The Pope makes a stand on climate change and poverty
‘Pope Francis will call for an ethical and economic revolution to prevent catastrophic climate change and growing inequality in a letter to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics on Thursday.’
Maybe the Catholics in our government might listen.
The chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is telling Pope Francis to stay out of the ongoing debate over global warming.
“Everyone is going to ride the pope now. Isn’t that wonderful,” Sen. James Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, said Thursday, according to the Guardian. “The pope ought to stay with his job, and we’ll stay with ours.”
A few moments later, Mr. Inhofe said: “I am not going to talk about the pope. Let him run his shop, and we’ll run ours.”
Capitalists and other RWNJs tend to dislike it when people tell them that they’re wrong and will thus ignore what they’ve been told.
Housing New Zealand spokesperson: “Where appropriate, Housing New Zealand’s policy is to sell high value properties in order to reinvest proceeds into more housing for those most in need.”
An outright lie. If they sold 443 state houses in 2014 then where are those replacements?
The problem with the Labour Party in a nutshell.
This is what they see. This is who they are.
Is there anything that can be done about the situation? Seems hopeless to me right now.
If I had found it possible to interpret that barely coherent mumble from Key, then perhaps I could judge whether or not he was lying. It’s always the same with our PM – – – if he hasn’t been primed by his minders then he’s just a superb example of how to say absolutely nothing. The interview with Espiner this am. was worse than usual. If that’s possible.
And those lies are going to get bigger by Key, English, Joyce and the other Nat cronies.
The true bite of a plummeting commodities based economy is just starting to show. The tax take is crap and Government debt out of control. I am half expecting the top 3 nat rats to do a bunk.
well the PM uses a “burner” phone like all sensible crims, and his staff have used private email accounts to conduct government business, so lying is de rigueur for the Nats
Just listened to John Key on Radio NZ. All his usual lying techniques clearly on display…..frequent hesitation, long sentences that wandered around looking for some kind of meaning (unsucessfully) much teeth sucking and heavy reliance on building the well worn the excuse he intends to use when the shit really hits the fan ‘No one told me’. As usual. Our PM ladies and gentlemen, Bart Simpson Conclusion….NZ Government and this means its PM knew that the Abbott Government paid the people smugglers. Clear as a bell. Time to finish off National Radio, Key….you damn yourself out of your own mouth….and we are listening.
I can understand Labour being concerned at losses caused by selling State houses at under their Council Valuation and the very principal but because it will bring house values down
Get a grip
You can’t have it both ways, whinning about to expensive housing and then this
[Have removed the public display of your email in ‘Name’ field.] – Bill
It depends entirely on who the houses are being sold to, doesn’t it? I expect you would say that selling them to landlords wouldn’t be acceptable.
It also depends on what they’re doing with the proceeds of the sales.
If the houses are being sold to owner-occupiers, and with some clause preventing them from being on-sold for 2 years, then that is good.
If the proceeds from the sale were being used to build/buy/renovate more existing HNZ stock, then that is also good.
But what we have here is no guarantee on either of these points. So it’s not a case of “wanting it both ways”, it’s a case of wanting it “done properly”. Try and understand all of the issues at stake here and you might understand the views of the left when it comes to government schemes like this.
Today marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which introduced habeas corpus and the idea that governmental authority can be limited by fundamental rights. Let’s hope our generation is not the one to let that ancient flame go out. It’s been flickering far too much, lately.
The fallout from Wellington’s super-city rejection is rocking the regional council, with chairwoman Fran Wilde resigning amid accusations of bullying
Wilde quit as chairwoman on Saturday after being presented with a letter of no confidence signed by nine of her councillors. Only Paul Swain, Chris Laidlaw and Judith Aitken did not sign.
The group that rolled Wilde, led by councillor Prue Lamason, told Wilde her advocacy for amalgamation had led to a “climate of tension and mistrust” between Greater Wellington and the region’s local councils.
Prue Lamason..
The coup was sparked by a new regional reorganisation plan drafted without regional councillors’ knowledge, and revealed by Wilde to a select few last week, Lamason said. Wilde was a major supporter of a region-wide amalgamation proposal scrapped by the Local Government Commission on Tuesday.
In “Plan B” Wilde recommended the transfer of major functions from local councils to the regional body, including roading, water, and economic development.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I am gobsmacked, boggled,” Lamason said.
“Our first submission made it look like we had boxing gloves on. Plan B makes us look like we’ve still got boxing gloves on, and now we’re kickboxing as well.”
The regional council’s very existence was threatened by alternative models, including a Wellington City Council proposal to create three smaller unitary bodies without a regional council, Lamason said.
“It could end up in the demise of the regional council … We need to make an attempt to mend the fences and mend the relationships.”
Wilde had verbally steamrolled anybody who opposed her on amalgamation, which amounted to a culture of bullying, Lamason said.
……
______________________________________________________________________________________
Pete Huggins:
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on it’s back and you see it has the face of Judith Collins. The tortoise lays on it’s back, it’s belly baking in the hot sun, beating it’s legs trying to turn it’self over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
11 · 3 hrs
James Shaw:
You make up these questions, Mr. Huggins, or do they write ’em down for you?
Apparently the reply to this question proves J.Shaw is not a cyborg of the Blade Runner type, which is always good to know, since no one knows who or what John Key is, not even John Key.
At the same time, it’s a pointer to how crappy the capitalist system is that things that save human beings working time are used to make people unemployed and create new poverty instead of being used to cut working time while keeping everyone in jobs and still well-paid.
