I recommend Powershop. They have a $50 friend referral promotion at the moment: you and your friend both get $50 credit when they sign up. I’d be happy to refer you but I’d need your email address to do so. Let me know if you’re interested and we can work out how to exchange ‘real’ addresses anonymously.
Using Powershops detailed price history, I calculated I was about $20 ahead compared to one of the companies (Mercury I think), but only because I purchased every available special that powershop had. If I hadn’t, I would have been slightly behind.
Powershop also have the 30 minute power usage chart if you’ve got a smart meter, so you can see over the last 4 weeks how much power you used in any given 30 minute block. Since I am on a day/night meter, this lets me hightlight periods of high usage, remember what I was doing at the time, and make a conscious decision to defer that power usage to the night period when the power is cheaper.
Puchasing power in advance is something that powershop offers though, and this year although they put their prices up by 5% (thanks to Transpower etc), they gave us the opportunity to buy power in advance at the ‘current’ price.
I should also add with Powershop that all of these features are entirely optional: you can just treat it like any other power company “set and forget” and they’ll automatically bill you your usage at the end of the month. But you can also buy power in advance (months, or just the current month), track your power usage and buy specials etc. If you’ve got a smart meter it is all fully automatic. If you don’t then you’ll need to enter your own meter reads.
They are more or less all the same. They all use the same contractors for their field work, and a lot of them have the same billing system. Contact, Genesis and Pulse have GenTrack and MERC have SAP. Reading/billing are done on a 20 day cycle, with Genesis/Contact being read 2 monthly and the rest monthly.
Due to so many people switching there has been huge instances with data getting mixed up. For example if you live in Devon Street, New Plymouth, and switched to CEL, you might just end up getting signed in as a customer in Devon St, Rotorua.
And dont get me started on smart meters. The amount of issues that people are having after having one installed are horrendus, things not working, fuses blowing, part power, etc and so on.
“The average farm worker is now earning $5500 a year more than the national average wage and salary, according to a Federated Farmers/Rabobank survey, and pay levels for most pastoral farm positions have continued to increase.”
A little more journo work and The Herald would have discovered that farm workers need to work 80 to 100 hours a week to get this. Many farmers require “couples” so often this is a combined household income, the conditions in dairy farms with over 500 cows are atrocious….come on Herald, do your work, do an hourly rate.
‘A little more journo work and The Herald would have discovered that ….’
2 issues with that statement, 1. They aren’t jouno’s but press release recyclers and 2. ‘work’ as in research and verifiability of facts from disparate sources doesn’t happen in granny’s world.
They’ve done their work which is giving a soapbox to their backers being the wealthy elite under the illusion the story has actually been validated.
Same’s true for orchardists and fruit pickers, where I’m from. Only the greedies have trouble finding staff, usually corporate farmers. Give decent pay and conditions, voila, no problem finding staff. They should try it sometime.
Labour would consider allowing the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders in limited circumstances but …
In reversal of the usual rule, everything after the “but” is bullshit, and I’d take the “limited” with a grain of salt, several Siberian mines and the Red Sea.
I think that this position is pretty good.
“”An inquiry’s necessary because it’s not just about the GCSB, it’s also about the SIS and the relationship with the police. It’s right across the board and what I don’t want to do is to have a narrow, quick-fix Bandaid type of solution for something that is much more fundamental.”
The essential point is that a full enquiry be held first. Surely you would expect the facts and consequences of any “reform” be considered? There is a probability that Mr Key will rush through changes without an enquiry and in a way to suit the National agenda.
What would you choose?
Band aid or decisions based on an enquiry?
FFS if a NZ citizen needs to be surveilled it should be a police job with police protections in place, not the job of the spooks – whose role is to keep a watch on the activities of foreign powers.
Or does Labour think that we should head down the US route where the bullshit ‘terrorism’ flag is waved around in order to justify expansion of state security powers over local citizens.
All this from Shearer, Mr Mercernary Man himself. How reassuring.
Read Trotter on the subject: he asks the question of “why a non military appointee?”
The answer he has is that the whole spy / surveillance thing has moved away from foreign nations (posing a national sovereignty threat) to the enforcement of international private interests (commercial copyright etc).
Exactly DTB. Shearer has sold out our rights to not be spied on before the process has even begun. I don’t think they’ll kick up much of a fuss even at an inquiry, because they would want to spy on the same people that Key does. Given a golden opportunity to make a stand, he falls over in a puddle of his own dribble.
Apart from the egregious contempt for civil liberties, which Labour has long played fast and loose with (Hello Goff!), I’m pissed off by Shearer’s own utter, utter, utter stupidity. Once again, when an issue seems to be gaining some traction, Shearer barges in trying to prove how important and statesman-like he is and once again he fucks it up for everyone.
His brain-fade over his bank account might have been an honest mistake, but he gave ammunition to National – who can now say “He’s incompetent or a liar, take your pick. Do you trust this man with the country’s finances?”
Now it’s going to be, “But he supports expanded GCSB powers too,” thereby marginalising the Green campaign on the issue and undermining his own frigging deputy Robertson’s own work.
What’s he going to say in a debate?
“Well, ah, I mean… I mean I meant… within… I mean, ah, with appropriate safeguards…. and I do disagree – yes, I disagree – I’m making a stand here! I disagree… I mean I might, I might disagree over your placement of a comma on line twelve of… um, something you released…. um… oh dear, where’s my bit of paper…”
Key’s just going to smirk and crush him with a soundbite.
He’s worse than wrong, he’s a phuqyng idiot. Again.
One week, Dear God, please, one week without Shearer being a dick.
Shearer’s performance or lack thereof doesn’t matter in the slightest.
In fact whichever talking head is Labour Leader is of zero importance to me personally, since I’m an Alliance supporter (although somehow I always end up reflexively smashing at the Cunliffe devotees but not the Shearer bearers, whoops).
Because in the end Labour is only there to facilitate the Greens and Mana, who will make it all good in the end.
CV, you’re shit enough at channelling that you should be on Sensing Murder. You’re batting zero for … how many now?
I already gave my response to rhino’s passionate soliloquy. Which was that I really didn’t think enough of it or the perceived issue it lampooned to bother giving either a response.
Is this an Own Goal ?
In this morning’s Herald – “ Party may support law change to allow GCSB to keep watch on Kiwis but only if full intelligence review held. Labour would consider allowing the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders in limited circumstances but only if that was recommended by a full independent review of intelligence agencies, party leader David Shearer says.”
Who writes this stuff for them FFS. Why put “we support spying” and then only if you bother to read on do you find the conditions.
Why not
condemn the behaviour
demand the big look at intelligence
suggest a parliamentary committe to oversea intelligence
then in the small print at the bottom “if recommended anfd there are asfeguards we may agree”
David Shearer – the man who thoughtfully brings his own banana skins to slip on in case someone has forgotten to provide them (or mango skins, whatever).
How are judges appointed? Well since National got into power you’ll find ‘is friend of Chris Finlayson’ was a criteria. Finlayson to certain friend in Sydney law firm ‘Want to be a judge? Just let me know’.
See The Herald this morning. It is valid for the Law Commission to identify and discuss myriad aspects of our legal system, the role of the judiciary among them. It is valid for a government to engage in the debate which follows, of course.
