The first is entitled ‘Why Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand’
It part of the Guardian’s ‘Long read’ section and provides a lot of insight into Thiel, libertarians, their hatred of Winston Peters and tells about the company traitor Roger Douglas keeps.
One quote.
Byrt, who drew my attention to these passages, had even turned up evidence of a property deal in the mid-1990s in which a giant sheep station at the southern tip of the North Island was purchased by a conglomerate whose major shareholders included Davidson and Rees-Mogg. Also in on the deal was one Roger Douglas, the former Labour finance minister who had presided over a radical restructuring of New Zealand economy along neoliberal lines in the 1980
Wealth does not mean smarter. Chump Trump inherited his. The rich are just as gormless as the rest of us, fads happen to them too. Nz will get badly hit by climate change, the only place I figure off the top of my head that will improve, become a bread basket for the world, is the Simpson desert.
‘Is this the end of capitalism? US Federal Reserve financial safety net is gone.’
and starts in an arresting fashion
Say your prayers. We no longer have a lender of last resort fully standing behind the global financial system. The US Federal Reserve is prohibited by law from carrying out precisely those emergency actions that halted contagion and a worldwide collapse in October 2008.
It continues to explain why capitalism is in trouble and why the oncoming crash will not be mitigated until it comes to its scathing conclusion.
While one branch of western governments has created this leviathan of leverage and interlinked global asset speculation, another branch has called into question whether there will be a lender-of-last resort when the moment of reckoning finally comes. Just brilliant.
Simon Wilson makes sensible suggestions to remedy Auckland’s transport woes.
His 5 point plan
1. Create as many new dedicated bus lanes on main routes as possible. Forget permanent markings: use road cones.
2. Add as many more buses and trains as possible, right through the day, well into the night and over the weekends. Target all those big events.
3. Exclude general traffic from selected inner-city streets. Convert them to bus parks and bus routes, and allow service vehicles too. (More buses is a short-term solution, for many reasons, including that there’s nowhere to put them when they get to town. Bring on the light rail and more trains.)
4. Improve the service: good visible security and how about food and other vendors on the platforms?
5. Launch a great new marketing campaign to get people to leave their cars at home if they can. Include schools.
I’d say start to solve the transport/housing/pollution/infrastructure/poverty crisis by stopping immigration and stepping down tourism.
Nope, thought not, the screams from businesses needing to be paid $20k for a job visa will be huge, the multinational hotels and casinos, not having their cheap exploitable labour!
No of course make the local poorer people pay!
Often comments about getting more people on public transport are from people who live in the inner city and central suburbs – how about some of these AT execs randomly go from 100 different locations in the supercity in particular the outlying ones and work out how long it will take on public transport, how to get from the house to the public transport etc and then from work to another place in the city. Then do a return journey and do it for a week. See the average time it takes.
Remember the Patrick Renolds types who probably commute less than 5 minutes per day telling everyone what they should do. Get some people who actually do commute from different locations and people who don’t, time it, should be a start!
I went on a bus about 12km and it regularly takes about 45minutes that’s in inner city type suburbs. It’s not traffic it’s just the routes they take and waiting times for buses!
Then go from west Auckland, south Auckland, north shore and east Auckland and see how long it takes. If you have hours up your sleeve in your life, to take the buses good for you! The trains are much better but only go on selected routes and by all accounts are well used and successful.
With all the construction in the centre I had to ask 3 drivers who did not know at all where the bus stop had moved to last time I tried to bus back.
Also suggest someone at transport starts to swab some of the new buses for hazardous materials because I went on a newish bus that smelt like it had been made from e waste plastic.
With their order of asbestos trains who know where they are getting them from. Have they checked the safety of the buses interiors?
Nice to see another Simon getting sensible and finally climbing out of a bubble.
Perhaps next time he might be honest enough to acknowledge a pleb or too now he’s reached the heights of the legit 4th Estate acceptance. Maybe (hopefully longevity and experience) has shown him its no substitute for a glass or two of Chard and A kathryn Ryan and David Russell.
I find it hard to take him seriously though I acknowledge he’s improving with age…though I’m probably a bit biased having experienced the Burma Rd polished concrete floors and the painful freakouts and truthiness on his taking a Jolly Green Giant
Finally, Brian Fallow looks at a disturbing trend.
Another reminder that this government cannot afford to tinker.
Unless radical action is taken to undo the damaging structures that underpin neoliberalism, our problems are not going away.
‘Retired & renting – the trend isn’t comforting.’
The risk is growing that we will see more and more older people living in housing-related poverty.
That is one conclusion of the Stocktake of New Zealand’s Housing released this week. It reflects a toxic combination of trends.
One is the declining rate of home ownership, which means that more of the 65-plus age group will be renting — and that age group is growing apace as the population ages.
All the financial advisers were advising how great it was to rent in your retirement a while back and ‘free up’ your money. Yep, take all financial advice with a pinch of salt. 90% of time they are just paid to sell financial products.
Treasury warning that it might lead to fewer sales. On the other hand, some landlords have been threatening to sell all their properties if changes to tenancy laws are enacted.
Of course, now it’s the end of ‘Capitalism’ (“show me some!”), I expect all fiat currencies will collapse by say, next Thursday, so there won’t be a housing market at all /sarc.
Only 18 months ago we were in such a real estate froth that a full hard landing appeared inevitable.
Both governments have managed to deflate this slowly but surely.
It will take several years, but they have bought a little time for foolishly overstretched Kiwis to pay down private debt rather than perpetually reaching for more.
Debt is still cheap. Solution: raise interest rates. Consequences of raising interest rates: negative equity, foreclosures, etc. I like to be optimistic, and I know that short term optimism is usually stupid and wrong 🙂
‘Both governments have managed to deflate this slowly but surely.’Thank god it didn’t deflate too much before John Key cashed up in Parnell.Fantastic price,buyer had a chinese sounding surname,too.
@ Ad, Yep blame the “foolishly overstretched Kiwis to pay down private debt rather than perpetually reaching for more”.
The poor are poor because of bad decisions, those that are forced into private debt to afford a house are ‘foolish’, the government leads the way of course.
I guess the smart ones, are ones who buy in NZ for cash I expect.
Listening to Chump spouting his trite, hypocritical, predictable phrases about the latest school shooting in Florida strung together in his inimitable fashion just now on RNZ nearly made me throw up.
America is one family in our grief – tick
No school pupil or teacher should have to go through this – tick
We’re standing with you – tick
Anything you need – tick
Meaningful gun control to try to minimise the chances of this happening again as it has once a week on average for the past five years – didn’t hear that bit.
The USA is a sick society that seems incapable of keeping its citizens safe, A failed state.
This guy says 11 in the last 23 days and offers some insight into what he sees as cruel individualism that he calls stoicism. The breakdown of social connection and caring.
Americans fear that gun control will means people will come into their homes and take their guns.
This is exactly what should happen.
this is the 8th, school shooting this year and the white houses responses to say “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”
thats right, snitch and blame the victims and the community, people always say “he was a loaner”or “I knew this would happen” its a coping mechanism to categorize grief and well documented as being meaningless, no-one know the hearts of humankind and trump’s suggestion would waste police resources on pointless persecution instead of tackling the real issues.
It’s always been the guns, it always will be the gun’s and by presidential order you need to get the law enforcement to stop chasing immigrants, go into peoples homes are take the guns away.. luckily even some americans are starting to see that.
a white supremacist group has claim responsibility and “trained” the shooter, which trump ordered law enforcement to scale back on and it solely focus on Islamic groups.
and the FBI had a tip off from a you tube comment that was reported, but they could not ID the account holder. (even though his name was on the comment and school records are digitized/searchable, including past attendees.)
“It’s always been the guns, it always will be the gun’s and by presidential order you need to get the law enforcement to stop chasing immigrants, go into peoples homes are take the guns away.. luckily even some americans are starting to see that.”
I politely disagree. It’s about the lack of licensing. We have licences here, and it by and large gets it right in terms of who does or doesn’t get a licence.
What both centrist liberals and the progressive left in the USA need to do is work together to assemble the legal argument that gun licensing is not unconstitutional, and that the second amendment right to bear arms can be reasonably qualified by using licencing to better ensure the collective right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The American right will often argue that firearms owned under the second amendment do guarantee the rights derived from the first amendment – but misused, they can also threaten those rights.
So what interests me here is seeing how this issue could reawaken the American left and liberal political and legal thought around the constitution, which hasn’t really galvanized them all that much over the last few decades. But Trump has actually reawakened constitutionalism on the left. The so far successful resistance to the travel ban was proof that States Rights is not a frivolously conservative cause. Now it’s time for the American left to see what else they can accomplish when they respect their actually very robust constitution.
I offer a rebuttal, I agree licensing should be an option, but that doesn’t address the amount of guns in the hands of people who should not have them, this only addresses future sales (and gun ownership laws/licensing is done on a state by state basis, what your talking about would need to be federal)
There are two problems,
1) Lax gun ownership laws/licensing
2) the sheer amount of firearms in the US (a study in new york found that there are 102 legally owned guns per 100 people)
its too easy for the mentally disturbed or those with past criminal history to get guns, licensing increases would only fuel a blackmarket. You need to actually removed and destroy existing stocks of firearms.
A) That licensing is necessary because there are certain people who must never be allowed to own firearms of any kind on mental health grounds, or on grounds of having a criminal record.
B) Yes, there will be some shortcomings, and this one is the most significant, you’d have to either live with that, or address it with issues ranging from a buyback, to more coercive options which may in themselves cause trouble. I’m honestly open to good ideas for how you do that. But in the meantime, licensing at sets you up for a better future than a numbing repeat of the past – or present.
You’re correct it would need to be a federal law, states don’t just have their own gun ownership laws, they have their own constitutions. It wouldn’t be practical to take it on that way. You’d be looking for a federal move and it would end up being fought all the way to the supreme court, which is why you’d want some good legal minds combing over the Federalist Papers and the like to have a good argument which shows that licensing would be in keeping with the general framing of the constitution.
Only thing I feel like I disagree with in your rebuttal – though it’s not to a point I think either of us need to dig in over – is that I don’t know that the quantity of weapons in existence bothers me all that much. You can only carry so many at once, and you can only use one at a time (ok yes you can run around with a pair of pistols, but I guarantee that’s not working out for you like it does in a Hollywood film).
When it comes to a psycho doing their thing, I’d be more concerned about the guy who has drilled himself repeatedly with hours of range time on one favourite rifle and is packing a practical selection of spare mags which he’s used and checked repeatedly, rather than the standard mass shooter situation where guy goes off with gym bag full of guns he’s never used and mags he’s never tested, gets a jam two mags into his shooting spree, then blows his own brains out in a panic, leaving two unfired long arms, four unfired pistols, and a couple thousand rounds of unused ammo lying on the ground in the bag. Kind of a quality is more dangerous than quantity thing.
Still, I can see where you’re coming from in terms of the less there is in existence, the less there is to make its way into the wrong hands. That side of things does make sense and if that’s the sense in which you’re arguing for it, then I think the best option is a buyback than confiscation given the political culture you’d be dealing with. Expensive but necessary.
But as on that same article, gun restrictions did work so they can be used in combination, unfortunately US’s issue is far more problematic they have a lot more guns than australia and alot more people with the mentality that “guns are our rights” and “Need them to protect” Neither of which are true in a strict sense.
If the US did a buy back I would hypothesize that the NRA would launch a massive marketing campaign that would mean very little guns would be “bought back”
I honestly think the only option as this point would be acquisitions, then you can implement licensing laws etc.
