Problems arise though, when the photoshopping – both metaphorical and literal – is carried out with a bit too much gusto.
Just ask Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who found himself the butt of ridicule when his staff botched an unnecessary photoshop job, by pasting hip new sneakers over his tired old kicks.
Mistakenly giving the embattled leader two left feet in the process was just too good for the internet to let slide. More seriously, the gaffe served to highlight the level of detail a leader’s army of press secretaries will go to, to control their image.
New Zealand’s politicians are no different in that regard.
Whether it’s Clark Gayford breaking a month-long Instagram hiatus to poke self-deprecating fun at his “christmas belly”, National leader Simon Bridges guzzling a beer in a floral shirt, or Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern signing on for a round of soft media in the gossip mags.
None of these images tell us anything worth knowing about them. All are designed to give the illusion that they do.
Sadly, in the case of women, it’s more closely aligned to the subject’s looks. But as it applies to male political leaders, it could perhaps be more accurately described as the “beer test”, as in “he seems like a good guy to have a beer with”.
Hence the beer gut, the drinking shot, and myriad softly-lit photo shoots.
But that only gets a politician so far and this is the year where the rubber hits the road for the leaders of both major parties.
The Government’s stalled as long as it can with sundry working groups. The trouble with appointing experts to these things is that they’re incredibly earnest in their responsibilities to come up with solutions.
Solutions which cost money, of which the Government has plenty but still not enough to fulfil the promises it’s made.
Health, mental health, education reform, justice reform, public service pay, climate change and tax issues are all crying out for bold decisions and tankers of cash.
For the Opposition, getting through the inevitable return of Jami-Lee Ross unscathed, and avoiding a significant drop in the polls, will be what decides Simon Bridges’ leadership.
It looks likely it will be a make or break year for the leadership Bridges. More of the same is not going to do it.
It could also be the making or breaking of the current Government. They will have to make tangible moves on fulfilling a number of significant promises.
perhaps the media will shift more focus from PR onto substance too. There are signs this may be happening from some of them, but there is little sign yet what the Prime Minister’s priorities and plans will be, and her Government is yet to get going in a crucial year for them.
Maybe it’s all a kneejerk reaction to Keys cult of personality.
Clark Gayford isn’t a politician so you need to retract that BS. Then after actually talking about MP’s (being in social media means you aint working) you bring in the opposition to appear balanced.
Kind of dishonest wrapped in cheese.
You got nothing but you’re gonna have a jab anyway.
Could be make or break for James Shaw and climate change measures – he has to start coming up with substantial and credible and affordable plans or many Green supporters and potential supporters will be disillusioned (there’s already some signs of that).
It could also be make or break for the Green Party, whose less popular social reform faction seems to get much more media attention than their environmental faction. A split vote may make 5% difficult to achieve. There were warning signs last election.
Nah, they’ll be fine. It’s Bridges who’ll be sweating bricks. No one’s got his back and it’s a knife-magnet. His yapping in the House is annoying all those inside and even his own “family” think he needs time on the porch. What can he do, cease his constant wimpering and hope to allowed to stay inside, or bark louder to convince the Household he’s indispensable as a guard dog?
There’s really nothing a dog can do.
Could be make or break for the new Conservatives! Lack of solid backing makes 5% unlikely and it’s not clear which electorate the Nats will gift them – or if the coat-tailing provisions will survive long enough for it to pay off.
(How am I doing at this distraction thing?)
…many Green supporters and potential supporters will be disillusioned…
Always a problem for political parties. Even in opposition you can’t be all things for all people. It gets harder in government. And all political parties are coalitions internally. They are always annoying supporters.
This is why Labour often leaks support to the Greens and NZ First and there are the floaters who leak between NZ First, Labour to and from National.
However the harder line Green supporters have the same problem as the remaining hardline NAct supporters. Where are they going to go? Their choice really is to vote for their best party to:-
1. express vaguely something like their views and hope.
2. not vote – something that extremists don’t usually do.
3. waste their vote on a party that has no hope of hitting the threshold – which most of the time is a zero sum game (the extremists from all angles generally cancel themselves out). Think mana, conservatives, and united future (the beige extremists).
4. get involved in a viable political party and try to shift their positions.
With the greens of all flavors, once you get outside of the flaky fashion voters (useless damn voters for any party to pursue in my opinion), then they usually do something like 1 or 4 and almost invariably within the Greens.
It is pretty damn apparent to any green voter that they either figure out how to tolerate each other ( for instance the the conservationists and social equity crowds ) or they they just forget about having any say in parliament.
This isn’t exactly rocket science. After all the Nats are a complete anathema to almost every consistent green voter I have ever run across outside of the fashion victims. National have a very long and extended history of being environmental and social terrorists – and are complete hypocrites about it. And they don’t think that Labour is much better.
Sure in theory a new party could form. But that is so virtually impossible with a 5% threshold that I feel it is unlikely to happen. I suspect that any attempt to do so will just cause the Green supporters to vote tactically to make sure that National won’t get in (and I think that a lot of NZ First voters feel the same way).
“It could also be the making or breaking of the current Government. They will have to make tangible moves on fulfilling a number of significant promises.
perhaps the media will shift more focus from PR onto substance too. There are signs this may be happening from some of them, but there is little sign yet what the Prime Minister’s priorities and plans will be, and her Government is yet to get going in a crucial year for them.”
Yes to all that pete, I agree fully.
Jacinda made us vote for her on her solid performance with her famous “auckland town Hall speech” which still remains to be largely fulllfilled in it’s promises made.
Things such as “Climate Change” ‘This is my generations nuclear moment’ – has been left on the back burner along with getting regional rail freight moving again, because labour in their last time in Government in 2008 bought the rail back for us all, and now in power she has done little to restore regional rail freight, as it and free up roads for tourists and Kiwi people to travel fafer, but all we see so far is Labour pouring more god money after bad into minior alterations to make roads better for trucks so that is dumb as trucks are now wrecking our climat change emisions targets.
Next was Labour Jacinda promised was to bring us a Government that was a softer, gentler, caring, inclusive, considerate and transperant Government who will listen to our concerns, and provide ousing for all and jobs, but this was the basic plan Jacinda made us believe, and sadly so far the opposite has occurred here.
The clock is ticking jacinda so please make this wish come true for us all this year. ‘Lets do this’. – (Jacinda called her plea as in pre-election 2017.)
Sometimes the symbolism of one small action that goes against the flow can make all the difference.
Regional rail to Gisborne could be one such example.
Electrifying the main trunk line could be another. Doubling the rail line to Northland another.
All of sudden you have a nation that is seen on the world stage as being serious in standing up to roading lobby.
The fact that there is such antipathy, to even taking this one small first step, is an , indication that the roading and trucking lobby know the power of symbolism. And fear it.
“That’s not surprising given that Americans by a similarly large plurality agree with the proposition that “the U.S. has been engaged in too many military conflicts in places such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan for too long and should prioritize getting Americans out of harm’s way” far more than they agree with the pro-war view that “the U.S. needs to keep troops in places such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan to help support our allies fight terrorism and maintain our foreign policy interests in the region.””
Greenwald reports the evidence that the real warmongers are the Democrats: “But what is remarkable about the new polling data on Syria is that the vast bulk of support for keeping troops there comes from Democratic Party voters, while Republicans and independents overwhelming favor their removal. The numbers are stark: Of people who voted for Clinton in 2016, only 26 percent support withdrawing troops from Syria, while 59 percent oppose it. Trump voters overwhelmingly support withdraw by 76 percent to 14 percent.”
There is zero evidence that the Ukrainian political consultant ..note ..Ukrainian not Russian, Konstantin Kilimnik , has ties to the Russian security services.
The long bow being strung here is that when Kilimkin applied for his job at the International Republican Institute(strongly associated with the US govt), he was perfectly open about where he learned his fluent English…at a Soviet military school ,pretty standard for Soviet citizens, and later worked as a translator for the Russian army.He was jokingly referred to as GRU.and not considered a security risk
Kilimnik worked for Manafort’s consultancy in Ukraine, which was advising Yanukovich to turn towards the west and pursue admittance to the EU.Yanukovich straddled a line between Russia and Europe and tried to play both off against each other as a way to tread water
(In the event, the EU aid package didnt weigh up against the loss of Ukraine’s biggest trading partner, Russia , some 60 billion dollars down according to Yanukovich’s own treasury advisors.The Russian offer along with cheap gas was the only workable one.
When Yanukovich pleaded with the EU to cut him a better deal, they refused.)
So working with an American flash Harry who’s advising a Ukrainian despot to turn west is apparently the work of a “Russian operative”… but these are the times we live in , where journalism is in thrall to partisan, old and tired geopolitical agendas .
And we the consumers have to pretend not to gag on outlandish bullshit .
Repeat after me, Black is White
Here’s the Nation , rather more Democrat aligned than Republican
Heh. The most libertarian free-marketeer in the US Senate rejects the services available from his home free market and goes to a foreign country with a socialist system and socialized service providers to get his medical care.
I think we are going to have to bring back the death penalty. Such behaviour as this mean that this person should never be let out into society again. With a planet full of people, and not able to look after the innocent and vulnerable now, those who cross over into viciousness have no place in the world and should be humanely put down.
Yellow shirts argue for tax reform… …on the rich. How about banning foriegn multi millionaires? over say 100 million from travel overseas. Those individuals that rich are incapable of spend even a smidgen in a foreign country, except on homes,so reek havoc to the global economy in inequality, and it’s not like their numbers are growing, in fact wealth is falling to fewer and fewer. When there is a threat to the people our leaders must act… …and it’s not like the wealthy will have it hard, they are swimming in money, they can fly the four star French chef over and simulate the world economy for a change. And it’s not like they are thick, they have the ability to give to charity, raise wages of faithful employees, or family…etc. Why would we create and maintain a system of economic value, that allows value to be acrued, yet then once acrued inhibits wider wealth dissipation, or we could, as the yellow shirts want, just tax them more to pay for the troubles tgey are producing. although a few Saudi princes kept at home might have redirected their locus of perception and saved a journalist.
Up to €9,807: 0%
€9,807–27,086: 14%
€27,086–72,617: 30%
€72,617–153,783: 41%
€153,783+: 45%
………………
In addition to the basic rates of income tax those fortunate few with a taxable income of upwards of €250,000 pa are liable for a special tax called contribution exceptionnelle sur les hauts revenus.
This tax is at the rate of 3% on income up to €500,000, and at the rate of 4% on income above €500,000.
Married couples and those in a civil partnership are exempt up to €500,000, when they then become liable at the rate of 3% to €1m, and 4% above this figure.
The tax is imposed on net income, after determination of the tax liability under the standard scale rates.
…………….
They also rebate tax liability for dependants.
A couple with 2 kids pay no tax until €47,452
So how are the rich not paying there fair share of tax. They are already not far off the only ones paying.
In practice, less than 50% of inhabitants in France pay any income tax at all; only around 14% pay at the rate of 30%, and less than 1% pay at the rate of 45%.
My guess is the ones protesting are in that 50% figure and pay no tax.
Tax was lowered on the wealthiest. Still you miss the point, great wealth can buy real estate in nz that harms our economy, pushing up housing costs for citizens here. The idea is either raise taxes on the wealthy, or stop them travelling and using that wealth to collude, distort and open unproductive relationships. Sure we want the good investments just have the debate also about the bad. giving someone bragging rights over multiple homes, boats, etc in multiple dominion is wealth pollution. Look a fail maker who moves here and invests great, a psuedo journalist who never made a buck anyone actually needed… …why expose ourselves to wealth acquired by colluding in foreign. We don’t allow free movement of people, why should we want fire movement of wealth people who have all the same spectrum of infalliabilities just more money to damage economies.
John Key millionarie exception brought in dotcom… …really can’t we debate now was that good policy, is it good to have nonproductive ownership…
Get down where you belong NZs – where tourism is king and queen or Irish or something. Tote that barge, lift that rubbish, joyride in a car and you’ll really be rubbished.
Guess what – all the same group. The Brits won the pools and came to rubbish us,
supposed to be Irish but who knows. For the reporter this was the gift that kept on giving. Watch out they might be headed your way and ready for some hooliganism.
soddenleaf says what about banning multi millionaires?
What about getting $100 per tourist up front, plus an insurance policy against damage and possible costs they incur in this country. We don’t know actually how much profit we get from this people invasion. And then if there is profit, how much of it stays in NZ. Bet they set up here as foreigners, get cheap people from overseas, arrange to receive all their country’s people so they can speak their own language, so easy, and then pocket everything and send the profit to a tax haven with us getting diddleysquat and I don’t know what that is, but it looks like trouble!
Bruce That’s very informative – I had heard that some Chinese were getting offered very cheap tours, but finding that they were subject to stand-over tactics by tour organisers.
I wonder if countries are allowed to set up their own tourist offices in China.
This would ensure that the idea of being shown the country to the Chines as guests being cared for by the host country might go down well. With more Chinese speakers being churned out of course to talk face to face with the people.
I don’t think so , but it’s easy to see the country from local perspective esp now with google maps, not sure about China but here we just pick a place thats looks interesting and try to find the bus, truck or whatever to get there. And if your lucky enough to get lost and end up in the hands of the locals to get back to civilisation the fun really begins. These days though, I stay around one area so have to wait till it looks like rain, head off into the hills, get caught in the rain find shelter, wait for some locals to take pity on me and take me home. I used to feel uncomfortable with the disparity in wealth and circumstance but have since learned that the hill people have no idea of how we live and are quite content in their lives and are happy to share, there are always ways to appropriately respond.
Have you ever toured in the Shansi province north of Xian? I was fascinated by the story of the little woman missionary Gladys Aylward who managed to raise her own money to get herself to a mission in China in that province.
She went by sea, then railway, then sea again, and I think finally by donkey
to a lower mountain walled township. They seemed to be very able people, in a hard climate. The remote mountain villages had scattered gardens of millet as their main food I think. I have thought of going there but it is getting off the main tourist drag and of course I have to save up a fair bit.
Have you been there? I think she was in Feng Yang. Or have you been to where Rewi Alley established a school over in the west?
