pieces, on google there are listings about calcium intake from past years.
But it is like Stuff don’t want people to have access to anything they published yesterday or yesteryear. They show archives but they don’t give a button to order by date or anything. So I just record on page A12 – Roast Busters and the frightening truth about sex assaults. Thoughtful info is needed.
This heading opens up some items Cathy Stephenson sex assaults Dominion Post 12/11/2013
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/editorials/9396514/Editorial-Busting-the-myth-around-sex-abuse
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/editorials/9369957/Editorial-Police-should-have-stopped-Roast-Busters
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/editorials/9375332/Editorial-Police-risk-loss-of-faith
Especially when I read the heading for this – http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9397461/Rape-victim-could-have-closed-legs-says-lawyer
I think our hospitals DHBs and health system are hotting up for some torrid arguments pre election. They are severely under stress. Comment has had it that Tony Ryall has done a good job of keeping the lid on everything. But for how long.
Here’s a bit already http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wairarapa/9398137/Loss-of-chairman-dismays-board
yes, hips and knees are on the chopping board at our DHB (and the inside line is that there are stealthy cuts being carried out on all limbs.). Furthermore, few GPs are willing to offer after hours service, resulting in ED being loaded with less acute patients. One suggestion is to place a GP at ED but the sawbones are dragging their brogues on that one, so far.
I don’t know how many sawbones get into the decision making process. Local health board seems to have the long-term people with nice faces, and a little understanding of health, and a steady hand on the wheel re-elected. Not inspiring if looking for people to cut through the daily agenda to get a periscope view of direction and method of getting somewhere.
So is there anyone on here that thinks Clare Curran should still be in parliament?
– “Ms Curran’s comments about both my production company and me are untrue and have damaged my professional reputation both presently and in the future. The statements made in the House could well have adversely affected both my application for the Chief Executive position at Māori Television, and also if I choose to apply for any job in the public sector in the future.
For the record, my primary reason for leaving Television New Zealand was that I was satisfied with what I had achieved during my tenure as the General Manager of Māori and Pacific Programmes, and I was also confident that the Māori and Pacific department would be retained in the future and remain under the auspices of Television New Zealand.
I left with a reference from the Head of News and Current Affairs at Television New Zealand. Additionally, I reject the suggestion that the Chairperson of Māori Television would have acted inappropriately in dealing with the shortlisting process. More likely the reason for my shortlisting was that I have twenty-six years of experience in the television industry, having served in various senior roles, and am one of a handful of people with the senior management experience to fill the role of Chief Executive of Māori Television. Ms Curran’s statement in relation to Te Māngai Pāho is also untrue as Te Māngai Pāho has confirmed that I have no current debt to it.”
thx 4 yr cncrn
“So is there anyone on here that thinks Clare Curran should still be in parliament?”
i doubt it
Didn’t think so
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/9398726/Cook-Strait-ferry-terminal-Ferry-stays-in-Picton
One NACT disaster and costly mistake averted. Probably only an Act of God brought about the necessary cogitation. May lightning strike twice??? Please.
However Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee this morning rejected the idea, saying after more analysis it was found that initial estimates of moving the port were off the mark….
Cost savings to ferry operators from a move to Clifford Bay were significantly below the levels estimated in 2012.
Cabinet papers on the decision released this morning showed the Clifford Bay investigation had found the Cook Strait passenger market had declined significantly in recent years and was expected to show little if any growth.
The study pointed to increased competition from air travel and changes in travel patterns of international visitors to New Zealand. Since the decision to further investigate the possibility of a move to Clifford Bay in early November 2012 about $1.1m had been spent on the investigation.
Soon however the rising air travel costs could improve numbers using ferry transport. And perhaps some smart customer building moves by rail like Air NZ uses, introducing incentives, reduced costs for return tickets, bring a friend half-price, spot free tickets, complimentary bag of peanuts for monkeys, etc. could make cost benefit ratios of having Picton remain as The Port with improvements, soar. My modest a/c for scenario will follow directly! Who to send it to though? I’m rough round the edges but going for less than a school commissioner @ $100ph.
let’s split the fee.