I agree that buybacks have mixed results – but I do wonder in the Australian case how many of the firearms used there to commit crimes may in fact have been smuggled in by organized crime networks since the post-Port Arthur laws and buybacks, and may have never been legally owned in the first place. But that’s just conjecture on my part, I have little to go on based on that report.
Still, it would seem to me that the combination of going as far as you can with buy backs and reforming future ownership through licensing is as good as it gets.
“I honestly think the only option as this point would be acquisitions, then you can implement licensing laws etc.”
One thing: when you say ‘acquisitions’, you do mean ‘confiscations’, right? You mean a mass program of law enforcement agencies entering people’s homes to confiscate their weapons, right? Or something else?
Sorry for the late reply, but yes, I think if you went beyond a buyback and tried for mass confiscations, you’d get violence on an epic scale, and worse still probably resistance from law enforcement themselves.
Your right, but it’s unfortunately one of the only options left.
I was reading an article this morning about the recent school shooting and an interview with the parent, one thing that struck me as odd, “after a recent burglary They bought guns”
this epitomizes the issue, instead of adding new lock or security measures they decided firearms were the correct response, not for hunting but home defense. Stats show that firearms used in home defense are more likely to be used on the owners than the offender, as much as everyone thinks they are rambo, guns are pretty stupid weapons to use for home defense, deception, deterrents and outside intervention (police, security patrols) is far better and more effective.
But in the US, they feel they NEED guns as a form of protection from “burglars” instead of what other western nations do which is add deterrents, guns have become so much of a part of the culture that not having them is seen as weird.
But it’s quite obviously from an outsider’s perspective the cause of alot of the issues, it’s not a root cause(mental health support, the recent school shooter could not get psychological help because of the cost) but it is something that could be controlled easily with simple legislation.
yes they do, simple controls and checks as well as licensing means mass shooting happen much more infrequently.
A fun fact, Last year in the US there were more gun deaths in the US than in the entire world combined (this includes war zones)
SO what’s the difference between the rest of the world and the US, Gun control, even making getting a firearm as hard as applying for a drivers license reduces gun violence and mass shootings quite a lot, when australia introduced gun control in just two decades following the reforms, the annual rate of gun deaths fell from 2.9 per 100,000 in 1996 to 0.9 per 100,000 in 2016, there reforms were prompted after the 1996 Port arthur massacre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)
Aust has not had a single mass shooting since, gun deaths are down and there is no corresponding uptick in attacks by other types of weapons (mass bombings etc) So guns are the issue.
As a former firearms licensed holder here in Oz, gun ownership is up and firearm thief is on rise especially in the small arms aka pistols or illegal importation of them. It the illegal use small arms in the hands of the criminals that causing most if not of the firearm related deaths here in Oz.
My license was suspended when I had run down the rabbit with my PTSD, and no access to them anyway as they locked up and the lads had change the codes to the vaultand the safe for the Magazine keys.
Genter and Nash need to have a chat on driving and recreational drug use. Genter was weak in the House yesterday. NZTA are rolling out a campaign on drug-impaired crashes. Police support it.
Needs political alignment, fast, before the debate infects the legalisation legislation.
Weak in what way? If it was “weak” in the sense of wanting to find out the nature and extent of the problem before jumping on a NZTA/Police anti-drugs bandwagon, then great – let’s have a lot more of that kind of “weakness” from our ministers.
that was really interesting. Gender looks like she’s covering all the bases well, so I’m also not sure what Ad is on about. Not sure why he is criticising Gender instead of Nash, but it thought she handled that question well.
Anyone know what the impairment test is that the police already use?
Ad, why did you feel Genter was “weak” ?- I watched and agree with those here who thought her responses appropriate. She’s sharp.
Edit: I see alwyn’s snarky comment and get that he’s curmudgeonly, but you Ad? Why the negativity? What did you see?
From reading scoop last night she was all over it like pickle heat after 12hrs of wearing body armour. What got me was the fact she using evidence base lead facts to support her case unlike the other muppet shooting his mouth off. Is that typical of Mr Nash BTW?
Morning Breakfast people We should make our own choices in what policy we legerslate into law and not let USA dictate what we do. I charge my opinion of people as I learn more think more about them Obama does not make my top ten humane people I admire. He knows exactly what shonky key was doing to Maori and Atoearoa he still let shonky gain influence from his associationing with Obama. The American president gets privy to most information he knows exactly what shonky was doing. Ana to kai.
Ka kite ano
You give the US way to much credit, Who cares about NZ, in the scope of the world we are nothing, we barely rate as a world power, we have little population, almost no economic capital, no military to speak of. We may think were “hot stuff” but were not.
I still cannot login to TS from my macbook on Firefox. I get a bad request notice. then when I just try to access TS mainpage, I get the same notice – something about cannot find server.
It also seems to infect any attempt to login from Safari on my macbook for 15 minutes or so.
Please cut and paste the two error messages into a comment.
Can you please try doing a test comment using this protocol and let me know what happens?
– Make sure you are logged out
– Delete browser cookies
– Restart browser
– Make a comment with same user name but a different email address (make one up, or put 2 after your email name before the @, so you can tell them apart. TS doesn’t require valid email addresses)
– First comment will go into spam, because you are considered a new user
– Subsequent comments should go through ok
That sounds very optimistic if she is anything like my wife.
My using her tablet would be almost the equivalent of me going through her handbag.
You will notice I said “almost the equivalent” not “like me”.
I would never dare touch either object.
Lyn may be a much more obliging lady.
There’s been shit happening all day @ caroyn. Timeouts. Site un reachable. Bearing in mind tho I’m 8.5 hours behind…. but @ lprent. i wouldn’t get my knickers in a twist over a temporary network glitch that would force an obsessive/compulsive into redesigning a whole system.
The browser app is left running in a tab for a long time (overnight) and continues to make background requests via JS.
At some point, the session times out and it starts receiving redirects to refresh its session. Each of these requests is setting a new state cookie.
The Javascript code doesn’t handle this case, so it just keeps blindly sending requests and accumulating state cookies until it exceeds the max request cookie size limit and starts getting 401 errors
Clearing cookies in the browser is a working stopgap.
Yeah I did, I thought it’s the wet season/ local storms playing havoc again with the Internet today, but I was to log on to my usual other Kiwi haunts after I did the house work today
it helps when you do it for a living 🙂 the companies I work for runs 26 Ecom sites, some have wordpress integrations, it was fun looking of the page source for this state seeing how the .js was implemented.
@ greywarshark (11.2.1.2) … same here, I was unable to access TS all afternoon. Was only able to reach it this evening. Something about a problem with the local network. Other sites were fine.
Thought the Blue gremlins had sabotaged TS for a while there!
Me too. And ex Kiwi you are in Oz aren’t you?
I kept thinking of things I wanted to comment on and was discombobulated to be cut off in my prime so to speak.
weka OIDCUnAuthAction 401 needs to added to the .js path at the .html level, its not something the user needs to do, this is a site dev fixes for the known firefox bug.
I wanted to see what happened when Carolyn commented without logging in (there is a bug that affects people with logins when they try and comment without logging in).
Lissa Lucas the women who was dragged off the podium and not allowed to speak no more at a hearing on minerals, speaks to Jimmy Dore. 19.10 minute video. Centerists should avoid, as this involves a discussion on removing money from politics, and it might just hurt their feelings.
Tax cuts. Inflated property prices & rents further fuelled by hyper-immigration. Wage suppression through hyper-immigration. Don’t ask to me to go on, please!
The government’s legislative program can be found on Parliament’s website. You’re the one whining, so it’s up to you to say where you think it’s deficient.
Or you can continue to be a lazy and passive-aggressive concern troll.
Nope.
No press release to match your requirements.
No phone calls to tell caucus members how to suck eggs.
Probably not so much as a peep.
And no “excuse” needed at all.
Why, I hear you concern troll?
Because the Greens have been doing this longer and more successfully than you have. Not only do they not need your advice or to meet your demands, following it would result in a constant, bland whining about the smallest procedural, regulatory, and supervisory events that most bureaucrats wouldn’t want to envisage, and it would therefore give the greens the electorate appeal of a small off-yellow puddle of cat puke.
Well, mostly because it’s an expectation that the Greens should serve your priorities and expectations, and if they do not satisfy your expectations 100% then they are being inadequate in some way. Check that privilege.
But I also suspect that if the Greens had released a statement abouteach corrections report released that day, you would have found some other government publication or media event that the Greens had failed to give attention to, and you’d have written another of your boilerplate demands about that.
So in order to prevent these formulaic criticisms from you (and only you), the Greens would be releasing 2k press releases a day about the most minute crap imaginable, and their actual priorities would be lost in the flood.
“Well, mostly because it’s an expectation that the Greens should serve your priorities and expectations…”
Seriously? Your logic is messed up. I’m far from the only person concerned about the state of our prisons. Moreover, I’m sure the Greens don’t condone the failings highlighted in the reports. So to suggest it’s only my expectation they publicly address these findings is totally ludicrous.
Evidently, it’s your attempt to diminish this failure by the Greens by painting it as solely my expectation.
And no, I don’t expect them to release a press release over the most minute crap imaginable.
Damned near every day you have something that you believe the Greens need to “up their game” on. If not them then Labour.
The issue isn’t that you care about prisons. The issue isn’t even that you think the Greens should have paid it more attention. The issue is that you ignore what they do say in order to criticise that they haven’t addressed your issue of the day.
If I were a cynic, I’d say that it’s interesting how you’re always finding the thing that day that the Greens didn’t comment on loudly enough for your satisfaction. It’s almost like you look at their daily activities and then look through the news for something they haven’t mentioned.
The fact there are a number of issues frequently requiring our attention is largely a reflection of their failings and the overall mess our country is in.
Nor is it merely my belief there are certain issues requiring them to up their game.
When it comes to them getting it right, clearly they don’t require help, hence I largely don’t bother commenting. There are plenty of cheerleaders for that. Unfortunately there is not as many when it comes to holding their feet to the fire. Which, as voters we should feel obliged to do.
I genuinely care about the issues raised, which is why I raise them. Moreover, they are not just my issue of the day.
Take these two reports, I didn’t make them a media story. And if you follow the news and Green Party press releases, you’ll see there is a lot of news they don’t comment on. Hence, a lot I don’t pull them up on.
And yet you still turn up regularly with your quota of complaints.
Your choice of the expression “hold their feet to the fire” is strangely appropriate: torture is almost always useless, and its use indicates more about the shortcomings of the torturer than the victim.
You appeal to nobody. Public pressure has an effect when it increases from normal levels. The low-level hum of discontent that you represent is constant, but also remarkably concentrated only around you and folk like Tanz or PR.
At best, you’ll just bore the political interest out of people. Which is the opposite of applying pressure.
Like frequently occurring zits, one has to address the cause for them to totally go away.
And again, it’s not just me. Hence, the issues raised do have public appeal (such as the state of our prisons). They wouldn’t be news worthy if they didn’t.
Personally, I may not appeal to anybody, it’s all rather subjective really. But I sure as hell get your (and a few others on here) attention.
At the end of the day, it’s not about me. It’s about the issues being raised. Attempting to make it all about me (and a couple of others) simply ignores the larger discontent that’s out there.
Don’t confuse “public interest” with “public appeal”.
