Today is one of the most famous anniversaries in the history of the New Zealand Trade Union Movement.
Today, the 15th of February 1951, is the very day, 61 years ago that marked the start of the 1951 lockout.
Sixty one years ago today, eight thousand wharfies were locked out of their jobs for 151 days from the 15th of February to 15th of July 1951.
The similarities don’t stop with the date.
On this day 61 years ago the entire waterfront workforce was dismissed to destroy the union.
Today in a copy of those employer tactics of the past, the whole Maritime Union workforce at the Ports of Auckland is to be dismissed to destroy the union.
Three days after the 1951 lockout began the National government declared a state of emergency, making it illegal to publicise the workers point of view.
Today in a copy of those tactics of the past, Ports of Auckland Ltd. is using an injunction to make it illegal to publicise the workers point of view.
Today in a deliberate copy of the union tactics of the past. The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has just as the Watersiders Union did in 1951, have called, for a partial strike. (In 1951 while making themselves available for normal duties the wharfies refused all overtime beyond 40 hours. Today while making themselves available for normal duties the wharfies are refusing to do any work on containers handled by contractors.)
In drawing attention to the obvious parralels between the two disputes, The Watersiders are giving their answer to those in the Labour Party and on this website who argue that this dispute “ain’t” nothing like 1951 therefore we should withhold our support.
Eddie in his post “1951 it ain’t, for now” argued that the Greens and Occupy and Labour should withhold their support from the wharfies.
One of the reasons Eddie gave for not supporting the wharfies was the difference in scale. Eddie said it is only 300 workers in one port.
Only 300 workers in one port are involved at present and there have been a few hours delays for a handful of ships on the 5 days of striking.
EDDIE: “1951 it ain’t, for now”
The differences Eddie highlights are quantative but not qualitive, (the sheer differences in numbers reflecting the huge increases in productivity between now and then).
Now as then, this is a fight to the death, for the soul and even the existence of a watersider union on the waterfront.
Now as then, win or lose, this dispute will have far reaching consequences for the whole union movement in this country.
Jenny do you have a link to details about the injunction preventing the distribution of information? Seems awfully undemocratic. Surely the Herald should be running a campaign!
And “Ports of Auckland Management confirmed to Lloyd’s List Australia it had filed for an injunction to prevent workers speaking publicly about the dispute.”
A little way away in a far off country a daily newspaper headline read “Memorandum Macht Frei”. For anybody who believes that a Chamberlain approach to far off places can come back to bite you very hard this should raise alarm bells.
Greece this morning is in turmoil, the end result of a romance with free and easy credit from banks. From the lie of perpetual growth to pay for all. From the corruption of financialisation of whole economies.
This is the lie Key has sold us too, tax cuts through borrowing, money for the wealthy, supposedly to “trickle” down. “Growth” to pay and create jobs. At some point the receiever comes to the door…”Mr Key, you failed to pay us the interest….bail out with austerity for the poor attached”.
Athens coming to NZ soon, courtesy of the National Party.
New Zealand government official stats show $318 billion NZ originated private institution credit money. They then treat as assets and deduct what has been invested overseas and come up with what they call Net International Investment Position which appears much less alarming despite that money competting to find profit in an international financial system where the international debt is also unrepayable from the day its born.
Even if the foreign investments from NZ where able to be repatriated in quick time they would come back to only the wealthiest few who control them and not benefit wider society as implied. Just more smoke and mirrors; http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ParlSupport/ResearchPapers/3/4/6/00PlibCIP121-New-Zealand-s-International-Investment-Position.htm
$318 billion debt based money supply at annual interest rate of 7% equals $22 odd billion interest repayment that is essentially rent upon a revolving line of credit that circulates as our money supply.
Given most of that interest finds its way back to the same largest owners of larger international banks who own largest stake holdings in Australian banks who own NZ banks, it puts to shame the 1.3 billion they give back in tax and shout from the roof tops as being so beneficial to the prosperity of the nation
Partial strike action commences today at the Port of Auckland.Our members are refusing to service any cargo on or off Connlinx trucks.This is a company 90% owned by the Port of Auckland.The company contracted the containing moving in the Port out to themselves and made our members who used to undertake this work redundant.Tomorrow any machine that touches cargo off this company will be blacked.
Talk back radio and blog sites like the sewer have a lot to answer for. They have unleashed
a nasty, mean and selfish trait in the New Zealand psyche. It is appalling to hear what is being expressed regarding Mojo Mathers and the issues in the house. $30,000??? WTF. (Noone appears to have batted an eyelid over the obscene amounts of profit the banks are salting away…)
They of course ignore the fact that Bill English is being paid $30,000 per annum to live in the house he owns and which was paid for by 20 years of rorting.
Of course they do, if they didn’t then they’d have to face the fact that their self-selected leaders are corrupt and there’s no way that they will do that.
“Revising conventional wisdom on cats, media
from NewsCred Blog
02/14/2012
Contrary to common wisdom, cats make you popular — particularly online.”
This little gem comes from the same page linked to by felix above. Does it explain Key’s popularity when he talked about his cat on the infamous radio hour?
Does it explain felix’s popularity online?
As for the article on pseudonymity itself, are both researcher and article writer confusing ‘quality’ with ‘popularity’? The quality of a comment was gauged by whether it got a positive as in a ‘like’ or whether it got a negative rating or was dumped as spam. That seems like a popularity rating and not a
way of rating of quality which should be independent of popularity but judged on intrinsic factors.
Yeah surely quality is fairly subjective anyway. I agree it seems more like a popularity index, but I guess they’re just measuring what can be measured.
In 1951, at least, the word ain’t was a contraction of the words am not and definitely not is not. 1951 it ain’t, translates: 1951, it am not.
These days, any word can mean anything a person wants it to, which is the least of our problems since a writer can now uz txt spk qwite ezi. No one seems to have issues with using don’t and didn’t and now those of you who aren’t asleep can use ain’t correctly, too.
In 1695 “an’t” was used as a contraction of “am not”, and as early as 1696 “an’t” was used to mean “are not”. “An’t” for “is not” may have developed independently from its use for “am not” and “are not”.
The only place I can think of, apart from songs, where it is still in common usage is in the saying “Ain’t that the truth.” Songs, though, show where it is able to make sense. It ain’t me babe = It is not me babe. Ain’t misbehavin’= I am not misbehaving, etc.
Yeah that’s the post modern anything means anything approach. The Right uses it so easily and so blatantly to steal the language and symbolism of the Left and twists it for its own uses. And usually, the Left sits back and let it happen.
It is not quite the same thing, although I appreciate your point. “Ain’t” is an old fashioned slang word that is able to be used in various places where a contracted “not” is in order. Whereas the right recontextualises left wing concepts so as to rob them of their original meaning. Freedom from bondage is applied to the “free market” for example, and a woman’s right to paid work justifies the pitchforking of solo mothers into low-paid insecure jobs, etc. It works best where it is subtle, and draws the left into a conversation that it didn’t intend to have. The left wing concern about children going hungry, for example, implies that the poor need more money, but is likely to be translated by the right into the idea that the poor need more policing. And then the left finds itself disarmed. You said you wanted us to do something about child poverty, say the right. Well we’re doing something. The good thing about the Occupy Movement is that it has created a conceptual space that cannot easily be appropriated in this way.
