now living rural, let me assure you that there are a lot of people living with little to no electricity.
line charges + consumption makes for hefty bills. And this years consumption over winter is averaged and rises your line charges for next year.
i have yet to use the electric heater. Its fire place and gas. Currently we are at a balmy +5 degrees in the house on average and + 10 where i sit and type.
But sun is up, so all good. Soon it will get warm in here. hahahahahaha
yeah, living rural in certain areas is not for the fainthearted.
Yeah I know that’s a reality alright; been there and done that myself. Not so fond memories of getting up one morning to find a glass of water frozen over on the kitchen bench. OK when you’re young, not so OK as the years go by.
WHO have long recommended that the minimum overnight temperature should not go below 16 degC, otherwise there are long-term health risks.
Absolutely as a nation we should be ashamed of the number of people tucked away out of sight living in very reduced circumstances; no power, telephone, sod all heating if any. As I type this I have in mind some very vivid memories of encountering just this. It’s bloody wrong at every possible level.
When he should have had the farm taken from him and it given into Landcorp’s care. And he gets to keep all of the debt and never be allowed to own a business or be in an administrative position ever again as he’s shown that he just isn’t worthy of it.
Trying again:
A few weeks ago I saw an excellent graph showing government debt in billions, from the start of the Labour-led government to now – a clear downward curve until National’s tax cuts just after they were elected and a clear upwards curve from then.
Does anyone have a link for it?
I’d also be interested in a table over the same period of government surpluses or deficits. Some National apologists appear to be under the impression that National have achieved a period of large surpluses which have wiped out government debt!
How about a list of all property national have flogged not just in the contentious state housing lolly scramble but across police, doc, education, health etc etc
When the local police can’t bring in a new member due to there not being anywhere for him and his family to live you have effectively impaired the operational effectiveness.
All because they sold the house they used for that exact purpose in a booming coastal town, bet someone did nicely out of that deal.
Then there’s fire station sites in strategic suburban sites like akl’s takapuna moved to glenfield and flogged to a resthome crowd. The local community members I spoke to still scratch their heads at that one as the brigade is further away now should those multi million high rise boxes planned ignite.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/budget/forecasts/befu2015/021.htm
Try this link that shows gross best of about $90b which given the obgal expected “surplus” the gross debt remains constant. Which will mean that NZInc will have to increase our debt to pay for Acts affordable tax cuts . So they are achievable but only if we borrow….
Way back when (2013) I posted this on the Standard, regarding the Reserve Bank reporting, which stopped the existing easily accessible reporting on the Government Debt which was held on a spreadsheet – E3 and replaced it with a navigation of sorts.
(I still have a copy of that E3 spreadsheet if anyone at TS wants me to send it in. (Historical figures from Mar 1993 – Dec 2012))
I’ve just checked and it seems that that convoluted system has changed again, but I’m sure the information is hidden there somewhere.
Original post on the access to government debt figures below:
“Now you have to visit Statistics NZ, Open/download the Balance of Payments and International Investment position Quarterly report, select Table 11: International financial assets and liabilities then and add two figures together to get the debt:
Add Line 29 General Government + Line 30 Monetary Authorities to get the same data that has been reported in the discontinued Reserve Bank report.
To save some time (and sanity) the latest figures are below:
2012 Dec $52.481 billion (same as final data on Reserve Bank spreadsheet)
2013 Mar $56.773 billion
2013 June $50.913 billion”
Thanks Molly for that info which is probably what I was begging for earlier. But the fact that we need understandable base historic information is still of prime importance, and needs to be referred to constantly.
We need to remember what that politician turd in Canada did with environmental records carefully noted and conserved and built up over years, he destroyed them. We need to be aware of how quickly a mass of anything can be destroyed by modern nihilists and skewed psychopaths. People who get into positions of power for a few years can turn around like religious fanatics and wipe out the historical monuments and records to higher thought and understanding in a few days.
(By the way has anyone noticed how fast some professionals and advisors speak, it’s like their specialised interest and subject has entered their brain cells and pours out without conscious thought.)
Ed1 asked yesterday for some graphs as he has today. Could someone who is onto this sort of thing come to the party with them. If you know the right location, pathway and butons to press you can help us through the maze. Please.
And we have to keep looking back at useful truthful reliable trustable information to set ourselves straight again as we get buffeted with waves of stuff every day, whuich has to be prioritised just to allow it space to settle in our minds. So someone might ask the same question in another three months. Let’s be kind to each other and not snap ‘We’ve already been told that’.
Since posting the initial reply to Ed1, I’ve had a bit of a play around with the new tables and spreadsheets available from the Reserve Bank, but I haven’t yet been able to find the corresponding lines and figures from the original post I made in 2013.
Changes to reporting and statistics make it difficult to have access to historical figures and trends.
Would also be interested if anyone else knows how to retrieve the Government debt figures from the Reserve Bank.
The new station is about 2kms away from the old one. I would say it is now better located to cover the area it is supposed to service, which is Takapuna and as far north as Sunnynook and Forrest Hill. Previously while Takapuna town centre was within a 1 km of the service station, these other suburbs were out on a limb.
Devonport is also supposed to shift to Belmont which makes sense.
There is some sobering reading in regards to the fire at Grenfell tower, on a community blog site: Grenfell Action Group.
If you follow up this reading with a visit to the KCTMO (Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation) you will see their blogposts on the incident. Short, and understandably focused on the well-being of the tenants at present:
“It is too early to speculate what caused the fire and contributed to its spread. We will co-operate fully with all the relevant authorities in order to ascertain the cause of this tragedy.
We are aware that concerns have been raised historically by residents. We always take all concerns seriously and these will form part of our forthcoming investigations. While these investigations continue with our co-operation, our core priority at the moment is our residents.”
… but it seems to be that despite concerns, investigations were not currently happening. The sentencing has been carefully constructed to give the impression that “forthcoming investigations” are current, by starting the next sentence with “while these investigations continue“.
The care with which these statements are constructed, seem to be missing from the care taken to look after the tenants, given the historical concerns raised by the group.
There is a piece on 9toNoon right now about raising concerns for years and nothing has been done by regulators and politicians. It will not be a unique building! We can’t rely on people in power to do things right obviously. Who would want to live in one of these tall blocks knowing this. And many of them are beyond the ability of the services to rescue people in highrises.
and – What we are doing to avoid having to build high-rise buildings to park our population, (think about it they are just another sort of parking building) – less than nothing. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201847592/horowhenua-mayor-furious-about-social-housing-sale
(The Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen says the sale of housing for the elderly in and around Levin is a fire sale and should never have happened. Leaked documents show the units and land have sold for less than their book value)
I don’t think anyone has the gall to blame this on terrorists. The people are numb and stunned and resigned. I hope there will be two fundraising efforts: a special Mayor’s fund and also a Red Cross one that will be available in small ways day by day so that it is accessible.
They should see the portaloos coming forward at present, and small eats and drinks. Remember Mayor Bob Parker in Chch, couldn’t handle the enquiry for portaloos, too close to the real people’s needs. The shock and tears in Notting Hill will intensify over the next few days and weeks.
Grenfell tower developers decided to go for the cladding without the fire retardant mineral….
Cladding is a material attached to a building’s frame to create an outer wall.
The purpose of cladding – which can be made from wood, metal or plastic – is to prevent condensation and to let water vapour escape.
But adding cladding to tower blocks creates an additional fire risk, according to some experts.
The material can be flammable and it also creates a cavity that traps other burning material between the cladding and the building.
Grenfell Tower underwent a £10.3 million renovation project in May 2016 and was fit with insulated exterior cladding and double-glazed windows.
In the early hours of this morning, the fire at Grenfell tower spread to the cladding outside.
‘The cladding went up like a matchstick’, according to reports by one resident.
The building was clad with polyester powder-coated (PPC) aluminium rain-screen panels, according to the Guardian.
Some have described it as ‘polystyrene-type’ cladding – and it may have been clad in the cheaper.
According to Reynobond’s website, the manufacturer of the panels, they come in two variants.
One version a polyethylene core, which is a type of plastic, and flammable.
Another version comes with a fire retardant mineral and has a higher resistance to fire.
Grenfell tower developers decided to go for the cladding without the fire retardant mineral, which could be seen burning and melting in the early hours of this morning.
Another issue is the process of applying the rain-proof frontage can create a 25mm-30mm cavity between the cladding and the insulation behind it.
Arnold Tarling, chartered surveyor and fire expert with property firm Hindwoods, said this can have the effect of creating a ‘wind tunnel and also traps any burning material between the rain cladding and the building’.
He said: ‘So had it been insulated per se, the insulation could fall off and fall away from the building, but this is all contained inside.’
He added not all insulation used in the process is the more expensive non-flammable type.
‘So basically you have got a cavity with a fire spreading behind it.’
Angus Law, of the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘Early media reports suggest that this event has similarities with other fires that have occurred recently around the world.’
He added: ‘The UK’s regulatory framework for tall residential buildings is intended to prevent the spread of fire between floors and between apartments.
‘If spread of fire does occur, as has happened at Grenfell Tower, the consequences are often catastrophic.’
Construction firm Rydon, which carried out the refurbishment of the exterior of Grenfell Tower which finished last year, installing cladding and new windows, said its work ‘met all required building control, fire regulation, and health and safety standards’.
Design specifications suggest the renovation work carried out at Grenfell Tower included a 50mm ‘ventilated cavity’ next to 150mm of Celotex FR5000 insulation.