My real concern is that in its destructive worship of austerity, its singlemindedness in retention of power, and its doubtless taste for authoritarianism, this government will unhesitatingly sully legitimate debate on the question of where and how the judiciary sits in the justice system.
Recall Simon Power’s risible ticking-off of the Chief Justice for her mature and informed comments about the justice system a couple of years ago. Risible indeed coming from a life-long National Party arse-wipe joke of a man.
On many occasions this government has sunk to the depths of defamation, pejorativeness and abuse of practitioners in law and other areas. Non-exhaustively, legal aid lawyers, Justice Binnie, teachers, unions.
It is routine. First blame the practitioners. Then, assisted by the patently shallow “journalism” of child-scribes on their way up and that of accommodating older hacks, sell the lunacy that less gas in the tank of any particular vehicle will naturally see it go further, more safely and more efficiently. When the vehicle conks out halfway down the road of ill-considered and often ridiculous “reforms” – blame the practitioners.
In terms of convention the judiciary may not be such a sitting-duck but of course McVicar and the SST could always be relied upon to spew out anything the spin-doctors vetoed. More or less the same result.
It is alarming to see this government and the delightedly malevolent Judith Collins poking and prodding in matters constitutional. They are just too dishonest and not nearly as competent as they claim.
I’m reminded of Glenda Jackson re Thatcher – the cost of everything, the value of nothing.
We’d be better off if the judiciary ran a review of the government. I can’t see this as anything but an attempt to scare any slight remnant of independence out of our judges and make them even more overtly political.
I’m not a big fan of judges in general, but I’m a sworn enemy of the WhaleSpew/MacVicar types who carry on with the rubbish that NAct MPs believe but can’t say in public.
lately i have had no luck getting html into comments. I do not understand what the fault is.
below was copy pasted direct from FAQ and even that didn’t work. As you can see bold and italic worked but strikeout and underline do not. i see others with underline and strikeout in comments so it is pretty confusing, Any ideas ? Anyone ?
bold; write my text
italic; write my text
strikeout. write my text
underline. write my text
can you write what you did for strikeout but put a space between each character so i can see the actual keystrokes.
test:
i wrote w o r d (with spaces) (afteredit: greater than less than characters did not show up just shows the ‘word’ inside them
word (as html text in FAQ, no spaces)
test after edit:
still nada, what am I doing wrong?
Tungsten, my friend tungsten; (just in case we need some confirmation without bias, i ghosted out of the shower yesterday and was working through Seven Nations Army in my head, turned the radio on (had been off to save power), Hauraki, and who woulda’ thunk it; this has happened many times before, Test-ReTest and all those Validity / Reliability study requirements; now gonna try this encode HTML stuff; could be some time… 🙂
thanks to everybody who persevered, yet it was felix’s link that helped the ghost back to the other side. now, if I could just materialize a root from branch office
🙂
Well, this is a change, and encouraging if it continues. Two articles today from the Dominion Post critical of the Key Govt.
The first one is about Buffoon Bridges’ anti democratic anti marine protest law
We kow we are never going to see the full text till after it has been signed off. Even if only half of the known details are true, the TPPA is a suidice agreement for the self-determination of all Nations who sign it and those that don’t will be signed up to something equally dangerous. No profit is worth our sovereignty as a Nation. No Nation should put profit before its people. I do not care what a court says, a Corporation is not a person and this single legal distinction, more than any war or financial scandal or illegal election is single handedly responsible for the ongoing destruction of real Democracy.
“Six hundred US corporate advisors have negotiated and had input into the TPP, and the proposed draft text has not been made available to the public, the press or policymakers.”
I am sure this is one of those passages of reality that Groser would rather we ignore
Thanks for the link, freedom (interesting website, “Free Malaysia Today”). It’s pretty critical of the US and its role in promoting neoliberalism internationally – not sure where it is re- Malaysian politics.)
This bit from the article is worrying:
The proposed legislation on Intellectual Property will have enormous ramifications for TPP signatories, including Internet termination for households, businesses, and organizations as an accepted penalty for copyright infringement.
Signatory nations would essentially submit themselves to oppressive IP restrictions designed by Hollywood’s copyright cartels, severely limiting their ability to digitally exchange information on sites like YouTube, where streaming videos are considered copyrightable.
“Broader copyright and intellectual property rights demands by the US would lock up the Internet, stifle research and increase education costs, by extending existing generous copyright from 70 years to 120 years, and even making it a criminal offense to temporarily store files on a computer without authorization. The US, as a net exporter of digital information, would be the only party to benefit from this,” said Patricia Ranald, convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network.
After a quick scan I’m not sure either where its editorial biases lie.
Right now Malaysia is in the midst of “election fever” – according to the radio, TV, and newspapers. The current government, headed by Najib, will likely be returned to power. The only question is by what margin.
I’ve only been here since January so I’m not up to speed on who the main players are except for the aforementioned Najib. The glaringly obvious thing here is that politics are very much “racial”. The Malays, which make up over half of the population, will likely as not vote for the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) backed Barisan Nasional party – Barisan Nasional has ruled the country since Malaysia became independent of the UK. The Chinese, who as a block control a great deal of the country’s finances and commercial entities, will make deals that will best serve their community. The Indians, well they don’t have the numbers or financial clout, will go along to get along.
As an “orang putih” I get an earfull from the locals about the different “races” when we are out of earshot from any who might overhear. The Malays moan about the Chinese, the Chinese complain that the Malays don’t play fair because of their demographic advantage, and the Indians swear that they can never catch a break.
Very interesting…here’s a speech I found on youtube given by Hannah Yeoh, a young Malaysian state politician…speaking (in part) on women in Malaysian politics; honestly she seems way more talented than a shit load of our hapless NZ ones.
CV
Those Asians always showing us up. Just when we get to sit complacently at the supposed top of the pile, someone still thinking comes along and rains on our parade.
Hay, here’s a thought brother, trade in one of those suits ya don’t need, you’ve got them all in spades anyway, and help a brother into a new set of Flat-Screen-PC compatible wheels; though, now i’m back on the race-course, Harvey or Noel might be interested; Frek, when you examine the backgrounds of, oh I don’t know, your average Act or NZ First candidate tracey, Virgil, “Brains”, Kyrano, Aloysius or even Tin-Tin would be better mariners.
including Internet termination for households, businesses, and organizations as an accepted penalty for copyright infringement
Was wondering how the flow of information would be stemmed, just stop people from accessing it!
Nothing the establishments despise/fear more, than the sharing of information amongst the plebs.
The internet has been a doubled edged sword for the planets rulers, while it provides them with greater capabilities to control, than ever before equally it provides greater ability for people to learn, and understand the frauds being perpetuated against humanity.
Taking complete control of the narratives/information flows, will be very high on the list of outcomes!
I would just like to repeat this anecdote from my burn ed colleague ghostrider; apparently, after checking out some interesting mark-downs at his local exorbitantly priced supermarket he struck up a conversation with a lady-pensioner (probably spying the flash mobility-scooter got him going), anyway, this lady was originally from Dartmoor (the UK one) and it seemed that her husband had been a principal who was very conversant re politics; they got talking about the lovely day, politics and the young of today, as you do, and regarding Thatcher, she considered her an important person to British political history (lets leave it at that) yet she COULD NOT STAND JOHN KEY. kinda makes me wonder what it is about him that revs Fran O’Sullivan’s motor running.
