LoL someone tell Fran O’Sullivan it isn’t the 1990s anymore… Jeez talk about rust never sleeping, have any of the old age duffers who seem the crew the Herald opinion pages these days had a new idea since 1984?
Talk about ageing neolib journalist waving a fist at the clouds!
First, privatisation was more or less a disaster in NZ. Secondly it is unpopular with voters thirdly it is wildly unpopular with Labour voters…
Someone tell Fran its cheaper to use the income from the state assets to pay the interest.
The other mistake she makes , which shows she has zero commercial nous, is that NSW can do deals because of the tax benefits, with the loss of tax revenue only affecting the Federal government revenue not the state government. In NZ we dont have a state government intermediary, any gains for business are losses from IRD.
Why doesn’t she propose borrowing it from the RBNZ directly and paying any interest to them. RBNZ profits get rolled into the government accounts as profit.
Well that can’t be the reason because the money gets created exactly the same even when the government borrows from the private sector.
Actually, it’s not the same or shouldn’t be.
If the government created the money they shouldn’t be paying interest on it whereas they will be if they borrow from the private sector.
And that, of course, is why the private sector is always complaining about the government creating money. If the government did the private sector would lose a major part of its government guaranteed unearned income.
Right (well mostly) but obviously the question is why is she not proposing this? The implication is Fran doesn’t actually understand the stuff she is talking about.
Mostly? Well obviously if the treasury borrows from the RBNZ they are still likely to pay some interest on that.
Right (well mostly) but obviously the question is why is she not proposing this?
Because we’ve had it drummed into us over the last few decades that a government creating money is evil. Meanwhile the fact that the private banks create money all the time and push hyper-inflation in assets (asset bubbles) and the fact of governments creating money has brought about prosperity is carefully hidden.
A No-Fly Zone Is Needed Around Idlib to Prevent “Unprecedented” Massacre
Moazzam Begg – Democracy Now, APRIL 19, 2018
And one thing I have to say, that whether it’s the United States, whether it’s Russia, whether it’s the Gulf states, whether it’s Britain or France, all have taken part in what I call the aerial gang rape of Syria. Everybody has bombed the opposition. And it’s only now twice that the United States government has bombed Syrian military positions, and this latest one with the chemical facilities.
Now, I’m completely against Western intervention, because I’ve tasted firsthand what that can do and what it’s done. But if you look at the strikes, literally, I think it’s the first time in history that the Americans have bombed over 150 missiles, together with the United States and France, and killed nobody. Now that’s great, but perhaps they could extend this kind of deathless aerial bombing campaign to everybody else that they’ve been bombing, because, thus far, it’s only the side of the rebels that the Americans have hit.
“Aerial gang rape”, exactly describes what has been done to the people of Syria by all the intervening powers, including the US, they have all piled on against the rebels. Moazzam Begg who himself was a victim of the CIA program of ‘Extraordinary Rendition’ and who went to Syria to investigate the Assad’s regime role in working with the CIA to carry out torture of CIA captives, is an Authoritative commentator on both the Assad regime and the superpowers’ motives and actions in Syria.
If there is one thing all these arrayed powers can’t stand; And that is, a people seeking their own independence and freedom out from under an autocratic tyranny, especially if those people live in an oil rich area of the Middle East.
Witness how in the First Iraq war the US pulled back and let Saddam Hussein put down a popular revolt by the Iraqi people.
On February 15, 1991, as the Desert Storm air campaign blasted Iraqi defenses in Kuwait, Bush flew to Andover, Mass., for a rally at the Raytheon plant, which manufactured the Patriot Air Defense System.
In the middle of a rousing speech, he noted, almost as an aside, “There’s another way for the bloodshed to stop, and this is for the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside.”
This was a notion trumpeted by other Administration officials as well, but what they and Bush had in mind was encouraging senior leaders of the Iraqi army or Baath Party to revolt.
“We didn’t expect a general public uprising,” says a former Bush aide. It was the Shi’ites in southern Iraq and the Kurds in the north–both of whom had long been subjugated by Saddam–who took Bush’s words to heart.
Who wonders if we have one of those staged gas attacks any second now?
Organised by the Jihadi headchopping gang known as the Whites Helmets to blame Syria for it.
One Two 3.1.1.1
15 August 2018 at 11:34 am
Jenny, I didn’t read your thoughts on the Israeli ‘humanitarian rescue’ of the white helmets…
I recall making extensive comments on the white helmets being transitted through Israel on this site.
Because many of my comments don’t get seen I have started keeping copies.
For your benefit I will repost one made at the time in a reply to Bill.
I think what you are missing here Bill, (either consciously or unconsciously) is all of this is going on behind a background of mass fascist style extermination being rained on the Syrian population by the Assad regime. Of which there is more than enough evidence of.
As horrible as it is, the West’s preoccupation with gas weapons and their possession and use by the Assad regime, obscures the fact that most of the aerial genocide has been committed with high explosives dropped on civilian cities and towns.
Zouhir Al Shimale, Middle East Eye – Thursday, 28 June 2018
The tens of thousands of civilians fleeing the Assad genocide piling up against the closed borders of Israel and Jordan represent a massive and building humanitarian crisis.
In Jordan, in response to the emerging humanitarian disaster, ‘Open the borders’ has become a top trending hashtag on social media
No such public campaign has emerged in the racist Zionist state of Israel which has an understanding with the Assad regime, and a reputation for massacring civilians on its borders.
Ed 3.1.1.2
15 August 2018 at 8:13 pm
Never read or listened to Alex Jones.
My sources are Cockburn, Fisk, Galloway, Bartlett and Beeley, as I’ve mentioned before.
What’s the difference?
These people’s views (and yours), are pretty much interchangeable, with that of Alex Jones and Ron Paul, and other far Right and fascist groups.
I’m fine with Sunni jihadists getting aerially gang-raped. And the rebels in Idlib are Sunni jihadists. That’s what we invented air combat wings for. Soon they’ll be dead, or forced to bend the knee in acceptance that Allah willed their crushing defeat at the hands of Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, and Quassem Suleimani.
“If there is one thing all these arrayed powers can’t stand; And that is, a people seeking their own independence and freedom out from under an autocratic tyranny, especially if those people live in an oil rich area of the Middle East.”
Yeah, that describes the Kurdish perhaps – but these guys in Idlib were trying to annihilate them, not free them. A brigade or two of Syrian military may have genuinely been a ‘free’ and ‘Syrian’ army in the early days of the revolt. But Idlib today is full of foreign fanatics, not secular Syrians.
I could make a comment on why CJ thinks that; “…Idlib today is full of foreign fanatics, not secular Syrians.” And it might have some bearing on the genocide being carried out by the regime and obviously supported by him.
In his 1963 “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” defending nonviolent civil disobedience, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described the tactic as an effort to silence African-American voices.
“If our white brothers dismiss as ‘rabble rousers’ and ‘outside agitators’ those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies — a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare,” Dr. King wrote.
Label the opposition “terrorists” and “Jihadis”, and it seems that some Western Leftists will support genocide and torture and mass disappearances, and even cheer it on. In that they are not too dissimilar to the extreme Right.
What we do know is that Idlib has been the place where thousands of Sunni refugees ethnically cleansed from regime areas have sought refuge. Just as CJ has said he wants to see these people, “getting aerially gang-raped”.
Unlike the Sunni jihadists (tourists or locals alike) I don’t really like those ideas. Neither did the Alawis, Yazidis or the Kurds – or the Christians of various local ethnicities. All of whom were fine under the old regime, but genocided by these Sunni extremists you seem to like so much.
Not to worry, while the holy rollers are about to get BTFO hard, it seems that the Syrian, Russian, and Iranian command are trying to figure out how to do it with minimal civilian casualties, which is why the offensive on Idlib has yet to commence.
Of course what right minded “rebels” or “opposition” would make millions of their own citizens into refugees. Now it seems Syrians are returning to live under that “butcher” and dictator Assad. Makes no sense at all and shows up Begg.
For some real coverage on Syria from 4:30 onwards,
The Bush Administration has been quietly nurturing individuals and parties opposed to the Syrian government in an effort to undermine the regime of President Bashar Assad. Parts of the scheme are outlined in a classified, two-page document that says that the U.S. already is “supporting regular meetings of internal and diaspora Syrian activists” in Europe
The document bluntly expresses the hope that “these meetings will facilitate a more coherent strategy and plan of actions for all anti-Assad activists.”
I’ve posted this to you previously…but it doesn’t fit your views on Syria…
The document says that Syria’s legislative elections, scheduled for March 2007, “provide a potentially galvanizing issue for… critics of the Assad regime.” To capitalize on that opportunity, the document proposes a secret “election monitoring” scheme, in which “internet accessible materials will be available for printing and dissemination by activists inside the country [Syria] and neighboring countries.” The proposal also calls for surreptitiously giving money to at least one Syrian politician who, according to the document, intends to run in the election. The effort would also include “voter education campaigns” and public opinion polling, with the first poll “tentatively scheduled in early 2007.”
Who-o-o-oh. Scary.
Against this; is the record of the Assad regime being a foundation member of the US led ‘Coalition Of The Willing’ against Iraq. A war in which the Assad regime supplied the US with 19,000 Syrian soldiers.
Also against the Regime Change conspiracy theory; is the fact that the Assad regime worked very closely with the CIA and let out their torture prisons to by used to torture CIA captives.
…..pro-Assad/Russia loons and propagandists have been so effective in muddying the waters, casting aspersions on Assad’s victims, and deflecting criticism away from this century’s most brutal dictator that they undermine any coordinated and sustained international effort to protect the Syrian people from a genocide.
So I asked a number of Syrians what damage these debunked conspiracy theories have imparted on the Syrian people and the pro-democracy revolution……
So you’d rather talk about climate change fair enough. That’s what some of the liberals do on here, switch topics and not address the point, and end up calling anyone with a differing point of view that they are alt-right.
I put up the post on Ron Paul’s climate change denial piece to show how nutty the Tea Party founder is.
But if you watch the whole video, near they end, you will see how Ron Paul ties up his climate change denial with his support for Basha Assad in one neat little package.
P.S. It is well known that Ron Paul is close to the Alt-right.
Personally I wouldn’t get my version of events in Syria from Ron Paul.
You might as well get your views shaped by Alex Jones or RT.
Streicher’s greatest weapon, his writing, was his ultimate downfall. He recorded his own crimes. Today, in the age of the internet, culpability for what we write is if anything potentially stronger – every moment of sneering dehumanisation, justification, obfuscation and enablement is documented for all to see.
All those who have played a part in enabling this genocide ought to take heed.
And just in case you are tempted to ignore the lesson it contains, and refuse to enlighten yourself….
I will also provide you a quote from the source material:
Streicher was found guilty of ‘crimes against humanity’ and was swiftly hanged by his neck until he was dead. During the entire course of the Third Reich and WWII, Streicher did not pick up a gun or physically command a death squad against Jews or any other innocent. He didn’t ever personally send a single soul to the gas chambers.
On the contrary, his weapon was the printing press and his ammunition was poisonous words. Streicher was the owner and editor of the notorious Nazi tabloid Der Sturmer, which pumped out a constant stream of the most base, vicious antisemitism, utilising what is today called ‘fake news’ to demonise Jews as rapists, killers and alien demons seeking by conspiracy to destroy Germany.