This insulation, according to Celotex, has a Class 0 rating under UK building regulations, meaning it has the highest rating for preventing the spread of flames and prevents the spread of heat.
In July last year, the 75-storey Sulafa Tower in Dubai Marina went up in flames, following a number of similar fires in the Middle East, including one at the 63-storey The Address Downtown Dubai on New Year’s Eve 2015.
James Lane, head of fire engineering at BB7, told IFSEC Global last July: ‘Another high-rise apartment block is apparently victim to the poor fire properties of its external cladding.
‘Any building constructed before the 2013 change in the local fire codes will be at risk from this kind of rapid and extensive fire spread unless major work is undertaken in the region to replace combustible insulation core cladding panels with a suitable alternative.’
“A disaster waiting to happen,” is how the architect and fire expert Sam Webb describes hundreds of tower blocks across the UK, after the fire at Grenfell Tower in Kensington that has left at least six people dead. “We are still wrapping postwar high-rise buildings in highly flammable materials and leaving them without sprinkler systems installed, then being surprised when they burn down.”
Webb surveyed hundreds of residential tower blocks across the country in the early 1990s and presented a damning report to the Home Office, which revealed that more than half of the buildings didn’t meet basic fire safety standards. He said: “We discovered a widespread breach of safety, but we were simply told nothing could be done because it would ‘make too many people homeless’.
“I really don’t think the building industry understands how fire behaves in buildings and how dangerous it can be. The government’s mania for deregulation means our current safety standards just aren’t good enough.”
Experts and politicians are pointing fingers in an effort to explain what caused the devastating Grenfell Tower fire in London that killed at least 12 and injured dozens more on Wednesday morning. Quite unfortunately, all fingers appear to be pointing in the same direction, at a new aluminum rainscreen cladding installed, in part, to make the building more attractive to wealthy neighbors in luxury flats nearby.
To joe90,
It must be obvious to any student having taken high school chemistry that the metal, aluminium or a partly made aluminium product is highly flammable at high temperatures. Remember the British made aluminium navy vessels that were easily ignited by French exocet missiles during the Falklands War.
Remember the British aluminium navy vessels that were easily ignited by exorcit missiles during the Falkland War.
An urban myth, apparently.
.
There are many misconceptions and incorrect stories regarding the use of aluminum in warship construction.
One common story is that HMS Sheffield, a destroyer sunk during the 1982 Falkland War, was lost because her alleged aluminum superstructure made her more vulnerable to damage. This story is completely untrue, because Sheffield’s superstructure was not aluminum. Like all ships of her class, her hull and superstructure were entirely steel. Aluminum played no role in her loss.
Two Royal Navy warships lost during the Falklands War did have aluminum superstructures, and their loss is incorrectly attributed to this feature. Ardent was hit by seven 500- and 1000-pound bombs, plus at least two more bombs which failed to detonate, and sank some six hours after the attack. Any warship of her size, regardless of aluminum or steel construction, would likely be sunk by this many bombs, so aluminum cannot be blamed here. Antelope, another aluminum-superstructure ship, was struck by two bombs, which lodged in the ship but failed to explode. Later, while one of the bombs was being defused, it exploded, blowing a major hole in the hull and starting a large fire. The fire eventually reached the magazines, causing these to explode. Again, an aluminum superstructure appears to have little connection to the ship’s loss, which was caused by the explosion of the bomb and the magazines.
A related story claims the US Navy and Royal Navy abanonded aluminum superstructures, in favor of steel, as a result of the Falklands war. Since aluminum superstructures played little or no role in the Falkands losses, this story is obviously untrue. The Royal Navy’s switch to steel appears to be a result of a 1977 fire in the frigate Amazon. In the US Navy, the switch from aluminum to steel superstructures was a result of the 1975 collision between the carrier John F. Kennedy and the cruiser Belknap. The collision caused major fires aboard the cruiser, and her aluminum superstructure essentially melted; she was reduced to a badly burnt hulk. This incident lead to a decision to adopt steel superstructures in the next new warship class, the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class destroyers. This decision had been made prior to the Falkands War.
I noticed in the link that maui put up, the street-wise were saying that the building exterior had been done up to look good for people overflying the area, rather than adding value for the people living in it.
And this from RedLogix piece says it all in accordance with the information that we hear reiterated, (just thinking back to the government’s careless attitude to the building of Christchurch’s earthquake collapsed building.)
“I really don’t think the building industry understands how fire behaves in buildings and how dangerous it can be.
The government’s mania for deregulation means our current safety standards just aren’t good enough.”
I was talking to a young (30) chap at work.
He is going to vote for the first time this year. In the past it was irrelevant, nothing to do with him.
He reckons he is voting for a future, voting for those who are the next generation.
Congratulated him heartily.
Matters not for whom he votes, he is engaged in the process.
I will be encouraging others to be enroll band vote in the mainly early 20’s workforce.
If you can believe Richard Harman apparently English is the only member of the cabinet that supports resolution 2334 that opposes the illegal Israeli settlements continually being built in Palestine. This says everything about the National Party. It’s here:
Interestingly English slapped Brownlee down. Maybe he should have thought a bit longer before appointing the least diplomatic person on the planet as our chief diplomat? The slap-down is described here:
“But Brownlee had to endure a humiliating public put-down from English over his RNZ interview. In a May 8 press conference, English said: “We’re not describing it (the resolution) as premature,” he said. “Our role in the resolution was that it expressed Government policy. “The resolution was expressing long-standing Government policy – in fact, a long-standing commonly held international view.””
Reminds me of that time the stadium full of Turkish football fans responded to a requested minute’s silence for victims of the Paris attack by chanting Allahu Akbar.
It’s not that I don’t have empathy for the victims, but I don’t necessarily think that calling out the Saudi soccer team merits a news item – let alone an international one.
I remember approaching the referee (at half time) of a soccer match in 2010 after he had lined up the eight and nine years olds and told them to stand in silence for the Elim students who died in the tragic Mangatepopo canyoning accident.
I asked why this occurred and he said that a couple of those students played soccer. Not at the club that was holding the match, not at the club that were visitors, but at another location. When I said that I thought this was a mawkish act to visit on young players he advised that all coaches and referees had been asked to do this by the national soccer organisation and that I should take it up with them.
A couple of brief emails (politely answered) led to the conclusion that the organisation considered it appropriate to advise all soccer teams to have a minute of silence before the commencement of each game because of the participation in soccer of a couple of the students.
I still feel uneasy about the enforced public display of sympathy on young people who didn’t have an understanding of what they were doing and why. It seemed an appropriation to me. Even worse, some of those young players would no doubt have had personal tragedies that were not acknowledged in any way by their own teams and clubs, and the difference would have been felt.
When it comes to the politicisation of children and their leisure time, I couldn’t agree more.
Thankfully, the Saudi international football team were not children, they were grown ups who more than capably understand the symbolic value of solidarity and condemnation in the face of extremist violence. As noted in the article, Australians are feeling pretty raw about two women from their country being stabbed to death by jihadist men while enjoying their OE.
“Thankfully, the Saudi international football team were not children, they were grown ups who more than capably understand the symbolic value of solidarity and condemnation in the face of extremist violence.”
They are also from a country where violence and intolerance is a fact of life.
Expecting them to behave differently because they have been asked to, brings to mind the fable of the snake and the frog. Or memorably, the character Shelley on Northern Exposure The Woman & The Snake. (Not that I think the Saudis are snakes, but the fable is about expecting change, when behaviour and nature has been pretty constant.)
So, the excuse of cultural differences could be a valid one – or at least, understandable. To be considered before it is dismissed.
It is our culture that expects public solidarity for incidents that cause us concern, and we note those who don’t participate.
Are we are asking for genuine solidarity or just feigned? At what point does it lose meaning?
“Expecting them to behave differently because they have been asked to, brings to mind the fable of the snake and the frog.”
How does this affect your view of migrants from this part of the world? Are they too morally incapable of behaving in a manner inconsistent with a Sharia country?
And how is it that we can understand their culture, but they not ours? We understand that it is polite to not walk into a Mosque with our shoes on, or to walk the streets of Riyadh swigging from a whiskey bottle. To suggest that we are capable of understanding and complying with their conventions to avoid causing offence, but they aren’t with ours …. doesn’t that sound a bit condescending? Like saying they’re basically stuck in a state of permanent infancy, with no insight into the needs or motivation of the other?
Yes. I agree with what you are saying in terms of acceptable behaviour.
However, having received quite a vitriolic response from the referee, I note that even within our own culture we ask for conformity in behaviour – to extend that out to other cultures – and flag their non-conformity is an exercise in futility.
The actions shown by the Saudi soccer team is disrespectful to the host nation.
But there are many acts of westerners that are disrespectful of nations around the world, not least the military invasion of some of them, and the corporate displacement of communities and their access to natural resources. An current example in Iceland is the use of the the moss landscapes to create long-lasting meaningless graffiti.
Essentially, the story is about a group of young men, acting disrespectfully at a football match in Australia who have the same disregard for victims of terrorists attacks in London, that similarly aged young men in Australia might have for victims of the Syria airstrikes ordered by the US government, or the recent terrorist attacks in Yemen.
Are you so sure that an Australian team playing soccer in Saudi Arabia, would feel comfortable with a minutes silence for the atrocities committed in the Palestinian conflict? On either side?
It borders on tokenism if it is not genuinely felt.
But I’m partially conflicted, because it does show a lack of respect and tolerance, but I consider this to be an issue with many cultures. Including our own.
“How does this affect your view of migrants from this part of the world? “
It doesn’t. To begin with, migrants make the choice to leave because there appears to be a country that suits them better than their place of birth.