Let’s contrast the Greens today with Labour under Shearer – now there was “larger discontent”, reflected in the polls for years and with a solid half dozen to dozen commenters railing against the inadequacies they perceived, multiple times a day. Each and every one of them was pissed.
The Greens today? Pretty much just you. On a daily basis. If there’s a genuine level of unrest within Green support, they sure seem to be doing well at hiding it.
I’m not. But you seem to be overlooking the two largely go hand in hand. Things people have no interest in, don’t tend to appeal to them.
It very well may be pretty much just me, on here. But not out there. And the Greens would be foolish to overlook that.
As I’ve highlighted before, the Greens have obtained the most political power they have ever had. They have ministerial positions and outlined their 20 goal plan with Labour. Yet, no surge in support.
Whereas, after Meteria’s announcement, their support surged to one of their highest ratings ever. So despite their current political wins, they are not resonating as they once did.
In fact, their support dropped in the latest poll. And there is no hiding that.
Was that the 18–28 Jan 2018 Newshub Reid Research poll? Had 6% from the previous 7% poll? Because that margin for error for a thousand-sample poll looks like 1.5% or so @ ~5%. Without rounding, either – you could be whinging about a 6.5% vs 6.4% “drop”.
If that’s the drop you’re talking about, it’s a good example of your concern trolling. They’ve had two post-election polls in the 10% range, one at 7, and the last at 6%, about the same as on election night.
As for Green support “surging” after Turei made her announcement, they went from their existing 13% to 15%, waivered, then fell.
By the way, I can’t see any comments from you in the Turei-tagged posts around that time. Were you not interested in it?
edit: nothing in this comment should be taken to indicate that even if I thought the Greens were in trouble I would think that they should follow your demands. They shouldn’t. Your advice is as bullshit as your interpretation of stats.
Yes, it was only a slight drop. Nevertheless, it is was a drop. Even if it was within the margin of error.
The point here is their support should have increased considering their political wins (which includes their 20 goal plan). But it didn’t. Not even within the margin of error. Hence, there is something for them to worry about.
It was a 4% surge for the Greens from 11% to 15% after Meteria’s announcement.
And I commented on the matter.
Yes, tell the Greens not to listen to me and lets watch them further fall.
Latest 1 news Colmar Brunton. Greens down 2%. Now polling at 5%.
A “drop” within the margin for error by definition might not be a drop at all.
Who says “their support should have increased”? Other than you? It’s not like the Greens have been monopolising media coverage.
As for the “surge” – you’re only looking at Colmar Brunton, aren’t you? You’re skipping the Roy Morgan that had the Greens on 13.5% before Turei’s announcement. Shit like that makes me think your motives aren’t as pure as you claim.
A as far as the poll is concerned, it was a registered drop (albeit within the margin of error).
And that in it self wouldn’t mean much. But as you are aware, I’m not looking at it within itself.
The feedback I’ve had suggested their support will fall and the latest Colmar Brunton further confirms this.
“Who says “their support should have increased”
Logic. As explained above.
Moreover, as they have largely outlined what they plan to achieve this term (their 20 goal plan) they are going to struggle to regrow their support without upping their game and doing more.
I look at all the polls. But yes, I was referring to the Colmar Brunton, which, offhand, produced their largest surge at that time.
My motives are simple. I want to see the Greens up their game, grow their support, while remaining a party of the left.
That’s not logic. It’s a blinkered warping of reality.
The Greens are a junior partner in the coalition. They’ve achieved agreement to implement a number of their policies, but the implementation hasn’t happened for a lot of them. Labour’s been in a 100days rush. National is fracturing.
And you think the Greens should be gaining ground in that PR environment, rather than drifting 2% in three polls.
Oh, yes, and you cherry pick the poll results to suit your narrative.
Thanks for your concern, but you’re either lying about your motives or you’re a political idiot. Either way your advice is worthless.
The logic is solid, therefore I disagree. They’ve obtained there largest political gains ever, therefore it’s logical to assume their support would reflect that.
The fact that it isn’t points to it failing to resonate. And this shouldn’t be taken lightly. Doing so will be at their own peril.
And while their goals are yet to be implemented, they’ve already been outlined. Therefore, when it comes to implementing them, it will merely be seen as a rehash of their initial intent and look as if they have nothing new to offer. Which will go on (20 goals) to further damage their support.
All the polls had an upsurge at the time (some more than others) therefore, they all suited my narrative.
Yes, keep telling everyone my advise is worthless and we’ll see how well they go repeating what they are currently doing.
peril?! nooooooooooo!!!!
Political exposure doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
“All the polls” continued the Greens’ previous increases in popularity until a couple of polls after Turei’s announcement. There wasn’t a sudden change in the trend until the mud started being slung.
Anyway, ok. You keep giving useless advice, and I’ll keep pointing out your cherry-picked stats and constant narrative of doom.
Up until Turei’s announcement, the Greens were struggling to get media cut through. So a vacuum indeed.
After the cracks in her story started to shine through, the media frenzy was really on. And while the media are culpable to some extent, what really hurt the Green’s support was Turei standing down, along with their management of the whole saga.
In a matter of weeks (or was that days) she went from standing up for the poor to abandoning them. Which, of course, let a lot of people down. Her back story was coming apart and she couldn’t get away quick enough.
“You keep giving useless advice, and I’ll keep pointing out your cherry-picked stats and constant narrative of doom.”
Yes, I will continue to highlight the issues, provide my advice and offer viable alternatives, as you carry on with your diminishing and smearing tactics while all along ignoring their loss of support.
And with such a welcoming reception, it’s no wonder why more don’t come here to express their concerns. For the less capable, people like you are rather threatening, hence a deterrent.
You say that, but pretty much the only person who expects them to decline is you.
In 2020, especially if they ignore your advice, the Greens will most likely be well above their 2017 election tally. Unless you think the last 20 years of mounting popularity will be negated by one muckraking episode a couple of months out from an election.
Get real. I wasn’t calling you dear, egg. It was a typo.
“You say that, but pretty much the only person who expects them to decline is you.”
That’s what the feedback suggests, and it’s been spot on thus far.
Remember, it predicted this current fall while you were in total denial. As you are now.
Moreover, the Turei saga was only one episode. To date, there has been more.
As explained throughout our discussions, the Greens are not bringing their A game. They’ve already outlined their goals, thus at this stage, have little more to offer.
And it is all of this combined, that the expectation is based upon.
As for your ruminations, it might predict falls, but when did you last predict a rise? Clocks running backwards are right more often than stopped clocks.
But I’ve said repeatedly that even without your cherry-picking (and ain’t you lucky the margin for error in the poll fell your way this time), the polls are irrelevant for the next 18 months anyway. I expect this to be the low area for the Greens, because they’re in it for the long term and have more solid support than your pessimism suggests.
Labour’s in pride of place now, and rightfully so. They grabbed victory when, frankly, I expected them to get bollocked in the election when Little resigned. ISTR your “lift their game” halitosis was aimed at them for some time last year – what were your polling predictions then?
As I said above, unless they take action. Hence, at this stage, they still have time to do that. So in 18 months, there may be a turnaround.
If it wasn’t for Jacinda and her cult of personality, Labour would have got hammered, as expected. And at the end they knew it, hence the last-minute change of leadership.
I was listening to Jacinda the other day. She was pointing to giving the Greens credit and acknowledgment (for policy they initiated such as the Green investment fund) as a means of growing their support. Implying once that was on the way they should see some turnaround.
However, that has already been announced in their 20 goal plan. Which has been widely touted.
Moreover, a plan outlined is not the same as implementing one. Which, of course, runs the risk of things going wrong. Hence, may backfire.
And going off the Greens management skills of late, they are really going to require to produce their A game if they want to avoid stuffing up.
Additionally, I expect Labour to further disappoint. Hence, the Greens should pick up some support off them.
You expect Labour “further disappoint” and “Greens should pick up some support off them”. Therefore if the Greens keep doing what they’re doing, we will see them grow rather than further fall.
Labour have already created some rather large disappointments to date, yet the Greens have gone down.
With the Jacinda effect still largely taking hold, this will take time to filter through. In the meantime, the Greens can’t afford to further fall. Hence, will require to up their game in the process.
Especially as they are widely known for polling higher than what they get on election day.
They really can’t fall much further. So unless you’re suggesting that the growth in support the Greens will gain from Labour being such a disappointment will actually be trivially small, really if the Greens do absolutely nothing the Greens will end up rising in the polls.
No advice needed at all, according to your expectations.
Why not? What’s your reasoning for this assertion?
“So unless you’re suggesting that the growth in support the Greens will gain from Labour being such a disappointment will actually be trivially small, really if the Greens do absolutely nothing the Greens will end up rising in the polls.”
No.
As I explained above, for the Greens to secure the disgruntled Labour vote (which will take some time to filter through) they need to up their game, thus current support so as to not be perceived as a wasted vote.
The maximum logical distance they can fall from the last poll is ~5%, because they can’t have negative popularity.
Therefore, if the Green growth in support from Labour being such a tragic disappointment is >5%, the Greens’ support must grow from its present point. So your advice is useless if the objective is to prevent a further fall in Green support.
If you’re expecting less than 5% growth in Green support from Labour being so horribly disappointing, well, that’s an amount of “growth” that’s close to the margin for error. So really you’re expecting growth in support that might be undetectable. Which seems to be a worthless prediction.
So it seems that at the very least either your advice is useless at preventing a further fall in support, or your predictions are unverifiable and therefore worthless. I suspect both, but each to their own. Your self-proclaimed mission is redundant.
“The maximum logical distance they can fall from the last poll is ~5%, because they can’t have negative popularity.”
Yes, but that doesn’t explain your assertion they can’t fall much further that what they are currently polling at.
“Therefore, if the Green growth in support from Labour being such a tragic disappointment is >5%, the Greens’ support must grow from its present point.”
You are overlooking the time it will take for the Jacinda effect to wear off. In which time (as I’ve explained extensively above) they risk further falling. At which point, by the time the Jacinda effect wears off, the Green’s support may be so low they will no longer be a viable option for that disgruntled Labour vote.
Which is why they need to up their game and grow their support now.
Whereas if a margin-for-error drop in Labour support goes over to the Greens, that’s 3.5% for almost no detectable drop in Labour popularity.
Are you predicting that the Greens will fall to <1.5% (still a fuckall drop in the greater scheme of things) if they don't follow your every direction?
Indeed. Which is why even at 5% they risk no longer being a viable option for the disgruntled Labour vote come election day.
Therefore, they don’t really have to fall any further to be considered a risk, deterring the Labour vote from crossing over.
So yes, at this stage I’m predicting they will further fall unless they up their game. But, again at this stage, I’m unable to put an exact number on how large or small that fall will be.
*Sincerely, with a tear of disappointment in the corner of his eye
“I was hoping the Greens would be better than that.”
*Sobs, quietly, so no one will notice
The Greens have lost their way. They once cared deeply for the homeless homers. Now…
… Shaw! He’s at the bottom of this! Shaw!!!
The coalition’s a farce – bring back Bill!!!
The leading law firm has been named winner of ‘Best Gender Diversity Initiative by National Firm’ at last night’s IFLR Euromoney Legal Media Group Asia Women in Business Law Awards, held in Hong Kong.
Russell McVeagh senior partner and board member Sarah Armstrong said the award highlights the firm’s success in implementing and supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives and progress of its long-term, firm-wide Diversity Project, launched in 2014.
