Could the judiciary become part of the solution? It's always been part of the problem. Since the Greens have succeeded in using it as a lever to shift delinquent government, we have a reasonable basis for optimism:
The Paris administrative tribunal ruling, seen by Reuters, ordered the French government to take all necessary measures to repair ecological damage and to prevent a further increase of carbon emissions by end-December 2022 at the latest.
"Now the court system is becoming an ally in our fight against climate change," Greenpeace France director Jean-Francois Julliard told reporters.
The court ruled that the government must respect its commitment to reducing French greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990, but it did not impose fines or penalties to enforce its ruling.
How has our judiciary been part of the problem, Dennis?
I guess if someone like the Greens or Greenpeace took the government to court for failing to deliver on CC commitments the courts might decide to step in, but I suspect our judges would be wary of getting sucked into a battle with the government over climate change mitigation.
Yeah, our judges have always been craven conformists, but the times may provoke a change as they have in France.
France is one of several countries where environmental activists are using the judicial system to force their governments to take faster action against global warming.
So it's up to our Greenies to see if they want to jump on this bandwagon. I'd be surprised if they wimped out. Does Russel Norman really want to seem inadequate in public??
France's highest administrative court had already fined the state 10 million euros ($12 million) for failing to improve air quality. read more
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany's top court ruled in April that the country must update its climate law by the end of next year to set out how it will cut carbon emissions down nearly to zero by 2050.
In the Netherlands, the High Court ordered the government at the end of 2019 to step up its fight against climate change and to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned.
As regards your more general point, the judiciary is an institutional defender of the status quo. It is fixated on the past – hard-wired into that stance by usage of precedent in legal determination, right? So that's their default position. Their challenge is to get with the survival program. Become progressive.
This was a hard thing to film, perching precariously above her, videoing with my left hand, while trying to hold the feeding stick steady with my right one.
We nature videographers sometimes have to suffer for our art. I slipped & fell into the water once. Thank heavens only pooks & ducks saw it! They didn't larf at me.
Gezza, I am hosting my two proxy grandsons and we fed our eels with bacon skin and raw egg to attract them- lovely black eels, one very big. Great excitement. Did not play Diving Duck Blues to the grey ducks and the mallards that came looking…….
James Shaw: "We know that every single year, we are going to have to continue to take new and further actions on climate change because this is a multi-generational battle over the course of the next 30 years and beyond. It's going to involve every part of our economy, every part of our society."
Do we really know that? I do, he does, but it doesn't work as a realistic generalisation. Inclusive thinking can make the user delusional!
Imagine how he'd frame the point if he were able to communicate with typical kiwi males: "You guys oughta stop being as thick as pigshit. Learn to cope with reality instead, huh? Man up! You can't survive by trying to hide from the challenge."
Are there that many typical Kiwi males tho, these days?
He may need to come up with particular angles for different audiences. Rugby players, surfers, skiers, farmers, metrosexuals, office workers, gamers etc?
All very nice – but you do realise that in the past 20 odd years some 90% of the growth in CO2 has come from just one nation. You can parse the data however you like, by historic emission, by population, by GDP – whatever – but essentially until the PRC actually reduce that massive growth rate nothing much else will matter.
By contrast the developed world has either slowed or reduced their emissions and are heading in the right direction. Rapid adoption of electrification and green hydrogen over the next two decades will accelerate this improvement – that shift is firmly underway.
In the meantime the developing world is where the demand growth lies and for the moment coal is still their cheapest option. Until we're willing to address that fact head-on the trends will not change enough to alter the outcomes.
If the world were actually serious about climate change by far the best use of funds in regards reducing emmisions would be getting clean energy projects up and running across the developing world…
Bear in mind that much of Chinas rapid CO2 growth comes from the silly bloody West transferring most of their business to China because it was cheaper. It's very easy to blame China for our folly.
The CCP ran a policy of undercutting the West – primarily by using capital as a tool for employment and endless debt to subsidise loss making companies.
The $300b or so of losses around Evergrande for example will be effectively subsidised by breakup of the entity and the disposal of the assets to a variety of state and private owners – all funded with new debt. The problem gets kicked down the road except this time the foreign bond holders get shafted and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out how this will play out.
Keep in mind that property constitutes more than 25% of their GDP – and the massive growth of their infrastructure and military – so it's not all been about exports. Still the West in it's turn took the view that "if goods do not cross borders, then armies will" and was fundamentally motivated to integrate the PRC into the global trade system as a path to avoid conflict. That these guys were the cheapest in the market was hard to ignore either.
But yes the realisation that having such a large fraction of your supply chains locked up in a nation that now speaks to it's customer base with both open contempt and overt hostility is not smart. Much of the disruption we're seeing right now is a consequence of this realisation and the impact of COVID.
Maybe somebody could introduce the Chinese to bankruptcy where debts go to be written down or even written off. I mean if its going to avert disaster I think they could be let in on the game.
The Chinese monetary arrangements are not the problem, rather it's the offshoring of output, by the USA, to a country which is greatly incentivised to 'catch up'. But then, the ‘American way of life is not negotiable’, and it is excess consumption that is the real driver.
The CCP don't have to play by the rules.What they have done is undermine all the countries with good labour ,safety ,environmental conditions of the developed world by undercutting everyone else.
Foreign exchange has rolled in as they have monopolized production there is no real competition they can put prices up to finally make a profit.Using foriegn capital reserves to offer cheap loans for development and purchase of supply chains so they have control and a guaranteed market.
Empire building.
China can print its way out of trouble breaking up billionaires hoards seems to be the latest initiative so a collapse in the property market is no biggy for China.
Yes I'd not disagree much with that way of expressing the story either. It's a game they've played for much of the past 40 years and now COVID has ushered in the piper.
Oh, I agree completely. The geopolitical angle is primary. Given that the UN can't do effective change-making, let's see if the talkfest Cop26 does any better. Until collaboration gets real at the top end, we don't have a prospect of solution.
As regards Xi, I'm waiting for him to display leadership in this arena. He's done enough talking the right talk, so we await the right action! The 14 principles of Xi thought do contain a couple of Green principles, so we know he's been thinking along the right lines for a while now. Sure, the list reads like a namby-pamby recipe for Green stalinism if you want to be sceptical, but hey – he's a leftist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping_Thought
Xi Xinping – the new Red Emperor – has been compared to Napoleon III, Hitler and Stalin all sharing the common characteristic of an authoritarian strong-man leadership that disavows any form of democratic accountability whatsoever.
You will note the complete absence of this on those 14 Points you linked to. He openly admires Mao Zedong and draws on that era for his own political legitimacy.
That he's a Leninist-Marxist will of course win him many acolytes on the left outside of China – and The Standard has it's share of them – but again history wasn't kind to those who thought Stalin was a great leader either.
Drawing a moral distinction between a progressive left wing politics that fundamentally speaks for the disadvantaged, and social authoritarianism which is another motivation altogether, is not a simple matter when they're so very prone to being conflated like this.
Drawing a moral distinction between a progressive left wing politics that fundamentally speaks for the disadvantaged, and social authoritarianism which is another motivation altogether… they're so very prone to being conflated like this.
Indeed. The political binary is our inherited tradition. It frames political discourse. As long as democracy proceeds on this structural basis the problem will persist. I'd hoped MMP would get folks out of that rut, but no, they're habituated. The Greens even allowed themselves to be framed as extreme leftists to prove that they're politically clueless. Unconsciously.
What the conflation points to is the old issue of power corrupting. Green activists act in representation of the Green movement. When they get into parliament, their power warps them toward the establishment. When in Rome…
Xi seems a nice grandfatherly kinda dude, so I view him with some hope for the future. That said, the power structure imposes such constraint upon his agency that such optimism may seem unrealistic. To what extent is his human nature corrupted by state power? Time will tell.
The guy has accumulated more personal power than Mao Zedong ever did & is utterly ruthless when dealing with his “enemies” & detractors, be they in Hong Kong or the PRC.
If he seems a nice grandfatherly kinda dude to you then he’s way too inscrutable to your eyes.
Wasn't actually. True enough that his behaviour in the job does send that signal and I feel disgust at that too. Think of it as a double-sided coin, or like the moon – if the dark side always showed toward us rather than the bright. So it was via close observation that insight into his basic nature came to me. You know, reading his expression – emotional intelligence – and reading in between his lines for subtext.
Did you notice his recent dictum to the Chinese people – that they must show kindness toward each other? Is that any different from Jacinda airing the same thought a year or two back? To the cynical the answer is probably yes due to assuming his pr is staged rather than authentic. I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt even if it seems naive. If you want to advance the Jekyll & Hyde theory, yeah that could apply…
It famously seems very unlikely Xi Jinping is exhorting his Han Chinese settlers, police & truppen in Xinjiang province to be kind to the Uighurs. Altho they are claiming that they have recently loosened up having nipped non-conformity (aka "separatism & insurrection") in the bud, the locals, both Han & Uighur, are very reluctant to be seen talking to Western reporters.
Any that do so are reportedly almost immediately interviewd/interrogated by the police or security services, & show fear about conversing further with them afterward.
Oh indeed. I criticized that here last year more than a few times. Standard communism: alternative belief systems not allowed (Falun Gong, ethnic muslims & Tibetan buddhists). One wonders if trad Han spirituality gets tolerated either!
The regime's official line is that the concentration camps are for educating internees in Xi Jinping Thought. I imagine internees concentrate on the 14 principles. I wonder if the regime has measured the average time it takes for internees to learn them. Marxist/Leninist doctrine advocates efficiency, eh? Like a production line, spitting out like-minded robots so the next batch can be wheeled in. A century ago the western version of this became a management fad (Taylorism).
Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state. Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.
“In the late 20th century there was a reactivation of the state cults devoted to the Yellow Emperor and the Red Emperor. In the early 2000s, the Chinese government became open especially to traditional religions such as Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion, emphasising the role of religion in building a "Harmonious Society" (hexie shehui),[99] a Confucian idea.[100][101] The government founded the Confucius Institute in 2004 to promote Chinese culture. China hosted religious meetings and conferences including the first World Buddhist Forum in 2006 and the subsequent World Buddhist Forums, a number of international Taoist meetings and local conferences on folk religions. Aligning with Chinese anthropologists' emphasis on "religious culture", the government considers these religions as integral expressions of national "Chinese culture".
“A turning point was reached in 2005, when folk religious cults began to be protected and promoted under the policies of intangible cultural heritage. Not only were traditions that had been interrupted for decades resumed, but ceremonies forgotten for centuries were reinvented.
“Modern Chinese political leaders have been deified into the common Chinese pantheon."
That last bit is noteworthy. Has Xi ascended? Perhaps that happens posthumously…
@RL. You might find this podcast interesting? I had a listen on me iPad while cooking dinner last night.
China's now experiencing major power shutdowns nationwide, because Xi's short-sighted decision to cut coal imports from Oz without sourcing other suplliers first has given the PRC a major coal-shortage crisis. Paul Buchanan speculates this is why Xi's been banging the war drums so hard on Taiwan – it's a distraction.
He also discusses the military mess China could find itself in if it tries to take Taiwan. He considers that it will in no way be a cakewalk, & explains why in some detail…
Gezza Buchanan is a fool. China doesn't need to 'take' Taiwan.Taiwan is a province of China.
It's a good idea to listen to those who live in China and have experienced life there for some time.
You could listen to this video by an Italian who's been living in China for 22 years. He explains the so called power crises in China with a damned sight more authority than Buchanan claims to have.
In much the same way NZ is still a 'state of the Australian Federation'.
In my experience Taiwan and NZ both share a great deal more in common than most Kiwis would expect. Even incidentally down to having an indigenous Austronesian peoples who are the the direct genetic ancestors of our own.
And suffice to say the longer Xi Xinping remains in power the more Taiwanese people become determined not to fall under the sway of his regime – as did the poor bloody Hong Kongers.
If it was a sovereign nation as New Zealand is it would have embassies of other sovereign nations on it's soil.
Taiwan was widely recognised as an independent nation up until about the mid-1970's when the "One China" policy was broadly adopted as a dead-rat ruse to facilitate the opening up of Maoist China to world trade and development.
Everyone understands that it is a facade – and one that is rapidly crumbling.
You know there’s a native first nations people in Taiwan – formerly Formosa – till they were invaded by the Kuomintang’s Han Chinese, don’t you, Brigid?
(Altho I wouldn’t be surprised to learn one or more Chinese Emperors invaded the island as well in the past.)
Did you watch Buchanan in that video, or just rush to condemn him? I don’t usually just accept Buchanan’s view as an oracle. I ask because you haven’t mentioned ANY of the main things he spoke about at all. Hint: It’s not about whether or not Taiwan is a province of China.