We should understand this, as we have had NZers moving all over the earth for better opportunities.
I don’t expect the behaviour of one group in a culture to determine that of the whole culture. Especially not those who have made a deliberate choice to leave.
Right, and that’s how it should be – because adults are quite capable of grasping that things are meaningful to others, and how nice it can be to recognize that for just a minute.
So I’m glad the Saudis lost this game of football, winning after such an unnecessarily obnoxious display makes it all the more fitting.
(I’m going to stop soon, because I’m off to do something that would be illegal in Saudi Arabia, and while doing that will be teaching my daughter the same.)
I’m just wary of the development of media tropes that tends to lump all misbehaviours of certain cultures at a time when tension is already high.
Whenever, I read an article like the New York Post – I flip the story, to see if the same initial response I have to it would be duplicated if the players (ha!) in it were changed. eg. Australian players in Saudi etc.
In that case, I would understand the lack of knowledge and empathy that would accompany a refusal to participate. Even more so, if their team management responded to the request and not the players themselves.
Taking that note, in such a country as Saudi Arabia, who knows what would await a player that took it upon themselves to publicly disregard direction?
I know what you mean, I have a girl too, which is why I’m very suspicious of ideologies which don’t think much of them.
The script flip is a great way to look at this. Last I checked, sympathy for Palestine was very widespread in the West. I see Free Palestine t-shirts and bumper stickers all the time. Sympathy for the victims of radical Islamic terrorist attacks on the west in countries like Saudi or Turkey though? Well, I guess the actions of a single football team is perhaps not the greatest sample, but a stadium full of thousands?
The last Saudi king was considerably more enlightened than the current one. This doesn’t affect laws – they don’t change them often – but the severity with which they are enforced. A woman who drove a car who had been left alone has now been subjected to prosecution for example.
This from section 2.2 of the SSC document “Guidance for the 2017 Election period”
Programme launches and events
Key points
-Agencies should continue to support Ministers with ‘business as usual’ initiatives during an election period.
-Particular care is needed around ceremonial events to avoid perceptions of being associated with any political aspects of such events.
There is no blanket restriction on Ministers wishing to launch programmes or initiatives in the lead up to the election. In general, the business of government should continue and State servants should support Ministers with ‘business as usual’ initiatives. However, the nature and timing of high profile ceremonial events (e.g. building openings or award ceremonies) must be carefully considered.
During an election period, there is a risk that public launches and events may take on a ‘party political’ character that would not be evident at other times. This is particularly so when Ministers and/or MPs are involved in the event. In general, State servants should support Ministers as usual, but must be vigilant in avoiding association with any political aspects of such events. Particular care must also be taken with the preparation of supporting material. All agency material must remain strictly impartial and factual to avoid any perceptions of being associated with any party political messages (see ‘advertising campaigns’ directly below).
The ceremonial opening of the problematic $1.4B Waterview Tunnel is on Sunday 18 June just 5 days out from the official beginning of the 2017 election period on Friday 23 June when much greater scrutiny is applied to the use of ‘public launches and events’ for party political purposes.
Coincidence? Think not.
In fact there is still no opening date although somewhere around Sunday 09 July would be a good guess as the school term ends on Friday 07 July. Isn’t it odd then there might be a three week gap between the ribbon cutting and a still un-named opening date?
I think this strategy stands to backfire terribly for the Democrats. The Russia stuff is rapidly coming to nothing, and this new turn probably will too. Suddenly the midterms will be upon them. Most of the races are for seats currently held by Dems, so there’s more for them to lose than to win. They are leaderless, lacking much of an agenda beyond ‘but muh Russians’, and they’ve really just put their feet up and hoped that the outcome of these hearings will be all the messaging they need.
If the outcome of these hearings fails to deliver the headshot (and how many times did they claim in the campaign that one scandal or another would be just that?), it will be the Republicans who go to town on pointing out that the Democrats asking people for their vote have spent the last 2 years playing sore loser and whining to little effect. Look how badly the Republicans got burnt trying to play those games. It’s an absolute turnoff, but the Dems have repeated the mistake.
Sanders had a strategy, but idiots like Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t get on board. He said, support Trump on things which matter – bringing back jobs, opposing TPPA (ok, not I understand why Pelosi wasn’t on board) – but oppose him hard on things like medical, taxes, immigration reform. That was a strategy, that was something you’d be able to put in front of voters after 2 years and demonstrate that you’d been putting the work in and preparing to make Trump a one termer. But Russia.
All we have so far is the early stages of multiple investigations, which are all still widening.
After that we have the findings, and the media hits from that.
After that we have determinations on who gets to face charges or sanctions. At which point there will be White House firings.
After that we have trials.
After that we have sentencings.
After that we have a further wave of White House restructuring, and a whole bunch more pressure on the President himself.
And all of the above has big media implications, at each stage.
After that we have the President on record polling lows – far lower than now. And no-one in the Republican dominated Congress or Senate willing to come anywhere near him let alone propose legislation.
After that we are in to the next Presidential election.
With the whole White House swinging and attracting flies like a 6-week cow corpse hauled out of a river.
That is what the Democrat renewal programme seems to look like right now, and it seems to be going just fine.
Innuendo in the Washington Post isn’t a hit, it’s an echo. Do you think ordinary Americans read it? Trials and sentencing only follow if someone gets found guilty, and given how much of a flop Comey’s star testimony has been, it’s really not looking great – especially when you compare it to the potential which Bernie’s approach offered as an opposition strategy.
And we’re going by polls on Trump now? Isn’t this an age of learning things, or just when it gives us a narrow loss for Corbyn? If we want more Corbyns and Bernies, we have to stop pretending that perpetual losers like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are onto a winner. They’re a large part of the reason Trump won – much larger than the phantom menace of Putin.
Definitely not the optimum Democrat renewal strategy, but it;s the one history has dealt them so that’s what they have to operate with.
The Washington Post is not the only entity reporting – it’s everyone in the MSM and the main blogs. This is going to go all the way.
And don’t need to worry about whether there was actual collusion with the Russian – the charges will be about Obstruction. The cover up. Which is all these political amateurs are doing now.
Well that’s exactly my point – the investigation is not widening, it’s slaloming, and each new path comes to yet another dead end. Russia! Oops, no. Comey’s testimony! Oops, no. Obstruction! By all means hold your breath…
I don’t know what would be worse for them. To head into the midterms having spent all that sound and fury for nothing, or for nothing more than getting Flynn, Kushner, or Sessions on a minor technicality or two. Where in the real world of ordinary people would you trumpet that as a productive use of two years’ work. You think that’s the sort of thing middle Americans relate to? Oh yay, after hyped up promises and a thousand breaking news banners of Russian spies, presidential lies, impeachment, corruption, and proof of a stolen election we get …. proof Mike Flynn and Jeff Sessions told a couple of porkies, proof Jared Kushner tried to keep the intelligence services off administration comms with Russia, and maybe, just maybe, proof Trump leaned on Comey to be loyal to him and/or to leave things be with Flynn.
So I do not for a minute agree that the Democrats are making the best of the situation they’ve been given. There’s nothing wrong with letting those hearings take their course, but why are they sitting on their hands in the meantime? They clearly have no clue about how the electorate feels about work, about producing. Two years for outcomes which are already shifting into less relevant arenas? That does not make returning your local Democrat in a marginal seat look like bang for buck.
As I keep reiterating, Sanders proposed a strategy and they spurned it – probably because it was an embarrassing reminder that they chose the wrong leader, and that’s why they are where they are. He and Corbyn understand what Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and their ilk will never understand at this rate: protest without proactivity just pisses working people off, especially if it seems to amount to the square root of fuck all.
It looks to be widening by the day as Mueller stacks his team with experts in campaign finance violations, money laundering and Eastern Europe organised crime.
His own words led to the obstruction of justice investigation so perhaps he, his whelps and his proxies should STFU because every time they open their yaps, the hole gets bigger.
The GOP side of the media is already all over that element of Comey’s testimony though, and their meme majick is all over it in ways which ours will never match (honestly, the #MAGA crowd do this so much better than the online left)
I couldn’t read your paywalled link to an article in the Wall Street Journal, but other than the content of Comey’s testimony, what materials will they be able to call upon to determine whether there was obstruction? And even if they do determine obstruction, to what effect if the main investigation is a flop? How does that show that the Democrats have done anything of note in 2 years of opposition?
According to the Post, Mueller has reached out to NSA Director Mike Rogers, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and former NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett to voluntarily interview them as part of the obstruction inquiry. All three men have agreed, the Post said. It’s unclear whether Mueller made his request before Coats and Rogers testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. At that open hearing, both men declined to answer multiple questions from senators about their interactions with the president. The hearing came one day after the Post reported Trump had asked Coats and Rogers in March to intervene with then-director Comey to halt the Russia investigation.
Inclined to agree with joe. It’s usually not the crime that gets them, but the cover-up.
But having said that, unseating Trump is going to be a fraught and unpredictable process. And Sanders is working hard to be in the right spot if and when something happens.
Exactly – Independent senator Sanders is working hard. The Democrats? Last I checked, Chucky Cheese was running around trying to convince Antifa protesters to become Democrats. An apt summary of how clueless they really are.
We had no problems telling Israel what we thought of their illegal settlements in 2016. It was a good day to be Kiwi when Resolution 2334 was announced.
But now we hear Gerry did not support the resolution.
I am not terribly surprised, at the same time quite disgusted. Gerry knew what he was doing when he said a few weeks ago he thought the Resolution was premature.