No never into China, Mong la on the border in Shan State but it’s just a casino so no interest back to Kentung.
It’s only the airfare that costs and with an eye on the specials you can get to Bangkok for under a thousand and then 30 or 40 a day is ample. 12 to 15 for nice room, I’m fussy and immune suppressed so choosy. Meals are dollar or two, buses are generally safe $40 gets 1000 ks . Just stay as long as possible to dilute the airfare cost .
It’s an international problem, not just Chinese. All group / package tourism markets have this aspect.
Probably the most blatant is the cruise ship industry who are there to fleece their punters in every way they can and demand huge commissions from any outside operator they might throw a few crumbs to.
Mmm. Venice has been cutting down hard on day trippers etc. I Think that NZ is fooled a bit – we are making money from dairying – but what is the net return when you deduct the lost or damaged resources. Tourism – what clever ways of siphoning off profits and minimising taxes and the crowds needing resources!
Try to set up some hiousing project and a fair proportion of the group are from
the USA. When can we have our own country as a resource for ourselves? Of course what Maori have been asking for years.
We could set up a little enclave in Todd McClay’s Rotovegas and call it Benedorm.
Just think of all the opportunities for development and growth going forward.
It’d be a ‘win win’ situation for all. We could even schedule a RoNS extension from Paengaroa and capture the cruise ship market calling in at Tearwronga
The tourist spend was $11.8 billion.
There were 3,733,707 visitors.
So each visitor spends $3160.
So if they are charged $100, if >1 in 31.6 visiters decides not to come to NZ then we loose income.
If you use tax gained from the activity at the immediate level you have GST but also Tax on wages, fuel, Buisiness profits, etc. Once you count flow on activity like the worker spending wages the Tax generated begins to add up. It should be similar to the result. The % of the economy the government takes in taxes. Our Tax to GDP rate is 32%.
So the government gets about. $1,011 a tourist.
Tax vs Levi. If >1 in 10 tourists doesn’t come to NZ the Government gets less taxes.
Other issue.
How much does the tourist have to spend. If they only have $3160 then they including the Levi will still spend $3160. So it won’t be $3160, plus all of the $100.
So the income figure, and tax figure would be affected by that change in figures.
It could end up generating more revenue if numbers are less affected, and spend is less affected by an additional $100 levy.
But nothing expands exponentially. The way we are is one of the pleasures of coming here. Are we too nice? We will gradually get sourer as numbers mount.
And the hospitality industry is dependent on tourists, and they are poorly paid.
Revenue isn’t everything, it can’t buy us pristine water for instance.
And some visitors don’t spend a lot, are quite poor, these are woofers. And they often are very genuinely interested in the country and people and put a lot of effort into helping horticulture etc.
Just taking averages is interesting but not really informative. Some nations spend more than others according to the stats.
A lot of Australians come here for short holidays; some are Kiwis and stay with family. Not much to feed the hopeful tourist businesses. Then the very wealthy, do they go off to a remote hacienda and fish fine trout or something.
Not much expenditure for the locals, except for the guide to the best spots.
Plus @DJW, each tourist shits on average 1kg per day, and the average length of stay is between 19 and 22 days.
So lets be fair and say the average excrement load per tourist is 20 kilograms.
So lets multiply that by the record breaking 3.7 million tourists per year.
That’s approximately 74,000,000 kilograms of shit per annum or 74,000 tonnes looking for prospects.
Admittedly some of it will be high quality shit but a lot of it will be pretty average but it seems to me there must be a business opportunity for some entrepreneurial ‘type’ such as yourself.
Money money money ……etc.
Oh, and by the way “Once you count flow on activity like the worker spending wages the Tax generated begins to add up.”
I could probably arrange for a few Dalits to come and assist with the enterprise if you’d like – strictly below minimum wage of course and they’ll spend all they earn.
Well as a former minimum/low wage worker for a good part of my early life I had to make hard choices. I left a Job that over time was paying OK to study, living on the bones of my arse as it took to September to get a allowance approved. I moved city ariving with $5 to my name to start a new job that led to my position today. I abandoned that job to study a subject I needed to learn but new little about. I worked 8 to 12 hour night shifts and studied during the day. I moved city again and luckily got a job I wanted, again with nothing. My pay effectively doubled but your making a mistake if you think I don’t know how hard it is.
Money, money, money!
As a stay at home dad that chooses to work part time so I can have a quality life with my kids while they are young, I got my priorities and balance spot on.
Yes I know @ DJ. Some of us have had similar experiences and so if everybody just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps like you and me, the world would be a much better place.
It’s so good to be able to just sit back in the knowledge we’re both the self-made man
Yep. The Trump and Bush Senior hard worker driven types with the silver spoon are rare. The rest like Bush junior not so much.
There is other rarities like Musc.
The hard parts of life help show the value of the free things all around you.
My brother who I had to take custody when I was 19 left school young to go on the independent youth benifit, on the day he qualified. Eventually he decided to do something with himself. He door knocked, offered his services for free to a business starting by sweeping the floor. Obviously that’s exploitation by the buisness but he learnt a skill that led to a job, a better job, his present job where he earns over 6 figures, flash vehicle, and boss to about 60 staff.
Yea yea, understand mate. Fully! Fully!
But you know what? as me dear ole mum said on her death bed just before she popped her clogs …. she said “son, I know its been a hard life with that useless git of a father of yours and all, and I couldn’t have done it without ya. I’m proud of ya son”
And I said “yea mum, I know ya struggled but I didn’t get where I am today with all that bleeding heart liberal stuff”
And I thought, if I an do it, ANYBODY can!
And just before she departed this glorious world, she said “son, just remember, ya don’t owe noone nuttin”.
I ‘ve remembered that to this very day. It’s what drives me in every thing I do
And if anybody still thinks Orwell’s 1984 is fiction, that things are more extreme in the US and similar conditions can’t happen here… where have these dreamers been since 1984? Chris Hedges nails it.
‘Neoliberalism argues that the essence of freedom is free enterprise, while never addressing workers’ surrender of basic freedoms. Neoliberalism holds out the promise, which has not been true since before the Industrial Revolution, that workers can become self-employed if they are hardworking and innovative. We all have the ability to achieve economic independence or become industry leaders if we draw on our inner resources, according to the neoliberal mantra, one popularized by mass culture. […] This is a con.’
Well you can start your own Buisiness if you like can’t you. I’m self imployed. I was a worker on a wage. I was a worker on a salary. But I’ve always had the choice to be self employed, or start a Buisiness. Starting a Buisiness however takes commitment, hard work, and the willingness to risk ones own money and pay taxes on profits.
What does the worker risk?
Men get paid more for the risky jobs they do vs females low risk jobs, shows worker risk gets rewarded.
People who start Buisiness.
The very same people who create those modern day slavery workers jobs.
Imagine what the workers would do if nobody created jobs.
You are the master of your own destiny in a free society.
Change job it it’s not making you happy.
No guarantees, but with a good social system to help the unfortunate, or lazy.
If you wish to start a Buisiness there is free classes, and grants. There’s nothing stopping you, other than your own glass ceiling.
To a certain extent that’s right. But it takes a careful man or woman to keep a business going. Got to get paid and be carefully regular checking and working out payments with the strugglers and others. You actually have to have some spare money or assets to get started. Lots of businesses go down because they are under capitalised, and can’t get that extra loan to tide them over. You are in a business that needs your skills. So good luck with that.
If you have a family your children might never see you and you slave away all hours, and have to live on tick while you work at getting the money in. And if the business doesn’t work out, it can sap all your energy. You have a change of lifestyle, have to give up your house and buy a caravan and start all over in another direction.
“Good on you for cutting him off, Wallace!”
Wallace Chapman, Hero. Or is he? The Panel, RNZ National, Tuesday 15 January 2019
Wallace Chapman, David Cormack, Janet Wilson, Caitlin Cherry
First item for the day: a discussion about the wisdom or otherwise of police car chase policies. The “expert” for this topic was one John Lambert, an Australian road safety expert. However, this came to an abrupt end when Lambert claimed that Maori were more likely to break the law than Pakeha. This elicited gasps from David Cormack and host Wallace Chapman, who said: “We can’t accept that” and quickly got rid of him. He then condemned “that bizarre and woeful comment.”
Five minutes later…..
WALLACE CHAPMAN: A lot of responses about the gentleman from Australia. A lot of people hated the way I cut him off, but then a lot of people said “Good on you for cutting him off.”
DAVID CORMACK: Good ON you for cutting him off, Wallace!
You will never be 100% happy with any reporter, journalist or media commentator other than the handful of ones you idolize. I’m sure the file you have on Wallace is better ranked than the one on Mora, so be thankful there’s been a change on The Panel 🙂
I expect them to do their job, which is to understand their subject to an expert level, report the facts, and to rigorously hold politicians and propagandists to account. Some reporters—Glenn Greenwald, Jon Stephenson, Nicky Hager, Robert Fisk, Jeremy Scahill—do exactly those things. Some, on the other hand—Jim Mora, Rachel Maddow, and as I showed in those three references, Wallace Chapman—fail to do those things.
Yes, I’m thankful there’s been a change on The Panel. Today we saw a new Wallace Chapman. Time will tell whether he keeps challenging people like he did John Lambert this afternoon, or whether he will be as supine and indolent as he was when he let Lee Child vomit his disgusting views.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha! I mean: “Painful and real disincentive against holding pistols again until they have healed, which could be a long time depending on their approach to nutrition and antisepsis.” [nervously] Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
LEE CHILD: Ha ha ha ha! Well, that’s the thing with Reacher. He’s got a heart of gold, but he’s not a goody-goody. You know, he will get the job done in the most brutal way imaginable. Which I think also resonates with people.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha ha!
LEE CHILD: I mean, people are FED UP with all these rules—
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha!
LEE CHILD: I mean, if you want to do something, just DO it.
Gang members break into a property you own, say they own it (they don’t), and move in.
Police are brought in and those squatting in the property are trespassed, but tough shit for you the property owner because nothing else happens and you run out of money paying for the mortgage, and legal bills.
I’m all for tenant rights but the scale needs balance if only to stop incidents like this, rare though it is. WHY AREN’T THEY ARRESTED FOR TRESPASS AGAIN? Useless cops.
Did you notice that the gang used to own the property. They don’t now as they got bankrupted? Or had it taken off them when they got had on drug dealing.
But they had built it themselves. If we had legalised marijuana back then they could have been encouraged to drop the meth and go legit on quality, tested grass.
If only.
Yes I know, a little dream. My quote – ‘If wishes were horses, beggars would
ride.’ If only, about the saddest most evocative words there are in the language.
After I read this story I new google shonky + tara Iti golf club and sure enough he is linked in this mess he goal was to serve his rich amercian m8 he would have bulldozed through all the laws we have to protect OUR indangered animals to get this golf club built and worse still the named the club after the Bird that they are causing the EXTINCTION of both links below. We have a obligation to protect these TARONGA birds of Aotearoa FROM the greedy wealthy men
New Zealand’s rarest bird on the brink of extinction: ‘This is a crisis year’
A disastrous breeding season has plunged one of the world’s rarest birds even deeper into crisis.
The critically endangered fairy tern/tara iti, the country’s rarest native bird species with fewer than 40 individuals, has had only three chicks hatch this season.
New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust convenor Heather Rogan says one chick has gone missing, which could make this the worst breeding season in at least 27 years.
The Department of Conservation maintained on Monday that all three chicks were alive and well. If that’s the case and they all fledge, this would still be the worst season since 1996-7, the last time three chicks fledged.
The luxury Tara Iti Golf Club has been built nearby and exclusive housing developments are planned in the old Mangawhai Forest, bought by Te Uri o Hau in its Treaty settlement. As part of the developments, a public reserve is to be created.
“It just seems one thing after the other has been piling pressure on,” says Rogan.
It appears, however, that DOC has dropped the ball. A 10-year fairy tern recovery plan was produced in 2005 but the recovery group was disbanded before the term was finished.
“If all the things that were in there had been followed, we might be a bit better off,” says Rogan.
(Iftikar didn’t know why the group was disbanded.)
SLOW PROGRESS
Progress also seems slow. DOC called a meeting of interested groups in March last year to discuss some of the strategies and priorities for saving the fairy tern. A recovery group was one of the top priorities, yet it’s still not established.
Looking back five years, the Fairy Tern Trust, set up in ka kite ano links below. P.S I can see the money mens spin doctors are using the media one story I found stated the Tara iti had a good season what lies the alt right throw at us.
The moon
Giant leaf for mankind? China germinates first seed on moon
A small cotton shoot is growing onboard Chang’e 4 lunar lander, scientists confirm
A small green shoot is growing on the moon after a cotton seed germinated onboard a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said.
The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister after the Chang’e 4 lander touched down earlier this month, according to a series of photos released by the Advanced Technology Research Institute at Chongqing University.
“This is the first time humans have done biological growth experiments on the lunar surface,” said Xie Gengxin, who led the design of the experiment, on Tuesday.
Plants have been grown previously on the International Space Station, but this is the first time a seed has sprouted on the moon. The ability to grow plants in space is seen as crucial for long-term space missions and establishing human outposts elsewhere in the solar system, such as Mars.
Harvesting food in space, ideally using locally extracted water, would mean astronauts could survive for far longer without returning to Earth for supplies.
The Chang’e 4 probe – named after the Chinese moon goddess – made the world’s first soft landing on the far side of the moon on 3 January,
Chang’e 4 is also equipped with instruments developed by scientists from Sweden, Germany and China to study the lunar environment, cosmic radiation and the interaction between solar wind and the moon’s surface.
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Read more
The lander released a rover, nicknamed Yutu 2 (Jade Rabbit), that will perform experiments in the Von Kármán crater.
The agency said four more lunar missions are planned, confirming the launch of Chang’e 5 by the end of the year, which will be the first probe to return samples of the moon to Earth since the 1970s. ka kite ano links below
One simple — but really hard — solution to stop climate change
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One simple — but really hard — solution to stop climate change
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One simple — but really hard — solution to stop climate change
US carbon emissions on the rise again 06:24
(CNN)There may actually be a way to keep the worst of climate change at bay, but it’s going to take a herculean effort, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Climate change is well underway already, the time to act and limit its human causes is now, many studies have shown. This latest report maps out what it may take to get there.