Indeed, what a comment on capitalism that with all these brilliant technological developments we are working longer hours than we were 50 years ago without being any better off. In fact, a great many are worse off.
Imagine if we were back 120 years ago. Would you oppose the invention and production of motorised vehicles (cars, buses etc) and aeroplanes, simply because of the misuses to which capitalism would put them?
There is lots of technology that is potentially harmful in a number of ways in the context of capitalism but which is potentially brilliant if we had a society based on all of us making all the important decisions and producing on the basis of meeting human need.
Socialists used to be supporters of science and technology, not fear mongers. We need to reclaim the old spirit of rationalism and science.
Maybe. Or maybe once human societies get above a certain size it’s impossible to put ethics ahead of development. Plenty of unethical behaviour exists outside of capitalism.
I’m not anti science, and I find the supporters/vs fearmongers meme tiresome tbh.
And yes, we would have been much better off without cars, and climate change, irrespective of what political/economic system developed them.
Just because we can do something clever with science doesn’t mean we should.
“Imagine if we were back 120 years ago. Would you oppose the invention and production of motorised vehicles (cars, buses etc) and aeroplanes, simply because of the misuses to which capitalism would put them?”
Yep, I would.
So I’m back 1895 and someone says, “Hey Charles, you can see the future, should we go into mass production of these new fangled horseless carriages?”
And I’d say,
“Nup, nothing but trouble. You think it’s bad now with people being run over by buggies, wait till Honda makes cheap cars for everyone. No more cobblestone streets, whole villages die, skylines full of motorway over-passes, people drive hundreds of miles to see the sunset rather than talk to their neighbours, can’t see to the next hill because of benzine distillate vapours… and mechanised nations go to war to secure enough fuel… don’t do it man.”
“Motor way over passes? What’s that?”
“Huge great bridges to nowhere in the sky”
“Sweet Jesus, tis the work of Satan!”
A decent evolution in 3d printing might have occurred. Apologies if others have already mentioned it.
Uses a 2d image to solidify each layer at once, rather than a print head that takes forever, ” complex solid parts can be drawn out of the resin at rates of hundreds of millimeters per hour”. Even just 100mm/hr means a personalised cellphone cover can be printed in less than five minutes.
Of course, we’d be buggered by even more plastic waste, but…
well, maybe someone will need something about that size at a priority level you approve of. Or slightly larger but with a production time in minutes not days.
Actually, I think “this” is more about a randomly-chosen example being jumped on in pure isolation while ignoring literally every other part of the comment that was made.
But if you want to turn it into a big debate about how the end is nigh, you might also want to consider the impact of local production at a meaningful level rather than having everything made by slave labour in China and the byproducts dumped in their waterways, an impact including but not restricted to a drastic reduction in inventory storage and packaging requirements.
No longer 50 widgets and 30 grommets in each shelf in each store in each town, all individually encased in transparent molded packages. Just barrels of raw material to refill the machine like a water cooler, to make sprockets, widgets and caboodles.
Sure, I understand the value of 3D printing, and that part of your point is well made. You picked a daft example that’s all. We’re past the point now of being able to discuss things outside of the contexts of what’s happening in the world. This is getting a bit whatever, but I thought my response fitted with the direction of the conversation that Philip brought up, but hey ho.
Copy that. We’re not allowed cellphone covers any more. Admittedly, that means more cellphones will break when dropped, but whatever. I forgot for one instant that we’re all fucked but we should still growing neckbeards and build barns to soundtracks composed by Maurice Jarre.
Indeed. I covered a plus and a minus that might result from an order-of-magnitude evolution in a developing production system that was the focus of my entire comment.
But you managed to see right past all that because you personally don’t think cellphone covers are a priority. Whatever.
A pervasive economic euphemism is ‘the value chain’. This neatly glides over what is meant by ‘value’ and simply notes, as far as statistics allow, how much each part of the initial development, production and marketing of the overall cycle takes of the final selling price of the good that is sold.
The “value chain” you illustrate has cold lessons no matter where ones politics lies.
New Zealand, just as much as Australia, is now paying the price of an extractive economy that invests much in bulk commodity manufacturing.
Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest international company and exporter by a country mile, is also the largest investor into R&D across our entire food and beverage sector. Yet even they – by shareholder direction – cannot break out of the commodity manufacturing trap.
Worth checking out the 2014 MBIE report that provides our first comprehensive survey of all sectors of the New Zealand economy.
Globalisation:
The left’s core promise that its humanist principles would spread and be underpinned by the formation of the United Nations after WWII was first undone by the inability of strong nation-states to give up sovereignty, and now undone by conservative Islam rising with ownership of oil production.
Bureaucracy:
In all but a few perpetually failed states, society is now sufficiently regulated to dampen real breakthrough protests. Even in post-GFC hit Spain, gains are won through the ballot box, not by revolution. The state evolves far faster and with greater skill than ever before.
Climate change/sustainability:
The issue has been too slow-burn for a broad resistance to our current global governing orders to evolve into power. It’s getting there. It’s no substitute for the great inter-war reform movements, yet.
Diversity and representation:
For the most part, modern states have absorbed such critiques, reformed its representative machinery, and sucked the energy from such movements. For us here, MMP has been a great ideological cooling mechanism; its absorbent capacity is so strong.
We’re definitely in the purge cycle of the great long wave binge-purge cycle of utopian thought. Our bad luck.