When you’ve watched his video, fully, can you let me know, thanks? 👍🏼 ❤️
"China's now experiencing major power shutdowns nationwide, because Xi's short-sighted decision to cut coal imports from Oz without sourcing other suplliers first has given the PRC a major coal-shortage crisis. Paul Buchanan speculates this is why Xi's been banging the war drums so hard on Taiwan – it's a distraction.
He also discusses the military mess China could find itself in if it tries to take Taiwan."
That is what I replied to and offered a view from someone who actually fucking lives in China.
I have no intention of listening to anything Buchanan has to say having never read anything that he's written that isn't simply shilling for the military industrial complex or mere speculation as you point out.
Your 'if you watch mine I'll watch yours' is petty.
Don't watch the video I offered. Remain ignorant. I couldn't give a damn.
For starters, Buchanan isn’t shilling for the military industrial complex at all in that podcast. As you would know if you were open-minded enuf to watch it or listen to it.
He in fact even says it’s not guaranteed that the US would even come to Taiwan’s aid were the PRC to ever decide to invade to retake Taiwan. They’ve not actually committed themselves in writing to doing that in a treaty with Taipei.
Buchanan discusses the likely situation of the Taiwan stand-alone defence posture & the existing military preparations of Taiwan for a possible PRC invasion.
I’m open minded enuf to watch both Buchanan’s & your posted video of somone who actually fucking lives in China, as you so tastefully put it.
I’ll watch it later, after dinner. See if it’s in any way relevant to the Selwyn Manning interview of Buchanan.
But, I would note, he is unlikely to be approaching the exact same topic from the same angle as Buchanan. And also, that I have listened to Trump, who actually fucking lives in the USA. Should I therefore take what Trump says about America & Americans as more accurate than an outside serious student & thus expert on US politics & society?
Ok Brigid, I’ve now had a chance to watch / listen to your Mr Ma’s YouTube soliloquy. Your guy goes on a bit of a long-winded “ramble through the bramble”, but I had a painting job to do so stuck with him until the end.
He & both Buchanan agree that what is being hysterically reported in Western media about Chinese warplanes encroaching into Taiwanese airspace lately is actually not true.
Buchanan even takes the trouble in his interview with Selwyn Manning to point out that Taiwan’s self-declared Air Identification Zone is not it’s territorial airspace, but in fact largely encompasses International airspace and even includes some airspace over the PRC itself. China has a perfect right to operate its warplanes in these airspaces.
I note that Mr Ma(rio)’s explanation for the current rolling power shutdowns in China is that Chinese Industry, due to its continuing high levels of production, is in many places polluting more than the levels they have signed up internationally to limit themselves to; thus the industries are being restricted by the state from exceeding those limits by deliberate CCP policy to restrict power to the manufacturers.
This doesn’t seem to have occurred to Paul Buchanan (who admits he’s speculating that the PRC is now not importing enuf coal from Oz to power their current levels of industrial output) & sounds entirely plausible.
I noted also Mr Ma’s claims:
1. The internet in China is not blocked from US news content as is frequently reported in the West. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC (all 7 of the main US news channels) are readily available to view on the net by any and all Chinese English speakers.
2. China has had the MOST SUCCESSFUL Covid-19 policy of anywhere in the world. They have essentially eliminated it from all provinces. When they DO get cases they immediately lockdown the whole city or affected area & eliminate it. (This sounds plausible to me.)
3. Reports by Western media that people in the PRC are not allowed to criticise their government are not true. He states that Chinese social media sites (understandable only to Mandarin-speakers) are full of criticisms & complaints about their local & central governments’ perceived shortcomings. However he does also state that they are not allowed to “cause instability” eg by calling for a change of government, which would quickly attract the attention of the PRC security services.
4. He also agrees with Paul Buchanan that the Government mouthpiece media is full of “Ra ra China, we will crush you Taiwan!” editorial pieces – which are primarily for domestic consumption & not necessarily an indication a Taiwan invasion is being seriously planned for, or even contemplated.
Having now watched both YouTube podcasts, I find no evidence that “Buchanan is a fool”, nor that he is a shill for the US military/industrial complex.
Your Mr Ma is commenting from a personal experience, social analysis, & reality-based perspective (truth-telling against inaccurate Western media reports by writers interviewing their own keyboards & sometimes reporting only hearsay – eg perhaps by Pentagon hawks).
Paul Buchanan is responding to questions from Selwyn Manning, attempting to analyse the current situation from a diplomatic, military, & strategic policy perspective. Two quite different perspectives, both valuable to someone like me.
(I might just add here that Al Jazeera tv reported the Taliban as having announced that one of those involved in the very recent Islamic State bombing in Kabul was a Uighur.)
I'm well aware of these statistical conundrums – that have been richly exploited as excuses for inaction for decades.
The core problem the PRC faces is that from a geographic perspective China is a piss-poor location for both solar and wind power generation. They have some decent hydro opportunity although this comes with substantial risk and has a strict upper limit. They can talk big on 'going green' all they like, but essentially the land they live in ties their hands to shoveling coal for today. And much the same story plays out in other major developing nations like Indonesia.
There is only one open technological door out of this trap and it doesn't take a lot of cleverness to spot it.
I guess if the statistics suit your anti China bias you gonna use em.
However, in a carbon constrained environment all individual inhabitants of the world are entitled to a more or less equal allocation of carbon. 2019 figures show China at 6.28t on a per capita basis as opposed to the highest per capita emitters, Luxembourg at 38t and the US still at a massive 17.63t. Of course it is always in the dialogue of supporters of the 1%ers that large groups of underpriviledged should bear the brunt of any change so that they can carry on in the manner that they have become accustomed. Otherwise known as let them eat cake. All this is without even considering the emissions of the US military. On fuel consumption allone, the US military rank on a list of countries at 48th. That would put them between Peru and Portugal.
I'm perfectly aware that the statistics can be parsed in any number of ways – which has been done for a decade or more as an excuse for finger pointing and inaction.
But that graph I linked to tells the story – the climate does not care about CO2/capita, or the politics of the nation which emitted them. The only damn thing that matters is reducing the total emission and in this respect the first and most obvious responsibility lies with the PRC.
And then more broadly with solving the problem of how to enable the developing world to continue to escape poverty on a carbon zero basis.
Which is just another way of saying youre good with the status quo because then you don't have to make any effort. We all personally consume more carbon than the average Chinese so have more obligation to reduce our consumption. You could probably make the same arguments on food when food is a scarce commodity. It must be rationed on an individual level. Same when we had carless days. No amount of China bashing absolves us from our overconsumption of carbon.
With regard to excess carbon its still zero sum. Theres a level that cant be exceeded. If energy comes from non carbon sources then energy need not be zero sum.
I have read it and understand it. What I wrote is clearly implied by your equations. Its also obvious that you understand the zero sum nature of carbon budgets in your rant against China. Drowsy M Kram below offers a real world example of non zero sum energy in a zero sum carbon constrained world.
The equation is idiotic in that it takes an individual global average and multiplies it by the population to get a product that was already known. I guess its popular because it hides the huge anomalies in individual contributions by taking an average. The 1%ers get to hide. Its obvious from the tables I supplied above that there is some serious hiding going on since country tables are also averages. But global averages! What a great trick! The multiplying by P is shorthand for adding each contribution P times. The true equation adds each individual contribution and cannot use the shorthand "times P" because each is different. In this true equation, if each individual has an F contribution near zero then they have little effect on Ftotal. In this way it is easy to see that one persons contribution to F makes less carbon available for someone else. The easiest way to reduce F is for Ecarbon to get close to zero. Individuals with low F get a pass.Individuals with a high F get a rap over the knuckles
Different world views is all. You enjoy your priviledged position and have no wish to upset it. Hiding individual high carbon consumers is just how things go. It allows people like you to blame and demonise whole populations. Its more than obvious that total carbon is the sum of individual consumption even in a politically convenient construct such as Kayas identity. 1%ers get to say its population without looking at the fact that they consume as much carbon as the poorest 50% of the world. So Kayas averaging identity just glosses over the real problems. And I'll take it as an admission that carbon budgets are zero sum since you seem to have conceded that point
Ok. Not cooking or eating any more so heres a quick clearer restating of the above.
From Kayas identity, some simple algebraic manipulation gives: F/P=G/P . E/G . F/E. Its a nonsense because once again it simplifies to F/P=F/P but in the spirit of this nonsense it also says that the average individual contribution to F is GDP per capita multiplied by energy intensity of GDP multiplied by carbon footprint of energy. To get the total amount of carbon you multiply the average personal input by the population size. As can be seen from tables above and the Guardian article that actually states the top 1% contribute twice the amount as the bottom 50%, this is extremely misleading and the true calculation would add each individual contribution in a very long list of additions. If F is constrained to a particular number then an individual consuming more, necessarily imposes less consumption on some other individual. This is why carbon budgets are zero sum. Energy use that is not carbon based does not contribute to F. This is why energy can be non zero sum.
Kayas identity does not prove causality. Just because you can insert any arbitrarily large number for P into the equation does not prove that large P makes for a large F. In 2019 the US consumed about 5.8B tonnes of carbon. If their population disappeared (aprox 329M people emitting at 17.63 tonnes per person) to be replaced by 923M Chinese emitting at 6.28tonnes per person then P would have increased by more than a half billion but F remained the same.
This is the way that averages always conceal those that are rorting the system
Yes the units in Kaya's Identity do collapse down to an identity F= F and that's precisely why it has that name. (btw your algebra is a bit wonky.)
From a climate perspective the only thing that matters is total carbon F – molecules of CO2 do not care who emitted them or how 'privileged' or not that individual is.
But from a response perspective Kaya's Identity exposes the four fundamental levers we have available to us to reduce F to zero. In the linked post I briefly cover each one and conclude that the only one that is capable of delivering is to reduce the final terms F/E to zero – or in non-arithmetic terms transitioning to zero carbon energy sources.
The other three levers are essentially ineffective – reducing P to zero is a nonsense, reducing G/P to zero is the mass poverty option, and there is a physical minimum to how much we can reduce E/G.
Note also that the Identity works just as well if you reduce P=1 for each individual contribution. We could calculate this 'carbon footprint' for every individual on earth, sum the lot and arrive at total F again. And yes there will a wide range of differing numbers – and again with widely differing contributions from each of the three remaining terms G/P, E/G and F/E.
Of course the unspoken problem here is the G/P term – GDP per capita. Your solution is for the developed world to voluntarily undo two centuries of development and reduce their G/P term to match that of China. (There is of course is a small fraction of humanity who do consume at very high F levels – but their numbers are so low that even cancelling them out to zero has only a modest impact on the rates of CO2 rise. It might be satisfying to ‘eat the rich’ but not very effective.)
The question I pose is simple – why opt for the mass poverty option? Why do we have to all be as poor as China (on average I note – there are more billionaires in the PRC than NZ for example)? And even then note carefully – even this proposal this does not get F to zero – it merely reduces it. And that simply isn't good enough, we've overshot the recognised 350 ppm safe level and need to be carbon negative for a substantial period – which can only done using energy intensive carbon extraction technologies.
All this firmly implies a world that needs far more energy not less. As a crude estimate getting the developing world out of poverty will take about 3 – 5 times more than our current use, and then add in the energy needed to drive carbon extraction and closed loop resource economies – something in the order of 8 – 10 times our current consumption is not an unreasonable number to be talking about.
And to deliver this the only lever that can work is getting F/E to zero. And this is the value of Kaya's Identity – it strips away all the distractions and focusses the debate on what will work.
First up, theres nothing wrong with my algebra and second I most definitely disagree with your analysis. How exactly do you square what you say above with your rant against China? That theres no hope without China reducing to zero? But all good with just sticking what the 1% emit back in the ground? I mean really, who wants to be poor? Its just so demeaning! Bashing the Chinese while bending over backwards (or forwards) for the elite is really pathetic
Comparisons of per capita GHG emissions don't suit anti-CCP narratives.
Some good news: the CCP's decade-long development of technology for MSR power generation is coming to fruition. Iftrials are successful, then the marxist '[Deleted] peril' might roll out MSRs with their usual ruthless efficiency to help tackle their internal challenges and lower per capita GHG emissions.
Proponents of MSRs for power generation will no doubt be absolutely stoked by these developments.
Unfortunately while the PRC engineers were happy to visit ORNL in the early 2010's and take away all the IP that Kirk Sorensen had saved from the original MSRE project – they've been remarkably reluctant to reciprocate this generosity since and we don't have good access to any interesting technical detail on what has been achieved at Wuwei in recent months.
