Sensible Sentencing Trust’s offender data base a bit threadbare
High-profile criminals have not yet been included
Yesterday I heard Garth “The Knife” McVicar on his publicly funded advertising outlet (Radio NZ National) announcing that the S.S. Trust Offenders Database was up and running again. I made a quick visit to the site to see just how thorough and comprehensive it was. One of the first things you notice is this laudable statement: “The Sensible Sentencing Trust believes in an open and transparent Justice System.”
First up, I typed in the name Alan Titford and ticked the box for “Arson”. NO RESULT.
Next, I typed in the name David Garrett and ticked the box for “Robbery/Attempted Robbery”. NO RESULT.
Then I typed in the name Bruce Emery and ticked the box for “Murder/Manslaughter”. NO RESULT.
Since these are all high-profile offenders, it seemed odd that their names were not yet on this database. Then I saw the following sign: “Submit Offender Information: Use the form below to get in touch and submit information about offenders.”
I filled in the submission form with the following information….
BRUCE EMERY. In late 2008, he chased down a boy on a South Auckland street, then stabbed him repeatedly, killing him.
Perhaps other Standard readers may like to submit the same names (Titford, Garrett, Emery) to the database, with a résumé of their crimes, to remind the people at the S.S. Trust to get it up to date…… http://www.sst.org.nz/offenders-database/
SST are particularly selective about who’s on their naughty list aren’t they? Emery’s victim, Pihema Cameron, for example, apparently not worthy of the same amount of outrage as others, yet, Pihema’s family received the least amount of justice. So why the silence?
Emery’s victim, Pihema Cameron, for example, apparently not worthy of the same amount of outrage as others…
It’s actually far, far worse than that, Rosie. Garth McVicar actually mounted a public campaign of traducing the reputation and memory of the dead boy and his family. He also loudly advocated for tolerance for and understanding of the boy’s killer, who he claimed was a decent citizen. Noelle McCarthy was struggling to hide her disgust for McVicar when she interviewed him in March 2011…
Oh that is truly despicable. Double standards, hypocrisy, and undisguised callousness. McVicar’s brain must be well and truly addled. He is no victims rights advocate, he is a vulture.
And yes, he really is a vulture, the way he swoops when someone has been murdered – but only for a victim who fits his description of who is worthy of outrage.
I have let them know about Alan Titford:
“Alan Titford is an extremely dangerous offender who has been convicted of arson. I believe you need to keep an eye on him, as he is very dangerous to women, children, minorities, and seems totally divorced from reality. ”
They can probably keep an eye on him once he’s paroled, when he’ll be able to attend their meetings again.
Hi folks – would like some help refining this argument. Please any criticisms and other input welcome , Thanks in advance.
I have a problem with cars – a 100 years ago they had 4 wheels, a motor which ran on oil and a body – same as today really. A computer on the other hand was as large as a house, run on valves and need the operating system written in every day. Now your phone is a more powerful computer than the computer they used to land on the moon – but your car is still 4 wheels on a body, with a motor run with oil.
not to mention much like computers, engines have become more powerful, more efficient and much smaller… anf computers still run on electric.
To easily picked apart imo
And the car engines are pretty digitsed today – mechanics take all sorts of readings with electronic machines. My mechanic talks about how these days there’s all sorts of liquids that need monitoring and replacing at different times. Used to be that cars just mostly needed a main oil change.
But, I reckon we should just go back to the horse and cart – maintenance would be far easier – fuel top ups every day, regular checks with the vet and of the wheels, cart and reigns, daily waste disposal…… most jobs we could easily do ourselves without expensive equipment to monitor fluids and parts.
Difference being that horses and what not are merely recycling the ‘natural sink’ of carbon whereas oil is an addition to that ‘natural sink’ – like the difference between burning wood and burning coal. 😉
And again, that depends on the source of the fertiliser and how we choose to manage soils, no? Pour oil derivatives on and we are adding external sources to the ‘natural sink’…allow pastures to lie fallow so that soil, its ecosystems and fertility build up and gasses from the ‘natural sink’ and natural cycle, that nevertheless contribute to warming are, at least temporarily, sequestrated.
“But, I reckon we should just go back to the horse and cart”
Please no karol! Horses are treated appallingly here in NZ, the number of them that turn up half dead with their spirits broken at animal sanctuaries around the country are a testament to that. Even now days, Once a horse is deemed to have finished its useful life it is still sent to slaughter and ends up in Jimbo’s pet food. I kid you not. I have met these beautiful darlings who have been rescued at the last moment.
And work horses that are used in other countries are used and abused and often die young from untreated injuries and illnesses. It’s the one time where you actually welcome those busy body types that get all judgemental with how other cultures operate, to come and set up horse hospitals, take the work horses of the hands of the “owner”, provide them with income lost for not having their horse or donkey working, treat the horse for diseases and injury, feed them up, get them well nourished and return to them to the owner with instructions on how to take care of them. (This happens in Egypt but may also be happening in other countries)
Horses are highly sensitive, sociable and emotional herd animals that suffer so much at our hands and tolerate so much. They are also hugely expensive to look after and high maintenance.
People that are supposed to be “horse people” can’t always be trusted to care for horses, let alone folks that know nothing of them.
Instead, how about we overthrow Big Oil and create a vehicle that is simple to run and maintain and runs on water? Not much to ask eh? Lol.
A lot of people think that SPCAs were set up to look after pets such as dogs and cats, etc.
The history of SPCAs is that they were established in the mid 1800s by Wilberforce and others to deal with the appalling treatment of horses in the days of the horse and cart, horses being used in coal mines etc etc. In fact, the establishment of SPCAs here in NZ for this purpose predates the establishment of a Police force.
Oh, that first scene in “Amazing Grace” where the character of William Wilberforce came across a pair of men who were beating a cart horse who had fallen from exhaustion was so awful.
The Industrial Revolution saved the work horse from future harm and organisations like the SPCA helped to educate others as the horse transitioned from work to recreation in industrialised nations. So the Industrial Revolution improved the lot for the horse but being humans, we managed to stuff up our planet instead.
Its at this point I put my hand up for all the farm animals abused by the attitude of the NZ farmer. All livestock requires shelter from the sun, cold, rain and wind, and all livestock need sufficient space and freedom of movement. Go out of town, see all the cows and sheep in full sun with no shelter, or freezing in open paddocks during a southerly. Or pigs and chickens imprisoned in cages. We farm industrially and treat the stock appallingly.
I might also add the farmers are matched in their disdain of living things by anglers (of whom I am one) who hold their catch up out of water for a photo, and who delight in the joys of “fighting” a distressed fish rather than making it short and sweet. Growl, things that make me mad……
“We farm industrially and treat the stock appallingly’
Indeed we do Ennui. Our lack of basic compassion for “industrial” animals in our care demonstrates a lack of emotional intelligence, and certainly a lack of respect for the animal.
I wonder if there will ever be a government enlightened or willing enough to introduce decent standards of care for farmed animals. Funnily enough it may likely be economically advantageous for exporters if we could demonstrate that NZer’s were caring farmers, of both animals and the land.
Good on you for not mucking around with your fish either.
plus one ennui .
i would have a lot more respect for the spca if they started to agitate/educate/advocate about farmed animals that do not have shelter.
to see a cow in the height of summer, standing with its head in the shadow of a strainer post, to get some relief is kinda sad.
it is even more galling as there is dollars involved.
The motor vehicle saved humankind from horse manure and dead horses. If a horse broke down it was oft shot and left in the street for the city authorities to take care of the corpse.
“The horse was no newcomer on the urban scene. But by the late
1800s, the problem of horse pollution had reached unprecedented
heights. The growth in the horse population was outstripping even the
rapid rise in the number of human city dwellers. American cities were
drowning in horse manure as well as other unpleasant byproducts of
the era’s predominant mode of transportation: urine, flies, congestion,
carcasses, and traffic accidents.Widespread cruelty to horses was a form
of environmental degradation as well.
The situation seemed dire.
In 1894, the Times of London estimated that by 1950 every street in the city would be buried nine feet deep in horse manure.”
I hope that there isn’t any leather in your shoes karol.
If there is I hope you will think of the poor animal that died in order that you might walk comfortably in your leather (uppers or soles) shoes.
I think my footwear is mostly rubber & synthetic – I’d have thought hardly any kinder to the environment than leather – what am I going to do – stay home, go barefoot on todays pavements?
You are forgiven Karol. Sackcloth and ashes are not required.
I was only trying to get a little lightness into life with the remark.
My god, but the stuff before your comment, on the origons of the SPCA and the treatment of horses, was depressing wasn’t it?
Believe me, you wouldn’t go back to a horse and cart if you lived in a city where they regularly run tourists around. The roads they use and the park-up spots are to be avoided. Although the poo is capture in horsey bags, the stench of horse-piss is unbearable in summer (barely bearable in winter).
In the past hundred years I think it is correct to say that the human cargo they are designed to carry has got taller and considerably bigger with over eating, in countries where cars are produced so it is understandable that their size has not reduced …. there has for a long time been the alternative motorbikes and shanks pony .. the latter is miniscule.
Why would car manufacturers want to produce more efficient, and therefore less profitable cars? Maybe trace the connections between the oil industry and car manufacturers? Also…why the hell were cars ever introduced as a means of mass transport? Oh yeah…the conspiracy (charged in court as such and found guilty) of the rubber industry, oil industry and car industry, whereby they bought up public transport networks and deliberately trashed them to create a market for the automobile.
You might also be interested in reading Chris Trotter’s take on the possible ramifications of the launch of KDC’s political party, PU, on his blog site, Bowalley Road and in The Press today.
Trotter’s view is that it may well appeal a lot to the younger generation of voters as a fresh option unencumbered by the past – an extract from his article
“Statistics New Zealand estimate that on June 30, 2013, there were 333,840 New Zealanders aged 20-24 – more than enough to surmount the 5 per cent MMP threshold.”
With over 15,000 people already registered for tickets to The PartyParty next Monday night in less than 24 hours, IMO they will get the 500 registered members very quickly to qualify for registration of the political party.
UPDATE; KDC has just tweeted that the name of the party will be the “Internet Party”, not the Mega Party. He has also tweeted the logo
Guessing the reason for capitalising both words and putting Party directly under Internet is so that you have a vertical acronym IP – Internet Protocol which fits the agenda – such as it is.
Purple is a Suffragette colour. – or lesbian – or just a mix of red and blue signifiying it’s neither totally left or right wing – which, IMO, usually means centrist according to the centre ground of the time.
From memory, his drill sadist used to wear that colour. It was meant to be a mixture between the bright red of arterial blood and the “blue” blood of veins. Actually the blood in veins are also red – a dark red of deoxygenated haemoglobin. Veins just look blue from the outside… But hey it is a just a book.. 😈
Of course if KDC starts to transplant large incisors then I’d start worrying what fictional universe he wants to live in.
@ alwyn lol…yes he has been called a fuckwit ……but he has the vote so you cant ignore it
….the way of youth is totally different from the way we oldies think…the internet has provided another parallel universe for them …and I am afraid for good or ill it is a revolutionary change
imo KDC could mop up a lot of votes from cynical youth who would not otherwise vote
It’s all hypothetical, but Dot com’s a business man first, l reckon, he’d be trying to make as much money out of this political lark as possible.
There’s some really dumb gullible mofos out there that hang off his every word, great opportunity for Orcon to gain a heap of new customers and for Dot com to make some coin.
KDC’s values are conveyed by his way of promoting the party – all we see so far is that it’s got his brand on it and it’s about the internet. Little about what his party stands for in all that, other than what we already know about KDC. So I’m not optimistic. Celebrity branding and partying.
Not even a glimmer of what his party will do for Kiwis in general, other than from what we know of KDC’s focus and interests.
Edit: and on the basis of just as much (or as little evidence), many on the left are uncritically cheerleading KDC’s party move, which I find worrying
Well, I’m not hopeful about it being anything “new” – just the same old same old “neoliberal” celebrity culture of infotainment led by a libertarian type wanting in on the big time capitalist action – old story, new window dressing – remake for the digital age.
“But there are some facts as I’ve laid out, and they don’t give me cause for optimism.”
I may be missiing something, Karol, but IMO your comments in this thread at 3.2; 3.2.1.1; and this one seem to be personal opinion/perception – not facts – and based on a lot of assumptions.
Personally, I am keeping an open mind on the Internet Party until we have actually seen their vision, policies etc, and who else is involved – presumably next week.
I have followed the KDC saga closely over the last two years – because of the legal and other ramifications rather than as a cheer leader for KDC. But in so doing, I have come to the opinion that KDC may be a very clever businessman/entrepreneur; but also has a softer side to him also. Loves his wife, children, pets dearly; is very loyal to his friends, work colleagues; and can appreciate the simplicity of a beautiful tree in flower etc. Yes, he has done some bad things in the past; but he was (at the time of his application for residency)and has continued to be open about these (although his German convictions were actually ‘clean slated’ under German legislation similar to our own Clean Slate Act).
As I said, I await fuller details about the Internet Party with an open mind.