The next great generation of the left may not be in our lifetime, but Easton’s oblique point is that these waves really do happen. Even the NZHerald this morning said, essentially, Labour will be back.
A beautiful piece of writing on carers and the emotional landscape of being one by poet/writer/friend Kirsti Whalen published on The Wireless describes her teenage years spent caring for her terminally ill mum and more generally touches on how little credit we give carers in NZ:
I understand this is The Standard’s equivalent of “General Debate” (one of your many moderators will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong…wouldnt want to break any rules) wherein one may discuss any topic….
I was most interested in a post over at my usual haunt which quotes Chris Trotter opining that Labour is “finished”…I was even more interested in reading what the Standardistas thought about his view…Imagine my surprise when I checked over here and found…nothing! A deafening silence…
I wonder why? I understand Trotter published his piece on Friday, 72 hours or more ago. Has Trotter been banned here? Are the Politburo still meeting to decide what the appropriate response is?
Can someone help me out?….Thanks very much in anticipation.
You are a dense, dense little man. Standardistas are forever expressing the exact same view as Trotter… if you weren’t such a lazy/inept tr011, you would see that for yourself.
Get a life, David Garrett. Preferably not one stolen from a dead baby, either.
Reports of Labour’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
With the party polling at 31% things could improve.
It always amuses me when people such as yourself and Pete George who have transformed small parties into micro parties engage in such puerile behaviour.
IIRC, Trotter’s expunge was mentioned on OM a few days ago. Most of us noted it and moved on. The fact is that you missed the total irrelevance that that particular diatribe has for us.
And you came close to, if not actually breaking, at least one rule there. I suggest you read them again, perhaps get someone better at English than you to explain what the words mean.
I usually see Chris at least once a month when I have a beer with him after work on a Friday. The only thing that is unusual is that there is a pub with good beer in the right place so I run into him. I don’t think I have ever had that with any of the authors because they are scattered around the country.
With Chris, we sometimes agree a bit. We seldom disagree a lot. We sometimes disagree a lot. But there is a interesting dialogue that goes on.
Just like here.
//—
But David Garret – you have to remember that Chris jumped out of the Labour party into New Labour about the time that I started to get active in the Labour Party – about 25 years ago. What he remembers as the NZLP was what it was like then – nearly half my life time ago.
I stopped being active about 5 years ago and I already notice that the internals of the NZLP is changing pretty damn fast (partially I think in response to this site with it’s hefty cohort of members and ex-members). My steadily diminishing lack of expressed opinion on the NZLP is because of that rate of change. Unlike people like the Paganis and Quin with their respective nostalgia trips, I respect that they are changing.
However Chris makes his living out of his opinions, however dated they sometimes appear (Ummm I may have to buy him a wine for that wording). Those made about the NZLP are made from afar through the semi-opaque purple haze of people spinning far from the fronts of activity within the party, and a hefty dose of what he remembers the party to have been like in the 1980s. He has the same problem that most of the talking heads have; since they don’t do, they criticize based on what they used to know.
They understand the inner life, structure, and debate of the NZLP about as well as I understand that of Act or National. Which is why people inside parties seldom listen that much to talking heads, they are far more interested in doing than publicizing in the way that the Progress people did last week. Same with almost any large organization of the many that I’ve worked for or helped. People inside a reasonably dynamic organization without some kind of idiot boss guru around tend to sort out how to move with the times.
When you are outside of active politics, most people get more interested in figuring out where they sit on the questions of the day. Which is where the bickering dialogue at meeting places like this come into play. But they are far more like that of a pub than outpouring font of wisdom that the talking heads in their broadcast bastions prefer. And that you seem to want as well with you and your rather tiresome alcolyte’s calls for respectful politeness; that you haven’t earned.
Personally I quite like and respect Chris. He a powerful writer, a fine moral compass, and he’s not too much bound up in pleasing the establishment. He’s also brings a strong historic perspective which I enjoy a lot.
He often says things which the Labour loyalists really don’t like hearing – and for that reason Chris pretty much ignores TS and we ignore him as a rule.
Sometimes Chris is bang on the money. Sometimes not. I read him and take what I want from it.
Is Labour finished? Unlike some people here I would not say this is impossible, but neither is it about to vanish overnight. It will be around a while, and may even surprise us all yet.
Two more downhill elections however, and maybe Chris will be proven correct.
Is Labour finished? Unlike some people here I would not say this is impossible
Depends on what you mean by “finished.” In terms of Labour being able to beat National and form a government where it is clearly dominant over its coalition partners, I would say almost definitely.
This stuff I keep hearing about Labour aiming to get 40% in two years, four months time – well, that just goes to show the level of disconnect in the Thorndon Bubble.
*somewhere deep in the fevered nocturnal wanderings of Mr Garrett*
LPrent: “Now listen here, comrades! It’s been 72 hours and The Standard STILL hasn’t issued its OFFICIAL POSITION on a musing of DISSIDENT TROTTER. *Mr Garrett awakes with a “start” to find his underwear moist, warm and sticky*
Don’t worry Dave, we won’t tell Mother.
Some sick fantasies types like Garrett have… they’d have to be really… the irony being that if the 3 strikes law had been implemented like Mr. Garrett’s would-be constituents wanted it to be, he would be serving a lifetime without parole in prison. 😀
Gosh! Such nastiness…Isnt there an exhortation to “Be nice to each other” somewhere at the head of this column?
vto: I genuinely don’t know…As you will know (I never use a pseud) I very rarely come here, so I’m not up with the play…
te reo: I take it that YOU at least don’t regard Trotter’s views as of any great importance…Do you have some connection with the Labour Party?