These days, any word can mean anything a person wants it to, which is the least of our problems since a writer can now uz txt spk qwite ezi. No one seems to have issues with using don’t and didn’t and now those of you who aren’t asleep can use ain’t correctly, too.
I do! I very much have an issue with errors, especially those involving apostrophes and contractions.. (It’s part Aspergers and part being an English teacher and I never use ain’t!
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 6.3.1
The people who think anarchism is chaos also shriek that socialism will force “everyone to live in caves”. The problem is they just can’t grasp that alternative, sometimes more effective, ways of living existed before capitalism came along.
From the article you link to there is a comment on how guilds operated:
“…sovereign in its own sphere, but could not develop rules that interfered with the workings of other guilds. ”
Capitalism, or “growth”, depends on people being allowed to steal from and interfere with the property and rules of their neighbour. The wail of “living in caves” is the fear that theft would once again be called theft.
Thanks UTurn, its amazing how labels stick. Socialist states and capitalist states hate anarchism in equal doses, it is the devil incarnate to both parties.
At the heart of the issue is the point you make: respect for the rules and property. Capitalist / corporate / socialist states manage this through coercion, as represented by the mechanisms and the power of the state. That individuals might manage these affairs removes the “power” from their central control. A totally heretic position….God forbid you dont follow blind dogma.
Don’t know if you’ve noticed how often anarchist sentiment is tapped into by politicians who seek popular support for their programmes?
ACT (and just about every other right wing libertarian outfit I’ve come across) do it extensively. And L’nin (that lovely left wing Authoritarian) did it too. In fact, if you listen closely, the ideas and sentiments of anarchy are all over the political sphere.
But people seeking power over others need to ensure there is never any political expression of the underlying ideas or concepts they dress their political shit up in. So the terms of ‘anarchist’ or ‘anarchy’ are demonised and cast aside in order that their conceptual basis can be quietly and safely trawled, twisted and finally processed as unrecognisable end products (Right Wing Libertarianism or Corporatism on the one hand and Dictatorial Socialist States on the other.)
Interestingly, the internet is essentially an functioning Anarchy – currently being reigned in with the likes of failed SOPA, PIPPA and impending ACTA – perhaps because it is teaching a working Anarchsit model to the generation who has grown up on it.
The Occupy movement is essentially an Anarchist movement, spearheaded and conceived by Anarchists, and it’s defining feature is Direct (consensus based ) Democracy. The other thing technology seems to have taught this generation which certainly didn’t come from their Libertarian Babyboomer parents is sharing.
Yet of coarse the pop understanding of Anarchisim suggests it is incongruous with Democracy..
Actually, this boomer was well into anarchism in my 20s, especially anarcho-syndicalism. And back then, I knew a few of my age group, and some slightly younger uni students who were strong advocates of anarchism too, both HEre and in London. London feminists (full of boomers Iin the late 70s & early 80s) tended to be describe the women’s movement as operating according to anarchist principles.
I suspect that many younger folk may not fully embrace anarchism as a principle, even though they are strongly into the Internet. But I welcome the re-invigoration of anarchist ideas that the Internet has brought.
Individualist liberals and libertarian boomers were a much stronger feature in the US than in NZ or the UK.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting these ideas or radicalism is in any way new, what I’m suggesting is interesting is that they’re being ingested as a way of being as a byproduct of the way we interact with technology.
Re the Babyboomer dig, that’s a generalization obviously, of coarse much social progress was made by those who engaged..
Well it also isn’t that much of a correct generalisation of comparative generalisations of different generations. It’s by no means that clear-cut, and it ignores the strong and dominant political forces coming from the wealthy and powerful elites.
I see too much re-writing of history about boomers. The whole hippy movement, even in individualist US, was about sharing, helping others, and about rejecting materialist acquisition of wealth. It was a time when there was much media and popular attention given to the hippy, grass-roots, commune movement, for instance, and many young kiwis got into that.
Unfortunately, some who were well into that (eg Tim Shadbolt and his rural commune), later got absorbed into the neoliberal system – a shift which came from the elites above, in contrast to the more grass roots hippy movement.
Nevertheless, as a result of boomer-dominated hippy anti-materialist, left-leaning values, notions of sharing and a gift economy were built into the Internet architecture and gave rise to such notions as open source software.
And while many people today have absorbed some of the sharing fundamentals built into the Internet architecture, at the same time have absorbed (shonkey) individualist, materially and financially acquisitive neoliberal values.
I’m afraid the destruction wrought by the majority of the babyboomer generation far outweighs any good the minority of the countercoultre achieved. As the planet is testament.
PS: the geeks who laid down the original architect of the Internet, were grad students and others around the Paolo Alta-Silicon Valley area, who were strongly influenced by the Californian hippy ideals of the time, and that influenced the anarchistic elements that underlie the Internet today.
A wee side note relating to the article. What Darwin was saying by ‘survival of the fittest’ was that what fitted best was what survived; not that everything had to fight and struggle for survival and dominance
Bill @7.3. He also highlighted the part that chance plays. A tiny modification way back could have caused say horses to be the dominant species and humanoids faded out. A biologist much younger than Darwin (working in Indonesia I think) floated the idea of survival of the fittest to Darwin when writing to him years before Darwin published. Darwin of course gets the credit but he did not mean that the toughest, meanest fight the way to the top, although looking at humanity these days you might wonder. Politics huh?
He found the view of the social Darwinists contradicted by his own empirical research. After five years examining wildlife in Siberia, Kropotkin wrote, “I failed to find – although I was eagerly looking for it – that bitter struggle for the means of existence…which was considered by most Darwinists…as the dominant characteristic – and the main factory of evolution.”
Kropotkin honored Darwin’s insights about natural selection but believed the governing principle of natural selection was cooperation, not competition. The fittest were those who cooperated.
“The animal species, in which individual struggle has been reduced to its narrowest limits, and the practice of mutual aid has attained the greatest development, are invariably the most numerous, the most prosperous, and the most open to further progress. … The unsociable species, on the contrary, are doomed to decay.”
Social Darwinists still exist although the term has dropped from common usage – their natural home in NZ is now in National and Act. And they’re as wrong today as they were a hundred years ago.
Kropotkin forms a large basis of my thoughts on the matter of governance and society.
Yes, “survival of the fittest” means, those species most suited to survive in a given environment – it’s species level, and not about individual strength etc.
It is quite clear that one of the main reasons for human ‘advancement’ over other species has been its internal cooperation and not its internal competition.
That certain people alive today cannot see this dooms their own survival – which is in fact to the betterment of wider human survival and advancement of course. The fewer of these buffoons around the better.
Lprent,
Is there any way of measuring the number of external links followed by readers on a blog like this?
It would be interesting to know the number of different links, and the total number followed, as part of the bigger picture including visits and page view numbers.
