And immediately below is a load of misleading trash (courtesy of James) from a Tory leaning lackey which serves to uphold the findings of the fake advertising claims.
The lying bastards who put it about that Corbyn was anti-semitic may have had some influence on the result, but I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. Unfortunately for him, I think, too many of his caucus were pro EU while too many from Labour's natural support base were pro brexit.
And didn’t he do a good job at that. A glorious crushing defeat with even some of his own MP’s calling him an anti-Semite (but hey they know the guy – you read papers and blogs so would know better)
I think the right wing, 3rd way aficionados, within the Labour establishment harbour a lot of antipathy towards him. But even so the party has achieved better results with him leading it than were achieved by either Gordon Brown or Ed Millibrand before him ( 32% in 2019, as opposed to 29% and 30% respectively; and that doesn't take into account the exceptionally good result in 2017). I suspect that he might even have won last Thursday had it not been for his party's poor handling of the brexit issue.
That UK election should be the last time anyone in the English speaking with a real chance at national leadership campaigns on mass nationalization, huge taxes and otherwise full-on socialism (I'm sure it won't stop them trying).
Even the social democratic governments such as ourselves are getting very rare around the world.
We need to treat social democratic governments like national parks: there to protect threatened species of policy surviving from a once-grand world.
Keep appeasing the far Right and in 20 years you'll be congratulating yourself on keeping a public health system, and 20 years after that it will be gone.
If you cut past all the bluff and bluster, I think the fact is, that the Brits wanted a middle class lifestyle, and if war, privatisation and austerity were the prices to pay for it (as well as the most vulnerable to be screwed over, so be it.
Under MMP Corbyn would be PM now…..Corbyn would have been PM in 2017 but for incredibly bad luck when Ruth Davidson campaigned so well for the Scottish Conservatives and won so many seats from the SNP which have now almost all returned to the SNP.
Scotland will vote to leave/secede from the UK and stay in the European Union. Ireland will unify. Boris will preside over the break-up of the UK….some triumph that. But then we all remember him as being the worst Foreign Secretary the UK has ever had.
Thanks BG that is a wonderful article and makes perfect sense with what I have been reading for months – years? It finishes the jig-saw and I can see the pattern outlined clearly through the fog, or are they my tears?
.
mikesh
"I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. "
I didn't understand how you could state that so firmly, as the whole approach seemed to be about not revealing Corbyn's direction and compass points. But definition and understanding of the actual situation comes to me from Luke Goodall's Sky News extract from BG link:
Jeremy Corbyn has quietly committed the Labour Party to everything Remainers wanted and were calling for only a few months ago: a government which would extend Article 50, then go to the country pledging a referendum on Britain’s exit deal, with Remain on the ballot paper.
“Mr Corbyn had no end of political slurry deposited on his head for refusing to make such a commitment hitherto. You might think that those same people who were pouring it would be jubilant. Yet their response was curiously muted.”
And the difficulties for Labour exponents were outlined by the writer on The Consciousness of Sheep (see Facebook):
Put simply, in order to form a government in the UK parliament, Labour must win back its traditional working class support in those constituencies that delivered the biggest margins in favour of leaving the EU. However, the activists that Labour needs to get out on the doorsteps to win these constituencies tend to be fervently pro-EU. To come out in support of either position is to lose the supporters of the other, and thus to cede power to the Tories; who will inevitably deliver the worst Brexit settlement of all. Labour’s only hope is to fudge their Brexit policy until the next election is won.”
Classic “it’s them against us!” socialism just doesn’t speak to as many people as it used to.
Labour people want to talk about malign oligarchs conspiring against them for personal gain, and it sounds increasingly like conspirowhacky stuff from the more tinfoil hat wearing recesses of the internet. Labour people talk about moral duties to fight climate change, fight imperialism, fight islamophobia, and people more worried about layoffs at work are left scratching their head and wondering WHY is this what labour cares about now?
And then they see anyone who questions the new priorities getting rounded on and called the most vile names. It's not the behaviour of a team that people want to be a part of, it's not what people want to see from the government.
There’s also a really distasteful saviour complex in evidence. Labour has become the party of trendy liberal elites with degrees, who expect the simple worker bees to trust in their goodness and greatness and keep on voting for the old Labour brand, even as Labour is focussing more and more on esoteric woke issues with little relevance to those whose main concern is keeping their jobs.
John Key tapped into this, for every left person who “didn’t trust him” there were 1.2 people who reminded him of a good boss or a successful colleague, and he made people want to get on his team. Corbyn’s rhetoric is just loser, victim, misery, grievance, and that’s a hard sell. So far Jacinda Ardern appears to have learned some of Key’s lessons well in that regard.
