Open mike 16/05/2024
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- 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #51
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...3 hours ago - Dance Magic
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...14 hours ago - Government Forces Universities to Enforce “Free Speech” While Limiting Universities̵...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...14 hours ago - Fact brief – Are we heading into an ‘ice age’?
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The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...2 days ago - Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...2 days ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21
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The government published its first Biennial Transparency Report under the Paris Agreement yesterday, and the media has correctly noted that it is missing any plan to actually meet our target. While it hypes domestic emissions reductions so far - which have been good, but will likely get worse thanks to ...2 days ago
- Economic Bulletin December 2024
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The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...2 days ago
- ZB’s Power Couple
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- Weekly Roundup 20-December-2024
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- The baby-boomers’ last gasp
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...3 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...3 days ago
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“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...3 days ago
- GDP Figures No Christmas Present for New Zealand
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...4 days ago
- Cheeseburgers and Stunt Monkeys
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...4 days ago - MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...4 days ago
- The Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...4 days ago - Back on Track
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...4 days ago - Book Review: How Big Things Get Done
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- Wednesday 18 December
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Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...5 days ago - Member’s morning
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Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...5 days ago - Corrections is torturing prisoners again
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...5 days ago
- HYEFU and BPS data shows New Zealand is way off track
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...5 days ago
- “Better economic management”
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...5 days ago
- Shameless, clueless
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...6 days ago
- Crazy ’bout a Sharp-dressed Man
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...6 days ago - How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...6 days ago
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In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...6 days ago - When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP
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And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...7 days ago - A Lipstick Government
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Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...7 days ago
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- Thank You
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...1 week ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50
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- Making Gravy
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...1 week ago - Nothing here but the shadows
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...1 week ago - The United Right: the FSU’s Continued Efforts to Undermine Academia
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Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...1 week ago
- 2 Men, 1 Haircut
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago - Chris Penk’s Hate Parade
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...1 week ago - Tell me a story
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
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National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...2 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...3 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...3 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...4 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...6 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
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The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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Maybe some dog whistles ?
And , Luxon opines, unsurprisingly..
Of course to a
meanwhile for the rest ( who voted for them? ) the buyers remorse will be kicking in…hard
"sell out" crowd indeed, well described.
And of course the…the Anti Rail (they sure arent Pro Rail !)
Support Te Huia and also fight for Rail in NZ
"Lunch Budgets will hurt students", Opunake Principal says. Stuff Editor's Picks.( if someone can link for me I would be grateful.)
That heading should say "Corporates take food production from the local Community."
In an interesting summary of actions, the article indicates what will be lost along with variety and fresh food in school lunches.
The loss of local supplies, work opportunities, community involvement and a sense of togetherness will go, to be replaced by an overseas corporate trucking in cold lunches, bypassing the locals, and having an unspoken "teachers will distribute" implied.
As the current lunch programme has employed local people locally for local schools, it has created a pool of parents and others who take an active interest in the foods reception, and has led to variety and pupil participation at high levels.
Act does not believe in Community or community building. Act believes in Corporates.
Hence in its costs and budgets trumpeted widely, Act will not count the loss to local businesses or workers, to the surprise of some who possibly voted for one of the three parties.
The unemployment, the loss of contracts to supply, a tipping point for many a local who may then not be able to pay their rent or mortgage, and may have to leave that community.
That fallout will not appear on Act's spread sheets. Rather a tick in the box for Act funders.
It is reduced to a mean scheme about money, not children or their community.
Perhaps taking half a cold lunch from one child to give it to another child makes sense to them. They all "get" something which is better than nothing, but it is processed and lacks heart.
False savings all round, lauded by Act as "We are saving the Lunch Programme", when really they are gutting a system that was working fine, so we have six months to show the real costs.
So soon? Have they been told already or is it that they are anticipating the downside of Seymour's folly?
The current scheme is funded 'till the end of the year, @ $8 per hot lunch. Next year that is cut to $3 and corporates will supply… no more local input.
It's so disheartening to read that but thanks Patricia.
The intangible (at least on a balance sheet) good that comes from community organising and achieving is almost as fruitful as the children being fed.
Kai, sharing, preparing and consuming is a fundamental, dare I say it spiritual act.
To have it able to be demeaned because of economics (eg hospital food contracts) shows us how much we have lost.
Neo-liberalism writ large.
Agree Patricia. Not much has been said about this aspect of it, but it strikes me as maybe the saddest and most destructive feature of the policy. It wrongly elevates a principle of secondary importance (efficiency and more narrowly cost efficiency) to a dominant position as the determining force of what our society looks like. When efficiency gets out of control in this way, it becomes an enemy of the common good.
Someone with imagination might have viewed the community production of school lunches as a spark to start other sorts of community-building and local entrepreneurship. But the efficiency zealots have intervened.
Well articulated points AB & Patricia. And the lack of community involvement sends all the wrong signals to children.
link
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350276178/school-business-counting-cost-slashed-lunch-budget
For a government that claims to support more funding to local areas centralising supply (for those 11-18) it is is wrong on so many levels.
Lower quality food will have health cost consequences.
It undermines the local job market and community connection to the school.
Thanks SPC Well summed up.
Where did my post go?
Will Simeon Brown apologise for lying to the House or for incompetence?