Hi Mod If you could push my ones out since 1.30pm I’d appreciate.
[r0b: Sometimes there isn’t a mod about, sorry. I suggested you trying making an account / logging in a while ago?]
No I’ll have a try when I get time to do more unsatisfying work. Nothing I am doing at present is yielding fruitful results so have to keep pegging on with what time and energy I can muster. So I’ll have another go and it may fall into place.
This is a rant from hereon about me and on behalf of other people who don’t want their lives dominated by bloody machines and systems and apps.
I hate having to learn all the time how to do basic operations and form filling that keep changing. Everything gets more complicated when we are promised simple fast and easy.
Under the captcha in the CTU site the other day there was something about choice with three options, and I didn’t know what it referred to, I ignored it and seemed to be okay. There are little symbols for things and I don’t know what they refer to, and there is not a different symbol for each thing only a row of little oblongs that you have to interrogate with your mouse for identification.
We are asked/ordered to use computers and on-line storage more and then have to adapt to system changes needed to prevent our communications being stolen or our machine being invaded by bots or something that are under the control of some faceless entity. My bank site has been adapted to make it more difficult for nasties to hack and I now need my cellphone to give me a confirmation number that I have to enter. Good, but it now takes extra time to do anything, first find cellphone, is it charged, is it in credit etc.I Then I find that if I want to copy a bank number when making a deposit I can’t have any spaces or dashes, and I have to copy from left to right or it won’t accept the number.
There is less time available for actually thinking and doing things because you have to keep adapting to new changes to programs. It isn’t a Brave New World when everyone on line is trying to get at you and sell or steal from you. And you have to read a 10page document of Terms and Conditions before you can proceed with anything. Eddie Izzard got a huge laugh from his audience when he challenged them, – ‘I know none of you have read the T&C on anything. Ever.’
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Britain once risked a reputation as the weak link in the trilateral AUKUS partnership. But now the appointment of an empowered senior official to drive the project forward and a new burst of British parliamentary ...
Australia’s ability to produce basic metals, including copper, lead, zinc, nickel and construction steel, is in jeopardy, with ageing plants struggling against Chinese competition. The multinational commodities company Trafigura has put its Australian operations under ...
There have been recent PPP debacles, both in New Zealand (think Transmission Gully) and globally, with numerous examples across both Australia and Britain of failed projects and extensive litigation by government agencies seeking redress for the failures.Rob Campbell is one of New Zealand’s sharpest critics of PPPs noting that; "There ...
On Twitter on Saturday I indicated that there had been a mistake in my post from last Thursday in which I attempted to step through the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement issues. Making mistakes (there are two) is annoying and I don’t fully understand how I did it (probably too much ...
Indonesia’s armed forces still have a lot of work to do in making proper use of drones. Two major challenges are pilot training and achieving interoperability between the services. Another is overcoming a predilection for ...
The StrategistBy Sandy Juda Pratama, Curie Maharani and Gautama Adi Kusuma
As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel ...
Donald Trump, who has called the Chair of the Federal Reserve “a major loser”. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22:US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. Trump says some ...
Last night, the news came through that Pope Francis had passed away at 7:35 am in Rome on Monday, the 21st of April, following a reported stroke and heart failure. Pope Francis. Photo: AP.Despite his obvious ill health, it still came as a shock, following so soon after the Easter ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review found the NIC to be highly capable and performing well. So, it is not a surprise that most of the 67 recommendations are incremental adjustments and small but nevertheless important ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkThe world has made real progress toward tacking climate change in recent years, with spending on clean energy technologies skyrocketing from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars globally over the past decade, and global CO2 emissions plateauing.This has contributed to a reassessment of ...
Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...
Once the formalities of honouring the late Pope wrap up in two to three weeks time, the conclave of Cardinals will go into seclusion. Some 253 of the current College of Cardinals can take part in the debate over choosing the next Pope, but only 138 of them are below ...
The National Party government is doubling down on a grim, regressive vision for the future: more prisons, more prisoners, and a society fractured by policies that punish rather than heal. This isn’t just a misstep; it’s a deliberate lurch toward a dystopian future where incarceration is the answer to every ...
The audacity of Don Brash never ceases to amaze. The former National Party and Hobson’s Pledge mouthpiece has now sunk his claws into NZME, the media giant behind the New Zealand Herald and half of our commercial radio stations. Don Brash has snapped up shares in NZME, aligning himself with ...
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
New Zealand’s housing crisis is a sad indictment on the failures of right wing neoliberalism, and the National Party, under Chris Luxon’s shaky leadership, is trying to simply ignore it. The numbers don’t lie: Census data from 2023 revealed 112,496 Kiwis were severely housing deprived...couch-surfing, car-sleeping, or roughing it on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ...
Simeon Brown, the National Party’s poster child for hubris, consistently over-promises and under-delivers. His track record...marked by policy flip-flops and a dismissive attitude toward expert advice, reveals a politician driven by personal ambition rather than evidence. From transport to health, Brown’s focus seems fixed on protecting National's image, not addressing ...
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications:Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...
Once a venomous thorn in New Zealand’s blogosphere, Cathy Odgers, aka Cactus Kate, has slunk into the shadows, her once-sharp quills dulled by the fallout of Dirty Politics.The dishonest attack-blogger, alongside her vile accomplices such as Cameron Slater, were key players in the National Party’s sordid smear campaigns, exposed by Nicky ...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned for low-income workers given new data released by Stats NZ that shows inflation was 2.5% for the year to March 2025, rising from 2.2% in December last year. “The prices of things that people can’t avoid are rising – meaning inflation is rising ...
Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...
In yesterday’s post I tried to present the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement for 2025-30, as approved by the Minister of Finance and the Bank’s Board, in the context of the previous agreement, and the variation to that agreement signed up to by Grant Robertson a few weeks before the last ...
Australia’s bid to co-host the 31st international climate negotiations (COP31) with Pacific island countries in late 2026 is directly in our national interest. But success will require consultation with the Pacific. For that reason, no ...
Old and outdated buildings being demolished at Wellington Hospital in 2018. The new infrastructure being funded today will not be sufficient for future population size and some will not be built by 2035. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Thursday, April 17:Simeon Brown has unveiled ...
Thousands of senior medical doctors have voted to go on strike for 24 hours overpay at the beginning of next month. Callaghan Innovation has confirmed dozens more jobs are on the chopping block as the organisation disestablishes. Palmerston North hospital staff want improved security after a gun-wielding man threatened their ...
The introduction of AI in workplaces can create significant health and safety risks for workers (such as intensification of work, and extreme surveillance) which can significantly impact workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. It is critical that unions and workers are involved in any decision to introduce AI so that ...
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role ...
Sunday marks three months since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. What a ride: the style rude, language raucous, and the results rogue. Beyond manners, rudeness matters because tone signals intent as well as personality. ...
There are any number of reasons why anyone thinking of heading to the United States for a holiday should think twice. They would be giving their money to a totalitarian state where political dissenters are being rounded up and imprisoned here and here, where universities are having their funds for ...
Taiwan has an inadvertent, rarely acknowledged role in global affairs: it’s a kind of sponge, soaking up much of China’s political, military and diplomatic efforts. Taiwan soaks up Chinese power of persuasion and coercion that ...
The Ukraine war has been called the bloodiest conflict since World War II. As of July 2024, 10,000 women were serving in frontline combat roles. Try telling them—from the safety of an Australian lounge room—they ...
Following Canadian authorities’ discovery of a Chinese information operation targeting their country’s election, Australians, too, should beware such risks. In fact, there are already signs that Beijing is interfering in campaigning for the Australian election ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). From "founder" of Tesla and the OG rocket man with SpaceX, and rebranding twitter as X, Musk has ...
Back in February 2024, a rat infestation attracted a fair few headlines in the South Dunedin Countdown supermarket. Today, the rats struck again. They took out the Otago-Southland region’s internet connection. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360656230/internet-outage-hits-otago-and-southland Strictly, it was just a coincidence – rats decided to gnaw through one fibre cable, while some hapless ...
I came in this morning after doing some chores and looked quickly at Twitter before unpacking the groceries. Someone was retweeting a Radio NZ story with the headline “Reserve Bank’s budget to be slashed by 25%”. Wow, I thought, the Minister of Finance has really delivered this time. And then ...
So, having teased it last week, Andrew Little has announced he will run for mayor of Wellington. On RNZ, he's saying its all about services - "fixing the pipes, making public transport cheaper, investing in parks, swimming pools and libraries, and developing more housing". Meanwhile, to the readers of the ...
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1921ALL OVER THE WORLD, devout Christians will be reaching for their bibles, reading and re-reading Revelation 13:16-17. For the benefit of all you non-Christians out there, these are the verses describing ...
Give me what I want, what I really, really want: And what India really wants from New Zealand isn’t butter or cheese, but a radical relaxation of the rules controlling Indian immigration.WHAT DOES INDIA WANT from New Zealand? Not our dairy products, that’s for sure, it’s got plenty of those. ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Yesterday, 5,500 senior doctors across Aotearoa New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to strike for a day.This is the first time in New Zealand ASMS members have taken strike action for 24 hours.They are asking the government tofund them and account for resource shortfalls.Vacancies are critical - 45-50% in some regions.The ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
The tech sector is New Zealand's third biggest source of exports behind meat and dairy, the prime minister has told those attending an event in London. ...
The call has sent ripples through the veteran community — but behind the protest lies a deeper story of neglect, frustration and a system many say has failed those it was meant to serve.Every year on April 25, politicians and dignitaries stand before the nation, flanked by medals and ...