Streicher’s crime was to craft, through this tabloid propaganda and racist fabrications, the environment that made the Holocaust possible – through the stroke of his poison pen, ordinary Jews were agents of evil and thus legitimate targets for a host of crimes, ranging from pogroms to industrial mass murder.
What sealed his fate with the charge of ‘crime against humanity’ was that he continued saturating the media with these murderous lies after he became aware of the Holocaust.
Colonial cringe…. whats newsworthy in Britain must make it on the news here.
Dont they realise we have computers and if we wanted to follow British news we would do so…at the horses mouth without waiting for them to replay it here
Do you not actually watch the news, Ed? The attack on the bus got wide coverage here in NZ and overseas.
Use google. A search for ‘yemen bus attack’ brings up 36000 results in google’s news option, including the BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, and many, many other sources.
If you narrow the search to ‘yemen bus attack nz’ you get a mere 21000 hits, including just about every news outlet in Aotearoa on the very first page.
funny, i read about it in the news. For a few days actually.
Maybe you should increase the number or news outlet you look at. You seem to have boxed yourself into a corner where it seems you don’t get the information you think you need.
I just Googled ‘My Big Toe’ and got 421,000,000 results.
25,200,000 results in Google News, but i doubt any of those results do justice to my big toe.
Really you would have to search within a news site to ascertain whether the coverage was ‘equal’ or well covered or did justice to the event ie..timing of piece after event, length of piece, context/message in headline and article, position in the News order/cycle of the day, longevity in the News cycle.
As others have pointed out, this incident has in fact been covered by mainstream media in New Zealand. Meanwhile, I’m aware of other incidents in the last few days of similar impact or worse elsewhere in the world that actually aren’t in the local media, that you aren’t highlighting either.
Could it be, Ed, that your concern isn’t so much with the people affected by these incidents, but maybe, just maybe, more in finding an angle you can use to whine about the media?
Somerset retirement homes boss whinging facts they’re finding it hard to recruit nurses and cares on RNZ business and bleating that the government should let more foreign workers in.
The key question.
Why didn’t media puppet Gules Beckworth ask the obvious question?
Ed, according to a family member, they under employ lots of staff on a casual basis, and pay the least amount possible. They want staff who do not know their rights.
But why bring him into it – there is no good reason. There isn’t even a connection other than the tenuous investor one – how many investors? Prob ed and you too if you’re in kiwisaver. All it did was dilute eds argument – he just shot his own foot off but its okay he’ll take the other one off tomorrow and they keep growing back.
Evidence.
McCaw is a heavy investor in a crooked underpaying industry.
“All Black captain Richie McCaw has been planning for retirement by investing in the aged-care industry. McCaw has a sizeable portfolio in the aged-care sector, and owns between 1 and 5 per cent in around 13 aged-care homes around New Zealand.”
“Companies Office records show McCaw first invested in retirement homes in the mid-2000s, jointly with a company called Banco Trustees Limited. He took out a 1 per cent stake in Oakwoods Lifecare and Ashwood Park Lifecare in 2012, before taking a stake in Bainlea House retirement facility in Rangiora last year. McCaw’s manager, Dean Hegan, told the Herald on Sunday the player preferred not to speak about his personal investments.”
When I say something that enrages James and Belidered, I must be saying something correct.
Happy to amend my statement if you can disprove my assertion about McCaws heavy investment in the retirement industry?
Or is McCaw God and cannot be critiqued.
Our irrational fawning of sports players is an embarrassment.
He is a careerist. He is ambitious for Giles Beckworth.
So he won’t ask any difficult questions.
He won’t bite the hand that feeds him.
He is a corporate lackey.
After watching the video, If he was there for the conference – imbalanced as it was by the description of who the attendees were – he could have politely refused attending the reef laying ceremony. As much as he tries to sugar coat it by saying he is paying respect the Tunisia incident, he didn’t do anything to disassociate the Black September members from the reef laying event.
His enemies have found a seam to dig or unpick depending upon your simile. I hope he weathers the course and keeps his powder dry for when it will be most useful.
An Australian crossbench senator has invoked the term “the final solution” in an inflammatory speech calling for a plebiscite asking voters whether they want to end all immigration by Muslims and non-English speaking people “from the third world”.
Fraser Anning, formerly of the far-right Pauline Hanson One Nation party, and now a member of the Katter’s Australia party, used his maiden speech in the Senate to call for “a plebiscite to allow the Australian people to decide whether they want wholesale non-English speaking immigrants from the third world, and particularly whether they want any Muslims”.
He also invoked the white Australia policy, suggesting Australians may want “to return to the predominately European immigration policy of the pre-Whitlam consensus”.
…
“The final solution to the immigration problem, of course, is a popular vote.”
“Please make a submission to the select committee before Friday 17 August in support of an amendment to stop the spread of ISDS beyond the current 11 signatories. Already several countries have expressed interest in joining, so Parliament must prevent New Zealand from backsliding deeper into this discredited system by transforming the anti-ISDS policy of the present Government into a binding commitment under domestic law.
Tell the select committee: “I continue to oppose the TPPA, no matter what it is called, and I support an amendment to stop the spread of ISDS.”
I hope she ends up getting a good payout from the Pharmacy for wrongful dismissal as she wouldn’t want to work for them again. The pharmacy will hopefully get a public back lash as well for the way they treated her. Just wrong.
Older customers are staples of any pharmacys prescription business.
Just set up a car outside with a few signs in the windows and presto an instant settlement of her medical costs and personal grievance.
From the link: The Christchurch woman received a broken finger, post-traumatic stress disorder and later suffered a heart attack. She was dismissed from her job at ….o Pharmacy on Colombo St after she shared her story with Stuff.
Nikki Denley, who was the retail manager at the store, was working one June day when a large man entered the store a couple hours before closing time.
Round up maker wheels out same old false science to protect its poison.
While internal memos admitting rounddup causes cancer and corruption of govt officials tabled at trials.
Deflecting and Bullying is how they deal with the real science
Apparently Socialism isn’t about improving the material well being of the poor but their ‘dignity’. Good to know that. I wonder if improved dignity helps with coping with hyperinflation….
The trout is now going after Tova O’Brien. What happened to all this bluster from the Nats about the sanctity of the media and how they must not be politically pressured?
“You guys are great – you come along and ask us who did it when you know who did it,” Ms Collins said when Garner asked if she knew who had leaked the information.
“I don’t know who did it,” Garner said, to which Ms Collins replied, “Tova does”.
Garner later asked O’Brien if she knows who leaked the information to her, to which she said “no comment”.
The media are very important for democracy but they also need to be held to account like anyone else
The media weren’t given the information by no-one, and they have a right to keep their sources secret. If they have been given information why would they not publish it? The question is who gave it to them, and trying to turn it on the journo’s isn’t a great look ‘for democracy’.
Collins almost persuaded me it probably wasn’t her – although she’s ballsy enough to put O’Brien on the spot – and to then make a complaint if it results in her being outed as the source, lol
so someone in the National Party has a hard time keeping their mouth shut, and don’t like to fall in line behind a expensive and incompetent leader and it is the media that needs to be held to account.
of course it is human error. Someone in the National Party erred err went to a journalist and said :oh lookit here, the incompetent, boring as, good for nothing Leader of the No Mates Party has traveled the country for three month, costing over 1000$ a day, racking up 100.000 $ for his three month tax paid vacation while achieving fuck all.
I can see why you would want to blame the media for reporting this.
Why is that funny to you? I’ve been pretty up front about my belief that things should be investigated and the appropriate punishments meted out, to anyone
Don’t worry about old Sabine it’s her stock response, she seem to think it is funny or a withering insult, yes dear is her other one , Just hold on a little longer the latter won’t be far away, she really is a bore and yawn, with a few anger issues
Don’t know about National but St Jude the Lovely has a massive heart, a heart so full it overflows with all the love and joy anyone could ever want and all you have to do to recieve this love is accept her as your saviour and then you too can walk in the light and love of J.C and all your sins (and there are many Robert) will be washed away and you”l be reborn a better person, a more intelligent person…a National voter
Really, all a reporter needs to know is “does the source have a good record” and “does the information check out”. The leaker could have a consistent handle rather than be exchanging spreadsheets over lunch.
And makeup that even the worst facial recognition teknoljy couldn’t wink the hood off going forward.
Now, as for Pulla Bent, that’s a different story. There’s a total re-imaging and re-imagining. I’m wondering whether the gNatz are thinking of an automaton swapout going forward. Soimon out Pulla in. The logic circuits aren’t that different. Swap a NAND for a NOR and Bob’s your auntie
Garner is as thick as two short planks some days . collins played him like a fiddle this morning letting the eye brows spread suspicion in every direction .
‘Friends all tried to warn me
But I held my head up high
All the time they warned me
But I only passed them by
They all tried to tell me
But I guess I didn’t care
I turned my back and
Left them standing there
All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore..’
So, on the one hand we have researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research producing a model (paper here) that seems very good at predicting the occurrence of natural cycles that boost or dampen the general upward trend of global temperature.
As the principal researcher puts it (from The Guardian)-
“Natural variability is a wriggle around the freight train that is global warming,” he says. “On a human scale, it is what we feel. What we don’t always feel is global warming. As a scientist, this is frightening because we don’t consider it enough. All we can do it give people information and let them make up their own mind.”
[…] Sévellec says the statistical upward nudge from natural variation this year is twice as great of that of long-term global warming. Next year, it is likely to be three times higher.
There is no “other hand”…
This is the deal we’ve dealt ourselves.
Meanwhile, NOAA is throwing around a 70% chance of El Nino* conditions becoming dominant within the coming months
*La Niña is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Niño as the warm phase of ENSO
Sounds like the “left” wing establishment in the UK are even more terrified.
End of the cosy tweedledum tweedledee of right wing and less right wing which ensures nothing really changes. And the roll back of a functional society continues.
Now that he has put steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey and as a result tanked their currency, he has also stopped the transfer of 100 F-35 fighter jets.
Now sure I have no time for Turkey’s autocratic and militant Erdogan, but surely even Trump would understand these actions are going to put Turkey straight into the arms of Iran and Russia?
I cannot believe that even Trump would willingly seek to get a NATO member to leave and join the opposition.
Turkey jailed the American pastor, Andrew Brunson, almost two years ago in a widespread crackdown that followed a military coup attempt. Ankara maintains that Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years, had ties to the plotters.
What about Trump would make you believe that he would
not get a Nato member to leave and Join Russia?
not do something that would benefit Russia?
not fuck up every system, process, and alliance in place to day to replace it with something bigly bigly and tremendously beautiful?
what precisely do you think they discussed in Helsinki? Borscht and Russian Tea? Tolstoy? The availability of pretty young girls to old creepy farts like they are?
no my comment was a series of options to your comment.
Options.
and you know as little about actual facts then anyone else considering that Trump can’t speak the truth, but will only speak what he considers the truth of the day.
You can’t offer facts in regards to the meeting in Helsinki unless you were one of the translators.
You can’t offer facts in regards to what Trump is doing re Turkey, he might as well only be in this pissing match for shits n giggles.
So again, i gave you some options as to why Trump is doing what Trump does.