But five comments, and two out of five referring to my (utterly irrelevant to this discussion) 30 year old passport offence…Says more about you than me perhaps ….
Why would an offence so obscene, immoral and intellectually bankrupt be irrelevant to any discussion in which you try to assert a position of moral or intellectual authority (on any issue)? You think you using the word “utterly” (methinks you doth protest too much) makes it irrelevant to anything you have to say? It frames your entire public and political persona.
I believe trotter’s comments were given due discussion on open mike a few days ago. So unless you were telling the authors what to write, you are factually wrong.
As for your history, be fair: if they wanted to throw a low blow against your character, empathy, and intellect, they would have mentioned your having been an ACT party MP.
I pride myself on always identifying myself..seems more honest… Ah…it’s corrected itself…As you were chaps…
pigman: Help me out here if you’d be so kind…where in my comment do I assert any kind of moral authority? I am merely an interested student of politics…as morally flawed, sadly, as the next man…Yes, perhaps more flawed than most…
Atiawa: Obviously you are not aware (and why should you be?) of ACT’s inner workings…and perhaps you were out of the country when the scandal hit. When asked, prior to being selected, if I had any skeletons in my closet I replied “Yes, a huge rattling one”, and proceeded to tell them all about it…
Kindly use the “reply” button David, it makes things so much less… messy.
“where in my comment do I assert any kind of moral authority?”
[emphasis my own]
You don’t, in your comment. But you built an entire political career/brand (oh ok, I realise I’m flattering you a bit there) on getting tough on crime and cracking down on those easily branded as of lower moral standing (criminals and bludgers).
Given that you ended that political “career” in such ignominy and have then continued to disgrace yourself, revealing you as the usual Banks-Huata-ACT type of born-to-rule hypocrite you are, I find it quite disingenuous that you present yourself here as a student of politics, because it seems you’ve long since flunked out.
Let’s not get focused on the dead baby. What’s the status of the rap sheet? We’ve got the assault, the identity theft, the false affidavit you swore in relation to it, wasn’t there a wee drink driving issue a couple of years back too?
Firstly, I have witnessed commentary on Trotter’s opining, both in agreeance and in annoyance, at the Standard. You need to dig more deeply with your machinations.
Lastly, the Labour Party is not finished otherwise Trotter would be opining about something else. The labour body politic still has a pulse albeit somewhat thready and deserving of 5 gazillion volts of wholly owned NZ electricity – straight into its inwardly focussed thinking organ.
The Labour Party should reflect the reality of today – not some bygone heyday. Workers have changed and the party should understand and reflect that in their strategising. The face of poverty has also changed and the party needs to understand and make amends for that too.
Not finished, just slightly cyanotic.
There is a glimmer of hope as occasionally I am pleasantly surprised by some utterance from a Labourite.
Adele: And malo e lelei to you…My “machinations”? Not sure what you refer to…If Trotter’s view has already been discussed here I am unable to find it…but I guess it’s being discussed now!
“not finished just slightly cyanotic”…Nicely put….
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Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – 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 is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
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. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
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 ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,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 3 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The Pope makes a stand on climate change and poverty
‘Pope Francis will call for an ethical and economic revolution to prevent catastrophic climate change and growing inequality in a letter to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics on Thursday.’
Maybe the Catholics in our government might listen.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/13/pope-francis-intervention-transforms-climate-change-debate
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11465154
Unlikely. Probably more likely to be this type of reaction:
Capitalists and other RWNJs tend to dislike it when people tell them that they’re wrong and will thus ignore what they’ve been told.
Did John Key sleep in a warm and insulated home last night?
What about Nick Smith?
Yes they did. Like every other night, either in their own beds, or nice warm hotel beds, that we the taxpayer paid for.
That’s right Phil, it’s all about property values. *headdesk*
Housing New Zealand spokesperson: “Where appropriate, Housing New Zealand’s policy is to sell high value properties in order to reinvest proceeds into more housing for those most in need.”
An outright lie. If they sold 443 state houses in 2014 then where are those replacements?
or the 443 existing state houses out of action due to low quality which have been upgraded and let?
Proceeds gobbled up by the dividend demand from govt.
The problem with the Labour Party in a nutshell.
This is what they see. This is who they are.
Is there anything that can be done about the situation? Seems hopeless to me right now.
Anyone else get the impression the Prime Minister was lying through his teeth just now on Morning Report?
Yep! Still pretending that the boat was heading to NZ and offering no evidence to back it up.
If I had found it possible to interpret that barely coherent mumble from Key, then perhaps I could judge whether or not he was lying. It’s always the same with our PM – – – if he hasn’t been primed by his minders then he’s just a superb example of how to say absolutely nothing. The interview with Espiner this am. was worse than usual. If that’s possible.
Great sergeant Schultz imitation.
Remember that well known saying:-
When can you tell when Key is lying?
When he opens his mouth.
And those lies are going to get bigger by Key, English, Joyce and the other Nat cronies.
The true bite of a plummeting commodities based economy is just starting to show. The tax take is crap and Government debt out of control. I am half expecting the top 3 nat rats to do a bunk.
Yet not a peep from the opposition suggesting this is the case. Seems our opposition must be complicit in this deceipt.