The facts are in KDC’s past record. They are also in the way the party is named, and what is so far missing – nothing about what the party or KDC will do for NZers, except for his desire for internet “freedom”.
Many right wingers have their soft family side – means little.
KDC is first and foremost an Entrepreneur – he is out to make money using the Internet – he sees it as an under-utilised platform for business. He is ultimately a capitalist (and very competitive) – and a fairly libertarian one. I have heard nothing from him about being concerned for the plight of the less well off, or of low paid workers, etc.
He may be useful to the left in challenging Key and splitting the right wing vote. But he is not of the left.
But, whatever, ….my views are not going to influence the outcomes. And time will tell what KDC’s party is really about.
One presumes, being launched by Kim Dotcom, that it will be a “fuck John Key / the government / big business / ties to the USA” party aimed at young people.
Chance of this hurting National in election year: zero
How about stating what Bradbury said in full on TDB, and not just one sentence ?
What Bradbury said in full (its not long) is;
Good old Cameron. Thank you for the publicity.
Couple of things.
1: I stood down from my role as a consultant with the MANA Party last year.
2: What Cameron is showing is an early draft of a proposal tabled at a meeting with a whole bunch of other ideas late last year.
3: The idea of me as a candidate was more to kick around ideas.
I am a Political consultant, this is what I do, this was a proposal I was asked to submit. The moment I start working for the Internet Party if I am offered a role I will be shouting it from the rooftops as I think the ideas of an Internet Party focused on civil rights in the online 21st Century and the economic prosperity that could generate for NZ is the future and anything that moves us away from a dairy dependent, drill and mine economy is a good thing.
But all it was, was a proposal. If that changes, I will let you all know.”
Bradbury goes with the highest bidder. Thus he’s busy right now telling us who he’s NOT working for. The moment he tells us he IS working for someone, he’s not worth anything to anyone else. Like a good capitalist he’s just trying to maximise his own asking price.
Still, I note that Bradbury sure ain’t posting any pictures of himself standing in support next to Harawira, Cunliffe, or Norman and Turei.
PS: oh lol at the leaked document: “Bradbury recommends the party pay him $8000 a month to run a campaign in the Auckland Central electorate.
Mr Bradbury also asks for a one-off payment of $5000 to upgrade his computer, cellphone and tablet devices.”
Good. Mana will do a lot better without him. I hope they never paid him. A dead moray eel would be too high a payment for the services of the poor man’s Hooten.
Bomber’s main interest seems to be the media and getting a role for himself. I think he’s a natural fit with Dotcom, much more so than with Mana. I can’t see the Dotcom party doing much good at all, except for in the area of regulation of the internet and maybe the surveillance society. Mana would be much stronger in fighting the surveillance society, because their activists have known for years what it’s like to be watched and persecuted. I think it’s a dangerous distraction, and no, I don’t have to look at their policies to have an opinion, any more than I need to read the ACT manifesto to condemn them.
aye, I tend to agree re: bradbury. Loves being the voice of the left, as long as “the left” agrees with whatever he says – so now he’s working for a Banks supporter.
Bomber’s main interest seems to be the media and getting a role for himself.
heh – 3 News claims the Int Party so far have 3 main policies, including intenet business for NZ and supporting a public broadcasting service – they need to be able to show it will be free from KDC money manipulations.
So the best way, according to 3 news website, that Bomber could help fight against a national third term is to whore himself out for 8,000 a month and a new i rig for a rich prick with a penchant for super cars and shite music, who awaiting extradition on piracy charges, sets up mega, which has dodgy copyright content on it as I type.
Great way to make a contribution, comrade, by filling your own pocket with dirty money.
I will wait to see what the policies are before I decide about the party but I am supportive of him actually making a party especially one that looks like it will bring the young into politics.
People today don’t like being party cannon fodder. If you want someone to do something for you, you have to give them some fun before, during and after. A party that is also a PARTY appeals to people who are turned off by the idea of earnest discussions about Saturday morning (Sunday morning? Are you nuts? I’ve got a hangover/get my only sleep-in on Saturday mornings sayeth the youth of today) leaflet drops by pensioners in drafty halls on a rainy Monday night in July.
I kinda foresee nicely dressed up, but really quite nasty right wing tosh oozing out from this. The challenge for left leaning parties is to grasp the opportunity to pull newly ‘engaged’ Dotcommers into a more honest realm of politics. Will they? Doubt it. And so we’ll wind up with a NZ version of that Italian guy whose name escapes me or a NZ version of the Pirate Party. Not good.
+1 Bill, The political interest it will generate is to be welcomed. But in the long run I can only see it hurting the left unless they re-engage with the public in a meaningful way.
And a computer is still a keyboard and a screen, and if cars shit themselves as often as computers and needed ” upgrading” as often, car companies would have been sued out of existance.
There is a teeny bit more than that in them. But typically the failure components are hard disks and on the printed circuit boards (PCB)
PCBs have a few orders of magnitude more components than the entirety of any production car and are made up of hot or warm components that are densely packed and typically react to each other and their environment. Selecting the right motherboard and case for cooling, maintaining and replacing them for your task makes a hell of difference. Just as it does with a car. Which is why my motherboards typically last until I *upgrade* them – usually about every 5 years. I just replaced the one in my workstation that I brought in 2009.
Hard disks typically operate at sustained movement speeds far in excess of any car apart from Formula one racing cars – which seldom last a year. The best way to think about them is that they are a consumable like brake pads or tyres. You should expect to replace them every few years and build that into your maintenance schedule.
I suspect that you’re mostly complaining about portable computers and handhelds.
Yes it is possible to get longer lasting laptops – for instance a Toughbook. Paying for them is a completely different matter.
The last laptop I brought was in 2009, a sony vaio Z series. It is still happily running and in daily use. My partners old laptops from the last two decades used to litter the household until we disposed on them on moving into less storage space. None of them ever died, they just got new hard disks. Of course these were all rather expensive apples..
Standardisation of components also makes a big difference in enabling rapid development and reducing cost. You don’t see this with cars, apart from obvious things like wheels, tyres etc.
You can’t just grab any old gearbox off the shelf and whack it in your car.
I had hoped one day to see someone start a project for an open source (and open standards) car design. However given that car manufacturing is now a sunset industry (or will be soon) it’s probably not worth doing.
Eric Roy is the 9th National Party Caucus member to resign at the end of this term. Colin James and Michelle Boag (on RNZ this morning) reckon that these people are being tapped on the shoulder to f.o. I reckon the National Party cant be a happy camp at the moment, but it is a very corporate way of running things, interesting.
It’s a good thing really I could name several high profile labour mp’s that should have been ‘shoulder tapped’ years ago.
I doubt things are too unhappy i’m sure most of them will wash up with a few cushy board positions or similar…
That’s the problem. Labour don’t have the corporate jobs to bribe their MOs with to leave.
Anyway, if Labour don’t get rid of their neoliberal rump they are toast.
There are far too many timid or compromised people in the party.
Yes. Labour is much more democratic though, im not convinced that the National’s Corporate approach is the right way, it might get rid of the deadwood but it also has its downsides. It does lead to a lot to people conforming to what the leader wants, so a lot of sucking up…but I still reckon that it is probably a much unhappier party than what is been let on.
If you did jcuknz you wouldn’t be on the blog so much as aRWNJ. After all there is no money in it for you, is there? Or are you too old to be a judge? (shades of Cook and Moore.)
It’s called rejuvenation. Look for more long-serving MPs to retire as National positions itself as a future-facing party in election year.
And on the other side of the political spectrum, we have the party going to the election with David Cunliffe, Phil Goff, Annette King, and Trevor Mallard. All Clark-era Cabinet ministers.
For bonus dotage: Mallard and King entered Parliament in the election that ousted Rob Muldoon.
But wait there’s more: Goff has been an MP since the election that ousted BILL ROWLING.
Plenty of sickening things happen every day but one of the worst this week has been the singing of Ariel Sharon’s praises at his funeral by Israeli politicians and an assortment of international butchers and war criminals such as former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Our own Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully was marginally less cringe-worthy saying Sharon had acted out of love of his country but at least acknowledged Sharon as “controversial” – a euphemism for “bloody butcher” in this case.
[deleted]
Sharon was one of the most vicious and gruesome political leaders from the 20th century.
[lprent: The quoting was excessive – relevant quoted *teasers* yes – not a copied page and a half. Opinion from yourself is what I’d usually expect as the main teaser anyway. Don’t make me have to do this work again. See the policy on cut’n’paste.
BTW and before you ask: The only reason that Penny Bright gets away with her massive screeds is because I can’t find them on google. Probably means that wherever else they are published has crappy search engine optimisation. BLip’s lists are original. ]
And if Labour retain their neo-liberal hue, nothing will change.
Just three examples off the bat:Goff supports the TPP and Jones supports off shore drilling and Labour MPs take gifts from Sky City
It’ll just be a slower death for workers’ rights in NZ and, more dangerously, more disaffected voters. The UK already suffers from this fact as there is no party there you can vote for that challenges neo-liberal economics.
(and,,ahem..!..the negotiating-stance i wd go for..is..
..if oil is found..the state gets 50% of the gusher…
..that’s the deal..
..take it or leave it..
..50%..or nothing…)
Bad move. Rescind the license completely and then set it up so that the drilling is either done directly by the government or under contract to the government for a fixed price. The government would own all of the oil/gas.
And do that with all the mining and resource extraction in the country.
Labour were infiltrated in the 80s by the neo-liberal virus.
Looks like the grassroots are trying to purge the party of this disease, but it’s hard work to oust these 5th columnists out of their comfortable rotten boroughs.
So where did our billions go? Hawksworth writes: “The logical answer is that the oil money enabled non-oil taxes to be kept lower.” In other words: tax cuts. When the North Sea was providing maximum income, Thatcher’s chancellor, Nigel Lawson slashed income and other direct taxes, especially for the rich. The top rate of tax came down from 60p in the pound to just 40p by 1988. He also reduced the basic rate of income tax; but the poor wouldn’t have seen much of those pounds in their pockets, as, thanks to the Tories, they were paying more VAT.
Yes where is he?…and Rhinocrates?….Maybe they are sunning themselves on a tropical island just listening to the lap of the waves….. and hoping that there wont be a cyclone…..
If one follows the link lprent put up there is some good links I think, though I haven;t caught up yet. Frankly I will always be running behind with the shovel as I think lots of the best stuff gets dropped unnoticed.
People who fight to establish a country are terrorists who become honoured citizens when they succeed in their endeavours. War, official or not, is a horrible and nasty business [irrespective of if you are the respected winner or the despised looser] and Arik succeeded but with age apparently became more sensible and tolerant of what is likely to succeed in the longterm.
As a man of his times and his situation he should be respected rather than reviled. But the past eight years illustrates the foolishness of quantity versus quality as practiced by the medical profession with the support of the rest of us.
What you say does make some sense. Sharon—or “Arik” as he was known to his friends and to hapless political makeweights like Joe “Kinnock” Biden—was a war criminal, and at his his funeral he was eulogized by war criminals. But he is not some monster who was running out of control; he was a faithful servant of a criminal, scofflaw regime. Nothing more, nothing less.
I was working in Palestine when Ariel Sharon rocked up to the Temple of the Mount with armed soldiers in tow, a few months out from the election.
Rioting ensued. So began the second intifada.
Sharon then rode the subsequent tide of racist nationalism to win the election
Most Israelis I spoke to at the time were disgusted that he would forment violence simply to stoke the fears of the Israeli populace. Several mentioned that he should be tried as a war criminal for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Even more believed he should have been court marshalled for disobeying Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War which led the the deaths of many of the soldiers under his command (and Golda Meirs resignation).
His career should have ended in a court marshall in 1973. Or at the very least in the Hague after 1982.
“Labour corrections spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern said [SERCO} should lose its contract to run Mt Eden.”
What was wrong with saying: “The next Labour-led government will cancel all contracts and/or close all private prisons. SERCO investors take note: you will lose 100% of your investment every single time you interfere in New Zealand penal policy”?
There are ways to Tory proof this country. Compulsory return of public property without compensation is a tool that needs to come out of the shed more often.
perhaps the most egregious aspect of this sell-out to american corporate interests by this tory govt..
..is the guarantee in the deal..for the nz state to provide these vultures with enough prisoners to fill their cells..and thus guarantee them their-profit-margins..
..and get this..!..under this sell-out deal..if the state does not serve up these/enough bodies for this american corporation..
..the nz taxpayers have to pay them compensation..
..the tories thus continuing to ensure we maintain our place of shame..
..so so near the top of the countries that imprison the most of their citizens..
First, Labour has to rediscover its backbone. Bloody hard when so many are “career politicians”, or else have been voted in under a tide of blue liberalism.
Imagine if some of them had to categorically state something, you wouldn’t see them for the dust. As for Serco, the old saying, a fool and his money are easily parted, rings true in this case.