Just curious really. And procrastinating something much more important…
Yes. We have that on several stats packages. The WP stats does it. For instance in the last 30 days, these are the top clicks from the body of the site (posts, comments, blogrolls) and note that these are the actual landing pages…
As you can see we generate a lot of clicks, but the fall off is pretty rapid. Yesterday for instance we did about 450 clicks out over about 200 links (over half only got one click).
If we look over the last year, we basically see the blogroll
I also jigged the system for google analytics to also do be able to do outward click analysis long ago. They have some more useful stats about paths people tended to take through and out of the site. Which is why I know that most of the readers use the front page to land, and select a post, and then use next and previous posts rather than navigating up and down. But there really isn’t a strong pattern for clickouts.
Of course we’re only really seeing what sites people navigated to from clicks on this site, and it excludes the ads.
Surprising. I thought sites like facebook would feature more prominently with the links to parliamentary clips etc.
It seems most visitors don’t follow links, even those within the body of blog posts (with some exceptions). I guess it’s mainly a matter of time and personal interest. Personally I love the links and some commenters on open mike provide some beauties too.
The more I follow things online, the less I follow the mainstream media. Seldom watch the TV news, but when I catch it I feel like I’m living in a parallel universe.
Facebook doesn’t get many outgoing links. However we do get a lot of incoming links from them. Since I put the recommendatory buttons in, it has gone from being a low contender to being second after the search engines.
Just been reading about Russia in the 50s and 60s. An intense drive to increase outputs of goods was spurred on by bonus payments to managers who met the annual targets of production. So Performance Pay is a Communist construct! The difference was that in Russia defined targets had to be met whereas here Bonus to Bankers, CEOs, Consultants are paid regardless of success.
Bring on the Commies!
Seems to be a common theme when reading such articles often contain sentences such as “This is the type of idiocy that passes as policy in the eurozone. ” – People like to fob off bad decision making as some sort of accident…
At what point will people come to realise that there is much more at play than “idiocy” when making decisions.
At what point does the continual “idiocy” beceome a deliberate act? 5, 10, 20, 30 years recently…..
Justice Miller said the application for review was granted and the decision by Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson and Associate Finance Minister Jonathan Coleman was set aside.
The judge directed that the ministers reconsider the application by Shanghai Pengxin subsidiary Milk New Zealand.
I may get repititive but it is for very good and simple reason…… namely, that having land owned by people who do not live in New Zealand is bad for New Zealand.
And they don’t even NEED to own the land. They claim they are investing in business, right? So invest ion the business, but they don’t need to own the land to do that.
Keep the issue alive! It is one of some paths to greater prosperity, of that there is no doubt.
I have had a quick squizz at the judgment. Justice Millar seems to be saying that the Ministers overstated the economic benefits of the purchase. The same benefits would have been available if the local bidder bought the farms. Interesting decision …
So if the ministry overstated ecenomic benefits, thats just a flash way to say “they lied” no!
The “It will create jobs” , followed by, there might be 2 possibly 3 training positions really was a give away to the fact that someone was talking CRAP!
Let’s have all the BS come out now, and lets watch the spin machine in action again!
I found the court summary quite interesting, it gelled with what I read in the OIO report here….
17. One submitter claimed that the Applicant’s proposal contains no benefits to New Zealand. In particular, the farming plans relating to herd and farm improvement are nothing more than what an average New Zealand farmer would do if given the chance to purchase the properties
(OIO) Response
19. The Overseas Investment Act does not require an overseas person investor to do more than a New Zealand investor would do to the land. Instead, the Overseas Investment Act tests only whether the investment will or is likely to benefit New Zealand, a part of New Zealand or a group of New Zealanders, and whether that benefit will be substantial and identifiable. That test is by reference to a number of benefit ‘factors’ which must be considered by the relevant Ministers.
My thoughts at the time was the OIO could not state anything to be a benefit unless they knew what other buyers intended and compared one against the other. Their response above didn’t make any sense to me, and clearly the judge thought so too.
To borrow an expression from OleBiscuitBarrel… colour me gobsmacked!!!!
What has yet to come out is the Ministerial interference in the LandCorp bid. Unfortunately I’m not 100% on my source and I can’t quote them properly; but the gist of the conversation was along the lines that LandCorp was instructed not to put in an acceptable bid for the farms.
Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know the mine had exploded as he applied for another job, the overall mismanagement of Pike River mine is highly despicable!
COLLECTING SIGNATURES FOR THE PETITION WHICH MAY HELP GET RID OF JOHN BANKS – ACT MP FOR EPSOM:
Interesting that neither the old Securities Commission, the SFO, the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), or the Police have lifted a finger to apply ACT’s ‘one law for all’ to either the ACT Party MP for Epsom, John Banks, or the former ACT Party Leader Don Brash?
In fact, I have it in writing from the the SFO, the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), and the Police that they will not lay charges against Banks or Brash, which, in my considered opinion, is a form of political protection, which I believe is corrupt.
Both John Banks and Don Brash were equally former fellow Directors of Huljich Wealth Management (NZ) Ltd, whom, along with Peter Huljich equally signed Huljich Kiwisaver Registered Prospectuses which contained untrue statements.
Under the Securities Act 1978 s.58 (3) that is an offence.
Where is the ZERO TOLERANCE for ‘white collar’ crime in New Zealand?
In my considered opinion, in NZ – ‘perceived’ to be the least corrupt country in the world, according to Transparency International’s 2011 ‘Corruption Perception Index’ – the balance of power is arguably being held by a yet-to-be charged or convicted ‘white collar’ criminal – John Banks ACT MP for Epsom.
However – all is not lost.
When one door closes, another door opens.
Currently there are signatures being collected for a petition which requests:
“That the House conduct an urgent inquiry into the decisions regarding prosecutions relating to the Juljich Kiwisaver Scheme registered prospectuses dated 22 August 2008 and 18 September 2009.”
I do not anticipate any major problems in getting an MP to present this petition to the House.
[lprent: I have to confess that was partially my fault. Whilst chastising OleBiscuitBarrel last year, I told him that he was a gormless fool. He adopted it as his handle. But I have to say that it is one of the more unique and entertaining handles around 😈 ]
penny as I’ve said before in politics less is more .Your track record in politics proves me right .
I agree with your plight but you are obviously not very bright .
Abbreviate your message and people won’t be turned off by your boring posts!
I think the style over content argument is passé. It is conformist boring rubbish that people like Penny and Phil u get all the time by those who do not agree with their message. The only reason it would apply is that the style is somehow detrimental to the message, which is subjective to the reader. It would seem you’re more averse to the message than the style mik e. Either way, you have the choice of not reading it.
http://ilcorsaro.info/mondo/285-il-mito-del-fannullone-greco
Sorry this is in Italian, but it’s very good about the myths told about the Greek people, and what’s really going on!
The title means ‘The myth of the lazy Greek’.
Here’s an extract and my translation:
“Prendiamo i greci. I dati dell’Ocse mostrano chiaramente che i greci lavorano in media più ore all’anno (2.109) degli altri europei: i tedeschi per esempio lavorano 1.419 ore. Si può ovviamente obiettare che le ore lavorate non significano lavoro effettivo, che si può rimanere 12 ore sul luogo di lavoro e passarne la metà a cercare ricette esotiche su internet. Questo porta ad analizzare la produttività del lavoro, concetto più complicato da calcolare perché dipende da fattori che non sono in rapporto con l’assiduità (il livello tecnologico, la qualità dell’organizzazione produttiva e così via).”