Meanwhile on Newsroom
What we know so far is that five female clerks have made a series of claims, ranging from serious sexual assault to sexual harassment, while they were employed at top-tier law firm Russell McVeagh in Wellington.
Interesting how the two stories are so different.
Calling on NZ Government to stop giving work to any lawyers working under the banner of law firm Russell McVeagh
The firm acts for 11 of the NZX 15 companies, and New Zealand’s major corporates, including numerous energy and utilities companies, all of New Zealand’s retail banks, and New Zealand’s largest company and largest listed company.
These companies should stop giving work to any lawyers working under the banner of law firm Russell McVeagh
They won’t change unless it hurts them in the pocket.
I say go after the big fish first, they are clearly at fault. They want to say “everyone is doing it” do not play into their PR spin. THey are the ones doing it. Stop them first.
“What’s black and brown and looks good on a lawyer? A doberman.”
In reality, government decisions can be challenged in court. I have no axe to grind for RMcV or any other dog-food, and I wonder about the timing of this “hit”, and note that “Plan B” hasn’t commented since my question about their interests.
Labour looking at revamping abortion laws. Not just decriminalising, but things like where it can be performed (RU486) and the triple-consultation requirement and making referrals mandatory.
Cue the concern-o-bots worried that improving access to healthcare will get in the way of ‘real’ issues…
You have to wonder what sort of country we are becoming, certainly not clean and green. And why do we have laws that allow a resource consent to proceed when they don’t even have access in place for the mine and are relying on taking conservation land for that purpose. (but clearly breaking up the consent aka steal our harbour style).
Having to fight these bad consents and our pathetic RMA plunder at will rules, removes valuable community money and resources which could be better spent on actually helping our forests and birds not stopping their habitat being threatened on a weekly basis by bad resource consents!
Remember Pike River, fully consented death trap! NZ are turning into primitive yokels.
It’s battle and fight and justify and fight and petition and deny and battle and march and protest and promise and argue and weak legislation to paper over and it’s ignore and drink up and listen to the stockmarket reports and check bank balances and consult with tax accountants and order a new car and think about a small plane, and ignore laggards and whiners. What do they know?
Where are the Green Party on this? If they were more media present on this type of issue then it might help to reassure their missing 100,000, as well as preserve the environment.
Is Labour going to coast along thinking they can implant the Natz agenda, and Jacinda will distract the public from that like JK’s barbecues?
If more people had voted for them, they wouldn’t be spread so thin. But in this case I think that because the Minister of Conservation is a Green MP, the Greens have obligations including acting within the agreement with Labour. So Eugenie Sage needs to act within her roles as Minister i.e. she’s part of the government. If another Green MP spoke out on this, they risk speaking against their own MP and Minister. I think what is happening here is that the Greens now do their work though government, except where a portfolio sits outside of that role.
I assume the Greens (and Labour) don’t want to interfere with due process. If we’re talking about the proposed mine in the Buller, then the permission granted this week was by the High Court. The government can’t just override that. As Patricia points out, the government will need to strengthen laws around this. I’m guessing that this mine was already in the pipeline before the govt changed. I hope they stop it, but I don’t think it’s a simple as some people think.
The mining company still needs to get resources consent from the local councils. And then it needs consent to access the site over conservation land. I assume DOC will decide on that. Given DOC’s history of taking a neutral rather than protective stance in similar situations, I’ll be very interested to see if that changes under the new Minister. I’ve never really been clear where DOC’s directive was coming from on that in the past i.e. legislatively mandated, or from the Minister or what.
Immediately stop using all metal objects. Allow only wood or stone materials in your life.
Especially stop using the internet as it relies on electricity that is conducted everywhere by that demon metal copper. In fact anything electronic which uses all manner of metals
If everybody did this immediately the world would be such a better, less destructive place.
I see in the Herald online that Avon Cosmetics are shutting shop in Australasia after 55 years here. The company obviously think we are not paying our way down here. No warnings and now 220 staff and 21,400 representatives are without a job – that is a big chunk of the workforce now looking for work.
Apart from a huge upset for their customers obviously its just a day at the office for the restructuring team who has orchestrated this. How much profit is too much profit –
jobs are just severed without a bye your leave.
Can you please clarify who the ‘we’ is in that sentence?
Does it include the Avon employees? Or is it just you speaking in the (royal) third person?
Once the ‘we’ is defined then some other questions might open up – like the responsibilities of each member of the ‘we’ towards other members of the ‘we’.
I don’t want your condolences you f—–g piece of s–t, my friends and teachers were shot. Multiple of my fellow classmates are dead. Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won’t fix this. But Gun control will prevent it from happening again,
About my tweet directed to president trump, I apologize for the profanity and harsh comment I made. I hope you know I’m a grieving 16 year old girl who lost friends, teachers, and peers yesterday. I was and am still angry. I am apologizing for my comment but not for my anger.— sarah (@sarahchad_) February 15, 2018
My phone was down I couldn’t get thestandard.org.nz website I tx the Rock radio station about my problem and walar I can get thestandard.org.nz sandflys are at it again Ana to kai
The University of Canterbury academic’s home was broken into on Wednesday. Three laptops, including one on which she wrote the paper, two cellphones and an encrypted memory stick from her last trip to China were taken.
Brady also received a letter this week – since handed on to police, who were also investigating the break-in – warning her of “what was going on” and saying she would be attacked.
“China hasn’t had to pressure New Zealand to accept China’s soft power activities and political influence. The New Zealand government has actively courted it,”
Professor Anne-Marie Brady says “associates in China had been brought in for questioning by the country’s Ministry of State Security”. “Principles” are only tested when there’s risk involved. Like, for example, our nuclear free policy.
As a small country, we “owe service” (Lao Tzu). There’s a difference between service and vassal status. If Professor Brady’s concerns are valid, it’s time there was some overt push-back.
And here is Matt Nippert on it -we get to see the honorable investigative journalist himself in the vid at the link – recorded after the release of the research paper, and before our elections.
If Nippert says it’s scary stuff (as he did on twitter today), then we should be worried.
In her research, Brady sets out connections between former political figures and Chinese interests, including former National leader Dr Don Brash, former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley and former Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker.
And Judith Collins, who has Chinese commercial influences of her own, is campaigning to be Nat leader.
Congratulations to South Africa New president Cyril Ramaphosa ECO MAORI know that you will be a humble humane president that gets the big picture he tangata he tangata give the people a bright happy future and all will be well
Hillary & Jeremy I tried a sugar supplement starting feeling a the side effects I Google them and what do you know one side effects is it causes cancer.
You no what they say about a plump man it’s true PS I will cut down on my sugar when I sue the police ka kite ano
I Google my high blood pressure pills an the side effects are huge on should Google all the medication you are given as the doctor doesn’t tell you the side effects at least you will know what to expect Ka kite ano
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Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
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Some excellent articles in the papers today.
The first is entitled ‘Why Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand’
It part of the Guardian’s ‘Long read’ section and provides a lot of insight into Thiel, libertarians, their hatred of Winston Peters and tells about the company traitor Roger Douglas keeps.
One quote.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/15/why-silicon-valley-billionaires-are-prepping-for-the-apocalypse-in-new-zealand
Wealth does not mean smarter. Chump Trump inherited his. The rich are just as gormless as the rest of us, fads happen to them too. Nz will get badly hit by climate change, the only place I figure off the top of my head that will improve, become a bread basket for the world, is the Simpson desert.
The second has an arresting title.
‘Is this the end of capitalism? US Federal Reserve financial safety net is gone.’
and starts in an arresting fashion
It continues to explain why capitalism is in trouble and why the oncoming crash will not be mitigated until it comes to its scathing conclusion.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/101494449/is-this-the-end-of-capitalism-us-federal-reserve-financial-safety-net-is-gone
Third article of note.
Simon Wilson makes sensible suggestions to remedy Auckland’s transport woes.
His 5 point plan
1. Create as many new dedicated bus lanes on main routes as possible. Forget permanent markings: use road cones.
2. Add as many more buses and trains as possible, right through the day, well into the night and over the weekends. Target all those big events.
3. Exclude general traffic from selected inner-city streets. Convert them to bus parks and bus routes, and allow service vehicles too. (More buses is a short-term solution, for many reasons, including that there’s nowhere to put them when they get to town. Bring on the light rail and more trains.)
4. Improve the service: good visible security and how about food and other vendors on the platforms?
5. Launch a great new marketing campaign to get people to leave their cars at home if they can. Include schools.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11995364
I’d say start to solve the transport/housing/pollution/infrastructure/poverty crisis by stopping immigration and stepping down tourism.
Nope, thought not, the screams from businesses needing to be paid $20k for a job visa will be huge, the multinational hotels and casinos, not having their cheap exploitable labour!
No of course make the local poorer people pay!
Often comments about getting more people on public transport are from people who live in the inner city and central suburbs – how about some of these AT execs randomly go from 100 different locations in the supercity in particular the outlying ones and work out how long it will take on public transport, how to get from the house to the public transport etc and then from work to another place in the city. Then do a return journey and do it for a week. See the average time it takes.
Remember the Patrick Renolds types who probably commute less than 5 minutes per day telling everyone what they should do. Get some people who actually do commute from different locations and people who don’t, time it, should be a start!
I went on a bus about 12km and it regularly takes about 45minutes that’s in inner city type suburbs. It’s not traffic it’s just the routes they take and waiting times for buses!
Then go from west Auckland, south Auckland, north shore and east Auckland and see how long it takes. If you have hours up your sleeve in your life, to take the buses good for you! The trains are much better but only go on selected routes and by all accounts are well used and successful.
With all the construction in the centre I had to ask 3 drivers who did not know at all where the bus stop had moved to last time I tried to bus back.
Also suggest someone at transport starts to swab some of the new buses for hazardous materials because I went on a newish bus that smelt like it had been made from e waste plastic.
With their order of asbestos trains who know where they are getting them from. Have they checked the safety of the buses interiors?
Nice to see another Simon getting sensible and finally climbing out of a bubble.
Perhaps next time he might be honest enough to acknowledge a pleb or too now he’s reached the heights of the legit 4th Estate acceptance. Maybe (hopefully longevity and experience) has shown him its no substitute for a glass or two of Chard and A kathryn Ryan and David Russell.
I find it hard to take him seriously though I acknowledge he’s improving with age…though I’m probably a bit biased having experienced the Burma Rd polished concrete floors and the painful freakouts and truthiness on his taking a Jolly Green Giant
Finally, Brian Fallow looks at a disturbing trend.
Another reminder that this government cannot afford to tinker.
Unless radical action is taken to undo the damaging structures that underpin neoliberalism, our problems are not going away.
‘Retired & renting – the trend isn’t comforting.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11995035
Or they will sell up, buy a moto rhome or caravan and become NZ’s snow birds, similar to the American scene, complete with villages.
All ready for the next tornado I hope
All the financial advisers were advising how great it was to rent in your retirement a while back and ‘free up’ your money. Yep, take all financial advice with a pinch of salt. 90% of time they are just paid to sell financial products.
Bet they’re all planning to own their own home(s)
Good to see the CGT bright line test extended to five years.
Treasury warning that it might lead to fewer sales. On the other hand, some landlords have been threatening to sell all their properties if changes to tenancy laws are enacted.
Of course, now it’s the end of ‘Capitalism’ (“show me some!”), I expect all fiat currencies will collapse by say, next Thursday, so there won’t be a housing market at all /sarc.
It’s a tweak, but a good tweak.
Only 18 months ago we were in such a real estate froth that a full hard landing appeared inevitable.