We look at one of the most shocking incidents in the career of the late former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Up to 2,000 Palestinians died on Sept. 16-17, 1982, when the Israeli military allowed a Christian militia to attack the camp. Then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was forced to resign after a special Israeli investigative panel declared him to be “personally responsible” for the massacre. We air a description of the killings by Ellen Siegel, a Jewish-American nurse who was working at Gaza Hospital at the Sabra camp at the time of the attacks, and speak with Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, and Noam Chomsky, world-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology….
A couple of thoughts.
Apparently there is a lowering crime rate, yet it is a time of increased deprivation of many.
A possible flow on from increased deprivation. Thomas Belmonte in his sociological study of the very poor people of Naples , in his book The Broken Fountain noted that the police were kept away from this area. Their presence usually meant more problems, no-one would want to give them information because of peer pressure and because it drew them personally to police attention. To live they reverted to stealing, it was endemic. The children were adept at getting into car boots of cars stopped at intersections. They might be as adept at climbing as monkeys. The author when new to the area, turned in his room, and found a young boy who had scaled the balcony to the first floor to check him out. They stole from each other, the family possibly, their friends and neighbours, probably. The Catholic church was their first port of call when having difficulties. A cosa nostra scenario really.
So if people are likely to be questioned about their own life if they report a crime, they will think twice. And it has to be serious, to be reported. To people in these conditions, the police are not an option. Police are sometimes unfriendly but fair, sometimes not, always a complication. Community building and support are needed to overcome this in NZ and help with the young delinquents on diversion properly handled could be the best option. That is until, or if, the government sets in place an economy that allows people to strive and to better themselves, and gives them plenty of inexpensive opportunities.
Another thought.
The present parliamentary system is no better than committees I’ve been on for community organisations. A new committee comes in,. and proceeds to overturn decisions made previously that people spent time thinking and arguing and deciding on, and which are of benefit. A new group has a better idea and considers itself automatically better than the past, particularly if as is common in community organisations that don’t have rich patrons or funding, they are just cranking along doing some good.
The government can overturn good policies of the past. To avoid this, there has to be a burst of energy against it. The whole thing can be re argued. There is no cause to do this unless the thing is fundamentally wrong and is likely to be so because of the lack of checks in the system.
It seems to me that there should be a stay on change, though new legislation should go ahead in its processes. There should be panels of people who can put their names forward and are drawn like a jury at random. The lists would be of people who would have passed a test of basic knowledge about the country and its economy and political system. This would result in a highly ordered random selection of people being drawn from say five strata to get a range of backgrounds.
The process of making decisions about changes or new legislation should have a checklist of questions about the cost, the value added, who needs it and why, who doesn’t think they need it and why, the likelihood of unintended consequences, whether it is just a deterrent, an example of a small step to change societal attitudes – and there must be a consideration of under 100 words for each check, and all to be filled in and collated and published. This would slow down legislation immensely, but a lot of what is passed now is repairing badly prepared stuff, or puts new bad law that has immediate advantage to a small group in, later to be mourned by those picking up the pieces. It would cut down on externalities being greatly resorted to, as less could be blithely passed over by the irresponsible.
I like the thoughts. A more ‘informed participatory democracy’ getting a wider range of views, experience and knowledge. It would reduce the influence of well funded individuals, politicians, narrow minded civil servants, ideologists, vested interests and lobbyists. I’m of the view that too much power is vested in too few people.
who read the angry pro-smacking tirade in the dompost this a.m.by one of Craigs acolytes.
people like this should not be allowed to have children in the first place.
The media is definitely doing a beat up on Colin Craig so far this year. It’s amazing how money can get you some much media space.
Why? The Tories are definitely trying to bait the NZ electorate on this one, as it represents their best hope of power in 2014.
I suggest that editors at newspapers and producers at TV and radio stations are being told to include this as content as much as possible. It’s a bit like having a playlist at a bad music radio station. You get no independence to select your own tracks. The owners of this country tell the media what to play.
“The media is definitely doing a beat up on Colin Craig so far this year”
you are missing what is really going on Paul
It is an election year and the Nat supporters who want even more hate to flood NZ need to be told where they can safely vote without scaring the pollsters too much
Brendon Who???, ah what choices for the people of Tauranga, (1) do they vote for the bloke who if watched closely when under pressure shows clear signs of being in possession of a serious disease of the mind, or (2), cast one for the bloke what can switch on and off at will a smile of such radiance that the sun pales into insignificance, said smile all the while never quite being translated through the eyes making one wonder if He who bestows such has an axe concealed somewhere about their person…
Phillip Ure, raking the ashes of what is past, tell me something, as a leftist what use do you see of a NZFirst Party that could just as easily decide to prop up a National Government as a Government of the left,
Now tell me something, Winston cannot carry on forever,(unless He has found some substance the rest of us have so far missed), so who of the 2011 intake of NZFirst could have possibly kept the NZFirst Party alive after Winston,
Who in that Party had an ounce of the charisma, the mana if you will to be able to carry that Party forward after Winston,
Brendon Who??? don’t be such a soft mug Phillip, this is the long game of politics and the knee-capping of Brendon Who is simply a small move in the game,
i don’t think you will find me having commented on Brendon Who’s honesty at any point, simply because as i insinuate that wasn’t the point…
The joys of US ‘quantitative easing’ washing across the borders into New Zealand perhaps, meanwhile back in the jungle as the US leviathans flash the cash the US congress is hell bent on slashing it in the form of cancelling unemployment benefits for 100’s of thousands in the US still suffering from the unemployment brought about the Global Financial Crisis,
The hypocrisy of this which cannot escape any of us except perhaps the most hardened of wing-nuts…
So we keep hearing how business confidence in NZ has hit an all time high.
After mass sacking of workers, slashing of workers’ rights and pay, after total dis-empowering of unions, after blackmailing workers into submission by threatening them with job losses, and making massive profits which are being distributed only among the management, with the help and support by a compliant government, no wonder the business confidence is so high.
Yes, the celebrating of business confidence implies that we all benefit. In fact, things like the GFC are exploited by the coporate plutocracy, so that, when there is a recovery, wages are lower, jobs more preacarious, and workers’ rights have been further whittled away.
Also, why do people so hate Martyn Bradbury? I don’t know the man at all apart from what he writes in his blogs, so more insight would be helpful.
He’s apparently joined Kim Dotcom’s party. WTF?
You know the extradition case is in tatters, don’t you Funi Man? The evidence the police presented proven false, the warrant illegal, the provision of access to sealed court evidence to unauthorised foreign nationals, do you think all those things have just sort of gone away now they aren’t in the media so much?
What sort of weight do you suppose the court will give to this sad litany when considering its decision? Do you suppose it will affect the degree of trust the court is prepared to invest in the rest of the Yankee request much?
Clearly you are of the sort that believes the accused are always guilty whether proven innocent or not, and your opinion is utterly irrelevant, but I care, Funi Man. I’m looking forward to your chagrin 🙂
Source WO. Bradbury was a consultant to the internet Party early on. Ditto Graeme Edgeler. Trotter as alleged cheerleader.+
I don’t hate Bradbury. Sometimes I totally agree with his comments/analysis. Sometimes I think he’s not a very in-depth thinker. He also can be a bit contradictory. He’s a good publicist – can use the media quite well.
Some find him too opinionated and too focused on his own publicity.
The only thing I like about KDC is the way he makes John Key squirm on the end of his bayonet. Millionaire vs Millionaire battle just another gormless media distraction really.
Says you. As for NZ interests, I note he is funding a political party and has apparently hired (or at least called for expressions of interest from) some quite serious players to run it.
The last time someone tried something of this nature, The New Zealand Party got 12% of the vote.
I won’t be surprised if he fails, but I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t.
I’m struggling to seeing him make 5%, but the New Zealand Party…
I’m not. The Greens got 6.8% in their first election. Act got 6.9% in their first election.
I see it as highly probably that, in their first election, The Internet Party will get over 5%. The question is if they will be able to maintain that. Act hasn’t but The Greens are going strong.
Nice little ‘jolt’ felt in Wellington just now, maybe 2.5-3 on the rickety scale, a minor isolated movement or more from the series shaking the top of the South???…
It doesn’t add up. Looking at the numbers from the msd site, the $10.3 billion decrease doesn’t add up to the figures on the site. It only shows $7.3 billion. There was $1.5B was added that was a methodology correction to the 2012 liability figures. So it should have been $8.8 billion. But that’s still $1.5 billion more than the numbers published on the MSD site. http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/newsroom/media-releases/2014/taylor-fry-welfare-valuation.html
Most of the savings was due to cheaper service rates $3.0 billion.
While only $180 million was due to lower than expected benefit payments.
Take this from the msd site,
—
The June 2012 total liability was $86.8 billion, compared with the June 2013 liability of $76.5 billion.
—
That’s there $10.3 billion figure. But in the notes at the bottom of the page is this,
—
[ii] The starting liability at 30 June 2012 was reduced to $85.3 billion due to methodology correction.
—
Oh look, there’s $1.5 Billion they are still counting even though they had corrected the figure due to methodology. Can’t trust there numbers if they make such a simple error
I just noticed on zerohedge.com that the benchmark Baltic Dry shipping indexing is collapsing at historic rates. That implies massive dry bulk carrying over capacity on 23 of the world’s major trade routes.
I don’t think that the global real economy is going to do any good this year, at all.
That was mentioned in a article I read a year or two back on shipping. The article mentioned that there was an awful lot carrying capacity coming on line in the next year or two and that competition would drive prices for shipping to below cost.
Haven’t noticed any pictures or mentions about David Cunliffe on holiday with his family etc etc…Key’s boys been getting high fives from Obama on the golf course in Hawaii…absolute elitism but also very hard to attack as that…
hmmmm? CCC or KDC? What interesting times we live in! I suppose it should come as no surprise that we see a plethora of minor parties applying for the tail role of, not just wagging the dog, but potentially choosing the pooch to be promenaded by. Fun and doo doors ahead folks. Keep shoveling and smile!
It costs a lot to live in Auckland, and the reason is ?…. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11185768
Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development tourism manager Jason Hill said the city billed itself as a top-quality holiday spot.
“Auckland doesn’t profess to be a budget destination, but delivers on other aspects of visitor experiences and consistently ranks highly as a desirable place to visit,” he said.
How about those of us who reside perminately within Auckland and are captured within this low wage economy ? Perhaps as a cup of coffee, a beer , dinner our are so expensive, then those working within the industry could expect to see an uplift in their wages, at least there in no reason for working conditions to be attacked!! http://www.sfwu.org.nz
Common sense and logic fail as to why it is soooo costly to live within New Zealand. Perhaps it is all that money bring exported out as dividends in the banking sector:-)
Like many people, my submission on the Zero Carbon Bill urged more ambitious targets. And if the select committee was in any doubt, they're needed:An assessment backed by the world’s major climate science bodies has found commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be at least tripled and increased by ...
NZ Energy and Environment Business Week reports (in Scoop) that the government is finally moving on reforming the Crown Minerals Act, including banning mining on conservation land and repealing the hated Anadarko Amendment:The Government is planning to change the Crown Minerals Act’s purpose from “promoting” mining in light of changing ...
Anti-fluoride campaigners think a new Canadian fluoride IQ study is the best thing since sliced bread but the scientific critiques warn they are wrong. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty The new Canadian ...
Reprinted from Jacobinmag by Jane Slaughter and Chris Brooks Almost 50,000 UAW workers are on strike against GM and a two-tier labor system that undermines worker solidarity. But members may need to wage a battle on two fronts — against the company, but also against their own union leadership. Forty-nine ...
Before Jacingrant There Was Gracinda: Grant Robertson and his 2014 running mate, Jacinda Ardern. She stood at his side: loyal and obliging, as she had ever been. The media dubbed this duo “Gracinda” – a sort of political “Brangelina”. The other young people who worked alongside Robertson were also ambitious ...
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has cautioned the nation and policy makers on the 2018 Census figures released today and indicated that while some work has been done the fact that Maori remained unrepresented as a national figure in the tally on the day ...
A ground-breaking study which looks at how Māori and Samoan peoples describe their experience of youth justice across three different but comparable countries is calling for participants. ...
New Zealand’s 34th Census of Population and Dwellings was held on 6 March 2018. We combined data from the census forms with administrative data to create the 2018 Census dataset, which meets Stats NZ’s quality criteria for population structure ...
Results from the 2018 Census show New Zealand’s cultural make-up is becoming more diverse after high population growth in the past five years, Stats NZ said today. ...
Population growth since 2013 has resulted in one new general electorate in the North Island but no change to the number of Māori electorates for the next general election, Stats NZ said today. ...
As the public submissions process draws to a close, and with more than 900 submissions received to date, the Royal Commission is still urging people to come forward if they have information which may help with its inquiries. “We have twice extended ...
Amending the rules on black hole expenditure and loss continuity shows excellent judgment from the Government, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
If we want New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child, the Government needs to increase benefits, remove sanctions, individualise benefits, and fix abatement rates now, says Child Poverty Action Group and ActionStation . ...
Today the we have another chance to do the right thing to really lift incomes for thousands of people in this country who are missing out, says The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora. ...