“Take the Greeks. The OECD data show clearly that the Greeks are working longer hours on average per year (2,109) than other Europeans, the Germans work 1,419 hours for example. You can of course argue that the hours worked do not mean actual work, that you can stay 12 hours at work and spend half your time searching for exotic recipes on the Internet. This leads us to analyse labour productivity, a concept more complicated to calculate because it depends on factors not related to the attendance (the technological level, quality of production organization and so on)…. (and so it does, that is, attempt that analysis. )
The myth of the ‘lazy greek’ has to be repeated to justify to the German populace why it is their bankers’ moral right and imperative to subjugate that country.
To put it succinctly, in the European South, people are paid too much, work too little, receive excessive public benefits and retire too early. Unlike the industrious Germans.
There is a small problem with this diagnosis of the Euro crisis. It is false on all counts…
Key says Mondayising Public Holidays would ‘cost’ the economy $400 million.
These are Public Holidays already, the workers of NZ are alreadyentitled to them.
The reality is that the workers of NZ are being duped out of $400 million worth of holidays due to a silly loophole in the law.
The ultimate irony for me was seeing photos of foreign owned stores & Embassies closed on these Mondays, with their NZ staff given the day off.
Internal Heartland Institute strategy and funding documents obtained by DeSmogBlog expose the heart of the climate denial machine – its current plans, many of its funders, and details that confirm what DeSmogBlog and others have reported for years. The heart of the climate denial machine relies on huge corporate and foundation funding from U.S. businesses including Microsoft, Koch Industries, Altria (parent company of Philip Morris) RJR Tobacco and more.
We are releasing the entire trove of documents now to allow crowd-sourcing of the material. Here are a few quick highlights, stay tuned for much more.
And there’s a lot more!
Particularly with respect to Heartland funding of the so-called NZ (now International) “Climate Science Coalition”
As John Mashey in a comment on “Hot Topic” explains:
“The read might draw inferences about the likely effects of:
a) Heartland sending $ to foreign non-charities. NO-NO
b) Foreign non-charities engage in clearly non-exempt activities (the IRS-?E codes). NO-NO
c) Some of those involved in the NZ non-charities show up and make comments that repeatedly support the non-exemptness.
Already gone, but nice icing on the cake. When reading “puppets,” I sometimes had to hold back from commenting, lest I spoil the fun.
But all that’s on the record now.
It is very likely that neither the non-charities nor Heartland understood the US tax implications. Of course, if NZ citizens got money for a non-charity and spent it, without declaring income … well that’s for Kiwis to sort out.”
The personal search function is one I like – to keep track of my comments and those responding. I made some yesterday but they don’t come up on request. Is this something that gets dropped on occasions?
Not meant to. It runs on a cron process. I will look at in the morning as I’m in bed and doing a ssh console from the iPad is strictly an emergency procedure
Ok the problem was that sphinxsearch (the program that runs the search) had an update, and it appears that it was putting the lock files in with ownership coded to its own user id. That meant that the web process that had been running it was unable to run the daily updates.
I’ve shifted the period update to shift to the sphinx user.
I’ll check when I get to work to make sure that it has actually run.
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This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Korolev, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UNSW Sydney The United States and Russia agreed to work on a plan to end the war in Ukraine at high-level talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Ukrainian and European representatives were pointedly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University BaLL LunLa/Shutterstock Sleep is the holy grail for new parents. So no wonder many tired parents are looking for something to help their babies sleep. A TikTok trend claims ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ranjana Gupta, Senior Lecturer, Accounting Department, Auckland University of Technology Jirsak/Shutterstock The profit made on every breakfast bowl of weet-bix is tax exempt, giving Sanitarium Health Food Company, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an advantage over other breakfast food companies. ...
A closer look at some of the homegrown talent currently commanding television screens around the globe. The new season of The White Lotus hit our screens this week, and with it a familiar face in New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly. To secure a role in one of the world’s most ...
"This is a crisis of the Government’s own making and the unit is another sign of desperation," said PSA acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Perugia, Senior Lecturer, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University Australia’s housing crisis has created a push for fast-tracked construction. Federal, state and territory governments have set a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years. Increasing housing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ash Watson, Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock When we’re uncomfortable we say the “vibe is off”. When we’re having a good time we’re “vibing”. To assess the mood we do a “vibe check”. And when the atmosphere in ...
What’s up with the man from Epsom? The leader of the Act Party has been in plenty of headlines in the last two weeks, ranging from a controversial letter to police on behalf of constituent Philip Polkinghorne (written before David Seymour was a minister) to an attempt to drive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Stephenson, Deputy Director, Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Australian National University Newly published research has found clear evidence that openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer+ (LGBTIQ+) Australian politicians were disproportionately targeted with personal abuse on social media at the ...
Gilmore Girls, Schitt’s Creek, even The Vampire Diaries – they’re all set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. So what is it like to actually know your neighbours? My favourite television shows are set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. Characters attend town meetings where they debate local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yanyan Hong, PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, University of Adelaide IMDB On the surface, Ne Zha 2: The Sea’s Fury (2025), the sequel to the 2019 Chinese blockbuster Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child, is a high-octane, action-packed and ...
Wellington travellers say their buses are so hot they’re often forced to get off early and walk. Shanti Mathias explores the impact of non-functioning air conditioning on public transport. When Bella, a young professional living in Wellington, thinks about taking the bus, her first thought is “Ugh”. The bus might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Kroen, Research Fellow Planning and Transport, RMIT University The cleanup is underway in northern Queensland following the latest flooding catastrophe to hit the state. More than 7,000 insurance claims have already been lodged, most of them for inundated homes and other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subha Parida, Lecturer in Property, University of South Australia Carl Oberg/Shutterstock Houses and fire do not mix. The firestorm which hit Los Angeles in January destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings and forced 130,000 people to evacuate. The 2019–20 Australian megafires destroyed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal. The commission found physical productivity – the total number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pascale Lubbe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Molecular Ecology, University of Otago Royal spoonbills are among several new species that have crossed the Tasman and naturalised in New Zealand. JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA When people arrived on the shores of Aotearoa ...
Stats NZ’s head is stepping down over the agency’s failure to safeguard census data, and more officials may soon be in the firing line, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘absolutely unacceptable’ failure Stats NZ chief ...
Health NZ is under greater government scrutiny, with the new health minister setting up a unit he says will "drive greater accountability and performance". ...
Manurewa Marae acknowledges should have done better at handling completed census forms, following an inquiry into steps government agencies took to protect data. ...
Police failed to protect people from protesters at a high-profile rally and made unlawful arrests at another, the Independent Police Conduct Authority says. ...
Comment: Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are making it easier for people to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum without having to handle digital wallets or private keys. These allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency through their regular brokerage accounts.This has opened the door for billions of dollars ...
Two long-awaited reports into alleged personal data misuse, centred on census collection and Covid-19 vaccination efforts at Manurewa Marae, were released yesterday. Here’s what you need to know.“Very sobering reading” was how public service commissioner Sir Brian Roche described his organisation’s long-awaited report into the alleged misuse of census ...