[You appear to be new here, although you look familiar, and you may have missed the instructional guidelines in the OP. Moving this to OM until I know whom we’re dealing with]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Malign oligarchs like Murdoch certainly exist and their activities go a long way to explain the kind of wretched plonkers who become UK conservatives & NZ Gnat MPs.
"There is no doubt that a wave of automation is about to be unleashed on economies worldwide.
In fact, the impact of automation on the labor market has become more of a political issue now than it ever has, with its impact on the labor force being cited as one of the main causes for the election of leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, according to a new Bloomberg op-ed by Ferdinando Giugliano.
How did we get here? London School of Economics professor Anne Applebaum, writing in this month’s Atlantic, traces the collapse of the Republican Party into Russia’s arms to Pat Buchanan, ironically a former aide to Russia-hater Richard Nixon.
Buchanan's books “Death of a Superpower” and “The Death of the West” described America’s descent into “a sexual revolution of easy divorce, rampant promiscuity, pornography, homosexuality, feminism, abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, assisted suicide — the displacement of Christian values by Hollywood values.” Applebaum writes that “Buchanan has come to admire the Russian president because he is ‘standing up for traditional values against Western cultural elites.’”
Applebaum has also published on 'red famine' and 'gulag'. One can't argue with history, but it could be described less emotively and put in broader context.
One could argue that rampant hyper-individualism coupled with no-bounds hedonism and so-called personal freedom and responsibility has led to a leading principle of Western culture that more or less prescribes that it is ok to fuck oneself and screw over others. In other words, what people do in their own home is their own personal business and nobody else’s, least of all the State’s. If they want to use drugs, own MSSAs, go online to read/consume whatever filth they can find, spew any kind of filth online (freedom of speech) or in public places (AKA places paid for by tax- and/or rate-payers), et cetera, they should be allowed to do so because it is their human right and freedom. The so-called free market principle goes lock-step with this because nobody is forced to accept any transaction and if they do, it is caveat emptor. This extends to externalisation as well as screwing over the environment because this is virtually defenceless. This behaviour even intrudes into the sex lives of some where boundaries of acceptance and consent have become even more blurry. At least, that seems to be the reasoning of some. The apparent moral conservatism of the leadership in Russia, China, and Singapore, to name a few, is a logical reaction to this decay but is it the answer?
SV SYNONYMS FOR STANDING AGAINST THE WALL
Found 5 synonyms in 1 groups
1Meaning: interrogation
interview the wall against exam exam grill question
Synonyms for posing
Latest news reports coming out from Madrid Spain is that the COP25 talks have stalled.
…..Most countries agreed on the guidelines, and negotiators have been reluctant to name the holdouts. But on Friday, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Costa Rica’s minister for energy and environment, called out the United States, Brazil, and Australia as the parties thwarting closure on the issue.
The UN COP negotiations are reminiscent of the League of Nations negotiations over German and Italian fascist aggression in Europe and North Africa, which also stalled over lack of international agreement and commitment..
What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country.
It's called leadership.
In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead.
All politics is pressure.
Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman.
Even inside our parliament there is deadlock from taking decisive binding action.
This parliamentary deadlock is reminiscent of the deadlock inside the British Parliament over German aggression. One back bench MP who who had won his seat as an independent as the only MP for his Constitutional Party, this minority of one, refused to keep quiet and decried the fascist threat at every chance.
Its called leadership.
In my opinion one party, the Green Party, is better placed than even Churchill was to take this lead.
More confused than romantic. The GP, operating as a minority of one in parliament, leading by constantly decrying the global warming threat? The average voter: `yeah, we know already, tell us something new'.
"What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country. It's called leadership. In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead… Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman."
Aussies normally ignore our examples. Why would they suddenly do a u-turn and get in behind? She wants "decisive binding action" and is suggesting the Greens will produce that by breaking ranks with the coalition govt, taking a dissident public stand. Even if they do that while waving a Greta Thunberg doll threateningly at the other parties, I don't see how other countries would get bound into decisive action on climate change as a logical consequence.
I recall there was a lot of criticism of David Skilling a decade ago when he suggested New Zealand should be "fast followers" in climate change response.
This outcome in Spain is horrifying.
But if New Zealand had tried to be more of a global leader in this diplomatic area, this kind of massive diplomatic failure shows we would have become as exposed to international great power retaliation as we have been for decades since we deregulated into free trade in the late 1980s. Maybe Skilling was right.
"But Mr Meyer commented: "The latest version of the Paris Agreement decision text put forward by the Chilean presidency is totally unacceptable. It has no call for countries to enhance the ambition of their emissions reduction commitments.