Saving the ocean’s environment continues tomorrow as Ngati Ruanui Iwi takes on Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) who wish to mine iron sand off the South Taranaki Bight in the Tasman Sea in what has been a five-year battle. ...
Wellington - 23 September 2019 -- Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) and Greenpeace are in the Court of Appeal in Wellington this week, defending last year’s High Court ruling that quashed Trans-Tasman Resources’ (TTR) consent to mine the South ...
“Climate change is here - we all need to do our part.” Monday 23rd September 2019. Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre Climate change is happening. CEAC – compendium facts tribute to ‘Climate Change Week’ https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/115098866/exceptionally-rare-warming-above-antarctica-may-be-affecting-nzs-weather ...
Criminal law changes are now increasingly being used by politicians as a vote gathering tool pandering to lynch mob special interest groups. To look tough against crime, govts constantly increase penalties, create new crimes, and make it harder to get ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
Nerds, rejoice. The day of reckoning is finally upon us, with the release of the data from the 2018 census. So what are some of the interesting facts and figures?Forget about how badly this Census was botched. Forget about how there are concerns over how accurate the response data is, ...
A perfectly preserved set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges went on sale this week. Hayden Donnell delivers an exclusive update on their fate.Everyone remembers their first encounter with Junk & Disorderly’s set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit & Veges. There’s something overpowering about the experience. The Butter looms ...
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Don Rowe looks at the two horse race to control the tourism capital of New Zealand.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Queenstown, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Foreign affairs and trade Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern to take climate change stage in ...
The Government has included two small tax changes with its 32 page 'Economic Plan' that paints a big picture for economic and wellbeing transformation. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone Casey, Research Associate, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University In all Australia’s capital cities, average share-house rents in the inner suburbs (where jobs are concentrated) leave people without enough money for food and other basics, new research shows. This research, for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University Tonight is the AFL’s annual night of nights, the red-carpet spectacular known as the Brownlow Medal vote count. The Brownlow is awarded to the season’s “fairest and best” player. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of Queensland The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Howard Manns, Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University Not to put a damper on things, but Australian food hasn’t always made us happy little Vegemites. One needn’t look further than the humble meat pie to see how our love/hate relationship with Aussie tucker ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirrie J Ballard, Professor, Speech Pathology, University of Sydney Sam is a high school drama teacher — articulate, funny, smart. It’s an ordinary day and she isn’t feeling great, but pushes through. At morning tea, she spills coffee down her shirt; at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penelope Carroll, Researcher in Public Health, Massey University Our research project explored the everyday lives of disabled young people, aged from 12 to 25 years, with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. We measured and asked them about factors that enabled or constrained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Sessional Lecturer, UNSW Reducing emissions from deforestation and farming is an urgent global priority if we want to control climate change. However, like many climate change problems, the solution is complicated. Cutting down forests to plant edible crops feeds some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Kristin Merga, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There’s great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lili Pâquet, Lecturer in Writing, University of New England In Dervla McTiernan’s book, The Scholar, published earlier this year, women are consistently used as the “fall guys” for men with high aspirations. Two young women are killed when they uncover fraud. Another ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indonesia to send contaminated recycling back to NZ, LAWA report shows water quality dropping at more sites than not, and Spark Sport suffers harsh weekend.Shipping containers full of contaminated recycling could be shipped back to New Zealand, Anna Whyte from One News reported ...
Solomon Islands and Kiribati last week dramatically switched diplomatic allegiances from Taiwan to China, a shift with possibly wide-ranging implications writes Stephen Hoadley of the University of Auckland. ...
Jacinda Ardern has a busy agenda for her second trip to the annual leaders' week, not least a high-profile sit-down with US President Donald Trump. ...
An Auckland mayoral candidate has reacted furiously to an advertising approach from Māori Television, which he says was a pay-for-play offer of coverage. Alex Braae reports. Craig Lord, a long-shot candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, has described an advertising offer from Māori Television as inappropriate, and close to “extortion.”In an email ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Until our mental health system gets its promised overhaul, we need to find cost-effective and creative ways for mental health professionals to increase their awareness across all areas of diversity. ...
Assessing the fallout – for better and for worse – of Spark’s dismal RWC debut.The worst fears of Spark came true over the weekend, as issues impacted its stream of the All Blacks’ pivotal matchup with South Africa, leading to it transferring the livestream to TVNZ’s Duke. The following day ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison was frank, when quizzed at a news conference during his visit to Washington, on whether he would be seeking to travel to China in the next year. “Well, you have to be invited ...
By Michael Andrew Social media and tech industries have been replicating the ugliest aspects of capitalism from the 1800s, according to an AUT computer science lecturer. Associate Professor Tony Clear says that social media and tech executives are taking advantage of unregulated markets in a similar way as wealthy ...
Covering Climate Now: There’s a range of dairy-free ice creams available these days, but it’s a fair bet none will be as delicious – or satisfying – as making your own. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!If the latest stats ...
Covering Climate Action: Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit, artist Joseph Michael and composer Rhian Sheehan teamed up to create Voices For The Future, a 30-minute installation projected onto the UN buildings.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Joseph Michael is ...
New Zealand banning Huawei’s 5G network equipment won’t impact you nearly as much as the US’s recent moves against Huawei phones, writes Henry Burrell. Twenty years ago, you would have shown off your flash new Ericsson or Nokia. How times change. Now, those two entities exist only to provide mobile network ...
Op-Ed by Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)Kaveh Zahedi is Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).In less than ten days world leaders will be ...
Grant McDougall reviews Kilgour’s new solo album, Bobbie’s A Girl, which sees him reflecting on the deaths of his friend and former bandmate, Peter Gutteridge and his own mother, Helen Kilgour. There is a passage in Shayne Carter’s excellent recent autobiography, Dead People I Have Known, in which he describes ...
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of ...
Ruby Porterlooks into New Zealand’s future when the sea level rises 10, 25 and 80 metres, and finds out how much of Auckland will be left.I grew up in Ponsonby, but the only bay I knew around here was Cox’s. It’s fed by a creek which was once a mahinga ...
Opening up a skid pad, create more housing for single people and make the central city dog friendly: policies from Christchurch's lesser-known mayoral candidates. ...
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...
Covering Climate Now:Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we go crazy for crickets in a climate week special.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. ...
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
Open mike 15/01/2014 
Like many people, my submission on the Zero Carbon Bill urged more ambitious targets. And if the select committee was in any doubt, they're needed:An assessment backed by the world’s major climate science bodies has found commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be at least tripled and increased by ...16 mins ago
Anti-fluoride campaigners think a new Canadian fluoride IQ study is the best thing since sliced bread but the scientific critiques warn they are wrong. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty The new Canadian ... 1 hour ago
Reprinted from Jacobinmag by Jane Slaughter and Chris Brooks Almost 50,000 UAW workers are on strike against GM and a two-tier labor system that undermines worker solidarity. But members may need to wage a battle on two fronts — against the company, but also against their own union leadership. Forty-nine ...17 hours ago
Before Jacingrant There Was Gracinda: Grant Robertson and his 2014 running mate, Jacinda Ardern. She stood at his side: loyal and obliging, as she had ever been. The media dubbed this duo “Gracinda” – a sort of political “Brangelina”. The other young people who worked alongside Robertson were also ambitious ...1 day ago
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...2 days ago
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...3 days ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...3 days ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...3 days ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...4 days ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...4 days ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...4 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...5 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...5 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...5 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...5 days ago
6 days ago
7 days ago
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...7 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...1 week ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...1 week ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...1 week ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...1 week ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...2 weeks ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...2 weeks ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...2 weeks ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 2 weeks ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...2 weeks ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...2 weeks ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...2 weeks ago
Firearm owners can now seek the modification of eligible prohibited firearms, and a list of Approved Gunsmiths is available on the Police website. ...2 hours ago
Nerds, rejoice. The day of reckoning is finally upon us, with the release of the data from the 2018 census. So what are some of the interesting facts and figures?Forget about how badly this Census was botched. Forget about how there are concerns over how accurate the response data is, ...18 mins ago
A perfectly preserved set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges went on sale this week. Hayden Donnell delivers an exclusive update on their fate.Everyone remembers their first encounter with Junk & Disorderly’s set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit & Veges. There’s something overpowering about the experience. The Butter looms ...26 mins ago
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Don Rowe looks at the two horse race to control the tourism capital of New Zealand.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Queenstown, ...1 hour ago
The government is investing $14 million into the Hawke's Bay, for food innovation and employment opportunities. ...2 hours ago
An essay and review by Russell Brown in response to a newly-published guide to the future: medical cannabis. ...2 hours ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
The Government has included two small tax changes with its 32 page 'Economic Plan' that paints a big picture for economic and wellbeing transformation. ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone Casey, Research Associate, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University In all Australia’s capital cities, average share-house rents in the inner suburbs (where jobs are concentrated) leave people without enough money for food and other basics, new research shows. This research, for ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University Tonight is the AFL’s annual night of nights, the red-carpet spectacular known as the Brownlow Medal vote count. The Brownlow is awarded to the season’s “fairest and best” player. But ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of Queensland The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirrie J Ballard, Professor, Speech Pathology, University of Sydney Sam is a high school drama teacher — articulate, funny, smart. It’s an ordinary day and she isn’t feeling great, but pushes through. At morning tea, she spills coffee down her shirt; at ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penelope Carroll, Researcher in Public Health, Massey University Our research project explored the everyday lives of disabled young people, aged from 12 to 25 years, with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. We measured and asked them about factors that enabled or constrained ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Sessional Lecturer, UNSW Reducing emissions from deforestation and farming is an urgent global priority if we want to control climate change. However, like many climate change problems, the solution is complicated. Cutting down forests to plant edible crops feeds some ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Kristin Merga, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There’s great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lili Pâquet, Lecturer in Writing, University of New England In Dervla McTiernan’s book, The Scholar, published earlier this year, women are consistently used as the “fall guys” for men with high aspirations. Two young women are killed when they uncover fraud. Another ...5 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indonesia to send contaminated recycling back to NZ, LAWA report shows water quality dropping at more sites than not, and Spark Sport suffers harsh weekend.Shipping containers full of contaminated recycling could be shipped back to New Zealand, Anna Whyte from One News reported ...7 hours ago
The Chinese NZ Herald is in the spotlight for its operational arrangements China, which experts say amount to CCP state control. ...7 hours ago
Luisa Avaiki may be ruing the missed opportunity, but her Warriors women still made history - twice - at Mt Smart Stadium. ...7 hours ago
An Auckland mayoral candidate has reacted furiously to an advertising approach from Māori Television, which he says was a pay-for-play offer of coverage. Alex Braae reports. Craig Lord, a long-shot candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, has described an advertising offer from Māori Television as inappropriate, and close to “extortion.”In an email ...8 hours ago
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...8 hours ago
By Michael Andrew Social media and tech industries have been replicating the ugliest aspects of capitalism from the 1800s, according to an AUT computer science lecturer. Associate Professor Tony Clear says that social media and tech executives are taking advantage of unregulated markets in a similar way as wealthy ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Now: There’s a range of dairy-free ice creams available these days, but it’s a fair bet none will be as delicious – or satisfying – as making your own. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!If the latest stats ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Action: Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit, artist Joseph Michael and composer Rhian Sheehan teamed up to create Voices For The Future, a 30-minute installation projected onto the UN buildings.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Joseph Michael is ...1 day ago
Op-Ed by Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Grant McDougall reviews Kilgour’s new solo album, Bobbie’s A Girl, which sees him reflecting on the deaths of his friend and former bandmate, Peter Gutteridge and his own mother, Helen Kilgour. There is a passage in Shayne Carter’s excellent recent autobiography, Dead People I Have Known, in which he describes ...1 day ago
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of ...1 day ago
Ruby Porter looks into New Zealand’s future when the sea level rises 10, 25 and 80 metres, and finds out how much of Auckland will be left.I grew up in Ponsonby, but the only bay I knew around here was Cox’s. It’s fed by a creek which was once a mahinga ...1 day ago
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...2 days ago
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...2 days ago
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...2 days ago
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...2 days ago
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...2 days ago
Sensible Sentencing Trust’s offender data base a bit threadbare
High-profile criminals have not yet been included
Yesterday I heard Garth “The Knife” McVicar on his publicly funded advertising outlet (Radio NZ National) announcing that the S.S. Trust Offenders Database was up and running again. I made a quick visit to the site to see just how thorough and comprehensive it was. One of the first things you notice is this laudable statement: “The Sensible Sentencing Trust believes in an open and transparent Justice System.”
First up, I typed in the name Alan Titford and ticked the box for “Arson”. NO RESULT.
Next, I typed in the name David Garrett and ticked the box for “Robbery/Attempted Robbery”. NO RESULT.
Then I typed in the name Bruce Emery and ticked the box for “Murder/Manslaughter”. NO RESULT.
Since these are all high-profile offenders, it seemed odd that their names were not yet on this database. Then I saw the following sign: “Submit Offender Information: Use the form below to get in touch and submit information about offenders.”
I filled in the submission form with the following information….
BRUCE EMERY. In late 2008, he chased down a boy on a South Auckland street, then stabbed him repeatedly, killing him.