Backbench MPs reached new levels of patsy questions in an extraordinarily dull question time on Tuesday. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. “MPs ask questions to explore key issues ...
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The New Zealand Government says the Cook Islands must share more information about the deals it has signed with China, following the release of an ‘action plan’ in the face of protests in the Pacific nation’s capital.The Cook Islands government has also revealed plans to spend $3 million on a ...
Today is one of the most famous anniversaries in the history of the New Zealand Trade Union Movement.
Today, the 15th of February 1951, is the very day, 61 years ago that marked the start of the 1951 lockout.
Sixty one years ago today, eight thousand wharfies were locked out of their jobs for 151 days from the 15th of February to 15th of July 1951.
The similarities don’t stop with the date.
On this day 61 years ago the entire waterfront workforce was dismissed to destroy the union.
Today in a copy of those employer tactics of the past, the whole Maritime Union workforce at the Ports of Auckland is to be dismissed to destroy the union.
Three days after the 1951 lockout began the National government declared a state of emergency, making it illegal to publicise the workers point of view.
Today in a copy of those tactics of the past, Ports of Auckland Ltd. is using an injunction to make it illegal to publicise the workers point of view.
Today in a deliberate copy of the union tactics of the past. The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has just as the Watersiders Union did in 1951, have called, for a partial strike. (In 1951 while making themselves available for normal duties the wharfies refused all overtime beyond 40 hours. Today while making themselves available for normal duties the wharfies are refusing to do any work on containers handled by contractors.)
In drawing attention to the obvious parralels between the two disputes, The Watersiders are giving their answer to those in the Labour Party and on this website who argue that this dispute “ain’t” nothing like 1951 therefore we should withhold our support.
Eddie in his post “1951 it ain’t, for now” argued that the Greens and Occupy and Labour should withhold their support from the wharfies.
One of the reasons Eddie gave for not supporting the wharfies was the difference in scale. Eddie said it is only 300 workers in one port.
The differences Eddie highlights are quantative but not qualitive, (the sheer differences in numbers reflecting the huge increases in productivity between now and then).
Now as then, this is a fight to the death, for the soul and even the existence of a watersider union on the waterfront.
Now as then, win or lose, this dispute will have far reaching consequences for the whole union movement in this country.
Jenny do you have a link to details about the injunction preventing the distribution of information? Seems awfully undemocratic. Surely the Herald should be running a campaign!
Sorry Micky, no link.
Maybe, Wharfie might be able to provide the link.
Here you go Micky http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1202/S00127/ports-of-auckland-management-attack-free-speech.htm
And “Ports of Auckland Management confirmed to Lloyd’s List Australia it had filed for an injunction to prevent workers speaking publicly about the dispute.”
http://www.lloydslistdcn.com.au/archive/2012/02-feb/14/ports-of-auckland-ups-the-ante-in-wharfie-dispute
A little way away in a far off country a daily newspaper headline read “Memorandum Macht Frei”. For anybody who believes that a Chamberlain approach to far off places can come back to bite you very hard this should raise alarm bells.
Greece this morning is in turmoil, the end result of a romance with free and easy credit from banks. From the lie of perpetual growth to pay for all. From the corruption of financialisation of whole economies.
This is the lie Key has sold us too, tax cuts through borrowing, money for the wealthy, supposedly to “trickle” down. “Growth” to pay and create jobs. At some point the receiever comes to the door…”Mr Key, you failed to pay us the interest….bail out with austerity for the poor attached”.
Athens coming to NZ soon, courtesy of the National Party.
New Zealand government official stats show $318 billion NZ originated private institution credit money. They then treat as assets and deduct what has been invested overseas and come up with what they call Net International Investment Position which appears much less alarming despite that money competting to find profit in an international financial system where the international debt is also unrepayable from the day its born.
Even if the foreign investments from NZ where able to be repatriated in quick time they would come back to only the wealthiest few who control them and not benefit wider society as implied. Just more smoke and mirrors;
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ParlSupport/ResearchPapers/3/4/6/00PlibCIP121-New-Zealand-s-International-Investment-Position.htm
$318 billion debt based money supply at annual interest rate of 7% equals $22 odd billion interest repayment that is essentially rent upon a revolving line of credit that circulates as our money supply.
Given most of that interest finds its way back to the same largest owners of larger international banks who own largest stake holdings in Australian banks who own NZ banks, it puts to shame the 1.3 billion they give back in tax and shout from the roof tops as being so beneficial to the prosperity of the nation
Nice peice of research and analysis Muzza, its a real worry to think that unless we too default we will be debt serfs of these charlatans forever.
+1
The entire financial system that we slave under is a load lies and misdirection.
+ 7%
Partial strike action commences today at the Port of Auckland.Our members are refusing to service any cargo on or off Connlinx trucks.This is a company 90% owned by the Port of Auckland.The company contracted the containing moving in the Port out to themselves and made our members who used to undertake this work redundant.Tomorrow any machine that touches cargo off this company will be blacked.
People with disabilities.
Talk back radio and blog sites like the sewer have a lot to answer for. They have unleashed
a nasty, mean and selfish trait in the New Zealand psyche. It is appalling to hear what is being expressed regarding Mojo Mathers and the issues in the house. $30,000??? WTF. (Noone appears to have batted an eyelid over the obscene amounts of profit the banks are salting away…)
They of course ignore the fact that Bill English is being paid $30,000 per annum to live in the house he owns and which was paid for by 20 years of rorting.
Of course they do, if they didn’t then they’d have to face the fact that their self-selected leaders are corrupt and there’s no way that they will do that.
Food for thought on pseudonymity : http://testkitchen.colorado.edu/2012/02/what-is-a-quality-comment/
But The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell is my real name and my comments are all quality.
Haha you are many exceptions to many rules 😉
“Revising conventional wisdom on cats, media
from NewsCred Blog
02/14/2012
Contrary to common wisdom, cats make you popular — particularly online.”
This little gem comes from the same page linked to by felix above. Does it explain Key’s popularity when he talked about his cat on the infamous radio hour?
Does it explain felix’s popularity online?
As for the article on pseudonymity itself, are both researcher and article writer confusing ‘quality’ with ‘popularity’? The quality of a comment was gauged by whether it got a positive as in a ‘like’ or whether it got a negative rating or was dumped as spam. That seems like a popularity rating and not a
way of rating of quality which should be independent of popularity but judged on intrinsic factors.
Yeah surely quality is fairly subjective anyway. I agree it seems more like a popularity index, but I guess they’re just measuring what can be measured.
No surprise about cats though, cats are awesome 😀
Absolutely they are! 😀
And now a note on what time does to language:
In 1951, at least, the word ain’t was a contraction of the words am not and definitely not is not. 1951 it ain’t, translates: 1951, it am not.
These days, any word can mean anything a person wants it to, which is the least of our problems since a writer can now uz txt spk qwite ezi. No one seems to have issues with using don’t and didn’t and now those of you who aren’t asleep can use ain’t correctly, too.