Rogue T
The answer is obviously that Jokeyhen is an upstart, johnny-come-lately, nouveau riche person of no standing in British class lines. Thatcher and others were excused their un-aristo starts because they were successful and Thatcher was a good swot. And she knew how to dress like a lady, even attempting to eclipse the Queen. (Who probably would have liked to e(clip)se her round the ears.)
Thatcher was also a bloody serious and capable pollie. When she went in to fuck the miners she did so front on and full on. Key just shuffled apologetically around the edges. Plenty of right wing NAT hardliners think that Key just needs to harden the frak up, and has needed to for the last, oh, four and a half years.
FWIW the sentencing regime works on the principle of precedent. Judges don’t have autonomy on sentences like the Herald seem to believe, they have to follow sentencing guidelines which are legislated by Govt. Whenever there’s a law change to sentencing the first sentences of the new laws are carefully analysed by the Chief Justice and discussed with all of the judges around the country. Any mistakes are quickly rectified before they become a precedent, from thereon they all have to follow the precedents set.
The reason they use precedent is to ensure uniformity in sentencing. If they don’t have uniformity the crim can appeal their sentence on the grounds that someone else got a much lighter sentence for a similar offence. It’s pretty basic stuff.
If sentences are wrong it’s because the law is wrong or some judges are not following the guidelines properly. The Chief Justice (I think) is in charge of monitoring the performance of judges in that respect, those who get it wrong are supposed to be warned & reprimanded.
So, without knowing what sentences were handed down for similar offences previously, the Herald’s survey is a pointless attack on judges who may just be doing their job.
Can’t make that conclusion from what’s been said there. Most likely scenario is the actual law is dictating those sentences, or that’s the precedents that have been set.
The judges’ job is to do what the written laws tell them. Their sentencing has a built-in check & balance via the appeals process. If the judge’s reading of the law, and subsequent sentencing, is wildly out you’ll see an appeal against the sentence either by the Crown or by the offender.
Too many people have this expectation that judges can suddenly get ‘tougher’ on offenders. They can’t, for that to happen the law has to be changed and judges don’t make the law (nor should they)
You are obviously not informed about Feminist Doctrine.
Here, let me help you:
“All men are rapists and that’s all they are” — Marilyn French
“The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.” — Sally Miller Gearhart, in The Future – If There Is One – Is Female.
“Heterosexual intercourse is the pure, formalized expression of contempt for women’s bodies.” — Andrea Dworkin
Feminism was hijacked years ago by man haters and lesbians, it is an ideology of hate.
It helps explain why the Left is so broken, bogged down in Identity Politics and the hyper relativism of trendy Post Modern Philosophy
Don’t you understand the difference between what a character in a book says and what the book’s author thinks? Probably just another symptom of hate. You should probably get that looked at.
yes, i stumbled, fell over, the announcement of this party; the whities sure seemed to be a-feared of change (have very little awareness of the inevitability of demographics, and too much money to hate)
they were just plays on words for friends electric, you know, “friends” ;synth pop never really got better after Foxx, Krautrock, Ultravox and Numan imo (just kidding around). Anyway, you sometimes seem bright enough to read the signs; how do you think the domestic politics of NZ are going to impact demographics anyway; Maori role increases, Pasifika role increases, SE Asian role increases, Sub-continent increases, African increases, Middle-Eastern increases; while it is conceded that there is a drift towards conservatism in the post-empire after-taste hang-over, one size will definitely not fit all or do you not read beyond own subscriptions? and Gender politics, well, thanks to the roles of genetics, history, culture and language they are essential; I could write 500 Shades of Grey transcribing the utterances men make of their women in the pub, the work-place, the sports-club (well, maybe the gyms) and the smoko-rooms; Hell, I was a misogynist myself deep down for years;and, on the other side of the coin, how many women prefer their own, or the company of women to their husbands / partners, but you go ahead, flame-on.
Ansell is always happy to claim all the technological and cultural developments for himself and other Europeans. For example, he talks about Maori wanting money because some dams have been built and says they didn’t know how to build dams or turbines. Does he or any of his pathetic followers know how to do anything useful at all? Would he use a computer if he knew Turing was gay?
Pathetic and scared little people who should be flushed back down the sewer from whence they came.
A commentator on radionz this morning said that broadly 70% of NZ dairy farmers (I think just the dairy sector) had 30% equity in their businesses. After all this wealth that is being frequently talked about, dairy farmers are still in the poo. WTF I can’t understand it.
I There was a drought about 2008 that equalled the present one. I thought though that the backbone of the country’s economy, dairy, had more calcium in it. How can we raise some serious concern about the country and people’s welfare with the wider peopulation so we can get beyond this stale stalemate of 61 to 59, a risable Majority, and get some things done and new approaches trialled and get into new world mode with eagerness to conserve the good, progress in advantagous ways and improve our low levels of attainment????
Green on. Vote Green, join the Green Party, donate to the Green Party. Ditto Mana (although I still think party voting GP is better strategically than Mana).
What we want is a Labour led govt that doesn’t rely on Peters or Dunne.
That article exemplifies exactly why we shouldn’t use economics as the justification for caring for and protecting the environment. Just like with the clean, green brand and using the economic imperative of that as justification for ecological sensitivity, using the ETS etc is bound to fail. As soon as the economics don’t stack up, the trees will come tumbling down.
We need to value and revere nature for its own inherent worth, irrespective of what it can do for use and not because of the five second dollar value we can place on it.
That aside, anyone who converts to dairy from now on (apart from small/med scale farmers using sustainable management) is siding with evil and deserves all the approbation that will come their way.
“A commentator on radionz this morning said that broadly 70% of NZ dairy farmers (I think just the dairy sector) had 30% equity in their businesses. After all this wealth that is being frequently talked about, dairy farmers are still in the poo. WTF I can’t understand it. ”
It looks to be down to farms being way overpriced here, likely due to the amount of foreign buyers pushing the prices up. A typical Kiwi has to borrow huge sums to buy into a farm and the cost of capital is often too high for the income the farms generate. They make a living but rarely enough extra cash to pay down the principal on the mortgage
Eric Watson had a commentary in the Herald talking about his dairy farm investment in Georgia USA. He claimed the climate there is better for dairying which makes the yields per cow & hectare better and yet the price of farmland there is considerably less than here so the returns are much higher.
(If it was so great there though you have to wonder why foreigners buy our farms when the Yanks have such bargains to be had.)
Bassett, the executive director of the Paradigm Research Group, wants the U.S. government to lift what he calls the “truth embargo” and acknowledge that extraterrestrials are real and are engaging the human race.
Bassett and his allies are taking over the National Press Club in downtown D.C. from April 29 to May 3 to host the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure. “What we are going to do is bring the largest concentration of witnesses ever assembled in one place, at one time, and they are going to testify exactly as if they were in a real congressional hearing,” Bassett explained. Former members of Congress are being tapped to run the hearings, while witnesses, including former astronaut (and sixth man on the moon) Edgar Mitchell, are coming in from around the world. A film production crew from Los Angeles will film the whole thing, turning “Truth Embargo” into a documentary.
