If a political party is unregistered, and passes the threshold at the election, can it get list candidates into parliament as a result? Probably not!
More than $255,000 in donations have been made to a political party that never registered, a loophole in electoral laws that a political expert says is “unprecedented”.
The New Zealand Public Party has come under fire by former members and staffers who allege up to $100,000 in koha collected at events, and kept in a tin under leader Billy Te Kahika’s bed, is unaccounted for.
Complaints were laid to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Electoral Commission about missing donations, however no investigations are resulting from the complaints. The Electoral Commission said because NZPP never registered as a party it has no obligation to report donations.
They deserve an award for value-added entertainment though. The Nat/Lab underwhelming strategy is clearly designed to turn voters off. NZF is clearly trying to scare voters off. Greens seem unsure which voters to piss off.
Of the peripherals, Vernon Tava has been a no-show, the Opportunists flicker on/off dimly, and the Neocons are off the wall. Only the nutters seem right on – fervently demonstrating god's will to the apathetic. Oh, but we can celebrate the Maori Party for advocating we ditch the dumb old colonial name and become Aotearoa! 👍
From the list of Koha in your first link, that is great that people from all over the country have given donations rounded to the nearest hundred dollars, or probably purely in hundred dollar bills. Restores ones faith in humanity, that the public won't encumber a political movement with superfluous accounting… The wonderful Billy TK.
If a political party is unregistered, and passes the threshold at the election, can it get list candidates into parliament as a result? Probably not!
Electoral Commission's Guide to Party Registration (link) says unregistered parties can only stand electorate candidates. Party vote is only for registered parties.
Thanks Alice, thought so. I guess it means the decision of JLR to stop contesting Botany is due to him presuming his party registration can get him in even though his partner's party must win a seat to get in. If the combo reaches 5% I mean. If the unlikely happens, could become a legal fight (all the way to the Supreme Court)…
Except that seems to contradict what you wrote in 2.2, so I was thinking he's somehow relying on how the combined party will work. Then again maybe neither leader actually thought it thro. Probably won't matter but nutters abound so if they vote we may get an interesting situation. A lawyer-fest.
In 2.2 I was thinking of NZPP standing under its own name.
NZPP is a component party of Advance NZ (link), so it might be okay if everything is done through the combined entity. (Or might be one for the lawyers.)
Oh yeah. I see there are four component parties listed. Went to the Advance website & the link there to Billy's party. Interesting bio:
I approached the UN in 2016 to help fund a NZ based indigenous economic and cultural festival to help end indigenous poverty. We didn’t receive funding because we did not want to become members of the UN as an NGO to receive it. But since I have taken on fronting this amazing movement I have been painted as:
A UN secret agent working as controlled opposition.
A secret Chinese Communist Party agent trying to sell Maori land and that I am committing treason.
I am a Freemason and Freemasonry supporter, despite lecturing against Freemasons.
I am an Abortion Industry executive – despite being against it.
I work for the Maori King and I am forming a global reserve bank with him – reason or how unspecified.
I am a racial separatist despite preaching the opposite that we are all one family.
And that I am a conspiracy theorist about the UN & Communism in New Zealand – despite providing factual evidence proving this and asking that people apply critical thinking.
It's tough at the top. Not enough to surf the wave of any hot conspiracy theory, you get competing theorists demonising you – bit like sharks in the water around the surfer…
maybe the existential question should be, is a unregistered cult with a leader who keeps the $$$$$ under his bed a political party? but, I agree, they do add colour, conspiracy nutters are fun to play with , gentley leading-pushing them further up their own orifice with each wild theory.(mine, not theirs)
“”The political, economic and environmental trends we’ve slavishly followed for decades have been exposed as not only redundant but actually dangerous. Maybe we should adopt not just a language but a way of thinking that’s indigenous to this country. Let’s start a conversation about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean now instead of patronising attempts to use Māori language to continue denying it.””
All this co-opting of Māori language and culture by the state is little more than cynical marketing and doesn’t address more pressing and structural issues that Māori, and the country at large, actually face.
The state isn't co-opting Māori culture. If they were, things might actually be better.
A large part of the problem is that we've seemingly decided to remain a multi-cultural society rather than coming together as a single society that has aspects (preferably the best aspects while throwing out the worst) of multiple cultures.
Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here.
Let’s start a conversation about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean now instead of patronising attempts to use Māori language to continue denying it.
I agree that we do need to have such a conversation but the result of that conversation should be that we, as a nation, are one people with one culture. What's really up for discussion is the nature of that culture and if its still dividing us or brining us together.
Predetermining the outcome of a conversation makes the conversation pointless.
But also, we are a multicultural society. Arguing we should be "one culture" is either suggesting a sort of cultural homgeneity that the zealandia jerks seem to be after, or it's a meaningless proposition that our single culture is multicultural.
