The leading secular radical movement in Palestine is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, founded in 1967. Its key founder was George Habash.
Some of us at Redline were involved, a couple of years ago, in fund-raising in NZ for the PFLP.
Its most well-known member is probably Leila Khaled, a Palestinian icon who is today a member of its PolitBureau. Its general-secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, is currently in an Israeli jail, without charge, after the Israelis kidnapped him in 2006.
We have numerous articles up on Redline on the cause of Palestinian liberation and the PFLP, including an interview that was done with Leila as part of the fundraising campaign.
Excellent. Thanks for that Philip. Murray Horton is a witty and compelling speaker, with a sharp mind. Which means he is totally unsuited for radio programmes like Jim Mora’s The Panel.
I’ve just heard, on Radio NZ National’s excellent Mediawatch program, that empty vessel Mike “Contra” Hosking boasting to a simpering, giggling Rachel Smalley how he gave Nicky Hager “a hard time” on his show last year.
When did that happen? I find it extremely unlikely that Hosking would have got the better of Hager, who is far more articulate, and clearly his superior intellectually as well as ethically and morally.
Perhaps someone could provide a link to—or a transcript of—this amazing event which I for one do not believe ever happened.
That would be the Mediawatch in which that Lackwit Larry got a mention. It’s been years since I heard that droning voice delivering words of wisdom. Do people actually listen to that guy while conscious or is he the ZB sleep-time for toddlers story teller. 10mg of Mogadon would be a better option.
…. and yes – it is an excellent programme (watch out for the knives amongst RNZ management)
and yes – it is an excellent programme (watch out for the knives amongst RNZ management)
I have no doubt that Richard (Lord Haw Haw Haw Haw) Griffin has conniptions every time that this programme sends up the government’s media wing, as it did this morning with its devastating exhibition of Hosking and Williams. In the last few months alone, they’ve already wielded the knife against Wayne Brittenden and Down the List.
No. Hoskings and JLR don’t use the American pronunciation of ‘class’ rhyming like ‘ass’ as your subject (Fis) does. (Catching up with Key 14th March) They rhyme the word ‘class’ with ‘arse, speaking the same way as real New Zealanders.
Seven Sharp- shortly after the DP book was launched so it would have been mid to late August Morrissey.
There was no “intellectual” superiority in the so-called “hard time”. It was just loud noise coming from Hosking not unlike Key’s attempts to discredit Hager at the same time. Everything Hager said was rubbished by Hosking, but he presented no cogent or logical explanation fore the rubbishing. You know the type of thing:
Hager: I’ve just heard that President Kennedy has been assassinated.
Hosking: That’s rubbish. You’re making it up. The President of the USA been assassinated? Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous.
A few hours later there is an official statement… “President Kennedy has been assassinated”. Hosking goes quiet for a long time. Then he boasts loudly on a radio programme… I remember giving that creep Hager a hard time last year.
It’s a sign of how low standards are at TV1 that this himbo-bimbo fronts their evening newsmagazine show.
I heard part of Mediawatch and one of the things Hoskings did on his radio show was read out a text or email from one of his listeners (although I wouldn’t be surprised if Hosking had’ve made it up) referring to Hager as “that little prick Hager”.
I wonder if he would’ve read out a text using the same words to describe Key.
And what a withering intellectual critique of Nicky Hager, eh? But that’s Hosking’s level.
Given that he is still banging on the same nonsense about Hager all these months later, he has a real bee in his hairdo about Nicky. Nicky must’ve really made him look bad!
But now, yes, it appears he is totally delusional as well.
Hosking is that unfortunate specimen: a working class boy who has “made good” and takes on the simpering narcissism and prejudices of the class that he thinks he has joined, even though he’s really tolerated by them because he’s a useful idiot.
I knew Hosking was an airhead and a narcissist. But now it also appears he’s totally delusional.
He’s a prime example of that unfortunate creature, the working class boy ‘made good’ who takes on the prejudices and simpering narcissism of the class he thinks he’s joined when really they tolerate him because he’s a useful idiot.
Yeah, I read the headline. Thought it was unbelievable that someone thought respecting private property was the definition of a free and tolerant so society so didn’t want to add to the page views. I’m guessing it was about the Titirangi Kauri, but any statements on what he thinks about respect for people or the environment?
But that’s not how these characters play. They are puffed-up bandwagon-jumpers, holier-than-thou busybodies, always ready to bully and abuse at no expense or inconvenience to themselves.
To hell with minority rights – in this case, the Lenihan’s. We can jump up and down, and scream and shout and be clapped and reported about. It’s glorious. Look at us, we care. To hell with the law.
It really is interesting to consider that quote in the light of the early US leaders who waxed lyrical about freedom and justice. And “owned” other human beings as slaves.
Yes the concept of “private property” as conceived by John Locke in 1690 in his “ Second Treatise on Government” is shot full of logical and ethical inconsistencies. This is the founding statement and justification of the right to private property and to protection of that property by public law and force. Locke argues that the right to private property and protection is the foundation of all government legislation and duty, of all individual rights, and – if violated – of the rights to rebel against the state or sovereign. Market doctrine since Locke has presupposed his position as canonical (vis Hide’s stupid out burst!).
We have to reinvestigate the whole concept of what constitutes property – just what rights “ownership” carries as well as protection of the commons as well.
By the time George Washington became President he was the richest man in the USA. His wealth came from the extermination of the Indian nations and the expropriation, farming and on selling of their land.
In fact it is clear that the Founding Fathers of the USA did everything they could to make sure that the USA would not be a popular democracy. The appointed senate, the electoral college, and the barring of women and blacks from voting were just a few clues to that.
I came across an excellent book in the Ottawa library last year “Unequal Freedoms – the global market as an ethical system” by John Mc Murray published 1999. It investigates and critiques the philosophical basis of both the “free market” and the globalisation of such. Highly perceptive and a devastating critique of market doctrine. We see that modern economic theory is based on very flimsy foundations and it is unsurprising that our conventional economic practices are failing.
Hide doesn’t recognise that his much treasured rules of ‘private’ property are not actually sustainable in society, certainly not to the level of paramouncy as he seems to believe.
He has been caught out believing his own bullshit.
Oh, I really hope so. While I can imagine SIS agents (basically jumped up school prefects from Grammar school 2nd XVs) saying that sort of thing, the stupidity needed to put it in writing would be monumental. At least Simon Bridges level.
Hope someone will introduce into the House the letter of apology from new head of GCSB for written comments ‘spies’ ( ie employees of NZ taxpayers) made about raping Mrs Mona Dotcom and replacing her with one of their own.
KDC is a sublime rust for Key. Keeps on giving and eating away, and he may yet be the one responsible for bringing him down.
Since the article says that it applies to those who were there prior to 1999, and therefore King qualifies, it is hardly surprising that she’s in favour. Anything to build up her slush find for when she quits at the next election.
Incidentally has anyone heard a rumour I was told about last week. My informant, who is subject to a bit of hyperbole, claimed that the price of Annette being deputy for a while was that she would quit and allow Little to stand for Rongotai. Seems a bit extreme but it could be possible. Certainly I’m sure he would like an electorate that he could possibly win.
The travel perk was, of course one of Norman Kirk’s schemes. Norm wanted to give MPs, and himself, a pay rise but not to appear to be doing so. He therefore brought this in so he could sanctimoniously say that MPs were sacrificing for the country without actually doing so.
He also brought in the extra allowance for former PMs. He carefully worded it so that Jack Marshall wouldn’t get it, but in time Norm would. When he died before the requisite time period the Rowling Government changed it so that Ruth King, along with Wallace Rowling himself would get the money.
Never get between a trougher and the money pot seemed to be the motto of those charlatans.
I will if you like but you might not want to hear about it.
The main promoter of the scheme, despite being a junior minister, was the bete-noire of the left, Roger Douglas.
The scheme grew out of a private member’s bill put forward by Douglas when in opposition.
As Wikipedia says
“Douglas was an early and enthusiastic promoter of the government’s plans for a compulsory contributory superannuation scheme that would supplement the old age pension. In 1972, while still in opposition, he introduced a private member’s bill that provided for a form of compulsory superannuation. In Cabinet, Rowling, who was then Minister of Finance, and Douglas were largely responsible for a 1973 White Paper setting out the government’s proposals for superannuation. As well as augmenting individual provision for retirement, the scheme was intended to be a source of capital for investment in the domestic economy.[11] The scheme became law in the form of the New Zealand Superannuation Act 1974.
The law was passed a few days before Norm died but it wasn’t really his work, was it? You have to give credit for the short-lived scheme to Rowling and Douglas.
Yes, this was when Douglas still acted for the good of the country and well before his book “There’s Got to be a Better Way”, which laid out some plagiarised Friedmanite rubbish as his own thoughts. Norm knew what the country needed, Lange was too blinded by his own witty performances to even notice what Douglas had turned into.
Legislation for a major change like super doesn’t go through without the approval of the PM, just as a very dodgy MP doesn’t stand for re-election without the specific approval of the PM.
“Legislation for a major change like super doesn’t go through without the approval of the PM, just as a very dodgy MP doesn’t stand for re-election without the specific approval of the PM.”
You may be right, although if the second part is true one must worry about the honesty of Helen Clark, given what Taito Phillip Field had been up to.
I have been told by people who had to deal with Kirk that he really had little control over anything during 1974. He had, unfortunately, had heart problems, circulation problems and other health problems during the entire year and was not really in command of his job. I cannot comment from personal experience but some of the people who have told me this were very senior public servants at the time.
Taito Philip Field was merely dodgy. For very dodgy you need to look at the right. I don’t think Field ever molested the children of anyone who worked on his house. Graeme Cappill came from the right.
You may be right.
On the other hand perhaps you can remind us again what Party Mr Capill belonged to, when he was an MP, and therefore which PM is responsible for his behaviour? At least tell us which PM was the leader of his party?
You can also tell us who was the party leader responsible when the former MP for Otaki got into Parliament and how you might justify the rather “iffy” behaviour he got up to when he entertained a teenager in the present Labour Parties deputy leader’s home? How do you justify that sort of behaviour, where the kid ended up having to flee naked down the street?
“perhaps you can remind us again what Party Mr Capill belonged to, when he was an MP, and therefore which PM is responsible for his behaviour? At least tell us which PM was the leader of his party?”
Th’ feck are you on about? No PM was ever the leader of Capill’s tawdry little conservative right-wing christo-fascist party.
Ps did you know that the right-wing conservative pedophile Graham Capill also worked for the NZ Police?
I think you know that it’s the type of offences that Capill was found guilty of that’s important here. Maybe I’ll be able to tell you the rest next week, if you don’t know already.
Some scathing views about National’s Northland BYELECTION-BRIBES:
* “New” jobs which may or may not be full-time jobs; “new” road bridges which are not a priority; “new” promises on the roll-out of broadband which are old promises.
* Is there no limit on the lengths to which the National Party will go to pull the wool over voters’ eyes and hope that prevents the seat of Northland from falling into Winston Peters’ clutches?
* Deserving of special scrutiny is the repeated claim by Steven Joyce that 7500 new jobs were created in Northland last year. [Note: The link below explains why that claim is just pig shit]
* With more pork yet to come, National is setting a none-too-useful benchmark which risks turning contests in electorates into unseemly auctions.