As for your linked video – it's long on hand waving innuendo – and very short on serious technical analysis. As a long time student in this domain my honest initial impression is that this guy just doesn't know what he's talking about. For instance his claim that the MSRE had "Over those four years, the latter reactor’s operations were interrupted 225 times; of these, only 58 were planned" is directly contradicted by the two living operators of the plant who have said they shut the reactor down every Friday night and restarted it Monday morning. That would account for around 200 of the shutdowns alone – so something doesn't add up.
And as someone who makes a living bringing heavy industrial plant online – the idea that an entirely experimental and novel machine – that's what the E in MSRE stands for – would simply startup and run without issues is an unreal demand. In my own experience the vast majority of unplanned shutdowns will likely be for reasons that have little to do with the nature of the plant and much more to do with mundane technical reasons. Soundbite claims like he is making here are almost meaningless unless you have access to the data and basis on which it's made.
I've seen this kind of superficial material before, at first sight it seems to convey plausible objections and potential show-stoppers. But then dig a little deeper and put some questions to my contacts who really do work in this area – and invariably these 'problematic objections' fall apart.
Edit: And unlike some I tend to read the provided references and material written by this academic. In this article where he links to a ‘devastating 1972 report’ that on p43 I find this interesting line:
The MSRE was designed for remote maintenance of highly radioactive
components; however, no major maintenance problems (removal or repair of large components) were encountered after nuclear operation was initiated.
Rather non-devastating would you not agree?
The other mistake he makes is to repeat the idea that molten salts are ‘highly corrosive’ when in reality in the absence of water they are much less so than imagined. This is a basic chemistry error.
Just appended the interview link to balance the gung-ho approach of the CCP to developing MSRs for power generation (you must be stoked).
And apologies for my unnecessary reference to skin colour – 'marxist peril', or 'CCP-peril' would have been more succinct and avoided offense. Imho 'skin colour stereotypes' and 'skin colour privilege', however undesirable, are even now simple matters of fact. I, like you, would prefer to see such stereotypes/privileges minimised – whether censoring references to specific skin colour stereotypes/privileges will facilitate this is debatable, but it's a strategy.
Here, for information, are some links to recent articles on skin colour privilege, in the spirit of John Howard Griffin's "Black Like Me". Hope they are suitable for posting on Open Mike.
Is 'white privilege' really a divisive term? [28 June 2021] This shows a failure in the proper communication of the meaning of the term “white privilege”. As many have pointed out, it does not mean white people are not disadvantaged, their lives are not hard, or they have not suffered, it just means their skin colour is not an impediment in their lives.
Only in countries with a numerically dominant population of Caucasians have we been suckered into this post-modernist 'white privilege' trope. And then mostly among the over-educated academic classes.
Live and work in any other place where a different culture or skin colour is numerically dominant and you'll very quickly understand.
I wish you could see my current workplace – one that I'm about to head off for a shift to in a few hours. It's a very real mix of different skin colours and cultures – and I'm not blind to their physical reality.
But what matters to us getting the job done as a team is our personal skills and character – and a collective unity of purpose.
Can imagine it. The workplace I retired from was colourful and culturally diverse too – no unity of purpose, but we rubbed along.
At a friend's funeral one of our former colleagues began his tribute with "She's was colour blind", which puzzled me because I knew she wasn't colour blind – took a few seconds for the penny to drop.
As I said, a noticeably rare trait – one well worth fostering, imho.
Why only men, I had a woman tell me just yesterday that climate change isnt happening, it's been a cold spring here, people cant grasp that weather and climate are different things.
Maybe those that know need to find better ways of communicating, rather than just calling them thick
Yes good point Crickle-I just listened to a very eloquent Maori professor on Morning Report who said that a circuit-breaker Level 4 lockdown was needed in Akl in order to get Maori vaccine levels up.
A two-week return to Level 4 for this reason seems like a good idea to me-presumably given your comment above you would agree Crickle?
Firstly 2 weeks wouldnt do it, would have to be a minimum of 4… and secondly I just cant see it happening the govt folded and dropped levels too early so no chance they'll put them back up. End of the day Jacindas a populist re introduction of level 4 would be unpalatable only way it happens is if the Maori Caucus threatens to walk.
I am not asking you whether it will happen, I'm asking you whether you think it a good idea.
As it stands the Covid hospital wards will largely fill up with sick and dying Maori. A health and political disaster for the government and the country.
To be honest im not sure if it is, purely from Covid perspective yes But I suspect to make level 4 actually work it would have to be policed very hard I suspect what that would entail coupled with an outpouring of anger and dare I say it racism from the double vaxxed leafy suburbs losing freedoms is potentially more damaging in the long term.
Agreed BG! Assuming there are around 300K children under 5 (last census was 2018, so hard to be too exact) then 95% of over 5 year olds = 90% of total population (actually 89.3%: Assuming 5M total population, but figures a bit iffy for any such precision). Personally, I would go down to 3 years (kindy age) or lower in progressive age band phases. 6 weeks is the first on the current immunization schedule:
Nats changing games? Nah, that'll never happen. Dinosaurs don't change their spots. If they ever tried it on, constituency would patiently explain to them that conservative means to conserve. Preserve.
It's why the blue-green dog gets kept in the kennel on a chain, eh? If they let it out & gave it an electoral run, constituency would accuse them of being innovative. Tradition rules, ok?
You forgot to mention that NZ would be co2 neutral as everyone accepts that this is our nuclear moment and that all forestry planting would be from native species.your list excluded anything for the environment 👍
Happy Days, we are back on track to return to BAU.
It is unfortunate, I know, that that some of us on the road back to BAU, will sicken and even die, but that is the price we are prepared to to pay.
During the pandemic, we had a free public transport, we had a type of UBI, we had clean air and cleaner waterways, and no traffic congestion. Deaths on the road dropped to zero.
Families spent time with their children and pets.
People of North India saw the awe inspiring Himalayas for the first time in their lives.
The world sort of healed a little bit.
Thank goodness, that terrible time is behind us, and we can now get back to BAU, or as I like to call it DAU.
👍🏼 Sums it up perfectly. As I often say (in one form or another) the human ape is the worst thing to ever happen to every other life form on this planet. ☹️
The first time I saw this video on my laptop, our three year old Grandson happened to pass by..
The nihilistic, misanthropic thrust of this cartoon would have gone right over his head. He just wanted to know why the man had stood on the bug, before he wandered off again.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not full of self-loathing at all. It’s just been obvious to me for some years that, looked at quite dispassionately, we are an ape. Despite our intellectual capabilities (greater in some than others, admittedly) we are a danger to our own kind in ways that other animals are not, for reasons that often don’t make any rational sense. Abstract notions of religion, politics, nationalism, ideologies, racism, mental instabillty, psychoses, hatreds, sociopathy/psychopathy etc.
We are a large biped that habitually monopolises all resources, with some food sources, frequently to extinction, & that unthinkingly destroys local ecosystems wherever we gather to live in large numbers (think of the number of mosses, plants, creatures & general environments our average town or city has wiped out or displaced).
We are what we are. We are inclined because of our capacity for abstract thinking & our ability to make and use tools to fly, sail, drive, produce tools themselves to think of ourselves as very special, as lords of all other things – except major catastrophes like earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, storms, hurricanes & cyclones.
But we do tend to miss out noticing the value of all the other lives we destroy or limit by our presence. And if one day another asteroid comes barrelling in & takes out humanity this time – well, the planet will survive. It’s an evolutionary machine. It will just eventually probably produce another intelligent sentient being. Maybe one the other life forms can live in harmony with?
Meantime, I’m making the most of my time left on this planet getting really in touch with the natural environment I’m living right next door to, & counting myself very fortunate to have lived in the beautiful, peaceful country I grew up in (NZ), at the best time to have lived here (with no horrible, cruel wars to have to go fight in, like many of our dads & grandads did) with all the modern conveniences we have and that enable us to talk with so many people such as yourself and other commenters here who I admire or at least find very interesting (for one reason or another). 👍🏼 ☘ 🐧
It’s just been obvious to me for some years that, looked at quite dispassionately, we are an ape.
Yes and no. In purely materialistic terms the answer is yes, we are evolved from mammalian ancestors and our physical embodiment is deeply entwinned with that heritage.
At the same time it's also obvious we are quite distinct from our nearest ape relatives – in particular we have evolved a highly sophisticated capacity for abstraction at a level entirely absent in any other species. In particular it endows us with an acute sense of morality – something virtually all of our conversations here are about at root.
And in a broader sense we are also the first species capable of apprehending our evolved nature and also capable of altering it's path. This capacity for abstraction, morality and a capacity to manipulate our environment at massive scale – makes us in many ways the first post-biological species as well.
“Yes and no. In purely materialistic terms the answer is yes, we are evolved from mammalian ancestors and our physical embodiment is deeply entwinned with that heritage.”
………………………………..
We are one of the 5 Great Apes:
Great Ape 1: Gorilla
Great Ape 2: Chimpanzee
Great Ape 3: Orangutan
Great Ape 4: Bonobo
Great Ape 5: Human (Homo sapiens)
…………………………………
“At the same time it’s also obvious we are quite distinct from our nearest ape relatives – in particular we have evolved a highly sophisticated capacity for abstraction at a level entirely absent in any other species. In particular it endows us with an acute sense of morality – something virtually all of our conversations here are about at root.”
………………………………….
Yes, for some, they are. And yet, look around the globe. Where do you see this morality evolving towards a common world understanding of the same morality & the immorality of killing, maiming, orphaning & terrorising other human apes? Or of avoiding doing harm to others through selfishness and/or “othering”?
In the Middle East? No. Throughout Asia? No. Throughout Africa? No. In the Americas? In Europe, or Eurasia? No. The Indian subcontinent? No. Russia? No.
Even after two “wars to end all wars” we’ve had wars & massacres going on in multiple locations incessantly. It only takes one generation to be easily able to persuade or coerce the next generation to go to war.
……………………………………
“And in a broader sense we are also the first species capable of apprehending our evolved nature and also capable of altering it’s path. This capacity for abstraction, morality and a capacity to manipulate our environment at massive scale – makes us in many ways the first post-biological species as well.”
…………………………………….
That was the dream of the United Nations. And yet, note my observations above. As an “evolved” species, history sadly suggests we are chronically incapable of all altering our paths & all being our better selves at the same time.
The best we can still hope for, I suspect, is that MAD prevents us from wiping our own entire species out in one fell (or foul) swoop?
Humanity has been here before – and in much darker straits. Our progress and development has been both episodic and cyclical – with both highs and lows.
It's the low points, such as the period we seem to be entering now, that set the stage for subsequent social evolution and progress. Overall I'm happy to argue that when viewed over millennia progress is both real and worth defending as an idea.
But still I do appreciate your thoughtful response and I'm not discounting your motives. Optimism is a tough gig at the moment.
Damn it! We should never have let Grant Robertson loose with the Treasury credit card.
This will no doubt turn up in Te Papa next month with the description "Labour Party Effect on the New Zealand Economy" After all Grant has shredded the whole economy with his wild extravagances. He might as well throw a bit more of our money at a Banksy.
Like the Banksy the NZ economy continues to grow in value faster than most countries.
Like the Banksy everybody thought that the shredding of his artwork would cut its value to shreds
But all the whingers were wrong on both counts.
Imagine if Nationals Blinglish was in charge after 9 yrs of less than inflation growth .boring old chicago school bill English would have gone down the austerity road freezing the flow of money putting our economy into recession.He would have not shut our borders like Boris Johnston overloading our health system 1,000's dying.
I have shredded your argument which had no merit and no value other than proving how much of a sychophant you are.
Maybe you can now understand why National is on 20% and declining.
"the NZ economy continues to grow in value faster than most countries"
Not sure where you get that from. NZ's growth is currently fueled off the smell of a hundred billion dollars in debt. And our lower than anticipated deficit has (oh the irony) been greatly assisted by rising property prices.
I won’t be voting National any time soon, but deluding ourselves about the state of our nation is not sensible.
NZ statistics only for the $85 billion capital injection from the Canterbury earthquakes $66 billion of that insurance money take that out of Nationals 9 years and you would have had 9 yrs of negative growth.
Our deficit is low historically extremely low by every other Nations comparison.
Every other Nation under covid has increased debt far more than we have.
Up till this outbreak we were sitting in the top 3 for economic growth.
Look across the ditch take state govt debt combine it with National debt and you won't be saying $100 billion is outrageous. Roughly 37% of GDP.
"NZ statistics only for the $85 billion capital injection from the Canterbury earthquakes $66 billion of that insurance money take that out of Nationals 9 years and you would have had 9 yrs of negative growth."