Antarctica ice melt has accelerated by 280% in the last 4 decades
It posits that if the world was to phase out its “carbon-intensive infrastructure” at the end of its design lifetime starting from the end of 2018, there’s a 64% chance that the planet’s peak temperature can remain below the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Above that, scientists predict the planet will see even more extreme weather events such as wildfires, droughts, floods, massive animal die offs and food shortages for millions. The planet is already two-thirds of the way there, with global temperatures having warmed about 1 degree Celsius.
To keep the global median temperature within this optimal 1.5 degree-Celsius limit, according to this study, change would have to happen across all sectors, not just in the energy sector. Power plants would need to be replaced, but so would gas and diesel-fueled cars, aircraft, ships and and industrial plants. Even cows would have to go — essentially, anything that contributes to global warming.
Under this scenario, infrastructure such as power plants wouldn’t have to be scrapped and replaced with a non-carbon emitting technology — at least, not immediately. The researchers are talking about a “design lifetime.” In the case of power plants, the average lifetime based on historic data, is about 40 years. The average lifetime of a car on the road now is more than 11 years, according to Consumer Reports, but could last for about 200,000 miles, or 15 years, US estimates show. Once they wear out, stop working or die, they’d be replaced with technology or products that do not contribute to climate change Ka kite ano link below
I see the alt right reporters are using cunning sly tact ticks to scare people off the ideas that a fare tax system in Needed .I SAY that it’s is need a tax on people who can afford it .The way s honky has setup the tax system a the minute the people who are broke are paying a higher tax % than a person making millions in proffets in the share market and that ain’t correct. The the more money the government gives the wealthy they take that money out of the system under there mattresses. The more money the government’s give the poor the money keeps flowing through the systems and is good for a capitalist based system. The wealthy people let there greed replace any logically humane way of thinking with bigotry. Ka kite ano. P.S we need to make this country fare that will fix some of the problems we have now links below https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/366876/two-options-proposed-for-taxing-capital-gain https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/359921/cap-gains-would-cut-house-prices-increase-ownership-study
Goods need to be made to last a life time not 2 to 5 years
frustrating: you buy a new appliance then just after the warranty runs out, it gives up the ghost.
You can’t repair it and can’t find anyone else to at a decent price, so it joins the global mountain of junk.
You’re forced to buy a replacement, which fuels climate change from the greenhouse gases released in the manufacturing process.
No captionPhoto: 123RF
But help is at hand, because people in Europe and parts of the USA will soon get a right to repair – of sorts.
Libby Peake is senior policy adviser at Green Alliance, a UK charity and environmental think tank, she tells Summer Times it’s a problem all over the world.
“The right to repair movement really stems from consumer frustrations with products that break long before they should and can’t be repaired because it’s either too expensive, or it’s too much of a hassle. Increasingly, it’s because products aren’t designed to be repaired,”
She says consumer goods such as washing machines are often designed with sealed drums that prevent consumers and repairers from accessing parts that would be easily and cheaply replaced, such as ball bearings. Faced with the choice of an expensive repair, consumers often choose to simply buy a new machine – “and it’s no wonder”, she says.
The movement started in the United States, where lawmakers in Massachusetts passed legislation that forced car manufacturers to provide information to consumers which would allow them to make repairs to vehicles themselves.
Increasingly, it’s moved into consumer electronics. Eighteen states across the US have now passed legislation for the right to repair and now the European Union is gearing up to do the same. Already, the EU is looking at improving product standards for things such as fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and televisions.
No captionLibby Peake. Photo: Supplied
Ms Peake says the movement would be hugely beneficial to the environment.
“There are massively environmental consequences to the growing mountain of electronic waste that’s being created. It’s the fastest growing waste stream – not just the products, but the manufacturing itself which includes mining, water, and electricity use. It’s an energy intensive process.”
Previously the EU had focused on the eco-design directive which dictates standards on energy use, for instance LED lightbulbs and electricity or water use. Now it’s moving onto resource efficiency, product lifetime and the ease of repair.
Peake says several manufacturers have protested the proposed changes and argue only professional repairs should be conducted on their products. But the legislation has support from higher-end manufacturers who believe that if everyone were forced to meet minimum standards, it would make the industry more competitive and drive the least efficient products off the market.
Planned product obsolescence used to make sense for manufacturers to force new purchases of defunct electronics, but consumers are increasingly in favour of long-lasting products and Speake says their frustrations will begin to hit manufacturer bottom lines as consumers seek out more robust products. Ka kite ano
Peake says, now that jumps in technological advances have decreased, manufacturers could design things like phones and televisions with disassembly in mind, so the parts can be re-used or recycled. In terms of the losses they would incur by selling more robust phones for example, she says manufacturers may need to pivot to charging for things like software upgrades or repair services.
“People are increasingly sick of ‘take, make, dispose’ economy we’ve got. They want something that’s much more circular and doesn’t damage the planet so much – and ultimately – doesn’t damage their wallets.
Kia ora Newshub
History is in the making in Britain
Cryto currency is getting hacked Alot costing them billions they must have some power full computers to achieve that.
A fire at sea in Australia one has to be careful as on Tangaroa a fire at sea is a nightmare never seen one tho.
It must be a bad feeling knowing that you have a short time to live I could not fathom it.
Falling in love can turn Papatuanukue upside down.
A ride a horse in fast food outlet in Australia that’s a cool photo there are no shops were I rode my horses.
Tom its good to see one of the Football Ferns best players come back to play for them under a new coach. Ka kite ano
Time to listen to the people who’s only interest is saving OUR Papatuanuku and not the amount of interest there share’s are making while they are poisioning our Earth
WE HAVE TO MAKE THE COMPANYS AND CONSUMERS PAY MORE so there is a good price payed for plastic waste reclycling that will provide jobs and $$ for poor people .
1 billion is a drop in the bucket . NZ need to invest that amount alone let alone the hole planet investing 1 billion and trying to grab positive head lines in the media
Industry alliance sets out $1bn to tackle oceans’ plastic waste
Greenpeace sceptical about corporate polluters as alliance launched to reduce waste
Forbes, global plastics project leader at Greenpeace, said: “This is a desperate attempt from corporate polluters to maintain the status quo on plastics. In 2018 people all over the world spoke up and rejected the single-use plastics that companies like Procter & Gamble churn out on a daily basis, urging the industry to invest in refill and reuse systems and innovation. Instead of answering that call, P&G preferred to double down on a failed approach with fossil fuel giants Exxon, Dow and Total [which] fuel destructive climate change.”
He added: “Make no mistake, plastics are a lifeline for the dying fossil fuel industry, and this announcement goes to show how far companies will go to preserve it.”
Rob Kaplan, chief executive of Circulate Capital, which invests in recycling and other projects to reduce plastic waste, said businesses would provide the answer to plastic waste, but it would take many billions in investment. “There is no silver bullet to the plastic problem. Different parties are trying to push their own agenda, but there does not seem to be an alternative at present,” Ka kite ano links below
I hope this Goverment is going to back renewable Energy as fast as the Papatuanuku needs to . So we can guarantee a bright clean happy future for ALL Eco Maoris Wero to this Goverment.
Low-carbon electricity from wind and solar farms will be cheaper than gas and effectively subsidy-free by 2020, says the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
In a new report, the government’s official climate change advisor says that low-carbon supplies will be the most cost-effective way to fill the looming generation gap in the 2020s, as the UK’s ageing coal and nuclear plants retire. A more flexible grid will be a crucial complement to this shift.
However, the CCC also rows back from the stretching 2030 power decarbonisation target it once advocated, citing delays to the deployment of nuclear and carbon capture and storage (CCS). The report is a prelude to the CCC’s fifth carbon budget advice. On 26 November this advice will recommend a UK emissions cap for the five years from 2028 to 2032. S&P Global reports the cost of solar with battery backup dropped precipitously in 2018. In a few cases in the sunny Southwest region of the United States, several tenders for solar plus storage came in at under $30 per megawatt-hour last year. Stand alone prices for installed battery storage — based on a 20 megawatt-hour system with 4 hours of storage — dropped 40% from the previous year to $357 per kilowatt-hour and are expected to keep falling. Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects a further 52% reduction by 2030.Such tumbling prices have led Wood Mackenzie to forecast that as the market for solar plus storage matures, it could put more than 6,400 MW of new natural gas-fired peaking capacity in the US at risk by 2027. “I can beat a gas peaker anywhere in the country today with a solar-plus-storage power plant,” says Tom Buttgenbach, CEO of developer 8minutenergy Renewables. “Who in their right mind today would build a new gas peaker? We are a factor of two cheaper.”
Progress in battery storage was uneven around the world last year. South Korea has put significant incentives in place, which have led to a boom in that country. So much so, in fact, that Korean battery manufacturers have dedicated much of their production to meeting that demand at the expense of automakers hungry for EV batteries and residential storage products.
“When you see projects now being planned at over 1 GWh in scale, when only 18 months ago a 300 MWh installation was something to behold, you know you have entered a new era,” says Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.. “It has been quite interesting to watch the battery makers’ dilemma of where to send the lithium ion cells. Of course they have contracts to honor with automotive producers, but the order inquiries from [energy storage] producers have been incredible.”
Some CleanTechnica readers have been wondering why Kia and Hyundai have such low production targets for their newest EV offerings. The clamor for battery cells to meet the energy storage demand may be part of the reason for those low numbers.
“Even though progress was uneven, there was a much greater consensus in 2018 over the importance of energy storage, even in the near term, in major markets,” says Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at Bloomberg NEF. “In 2017, there were still a lot of people talking about how energy storage was not necessarily a competitive solution and was going to be limited. I hear those conversations much less now. Energy storage is now becoming Ka kite ano links below P.S I say The NZ Goverment should be investing in solar and wind on the industrial and roof top solar make the power companys pay a net metering price that is the same as they charge us for the power.
A post from my phone gets them to stop there bullstuff you see people I post a post putting down the alt right and there sirens went off = alt right climate change denieing red necks the sandflys are ka kite ano
S&P Global reports the cost of solar with battery backup dropped precipitously in 2018. In a few cases in the sunny Southwest region of the United States, several tenders for solar plus storage came in at under $30 per megawatt-hour last year. Stand alone prices for installed battery storage — based on a 20 megawatt-hour system with 4 hours of storage — dropped 40% from the previous year to $357 per kilowatt-hour and are expected to keep falling. Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects a further 52% reduction by 2030.
Such tumbling prices have led Wood Mackenzie to forecast that as the market for solar plus storage matures, it could put more than 6,400 MW of new natural gas-fired peaking capacity in the US at risk by 2027. “I can beat a gas peaker anywhere in the country today with a solar-plus-storage power plant,” says Tom Buttgenbach, CEO of developer 8minutenergy Renewables. “Who in their right mind today would build a new gas peaker? We are a factor of two cheaper.”
Progress in battery storage was uneven around the world last year. South Korea has put significant incentives in place, which have led to a boom in that country. So much so, in fact, that Korean battery manufacturers have dedicated much of their production to meeting that demand at the expense of automakers hungry for EV batteries and residential storage products.
“When you see projects now being planned at over 1 GWh in scale, when only 18 months ago a 300 MWh installation was something to behold, you know you have entered a new era,” says Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.. “It has been quite interesting to watch the battery makers’ dilemma of where to send the lithium ion cells. Of course they have contracts to honor with automotive producers, but the order inquiries from [energy storage] producers have been incredible.”
Some CleanTechnica readers have been wondering why Kia and Hyundai have such low production targets for their newest EV offerings. The clamor for battery cells to meet the energy storage demand may be part of the reason for those low numbers.
“Even though progress was uneven, there was a much greater consensus in 2018 over the importance of energy storage, even in the near term, in major markets,” says Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at Bloomberg NEF. “In 2017, there were still a lot of people talking about how energy storage was not necessarily a competitive solution and was going to be limited. I hear those conversations much less now. Energy storage is now becoming
Ikea Investment in New Plastic Recycling Technology at Port of Amsterdam
Plastic Recycling Amsterdam, a collaboration between Umincorp and Milieu Service Nederland, is constructing a new plastics recycling plant is to be built at the Port of Amsterdam.
Plastic Recycling Amsterdam (PRA), a collaboration between Umincorp and Milieu Service Nederland, is constructing a new plastics recycling plant is to be built at the Port of Amsterdam.
The organisation explained that the new facility, which can be expanded on a modular basis, will initially process 17,000 tonnes of plastics annually and prepare them to be reused.
The development is part of its move expand its circular plastics hub. Once operational it will first wash incoming plastic waste, shred it and then route through a magnetic bath. Using Magnetic Density Separation (MDS) technology, the plastics can be separated with a purity of 99% because different plastics have different weights.
The technology was originally developed at Delft University of Technology. The sorted plastics can then be processed into high-quality new packaging materials.
According to PRA the technology also represents a breakthrough in sustainable plastics recycling. Compared with traditional plastics, 90% of CO2 and 75% of costs in the supply chain are saved by using this circular process.
“With its existing large-scale collection of plastics and the growth of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area in the years ahead, the Port of Amsterdam is the ideal location for
establishing PRA,” commented Jaap Vandehoek, CEO of Umincorp.
Last week, Ingka, Ikea’s parent company, announced last week that it will invest in Umincorp.
“We are determined to make the difference in plastics recycling with our unique MDS technology and the recent investment by Ingka Group,” said Vandehoek
Roon van Maanen, Director Circular & Renewable Industry at Port of Amsterdam added: “PRA transforms recyclable plastics into raw materials for new plastics, while non-recyclable plastics are converted into transport fuel by Integrated Green Energy Solutions Amsterdam, which is also established in our Port. Ka kite ano limks below
There you go whano I went to the courthouse to sort my false fines I get a paper take it to the bank expecting it to be filed. Because ECO MAORI trust no system I check it out today and what do you know the sandflys have been in the bank after me and flashed there shiny badge and bin the papers I filed to pay there false fine I will load the payment by Internet banking. The only system these redneck sandflys want to share with Maori is there jail system everything else they keep the best for them selves and let Maori have what falls of the side of their overflowing plates and encourage US to fight over it Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub like the professor said the information is on the Internet.