* But National does not care one jot what Labour or anyone else thinks. It is locked in an almighty struggle with the man who has been its nemesis for longer than the party cares to remember.
* It was Mark Osborne, National’s candidate in Northland, who announced that the Government would be spending up to $70 million on replacing 10 single-lane bridges in the electorate. It is Parliament which sanctions such spending and Bridges who will be responsible for ensuring the money is spent on exactly what Parliament has decreed it be spent on – not Osborne, who as yet has no parliamentary standing and should not have made the announcement. It takes pork-barrelling to a new level when the candidate is doing it.
* Equally disturbing is the scale of the pork-barrelling by National.
* But National does not care one jot what Labour or anyone else thinks. It is locked in an almighty struggle with the man who has been its nemesis for longer than the party cares to remember. The stakes are not just high; they are stratospheric. So far, National appears to have no idea how to do that beyond trying to crowd him out of the media.
* National’s post-mortems on the byelection will also have to ask how the party managed to select a candidate who is so obviously out of his depth. Putting him up against Peters was lamb for the slaughter.
* National’s campaign is further handicapped by its confused stance in this byelection. The subtext of Joyce’s gushing statements about the strong growth in the Northland economy is that this is all down to National’s sound management of the overall economy and its business development programmes. Yet, the ever-lengthening line of Cabinet ministers trekking to Northland bearing gifts speaks of a regional economy still in dire straits and desperately short of capital, infrastructure and a highly skilled workforce needed to attract business ventures.
Northland is either a burgeoning success story or an economic cot-case. It cannot be both.
* If things are on the improve in the region – as Joyce insists – why is National being punished by a large chunk of the party’s supporters deserting to New Zealand First?
I sometimes wonder about Armstrong’s (political) convictions. Perhaps he ‘adapts’ his style & contents to maximise the number of page views (reads?) & comments? After all, he’s a qualified professional with lots of experience unlike the likes of Rodney Hide and Mike Hosking.
“Northland is either a burgeoning success story or an economic cot-case. It cannot be both.”
It can, actually. Northland is like a 3rd world country where the wealthy live in gated enclaves and the poor live in misery. Take a drive from Kerikeri to Moerewa. It’s not far.
Tomorrow, Monday 16 March 2015, after confirming with the Electoral Commission the ‘due process’ to follow – it is my intention to make a formal complaint against National’s Northland candidate Mark Osborne, for reported comments allegedly made by him, which, in my opinion, are a breach of s.216 (2) of the Electoral Act 1993 – “BRIBERY”.
In my view, in order to get an ‘outcome’ – you need to first put something into a ‘sausage machine’.
Just ‘howling at the moon’ doesn’t ‘cut it’ – in my opinion and experience.
The chain of events that ended up getting John Banks removed from Parliament, started with a complaint to the Police….
I was one of the three complainants.
Once I have the ‘process’ confirmed with the Electoral Commission – I will pass on the information.
Under NZ electoral law – “BRIBERY” is an offence.
But, situation normal, nothing will happen until someone actually MAKES A COMPLAINT?
I’ve already emailed the Electoral Commission – asking them this ‘due process’ question, so the ‘sausage machine’ has been ‘switched on’ – as it were….
Good luck Penny. Maybe you can also include/allude to the early votes deliberately cheated out of confused elderly as mentioned in Open Mike yesterday ? ( Can find you link if you missed it).
Very serious indeed, and possibly could be part of same complaint ?
I haven’t seen the comment you refer to but the voting of people suffering from dementia by the staff of their aged care home seems to be a standard feature of every election.
I worked as a clerk at a polling booth in one of the homes at an election some years ago. Their were people who obviously suffered from dementia whose voting papers were collected by a staff member. The staff member had to tell us who the resident was as they didn’t seem to be in a position to know their own name.
The staff member then “helped” them to vote. I don’t think some of them had the faintest idea that there was even an election on.
One can only hope that there are never enough to unduly affect the results.
I have no idea who the votes were being cast for.
I certainly never saw the completed ballot papers. I can only say that I don’t think the “voters” knew either.
I’m more concerned with this new, and insidious, practice by the National party to have helpers phone and door-knock offers of rides to the polling booth.
On election day in 2014 we got an automated call from Sam Lotu Iiga’s electorate office apparently offering a ride to the polling booth. I don’t know how many houses this call went out to on election day but one must assume it was all households in the Maungakeiei electorate.
I complained to the Electoral commission on the day, and to be fair to them they had their chief lawyer call me back almost instantly, but he said it was within the rules agreed to by all parties.
While a higher proportion of constituents voting for parties of the socially responsible left are more likely to require help to get to a polling booth (or in this case – advanced voting for the infirm), this agreement is likely to not be in Labour’s benefit because the National party will cynically use it to have a last ditch advertising push on election day to all voters, regardless of mobility status…
…as Sam Lotu Iiga did in Maungakeikei in September 2014.
A solution to this would be for the Electoral commission themselves to have the funding to help vulnerable voters fulfil their right to vote uninfluenced by the Nats.
I would love to know what evidence you have for the statement that “While a higher proportion of constituents voting for parties of the socially responsible left are more likely to require help to get to a polling booth”.
On the other hand I do know one person, who does vote for right leaning parties, who called the Labour Party to request help to get to the polling booth. After voting she then, on the way home thanked “the nice young man and assured him she had voted for his candidate XXX. XXX was the National candidate”. She said that the driver managed, just, to resist tossing out of the car.
I told this story to one of my Labour leaning friends and she did it the other way round at the next election. She got National to take her to vote Labour. She claimed he was, in a strained way, quite polite to her.
You’d have to be stupid to not accept that more lower socio-economic people vote left and that more lower socio-economic people lack private transport.
I complained to the Electoral commission on the day, and to be fair to them they had their chief lawyer call me back almost instantly, but he said it was within the rules agreed to by all parties.
It is. Labour has always offered rides especially to the elderly and infirm in well supported electorates
That’s what the Electoral Commission’s lawyer said too.
“Labour do it too”
I had to laugh because it sounded like something straight out of the Crosby Textor handbook.
I felt at the time that help to the polling booth targeted to immobile voters is fair enough, but an automated and apparently random phone message? Sounds like campaigning to me.
Given your comment reference, 11.2.1.2 you appear to be replying to my comment which is 11.2.1.
What the hell are you talking about? Am I not allowed to help run the election by giving my time, and the payment went to a charity, to help run the election? I was a clerk in the polling booth. I wasn’t a bloody party representative.
1. It is not “bullshit”
2. I hate to dent your little ego but I don’t really care in the slightest what you think. I have yet to read anything by you that matters in the slightest.
Lest we forget, the process which led to the legally enforced corporate takeover of the Auckland region via the Auckland ‘Supercity’ (for the 1%) amalgamation, effectively started on 5 September 2006, with the attempted ‘Mayoral coup’.
The purpose of the (failed) Auckland ‘Mayoral coup’ was to get rid of the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and replace it with a ‘Supercity’.
The ‘ring leaders’ of this attempted Auckland ‘Mayoral coup’, were Waitakere City Council Mayor Bob Harvey, Manukau City Council Mayor Barry Curtis, North Shore City Council Mayor George Wood, and Auckland City Council Mayor Dick Hubbard.
FACT.
The ‘form’ taken by these four City Council Mayors – was a letter – co-signed by all of them – addressed to then LABOUR Prime Minister, Helen Clark, asking for her urgent intervention and assistance, on behalf of those who were really pushing hard for this – BUSINESS leaders.
Luckily, fellow community activist Lisa Prager and myself, having been ‘tipped off’ about this meeting to be held in the Auckland Town Hall, gate-crashed it and disrupted it – on the basis that the Auckland ‘Mayoral Forum’ under whose auspices this meeting had been called, was NOT a ‘creature of statute’ – had no lawful right to do anything – and under the then Local Government Act 2002, there had to be a binding poll of the PUBLIC before any ‘amalgamation’ took place.
Our action on 5 September 2006, at least helped to slow down the process …
Looking at the RT site for what it has about President Putin’s whereabouts.
The news at the 12th March was that he had cancelled some things but was having meetings out of the public eye. He had some trouble in 2012 similarly and this was ascribed to old sports injuries etc. http://rt.com/politics/240025-russia-peskov-putin-health/
This has been hot on Twitter since late yesterday when Philip Lyth picked it up, then Idiot/Savant (NRT) and Graeme Edgeler. Graeme researched it and then posted on Public Address:
The whole situation seems to changing minute by minute. According to Graeme the Stuff article has been updated to exclude a sentence included in the original article referring to Fox, Turei and King opposing the changes. *
Graeme’s Twiitter feed is possibly the only way to keep up with the changing situation. Lots more details, questions, comments there.
EDIT – the earlier version also included the fact that only one dissenting vote is needed for the changes to not pass! Apparently this still stands, but taken out of the Stuff article.
I suspect that this is going to be all over the MSM news tomorrow, The Stuff (Dom Post) article was obviously written in haste – I suspect by a pretty junior on duty journo. Herald also has a fairly vacuous article up tonight. Won’t bother providing a link unless you would like one.
But it continues to be debated on Twitter – Graeme Edgeler, Jessica Williams, Hoots, Annette King (qualifies when she leaves Parliament), Tau Henare (another qualifier now) etc. King seems to be out there trying to justify the change on behalf of National. Say no more.
Edgeler seems to be holding his ground and refusing to let it go which IMO is good. Could be the start of another bad week for Key …. !
Death by a thousand cuts, perhaps. Time will tell.
Sparrho is like the Google for scientific papers—and patents, posters, events, and grants. Just type in keywords, like “GMO food,” and you’ll soon have access to all the latest research. Here’s a snapshot of what comes up when you search for GMO food:
As you can see, the latest results are up-to-date (I performed the search on March 6). Some are accessible to laypeople, some are not. That’s because Vivian Chan, Sparrho’s CEO and co-founder, originally designed the platform for herself. “I was doing my PhD at Cambridge University, and realized using search engines for science doesn’t work. There are all of these databases out there, but you have to know exactly what it is you’re looking for,” she says.
Good analysis and ideas in the Observer today for addressing Britain’s housing crisis, which shares most of the hallmarks of NZ’s:
”The Homes for Britain campaign, which brings together housing associations, private house builders, landlords, planners and architects, is holding a rally in Westminster. It aims to solve the housing crisis “in a generation”, which is a realistic time frame, given that it has taken a generation to create the current situation
”The crisis in house prices is therefore not an act of pure economic fate but constructed and willed by policy over decades. As such, it can also be defused by policy, if not easily or quickly. So far, the main government response has been to try to relax planning rules and to encourage the market with measures such as Help To Buy which, presented as much-needed assistance to first-time buyers, tend to push up prices further.”
Aid agencies reported that around 90% of houses in Port Vila have been destroyed, many people displaced, and schools ripped apart. Oxfam Australia’s executive director Helen Szoke said:
It’s becoming increasingly clear that we are now dealing with worse than the worst case scenario in Vanuatu. This is likely to be one of the worst disasters ever seen in the Pacific.