Both governments have managed to deflate this slowly but surely.
It will take several years, but they have bought a little time for foolishly overstretched Kiwis to pay down private debt rather than perpetually reaching for more.
Debt is still cheap. Solution: raise interest rates. Consequences of raising interest rates: negative equity, foreclosures, etc. I like to be optimistic, and I know that short term optimism is usually stupid and wrong 🙂
Don Brash hiked interest rates back in the 1990’s and all it did was lengthen the Dole and food bank queues
Hence the remark about optimism.
‘Both governments have managed to deflate this slowly but surely.’Thank god it didn’t deflate too much before John Key cashed up in Parnell.Fantastic price,buyer had a chinese sounding surname,too.
Yes we noticed that self serving action. Total tosser.
@ Ad, Yep blame the “foolishly overstretched Kiwis to pay down private debt rather than perpetually reaching for more”.
The poor are poor because of bad decisions, those that are forced into private debt to afford a house are ‘foolish’, the government leads the way of course.
I guess the smart ones, are ones who buy in NZ for cash I expect.
I suspect it’s more the middle class overstretching on the mortgage, than the poor
Its not all bad. Number 3 seems like a positive note.
By this time next Thursday, we’ll all be millionaires. I plan to short the market just after I do the laundry.
Just don’t forget, to do the laundry I mean.
Buy buy buy !
Listening to Chump spouting his trite, hypocritical, predictable phrases about the latest school shooting in Florida strung together in his inimitable fashion just now on RNZ nearly made me throw up.
America is one family in our grief – tick
No school pupil or teacher should have to go through this – tick
We’re standing with you – tick
Anything you need – tick
Meaningful gun control to try to minimise the chances of this happening again as it has once a week on average for the past five years – didn’t hear that bit.
The USA is a sick society that seems incapable of keeping its citizens safe, A failed state.
America is a plutocracy.
America is a rogue state.
Reports vary as to whether it’s the eighth or eighteenth school shooting this year.
If you ask me, they need better access to mental health services, and a lower GINI.
The shootings are now so regular, it would actually be news to say there were no mass shootings today.
This guy says 11 in the last 23 days and offers some insight into what he sees as cruel individualism that he calls stoicism. The breakdown of social connection and caring.
https://eand.co/why-is-america-the-rich-worlds-most-ultraviolent-society-2d9f0fa084c6
Miss 13 was asking about it, she now knows about the NRA and gun lobbies etc.
She was shocked to discover that money is more important than life in ‘Murica.
Americans fear that gun control will means people will come into their homes and take their guns.
This is exactly what should happen.
this is the 8th, school shooting this year and the white houses responses to say “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/964110212885106689
thats right, snitch and blame the victims and the community, people always say “he was a loaner”or “I knew this would happen” its a coping mechanism to categorize grief and well documented as being meaningless, no-one know the hearts of humankind and trump’s suggestion would waste police resources on pointless persecution instead of tackling the real issues.
It’s always been the guns, it always will be the gun’s and by presidential order you need to get the law enforcement to stop chasing immigrants, go into peoples homes are take the guns away.. luckily even some americans are starting to see that.
additional http://washingtonpress.com/2018/02/15/white-supremacist-militia-just-admitted-trained-florida-school-shooter/
a white supremacist group has claim responsibility and “trained” the shooter, which trump ordered law enforcement to scale back on and it solely focus on Islamic groups.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-extremists-program-exclusiv/exclusive-trump-to-focus-counter-extremism-program-solely-on-islam-sources-idUSKBN15G5VO
and the FBI had a tip off from a you tube comment that was reported, but they could not ID the account holder. (even though his name was on the comment and school records are digitized/searchable, including past attendees.)
https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/964167990643216384/photo/1
it was the most recent school shooter, so much for report to authorities.
Where’s Antione? We need an American apologist to come along about now
Me?? I never comment on American stuff
“It’s always been the guns, it always will be the gun’s and by presidential order you need to get the law enforcement to stop chasing immigrants, go into peoples homes are take the guns away.. luckily even some americans are starting to see that.”
I politely disagree. It’s about the lack of licensing. We have licences here, and it by and large gets it right in terms of who does or doesn’t get a licence.
What both centrist liberals and the progressive left in the USA need to do is work together to assemble the legal argument that gun licensing is not unconstitutional, and that the second amendment right to bear arms can be reasonably qualified by using licencing to better ensure the collective right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The American right will often argue that firearms owned under the second amendment do guarantee the rights derived from the first amendment – but misused, they can also threaten those rights.
So what interests me here is seeing how this issue could reawaken the American left and liberal political and legal thought around the constitution, which hasn’t really galvanized them all that much over the last few decades. But Trump has actually reawakened constitutionalism on the left. The so far successful resistance to the travel ban was proof that States Rights is not a frivolously conservative cause. Now it’s time for the American left to see what else they can accomplish when they respect their actually very robust constitution.
I offer a rebuttal, I agree licensing should be an option, but that doesn’t address the amount of guns in the hands of people who should not have them, this only addresses future sales (and gun ownership laws/licensing is done on a state by state basis, what your talking about would need to be federal)
There are two problems,
1) Lax gun ownership laws/licensing
2) the sheer amount of firearms in the US (a study in new york found that there are 102 legally owned guns per 100 people)
its too easy for the mentally disturbed or those with past criminal history to get guns, licensing increases would only fuel a blackmarket. You need to actually removed and destroy existing stocks of firearms.
Oh yes, I agree with these two things:
A) That licensing is necessary because there are certain people who must never be allowed to own firearms of any kind on mental health grounds, or on grounds of having a criminal record.
B) Yes, there will be some shortcomings, and this one is the most significant, you’d have to either live with that, or address it with issues ranging from a buyback, to more coercive options which may in themselves cause trouble. I’m honestly open to good ideas for how you do that. But in the meantime, licensing at sets you up for a better future than a numbing repeat of the past – or present.
You’re correct it would need to be a federal law, states don’t just have their own gun ownership laws, they have their own constitutions. It wouldn’t be practical to take it on that way. You’d be looking for a federal move and it would end up being fought all the way to the supreme court, which is why you’d want some good legal minds combing over the Federalist Papers and the like to have a good argument which shows that licensing would be in keeping with the general framing of the constitution.
Only thing I feel like I disagree with in your rebuttal – though it’s not to a point I think either of us need to dig in over – is that I don’t know that the quantity of weapons in existence bothers me all that much. You can only carry so many at once, and you can only use one at a time (ok yes you can run around with a pair of pistols, but I guarantee that’s not working out for you like it does in a Hollywood film).
When it comes to a psycho doing their thing, I’d be more concerned about the guy who has drilled himself repeatedly with hours of range time on one favourite rifle and is packing a practical selection of spare mags which he’s used and checked repeatedly, rather than the standard mass shooter situation where guy goes off with gym bag full of guns he’s never used and mags he’s never tested, gets a jam two mags into his shooting spree, then blows his own brains out in a panic, leaving two unfired long arms, four unfired pistols, and a couple thousand rounds of unused ammo lying on the ground in the bag. Kind of a quality is more dangerous than quantity thing.
Still, I can see where you’re coming from in terms of the less there is in existence, the less there is to make its way into the wrong hands. That side of things does make sense and if that’s the sense in which you’re arguing for it, then I think the best option is a buyback than confiscation given the political culture you’d be dealing with. Expensive but necessary.
unfortuntly gun-buyback don’t really work (inconclusive), Evidence: https://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-did-government-gun-buybacks-reduce-the-number-of-gun-deaths-in-australia-85836
But as on that same article, gun restrictions did work so they can be used in combination, unfortunately US’s issue is far more problematic they have a lot more guns than australia and alot more people with the mentality that “guns are our rights” and “Need them to protect” Neither of which are true in a strict sense.
If the US did a buy back I would hypothesize that the NRA would launch a massive marketing campaign that would mean very little guns would be “bought back”
I honestly think the only option as this point would be acquisitions, then you can implement licensing laws etc.
I agree that buybacks have mixed results – but I do wonder in the Australian case how many of the firearms used there to commit crimes may in fact have been smuggled in by organized crime networks since the post-Port Arthur laws and buybacks, and may have never been legally owned in the first place. But that’s just conjecture on my part, I have little to go on based on that report.
Still, it would seem to me that the combination of going as far as you can with buy backs and reforming future ownership through licensing is as good as it gets.
“I honestly think the only option as this point would be acquisitions, then you can implement licensing laws etc.”
One thing: when you say ‘acquisitions’, you do mean ‘confiscations’, right? You mean a mass program of law enforcement agencies entering people’s homes to confiscate their weapons, right? Or something else?
Unfortunate yes, you could start with a buyback programs, but it will most likely comes to forcible removal.
I have a fair idea how that will play out… war.
Sorry for the late reply, but yes, I think if you went beyond a buyback and tried for mass confiscations, you’d get violence on an epic scale, and worse still probably resistance from law enforcement themselves.
Your right, but it’s unfortunately one of the only options left.
I was reading an article this morning about the recent school shooting and an interview with the parent, one thing that struck me as odd, “after a recent burglary They bought guns”
this epitomizes the issue, instead of adding new lock or security measures they decided firearms were the correct response, not for hunting but home defense. Stats show that firearms used in home defense are more likely to be used on the owners than the offender, as much as everyone thinks they are rambo, guns are pretty stupid weapons to use for home defense, deception, deterrents and outside intervention (police, security patrols) is far better and more effective.
But in the US, they feel they NEED guns as a form of protection from “burglars” instead of what other western nations do which is add deterrents, guns have become so much of a part of the culture that not having them is seen as weird.
But it’s quite obviously from an outsider’s perspective the cause of alot of the issues, it’s not a root cause(mental health support, the recent school shooter could not get psychological help because of the cost) but it is something that could be controlled easily with simple legislation.
So how would gun control laws have prevented this from happening? Gun control laws don’t stop bad people from obtaining guns.
yes they do, simple controls and checks as well as licensing means mass shooting happen much more infrequently.
A fun fact, Last year in the US there were more gun deaths in the US than in the entire world combined (this includes war zones)
SO what’s the difference between the rest of the world and the US, Gun control, even making getting a firearm as hard as applying for a drivers license reduces gun violence and mass shootings quite a lot, when australia introduced gun control in just two decades following the reforms, the annual rate of gun deaths fell from 2.9 per 100,000 in 1996 to 0.9 per 100,000 in 2016, there reforms were prompted after the 1996 Port arthur massacre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)
Aust has not had a single mass shooting since, gun deaths are down and there is no corresponding uptick in attacks by other types of weapons (mass bombings etc) So guns are the issue.
details of the reforms, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Agreement
As a former firearms licensed holder here in Oz, gun ownership is up and firearm thief is on rise especially in the small arms aka pistols or illegal importation of them. It the illegal use small arms in the hands of the criminals that causing most if not of the firearm related deaths here in Oz.
My license was suspended when I had run down the rabbit with my PTSD, and no access to them anyway as they locked up and the lads had change the codes to the vaultand the safe for the Magazine keys.
Sent from iPad
Only in Australia…
It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys 🙄
Genter and Nash need to have a chat on driving and recreational drug use. Genter was weak in the House yesterday. NZTA are rolling out a campaign on drug-impaired crashes. Police support it.
Needs political alignment, fast, before the debate infects the legalisation legislation.
Genter was weak in the House yesterday
I’m not going to take your word for that. Link please.