From real-terms minimum wage cuts to watering down health and safety, the government is subtly chipping away at pay, conditions and many of the other things that make work life-giving, writes Max Rashbrooke. Frogs, it turns out, do notice when they’re being boiled. For years the favourite metaphor for people’s ...
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NZ tracks far below the OECD average when it comes to investing in research and science and attempts to catch up just haven’t worked The post NZ’s long-standing R&D target scrapped appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee says he believes Te Pāti Māori’s Treaty Principles Bill haka showed “huge disrespect for the Parliament itself”, and disrespect for “some aspects of the Treaty”.Brownlee cannot influence the committee considering potential disciplinary actions against the three Te Pāti Māori MPs who left their seats ...
On a tattered Red Cross map, four nearly-straight pencil lines track north from Capua, near Naples, to Chavari then Ubine. From here, over the border to Breslau in what was then German-occupied Poland, then on to Lübeck, north-east of Hamburg. Above each line a single handwritten word – “Train”, “Train”, ...
After weeks of turmoil in the global markets, economists and commentators have used words like ‘bloodbath’ and ‘carnage’ to describe the world’s financial situation.And while New Zealand often feels relatively cushioned, what happens in the US is inextricably linked to the rest of the world.“It will impact us to some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra This election has been lacklustre, without the touch of excitement of some past campaigns. Through the decades, campaigning has changed dramatically, adopting new techniques and technologies. This time, we’ve seen politicians try to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A re-elected Albanese government will take the unprecedented step of buying or obtaining options over key critical minerals to protect Australia’s national interest and boost its economic resilience. The move follows US President Donald Trump’s ...
RNZ Pacific Despite calls from women’s groups urging the government to implement policies to address the underrepresentation of women in politics, the introduction of temporary special measures (TSM) to increase women’s political representation in Fiji remains a distant goal. This week, leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), Cabinet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A re-elected Albanese government will take the unprecedented step of buying or obtaining options over key critical minerals to protect Australia’s national interest and boost its economic resilience. The move follows US President Donald Trump’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Appiah Takyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Urban flooding is a major problem in the global south. In west and central Africa, more than 4 million people were affected by flooding in 2024. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Just as voting has begun in this year’s federal election, the Coalition has released its long-awaited defence policy platform. The main focus, as expected, is a boost in defence spending to 3% of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Hicks, Lecturer in Law, The University of Melbourne Roberto La Rosa/Shutterstock Snipers in helicopters have shot more than 700 koalas in the Budj Bim National Park in western Victoria in recent weeks. It’s believed to be the first time koalas ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriele Gratton, Professor of Politics and Economics and ARC Future Fellow, UNSW Sydney Pundits and political scientists like to repeat that we live in an age of political polarisation. But if you sat through the second debate between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Research Fellow, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney Kaboompics.com/Pexels There’s no shortage of things to feel angry about these days. Whether it’s politics, social injustice, climate change or the cost-of-living crisis, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University The death of Pope Francis this week marks the end of a historic papacy and the beginning of a significant transition for the Catholic Church. As the faithful around the world mourn his passing, ...
A recent survey, carried out by PPTA Te Wehengarua, of establishing and overseas trained secondary teachers found that 90% of respondents agreed that mentoring had helped their development. ...
Other Honours recipients include country singer Suzanne Prentice, most capped All Black Samuel Whitelock, and Māori language educator and academic Professor Rawinia Higgins. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Intifar Chowdhury, Lecturer in Government, Flinders University The centre of gravity of Australian politics has shifted. Millennials and Gen Z voters, now comprising 47% of the electorate, have taken over as the dominant voting bloc. But this generational shift isn’t just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Dunley, Senior Lecturer in History and Maritime Strategy, UNSW Sydney National security issues have been a constant feature of this federal election campaign. Both major parties have spruiked their national security credentials by promising additional defence spending. The Coalition has ...
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 In Canada, the governing centre-left Liberals had trailed the Conservatives by more than 20 points in January, but now lead by five ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Narelle Miragliotta, Associate Professor in Politics, Murdoch University Election talk is inevitably focused on Labor and the Coalition because they are the parties that customarily form government. But a minor party like the Greens is consequential, regardless of whether the election ...
Asia Pacific Report The US District Court for the District of Columbia has granted a preliminary injunction in Widakuswara v Lake, affirming the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) was unlawfully shuttered by the Trump administration, Acting Director Victor Morales and Special Adviser Kari Lake. The decision enshrines that USAGM ...
As the PM talks trade with Keir Starmer, his deputy is busy, busy, busy. A prime ministerial speech and free-trade phone tree with like-minded leaders in response to Trump’s tarrif binge impressed many commentators, but not all of them: leading pundit and deputy prime minister Winston Peters was indignant ...
The settlement relates to proposed restructures of the Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams at Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora which were subject to litigation before the Employment Relations Authority set down for 22 April 2025. ...
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The brighter future…………..
‘Parents with children in kindergarten could face a price hike of up to $700 a year’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/93487305/parents-oppose-longer-hours-and-540-hike-in-kindegarten-fees
The brighter future…………..
Southland man’s benefit couldn’t cover his power bills – so he’s been living without it
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/91781601/southland-man-powerless-to-government
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/93618128/man-without-power-is-getting-the-help-he-needs
now living rural, let me assure you that there are a lot of people living with little to no electricity.
line charges + consumption makes for hefty bills. And this years consumption over winter is averaged and rises your line charges for next year.
i have yet to use the electric heater. Its fire place and gas. Currently we are at a balmy +5 degrees in the house on average and + 10 where i sit and type.
But sun is up, so all good. Soon it will get warm in here. hahahahahaha
yeah, living rural in certain areas is not for the fainthearted.
Yeah I know that’s a reality alright; been there and done that myself. Not so fond memories of getting up one morning to find a glass of water frozen over on the kitchen bench. OK when you’re young, not so OK as the years go by.
WHO have long recommended that the minimum overnight temperature should not go below 16 degC, otherwise there are long-term health risks.
Absolutely as a nation we should be ashamed of the number of people tucked away out of sight living in very reduced circumstances; no power, telephone, sod all heating if any. As I type this I have in mind some very vivid memories of encountering just this. It’s bloody wrong at every possible level.
+1
This has been a long-term plan by the management of at least some of the kindergarten associations with right-leaning attitudes
The brighter future…………..
Farm owners fined $21k for under-paying migrant workers
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/333018/farm-owners-fined-21k-for-under-paying-migrant-workers
When he should have had the farm taken from him and it given into Landcorp’s care. And he gets to keep all of the debt and never be allowed to own a business or be in an administrative position ever again as he’s shown that he just isn’t worthy of it.
This is the reality about the immigration issue. Noting to do with ‘lazy’ kiwis. Its all about fucking over the immigrants like in the third world.
Trying again:
A few weeks ago I saw an excellent graph showing government debt in billions, from the start of the Labour-led government to now – a clear downward curve until National’s tax cuts just after they were elected and a clear upwards curve from then.
Does anyone have a link for it?
I’d also be interested in a table over the same period of government surpluses or deficits. Some National apologists appear to be under the impression that National have achieved a period of large surpluses which have wiped out government debt!
How about a list of all property national have flogged not just in the contentious state housing lolly scramble but across police, doc, education, health etc etc
When the local police can’t bring in a new member due to there not being anywhere for him and his family to live you have effectively impaired the operational effectiveness.
All because they sold the house they used for that exact purpose in a booming coastal town, bet someone did nicely out of that deal.
Then there’s fire station sites in strategic suburban sites like akl’s takapuna moved to glenfield and flogged to a resthome crowd. The local community members I spoke to still scratch their heads at that one as the brigade is further away now should those multi million high rise boxes planned ignite.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/budget/forecasts/befu2015/021.htm
Try this link that shows gross best of about $90b which given the obgal expected “surplus” the gross debt remains constant. Which will mean that NZInc will have to increase our debt to pay for Acts affordable tax cuts . So they are achievable but only if we borrow….
Hi Ed1,
Way back when (2013) I posted this on the Standard, regarding the Reserve Bank reporting, which stopped the existing easily accessible reporting on the Government Debt which was held on a spreadsheet – E3 and replaced it with a navigation of sorts.
(I still have a copy of that E3 spreadsheet if anyone at TS wants me to send it in. (Historical figures from Mar 1993 – Dec 2012))
I’ve just checked and it seems that that convoluted system has changed again, but I’m sure the information is hidden there somewhere.
Original post on the access to government debt figures below:
Thanks Molly for that info which is probably what I was begging for earlier. But the fact that we need understandable base historic information is still of prime importance, and needs to be referred to constantly.
We need to remember what that politician turd in Canada did with environmental records carefully noted and conserved and built up over years, he destroyed them. We need to be aware of how quickly a mass of anything can be destroyed by modern nihilists and skewed psychopaths. People who get into positions of power for a few years can turn around like religious fanatics and wipe out the historical monuments and records to higher thought and understanding in a few days.
(By the way has anyone noticed how fast some professionals and advisors speak, it’s like their specialised interest and subject has entered their brain cells and pours out without conscious thought.)
Ed1 asked yesterday for some graphs as he has today. Could someone who is onto this sort of thing come to the party with them. If you know the right location, pathway and butons to press you can help us through the maze. Please.
And we have to keep looking back at useful truthful reliable trustable information to set ourselves straight again as we get buffeted with waves of stuff every day, whuich has to be prioritised just to allow it space to settle in our minds. So someone might ask the same question in another three months. Let’s be kind to each other and not snap ‘We’ve already been told that’.