There are plenty of Country's with higher debt to GDP than ours, and plenty with less. But while our GDP growth is being powered by borrowed money and property price growth, we're not progressing.
I can't decide whether in shredding the work Banksy underestimated the Protean adaptability of speculative capitalism – or understood it better than anyone else.
He should have set it up to catch fire halfway through and then put the ashes in a glass display case.
That would probably chuck another 10 mill on.
28 million for a twice used rare Banksy performance art piece, which was a very valuable painting in it's own right (purchaser will receive a framed, Banksy signed verification certificate and photo of what it used to be to show it is indeed his painting)
It's like sports if you can't win blame the rules .Hooton is a political animal stuck in a Silo he has to take responsibility for his stupidity and admit he is largely responsible for Nationals pathetic performance just like the Boag constrictor and go away and let a younger more capable generation takeover a to help National regain the trust of voters he has a very large part in destroying .Dirty politics is like a ball and chain on National.
National need a massive clean out and go back to solid farmers and honest business people.
Behind the paywall so he can preach at the converted. You'd think anyone with nous would preach at the unconverted, eh? You know, pull some of them centrists back across the center-line. Too elementary for Hoots??
Ah, I get it. He's being paid to preach at Herald subscribers only. It's a cunning plan. Whose, I wonder? Some wannabe Nat leader channelling Machiavelli?
At long last! Silly Buggers wasn't the best game to be playing during a Pandemic, even if the DHBs are unlikely to be around in their present form for long:
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) has accepted the latest pay offer for staff working in district health boards…
Negotiations had lasted 15 months.
Lead advocate David Wait said he was pleased DHBs took the advice of the Employment Relations Authority after mediation last month and finally put forward an acceptable offer…
"We also have a DHB contractual obligation to safe staffing, with a legally enforceable escalation pathway when members' concerns aren't addressed. Together with new employment commitments these are steps towards addressing the staffing crisis and making nursing an attractive profession again."
PM is in Taranaki today, pushing the vaccine rollout.
Why isn't she in AucklandWellington Chatham Islands? "PM must clone herself and be everywhere immediately, especially anywhere she isn't" says Collins/Seymour/assorted idiots.
Why isn't she doing a press conference? What is she hiding? Why isn't she facing Mike Hosking and his hard hitting analysis on the pulse of the nation? Why isn't she doing a dance-off against Seymour?
People wanting to follow the investigation into Stonewall UK, by BBC Northern Ireland, can now listen from outside the UK. It's a big story, and also part of the story is that MSM are increasingly able to now report on gender identity politics where they wouldn't or couldn't before.
Stonewall went from supporting the downtrodden to becoming a powerful moral arbiter. Then it embraced a social contagion and lost all objectivity and self-reflection. Finally it became a bully enforcing ideological hegemony with religious fervour.
Good that the public can finally see the red flags that feminists and conscientious medical professionals have been waving around for years.
Stephen “never reads books because he doesn’t have the time or attention span” Nolan? Interesting company you choose to keep; Weka. And the BBC have an interesting way of acknowledging the UK's; Hate Crime Awareness Week, for that matter.
My biggest problem with Stonewall is the way a UK organization felt free to appropriate the name of a mafia-owned New York divebar; that in the 60s was one of the last places that that city's LGBTQ+ community could gather, and even dance, in public. Until a police raid/ shakedown resulted in the June 1969 Stonewall Uprising (though some prefer the term; Riots). Mostly because; it is confusing to those of us who don't care that much what the UK does, and so references to Stonewall seem rather out of place at times. Especially since the British Organization's full name is; Stonewall Equality Limited, so how hard is it for them to use; Stonewall Equality, or; Stonewall Ltd, for purposes of disambiguation?
Apparently it was originally the Stonewall Group & the Iris Trust (Iris being Greek for Rainbow):
Stonewall was formally launched one year to the day since Section 28 became law.
This piece of legislation effectively prevented teachers from talking about same-sex relationships in schools, forcing teachers back into the closet, or out of their job, and scarred a generation of LGBT people.
On 11 September 1988, at a meeting held in Sir Ian McKellen’s house in Limehouse, the basic aims were drawn up in a document dubbed the Second Limehouse Declaration. The first Limehouse Declaration, announcing the launch of the Social Democrat Party, had been signed in the house next door.
On 24 May 1989, the new group sent a press release to the LGBT press announcing the founding of the Stonewall Group. It was set up as a company and a charity, the Iris Trust, was announced at the same time, with a remit to raise funds for research and to support the work of the Stonewall Group.
On 30 August 2014, a meeting was set up with trans professionals, campaigners and activists to discuss the possibility of Stonewall becoming trans inclusive.
It was one of many meetings that would start a conversation that was well overdue. Until this point, Stonewall had been firm about not campaigning for trans equality and many in the trans community didn’t trust Stonewall. Some believed Stonewall's stance was actively holding back trans equality.
The meetings were therefore also about building bridges.
As well as establishing if Stonewall could do trans campaigning, the charity had to also understand how it could contribute to the fight for trans equality.
The consultation ended up involving more than 700 organisations and individuals.
So it took a quarter century for a Homosexual Rights organization; named after the queer uprising at the Stonewall Inn, to realize that maybe they should do something to help trans people too? And, of course, they have since become prime targets for the LGB alliance (spot the missing letter!), and their ilk.
Mr Harvie said it would be “extremely disappointing” if the reports the BBC is set to leave Stonewall’s scheme were true.
He said: “Stonewall is the biggest and successful LGBT+ human rights organisation in Europe, it has done incredibly work, it still does incredible work.
"Now it is under fundamental attack by those who have never supported my community’s human rights, who are mobilising around an opportunistic hate campaign specifically targeted against trans and non-binary people at the moment…
"We will not allow ourselves to fragmented in a way that some would like because we know where that will go,” he said.
"That will go toward where Texas is at the moment with fundamental attacks, not just on queer people’s human rights but on women’s reproductive rights as well.
Over the last few months, the BBC has made several troubling and dangerous decisions in regards to so-called ‘impartiality’ regarding LGBTQIA+ people. This began with the BBC’s new impartiality guidelines, which were introduced a few months after the appointment of Tim Davie. Mr Davie, a former chairman of a local branch of the Conservative Party, has allegedly said in private that he planned to “rid the BBC of biased left-wing comedy,” (Daily Express, 2021).
The guidelines state that staff whose job requires impartiality “don’t express a personal opinion on matters of public policy, politics, or ‘controversial subjects’”. These guidelines seemingly included not voicing support for trans/queer rights . By framing these as a ‘controversial topic’, the BBC is lending legitimacy to the idea that LGBTQIA+ rights and lives are up for debate, as opposed to being protected human rights under threat from outsiders.
Speaking of which, there's been this news in the past week out of Iceland (I'm not usually on Twitter much, but a friend pointed this out today, and the total lack of surprise in the replies is quite amusing):
The spokesperson for the LGB Alliance group in Iceland, @teymidLGB, has recently been exposed along with about 700 other men in a facebook group that contains pages and pages of vile and disgusting misogyny. Not only is he among them, but he is an active admin in the group…
It really doesn't bother me if someone doesn't read books. I'm much more interested in how they are as a person. And in the case of a radio host at the BBC, how he does his job.
It does make me a whole lot less likely to waste my time listening to any "journalism" they may produce. Time and attention span, are rather important in crafting anything worth paying attention to. He strikes me as the Mike Hosking of Northern Ireland talkback radio. And I don't have much time for the BBC these days either.
Though I guess, like the Guardian; they are better at foreign events that don't impact in any way on UK politics, than they are to be relied upon with domestic stories. Which just seems backwards and upside down from my antipodean perspective.
there was a team that produced the series, afaik Nolan wasn't doing the investigative stuff.
Ignore it, it doesn't really matter, others will now pick up the issues and be more likely to cover them. You can ad hom the issues now, but eventually even MSM that you respect will have to do some journalism on this.
My dear wife works 12 hour shifts in ICU which are really 12 and three quarters because of handover and I got into trouble last night for sneaking a bite of her toastie before she left for the hospital. Apparently all they have in the meal room is a small microwave and a small toasted sandwich machine. 50 years ago I used to work a12 hour shift in a carpet factory and before that in uni holidays a 12 hours in lucerne factory. In both jobs we were a lot better looked after than nurses are now. No wonder they are hard to keep in the job.
In Dunedin ED they were running out of toilets for nurses to cry (/ break down) in! Hopefully todays announcement (link upthread) means that conditions, and employment relations, can start to improve. DHBs & the Minister of Health certainly haven't given the impression of bargaining in good faith this past year. Perhaps trust can start to grow once more? If they follow through on their written promises.
Palmy ED, until recently, didn't have a cleaner during the night shift. Think restocking toilets, cleaning up 'biological spills' etc. Now they have an orderly to do that, therefore down one orderly.
All good, it will mean a positive impact on the bottom line, that's why we have line managers, CFO's, CEO's etc etc./sarc.
I certainly wasn’t a hero for pinching the bit of toastie, but I think she is a bit preoccupied, ED, HDU, ICU nurses are like Battle of Britain pilots all running on the need to get into the fight and she hasn’t lost it in 35 years but at 64 and slightly geneticly compromised on lung function, as much as she wants to go to Auckland to help out she knows it’s probably not a good idea. I think she should stay in the South and train nurses for the battle, but I know to keep that to myself. You are right about them being special, us mere mortals rarely have to deal with the heartbreak and grief that is commonplace in that job.
The government has announced the consortium to do the feasibility design, environmental, and geotechnical work for the Power NZ Battery investigation at Onslow near Roxborough.
MottMcDonald are the lead engineers with GHD and Boffa Miskell doing the rest.
I have the sneaking feeling that under Woods, New Zealand has the chance of forming a new 100%-owned state energy generator. It would be hard to see either the government allowing an existing generator to hold that degree of national generation command. Woods is the Joe Moody of this lot. Doesn’t say much but sets a tight pack well.
If Woods is particularly keen she could have a run at Genesis and require divestment of Meridian's Manapouri station. The Genesis market share is just too big.
Put Manapouri, Onslow and Transpower together and you have something that could start to hold the risk and responsibility for the New Zealand energy transition that Ardern envisaged last week.
So refreshing to see resilience design in the pipeline:
<blockquote>
The alternative being explored for Lake Onslow is pumped hydro storage, transferring water between two reservoirs at different heights.
Water in the upper reservoir effectively acts as a battery, as it can be released to generate electricity when it is needed during times of high demand or during dry years.
There was something about this on Stuff yesterday too. Roxburgh used to be all orchards (worked some uni holidays there myself – ate a lot of Jimmy's pies!), so definitely gets a fair bit of sunlight. A combination of solar and pumped hydro might be a winner in central Otago – though winter might be a bit iffy with freezing temperatures. Maybe even some wind up on the high ground? You'd want it close so you didn't lose too much in the wires before it even got to the pumps (which aren't going to be 100% efficient themselves).
The fieldwork investigations were likely to involve drilling shallow and deep boreholes to better understand the underlying geology, the best route for a tunnel and the best location for a potential underground powerhouse.
“This work, along with the environmental and cultural investigations already underway, will give a better picture of the feasibility and costs of the Lake Onslow storage scheme,” Woods said.
The Government has committed to spend $30m to investigate whether it can expand the capacity of New Zealand’s hydro electricity…
It would, in effect, turn the South Island rock basin into a massive 5000 gigawatt rechargeable battery to power the country during periods of little rainfall or wind, ending its dependence on gas and coal generation.
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The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
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Could the judiciary become part of the solution? It's always been part of the problem. Since the Greens have succeeded in using it as a lever to shift delinquent government, we have a reasonable basis for optimism:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-court-orders-state-honour-its-climate-commitments-oxfam-2021-10-14/
How has our judiciary been part of the problem, Dennis?
I guess if someone like the Greens or Greenpeace took the government to court for failing to deliver on CC commitments the courts might decide to step in, but I suspect our judges would be wary of getting sucked into a battle with the government over climate change mitigation.
Yeah, our judges have always been craven conformists, but the times may provoke a change as they have in France.
So it's up to our Greenies to see if they want to jump on this bandwagon. I'd be surprised if they wimped out. Does Russel Norman really want to seem inadequate in public??
As regards your more general point, the judiciary is an institutional defender of the status quo. It is fixated on the past – hard-wired into that stance by usage of precedent in legal determination, right? So that's their default position. Their challenge is to get with the survival program. Become progressive.
France 12 million Euro's is nothing French politicians are shifter than our Dirty politicians. France is trying to re industrialise .
Don't hold your breath for real change.France has a fascist underbelly that's more powerful than the greens.
Our courts in general, follow the principle that it is elected representatives job to make policy.
.