The facts provided in my link covered an actual meeting that occurred recently, about an actual alliance, with three real leaders from named countries.
The US has put steel and aluminium sanctions on Turkey.
The US has stopped the transfer of the F-35s to Turkey.
The US is stepping up diplomatic pressure on Turkey.
The US has caused the tanking oft he Turkish currency.
Those are actual facts.
Whatever your “options” are meant to be , they don’t help any meaningful conversation.
There is simply no evidence that China is intervening in Turkey.
and you still have not provided one fact as to why D. Trump would not want to see Turkey leave Nato.
You have not provided one fact as to why Trump would not want an alignment of Russia, Turkey, Syria, etc and if only to fuck over the European Union.
Heck he would like to align the US with Russia or at least pretend he would like it.
You also believe that Trump does the shit he does because he is stupid. I would not do that. I consider Trump to be a hostage taker. He is in it for his own reasons, and he will use the office to hold other nations hostage until they give him in full what he wants for himself and his family. He could absolutly not give one poo about the shit hole US of A. Point being the company he keeps.
That priest is just another grifter point towards the evangelic crowd. After all he needs people to vote for him again.
Arms of Iran and Russia ?
First a Sunni and Turkish country isnt going to get close to a Shiite and persian country. The enmity goes back centuries. They are just as likey to get closer to Christian Greece…which is never.
Russia is small cheese economically compared to ‘the west’ so maybe Putin will get some kudos but not much bigger than that. Putins whip hand is he can next support the Kurds after having saved Assads sorry ass, that would really scare Turkey.
Iran, Russia, and Turkey have been negotiating the rebuild and carve-up of Syria for a while. They did a three-day conference on it in April this year.
So apart from oil, armaments, and rejection of US middle east influence, they have plenty of common ground to work on.
Yesterday, Tues 14 August, the PM faced three questions rather than the normal one only usually from Simon Bridges, the Leader of the Opposition, namely:
Q1 Hon SIMON BRIDGES to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government’s statements and actions?
Q7 Hon PAULA BENNETT to the Prime Minister: Does her Government expect high standards from all Government departments and Ministers?
Q8 DAVID SEYMOUR to the Prime Minister: Is she aware of any Ministers in her Cabinet that support reducing the number of members of Parliament and removing the Māori seats; if so, who are those Ministers?
Today, Wednesday, 15 August, she again faces the same two questions from Bridges and Bennett – this time at Q2 and Q8 respectively.
IMO Bridges’ performance yesterday was pretty lacklustre as usual, and again his supplementary questions focused on the rights (or not) of union people to go into businesses to see union members as his questions last week did in relation to changes to employment law currently before the House. However, he did in fact actually manage one ad lib question as a result of a question raised by Winston Peters re police officers in hot pursuit of murderers: https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=202100 (7 mins)
Bennett’s supplementary questions yesterday focused on the inquiry into the appointment of the Deputy Commisioner of Police. Much as I am no fan of Bennett, her performance was professional and measured, with well thought out questions – eg on the TORs for the inquiry, whether the PM had confidence in Haumaha, and if she would not or could not express confidence in him, whether he should be stood down temporarily while the inquiry was carried out. There was no extravagant faces or waving hands etc. Bridges watched from alongside Bennett. https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=202108
But then less than half an hour later, Bennett put on the performance of her life as second speaker in the debate on the Appropriations (2018/19) Estimates Bill!
As I reported in this comment at 4.1.1.1.2.3 on OM yesterday, it was an absolute hoot – and I could not decide whether it was aimed at “I want to be Leader of the Opposition” or whether she is hoping for an Oscar!
The posing and confidence is OTT. LOL. Smacking the hands, hammering, counting off on her fingers, hands on hips – shes did it all. It smacks of some form of recent (theatrical) training. Its worth watching with or without sound! In fact without sound is best. ROFL.
I intended putting up the link last night but was otherwise occupied but marty mars’ comment at 16.2 above reminded me. Sorry marty mars, Collins would be hard pressed to beat this performance by Bennett. Well worth the few minutes it takes to watch it.
Thanks for that tip to watch with no sound, best laugh I have had for a while. I wonder how much training and learning she had to go through for that. Pity her party’s benches were so empty when she put on such an audition for leader. She seemed to have two lots of notes, one for speech and one for gestures, because she appeared to have lost her place at one point and kept thumping her fist into her hand while she frantically turned over pages.
“Because Don Brash is not an abstraction. He is, to the consternation of many, very real. At least one of your grandparents probably voted for him to be the Prime Minister of our country. (Ed’s note: Grandparents? It was only 2005! And National got 39.1%, only a feather’s width behind Labour on 41.1%, so it may have been several family members)”
Oh but look who it is – Liam Hehir, former Nat Party activist and now reporter for the Manawatu Stranded. LOL.
He was on the Q & A Panel a week or so ago with John Tamihere and Dr Jennifer Curtin when I took a rare decision to watch Q & A, but was pretty forgettable.
Hehir’s references to Mickysavage’s posts here on Molyneux and Southern may be of interest to some here.
Which reminds me – did anyone see this where these two con artists are now asking the ticket holders to their non-event to not seek refunds and donate the money to S&M, as their favourite charity.
By the way, Russell Brown has had a post up at Public Address for about a week which provides a bit more information about the cancellation by the Powerstation of its use as a venue for the two Canadians and about various members of their entourage for anyone interested. These aspects are covered in the post itself and a couple of comments in the first one – two pages of the comments. https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/on-joining-the-international-troll-circuit/
well as you have noted the mention of MS in the article I have to assume you have read it so you will understand my confusion when you continue on in some detail about venues and donations when they are not the substance of the article nor address that substance….guess it may have been a bit much to expect
What a shocker. Calling a woman a crazed crying lowlife dog on twitter is a new low for the orange orangutan.
Donald J. Trump
@ realDonaldTrump 14h
When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!
“Though the explosive fight between these two heels may have a nugget of genuine, reciprocal anger and betrayal in the center, the cautious money is that it is almost entirely boob-bait for the easily gulled Trumpentariat, mere mummery and distraction from the widening gyre of legal, political, and economic trouble looming for the star of our national reality TV show.
This week’s episode consists of the usual kayfabe, with secret recordings, presidential shitter-tweeted rage, and the apparatus of the president’s media sycophants turning their fire on another of Donald’s once-beloved now-reviled ex-besties.”
The Lord giveth and the Lord chooses to take away.
Waikato University started Maori tikanga as a separate study but now wants to merge it. More efficient no doubt. Better productivity. Students say it is unique.
2/12/2014 Actors pakeha ex PM Nat Jim Bolger and pakeha Prof [Neil] Quigley who has worldwide credentials so must be good, “to formulate and implement meaningful strategies to lift organisational performance.”” Where do old National Party politicians go to die? In elephants graveyeards? Is that what our universities are becoming,
where humans take second place to Science. Maori to go Humanities to go. People are so boring and unprofitable unless they are on sweatshop handouts.
University of Waikato Chancellor Rt Hon Jim Bolger says Professor Quigley has a real passion and enthusiasm for his work. “He’s held many senior roles at Victoria University and comes to us with an impressive track-record of academic and strategic leadership, and ability to formulate and implement meaningful strategies to lift organisational performance.”
Mr Bolger says Professor Quigley is well-placed to continue to build on the University of Waikato’s strong foundations. “We intend our next 50 years to cement the University of Waikato as a force in the region, the tertiary sector and the nation. Professor Quigley understands all the challenges facing the higher education sector and he will be a vital part of our future.”…
He holds several board and expert advisory group memberships; in particular he is a Director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and also a Director of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority….
te ao Maori
Waikato University staff, students protest plan to scrap Māori faculty
From Morning Report, 8:43 am today
Listen duration 3′ :21″
Students and staff at the University of Waikato are calling a proposal to scrap the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies a “white-streaming” of Māori issues. More than 80 people gathered in a peaceful protest yesterday over a re-structure which will see the faculty lose its status and fall under the Arts and Social Sciences division. https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658160/waikato-university-staff-students-protest-plan-to-scrap-maori-faculty
Using just a blood test to find evidence of chemical exposure is a false test and the chemicals can leave the blood within a little as 10 days to two weeks so no trace is then found as it has been stored in our (fat) ‘adipose’ tissues.
The adipose chemical analysis is the gold standard for ‘toxic tort’ chemical litigation; – and a blood test will fail to find the toxins the patient was exposed to.
HEALTH 8:20 am today
Toxic foam: Officials back down, allow blood testing
From Morning Report, 8:20 am today
Share this
“Community pressure has pushed officials into a backdown on blood testing for people caught up in the firefighting foam contamination in Manawatu. Not only will locals get easier access to testing for the chemicals PFOS and PFOA but now their blood will be stored if they give the OK, to enable long-term research.”
This is a false test that will show little toxins in any blood test.
I was poisoned also in Canada and to prove the same chemicals were in my body they first did a blood test which showed no poisoning of the same chemical in my blood.
Then two toxoclogists recommended to my Doctor to get “a tisue sample test for this chemical and they took a small square piece of my adipose fat tissue around my thigh and the chemicl that I was poiisoned with was found to be stored in my fat tissues and not in my blood as most chemicals leave the blood within 14 days to six weeks the toxicologists said so this ‘blood test’ will be a meaningless waste of time and hope.
I recomend that these folks all ask for a ‘adipose tissue’ (fat) chemical analysis done at “Accucem Laboratory in Texas the same laboratory that proved my chemical poisoning had occurred.
Abstract
“Test systems to screen for estrogenicity and appropriate biomarkers of human exposure are required for epidemiological studies of endocrine disruption. We addressed these issues by developing and standardising a method to assess the total estrogenic xenobiotic burden in human adipose tissue. In this study, which is the continuation of a previous work, we have improved the protocol for extensive fractionation of a higher number of tissue samples in order to investigate bioaccumulated xenoestrogens that are candidates for estrogenicity and to assess their combined estrogenic effect. This was achieved by extensive HPLC separation of xenoestrogens from endogenous hormones followed by testing of individual fractions in the E-Screen test for estrogenicity. Organochlorine pesticides, PCBs and halogenated bisphenols and alkylphenols were collected in the most lipophilic fractions, followed by progestins, androgens and estradiol esters, and then by steroidal estrogens; phyto- and myco-estrogens were collected around the end of the run. These results were confirmed by exhaustive chemical analysis. In 458 human adipose tissue samples, the total effective xenoestrogen burden was positive in 75% of samples in the pooled fraction that contained organohalogenated xenoestrogens (mean 515.3 pM Eeq/g lipid; range 0–14.5 nM) and in 82% of samples in the pooled fraction where natural estrogens eluted (mean 696.6 pM Eeq/g lipid; range 0–12.9 nM). Organochlorine pesticides emerged as candidate chemicals for the estrogenicity of the first pooled fraction, because DDT and derivatives were present in 98.3% of the samples. However, no correlation was found between the concentration of any single chemical and the estrogenicity determined in the bioassay. There may be several reasons for this lack of concordance: (i) the estrogenic effects depicted in the E-Screen bioassay are a consequence of the combined effect of several organohalogens or (ii) the proliferative effect is due to other chemicals not measured. Because additive, synergistic or antagonistic mechanisms may account for the final effect observed in the pooled fractions, the approach proposed in this work is more appropriate for exposure assessment in epidemiological studies than the determination of individual chemicals in human samples.”