Australia is behaving badly the way they are treating the People who imagrated their and locking them on Manu Island treating them worsted animals.
Its up to the Auckland Council to make sure that there suburbs are clean and healthy without rubbish making the place smell. Was that a advert advertiseing that ladys miss fortunes WTF that’s not on hope that PBS gets sued but one has to have heaps of money to get justice in NZ. Newshub we need to move away from plastic waste wrapping product ASAP.
That’s cool that the kuia got some of her belongings back Ana to kai the offenders got name and shame on the net.
That a natural phenomenon A ice disk in Main America
I seen the story of that boy down a borehole hope they find him safely and unhurt. Even though China.s plants ended up freezing on the far side of the Marama it still gives a sign that plants can grow on the moon. Ka kite ano
NZ First portrays itself as an anti-establishment party, standing up for "the little guy" (always a guy) against Big Auckland Money and its tool-parties. But it turns out that its secret slush fund is funded by the very people it claims to oppose:Stuff can reveal a longer list of donors ...
Peter TalleyI really don’t envy Jacinda Ardern’s position as Prime Minister of New Zealand. She’s probably got the hardest job in the country. Not only does she have to ensure her own MPs are behaving properly, she has to negotiate with Winston Peters and other NZ First MPs who seem ...
Will She, Or Won't She? Jacinda’s white vestments may look impressive on the cover of the international edition of TIME magazine, but every day Labour’s relationship with Winston Peters and NZ First continues, her ability to go on wearing them back home in New Zealand – without exciting derision – diminishes.IT WAS ...
BAMS survey of 2018 extreme weather The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published a collection of articles examining unusually extreme weather events of 2018 and connections of those to climate change. These investigations are listed separately below but thanks to the generosity of AMS appear free for ...
Less than two months after China told the WHO there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed cases and countries affected are increasing every day. However, on a scientific and medical level, what is going on to contain, cure and prevent this new disease is truly inspirational. ...
From 2015 to 2019 the NSA ran a program of mass surveillance of Americans' domestic communications. It was intrusive, totalitarian, and a collosal waste of money:A National Security Agency system that analyzed logs of Americans’ domestic phone calls and text messages cost $100 million from 2015 to 2019, but yielded ...
I must say that it’s at loggerheads with the inclusive and free society we want to create in New Zealand that one of our largest media outlets, MediaWorks, would allow Hannah Tamaki to perform on their show, Dancing With The Stars.Hannah Tamaki and her husband Brian are after all well-known ...
The media is reporting that an Auckland man has been charged with terrorism. Unfortunately, that's all we know, because all details have been suppressed. Who are they? What are they alleged to have done? Its all secret. There may be good reason for some of this (e.g. protection of the ...
Dr David ChagnéNew Zealand is involved in a US$12.8 million USDA grant to improve the quality of blueberry and cranberry. The four-year project, led by North Carolina State University, is part of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative, which funds multi-year, multi-institutional collaborative ...
The Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book is now available! The book uses cartoons, humor, and critical thinking to expose how and why some people reject climate science. It's now available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book outlets. If you're near the DC area, you're very welcome to ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...
You’re probably aware that the Achievement Standards used to assess senior school students’ learning are being reviewed. Science is one of the ‘pilot’ subjects in this process, where a ‘Subject Expert Group’ has developed 4 draft Science standards¹ (a significant step away from the current 30+, and a response to ...
John MacCormickTo succeed in an unpredictable and changing world, adaptability is the key. Let’s be chameleons. Technology continues to change people’s jobs and work environments. But change so far is not as fast and extensive as some pundits claim. Nor is it as fast and extensive as it needs ...
It seems we can’t even get through a week these days without the National Party's leader, Simon Bridges, making some sort of silly announcement about a policy that doesn’t actually exist.Usually concerning Bridges’ gut instinct and the undoing of whatever the Government has recently announced, National’s reactionary opinions and uncosted ...
Oh look! NZ First's secret slush fund was laundering donations from Talley's:One of the country's biggest fishing companies, Talley's, and its managing director donated nearly $27,000 to the New Zealand First Foundation, which has been bankrolling the New Zealand First Party. The foundation received $26,950 from seafood giant Talley's and ...
Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, Andrew Waa, Nick Wilson, George ThomsonMinister Jenny Salesa announced the Government’s long-awaited Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill on Sunday 23 February. The Bill contains some important provisions as it works to strike a balance between ensuring regulated products are available to ...
Surprisingly enough, one could argue (as I often do) that the day inserted into a leap year is not that we label 29th February, but actually the 24th of February. Here I explain why, briefly. Almost everyone assumes that the day added into February in a leap year is the ...
If you haven’t watched Newsroom’s video showing Oranga Tamariki staff attempting to uplift a newborn baby yet you should do so. Although it's not the worst case as far as interventions go, it’s certainly not a good look for the Government. Because of this controversy there’s been a plethora of ...
Genesis Energy is planning to build the country's biggest PV solar farm:Power generator and retailer Genesis Energy says it is in advanced discussions to build New Zealand's biggest solar farm in northern Waikato. The company, which earlier reported a 15 per cent decline in operating earnings to $167.2 million, said ...
Transport is our second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Any credible effort to reduce emissions to net-zero has to target it. So what is the government doing? Subsidising some of the dirtiest, most inefficient vehicles on the roads:New Zealand's favourite cars - double cab utes - are largely exempt ...
You’ve really got to wonder what the NZ First Party was thinking and drinking last Friday? Not only did they hamstring the Greens by halting one of their main environmental policies, the electric vehicle fee-bate scheme, a policy that the public was led to believe was a done deal…but they ...
High Risk Call: Insensitive though it may seem to even pose the question: how will the electorate respond to what the Prime Minister’s opponents will undoubtedly characterise as an attack on New Zealanders’ freedom of speech? At more than twelve month’s remove from the terrible events of 15 March 2019, ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Climate change leads to more violence against women, girlsRape, domestic violence, forced marriages: A new ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 16, 2020 through Sat, Feb 22, 2020 Editor's Pick JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human raceLeaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says ...
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, New Zealand First Deputy Leader A total delivery of 2,000 new Police Officers has been achieved. New Zealand First Deputy Leader, Fletcher Tabuteau attended the latest police graduation of Recruit Wing 335 in Porirua today. Mr Tabuteau said, “Increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one of ...
Taupō District mayor David Trewavas has welcomed today’s announcement from regional economic development minister Shane Jones outlining $5.87m of funding for the re-development of the Taupō Airport. The bulk of the investment ($5 million) will come from the Provincial Growth Fund, while the rest will be from the New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has defended multi-million dollar provincial growth fund money for Northland water storage. The New Zealand First leader, along with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, were recently in Dargaville to announce up to $12.745 million PGF funding top-up for water storage initiatives in the ...
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance, Fletcher Tabuteau has welcomed Statistics New Zealand’s latest report as a timely reminder of the value that this Coalition Government brings to every day New Zealanders: “This Coalition Government has meant a ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
A milestone has been reached with the graduation of more than 2,000 new Police officers since the Coalition Government took office in October 2017. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation today of Wing 335 marks a surge of 2,023 new officers, and coincides with some significant breakthroughs against organised ...
Government Ministers today celebrated 20 years of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park/ Ko te Pataka kai o Tikapa Moana/ Te Moananui a Toi, and recognise there is much to celebrate and so much more to do to give nature a helping hand. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said “New Zealanders care deeply about nature.I want to ...
Prepared remarks on coronavirus by Finance Minister Grant Robertson to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Massey University. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, The topic of this speech is the Budget 2020 priorities. But, given the considerable interest that I imagine is in the room about COVID-19 coronavirus, I do ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Ni sa bula vinaka. Namaste Thank you Shamima, Hon. Minister Vuniwaqa, community leaders and Women’s Crisis Centre staff for your warm welcome. It’s an honour and privilege to officially ...
The Government has released a comprehensive response to ensuring New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump. This follows the Commerce Commission fuel market study which found motorists were paying more than they should for petrol and includes: Fuel Market Bill drafting, to pass mid-year Industry consultation in ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma Tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula vinaka As-salaam alaikum It is a privilege to be here today. Thank you for welcoming us to your house of prayer. Thank you for your warmth. Thank you for greeting ...
Taupō Airport is to be upgraded and expanded through a $5.9 million Government funding boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Taupō Airport is the gateway to the Central North Island. It is essential for both keeping local people and businesses connected, but also to bring more people ...
The Minister of Housing Megan Woods has confirmed the Government is working with Rotorua Lakes District Council and Te Arawa for the second place-based assessment to better understand the housing and urban issues affecting the city. “Every New Zealander has a right to a warm, safe and secure place to ...
19 new community homes (in addition to 14 opened in December) delivered in Takanini, Auckland 500 people housed by CORT Housing Trust by end of March 2,290 new public housing homes delivered in Auckland (November 2017 – December 2019). Another nineteen new public housing homes are being delivered in Auckland, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss ways to strengthen ties between New Zealand and India. “India is a priority relationship for New Zealand. We share common democratic traditions, growing two-way trade, extensive people-to-people links, ...
Speech to the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) Delhi, India Wednesday 26 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] The Indo-Pacific: from principles to partnerships Distinguished guests, good afternoon and thank you for your invitation. It is good to be here at a time where New Zealand needs less of an introduction than ...
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...
Improved air quality to support better health and environmental wellbeing is the focus of proposed amendments to air quality regulations, says the Associate Minister for the Environment, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. “Although our air quality is good in most places, during winter certain places have spikes in air pollution, mainly from ...
The remote eastern Bay of Plenty community of Raukokere will receive a Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $10.6 million for a water storage facility, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “This is great news for the rural community. The landowner, Te Whānau a Maruhaeremuri Hapū Trust, will use ...
The Lake Ōkaro lakebed has transferred to Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis joined Te Arawa at Te Papaiōuru Marae in Rotorua to celebrate the reinstatement of Te Arawa Lakes Trust as a key decision maker over the bed ...
New legislation is being proposed which aims to reduce the stress and financial hardship caused by late payments to small businesses. The Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash is considering stricter rules around payment practices between businesses. “Late payments from large organisations to smaller suppliers can be crippling for these ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the cultured fourth week of The Bachelorette NZ with special thanks to Nando’s.This week on The Bachelorette NZ, a burrito bust-up ends in anaphylaxis, Steve chows down on some one-ply, and the Buenos Aires hostel goes full Lord of the Flies. It’s become abundantly ...
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Catholic Bishops' agency for justice, peace and development, is concerned that the latestchild poverty numbers show that there has been anincrease in material hardship,with 4100 more children living in ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni described this year’s annual benefit increases of 3 per cent as “significant”, and “a way of sharing the wealth”. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also heralded them as the biggest increase to benefits in nine years, if National’s 2015 one-off adjustments are excluded. ...
Is it the kind of headline that will win votes at the general election? “Rock-star reception in Fijian village” followed by a sub-head “Rapturous greeting for Ardern during visit to launch $3m sanitation project”. The reporter (veteran Barry Soper, Newstalk ZB’s political editor) poses the rhetorical question: “Is there any ...
The New Zealand First Foundation received $100,000 in just one week from two rich-listers, whose donations remained secret because the individual payments fell below the disclosure threshold. ...
BusinessNZ says legislation requiring more transparent petrol pricing will probably be well-received, but there are concerns about the market study that prompted it. The Government has announced it is drafting a Fuel Market Bill to introduce requirements ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Andrea Watson, Sparrows CEO and founder, and Simon Yarrow, who leads Callaghan Innovation’s ...
LGNZ say a new report from the Deep South National Science Challenge is a reminder for central government policy makers to step up the pace on progressing a national strategy on climate change adaption. LGNZ is the peak body representing New Zealand’s ...
Art schools are seen by many as beacons of liberalism. But is this the reality? Former Māori student Anna McAllister recounts her fraught journey through an Auckland art school.In high school, the only subjects I was remotely good at were the practical arts. I stayed in the art block during ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeline Taylor, Academic Fellow, University of Sydney This week’s decision by Norwegian company Equinor to abandon a A$200 million plan to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight surprised both its critics and backers. Equinor says it abandoned the project off ...
Finance Minister sees serious, short-term impact on economy from Covid-19. He says the Government is able to deliver more general fiscal stimulus and sector-specific help if the economic hit is longer and harder. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has given his first comprehensive update on the economic effects expected from the ...
In response to reports that 30,000 New Zealanders earning over $100,000 are taking superannuation, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Casey Russell says: “It’s clear that many wealthy New Zealanders are collecting superannuation they don’t ...
Fancy a quick trip to Europe without leaving the comfort of your own couch? Tara Ward rounds up the best European drama for your viewing pleasure. Anyone who reckons travel is the only way to expand your mind has never had the pleasure of lying on a couch for three days ...
Child protection social work involves risk. It always will. The right decisions cannot always be made and sometimes it can be a question of choosing between the least damaging alternatives. We have had a long list of child abuse tragedies for over 30 years now – in Aotearoa New Zealand and ...
SFO scrutiny of National and NZ First donations sparked debate about party funding and electoral laws. Now, Transparency International has a warning. ...
Not paying NZ Super out to those on incomes of $100,000 or more would save taxpayers around $608 million. Is it time we shake up who gets paid and what? RNZ‘s Nita Blake-Persen reports.The number of New Zealand retirees getting their superannuation while earning more than $100,000 has topped 30,000, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentCoronavirus John Gibb (ODT): Otago academic fears ‘massive’ impact Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Nothing Xenophobic Or Racist About The Chinese ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won power in 2017 on the basis of statements such as “My goal is to eradicate child poverty in New Zealand”. The Government’s progress on child poverty will be under scrutiny at this year’s general election, but progress is slow, and many are claiming ...
New Zealand King Salmon has had a better-than-expected first half, driven by record prices for its fish products. The Marlborough-based salmon farmer's net profit rose nearly 38 percent to $20.8 million in the six months to December, with the average sale price up 6.6 percent. However, revenue of $84.2m was ...