Headline says it all
http://investmentwatchblog.com/netherlands-close-eight-prisons-due-to-lack-of-criminals/
Gutting for the Netherlands. Good thing our cannabis laws continue to protect our emerging privatized prisons industry.
well the PM uses a “burner” phone like all sensible crims, and his staff have used private email accounts to conduct government business, so lying is de rigueur for the Nats
Just listened to John Key on Radio NZ. All his usual lying techniques clearly on display…..frequent hesitation, long sentences that wandered around looking for some kind of meaning (unsucessfully) much teeth sucking and heavy reliance on building the well worn the excuse he intends to use when the shit really hits the fan ‘No one told me’. As usual. Our PM ladies and gentlemen, Bart Simpson Conclusion….NZ Government and this means its PM knew that the Abbott Government paid the people smugglers. Clear as a bell. Time to finish off National Radio, Key….you damn yourself out of your own mouth….and we are listening.
I can understand Labour being concerned at losses caused by selling State houses at under their Council Valuation and the very principal but because it will bring house values down
Get a grip
You can’t have it both ways, whinning about to expensive housing and then this
[Have removed the public display of your email in ‘Name’ field.] – Bill
It depends entirely on who the houses are being sold to, doesn’t it? I expect you would say that selling them to landlords wouldn’t be acceptable.
It also depends on what they’re doing with the proceeds of the sales.
If the houses are being sold to owner-occupiers, and with some clause preventing them from being on-sold for 2 years, then that is good.
If the proceeds from the sale were being used to build/buy/renovate more existing HNZ stock, then that is also good.
But what we have here is no guarantee on either of these points. So it’s not a case of “wanting it both ways”, it’s a case of wanting it “done properly”. Try and understand all of the issues at stake here and you might understand the views of the left when it comes to government schemes like this.
Tax academic writes a lot of sense about National Super and why we are so mean to the under 65 beneficiaries
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/69348442/new-zealand-superannuation-the-facts-and-the-fiction
Today marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which introduced habeas corpus and the idea that governmental authority can be limited by fundamental rights. Let’s hope our generation is not the one to let that ancient flame go out. It’s been flickering far too much, lately.
Fran Wilde rolled as Wellington’s regional council deals with supercity fallout
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/69376888/fran-wilde-rolled-as-wellingtons-regional-council-deals-with-supercity-fallout
The fallout from Wellington’s super-city rejection is rocking the regional council, with chairwoman Fran Wilde resigning amid accusations of bullying
Wilde quit as chairwoman on Saturday after being presented with a letter of no confidence signed by nine of her councillors. Only Paul Swain, Chris Laidlaw and Judith Aitken did not sign.
The group that rolled Wilde, led by councillor Prue Lamason, told Wilde her advocacy for amalgamation had led to a “climate of tension and mistrust” between Greater Wellington and the region’s local councils.
Prue Lamason..
The coup was sparked by a new regional reorganisation plan drafted without regional councillors’ knowledge, and revealed by Wilde to a select few last week, Lamason said. Wilde was a major supporter of a region-wide amalgamation proposal scrapped by the Local Government Commission on Tuesday.
In “Plan B” Wilde recommended the transfer of major functions from local councils to the regional body, including roading, water, and economic development.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I am gobsmacked, boggled,” Lamason said.
“Our first submission made it look like we had boxing gloves on. Plan B makes us look like we’ve still got boxing gloves on, and now we’re kickboxing as well.”
The regional council’s very existence was threatened by alternative models, including a Wellington City Council proposal to create three smaller unitary bodies without a regional council, Lamason said.
“It could end up in the demise of the regional council … We need to make an attempt to mend the fences and mend the relationships.”
Wilde had verbally steamrolled anybody who opposed her on amalgamation, which amounted to a culture of bullying, Lamason said.
……
______________________________________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
James Shaw’s Q and A on Facebook this morning,
https://www.facebook.com/JamesShawMP/posts/1613907755524198
So far, very strong on climate change, so the Right and/or media spreading the notion that he is a soft Green is laughable.
Yep, and reading what he actually says, he’s a committed Green from way back, because of the environment.
Facebook highlights…
Pete Huggins:
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on it’s back and you see it has the face of Judith Collins. The tortoise lays on it’s back, it’s belly baking in the hot sun, beating it’s legs trying to turn it’self over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
11 · 3 hrs
James Shaw:
You make up these questions, Mr. Huggins, or do they write ’em down for you?
Apparently the reply to this question proves J.Shaw is not a cyborg of the Blade Runner type, which is always good to know, since no one knows who or what John Key is, not even John Key.
I don’t want to be tooooooo pedantic but technically James’ answer means he is a replicant. But I think he was in on the joke 😛
Wilde’s plotting her return to politics via the National Party list.
Chris, is this just a rumour, or is there actual evidence? (It wouldn’t surprise me at all, but it would be good to have some actual evidence.)
Phil
Can robots and artificial intelligence serve humanity?
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/can-robots-and-artificial-intelligence-serve-humanity/
At the same time, it’s a pointer to how crappy the capitalist system is that things that save human beings working time are used to make people unemployed and create new poverty instead of being used to cut working time while keeping everyone in jobs and still well-paid.
Indeed, what a comment on capitalism that with all these brilliant technological developments we are working longer hours than we were 50 years ago without being any better off. In fact, a great many are worse off.