The Fermi paradox isn’t based in reality: “But no convincing evidence of this exists.”
In 2007 The National Press Club held a press conference in which a group of high-profile witnesses described their experiences. The moderator for the conference was Fife Symington, who described what he saw regarding the Phoenix Lights UFOs. Symington was the Arizona governor at that time. There was also good coverage of the Rendlesham Forest incident.
cha know, (refs not handy) but the introduction to me Oxford identifies the most influential philosophers beginning with Socrates…Plato…Aristotle…fec…wheres ya memory when ya need it…Aquinas…Augustine…Hobbes…Bacon…Berkeley…Locke…Kant…Kierkegaard…Spinoza….Liebniz…Hegel…Heidegger…Wittgenstein… (not in chronological order and some of these have been added personally), yet the list ends with Nietzsche. imho opinion, everything philosophical in the west ends and begins with Nietzsche (call it a hunch)… / and then on to Giddens, Foucault, Bourdieu, DERRIDA (k-p) Habermas and Goffman as the most cited in the Humanities Lit. (T.H.E), so I pray the feckin politicians listen to the philosophers and european sociologists for a change, yet I won’t be holding my breath or a torch for them.*sigh* anyway, appreciating all this sh*t comes naturally to me bad self; it certainly is not a worm-hole, it is liberating yet confining at the same time, as you can imaginitively see, and yes, it requires a fair amount of panadol sometimes, or some other distraction to shut the feckin brain off for a while. Oh Well, such is life, onwards and upwards 🙂 from my first stay in hospital, oo oo oo, what more’s a poor boy do…” ‘I Can’t Help Myself…when I get this feeling, I wanna be someone else…” Hope you have laughed and cried with me along the way. 🙂
We killed God yes….will we be arrested before getting to attend the Dionysian event with the 100 grumpy white guys (or are they the ones who really should be arrested). Or do we plead guilty to killing God and all his creation?
Every now and then an image comes along that highlights how lost we are as a society.
Sure, this image has been designed for a campaign, but it is still as edifying as the circumstance it portrays.
check social networks, street posters, car decals and other unexpected places for local events
Maybe some rich person out there wants to take out a Newspaper page or two on behalf of all kiwis who do not have a real voice in this discussion. (oh to have the resources of the hate machine)
This is not about party poitics, it is about self-determination and sending a message to Parliament
This is for Kiwis who want to say, once again, NO ASSET SALES
Seven was Sharp on the relaxation of drug laws post-Power
Take a L.E.A.P
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
-“prohibition creates gangsters”
-“criminalises consensual exchange”
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It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
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The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Will be shopping around for a new power supplier today!
I recommend Powershop. They have a $50 friend referral promotion at the moment: you and your friend both get $50 credit when they sign up. I’d be happy to refer you but I’d need your email address to do so. Let me know if you’re interested and we can work out how to exchange ‘real’ addresses anonymously.
Will talk to my partner and get back to you.Thanks.
Powershop only work out cheaper when you have spare cash you can buy up winter power in summer and vice versa.
Nah, not true.
Using Powershops detailed price history, I calculated I was about $20 ahead compared to one of the companies (Mercury I think), but only because I purchased every available special that powershop had. If I hadn’t, I would have been slightly behind.
Powershop also have the 30 minute power usage chart if you’ve got a smart meter, so you can see over the last 4 weeks how much power you used in any given 30 minute block. Since I am on a day/night meter, this lets me hightlight periods of high usage, remember what I was doing at the time, and make a conscious decision to defer that power usage to the night period when the power is cheaper.
Puchasing power in advance is something that powershop offers though, and this year although they put their prices up by 5% (thanks to Transpower etc), they gave us the opportunity to buy power in advance at the ‘current’ price.
I should also add with Powershop that all of these features are entirely optional: you can just treat it like any other power company “set and forget” and they’ll automatically bill you your usage at the end of the month. But you can also buy power in advance (months, or just the current month), track your power usage and buy specials etc. If you’ve got a smart meter it is all fully automatic. If you don’t then you’ll need to enter your own meter reads.
They are more or less all the same. They all use the same contractors for their field work, and a lot of them have the same billing system. Contact, Genesis and Pulse have GenTrack and MERC have SAP. Reading/billing are done on a 20 day cycle, with Genesis/Contact being read 2 monthly and the rest monthly.
Due to so many people switching there has been huge instances with data getting mixed up. For example if you live in Devon Street, New Plymouth, and switched to CEL, you might just end up getting signed in as a customer in Devon St, Rotorua.
And dont get me started on smart meters. The amount of issues that people are having after having one installed are horrendus, things not working, fuses blowing, part power, etc and so on.
C’mon Fa’afoi…do ya job and stick it to Collins if you can!!!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/8549984/Patience-wears-thin-in-police-force
“The average farm worker is now earning $5500 a year more than the national average wage and salary, according to a Federated Farmers/Rabobank survey, and pay levels for most pastoral farm positions have continued to increase.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10877550
Quote from the NZ Herald.
A little more journo work and The Herald would have discovered that farm workers need to work 80 to 100 hours a week to get this. Many farmers require “couples” so often this is a combined household income, the conditions in dairy farms with over 500 cows are atrocious….come on Herald, do your work, do an hourly rate.
‘A little more journo work and The Herald would have discovered that ….’
2 issues with that statement, 1. They aren’t jouno’s but press release recyclers and 2. ‘work’ as in research and verifiability of facts from disparate sources doesn’t happen in granny’s world.
They’ve done their work which is giving a soapbox to their backers being the wealthy elite under the illusion the story has actually been validated.
In fact farmers around here that pay decent wages are having no trouble at all finding good staff, even for 90 hour weeks.
You will find that the ones, as usual, who complain about lack of staff, expect 100 hour weeks for less than 500 dollars.
Sounds about right. Decent pay, enough staff so that other staff can take their time off, and you won’t have to try and employ cheap foreign labour.
Same’s true for orchardists and fruit pickers, where I’m from. Only the greedies have trouble finding staff, usually corporate farmers. Give decent pay and conditions, voila, no problem finding staff. They should try it sometime.
Who says Shearer won’t listen?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10877541
Labour would consider allowing the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders in limited circumstances but …
In reversal of the usual rule, everything after the “but” is bullshit, and I’d take the “limited” with a grain of salt, several Siberian mines and the Red Sea.
I think that this position is pretty good.
“”An inquiry’s necessary because it’s not just about the GCSB, it’s also about the SIS and the relationship with the police. It’s right across the board and what I don’t want to do is to have a narrow, quick-fix Bandaid type of solution for something that is much more fundamental.”
The essential point is that a full enquiry be held first. Surely you would expect the facts and consequences of any “reform” be considered? There is a probability that Mr Key will rush through changes without an enquiry and in a way to suit the National agenda.
What would you choose?
Band aid or decisions based on an enquiry?
Then what Labour should have said was that an inquiry was needed but not to say that they would support the spying before that inquiry.