Since posting the initial reply to Ed1, I’ve had a bit of a play around with the new tables and spreadsheets available from the Reserve Bank, but I haven’t yet been able to find the corresponding lines and figures from the original post I made in 2013.
Changes to reporting and statistics make it difficult to have access to historical figures and trends.
Would also be interested if anyone else knows how to retrieve the Government debt figures from the Reserve Bank.
tc,
The new station is about 2kms away from the old one. I would say it is now better located to cover the area it is supposed to service, which is Takapuna and as far north as Sunnynook and Forrest Hill. Previously while Takapuna town centre was within a 1 km of the service station, these other suburbs were out on a limb.
Devonport is also supposed to shift to Belmont which makes sense.
There is some sobering reading in regards to the fire at Grenfell tower, on a community blog site: Grenfell Action Group.
If you follow up this reading with a visit to the KCTMO (Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation) you will see their blogposts on the incident. Short, and understandably focused on the well-being of the tenants at present:
“It is too early to speculate what caused the fire and contributed to its spread. We will co-operate fully with all the relevant authorities in order to ascertain the cause of this tragedy.
We are aware that concerns have been raised historically by residents. We always take all concerns seriously and these will form part of our forthcoming investigations. While these investigations continue with our co-operation, our core priority at the moment is our residents.”
… but it seems to be that despite concerns, investigations were not currently happening. The sentencing has been carefully constructed to give the impression that “forthcoming investigations” are current, by starting the next sentence with “while these investigations continue“.
The care with which these statements are constructed, seem to be missing from the care taken to look after the tenants, given the historical concerns raised by the group.
There is a piece on 9toNoon right now about raising concerns for years and nothing has been done by regulators and politicians. It will not be a unique building! We can’t rely on people in power to do things right obviously. Who would want to live in one of these tall blocks knowing this. And many of them are beyond the ability of the services to rescue people in highrises.
I will put up the audio when it comes up.
Here are reports from Radionz morning report etc.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201847570/london-fire-death-toll-is-still-expected-to-rise
(Last month New Zealand made changes to the type of cladding that can be used on buildings.
The vice-president of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, Michael James, said there will still be some buildings in New Zealand that have the same type of cladding.)
and – update
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201847581/london-fire-death-toll-expected-to-rise
and – NZ?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201847582/some-nz-buildings-have-same-flammable-cladding-as-grenfell
(Michael James is the vice-president of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers says there will be some buildings in NZ that still have the same type of cladding that is being blamed for the wide-spread damage to Grenfell Tower.)
and – What we are doing to avoid having to build high-rise buildings to park our population, (think about it they are just another sort of parking building) – less than nothing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201847592/horowhenua-mayor-furious-about-social-housing-sale
(The Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen says the sale of housing for the elderly in and around Levin is a fire sale and should never have happened. Leaked documents show the units and land have sold for less than their book value)
There’s a strong political and class thread running through this tragedy as well:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2017/jun/14/grenfell-fire-people-community-video
I don’t think anyone has the gall to blame this on terrorists. The people are numb and stunned and resigned. I hope there will be two fundraising efforts: a special Mayor’s fund and also a Red Cross one that will be available in small ways day by day so that it is accessible.
They should see the portaloos coming forward at present, and small eats and drinks. Remember Mayor Bob Parker in Chch, couldn’t handle the enquiry for portaloos, too close to the real people’s needs. The shock and tears in Notting Hill will intensify over the next few days and weeks.
The Mayor’s Fund could be for more major tasks.
Grenfell tower developers decided to go for the cladding without the fire retardant mineral….
Cladding is a material attached to a building’s frame to create an outer wall.
The purpose of cladding – which can be made from wood, metal or plastic – is to prevent condensation and to let water vapour escape.
But adding cladding to tower blocks creates an additional fire risk, according to some experts.
The material can be flammable and it also creates a cavity that traps other burning material between the cladding and the building.
Grenfell Tower underwent a £10.3 million renovation project in May 2016 and was fit with insulated exterior cladding and double-glazed windows.
In the early hours of this morning, the fire at Grenfell tower spread to the cladding outside.
‘The cladding went up like a matchstick’, according to reports by one resident.
The building was clad with polyester powder-coated (PPC) aluminium rain-screen panels, according to the Guardian.
Some have described it as ‘polystyrene-type’ cladding – and it may have been clad in the cheaper.
According to Reynobond’s website, the manufacturer of the panels, they come in two variants.
One version a polyethylene core, which is a type of plastic, and flammable.
Another version comes with a fire retardant mineral and has a higher resistance to fire.
Grenfell tower developers decided to go for the cladding without the fire retardant mineral, which could be seen burning and melting in the early hours of this morning.
Another issue is the process of applying the rain-proof frontage can create a 25mm-30mm cavity between the cladding and the insulation behind it.
Arnold Tarling, chartered surveyor and fire expert with property firm Hindwoods, said this can have the effect of creating a ‘wind tunnel and also traps any burning material between the rain cladding and the building’.
He said: ‘So had it been insulated per se, the insulation could fall off and fall away from the building, but this is all contained inside.’
He added not all insulation used in the process is the more expensive non-flammable type.
‘So basically you have got a cavity with a fire spreading behind it.’
Angus Law, of the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘Early media reports suggest that this event has similarities with other fires that have occurred recently around the world.’
He added: ‘The UK’s regulatory framework for tall residential buildings is intended to prevent the spread of fire between floors and between apartments.
‘If spread of fire does occur, as has happened at Grenfell Tower, the consequences are often catastrophic.’
Construction firm Rydon, which carried out the refurbishment of the exterior of Grenfell Tower which finished last year, installing cladding and new windows, said its work ‘met all required building control, fire regulation, and health and safety standards’.
Design specifications suggest the renovation work carried out at Grenfell Tower included a 50mm ‘ventilated cavity’ next to 150mm of Celotex FR5000 insulation.
This insulation, according to Celotex, has a Class 0 rating under UK building regulations, meaning it has the highest rating for preventing the spread of flames and prevents the spread of heat.
In July last year, the 75-storey Sulafa Tower in Dubai Marina went up in flames, following a number of similar fires in the Middle East, including one at the 63-storey The Address Downtown Dubai on New Year’s Eve 2015.
James Lane, head of fire engineering at BB7, told IFSEC Global last July: ‘Another high-rise apartment block is apparently victim to the poor fire properties of its external cladding.
‘Any building constructed before the 2013 change in the local fire codes will be at risk from this kind of rapid and extensive fire spread unless major work is undertaken in the region to replace combustible insulation core cladding panels with a suitable alternative.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604296/Was-cladding-blame-spread-tower-block-fire.html
And from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/14/disaster-waiting-to-happen-fire-expert-slams-uk-tower-blocks
It gets worse.
.
Experts and politicians are pointing fingers in an effort to explain what caused the devastating Grenfell Tower fire in London that killed at least 12 and injured dozens more on Wednesday morning. Quite unfortunately, all fingers appear to be pointing in the same direction, at a new aluminum rainscreen cladding installed, in part, to make the building more attractive to wealthy neighbors in luxury flats nearby.
http://gizmodo.com/how-rich-neighbors-may-have-factored-into-londons-deadl-1796103077?IR=T
To joe90,
It must be obvious to any student having taken high school chemistry that the metal, aluminium or a partly made aluminium product is highly flammable at high temperatures. Remember the British made aluminium navy vessels that were easily ignited by French exocet missiles during the Falklands War.
An urban myth, apparently.
.
There are many misconceptions and incorrect stories regarding the use of aluminum in warship construction.
One common story is that HMS Sheffield, a destroyer sunk during the 1982 Falkland War, was lost because her alleged aluminum superstructure made her more vulnerable to damage. This story is completely untrue, because Sheffield’s superstructure was not aluminum. Like all ships of her class, her hull and superstructure were entirely steel. Aluminum played no role in her loss.
Two Royal Navy warships lost during the Falklands War did have aluminum superstructures, and their loss is incorrectly attributed to this feature. Ardent was hit by seven 500- and 1000-pound bombs, plus at least two more bombs which failed to detonate, and sank some six hours after the attack. Any warship of her size, regardless of aluminum or steel construction, would likely be sunk by this many bombs, so aluminum cannot be blamed here. Antelope, another aluminum-superstructure ship, was struck by two bombs, which lodged in the ship but failed to explode. Later, while one of the bombs was being defused, it exploded, blowing a major hole in the hull and starting a large fire. The fire eventually reached the magazines, causing these to explode. Again, an aluminum superstructure appears to have little connection to the ship’s loss, which was caused by the explosion of the bomb and the magazines.
A related story claims the US Navy and Royal Navy abanonded aluminum superstructures, in favor of steel, as a result of the Falklands war. Since aluminum superstructures played little or no role in the Falkands losses, this story is obviously untrue. The Royal Navy’s switch to steel appears to be a result of a 1977 fire in the frigate Amazon. In the US Navy, the switch from aluminum to steel superstructures was a result of the 1975 collision between the carrier John F. Kennedy and the cruiser Belknap. The collision caused major fires aboard the cruiser, and her aluminum superstructure essentially melted; she was reduced to a badly burnt hulk. This incident lead to a decision to adopt steel superstructures in the next new warship class, the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class destroyers. This decision had been made prior to the Falkands War.
http://www.hazegray.org/faq/smn6.htm#F7
I noticed in the link that maui put up, the street-wise were saying that the building exterior had been done up to look good for people overflying the area, rather than adding value for the people living in it.