I’ll lick my half of the ice cream and then send you yours.
airmail will be fine. Ask for sprinkles.
Can’t resist. I recommend you go for your i.c. to the two Ronnies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsvFd7N6I1c
“knicker-bocker glory greengage jelly marmalade. 😀 ( and I loved Eric Morecambe, wonderful).
The government wanted it to be privately built, owned and operated, where by the Picton terminal is owned and operated by the Marlborough District Council owned Port Marlbourogh. A victory for public ownership.
Jami-Lee Rossisname fella.
Alleged rising star and Key favourite.
Can’t even get a member’s bill passed while in govt. Hopeless.
Jammy Jami baby. Grate.
Midday Snooze
New Salvation Army report finds that 1/3 of New Zealanders continue to struggle finding affordable, secure housing, particularly the young, and low-income Baby Boomers (this sector acknowledged as under-served by Nick Smith), while critics of this government say HNZ is not housing enough people and continue making eligibility more difficult.
however, immunisation levels among maori, pacific, hard-to-reach and in-difficult-circumstances children have improved remarkably , thanks to predominantly general practice primary nurses.
I can’t wait to read the report. I listened to a discussion on RNZ just after 9 am on nine to noon this morning.
Housing stock has shrunk and less people are being housed by HNZ. Affordable housing does not seem to be a priority for this government; this is disgraceful.
am very disturbed to listen to the news this a.m. and hear that the national chumps lost a vote in the house last night to amend the employments contracts act and to know that it was never featured here.
Is this just wonk politics on the standard.
How about some real instead of the trademe opinions type drivel.
What?
Hook is talking of the Jamie Lee Ross private members bill that would have allowed ‘Scab Labour’ to be brought in by employers during strikes,
Those who voted for what Labour’s Andrew Little called ‘a piece of Fascist Legislation’ were:
National/ACT 60,
Those against,
Labour,Green,NZFirt,Mana,Maori, UF 60,
The tie in the voting meant that the bill could not proceed, a well deserved slap in the face for Ross…
Thanks bad. I gathered that, I was just accentuating the nonsensical style of hook’s comment (along with the criticism of the being that is the standard).
Time to sling your hook perhaps, it is the Employment Relations Act, Jami-Lee Ross, was trying to repeal the section of the ERA that prohibits replacement labour (aka dirty filthy scabs) being engaged by an employer during a strike or lockout. National did not get the numbers.
Think I agree re the Trade Me style drivel but King ‘meathead’ Kong keeps at it.
you could have written it up yourself, posted it here or submitted it as a guest post.
“..Cows Are The Root Of All Evil, And We’re Too Hungry To Care..
When put into perspective – it all makes sense:
The rapid depletion of our resources – the assault on our bodily health – the bombardment of our olfactory senses – the planet-destroying flatulence –
– cows must be hell-bent on our ultimate destruction.
Or at the very least – they want us out of the way to make room for the arrival of their alien overlords.
Either way – cows are the root of all evil.
Let’s review the facts..”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/13/cows-evil_n_4220482.html
phillip ure..
Sounds very Gary Larson philip u.
Give me the shotgun Martha – I’ll blast ’em.
The country folk know how to deal with their chickens being sucked up by spaceships – ‘Theer go them dem aliens stealing our chickens agin’. Cows and farts will get dealt to summarily.
I sometimes read the Reader report area on Stuff. It is real, often sad, and shows (I think and hope) real people dealing with the stuff they have to deal with, pretty well like the rest of us.
I read this one and saw this
Is that true and why would it be like that? I just don’t get it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/assignments/blackspots-the-real-toll-of-nzs-roads/9394973/Blackspots-Losing-our-only-son
I fail to see why there is any need for a list of children to appear on someone’s death certificate. The purpose of a death certificate is as an official record of someone’s death, so it is obviously important that the individual is clearly identified, by their date and place of birth, and details of their parents. The fact that a list of children do not appear on an official document issued by the government does not mean that they do not exist, it just means they are not thought to be important for the purposes of that document. You can still go ahead and list them in your memoirs or gravestone or whatever, and of course they still exist in the most important place – in our memories and the memories of others who knew them.
wtl I like your recipe, just needs a twist of lemon. And your pseudo could do with a twist too – what about wtf.