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/05/15/transpower-takes-blame-for-simeon-browns-misleading-chart/?utm_source=Newsroom&utm_campaign=5cf7090b39-Daily_Briefing+16.05.2024&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71de5c4b35-5cf7090b39-95522477&mc_cid=5cf7090b39&mc_eid=88a3081e75
You started the comment, edited it, and then trashed it, according to the TS records in the back-end; you must have accidentally hit the wrong button. It’s sitting in the Trash folder.
OK Thanks Incognito. Will do better next time.
Paywalled but the lede tells you all you need to know about these arseholes.
/
@marcdaalder
New: Diplomats representing New Zealand at negotiations for a Pandemic Treaty have been told by the Government to focus on making sure New Zealand can opt out of international health rules rather than stopping future pandemics.
https://x.com/marcdaalder/status/1790833218402570444
The supporters of NZF demanded that the UN not be allowed to "dictate" what we should do. Expect that "the opt out" clause is to appease that minority group. (Growing respect for Marc Daalder eh?)
I realise that said supporters are completely beyond reasoning with now, but wouldn't it be lovely if they could just stop their grizzling for 5 minutes to appreciate that they're still alive to grizzle?
I'd really like to know their thinking on an H5N1 bird flu outbreak* that has crossed to humans and has a 50% mortality rate in humans. I seem to remember raising such scenarios during the covid pandemic and people refusing to answer or sidestepping.
*the one that's already in dairy cows as well as wild birds and factory farmed birds.
A little perspective on the threat H5N1 poses.
@kakape
With #H5N1 #birdflu spreading amongst dairy cows, one of the most important things to think about right now is what would need to happen for this virus to actually start a pandemic. I'm on a train, so a brief thread…
https://x.com/kakape/status/1789690737237299502
The Covid-19 pandemic will “look minor” compared with what humanity faces from the growing number of superbugs resistant to current drugs, Prof Dame Sally Davies, England’s former chief medical officer, has warned.
Davies, who is now the UK’s special envoy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), lost her goddaughter two years ago to an infection that could not be treated.
She paints a bleak picture of what could happen if the world fails to tackle the problem within the next decade, warning that the issue is “more acute” than climate change. Drug-resistant infections already kill at least 1.2 million people a year.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/may/13/superbugs-antibiotics-drugs-antimicrobial-resistance-infections-pandemics-sally-davies
The increased levels of populism by NZF and Winston Peters in particular are a concern for all policy-making by this coalition government because it often flies directly in the face of being evidence-based and rational; this includes the ideological bonfire of regulations and repeals.
To silence the critics who claim that NZ is (too) small to make a meaningful difference globally, e.g., with countering CC, this is absurd nonsense, as we’re being watched all the time for creating precedents that can and will be used as convenient escape clauses & excuses by other nations.
'Why do we have to pay huge salaries for a list MP (that no one voted for) when they aren't even working? I'm sure Darleen is hoping the enquiry drags on and on. Was supposed to take between 2 and 4 weeks and has now been 9!
Seems like Greens may have already made their decision anyway as Darleen has not appeared on the Greens website for sometime now.
Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has missed half of Parliament sittings in 2024, on full pay – NZ Herald
Pleased to see you support the principle of guilty until proven innocent. I wonder if the Herald has been so keen to feign horror over any non-female, non-brown, non-left-wing MPs in the past who have drawn a salary while temporarily suspended?
Not that I intend wasting time poking round in that sewer to find out. As that lyrically gifted but deservedly out of fashion minor versifier A.E. Housman said, "of my three score years and ten,
twentymany will not come again".Seems like the Greens leadership may also support the "guilty until proven innocent" thing as well since she has already been removed from the website.
That whole party vote thing is a bit of a mystery, eh.
/
Seymour wants pre-packaged sandwiches and muesli bars for school lunches. Not freshly made and same old same old. No hot meals it seems. Seeing he has raised the issue of waste, can't help but wonder if these will contribute to a lot of waste.
I was speaking to someone who helps at her local primary school. The children all sit down together, learn to socialise and learn table manners. No hats are allowed. System works very well and the children are happy.
Another positive anecdote about the value of hot school lunches from my local rural Area School newsletter. Are noodles woke food?? Garlic bread?
The birth rate – now around 1.5 per woman (we had been around 2 in recent decades – after the c1960 peak of 4). Freedom of choice related to poverty during fertility years (land – housing cost).
We've done WFF tax credits, parental leave, pre school care subsidy, interest free tertiary loans (maybe repayment free for those in public service roles – education and health?), but the housing cost factor is still there.
The death rate – 2019 6.87 and now 7.13 (peak 7.55 2022-2023 omicron comes for all variant and flu back in with the end of lockdown being factors).
The continuing factor will be lack of access to primary care, including dental and poor public health policy (nutrition policy etc).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350275167/nz-politics-live-chris-hipkins-talks-school-lunches-programme-faces-changes
Just about all negative statistics in NZ can now be traced back to housing costs (or lack of housing).
The attempted assassination of Slovakian PM Fico… curiouser and curiouser..
Szabolcs Panyi
@panyiszabolcs
Wow. Looks like Slovak PM Robert Fico's reported assailant, writer Juraj Cintula, was associated with pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenskí Branci (SB). Their leader was even trained by Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldiers. Read more on @VSquare_Project https://vsquare.org/slovenski-branci-uniformed-fools-or-an-armed-threat/
https://x.com/panyiszabolcs/status/1790789652078526939