Actually I always thought it was a contraction of “are not”, but it turns out it is both and has a history going back centuries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contractions_of_negated_auxiliary_verbs_in_English#Ain.27t
The only place I can think of, apart from songs, where it is still in common usage is in the saying “Ain’t that the truth.” Songs, though, show where it is able to make sense. It ain’t me babe = It is not me babe. Ain’t misbehavin’= I am not misbehaving, etc.
(ahem..!..i am trying to keep ‘ain’t’ alive….it is a great marker of tone..
..i reckon..eh..?..)
[email look alike deleted].
Yes that is probably why song writers like it. One “ain’t song of many:
Yeah that’s the post modern anything means anything approach. The Right uses it so easily and so blatantly to steal the language and symbolism of the Left and twists it for its own uses. And usually, the Left sits back and let it happen.
It is not quite the same thing, although I appreciate your point. “Ain’t” is an old fashioned slang word that is able to be used in various places where a contracted “not” is in order. Whereas the right recontextualises left wing concepts so as to rob them of their original meaning. Freedom from bondage is applied to the “free market” for example, and a woman’s right to paid work justifies the pitchforking of solo mothers into low-paid insecure jobs, etc. It works best where it is subtle, and draws the left into a conversation that it didn’t intend to have. The left wing concern about children going hungry, for example, implies that the poor need more money, but is likely to be translated by the right into the idea that the poor need more policing. And then the left finds itself disarmed. You said you wanted us to do something about child poverty, say the right. Well we’re doing something. The good thing about the Occupy Movement is that it has created a conceptual space that cannot easily be appropriated in this way.
…or close parentheses, apparently.
Haha, getting very close to Muphrey’s Law there.
http://whoar.co.nz/2012/anarchism-is-not-what-you-think-it-is-and-theres-a-whole-lot-we-can-learn-from-it/
“…The word anarchism has been so stripped of substance that it has come to be equated with chaos and nihilism.
That’s not what it means…”
[email look alike deleted].
The people who think anarchism is chaos also shriek that socialism will force “everyone to live in caves”. The problem is they just can’t grasp that alternative, sometimes more effective, ways of living existed before capitalism came along.
From the article you link to there is a comment on how guilds operated:
“…sovereign in its own sphere, but could not develop rules that interfered with the workings of other guilds. ”
Capitalism, or “growth”, depends on people being allowed to steal from and interfere with the property and rules of their neighbour. The wail of “living in caves” is the fear that theft would once again be called theft.
Thanks UTurn, its amazing how labels stick. Socialist states and capitalist states hate anarchism in equal doses, it is the devil incarnate to both parties.
At the heart of the issue is the point you make: respect for the rules and property. Capitalist / corporate / socialist states manage this through coercion, as represented by the mechanisms and the power of the state. That individuals might manage these affairs removes the “power” from their central control. A totally heretic position….God forbid you dont follow blind dogma.
Don’t know if you’ve noticed how often anarchist sentiment is tapped into by politicians who seek popular support for their programmes?
ACT (and just about every other right wing libertarian outfit I’ve come across) do it extensively. And L’nin (that lovely left wing Authoritarian) did it too. In fact, if you listen closely, the ideas and sentiments of anarchy are all over the political sphere.
But people seeking power over others need to ensure there is never any political expression of the underlying ideas or concepts they dress their political shit up in. So the terms of ‘anarchist’ or ‘anarchy’ are demonised and cast aside in order that their conceptual basis can be quietly and safely trawled, twisted and finally processed as unrecognisable end products (Right Wing Libertarianism or Corporatism on the one hand and Dictatorial Socialist States on the other.)
Interestingly, the internet is essentially an functioning Anarchy – currently being reigned in with the likes of failed SOPA, PIPPA and impending ACTA – perhaps because it is teaching a working Anarchsit model to the generation who has grown up on it.
The Occupy movement is essentially an Anarchist movement, spearheaded and conceived by Anarchists, and it’s defining feature is Direct (consensus based ) Democracy. The other thing technology seems to have taught this generation which certainly didn’t come from their Libertarian Babyboomer parents is sharing.
Yet of coarse the pop understanding of Anarchisim suggests it is incongruous with Democracy..
On that note, Adbusters call out to programmers to build new social network, that JP Morgan & Saudi Govt can’t buy shares in..
http://theglobalsquare.org/call4coders
Actually, this boomer was well into anarchism in my 20s, especially anarcho-syndicalism. And back then, I knew a few of my age group, and some slightly younger uni students who were strong advocates of anarchism too, both HEre and in London. London feminists (full of boomers Iin the late 70s & early 80s) tended to be describe the women’s movement as operating according to anarchist principles.
I suspect that many younger folk may not fully embrace anarchism as a principle, even though they are strongly into the Internet. But I welcome the re-invigoration of anarchist ideas that the Internet has brought.
Individualist liberals and libertarian boomers were a much stronger feature in the US than in NZ or the UK.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting these ideas or radicalism is in any way new, what I’m suggesting is interesting is that they’re being ingested as a way of being as a byproduct of the way we interact with technology.
Re the Babyboomer dig, that’s a generalization obviously, of coarse much social progress was made by those who engaged..
Well it also isn’t that much of a correct generalisation of comparative generalisations of different generations. It’s by no means that clear-cut, and it ignores the strong and dominant political forces coming from the wealthy and powerful elites.
I see too much re-writing of history about boomers. The whole hippy movement, even in individualist US, was about sharing, helping others, and about rejecting materialist acquisition of wealth. It was a time when there was much media and popular attention given to the hippy, grass-roots, commune movement, for instance, and many young kiwis got into that.
Unfortunately, some who were well into that (eg Tim Shadbolt and his rural commune), later got absorbed into the neoliberal system – a shift which came from the elites above, in contrast to the more grass roots hippy movement.
Nevertheless, as a result of boomer-dominated hippy anti-materialist, left-leaning values, notions of sharing and a gift economy were built into the Internet architecture and gave rise to such notions as open source software.
And while many people today have absorbed some of the sharing fundamentals built into the Internet architecture, at the same time have absorbed (shonkey) individualist, materially and financially acquisitive neoliberal values.
I’m afraid the destruction wrought by the majority of the babyboomer generation far outweighs any good the minority of the countercoultre achieved. As the planet is testament.
PS: the geeks who laid down the original architect of the Internet, were grad students and others around the Paolo Alta-Silicon Valley area, who were strongly influenced by the Californian hippy ideals of the time, and that influenced the anarchistic elements that underlie the Internet today.
A wee side note relating to the article. What Darwin was saying by ‘survival of the fittest’ was that what fitted best was what survived; not that everything had to fight and struggle for survival and dominance
Bill @7.3. He also highlighted the part that chance plays. A tiny modification way back could have caused say horses to be the dominant species and humanoids faded out. A biologist much younger than Darwin (working in Indonesia I think) floated the idea of survival of the fittest to Darwin when writing to him years before Darwin published. Darwin of course gets the credit but he did not mean that the toughest, meanest fight the way to the top, although looking at humanity these days you might wonder. Politics huh?
Fortunately most parts of mother nature don’t represent a contrived never ending gladiatorial contest or cage fight like Parliament is.
