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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A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
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 ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
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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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BcFHvEpP7A
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfK-WX2pa8c
Slavoj Zizek is stirring up the exhausted discourse on Trump and Brexit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZUCemb2plE&list=LLQFOBDktliHEgSjtaAwGpiQ&index=190
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.