I wasn’t aware children, living or deceased, appeared on the parent’s death certificate.
I can see why living might be included, as a quick next-of-kin reference, but then why them but not siblings, grandkids/etc? Seems a bit arbitrary.
Sad story though – good reminder that the road toll is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to victims of accidents.
the roads are are freakin’ dangerous places National want more of.
Very dangerous places indeed.
Sure re the death cert thingy but if they are putting children on then children that have died are still their children – but really just sad all around.
They’re aren’t, as far as I know. I was just pointing out that although the bereaved parents in the Stuff article would like them to be, it isn’t really necessary.
Jonathan Coleman has just lied to Parliament. Straight out, blatant lie … claiming he doesn’t know who was Prime Minister in 2009.
No, I am not making this up (but Coleman was …).
At least the Labour/Green/Winston team were onto it today. Better.
Privileges committee?
To any oppostion MPs reading – is it time for a smart protest?
Smart doesn’t mean losing temper and huffy walkout – that only backfires.
Smart means e.g. EVERY question is the same – “Who was PM in 2009”? Continue until answered.
(oh and to Wayne Mapp, who likes to talk about decent behaviour on here … tell us how proud you are of Coleman. Go on).
“Does PM have confidence in Coleman?” etc. etc.
Table photos of suicide bomber victims, a hundred times. Change the game plan.
Come on guys, brainstorm, pick a novel idea and go for it. Parlaament is already held in contempt.
Might still be a couple of spare desks in the leaders office…
Yes there is. They fired Jenny Michie (can’t remember what it was. Homophobia or racism, one of the two) and apparently I have heard they are about to cut ties with some Asian goofball…oops
Yeah, Curran is still working on that one.
Really? Why don’t you just “Shearer” her. It worked once it can work again.
I wonder what makes someone want to publicly present themselves as a delusional oversized monkey? The right wing sure have some high calibre support……I guess that’s the best they can achieve…
Probably the same reason that someone would present themselves as a non existent cat or a spaceship from a sci fi series or…
Didn’t really think that pot shot through, did you?
..not a delusional cat or spaceship though
and no, your response was terribly predictable…
I would be happy if you got banned for a while from your comments on this open mike.
Lift your game delusional monkey-brainless one.
Check out comment 22 below. Wise words I thought
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/future-of-nz-celebrating-the-new-zealand-herald-150-years/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503557&objectid=11156358
– A well reasoned and thought out article
no, it’s not
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14112013/#comment-727744
“- A well reasoned and thought out article”
I assume you were being sarcastic.
You can put a virtual banner on a virtual beach to in support of the 23 November demonstration against deep-oil sea drilling.
There are some pretty amusing banners
…its not letting me edit: ‘to support the demonstration’ (corrected from ‘in to support…’)
“I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. ”
John Stuart Mill, in a Parliamentary debate with the Conservative MP, John Pakington (May 31, 1866);
‘
R . E . T . R . O . S . P . E . C . T . I . V . E .!!!111!!! legislation designed to punish those who held their elected representatives to account.
MAN WINS LOTTO THROUGH HARD WORK, GOOD LOOKS
Today, it was announced by the Ministry of Fair Goes that a man has become rich through winning Lotto.
“We are particularly proud that a man has won millions of dollars by buying a Lotto ticket and that he looks good on television”, said a spokespeoploid, Camille Simulacrum today.
The winner, Brian Noman, who has stunning blonde hair that doesn’t look like a wig at all and a fantastic moustache modelled on those of porn stars, said, “It was a hard selecting each number, but I was able to struggle through adversity to reach my goal of filling out my card. I know that life is a gamble, but I am absolutely delighted that random chance recognised the inherent excellence of my choices and rewarded me as I deserve.”
Edna Wibble, speaking for the Ministry of Fair Goes announced that this once again demonstrates the fairness of the market. “Random chance always reveals deserving talent, as my own relationship with the minister enabled my talent to be recognised.”