FFS if a NZ citizen needs to be surveilled it should be a police job with police protections in place, not the job of the spooks – whose role is to keep a watch on the activities of foreign powers.
Or does Labour think that we should head down the US route where the bullshit ‘terrorism’ flag is waved around in order to justify expansion of state security powers over local citizens.
All this from Shearer, Mr Mercernary Man himself. How reassuring.
Read Trotter on the subject: he asks the question of “why a non military appointee?”
The answer he has is that the whole spy / surveillance thing has moved away from foreign nations (posing a national sovereignty threat) to the enforcement of international private interests (commercial copyright etc).
The police and the NZDF can quite easily do the jobs that the SIS and GSCB do.
Exactly DTB. Shearer has sold out our rights to not be spied on before the process has even begun. I don’t think they’ll kick up much of a fuss even at an inquiry, because they would want to spy on the same people that Key does. Given a golden opportunity to make a stand, he falls over in a puddle of his own dribble.
Apart from the egregious contempt for civil liberties, which Labour has long played fast and loose with (Hello Goff!), I’m pissed off by Shearer’s own utter, utter, utter stupidity. Once again, when an issue seems to be gaining some traction, Shearer barges in trying to prove how important and statesman-like he is and once again he fucks it up for everyone.
His brain-fade over his bank account might have been an honest mistake, but he gave ammunition to National – who can now say “He’s incompetent or a liar, take your pick. Do you trust this man with the country’s finances?”
Now it’s going to be, “But he supports expanded GCSB powers too,” thereby marginalising the Green campaign on the issue and undermining his own frigging deputy Robertson’s own work.
What’s he going to say in a debate?
“Well, ah, I mean… I mean I meant… within… I mean, ah, with appropriate safeguards…. and I do disagree – yes, I disagree – I’m making a stand here! I disagree… I mean I might, I might disagree over your placement of a comma on line twelve of… um, something you released…. um… oh dear, where’s my bit of paper…”
Key’s just going to smirk and crush him with a soundbite.
He’s worse than wrong, he’s a phuqyng idiot. Again.
One week, Dear God, please, one week without Shearer being a dick.
I think you’d have a better chance of finding a snowball in hell.
Let me channel McFlock for a second here:
Shearer’s performance or lack thereof doesn’t matter in the slightest.
In fact whichever talking head is Labour Leader is of zero importance to me personally, since I’m an Alliance supporter (although somehow I always end up reflexively smashing at the Cunliffe devotees but not the Shearer bearers, whoops).
Because in the end Labour is only there to facilitate the Greens and Mana, who will make it all good in the end.
So everyone, please relax. There is no problem.
CV, you’re shit enough at channelling that you should be on Sensing Murder. You’re batting zero for … how many now?
I already gave my response to rhino’s passionate soliloquy. Which was that I really didn’t think enough of it or the perceived issue it lampooned to bother giving either a response.
Is this an Own Goal ?
In this morning’s Herald – “ Party may support law change to allow GCSB to keep watch on Kiwis but only if full intelligence review held. Labour would consider allowing the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders in limited circumstances but only if that was recommended by a full independent review of intelligence agencies, party leader David Shearer says.”
Who writes this stuff for them FFS. Why put “we support spying” and then only if you bother to read on do you find the conditions.
Why not
condemn the behaviour
demand the big look at intelligence
suggest a parliamentary committe to oversea intelligence
then in the small print at the bottom “if recommended anfd there are asfeguards we may agree”
That paragraph was written by the Herald staffer, not Shearer. The article is here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10877541
RBCV
+1
David Shearer – the man who thoughtfully brings his own banana skins to slip on in case someone has forgotten to provide them (or mango skins, whatever).
+1
a mild mango chicken with raita and papadoms to go please
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8549746/Blunt-message-to-Telecom-staff
Is on $4.7 mill pay package. Institutes wage freeze, ‘me included’. Forgets to say whether his ‘incentive’ (3/4 of his package) is part of freeze…
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10877551
How are judges appointed? Well since National got into power you’ll find ‘is friend of Chris Finlayson’ was a criteria. Finlayson to certain friend in Sydney law firm ‘Want to be a judge? Just let me know’.
add QC to that now.
See The Herald this morning. It is valid for the Law Commission to identify and discuss myriad aspects of our legal system, the role of the judiciary among them. It is valid for a government to engage in the debate which follows, of course.
My real concern is that in its destructive worship of austerity, its singlemindedness in retention of power, and its doubtless taste for authoritarianism, this government will unhesitatingly sully legitimate debate on the question of where and how the judiciary sits in the justice system.
Recall Simon Power’s risible ticking-off of the Chief Justice for her mature and informed comments about the justice system a couple of years ago. Risible indeed coming from a life-long National Party arse-wipe joke of a man.
On many occasions this government has sunk to the depths of defamation, pejorativeness and abuse of practitioners in law and other areas. Non-exhaustively, legal aid lawyers, Justice Binnie, teachers, unions.
It is routine. First blame the practitioners. Then, assisted by the patently shallow “journalism” of child-scribes on their way up and that of accommodating older hacks, sell the lunacy that less gas in the tank of any particular vehicle will naturally see it go further, more safely and more efficiently. When the vehicle conks out halfway down the road of ill-considered and often ridiculous “reforms” – blame the practitioners.
In terms of convention the judiciary may not be such a sitting-duck but of course McVicar and the SST could always be relied upon to spew out anything the spin-doctors vetoed. More or less the same result.
It is alarming to see this government and the delightedly malevolent Judith Collins poking and prodding in matters constitutional. They are just too dishonest and not nearly as competent as they claim.
I’m reminded of Glenda Jackson re Thatcher – the cost of everything, the value of nothing.
We’d be better off if the judiciary ran a review of the government. I can’t see this as anything but an attempt to scare any slight remnant of independence out of our judges and make them even more overtly political.
I’m not a big fan of judges in general, but I’m a sworn enemy of the WhaleSpew/MacVicar types who carry on with the rubbish that NAct MPs believe but can’t say in public.
“givin’ us a Heart Attack, Heart Attack…”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10877548
lately i have had no luck getting html into comments. I do not understand what the fault is.
below was copy pasted direct from FAQ and even that didn’t work. As you can see bold and italic worked but strikeout and underline do not. i see others with underline and strikeout in comments so it is pretty confusing, Any ideas ? Anyone ?
bold; write my text
italic; write my text
strikeout. write my text
underline. write my text
strikeout:
here’s my textunderline: testing never tried this before
PS: I used :strike, not strikeout
try ul not u
testing ul:
see if this works
can you write what you did for strikeout but put a space between each character so i can see the actual keystrokes.
test:
i wrote w o r d (with spaces) (afteredit: greater than less than characters did not show up just shows the ‘word’ inside them
word (as html text in FAQ, no spaces)
test after edit:
still nada, what am I doing wrong?
[left angle bracket]strike[right angle bracket]Text[left angle bracket]/strike[right angle bracket] should give
TextBTW, you have to have the WYSIWYG editor off to use HTML coding.
bold; write my text
italic; write my text
bold and italic work, which is why I am expressing my confusion
word🙂ok by using the whole word ‘strike’ it seems to function, so why not just ‘s’ as per FAQ?