Quoting Article quoting Muatal Aid
Social Darwinists still exist although the term has dropped from common usage – their natural home in NZ is now in National and Act. And they’re as wrong today as they were a hundred years ago.
Kropotkin forms a large basis of my thoughts on the matter of governance and society.
Yes, “survival of the fittest” means, those species most suited to survive in a given environment – it’s species level, and not about individual strength etc.
Spot on DtB.
It is quite clear that one of the main reasons for human ‘advancement’ over other species has been its internal cooperation and not its internal competition.
That certain people alive today cannot see this dooms their own survival – which is in fact to the betterment of wider human survival and advancement of course. The fewer of these buffoons around the better.
Lprent,
Is there any way of measuring the number of external links followed by readers on a blog like this?
It would be interesting to know the number of different links, and the total number followed, as part of the bigger picture including visits and page view numbers.
Just curious really. And procrastinating something much more important…
Yes. We have that on several stats packages. The WP stats does it. For instance in the last 30 days, these are the top clicks from the body of the site (posts, comments, blogrolls) and note that these are the actual landing pages…
scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1201/S00136/teapot-tapes-uploaded.htm 325
tumeke.blogspot.com 264
patbrittenden.com/2012/01/18/its-not-about-race-or-age-or-gender-or-religion-its-about-poverty 260
whaleoil.co.nz/2012/01/not-involved 239
bowalleyroad.blogspot.com 222
nzherald.co.nz 167
norightturn.blogspot.com 167
facebook.com/NZNATS 155
imperatorfish.com 152
robertwinter.blogspot.com 131
kiwiblog.co.nz 119
stuff.co.nz 118
thejackalman.blogspot.com/2012/01/teapot-tape-released.html 117
tumeke.blogspot.com/2012/01/teapot-tape-now-online.html 116
soundcloud.com/goldenturkey/2johns2cups 115
blog.labour.org.nz/2012/01/31/my-christmas-gift-to-david-farrar-2 115
blog.labour.org.nz 111
As you can see we generate a lot of clicks, but the fall off is pretty rapid. Yesterday for instance we did about 450 clicks out over about 200 links (over half only got one click).
If we look over the last year, we basically see the blogroll
tumeke.blogspot.com 4,941
norightturn.blogspot.com 3,557
bowalleyroad.blogspot.com 3,483
blog.labour.org.nz 3,248
nzherald.co.nz 2,396
kiwiblog.co.nz 2,053
robertwinter.blogspot.com 1,895
brianedwardsmedia.co.nz 1,447
stuff.co.nz 1,383
imperatorfish.com 1,330
pundit.co.nz 1,315
asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com 1,200
dimpost.wordpress.com 1,174
Again with some pretty rapid falloffs.
I also jigged the system for google analytics to also do be able to do outward click analysis long ago. They have some more useful stats about paths people tended to take through and out of the site. Which is why I know that most of the readers use the front page to land, and select a post, and then use next and previous posts rather than navigating up and down. But there really isn’t a strong pattern for clickouts.
Of course we’re only really seeing what sites people navigated to from clicks on this site, and it excludes the ads.
Thanks for indulging my curiousity LPrent.
Surprising. I thought sites like facebook would feature more prominently with the links to parliamentary clips etc.
It seems most visitors don’t follow links, even those within the body of blog posts (with some exceptions). I guess it’s mainly a matter of time and personal interest. Personally I love the links and some commenters on open mike provide some beauties too.
The more I follow things online, the less I follow the mainstream media. Seldom watch the TV news, but when I catch it I feel like I’m living in a parallel universe.
Yeah, once you’ve spent time getting news and researching the background of that news online the MSM just doesn’t seem to be connected to reality.
Facebook doesn’t get many outgoing links. However we do get a lot of incoming links from them. Since I put the recommendatory buttons in, it has gone from being a low contender to being second after the search engines.
Just been reading about Russia in the 50s and 60s. An intense drive to increase outputs of goods was spurred on by bonus payments to managers who met the annual targets of production. So Performance Pay is a Communist construct! The difference was that in Russia defined targets had to be met whereas here Bonus to Bankers, CEOs, Consultants are paid regardless of success.
Bring on the Commies!
The future of New Zealand anyone?
I don’t know about you, but I am not planning to convert to Mormonism.
Seems to be a common theme when reading such articles often contain sentences such as “This is the type of idiocy that passes as policy in the eurozone. ” – People like to fob off bad decision making as some sort of accident…
At what point will people come to realise that there is much more at play than “idiocy” when making decisions.
At what point does the continual “idiocy” beceome a deliberate act? 5, 10, 20, 30 years recently…..
Nah its all a massive accident!
Well I can see the outsourcing is on it’s way outside NZ – with the IRD upgrade, which I’ve blogged about.
http://nowoccupy.blogspot.com/2012/02/creating-more-jobs-in-silicon-valley.html
National’s slack internet security
There are many holes in the government’s Internet security, mainly because there are so many operators that don’t know what they’re doing…
Stuff: High Court orders Government to reconsider Crafar farms sale deal … 🙂
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/6422866/Reconsider-Crafar-farms-deal-Government-told
Indeed!
Ha! Yeesssss…!!
Keep the issue in the spotlight.
I may get repititive but it is for very good and simple reason…… namely, that having land owned by people who do not live in New Zealand is bad for New Zealand.
And they don’t even NEED to own the land. They claim they are investing in business, right? So invest ion the business, but they don’t need to own the land to do that.
Keep the issue alive! It is one of some paths to greater prosperity, of that there is no doubt.
I have had a quick squizz at the judgment. Justice Millar seems to be saying that the Ministers overstated the economic benefits of the purchase. The same benefits would have been available if the local bidder bought the farms. Interesting decision …
I await the RWNJ claims that the Judge is racist. Snap McFlock.
Time until Fran O’Sullivan calls the High Court racist (sorry, “xenophobic”): 4… 3… 2… 1…
So if the ministry overstated ecenomic benefits, thats just a flash way to say “they lied” no!
The “It will create jobs” , followed by, there might be 2 possibly 3 training positions really was a give away to the fact that someone was talking CRAP!
Let’s have all the BS come out now, and lets watch the spin machine in action again!
I found the court summary quite interesting, it gelled with what I read in the OIO report here….
17. One submitter claimed that the Applicant’s proposal contains no benefits to New Zealand. In particular, the farming plans relating to herd and farm improvement are nothing more than what an average New Zealand farmer would do if given the chance to purchase the properties
(OIO) Response
19. The Overseas Investment Act does not require an overseas person investor to do more than a New Zealand investor would do to the land. Instead, the Overseas Investment Act tests only whether the investment will or is likely to benefit New Zealand, a part of New Zealand or a group of New Zealanders, and whether that benefit will be substantial and identifiable. That test is by reference to a number of benefit ‘factors’ which must be considered by the relevant Ministers.
My thoughts at the time was the OIO could not state anything to be a benefit unless they knew what other buyers intended and compared one against the other. Their response above didn’t make any sense to me, and clearly the judge thought so too.
To borrow an expression from OleBiscuitBarrel… colour me gobsmacked!!!!