Perhaps other Standard readers may like to submit the same names (Titford, Garrett, Emery) to the database, with a résumé of their crimes, to remind the people at the S.S. Trust to get it up to date……
http://www.sst.org.nz/offenders-database/
SST are particularly selective about who’s on their naughty list aren’t they? Emery’s victim, Pihema Cameron, for example, apparently not worthy of the same amount of outrage as others, yet, Pihema’s family received the least amount of justice. So why the silence?
Hypocrites.
Emery’s victim, Pihema Cameron, for example, apparently not worthy of the same amount of outrage as others…
It’s actually far, far worse than that, Rosie. Garth McVicar actually mounted a public campaign of traducing the reputation and memory of the dead boy and his family. He also loudly advocated for tolerance for and understanding of the boy’s killer, who he claimed was a decent citizen. Noelle McCarthy was struggling to hide her disgust for McVicar when she interviewed him in March 2011…
Oh that is truly despicable. Double standards, hypocrisy, and undisguised callousness. McVicar’s brain must be well and truly addled. He is no victims rights advocate, he is a vulture.
And yes, he really is a vulture, the way he swoops when someone has been murdered – but only for a victim who fits his description of who is worthy of outrage.
mcvicar is not only a ‘vulture’..
..he is a calculated/calculating/opportunistic ‘vulture’..
..the worst kind..
..phillip ure..
To be fair, Garrett isn’t a robber AFAIK.
Thug, identity thief, drink driver: yes.
But not a robber.
I have let them know about Alan Titford:
“Alan Titford is an extremely dangerous offender who has been convicted of arson. I believe you need to keep an eye on him, as he is very dangerous to women, children, minorities, and seems totally divorced from reality. ”
They can probably keep an eye on him once he’s paroled, when he’ll be able to attend their meetings again.
Hi folks – would like some help refining this argument. Please any criticisms and other input welcome , Thanks in advance.
I have a problem with cars – a 100 years ago they had 4 wheels, a motor which ran on oil and a body – same as today really. A computer on the other hand was as large as a house, run on valves and need the operating system written in every day. Now your phone is a more powerful computer than the computer they used to land on the moon – but your car is still 4 wheels on a body, with a motor run with oil.
It could have been so much better….
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/03/retro-future-glorious-transportation.html
I dunno, the monocycle looks outright dangerous. So does that 200mph speed limit.
not to mention much like computers, engines have become more powerful, more efficient and much smaller… anf computers still run on electric.
To easily picked apart imo
And the car engines are pretty digitsed today – mechanics take all sorts of readings with electronic machines. My mechanic talks about how these days there’s all sorts of liquids that need monitoring and replacing at different times. Used to be that cars just mostly needed a main oil change.
But, I reckon we should just go back to the horse and cart – maintenance would be far easier – fuel top ups every day, regular checks with the vet and of the wheels, cart and reigns, daily waste disposal…… most jobs we could easily do ourselves without expensive equipment to monitor fluids and parts.
Unfortunately, horses emit more greenhouse gases per tonne/km, than trucks. 🙂
Difference being that horses and what not are merely recycling the ‘natural sink’ of carbon whereas oil is an addition to that ‘natural sink’ – like the difference between burning wood and burning coal. 😉
right up until they add fertiliser to the soil to feed the horses, in which case the difference diminishes significantly 🙂
And again, that depends on the source of the fertiliser and how we choose to manage soils, no? Pour oil derivatives on and we are adding external sources to the ‘natural sink’…allow pastures to lie fallow so that soil, its ecosystems and fertility build up and gasses from the ‘natural sink’ and natural cycle, that nevertheless contribute to warming are, at least temporarily, sequestrated.
nice – just reread up on the basics of crop rotation, thanks 🙂
“But, I reckon we should just go back to the horse and cart”
Please no karol! Horses are treated appallingly here in NZ, the number of them that turn up half dead with their spirits broken at animal sanctuaries around the country are a testament to that. Even now days, Once a horse is deemed to have finished its useful life it is still sent to slaughter and ends up in Jimbo’s pet food. I kid you not. I have met these beautiful darlings who have been rescued at the last moment.
And work horses that are used in other countries are used and abused and often die young from untreated injuries and illnesses. It’s the one time where you actually welcome those busy body types that get all judgemental with how other cultures operate, to come and set up horse hospitals, take the work horses of the hands of the “owner”, provide them with income lost for not having their horse or donkey working, treat the horse for diseases and injury, feed them up, get them well nourished and return to them to the owner with instructions on how to take care of them. (This happens in Egypt but may also be happening in other countries)
Horses are highly sensitive, sociable and emotional herd animals that suffer so much at our hands and tolerate so much. They are also hugely expensive to look after and high maintenance.
People that are supposed to be “horse people” can’t always be trusted to care for horses, let alone folks that know nothing of them.
Instead, how about we overthrow Big Oil and create a vehicle that is simple to run and maintain and runs on water? Not much to ask eh? Lol.
I absolutely agree, Rosie.
A lot of people think that SPCAs were set up to look after pets such as dogs and cats, etc.
The history of SPCAs is that they were established in the mid 1800s by Wilberforce and others to deal with the appalling treatment of horses in the days of the horse and cart, horses being used in coal mines etc etc. In fact, the establishment of SPCAs here in NZ for this purpose predates the establishment of a Police force.
Oh, that first scene in “Amazing Grace” where the character of William Wilberforce came across a pair of men who were beating a cart horse who had fallen from exhaustion was so awful.
The Industrial Revolution saved the work horse from future harm and organisations like the SPCA helped to educate others as the horse transitioned from work to recreation in industrialised nations. So the Industrial Revolution improved the lot for the horse but being humans, we managed to stuff up our planet instead.
Its at this point I put my hand up for all the farm animals abused by the attitude of the NZ farmer. All livestock requires shelter from the sun, cold, rain and wind, and all livestock need sufficient space and freedom of movement. Go out of town, see all the cows and sheep in full sun with no shelter, or freezing in open paddocks during a southerly. Or pigs and chickens imprisoned in cages. We farm industrially and treat the stock appallingly.
I might also add the farmers are matched in their disdain of living things by anglers (of whom I am one) who hold their catch up out of water for a photo, and who delight in the joys of “fighting” a distressed fish rather than making it short and sweet. Growl, things that make me mad……
“We farm industrially and treat the stock appallingly’
Indeed we do Ennui. Our lack of basic compassion for “industrial” animals in our care demonstrates a lack of emotional intelligence, and certainly a lack of respect for the animal.
I wonder if there will ever be a government enlightened or willing enough to introduce decent standards of care for farmed animals. Funnily enough it may likely be economically advantageous for exporters if we could demonstrate that NZer’s were caring farmers, of both animals and the land.
Good on you for not mucking around with your fish either.
plus one ennui .
i would have a lot more respect for the spca if they started to agitate/educate/advocate about farmed animals that do not have shelter.
to see a cow in the height of summer, standing with its head in the shadow of a strainer post, to get some relief is kinda sad.
it is even more galling as there is dollars involved.
Methinks horses are not the answer.
The motor vehicle saved humankind from horse manure and dead horses. If a horse broke down it was oft shot and left in the street for the city authorities to take care of the corpse.
http://www.uctc.net/access/30/Access%2030%20-%2002%20-%20Horse%20Power.pdf
“The horse was no newcomer on the urban scene. But by the late
1800s, the problem of horse pollution had reached unprecedented
heights. The growth in the horse population was outstripping even the
rapid rise in the number of human city dwellers. American cities were
drowning in horse manure as well as other unpleasant byproducts of
the era’s predominant mode of transportation: urine, flies, congestion,
carcasses, and traffic accidents.Widespread cruelty to horses was a form
of environmental degradation as well.
The situation seemed dire.
In 1894, the Times of London estimated that by 1950 every street in the city would be buried nine feet deep in horse manure.”
OK. I learned something. Thanks, Rosie and veuto.
I like walking anyway.
I hope that there isn’t any leather in your shoes karol.
If there is I hope you will think of the poor animal that died in order that you might walk comfortably in your leather (uppers or soles) shoes.
Yes alwyn, treating animals cruelly while they’re alive is exactly the same as making shoes out of them when they’re dead.
🙄
it’s more that it is part of the same uncaring continuum..felix..
..that belief that animals are there for our pleasure/use/exploitation..
..and yep..!..when you haven’t worn animal skins for a long time..
..yr standard pair of shoes is kinda gross..
..you look at it..and you don’t think..’mmm!..leather.!’..
..you think..animal skin taken/used as the final indignity in their miserable/tortured lives..ew..!
..it’s all a matter of perspective..eh…
..phillip ure..
I think my footwear is mostly rubber & synthetic – I’d have thought hardly any kinder to the environment than leather – what am I going to do – stay home, go barefoot on todays pavements?
I think my footwear is mostly rubber & synthetic –
Ah, nothing to beat that old vegan stinkfoot syndrome…especially hingy when synthetic socks are thrown into the rubber/canvas/nylon shoe mix 😉
You are forgiven Karol. Sackcloth and ashes are not required.
I was only trying to get a little lightness into life with the remark.
My god, but the stuff before your comment, on the origons of the SPCA and the treatment of horses, was depressing wasn’t it?
@ alwyn..
..that recoiling in disgust re the historical treatment of horses..
..if vehemently stated today..while wolfing down some veal/w.h.y….
..does take black-irony to a new level..eh..?
..i call it the greenpeace-bbq-syndrome..
..save the planet..!
..(but first..excuse me while i chow down on some animal-flesh..)
..phillip ure..
Phil …
you seem to be …
posting more frequently…
lately….
Are you…
leaving enough room…
for…
Penny?
If we don’t crush the souls of animals as we walk, how do we absorb their vitalistic powers?
Lol. I may have been a bit reactive karol, but it wasn’t aimed at you at all 🙂
Believe me, you wouldn’t go back to a horse and cart if you lived in a city where they regularly run tourists around. The roads they use and the park-up spots are to be avoided. Although the poo is capture in horsey bags, the stench of horse-piss is unbearable in summer (barely bearable in winter).
In the past hundred years I think it is correct to say that the human cargo they are designed to carry has got taller and considerably bigger with over eating, in countries where cars are produced so it is understandable that their size has not reduced …. there has for a long time been the alternative motorbikes and shanks pony .. the latter is miniscule.
Why would car manufacturers want to produce more efficient, and therefore less profitable cars? Maybe trace the connections between the oil industry and car manufacturers? Also…why the hell were cars ever introduced as a means of mass transport? Oh yeah…the conspiracy (charged in court as such and found guilty) of the rubber industry, oil industry and car industry, whereby they bought up public transport networks and deliberately trashed them to create a market for the automobile.
fascinating doco on the killing of the electric car http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4EbhkmlaK8
15,000+ people registered to attend Kim Dotcom’s party launch, which due to wild interest has been moved from the Cloud to Vector Arena.
I hope John Key has got his party pants, because it looks like we are in for a German Sparkle Party.
re 15,000 vector..
could you give the link/source for than information..
..ta..
..i wd like to report on it..
..but can’t just take yr word for it..eh..?
..nothing personal…
phillip ure..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11186349
“…However, more than 15,000 people registered for tickets, forcing Dotcom to move the party to Vector Arena…”
@ sanctuary..
..thanks..
..just that fact should have politicians of all stripes reaching for the anti-depressants..
phillip ure..
You might also be interested in reading Chris Trotter’s take on the possible ramifications of the launch of KDC’s political party, PU, on his blog site, Bowalley Road and in The Press today.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2014/01/get-ready-for-megaparty-of-serious-fun.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/chris-trotter/9606125/Dotcoms-Megaparty-of-serious-fun
Trotter’s view is that it may well appeal a lot to the younger generation of voters as a fresh option unencumbered by the past – an extract from his article
“Statistics New Zealand estimate that on June 30, 2013, there were 333,840 New Zealanders aged 20-24 – more than enough to surmount the 5 per cent MMP threshold.”
With over 15,000 people already registered for tickets to The PartyParty next Monday night in less than 24 hours, IMO they will get the 500 registered members very quickly to qualify for registration of the political party.
UPDATE; KDC has just tweeted that the name of the party will be the “Internet Party”, not the Mega Party. He has also tweeted the logo
Tweets by KimDotcom
KDC is popular up north.
He was doing rather a good job of redistributing his wealth, locally.
lousy logo..
you’d think they’d de-capitalise..drop the stop..
..and centre ‘party’ under ‘internet’..
..or run both on same line..
..it feels not in the slightest bit..’modern’..
..and that was the best shade of purple to hand..?
..i don’t mean to be picky..but..
..there is so much to pick at..
..phillip ure..
Guessing the reason for capitalising both words and putting Party directly under Internet is so that you have a vertical acronym IP – Internet Protocol which fits the agenda – such as it is.
Have no idea about the purple though.
Purple is a Suffragette colour. – or lesbian – or just a mix of red and blue signifiying it’s neither totally left or right wing – which, IMO, usually means centrist according to the centre ground of the time.