‘b’ ‘i’ etc work for bold etc 😕
it’s a weird old world
Success!!!
Can’t seem to get underline to work, but it’s not something I would use anyway.
BTW, you have to have the WYSIWYG editor off to use HTML coding.
There is no WYSIWYG editor at the moment.
http://www.ironspider.ca/format_text/fontstyles.htm
my test, as cut and paste from FAQs
bold; write my text
italic; write my text
strikeout. write my text
underline. write my text
strikeoutfreedom, here it is, just change the bracket type.
(strike)strikeout(/strike)
underline doesn’t work a (u), or (underline)
test in Safari
strike
strikedoesn’t make any difference, tried it both ways, numerous times
I wonder if it is something to do with being on Ubuntu ? but that really makes no sense as the bold and italic work fine. 😕
StrikeoutBold
Italic
Underline
..to jump on the bandwagon.
Okay, so <u> and </u> get stripped out, and don’t appear in the editor.
“UL” is unordered list
does it work?
Edit: nope.
freedom, try a different browser.
What do you mean both ways?
Show us what you are actually typing, but use () brackets.
(s)wordythingtofillspace(/s)
test below with angle brackets
wordythingtofillspace
p.s. I only use firefox browser.
freedom (s)whatever(/s) doesn’t work. You need to write this
(strike)whatever(/strike)
Nope, that’s got nothing to do with it as the interpretation is done by the server once the comment has been posted.
go on strikeedit – ah what fun
confusing :x:
i suggest a strong cup of tea for everyone and if possible, play with a nearby kitten to alleviate aggro 🙂
as i do not have a kitten nearby i will make do with using powertools instead
leaving it alone now before i do something crazy like trying
underline😎didn’t we have The Day We Went To Bangor
😆
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8WiPy1xSkw
it’s gremlins man, those damn gremlins are out and they’ve been fed
http://gentlemint.com/media/images/2012/10/11/83bbbdba.jpg.505x650_q85.jpg
Tungsten, my friend tungsten; (just in case we need some confirmation without bias, i ghosted out of the shower yesterday and was working through Seven Nations Army in my head, turned the radio on (had been off to save power), Hauraki, and who woulda’ thunk it; this has happened many times before, Test-ReTest and all those Validity / Reliability study requirements; now gonna try this encode HTML stuff; could be some time… 🙂
Stone Cold
thanks to everybody who persevered, yet it was felix’s link that helped the ghost back to the other side. now, if I could just materialize a root from branch office
🙂
…didn’t hurt a bit ya’ big freakin spooky blouse, whatta ya playin’ at; getta beard-cut and getta feel job…
right, oops, left to the macrons and other little funny punctuation marks above the gaelic now and we’ll all be tickety boo in the cave Longshanks.
bullet point — doesn’t work with <ol> <ul> <li> 🙁
This line of text is not underlined. — so <span> and <u> don’t work either
tyre flat; a second opinion doc. you”ll know what they say about ritual parking
Well, this is a change, and encouraging if it continues. Two articles today from the Dominion Post critical of the Key Govt.
The first one is about Buffoon Bridges’ anti democratic anti marine protest law
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/8550388/Proposed-sea-protest-law-a-big-blow-to-human-rights
The second one written in a mildly piss take style about Key’s trip to China
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/8548292/Dear-friend-Key-and-party-feted
TPPA is not a good thing
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/04/14/msians-must-reject-the-us-trade-deal/
We kow we are never going to see the full text till after it has been signed off. Even if only half of the known details are true, the TPPA is a suidice agreement for the self-determination of all Nations who sign it and those that don’t will be signed up to something equally dangerous. No profit is worth our sovereignty as a Nation. No Nation should put profit before its people. I do not care what a court says, a Corporation is not a person and this single legal distinction, more than any war or financial scandal or illegal election is single handedly responsible for the ongoing destruction of real Democracy.
“Six hundred US corporate advisors have negotiated and had input into the TPP, and the proposed draft text has not been made available to the public, the press or policymakers.”
I am sure this is one of those passages of reality that Groser would rather we ignore
Thanks for the link, freedom (interesting website, “Free Malaysia Today”). It’s pretty critical of the US and its role in promoting neoliberalism internationally – not sure where it is re- Malaysian politics.)
This bit from the article is worrying:
After a quick scan I’m not sure either where its editorial biases lie.
Right now Malaysia is in the midst of “election fever” – according to the radio, TV, and newspapers. The current government, headed by Najib, will likely be returned to power. The only question is by what margin.
I’ve only been here since January so I’m not up to speed on who the main players are except for the aforementioned Najib. The glaringly obvious thing here is that politics are very much “racial”. The Malays, which make up over half of the population, will likely as not vote for the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) backed Barisan Nasional party – Barisan Nasional has ruled the country since Malaysia became independent of the UK. The Chinese, who as a block control a great deal of the country’s finances and commercial entities, will make deals that will best serve their community. The Indians, well they don’t have the numbers or financial clout, will go along to get along.
As an “orang putih” I get an earfull from the locals about the different “races” when we are out of earshot from any who might overhear. The Malays moan about the Chinese, the Chinese complain that the Malays don’t play fair because of their demographic advantage, and the Indians swear that they can never catch a break.
Very interesting…here’s a speech I found on youtube given by Hannah Yeoh, a young Malaysian state politician…speaking (in part) on women in Malaysian politics; honestly she seems way more talented than a shit load of our hapless NZ ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrMFVhkZzdo&sns=em
CV
Those Asians always showing us up. Just when we get to sit complacently at the supposed top of the pile, someone still thinking comes along and rains on our parade.
Waffle. She didn’t. It was quite something to experience a politician who doesn’t waffle and sidestep.
Another superb example of the wonder and beauty of Multiculturalism.
where has all this bonhomie lately come from bonhomme?
And that is a notable question.
Hay, here’s a thought brother, trade in one of those suits ya don’t need, you’ve got them all in spades anyway, and help a brother into a new set of Flat-Screen-PC compatible wheels; though, now i’m back on the race-course, Harvey or Noel might be interested; Frek, when you examine the backgrounds of, oh I don’t know, your average Act or NZ First candidate tracey, Virgil, “Brains”, Kyrano, Aloysius or even Tin-Tin would be better mariners.
now, there’s a an Echo Gaudette from the Beach.
Was wondering how the flow of information would be stemmed, just stop people from accessing it!
Nothing the establishments despise/fear more, than the sharing of information amongst the plebs.
The internet has been a doubled edged sword for the planets rulers, while it provides them with greater capabilities to control, than ever before equally it provides greater ability for people to learn, and understand the frauds being perpetuated against humanity.
Taking complete control of the narratives/information flows, will be very high on the list of outcomes!