"If world leaders fail to increase ambition in the lead up to next year's climate summit in Glasgow, they will make the task of meeting the Paris Agreement's well below 2C temperature limitation goal – much less the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal – almost impossible."
There are 10,000 undocumented leaks in Wellington since the earthquake. I'm on a few boards so I know this. It is not public knowledge as they cannot find them. The same issue as buildings which are still unsafe and slowly being made public as to not scare anyone.
It's amazing what's being hidden from everyday people.
Labour MP Neil Coyle reports after campaigning in his Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency: “There were people who said they knew Boris Johnson was a liar and a cheat but they still preferred him over our leader."
"He and his team talked to 10,000 people during the campaign and kept a record of what each of them said. The two reasons most often given by those who decided against Labour were its policy on Brexit and dislike of the leader. “Dislike of Corbyn came top,” added Coyle, who was one of the Labour survivors on election night. He retained his south London seat with a big – though reduced – majority."
"Journalists who went on the campaign trail were struck constantly by the force of anti-Corbyn feeling on doorsteps." So, if Boris is a populist, Jeremy is an unpopulist. I thought he seemed reasonable & well-intentioned, but that could be due to the distance effect. Exposure up close may be informing the Brits about his defects.
"One Labour MP told me on Friday morning, after details of Labour’s catastrophic defeat were known: “We all knew what was coming, just not quite how bad it would be. We didn’t want to allow the Corbynistas and Momentum to blame us and point the finger at us afterwards, so there had to be an unspoken agreement to deny it.”"
"The Observer’s pollsters Opinium have revealed their own analysis of the reasons people rejected Labour: 43% cited the leadership, 17% its policy on Brexit, and 12% its economic policies. Among Labour defectors – those who voted Labour in 2017 but didn’t this time – 37% mentioned the leadership, 21% Brexit and 6% its economic policies."
This antipathy effect looks very widespread, and Jeremy could be pioneering unpopulism as an influential political trend. Charisma deficit only part of the prescription. I suspect the key syndrome is leftist arrogance: `the people need to think like me, as I keep telling them’.
I'm still of the view that the 'dislike of Corbyn' was a reaction to the enormously successful campaign waged against him by personal and political opponents, media opponents and of course the ultra-conservative British establishment.
I took time out in recent weeks to listen to some of his media interviews and he came across as a reasonable, mild mannered person who talked a lot of sense – the antithesis of how he has been portrayed. In today's political climate, such individuals are regarded as weak, indecisive, verging on communist ideology (which is utter nonsense), and they must be banished from ever gaining control of the treasury benches. It is power by the few over the many – just like our perennial political enemies, Russia, China et al – and the ultimate outcome is much the same.
Michael Joseph Savage would not have lasted five minutes in today's climate, which is an indication of the depths of dishonesty, deceit and thuggish behaviour western societies are now engaging in.
I agree. It's a question of the extent to which voters form impressions in accord with the intent of media manipulation. I had a professional career crafting such propaganda so I have an insider's view of how it works on the psyche.
Despite that I reported the summation due to getting a sense that the role played by perception of him was having a substantial grass-roots effect, and there seemed a likelihood that some kind of shakespearean character flaw was operating, causing mass resonance in the UK electorate.
You are so right. The worst thing is, the chances of anything that is remotely left leaning have just evaporated right before our very eyes. Sanders/Warren's chances in the USA have just been tossed out the window, and AOC is probably going to be a one term wonder. Medicare for All is going to be off the table in the USA for at least a generation. Even Jacinda and her team will be a lot more cautious going into 2020.
Corbyn completely fucked the left. That will be his legacy for the Labour Party.
Next time the Blairites are accused of straying too far from the party's roots, they will throw this right in our faces.
Yet they forced Corbyn into a pro Remain position, did they not know this would cost them seats, or did they not care while Corbyn was there to take the blame?
Labour last the confidence of the working class. Both a mixture of long memory ie globalization and jobs cuts,and the inability to reduce unfettered competition (read immigration)
Arguing that universal super approach has reduced old age poverty, then advocating the end of that to afford universal support to reduce child poverty is asking a few questions about the logic of the proponents (the reduction in old age poverty was in fact prior home ownership or access to state housing and the availability of an aged based retirement income).
Lower rates of home ownership and the current lack of state housing is changing this dynamic.
There is also unaddressed poverty among
those unable to work 18-65 (because of disability and living on $270 a week without home ownership)
those unable to work on SB (not eligible for ACC),
those over 55 finding jobs hard to find.
sole parents because of low benefits (paying back grant out of benefits when TD is not paid back while income is that low) and high abatement regimes
working poverty caused by high rent costs
That said I do want more resources into health and education (more and better paid staff) and state housing as a focus for government with its finite resources.