Purple = United Future in my brain.
Someone on Twitter noted it’s also close to the colour palette for Orcon.
[ETA: I see BM also made the Orcon connection downthread.]
Bill the galactic hero…
From memory, his drill sadist used to wear that colour. It was meant to be a mixture between the bright red of arterial blood and the “blue” blood of veins. Actually the blood in veins are also red – a dark red of deoxygenated haemoglobin. Veins just look blue from the outside… But hey it is a just a book.. 😈
Of course if KDC starts to transplant large incisors then I’d start worrying what fictional universe he wants to live in.
Looking around it appears that this red/blue thing is still a popular myth.
http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=2927
my 18 year old son is voting for KDC…otherwise he said he wouldn’t vote
I knew that reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 was a mistake.
I fear that your son is proving it.
Because there won’t be hundreds of hipster 25-year-olds voting for KDC. 🙄
@ alwyn lol…yes he has been called a fuckwit ……but he has the vote so you cant ignore it
….the way of youth is totally different from the way we oldies think…the internet has provided another parallel universe for them …and I am afraid for good or ill it is a revolutionary change
imo KDC could mop up a lot of votes from cynical youth who would not otherwise vote
Suspicious use of purple, same color as the Orcon logo, hmmmm.
Is the internet party just a advertising gimmick for Orcon?
KDC already has a relationship with Orcon – and features on some of their advertising.
https://t.co/1PrbjUDCCP/large
Oops, that link doesn’t work. See the link to KDC’s Twitter site in my earlier comment. There is a picture of KDC in an Orcon ad on a bus.
I know, that’s why I mentioned it.
It’s all hypothetical, but Dot com’s a business man first, l reckon, he’d be trying to make as much money out of this political lark as possible.
There’s some really dumb gullible mofos out there that hang off his every word, great opportunity for Orcon to gain a heap of new customers and for Dot com to make some coin.
Like John Key isn’t
bm..
..the picture of a perfectly modern/nervous green…
..heh..!
..and these ‘he’s only in it for the money!’..are laughable..
..d’yareckon he’s jonesing for that opposition party president honorarium..?
..heh..!
..i’m surprised at the amount of irrational/ill-informed hysteria i am seeing here from some..
..if he supports the centre-left..(and no..he won’t support his mortal-enemy key..)
..what is the problem..?..
..and this is not f.p.p…
..so unlike a previous equivalent on the right..jones/nz party..
..under mmp this political-vehicle has the chance of a much longer life than the nz party had..
..so those moaning/bitching had better get used to it..
..or it could be a flash-in-the-pan/this election only..
..but i doubt it..
..there are a lot of people out there who feel un-represented..
..(some 800,000 odd..i believe..)
..with chookys’ sons’ assertion a dotcom party is the only one he will drag himself away from his monitor for..
..surely being a policy-alarm-bell for labour/grns/mana..?
..you’d think..?
..i said it the other day..and i’ll say it again..
..i reckon this will be the first real mmp-election..
..where the policies of the minor and major parties is/will be more to the fore than ever before..
..and those parties that think they will..as in the past..just cruise in/get by..on their traditional ‘brand’..plus a bit of spin..
..are in for a serious/unpleasant shock..
..(and i most certainly include labour in that prescription..
..i see them in more danger than most..
..of seeing their support leach away to parties that are offering not just more of the same..but exciting/innovative/game-changing ‘policies’..
..and with this formal announcement of the dotcom-gig..and that 15,000 sign-up for his opening party party..
..david cunnliffes’ state-of-the-nation speech suddenly swings much more into focus/import)…
..eh..?
phillip ure..
The politics of partying: Dotcom’s celebrity circuses. Not much about the bread distribution to all.
@ karol..
..no sense of jury out/wait ’till the evidence appears..?
..just that rush to judgement..eh..?
..i prefer to wait ’till i see the policies..
..then..if needed..i’ll pile in..
..but really karol..
..’judgement-rush’ is how you are coming across on this dotcom-thing..
..why the beef..?..(excuse the non-vegan metaphor..)
phillip ure..
KDC’s values are conveyed by his way of promoting the party – all we see so far is that it’s got his brand on it and it’s about the internet. Little about what his party stands for in all that, other than what we already know about KDC. So I’m not optimistic. Celebrity branding and partying.
Not even a glimmer of what his party will do for Kiwis in general, other than from what we know of KDC’s focus and interests.
Edit: and on the basis of just as much (or as little evidence), many on the left are uncritically cheerleading KDC’s party move, which I find worrying
same thoughts and fears here
Me too karol.
A move away from the sad-old,same-old, failed policies, maybe? Something new on the horizon?
Well, I’m not hopeful about it being anything “new” – just the same old same old “neoliberal” celebrity culture of infotainment led by a libertarian type wanting in on the big time capitalist action – old story, new window dressing – remake for the digital age.
um..!..i’m not ‘cheerleading’ his move..
..as i don’t yet know what his policies will be..
..depending on them will define the level of any ensuing ‘cheerleading’..
..i don’t know..
..you don’t know..
..this is the only point i am making..
..and rushing to judgement..about anything..without the facts..
..is both a folly..and not a good look..
phillip ure..
Well, f the Internet Party surprises me I’ll say so. But there are some facts as I’ve laid out, and they don’t give me cause for optimism.
“But there are some facts as I’ve laid out, and they don’t give me cause for optimism.”
I may be missiing something, Karol, but IMO your comments in this thread at 3.2; 3.2.1.1; and this one seem to be personal opinion/perception – not facts – and based on a lot of assumptions.
Personally, I am keeping an open mind on the Internet Party until we have actually seen their vision, policies etc, and who else is involved – presumably next week.
I have followed the KDC saga closely over the last two years – because of the legal and other ramifications rather than as a cheer leader for KDC. But in so doing, I have come to the opinion that KDC may be a very clever businessman/entrepreneur; but also has a softer side to him also. Loves his wife, children, pets dearly; is very loyal to his friends, work colleagues; and can appreciate the simplicity of a beautiful tree in flower etc. Yes, he has done some bad things in the past; but he was (at the time of his application for residency)and has continued to be open about these (although his German convictions were actually ‘clean slated’ under German legislation similar to our own Clean Slate Act).
As I said, I await fuller details about the Internet Party with an open mind.
The facts are in KDC’s past record. They are also in the way the party is named, and what is so far missing – nothing about what the party or KDC will do for NZers, except for his desire for internet “freedom”.
Many right wingers have their soft family side – means little.
KDC is first and foremost an Entrepreneur – he is out to make money using the Internet – he sees it as an under-utilised platform for business. He is ultimately a capitalist (and very competitive) – and a fairly libertarian one. I have heard nothing from him about being concerned for the plight of the less well off, or of low paid workers, etc.
He may be useful to the left in challenging Key and splitting the right wing vote. But he is not of the left.
But, whatever, ….my views are not going to influence the outcomes. And time will tell what KDC’s party is really about.
Dotcom’s political party is brand new. It’s still very early days and I am guessing that it still has a lot of policy development work to do.
But I will bet that it’s political posture will not fall easily into analysis via the traditional Left/Right dimensions.
One presumes, being launched by Kim Dotcom, that it will be a “fuck John Key / the government / big business / ties to the USA” party aimed at young people.
Chance of this hurting National in election year: zero
Labour and the Greens, on the other hand…
you are wrong shg..
..dotcom has most appeal to that disenfranchised 800.000 +
..and as a centre-left supporter after the outcome..
..this will have key/the right worried..
..they would be fools if they weren’t..
phillip ure..
Well WO is claiming Martyn Bradbury is part of the party and will be a candidate – Bradbury is distancing himself somewhat.
I’d be disappointed if Bradbury moved from supporting Mana (or was it Cunliffe) to the Internet Party.
But it depends on who else is involved.
Bradbury just changed his twitter profile image to this:
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_banners/26863166/1375401091/web
If you don’t feel like clicking: it’s Bradbury standing at Dotcom’s right hand as Dotcom makes his announcement.
Bradbury just posted at TDB that he has stood down from his role with Mana.
But that he hasn’t joined the Internet Party – will let us know if/when he does.
I for one cannot wait to see whether or not the hairy fat bespectacled white guy joins the hairy fat bespectacled white guy.
How about stating what Bradbury said in full on TDB, and not just one sentence ?
What Bradbury said in full (its not long) is;
Good old Cameron. Thank you for the publicity.
Couple of things.
1: I stood down from my role as a consultant with the MANA Party last year.
2: What Cameron is showing is an early draft of a proposal tabled at a meeting with a whole bunch of other ideas late last year.
3: The idea of me as a candidate was more to kick around ideas.
I am a Political consultant, this is what I do, this was a proposal I was asked to submit. The moment I start working for the Internet Party if I am offered a role I will be shouting it from the rooftops as I think the ideas of an Internet Party focused on civil rights in the online 21st Century and the economic prosperity that could generate for NZ is the future and anything that moves us away from a dairy dependent, drill and mine economy is a good thing.
But all it was, was a proposal. If that changes, I will let you all know.”
Bradbury goes with the highest bidder. Thus he’s busy right now telling us who he’s NOT working for. The moment he tells us he IS working for someone, he’s not worth anything to anyone else. Like a good capitalist he’s just trying to maximise his own asking price.
Still, I note that Bradbury sure ain’t posting any pictures of himself standing in support next to Harawira, Cunliffe, or Norman and Turei.
PS: oh lol at the leaked document: “Bradbury recommends the party pay him $8000 a month to run a campaign in the Auckland Central electorate.
Mr Bradbury also asks for a one-off payment of $5000 to upgrade his computer, cellphone and tablet devices.”
http://www.3news.co.nz/Details-leaked-about-Doctoms-Internet-Party/tabid/1607/articleID/328539/Default.aspx
SLURP SLURP SLURP
Good. Mana will do a lot better without him. I hope they never paid him. A dead moray eel would be too high a payment for the services of the poor man’s Hooten.
Bomber’s main interest seems to be the media and getting a role for himself. I think he’s a natural fit with Dotcom, much more so than with Mana. I can’t see the Dotcom party doing much good at all, except for in the area of regulation of the internet and maybe the surveillance society. Mana would be much stronger in fighting the surveillance society, because their activists have known for years what it’s like to be watched and persecuted. I think it’s a dangerous distraction, and no, I don’t have to look at their policies to have an opinion, any more than I need to read the ACT manifesto to condemn them.
aye, I tend to agree re: bradbury. Loves being the voice of the left, as long as “the left” agrees with whatever he says – so now he’s working for a Banks supporter.
+ 1 So true Murray – Mana don’t need him and never did – he was never a natural fit there and TIP is much more his cup of tea
Bomber’s main interest seems to be the media and getting a role for himself.
heh – 3 News claims the Int Party so far have 3 main policies, including intenet business for NZ and supporting a public broadcasting service – they need to be able to show it will be free from KDC money manipulations.
I was right about Bomber all along then!
http://www.3news.co.nz/Details-leaked-about-Doctoms-Internet-Party/tabid/1607/articleID/328539/Default.aspx
So the best way, according to 3 news website, that Bomber could help fight against a national third term is to whore himself out for 8,000 a month and a new i rig for a rich prick with a penchant for super cars and shite music, who awaiting extradition on piracy charges, sets up mega, which has dodgy copyright content on it as I type.
Great way to make a contribution, comrade, by filling your own pocket with dirty money.
Apart from that, not a lot really.
yep I agree too karol – I’m not sure where the votes are going to come from but I can’t imagine many Mana voters are going to jump ship to partyparty.
edit: bomber is a political consultant – he consults for a crust – good luck to him I say although I do think Mana wasted their money on him.
I will wait to see what the policies are before I decide about the party but I am supportive of him actually making a party especially one that looks like it will bring the young into politics.
+1
People today don’t like being party cannon fodder. If you want someone to do something for you, you have to give them some fun before, during and after. A party that is also a PARTY appeals to people who are turned off by the idea of earnest discussions about Saturday morning (Sunday morning? Are you nuts? I’ve got a hangover/get my only sleep-in on Saturday mornings sayeth the youth of today) leaflet drops by pensioners in drafty halls on a rainy Monday night in July.
I kinda foresee nicely dressed up, but really quite nasty right wing tosh oozing out from this. The challenge for left leaning parties is to grasp the opportunity to pull newly ‘engaged’ Dotcommers into a more honest realm of politics. Will they? Doubt it. And so we’ll wind up with a NZ version of that Italian guy whose name escapes me or a NZ version of the Pirate Party. Not good.
+1 Bill, The political interest it will generate is to be welcomed. But in the long run I can only see it hurting the left unless they re-engage with the public in a meaningful way.
And a computer is still a keyboard and a screen, and if cars shit themselves as often as computers and needed ” upgrading” as often, car companies would have been sued out of existance.
There is a teeny bit more than that in them. But typically the failure components are hard disks and on the printed circuit boards (PCB)
PCBs have a few orders of magnitude more components than the entirety of any production car and are made up of hot or warm components that are densely packed and typically react to each other and their environment. Selecting the right motherboard and case for cooling, maintaining and replacing them for your task makes a hell of difference. Just as it does with a car. Which is why my motherboards typically last until I *upgrade* them – usually about every 5 years. I just replaced the one in my workstation that I brought in 2009.