What has yet to come out is the Ministerial interference in the LandCorp bid. Unfortunately I’m not 100% on my source and I can’t quote them properly; but the gist of the conversation was along the lines that LandCorp was instructed not to put in an acceptable bid for the farms.
Now that would be evidence that needs to be presented at a court.
One Ministerial resignation possibly from Parliament as well. Now that would set an interesting dynamic for the year.
Don’t get too excited. They will reconsider, apply the different criteria and come to the same result.
Yeah I know, but I live in hope.
Today is a good day!
Doug White – Asshole of the Week
Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know the mine had exploded as he applied for another job, the overall mismanagement of Pike River mine is highly despicable!
COLLECTING SIGNATURES FOR THE PETITION WHICH MAY HELP GET RID OF JOHN BANKS – ACT MP FOR EPSOM:
Interesting that neither the old Securities Commission, the SFO, the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), or the Police have lifted a finger to apply ACT’s ‘one law for all’ to either the ACT Party MP for Epsom, John Banks, or the former ACT Party Leader Don Brash?
In fact, I have it in writing from the the SFO, the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), and the Police that they will not lay charges against Banks or Brash, which, in my considered opinion, is a form of political protection, which I believe is corrupt.
Both John Banks and Don Brash were equally former fellow Directors of Huljich Wealth Management (NZ) Ltd, whom, along with Peter Huljich equally signed Huljich Kiwisaver Registered Prospectuses which contained untrue statements.
Under the Securities Act 1978 s.58 (3) that is an offence.
Where is the ZERO TOLERANCE for ‘white collar’ crime in New Zealand?
In my considered opinion, in NZ – ‘perceived’ to be the least corrupt country in the world, according to Transparency International’s 2011 ‘Corruption Perception Index’ – the balance of power is arguably being held by a yet-to-be charged or convicted ‘white collar’ criminal – John Banks ACT MP for Epsom.
However – all is not lost.
When one door closes, another door opens.
Currently there are signatures being collected for a petition which requests:
“That the House conduct an urgent inquiry into the decisions regarding prosecutions relating to the Juljich Kiwisaver Scheme registered prospectuses dated 22 August 2008 and 18 September 2009.”
I do not anticipate any major problems in getting an MP to present this petition to the House.
For more background information, check out http://www.pennybright4epsom.org.nz
Penny Bright
[email deleted]
Fuck you are boring, Penny.
yeah yr handle is so entertaining too
[lprent: I have to confess that was partially my fault. Whilst chastising OleBiscuitBarrel last year, I told him that he was a gormless fool. He adopted it as his handle. But I have to say that it is one of the more unique and entertaining handles around 😈 ]
So – why bother engaging?
😉
Cheers!
Penny Bright
Penny, you don’t engage. You cut and paste press releases. I’d rather talk to randal.
Good on you Penny!
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2012/02/general_debate_15_february_2012.html#comment-933530
Quite a debate starting here!
Want to play?
🙂
Cheers!
Penny Bright
rather you than me Penny but fight the good fight
penny as I’ve said before in politics less is more .Your track record in politics proves me right .
I agree with your plight but you are obviously not very bright .
Abbreviate your message and people won’t be turned off by your boring posts!
I think the style over content argument is passé. It is conformist boring rubbish that people like Penny and Phil u get all the time by those who do not agree with their message. The only reason it would apply is that the style is somehow detrimental to the message, which is subjective to the reader. It would seem you’re more averse to the message than the style mik e. Either way, you have the choice of not reading it.
Imagine the effect if the charges were enforced. Far reaching indeed. Good on ‘yer Penny.
http://ilcorsaro.info/mondo/285-il-mito-del-fannullone-greco
Sorry this is in Italian, but it’s very good about the myths told about the Greek people, and what’s really going on!
The title means ‘The myth of the lazy Greek’.
Here’s an extract and my translation:
“Prendiamo i greci. I dati dell’Ocse mostrano chiaramente che i greci lavorano in media più ore all’anno (2.109) degli altri europei: i tedeschi per esempio lavorano 1.419 ore. Si può ovviamente obiettare che le ore lavorate non significano lavoro effettivo, che si può rimanere 12 ore sul luogo di lavoro e passarne la metà a cercare ricette esotiche su internet. Questo porta ad analizzare la produttività del lavoro, concetto più complicato da calcolare perché dipende da fattori che non sono in rapporto con l’assiduità (il livello tecnologico, la qualità dell’organizzazione produttiva e così via).”
“Take the Greeks. The OECD data show clearly that the Greeks are working longer hours on average per year (2,109) than other Europeans, the Germans work 1,419 hours for example. You can of course argue that the hours worked do not mean actual work, that you can stay 12 hours at work and spend half your time searching for exotic recipes on the Internet. This leads us to analyse labour productivity, a concept more complicated to calculate because it depends on factors not related to the attendance (the technological level, quality of production organization and so on)…. (and so it does, that is, attempt that analysis. )
The myth of the ‘lazy greek’ has to be repeated to justify to the German populace why it is their bankers’ moral right and imperative to subjugate that country.
Vicky32, you might like this article as well…
Awesome infographic: the true cost of war
Apparently a million US dollars is not that much money. In $100 bills it would fit in a decent sized, single strap, over the shoulder satchel.
Key says Mondayising Public Holidays would ‘cost’ the economy $400 million.
These are Public Holidays already, the workers of NZ are already entitled to them.
The reality is that the workers of NZ are being duped out of $400 million worth of holidays due to a silly loophole in the law.
The ultimate irony for me was seeing photos of foreign owned stores & Embassies closed on these Mondays, with their NZ staff given the day off.
+1
DeSmogBlog releases a trove of whistleblower documents that confirm a lot of things we already suspected:
And there’s a lot more!
Particularly with respect to Heartland funding of the so-called NZ (now International) “Climate Science Coalition”
As John Mashey in a comment on “Hot Topic” explains:
“The read might draw inferences about the likely effects of:
a) Heartland sending $ to foreign non-charities. NO-NO
b) Foreign non-charities engage in clearly non-exempt activities (the IRS-?E codes). NO-NO
c) Some of those involved in the NZ non-charities show up and make comments that repeatedly support the non-exemptness.
Already gone, but nice icing on the cake. When reading “puppets,” I sometimes had to hold back from commenting, lest I spoil the fun.
But all that’s on the record now.
It is very likely that neither the non-charities nor Heartland understood the US tax implications. Of course, if NZ citizens got money for a non-charity and spent it, without declaring income … well that’s for Kiwis to sort out.”
Awesome. Show up those who are funding the lies.
The personal search function is one I like – to keep track of my comments and those responding. I made some yesterday but they don’t come up on request. Is this something that gets dropped on occasions?
Not meant to. It runs on a cron process. I will look at in the morning as I’m in bed and doing a ssh console from the iPad is strictly an emergency procedure
Ok the problem was that sphinxsearch (the program that runs the search) had an update, and it appears that it was putting the lock files in with ownership coded to its own user id. That meant that the web process that had been running it was unable to run the daily updates.
I’ve shifted the period update to shift to the sphinx user.
I’ll check when I get to work to make sure that it has actually run.