Its not about money, its about control!
a Boo-Boo for Mister Park-Ranger
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10877508
Racists and the Queens Chain
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10877574
Matthias = Truth (We Can Remember It For You Wholesale)
from the UFB; Let SeE, and the BBC espionage studies in the DPRK
‘Tree Tree 1 2 3 Treee turn into Cow for me! (my name’s Mud Wiggle and I eat Mud)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10877519
(God ; too big a part to comment , Silly Sausage)
I would just like to repeat this anecdote from my burn ed colleague ghostrider; apparently, after checking out some interesting mark-downs at his local exorbitantly priced supermarket he struck up a conversation with a lady-pensioner (probably spying the flash mobility-scooter got him going), anyway, this lady was originally from Dartmoor (the UK one) and it seemed that her husband had been a principal who was very conversant re politics; they got talking about the lovely day, politics and the young of today, as you do, and regarding Thatcher, she considered her an important person to British political history (lets leave it at that) yet she COULD NOT STAND JOHN KEY. kinda makes me wonder what it is about him that revs Fran O’Sullivan’s motor running.
Rogue T
The answer is obviously that Jokeyhen is an upstart, johnny-come-lately, nouveau riche person of no standing in British class lines. Thatcher and others were excused their un-aristo starts because they were successful and Thatcher was a good swot. And she knew how to dress like a lady, even attempting to eclipse the Queen. (Who probably would have liked to e(clip)se her round the ears.)
Thatcher was also a bloody serious and capable pollie. When she went in to fuck the miners she did so front on and full on. Key just shuffled apologetically around the edges. Plenty of right wing NAT hardliners think that Key just needs to harden the frak up, and has needed to for the last, oh, four and a half years.
How many people know how our justice system works? The media don’t seem to.
Granny looks to be having a go at judges and sentencing, can expect more of this I think;
“You be the Judge”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10877196
FWIW the sentencing regime works on the principle of precedent. Judges don’t have autonomy on sentences like the Herald seem to believe, they have to follow sentencing guidelines which are legislated by Govt. Whenever there’s a law change to sentencing the first sentences of the new laws are carefully analysed by the Chief Justice and discussed with all of the judges around the country. Any mistakes are quickly rectified before they become a precedent, from thereon they all have to follow the precedents set.
The reason they use precedent is to ensure uniformity in sentencing. If they don’t have uniformity the crim can appeal their sentence on the grounds that someone else got a much lighter sentence for a similar offence. It’s pretty basic stuff.
If sentences are wrong it’s because the law is wrong or some judges are not following the guidelines properly. The Chief Justice (I think) is in charge of monitoring the performance of judges in that respect, those who get it wrong are supposed to be warned & reprimanded.
So, without knowing what sentences were handed down for similar offences previously, the Herald’s survey is a pointless attack on judges who may just be doing their job.
Doesn’t seem to be working
Can’t make that conclusion from what’s been said there. Most likely scenario is the actual law is dictating those sentences, or that’s the precedents that have been set.
The judges’ job is to do what the written laws tell them. Their sentencing has a built-in check & balance via the appeals process. If the judge’s reading of the law, and subsequent sentencing, is wildly out you’ll see an appeal against the sentence either by the Crown or by the offender.
Too many people have this expectation that judges can suddenly get ‘tougher’ on offenders. They can’t, for that to happen the law has to be changed and judges don’t make the law (nor should they)
There is a “story” behind the NBR firewall that a new “One Law For All” Party is about to be set up. Seemly 100 grumpy white men turned up for a John Amsell gig in Have-a-lot North. Read more on http://www.treatygate.wordpress.com . That site sees Willie Jackson as a Kiwi incarnation of Robert Mugabe!
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/poll-result-would-you-consider-voting-one-law-all-party.
An untypically poorly written piece in the NBR.
” 100 grumpy white men turned up”
As compared to the 100 angry lesbians who turnout for Feminists Against Men gigs.
Oh Well, it was good while it lasted said the Mac to the Nicks.
” 100 grumpy white men turned up”
As compared to the 100 angry lesbians who turnout for Feminists Against Men gigs.
No, and I w i l l s p e a k s l o w l y n o w…
It’s 100 grumpy white men as compared to everyone else. Geddit?
So how come you been out of power for 2 terms then?
Why the constant whining on here by the Far Left that Labour just isn’t really them anymore?
I haven’t been out of power for two terms, I’m still as powerful as I ever was.
I have become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Nah, KP, they just said they were lesbians to stop your unwelcome advances. They were angry though.
Snap 🙂
MO
Masterly riposte.
You are obviously not informed about Feminist Doctrine.
Here, let me help you:
“All men are rapists and that’s all they are” — Marilyn French
“The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.” — Sally Miller Gearhart, in The Future – If There Is One – Is Female.
“Heterosexual intercourse is the pure, formalized expression of contempt for women’s bodies.” — Andrea Dworkin
Feminism was hijacked years ago by man haters and lesbians, it is an ideology of hate.
It helps explain why the Left is so broken, bogged down in Identity Politics and the hyper relativism of trendy Post Modern Philosophy
still a neo-platonist then?
Don’t you understand the difference between what a character in a book says and what the book’s author thinks? Probably just another symptom of hate. You should probably get that looked at.
I’m fairly sure that k_p doesn’t understand the difference between fiction and reality 🙂
Aww KP, find a nice man who’ll understand you. You’ll be less bitter, and think of how much you’ll have in common.
yes, i stumbled, fell over, the announcement of this party; the whities sure seemed to be a-feared of change (have very little awareness of the inevitability of demographics, and too much money to hate)
personally, we could do with an Unbelievable Party for the Body Electric
” the whities sure seemed to be a-feared of change”
What about the brownies and the yellowies?
Your electronic music is tame and boring.
Try BK Revolution as a contrast – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnvf2fDEcBE
they were just plays on words for friends electric, you know, “friends” ;synth pop never really got better after Foxx, Krautrock, Ultravox and Numan imo (just kidding around). Anyway, you sometimes seem bright enough to read the signs; how do you think the domestic politics of NZ are going to impact demographics anyway; Maori role increases, Pasifika role increases, SE Asian role increases, Sub-continent increases, African increases, Middle-Eastern increases; while it is conceded that there is a drift towards conservatism in the post-empire after-taste hang-over, one size will definitely not fit all or do you not read beyond own subscriptions? and Gender politics, well, thanks to the roles of genetics, history, culture and language they are essential; I could write 500 Shades of Grey transcribing the utterances men make of their women in the pub, the work-place, the sports-club (well, maybe the gyms) and the smoko-rooms; Hell, I was a misogynist myself deep down for years;and, on the other side of the coin, how many women prefer their own, or the company of women to their husbands / partners, but you go ahead, flame-on.
me, i prefer The Company of Strangers.
“Try BK Revolution as a contrast”
Doesn’t stand up nearly as well after ten years as Pulsing does after 30.
Revolution is an awesome hard house track – instant classic!
Ordinary, even at the time.
Some interesting remarks from Ansell about maori being less evolved that pakeha on that site, Boadicea.
And by “interesting” I mean “horrible, ignorant and disgraceful”.
that’s alright mama, that’s alright with we; public addresses are easy to see.
Ansell is always happy to claim all the technological and cultural developments for himself and other Europeans. For example, he talks about Maori wanting money because some dams have been built and says they didn’t know how to build dams or turbines. Does he or any of his pathetic followers know how to do anything useful at all? Would he use a computer if he knew Turing was gay?
Pathetic and scared little people who should be flushed back down the sewer from whence they came.