Good morning Newshub The professor John is correct we need to slow down OUR alcohol consumption down teach te mokopuna’s that its ok to have a couple of drinks and that its stupid to have 12 drinks this will save a lot of lives and mone .
Many thank’s to the Government for passing a law making it so only Kiwi’s can buy houses or property the stats are not showing the true foreign amout of foreign buy’s%
also tangata whenua would be exclude from buying house’s in 20 years if there were no changes . This law change is part on national security Big mone could shut most Kiwi’s out of the market they pay more for the property than Kiwi farmers can earn from the property to service a mortgage viably even with capital gain’s include in the math Many Thanks to OUR government .
I’m staying out of the teacher’s debate .
Getting ride of single use plastic bag’s is just the start of OUR movement to a environmentally sustainable Aotearoa and Papatuanuku we have to change OUR whole way of thinking and life . Ka kite ano .
This is amazes me we have all the evangelicals that hold onto there bible’s and they back a society systems that doesn’t care for all the people in there society .
The wealthy have impunity they can basically do what ever break laws and use the mountains of money to get off crimes and bend the laws of the land to give them more money .Im sure that there Bibles have scripts that say that that behavior is a sin in the bibles values .They think its ok to have people dying on the streets or being killed by armies around the world . Eco Maori tau toko
Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator tiped Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, has unveiled new plans for legislation aimed at reining in big corporations, redistributing wealth, and giving workers and local communities a bigger say. The link is below
I dissagree with this person’s distraction on the real issue’s of human obesity he is most likely payed from someone who is part of the sugar industry for his distorted reality. So be it that’s the way of Papatuanuku at the minute .
The Big Picture is that sugar is the main cause of OUR obesity problems full stop .
Look at all the negative storys on salt about it beening bad for heart problem’s.
The thing about the salt industry is 2 to 3 company’s can not take control of salt why because we can just get seawater evaporate the water and walar we have salt and because of this fact we get to hear all the true facts about salt .
With the sugar industry 2 to 3 players control the product and control the fact’s and story’s that get published about sugar its a bad product that should be taxed out of reach of the common poor tangata of Papatuanuku link below ka kite ano https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/15/age-of-obesity-shaming-overweight-people
We’re in a new age of obesity. How did it happen? You’d be surprised
George Monbiot
George Monbiot P.S Its about how easy it is to consume 2200 calories now with all the sugar in our food and drinks compared to yesteryear’s
Look’s like the Judges hand out warrants to the{ undercover sandfly YEA RIGHT ] at there wim I just sent a email to the ceo of the Rotorua hosptial and got 1 phone call and nothing I will forward my complaint to the Health & Disability Commissioner and Eco Maori will see how second class people are treated in New Zealand this will all go towards my Waitangi Tribunal court case thank you sandflys for more evidance muppets
Ka kite ano P.S mean while my moko is still in pain I just want the Rotorua Hosptial to do there Job and scan her kidneys
Good evening Newshub I agree that the government and Opposition party should work together to fix our construction industry .
Wow some people have know morels or respect of our old people the assault of people in rest homes is shocking .
Lets hope we don’t get a bad fire season like what our Australian cousin are fighting at the minute hope no people are lost .
That was a good out come for the Whale in Chilly it got cut free of the ropes that were tangled in free willy from Chilly was it there Navy diver’s that did that great job ka pai.
Eco say’s that all the Navy’s and armed forces around Papatuanuku should be turned into conservationist and humanitarian work.
Ka kite ano P.S I try to keep my difficulties with the undercover sandfly’s tone down but this has been brewing all day
The Crowd Goes Wild James & Makere That’s awesome that Steven Adam’s has a charity that looks after alot of mokopuna’s sports future aspirations Ka pai.
That’s cool wahine Rugby the fastest growing sport on Papatuanuku
Wairangi that was cool you and Steven playing basketball with the mokopuna’s
sports is good for there wairua .
P.S I thought Mark & Mull’s were going to start wrestling lol
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
SIR GEOFFREY PALMER is worried about democracy. In his Newsroom website post of 27 January 2025 he asserts that “the future of democracy across the world now seems to be in question.” Following a year of important electoral contests across the world, culminating in Donald Trump’s emphatic recapture of the ...
The Government hasn’t stopped talking about growth since the Prime Minister made his “yes” speech at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week. But so far, the measures announced would seem hardly likely to suddenly pitch New Zealand into the fast-growth East Asian league. The digital nomad announcement hardly deserved ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Someone defames you anonymously online. Can you find out who it is? Maybe. There are legal avenues to seek a court order that an internet host reveal the identity of the person. One of them is called a Norwich Pharmacal order, but as Hugh Tomlinson KC points out, it only ...
The results of the 2025 Mood of the Workforce survey have been released, with working people revealing deep concerns regarding their work lives, housing, health care, and perceptions of the coalition government in Aotearoa New Zealand.Christopher Luxon has signalled that National may campaign on asset sales in the next election, ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Interior of Auckland South Men’s Prison.Getty Images Prisons are not colourful places. Typically, they are grey or some variation of a monochrome colour scheme. But increasingly, ...
FICTION1Tree of Nourishment (Kāwai 2) by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)Interesting to note that the author of the biggest-selling New Zealand novel in Waitangi Week is Māori (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai, and Ngāti Kahungunu).2 Kāwai: For Such a Time as This (Kāwai 1) by Monty Soutar (David ...
Remembering the renowned New Zealand writer, who died on February 5, 2025. The Stopover When the trout rise like compassion It is worth watching when the hinds come down from the hills with a new message it will be as well to listen. – Brian Turner Poet, environmentalist, sportsman, journalist, ...
Survivors can choose to have former High Court judge Paul Davison assess their individual claims to tailor payments to their personal circumstances. ...
Are we too modest when it comes to celebrating our putrid plant life?She’s beauty. She’s grace. She smells like a decaying corpse and lurks in the backrooms of Auckland Zoo, wallowing tragically in a bucket. In recent weeks an Australian corpse plant named Putricia has captured the noses and ...
Politicians from the coalition government received a frosty reception at Waitangi this year, but Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says the pōwhiri that received so much attention was just one part of many events throughout the week. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Allen, Postdoctoral research associate, Griffith University A humpback whale mother and calf on the New Caledonian breeding grounds.Mark Quintin All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a language is twice as frequent as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Keogh, Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University Jordan Mailata is an Australian-born NFL star who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles as an offensive left tackle. This position favours very tall, heavy and strong athletes who ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nigel Tucker, Research Associate in Environment and Sustainability, James Cook University TREAT volunteers planting treesTREAT Like ferns and the tides, community conservation groups come and go. Many achieve their goal. Volunteers restore a local wetland or protect a patch of urban ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karyn Healy, Honorary Principal Research Fellow in Psychology, The University of Queensland Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock The start of the school year means new classes, routines, after-school activities and sometimes even a new school. This can be a really exciting time for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerrie Sadiq, Professor of Taxation, QUT Business School, and ARC Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released a discussion paper this week on investment tax breaks. The study looks at whether tax incentives, such as instant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Naomi Zouwer, Visual Artist and Lecturer in Teacher Education, University of Canberra Galleries and art museums can be intimidating and alienating even for adults. Imagine it from a child’s point of view. Stern security guards in uniforms stationed the doors, bags checked, ...
The clock is ticking in the great chain chase. 2025 is an election year in New Zealand. Not the general variation, obviously, but the local form. If you’re thinking of running, nominations open in just five months, and your chances are good – about 50% across the various races; in ...
Political aspects of Waitangi week may be moved in 2026, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell for The Bulletin.To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Celebration and on-the-ground politics For the third year in a row, I have returned from Waitangi full of food and deep regrets about not ...
Arriving at Ōnuku Marae, it was easy to see why Prime Minister Christopher Luxon chose the venue to mark Waitangi Day.Kayakers paddled around Akaroa Harbour under clear blue skies, with the marae barely a stone’s throw from the shore.Luxon’s decision to skip traditional events at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds this ...
Thanks to increased operating costs and new fare structures, many public transport users in Auckland are now paying more for trains, buses and ferries. Shanti Mathias explains what’s behind the changes. Schools are back around the country, but in Auckland, kids aren’t the only ones to have returned to a ...
In a special Waitangi edition of Gone By Lunchtime, Ātea editor Liam Rātana and politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith recap a politically charged few days at the Treaty Grounds. Our Waitangi 2025 coverage is possible because of the 13,000-plus Spinoff members who regularly pay to support our work. If you aren’t a member ...
Analysis: Waitangi Day belongs to Māori first, as mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga take centre stage.Our Waitangi 2025 coverage is possible because of the 13,000-plus Spinoff members who regularly pay to support our work. If you aren’t a member yet, now is the time.Walking around the treaty grounds, te reo Māori ...
If you want to be a famous sport writer in New Zealand, you probably shouldn’t specialise in football.The beautiful game usually takes a back seat here … but that could all be changing.With two teams now in the Australian football league, vocal and growing crowds, and some fantastic players looking ...
Analysis: The international rules-based order has come under increasing stress and strain over the last decade and looks likely to continue on the same rocky path for the foreseeable future. In the Pacific, political tensions and competition between powerful states – the United States and its allies, and China – ...
Analysis: Growth trumps everything was the message from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s recent state of the nation address. His declaration came on the heels of similar announcements calling for growth at all costs from the new president of the USA and from many other world leaders. As usual news media ...
Chart 1: An unfortunate starting pointComment: Far from fighting fit, the economy limps into 2025 carrying some baggage. Two years of rolling recessions have left per capita output 4.8 percent below the 2022 peak. That’s as at September. The December quarter is looking flattish.A return to growth beckons this year. ...
Val Smith reckons if you knew her in her 20s, she’d be the last woman you’d imagine taking up lawn bowls.Yet here she is, three decades later, retiring from the international game after playing an astounding 667 internationals for the BlackJacks.One of the true greats in New Zealand bowls history, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The battle to contain antisemitism in Australia finds both sides of politics embracing measures they’d otherwise abhor. Spectacularly, the government capitulated this week to include mandatory minimum sentences of between one and six years ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University This week, the federal government announced it will pay states and territories an extra, one-off, A$1.7 billion for public hospitals. This has been billed as a way ...
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/105933366/hundreds-of-rape-evidence-kits-never-get-tested–should-we-be-alarmed
Where to start?
Part of the last Government’s silent cuts no doubt. The current Government will have to clean this cupboard as well!!!
at the beginning.
One at a time.
Unless we want to do away the notion that this country actually gives a poop about rape, its victims and the damage it causes.
Surely there is some property for some rich fuck that needs protecting. Policing is hard work, i hear.
LoL someone tell Fran O’Sullivan it isn’t the 1990s anymore… Jeez talk about rust never sleeping, have any of the old age duffers who seem the crew the Herald opinion pages these days had a new idea since 1984?
Talk about ageing neolib journalist waving a fist at the clouds!
First, privatisation was more or less a disaster in NZ. Secondly it is unpopular with voters thirdly it is wildly unpopular with Labour voters…
Someone tell Fran its cheaper to use the income from the state assets to pay the interest.