And this from RedLogix piece says it all in accordance with the information that we hear reiterated, (just thinking back to the government’s careless attitude to the building of Christchurch’s earthquake collapsed building.)
This is vile.
How does the NZ situation compare – anyone know?
Or haven’t we even looked?
Nothing we didn’t already know, this graph illustrates exactly what needs to happen in September.
Young people have to get out and vote.
Looking at the whole survey, the Left could do well to focus on the health sector when talking to the over 50s. Again, nothing we didn’t already know.
I was talking to a young (30) chap at work.
He is going to vote for the first time this year. In the past it was irrelevant, nothing to do with him.
He reckons he is voting for a future, voting for those who are the next generation.
Congratulated him heartily.
Matters not for whom he votes, he is engaged in the process.
I will be encouraging others to be enroll band vote in the mainly early 20’s workforce.
You’re a good example to all gsays.
Well done you @ gsays (7.1)
Update.
Two more today said they intend to vote.
One, for the first time, expressed a sense of duty, the other had voted before.
Still the oldies fucking over the young.
Not all of us are engaged in that sort of activity , bud. Keep your ageism to yourself, please.
True, just most of them.
If you can believe Richard Harman apparently English is the only member of the cabinet that supports resolution 2334 that opposes the illegal Israeli settlements continually being built in Palestine. This says everything about the National Party. It’s here:
http://politik.co.nz/en/content/foreignaffairs/1116/Standoff-that-divided-Cabinet-ends-Murray-McCully-Gerry-Brownlee-Bill-English-UN-Security-Council-Israel-Itzhak-Gerberg.htm
Interestingly English slapped Brownlee down. Maybe he should have thought a bit longer before appointing the least diplomatic person on the planet as our chief diplomat? The slap-down is described here:
“But Brownlee had to endure a humiliating public put-down from English over his RNZ interview. In a May 8 press conference, English said: “We’re not describing it (the resolution) as premature,” he said. “Our role in the resolution was that it expressed Government policy. “The resolution was expressing long-standing Government policy – in fact, a long-standing commonly held international view.””
Good old Saudi Arabia.
http://nypost.com/2017/06/09/saudi-soccer-teams-refusal-to-honor-london-terror-victims-was-despicable/
Reminds me of that time the stadium full of Turkish football fans responded to a requested minute’s silence for victims of the Paris attack by chanting Allahu Akbar.
It’s not that I don’t have empathy for the victims, but I don’t necessarily think that calling out the Saudi soccer team merits a news item – let alone an international one.
I remember approaching the referee (at half time) of a soccer match in 2010 after he had lined up the eight and nine years olds and told them to stand in silence for the Elim students who died in the tragic Mangatepopo canyoning accident.
I asked why this occurred and he said that a couple of those students played soccer. Not at the club that was holding the match, not at the club that were visitors, but at another location. When I said that I thought this was a mawkish act to visit on young players he advised that all coaches and referees had been asked to do this by the national soccer organisation and that I should take it up with them.
A couple of brief emails (politely answered) led to the conclusion that the organisation considered it appropriate to advise all soccer teams to have a minute of silence before the commencement of each game because of the participation in soccer of a couple of the students.
I still feel uneasy about the enforced public display of sympathy on young people who didn’t have an understanding of what they were doing and why. It seemed an appropriation to me. Even worse, some of those young players would no doubt have had personal tragedies that were not acknowledged in any way by their own teams and clubs, and the difference would have been felt.
When it comes to the politicisation of children and their leisure time, I couldn’t agree more.
Thankfully, the Saudi international football team were not children, they were grown ups who more than capably understand the symbolic value of solidarity and condemnation in the face of extremist violence. As noted in the article, Australians are feeling pretty raw about two women from their country being stabbed to death by jihadist men while enjoying their OE.
“Thankfully, the Saudi international football team were not children, they were grown ups who more than capably understand the symbolic value of solidarity and condemnation in the face of extremist violence.”
They are also from a country where violence and intolerance is a fact of life.
Expecting them to behave differently because they have been asked to, brings to mind the fable of the snake and the frog. Or memorably, the character Shelley on Northern Exposure The Woman & The Snake. (Not that I think the Saudis are snakes, but the fable is about expecting change, when behaviour and nature has been pretty constant.)
So, the excuse of cultural differences could be a valid one – or at least, understandable. To be considered before it is dismissed.
It is our culture that expects public solidarity for incidents that cause us concern, and we note those who don’t participate.
Are we are asking for genuine solidarity or just feigned? At what point does it lose meaning?
“Expecting them to behave differently because they have been asked to, brings to mind the fable of the snake and the frog.”
How does this affect your view of migrants from this part of the world? Are they too morally incapable of behaving in a manner inconsistent with a Sharia country?
And how is it that we can understand their culture, but they not ours? We understand that it is polite to not walk into a Mosque with our shoes on, or to walk the streets of Riyadh swigging from a whiskey bottle. To suggest that we are capable of understanding and complying with their conventions to avoid causing offence, but they aren’t with ours …. doesn’t that sound a bit condescending? Like saying they’re basically stuck in a state of permanent infancy, with no insight into the needs or motivation of the other?
Yes. I agree with what you are saying in terms of acceptable behaviour.
However, having received quite a vitriolic response from the referee, I note that even within our own culture we ask for conformity in behaviour – to extend that out to other cultures – and flag their non-conformity is an exercise in futility.
The actions shown by the Saudi soccer team is disrespectful to the host nation.
But there are many acts of westerners that are disrespectful of nations around the world, not least the military invasion of some of them, and the corporate displacement of communities and their access to natural resources. An current example in Iceland is the use of the the moss landscapes to create long-lasting meaningless graffiti.
Essentially, the story is about a group of young men, acting disrespectfully at a football match in Australia who have the same disregard for victims of terrorists attacks in London, that similarly aged young men in Australia might have for victims of the Syria airstrikes ordered by the US government, or the recent terrorist attacks in Yemen.
Are you so sure that an Australian team playing soccer in Saudi Arabia, would feel comfortable with a minutes silence for the atrocities committed in the Palestinian conflict? On either side?
It borders on tokenism if it is not genuinely felt.
But I’m partially conflicted, because it does show a lack of respect and tolerance, but I consider this to be an issue with many cultures. Including our own.
Yeah, I figured sooner or later colonialism or military adventurism on the part of some western countries would make an appearance.
… and moss graffiti… 🙂
I rather like moss graffiti.
… and nudes too, I guess.
Oh right, I was thinking more like this stuff:
https://indulgy.com/post/Xh82A5AWH1/moss-graffiti-recipie-mix-it-all-in-a-blende
Whatever you do, don’t send those nudes to Riyadh. Or do, on a scale of millions.
“How does this affect your view of migrants from this part of the world? “
It doesn’t. To begin with, migrants make the choice to leave because there appears to be a country that suits them better than their place of birth.
We should understand this, as we have had NZers moving all over the earth for better opportunities.
I don’t expect the behaviour of one group in a culture to determine that of the whole culture. Especially not those who have made a deliberate choice to leave.
Right, and that’s how it should be – because adults are quite capable of grasping that things are meaningful to others, and how nice it can be to recognize that for just a minute.
So I’m glad the Saudis lost this game of football, winning after such an unnecessarily obnoxious display makes it all the more fitting.
(I’m going to stop soon, because I’m off to do something that would be illegal in Saudi Arabia, and while doing that will be teaching my daughter the same.)
I’m just wary of the development of media tropes that tends to lump all misbehaviours of certain cultures at a time when tension is already high.
Whenever, I read an article like the New York Post – I flip the story, to see if the same initial response I have to it would be duplicated if the players (ha!) in it were changed. eg. Australian players in Saudi etc.
In that case, I would understand the lack of knowledge and empathy that would accompany a refusal to participate. Even more so, if their team management responded to the request and not the players themselves.
Taking that note, in such a country as Saudi Arabia, who knows what would await a player that took it upon themselves to publicly disregard direction?
I know what you mean, I have a girl too, which is why I’m very suspicious of ideologies which don’t think much of them.
The script flip is a great way to look at this. Last I checked, sympathy for Palestine was very widespread in the West. I see Free Palestine t-shirts and bumper stickers all the time. Sympathy for the victims of radical Islamic terrorist attacks on the west in countries like Saudi or Turkey though? Well, I guess the actions of a single football team is perhaps not the greatest sample, but a stadium full of thousands?
It’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned.
The last Saudi king was considerably more enlightened than the current one. This doesn’t affect laws – they don’t change them often – but the severity with which they are enforced. A woman who drove a car who had been left alone has now been subjected to prosecution for example.
This from section 2.2 of the SSC document “Guidance for the 2017 Election period”
The ceremonial opening of the problematic $1.4B Waterview Tunnel is on Sunday 18 June just 5 days out from the official beginning of the 2017 election period on Friday 23 June when much greater scrutiny is applied to the use of ‘public launches and events’ for party political purposes.
Coincidence? Think not.
In fact there is still no opening date although somewhere around Sunday 09 July would be a good guess as the school term ends on Friday 07 July. Isn’t it odd then there might be a three week gap between the ribbon cutting and a still un-named opening date?
https://www.ssc.govt.nz/sites/all/files/guidance-stateservants.pdf
Trump is now under investigation for obstruction of justice.
Hang in there for a full term Donny.
Democrats need the full 4 years to renew.