Weak in what way? If it was “weak” in the sense of wanting to find out the nature and extent of the problem before jumping on a NZTA/Police anti-drugs bandwagon, then great – let’s have a lot more of that kind of “weakness” from our ministers.
She wasn’t weak. Ad is just revealing his bias again.
Genter “weak” ? Nonsense. She was thoroughly in control of the moment in my observation.
I think they will be approaching you to appear in a new TV commercial.
“North should have gone to Specsavers”
that was really interesting. Gender looks like she’s covering all the bases well, so I’m also not sure what Ad is on about. Not sure why he is criticising Gender instead of Nash, but it thought she handled that question well.
Anyone know what the impairment test is that the police already use?
Um, *Genter…
Paging Dr. Freud 🙂
Lol, paging a smarter auto correct.
See edit for impairment test 🙂
Crickey, I know people that can’t stand on one leg even when not impaired.
But yeah, makes sense, and I trust Genter to being using evidence.
Basic balance trick: think about the foot you’re standing on 🙂
Nice.
Hopefully your own
Lol, very funny A.
Ad, why did you feel Genter was “weak” ?- I watched and agree with those here who thought her responses appropriate. She’s sharp.
Edit: I see alwyn’s snarky comment and get that he’s curmudgeonly, but you Ad? Why the negativity? What did you see?
Nash being a moron is not Genter’s fault.
From reading scoop last night she was all over it like pickle heat after 12hrs of wearing body armour. What got me was the fact she using evidence base lead facts to support her case unlike the other muppet shooting his mouth off. Is that typical of Mr Nash BTW?
Sent from IPad
Morning Breakfast people We should make our own choices in what policy we legerslate into law and not let USA dictate what we do. I charge my opinion of people as I learn more think more about them Obama does not make my top ten humane people I admire. He knows exactly what shonky key was doing to Maori and Atoearoa he still let shonky gain influence from his associationing with Obama. The American president gets privy to most information he knows exactly what shonky was doing. Ana to kai.
Ka kite ano
You give the US way to much credit, Who cares about NZ, in the scope of the world we are nothing, we barely rate as a world power, we have little population, almost no economic capital, no military to speak of. We may think were “hot stuff” but were not.
Obama administration instergated the bad changes to OUR justice system Ana to kai
New Zealand initiated the TPPA in the first place. In 2005.
Labour initiated the TPPA in the first place. In 2005.
But without the United States, and thus it was at that time free of many of the objectionable provisions.
I still cannot login to TS from my macbook on Firefox. I get a bad request notice. then when I just try to access TS mainpage, I get the same notice – something about cannot find server.
It also seems to infect any attempt to login from Safari on my macbook for 15 minutes or so.
how long has that been happening?
Please cut and paste the two error messages into a comment.
Can you please try doing a test comment using this protocol and let me know what happens?
– Make sure you are logged out
– Delete browser cookies
– Restart browser
– Make a comment with same user name but a different email address (make one up, or put 2 after your email name before the @, so you can tell them apart. TS doesn’t require valid email addresses)
– First comment will go into spam, because you are considered a new user
– Subsequent comments should go through ok
Will do….. back to the mac…
just logged in successfully on safari on the mac
Edit: but having difficulty accessing TS on Firefox: still this message:
Bad Request
It’s been going on like this for a few weeks.
I will have a look at it later today or tomorrow. First with Firefox on linux. Otherwise I will try to convince Lyn to let me use her MacBook.
The login is working fine for me with Firefox on Ubuntu at the moment.
That sounds very optimistic if she is anything like my wife.
My using her tablet would be almost the equivalent of me going through her handbag.
You will notice I said “almost the equivalent” not “like me”.
I would never dare touch either object.
Lyn may be a much more obliging lady.
Lynn TS just came up again on dogpile/microsoft/google chrome sites so looks good now thanks.
There’s been shit happening all day @ caroyn. Timeouts. Site un reachable. Bearing in mind tho I’m 8.5 hours behind…. but @ lprent. i wouldn’t get my knickers in a twist over a temporary network glitch that would force an obsessive/compulsive into redesigning a whole system.
There’s a huge solar storm beating down on Earth and that may cause a few problems with network connectivity, etc.
deleting the browser history and cookies, then restarting the browser worked. Can log in from firefox now.
Thanks.
it’s a known firefox issue on JS heavy sites.
The browser app is left running in a tab for a long time (overnight) and continues to make background requests via JS.
At some point, the session times out and it starts receiving redirects to refresh its session. Each of these requests is setting a new state cookie.
The Javascript code doesn’t handle this case, so it just keeps blindly sending requests and accumulating state cookies until it exceeds the max request cookie size limit and starts getting 401 errors
Clearing cookies in the browser is a working stopgap.
— For the MODS to pass onto a DEV — there are workaround/fixes that can be added to mitigate the 401 errors see: https://github.com/zmartzone/mod_auth_openidc/wiki/Cookies
thanks.
leonhart..
That’s useful.
By the way did anyone else find TS was not accessible all afternoon? I haven’t noticed comment from anyone else about it yet?
Yeah I did, I thought it’s the wet season/ local storms playing havoc again with the Internet today, but I was to log on to my usual other Kiwi haunts after I did the house work today
it helps when you do it for a living 🙂 the companies I work for runs 26 Ecom sites, some have wordpress integrations, it was fun looking of the page source for this state seeing how the .js was implemented.
@ greywarshark (11.2.1.2) … same here, I was unable to access TS all afternoon. Was only able to reach it this evening. Something about a problem with the local network. Other sites were fine.
Thought the Blue gremlins had sabotaged TS for a while there!
Me too. And ex Kiwi you are in Oz aren’t you?
I kept thinking of things I wanted to comment on and was discombobulated to be cut off in my prime so to speak.
Glad that’s sorted (I take it you didn’t use the protocol above?)
weka OIDCUnAuthAction 401 needs to added to the .js path at the .html level, its not something the user needs to do, this is a site dev fixes for the known firefox bug.
I wanted to see what happened when Carolyn commented without logging in (there is a bug that affects people with logins when they try and comment without logging in).
She was having problems with two browsers.
Thanks, LH.
The safari was OK until I got locked out via firefox, but came good after a short wait.
I will have a look at what WordPress does. But I suspect that it doesn’t use mod-auth at all.
In fact I suspect that I haven’t even bothered to manually turn it on any auth in apache simply because that is handled internal to WordPress.
Of course it could have come in as part of mod_ssl or something else.
This isn’t exactly a corporate site.
the session cookie could have been altered see OIDCCookie primitive its default is mod_auth_openidc_session but wordpress may use a different ID.
no.
Lissa Lucas the women who was dragged off the podium and not allowed to speak no more at a hearing on minerals, speaks to Jimmy Dore. 19.10 minute video. Centerists should avoid, as this involves a discussion on removing money from politics, and it might just hurt their feelings.
I saw her speech the other day, a strong, important woman.
Funny. I wonder if this person was bribing people with free Air New Zealand air points 🙂
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/350310/38-people-allegedly-voted-twice-in-election
Why would you need to bribe people on the Northshore to vote National ?
Everyone who votes National has been bribed.
With which bribe Robert ?
Look around and name one of the many. An alert person like you would be able to spot one or two easily.
Tax cuts. Inflated property prices & rents further fuelled by hyper-immigration. Wage suppression through hyper-immigration. Don’t ask to me to go on, please!
Robert; said “Everyone who votes National has been bribed.”
Brainwashed more like.
Bribed, or made to feel fearful. If one doesn’t get them, the other will.
Corrections has published the inspection reports for both Manawatū and Auckland prisons.
Yet, there seems to be nothing from the Green’s correction spokesperson on these reports.
Wakey-wakey.
Nothing from the Minister either, nor any of the other parties. You must be so concerned.
Shows how much they all care. Hence, we should all be concerned.
I was hoping the Greens would be better than that.
Or, too busy building fences at the top of the cliff, but wait, what’s that whining noise?
“Too busy building fences at the top of the cliff…”
What happen to walking and chewing gum?
And what fences would that be exactly?
The government’s legislative program can be found on Parliament’s website. You’re the one whining, so it’s up to you to say where you think it’s deficient.
Or you can continue to be a lazy and passive-aggressive concern troll.
You’re the one pointing to them being too busy building fences, hence it’s not up to me to back up your assertion.
What’s deficient is no press release presented after the release of two reports.
If I was Shaw (the party leader) I’d be on the phone wanting to know why there is nothing from their corrections spokesperson.
If you were Shaw, he’d never have made it into caucus, let alone the leadership.
But he is party leader, so what is his excuse?
He doesn’t need an excuse for your witless concern trolling.
“He doesn’t need an excuse…”
So he’s been on the phone then? Press release due out soon is it?
No, you misunderstand: I’m expressing contempt for your behaviour and opinion.
Nope.
No press release to match your requirements.
No phone calls to tell caucus members how to suck eggs.
Probably not so much as a peep.
And no “excuse” needed at all.
Why, I hear you concern troll?
Because the Greens have been doing this longer and more successfully than you have. Not only do they not need your advice or to meet your demands, following it would result in a constant, bland whining about the smallest procedural, regulatory, and supervisory events that most bureaucrats wouldn’t want to envisage, and it would therefore give the greens the electorate appeal of a small off-yellow puddle of cat puke.
Which would still be more popular than you.
What the hell for?
😆
@ McFlock
And do you now speak for the Greens?
No, I merely speak as another person who finds your behaviour and opinions contemptible.
Why do you find the expectation that the Greens express their view on two recently released correction reports contemptible?
Well, mostly because it’s an expectation that the Greens should serve your priorities and expectations, and if they do not satisfy your expectations 100% then they are being inadequate in some way. Check that privilege.
But I also suspect that if the Greens had released a statement abouteach corrections report released that day, you would have found some other government publication or media event that the Greens had failed to give attention to, and you’d have written another of your boilerplate demands about that.
So in order to prevent these formulaic criticisms from you (and only you), the Greens would be releasing 2k press releases a day about the most minute crap imaginable, and their actual priorities would be lost in the flood.
“Well, mostly because it’s an expectation that the Greens should serve your priorities and expectations…”
Seriously? Your logic is messed up. I’m far from the only person concerned about the state of our prisons. Moreover, I’m sure the Greens don’t condone the failings highlighted in the reports. So to suggest it’s only my expectation they publicly address these findings is totally ludicrous.
Evidently, it’s your attempt to diminish this failure by the Greens by painting it as solely my expectation.
And no, I don’t expect them to release a press release over the most minute crap imaginable.
Yawn.
Damned near every day you have something that you believe the Greens need to “up their game” on. If not them then Labour.
The issue isn’t that you care about prisons. The issue isn’t even that you think the Greens should have paid it more attention. The issue is that you ignore what they do say in order to criticise that they haven’t addressed your issue of the day.
If I were a cynic, I’d say that it’s interesting how you’re always finding the thing that day that the Greens didn’t comment on loudly enough for your satisfaction. It’s almost like you look at their daily activities and then look through the news for something they haven’t mentioned.
The fact there are a number of issues frequently requiring our attention is largely a reflection of their failings and the overall mess our country is in.
Nor is it merely my belief there are certain issues requiring them to up their game.
When it comes to them getting it right, clearly they don’t require help, hence I largely don’t bother commenting. There are plenty of cheerleaders for that. Unfortunately there is not as many when it comes to holding their feet to the fire. Which, as voters we should feel obliged to do.
I genuinely care about the issues raised, which is why I raise them. Moreover, they are not just my issue of the day.