See how gently Elvira Longfin takes food from the feeding stick?
https://i.imgur.com/6o2NgiK.gif
This was a hard thing to film, perching precariously above her, videoing with my left hand, while trying to hold the feeding stick steady with my right one.
We nature videographers sometimes have to suffer for our art. I slipped & fell into the water once. Thank heavens only pooks & ducks saw it! They didn't larf at me.
The last two days of grey skies, miserable rain, & bitterly evil cold wind from the South have disappeared at last.
A perfect, warm, sunny Friday morning at the stream right now
Just the ticket for taking it easy & taking it slow with Robert Marley & The Wailers.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yLuHE-82o40
Gezza, I am hosting my two proxy grandsons and we fed our eels with bacon skin and raw egg to attract them- lovely black eels, one very big. Great excitement. Did not play Diving Duck Blues to the grey ducks and the mallards that came looking…….
James Shaw: "We know that every single year, we are going to have to continue to take new and further actions on climate change because this is a multi-generational battle over the course of the next 30 years and beyond. It's going to involve every part of our economy, every part of our society."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/james-shaw-humans-are-terribly-bad-at-dealing-with-climate-change/YAI7AAUWS6LMBLNHMAAFKV4DAQ/
Do we really know that? I do, he does, but it doesn't work as a realistic generalisation. Inclusive thinking can make the user delusional!
Imagine how he'd frame the point if he were able to communicate with typical kiwi males: "You guys oughta stop being as thick as pigshit. Learn to cope with reality instead, huh? Man up! You can't survive by trying to hide from the challenge."
Are there that many typical Kiwi males tho, these days?
He may need to come up with particular angles for different audiences. Rugby players, surfers, skiers, farmers, metrosexuals, office workers, gamers etc?
All very nice – but you do realise that in the past 20 odd years some 90% of the growth in CO2 has come from just one nation. You can parse the data however you like, by historic emission, by population, by GDP – whatever – but essentially until the PRC actually reduce that massive growth rate nothing much else will matter.
By contrast the developed world has either slowed or reduced their emissions and are heading in the right direction. Rapid adoption of electrification and green hydrogen over the next two decades will accelerate this improvement – that shift is firmly underway.
In the meantime the developing world is where the demand growth lies and for the moment coal is still their cheapest option. Until we're willing to address that fact head-on the trends will not change enough to alter the outcomes.
If the world were actually serious about climate change by far the best use of funds in regards reducing emmisions would be getting clean energy projects up and running across the developing world…
Bear in mind that much of Chinas rapid CO2 growth comes from the silly bloody West transferring most of their business to China because it was cheaper. It's very easy to blame China for our folly.
The CCP ran a policy of undercutting the West – primarily by using capital as a tool for employment and endless debt to subsidise loss making companies.
The $300b or so of losses around Evergrande for example will be effectively subsidised by breakup of the entity and the disposal of the assets to a variety of state and private owners – all funded with new debt. The problem gets kicked down the road except this time the foreign bond holders get shafted and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out how this will play out.
Keep in mind that property constitutes more than 25% of their GDP – and the massive growth of their infrastructure and military – so it's not all been about exports. Still the West in it's turn took the view that "if goods do not cross borders, then armies will" and was fundamentally motivated to integrate the PRC into the global trade system as a path to avoid conflict. That these guys were the cheapest in the market was hard to ignore either.
But yes the realisation that having such a large fraction of your supply chains locked up in a nation that now speaks to it's customer base with both open contempt and overt hostility is not smart. Much of the disruption we're seeing right now is a consequence of this realisation and the impact of COVID.
Maybe somebody could introduce the Chinese to bankruptcy where debts go to be written down or even written off. I mean if its going to avert disaster I think they could be let in on the game.
The Chinese monetary arrangements are not the problem, rather it's the offshoring of output, by the USA, to a country which is greatly incentivised to 'catch up'. But then, the ‘American way of life is not negotiable’, and it is excess consumption that is the real driver.
The CCP don't have to play by the rules.What they have done is undermine all the countries with good labour ,safety ,environmental conditions of the developed world by undercutting everyone else.
Foreign exchange has rolled in as they have monopolized production there is no real competition they can put prices up to finally make a profit.Using foriegn capital reserves to offer cheap loans for development and purchase of supply chains so they have control and a guaranteed market.
Empire building.
China can print its way out of trouble breaking up billionaires hoards seems to be the latest initiative so a collapse in the property market is no biggy for China.
Yes I'd not disagree much with that way of expressing the story either. It's a game they've played for much of the past 40 years and now COVID has ushered in the piper.
Oh, I agree completely. The geopolitical angle is primary. Given that the UN can't do effective change-making, let's see if the talkfest Cop26 does any better. Until collaboration gets real at the top end, we don't have a prospect of solution.
As regards Xi, I'm waiting for him to display leadership in this arena. He's done enough talking the right talk, so we await the right action! The 14 principles of Xi thought do contain a couple of Green principles, so we know he's been thinking along the right lines for a while now. Sure, the list reads like a namby-pamby recipe for Green stalinism if you want to be sceptical, but hey – he's a leftist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping_Thought
Xi Xinping – the new Red Emperor – has been compared to Napoleon III, Hitler and Stalin all sharing the common characteristic of an authoritarian strong-man leadership that disavows any form of democratic accountability whatsoever.
You will note the complete absence of this on those 14 Points you linked to. He openly admires Mao Zedong and draws on that era for his own political legitimacy.
That he's a Leninist-Marxist will of course win him many acolytes on the left outside of China – and The Standard has it's share of them – but again history wasn't kind to those who thought Stalin was a great leader either.
Drawing a moral distinction between a progressive left wing politics that fundamentally speaks for the disadvantaged, and social authoritarianism which is another motivation altogether, is not a simple matter when they're so very prone to being conflated like this.
Indeed. The political binary is our inherited tradition. It frames political discourse. As long as democracy proceeds on this structural basis the problem will persist. I'd hoped MMP would get folks out of that rut, but no, they're habituated. The Greens even allowed themselves to be framed as extreme leftists to prove that they're politically clueless. Unconsciously.
What the conflation points to is the old issue of power corrupting. Green activists act in representation of the Green movement. When they get into parliament, their power warps them toward the establishment. When in Rome…
Xi seems a nice grandfatherly kinda dude, so I view him with some hope for the future. That said, the power structure imposes such constraint upon his agency that such optimism may seem unrealistic. To what extent is his human nature corrupted by state power? Time will tell.
“Xi seems like a nice grandfatherly kinda dude…”
My God, Dennis. Surely you jest?
The guy has accumulated more personal power than Mao Zedong ever did & is utterly ruthless when dealing with his “enemies” & detractors, be they in Hong Kong or the PRC.
If he seems a nice grandfatherly kinda dude to you then he’s way too inscrutable to your eyes.
Wasn't actually. True enough that his behaviour in the job does send that signal and I feel disgust at that too. Think of it as a double-sided coin, or like the moon – if the dark side always showed toward us rather than the bright. So it was via close observation that insight into his basic nature came to me. You know, reading his expression – emotional intelligence – and reading in between his lines for subtext.
Did you notice his recent dictum to the Chinese people – that they must show kindness toward each other? Is that any different from Jacinda airing the same thought a year or two back? To the cynical the answer is probably yes due to assuming his pr is staged rather than authentic. I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt even if it seems naive. If you want to advance the Jekyll & Hyde theory, yeah that could apply…
It famously seems very unlikely Xi Jinping is exhorting his Han Chinese settlers, police & truppen in Xinjiang province to be kind to the Uighurs. Altho they are claiming that they have recently loosened up having nipped non-conformity (aka "separatism & insurrection") in the bud, the locals, both Han & Uighur, are very reluctant to be seen talking to Western reporters.
Any that do so are reportedly almost immediately interviewd/interrogated by the police or security services, & show fear about conversing further with them afterward.
Oh indeed. I criticized that here last year more than a few times. Standard communism: alternative belief systems not allowed (Falun Gong, ethnic muslims & Tibetan buddhists). One wonders if trad Han spirituality gets tolerated either!
The regime's official line is that the concentration camps are for educating internees in Xi Jinping Thought. I imagine internees concentrate on the 14 principles. I wonder if the regime has measured the average time it takes for internees to learn them. Marxist/Leninist doctrine advocates efficiency, eh? Like a production line, spitting out like-minded robots so the next batch can be wheeled in. A century ago the western version of this became a management fad (Taylorism).
One wonders if trad Han spirituality gets tolerated either!
The Maoists spent 20 years crushing it – so that's a no as well.
For an extra bonus point – in which 'rogue province' did it manage to survive?
Dunno, nor was it apparent in the wiki, on a quick scan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China#People's_Republic_of_China
Which surprisingly, indicates way more official tolerance than I knew about:
Since 1978, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees "freedom of religion". Its article 36 states that:
“In the late 20th century there was a reactivation of the state cults devoted to the Yellow Emperor and the Red Emperor. In the early 2000s, the Chinese government became open especially to traditional religions such as Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion, emphasising the role of religion in building a "Harmonious Society" (hexie shehui),[99] a Confucian idea.[100][101] The government founded the Confucius Institute in 2004 to promote Chinese culture. China hosted religious meetings and conferences including the first World Buddhist Forum in 2006 and the subsequent World Buddhist Forums, a number of international Taoist meetings and local conferences on folk religions. Aligning with Chinese anthropologists' emphasis on "religious culture", the government considers these religions as integral expressions of national "Chinese culture".
“A turning point was reached in 2005, when folk religious cults began to be protected and promoted under the policies of intangible cultural heritage. Not only were traditions that had been interrupted for decades resumed, but ceremonies forgotten for centuries were reinvented.
“Modern Chinese political leaders have been deified into the common Chinese pantheon."
That last bit is noteworthy. Has Xi ascended? Perhaps that happens posthumously…
Hilarious – A leftist …. thinking along the right lines.
Anything is possible!
@RL. You might find this podcast interesting? I had a listen on me iPad while cooking dinner last night.
China's now experiencing major power shutdowns nationwide, because Xi's short-sighted decision to cut coal imports from Oz without sourcing other suplliers first has given the PRC a major coal-shortage crisis. Paul Buchanan speculates this is why Xi's been banging the war drums so hard on Taiwan – it's a distraction.
He also discusses the military mess China could find itself in if it tries to take Taiwan. He considers that it will in no way be a cakewalk, & explains why in some detail…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_tMWS7CryY4&feature=emb_imp_woyt
Gezza Buchanan is a fool. China doesn't need to 'take' Taiwan.Taiwan is a province of China.
It's a good idea to listen to those who live in China and have experienced life there for some time.
You could listen to this video by an Italian who's been living in China for 22 years. He explains the so called power crises in China with a damned sight more authority than Buchanan claims to have.
Taiwan is a province of China.
In much the same way NZ is still a 'state of the Australian Federation'.
In my experience Taiwan and NZ both share a great deal more in common than most Kiwis would expect. Even incidentally down to having an indigenous Austronesian peoples who are the the direct genetic ancestors of our own.
And suffice to say the longer Xi Xinping remains in power the more Taiwanese people become determined not to fall under the sway of his regime – as did the poor bloody Hong Kongers.
"Taiwan is a province of China."
Yes
If it was a sovereign nation as New Zealand is it would have embassies of other sovereign nations on it's soil.
It doesn't have.
I wont bother to reply to your '..same way NZ is still a 'state of the Australian Federation'.' That's too utterly ridiculous for words.
If it was a sovereign nation as New Zealand is it would have embassies of other sovereign nations on it's soil.
Taiwan was widely recognised as an independent nation up until about the mid-1970's when the "One China" policy was broadly adopted as a dead-rat ruse to facilitate the opening up of Maoist China to world trade and development.
Everyone understands that it is a facade – and one that is rapidly crumbling.
You know there’s a native first nations people in Taiwan – formerly Formosa – till they were invaded by the Kuomintang’s Han Chinese, don’t you, Brigid?
(Altho I wouldn’t be surprised to learn one or more Chinese Emperors invaded the island as well in the past.)
Did you watch Buchanan in that video, or just rush to condemn him? I don’t usually just accept Buchanan’s view as an oracle. I ask because you haven’t mentioned ANY of the main things he spoke about at all. Hint: It’s not about whether or not Taiwan is a province of China.
When you’ve watched his video, fully, can you let me know, thanks? 👍🏼 ❤️
I might watch yours then. ☘
This is what you wrote
"China's now experiencing major power shutdowns nationwide, because Xi's short-sighted decision to cut coal imports from Oz without sourcing other suplliers first has given the PRC a major coal-shortage crisis. Paul Buchanan speculates this is why Xi's been banging the war drums so hard on Taiwan – it's a distraction.