Up to 75,000 children in Vanuatu could be in desperate need of food, water and shelter, Save the Children has said.
‘Lack of urgency’ on climate change, says World Bank V-P
As reported earlier, Vanuatu’s president, Baldwin Lonsdale, is, by coincidence, at the UN world conference on disaster risk reduction in Japan, from where AFP sends this report:
Despite ominous predictions of mass devastation in cyclone-wrecked Vanuatu, policymakers at a UN disaster meeting in Japan do not seem to understand the pressing need to tackle climate change, the World Bank warned Sunday.
A state of emergency has been declared in the impoverished Pacific nation, where dozens are feared dead after one of the most powerful storms ever recorded smashed through. Aid agencies have spoken of “grave fears” over the scale of the human tragedy.
But Rachel Kyte, World Bank vice president and special envoy for climate change, said there appeared to be a disconnect between policy and the increasingly-frequent weather-related disasters the world is suffering.
“I worry that a sense of urgency and a sense of shared ambition is not at the right level,” she told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of the UN conference on disaster risk reduction in Sendai, Japan.
“It’s hugely ironic that this storm should hit Vanuatu while we are all here. If we truly care for those people, we have to respond,” she said, referring to the need for environmental commitments.
“I think we have to hold ourselves accountable and at least voluntarily we should have targets” on emission reductions from the Sendai conference, she said.
The conference comes ahead of COP 21 talks scheduled for December in Paris, at which countries will try to thrash out agreements on cutting greenhouse gases.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who will chair the meeting, told AFP Sendai could act as a springboard to success later in the year.
Kyte told AFP:
I don’t think I would say climate change caused [Cyclone] Pam, but I would say the fact is in the past three or four years we’ve seen category fives coming with a regularity we’ve never seen before.
And that has some relationship with climate change. It is indisputable that part of the Pacific Ocean is much warmer today than in previous years, so these storms are intensifying.
We may have helped communities become resilient to the kinds of storms we experienced in the past, but resilience to a storm with wind speed of up to 300km per hour – that’s a whole new intensity.
The UN development bank chief, Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, said it was “impossible” to protect against natural disasters without addressing one of the root causes:
Unless we tackle climate change on the global level we are making the task of building resilience to disasters almost impossible.
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The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. But those targets are insufficient. Meanwhile, Denmark is showing us how its done:Denmark’s parliament adopted a new climate law on Friday, committing to reach 70% below its 1990 emissions in ...
Another day, another piece of legislation with a secrecy clause. This time its the innocuous-seeming Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, which (after establishing a new body and making it subject to the OIA in three different ways) includes the rapidly-becoming-standard clauses enabling it to request information from other public ...
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...
On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...
Michael SchulsonWhen Shane Burcaw flies on an airplane, he brings along a customized gel cushion, a car seat, and about 10 pieces of memory foam. The whole arsenal costs around $1,000, but for Burcaw it’s a necessity. The 27-year-old author and speaker — who, alongside his fiancée, Hannah ...
We are very pleased to publish this submission is from Lucinda Stoan. She is a social justice activist, mother, and educator, based in Washington State in the US. This detailed and comprehensive source-linked overview of trans issues and what is at stake will be useful for many people, especially in ...
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...
Rubbish In, Rubbish Out: Put all this together, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that anyone who responds positively to a pollster’s request to “answer a few questions” is just ever-so-slightly weird. Desperately lonely? Some sort of psephological train-spotter? Political party member primed to skew the poll for or against ...
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...
Some people seem to want to close down any critical discussion of the current research into the relationship between water fluoride and child IQ. They appear to argue that claims made by researchers should not be open to critical review and that the claims be accepted without proper consideration ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. Meanwhile, Climate Action Tracker has the shameful reality: those targets are insufficient:While New Zealand is showing leadership by having passed the world’s second-ever Zero Carbon Act in November 2019, under ...
The government introduced a Racing Industry Bill today. As an urban who horse racing as pointless-to-cruel, and gambling as a tax on stupidity and/or hope, this isn't normally a bill which would interest me in the slightest, beyond grumpiness at more government money for a dying industry. But there is ...
Check. Check. One, two, three, four. Is this thing ON? Hello readers, I logged in last night (yeah, it’s been a while) to mark THE END of the landmark legal case, Jordan Williams v Colin Craig, which (gulp) reached The Supreme Court, in which New Zealand’s most-defamed man was suing the politician he ...
Before The Birth: Israel’s most fervent supporters set their clocks ticking in Biblical times. They cite the kingdoms of David and Solomon as proof that, in the words of the Exodus movie’s theme-song: “This land is mine.” The majority of Israel’s backers, however, start their clocks in 1933 – the year Adolf ...
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...
Both my parents are pretty handy – and they seem to have the right tools for most jobs in the garage and they know how to fix practically anything. A similar story could be told about their generation’s experience in the workforce – being a generalist was not unusual and ...
When it was revealed that NZ First had tried to enrich itself from public office via the Provoncial Growth Fund, the Prime Minister assured us that everything was OK as Shane Jones, the Minister responsible for the fund, had recused himself. Except it seems that that recusal came very late ...
Today is a Member's Day, and probably the last one of the year. After the marathon of the End of Life Choice Act, most of the bills up for debate today are uncontentious. First up is the second reading of Chlöe Swarbrick's Election Access Fund Bill. This will be followed ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has reported back on the government's odious and tyrannical control orders bill. As expected, the fraudulent select committee process has made no significant changes (partly because they couldn't agree, but mostly because it was a stitch-up from the start, with no intention of ...
Yesterday, the government released its draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which will be put to a non-binding referendum at the next election. I'm not a drug policy expert, but Russell Brown is, and he thinks its pretty good. And pretty obviously, it will be a massive improvement on the ...
As you're probably aware, the draft bill outlining the proposed legal cannabis regime to be put to a referendum late next year was published yesterday, and has already attracted a flurry of comment. It's notable that a good deal of the comment is about proposals that aren't actually new.A minimum ...
One of the big problems in New Zealand climate change policy is the government working at cross-purposes with itself. It wants to reduce fossil fuel use, but encourages oil and gas exploration. It wants to reduce transport emissions, but then builds enormous new roads. The problem could be avoided if ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAccording to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat ...
Last year, the government announced it was ending offshore oil exploration by no longer issuing new permits. The idea was that the industry would then die off as permits expired. Except almost immediately the government revealed its bad faith, by saying they would extend permits and alter conditions to keep ...
The government introduced the Education and Training Bill to Parliament yesterday. Its a massive bill, which replaces both existing Education Acts, as well as various other bits of legislation (including some which are still proceeding through the House). I'll leave the serious analysis to teachers and people who actually know ...
Amelia SharmanThere’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to micro-credentials, those bits of bite-sized learning that can help workers stay on top of technological change. What’s a micro-credential? While definitions vary, micro-credentials can be understood as short courses that allow people to learn new skills or have an existing competency recognised. ...
All Smiles Now: Claire Szabo is taking up her presidential role after serving as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity. Which is absolutely perfect! After KiwiBuild was so comprehensively mismanaged by Phil Twyford, the party has not only elected a new president from a thoroughly respectable not-for-profit, but one who ...
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...
by Daphna Whitmore At Golden Oaks, a luxurious country retreat in the Hudson Valley, pregnant women have the best care money can buy. From the organic food, personalised exercise programmes, private yoga instruction and daily massages Golden Oaks looks like a country lodge for the upper class. Set some time ...
When Labour was running for election in 2017, it felt it needed to demonstrate "fiscal responsibility" and signed itself up to masochistic "budget responsibility rules". It was a fool's errand: the sorts of voters who demand fiscal responsibility are also the sorts of voters who believe that labour can never ...
Writing in Stuff, Joel MacManus looks at what we need to do to meet the Zero Carbon Act's targets. The core of it:1. Convert 85 per cent of vehicles on the road to electric. 2. Eliminate fossil fuels from all industrial heating up to 300 degrees Celsius. 3. Double our ...
Professors Janet Hoek and Richard Edwards, Emeritus Professor Phil Gendall, Jude Ball, Dr Judith McCool, Anaru Waa, Dr Becky FreemanRecent media reports have presented conflicting evidence on youth vaping in NZ. While some NZ school principals report concerns about increasing vaping on school grounds and confiscating vapes, ASH Year ...
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...
Image credit:The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ...
1080 is used to control pests in NZ. Its use is contested by a noisy few. A new report claims high levels of 1080 in rats washed up on a beach. Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa (F&F) won’t name the laboratory that did their testing. It has sparked a hunt ...
What Kind Of Empire? The thing for Kiwis to decide is what kind of empire they want to belong to. The kind that, while offering its own citizens democratic rights, demands absolute obedience from its “friends”? Or, the kind that, while authoritarian at home, takes a relaxed attitude to the ...
It hasn't been a good week for the Conservatives, pollwise. All major recent polls are showing their lead shrinking.Comparing each pollster's current (between 29/11 and 22/11) and previous most recent poll.Com Res - Conservative lead down 3 points.You Gov - Conservative lead down 1 point.Kantar - Conservative lead down 4 ...
Within quick succession, Countdown maths wizard and twitterer Rachel Riley, alleged comedian David Baddiel and prominent lawyer Andrew Julius have all expressed very similar opinions / ideas:
These #3billboards are going round London today, organised by ex-Labour people, horrified by what their party has become. Their principles haven’t changed, they’re ...
So, there have been a bunch of bad polls out for Labour, and even the Leftie's friend, Survation, have recently given the Conservatives a rip-snorting 11% lead. You Gov's much vaunted MRP poll - which pretty much nailed the result in 2015 - is currently predicting a comfortable majority for ...
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to declare a climate emergency:The European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed ...
Pure Fear: Worse than Heroin, this drug’s addictive power was terrifying. People under its influence didn’t drift off to Elysium. Nor did it persuade inadequate individuals that they could conquer the world. No, this drug – pure crystal methamphetamine, “P” for short – unlocked the gates of Hell itself. It ...
As the rate of measles infection, and of deaths, continues to climb in Samoa, antivaccination activists infectious disease proponents seem intent on doubling down on their claims about vaccination. (Check pretty much any news-media FB post about measles & you’ll see exactly what I mean.) Unfortunately, some of them have ...
Samoa are experiencing a devastating measles epidemic. It is possible that 2-3% of the population will ultimately be infected by the time it is over. Hopefully the mass immunisation campaign currently under way can mitigate some of this, for many it is too late. The first question many people ask ...
Meghan Murphy is a Canadian writer and journalist She runs the Feminist Current website which she founded in 2012. She was a keynote speaker for the Feminism2020 conference in Wellington this month. When Massey University cancelled the original venue booking Feminism2020 was hosted in Parliament by MP David Seymour. Meghan ...
Text and photos by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Colombia has lived through one week of protests against the economic measures taken by president Duque. What looked like a protest that would fizzle out after its first day on November 21st is still going strong. Part of the reason for the continuance ...
Around a million billion pass through you each second, almost all originating from our sun, but few of them are likely to interact with you enroute. I was reading in a physics magazine earlier in the week about the nature of neutrinos. These are extremely numerous elementary particles, but only ...