Whatever happened to the leisure society – https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/whatever-happened-to-the-leisure-society/
Capitalism and the tyranny of time: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/capitalism-and-the-tyranny-of-time/
Low pay, longer hours and less social mobility – welcome to 21st century NZ capitalism: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/low-pay-longer-hours-and-less-social-mobility/
Phil
anyone who thinks AI is a good idea hasn’t read enough science fiction 😉
Huge ethical and appropriate science issues, and look at how well we handle those kinds of thing already.
If AI occurs then we will be crushed like we crush insects.
The problem isn’t AI; it’s capitalism.
Imagine if we were back 120 years ago. Would you oppose the invention and production of motorised vehicles (cars, buses etc) and aeroplanes, simply because of the misuses to which capitalism would put them?
There is lots of technology that is potentially harmful in a number of ways in the context of capitalism but which is potentially brilliant if we had a society based on all of us making all the important decisions and producing on the basis of meeting human need.
Socialists used to be supporters of science and technology, not fear mongers. We need to reclaim the old spirit of rationalism and science.
Phil
Maybe. Or maybe once human societies get above a certain size it’s impossible to put ethics ahead of development. Plenty of unethical behaviour exists outside of capitalism.
I’m not anti science, and I find the supporters/vs fearmongers meme tiresome tbh.
And yes, we would have been much better off without cars, and climate change, irrespective of what political/economic system developed them.
Just because we can do something clever with science doesn’t mean we should.
“Imagine if we were back 120 years ago. Would you oppose the invention and production of motorised vehicles (cars, buses etc) and aeroplanes, simply because of the misuses to which capitalism would put them?”
Yep, I would.
So I’m back 1895 and someone says, “Hey Charles, you can see the future, should we go into mass production of these new fangled horseless carriages?”
And I’d say,
“Nup, nothing but trouble. You think it’s bad now with people being run over by buggies, wait till Honda makes cheap cars for everyone. No more cobblestone streets, whole villages die, skylines full of motorway over-passes, people drive hundreds of miles to see the sunset rather than talk to their neighbours, can’t see to the next hill because of benzine distillate vapours… and mechanised nations go to war to secure enough fuel… don’t do it man.”
“Motor way over passes? What’s that?”
“Huge great bridges to nowhere in the sky”
“Sweet Jesus, tis the work of Satan!”
Hmmm.
A decent evolution in 3d printing might have occurred. Apologies if others have already mentioned it.
Uses a 2d image to solidify each layer at once, rather than a print head that takes forever, ” complex solid parts can be drawn out of the resin at rates of hundreds of millimeters per hour”. Even just 100mm/hr means a personalised cellphone cover can be printed in less than five minutes.
Of course, we’d be buggered by even more plastic waste, but…
At this stage in the game I’d rate personalised cellphone covers as extremely low on the priority list for humans and tech.
well, maybe someone will need something about that size at a priority level you approve of. Or slightly larger but with a production time in minutes not days.
So you think this is about my personal likes rather than real world problems?
Actually, I think “this” is more about a randomly-chosen example being jumped on in pure isolation while ignoring literally every other part of the comment that was made.
But if you want to turn it into a big debate about how the end is nigh, you might also want to consider the impact of local production at a meaningful level rather than having everything made by slave labour in China and the byproducts dumped in their waterways, an impact including but not restricted to a drastic reduction in inventory storage and packaging requirements.
No longer 50 widgets and 30 grommets in each shelf in each store in each town, all individually encased in transparent molded packages. Just barrels of raw material to refill the machine like a water cooler, to make sprockets, widgets and caboodles.
Sure, I understand the value of 3D printing, and that part of your point is well made. You picked a daft example that’s all. We’re past the point now of being able to discuss things outside of the contexts of what’s happening in the world. This is getting a bit whatever, but I thought my response fitted with the direction of the conversation that Philip brought up, but hey ho.
Copy that. We’re not allowed cellphone covers any more. Admittedly, that means more cellphones will break when dropped, but whatever. I forgot for one instant that we’re all fucked but we should still growing neckbeards and build barns to soundtracks composed by Maurice Jarre.
I agree: whatever.
🙄 You’re the one that pointed out the plastics issue.
Indeed. I covered a plus and a minus that might result from an order-of-magnitude evolution in a developing production system that was the focus of my entire comment.
But you managed to see right past all that because you personally don’t think cellphone covers are a priority. Whatever.
Mystifying the ‘value chain’:
A pervasive economic euphemism is ‘the value chain’. This neatly glides over what is meant by ‘value’ and simply notes, as far as statistics allow, how much each part of the initial development, production and marketing of the overall cycle takes of the final selling price of the good that is sold.
The overwhelming lesson is this. . .
full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/14/mystifying-the-value-chain/
Phil
The “value chain” you illustrate has cold lessons no matter where ones politics lies.
New Zealand, just as much as Australia, is now paying the price of an extractive economy that invests much in bulk commodity manufacturing.
Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest international company and exporter by a country mile, is also the largest investor into R&D across our entire food and beverage sector. Yet even they – by shareholder direction – cannot break out of the commodity manufacturing trap.
Worth checking out the 2014 MBIE report that provides our first comprehensive survey of all sectors of the New Zealand economy.
Food for thought from Brian Easton over at Pundit:
http://pundit.co.nz/content/what-is-left-for-the-left-0
Covering off Brian Easton’s points:
Globalisation:
The left’s core promise that its humanist principles would spread and be underpinned by the formation of the United Nations after WWII was first undone by the inability of strong nation-states to give up sovereignty, and now undone by conservative Islam rising with ownership of oil production.