Pry Minshuh, Jun Kee, is said to be relashed.
Mr Noman is 93.
+1 😈
Awesome.
Surprise, surprise (not): Susan Baldacci hasn’t read Orwell;
And Steve McCabe dishes out a scolding to Jim Mora
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Thursday 14 November 2013
Jim Mora, Vicky Hyde, Steve McCabe
Most of the pre-show today was uneventful. But then this awkward little exposé occurred….
JIM MORA: All right, what else have you got?
SUSAN BALDACCI: Well, the Conservative Party has attempted to delete all its speeches and press releases online from the past ten years, including one in which David Cameron promises to use the internet to make politicians “more accountable”.
MORA: Oh yes? Ha ha ha ha!
SUSAN BALDACCI: They have deleted the backlog of speeches from the party’s main website and from the Internet Archive between 2000 and May 2010. [1]
STEVE McCABE: That was Winston Smith’s job!
…..[Awkward, confused silence]…..
STEVE McCABE: In Nineteen Eighty-Four.
…..[More bewildered silence]…..
SUSAN BALDACCI: Oooooooh. Spooky. I’m sure they won’t be able to get away with this, though….
The advent of the 4 o’clock time signal saved Ms. Baldacci from any further mortification. After the news, the first discussion was about the Government’s decision to keep the inter-island ferry terminal at Picton, and not to move it to Clifford Bay. The expert “talent” brought on to the Panel is, as so often, another regular Panelist—in this case Bernard Hickey, the owner of the interest.com website. Hickey spoke wistfully of how the Chinese regime just goes ahead and builds whatever it wants, and worries about cleaning up the mess afterwards. This admiration for Chinese dictatorship, and the impatience with democracy, is a common theme with business and right wing politicians, as is what Jim Mora had to say: something inane and approving about the way Margaret Thatcher got things done.
Vicky Hyde and Steve McCabe let Hickey’s expression of support for Chinese dictatorship go unchallenged, but the Manchester-raised McCabe was clearly irritated by Mora’s advocacy of Pol Pot’s and Pinochet’s English girlfriend [2]….
STEVE McCABE: Jim, you mentioned Margaret Thatcher. I think that is unwise, especially when talking to someone like me from the north of England. Her attacks on public life were ideologically based; her decisions to sell off and privatize public assets was not based on rigorous analysis, it was ideologically driven.
MORA: Well, that’s quite enough about Clifford Bay for today….
And that was that. Mora refused to engage in discussion, and another chance for interesting debate was stymied. The decline of this program seems to be terminal.
[1] http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/521988/20131113/conservative-party-delete-speeches-internet-remove-tory.htm
[2] http://www.globalresearch.ca/how-thatcher-helped-pol-pot
Imperator Fish recommends replacing Mora with JT and WJ, in short.
That’s very interesting, considering that Imperator Fish is himself a regular guest on the Panel.
Willie and JT leaving Radio Vile’s early afternoon slot to move to The Panel would increase the IQ level of both programs.
Iain Lees-Galloway’s Private Member’s Bill the ‘Electoral (Adjustment of Thresholds) Amendment Bill’ has been drawn from the ballot. Timely.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9400901/Electoral-threshold-bill-drawn
Groovy
Very
Don’t see a problem with Key helping the conservatives over the line.
Not that they’ll probably need it because they’ll be polling over 5% at the next election.
If you vote National, might be a good idea to slip your party vote the conservatives way.
Goodbye evolution from our schools then.
Roy Morgan out, Nats edge ahead, sort of.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5299-new-zealand-voting-intention-november-14-201311140325
NZF on 5% still in the box seat, Crazy Craig drops to bugger all.
That’s pretty much the immediate political result I expected from the gender quota stuff: men didn’t like it and women didn’t care for it.
How do they know that was the reason for a very slight, margin of error shift?
When I said “women don’t care for it” I mean that there was zero increase in support from women for Labour which would have been nice to offset the large (well above margin of error) drop in male support for Labour.
Also it appears that previously “don’t know” males have now swung strongly to National.
This largely skewers Lynn’s contention that polls lag political events by 4-6 weeks.