Hard disks typically operate at sustained movement speeds far in excess of any car apart from Formula one racing cars – which seldom last a year. The best way to think about them is that they are a consumable like brake pads or tyres. You should expect to replace them every few years and build that into your maintenance schedule.
I suspect that you’re mostly complaining about portable computers and handhelds.
Yes it is possible to get longer lasting laptops – for instance a Toughbook. Paying for them is a completely different matter.
The last laptop I brought was in 2009, a sony vaio Z series. It is still happily running and in daily use. My partners old laptops from the last two decades used to litter the household until we disposed on them on moving into less storage space. None of them ever died, they just got new hard disks. Of course these were all rather expensive apples..
I suspect that you’re getting what you pay for.
Standardisation of components also makes a big difference in enabling rapid development and reducing cost. You don’t see this with cars, apart from obvious things like wheels, tyres etc.
You can’t just grab any old gearbox off the shelf and whack it in your car.
I had hoped one day to see someone start a project for an open source (and open standards) car design. However given that car manufacturing is now a sunset industry (or will be soon) it’s probably not worth doing.
cars shit themselves as often as computers and needed ” upgrading” as often
You should stop buying shit computers then. My cars need far more attention than my computers.
Eric Roy is the 9th National Party Caucus member to resign at the end of this term. Colin James and Michelle Boag (on RNZ this morning) reckon that these people are being tapped on the shoulder to f.o. I reckon the National Party cant be a happy camp at the moment, but it is a very corporate way of running things, interesting.
It’s a good thing really I could name several high profile labour mp’s that should have been ‘shoulder tapped’ years ago.
I doubt things are too unhappy i’m sure most of them will wash up with a few cushy board positions or similar…
That’s the problem. Labour don’t have the corporate jobs to bribe their MOs with to leave.
Anyway, if Labour don’t get rid of their neoliberal rump they are toast.
There are far too many timid or compromised people in the party.
Yes. Labour is much more democratic though, im not convinced that the National’s Corporate approach is the right way, it might get rid of the deadwood but it also has its downsides. It does lead to a lot to people conforming to what the leader wants, so a lot of sucking up…but I still reckon that it is probably a much unhappier party than what is been let on.
I gather that most Labour MPs simply do not have the workskills to perform in the real world outside of Parliament.
If you did jcuknz you wouldn’t be on the blog so much as aRWNJ. After all there is no money in it for you, is there? Or are you too old to be a judge? (shades of Cook and Moore.)
jcuknz, I gather that you’re talking out your arse.
Paul
+1 National is showing the way. Labour get to work.
It’s called rejuvenation. Look for more long-serving MPs to retire as National positions itself as a future-facing party in election year.
And on the other side of the political spectrum, we have the party going to the election with David Cunliffe, Phil Goff, Annette King, and Trevor Mallard. All Clark-era Cabinet ministers.
For bonus dotage: Mallard and King entered Parliament in the election that ousted Rob Muldoon.
But wait there’s more: Goff has been an MP since the election that ousted BILL ROWLING.
We are all Palestinians by JOHN MINTO [deleted]
[deleted]
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/01/15/we-are-all-palestinians/#sthash.8duMXuCK.dpuf
[lprent: The quoting was excessive – relevant quoted *teasers* yes – not a copied page and a half. Opinion from yourself is what I’d usually expect as the main teaser anyway. Don’t make me have to do this work again. See the policy on cut’n’paste.
BTW and before you ask: The only reason that Penny Bright gets away with her massive screeds is because I can’t find them on google. Probably means that wherever else they are published has crappy search engine optimisation. BLip’s lists are original. ]
I thought it might have been pushing the margin a bit there. My apologies.
(why aren’t we screaming from the rooftops about this one.)
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/dude-wheres-my-north-sea-oil-money-ed-hey-guess-what-funny-story-if-oil-is-found-off-the-nz-coast-we-are-going-to-be-screwed-by-the-oil-companies-just-as-the-british-were/
(excerpt:..)
“..For a few years – the UK enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime windfall –
– only – unlike the Norwegians –
– we’ve got almost nothing to show for it..”
(cont..)
..(ed:..now..if we don’t take this as a cautionary-tale..a ‘whoop-whoop..!..pull-up!-moment..
..then we have sawdust between our ears..
..’cos this govt..using super-negotiator/hard-man browning..
..signed off on one of the most pathetically low oil rates..in the world..
..so..like britain..if a gusher is found..
..these clowns that rule over us..
..have guaranteed that – like britain..
..we will be screwed over by the oil-companies..
..all the profits will flow offshore..
..directly to them..
..and we will get s.f.a..
..and if a political party doesn’t seize on this populist-hand-grenade as an election-issue..
..well they all also have sawdust between their ears..
..and don’t believe nathan ‘clutch cargo’ guy when he bangs on about how wonderful it will be..
..and when he throws out actual figures/amounts..
..be aware they have been massaged so much..
..they are black and blue from the bruises..
..and they added in the gst on the packet of gum the courier driver bought on his way to this oil-field nirvana..
..to deliver a package..
..it is all just a cover-up to conceal their traitorous sell-out of our interests as a country..”
(cont..)
phillip ure…
This government is working for foreign corporate interests.
Simple.
Absolutely, and as long as they stay in power, the more irreversible damage they will do
And if Labour retain their neo-liberal hue, nothing will change.
Just three examples off the bat:Goff supports the TPP and Jones supports off shore drilling and Labour MPs take gifts from Sky City
It’ll just be a slower death for workers’ rights in NZ and, more dangerously, more disaffected voters. The UK already suffers from this fact as there is no party there you can vote for that challenges neo-liberal economics.
+1
I doubt if Labour would be doing anything different so I would crit the politicians not just the current government.
@ jcunz..
..i agree..labour cannot preach on this..
..as they are guilty of the same..(they showed the oil companies how easy we are to negotiate out the door..
..they set the bar so low you get back-strain reaching for it..
..the greens cannot..lest they be seen to have accepted drilling as a fait-accomplit..
..so i see this as yet another populist issue dotcom can ride to parliament..
..(and,,ahem..!..the negotiating-stance i wd go for..is..
..if oil is found..the state gets 50% of the gusher…
..that’s the deal..
..take it or leave it..
..50%..or nothing…)
phillip ure..
Bad move. Rescind the license completely and then set it up so that the drilling is either done directly by the government or under contract to the government for a fixed price. The government would own all of the oil/gas.
And do that with all the mining and resource extraction in the country.
i’ll see yr 100%..
phillip ure..
Labour were infiltrated in the 80s by the neo-liberal virus.
Looks like the grassroots are trying to purge the party of this disease, but it’s hard work to oust these 5th columnists out of their comfortable rotten boroughs.
Paul
Interesting you use that rotten boroughs term. That came to my mind as a comparison a while ago when thinking of what is happening here.
Another reason why we need Democracy instead of our blind faith in the loons in power.
+1
+2
this seemed fairly familiar:
So where did our billions go? Hawksworth writes: “The logical answer is that the oil money enabled non-oil taxes to be kept lower.” In other words: tax cuts. When the North Sea was providing maximum income, Thatcher’s chancellor, Nigel Lawson slashed income and other direct taxes, especially for the rich. The top rate of tax came down from 60p in the pound to just 40p by 1988. He also reduced the basic rate of income tax; but the poor wouldn’t have seen much of those pounds in their pockets, as, thanks to the Tories, they were paying more VAT.
Where is Rogue Trooper these days?
Yes where is he?…and Rhinocrates?….Maybe they are sunning themselves on a tropical island just listening to the lap of the waves….. and hoping that there wont be a cyclone…..
[lprent: Resting apparently. See /open-mike-31122013/#comment-751547
Rhinocrates has been around. ]
Rhinocrates was around yesterday, but Rogue?
Yes, I’ve been reading Rhinocrates – and you too, Freedom by the way. I enjoyed your see saw metaphor for FFP vs. MMP. I support what you said.
Often I don’t have the time or the energy to reply to topics raised here at TS but I do read the majority of articles. Always thought provoking stuff.
I do miss Roguey’s unique style.
If one follows the link lprent put up there is some good links I think, though I haven;t caught up yet. Frankly I will always be running behind with the shovel as I think lots of the best stuff gets dropped unnoticed.
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber. (Author of Debt: The First 5000 Years)
http://www.strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/
+1
Lookalike
Surely this writer, i.e., moi, is not the first to notice the uncanny similarity of these two notorious right wing gentlemen….
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE….
http://www.fijisun.com.fj/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Cameron-Slater.gif
CAMERON “WHALEOIL” SLATER….
http://patdollard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Chris-Christie.jpg
People who fight to establish a country are terrorists who become honoured citizens when they succeed in their endeavours. War, official or not, is a horrible and nasty business [irrespective of if you are the respected winner or the despised looser] and Arik succeeded but with age apparently became more sensible and tolerant of what is likely to succeed in the longterm.
As a man of his times and his situation he should be respected rather than reviled. But the past eight years illustrates the foolishness of quantity versus quality as practiced by the medical profession with the support of the rest of us.
@ jcunz..
..pigs-arse..!
..he was a war-criminal who butchered unarmed/defenceless women and children..in a palestinian refugee camp..
..he deserves all the reviling he gets..
phillip ure..
What you say does make some sense. Sharon—or “Arik” as he was known to his friends and to hapless political makeweights like Joe “Kinnock” Biden—was a war criminal, and at his his funeral he was eulogized by war criminals. But he is not some monster who was running out of control; he was a faithful servant of a criminal, scofflaw regime. Nothing more, nothing less.
I was working in Palestine when Ariel Sharon rocked up to the Temple of the Mount with armed soldiers in tow, a few months out from the election.
Rioting ensued. So began the second intifada.
Sharon then rode the subsequent tide of racist nationalism to win the election
Most Israelis I spoke to at the time were disgusted that he would forment violence simply to stoke the fears of the Israeli populace. Several mentioned that he should be tried as a war criminal for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Even more believed he should have been court marshalled for disobeying Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War which led the the deaths of many of the soldiers under his command (and Golda Meirs resignation).
His career should have ended in a court marshall in 1973. Or at the very least in the Hague after 1982.
Weak as piss from the Labour party.
“Labour corrections spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern said [SERCO} should lose its contract to run Mt Eden.”
What was wrong with saying: “The next Labour-led government will cancel all contracts and/or close all private prisons. SERCO investors take note: you will lose 100% of your investment every single time you interfere in New Zealand penal policy”?
There are ways to Tory proof this country. Compulsory return of public property without compensation is a tool that needs to come out of the shed more often.
+ 1.
+ 1 also.
+1
Serco has had its UK tender cancelled due to fraud.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25052373
Ardern should ask the auditor general to investigate,any improprieties in NZ.
How can we expect tory-proofing from a party that’s still stacked with pale blue, cut rate, 3rd way tories itself?
+1
Depressing but true.
+1
+1
for those who have never watched it, you really should
these guys are very clear in their intentions
and NZ is on their to do list
Well, that was scary shit……………….but perhaps more disturbingly, wasn’t surprising.
+1..
phillip ure..
perhaps the most egregious aspect of this sell-out to american corporate interests by this tory govt..
..is the guarantee in the deal..for the nz state to provide these vultures with enough prisoners to fill their cells..and thus guarantee them their-profit-margins..
..and get this..!..under this sell-out deal..if the state does not serve up these/enough bodies for this american corporation..
..the nz taxpayers have to pay them compensation..
..the tories thus continuing to ensure we maintain our place of shame..
..so so near the top of the countries that imprison the most of their citizens..
..now..doesn’t all of that both suck and blow..?
..phillip ure..
First, Labour has to rediscover its backbone. Bloody hard when so many are “career politicians”, or else have been voted in under a tide of blue liberalism.
Imagine if some of them had to categorically state something, you wouldn’t see them for the dust. As for Serco, the old saying, a fool and his money are easily parted, rings true in this case.
+1
+1
We need to stop kowtowing to the multi-national corporates and tell them to fuck off.
Noam Chomsky: Sabra & Shatila massacre recalls worst Jewish Pogroms
We look at one of the most shocking incidents in the career of the late former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Up to 2,000 Palestinians died on Sept. 16-17, 1982, when the Israeli military allowed a Christian militia to attack the camp. Then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was forced to resign after a special Israeli investigative panel declared him to be “personally responsible” for the massacre. We air a description of the killings by Ellen Siegel, a Jewish-American nurse who was working at Gaza Hospital at the Sabra camp at the time of the attacks, and speak with Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, and Noam Chomsky, world-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology….
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/13/noam_chomsky_sabra_shatila_massacre_that
A couple of thoughts.
Apparently there is a lowering crime rate, yet it is a time of increased deprivation of many.