The other mistake she makes , which shows she has zero commercial nous, is that NSW can do deals because of the tax benefits, with the loss of tax revenue only affecting the Federal government revenue not the state government. In NZ we dont have a state government intermediary, any gains for business are losses from IRD.
Why doesn’t she propose borrowing it from the RBNZ directly and paying any interest to them. RBNZ profits get rolled into the government accounts as profit.
Not going to be creating money.
Yes, because only the private banks are allowed to do that.
Well that can’t be the reason because the money gets created exactly the same even when the government borrows from the private sector.
This happens during the spending of the money process which happens either way.
Actually, it’s not the same or shouldn’t be.
If the government created the money they shouldn’t be paying interest on it whereas they will be if they borrow from the private sector.
And that, of course, is why the private sector is always complaining about the government creating money. If the government did the private sector would lose a major part of its government guaranteed unearned income.
Right (well mostly) but obviously the question is why is she not proposing this? The implication is Fran doesn’t actually understand the stuff she is talking about.
Mostly? Well obviously if the treasury borrows from the RBNZ they are still likely to pay some interest on that.
Because we’ve had it drummed into us over the last few decades that a government creating money is evil. Meanwhile the fact that the private banks create money all the time and push hyper-inflation in assets (asset bubbles) and the fact of governments creating money has brought about prosperity is carefully hidden.
Who benefits from those actions?
+1 Sanctuary
A No-Fly Zone Is Needed Around Idlib to Prevent “Unprecedented” Massacre
Moazzam Begg – Democracy Now, APRIL 19, 2018
“Aerial gang rape”, exactly describes what has been done to the people of Syria by all the intervening powers, including the US, they have all piled on against the rebels. Moazzam Begg who himself was a victim of the CIA program of ‘Extraordinary Rendition’ and who went to Syria to investigate the Assad’s regime role in working with the CIA to carry out torture of CIA captives, is an Authoritative commentator on both the Assad regime and the superpowers’ motives and actions in Syria.
If there is one thing all these arrayed powers can’t stand; And that is, a people seeking their own independence and freedom out from under an autocratic tyranny, especially if those people live in an oil rich area of the Middle East.
Witness how in the First Iraq war the US pulled back and let Saddam Hussein put down a popular revolt by the Iraqi people.
Who wonders if we have one of those staged gas attacks any second now?
Organised by the Jihadi headchopping gang known as the Whites Helmets to blame Syria for it.
Ed, You should really stop paying attention to Alex Jones.
“ISIS Crisis Actors: White Helmets Aren’t White Hats”
Infowars, Jul 26, 2018
https://www.infowars.com/isis-crisis-actors-white-helmets-arent-white-hats/
You would be better off listening to Amy Goodman
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/13/the_white_helmets_as_syria_death
Jenny, I didn’t read your thoughts on the Israeli ‘humanitarian rescue’ of the white helmets…
Whose ‘assets’ were that group…at face value it raises many questions…
Twice previously I raised it with you…
I recall making extensive comments on the white helmets being transitted through Israel on this site.
Because many of my comments don’t get seen I have started keeping copies.
For your benefit I will repost one made at the time in a reply to Bill.
And though they didn’t appear, twice previously I have responded, which the admin knows.
I have again just now tried to post my response to your queries but still keep getting blocked.
I will again email them to the admin in the hope that they will be let through.
Never read or listened to Alex Jones.
My sources are Cockburn, Fisk, Galloway, Bartlett and Beeley, as I’ve mentioned before.
What’s the difference?
These people’s views (and yours), are pretty much interchangeable, with that of Alex Jones and Ron Paul, and other far Right and fascist groups.
I dare you to say they aren’t
I’m fine with Sunni jihadists getting aerially gang-raped. And the rebels in Idlib are Sunni jihadists. That’s what we invented air combat wings for. Soon they’ll be dead, or forced to bend the knee in acceptance that Allah willed their crushing defeat at the hands of Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, and Quassem Suleimani.
“If there is one thing all these arrayed powers can’t stand; And that is, a people seeking their own independence and freedom out from under an autocratic tyranny, especially if those people live in an oil rich area of the Middle East.”
Yeah, that describes the Kurdish perhaps – but these guys in Idlib were trying to annihilate them, not free them. A brigade or two of Syrian military may have genuinely been a ‘free’ and ‘Syrian’ army in the early days of the revolt. But Idlib today is full of foreign fanatics, not secular Syrians.
And are you are also fine with genocide and torture?
Your comments have defended into farce…
Perhaps you could address the points CJ made…
Your confusion must be expanding, what with the ‘humanitarian resue’ of the WH’s….by you know…actual practitioners of genocide….
Eh, Jenny!
I could make a comment on why CJ thinks that; “…Idlib today is full of foreign fanatics, not secular Syrians.” And it might have some bearing on the genocide being carried out by the regime and obviously supported by him.
‘Crisis Actor’ Isn’t a New Smear. The Idea Goes Back to the Civil War Era.
Niraj Chokshi – New York Times, February 24, 2018
Label the opposition “terrorists” and “Jihadis”, and it seems that some Western Leftists will support genocide and torture and mass disappearances, and even cheer it on. In that they are not too dissimilar to the extreme Right.
What we do know is that Idlib has been the place where thousands of Sunni refugees ethnically cleansed from regime areas have sought refuge. Just as CJ has said he wants to see these people, “getting aerially gang-raped”.
He may get his gory wish.
Unlike the Sunni jihadists (tourists or locals alike) I don’t really like those ideas. Neither did the Alawis, Yazidis or the Kurds – or the Christians of various local ethnicities. All of whom were fine under the old regime, but genocided by these Sunni extremists you seem to like so much.
Not to worry, while the holy rollers are about to get BTFO hard, it seems that the Syrian, Russian, and Iranian command are trying to figure out how to do it with minimal civilian casualties, which is why the offensive on Idlib has yet to commence.
https://maps.southfront.org/syrian-war-report-august-13-2018-tiger-forces-are-deploying-in-northern-latakia/
Of course what right minded “rebels” or “opposition” would make millions of their own citizens into refugees. Now it seems Syrians are returning to live under that “butcher” and dictator Assad. Makes no sense at all and shows up Begg.
For some real coverage on Syria from 4:30 onwards,
Tea Party founder Ron Paul – the sanitised version of Alex Jones, but just as nutty and extreme.
Really Maui?
Ron Paul Liberty Report – The Climate Change Hoax
TIME Magazine – 2006
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1571751,00.html
The Bush Administration has been quietly nurturing individuals and parties opposed to the Syrian government in an effort to undermine the regime of President Bashar Assad. Parts of the scheme are outlined in a classified, two-page document that says that the U.S. already is “supporting regular meetings of internal and diaspora Syrian activists” in Europe
The document bluntly expresses the hope that “these meetings will facilitate a more coherent strategy and plan of actions for all anti-Assad activists.”
I’ve posted this to you previously…but it doesn’t fit your views on Syria…
Hi One Two from the link you supplied:
Who-o-o-oh. Scary.
Against this; is the record of the Assad regime being a foundation member of the US led ‘Coalition Of The Willing’ against Iraq. A war in which the Assad regime supplied the US with 19,000 Syrian soldiers.
Also against the Regime Change conspiracy theory; is the fact that the Assad regime worked very closely with the CIA and let out their torture prisons to by used to torture CIA captives.
Syrians explain how pro-Assad conspiracy theories are hurting them
C.J. Werleman – TRT World, February 21, 2018
So you’d rather talk about climate change fair enough. That’s what some of the liberals do on here, switch topics and not address the point, and end up calling anyone with a differing point of view that they are alt-right.
I put up the post on Ron Paul’s climate change denial piece to show how nutty the Tea Party founder is.
But if you watch the whole video, near they end, you will see how Ron Paul ties up his climate change denial with his support for Basha Assad in one neat little package.
P.S. It is well known that Ron Paul is close to the Alt-right.
Personally I wouldn’t get my version of events in Syria from Ron Paul.
You might as well get your views shaped by Alex Jones or RT.
Top 10 Racist Ron Paul Friends, Supporters
Ron Paul Neo-Conderate and slavery apologist;
‘
The alternate reality that enables genocide in Syria
Sam Hamad – April 30, 2018
Jenny has already done this to me on this thread.
Hi Ed, because for some reason the link to the above article didn’t load up.
I will post it again as a naked link
https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/essay-the-alternate-reality-that-enables-genocide-in-syria-17104
I really think you ought to read it.
And just in case you are tempted to ignore the lesson it contains, and refuse to enlighten yourself….
I will also provide you a quote from the source material:
*My emphasis J.
45 children killed in a bus by an air strike in Yemen.
Not even mentioned in the news.
45 people die due to a bridge collapse in Italy.
Headline news.
Our racist and imperialist corporate media sucks.
But it has no ‘news value’ they say.
What they mean is , ‘does it look like us ‘
The news crews will be next looking for a grieving ‘Italian young mother of 3’, as thats the demographic the advertisers like.
Less news value, according to RNZ, than the court case of a foreign cricketer in a drunken brawl.
Colonial cringe…. whats newsworthy in Britain must make it on the news here.
Dont they realise we have computers and if we wanted to follow British news we would do so…at the horses mouth without waiting for them to replay it here
Do you not actually watch the news, Ed? The attack on the bus got wide coverage here in NZ and overseas.
Use google. A search for ‘yemen bus attack’ brings up 36000 results in google’s news option, including the BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, and many, many other sources.
If you narrow the search to ‘yemen bus attack nz’ you get a mere 21000 hits, including just about every news outlet in Aotearoa on the very first page.
None so blind …
There was very little coverage in New Zealand.
Not true – you just didn’t see it. Perhaps try other news sources than msm.
maybe he should try including the msm rather than believing his own obscure sources are always correct when they claim “not covered by msm”
I do.
funny, i read about it in the news. For a few days actually.
Maybe you should increase the number or news outlet you look at. You seem to have boxed yourself into a corner where it seems you don’t get the information you think you need.
That’s because Eddie – you (according to your own post a while back) stopped reading / watching most of NZ’s MSM.
Just because the 2 conspirator YouTube channels and a mad bugger in the UK you watch didn’t mention it – dosnt mean the rest of the world didn’t.
that’s the problem when your head is buried in the sand so far. And yet you still ignore all the people that tell you you are wrong.
Sad.
Why do you lie?
https://screenshots.firefox.com/QDv5uaQooAIPObuo/www.google.com
I just Googled ‘My Big Toe’ and got 421,000,000 results.
25,200,000 results in Google News, but i doubt any of those results do justice to my big toe.
Really you would have to search within a news site to ascertain whether the coverage was ‘equal’ or well covered or did justice to the event ie..timing of piece after event, length of piece, context/message in headline and article, position in the News order/cycle of the day, longevity in the News cycle.
Thank you Siobhan.
The story was covered minimally.
Maybe it was buried in websites ; it was nowhere near the headlines.
Did you listen to Mediawatch this week?
“Media in the middle of free speech frenzies; echoes of the past in fake news row; Stormy Daniels vs Yemen – no contest.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018657725/mediawatch-for-12-august-2018
Ed, the children killed in the bus was a leading news item over the last few days.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/08/saudi-airstrike-hits-bus-of-children-killing-dozens.html
Facts – Proving Ed wrong yet again.