By Pallab GhoshThere’s value in covering new research advances, even when the underlying science is unsettled. But there are also risks.The recent announcement that scientists discovered water on the planet K2-18b, 110 light years away, prompted a media swoon. News stories, including a piece written by me, billed ...
I wrote this review a couple of years ago when I was still in the process of getting my head around the politics of transgenderism, and specifically the claim that intersex conditions lend support to the notion that sex is ‘socially constructed’. Since writing this review I have come across ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzHow much does our use of air travel contribute to the ...
Minor planet/asteroid (2309) Mr. Spock is named not for the character in Star Trek, but for a cat that was itself imperturbable, logical, intelligent and had pointed ears. In a preceding blog post I introduced one of my favourite asteroids, (2472) Bradman, and also mentioned (6581) Sobers amongst a few ...
Today the death toll from measles in Samoa rose to 32. All but four of the dead were less than 5 years old. Absolutely terrible, heartbreaking, news. That statistic alone should be enough to give the lie to the common claim by antivaccination activists plague enthusiasts that “measles is a ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh It is late here in Bogotá, almost 11.30pm on Monday the 25th of November as I write this. The day began full of hope with yet more massive marches throughout the country, a mix of the International Day of Non-Violence Against Women and the National Strike. ...
Anti-fluoride activists are rubbing their hands in glee over what they claim is “yet another study” showing fluoride harms the brains of children. But their promotion relies on IQ relationships which the paper’s authors acknowledge disappearing when outliers or other factors are considered. And they completely ignore other relationships ...
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave his final interview for 2019 on The Country to tell farmers they have never had it better under the current coalition Government. “Here you've got these record returns [for farmers]. These returns would be nothing like a record if the currency under the ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...
A new defence report has mapped out how New Zealand's soldiers will navigate rising seas, and a year after the Defence Force announced its need to prepare for climate change. In the “Responding to the Climate Crisis” report, the Force restates its operational plan and sets goals to tackle climate ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
It's been a great week of progress: we've celebrated Children's Day, we've made communities safer with 1800 new police, and we've seen almost 90% of eligible schools take up Government funding to scrap school donations - taking pressure off the families of more than 416,000 students. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The Government will further strengthen New Zealand’s wood processing sector as part of our focus on ‘value over volume’ in our forestry industry, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones will today meet with forestry representatives in Northland to signal new measures to help the ...
New Zealand firms expanding beyond the start-up phase are set for more support after today’s passage of the Venture Capital Fund Bill, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said. The Bill, which establishes a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, puts in place a key initiative of the Wellbeing Budget’s economic package. ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira mā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Señora Presidenta, Excellencies, Delegates. International action A common thread that runs through the Paris Agreement is the commitment we have made to each other to do what we can to ...
Budget 2020 will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future-proof the economy. When the Government took office in 2017 it was left with crumbling infrastructure, severe underinvestment in public services, degraded rivers and lakes, a housing crisis and rising ...
The Government is lifting capital investment to the highest level in more than 20 years as it takes the next step to future-proof New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced $12 billion of new investment, with $8 billion for specific capital projects and $4 billion to be added to ...
The Government is forecast to run $12 billion worth of surpluses across the four years to 2023/24 as the economy continues to grow. The surpluses will help fund day-to-day capital requirements each year. These include fixing leaky hospitals, building new classrooms to cover population growth and take pressure off class ...
The Minister responsible for the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (te Takutai Moana Act 2011), Andrew Little has welcomed the launch of an online geospatial tool that provides data-rich, dynamic coastline maps that will significantly boost research and evidence-gathering under the Act. Te Kete Kōrero a Te ...
The Chief Victims Advisor to Government Dr Kim McGregor, QSO, has been reappointed in her role for a further two years. Dr McGregor has held the role since it was established in November 2015. She provides independent advice to government on how to improve the criminal justice system for victims. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare have today announced the deployment of a network of DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys. “New Zealand and the Pacific region are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. It is vital we have adequate warning systems in place,” ...
DART Buoys Announcement Aotea Wharf, 9.30am 11 December 2019 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements to Minister for Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare also here today. White Island It is with regret that this event shadows the tragic natural disaster two days ago. The volcanic eruptions on White Island have claimed 5 lives, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Racing Industry Bill in parliament today. This is the second of two Bills that have been introduced this year to revitalise New Zealand’s racing industry. “Our domestic racing industry has been in serious decline. The Government is committed to ...
Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni, is pleased to announce that $291,321 is to be awarded to national and local community initiatives to maintain and promote the use of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). “New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where Sign Language is an ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has announced today the Coalition Government’s initial response to work completed by the independent statutory body, the Veterans’ Advisory Board. “When Professor Ron Paterson completed his review of the Veterans’ Support Act in 2018, he made a number of recommendations, including one which I referred ...
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...
I have had the opportunity to be briefed on the details of the volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island, off the coast of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. The eruption happened at 2.11pm today. It continues to be an evolving situation. We know that there were a number of tourists ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare have today confirmed initial Government support of $100,000 for communities affected by the severe weather that swept across the South Island and lower North Island over the weekend. The contribution will be made to Mayoral relief funds across the ...
New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Tessa Temata, died in Palmerston North over the weekend, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today. Ms Temata, 52, had recently returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. "On behalf of the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we extend ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today announced construction is underway on Wellington commuter rail upgrades which will mean more frequent services and fewer breakdowns. The upgrades include converting the Trentham to Upper Hutt single track section to a double track, with a new signalling system, upgraded stations and level crossings, and ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw have announced the release of a Defence Climate Change Implementation Work Plan, titled Responding to the Climate Crisis: An Implementation Plan. The plan sets out a series of recommendations based on the 2018 New Zealand Defence Assessment, The ...
A medium-scale adverse event has been declared for the South Canterbury district, which will see up to $50,000 in funding made available to support farming communities which have been significantly affected by recent heavy rain and flooding in the area, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two weeks of solid rain ...
Thank you Professor Juliet Gerrard and your team for the comprehensive and extremely helpful report and recommendations. Thank you too to all the stakeholders and interested parties who have contributed ideas and thinking to it. “Making best practice, standard practice” is a great framework for change and the action plan ...
The Government will phase out more single-use plastics following the success of its single-use plastic bag ban earlier this year and the release today of a pivotal report for dealing with waste. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealandreport, released by her Chief Science Advisor ...
International education continues to thrive as the Government focuses on quality over quantity, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. The tuition revenue from international education increased to $1.16 billion last year with the average tuition fee per student increasing by $960. The total number of international students enrolled in New Zealand ...
I want to talk about one of the most pressing issues in our national life: the housing crisis and the poor performance of our cities. The argument I want to make to you is that generations of urban land use policy have lacked a decent grounding in economics. The consequences ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says new appointments to DHBs represent a significant changing of the guard, with 13 new chairs including four Māori chairs. Today 76 appointments have been announced to complement elected board members, as well as eight elected members appointed as either chair or deputy chair. Four ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, is travelling to Germany, Poland, Austria, and Spain next week to bolster New Zealand’s political and trade relationships in Europe. While in Spain, Mr Tabuteau will represent New Zealand at the 14th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. “New Zealand strongly supports ...
“I’ve spoken to Minister Faafoi, who has apologised for his poor handling of this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I have confidence in Kris as a hardworking and effective Minister, but this should have been dealt with in a much clearer manner, and I’ve made my views on that very clear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters met with Tongan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa in Wellington today. The pair signed a Statement of Partnership setting out joint priorities for cooperation out to 2023. “We welcomed Prime Minister Tu'i'onetoa on his first visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister. Tonga ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash says his sympathies are with the family of a man who died after being shot by Police in Kurow. “Initial reports are that Police were called by a family member to help the man who was threatening to harm himself,” Mr Nash says. “However ...
Ethnic communities will be able to plan and deliver more community initiatives thanks to an increase in Government funding, Minister for Ethnic Communities Hon Jenny Salesa said today. “Ensuring Aotearoa New Zealand is a place we can all be proud to call home has been a key priority of our ...
Healthier waterways, better productivity and farmer wellbeing are front and centre in a new project involving more than 1000 Southland farmers and growers. Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor today announced that the Thriving Southland Change and Innovation Project is the first region-wide extension programme supported by the $229 million Sustainable ...
Work to look after nature and restore freshwater quality in Te Hoiere/Pelorus River catchment is getting a significant boost, thanks to new Government funding support Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage announced in Canvastown today. “Every New Zealander should be able to swim in their local river without getting sick, and ...
Eight Queen’s Counsel have been appointed under a process that includes the new criterion of a commitment to improving access to justice, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. “The new criterion was included this year. It emphasises that excellence and leadership in the profession can be seen through a wider, community ...
Onslow College in Wellington will get 20 new classrooms for more than 400 students, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. The much-needed investment will relieve growth pressure the school has been experiencing for some time. Seven existing classrooms which have deteriorated over time will also be replaced, bringing the total ...
More than 250 young New Zealanders will add international experience to their education, thanks to the latest Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia (PMSA) and Latin America (PMSLA), Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This round of scholarships supports 252 recent graduates or current students to undertake study, research or internships ...
Consumers will benefit from a more competitive, transparent retail fuel market as a result of changes the Government will be making in response to the findings of the Commerce Commission’s study of the fuel sector. “We accept the Commission’s findings and, as the Prime Minister has said, we’re ready to ...
Five new cancer medicines have now been funded this year, meaning thousands of people have more treatment options PHARMAC has today announced that it has approved two new medicines for funding – fulvestrant for breast cancer and olaparib for ovarian cancer. This follows earlier decisions on advanced lung cancer treatment alectinib, ...
The Minister of Local Government, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says the Government will consider making changes to local electoral legislation before the 2022 elections to fix the problems that have arisen where elections are settled by a coin toss. The Minister says the recount process in the Murupara- Galatea ward at ...
New Zealand will sign up to new international maritime regulations to reduce ship emissions and lift air quality around ports and harbours, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced today. Subject to completion of the Parliamentary treaty examination process, New Zealand will sign up to Annex VI of MARPOL, an ...
New legislation to transform our urban areas and create sustainable, inclusive and thriving communities will tomorrow be introduced to Parliament, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said. “The Urban Development Bill gives Kāinga Ora-Homes and Communities the tools it needs to partner with councils, communities, mana whenua and private developers to ...
Today’s launch of He taonga te Tamaiti: Every child a taonga: The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 provides the foundation for long-lasting changes to early learning, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. “Early learning will be one of the Government’s top education priorities going into 2020,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
The Chief Ombudsman is launching a follow up investigation to see whether government agencies have improved their Official Information Act compliance. ...
How to watch the Rugby World Cup? How to make spaghetti bolognese? Who is James Charles? Google just released what New Zealanders looked for the most in 2019, and it says a lot about us.Another year on the internet, another year of Google searches you hope nobody excavates. Until now!Our Google ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Burgin, Research associate, Monash University The NSW Law Reform Commission will hand down its final recommendations for a reformed definition of sexual consent in the new year, following draft proposals in October. The commission’s inquiry is largely the result of the ...
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says he welcomes the government’s announcement of $12 billion in extra infrastructure investment, including $6.8 billion for new transport projects, and looks forward to working with the government to ensure that a fair ...