Reform of superannuation is overdue, with new figures showing more than 30,000 superannuitants are earning more than $100,000 per year. This number is growing fast as more people keep working past 65. More than 126,000 superannuitants (17% of the total) are earning ...
Funding to give nature a helping hand and support community conservation projects opens this week, with $5.6m available for community-led projects. “The Department of Conservation (DOC) Community Fund enables us to go further and faster in our conservation ...
Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) in relation to decision-making in a sexual assault investigation in Palmerston North. The IPCA found that the decision-making was sound, and there was no conflict of interest ...
Thursday, February 27: Greenpeace has published an open letter calling on the organisers of music festival WOMAD to dump oil industry sponsorship. Todd Energy and Austrian oil giant OMV are on the bill again this year, despite persistent criticism from ...
The clash between urban cyclists and car drivers has been brewing for several years now. But pedestrians have been advocating for their rights for far longer, writesNot so long ago, the journalist Bernard Hickey predicted that cyclists vs motorists will become one of the political issues of our age. “We ...
A2 Milk has delivered a strong financial result, with increased sales in its infant nutrition business and with better than expected profit margins. The specialty milk company's net profit rose 21 percent in the six months to December to $184.9m, with an underlying sales margin of 32.6 percent. Sales rose ...
Air New Zealand's half year profit has taken a larger hit than expected, falling 33 percent amid slowing demand for air travel and increased costs. Its net profit was $101 million in the six months ended December, compared with $150m the year before. Costs rose due to price hikes for ...
You might be trying to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life, but what about in death? Alex Casey talks to Becs Bartells, founder of Outside the Box about creating the perfect cardboard casket. Becs Bartells often forgets she has an empty coffin sitting in the back of her station wagon, ...
As government services shut their doors in communities and drive people to interact online, the wellbeing of New Zealand's most vulnerable people is being diminished, says the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). CAB has released the report 'Face to Face ...
New research from justice advocacy group JustSpeak released today shows that structural bias in policing continues to disproportionately harm Māori and demonstrates the urgent need for transformative change across our justice system. Using the Statistics ...
A Spinoff article last year rightly raised concerns that citizens’ assemblies could be yet another imposition of Western ideas on Māori. But assemblies and tino rangatiratanga-based visions in fact share a critique of our current democratic system – and could together transform politics, write Emily Beausoleil and Max Rashbrooke.Nadine Anne ...
More new coronavirus cases have for the first time been reported outside China than inside, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. ...
Simon Bridges wouldn't deport mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant if found guilty despite calling for reciprocal policy; and Why climate change should be on the agenda for Jacinda meet Morrison. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David A. Savage, Associate Professor of Behavioural Economics , Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle Recent days have brought reports of shoppers clearing out supermarket shelves from Wuhan and Hong Kong to Singapore and Milan in response to the spread of coronavirus. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The Christchurch mosque attacks on March 15 last year have prompted a significant rise in tip-offs about people expressing extremist views, according to a report by New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS). During the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Beirman, Senior Lecturer, Tourism, University of Technology Sydney The coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has now reached more than 80,000 recorded cases, largely concentrated in China, with a death toll over 2,700 and rising. There are few signs the epidemic is abating. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tessa Copp, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormonal condition. When using the definition supported by the international guidelines, it affects just under one in six young Australian women. To meet the diagnostic criteria of PCOS, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGorrery, PhD Candidate in Criminal Law, Deakin University The recent killing of Hannah Clarke and her three children by her estranged husband has raised national attention to the types of behaviour that might lead to such a horrific crime, and how ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominique Hes, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture, University of Melbourne Despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary, some still propagate the myth that the world will need Australian coal for decades to come. Last weekend Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese joined in, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehmet Ulubasoglu, Professor of Economics, Head of the Department of Economics and Director of the Centre for Energy, the Environment and Natural Disasters, Deakin University My team and I have analysed the incomes of people affected by some of Australia’s worst bushfires, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tiffani J. Howell, Research Fellow, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University Australians are slightly obsessed with our dogs. But are we obsessed enough to watch a reality doggy makeover show? The reality makeover concept has a long history, from ...
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ReadingRoom has devoted all week to the biggest-selling book in New Zealand right now, In The Clearing, a brilliant thriller by Ngāpuhi author JP Pomare, based on creepy Australian cult The Family. We conclude the series with a review by Bill Ralston.JP Pomare's second novel In ...
Up-and-coming teenage freeskiier Ruby Andrews has shown she has the boldness and the bravery to become one of the world's top women in not one, but three, different events. There’s no questioning Ruby Andrews’ grit and determination. While most 15-year-olds are spending this summer hanging with friends on the beach, Andrews ...
An anonymous international student at the University of Auckland grapples with when and how she might return to NZ amid the coronavirus outbreak, and what challenges she will face if she makes it back. I am a Chinese international student at the University of Auckland. Having completed my language course and ...
When will there be a vaccine? What can we do and how do we stay up to date? Helen Petousis-Harris gives an update on the COVID-19 global health emergency Less than two months after China told the World Health Organisation there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed ...
From February 28, Kiwibank will be cheque-free. Mark Jennings looks at how it has been preparing its customers for the big change. It’s raining heavily in Nelson, something it hasn’t done for a while. Local MP and former cabinet minister Nick Smith hurriedly climbs into an old bus parked outside the city’s library. ...
Experts in far-right extremism see a number of similarities between the Christchurch terror attack and last week's mass shooting in Hanau, Germany. Marc Daalder reports. On the evening of February 19, a man shot up two shisha bars frequented by Muslims in Hanau, Germany. It later emerged that he had released ...
New Zealand’s travel ban on China has been extended another week. The president of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations argues for a student exemption.The loss of lives and poor health caused by coronavirus is devastating. We must acknowledge the families, across the globe, who have lost loved ones ...
The first issue of the Otago student magazine for 2020 had barely hit campus before it was making headlines in the wider media. The cover was censored by Facebook, and a furious editorial denounced party politics, promising to give them a miss. Josie Adams speaks to editor Sinead Gill about ...
The global health emergency that is the Coronavirus - or Covid-19 - has become a game-changer for scientists around the world in terms of the speed of the response. But at the same time it's been termed a 'misinfodemic' Covid-19 – or coronavirus – is a game changer for scientists around the ...
President Rodrigo Duterte administers the oath of office to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) officials in a ceremony at the Rizal Hall in Malacañang Palace on February 26, 2020. Video: RapplerBy Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Reporters have finally got the chance to ...
Andy Ayamiseba died a few days ago. While the West Papuan was loved, admired and supported in Vanuatu, he fought tirelessly to win a home he could return to. He died before the dream was achieved.Originally published by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PIPP), this 2013 profile ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Merryn McKinnon, Senior lecturer, Australian National University Public representation of science in the media still struggles to reflect the true diversity of those who work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). According to the Women in Leadership Australia’s 2019 Women for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Mathews, Professor of Strategic Management, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University Australia is the world’s third largest fossil fuels exporter – a fact that generates intense debate as climate change intensifies. While the economy is heavily reliant on coal and ...
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) voted today to request that Minister for the Environment Hon. David Parker exercise his authority to ‘call in’ upcoming proposed plan changes to the Regional Plan for Otago: Water and Regional Plan for Otago: Waste ...
This week’s plummeting international stock markets are a sign the ‘best case scenario’ economic outcomes of the coronavirus are increasingly unlikely. And that’s a worry for NZ’s manufacturers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, is optimistic that Labor is better placed to prosecute its climate policy at the next election, compared to the last. “I think we are better positioned ...
The huge majority of New Zealanders think fishing industry donations to Members of Parliament at the last election have the potential to “strongly influence” decisions the MPs make, according to a poll conducted by Horizon Research. The poll, ...
Wellington councillors have voted to expand the mayor's proposed taskforce on the city's water problems, to include business and community members and water experts. The council has today voted to establish the taskforce proposed by mayor Andy Foster. The group he envisaged comprised only councillors, officials and iwi representatives. However, ...
“Let me be clear, Maori have a guardianship, ownership and protection role when it comes to the nations freshwater ways and let me be even clearer – if what has been happening to our freshwater eco-systems and ecology over the last hundred years ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yvonne Zurynski, Associate Professor of Health System Sustainability, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University If you have a rare disease, you may be the only person in Australia with that condition. You may not know, however, that being diagnosed with a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Akshaya Kamalnath, Lecturer (Corporate law), Auckland University of Technology Global investment company Goldman Sachs recently announced it would only take startups public if they had at least one diverse board member. In New Zealand, a new KiwiSaver fund, CareSaver, announced it would ...
BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) Executive Director Tina Schirr welcomes the release of the World Energy Council’s Issues Monitor for 2020. The Issues Monitor provides a snapshot of what keeps energy policymakers, CEOs and leading experts in 104 countries ...
Investors in the failed Ross Asset Management (RAM) company will be seeking $80 million from ANZ Bank when they start a legal claim next week. The group of more than 550 investors has claimed the bank either knew or should have known that Wellington financial adviser David Ross was operating ...
Apple exporter Scales Corporation has posted a higher full year profit of $121.6 million, boosted by $78m in asset sales and improvement in its food ingredients division. Revenue was up 20 percent to $484.6m, which included the first full year's trading of the petfood company, Shelby Foods, which Scales acquired ...
Open Mike 15/01/2019 
A New Hope from the National Party leader ...4 hours ago
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More on PR versus substance – from Stacey Kirk at Stuff: No amount of photoshop will paste over broken promises or scandal in 2019
It looks likely it will be a make or break year for the leadership Bridges. More of the same is not going to do it.
It could also be the making or breaking of the current Government. They will have to make tangible moves on fulfilling a number of significant promises.
perhaps the media will shift more focus from PR onto substance too. There are signs this may be happening from some of them, but there is little sign yet what the Prime Minister’s priorities and plans will be, and her Government is yet to get going in a crucial year for them.
Maybe it’s all a kneejerk reaction to Keys cult of personality.
Clark Gayford isn’t a politician so you need to retract that BS. Then after actually talking about MP’s (being in social media means you aint working) you bring in the opposition to appear balanced.
Kind of dishonest wrapped in cheese.
You got nothing but you’re gonna have a jab anyway.
Real class.
He’s just quoting a disgraceful hack from parliament’s press gallery. That’s who you need to complain about.
That Stacey Kirk is dreadful. I suspect Scott Morrison’s helpers were trying to cover the branding of his shoes rather than their age.
The *style* of his shoes is the theory.
Did scomofo get caught wearing Chinese shoes without an ocky tag sewn on?
Make or break for Bridges?
How could he possibly make it???
You’ve seen his “Chrissy-drinks” photo.
Could be make or break for James Shaw and climate change measures – he has to start coming up with substantial and credible and affordable plans or many Green supporters and potential supporters will be disillusioned (there’s already some signs of that).
It could also be make or break for the Green Party, whose less popular social reform faction seems to get much more media attention than their environmental faction. A split vote may make 5% difficult to achieve. There were warning signs last election.
Nah, they’ll be fine. It’s Bridges who’ll be sweating bricks. No one’s got his back and it’s a knife-magnet. His yapping in the House is annoying all those inside and even his own “family” think he needs time on the porch. What can he do, cease his constant wimpering and hope to allowed to stay inside, or bark louder to convince the Household he’s indispensable as a guard dog?
There’s really nothing a dog can do.
Could be make or break for the new Conservatives! Lack of solid backing makes 5% unlikely and it’s not clear which electorate the Nats will gift them – or if the coat-tailing provisions will survive long enough for it to pay off.
(How am I doing at this distraction thing?)
Robert priceless lol.
‘Affordable’?
Does life just pass you by in a blur Pete?
Where are well beyond the point where CC policies need to be affordable.
Always a problem for political parties. Even in opposition you can’t be all things for all people. It gets harder in government. And all political parties are coalitions internally. They are always annoying supporters.
This is why Labour often leaks support to the Greens and NZ First and there are the floaters who leak between NZ First, Labour to and from National.
However the harder line Green supporters have the same problem as the remaining hardline NAct supporters. Where are they going to go? Their choice really is to vote for their best party to:-
1. express vaguely something like their views and hope.
2. not vote – something that extremists don’t usually do.
3. waste their vote on a party that has no hope of hitting the threshold – which most of the time is a zero sum game (the extremists from all angles generally cancel themselves out). Think mana, conservatives, and united future (the beige extremists).
4. get involved in a viable political party and try to shift their positions.
With the greens of all flavors, once you get outside of the flaky fashion voters (useless damn voters for any party to pursue in my opinion), then they usually do something like 1 or 4 and almost invariably within the Greens.
It is pretty damn apparent to any green voter that they either figure out how to tolerate each other ( for instance the the conservationists and social equity crowds ) or they they just forget about having any say in parliament.
This isn’t exactly rocket science. After all the Nats are a complete anathema to almost every consistent green voter I have ever run across outside of the fashion victims. National have a very long and extended history of being environmental and social terrorists – and are complete hypocrites about it. And they don’t think that Labour is much better.
Sure in theory a new party could form. But that is so virtually impossible with a 5% threshold that I feel it is unlikely to happen. I suspect that any attempt to do so will just cause the Green supporters to vote tactically to make sure that National won’t get in (and I think that a lot of NZ First voters feel the same way).
“It could also be the making or breaking of the current Government. They will have to make tangible moves on fulfilling a number of significant promises.
perhaps the media will shift more focus from PR onto substance too. There are signs this may be happening from some of them, but there is little sign yet what the Prime Minister’s priorities and plans will be, and her Government is yet to get going in a crucial year for them.”
Yes to all that pete, I agree fully.
Jacinda made us vote for her on her solid performance with her famous “auckland town Hall speech” which still remains to be largely fulllfilled in it’s promises made.
Things such as “Climate Change” ‘This is my generations nuclear moment’ – has been left on the back burner along with getting regional rail freight moving again, because labour in their last time in Government in 2008 bought the rail back for us all, and now in power she has done little to restore regional rail freight, as it and free up roads for tourists and Kiwi people to travel fafer, but all we see so far is Labour pouring more god money after bad into minior alterations to make roads better for trucks so that is dumb as trucks are now wrecking our climat change emisions targets.