Ed is more interested in the daily views of a mad uk cat fancier
Shooting the messenger is a favourite right wing attack.
It saves having an actual argument.
Did you listen to Mediawatch this week?
They agree with me.
Mediawatch would beg to differ with your opinion.
As others have pointed out, this incident has in fact been covered by mainstream media in New Zealand. Meanwhile, I’m aware of other incidents in the last few days of similar impact or worse elsewhere in the world that actually aren’t in the local media, that you aren’t highlighting either.
Could it be, Ed, that your concern isn’t so much with the people affected by these incidents, but maybe, just maybe, more in finding an angle you can use to whine about the media?
Mediawatch looked at the minimal coverage of the Yemen war this week.
Somerset retirement homes boss whinging facts they’re finding it hard to recruit nurses and cares on RNZ business and bleating that the government should let more foreign workers in.
The key question.
Why didn’t media puppet Gules Beckworth ask the obvious question?
“Why don’t you pay your workers more?”
RNZ has become a tool of neoliberalism.
Ed, according to a family member, they under employ lots of staff on a casual basis, and pay the least amount possible. They want staff who do not know their rights.
Yes, that sounds about for the age ‘care’ profiteers.
Richie McCaw invests heavily in this industry, doesn’t he?
What a guy.
wtf your smearing sneering of people you know little about shows you are acting out of touch and nasty. Not cool.
Well it seems Ed is correct that he is an investor. The sneer seems a valid one to me.
But why bring him into it – there is no good reason. There isn’t even a connection other than the tenuous investor one – how many investors? Prob ed and you too if you’re in kiwisaver. All it did was dilute eds argument – he just shot his own foot off but its okay he’ll take the other one off tomorrow and they keep growing back.
they keep growing back
he’s a fucking lizard.
Evidence.
McCaw is a heavy investor in a crooked underpaying industry.
“All Black captain Richie McCaw has been planning for retirement by investing in the aged-care industry. McCaw has a sizeable portfolio in the aged-care sector, and owns between 1 and 5 per cent in around 13 aged-care homes around New Zealand.”
“Companies Office records show McCaw first invested in retirement homes in the mid-2000s, jointly with a company called Banco Trustees Limited. He took out a 1 per cent stake in Oakwoods Lifecare and Ashwood Park Lifecare in 2012, before taking a stake in Bainlea House retirement facility in Rangiora last year. McCaw’s manager, Dean Hegan, told the Herald on Sunday the player preferred not to speak about his personal investments.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11203208
Thank you Ed, your points are always relevant. If only we had a great leader on the pitch who would call out these horrid corporates…
What a guy indeed. Richie for PM !
Yep certainly done more for nz than Ed raging and raving on his keyboard, and not just services to rugby
When I say something that enrages James and Belidered, I must be saying something correct.
Happy to amend my statement if you can disprove my assertion about McCaws heavy investment in the retirement industry?
Or is McCaw God and cannot be critiqued.
Our irrational fawning of sports players is an embarrassment.
Sniggering Guyno asked the GoBus guy what their profits were last year. ‘Commercially sensitive’ spluttered GoBusGuy.
“…The key question.
Why didn’t media puppet Gules Beckworth ask the obvious question?
“Why don’t you pay your workers more..?”
Gullible Giles is a bit of a lightweight.
He is a careerist. He is ambitious for Giles Beckworth.
So he won’t ask any difficult questions.
He won’t bite the hand that feeds him.
He is a corporate lackey.
Get out of Wrong side of bed this morning Edward, breath deep and chill
Corbyn hatchet job rolls on and on and on….
Thankfully Corbyn is finally pushing back, and getting pissed off (in his mild way)…about time.
Netanyahu tweeting against Corbyn shows up how corrupt the 100 Labour MPs are.
After watching the video, If he was there for the conference – imbalanced as it was by the description of who the attendees were – he could have politely refused attending the reef laying ceremony. As much as he tries to sugar coat it by saying he is paying respect the Tunisia incident, he didn’t do anything to disassociate the Black September members from the reef laying event.
Attacked by Indiana and Netanyahu.
Corbyn’s position gets stronger and stronger.
Define attacked. Are the people mocking him twitter also attacking him?
His enemies have found a seam to dig or unpick depending upon your simile. I hope he weathers the course and keeps his powder dry for when it will be most useful.
Some jaw-dropping neo-fashism from an Australian Senator. He invokes the “final solution” in a speech calling for European immigrants only, and especially NOT Muslims.
Submission deadline for TPPA / ISDS or whatever they call it now.
From https://mailchi.mp/3d55f13eca4f/stop-the-spread-of-isds-the-trade-for-all-agenda-and-a-hui-in-october?e=cd0f40e640
“Please make a submission to the select committee before Friday 17 August in support of an amendment to stop the spread of ISDS beyond the current 11 signatories. Already several countries have expressed interest in joining, so Parliament must prevent New Zealand from backsliding deeper into this discredited system by transforming the anti-ISDS policy of the present Government into a binding commitment under domestic law.
Tell the select committee: “I continue to oppose the TPPA, no matter what it is called, and I support an amendment to stop the spread of ISDS.”
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/52SCFD_SCF_BILL_78569/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement-cptpp-amendment-bill
Kia kaha teachers – good luck to all today, stay safe. BEEP BEEP beep beep beeeep!!!
Yep.
Beep! Beep!
This will be trouble I think – hot and bothered trouble.
“Several more warm years could be on the way, if a new statistical temperature forecasting system turns out to be accurate.
The system predictsi it’ll be unusually warm from this year until 2022, even without including the impact of climate change.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/science/106247117/get-ready-nz-for-a-yearslong-warm-spell
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/106213327/woman-fired-after-speaking-out-about-rough-sleeper-assault-at-work
This woman was badly injured in a pharmacy she worked at by a rough sleeper.
She talked to the press about her ordeal.
Then she was FIRED because she was bringing the company into disrepute!!!
What low life, not supporting an employee.
I see they thought they could heavy the local newspaper too.
Thats not going to work.
Yeah I saw that – hopefully the law and the natural justice, of choosing to give business or not to those shops, will prevail.
I hope she ends up getting a good payout from the Pharmacy for wrongful dismissal as she wouldn’t want to work for them again. The pharmacy will hopefully get a public back lash as well for the way they treated her. Just wrong.
Older customers are staples of any pharmacys prescription business.
Just set up a car outside with a few signs in the windows and presto an instant settlement of her medical costs and personal grievance.
From the link:
The Christchurch woman received a broken finger, post-traumatic stress disorder and later suffered a heart attack. She was dismissed from her job at ….o Pharmacy on Colombo St after she shared her story with Stuff.
Nikki Denley, who was the retail manager at the store, was working one June day when a large man entered the store a couple hours before closing time.
Round up maker wheels out same old false science to protect its poison.
While internal memos admitting rounddup causes cancer and corruption of govt officials tabled at trials.
Deflecting and Bullying is how they deal with the real science
I thought it sold to Bayer?
Now that the hysteria has died down a bit. A more balanced take on the Jeremy Corbyn ‘antisemitism’ furore…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/14/corbyn-wreath-terror-victims-memorial-israel-palestinian
Strong article showing the blatant hypocrisy of the atacks on Jeremy.
The Corbyn interview video above says it all-well worth watching.
Apparently Socialism isn’t about improving the material well being of the poor but their ‘dignity’. Good to know that. I wonder if improved dignity helps with coping with hyperinflation….
https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13999
Paula Bennett giving the poor, the “dignity” of benefit sanctions to force them into McJobs, working better. Eh?
The trout is now going after Tova O’Brien. What happened to all this bluster from the Nats about the sanctity of the media and how they must not be politically pressured?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/08/a-pathetic-attack-judith-collins-wants-to-know-who-leaked-simon-bridges-expenses.html
The hypocrisy is strong in the trout.
Well she (of course) has a point:
“You guys are great – you come along and ask us who did it when you know who did it,” Ms Collins said when Garner asked if she knew who had leaked the information.
“I don’t know who did it,” Garner said, to which Ms Collins replied, “Tova does”.
Garner later asked O’Brien if she knows who leaked the information to her, to which she said “no comment”.
The media are very important for democracy but they also need to be held to account like anyone else
The media weren’t given the information by no-one, and they have a right to keep their sources secret. If they have been given information why would they not publish it? The question is who gave it to them, and trying to turn it on the journo’s isn’t a great look ‘for democracy’.
The media have a lot of power so they also need their own checks and balances
Which they have.
Collins almost persuaded me it probably wasn’t her – although she’s ballsy enough to put O’Brien on the spot – and to then make a complaint if it results in her being outed as the source, lol
I still go with human error in this case
if everyone in caucus got everyone’s info, how does only Bridges’ stuff accidentally end up with a reporter?
Thats why I like investigations, we’ll know what happened then
And they buy time to forget the more optious likelihoods
Well more like it’ll (hopefully) stop rumours spreading about what may, or may not, have happened 🙂
That’ll only happen if someone gets pinged red-handed.
I’d like to think whomever it was will have learned from previous instances (just out of general principle), but, well…
Thats why I don’t think Jude, who is by all accounts a pretty good lawyer, was involved…or at least it won’t be able to be proven
never underestimate the power of hubris to be one’s downfall
so someone in the National Party has a hard time keeping their mouth shut, and don’t like to fall in line behind a expensive and incompetent leader and it is the media that needs to be held to account.
bless your cotton socks.
Could just as easily be human error as well but you don’t think the media needs to have the spotlight on them every now and then?
of course it is human error. Someone in the National Party erred err went to a journalist and said :oh lookit here, the incompetent, boring as, good for nothing Leader of the No Mates Party has traveled the country for three month, costing over 1000$ a day, racking up 100.000 $ for his three month tax paid vacation while achieving fuck all.
I can see why you would want to blame the media for reporting this.
Ackshully I want a through investigation done so if someone did leak it they can be punished appropriately
yep, lets waste some more taxpayer money because the Party with no Mates can’t keep its own people to behave.
Vote National, cause someone has to waste Taxpayers Dollars.
We’re you concerned about leeks when Winstons over payments were leaked.
I want that thoroughly investigated as well
bwahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahah
Why is that funny to you? I’ve been pretty up front about my belief that things should be investigated and the appropriate punishments meted out, to anyone
Don’t worry about old Sabine it’s her stock response, she seem to think it is funny or a withering insult, yes dear is her other one , Just hold on a little longer the latter won’t be far away, she really is a bore and yawn, with a few anger issues
Fortunately Winstons lawyers are searching the dark heart of national as we speak then a?
How exactly is that going, its been a bit quiet don’t you think
National has a heart ?
Don’t know about National but St Jude the Lovely has a massive heart, a heart so full it overflows with all the love and joy anyone could ever want and all you have to do to recieve this love is accept her as your saviour and then you too can walk in the light and love of J.C and all your sins (and there are many Robert) will be washed away and you”l be reborn a better person, a more intelligent person…a National voter
Praise the Jude, praise her!
How does Big Judee know Tova does puckers?
Well Tova broke the story so presumably she knows who passed on the information.
unless it came in an envelope, maybe.
Really, all a reporter needs to know is “does the source have a good record” and “does the information check out”. The leaker could have a consistent handle rather than be exchanging spreadsheets over lunch.