“We’re delighted with today’s announcement of $12 billion in new capital investment by the Government,” says Infrastructure New Zealand CEO Paul Blair. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Brymer, Reader, Psychology with Outdoor and Adventure studies, Leeds Beckett University Review: Finke: There & Back, directed by Dylan River The Finke Desert Race takes place in the harsh desert environment near Alice Springs. Scores of motorbikes and cars are raced ...
Climate action organisations 350 Aotearoa and Coal Action Network Aotearoa commend New Zealand’s Crown Research Institutes’ phase-out of coal burning in their operations, with the final two users, Plant and Food Research and Landcare Research decommissioning ...
The government’s books are now expected to go into the red this financial year with a forecast deficit of $900 million, down from a budget forecast surplus of $1.3 billion.The government will borrow $12 billion to spend on transport, schools, hospitals and investment in the regions over the next five ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blanche Verlie, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Sydney I moved to Sydney less than five weeks ago and the city has been shrouded in smoke haze on and off since then. I joke this is my “Sydney hazing” but it’s only now ...
Curator and art writer Justin Paton on the process of writing McCahon Country, homesickness, and uncontemporary art. Plus his top tips for art writers. Justin Paton is theauthor of the award-winning How to Look at a Painting. A book so popular it inspired aTV series of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacob Blokland, Palaeontology PhD Candidate and Casual Academic, Flinders University A new species of extinct penguin has been discovered. It’s helping us bridge the gap between modern penguins and their counterparts from the Paleocene epoch – the 10-million-year period following dinosaur extinction. ...
The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is placing greater controls on the use of the herbicide paraquat. Paraquat is the first active ingredient on our priority chemicals list, announced in October 2018, to be reassessed. ...
Today the Government revealed its plan to spend an extra $12bn on infrastructure projects following public pressure for them to do more. Irrigation New Zealand supports government investment to ensure New Zealand is future-ready however, the organisation ...
The grim statistics set out in the Child Poverty Monitor report issued this week underscore yet again the need for bolder action to reduce entrenched inequality, Peter Malcolm, spokesperson for the income equality project Closing the Gap, said ...
The Public Service Association strongly supports Labour MP Ginny Andersen’s bill to give three days paid leave to parents who experience a miscarriage or stillbirth. ...
From Waipukurau to Waipawa, Hastings to Havelock North, how did a humble crumbed meatball reach cult status? Fiona Fraser investigates the origins of this east coast delicacy.I was halfway out the door of a client’s premises when he bellowed “Have you had lunch? I’m just nipping out to get some ...
Back in September, when the NZ Herald issued its supplement “Mood of the Boardroom”, Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi featured as the politician who most impressed top chief executives on ministerial performance. The newspaper reported it was the first time in the history of the Mood of the Boardroom survey that ...
"The Government’s announcement that an additional $12 billion capital will be available to address backlogs in our deteriorating schools, hospitals and rail infrastructure and for regional development is welcome news and sensible policy", ...
Whether tourists should have been allowed to visit Whakaari-White Island in the past and whether tourists should be allowed to visit in future are among the questions inevitably raised in the aftermath of the tragic volcanic eruption this week. Concerns have extended beyond the operations of White Island Tours, which ...
Government books are now expected to go into the red this financial year with a forecast deficit of $900 million, down from a Budget forecast surplus of $1.3 billion. ...
Responding to the Minister of Finance’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update , which includes a $900 million deficit for the next financial year, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “At at time of high commodity ...
The Maniapoto Māori Trust Board (MMTB) is pleased the Waitangi Tribunal’s report has agreed that the Crown was correct to recognise it as the appropriate body to hold the settlement mandate for Maniapoto. ...
Government books are now expected to go into the red this financial year with a forecast deficit of $900 million, down from a Budget forecast surplus of $1.3 billion. ...
Government books are now expected to go into the red this financial year with a forecast deficit of $900 million, down from a Budget forecast surplus of $1.3 billion. ...
In this hard-hitting episode of current affairs show OTR 24/7, lady journalist Leonie Hayden comes face to face with one of society’s most elusive figures.“Hey baby, show us ya [insert weird word for body part here]!”To many women and non-binary folks this is a common greeting, usually delivered with great ...
Start learning te reo Māori anywhere in Aotearoa with this list of introductory, part-time classes.‘Learn te reo Māori’ is at the top of a lot of people’s New Year’s resolutions. The problem is, it can be hard to enrol after the new year, which is typically when resolutions are meant ...
Last year, we published the anonymous account of a Koru Club member who was denied their mandated birthright entry into the Koru Club. This Koru Club member returns to give us their harrowing, haunting account of the day the Koru Lounge went dry.“Bye, bye miss American Pie. Drove the Chevy ...
A Labour MP’s private members bill which allowed for bereavement leave for a miscarriage has been withdrawn and resubmitted , in seemingly a deliberate attempt to exclude post-abortive women who may also be suffering grief and loss. It will receive its ...
The police are not ruling out starting the recovery operation today for eight people missing after the Whakaari / White Island eruption but say safety comes first ...
Power Play - The latest report on moving the bulk of Auckland's port operations to Northport will be released tomorrow, but Jane Patterson asks whether it will be possible for Cabinet to press ahead prior to next year's election. ...
Toby Manhire gazes back at the last almost-10 years in New Zealand politics, leadership and tragedy.When I returned to New Zealand after 11 years away in 2010, John Key had been prime minister for a couple of years and it felt like he’d been prime minister forever. He was a ...
The Chief Ombudsman is launching a new inquiry into whether central government agencies have addressed any weaknesses identified in a landmark investigation five years ago. ...
Op-Ed by Kaveh Zahedi and Van NguyenKaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary for Sustainable Development, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).“The 2030 Agenda is coming to life”, declared the Secretary General at the opening of the first SDG Summit, a quadrennial event for ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Whakaari/White Island eruption Gordon Campbell: On the Whakaari/White Island eruption MIchael Lueck (Stuff): Should NZ look again at risky adventure tourism? Brook ...
The senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, is welcoming a report from the Medical Protection Society which provides further evidence of doctor burnout and high workload pressures. ...
Responding to reports of New Plymouth District Council’s $1.6 million rates surplus, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “A rates surplus means the Council has taken more from the people of New Plymouth than it needs. It ...
The fatal eruption on Whakaari on Monday may force the tourism industry to review its current rules, writes tourism professor Michael Lueck.The official death toll is six and eight people are still missing, presumed to have died, in Monday’s volcanic eruption at Whakaari/White Island. The people on the island were ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) is calling out Police for stepping up their intimidation campaign of licenced firearms owners as the deadline for firearms compensation draws near. ...
Belong Aotearoa alongside leading organisations working in the resettlement (refugee background) sector is calling on the New Zealand Government to play a greater role in responding to the international refugee crisis, ahead of the Global Refugee Forum ...
Protest groups and human rights supporters are preparing to “unwelcome” bulk carrying cargo ship ‘Federal Crimson’ as it arrives in Dunedin on Wednesday. The ship has carried over 50,000 tonnes of ‘conflict phosphate’ from the non-self ...
Tower boss quits after turning around $6.3m loss with risk-based insurance pricing strategy; and Prime Minister meets with rescuers of Whakaari / White Island survivors. ...
Should we modify the process of government formation to ensure no future incoming PM has the authority and mana of their office compromised from the outset? ...
A petition to Government that would see e-scooters and other personal transport devices banned from New Zealand footpaths is to be presented to the Honorable Tracey Martin, Minister for Children and Seniors on Thursday, 12th December, at 1.00 pm on the steps ...
All eyes today will be on Treasury and Finance Minister Grant Robertson when he releases his "significant infrastructure spending package" at 1pm today. ...
The Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group Incorporated (ARFGI) is marking today’s International Human Rights Day to draw attention to the NZ Government’s discriminatory policy of only supporting selective Pacific Island languages. ...
Western Australia’s move to legalise voluntary assisted dying continues a worldwide trend supported by a clear majority of New Zealanders, the End-of-Life Choice Society’s President, Dr Mary Panko, said on Wednesday. ...
School support staff have voted to accept collective agreement offers from the Ministry of Education, with the Living Wage of $21.15 as the new minimum pay rate. ...
Our pop culture superfans at The Real Pod look back at the local celebrities who defined the last decade in Aotearoa.If there’s any group of people we can turn to in these uncertain times, it’s celebrities. And lucky for us, New Zealand suddenly seems to have heaps of them. The ...
Wellington’s newest local body political party, the Wellington Party , welcomes the news that if returned to Government, the National Party will accelerate the construction work on the proposed duplicate Mt Victoria tunnel. Party President, David Lloyd, ...
Sweeping law changes proposed by an official inquiry into last year's election and foreign interference have taken too long to be of use for next year's election. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Webb, Clinical Lecturer and Principal Hospital Scientist, University of Sydney Mosquito-borne disease is a concern for health authorities around Australia. Each year, thousands fall ill to Ross River virus disease caused by mosquito bites. Tracking mosquito populations can help us respond ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elaine Pearson, Adjunct Lecturer in Law, UNSW As we approach the last days of the decade, it’s important to reflect on the fight for human rights, the setbacks and successes over the past year in Australia and around the world. Our list ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Kettlewell, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Economics Discipline Group, University of Technology Sydney Every year private health insurers raise premiums and every year we rue the hit to our hip pocket. This cycle is heavily regulated: insurers apply to the health minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Johnston, Lecturer in Primary Education, Southern Cross University It’s the end of the first year of school for many children and proud parents. Some children may be reading quicker than their classmates, others slower; some can add double digits, others only ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Ann Wheeler, Professor in Water Economics, University of Adelaide For the thousand or so farmers in Canberra in the past week venting their anger at the federal government, it’s the Murray-Darling Basin Plan to blame for destroying their livelihoods and forcing ...
A collective of former refugee leaders, resettlement, human rights, faith-based and humanitarian organisations have signed and sent an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The letter asks the Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Lecturer in Critical Thinking; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland As bushfires rage and our cities lie shrouded in smoke, climate change is shaping as a likely topic of conversation at the family dinner table this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Seadon, Senior Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Butt, Associate Professor in Sustainability and Urban Planning, RMIT University This is the third article in a series to mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark Melbourne Transportation Plan. Like the modernist plans of its time, the 1969 Melbourne Metropolitan Transportation ...
Open mike 15/03/2015 
Open mike is your post.