Next was Labour Jacinda promised was to bring us a Government that was a softer, gentler, caring, inclusive, considerate and transperant Government who will listen to our concerns, and provide ousing for all and jobs, but this was the basic plan Jacinda made us believe, and sadly so far the opposite has occurred here.
The clock is ticking jacinda so please make this wish come true for us all this year. ‘Lets do this’. – (Jacinda called her plea as in pre-election 2017.)
Wow! Two curmudgeons! Is there a conference somewhere?
Couldn’t agree on a caterer, much less a venue.
Oh, oh, Pete! It’s a wee pile-on!
Regional rail to Gisborne won’t solve climate change. Deal with it.
‘Collins CRUSH‘ climate change!
https://www.scidev.net/global/climate-change/news/un-gives-12-year-deadline-to-crush-climate-change.html
Every little bit helps.
And, With human beings perception is everything.
Sometimes the symbolism of one small action that goes against the flow can make all the difference.
Regional rail to Gisborne could be one such example.
Electrifying the main trunk line could be another. Doubling the rail line to Northland another.
All of sudden you have a nation that is seen on the world stage as being serious in standing up to roading lobby.
The fact that there is such antipathy, to even taking this one small first step, is an , indication that the roading and trucking lobby know the power of symbolism. And fear it.
Cleangreen, Did you think it would happen in a year?
Latest examination of US imperialism leads to surprising identification of the cause: https://exhalantblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/generals-gathered-in-their-masses-the-expansion-of-empire-continues-unabated/
“But while official Washington united in opposition, new polling data from Morning Consult/Politico shows that a large plurality of Americans support Trump’s Syria withdrawal announcement: 49 percent support to 33 percent opposition.” https://theintercept.com/2019/01/11/as-democratic-elites-reunite-with-neocons-the-partys-voters-are-becoming-far-more-militaristic-and-pro-war-than-republicans/
“That’s not surprising given that Americans by a similarly large plurality agree with the proposition that “the U.S. has been engaged in too many military conflicts in places such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan for too long and should prioritize getting Americans out of harm’s way” far more than they agree with the pro-war view that “the U.S. needs to keep troops in places such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan to help support our allies fight terrorism and maintain our foreign policy interests in the region.””
Greenwald reports the evidence that the real warmongers are the Democrats: “But what is remarkable about the new polling data on Syria is that the vast bulk of support for keeping troops there comes from Democratic Party voters, while Republicans and independents overwhelming favor their removal. The numbers are stark: Of people who voted for Clinton in 2016, only 26 percent support withdrawing troops from Syria, while 59 percent oppose it. Trump voters overwhelmingly support withdraw by 76 percent to 14 percent.”
Let’s wait and see if the withdrawal happens in praxis franxie. Til then it’s just words.
There’s a cold shower of reality falling on all those here who keep pretending that the Democrats are the good guys:
“Democratic policy elites in Washington are once again formally aligning with neoconservatives, even to the point of creating joint foreign policy advocacy groups (a reunion that predated Trump). The leading Democratic Party think tank, the Center for American Progress, donated $200,000 to the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute and has multilevel alliances with warmongering institutions.” https://theintercept.com/2019/01/11/as-democratic-elites-reunite-with-neocons-the-partys-voters-are-becoming-far-more-militaristic-and-pro-war-than-republicans/
There is zero evidence that the Ukrainian political consultant ..note ..Ukrainian not Russian, Konstantin Kilimnik , has ties to the Russian security services.
The long bow being strung here is that when Kilimkin applied for his job at the International Republican Institute(strongly associated with the US govt), he was perfectly open about where he learned his fluent English…at a Soviet military school ,pretty standard for Soviet citizens, and later worked as a translator for the Russian army.He was jokingly referred to as GRU.and not considered a security risk
Kilimnik worked for Manafort’s consultancy in Ukraine, which was advising Yanukovich to turn towards the west and pursue admittance to the EU.Yanukovich straddled a line between Russia and Europe and tried to play both off against each other as a way to tread water
(In the event, the EU aid package didnt weigh up against the loss of Ukraine’s biggest trading partner, Russia , some 60 billion dollars down according to Yanukovich’s own treasury advisors.The Russian offer along with cheap gas was the only workable one.
When Yanukovich pleaded with the EU to cut him a better deal, they refused.)
So working with an American flash Harry who’s advising a Ukrainian despot to turn west is apparently the work of a “Russian operative”… but these are the times we live in , where journalism is in thrall to partisan, old and tired geopolitical agendas .
And we the consumers have to pretend not to gag on outlandish bullshit .
Repeat after me, Black is White
Here’s the Nation , rather more Democrat aligned than Republican
https://www.thenation.com/article/manafort-no-smoking-gun-collusion/
Heh. The most libertarian free-marketeer in the US Senate rejects the services available from his home free market and goes to a foreign country with a socialist system and socialized service providers to get his medical care.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/14/rand-paul-canada-surgery-neighbor-attack-1099485
I think we are going to have to bring back the death penalty. Such behaviour as this mean that this person should never be let out into society again. With a planet full of people, and not able to look after the innocent and vulnerable now, those who cross over into viciousness have no place in the world and should be humanely put down.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/380139/jayme-closs-kidnap-suspect-tells-police-he-picked-her-at-random
What’s that about adam. Can you explain its relevance?
Some men are so smart they can out smart scientists by decades. Even after death they can continue to show how smart they were.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2017/10/science-backs-up-hugh-hefner-s-number-one-rule.html
What is the purpose of this comment? The objectification of women by one man is supported by others who regard sexual objectification as meritorious?
Yellow shirts argue for tax reform… …on the rich. How about banning foriegn multi millionaires? over say 100 million from travel overseas. Those individuals that rich are incapable of spend even a smidgen in a foreign country, except on homes,so reek havoc to the global economy in inequality, and it’s not like their numbers are growing, in fact wealth is falling to fewer and fewer. When there is a threat to the people our leaders must act… …and it’s not like the wealthy will have it hard, they are swimming in money, they can fly the four star French chef over and simulate the world economy for a change. And it’s not like they are thick, they have the ability to give to charity, raise wages of faithful employees, or family…etc. Why would we create and maintain a system of economic value, that allows value to be acrued, yet then once acrued inhibits wider wealth dissipation, or we could, as the yellow shirts want, just tax them more to pay for the troubles tgey are producing. although a few Saudi princes kept at home might have redirected their locus of perception and saved a journalist.
These are the present tax rates in France.
Up to €9,807: 0%
€9,807–27,086: 14%
€27,086–72,617: 30%
€72,617–153,783: 41%
€153,783+: 45%
………………
In addition to the basic rates of income tax those fortunate few with a taxable income of upwards of €250,000 pa are liable for a special tax called contribution exceptionnelle sur les hauts revenus.
This tax is at the rate of 3% on income up to €500,000, and at the rate of 4% on income above €500,000.
Married couples and those in a civil partnership are exempt up to €500,000, when they then become liable at the rate of 3% to €1m, and 4% above this figure.
The tax is imposed on net income, after determination of the tax liability under the standard scale rates.
…………….
They also rebate tax liability for dependants.
A couple with 2 kids pay no tax until €47,452
So how are the rich not paying there fair share of tax. They are already not far off the only ones paying.
In practice, less than 50% of inhabitants in France pay any income tax at all; only around 14% pay at the rate of 30%, and less than 1% pay at the rate of 45%.
My guess is the ones protesting are in that 50% figure and pay no tax.
Tax was lowered on the wealthiest. Still you miss the point, great wealth can buy real estate in nz that harms our economy, pushing up housing costs for citizens here. The idea is either raise taxes on the wealthy, or stop them travelling and using that wealth to collude, distort and open unproductive relationships. Sure we want the good investments just have the debate also about the bad. giving someone bragging rights over multiple homes, boats, etc in multiple dominion is wealth pollution. Look a fail maker who moves here and invests great, a psuedo journalist who never made a buck anyone actually needed… …why expose ourselves to wealth acquired by colluding in foreign. We don’t allow free movement of people, why should we want fire movement of wealth people who have all the same spectrum of infalliabilities just more money to damage economies.
John Key millionarie exception brought in dotcom… …really can’t we debate now was that good policy, is it good to have nonproductive ownership…
Get down where you belong NZs – where tourism is king and queen or Irish or something. Tote that barge, lift that rubbish, joyride in a car and you’ll really be rubbished.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz//nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12190151&ref=clavis
Bad tourists: Group refused to pay for food in restaurant ‘scam’, bullied staff
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12190060
Worst flight we’ve had’: Alleged chaos on travellers’ flight to NZ
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12189846
‘I’ll knock your brains out’: Unruly tourists dump rubbish at Takapuna Beach, threaten locals
(This from a 9 year old?)
Guess what – all the same group. The Brits won the pools and came to rubbish us,
supposed to be Irish but who knows. For the reporter this was the gift that kept on giving. Watch out they might be headed your way and ready for some hooliganism.
soddenleaf says what about banning multi millionaires?
What about getting $100 per tourist up front, plus an insurance policy against damage and possible costs they incur in this country. We don’t know actually how much profit we get from this people invasion. And then if there is profit, how much of it stays in NZ. Bet they set up here as foreigners, get cheap people from overseas, arrange to receive all their country’s people so they can speak their own language, so easy, and then pocket everything and send the profit to a tax haven with us getting diddleysquat and I don’t know what that is, but it looks like trouble!
I think Zero Dollar Tours is the term,
https://theaseanpost.com/article/zero-dollar-tourists-not-welcome
Bruce That’s very informative – I had heard that some Chinese were getting offered very cheap tours, but finding that they were subject to stand-over tactics by tour organisers.
I wonder if countries are allowed to set up their own tourist offices in China.
This would ensure that the idea of being shown the country to the Chines as guests being cared for by the host country might go down well. With more Chinese speakers being churned out of course to talk face to face with the people.
I don’t think so , but it’s easy to see the country from local perspective esp now with google maps, not sure about China but here we just pick a place thats looks interesting and try to find the bus, truck or whatever to get there. And if your lucky enough to get lost and end up in the hands of the locals to get back to civilisation the fun really begins. These days though, I stay around one area so have to wait till it looks like rain, head off into the hills, get caught in the rain find shelter, wait for some locals to take pity on me and take me home. I used to feel uncomfortable with the disparity in wealth and circumstance but have since learned that the hill people have no idea of how we live and are quite content in their lives and are happy to share, there are always ways to appropriately respond.
Have you ever toured in the Shansi province north of Xian? I was fascinated by the story of the little woman missionary Gladys Aylward who managed to raise her own money to get herself to a mission in China in that province.
She went by sea, then railway, then sea again, and I think finally by donkey
to a lower mountain walled township. They seemed to be very able people, in a hard climate. The remote mountain villages had scattered gardens of millet as their main food I think. I have thought of going there but it is getting off the main tourist drag and of course I have to save up a fair bit.
Have you been there? I think she was in Feng Yang. Or have you been to where Rewi Alley established a school over in the west?
No never into China, Mong la on the border in Shan State but it’s just a casino so no interest back to Kentung.
It’s only the airfare that costs and with an eye on the specials you can get to Bangkok for under a thousand and then 30 or 40 a day is ample. 12 to 15 for nice room, I’m fussy and immune suppressed so choosy. Meals are dollar or two, buses are generally safe $40 gets 1000 ks . Just stay as long as possible to dilute the airfare cost .
It’s an international problem, not just Chinese. All group / package tourism markets have this aspect.
Probably the most blatant is the cruise ship industry who are there to fleece their punters in every way they can and demand huge commissions from any outside operator they might throw a few crumbs to.
Spare a thought for Mediterranean tourist spot locals. They’ve had decades worth of the same shit.
Mmm. Venice has been cutting down hard on day trippers etc. I Think that NZ is fooled a bit – we are making money from dairying – but what is the net return when you deduct the lost or damaged resources. Tourism – what clever ways of siphoning off profits and minimising taxes and the crowds needing resources!
Try to set up some hiousing project and a fair proportion of the group are from
the USA. When can we have our own country as a resource for ourselves? Of course what Maori have been asking for years.
We could set up a little enclave in Todd McClay’s Rotovegas and call it Benedorm.
Just think of all the opportunities for development and growth going forward.
It’d be a ‘win win’ situation for all. We could even schedule a RoNS extension from Paengaroa and capture the cruise ship market calling in at Tearwronga
The tourist spend was $11.8 billion.
There were 3,733,707 visitors.
So each visitor spends $3160.
So if they are charged $100, if >1 in 31.6 visiters decides not to come to NZ then we loose income.
If you use tax gained from the activity at the immediate level you have GST but also Tax on wages, fuel, Buisiness profits, etc. Once you count flow on activity like the worker spending wages the Tax generated begins to add up. It should be similar to the result. The % of the economy the government takes in taxes. Our Tax to GDP rate is 32%.
So the government gets about. $1,011 a tourist.
Tax vs Levi. If >1 in 10 tourists doesn’t come to NZ the Government gets less taxes.
Other issue.
How much does the tourist have to spend. If they only have $3160 then they including the Levi will still spend $3160. So it won’t be $3160, plus all of the $100.
So the income figure, and tax figure would be affected by that change in figures.
It could end up generating more revenue if numbers are less affected, and spend is less affected by an additional $100 levy.
But nothing expands exponentially. The way we are is one of the pleasures of coming here. Are we too nice? We will gradually get sourer as numbers mount.
And the hospitality industry is dependent on tourists, and they are poorly paid.
Revenue isn’t everything, it can’t buy us pristine water for instance.
And some visitors don’t spend a lot, are quite poor, these are woofers. And they often are very genuinely interested in the country and people and put a lot of effort into helping horticulture etc.
Just taking averages is interesting but not really informative. Some nations spend more than others according to the stats.
A lot of Australians come here for short holidays; some are Kiwis and stay with family. Not much to feed the hopeful tourist businesses. Then the very wealthy, do they go off to a remote hacienda and fish fine trout or something.
Not much expenditure for the locals, except for the guide to the best spots.