Bureaucracy:
In all but a few perpetually failed states, society is now sufficiently regulated to dampen real breakthrough protests. Even in post-GFC hit Spain, gains are won through the ballot box, not by revolution. The state evolves far faster and with greater skill than ever before.
Climate change/sustainability:
The issue has been too slow-burn for a broad resistance to our current global governing orders to evolve into power. It’s getting there. It’s no substitute for the great inter-war reform movements, yet.
Diversity and representation:
For the most part, modern states have absorbed such critiques, reformed its representative machinery, and sucked the energy from such movements. For us here, MMP has been a great ideological cooling mechanism; its absorbent capacity is so strong.
We’re definitely in the purge cycle of the great long wave binge-purge cycle of utopian thought. Our bad luck.
The next great generation of the left may not be in our lifetime, but Easton’s oblique point is that these waves really do happen. Even the NZHerald this morning said, essentially, Labour will be back.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/69407785/NZ-agrees-to-join-divisive-Asian-Infrastructure-Investment-Bank
Sounds like the nats have been lining them selves up another gravy train job for themselves post politics.
A beautiful piece of writing on carers and the emotional landscape of being one by poet/writer/friend Kirsti Whalen published on The Wireless describes her teenage years spent caring for her terminally ill mum and more generally touches on how little credit we give carers in NZ:
http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/caring-when-there-s-no-one-else-to-help
I am describing it poorly but her writing is excellent.
I understand this is The Standard’s equivalent of “General Debate” (one of your many moderators will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong…wouldnt want to break any rules) wherein one may discuss any topic….
I was most interested in a post over at my usual haunt which quotes Chris Trotter opining that Labour is “finished”…I was even more interested in reading what the Standardistas thought about his view…Imagine my surprise when I checked over here and found…nothing! A deafening silence…
I wonder why? I understand Trotter published his piece on Friday, 72 hours or more ago. Has Trotter been banned here? Are the Politburo still meeting to decide what the appropriate response is?
Can someone help me out?….Thanks very much in anticipation.
What do you think it means mr smartypants?
Who is Chris Trotter again? And why do you think he might be relevant, David?
Ahahahaha! *snort*
And they say the Left are conspiracy theorists!
You are a dense, dense little man. Standardistas are forever expressing the exact same view as Trotter… if you weren’t such a lazy/inept tr011, you would see that for yourself.
Get a life, David Garrett. Preferably not one stolen from a dead baby, either.
lol…+100…”Standardistas are forever expressing the exact same view as Trotter…”….and who cares what Trotts thinks?…It is changeable
Dear David
Reports of Labour’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
With the party polling at 31% things could improve.
It always amuses me when people such as yourself and Pete George who have transformed small parties into micro parties engage in such puerile behaviour.
IIRC, Trotter’s expunge was mentioned on OM a few days ago. Most of us noted it and moved on. The fact is that you missed the total irrelevance that that particular diatribe has for us.
And you came close to, if not actually breaking, at least one rule there. I suggest you read them again, perhaps get someone better at English than you to explain what the words mean.
It’s really weird, right, but sometimes, The Standard’s authors don’t compulsively read and respond directly to everything Chris Trotter says.
Hell, I don’t even read and respond to everything that’s posted here.
I usually see Chris at least once a month when I have a beer with him after work on a Friday. The only thing that is unusual is that there is a pub with good beer in the right place so I run into him. I don’t think I have ever had that with any of the authors because they are scattered around the country.
With Chris, we sometimes agree a bit. We seldom disagree a lot. We sometimes disagree a lot. But there is a interesting dialogue that goes on.
Just like here.
//—
But David Garret – you have to remember that Chris jumped out of the Labour party into New Labour about the time that I started to get active in the Labour Party – about 25 years ago. What he remembers as the NZLP was what it was like then – nearly half my life time ago.
I stopped being active about 5 years ago and I already notice that the internals of the NZLP is changing pretty damn fast (partially I think in response to this site with it’s hefty cohort of members and ex-members). My steadily diminishing lack of expressed opinion on the NZLP is because of that rate of change. Unlike people like the Paganis and Quin with their respective nostalgia trips, I respect that they are changing.
However Chris makes his living out of his opinions, however dated they sometimes appear (Ummm I may have to buy him a wine for that wording). Those made about the NZLP are made from afar through the semi-opaque purple haze of people spinning far from the fronts of activity within the party, and a hefty dose of what he remembers the party to have been like in the 1980s. He has the same problem that most of the talking heads have; since they don’t do, they criticize based on what they used to know.
They understand the inner life, structure, and debate of the NZLP about as well as I understand that of Act or National. Which is why people inside parties seldom listen that much to talking heads, they are far more interested in doing than publicizing in the way that the Progress people did last week. Same with almost any large organization of the many that I’ve worked for or helped. People inside a reasonably dynamic organization without some kind of idiot boss guru around tend to sort out how to move with the times.
When you are outside of active politics, most people get more interested in figuring out where they sit on the questions of the day. Which is where the bickering dialogue at meeting places like this come into play. But they are far more like that of a pub than outpouring font of wisdom that the talking heads in their broadcast bastions prefer. And that you seem to want as well with you and your rather tiresome alcolyte’s calls for respectful politeness; that you haven’t earned.
You hit the wrong reply there? That looks more like a reply to Garrett than to Stephanie.
It was. Sorry Stephanie…
Personally I quite like and respect Chris. He a powerful writer, a fine moral compass, and he’s not too much bound up in pleasing the establishment. He’s also brings a strong historic perspective which I enjoy a lot.