But I can agree in better targeted income support by reducing super cost and transferring it to those in need. Means testing is one way to do this, and most of those who work past the age of 65 have no need for super.
Agree with all but means testing. Super, family support, unemployment benefit and disability should be as of right and universal.
Targeting is inefficient expensive and often inconsistent.
Asset testing causes Poverty traps when people have to sell built up assets, to get welfare. I remember the builder who had to sell his site caravan.
It is another attack on workers in favour of tax dodging, capital gains tax earners.
Welfare should be on personal position. As in Germany, unemployment as of right and retraining for another job, is regardless of assets, and previous employment..
We do it here with ACC. Payments do not depend on assets, but on income. Though payments should have an upper ceiling for really high incomes.
By all means claw most of it back on high incomes with a higher progressive, tax rate.
Anyone claiming to be "left" advocating means testing of super is a fool.
The only reason we still have it, is because the rich get it too.
If you want your grandchildren to still have super available, don't give the right wing an incentive to get rid of it. Which is inevitable, if they can offer tax cuts, by removing something the rich no longer have an interest in.
You see the same effect with private school users, happy to defund, and destroy, State schools, because it doesn't affect, them.
Macron the French President spells out EU requirements in English for Boorish's and his rag-tag gypsies, benefit.
“If the British prime minister and the British parliament want an ambitious trade deal, they know where the European standards are … The more they are attracted to reducing standards – on climate, social standards or anything else – the more they walk away from the European market, the more they will be away from us. The more ambitious the trade deal, the more we need regulatory harmonisation."
The National Party wants to fine cyclists who don't use cycle lanes.
How ridiculous. Next they will announce it would be policed by a Strike Force Raptor division comprising of Young Nats riding tricycles with flashing lights on their heads.
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
The government has confirmed its plan to break up Te Pūkenga / New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and re-establish independent polytechnics. ...
Why Boris won…..
https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/10/investigation-finds-88-tory-ads-misleading-compared-0-labour-11651802/
And immediately below is a load of misleading trash (courtesy of James) from a Tory leaning lackey which serves to uphold the findings of the fake advertising claims.
Why Boris actually won ……
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/the-polling-that-proves-the-incompetence-and-indecency-of-jeremy-corbyn/amp/
The lying bastards who put it about that Corbyn was anti-semitic may have had some influence on the result, but I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. Unfortunately for him, I think, too many of his caucus were pro EU while too many from Labour's natural support base were pro brexit.
indeed it was clear from all his comments and actions that he was a huge supporter of the Jewish community /sarc
He certainly treated their allegations infinitely more fairly than they deserved.
And didn’t he do a good job at that. A glorious crushing defeat with even some of his own MP’s calling him an anti-Semite (but hey they know the guy – you read papers and blogs so would know better)
Mikesh – are the lying bastards you mentioning current and former labour staffers?
70 of them have given sworn statements that the “Labour Party is not a safe space for Jewish people”.
And to think Stuart thinks allegations like this were treated more than fairly.
guess the election and crushing loss indicate he should have tried a little harder huh?
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/05/seventy-labour-staffers-give-statements-to-antisemitism-inquiry
I think the right wing, 3rd way aficionados, within the Labour establishment harbour a lot of antipathy towards him. But even so the party has achieved better results with him leading it than were achieved by either Gordon Brown or Ed Millibrand before him ( 32% in 2019, as opposed to 29% and 30% respectively; and that doesn't take into account the exceptionally good result in 2017). I suspect that he might even have won last Thursday had it not been for his party's poor handling of the brexit issue.
That UK election should be the last time anyone in the English speaking with a real chance at national leadership campaigns on mass nationalization, huge taxes and otherwise full-on socialism (I'm sure it won't stop them trying).
Even the social democratic governments such as ourselves are getting very rare around the world.
We need to treat social democratic governments like national parks: there to protect threatened species of policy surviving from a once-grand world.
NZ a 'social democratic government'. Whose leg are you trying to pull?
Go ahead and define 'social democratic' against 'socialist'.
Keep appeasing the far Right and in 20 years you'll be congratulating yourself on keeping a public health system, and 20 years after that it will be gone.
If you cut past all the bluff and bluster, I think the fact is, that the Brits wanted a middle class lifestyle, and if war, privatisation and austerity were the prices to pay for it (as well as the most vulnerable to be screwed over, so be it.
He did do a good job – but he misunderstood the venality of his enemies.
There was never any substance to the anti-Semitism allegations – they were only the stock in trade of malicious persons like yourself.