Plus @DJW, each tourist shits on average 1kg per day, and the average length of stay is between 19 and 22 days.
So lets be fair and say the average excrement load per tourist is 20 kilograms.
So lets multiply that by the record breaking 3.7 million tourists per year.
That’s approximately 74,000,000 kilograms of shit per annum or 74,000 tonnes looking for prospects.
Admittedly some of it will be high quality shit but a lot of it will be pretty average but it seems to me there must be a business opportunity for some entrepreneurial ‘type’ such as yourself.
Money money money ……etc.
Oh, and by the way “Once you count flow on activity like the worker spending wages the Tax generated begins to add up.”
I could probably arrange for a few Dalits to come and assist with the enterprise if you’d like – strictly below minimum wage of course and they’ll spend all they earn.
Well as a former minimum/low wage worker for a good part of my early life I had to make hard choices. I left a Job that over time was paying OK to study, living on the bones of my arse as it took to September to get a allowance approved. I moved city ariving with $5 to my name to start a new job that led to my position today. I abandoned that job to study a subject I needed to learn but new little about. I worked 8 to 12 hour night shifts and studied during the day. I moved city again and luckily got a job I wanted, again with nothing. My pay effectively doubled but your making a mistake if you think I don’t know how hard it is.
Money, money, money!
As a stay at home dad that chooses to work part time so I can have a quality life with my kids while they are young, I got my priorities and balance spot on.
Yes I know @ DJ. Some of us have had similar experiences and so if everybody just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps like you and me, the world would be a much better place.
It’s so good to be able to just sit back in the knowledge we’re both the self-made man
Yep. The Trump and Bush Senior hard worker driven types with the silver spoon are rare. The rest like Bush junior not so much.
There is other rarities like Musc.
The hard parts of life help show the value of the free things all around you.
My brother who I had to take custody when I was 19 left school young to go on the independent youth benifit, on the day he qualified. Eventually he decided to do something with himself. He door knocked, offered his services for free to a business starting by sweeping the floor. Obviously that’s exploitation by the buisness but he learnt a skill that led to a job, a better job, his present job where he earns over 6 figures, flash vehicle, and boss to about 60 staff.
Yea yea, understand mate. Fully! Fully!
But you know what? as me dear ole mum said on her death bed just before she popped her clogs …. she said “son, I know its been a hard life with that useless git of a father of yours and all, and I couldn’t have done it without ya. I’m proud of ya son”
And I said “yea mum, I know ya struggled but I didn’t get where I am today with all that bleeding heart liberal stuff”
And I thought, if I an do it, ANYBODY can!
And just before she departed this glorious world, she said “son, just remember, ya don’t owe noone nuttin”.
I ‘ve remembered that to this very day. It’s what drives me in every thing I do
I just love it when sarcasm goes right over the recipient’s head!
Well done, OwT.
One way to look at it is they helped to capture 74,000 tonnes of carbon rich matter. Doing a good deed for climate change. Sequestered.
All all up to our poo production strategy to save the world.
And if anybody still thinks Orwell’s 1984 is fiction, that things are more extreme in the US and similar conditions can’t happen here… where have these dreamers been since 1984? Chris Hedges nails it.
‘Neoliberalism argues that the essence of freedom is free enterprise, while never addressing workers’ surrender of basic freedoms. Neoliberalism holds out the promise, which has not been true since before the Industrial Revolution, that workers can become self-employed if they are hardworking and innovative. We all have the ability to achieve economic independence or become industry leaders if we draw on our inner resources, according to the neoliberal mantra, one popularized by mass culture. […] This is a con.’
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-private-governments-that-subjugate-u-s-workers/
Well you can start your own Buisiness if you like can’t you. I’m self imployed. I was a worker on a wage. I was a worker on a salary. But I’ve always had the choice to be self employed, or start a Buisiness. Starting a Buisiness however takes commitment, hard work, and the willingness to risk ones own money and pay taxes on profits.
What does the worker risk?
Men get paid more for the risky jobs they do vs females low risk jobs, shows worker risk gets rewarded.
People who start Buisiness.
The very same people who create those modern day slavery workers jobs.
Imagine what the workers would do if nobody created jobs.
You are the master of your own destiny in a free society.
Change job it it’s not making you happy.
No guarantees, but with a good social system to help the unfortunate, or lazy.
If you wish to start a Buisiness there is free classes, and grants. There’s nothing stopping you, other than your own glass ceiling.
To a certain extent that’s right. But it takes a careful man or woman to keep a business going. Got to get paid and be carefully regular checking and working out payments with the strugglers and others. You actually have to have some spare money or assets to get started. Lots of businesses go down because they are under capitalised, and can’t get that extra loan to tide them over. You are in a business that needs your skills. So good luck with that.
If you have a family your children might never see you and you slave away all hours, and have to live on tick while you work at getting the money in. And if the business doesn’t work out, it can sap all your energy. You have a change of lifestyle, have to give up your house and buy a caravan and start all over in another direction.
“Good on you for cutting him off, Wallace!”
Wallace Chapman, Hero. Or is he?
The Panel, RNZ National, Tuesday 15 January 2019
Wallace Chapman, David Cormack, Janet Wilson, Caitlin Cherry
First item for the day: a discussion about the wisdom or otherwise of police car chase policies. The “expert” for this topic was one John Lambert, an Australian road safety expert. However, this came to an abrupt end when Lambert claimed that Maori were more likely to break the law than Pakeha. This elicited gasps from David Cormack and host Wallace Chapman, who said: “We can’t accept that” and quickly got rid of him. He then condemned “that bizarre and woeful comment.”
Five minutes later…..
WALLACE CHAPMAN: A lot of responses about the gentleman from Australia. A lot of people hated the way I cut him off, but then a lot of people said “Good on you for cutting him off.”
DAVID CORMACK: Good ON you for cutting him off, Wallace!
“Good on you for cutting him off, Wallace.” So why, Wallace, did you let that scumbag Lee Child get away with the most disgusting bilge?
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/03/wallace-chapmans-simpering-interview.html
We note you said nothing to challenge Marilyn Garson….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/04/wallace-chapman-is-repeatedly-failing.html
or these fools….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/03/sue-moroneys-dismal-delusional-anti.html
But now you’ve grown a backbone. That’s encouraging.
You will never be 100% happy with any reporter, journalist or media commentator other than the handful of ones you idolize. I’m sure the file you have on Wallace is better ranked than the one on Mora, so be thankful there’s been a change on The Panel 🙂
I “idolize” some reporters, do I?
I expect them to do their job, which is to understand their subject to an expert level, report the facts, and to rigorously hold politicians and propagandists to account. Some reporters—Glenn Greenwald, Jon Stephenson, Nicky Hager, Robert Fisk, Jeremy Scahill—do exactly those things. Some, on the other hand—Jim Mora, Rachel Maddow, and as I showed in those three references, Wallace Chapman—fail to do those things.
Yes, I’m thankful there’s been a change on The Panel. Today we saw a new Wallace Chapman. Time will tell whether he keeps challenging people like he did John Lambert this afternoon, or whether he will be as supine and indolent as he was when he let Lee Child vomit his disgusting views.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/03/wallace-chapmans-simpering-interview.html
Norman, and Tucker.
I’m sure at least one of those two.
Having said all that, one has to admit that THIS is a great reporter….
Gang members break into a property you own, say they own it (they don’t), and move in.
Police are brought in and those squatting in the property are trespassed, but tough shit for you the property owner because nothing else happens and you run out of money paying for the mortgage, and legal bills.
I’m all for tenant rights but the scale needs balance if only to stop incidents like this, rare though it is. WHY AREN’T THEY ARRESTED FOR TRESPASS AGAIN? Useless cops.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12188893
This could happen to anyone of us and needs sorting asap.
Did you notice that the gang used to own the property. They don’t now as they got bankrupted? Or had it taken off them when they got had on drug dealing.
But they had built it themselves. If we had legalised marijuana back then they could have been encouraged to drop the meth and go legit on quality, tested grass.
If only.
If Aunty had bollocks she’d be uncle. What you say about that eh ?
If green was legal they’d still be pushing meth as it’s addictive, green has less repeat business. If if if if…..laws been broken, end of story.
Yes I know, a little dream. My quote – ‘If wishes were horses, beggars would
ride.’ If only, about the saddest most evocative words there are in the language.
Gathering support for new ideas, working teams for new projects?
http://betterworktogether.co/
Pikies
Racially vilifying these folk is okay because…..
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/15/acceptable-racism-gypsies-travellers-prejudice
After I read this story I new google shonky + tara Iti golf club and sure enough he is linked in this mess he goal was to serve his rich amercian m8 he would have bulldozed through all the laws we have to protect OUR indangered animals to get this golf club built and worse still the named the club after the Bird that they are causing the EXTINCTION of both links below. We have a obligation to protect these TARONGA birds of Aotearoa FROM the greedy wealthy men
New Zealand’s rarest bird on the brink of extinction: ‘This is a crisis year’
A disastrous breeding season has plunged one of the world’s rarest birds even deeper into crisis.
The critically endangered fairy tern/tara iti, the country’s rarest native bird species with fewer than 40 individuals, has had only three chicks hatch this season.
New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust convenor Heather Rogan says one chick has gone missing, which could make this the worst breeding season in at least 27 years.
The Department of Conservation maintained on Monday that all three chicks were alive and well. If that’s the case and they all fledge, this would still be the worst season since 1996-7, the last time three chicks fledged.
The luxury Tara Iti Golf Club has been built nearby and exclusive housing developments are planned in the old Mangawhai Forest, bought by Te Uri o Hau in its Treaty settlement. As part of the developments, a public reserve is to be created.
“It just seems one thing after the other has been piling pressure on,” says Rogan.
It appears, however, that DOC has dropped the ball. A 10-year fairy tern recovery plan was produced in 2005 but the recovery group was disbanded before the term was finished.
“If all the things that were in there had been followed, we might be a bit better off,” says Rogan.
(Iftikar didn’t know why the group was disbanded.)
SLOW PROGRESS
Progress also seems slow. DOC called a meeting of interested groups in March last year to discuss some of the strategies and priorities for saving the fairy tern. A recovery group was one of the top priorities, yet it’s still not established.
Looking back five years, the Fairy Tern Trust, set up in ka kite ano links below. P.S I can see the money mens spin doctors are using the media one story I found stated the Tara iti had a good season what lies the alt right throw at us.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/109953299/new-zealands-rarest-bird-on-the-brink-of-extinction-this-is-a-crisis-year
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105059172/sir-john-key-lobbied-government-for-overseas-buyers-ban-exemption
The moon
Giant leaf for mankind? China germinates first seed on moon
A small cotton shoot is growing onboard Chang’e 4 lunar lander, scientists confirm
A small green shoot is growing on the moon after a cotton seed germinated onboard a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said.
The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister after the Chang’e 4 lander touched down earlier this month, according to a series of photos released by the Advanced Technology Research Institute at Chongqing University.
“This is the first time humans have done biological growth experiments on the lunar surface,” said Xie Gengxin, who led the design of the experiment, on Tuesday.
Plants have been grown previously on the International Space Station, but this is the first time a seed has sprouted on the moon. The ability to grow plants in space is seen as crucial for long-term space missions and establishing human outposts elsewhere in the solar system, such as Mars.
Harvesting food in space, ideally using locally extracted water, would mean astronauts could survive for far longer without returning to Earth for supplies.
The Chang’e 4 probe – named after the Chinese moon goddess – made the world’s first soft landing on the far side of the moon on 3 January,
Chang’e 4 is also equipped with instruments developed by scientists from Sweden, Germany and China to study the lunar environment, cosmic radiation and the interaction between solar wind and the moon’s surface.
Sign up for Lab Notes – the Guardian’s weekly science update
Read more
The lander released a rover, nicknamed Yutu 2 (Jade Rabbit), that will perform experiments in the Von Kármán crater.
The agency said four more lunar missions are planned, confirming the launch of Chang’e 5 by the end of the year, which will be the first probe to return samples of the moon to Earth since the 1970s. ka kite ano links below
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/15/china-germinates-first-seed-on-moon-cotton-shoot-change-4
One simple — but really hard — solution to stop climate change
Health
One simple — but really hard — solution to stop climate change
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One simple — but really hard — solution to stop climate change
US carbon emissions on the rise again 06:24
(CNN)There may actually be a way to keep the worst of climate change at bay, but it’s going to take a herculean effort, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Climate change is well underway already, the time to act and limit its human causes is now, many studies have shown. This latest report maps out what it may take to get there.
Antarctica ice melt has accelerated by 280% in the last 4 decades
It posits that if the world was to phase out its “carbon-intensive infrastructure” at the end of its design lifetime starting from the end of 2018, there’s a 64% chance that the planet’s peak temperature can remain below the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Above that, scientists predict the planet will see even more extreme weather events such as wildfires, droughts, floods, massive animal die offs and food shortages for millions. The planet is already two-thirds of the way there, with global temperatures having warmed about 1 degree Celsius.
To keep the global median temperature within this optimal 1.5 degree-Celsius limit, according to this study, change would have to happen across all sectors, not just in the energy sector. Power plants would need to be replaced, but so would gas and diesel-fueled cars, aircraft, ships and and industrial plants. Even cows would have to go — essentially, anything that contributes to global warming.
Under this scenario, infrastructure such as power plants wouldn’t have to be scrapped and replaced with a non-carbon emitting technology — at least, not immediately. The researchers are talking about a “design lifetime.” In the case of power plants, the average lifetime based on historic data, is about 40 years. The average lifetime of a car on the road now is more than 11 years, according to Consumer Reports, but could last for about 200,000 miles, or 15 years, US estimates show. Once they wear out, stop working or die, they’d be replaced with technology or products that do not contribute to climate change Ka kite ano link below
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/15/health/climate-change-phase-out-infrastructure-study/index.html
The sandflys must be in the kaka every time Eco Maori goes outside they play with there sirens ana to kai ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
I see the alt right reporters are using cunning sly tact ticks to scare people off the ideas that a fare tax system in Needed .I SAY that it’s is need a tax on people who can afford it .The way s honky has setup the tax system a the minute the people who are broke are paying a higher tax % than a person making millions in proffets in the share market and that ain’t correct. The the more money the government gives the wealthy they take that money out of the system under there mattresses. The more money the government’s give the poor the money keeps flowing through the systems and is good for a capitalist based system. The wealthy people let there greed replace any logically humane way of thinking with bigotry. Ka kite ano. P.S we need to make this country fare that will fix some of the problems we have now links below
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/366876/two-options-proposed-for-taxing-capital-gain
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/359921/cap-gains-would-cut-house-prices-increase-ownership-study
Goods need to be made to last a life time not 2 to 5 years
frustrating: you buy a new appliance then just after the warranty runs out, it gives up the ghost.