Well that is a possibility, best be checking any and all CCTVs then 🙂
Yes. Jude has a very distinctive gait.
And makeup that even the worst facial recognition teknoljy couldn’t wink the hood off going forward.
Now, as for Pulla Bent, that’s a different story. There’s a total re-imaging and re-imagining. I’m wondering whether the gNatz are thinking of an automaton swapout going forward. Soimon out Pulla in. The logic circuits aren’t that different. Swap a NAND for a NOR and Bob’s your auntie
could nat paranoia be why all the post boxes are being taken away? lol
Its not paranoia if they really are out to get you…
Lol she doth protest too loudly (d) methinks next she’ll be wailing, gnashing her teeth and pulling wildly at her hair. Oscar contender for sure.
Garner is as thick as two short planks some days . collins played him like a fiddle this morning letting the eye brows spread suspicion in every direction .
Who’s singing this song in the gnats today?
‘Friends all tried to warn me
But I held my head up high
All the time they warned me
But I only passed them by
They all tried to tell me
But I guess I didn’t care
I turned my back and
Left them standing there
All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore..’
So, on the one hand we have researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research producing a model (paper here) that seems very good at predicting the occurrence of natural cycles that boost or dampen the general upward trend of global temperature.
As the principal researcher puts it (from The Guardian)-
“Natural variability is a wriggle around the freight train that is global warming,” he says. “On a human scale, it is what we feel. What we don’t always feel is global warming. As a scientist, this is frightening because we don’t consider it enough. All we can do it give people information and let them make up their own mind.”
[…] Sévellec says the statistical upward nudge from natural variation this year is twice as great of that of long-term global warming. Next year, it is likely to be three times higher.
There is no “other hand”…
This is the deal we’ve dealt ourselves.
Meanwhile, NOAA is throwing around a 70% chance of El Nino* conditions becoming dominant within the coming months
*La Niña is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Niño as the warm phase of ENSO
Did have a look at this article from the ABC News website which I posted late last night?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-14/southern-annular-mode-and-how-it-affects-our-weather/10106134
This is why the Conservatives are scared witless of an election any time soon in the UK-spontaneous Oh Jeremy Corbyn chant a few days ago.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2018/08/14/the-mainstream-media-would-probably-rather-you-didnt-see-this-clip-of-thousands-chanting-for-jeremy-corbyn/
Bojo and Brexit may conspire to see Corbyn as PM before the end of the year hopefully.
Sounds like the “left” wing establishment in the UK are even more terrified.
End of the cosy tweedledum tweedledee of right wing and less right wing which ensures nothing really changes. And the roll back of a functional society continues.
President Trump is dumber than a sack of hammers.
Now that he has put steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey and as a result tanked their currency, he has also stopped the transfer of 100 F-35 fighter jets.
Now sure I have no time for Turkey’s autocratic and militant Erdogan, but surely even Trump would understand these actions are going to put Turkey straight into the arms of Iran and Russia?
I cannot believe that even Trump would willingly seek to get a NATO member to leave and join the opposition.
Turkey jailed the American pastor, Andrew Brunson, almost two years ago in a widespread crackdown that followed a military coup attempt. Ankara maintains that Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years, had ties to the plotters.
Cue catastrophic overreaction.
Trump is just flat stupid.
What about Trump would make you believe that he would
not get a Nato member to leave and Join Russia?
not do something that would benefit Russia?
not fuck up every system, process, and alliance in place to day to replace it with something bigly bigly and tremendously beautiful?
what precisely do you think they discussed in Helsinki? Borscht and Russian Tea? Tolstoy? The availability of pretty young girls to old creepy farts like they are?
oh dear!
Russia, Iran, and Turkey have a close and growing diplomatic relationship.
https://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2018/04/09/turkey-russia-iran-determined-to-retain-alliance-at-all-costs
yes.
And i did not say anything contrary to it. So what was your point again?
Your comment was a series of purely rhetorical questions with no apparent content.
So it was simply best to add an actual fact in there.
no my comment was a series of options to your comment.
Options.
and you know as little about actual facts then anyone else considering that Trump can’t speak the truth, but will only speak what he considers the truth of the day.
You can’t offer facts in regards to the meeting in Helsinki unless you were one of the translators.
You can’t offer facts in regards to what Trump is doing re Turkey, he might as well only be in this pissing match for shits n giggles.
So again, i gave you some options as to why Trump is doing what Trump does.
AS for your facts – Russia, Turkey, Iran, you forgot the elephant in the room, China. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/08/13/trump-risks-creating-unholy-axis-sanctioned-turkey-iran-china/
Trump “will only speak what he considers the truth of the day.” Technical correction required here: moment. Big difference tween day & moment.
🙂
The facts provided in my link covered an actual meeting that occurred recently, about an actual alliance, with three real leaders from named countries.
The US has put steel and aluminium sanctions on Turkey.
The US has stopped the transfer of the F-35s to Turkey.
The US is stepping up diplomatic pressure on Turkey.
The US has caused the tanking oft he Turkish currency.
Those are actual facts.
Whatever your “options” are meant to be , they don’t help any meaningful conversation.
There is simply no evidence that China is intervening in Turkey.
Iran, China is very interested in Iran.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/01/asia-pacific/chinas-investments-iran-surge-coming-western-nations-flounder/
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2146768/china-tipped-profit-after-donald-trump-quits-iran
https://thediplomat.com/2017/02/us-sanctions-on-iran-good-or-bad-news-for-china/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/08/china-a-major-iran-oil-importer-would-resist-any-us-sanctions.html
http://www.iran-daily.com/News/209117.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/world/middleeast/iran-china-business-ties.html
and you still have not provided one fact as to why D. Trump would not want to see Turkey leave Nato.
You have not provided one fact as to why Trump would not want an alignment of Russia, Turkey, Syria, etc and if only to fuck over the European Union.
Heck he would like to align the US with Russia or at least pretend he would like it.
You also believe that Trump does the shit he does because he is stupid. I would not do that. I consider Trump to be a hostage taker. He is in it for his own reasons, and he will use the office to hold other nations hostage until they give him in full what he wants for himself and his family. He could absolutly not give one poo about the shit hole US of A. Point being the company he keeps.
That priest is just another grifter point towards the evangelic crowd. After all he needs people to vote for him again.
Your facts and your imagination are lacking.
Or maybe you don’t understand the 53-dimensional chess he’s playing.
Or maybe he really is in Pootee’s pocket.
But yeah, Occam’s Razor strongly suggests the sack of hammers thing.
OR doesn’t apply…
The 53D chess game, is represented by variables which can’t be known…
Trump is part of that chess game…by you…
But sure…reckon he’s stupid…makes you feel smarter perhaps…
“Hidden meaning exists as total acceptance of reality”
“Perceptual reality embraces an expression of mysteries”
Arms of Iran and Russia ?
First a Sunni and Turkish country isnt going to get close to a Shiite and persian country. The enmity goes back centuries. They are just as likey to get closer to Christian Greece…which is never.
Russia is small cheese economically compared to ‘the west’ so maybe Putin will get some kudos but not much bigger than that. Putins whip hand is he can next support the Kurds after having saved Assads sorry ass, that would really scare Turkey.
Iran, Russia, and Turkey have been negotiating the rebuild and carve-up of Syria for a while. They did a three-day conference on it in April this year.
So apart from oil, armaments, and rejection of US middle east influence, they have plenty of common ground to work on.
If the USA had any principles left, they would not be supporting Erdogan, at all.
Then they would have to withdraw support for Saudi Arabia, Haiti, and the many other repressive regimes, they have had a hand in installing.
Yesterday, Tues 14 August, the PM faced three questions rather than the normal one only usually from Simon Bridges, the Leader of the Opposition, namely:
Q1 Hon SIMON BRIDGES to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government’s statements and actions?
Q7 Hon PAULA BENNETT to the Prime Minister: Does her Government expect high standards from all Government departments and Ministers?
Q8 DAVID SEYMOUR to the Prime Minister: Is she aware of any Ministers in her Cabinet that support reducing the number of members of Parliament and removing the Māori seats; if so, who are those Ministers?
Today, Wednesday, 15 August, she again faces the same two questions from Bridges and Bennett – this time at Q2 and Q8 respectively.
IMO Bridges’ performance yesterday was pretty lacklustre as usual, and again his supplementary questions focused on the rights (or not) of union people to go into businesses to see union members as his questions last week did in relation to changes to employment law currently before the House. However, he did in fact actually manage one ad lib question as a result of a question raised by Winston Peters re police officers in hot pursuit of murderers:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=202100 (7 mins)
Bennett’s supplementary questions yesterday focused on the inquiry into the appointment of the Deputy Commisioner of Police. Much as I am no fan of Bennett, her performance was professional and measured, with well thought out questions – eg on the TORs for the inquiry, whether the PM had confidence in Haumaha, and if she would not or could not express confidence in him, whether he should be stood down temporarily while the inquiry was carried out. There was no extravagant faces or waving hands etc. Bridges watched from alongside Bennett.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=202108
But then less than half an hour later, Bennett put on the performance of her life as second speaker in the debate on the Appropriations (2018/19) Estimates Bill!
As I reported in this comment at 4.1.1.1.2.3 on OM yesterday, it was an absolute hoot – and I could not decide whether it was aimed at “I want to be Leader of the Opposition” or whether she is hoping for an Oscar!
The posing and confidence is OTT. LOL. Smacking the hands, hammering, counting off on her fingers, hands on hips – shes did it all. It smacks of some form of recent (theatrical) training. Its worth watching with or without sound! In fact without sound is best. ROFL.
I intended putting up the link last night but was otherwise occupied but marty mars’ comment at 16.2 above reminded me. Sorry marty mars, Collins would be hard pressed to beat this performance by Bennett. Well worth the few minutes it takes to watch it.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=202114
Quite looking forward to seeing how she (and Bridges) perform again today.
Thanks for that tip to watch with no sound, best laugh I have had for a while. I wonder how much training and learning she had to go through for that. Pity her party’s benches were so empty when she put on such an audition for leader. She seemed to have two lots of notes, one for speech and one for gestures, because she appeared to have lost her place at one point and kept thumping her fist into her hand while she frantically turned over pages.
I am pleased you enjoyed it too. LOL. And welcome as I don’t recall seeing you comment here before,
“Because Don Brash is not an abstraction. He is, to the consternation of many, very real. At least one of your grandparents probably voted for him to be the Prime Minister of our country. (Ed’s note: Grandparents? It was only 2005! And National got 39.1%, only a feather’s width behind Labour on 41.1%, so it may have been several family members)”
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/is-don-brash-really-different-from-those-canadians
Ouch!
Oh but look who it is – Liam Hehir, former Nat Party activist and now reporter for the Manawatu Stranded. LOL.
He was on the Q & A Panel a week or so ago with John Tamihere and Dr Jennifer Curtin when I took a rare decision to watch Q & A, but was pretty forgettable.
Hehir’s references to Mickysavage’s posts here on Molyneux and Southern may be of interest to some here.