He also discusses the military mess China could find itself in if it tries to take Taiwan."
That is what I replied to and offered a view from someone who actually fucking lives in China.
I have no intention of listening to anything Buchanan has to say having never read anything that he's written that isn't simply shilling for the military industrial complex or mere speculation as you point out.
Your 'if you watch mine I'll watch yours' is petty.
Don't watch the video I offered. Remain ignorant. I couldn't give a damn.
Brigid! Temper temper! 😠
For starters, Buchanan isn’t shilling for the military industrial complex at all in that podcast. As you would know if you were open-minded enuf to watch it or listen to it.
He in fact even says it’s not guaranteed that the US would even come to Taiwan’s aid were the PRC to ever decide to invade to retake Taiwan. They’ve not actually committed themselves in writing to doing that in a treaty with Taipei.
Buchanan discusses the likely situation of the Taiwan stand-alone defence posture & the existing military preparations of Taiwan for a possible PRC invasion.
I’m open minded enuf to watch both Buchanan’s & your posted video of somone who actually fucking lives in China, as you so tastefully put it.
I’ll watch it later, after dinner. See if it’s in any way relevant to the Selwyn Manning interview of Buchanan.
But, I would note, he is unlikely to be approaching the exact same topic from the same angle as Buchanan. And also, that I have listened to Trump, who actually fucking lives in the USA. Should I therefore take what Trump says about America & Americans as more accurate than an outside serious student & thus expert on US politics & society?
Ok Brigid, I’ve now had a chance to watch / listen to your Mr Ma’s YouTube soliloquy. Your guy goes on a bit of a long-winded “ramble through the bramble”, but I had a painting job to do so stuck with him until the end.
He & both Buchanan agree that what is being hysterically reported in Western media about Chinese warplanes encroaching into Taiwanese airspace lately is actually not true.
Buchanan even takes the trouble in his interview with Selwyn Manning to point out that Taiwan’s self-declared Air Identification Zone is not it’s territorial airspace, but in fact largely encompasses International airspace and even includes some airspace over the PRC itself. China has a perfect right to operate its warplanes in these airspaces.
I note that Mr Ma(rio)’s explanation for the current rolling power shutdowns in China is that Chinese Industry, due to its continuing high levels of production, is in many places polluting more than the levels they have signed up internationally to limit themselves to; thus the industries are being restricted by the state from exceeding those limits by deliberate CCP policy to restrict power to the manufacturers.
This doesn’t seem to have occurred to Paul Buchanan (who admits he’s speculating that the PRC is now not importing enuf coal from Oz to power their current levels of industrial output) & sounds entirely plausible.
I noted also Mr Ma’s claims:
1. The internet in China is not blocked from US news content as is frequently reported in the West. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC (all 7 of the main US news channels) are readily available to view on the net by any and all Chinese English speakers.
2. China has had the MOST SUCCESSFUL Covid-19 policy of anywhere in the world. They have essentially eliminated it from all provinces. When they DO get cases they immediately lockdown the whole city or affected area & eliminate it. (This sounds plausible to me.)
3. Reports by Western media that people in the PRC are not allowed to criticise their government are not true. He states that Chinese social media sites (understandable only to Mandarin-speakers) are full of criticisms & complaints about their local & central governments’ perceived shortcomings. However he does also state that they are not allowed to “cause instability” eg by calling for a change of government, which would quickly attract the attention of the PRC security services.
4. He also agrees with Paul Buchanan that the Government mouthpiece media is full of “Ra ra China, we will crush you Taiwan!” editorial pieces – which are primarily for domestic consumption & not necessarily an indication a Taiwan invasion is being seriously planned for, or even contemplated.
Having now watched both YouTube podcasts, I find no evidence that “Buchanan is a fool”, nor that he is a shill for the US military/industrial complex.
Your Mr Ma is commenting from a personal experience, social analysis, & reality-based perspective (truth-telling against inaccurate Western media reports by writers interviewing their own keyboards & sometimes reporting only hearsay – eg perhaps by Pentagon hawks).
Paul Buchanan is responding to questions from Selwyn Manning, attempting to analyse the current situation from a diplomatic, military, & strategic policy perspective. Two quite different perspectives, both valuable to someone like me.
(I might just add here that Al Jazeera tv reported the Taliban as having announced that one of those involved in the very recent Islamic State bombing in Kabul was a Uighur.)
Isn't the developed world avoiding a heap of carbon emissions by getting their stuff made in China?
Another way of assessing responsibility for emissions might be per consumption .NZ,s consumption per capita is way ahead of China's ,emission wise
I'm well aware of these statistical conundrums – that have been richly exploited as excuses for inaction for decades.
The core problem the PRC faces is that from a geographic perspective China is a piss-poor location for both solar and wind power generation. They have some decent hydro opportunity although this comes with substantial risk and has a strict upper limit. They can talk big on 'going green' all they like, but essentially the land they live in ties their hands to shoveling coal for today. And much the same story plays out in other major developing nations like Indonesia.
There is only one open technological door out of this trap and it doesn't take a lot of cleverness to spot it.
I guess if the statistics suit your anti China bias you gonna use em.
However, in a carbon constrained environment all individual inhabitants of the world are entitled to a more or less equal allocation of carbon. 2019 figures show China at 6.28t on a per capita basis as opposed to the highest per capita emitters, Luxembourg at 38t and the US still at a massive 17.63t. Of course it is always in the dialogue of supporters of the 1%ers that large groups of underpriviledged should bear the brunt of any change so that they can carry on in the manner that they have become accustomed. Otherwise known as let them eat cake. All this is without even considering the emissions of the US military. On fuel consumption allone, the US military rank on a list of countries at 48th. That would put them between Peru and Portugal.
I'm perfectly aware that the statistics can be parsed in any number of ways – which has been done for a decade or more as an excuse for finger pointing and inaction.
But that graph I linked to tells the story – the climate does not care about CO2/capita, or the politics of the nation which emitted them. The only damn thing that matters is reducing the total emission and in this respect the first and most obvious responsibility lies with the PRC.
And then more broadly with solving the problem of how to enable the developing world to continue to escape poverty on a carbon zero basis.
Which is just another way of saying youre good with the status quo because then you don't have to make any effort. We all personally consume more carbon than the average Chinese so have more obligation to reduce our consumption. You could probably make the same arguments on food when food is a scarce commodity. It must be rationed on an individual level. Same when we had carless days. No amount of China bashing absolves us from our overconsumption of carbon.
Zero sum game thinking.
Perhaps you could let us know how carbon budgets can be anything else?
In some detail.
With regard to excess carbon its still zero sum. Theres a level that cant be exceeded. If energy comes from non carbon sources then energy need not be zero sum.
You asked for more detail and I provided a link from a post I wrote that does just that.
Your response tells me that either you didn't read it or didn't understand. Not sure which tbh.
I have read it and understand it. What I wrote is clearly implied by your equations. Its also obvious that you understand the zero sum nature of carbon budgets in your rant against China. Drowsy M Kram below offers a real world example of non zero sum energy in a zero sum carbon constrained world.
OK so which one of the four terms of the Kaya Identity matters if we are going to get to carbon zero?
The equation is idiotic in that it takes an individual global average and multiplies it by the population to get a product that was already known. I guess its popular because it hides the huge anomalies in individual contributions by taking an average. The 1%ers get to hide. Its obvious from the tables I supplied above that there is some serious hiding going on since country tables are also averages. But global averages! What a great trick! The multiplying by P is shorthand for adding each contribution P times. The true equation adds each individual contribution and cannot use the shorthand "times P" because each is different. In this true equation, if each individual has an F contribution near zero then they have little effect on Ftotal. In this way it is easy to see that one persons contribution to F makes less carbon available for someone else. The easiest way to reduce F is for Ecarbon to get close to zero. Individuals with low F get a pass.Individuals with a high F get a rap over the knuckles
On the one hand Kaya's Identity is a well recognised and referenced idea and on the other hand your attempt at describing it is not impressive at all.
I'll leave it to others to conclude who is the idiot here.
Different world views is all. You enjoy your priviledged position and have no wish to upset it. Hiding individual high carbon consumers is just how things go. It allows people like you to blame and demonise whole populations. Its more than obvious that total carbon is the sum of individual consumption even in a politically convenient construct such as Kayas identity. 1%ers get to say its population without looking at the fact that they consume as much carbon as the poorest 50% of the world. So Kayas averaging identity just glosses over the real problems. And I'll take it as an admission that carbon budgets are zero sum since you seem to have conceded that point
Ok. Not cooking or eating any more so heres a quick clearer restating of the above.
This is the way that averages always conceal those that are rorting the system
Well at least I know you've read it this time.
Yes the units in Kaya's Identity do collapse down to an identity F= F and that's precisely why it has that name. (btw your algebra is a bit wonky.)
From a climate perspective the only thing that matters is total carbon F – molecules of CO2 do not care who emitted them or how 'privileged' or not that individual is.
But from a response perspective Kaya's Identity exposes the four fundamental levers we have available to us to reduce F to zero. In the linked post I briefly cover each one and conclude that the only one that is capable of delivering is to reduce the final terms F/E to zero – or in non-arithmetic terms transitioning to zero carbon energy sources.
The other three levers are essentially ineffective – reducing P to zero is a nonsense, reducing G/P to zero is the mass poverty option, and there is a physical minimum to how much we can reduce E/G.
Note also that the Identity works just as well if you reduce P=1 for each individual contribution. We could calculate this 'carbon footprint' for every individual on earth, sum the lot and arrive at total F again. And yes there will a wide range of differing numbers – and again with widely differing contributions from each of the three remaining terms G/P, E/G and F/E.
Of course the unspoken problem here is the G/P term – GDP per capita. Your solution is for the developed world to voluntarily undo two centuries of development and reduce their G/P term to match that of China. (There is of course is a small fraction of humanity who do consume at very high F levels – but their numbers are so low that even cancelling them out to zero has only a modest impact on the rates of CO2 rise. It might be satisfying to ‘eat the rich’ but not very effective.)
The question I pose is simple – why opt for the mass poverty option? Why do we have to all be as poor as China (on average I note – there are more billionaires in the PRC than NZ for example)? And even then note carefully – even this proposal this does not get F to zero – it merely reduces it. And that simply isn't good enough, we've overshot the recognised 350 ppm safe level and need to be carbon negative for a substantial period – which can only done using energy intensive carbon extraction technologies.
All this firmly implies a world that needs far more energy not less. As a crude estimate getting the developing world out of poverty will take about 3 – 5 times more than our current use, and then add in the energy needed to drive carbon extraction and closed loop resource economies – something in the order of 8 – 10 times our current consumption is not an unreasonable number to be talking about.
And to deliver this the only lever that can work is getting F/E to zero. And this is the value of Kaya's Identity – it strips away all the distractions and focusses the debate on what will work.
First up, theres nothing wrong with my algebra and second I most definitely disagree with your analysis. How exactly do you square what you say above with your rant against China? That theres no hope without China reducing to zero? But all good with just sticking what the 1% emit back in the ground? I mean really, who wants to be poor? Its just so demeaning! Bashing the Chinese while bending over backwards (or forwards) for the elite is really pathetic
You were doing better when you were cooking and eating. 😯
Comparisons of per capita GHG emissions don't suit anti-CCP narratives.
Some good news: the CCP's decade-long development of technology for MSR power generation is coming to fruition. If trials are successful, then the marxist '[Deleted] peril' might roll out MSRs with their usual ruthless efficiency to help tackle their internal challenges and lower per capita GHG emissions.
Proponents of MSRs for power generation will no doubt be absolutely stoked by these developments.
[RL: Deleted unnecessary reference to skin colour. Be more careful.]
Unfortunately while the PRC engineers were happy to visit ORNL in the early 2010's and take away all the IP that Kirk Sorensen had saved from the original MSRE project – they've been remarkably reluctant to reciprocate this generosity since and we don't have good access to any interesting technical detail on what has been achieved at Wuwei in recent months.
As for your linked video – it's long on hand waving innuendo – and very short on serious technical analysis. As a long time student in this domain my honest initial impression is that this guy just doesn't know what he's talking about. For instance his claim that the MSRE had "Over those four years, the latter reactor’s operations were interrupted 225 times; of these, only 58 were planned" is directly contradicted by the two living operators of the plant who have said they shut the reactor down every Friday night and restarted it Monday morning. That would account for around 200 of the shutdowns alone – so something doesn't add up.
And as someone who makes a living bringing heavy industrial plant online – the idea that an entirely experimental and novel machine – that's what the E in MSRE stands for – would simply startup and run without issues is an unreal demand. In my own experience the vast majority of unplanned shutdowns will likely be for reasons that have little to do with the nature of the plant and much more to do with mundane technical reasons. Soundbite claims like he is making here are almost meaningless unless you have access to the data and basis on which it's made.