Under MMP Corbyn would be PM now…..Corbyn would have been PM in 2017 but for incredibly bad luck when Ruth Davidson campaigned so well for the Scottish Conservatives and won so many seats from the SNP which have now almost all returned to the SNP.
Scotland will vote to leave/secede from the UK and stay in the European Union. Ireland will unify. Boris will preside over the break-up of the UK….some triumph that. But then we all remember him as being the worst Foreign Secretary the UK has ever had.
I so agree with all of that mikesh. Here is a superb article:
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2019/12/13/the-cold-light-of-day/?fbclid=IwAR11kqLLEXWroFZjc6de3Nb9ETz4RKB4a4fCSH338l9zytdV8rr9tX9H9Vo
Thanks BG that is a wonderful article and makes perfect sense with what I have been reading for months – years? It finishes the jig-saw and I can see the pattern outlined clearly through the fog, or are they my tears?
.
mikesh
"I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. "
I didn't understand how you could state that so firmly, as the whole approach seemed to be about not revealing Corbyn's direction and compass points. But definition and understanding of the actual situation comes to me from Luke Goodall's Sky News extract from BG link:
Jeremy Corbyn has quietly committed the Labour Party to everything Remainers wanted and were calling for only a few months ago: a government which would extend Article 50, then go to the country pledging a referendum on Britain’s exit deal, with Remain on the ballot paper.
“Mr Corbyn had no end of political slurry deposited on his head for refusing to make such a commitment hitherto. You might think that those same people who were pouring it would be jubilant. Yet their response was curiously muted.”
And the difficulties for Labour exponents were outlined by the writer on The Consciousness of Sheep (see Facebook):
Put simply, in order to form a government in the UK parliament, Labour must win back its traditional working class support in those constituencies that delivered the biggest margins in favour of leaving the EU. However, the activists that Labour needs to get out on the doorsteps to win these constituencies tend to be fervently pro-EU. To come out in support of either position is to lose the supporters of the other, and thus to cede power to the Tories; who will inevitably deliver the worst Brexit settlement of all. Labour’s only hope is to fudge their Brexit policy until the next election is won.”
As the bard put it: What a piece of work is Man.
Classic “it’s them against us!” socialism just doesn’t speak to as many people as it used to.
Labour people want to talk about malign oligarchs conspiring against them for personal gain, and it sounds increasingly like conspirowhacky stuff from the more tinfoil hat wearing recesses of the internet. Labour people talk about moral duties to fight climate change, fight imperialism, fight islamophobia, and people more worried about layoffs at work are left scratching their head and wondering WHY is this what labour cares about now?
And then they see anyone who questions the new priorities getting rounded on and called the most vile names. It's not the behaviour of a team that people want to be a part of, it's not what people want to see from the government.
There’s also a really distasteful saviour complex in evidence. Labour has become the party of trendy liberal elites with degrees, who expect the simple worker bees to trust in their goodness and greatness and keep on voting for the old Labour brand, even as Labour is focussing more and more on esoteric woke issues with little relevance to those whose main concern is keeping their jobs.
John Key tapped into this, for every left person who “didn’t trust him” there were 1.2 people who reminded him of a good boss or a successful colleague, and he made people want to get on his team. Corbyn’s rhetoric is just loser, victim, misery, grievance, and that’s a hard sell. So far Jacinda Ardern appears to have learned some of Key’s lessons well in that regard.
[You appear to be new here, although you look familiar, and you may have missed the instructional guidelines in the OP. Moving this to OM until I know whom we’re dealing with]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Malign oligarchs like Murdoch certainly exist and their activities go a long way to explain the kind of wretched plonkers who become UK conservatives & NZ Gnat MPs.
Robots Are Killing The Millennial Worker
"There is no doubt that a wave of automation is about to be unleashed on economies worldwide.
In fact, the impact of automation on the labor market has become more of a political issue now than it ever has, with its impact on the labor force being cited as one of the main causes for the election of leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, according to a new Bloomberg op-ed by Ferdinando Giugliano.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/pay-attention-robots-are-killing-millennial-worker
The humans are dead.
Except, nah.
i don't see self check outs as a political issue and they are killing jobs and we can all help do so by using them.
So maybe its us that are killing jobs?
How the US righties ended up in Putin's embrace:
https://www.salon.com/2019/12/14/russia-and-the-republicans-how-vladimir-putin-got-an-american-subsidiary/
Applebaum has also published on 'red famine' and 'gulag'. One can't argue with history, but it could be described less emotively and put in broader context.