Which reminds me – did anyone see this where these two con artists are now asking the ticket holders to their non-event to not seek refunds and donate the money to S&M, as their favourite charity.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/364039/stefan-molyneux-calls-for-donations-after-financial-blow-from-new-zealand-trip
Also – http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/stefan-molyneux-lauren-southern-ask-kiwis-to-donate-money-after-cancelled-event/
By the way, Russell Brown has had a post up at Public Address for about a week which provides a bit more information about the cancellation by the Powerstation of its use as a venue for the two Canadians and about various members of their entourage for anyone interested. These aspects are covered in the post itself and a couple of comments in the first one – two pages of the comments.
https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/on-joining-the-international-troll-circuit/
well as you have noted the mention of MS in the article I have to assume you have read it so you will understand my confusion when you continue on in some detail about venues and donations when they are not the substance of the article nor address that substance….guess it may have been a bit much to expect
What a shocker. Calling a woman a crazed crying lowlife dog on twitter is a new low for the orange orangutan.
Donald J. Trump
@ realDonaldTrump 14h
When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!
why would anyone be shocked?
Was that not the reason all those people with economic anxiety voted for him?
It’s just part of the show.
“Though the explosive fight between these two heels may have a nugget of genuine, reciprocal anger and betrayal in the center, the cautious money is that it is almost entirely boob-bait for the easily gulled Trumpentariat, mere mummery and distraction from the widening gyre of legal, political, and economic trouble looming for the star of our national reality TV show.
This week’s episode consists of the usual kayfabe, with secret recordings, presidential shitter-tweeted rage, and the apparatus of the president’s media sycophants turning their fire on another of Donald’s once-beloved now-reviled ex-besties.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-in-such-deep-sht-omarosa-is-almost-a-relief?ref=home
The Lord giveth and the Lord chooses to take away.
Waikato University started Maori tikanga as a separate study but now wants to merge it. More efficient no doubt. Better productivity. Students say it is unique.
2/12/2014 Actors pakeha ex PM Nat Jim Bolger and pakeha Prof [Neil] Quigley who has worldwide credentials so must be good, “to formulate and implement meaningful strategies to lift organisational performance.”” Where do old National Party politicians go to die? In elephants graveyeards? Is that what our universities are becoming,
where humans take second place to Science. Maori to go Humanities to go. People are so boring and unprofitable unless they are on sweatshop handouts.
University of Waikato Chancellor Rt Hon Jim Bolger says Professor Quigley has a real passion and enthusiasm for his work. “He’s held many senior roles at Victoria University and comes to us with an impressive track-record of academic and strategic leadership, and ability to formulate and implement meaningful strategies to lift organisational performance.”
Mr Bolger says Professor Quigley is well-placed to continue to build on the University of Waikato’s strong foundations. “We intend our next 50 years to cement the University of Waikato as a force in the region, the tertiary sector and the nation. Professor Quigley understands all the challenges facing the higher education sector and he will be a vital part of our future.”…
He holds several board and expert advisory group memberships; in particular he is a Director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and also a Director of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority….
“I see even more potential for the University to develop its distinctive combination of partnership with iwi, commitment to an outstanding student experience, and excellence in teaching and research.”
https://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-events/media/2014/new-vice-chancellor-to-take-the-reins-at-university-of-waikato
te ao Maori
Waikato University staff, students protest plan to scrap Māori faculty
From Morning Report, 8:43 am today
Listen duration 3′ :21″
Students and staff at the University of Waikato are calling a proposal to scrap the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies a “white-streaming” of Māori issues. More than 80 people gathered in a peaceful protest yesterday over a re-structure which will see the faculty lose its status and fall under the Arts and Social Sciences division.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658160/waikato-university-staff-students-protest-plan-to-scrap-maori-faculty
Using just a blood test to find evidence of chemical exposure is a false test and the chemicals can leave the blood within a little as 10 days to two weeks so no trace is then found as it has been stored in our (fat) ‘adipose’ tissues.
The adipose chemical analysis is the gold standard for ‘toxic tort’ chemical litigation; – and a blood test will fail to find the toxins the patient was exposed to.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658159/toxic-foam-officials-back-down-allow-blood-testing
Radio New Zealand
RNZ
HEALTH 8:20 am today
Toxic foam: Officials back down, allow blood testing
From Morning Report, 8:20 am today
Share this
“Community pressure has pushed officials into a backdown on blood testing for people caught up in the firefighting foam contamination in Manawatu. Not only will locals get easier access to testing for the chemicals PFOS and PFOA but now their blood will be stored if they give the OK, to enable long-term research.”
This is a false test that will show little toxins in any blood test.
I was poisoned also in Canada and to prove the same chemicals were in my body they first did a blood test which showed no poisoning of the same chemical in my blood.
Then two toxoclogists recommended to my Doctor to get “a tisue sample test for this chemical and they took a small square piece of my adipose fat tissue around my thigh and the chemicl that I was poiisoned with was found to be stored in my fat tissues and not in my blood as most chemicals leave the blood within 14 days to six weeks the toxicologists said so this ‘blood test’ will be a meaningless waste of time and hope.
I recomend that these folks all ask for a ‘adipose tissue’ (fat) chemical analysis done at “Accucem Laboratory in Texas the same laboratory that proved my chemical poisoning had occurred.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-004-2558-5
Abstract
“Test systems to screen for estrogenicity and appropriate biomarkers of human exposure are required for epidemiological studies of endocrine disruption. We addressed these issues by developing and standardising a method to assess the total estrogenic xenobiotic burden in human adipose tissue. In this study, which is the continuation of a previous work, we have improved the protocol for extensive fractionation of a higher number of tissue samples in order to investigate bioaccumulated xenoestrogens that are candidates for estrogenicity and to assess their combined estrogenic effect. This was achieved by extensive HPLC separation of xenoestrogens from endogenous hormones followed by testing of individual fractions in the E-Screen test for estrogenicity. Organochlorine pesticides, PCBs and halogenated bisphenols and alkylphenols were collected in the most lipophilic fractions, followed by progestins, androgens and estradiol esters, and then by steroidal estrogens; phyto- and myco-estrogens were collected around the end of the run. These results were confirmed by exhaustive chemical analysis. In 458 human adipose tissue samples, the total effective xenoestrogen burden was positive in 75% of samples in the pooled fraction that contained organohalogenated xenoestrogens (mean 515.3 pM Eeq/g lipid; range 0–14.5 nM) and in 82% of samples in the pooled fraction where natural estrogens eluted (mean 696.6 pM Eeq/g lipid; range 0–12.9 nM). Organochlorine pesticides emerged as candidate chemicals for the estrogenicity of the first pooled fraction, because DDT and derivatives were present in 98.3% of the samples. However, no correlation was found between the concentration of any single chemical and the estrogenicity determined in the bioassay. There may be several reasons for this lack of concordance: (i) the estrogenic effects depicted in the E-Screen bioassay are a consequence of the combined effect of several organohalogens or (ii) the proliferative effect is due to other chemicals not measured. Because additive, synergistic or antagonistic mechanisms may account for the final effect observed in the pooled fractions, the approach proposed in this work is more appropriate for exposure assessment in epidemiological studies than the determination of individual chemicals in human samples.”
Good morning Newshub The professor John is correct we need to slow down OUR alcohol consumption down teach te mokopuna’s that its ok to have a couple of drinks and that its stupid to have 12 drinks this will save a lot of lives and mone .
Many thank’s to the Government for passing a law making it so only Kiwi’s can buy houses or property the stats are not showing the true foreign amout of foreign buy’s%
also tangata whenua would be exclude from buying house’s in 20 years if there were no changes . This law change is part on national security Big mone could shut most Kiwi’s out of the market they pay more for the property than Kiwi farmers can earn from the property to service a mortgage viably even with capital gain’s include in the math Many Thanks to OUR government .
I’m staying out of the teacher’s debate .
Getting ride of single use plastic bag’s is just the start of OUR movement to a environmentally sustainable Aotearoa and Papatuanuku we have to change OUR whole way of thinking and life . Ka kite ano .
This is amazes me we have all the evangelicals that hold onto there bible’s and they back a society systems that doesn’t care for all the people in there society .
The wealthy have impunity they can basically do what ever break laws and use the mountains of money to get off crimes and bend the laws of the land to give them more money .Im sure that there Bibles have scripts that say that that behavior is a sin in the bibles values .They think its ok to have people dying on the streets or being killed by armies around the world . Eco Maori tau toko
Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator tiped Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, has unveiled new plans for legislation aimed at reining in big corporations, redistributing wealth, and giving workers and local communities a bigger say. The link is below
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/15/elizabeth-warren-accountable-capitalism-act-richest-companies Ka kite ano
I dissagree with this person’s distraction on the real issue’s of human obesity he is most likely payed from someone who is part of the sugar industry for his distorted reality. So be it that’s the way of Papatuanuku at the minute .
The Big Picture is that sugar is the main cause of OUR obesity problems full stop .
Look at all the negative storys on salt about it beening bad for heart problem’s.
The thing about the salt industry is 2 to 3 company’s can not take control of salt why because we can just get seawater evaporate the water and walar we have salt and because of this fact we get to hear all the true facts about salt .
With the sugar industry 2 to 3 players control the product and control the fact’s and story’s that get published about sugar its a bad product that should be taxed out of reach of the common poor tangata of Papatuanuku link below ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/15/age-of-obesity-shaming-overweight-people
We’re in a new age of obesity. How did it happen? You’d be surprised
George Monbiot
George Monbiot P.S Its about how easy it is to consume 2200 calories now with all the sugar in our food and drinks compared to yesteryear’s
Look’s like the Judges hand out warrants to the{ undercover sandfly YEA RIGHT ] at there wim I just sent a email to the ceo of the Rotorua hosptial and got 1 phone call and nothing I will forward my complaint to the Health & Disability Commissioner and Eco Maori will see how second class people are treated in New Zealand this will all go towards my Waitangi Tribunal court case thank you sandflys for more evidance muppets
Ka kite ano P.S mean while my moko is still in pain I just want the Rotorua Hosptial to do there Job and scan her kidneys
A link to back up my claims of warrents being handed out to cover there m8 ass the 00.1 % and the sandflys link below Ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106019115/jonathan-milne-why-this-gagging-order-is-a-bridge-too-far Ana to kai
More links about the 00.1 % making the laws to protect them first and for most’s
Link Below Ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105975362/law-society-superinjunction-overturned-allowing-disclosure-of-sexual-harassment-case ana to kai
Good evening Newshub I agree that the government and Opposition party should work together to fix our construction industry .
Wow some people have know morels or respect of our old people the assault of people in rest homes is shocking .
Lets hope we don’t get a bad fire season like what our Australian cousin are fighting at the minute hope no people are lost .
That was a good out come for the Whale in Chilly it got cut free of the ropes that were tangled in free willy from Chilly was it there Navy diver’s that did that great job ka pai.
Eco say’s that all the Navy’s and armed forces around Papatuanuku should be turned into conservationist and humanitarian work.
Ka kite ano P.S I try to keep my difficulties with the undercover sandfly’s tone down but this has been brewing all day
The Crowd Goes Wild James & Makere That’s awesome that Steven Adam’s has a charity that looks after alot of mokopuna’s sports future aspirations Ka pai.
That’s cool wahine Rugby the fastest growing sport on Papatuanuku
Wairangi that was cool you and Steven playing basketball with the mokopuna’s
sports is good for there wairua .
P.S I thought Mark & Mull’s were going to start wrestling lol