In previous elections pollsters have bemoaned the 'shy Tory' - the respondent who is so fearful of being judged as a cruel and heartless bastard by an anonymous pollster, or their spouses, workmates and friends, that they lie about their intention of voting Conservative, skewing the poll figures in Labour's ...2 hours ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz I was in Switzerland recently and discovered that they haven’t ...7 hours ago
Back in 2015, then Ombudsman Beverley Wakem conducted a review of the OIA, Not a game of hide and seek. The "review" was a whitewash, which found no need for legislative change, and instead criticised the media and requesters - which destroyed Wakem's reputation, and undermined that of the Office ...10 hours ago
Sheer Loopiness: Many of those expressing bemusement at the antics of these #turnardern effacers, were convinced that they were yet another expression of the National Party’s increasingly spiteful anti-government propaganda campaign. They marvelled at the oddness of the perpetrators’ mindset and questioned the common-sense of allowing the rest of New Zealand ...12 hours ago
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ... 1 day ago
by Daphna Whitmore Last week France passed a law that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is based on a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel such as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist ...2 days ago
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...4 days ago
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...4 days ago
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...6 days ago
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...7 days ago
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...1 week ago
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...1 week ago
Image credit: The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ... 1 week ago
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...6 hours ago
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...1 week ago
New Zealand firms expanding beyond the start-up phase are set for more support after today’s passage of the Venture Capital Fund Bill, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said. The Bill, which establishes a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, puts in place a key initiative of the Wellbeing Budget’s economic package. ...5 hours ago
The infrastructure industry is pleased, but wants more detail. ...1 hour ago
The Chief Ombudsman is launching a follow up investigation to see whether government agencies have improved their Official Information Act compliance. ...2 hours ago
How to watch the Rugby World Cup? How to make spaghetti bolognese? Who is James Charles? Google just released what New Zealanders looked for the most in 2019, and it says a lot about us.Another year on the internet, another year of Google searches you hope nobody excavates. Until now!Our Google ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Burgin, Research associate, Monash University The NSW Law Reform Commission will hand down its final recommendations for a reformed definition of sexual consent in the new year, following draft proposals in October. The commission’s inquiry is largely the result of the ...4 hours ago
Will reform of the Resource Management Act and a brand new Future Generations Act put an end to wind farm Nimbyism? ...5 hours ago
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says he welcomes the government’s announcement of $12 billion in extra infrastructure investment, including $6.8 billion for new transport projects, and looks forward to working with the government to ensure that a fair ...5 hours ago
Two companies involved in health, wellness, and skincare products businesses are headed on to the stock exchange through the backdoor. ...6 hours ago
Jim Kayes says Ian Foster was a good steady first-five for Waikato who could make a good steady All Black head coach. ...7 hours ago
Back in September, when the NZ Herald issued its supplement “Mood of the Boardroom”, Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi featured as the politician who most impressed top chief executives on ministerial performance. The newspaper reported it was the first time in the history of the Mood of the Boardroom survey that ...8 hours ago
Whether tourists should have been allowed to visit Whakaari-White Island in the past and whether tourists should be allowed to visit in future are among the questions inevitably raised in the aftermath of the tragic volcanic eruption this week. Concerns have extended beyond the operations of White Island Tours, which ...9 hours ago
The Finance Minister says the time is right to invest in more capital projects. ...10 hours ago
The police are not ruling out starting the recovery operation today for eight people missing after the Whakaari / White Island eruption but say safety comes first ...10 hours ago
Tower boss quits after turning around $6.3m loss with risk-based insurance pricing strategy; and Prime Minister meets with rescuers of Whakaari / White Island survivors. ...13 hours ago
Should we modify the process of government formation to ensure no future incoming PM has the authority and mana of their office compromised from the outset? ...13 hours ago
All eyes today will be on Treasury and Finance Minister Grant Robertson when he releases his "significant infrastructure spending package" at 1pm today. ...13 hours ago
The National Party leader says he believes tourism to White Island should be allowed to resume in time. ...14 hours ago
Sweeping law changes proposed by an official inquiry into last year's election and foreign interference have taken too long to be of use for next year's election. ...14 hours ago
Iranian cabinet is full of US trained PhDs
It’s quite likely that Iran understands the USA far better than the other way around.
https://twitter.com/rezaaslan/status/522076160545419264/photo/1
http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2014/nov/13/rouhani%E2%80%99s-us-educated-cabinet
Ten steps which narrowed British politics to the extreme centre
A nation big enough to go to war in the Middle East, but not big enough to fund public libraries.
http://rt.com/op-edge/240745-uk-neocons-faux-left-establishment/
The leading secular radical movement in Palestine is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, founded in 1967. Its key founder was George Habash.
Some of us at Redline were involved, a couple of years ago, in fund-raising in NZ for the PFLP.
Its most well-known member is probably Leila Khaled, a Palestinian icon who is today a member of its PolitBureau. Its general-secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, is currently in an Israeli jail, without charge, after the Israelis kidnapped him in 2006.
We have numerous articles up on Redline on the cause of Palestinian liberation and the PFLP, including an interview that was done with Leila as part of the fundraising campaign.
Below are a few PFLP pieces:
Remembering George Habash: Palestinian revolutionary intellectual and freedom fighter: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/remembering-george-habash/
For a world free of racism, imperialism and capitalist exploitation – message from PFLP to 2014 eirigi conference: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/for-a-world-that-is-free-of-racism-colonialism-imperialism-oppression-and-capitalist-exploitation-pflp-message-to-eirigi-conference/
Palestinian liberation and the PFLP today – interview with PFLP deputy-general-secretary: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/palestinian-liberation-and-the-pflp-today-an-interview-with-abu-ahmad-fouad-deputy-secretary-general-of-the-pflp/
PFLP on the Palestinian Authority: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/pflp-on-the-palestinian-authority/
NZ solidarity activist interview with Palestinian revolutionary icon Leila Khaled: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/nz-solidarity-activist-interviews-leila-khaled-2010/
The case of Ahmad Sa’adat: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/the-case-of-ahmad-saadat-palestinian-revolutionary-leader-and-political-prisoner/
Also, check out the Palestine and PFLP categories on the site.
Fascinating piece of NZ history – Murray Horton on the introduction of peacetime conscription in 1949 and the fight against it: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/labours-introduction-of-peacetime-conscription-and-the-fight-against-it/
Excellent. Thanks for that Philip. Murray Horton is a witty and compelling speaker, with a sharp mind. Which means he is totally unsuited for radio programmes like Jim Mora’s The Panel.
Fantasists of Our Time
No. 1: MIKE HOSKING
I’ve just heard, on Radio NZ National’s excellent Mediawatch program, that empty vessel Mike “Contra” Hosking boasting to a simpering, giggling Rachel Smalley how he gave Nicky Hager “a hard time” on his show last year.
When did that happen? I find it extremely unlikely that Hosking would have got the better of Hager, who is far more articulate, and clearly his superior intellectually as well as ethically and morally.
Perhaps someone could provide a link to—or a transcript of—this amazing event which I for one do not believe ever happened.
That would be the Mediawatch in which that Lackwit Larry got a mention. It’s been years since I heard that droning voice delivering words of wisdom. Do people actually listen to that guy while conscious or is he the ZB sleep-time for toddlers story teller. 10mg of Mogadon would be a better option.
…. and yes – it is an excellent programme (watch out for the knives amongst RNZ management)
and yes – it is an excellent programme (watch out for the knives amongst RNZ management)
I have no doubt that Richard (Lord Haw Haw Haw Haw) Griffin has conniptions every time that this programme sends up the government’s media wing, as it did this morning with its devastating exhibition of Hosking and Williams. In the last few months alone, they’ve already wielded the knife against Wayne Brittenden and Down the List.
Steve McCabe will have lost his spot on the Panel after daring to criticise the dear leader last week.
I know. Mike Hosking posts here as fisiani. The comparisons are uncanny.
I reckon fisiani sounds more like Jamie-Lee after a morning prayer sermon from Dear Leader & Joyce
No. Hoskings and JLR don’t use the American pronunciation of ‘class’ rhyming like ‘ass’ as your subject (Fis) does. (Catching up with Key 14th March) They rhyme the word ‘class’ with ‘arse, speaking the same way as real New Zealanders.
Seven Sharp- shortly after the DP book was launched so it would have been mid to late August Morrissey.
There was no “intellectual” superiority in the so-called “hard time”. It was just loud noise coming from Hosking not unlike Key’s attempts to discredit Hager at the same time. Everything Hager said was rubbished by Hosking, but he presented no cogent or logical explanation fore the rubbishing. You know the type of thing:
Hager: I’ve just heard that President Kennedy has been assassinated.
Hosking: That’s rubbish. You’re making it up. The President of the USA been assassinated? Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous.
A few hours later there is an official statement… “President Kennedy has been assassinated”. Hosking goes quiet for a long time. Then he boasts loudly on a radio programme… I remember giving that creep Hager a hard time last year.
Thanks for that, Anne. I wonder if this is available on YouTube. I’ll have a search; I’m sure it will end up there some time.
Excellent one, Anne.
That’s Hosking to a tee!
It’s a sign of how low standards are at TV1 that this himbo-bimbo fronts their evening newsmagazine show.
I heard part of Mediawatch and one of the things Hoskings did on his radio show was read out a text or email from one of his listeners (although I wouldn’t be surprised if Hosking had’ve made it up) referring to Hager as “that little prick Hager”.
I wonder if he would’ve read out a text using the same words to describe Key.
And what a withering intellectual critique of Nicky Hager, eh? But that’s Hosking’s level.
Given that he is still banging on the same nonsense about Hager all these months later, he has a real bee in his hairdo about Nicky. Nicky must’ve really made him look bad!
Phil
The thing about all this spying stuff is its our ‘Are we the baddies?’ moment.
I knew Hosking was an airhead and narcissist.
But now, yes, it appears he is totally delusional as well.
Hosking is that unfortunate specimen: a working class boy who has “made good” and takes on the simpering narcissism and prejudices of the class that he thinks he has joined, even though he’s really tolerated by them because he’s a useful idiot.
Phil
I knew Hosking was an airhead and a narcissist. But now it also appears he’s totally delusional.
He’s a prime example of that unfortunate creature, the working class boy ‘made good’ who takes on the prejudices and simpering narcissism of the class he thinks he’s joined when really they tolerate him because he’s a useful idiot.
Phil
Dog Math
😀
Reality Maths 🙂
hide frothing at the mouth like the c-grade actor that he is
“Respect for private property is what makes a free and tolerant society.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11417397
Private property is what makes a society greedy and divisive leading to an inevitable collapse.
The confiscation of the commons destroys society.
Yeah, I read the headline. Thought it was unbelievable that someone thought respecting private property was the definition of a free and tolerant so society so didn’t want to add to the page views. I’m guessing it was about the Titirangi Kauri, but any statements on what he thinks about respect for people or the environment?
yep, this
minority rights? lol what a dickhead hide is
So no tolerance and freedom to have an opinion for people or respect for the environment – can’t see the ownership titles I suppose.
He’s gotta be pretty pissed off about how his pet supercity project is working out huh? 🙂
It really is interesting to consider that quote in the light of the early US leaders who waxed lyrical about freedom and justice. And “owned” other human beings as slaves.
Yes the concept of “private property” as conceived by John Locke in 1690 in his “ Second Treatise on Government” is shot full of logical and ethical inconsistencies. This is the founding statement and justification of the right to private property and to protection of that property by public law and force. Locke argues that the right to private property and protection is the foundation of all government legislation and duty, of all individual rights, and – if violated – of the rights to rebel against the state or sovereign. Market doctrine since Locke has presupposed his position as canonical (vis Hide’s stupid out burst!).
We have to reinvestigate the whole concept of what constitutes property – just what rights “ownership” carries as well as protection of the commons as well.
By the time George Washington became President he was the richest man in the USA. His wealth came from the extermination of the Indian nations and the expropriation, farming and on selling of their land.