A possible flow on from increased deprivation. Thomas Belmonte in his sociological study of the very poor people of Naples , in his book The Broken Fountain noted that the police were kept away from this area. Their presence usually meant more problems, no-one would want to give them information because of peer pressure and because it drew them personally to police attention. To live they reverted to stealing, it was endemic. The children were adept at getting into car boots of cars stopped at intersections. They might be as adept at climbing as monkeys. The author when new to the area, turned in his room, and found a young boy who had scaled the balcony to the first floor to check him out. They stole from each other, the family possibly, their friends and neighbours, probably. The Catholic church was their first port of call when having difficulties. A cosa nostra scenario really.
So if people are likely to be questioned about their own life if they report a crime, they will think twice. And it has to be serious, to be reported. To people in these conditions, the police are not an option. Police are sometimes unfriendly but fair, sometimes not, always a complication. Community building and support are needed to overcome this in NZ and help with the young delinquents on diversion properly handled could be the best option. That is until, or if, the government sets in place an economy that allows people to strive and to better themselves, and gives them plenty of inexpensive opportunities.
Another thought.
The present parliamentary system is no better than committees I’ve been on for community organisations. A new committee comes in,. and proceeds to overturn decisions made previously that people spent time thinking and arguing and deciding on, and which are of benefit. A new group has a better idea and considers itself automatically better than the past, particularly if as is common in community organisations that don’t have rich patrons or funding, they are just cranking along doing some good.
The government can overturn good policies of the past. To avoid this, there has to be a burst of energy against it. The whole thing can be re argued. There is no cause to do this unless the thing is fundamentally wrong and is likely to be so because of the lack of checks in the system.
It seems to me that there should be a stay on change, though new legislation should go ahead in its processes. There should be panels of people who can put their names forward and are drawn like a jury at random. The lists would be of people who would have passed a test of basic knowledge about the country and its economy and political system. This would result in a highly ordered random selection of people being drawn from say five strata to get a range of backgrounds.
The process of making decisions about changes or new legislation should have a checklist of questions about the cost, the value added, who needs it and why, who doesn’t think they need it and why, the likelihood of unintended consequences, whether it is just a deterrent, an example of a small step to change societal attitudes – and there must be a consideration of under 100 words for each check, and all to be filled in and collated and published. This would slow down legislation immensely, but a lot of what is passed now is repairing badly prepared stuff, or puts new bad law that has immediate advantage to a small group in, later to be mourned by those picking up the pieces. It would cut down on externalities being greatly resorted to, as less could be blithely passed over by the irresponsible.
Or we could just go to referenda rather than looking for a new set of people to put up on pedestals.
I like the thoughts. A more ‘informed participatory democracy’ getting a wider range of views, experience and knowledge. It would reduce the influence of well funded individuals, politicians, narrow minded civil servants, ideologists, vested interests and lobbyists. I’m of the view that too much power is vested in too few people.
who read the angry pro-smacking tirade in the dompost this a.m.by one of Craigs acolytes.
people like this should not be allowed to have children in the first place.
The media is definitely doing a beat up on Colin Craig so far this year. It’s amazing how money can get you some much media space.
Why? The Tories are definitely trying to bait the NZ electorate on this one, as it represents their best hope of power in 2014.
I suggest that editors at newspapers and producers at TV and radio stations are being told to include this as content as much as possible. It’s a bit like having a playlist at a bad music radio station. You get no independence to select your own tracks. The owners of this country tell the media what to play.
“The media is definitely doing a beat up on Colin Craig so far this year”
you are missing what is really going on Paul
It is an election year and the Nat supporters who want even more hate to flood NZ need to be told where they can safely vote without scaring the pollsters too much
“..The owners of this country tell the media what to play.”
aye..
..the most recent odious example of this was the advertorial penned by the head of the bankers’ cartel..
..posing as an opinion-piece on stuff..
..and the kicker..?
..it was headlined on that site..
..for a week..
phillip ure..
And now Brendan Horan is planning to start his own Independent Coaliltion party – battle of the minors.
Brendon Who???, ah what choices for the people of Tauranga, (1) do they vote for the bloke who if watched closely when under pressure shows clear signs of being in possession of a serious disease of the mind, or (2), cast one for the bloke what can switch on and off at will a smile of such radiance that the sun pales into insignificance, said smile all the while never quite being translated through the eyes making one wonder if He who bestows such has an axe concealed somewhere about their person…
i think note should be made that horan has been officially cleared of all the allegations made against him..
..there was no wrongdoing in his handling of his mothers’ estate/assets..
..and given all the shit that was thrown at him around that..(by me too..)
..i think fair-justice be that the clearing of his name is widely broadcast..
..and peters deserves a premature-ejaculation-award..
..for throwing horan out of his party..
..based purely on allegations..
..peters comes out of this looking the worst..
phillip ure..
Phillip Ure, raking the ashes of what is past, tell me something, as a leftist what use do you see of a NZFirst Party that could just as easily decide to prop up a National Government as a Government of the left,
Now tell me something, Winston cannot carry on forever,(unless He has found some substance the rest of us have so far missed), so who of the 2011 intake of NZFirst could have possibly kept the NZFirst Party alive after Winston,
Who in that Party had an ounce of the charisma, the mana if you will to be able to carry that Party forward after Winston,
Brendon Who??? don’t be such a soft mug Phillip, this is the long game of politics and the knee-capping of Brendon Who is simply a small move in the game,
i don’t think you will find me having commented on Brendon Who’s honesty at any point, simply because as i insinuate that wasn’t the point…
tracy martin wd be up for the job..
..she is the best of them..
phillip ure..
And so goes Sky City – multinational investment mamangement company slowly growing their slice of the shares.
The joys of US ‘quantitative easing’ washing across the borders into New Zealand perhaps, meanwhile back in the jungle as the US leviathans flash the cash the US congress is hell bent on slashing it in the form of cancelling unemployment benefits for 100’s of thousands in the US still suffering from the unemployment brought about the Global Financial Crisis,
The hypocrisy of this which cannot escape any of us except perhaps the most hardened of wing-nuts…
So we keep hearing how business confidence in NZ has hit an all time high.
After mass sacking of workers, slashing of workers’ rights and pay, after total dis-empowering of unions, after blackmailing workers into submission by threatening them with job losses, and making massive profits which are being distributed only among the management, with the help and support by a compliant government, no wonder the business confidence is so high.
Yes, the celebrating of business confidence implies that we all benefit. In fact, things like the GFC are exploited by the coporate plutocracy, so that, when there is a recovery, wages are lower, jobs more preacarious, and workers’ rights have been further whittled away.
Also, why do people so hate Martyn Bradbury? I don’t know the man at all apart from what he writes in his blogs, so more insight would be helpful.
He’s apparently joined Kim Dotcom’s party. WTF?
Yes he is working for Krim.con and the Mana party.
You know the extradition case is in tatters, don’t you Funi Man? The evidence the police presented proven false, the warrant illegal, the provision of access to sealed court evidence to unauthorised foreign nationals, do you think all those things have just sort of gone away now they aren’t in the media so much?
What sort of weight do you suppose the court will give to this sad litany when considering its decision? Do you suppose it will affect the degree of trust the court is prepared to invest in the rest of the Yankee request much?
Clearly you are of the sort that believes the accused are always guilty whether proven innocent or not, and your opinion is utterly irrelevant, but I care, Funi Man. I’m looking forward to your chagrin 🙂
Source WO. Bradbury was a consultant to the internet Party early on. Ditto Graeme Edgeler. Trotter as alleged cheerleader.+
I don’t hate Bradbury. Sometimes I totally agree with his comments/analysis. Sometimes I think he’s not a very in-depth thinker. He also can be a bit contradictory. He’s a good publicist – can use the media quite well.
Some find him too opinionated and too focused on his own publicity.
Yup. Can’t see KDC and Bradbury being a comfortable mix for long.
Interesting though. WO has scored a bit of an own goal with this. He’s added to the Internet Party publicity, and aligned it with the left.
The only thing I like about KDC is the way he makes John Key squirm on the end of his bayonet. Millionaire vs Millionaire battle just another gormless media distraction really.
*sigh* Yep.
Own goal? Seems like he’s handled it perfectly.
I don’t know, Arfarmo. I can’t see them treading on one anothers’ toes that much. Dotcom wants to be a celebrity billionaire, not a politician.
I’ve concluded Bomber’s much the same. Their supporters will each claim their hearts are in the right place. But their egos will clash I reckon.
There is not a chance in hell that dot com gets 5% of the party vote.
What a waste of his money and his supporters time.
He’s a capitalist. He knows that’s what they’re there for. Big fun.
A lot of people are pissed off about being spied on, Brett. I’m struggling to seeing him make 5%, but the New Zealand Party…
Knucklehead:
He wont get 5% though, and do his supporters really think this guy actually has their best
interests at heart?
Says you. As for NZ interests, I note he is funding a political party and has apparently hired (or at least called for expressions of interest from) some quite serious players to run it.
The last time someone tried something of this nature, The New Zealand Party got 12% of the vote.
I won’t be surprised if he fails, but I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t.
Alistair Thompson has resigned from Scoop in the last hour or two and confirmed he is working for the IntP.
do his supporters really think this guy actually has their best
interests at heart?
If they didn’t they probably wouldn’t be supporters. #logic
QOT:
Most people who support fringe parties dont use logic.
#thinkaboutit
Most people who support TORY parties dont use logic.
#FIFY
“do his supporters really think this guy actually has their best
interests at heart?”
Dunno. Do John Key’s supporters?
I’m not. The Greens got 6.8% in their first election. Act got 6.9% in their first election.
I see it as highly probably that, in their first election, The Internet Party will get over 5%. The question is if they will be able to maintain that. Act hasn’t but The Greens are going strong.
The Conservative flesh out the field a bit…
so..brett..are you so sure of yr claim..
..that you will do a keith locke..?
..and walk naked down a main thoroughfare naked..
..if you are wrong..?
phillip ure..
Phillip:
I think its best for all concern that I keep my clothes on.
Secondly again he wont get near 5%.
Thirdly I find it beyond belief that there are kiwis who think Kim dotcom actually cares about
them.
He will end up doing what that Irish gimp did.
Nice little ‘jolt’ felt in Wellington just now, maybe 2.5-3 on the rickety scale, a minor isolated movement or more from the series shaking the top of the South???…
It doesn’t add up. Looking at the numbers from the msd site, the $10.3 billion decrease doesn’t add up to the figures on the site. It only shows $7.3 billion. There was $1.5B was added that was a methodology correction to the 2012 liability figures. So it should have been $8.8 billion. But that’s still $1.5 billion more than the numbers published on the MSD site.
http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/newsroom/media-releases/2014/taylor-fry-welfare-valuation.html
Most of the savings was due to cheaper service rates $3.0 billion.
While only $180 million was due to lower than expected benefit payments.
Take this from the msd site,
—
The June 2012 total liability was $86.8 billion, compared with the June 2013 liability of $76.5 billion.
—
That’s there $10.3 billion figure. But in the notes at the bottom of the page is this,
—
[ii] The starting liability at 30 June 2012 was reduced to $85.3 billion due to methodology correction.
—
Oh look, there’s $1.5 Billion they are still counting even though they had corrected the figure due to methodology. Can’t trust there numbers if they make such a simple error
I just noticed on zerohedge.com that the benchmark Baltic Dry shipping indexing is collapsing at historic rates. That implies massive dry bulk carrying over capacity on 23 of the world’s major trade routes.
I don’t think that the global real economy is going to do any good this year, at all.
That was mentioned in a article I read a year or two back on shipping. The article mentioned that there was an awful lot carrying capacity coming on line in the next year or two and that competition would drive prices for shipping to below cost.
Haven’t noticed any pictures or mentions about David Cunliffe on holiday with his family etc etc…Key’s boys been getting high fives from Obama on the golf course in Hawaii…absolute elitism but also very hard to attack as that…
Parapara Peak, Golden Bay, South Island.
https://www.facebook.com/david.cunliffe.labour
Note the beard is back. 🙂
hmmmm? CCC or KDC? What interesting times we live in! I suppose it should come as no surprise that we see a plethora of minor parties applying for the tail role of, not just wagging the dog, but potentially choosing the pooch to be promenaded by. Fun and doo doors ahead folks. Keep shoveling and smile!
It costs a lot to live in Auckland, and the reason is ?….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11185768
Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development tourism manager Jason Hill said the city billed itself as a top-quality holiday spot.
“Auckland doesn’t profess to be a budget destination, but delivers on other aspects of visitor experiences and consistently ranks highly as a desirable place to visit,” he said.
How about those of us who reside perminately within Auckland and are captured within this low wage economy ? Perhaps as a cup of coffee, a beer , dinner our are so expensive, then those working within the industry could expect to see an uplift in their wages, at least there in no reason for working conditions to be attacked!!
http://www.sfwu.org.nz
Common sense and logic fail as to why it is soooo costly to live within New Zealand. Perhaps it is all that money bring exported out as dividends in the banking sector:-)
Hey Dunedin Standardista’s, is the Off The Pages meet up still happening on Saturday?
Was going to put up a ‘notice and features’ on Thursday…
Will be there in spirit.
Oh good 🙂 Thanks Bill.