One could argue that rampant hyper-individualism coupled with no-bounds hedonism and so-called personal freedom and responsibility has led to a leading principle of Western culture that more or less prescribes that it is ok to fuck oneself and screw over others. In other words, what people do in their own home is their own personal business and nobody else’s, least of all the State’s. If they want to use drugs, own MSSAs, go online to read/consume whatever filth they can find, spew any kind of filth online (freedom of speech) or in public places (AKA places paid for by tax- and/or rate-payers), et cetera, they should be allowed to do so because it is their human right and freedom. The so-called free market principle goes lock-step with this because nobody is forced to accept any transaction and if they do, it is caveat emptor. This extends to externalisation as well as screwing over the environment because this is virtually defenceless. This behaviour even intrudes into the sex lives of some where boundaries of acceptance and consent have become even more blurry. At least, that seems to be the reasoning of some. The apparent moral conservatism of the leadership in Russia, China, and Singapore, to name a few, is a logical reaction to this decay but is it the answer?
And the bullies are making hay.
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1205863994881400832
edit:
SV SYNONYMS FOR STANDING AGAINST THE WALL
Found 5 synonyms in 1 groups
1Meaning: interrogation
interview the wall against exam exam grill question
Synonyms for posing
https://synonymer.woxikon.se/sv/st%C3%A4lla%20mot%20v%C3%A4ggen
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/swedish-english/st%C3%A4lla-n%C3%A5gon-mot-v%C3%A4ggen
‘
The Last Cop?
Latest news reports coming out from Madrid Spain is that the COP25 talks have stalled.
The UN COP negotiations are reminiscent of the League of Nations negotiations over German and Italian fascist aggression in Europe and North Africa, which also stalled over lack of international agreement and commitment..
What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country.
It's called leadership.
In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead.
All politics is pressure.
Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman.
Even inside our parliament there is deadlock from taking decisive binding action.
This parliamentary deadlock is reminiscent of the deadlock inside the British Parliament over German aggression. One back bench MP who who had won his seat as an independent as the only MP for his Constitutional Party, this minority of one, refused to keep quiet and decried the fascist threat at every chance.
Its called leadership.
In my opinion one party, the Green Party, is better placed than even Churchill was to take this lead.
That seems a very romantic notion of leadership.
More confused than romantic. The GP, operating as a minority of one in parliament, leading by constantly decrying the global warming threat? The average voter: `yeah, we know already, tell us something new'.
"What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country. It's called leadership. In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead… Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman."
Aussies normally ignore our examples. Why would they suddenly do a u-turn and get in behind? She wants "decisive binding action" and is suggesting the Greens will produce that by breaking ranks with the coalition govt, taking a dissident public stand. Even if they do that while waving a Greta Thunberg doll threateningly at the other parties, I don't see how other countries would get bound into decisive action on climate change as a logical consequence.
I recall there was a lot of criticism of David Skilling a decade ago when he suggested New Zealand should be "fast followers" in climate change response.
This outcome in Spain is horrifying.
But if New Zealand had tried to be more of a global leader in this diplomatic area, this kind of massive diplomatic failure shows we would have become as exposed to international great power retaliation as we have been for decades since we deregulated into free trade in the late 1980s. Maybe Skilling was right.
What did the Greens get in the last UK election?
Did their share grow as Labour's collapsed?
"But Mr Meyer commented: "The latest version of the Paris Agreement decision text put forward by the Chilean presidency is totally unacceptable. It has no call for countries to enhance the ambition of their emissions reduction commitments.
"If world leaders fail to increase ambition in the lead up to next year's climate summit in Glasgow, they will make the task of meeting the Paris Agreement's well below 2C temperature limitation goal – much less the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal – almost impossible."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/405516/low-ambition-coalition-puts-un-climate-talks-in-question
"New Zealand's Climate Change Minister James Shaw said he was disappointed nothing was likely to come from Summit"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/118179976/wellingtons-high-water-use-is-bad-news-for-the-environment-and-climate-change
There are 10,000 undocumented leaks in Wellington since the earthquake. I'm on a few boards so I know this. It is not public knowledge as they cannot find them. The same issue as buildings which are still unsafe and slowly being made public as to not scare anyone.
It's amazing what's being hidden from everyday people.
I'd believe that. However, how is it known there are that number of leaks if they can't be found?
The Observer’s political editor accompanied "the impressive Labour candidate Karen Davis" on her campaign in Labour's target seat, Norwich North. "I approached a man in his garden on the same Norwich estate who said: “I have voted Labour all my life but I can’t stand Corbyn and won’t vote for him.” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/14/i-saw-just-how-many-voters-were-hostile-to-jeremy-corbyn
Labour MP Neil Coyle reports after campaigning in his Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency: “There were people who said they knew Boris Johnson was a liar and a cheat but they still preferred him over our leader."