You can’t repair it and can’t find anyone else to at a decent price, so it joins the global mountain of junk.
You’re forced to buy a replacement, which fuels climate change from the greenhouse gases released in the manufacturing process.
No captionPhoto: 123RF
But help is at hand, because people in Europe and parts of the USA will soon get a right to repair – of sorts.
Libby Peake is senior policy adviser at Green Alliance, a UK charity and environmental think tank, she tells Summer Times it’s a problem all over the world.
“The right to repair movement really stems from consumer frustrations with products that break long before they should and can’t be repaired because it’s either too expensive, or it’s too much of a hassle. Increasingly, it’s because products aren’t designed to be repaired,”
She says consumer goods such as washing machines are often designed with sealed drums that prevent consumers and repairers from accessing parts that would be easily and cheaply replaced, such as ball bearings. Faced with the choice of an expensive repair, consumers often choose to simply buy a new machine – “and it’s no wonder”, she says.
The movement started in the United States, where lawmakers in Massachusetts passed legislation that forced car manufacturers to provide information to consumers which would allow them to make repairs to vehicles themselves.
Increasingly, it’s moved into consumer electronics. Eighteen states across the US have now passed legislation for the right to repair and now the European Union is gearing up to do the same. Already, the EU is looking at improving product standards for things such as fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and televisions.
No captionLibby Peake. Photo: Supplied
Ms Peake says the movement would be hugely beneficial to the environment.
“There are massively environmental consequences to the growing mountain of electronic waste that’s being created. It’s the fastest growing waste stream – not just the products, but the manufacturing itself which includes mining, water, and electricity use. It’s an energy intensive process.”
Previously the EU had focused on the eco-design directive which dictates standards on energy use, for instance LED lightbulbs and electricity or water use. Now it’s moving onto resource efficiency, product lifetime and the ease of repair.
Peake says several manufacturers have protested the proposed changes and argue only professional repairs should be conducted on their products. But the legislation has support from higher-end manufacturers who believe that if everyone were forced to meet minimum standards, it would make the industry more competitive and drive the least efficient products off the market.
Planned product obsolescence used to make sense for manufacturers to force new purchases of defunct electronics, but consumers are increasingly in favour of long-lasting products and Speake says their frustrations will begin to hit manufacturer bottom lines as consumers seek out more robust products. Ka kite ano
Peake says, now that jumps in technological advances have decreased, manufacturers could design things like phones and televisions with disassembly in mind, so the parts can be re-used or recycled. In terms of the losses they would incur by selling more robust phones for example, she says manufacturers may need to pivot to charging for things like software upgrades or repair services.
“People are increasingly sick of ‘take, make, dispose’ economy we’ve got. They want something that’s much more circular and doesn’t damage the planet so much – and ultimately – doesn’t damage their wallets.
Here is a link to vote for Steven Adams to become the first Kiwi to get into the NBA AllStars Kia kaha kite ano he need Aotearoa tau toko. Link below.
https://vote.nba.com/#/confirm
Kia ora Newshub
History is in the making in Britain
Cryto currency is getting hacked Alot costing them billions they must have some power full computers to achieve that.
A fire at sea in Australia one has to be careful as on Tangaroa a fire at sea is a nightmare never seen one tho.
It must be a bad feeling knowing that you have a short time to live I could not fathom it.
Falling in love can turn Papatuanukue upside down.
A ride a horse in fast food outlet in Australia that’s a cool photo there are no shops were I rode my horses.
Tom its good to see one of the Football Ferns best players come back to play for them under a new coach. Ka kite ano
Time to listen to the people who’s only interest is saving OUR Papatuanuku and not the amount of interest there share’s are making while they are poisioning our Earth
WE HAVE TO MAKE THE COMPANYS AND CONSUMERS PAY MORE so there is a good price payed for plastic waste reclycling that will provide jobs and $$ for poor people .
1 billion is a drop in the bucket . NZ need to invest that amount alone let alone the hole planet investing 1 billion and trying to grab positive head lines in the media
Industry alliance sets out $1bn to tackle oceans’ plastic waste
Greenpeace sceptical about corporate polluters as alliance launched to reduce waste
Forbes, global plastics project leader at Greenpeace, said: “This is a desperate attempt from corporate polluters to maintain the status quo on plastics. In 2018 people all over the world spoke up and rejected the single-use plastics that companies like Procter & Gamble churn out on a daily basis, urging the industry to invest in refill and reuse systems and innovation. Instead of answering that call, P&G preferred to double down on a failed approach with fossil fuel giants Exxon, Dow and Total [which] fuel destructive climate change.”
He added: “Make no mistake, plastics are a lifeline for the dying fossil fuel industry, and this announcement goes to show how far companies will go to preserve it.”
Rob Kaplan, chief executive of Circulate Capital, which invests in recycling and other projects to reduce plastic waste, said businesses would provide the answer to plastic waste, but it would take many billions in investment. “There is no silver bullet to the plastic problem. Different parties are trying to push their own agenda, but there does not seem to be an alternative at present,” Ka kite ano links below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/16/industry-alliance-sets-out-1bn-to-tackle-oceans-plastic-waste
I hope this Goverment is going to back renewable Energy as fast as the Papatuanuku needs to . So we can guarantee a bright clean happy future for ALL Eco Maoris Wero to this Goverment.
Low-carbon electricity from wind and solar farms will be cheaper than gas and effectively subsidy-free by 2020, says the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
In a new report, the government’s official climate change advisor says that low-carbon supplies will be the most cost-effective way to fill the looming generation gap in the 2020s, as the UK’s ageing coal and nuclear plants retire. A more flexible grid will be a crucial complement to this shift.
However, the CCC also rows back from the stretching 2030 power decarbonisation target it once advocated, citing delays to the deployment of nuclear and carbon capture and storage (CCS). The report is a prelude to the CCC’s fifth carbon budget advice. On 26 November this advice will recommend a UK emissions cap for the five years from 2028 to 2032. S&P Global reports the cost of solar with battery backup dropped precipitously in 2018. In a few cases in the sunny Southwest region of the United States, several tenders for solar plus storage came in at under $30 per megawatt-hour last year. Stand alone prices for installed battery storage — based on a 20 megawatt-hour system with 4 hours of storage — dropped 40% from the previous year to $357 per kilowatt-hour and are expected to keep falling. Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects a further 52% reduction by 2030.Such tumbling prices have led Wood Mackenzie to forecast that as the market for solar plus storage matures, it could put more than 6,400 MW of new natural gas-fired peaking capacity in the US at risk by 2027. “I can beat a gas peaker anywhere in the country today with a solar-plus-storage power plant,” says Tom Buttgenbach, CEO of developer 8minutenergy Renewables. “Who in their right mind today would build a new gas peaker? We are a factor of two cheaper.”
Progress in battery storage was uneven around the world last year. South Korea has put significant incentives in place, which have led to a boom in that country. So much so, in fact, that Korean battery manufacturers have dedicated much of their production to meeting that demand at the expense of automakers hungry for EV batteries and residential storage products.
“When you see projects now being planned at over 1 GWh in scale, when only 18 months ago a 300 MWh installation was something to behold, you know you have entered a new era,” says Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.. “It has been quite interesting to watch the battery makers’ dilemma of where to send the lithium ion cells. Of course they have contracts to honor with automotive producers, but the order inquiries from [energy storage] producers have been incredible.”
Some CleanTechnica readers have been wondering why Kia and Hyundai have such low production targets for their newest EV offerings. The clamor for battery cells to meet the energy storage demand may be part of the reason for those low numbers.
“Even though progress was uneven, there was a much greater consensus in 2018 over the importance of energy storage, even in the near term, in major markets,” says Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at Bloomberg NEF. “In 2017, there were still a lot of people talking about how energy storage was not necessarily a competitive solution and was going to be limited. I hear those conversations much less now. Energy storage is now becoming Ka kite ano links below P.S I say The NZ Goverment should be investing in solar and wind on the industrial and roof top solar make the power companys pay a net metering price that is the same as they charge us for the power.
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/13/solar-storage-half-the-cost-of-gas-peaker-plants-8minuteenergy/
The sandflys have found away to block my post fools on my computer this is my HUAWEI phone Ka kite ano
A post from my phone gets them to stop there bullstuff you see people I post a post putting down the alt right and there sirens went off = alt right climate change denieing red necks the sandflys are ka kite ano
S&P Global reports the cost of solar with battery backup dropped precipitously in 2018. In a few cases in the sunny Southwest region of the United States, several tenders for solar plus storage came in at under $30 per megawatt-hour last year. Stand alone prices for installed battery storage — based on a 20 megawatt-hour system with 4 hours of storage — dropped 40% from the previous year to $357 per kilowatt-hour and are expected to keep falling. Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects a further 52% reduction by 2030.
Such tumbling prices have led Wood Mackenzie to forecast that as the market for solar plus storage matures, it could put more than 6,400 MW of new natural gas-fired peaking capacity in the US at risk by 2027. “I can beat a gas peaker anywhere in the country today with a solar-plus-storage power plant,” says Tom Buttgenbach, CEO of developer 8minutenergy Renewables. “Who in their right mind today would build a new gas peaker? We are a factor of two cheaper.”
Progress in battery storage was uneven around the world last year. South Korea has put significant incentives in place, which have led to a boom in that country. So much so, in fact, that Korean battery manufacturers have dedicated much of their production to meeting that demand at the expense of automakers hungry for EV batteries and residential storage products.
“When you see projects now being planned at over 1 GWh in scale, when only 18 months ago a 300 MWh installation was something to behold, you know you have entered a new era,” says Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.. “It has been quite interesting to watch the battery makers’ dilemma of where to send the lithium ion cells. Of course they have contracts to honor with automotive producers, but the order inquiries from [energy storage] producers have been incredible.”
Some CleanTechnica readers have been wondering why Kia and Hyundai have such low production targets for their newest EV offerings. The clamor for battery cells to meet the energy storage demand may be part of the reason for those low numbers.
“Even though progress was uneven, there was a much greater consensus in 2018 over the importance of energy storage, even in the near term, in major markets,” says Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at Bloomberg NEF. “In 2017, there were still a lot of people talking about how energy storage was not necessarily a competitive solution and was going to be limited. I hear those conversations much less now. Energy storage is now becoming
I deleted this post above because my first one went up 15 minutes later its part of my first one ka kite ano
Ikea Investment in New Plastic Recycling Technology at Port of Amsterdam
Plastic Recycling Amsterdam, a collaboration between Umincorp and Milieu Service Nederland, is constructing a new plastics recycling plant is to be built at the Port of Amsterdam.
Plastic Recycling Amsterdam (PRA), a collaboration between Umincorp and Milieu Service Nederland, is constructing a new plastics recycling plant is to be built at the Port of Amsterdam.
The organisation explained that the new facility, which can be expanded on a modular basis, will initially process 17,000 tonnes of plastics annually and prepare them to be reused.
The development is part of its move expand its circular plastics hub. Once operational it will first wash incoming plastic waste, shred it and then route through a magnetic bath. Using Magnetic Density Separation (MDS) technology, the plastics can be separated with a purity of 99% because different plastics have different weights.
The technology was originally developed at Delft University of Technology. The sorted plastics can then be processed into high-quality new packaging materials.
According to PRA the technology also represents a breakthrough in sustainable plastics recycling. Compared with traditional plastics, 90% of CO2 and 75% of costs in the supply chain are saved by using this circular process.
“With its existing large-scale collection of plastics and the growth of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area in the years ahead, the Port of Amsterdam is the ideal location for
establishing PRA,” commented Jaap Vandehoek, CEO of Umincorp.
Last week, Ingka, Ikea’s parent company, announced last week that it will invest in Umincorp.
“We are determined to make the difference in plastics recycling with our unique MDS technology and the recent investment by Ingka Group,” said Vandehoek
Roon van Maanen, Director Circular & Renewable Industry at Port of Amsterdam added: “PRA transforms recyclable plastics into raw materials for new plastics, while non-recyclable plastics are converted into transport fuel by Integrated Green Energy Solutions Amsterdam, which is also established in our Port. Ka kite ano limks below
https://waste-management-world.com/a/ikea-investment-in-new-plastic-recycling-technology-at-port-of-amsterdam
There you go whano I went to the courthouse to sort my false fines I get a paper take it to the bank expecting it to be filed. Because ECO MAORI trust no system I check it out today and what do you know the sandflys have been in the bank after me and flashed there shiny badge and bin the papers I filed to pay there false fine I will load the payment by Internet banking. The only system these redneck sandflys want to share with Maori is there jail system everything else they keep the best for them selves and let Maori have what falls of the side of their overflowing plates and encourage US to fight over it Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub like the professor said the information is on the Internet.
Australia is behaving badly the way they are treating the People who imagrated their and locking them on Manu Island treating them worsted animals.
Its up to the Auckland Council to make sure that there suburbs are clean and healthy without rubbish making the place smell. Was that a advert advertiseing that ladys miss fortunes WTF that’s not on hope that PBS gets sued but one has to have heaps of money to get justice in NZ. Newshub we need to move away from plastic waste wrapping product ASAP.
That’s cool that the kuia got some of her belongings back Ana to kai the offenders got name and shame on the net.
That a natural phenomenon A ice disk in Main America
I seen the story of that boy down a borehole hope they find him safely and unhurt. Even though China.s plants ended up freezing on the far side of the Marama it still gives a sign that plants can grow on the moon. Ka kite ano