Lynn still might be correct. It is only an assumption by RM based on circumstantial evidence.
True, unless they actually asked why they were voting for the party or if they had changed their vote, we can’t know for sure.
But it is pretty compelling.
From memory the quota stuff was coming out again in the MSM about 4-6 weeks ago. It was in the briefing docs available on web about then for the upcoming conference.
FFS.. This is about shifting from 41% of the caucus to 45% this election and to 50% in 2016. It isn’t the frigging National party where they tend to drag any half trained woman in (Tolley, Wilkinson, Collins etc – and those are the known ones) and drop them way past their skills. Bennett is merely a skilled arsehole – which tends to make her fit in pretty well.
But the attrition rate amongst National’s women is why they remain trying to get above a quarter of the caucus being XX. It isn’t that they don’t have competent women to call upon (I know quite a few who lean right). It is simply that National are the worst party to be a women in. Even NZ First is better and that is one boys club…
BTW: figure it out the way I tend to. We get a poll result now. They finished collecting data about a week ago. The sample period is usually about 2 weeks. If something happens during that two weeks the effect is diluted. It takes a few weeks for most things to circulate quite a bit anyway..
It isn’t that it takes 4-6 weeks to penetrate. It is that it takes at least 3 weeks for the results to process.
They seem to have asked a supplementary question, Karol:
“New Zealand men now clearly favour National (50.5%, up 10%) over Labour (29%, down 5.5%) while female support was down for both of the major parties – National (41%, down 2.5%) and Labour (35%, down 2%).”
That’s not a question about Labour’s policy.
That just looks like a gender breakdown of party preferences – ie a question would have been: “Are you male or female?” And that would have been correlated with party preference.
Its not a correlation. A correlation is an inference between two variables. What we have here is the direct statistic. Male support for Labour fell significantly while male support for National increased by a quarter.
In light of the nationwide conversation about misogyny in the past week, what does RM’s headline tell us?
National Party (45.5%) now ahead of Labour/ Greens (44.5%) as Labour’s new policy on female representation drives men to support National and away from Labour
(I haven’t looked yet, but I am assuming that RM made that up that rather than polling a question on Labour policy)
Edit: just seen CV’s comment above. A few RM assumptions in there. How do they know that there is a direct transfer of vote from Labour to National? Do they ask that in the poll?
Some of the male vote going to National will be from previously undecided men who were on the sidelines and have now decided against voting Labour. Others will be from Labour’s male vote walking and dropping from 34.5% to 29.0%
NAT increase from 40.5% of men to 50.5% of men in one poll is massively over the margin of error and indicates a substantial and rapid shift in support, with zero corresponding increase in support for Labour by females.
“NAT increase from 40.5% of men to 50.5% of men in one poll is massively over the margin of error”
And what does this tell us at a time where Labour is being asked to stay true to its values?
btw, “If a National Election were held now the latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows that the result would be too close to call.”
Asked by whom exactly?
Indeed. Going from a clear win for LAB/GR to too close to call in a very short timeframe.
Without the shift in male support, the NATs would have barely made 40.0%.
Ah well.
Greens are very happy with their rise to 12.5%
I’d wait and see the longer term impact re gender policies on Labour.
But really, the Nats always have been the menz party, IMO.
Labour = labia party so I guess it all equals out.
BM
That remark is beneath you. And beneath this blog. We only make fun of pricks here,
Because they are more obvious and there are a considerable number that are stand outs for being named. Leave the ladies alone BM.
Nonsense, I believe in complete equality.
Everyone will be equally insulted, regardless of their private parts,
Labia are fabulous, hardly an insult.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/90/218481448_a55e8618bd_o.jpg
Sexy
Really? Consider the working class men and the massive unions which Labour was built on. But National will be quite happy for you to see them in that way today.
Man ban doesn’t go down well with the lads.
Color me surprised.
I was surprised that women didn’t swing support behind Labour for the policy at all.
Women aren’t that one dimensional.
I’m surprised there would be a significant shift on the basis of that gender remit. Seems relatively insignificant with all the other stuff going on.
It’s all about issues that people can relate to.
Politics 101.