In fact it is clear that the Founding Fathers of the USA did everything they could to make sure that the USA would not be a popular democracy. The appointed senate, the electoral college, and the barring of women and blacks from voting were just a few clues to that.
I came across an excellent book in the Ottawa library last year “Unequal Freedoms – the global market as an ethical system” by John Mc Murray published 1999. It investigates and critiques the philosophical basis of both the “free market” and the globalisation of such. Highly perceptive and a devastating critique of market doctrine. We see that modern economic theory is based on very flimsy foundations and it is unsurprising that our conventional economic practices are failing.
Hide doesn’t recognise that his much treasured rules of ‘private’ property are not actually sustainable in society, certainly not to the level of paramouncy as he seems to believe.
He has been caught out believing his own bullshit.
Murdoch in the great package deal being offered Northlanders by National.
Great cartoon…and so true!
SIS papers release to dotcom lawyers: shocking reveal!
Tweets by KimDotcom
hmmm, I hope he’s going to release the documents. Too much assertion otherwise.
Oh, I really hope so. While I can imagine SIS agents (basically jumped up school prefects from Grammar school 2nd XVs) saying that sort of thing, the stupidity needed to put it in writing would be monumental. At least Simon Bridges level.
Hope someone will introduce into the House the letter of apology from new head of GCSB for written comments ‘spies’ ( ie employees of NZ taxpayers) made about raping Mrs Mona Dotcom and replacing her with one of their own.
KDC is a sublime rust for Key. Keeps on giving and eating away, and he may yet be the one responsible for bringing him down.
This on Twitter from Jessica Williams .. can’t find anything further about it .. anyone know anything ?
” Jessica Williams
@mizjwilliams
Why is the government trying to sneak through a fat increase to MPs’ travel perks? Listen to @LIVENewsDesk! “
I suspect it’s this. Annette King has given it the walrus of approval.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11417644
Since the article says that it applies to those who were there prior to 1999, and therefore King qualifies, it is hardly surprising that she’s in favour. Anything to build up her slush find for when she quits at the next election.
Incidentally has anyone heard a rumour I was told about last week. My informant, who is subject to a bit of hyperbole, claimed that the price of Annette being deputy for a while was that she would quit and allow Little to stand for Rongotai. Seems a bit extreme but it could be possible. Certainly I’m sure he would like an electorate that he could possibly win.
The travel perk was, of course one of Norman Kirk’s schemes. Norm wanted to give MPs, and himself, a pay rise but not to appear to be doing so. He therefore brought this in so he could sanctimoniously say that MPs were sacrificing for the country without actually doing so.
He also brought in the extra allowance for former PMs. He carefully worded it so that Jack Marshall wouldn’t get it, but in time Norm would. When he died before the requisite time period the Rowling Government changed it so that Ruth King, along with Wallace Rowling himself would get the money.
Never get between a trougher and the money pot seemed to be the motto of those charlatans.
Thank you for another post from the Tory misinformation service. How about Norm’s super scheme? Tell us about that instead.
I will if you like but you might not want to hear about it.
The main promoter of the scheme, despite being a junior minister, was the bete-noire of the left, Roger Douglas.
The scheme grew out of a private member’s bill put forward by Douglas when in opposition.
As Wikipedia says
“Douglas was an early and enthusiastic promoter of the government’s plans for a compulsory contributory superannuation scheme that would supplement the old age pension. In 1972, while still in opposition, he introduced a private member’s bill that provided for a form of compulsory superannuation. In Cabinet, Rowling, who was then Minister of Finance, and Douglas were largely responsible for a 1973 White Paper setting out the government’s proposals for superannuation. As well as augmenting individual provision for retirement, the scheme was intended to be a source of capital for investment in the domestic economy.[11] The scheme became law in the form of the New Zealand Superannuation Act 1974.
The law was passed a few days before Norm died but it wasn’t really his work, was it? You have to give credit for the short-lived scheme to Rowling and Douglas.
Yes, this was when Douglas still acted for the good of the country and well before his book “There’s Got to be a Better Way”, which laid out some plagiarised Friedmanite rubbish as his own thoughts. Norm knew what the country needed, Lange was too blinded by his own witty performances to even notice what Douglas had turned into.
Legislation for a major change like super doesn’t go through without the approval of the PM, just as a very dodgy MP doesn’t stand for re-election without the specific approval of the PM.
“Legislation for a major change like super doesn’t go through without the approval of the PM, just as a very dodgy MP doesn’t stand for re-election without the specific approval of the PM.”
You may be right, although if the second part is true one must worry about the honesty of Helen Clark, given what Taito Phillip Field had been up to.
I have been told by people who had to deal with Kirk that he really had little control over anything during 1974. He had, unfortunately, had heart problems, circulation problems and other health problems during the entire year and was not really in command of his job. I cannot comment from personal experience but some of the people who have told me this were very senior public servants at the time.
Taito Philip Field was merely dodgy. For very dodgy you need to look at the right. I don’t think Field ever molested the children of anyone who worked on his house. Graeme Cappill came from the right.
You may be right.
On the other hand perhaps you can remind us again what Party Mr Capill belonged to, when he was an MP, and therefore which PM is responsible for his behaviour? At least tell us which PM was the leader of his party?
You can also tell us who was the party leader responsible when the former MP for Otaki got into Parliament and how you might justify the rather “iffy” behaviour he got up to when he entertained a teenager in the present Labour Parties deputy leader’s home? How do you justify that sort of behaviour, where the kid ended up having to flee naked down the street?
“perhaps you can remind us again what Party Mr Capill belonged to, when he was an MP, and therefore which PM is responsible for his behaviour? At least tell us which PM was the leader of his party?”
Th’ feck are you on about? No PM was ever the leader of Capill’s tawdry little conservative right-wing christo-fascist party.
Ps did you know that the right-wing conservative pedophile Graham Capill also worked for the NZ Police?
Just like Mike Sabin did.
I think you know that it’s the type of offences that Capill was found guilty of that’s important here. Maybe I’ll be able to tell you the rest next week, if you don’t know already.
will you be in for the hearing, murray ?
Nah, I’m back in Oz.
Some scathing views about National’s Northland BYELECTION-BRIBES:
* “New” jobs which may or may not be full-time jobs; “new” road bridges which are not a priority; “new” promises on the roll-out of broadband which are old promises.
* Is there no limit on the lengths to which the National Party will go to pull the wool over voters’ eyes and hope that prevents the seat of Northland from falling into Winston Peters’ clutches?
* Deserving of special scrutiny is the repeated claim by Steven Joyce that 7500 new jobs were created in Northland last year. [Note: The link below explains why that claim is just pig shit]
* With more pork yet to come, National is setting a none-too-useful benchmark which risks turning contests in electorates into unseemly auctions.
* But National does not care one jot what Labour or anyone else thinks. It is locked in an almighty struggle with the man who has been its nemesis for longer than the party cares to remember.
* It was Mark Osborne, National’s candidate in Northland, who announced that the Government would be spending up to $70 million on replacing 10 single-lane bridges in the electorate. It is Parliament which sanctions such spending and Bridges who will be responsible for ensuring the money is spent on exactly what Parliament has decreed it be spent on – not Osborne, who as yet has no parliamentary standing and should not have made the announcement. It takes pork-barrelling to a new level when the candidate is doing it.
* Equally disturbing is the scale of the pork-barrelling by National.
* But National does not care one jot what Labour or anyone else thinks. It is locked in an almighty struggle with the man who has been its nemesis for longer than the party cares to remember. The stakes are not just high; they are stratospheric. So far, National appears to have no idea how to do that beyond trying to crowd him out of the media.
* National’s post-mortems on the byelection will also have to ask how the party managed to select a candidate who is so obviously out of his depth. Putting him up against Peters was lamb for the slaughter.
* National’s campaign is further handicapped by its confused stance in this byelection. The subtext of Joyce’s gushing statements about the strong growth in the Northland economy is that this is all down to National’s sound management of the overall economy and its business development programmes. Yet, the ever-lengthening line of Cabinet ministers trekking to Northland bearing gifts speaks of a regional economy still in dire straits and desperately short of capital, infrastructure and a highly skilled workforce needed to attract business ventures.
Northland is either a burgeoning success story or an economic cot-case. It cannot be both.
* If things are on the improve in the region – as Joyce insists – why is National being punished by a large chunk of the party’s supporters deserting to New Zealand First?
The full article is here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/john-armstrong/news/article.cfm?a_id=3&objectid=11416930
Armstrong’s awful biased journalism prior to the election makes me question his authenticity.
A lot of journalists and media commentators were. I think now at least a few of them seem to have seen the light and are coming out of the dark side.
This is not the John Armstrong I’m used to..He must be due for the chop after this must read.
I sometimes wonder about Armstrong’s (political) convictions. Perhaps he ‘adapts’ his style & contents to maximise the number of page views (reads?) & comments? After all, he’s a qualified professional with lots of experience unlike the likes of Rodney Hide and Mike Hosking.
“Northland is either a burgeoning success story or an economic cot-case. It cannot be both.”
It can, actually. Northland is like a 3rd world country where the wealthy live in gated enclaves and the poor live in misery. Take a drive from Kerikeri to Moerewa. It’s not far.
Tomorrow, Monday 16 March 2015, after confirming with the Electoral Commission the ‘due process’ to follow – it is my intention to make a formal complaint against National’s Northland candidate Mark Osborne, for reported comments allegedly made by him, which, in my opinion, are a breach of s.216 (2) of the Electoral Act 1993 – “BRIBERY”.
In my view, in order to get an ‘outcome’ – you need to first put something into a ‘sausage machine’.
Just ‘howling at the moon’ doesn’t ‘cut it’ – in my opinion and experience.
The chain of events that ended up getting John Banks removed from Parliament, started with a complaint to the Police….
I was one of the three complainants.
Once I have the ‘process’ confirmed with the Electoral Commission – I will pass on the information.
Under NZ electoral law – “BRIBERY” is an offence.
But, situation normal, nothing will happen until someone actually MAKES A COMPLAINT?
I’ve already emailed the Electoral Commission – asking them this ‘due process’ question, so the ‘sausage machine’ has been ‘switched on’ – as it were….
Penny Bright
+1
Good on you, Penny Bright.
You are courageous and a tenacious fighter for accountability.
If I may say so, you are bold and Bright..putting your Penny and pen where your mouth is.
Good luck Penny. Maybe you can also include/allude to the early votes deliberately cheated out of confused elderly as mentioned in Open Mike yesterday ? ( Can find you link if you missed it).
Very serious indeed, and possibly could be part of same complaint ?
I haven’t seen the comment you refer to but the voting of people suffering from dementia by the staff of their aged care home seems to be a standard feature of every election.
I worked as a clerk at a polling booth in one of the homes at an election some years ago. Their were people who obviously suffered from dementia whose voting papers were collected by a staff member. The staff member had to tell us who the resident was as they didn’t seem to be in a position to know their own name.
The staff member then “helped” them to vote. I don’t think some of them had the faintest idea that there was even an election on.
One can only hope that there are never enough to unduly affect the results.