Ugh! John Ansell. “one law for all” sounds alot like “one nation”. Same deal. Remember that crazy Pauline Hanson?
http://www.qhatlas.com.au/sites/default/files/imagecache/Large/db5084.jpg
Surely hope John and Pauline don’t get together and have a baby.
funny, I was just thinking how universally loathed Hekia Parata is becoming; swimming to the Banks.
A commentator on radionz this morning said that broadly 70% of NZ dairy farmers (I think just the dairy sector) had 30% equity in their businesses. After all this wealth that is being frequently talked about, dairy farmers are still in the poo. WTF I can’t understand it.
I There was a drought about 2008 that equalled the present one. I thought though that the backbone of the country’s economy, dairy, had more calcium in it. How can we raise some serious concern about the country and people’s welfare with the wider peopulation so we can get beyond this stale stalemate of 61 to 59, a risable Majority, and get some things done and new approaches trialled and get into new world mode with eagerness to conserve the good, progress in advantagous ways and improve our low levels of attainment????
Labour on i guess
Green on. Vote Green, join the Green Party, donate to the Green Party. Ditto Mana (although I still think party voting GP is better strategically than Mana).
What we want is a Labour led govt that doesn’t rely on Peters or Dunne.
and nothing helps control droughts and protect Dairy Farmers like deforestation,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10877519
hang on 😕
That article exemplifies exactly why we shouldn’t use economics as the justification for caring for and protecting the environment. Just like with the clean, green brand and using the economic imperative of that as justification for ecological sensitivity, using the ETS etc is bound to fail. As soon as the economics don’t stack up, the trees will come tumbling down.
We need to value and revere nature for its own inherent worth, irrespective of what it can do for use and not because of the five second dollar value we can place on it.
That aside, anyone who converts to dairy from now on (apart from small/med scale farmers using sustainable management) is siding with evil and deserves all the approbation that will come their way.
“A commentator on radionz this morning said that broadly 70% of NZ dairy farmers (I think just the dairy sector) had 30% equity in their businesses. After all this wealth that is being frequently talked about, dairy farmers are still in the poo. WTF I can’t understand it. ”
It looks to be down to farms being way overpriced here, likely due to the amount of foreign buyers pushing the prices up. A typical Kiwi has to borrow huge sums to buy into a farm and the cost of capital is often too high for the income the farms generate. They make a living but rarely enough extra cash to pay down the principal on the mortgage
Eric Watson had a commentary in the Herald talking about his dairy farm investment in Georgia USA. He claimed the climate there is better for dairying which makes the yields per cow & hectare better and yet the price of farmland there is considerably less than here so the returns are much higher.
(If it was so great there though you have to wonder why foreigners buy our farms when the Yanks have such bargains to be had.)
DH
Innteeresting.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/extraterrestrial-truthers-holding-hearings-in-d.c.-next-month/article/2525371
Bassett, the executive director of the Paradigm Research Group, wants the U.S. government to lift what he calls the “truth embargo” and acknowledge that extraterrestrials are real and are engaging the human race.
Bassett and his allies are taking over the National Press Club in downtown D.C. from April 29 to May 3 to host the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure. “What we are going to do is bring the largest concentration of witnesses ever assembled in one place, at one time, and they are going to testify exactly as if they were in a real congressional hearing,” Bassett explained. Former members of Congress are being tapped to run the hearings, while witnesses, including former astronaut (and sixth man on the moon) Edgar Mitchell, are coming in from around the world. A film production crew from Los Angeles will film the whole thing, turning “Truth Embargo” into a documentary.
ahhh, yes its a Paradoxical Circle indeed.
yet, gotta go and have some lunch before Of Gods and Men…
The Fermi paradox isn’t based in reality: “But no convincing evidence of this exists.”
In 2007 The National Press Club held a press conference in which a group of high-profile witnesses described their experiences. The moderator for the conference was Fife Symington, who described what he saw regarding the Phoenix Lights UFOs. Symington was the Arizona governor at that time. There was also good coverage of the Rendlesham Forest incident.
Its a bit upsetting Ghost, since Nietzsche declared God dead, things have gone from bad to worse at Dionysian events for blokes.
primarily (somethings happening here, what it is, aint exactly clear, we gotta stop, Children, whats that sound, everybody look what’s going down…)
Yeah, and the 100 grumpy white men could make a good party dubious,…good boozers generally, not sure how fertile that makes them.
Just to clarify what Nietzsche actually meant.
cha know, (refs not handy) but the introduction to me Oxford identifies the most influential philosophers beginning with Socrates…Plato…Aristotle…fec…wheres ya memory when ya need it…Aquinas…Augustine…Hobbes…Bacon…Berkeley…Locke…Kant…Kierkegaard…Spinoza….Liebniz…Hegel…Heidegger…Wittgenstein… (not in chronological order and some of these have been added personally), yet the list ends with Nietzsche. imho opinion, everything philosophical in the west ends and begins with Nietzsche (call it a hunch)… / and then on to Giddens, Foucault, Bourdieu, DERRIDA (k-p) Habermas and Goffman as the most cited in the Humanities Lit. (T.H.E), so I pray the feckin politicians listen to the philosophers and european sociologists for a change, yet I won’t be holding my breath or a torch for them.*sigh* anyway, appreciating all this sh*t comes naturally to me bad self; it certainly is not a worm-hole, it is liberating yet confining at the same time, as you can imaginitively see, and yes, it requires a fair amount of panadol sometimes, or some other distraction to shut the feckin brain off for a while. Oh Well, such is life, onwards and upwards 🙂 from my first stay in hospital, oo oo oo, what more’s a poor boy do…” ‘I Can’t Help Myself…when I get this feeling, I wanna be someone else…” Hope you have laughed and cried with me along the way. 🙂
Hospital…get well!
We killed God yes….will we be arrested before getting to attend the Dionysian event with the 100 grumpy white guys (or are they the ones who really should be arrested). Or do we plead guilty to killing God and all his creation?
“hospital” when a wee nipper; Alls Good here, Cheers.
Every now and then an image comes along that highlights how lost we are as a society.
Sure, this image has been designed for a campaign, but it is still as edifying as the circumstance it portrays.
http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/559643_10152770476095602_543951126_n.jpg
A picture is worth millions of words freedom. Ouch!
lol
China’s Q1 QDP Growth Slows, oops
apparently there is a real haircut correction going on in the Asian and affiliated markets
-“huge decimation losses”
With Trimmings
http://www.times-age.co.nz/news/teachers-stage-protest-march/1829521
this was over 200 people in Masterton on a Saturday
Masterton
Get the idea Kiwis are losing their patience ?
how’s yours?
National Day of Action
April 27
Wellington
http://postimg.org/image/ywaocfttv/
check social networks, street posters, car decals and other unexpected places for local events
Maybe some rich person out there wants to take out a Newspaper page or two on behalf of all kiwis who do not have a real voice in this discussion. (oh to have the resources of the hate machine)
This is not about party poitics, it is about self-determination and sending a message to Parliament
This is for Kiwis who want to say, once again, NO ASSET SALES
here is a blank title image, just add your local event details and share
http://s5.postimg.org/s4k99l4uf/doa_blank.jpg
Seven was Sharp on the relaxation of drug laws post-Power
Take a L.E.A.P
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
-“prohibition creates gangsters”
-“criminalises consensual exchange”