Take these two reports, I didn’t make them a media story. And if you follow the news and Green Party press releases, you’ll see there is a lot of news they don’t comment on. Hence, a lot I don’t pull them up on.
And yet you still turn up regularly with your quota of complaints.
Your choice of the expression “hold their feet to the fire” is strangely appropriate: torture is almost always useless, and its use indicates more about the shortcomings of the torturer than the victim.
You really do try and appeal to the ignorant.
I didn’t mean it literally. It’s an idiom, meaning to apply public pressure. But you already knew that.
And yes, as explained above, I will be frequently turning up.
Like a zit.
You appeal to nobody. Public pressure has an effect when it increases from normal levels. The low-level hum of discontent that you represent is constant, but also remarkably concentrated only around you and folk like Tanz or PR.
At best, you’ll just bore the political interest out of people. Which is the opposite of applying pressure.
Like frequently occurring zits, one has to address the cause for them to totally go away.
And again, it’s not just me. Hence, the issues raised do have public appeal (such as the state of our prisons). They wouldn’t be news worthy if they didn’t.
Personally, I may not appeal to anybody, it’s all rather subjective really. But I sure as hell get your (and a few others on here) attention.
At the end of the day, it’s not about me. It’s about the issues being raised. Attempting to make it all about me (and a couple of others) simply ignores the larger discontent that’s out there.
Don’t confuse “public interest” with “public appeal”.
Let’s contrast the Greens today with Labour under Shearer – now there was “larger discontent”, reflected in the polls for years and with a solid half dozen to dozen commenters railing against the inadequacies they perceived, multiple times a day. Each and every one of them was pissed.
The Greens today? Pretty much just you. On a daily basis. If there’s a genuine level of unrest within Green support, they sure seem to be doing well at hiding it.
I’m not. But you seem to be overlooking the two largely go hand in hand. Things people have no interest in, don’t tend to appeal to them.
It very well may be pretty much just me, on here. But not out there. And the Greens would be foolish to overlook that.
As I’ve highlighted before, the Greens have obtained the most political power they have ever had. They have ministerial positions and outlined their 20 goal plan with Labour. Yet, no surge in support.
Whereas, after Meteria’s announcement, their support surged to one of their highest ratings ever. So despite their current political wins, they are not resonating as they once did.
In fact, their support dropped in the latest poll. And there is no hiding that.
Thanks for your concern.
Was that the 18–28 Jan 2018 Newshub Reid Research poll? Had 6% from the previous 7% poll? Because that margin for error for a thousand-sample poll looks like 1.5% or so @ ~5%. Without rounding, either – you could be whinging about a 6.5% vs 6.4% “drop”.
If that’s the drop you’re talking about, it’s a good example of your concern trolling. They’ve had two post-election polls in the 10% range, one at 7, and the last at 6%, about the same as on election night.
As for Green support “surging” after Turei made her announcement, they went from their existing 13% to 15%, waivered, then fell.
By the way, I can’t see any comments from you in the Turei-tagged posts around that time. Were you not interested in it?
edit: nothing in this comment should be taken to indicate that even if I thought the Greens were in trouble I would think that they should follow your demands. They shouldn’t. Your advice is as bullshit as your interpretation of stats.
Yes, it was only a slight drop. Nevertheless, it is was a drop. Even if it was within the margin of error.
The point here is their support should have increased considering their political wins (which includes their 20 goal plan). But it didn’t. Not even within the margin of error. Hence, there is something for them to worry about.
It was a 4% surge for the Greens from 11% to 15% after Meteria’s announcement.
And I commented on the matter.
Yes, tell the Greens not to listen to me and lets watch them further fall.
Latest 1 news Colmar Brunton. Greens down 2%. Now polling at 5%.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/labour-soars-highest-level-in-15-years-new-1-news-colmar-brunton-poll?auto=5736314087001
A “drop” within the margin for error by definition might not be a drop at all.
Who says “their support should have increased”? Other than you? It’s not like the Greens have been monopolising media coverage.
As for the “surge” – you’re only looking at Colmar Brunton, aren’t you? You’re skipping the Roy Morgan that had the Greens on 13.5% before Turei’s announcement. Shit like that makes me think your motives aren’t as pure as you claim.
A as far as the poll is concerned, it was a registered drop (albeit within the margin of error).
And that in it self wouldn’t mean much. But as you are aware, I’m not looking at it within itself.
The feedback I’ve had suggested their support will fall and the latest Colmar Brunton further confirms this.
“Who says “their support should have increased”
Logic. As explained above.
Moreover, as they have largely outlined what they plan to achieve this term (their 20 goal plan) they are going to struggle to regrow their support without upping their game and doing more.
I look at all the polls. But yes, I was referring to the Colmar Brunton, which, offhand, produced their largest surge at that time.
My motives are simple. I want to see the Greens up their game, grow their support, while remaining a party of the left.
That’s not logic. It’s a blinkered warping of reality.
The Greens are a junior partner in the coalition. They’ve achieved agreement to implement a number of their policies, but the implementation hasn’t happened for a lot of them. Labour’s been in a 100days rush. National is fracturing.
And you think the Greens should be gaining ground in that PR environment, rather than drifting 2% in three polls.
Oh, yes, and you cherry pick the poll results to suit your narrative.
Thanks for your concern, but you’re either lying about your motives or you’re a political idiot. Either way your advice is worthless.
The logic is solid, therefore I disagree. They’ve obtained there largest political gains ever, therefore it’s logical to assume their support would reflect that.
The fact that it isn’t points to it failing to resonate. And this shouldn’t be taken lightly. Doing so will be at their own peril.
And while their goals are yet to be implemented, they’ve already been outlined. Therefore, when it comes to implementing them, it will merely be seen as a rehash of their initial intent and look as if they have nothing new to offer. Which will go on (20 goals) to further damage their support.
All the polls had an upsurge at the time (some more than others) therefore, they all suited my narrative.
Yes, keep telling everyone my advise is worthless and we’ll see how well they go repeating what they are currently doing.
peril?! nooooooooooo!!!!
Political exposure doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
“All the polls” continued the Greens’ previous increases in popularity until a couple of polls after Turei’s announcement. There wasn’t a sudden change in the trend until the mud started being slung.
Anyway, ok. You keep giving useless advice, and I’ll keep pointing out your cherry-picked stats and constant narrative of doom.
Up until Turei’s announcement, the Greens were struggling to get media cut through. So a vacuum indeed.
After the cracks in her story started to shine through, the media frenzy was really on. And while the media are culpable to some extent, what really hurt the Green’s support was Turei standing down, along with their management of the whole saga.
In a matter of weeks (or was that days) she went from standing up for the poor to abandoning them. Which, of course, let a lot of people down. Her back story was coming apart and she couldn’t get away quick enough.
“You keep giving useless advice, and I’ll keep pointing out your cherry-picked stats and constant narrative of doom.”
Yes, I will continue to highlight the issues, provide my advice and offer viable alternatives, as you carry on with your diminishing and smearing tactics while all along ignoring their loss of support.
And with such a welcoming reception, it’s no wonder why more don’t come here to express their concerns. For the less capable, people like you are rather threatening, hence a deterrent.
The most recent poll before her announcement, they were on 13%.
They increased to 15%.
Then ended up on 6.3%.
Your advice is useless, your alternatives aren’t viable in the real world, and frankly you’re a better tory propagandist than Farrar.
I see you are now opting to tar me with the righty smear, ha.
“ They increased to 15%.
Then ended up on 6.3%.”
And now they are in free-fall, currently at 5%. And dear I say (unless they take action) expected to further decline.
You say that, but pretty much the only person who expects them to decline is you.
In 2020, especially if they ignore your advice, the Greens will most likely be well above their 2017 election tally. Unless you think the last 20 years of mounting popularity will be negated by one muckraking episode a couple of months out from an election.
And don’t call me “dear”.
Get real. I wasn’t calling you dear, egg. It was a typo.
“You say that, but pretty much the only person who expects them to decline is you.”
That’s what the feedback suggests, and it’s been spot on thus far.
Remember, it predicted this current fall while you were in total denial. As you are now.
Moreover, the Turei saga was only one episode. To date, there has been more.
As explained throughout our discussions, the Greens are not bringing their A game. They’ve already outlined their goals, thus at this stage, have little more to offer.
And it is all of this combined, that the expectation is based upon.
No typo. Someone just hasn’t seen “Airplane!”.
As for your ruminations, it might predict falls, but when did you last predict a rise? Clocks running backwards are right more often than stopped clocks.
But I’ve said repeatedly that even without your cherry-picking (and ain’t you lucky the margin for error in the poll fell your way this time), the polls are irrelevant for the next 18 months anyway. I expect this to be the low area for the Greens, because they’re in it for the long term and have more solid support than your pessimism suggests.
Labour’s in pride of place now, and rightfully so. They grabbed victory when, frankly, I expected them to get bollocked in the election when Little resigned. ISTR your “lift their game” halitosis was aimed at them for some time last year – what were your polling predictions then?
As I said above, unless they take action. Hence, at this stage, they still have time to do that. So in 18 months, there may be a turnaround.
If it wasn’t for Jacinda and her cult of personality, Labour would have got hammered, as expected. And at the end they knew it, hence the last-minute change of leadership.
I was listening to Jacinda the other day. She was pointing to giving the Greens credit and acknowledgment (for policy they initiated such as the Green investment fund) as a means of growing their support. Implying once that was on the way they should see some turnaround.
However, that has already been announced in their 20 goal plan. Which has been widely touted.
Moreover, a plan outlined is not the same as implementing one. Which, of course, runs the risk of things going wrong. Hence, may backfire.
And going off the Greens management skills of late, they are really going to require to produce their A game if they want to avoid stuffing up.
Additionally, I expect Labour to further disappoint. Hence, the Greens should pick up some support off them.
yawn.
whatever, doofus.
Looks like now you expect things to improve for the greens without them taking your advice.
As usual, you’re overlooking a major factor.
For this to happen, it requires the Greens to maintain and grow their current support. And that will require them to up their game.
Anything less makes voting for them a risk, thus being seen as a wasted vote.
You expect Labour “further disappoint” and “Greens should pick up some support off them”. Therefore if the Greens keep doing what they’re doing, we will see them grow rather than further fall.
Labour have already created some rather large disappointments to date, yet the Greens have gone down.
With the Jacinda effect still largely taking hold, this will take time to filter through. In the meantime, the Greens can’t afford to further fall. Hence, will require to up their game in the process.
Especially as they are widely known for polling higher than what they get on election day.
They really can’t fall much further. So unless you’re suggesting that the growth in support the Greens will gain from Labour being such a disappointment will actually be trivially small, really if the Greens do absolutely nothing the Greens will end up rising in the polls.
No advice needed at all, according to your expectations.
“They really can’t fall much further”
Why not? What’s your reasoning for this assertion?
“So unless you’re suggesting that the growth in support the Greens will gain from Labour being such a disappointment will actually be trivially small, really if the Greens do absolutely nothing the Greens will end up rising in the polls.”
No.
As I explained above, for the Greens to secure the disgruntled Labour vote (which will take some time to filter through) they need to up their game, thus current support so as to not be perceived as a wasted vote.
My reasoning is math.
The maximum logical distance they can fall from the last poll is ~5%, because they can’t have negative popularity.
Therefore, if the Green growth in support from Labour being such a tragic disappointment is >5%, the Greens’ support must grow from its present point. So your advice is useless if the objective is to prevent a further fall in Green support.