Disgraceful conduct like that by the union reps in rest homes has been happening at every election.
I have no idea who the votes were being cast for.
I certainly never saw the completed ballot papers. I can only say that I don’t think the “voters” knew either.
Headlines.
Fate of countries RMA reforms in hands of 137 elderly KeriKeri dementia sufferers.
Lol.
I’m more concerned with this new, and insidious, practice by the National party to have helpers phone and door-knock offers of rides to the polling booth.
On election day in 2014 we got an automated call from Sam Lotu Iiga’s electorate office apparently offering a ride to the polling booth. I don’t know how many houses this call went out to on election day but one must assume it was all households in the Maungakeiei electorate.
I complained to the Electoral commission on the day, and to be fair to them they had their chief lawyer call me back almost instantly, but he said it was within the rules agreed to by all parties.
While a higher proportion of constituents voting for parties of the socially responsible left are more likely to require help to get to a polling booth (or in this case – advanced voting for the infirm), this agreement is likely to not be in Labour’s benefit because the National party will cynically use it to have a last ditch advertising push on election day to all voters, regardless of mobility status…
…as Sam Lotu Iiga did in Maungakeikei in September 2014.
A solution to this would be for the Electoral commission themselves to have the funding to help vulnerable voters fulfil their right to vote uninfluenced by the Nats.
I would love to know what evidence you have for the statement that “While a higher proportion of constituents voting for parties of the socially responsible left are more likely to require help to get to a polling booth”.
On the other hand I do know one person, who does vote for right leaning parties, who called the Labour Party to request help to get to the polling booth. After voting she then, on the way home thanked “the nice young man and assured him she had voted for his candidate XXX. XXX was the National candidate”. She said that the driver managed, just, to resist tossing out of the car.
I told this story to one of my Labour leaning friends and she did it the other way round at the next election. She got National to take her to vote Labour. She claimed he was, in a strained way, quite polite to her.
Nice story, but I don’t believe a word of it.
You’d have to be stupid to not accept that more lower socio-economic people vote left and that more lower socio-economic people lack private transport.
It is. Labour has always offered rides especially to the elderly and infirm in well supported electorates
That’s what the Electoral Commission’s lawyer said too.
“Labour do it too”
I had to laugh because it sounded like something straight out of the Crosby Textor handbook.
I felt at the time that help to the polling booth targeted to immobile voters is fair enough, but an automated and apparently random phone message? Sounds like campaigning to me.
Do you want unions to be banned fisi?
If it stops rich pricks like you from bleeding the poor dry, then it is justified.
For too long people like you have been screwing over those at the bottom, demanding high rents, high divedends, low taxes, low prices, etc.
“For too long people like you have been screwing over those at the bottom, demanding high rents, high dividends, low taxes, low prices, etc”
Yes, especially the Selfish Rich Prick RW bastards.
Given your comment reference, 11.2.1.2 you appear to be replying to my comment which is 11.2.1.
What the hell are you talking about? Am I not allowed to help run the election by giving my time, and the payment went to a charity, to help run the election? I was a clerk in the polling booth. I wasn’t a bloody party representative.
alwyn-You really think people believe your Bullshit?
1. It is not “bullshit”
2. I hate to dent your little ego but I don’t really care in the slightest what you think. I have yet to read anything by you that matters in the slightest.
You mean real bribery like interest free student loans Or just a fevered deluded inference?
When are you going to stop freeloading and pay your rates?
Yes, god forbid that we should reduce the financial burden on those getting an education.
Lest we forget, the process which led to the legally enforced corporate takeover of the Auckland region via the Auckland ‘Supercity’ (for the 1%) amalgamation, effectively started on 5 September 2006, with the attempted ‘Mayoral coup’.
The purpose of the (failed) Auckland ‘Mayoral coup’ was to get rid of the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and replace it with a ‘Supercity’.
The ‘ring leaders’ of this attempted Auckland ‘Mayoral coup’, were Waitakere City Council Mayor Bob Harvey, Manukau City Council Mayor Barry Curtis, North Shore City Council Mayor George Wood, and Auckland City Council Mayor Dick Hubbard.
FACT.
The ‘form’ taken by these four City Council Mayors – was a letter – co-signed by all of them – addressed to then LABOUR Prime Minister, Helen Clark, asking for her urgent intervention and assistance, on behalf of those who were really pushing hard for this – BUSINESS leaders.
Luckily, fellow community activist Lisa Prager and myself, having been ‘tipped off’ about this meeting to be held in the Auckland Town Hall, gate-crashed it and disrupted it – on the basis that the Auckland ‘Mayoral Forum’ under whose auspices this meeting had been called, was NOT a ‘creature of statute’ – had no lawful right to do anything – and under the then Local Government Act 2002, there had to be a binding poll of the PUBLIC before any ‘amalgamation’ took place.
Our action on 5 September 2006, at least helped to slow down the process …
Penny Bright
On the good news front. Our Friends in Australia – are sick of the crap being done to them.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/protesters-shut-down-melbourne-to-fight-against-closure-of-aboriginal-communities-20150313-143uhe.html
I can’t believe Australia is still doing that shit. Good on the people taking over the main streets of Melbourne.
Forcing people out of remote communities through funding cuts ‘cultural genocide’: Trevor Donaldson
Content warning: ignorant white man pretending to be the Prime Minister of Australia being an extremely racist prick instead.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/03/12/4196442.htm?site=goldfields
NORTHLAND BYELECTION : The I-PREDICT price movements so far:
Investors and gamblers have been estimating, daily, the % chances of which candidate will win :
The predictions so far are for the dates, March 4th, 6th, 9th, 11th, 13th and today, the 15th (The ides of March of Winston’s march!):
The Nat candidate : 90%, 75%, 65%, 65%, 60%, and today, 53%.
The Winston Peters: 10%, 22%, 45%, 35%, 37%, and today, 48%.
The Lab candidate : 10%, 25%, 15%, 15%, 15%, and today, 0.3%.
Here are the graphs:
NAT : https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=graph&sym=BE15.NTD.NAT&size=xlg&col=%230392D7&cbgcolor=%230089EF&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF
WP : https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=graph&sym=BE15.NTD.OTHER&size=xlg&col=%230392D7&cbgcolor=%230089EF&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF
LAB: https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=graph&sym=BE15.NTD.LAB&size=xlg&col=%230392D7&cbgcolor=%230089EF&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF
Pick the winner and double your money
@fisiani
“Pick the winner and double your money”
Who would you pick to double the money, fisiani?
Fisianil looking at the average decline in support for National per day.
I predict Winnie to Win.
Looking at the RT site for what it has about President Putin’s whereabouts.
The news at the 12th March was that he had cancelled some things but was having meetings out of the public eye. He had some trouble in 2012 similarly and this was ascribed to old sports injuries etc.
http://rt.com/politics/240025-russia-peskov-putin-health/
Comments on the Ukraine business from Gorbachev and Kissinger. Two old guys who have definite views on the subject and sound as if they are very sharp still. Kissinger is not glad handing the USA.
http://rt.com/news/203475-gorbachev-speech-berlin-wall/
http://rt.com/news/203795-kissinger-warns-cold-war/
I can only shake my head in disbelief at this http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67387751/Former-MPs-travel-perk-to-get-a-boost
This has been hot on Twitter since late yesterday when Philip Lyth picked it up, then Idiot/Savant (NRT) and Graeme Edgeler. Graeme researched it and then posted on Public Address:
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/mps-to-vote-on-raising-international-travel/
Graeme’s post includes links to Philip and I/S posts.
Marama Fox (MP) and Metiria Turei (GP) were contacted via Twitter and both said they would oppose the increase.
Last night Annette King tweeted Graeme asking where he got the information from regarding former MPs travel and “No-one else has heard it!”
The whole situation seems to changing minute by minute. According to Graeme the Stuff article has been updated to exclude a sentence included in the original article referring to Fox, Turei and King opposing the changes. *
Graeme’s Twiitter feed is possibly the only way to keep up with the changing situation. Lots more details, questions, comments there.
Tweets by GraemeEdgeler
EDIT – the earlier version also included the fact that only one dissenting vote is needed for the changes to not pass! Apparently this still stands, but taken out of the Stuff article.
Cheers I thought I’d seen a comment on The Standard some were but couldn’t find it so thought I’d chuck this up.
Pleased you did!
I suspect that this is going to be all over the MSM news tomorrow, The Stuff (Dom Post) article was obviously written in haste – I suspect by a pretty junior on duty journo. Herald also has a fairly vacuous article up tonight. Won’t bother providing a link unless you would like one.
But it continues to be debated on Twitter – Graeme Edgeler, Jessica Williams, Hoots, Annette King (qualifies when she leaves Parliament), Tau Henare (another qualifier now) etc. King seems to be out there trying to justify the change on behalf of National. Say no more.
Edgeler seems to be holding his ground and refusing to let it go which IMO is good. Could be the start of another bad week for Key …. !
Death by a thousand cuts, perhaps. Time will tell.
Update – Edgeler has now posted a further post at Public Address.
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/update-on-the-former-mps-travel-perk/
Haven’t read it yet, but thought you might be interested if you had not seen it.
heh
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3043346/a-google-for-scientific-articles-for-the-next-time-youre-locked-in-a-debate-about-vaccines
Sparrho is like the Google for scientific papers—and patents, posters, events, and grants. Just type in keywords, like “GMO food,” and you’ll soon have access to all the latest research. Here’s a snapshot of what comes up when you search for GMO food:
As you can see, the latest results are up-to-date (I performed the search on March 6). Some are accessible to laypeople, some are not. That’s because Vivian Chan, Sparrho’s CEO and co-founder, originally designed the platform for herself. “I was doing my PhD at Cambridge University, and realized using search engines for science doesn’t work. There are all of these databases out there, but you have to know exactly what it is you’re looking for,” she says.
worth some thought maybe …
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-famiglietti-drought-california-20150313-story.html
and Sao Paulo, Brasil, with population of 25 million is on water rationing with supplies only two days a week …
thank goodness there isn’t any such thing as human=induced climate change. Imagine how bad things might really be !!!
The so called Housing Crisis in Auckland myth has been exploded http://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Auckland_Housing_Accord_Monitoring_Report_5.pdf
Ask the people having to live in shithole boarding houses.
Or the homeless people living on the streets.
Good analysis and ideas in the Observer today for addressing Britain’s housing crisis, which shares most of the hallmarks of NZ’s:
”The Homes for Britain campaign, which brings together housing associations, private house builders, landlords, planners and architects, is holding a rally in Westminster. It aims to solve the housing crisis “in a generation”, which is a realistic time frame, given that it has taken a generation to create the current situation
”The crisis in house prices is therefore not an act of pure economic fate but constructed and willed by policy over decades. As such, it can also be defused by policy, if not easily or quickly. So far, the main government response has been to try to relax planning rules and to encourage the market with measures such as Help To Buy which, presented as much-needed assistance to first-time buyers, tend to push up prices further.”
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/14/britain-housing-crisis-10-ways-solve-rowan-moore-general-election
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/mar/15/cyclone-pam-aid-agencies-head-to-vanuatu-as-death-toll-rises#block-55053188e4b08cb82df08263