I've seen this kind of superficial material before, at first sight it seems to convey plausible objections and potential show-stoppers. But then dig a little deeper and put some questions to my contacts who really do work in this area – and invariably these 'problematic objections' fall apart.
Edit: And unlike some I tend to read the provided references and material written by this academic. In this article where he links to a ‘devastating 1972 report’ that on p43 I find this interesting line:
Rather non-devastating would you not agree?
The other mistake he makes is to repeat the idea that molten salts are ‘highly corrosive’ when in reality in the absence of water they are much less so than imagined. This is a basic chemistry error.
Just appended the interview link to balance the gung-ho approach of the CCP to developing MSRs for power generation (you must be stoked).
And apologies for my unnecessary reference to skin colour – 'marxist peril', or 'CCP-peril' would have been more succinct and avoided offense. Imho 'skin colour stereotypes' and 'skin colour privilege', however undesirable, are even now simple matters of fact. I, like you, would prefer to see such stereotypes/privileges minimised – whether censoring references to specific skin colour stereotypes/privileges will facilitate this is debatable, but it's a strategy.
Here, for information, are some links to recent articles on skin colour privilege, in the spirit of John Howard Griffin's "Black Like Me". Hope they are suitable for posting on Open Mike.
Only in countries with a numerically dominant population of Caucasians have we been suckered into this post-modernist 'white privilege' trope. And then mostly among the over-educated academic classes.
Live and work in any other place where a different culture or skin colour is numerically dominant and you'll very quickly understand.
Thanks RL – believe it or not, I understand that true 'skin colour blindness' is a rare trait, and one well worth fostering imho. “I have a dream…“
I wish you could see my current workplace – one that I'm about to head off for a shift to in a few hours. It's a very real mix of different skin colours and cultures – and I'm not blind to their physical reality.
But what matters to us getting the job done as a team is our personal skills and character – and a collective unity of purpose.
Can imagine it. The workplace I retired from was colourful and culturally diverse too – no unity of purpose, but we rubbed along.
At a friend's funeral one of our former colleagues began his tribute with "She's was colour blind", which puzzled me because I knew she wasn't colour blind – took a few seconds for the penny to drop.
As I said, a noticeably rare trait – one well worth fostering, imho.
Why only men, I had a woman tell me just yesterday that climate change isnt happening, it's been a cold spring here, people cant grasp that weather and climate are different things.
Maybe those that know need to find better ways of communicating, rather than just calling them thick
Was pretty funny when Hipkins said Nationals plan would mean Covid for Christmas…
Not so funny now he's actually delivering it…
It would have been Covid for Easter 2020 under the Nats.
To be fair at least that was always a known, until a couple of weeks ago Covid for Christmas wasnt on the table and yet here we are…
But I gots to have my Australian bubble!!
Spectacular work on the vaccine roll-out by Jacinda-83% of over 12yo’s already.
Any border opening should wait until 95% of over 5yo’s.
Spectacular in some sections of the community… over half of yesterdays cases were Maori…
Yes good point Crickle-I just listened to a very eloquent Maori professor on Morning Report who said that a circuit-breaker Level 4 lockdown was needed in Akl in order to get Maori vaccine levels up.
A two-week return to Level 4 for this reason seems like a good idea to me-presumably given your comment above you would agree Crickle?
Firstly 2 weeks wouldnt do it, would have to be a minimum of 4… and secondly I just cant see it happening the govt folded and dropped levels too early so no chance they'll put them back up. End of the day Jacindas a populist re introduction of level 4 would be unpalatable only way it happens is if the Maori Caucus threatens to walk.
I am not asking you whether it will happen, I'm asking you whether you think it a good idea.
As it stands the Covid hospital wards will largely fill up with sick and dying Maori. A health and political disaster for the government and the country.
(you may well be right that it will need 4 weeks)
To be honest im not sure if it is, purely from Covid perspective yes But I suspect to make level 4 actually work it would have to be policed very hard I suspect what that would entail coupled with an outpouring of anger and dare I say it racism from the double vaxxed leafy suburbs losing freedoms is potentially more damaging in the long term.
Agreed BG! Assuming there are around 300K children under 5 (last census was 2018, so hard to be too exact) then 95% of over 5 year olds = 90% of total population (actually 89.3%: Assuming 5M total population, but figures a bit iffy for any such precision). Personally, I would go down to 3 years (kindy age) or lower in progressive age band phases. 6 weeks is the first on the current immunization schedule:
https://www.immune.org.nz/new-zealand-national-immunisation-schedule
Yep…they are very close to approving a vaccine for 5-11 in the USA the last I heard-smaller dose.
1/3 the adult dose, according to an Al Jazeera US-based reporter earlier this week.
It would have been eliminated under National by now
House prices would have dropped
Child poverty would have lowered
I mean since we're making stuff up we may as well go the whole hog
"I mean since we're making stuff up we may as well go the whole hog"
Thought you were going to say something about your beloved leader as well!
I'm under strict rules of silence, but something is coming…a game changer if you like
Nats changing games? Nah, that'll never happen. Dinosaurs don't change their spots. If they ever tried it on, constituency would patiently explain to them that conservative means to conserve. Preserve.
It's why the blue-green dog gets kept in the kennel on a chain, eh? If they let it out & gave it an electoral run, constituency would accuse them of being innovative. Tradition rules, ok?
You're in a nunnery, Pucky?
Here was I thinking you were spending your time in prison!
Game changer, from the Nats?
Leaving politics and starting up a netball team?
Am I close?
My lips are sealed
That may be, however your fingers appear unconstrained?
As the actress said to the Bishop
I knew it was a church-thing – you got religion, Pucky?
Maybe you're signalling a move by the churchiest of all the Nats (no, not pew-kneelin' Judith), what's-his-handle, Key's bald shadow, Luxxy!
Well Judes initials are JC so maybe…
My preference however is for Reti, once The Devine Miss Collins retires after four terms as PM
You forgot to mention that NZ would be co2 neutral as everyone accepts that this is our nuclear moment and that all forestry planting would be from native species.your list excluded anything for the environment 👍
…And a Unicorn in every Pot!
PuckishRogue, and climate change dealt to?
Has love waned?
Unlike the fair weather devotees of Ms Ardern my love for JC is pure and without limits
You sure about the first one?
Their then leader wanted Aussie skiers, vax or no vax.
The pandemic interrupted Business As Usual, BAU.
Happy Days, we are back on track to return to BAU.
It is unfortunate, I know, that that some of us on the road back to BAU, will sicken and even die, but that is the price we are prepared to to pay.
During the pandemic, we had a free public transport, we had a type of UBI, we had clean air and cleaner waterways, and no traffic congestion. Deaths on the road dropped to zero.
Families spent time with their children and pets.
People of North India saw the awe inspiring Himalayas for the first time in their lives.
The world sort of healed a little bit.
Thank goodness, that terrible time is behind us, and we can now get back to BAU, or as I like to call it DAU.
This Steve Cutts cartoon sums up your point about the world healing a bit.
Here is the original video if people have not seen it, looking at looking at man's relationship with the natural world.
👍🏼 Sums it up perfectly. As I often say (in one form or another) the human ape is the worst thing to ever happen to every other life form on this planet. ☹️
The first time I saw this video on my laptop, our three year old Grandson happened to pass by..
The nihilistic, misanthropic thrust of this cartoon would have gone right over his head. He just wanted to know why the man had stood on the bug, before he wandered off again.
Indeed.
I like the second updated cartoon better.
Alien may have got it backwards – the leftover bioweapon may be us.
Astonishing the degree of self-loathing so prevalent in Western thinking these days.
When I read this sort of sentiment I cannot help but be reminded of this charming crowd.
What a pack of weirdos that lot is.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not full of self-loathing at all. It’s just been obvious to me for some years that, looked at quite dispassionately, we are an ape. Despite our intellectual capabilities (greater in some than others, admittedly) we are a danger to our own kind in ways that other animals are not, for reasons that often don’t make any rational sense. Abstract notions of religion, politics, nationalism, ideologies, racism, mental instabillty, psychoses, hatreds, sociopathy/psychopathy etc.
We are a large biped that habitually monopolises all resources, with some food sources, frequently to extinction, & that unthinkingly destroys local ecosystems wherever we gather to live in large numbers (think of the number of mosses, plants, creatures & general environments our average town or city has wiped out or displaced).
We are what we are. We are inclined because of our capacity for abstract thinking & our ability to make and use tools to fly, sail, drive, produce tools themselves to think of ourselves as very special, as lords of all other things – except major catastrophes like earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, storms, hurricanes & cyclones.
But we do tend to miss out noticing the value of all the other lives we destroy or limit by our presence. And if one day another asteroid comes barrelling in & takes out humanity this time – well, the planet will survive. It’s an evolutionary machine. It will just eventually probably produce another intelligent sentient being. Maybe one the other life forms can live in harmony with?
Meantime, I’m making the most of my time left on this planet getting really in touch with the natural environment I’m living right next door to, & counting myself very fortunate to have lived in the beautiful, peaceful country I grew up in (NZ), at the best time to have lived here (with no horrible, cruel wars to have to go fight in, like many of our dads & grandads did) with all the modern conveniences we have and that enable us to talk with so many people such as yourself and other commenters here who I admire or at least find very interesting (for one reason or another). 👍🏼 ☘ 🐧
It’s just been obvious to me for some years that, looked at quite dispassionately, we are an ape.
Yes and no. In purely materialistic terms the answer is yes, we are evolved from mammalian ancestors and our physical embodiment is deeply entwinned with that heritage.
At the same time it's also obvious we are quite distinct from our nearest ape relatives – in particular we have evolved a highly sophisticated capacity for abstraction at a level entirely absent in any other species. In particular it endows us with an acute sense of morality – something virtually all of our conversations here are about at root.
And in a broader sense we are also the first species capable of apprehending our evolved nature and also capable of altering it's path. This capacity for abstraction, morality and a capacity to manipulate our environment at massive scale – makes us in many ways the first post-biological species as well.
“Yes and no. In purely materialistic terms the answer is yes, we are evolved from mammalian ancestors and our physical embodiment is deeply entwinned with that heritage.”
………………………………..
We are one of the 5 Great Apes:
Great Ape 1: Gorilla
Great Ape 2: Chimpanzee
Great Ape 3: Orangutan
Great Ape 4: Bonobo
Great Ape 5: Human (Homo sapiens)
…………………………………
“At the same time it’s also obvious we are quite distinct from our nearest ape relatives – in particular we have evolved a highly sophisticated capacity for abstraction at a level entirely absent in any other species. In particular it endows us with an acute sense of morality – something virtually all of our conversations here are about at root.”
………………………………….
Yes, for some, they are. And yet, look around the globe. Where do you see this morality evolving towards a common world understanding of the same morality & the immorality of killing, maiming, orphaning & terrorising other human apes? Or of avoiding doing harm to others through selfishness and/or “othering”?
In the Middle East? No. Throughout Asia? No. Throughout Africa? No. In the Americas? In Europe, or Eurasia? No. The Indian subcontinent? No. Russia? No.
Even after two “wars to end all wars” we’ve had wars & massacres going on in multiple locations incessantly. It only takes one generation to be easily able to persuade or coerce the next generation to go to war.
……………………………………
“And in a broader sense we are also the first species capable of apprehending our evolved nature and also capable of altering it’s path. This capacity for abstraction, morality and a capacity to manipulate our environment at massive scale – makes us in many ways the first post-biological species as well.”
…………………………………….
That was the dream of the United Nations. And yet, note my observations above. As an “evolved” species, history sadly suggests we are chronically incapable of all altering our paths & all being our better selves at the same time.
The best we can still hope for, I suspect, is that MAD prevents us from wiping our own entire species out in one fell (or foul) swoop?
Humanity has been here before – and in much darker straits. Our progress and development has been both episodic and cyclical – with both highs and lows.
It's the low points, such as the period we seem to be entering now, that set the stage for subsequent social evolution and progress. Overall I'm happy to argue that when viewed over millennia progress is both real and worth defending as an idea.
But still I do appreciate your thoughtful response and I'm not discounting your motives. Optimism is a tough gig at the moment.
Redlogix, "As we become less dense" Yes in a nutshell. Sorry couldn't resist!!
This weeks odd story Friday one.
Way to tell you have more money than your sense of perspective should allow to possess – lesson no 4
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58908768
"Banksy's Love is in the Bin sells for record £16m
A Banksy artwork which shredded itself at a previous auction has sold for a record £16 million.