"He and his team talked to 10,000 people during the campaign and kept a record of what each of them said. The two reasons most often given by those who decided against Labour were its policy on Brexit and dislike of the leader. “Dislike of Corbyn came top,” added Coyle, who was one of the Labour survivors on election night. He retained his south London seat with a big – though reduced – majority."
"Journalists who went on the campaign trail were struck constantly by the force of anti-Corbyn feeling on doorsteps." So, if Boris is a populist, Jeremy is an unpopulist. I thought he seemed reasonable & well-intentioned, but that could be due to the distance effect. Exposure up close may be informing the Brits about his defects.
"One Labour MP told me on Friday morning, after details of Labour’s catastrophic defeat were known: “We all knew what was coming, just not quite how bad it would be. We didn’t want to allow the Corbynistas and Momentum to blame us and point the finger at us afterwards, so there had to be an unspoken agreement to deny it.”"
"The Observer’s pollsters Opinium have revealed their own analysis of the reasons people rejected Labour: 43% cited the leadership, 17% its policy on Brexit, and 12% its economic policies. Among Labour defectors – those who voted Labour in 2017 but didn’t this time – 37% mentioned the leadership, 21% Brexit and 6% its economic policies."
This antipathy effect looks very widespread, and Jeremy could be pioneering unpopulism as an influential political trend. Charisma deficit only part of the prescription. I suspect the key syndrome is leftist arrogance: `the people need to think like me, as I keep telling them’.
Very interesting. Thank-you Dennis Frank.
I'm still of the view that the 'dislike of Corbyn' was a reaction to the enormously successful campaign waged against him by personal and political opponents, media opponents and of course the ultra-conservative British establishment.
I took time out in recent weeks to listen to some of his media interviews and he came across as a reasonable, mild mannered person who talked a lot of sense – the antithesis of how he has been portrayed. In today's political climate, such individuals are regarded as weak, indecisive, verging on communist ideology (which is utter nonsense), and they must be banished from ever gaining control of the treasury benches. It is power by the few over the many – just like our perennial political enemies, Russia, China et al – and the ultimate outcome is much the same.
Michael Joseph Savage would not have lasted five minutes in today's climate, which is an indication of the depths of dishonesty, deceit and thuggish behaviour western societies are now engaging in.
I agree. It's a question of the extent to which voters form impressions in accord with the intent of media manipulation. I had a professional career crafting such propaganda so I have an insider's view of how it works on the psyche.
Despite that I reported the summation due to getting a sense that the role played by perception of him was having a substantial grass-roots effect, and there seemed a likelihood that some kind of shakespearean character flaw was operating, causing mass resonance in the UK electorate.
The left need to accept what the great voters said: they really, really didn't like Jeremy Corbyn. You can call that a media conspiracy if you like.
In 2019 Jeremy Corbyn has been a total catastrophe for UK Labour.
Yeah Labour MP's who did not support Corbyn as leader and said so, say they got feedback from their electorate agreeing with them.
A Labour caucus that pressured Corbyn to back their pro Remain position say he was the reason they lost seats in pro Brexit Midlands and North.
One thing was clear, the economic policies were not the problem.
You are so right. The worst thing is, the chances of anything that is remotely left leaning have just evaporated right before our very eyes. Sanders/Warren's chances in the USA have just been tossed out the window, and AOC is probably going to be a one term wonder. Medicare for All is going to be off the table in the USA for at least a generation. Even Jacinda and her team will be a lot more cautious going into 2020.
Corbyn completely fucked the left. That will be his legacy for the Labour Party.
Next time the Blairites are accused of straying too far from the party's roots, they will throw this right in our faces.
And yet it was their their Brexit position that cost Labour a lot of seats
Very few people cited any problem with the more left wing Labour manifesto.
The right and the Blairites want left wing leadership and policy discredited, yet they did not go after Corbyn on policy.
So why would anyone think that the left has been harmed by this defeat? Or that Blairites will win back total control of the party?
Already the media is lying that the result was a rejection of Labour's left wing policies. And a rejection of left wing policy internationally.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50785442
What a load of BS, by your logic then Boris is incredibly popular and that's why he won.
a) The voters are not great. They're ordinary folk. Some good, some bad.
b) They didn't like Corbyn because they had nothing but negative media stories to go on.
c) So easy to claim "catastrophe" after the event.
d) It wasn't a catastrophe anyway. Disappointing yes but the cards were always stacked against them.
e) Under an MMP type system they would probably now have a Labour led govt.
Yet they forced Corbyn into a pro Remain position, did they not know this would cost them seats, or did they not care while Corbyn was there to take the blame?
I'd say the latter.