He often says things which the Labour loyalists really don’t like hearing – and for that reason Chris pretty much ignores TS and we ignore him as a rule.
Sometimes Chris is bang on the money. Sometimes not. I read him and take what I want from it.
Is Labour finished? Unlike some people here I would not say this is impossible, but neither is it about to vanish overnight. It will be around a while, and may even surprise us all yet.
Two more downhill elections however, and maybe Chris will be proven correct.
Depends on what you mean by “finished.” In terms of Labour being able to beat National and form a government where it is clearly dominant over its coalition partners, I would say almost definitely.
This stuff I keep hearing about Labour aiming to get 40% in two years, four months time – well, that just goes to show the level of disconnect in the Thorndon Bubble.
Chris Trotter posts articles at The Daily Blog. The identity thief might have more luck with his enquiries there.
*somewhere deep in the fevered nocturnal wanderings of Mr Garrett*
LPrent: “Now listen here, comrades! It’s been 72 hours and The Standard STILL hasn’t issued its OFFICIAL POSITION on a musing of DISSIDENT TROTTER.
*Mr Garrett awakes with a “start” to find his underwear moist, warm and sticky*
Don’t worry Dave, we won’t tell Mother.
Some sick fantasies types like Garrett have… they’d have to be really… the irony being that if the 3 strikes law had been implemented like Mr. Garrett’s would-be constituents wanted it to be, he would be serving a lifetime without parole in prison. 😀
Now THAT’S an appealing fantasy!
Gosh! Such nastiness…Isnt there an exhortation to “Be nice to each other” somewhere at the head of this column?
vto: I genuinely don’t know…As you will know (I never use a pseud) I very rarely come here, so I’m not up with the play…
te reo: I take it that YOU at least don’t regard Trotter’s views as of any great importance…Do you have some connection with the Labour Party?
But five comments, and two out of five referring to my (utterly irrelevant to this discussion) 30 year old passport offence…Says more about you than me perhaps ….
Why would an offence so obscene, immoral and intellectually bankrupt be irrelevant to any discussion in which you try to assert a position of moral or intellectual authority (on any issue)? You think you using the word “utterly” (methinks you doth protest too much) makes it irrelevant to anything you have to say? It frames your entire public and political persona.
Thirty years is a long time ago. But shouldn’t you have fessed up before seeking your list position?
The NZ Labour Party is 100 years old next year. We are survivors, albeit from time to time we have had traitors in our ranks.
I believe trotter’s comments were given due discussion on open mike a few days ago. So unless you were telling the authors what to write, you are factually wrong.
As for your history, be fair: if they wanted to throw a low blow against your character, empathy, and intellect, they would have mentioned your having been an ACT party MP.
Why have I suddenly been labeled “undefined”??
I pride myself on always identifying myself..seems more honest… Ah…it’s corrected itself…As you were chaps…
pigman: Help me out here if you’d be so kind…where in my comment do I assert any kind of moral authority? I am merely an interested student of politics…as morally flawed, sadly, as the next man…Yes, perhaps more flawed than most…
Atiawa: Obviously you are not aware (and why should you be?) of ACT’s inner workings…and perhaps you were out of the country when the scandal hit. When asked, prior to being selected, if I had any skeletons in my closet I replied “Yes, a huge rattling one”, and proceeded to tell them all about it…
lol that act selected you when they knew – I spose you were the best they had lol
Boy, that says a lot about the moral compass of the ACT board! Were they active in hiding the truth, as well?
Kindly use the “reply” button David, it makes things so much less… messy.
[emphasis my own]
You don’t, in your comment. But you built an entire political career/brand (oh ok, I realise I’m flattering you a bit there) on getting tough on crime and cracking down on those easily branded as of lower moral standing (criminals and bludgers).
Given that you ended that political “career” in such ignominy and have then continued to disgrace yourself, revealing you as the usual Banks-Huata-ACT type of born-to-rule hypocrite you are, I find it quite disingenuous that you present yourself here as a student of politics, because it seems you’ve long since flunked out.
Let’s not get focused on the dead baby. What’s the status of the rap sheet? We’ve got the assault, the identity theft, the false affidavit you swore in relation to it, wasn’t there a wee drink driving issue a couple of years back too?
…. and they said ” David my boy, that’s nothing compared to what we have got away with. Welcome”.
“
Tēnā koe, David
Firstly, I have witnessed commentary on Trotter’s opining, both in agreeance and in annoyance, at the Standard. You need to dig more deeply with your machinations.
Lastly, the Labour Party is not finished otherwise Trotter would be opining about something else. The labour body politic still has a pulse albeit somewhat thready and deserving of 5 gazillion volts of wholly owned NZ electricity – straight into its inwardly focussed thinking organ.
The Labour Party should reflect the reality of today – not some bygone heyday. Workers have changed and the party should understand and reflect that in their strategising. The face of poverty has also changed and the party needs to understand and make amends for that too.
Not finished, just slightly cyanotic.
There is a glimmer of hope as occasionally I am pleasantly surprised by some utterance from a Labourite.
Speak for yourself!
Adele: And malo e lelei to you…My “machinations”? Not sure what you refer to…If Trotter’s view has already been discussed here I am unable to find it…but I guess it’s being discussed now!
“not finished just slightly cyanotic”…Nicely put….
Try open mike on the 12 june. It makes your initial comment, and therefore all of those that follow, pointless.
McFlock: thanks very much…Lots of interesting comments there.