Love is in the Bin was what remained of the anonymous artist's live destruction of his piece Girl with Balloon, which sold for £1m in 2018.
It went under the hammer at Sotheby's in London on Thursday, selling for £16m – vastly over its £4-6m guide price.
Including a buyer's premium, the purchaser paid £18.5m in total……"
"
Damn it! We should never have let Grant Robertson loose with the Treasury credit card.
This will no doubt turn up in Te Papa next month with the description "Labour Party Effect on the New Zealand Economy" After all Grant has shredded the whole economy with his wild extravagances. He might as well throw a bit more of our money at a Banksy.
Like the Banksy the NZ economy continues to grow in value faster than most countries.
Like the Banksy everybody thought that the shredding of his artwork would cut its value to shreds
But all the whingers were wrong on both counts.
Imagine if Nationals Blinglish was in charge after 9 yrs of less than inflation growth .boring old chicago school bill English would have gone down the austerity road freezing the flow of money putting our economy into recession.He would have not shut our borders like Boris Johnston overloading our health system 1,000's dying.
I have shredded your argument which had no merit and no value other than proving how much of a sychophant you are.
Maybe you can now understand why National is on 20% and declining.
"after 9 yrs of less than inflation growth "
Not so
"the NZ economy continues to grow in value faster than most countries"
Not sure where you get that from. NZ's growth is currently fueled off the smell of a hundred billion dollars in debt. And our lower than anticipated deficit has (oh the irony) been greatly assisted by rising property prices.
I won’t be voting National any time soon, but deluding ourselves about the state of our nation is not sensible.
NZ statistics only for the $85 billion capital injection from the Canterbury earthquakes $66 billion of that insurance money take that out of Nationals 9 years and you would have had 9 yrs of negative growth.
Our deficit is low historically extremely low by every other Nations comparison.
Every other Nation under covid has increased debt far more than we have.
Up till this outbreak we were sitting in the top 3 for economic growth.
Look across the ditch take state govt debt combine it with National debt and you won't be saying $100 billion is outrageous. Roughly 37% of GDP.
The US,Japan ,UK all over 100% to gdp.
"NZ statistics only for the $85 billion capital injection from the Canterbury earthquakes $66 billion of that insurance money take that out of Nationals 9 years and you would have had 9 yrs of negative growth."
You're out by quite a distance. Property Insurance claims were around $38bn.
"Up till this outbreak we were sitting in the top 3 for economic growth."
Link? The world bank had us in 42nd place.
Here's a graph showing total government debt from 2010 until now. I think you'll agree it's frightening. That's whats fuelling growth.
There are plenty of Country's with higher debt to GDP than ours, and plenty with less. But while our GDP growth is being powered by borrowed money and property price growth, we're not progressing.
The point is our current growth i
We're hardly unique in issuing large amounts of debt as a reaction to Covid.
Hell no. But let's be honest about where our growth – a 'surging housing sector', and retail growth – both from printing money.
Us and everyone else it seems sometimes. Not being able to print money has its own issues as Greece can attest.
Not being able to print money brings with it the necessity to consider the quality of government spending. That would be a good thing.
I can't decide whether in shredding the work Banksy underestimated the Protean adaptability of speculative capitalism – or understood it better than anyone else.
Was thinking about that when it happened! Lol
I definitely think the later.
And he knew full well it would double its attention. You now get two for one.
A valuable Banksy painting worth shedloads in it's own right, but wait! There is more!
It is also a rare Banksy "Performance Art piece! But thats not all!
If you pay the most money, we will give you this handy shredding machine! AB…SO…LUT….LY Free!"
Actually I think he missed some cash value.
He should have set it up to catch fire halfway through and then put the ashes in a glass display case.
That would probably chuck another 10 mill on.
28 million for a twice used rare Banksy performance art piece, which was a very valuable painting in it's own right (purchaser will receive a framed, Banksy signed verification certificate and photo of what it used to be to show it is indeed his painting)
I see nationals herald has hooton clickbait on MMP being soooo bad.
Time to grind that organ again eh. Shills do as they're paid to do.
It's like sports if you can't win blame the rules .Hooton is a political animal stuck in a Silo he has to take responsibility for his stupidity and admit he is largely responsible for Nationals pathetic performance just like the Boag constrictor and go away and let a younger more capable generation takeover a to help National regain the trust of voters he has a very large part in destroying .Dirty politics is like a ball and chain on National.
National need a massive clean out and go back to solid farmers and honest business people.
Boag, Hooten, the list goes on. Poison. Yes, a good clean out is all that will save them.
Hooton hasn't done anything to help National in the last few years. Didn't he give them Muller?
Behind the paywall so he can preach at the converted. You'd think anyone with nous would preach at the unconverted, eh? You know, pull some of them centrists back across the center-line. Too elementary for Hoots??
Ah, I get it. He's being paid to preach at Herald subscribers only. It's a cunning plan. Whose, I wonder? Some wannabe Nat leader channelling Machiavelli?
65 new cases today. 31 not linked as yet. Vaccination is the only way out of this mess now.
https://twitter.com/AshBloomfield/status/1448806556238184449?s=20
At long last! Silly Buggers wasn't the best game to be playing during a Pandemic, even if the DHBs are unlikely to be around in their present form for long:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/453597/nurses-accept-dhbs-latest-pay-offer
It is good news they have settled. The assurances and framework around safe staffing levels sounds promising, the proof will be in the pudding.
Pay parity is still not settled. That rigmarole has been going on since Coleman was minister.
PM is in Taranaki today, pushing the vaccine rollout.
Why isn't she in
AucklandWellingtonChatham Islands? "PM must clone herself and be everywhere immediately, especially anywhere she isn't" says Collins/Seymour/assorted idiots.Why isn't she doing a press conference? What is she hiding? Why isn't she facing Mike Hosking and his hard hitting analysis on the pulse of the nation? Why isn't she doing a dance-off against Seymour?
the public needs to know.
People wanting to follow the investigation into Stonewall UK, by BBC Northern Ireland, can now listen from outside the UK. It's a big story, and also part of the story is that MSM are increasingly able to now report on gender identity politics where they wouldn't or couldn't before.
https://twitter.com/StephenNolan/status/1448728239032123398
Stonewall went from supporting the downtrodden to becoming a powerful moral arbiter. Then it embraced a social contagion and lost all objectivity and self-reflection. Finally it became a bully enforcing ideological hegemony with religious fervour.
Good that the public can finally see the red flags that feminists and conscientious medical professionals have been waving around for years.
I'm hoping someone will do a twitter thread on all the times SW were called out before (and who were largely ignored).
Stephen “never reads books because he doesn’t have the time or attention span” Nolan? Interesting company you choose to keep; Weka. And the BBC have an interesting way of acknowledging the UK's; Hate Crime Awareness Week, for that matter.
My biggest problem with Stonewall is the way a UK organization felt free to appropriate the name of a mafia-owned New York divebar; that in the 60s was one of the last places that that city's LGBTQ+ community could gather, and even dance, in public. Until a police raid/ shakedown resulted in the June 1969 Stonewall Uprising (though some prefer the term; Riots). Mostly because; it is confusing to those of us who don't care that much what the UK does, and so references to Stonewall seem rather out of place at times. Especially since the British Organization's full name is; Stonewall Equality Limited, so how hard is it for them to use; Stonewall Equality, or; Stonewall Ltd, for purposes of disambiguation?
Apparently it was originally the Stonewall Group & the Iris Trust (Iris being Greek for Rainbow):
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/our-history
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/2015-stonewall-extends-remit-become-lgbt-charity-and-begins-journey-trans
So it took a quarter century for a Homosexual Rights organization; named after the queer uprising at the Stonewall Inn, to realize that maybe they should do something to help trans people too? And, of course, they have since become prime targets for the LGB alliance (spot the missing letter!), and their ilk.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/patrick-harvie-stonewall-charity-is-victim-of-opportunistic-hate-campaign-3413821
https://medium.com/@lois.shearing/statement-to-bbc-regarding-stonewall-2f3bc3efe92
Speaking of which, there's been this news in the past week out of Iceland (I'm not usually on Twitter much, but a friend pointed this out today, and the total lack of surprise in the replies is quite amusing):
https://twitter.com/UglaStefania/status/1448697715135848454?s=20
It really doesn't bother me if someone doesn't read books. I'm much more interested in how they are as a person. And in the case of a radio host at the BBC, how he does his job.
It does make me a whole lot less likely to waste my time listening to any "journalism" they may produce. Time and attention span, are rather important in crafting anything worth paying attention to. He strikes me as the Mike Hosking of Northern Ireland talkback radio. And I don't have much time for the BBC these days either.
Though I guess, like the Guardian; they are better at foreign events that don't impact in any way on UK politics, than they are to be relied upon with domestic stories. Which just seems backwards and upside down from my antipodean perspective.
there was a team that produced the series, afaik Nolan wasn't doing the investigative stuff.
Ignore it, it doesn't really matter, others will now pick up the issues and be more likely to cover them. You can ad hom the issues now, but eventually even MSM that you respect will have to do some journalism on this.
My dear wife works 12 hour shifts in ICU which are really 12 and three quarters because of handover and I got into trouble last night for sneaking a bite of her toastie before she left for the hospital. Apparently all they have in the meal room is a small microwave and a small toasted sandwich machine. 50 years ago I used to work a12 hour shift in a carpet factory and before that in uni holidays a 12 hours in lucerne factory. In both jobs we were a lot better looked after than nurses are now. No wonder they are hard to keep in the job.
In Dunedin ED they were running out of toilets for nurses to cry (/ break down) in! Hopefully todays announcement (link upthread) means that conditions, and employment relations, can start to improve. DHBs & the Minister of Health certainly haven't given the impression of bargaining in good faith this past year. Perhaps trust can start to grow once more? If they follow through on their written promises.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15-10-2021/#comment-1824299
Palmy ED, until recently, didn't have a cleaner during the night shift. Think restocking toilets, cleaning up 'biological spills' etc. Now they have an orderly to do that, therefore down one orderly.
All good, it will mean a positive impact on the bottom line, that's why we have line managers, CFO's, CEO's etc etc./sarc.
That's a mighty hero you're looking after there.
I certainly wasn’t a hero for pinching the bit of toastie, but I think she is a bit preoccupied, ED, HDU, ICU nurses are like Battle of Britain pilots all running on the need to get into the fight and she hasn’t lost it in 35 years but at 64 and slightly geneticly compromised on lung function, as much as she wants to go to Auckland to help out she knows it’s probably not a good idea. I think she should stay in the South and train nurses for the battle, but I know to keep that to myself. You are right about them being special, us mere mortals rarely have to deal with the heartbreak and grief that is commonplace in that job.
Adrian, you must be freaking at what is in the pipeline. So many working their butt's off and other playing the system.
Look after her mate she is an essential worker worth her weight in gold.
The government has announced the consortium to do the feasibility design, environmental, and geotechnical work for the Power NZ Battery investigation at Onslow near Roxborough.
MottMcDonald are the lead engineers with GHD and Boffa Miskell doing the rest.
I have the sneaking feeling that under Woods, New Zealand has the chance of forming a new 100%-owned state energy generator. It would be hard to see either the government allowing an existing generator to hold that degree of national generation command. Woods is the Joe Moody of this lot. Doesn’t say much but sets a tight pack well.
If Woods is particularly keen she could have a run at Genesis and require divestment of Meridian's Manapouri station. The Genesis market share is just too big.
Put Manapouri, Onslow and Transpower together and you have something that could start to hold the risk and responsibility for the New Zealand energy transition that Ardern envisaged last week.
So refreshing to see resilience design in the pipeline:
<blockquote>
The alternative being explored for Lake Onslow is pumped hydro storage, transferring water between two reservoirs at different heights.
Water in the upper reservoir effectively acts as a battery, as it can be released to generate electricity when it is needed during times of high demand or during dry years.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/potential-seen-lake-onslow-project
There was something about this on Stuff yesterday too. Roxburgh used to be all orchards (worked some uni holidays there myself – ate a lot of Jimmy's pies!), so definitely gets a fair bit of sunlight. A combination of solar and pumped hydro might be a winner in central Otago – though winter might be a bit iffy with freezing temperatures. Maybe even some wind up on the high ground? You'd want it close so you didn't lose too much in the wires before it even got to the pumps (which aren't going to be 100% efficient themselves).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/126683585/govt-awards-115m-contract-to-investigate-feasibility-of-lake-onslow-power-scheme
Ad, we rate Megan as well, she has had brickbats about housing but just soldiers on.
Gorgeous birb is just what we need right now.
https://twitter.com/ZEALANDIA/status/1448762739921358848
wonderful.