I think this strategy stands to backfire terribly for the Democrats. The Russia stuff is rapidly coming to nothing, and this new turn probably will too. Suddenly the midterms will be upon them. Most of the races are for seats currently held by Dems, so there’s more for them to lose than to win. They are leaderless, lacking much of an agenda beyond ‘but muh Russians’, and they’ve really just put their feet up and hoped that the outcome of these hearings will be all the messaging they need.
If the outcome of these hearings fails to deliver the headshot (and how many times did they claim in the campaign that one scandal or another would be just that?), it will be the Republicans who go to town on pointing out that the Democrats asking people for their vote have spent the last 2 years playing sore loser and whining to little effect. Look how badly the Republicans got burnt trying to play those games. It’s an absolute turnoff, but the Dems have repeated the mistake.
Sanders had a strategy, but idiots like Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t get on board. He said, support Trump on things which matter – bringing back jobs, opposing TPPA (ok, not I understand why Pelosi wasn’t on board) – but oppose him hard on things like medical, taxes, immigration reform. That was a strategy, that was something you’d be able to put in front of voters after 2 years and demonstrate that you’d been putting the work in and preparing to make Trump a one termer. But Russia.
“rapidly coming to nothing”?
All we have so far is the early stages of multiple investigations, which are all still widening.
After that we have the findings, and the media hits from that.
After that we have determinations on who gets to face charges or sanctions. At which point there will be White House firings.
After that we have trials.
After that we have sentencings.
After that we have a further wave of White House restructuring, and a whole bunch more pressure on the President himself.
And all of the above has big media implications, at each stage.
After that we have the President on record polling lows – far lower than now. And no-one in the Republican dominated Congress or Senate willing to come anywhere near him let alone propose legislation.
After that we are in to the next Presidential election.
With the whole White House swinging and attracting flies like a 6-week cow corpse hauled out of a river.
That is what the Democrat renewal programme seems to look like right now, and it seems to be going just fine.
Innuendo in the Washington Post isn’t a hit, it’s an echo. Do you think ordinary Americans read it? Trials and sentencing only follow if someone gets found guilty, and given how much of a flop Comey’s star testimony has been, it’s really not looking great – especially when you compare it to the potential which Bernie’s approach offered as an opposition strategy.
And we’re going by polls on Trump now? Isn’t this an age of learning things, or just when it gives us a narrow loss for Corbyn? If we want more Corbyns and Bernies, we have to stop pretending that perpetual losers like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are onto a winner. They’re a large part of the reason Trump won – much larger than the phantom menace of Putin.
Definitely not the optimum Democrat renewal strategy, but it;s the one history has dealt them so that’s what they have to operate with.
The Washington Post is not the only entity reporting – it’s everyone in the MSM and the main blogs. This is going to go all the way.
And don’t need to worry about whether there was actual collusion with the Russian – the charges will be about Obstruction. The cover up. Which is all these political amateurs are doing now.
Well that’s exactly my point – the investigation is not widening, it’s slaloming, and each new path comes to yet another dead end. Russia! Oops, no. Comey’s testimony! Oops, no. Obstruction! By all means hold your breath…
I don’t know what would be worse for them. To head into the midterms having spent all that sound and fury for nothing, or for nothing more than getting Flynn, Kushner, or Sessions on a minor technicality or two. Where in the real world of ordinary people would you trumpet that as a productive use of two years’ work. You think that’s the sort of thing middle Americans relate to? Oh yay, after hyped up promises and a thousand breaking news banners of Russian spies, presidential lies, impeachment, corruption, and proof of a stolen election we get …. proof Mike Flynn and Jeff Sessions told a couple of porkies, proof Jared Kushner tried to keep the intelligence services off administration comms with Russia, and maybe, just maybe, proof Trump leaned on Comey to be loyal to him and/or to leave things be with Flynn.
So I do not for a minute agree that the Democrats are making the best of the situation they’ve been given. There’s nothing wrong with letting those hearings take their course, but why are they sitting on their hands in the meantime? They clearly have no clue about how the electorate feels about work, about producing. Two years for outcomes which are already shifting into less relevant arenas? That does not make returning your local Democrat in a marginal seat look like bang for buck.
As I keep reiterating, Sanders proposed a strategy and they spurned it – probably because it was an embarrassing reminder that they chose the wrong leader, and that’s why they are where they are. He and Corbyn understand what Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and their ilk will never understand at this rate: protest without proactivity just pisses working people off, especially if it seems to amount to the square root of fuck all.
It looks to be widening by the day as Mueller stacks his team with experts in campaign finance violations, money laundering and Eastern Europe organised crime.
https://www.wired.com/story/robert-mueller-special-counsel-investigation-team/
All the while previous avenues are closing – so it’s not widening, it’s changing direction.
His own words led to the obstruction of justice investigation so perhaps he, his whelps and his proxies should STFU because every time they open their yaps, the hole gets bigger.
The GOP side of the media is already all over that element of Comey’s testimony though, and their meme majick is all over it in ways which ours will never match (honestly, the #MAGA crowd do this so much better than the online left)
https://pics.conservativememes.com/so-james-comey-can-read-donald-trumps-mind-to-find-22703057.png
I think there’s an awful lot more than Comey’s testimony behind the investigation.
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/mueller-probe-examining-whether-donald-trump-obstructed-justice-1497490897
I couldn’t read your paywalled link to an article in the Wall Street Journal, but other than the content of Comey’s testimony, what materials will they be able to call upon to determine whether there was obstruction? And even if they do determine obstruction, to what effect if the main investigation is a flop? How does that show that the Democrats have done anything of note in 2 years of opposition?
Much the same content below.
According to the Post, Mueller has reached out to NSA Director Mike Rogers, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and former NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett to voluntarily interview them as part of the obstruction inquiry. All three men have agreed, the Post said. It’s unclear whether Mueller made his request before Coats and Rogers testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. At that open hearing, both men declined to answer multiple questions from senators about their interactions with the president. The hearing came one day after the Post reported Trump had asked Coats and Rogers in March to intervene with then-director Comey to halt the Russia investigation.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/donald-trump-is-under-investigation-for-obstruction-of-justice/530412/
Cheers – interesting read. Definitely little in this for the Democrats to take credit for.
Inclined to agree with joe. It’s usually not the crime that gets them, but the cover-up.
But having said that, unseating Trump is going to be a fraught and unpredictable process. And Sanders is working hard to be in the right spot if and when something happens.
Exactly – Independent senator Sanders is working hard. The Democrats? Last I checked, Chucky Cheese was running around trying to convince Antifa protesters to become Democrats. An apt summary of how clueless they really are.
Oh the webs we weave when we seek to deceive…
Here’s another American perspective instead of the second hand news we get from our MSM and the bought and paid for CNN , FOX etc…
Comey Admits That He And Mueller Have Already Rigged The Russia …
Video for trump investigated by mueller alex jones▶ 11:54
https://willnewzealandberight.com/2017/06/15/new-zealand-wimps-out-to-israel/
We had no problems telling Israel what we thought of their illegal settlements in 2016. It was a good day to be Kiwi when Resolution 2334 was announced.
But now we hear Gerry did not support the resolution.
I am not terribly surprised, at the same time quite disgusted. Gerry knew what he was doing when he said a few weeks ago he thought the Resolution was premature.
“A man is taking former politician John Banks to court in a bid to prove the two-term Auckland mayor is his father.
However, neither the 70-year-old nor his legal representative appeared in the High Court at Auckland for the start of the case.”
“The DNA will have its say”
The man is not seeking DNA but that would settle the matter. Huh???
DNA test not orderable…but look at the photos…try growing a pair Banks front up
Banks no shows at court
http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/banks-no-show-at-paternity-case-hearing/
Hi Mod If you could push my ones out since 1.30pm I’d appreciate.
[r0b: Sometimes there isn’t a mod about, sorry. I suggested you trying making an account / logging in a while ago?]
I did try but it wasn’t proceeding as I expected and I left it. Next time it will be fine I am sure.
Give it another try and post here what happens?
I’ve been through the moderation list again and again and I have no idea why you are being caught every comment. I’ll ask lprent to have a look.
No I’ll have a try when I get time to do more unsatisfying work. Nothing I am doing at present is yielding fruitful results so have to keep pegging on with what time and energy I can muster. So I’ll have another go and it may fall into place.
This is a rant from hereon about me and on behalf of other people who don’t want their lives dominated by bloody machines and systems and apps.
I hate having to learn all the time how to do basic operations and form filling that keep changing. Everything gets more complicated when we are promised simple fast and easy.
Under the captcha in the CTU site the other day there was something about choice with three options, and I didn’t know what it referred to, I ignored it and seemed to be okay. There are little symbols for things and I don’t know what they refer to, and there is not a different symbol for each thing only a row of little oblongs that you have to interrogate with your mouse for identification.
We are asked/ordered to use computers and on-line storage more and then have to adapt to system changes needed to prevent our communications being stolen or our machine being invaded by bots or something that are under the control of some faceless entity. My bank site has been adapted to make it more difficult for nasties to hack and I now need my cellphone to give me a confirmation number that I have to enter. Good, but it now takes extra time to do anything, first find cellphone, is it charged, is it in credit etc.I Then I find that if I want to copy a bank number when making a deposit I can’t have any spaces or dashes, and I have to copy from left to right or it won’t accept the number.
There is less time available for actually thinking and doing things because you have to keep adapting to new changes to programs. It isn’t a Brave New World when everyone on line is trying to get at you and sell or steal from you. And you have to read a 10page document of Terms and Conditions before you can proceed with anything. Eddie Izzard got a huge laugh from his audience when he challenged them, – ‘I know none of you have read the T&C on anything. Ever.’