Well, if guys are shifted in their views by that issue…. then they are as much the problem as the Labour Party. It means any attempt to be more equal meets with their resistance.
Don’t forget Karol that in politics the truism is the same as retail business: The customer (voter) is always right.
If Labour has lost support because of their equality quota then they need to consider whether they wish to continue with the quota and risk losing that support permanently.
Jimmie, that is not how I see politics. To me your prescription is very much of the neoliberal era.
For me it’s about principles and related policies. Tell me what you stand for, and I’ll decide whether or not to vote for you. If the people standing don’t get my vote, I’ll be putting on pressure for different people.
What you are talking about is the professionalisation of politics. And it’s become so insincere, treated like a game (too much poll watching), and like a marketable “business” (or brand), that many have lost interest.
I say, bring back a bit of conviction politics. Sometimes politicians should lead on principle, and then do their best to convince the public why they should vote for the principles.
i hate to agree with BM, but for different reasons i think for once ‘it’ is correct…
I think it’s not so much to do with the policy itself, more to do with voters (particularly male) getting pissed off with Labour getting distracted on issues like gender balance, rather than focusing on things that are more important.
As someone who’s actually looked into the conference, I do know it was only a small matter compared to the other things which went through (such as the TPPA, KiwiAssure, Housing, etc), but as usual, the media picked up on that one issue and spun it out of proportion.
I don’t believe that this will affect Labour by much in the long term, and I’m glad the issue has been dealt with now rather than coming up in election year (though there still is a possibility of the media raising it again). Once more important issues spring up, I’m sure that will change.
It’s good to see that some of the more controversial policies (particularly the socially liberal ones) are being sidelined for now. Labour needs to be focused on it’s core policies, particularly supporting workers, if it’s to win the next election. If it’s seen to be too focused on other issues, the non-voters they’re trying to attract will not vote for them (nor even the swing voters).
The shift in undecided vote to decided was only 0.5% – is that about 5 votes?
I really think there’s a load of male hysteria here – being led and whipped up by RM.
Let’s see what happens in the next couple of polls.
Question karol:
5,000 people left the hall, while 4,995 people arrived.
Did only 5 people move?
Eh? 5 people seem to have appeared from nowhere.
Is it the same 5 people?
PS: I should have said it’s only 5 of the sample – the bigger the sample, the more likely to be representative. Such a small number of people are a lot to hinge evidence of significant change on.
For sure. It’s the 10% jump in male support for National with 5.5% loss in male support for Labour which are the truly significant results.
You might also say that the absolute lack of additional support from women for Labour (actually it’s a drop but within the margin of error) is also a significant result.
Again, it seems a bit sudden to me to be taken too seriously, Because, overall, while there may be that gender shift, overall the relative support for each party hasn’t changed that much.
Absolutely. Of course, it only takes a couple of percent in MMP to go from a “clear win” to “too close to call.”
But isn’t the overall shift still within the margin of error?
That’s really a fascinating comment.
Its an interesting poll coming from roy morgan, its almost as if voters don’t like gender quotas but that can’t be right
Not necessarily, it’s probably more that the issue has been really spun up by the media. The previous policy, which allowed electorate seats to become “female-only”, is the one which a lot of people didn’t like (understandably too. I agree that it’s a rather bad idea).
This one only places a quota on female candidates on the list (which is already at around 41%), though it’s been spun to be exactly the same as the previous policy.
A question for Karol, in brief what did you learn from the Labour Party conference that you agreed with to a point you ‘might’ vote for that Party besides the ‘gender equality’ of the party’s Parliamentary wing set down to be the norm into the future…
I think aiming for a reasonable gender equality is good. Quotas have their place, but I’m more interested in seeing a shift away from the dominance of masculine values/culture in the Labour Party and it’s priorities. And, related to that, I’d like to see more positive support for beneficiaries and those struggling on low incomes (women over-represented in that section of society).
– they are missing a policy to increase state housing, community housing and safe and affordable rentals.More needed on regaining state assets.