If you’re expecting less than 5% growth in Green support from Labour being so horribly disappointing, well, that’s an amount of “growth” that’s close to the margin for error. So really you’re expecting growth in support that might be undetectable. Which seems to be a worthless prediction.
So it seems that at the very least either your advice is useless at preventing a further fall in support, or your predictions are unverifiable and therefore worthless. I suspect both, but each to their own. Your self-proclaimed mission is redundant.
“The maximum logical distance they can fall from the last poll is ~5%, because they can’t have negative popularity.”
Yes, but that doesn’t explain your assertion they can’t fall much further that what they are currently polling at.
“Therefore, if the Green growth in support from Labour being such a tragic disappointment is >5%, the Greens’ support must grow from its present point.”
You are overlooking the time it will take for the Jacinda effect to wear off. In which time (as I’ve explained extensively above) they risk further falling. At which point, by the time the Jacinda effect wears off, the Green’s support may be so low they will no longer be a viable option for that disgruntled Labour vote.
Which is why they need to up their game and grow their support now.
5% isn’t much.
That’s all they can fall.
Whereas if a margin-for-error drop in Labour support goes over to the Greens, that’s 3.5% for almost no detectable drop in Labour popularity.
Are you predicting that the Greens will fall to <1.5% (still a fuckall drop in the greater scheme of things) if they don't follow your every direction?
“5% isn’t much.”
Indeed. Which is why even at 5% they risk no longer being a viable option for the disgruntled Labour vote come election day.
Therefore, they don’t really have to fall any further to be considered a risk, deterring the Labour vote from crossing over.
So yes, at this stage I’m predicting they will further fall unless they up their game. But, again at this stage, I’m unable to put an exact number on how large or small that fall will be.
lol
so now the Greens won’t get an increase in support when “disappointment in Labour” leads to a drop in Labour’s support.
Make up your mind.
As I said above, should. Which, of course, depends on all the factors extensively explained to you above.
So what percentage do the Greens need to be at in order to gain votes off Labour, in your expectation?
*Sincerely, with a tear of disappointment in the corner of his eye
“I was hoping the Greens would be better than that.”
*Sobs, quietly, so no one will notice
All that signals to me Robet is you don’t care. Hence, aren’t willing to get in behind and hold the Greens to a higher standard.
lolz
For your next trick you’ll lecture the Pope about Catholic theology.
Mcflock
LOL
You are on form today. OAB too.
A Lighter Shade Of Green – The Chairman’s quintessential song.
“You just don’t care !!
*Sobs, this time, uncontrollably
And then there is the need for a home for homeless homing pigeons. Have the Greens made an strong statement on this? And if not, why not?
The Greens have lost their way. They once cared deeply for the homeless homers. Now…
… Shaw! He’s at the bottom of this!
Shaw!!!
The coalition’s a farce – bring back Bill!!!
Shawly not.
It’s shawking to hear.
lolz
Re: Russell McVeagh
The New Zealand Government should advise all Government Departments and SOEs that they are not allowed to use the services of Russell McVeagh
The culture of Russell McVeagh appears to have allowed behaviors to develop that are contrary to the standards expected in New Zealand society.
Real change will only come if it hurts them in the pocket.
Government and SOEs should be petitioned to stop using the services of Russell McVeagh immediately.
Individual lawyers currently working at Russell McVeagh would be free to tender for government work but not under the banner of Russell McVeagh.
What do you think the odds are that this happens.
(I suspect the answer is ‘precisely nil’)
A.
If the problem were confined to Russell McVeigh that might be effective.
+1 Russell McVeagh biggest rogues!
Ask any lawyer about their ‘bloodstock’ offerings in the 1980’s…
Gloating on The Russell McVeagh website
The leading law firm has been named winner of ‘Best Gender Diversity Initiative by National Firm’ at last night’s IFLR Euromoney Legal Media Group Asia Women in Business Law Awards, held in Hong Kong.
Russell McVeagh senior partner and board member Sarah Armstrong said the award highlights the firm’s success in implementing and supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives and progress of its long-term, firm-wide Diversity Project, launched in 2014.
Meanwhile on Newsroom
What we know so far is that five female clerks have made a series of claims, ranging from serious sexual assault to sexual harassment, while they were employed at top-tier law firm Russell McVeagh in Wellington.
Interesting how the two stories are so different.
Calling on NZ Government to stop giving work to any lawyers working under the banner of law firm Russell McVeagh
What about the law firm that hired one of the perpetrators after RMcV sacked him?
According to the Russell McVeagh website:
The firm acts for 11 of the NZX 15 companies, and New Zealand’s major corporates, including numerous energy and utilities companies, all of New Zealand’s retail banks, and New Zealand’s largest company and largest listed company.
These companies should stop giving work to any lawyers working under the banner of law firm Russell McVeagh
They won’t change unless it hurts them in the pocket.
Now that might be more the go
I say go after the big fish first, they are clearly at fault. They want to say “everyone is doing it” do not play into their PR spin. THey are the ones doing it. Stop them first.
Do you have any conflicts of interest in this regard?
My personal experience of lawyers tells me this is not confined to one law firm.
It makes sense to just pick someone and shoot them then – pour encourager les autres.
“What’s black and brown and looks good on a lawyer? A doberman.”
In reality, government decisions can be challenged in court. I have no axe to grind for RMcV or any other dog-food, and I wonder about the timing of this “hit”, and note that “Plan B” hasn’t commented since my question about their interests.
Wow.
Labour looking at revamping abortion laws. Not just decriminalising, but things like where it can be performed (RU486) and the triple-consultation requirement and making referrals mandatory.
Cue the concern-o-bots worried that improving access to healthcare will get in the way of ‘real’ issues…
Sounds like the potential for some good process improvements there
A.
You have to wonder what sort of country we are becoming, certainly not clean and green. And why do we have laws that allow a resource consent to proceed when they don’t even have access in place for the mine and are relying on taking conservation land for that purpose. (but clearly breaking up the consent aka steal our harbour style).
Having to fight these bad consents and our pathetic RMA plunder at will rules, removes valuable community money and resources which could be better spent on actually helping our forests and birds not stopping their habitat being threatened on a weekly basis by bad resource consents!
Remember Pike River, fully consented death trap! NZ are turning into primitive yokels.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/350538/bid-to-stop-new-coal-mine-overturned-in-high-court
Bid to stop new coal mine overturned in High Court
It’s battle and fight and justify and fight and petition and deny and battle and march and protest and promise and argue and weak legislation to paper over and it’s ignore and drink up and listen to the stockmarket reports and check bank balances and consult with tax accountants and order a new car and think about a small plane, and ignore laggards and whiners. What do they know?
This government needs to strengthen the laws protecting conservation values.
Mining mongrels will KEEP coming.
Mining should be seen as the destructive activity it is.
Where are the Green Party on this? If they were more media present on this type of issue then it might help to reassure their missing 100,000, as well as preserve the environment.
Is Labour going to coast along thinking they can implant the Natz agenda, and Jacinda will distract the public from that like JK’s barbecues?
If more people had voted for them, they wouldn’t be spread so thin. But in this case I think that because the Minister of Conservation is a Green MP, the Greens have obligations including acting within the agreement with Labour. So Eugenie Sage needs to act within her roles as Minister i.e. she’s part of the government. If another Green MP spoke out on this, they risk speaking against their own MP and Minister. I think what is happening here is that the Greens now do their work though government, except where a portfolio sits outside of that role.
I assume the Greens (and Labour) don’t want to interfere with due process. If we’re talking about the proposed mine in the Buller, then the permission granted this week was by the High Court. The government can’t just override that. As Patricia points out, the government will need to strengthen laws around this. I’m guessing that this mine was already in the pipeline before the govt changed. I hope they stop it, but I don’t think it’s a simple as some people think.
The mining company still needs to get resources consent from the local councils. And then it needs consent to access the site over conservation land. I assume DOC will decide on that. Given DOC’s history of taking a neutral rather than protective stance in similar situations, I’ll be very interested to see if that changes under the new Minister. I’ve never really been clear where DOC’s directive was coming from on that in the past i.e. legislatively mandated, or from the Minister or what.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/350538/bid-to-stop-new-coal-mine-overturned-in-high-court
Patricia,
Immediately stop using all metal objects. Allow only wood or stone materials in your life.
Especially stop using the internet as it relies on electricity that is conducted everywhere by that demon metal copper. In fact anything electronic which uses all manner of metals
If everybody did this immediately the world would be such a better, less destructive place.
LOLZ!
I see in the Herald online that Avon Cosmetics are shutting shop in Australasia after 55 years here. The company obviously think we are not paying our way down here. No warnings and now 220 staff and 21,400 representatives are without a job – that is a big chunk of the workforce now looking for work.
Apart from a huge upset for their customers obviously its just a day at the office for the restructuring team who has orchestrated this. How much profit is too much profit –
jobs are just severed without a bye your leave.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11995331
Do we really need a company that does nothing productive and just annoys lots of people?
Anyway, their days were probably numbered, on account of Internet retailing.
A.
(Edit: no disrespect to anyone who worked there or liked buying their stuff)
I think it was the loss of jobs that was the worry…
Can you please clarify who the ‘we’ is in that sentence?
Does it include the Avon employees? Or is it just you speaking in the (royal) third person?
Once the ‘we’ is defined then some other questions might open up – like the responsibilities of each member of the ‘we’ towards other members of the ‘we’.
They did not go online, and that is the problem. They have huge competition.
Newspaper puts the slipper in.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DWDnZAsXUAAWU3S.jpg
https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews
And this kid spelt it out.
I don’t want your condolences you f—–g piece of s–t, my friends and teachers were shot. Multiple of my fellow classmates are dead. Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won’t fix this. But Gun control will prevent it from happening again,
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.3822789.1518714497!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/students16n-4-web.jpg
the heart breaks.
My phone was down I couldn’t get thestandard.org.nz website I tx the Rock radio station about my problem and walar I can get thestandard.org.nz sandflys are at it again Ana to kai
Mate sometimes the site is simply DOWN –
It’s certainly not always a conspiracy to get at you
Looks like the soft power is hardening up.
Professor Anne-Marie Brady says “associates in China had been brought in for questioning by the country’s Ministry of State Security”. “Principles” are only tested when there’s risk involved. Like, for example, our nuclear free policy.
As a small country, we “owe service” (Lao Tzu). There’s a difference between service and vassal status. If Professor Brady’s concerns are valid, it’s time there was some overt push-back.
And here is Matt Nippert on it -we get to see the honorable investigative journalist himself in the vid at the link – recorded after the release of the research paper, and before our elections.
If Nippert says it’s scary stuff (as he did on twitter today), then we should be worried.
I’m not inclined to be “scared” of BAU. Awareness is another thing entirely.
And Judith Collins, who has Chinese commercial influences of her own, is campaigning to be Nat leader.
‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
Ian Fleming
Congratulations to South Africa New president Cyril Ramaphosa ECO MAORI know that you will be a humble humane president that gets the big picture he tangata he tangata give the people a bright happy future and all will be well
Hillary & Jeremy I tried a sugar supplement starting feeling a the side effects I Google them and what do you know one side effects is it causes cancer.
You no what they say about a plump man it’s true PS I will cut down on my sugar when I sue the police ka kite ano
I Google my high blood pressure pills an the side effects are huge on should Google all the medication you are given as the doctor doesn’t tell you the side effects at least you will know what to expect Ka kite ano