Labour last the confidence of the working class. Both a mixture of long memory ie globalization and jobs cuts,and the inability to reduce unfettered competition (read immigration)
https://twitter.com/olhe/status/1205804133489479681
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/13/working-class-voters-desert-labour-stoke-on-trent-england-red-wall
Simon's raw nerve.
https://www.twitter.com/simonjbridges/status/1205956460313600000
Fuck me. Hours later and Bridges is still on twitter trying to justify his lies to Nigel Latta.
It shows how childish and insecure Simon Bridges really is. He's an embarrassment.
Has he watched all episodes of The Wiggles yet?
Simon’s calculator has blown a fuse and please can somebody teach him how to do spreadsheets properly because it is an absolute shambles.
https://www.national.org.nz/the_fiscal_hole_national_predicted_all_along
Thanks for the heads up, I'll make sure I've swallowed my coffee before he tries to explain that on Morning Report tomorrow morning.
Released 40 years ago.
Slavoj Zizek is stirring up the exhausted discourse on Trump and Brexit.
A seemingly confused approach is being advocated here.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118174774/pension-for-kids-could-level-income-inequality-between-young-and-old
Arguing that universal super approach has reduced old age poverty, then advocating the end of that to afford universal support to reduce child poverty is asking a few questions about the logic of the proponents (the reduction in old age poverty was in fact prior home ownership or access to state housing and the availability of an aged based retirement income).
Lower rates of home ownership and the current lack of state housing is changing this dynamic.
There is also unaddressed poverty among
those unable to work 18-65 (because of disability and living on $270 a week without home ownership)
those unable to work on SB (not eligible for ACC),
those over 55 finding jobs hard to find.
sole parents because of low benefits (paying back grant out of benefits when TD is not paid back while income is that low) and high abatement regimes
working poverty caused by high rent costs
That said I do want more resources into health and education (more and better paid staff) and state housing as a focus for government with its finite resources.
But I can agree in better targeted income support by reducing super cost and transferring it to those in need. Means testing is one way to do this, and most of those who work past the age of 65 have no need for super.
Agree with all but means testing. Super, family support, unemployment benefit and disability should be as of right and universal.
Targeting is inefficient expensive and often inconsistent.
Asset testing causes Poverty traps when people have to sell built up assets, to get welfare. I remember the builder who had to sell his site caravan.
It is another attack on workers in favour of tax dodging, capital gains tax earners.
Welfare should be on personal position. As in Germany, unemployment as of right and retraining for another job, is regardless of assets, and previous employment..
We do it here with ACC. Payments do not depend on assets, but on income. Though payments should have an upper ceiling for really high incomes.
By all means claw most of it back on high incomes with a higher progressive, tax rate.
Agree with every you said SPC.
We must have super means tested asap and those with health needs prioritised in our system.
Anyone claiming to be "left" advocating means testing of super is a fool.
The only reason we still have it, is because the rich get it too.
If you want your grandchildren to still have super available, don't give the right wing an incentive to get rid of it. Which is inevitable, if they can offer tax cuts, by removing something the rich no longer have an interest in.
You see the same effect with private school users, happy to defund, and destroy, State schools, because it doesn't affect, them.
Macron the French President spells out EU requirements in English for Boorish's and his rag-tag gypsies, benefit.
“If the British prime minister and the British parliament want an ambitious trade deal, they know where the European standards are … The more they are attracted to reducing standards – on climate, social standards or anything else – the more they walk away from the European market, the more they will be away from us. The more ambitious the trade deal, the more we need regulatory harmonisation."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/13/brexit-eu-leaders-call-for-swift-ratification-after-tory-victory
The National Party wants to fine cyclists who don't use cycle lanes.
How ridiculous. Next they will announce it would be policed by a Strike Force Raptor division comprising of Young Nats riding tricycles with flashing lights on their heads.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/national-party-wants-impose-fines-cyclists-refuse-use-cycleways
The "party of individual freedom" surely not?
Another of those policy things they throw out (up?) and look for a reaction.
Good to see. Pity ACC will drag this on for a decade or more. Putting them on the prayer lists.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118004926/family-of-migrant-worker-who-died-on-the-job-seeks-compensation
And his employer should pay ACC, to make up for all the levies they dodged, leaving this poor mans family with nothing.
Because elderly women are a threat to the motherland.
/
https://twitter.com/Interpreter_Mag/status/1206093526603386880
http://archive.li/8sdt7
Oh shit.
https://twitter.com/walangpasokfile/status/1206101342114074626
https://twitter.com/dpressingtruths/status/1206110984110129153
#Lindol #LindolPH #Linog #Earthquake #EarthquakePH
We are sitting on a few known fault lines ourselves.