I agree with their focus on regional development, employment legislation that improves the lot of workers, supporting NZ enterprises and investments in NZ, R&D…. some other stuff I can’t think of right now … oh, pleased to see no guarantees on Sky City compensation. Pleased to see Cunliffe unhappy on the leaked wikileaks TPP info. Glad to see they will do away with Charter schools.
Would like a slightly stronger guarantee on repealing GCSB legislation. Mostly OK with them on education – would like to see stronger policies to return to ACC as was meant, and the health system. And would like to see re-strengthening local authorities as community entities.
PS; Will still vote Green on the stuff at the top of this list.
The jump in the Green Party vote and the dip in the Labour Party vote say that except for the core of the Party ‘Nothing’ of any import came out of the Labour Conference,
A ‘RED” Labour Party with David Cunliffe as the Leader???lets paint the town, but there wont be any more bread nor butter on the table afterwards, that’s what i gather from the recent Conference, and ‘Nothing’ delivered in a gender balanced way still equates for those most in need to ‘Nothing’…
Personally I think calling what Labour are aiming for a “quota” is a bit overstating it.
The man ban in electorates definitely would be a quota. But they aren’t aiming for that (as far as I know? haven’t followed this closely so could be wrong), they’ve just set aims for where they want their MP balance to be, which can be pretty easily achieved in the list rankings I would have thought, without it being a ‘quota’.
Yes. I agree. The aim was for a reasonable gender balance, but quotas weren’t talked about as some strict option. Also, i didn’t think it got so much media attention, especially negative media attention, for it to have had a significant influence on voting preferences.
To be clear, the “reasonable gender balance” you mention is the capping of likely male participation in caucus by 2017 at a maximum of 50%, with no similar limit placed on the likely proportion of women in caucus.
if the wording were reversed to limit female participation in caucus, I would regard it as a clearly sexist and gender unbalanced rule.
Surely they have made a policy to aim for 50% female representation in parliament. By stating an aim it behooves them to actually do stuff to achieve it. THAT is the point, imo.
Unlike the Nats and supporters like BM who like to believe that everyone is equal now and the “best person” already has the job and so nothing is required to even up representation.
more accurately, the policy is minimum 50% female participation and maximum 50% male participation in caucus. If the wording were reversed, I would say that the wording was sexist and inequitable.
This should perhaps really go onto weekend social, but I wish to present links to some excellent musica Chilena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpf4zCPbpvY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsdYs2qE7hA
The Chilean people endured much after the Pinochet coup in 1973, and they fought long to regain some democratic rights, which are still compromised by the powers in control, that favour such as present President Pinera, a major shareholder in Lan Chile airlines and one of the richest “pricks” in Latin America, who has his mates manipulate the population and system to serve their interests.
Time to be alert and realise the same happens in NZ, like under John Key, the rich one that got there with connections and working the Wall Street and allied systems. Same as Pinera, and they are both “mates”, by the way!
Stop the rot and shit to spread, take em on and challenge the rotten capitalist self serving bastards NOW!
I am trying again, with useless NZ internet services making my connection crash just before. This is what maybe should rather go on weekend social, but I present it today anyway. This is some choice Chilean music, that may be a bit “old” for some, but it is for that reason top and class A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpf4zCPbpvY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsdYs2qE7hA
The Chilean people endured a lot after the Pinochet led coup in 1973, and it took a long time to regain some basic democratic rights. Still now those rights are compromised by their capitalist system, which favours persons like their present president Pinera, who is a major share holder in Lan Chile, and one of the richest persons in Latin America.
By the way, John Key is on great mates terms with him as they seem to be having similar “connections”. So Key and Pinera represent the Chicago Boy winners, those that gained from radical market “reforms” that we also saw under Roger Douglas here, but that left many behind.
Let us not forget what all this is about, it is an attempted dictatorial rule of the rich and their mates against the rest of us. The sooner the mostly docile Kiwis realise this and wake up, and take a stand, the sooner we may have a fairer society. Best wishes for tonight, X
Where did El presidente get his fortune? The megarich in Brazil got theirs through a trough filled by the military government, then filthy privatisations by the PSDB (Social democratic party of Brazil, which is like ACT with extra corruption thrown in).