But what is the problem with talking about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean? There are several examples around the world of different cultures working together within one nation, but with diverse governance and service systems. Canada comes to mind, but there are others.
Identity politics makes people feel better about themselves at the expense of productive discourse. A person’s lived experience should never be invalidated. But no identity makes the beliefs that someone derives from their lived experience automatically more correct.
My bold.
The problem with a multi-cultural society is that it will always be tearing itself apart as it puts people, who should be friendly neighbours, against each other.
But what is the problem with talking about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean?
Who's?
As I said, identity politics tears a society apart.
There are several examples around the world of different cultures working together within one nation, but with diverse governance and service systems.
Not really.
In all countries there's one set of rules at the top that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture.
Pretending that culture is determined by sitting down and discussing it, rather than a conglomerate of individuals and lived experience, is bullshit. So that discussion is lala-land for a start.
Secondly, "identity politics" is a phrase used by fuckwits to disparage the concept of treating individuals with respect even if they are different. Lived experience being ""automatically more correct" than what? And why is "correct" being used to score points in that essay? The problem wasn't the author's "identity politics", the problem was the author trying to score points against their parents rather than actually discuss the matter.
But that article shares what I believe to be your basic miscomprehension: diversity in culture doesn't need to lead to conflict. The conflict occurs when one culture tries to dominate the other. Discarding "aspects" of any culture, even if rationally determined by committee, will piss people off. Look at the claims of "social engineering" over smacking and lightbulbs.
We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society. Canada really is an interesting example with its approach to First Nations, French, and British heritage and culture. Not perfect by any means, but definitely something to look at.
Trying to mash us all into a homogeneous culture and say we are "one culture" is a fast way to start exploitation, dominance, and war. We've done that before.
edit: and laws and jurisdiction really is something you should read up on in Canada. Not that laws are culture, anyway.
Pretending that culture is determined by sitting down and discussing it, rather than a conglomerate of individuals and lived experience, is bullshit.
Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to toss aside.
Its what we call government.
Secondly, "identity politics" is a phrase used by fuckwits to disparage the concept of treating individuals with respect even if they are different.
No, it really isn't. In fact, I first heard the concept of identity politics from those most in favour of it.
But that article shares what I believe to be your basic miscomprehension: diversity in culture doesn't need to lead to conflict.
Yes it does. Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed.
Discarding "aspects" of any culture, even if rationally determined by committee, will piss people off. Look at the claims of "social engineering" over smacking and lightbulbs.
Yes, governance does get that sort of response because they are engaging in social engineering. They're, quite literally, setting the rules that will determine the culture of a society. So you can probably understand why National were upset as the 5th Labour government tried to stop the ongoing excessive and uneconomical use of power and abuse of children.
We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society
No, that will maximise the conflict.
Trying to mash us all into a homogeneous culture and say we are "one culture" is a fast way to start exploitation, dominance, and war.
Nope.
When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges.
Well, I disagree with pretty much every point and characterisation and conflation you have made there.
But society won't fall apart if we don't hash out exactly which bits we should keep or discard.
So, a bit like calling a person by their chosen pronoun, I will leave it alone and merely wish you a good night. The Cultural Appropriations Committee can pick it up in the morning.
" Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here."
Then, one day a man named Sylvester McMonkey McBean came. Everyone from every persuasion that nature and nuture created sat down at a meeting with that "fix it up chappie" as mediator.
The agenda was to decide , " what parts of which cultures we keep (and) which get tossed aside."
The goal of the task was to make, "onesetofrulesatthetop that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture."
A problem to ameliorate was that people in those lower bodies with their own unique identities were , according to some, problematic because they were through their identity, different from the ideal.
The problem was then reconfigured, not as 'the problem being the problem' but but dammit…those different people were the problem.
A little background to the current problem. In the 1830s, the British government decided it was time to curb the lawlessness of the land and officially make it a colony.
Sylvester McMonkey McBean the first, arrived on NZ shores and using an ever changing formula for the process, the natives were pushed through the suppresion machine to meld together for all to be one people. The melting pot machine had three main phases to pass through, Christianise against savage practices and beliefs, Colonise using one set of rules and expected behaviour because they are superior, then finally, Capitalise on the assets pilfered through that glorious new identity.
Over 180 years when some saw the cracks appear and the have nots started to uprise, it was easy to fix.. . add new rules again ( and imprison the rule breakers.)
The process is much like the original evolution of rules where the then recent, superior immigrants created more rules in the colonists' Native Land Court to affect cancelling the collective identity found in collective ownership of the commons and onto removing singular identity ( and assets) from being connected to the land.
The rationale purported for this more recent proposal here, of transformation to one culture, is that,
" Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed."
Once more in history, a policy sell of a One Nation melting pot that inflicted inequality, is now postured again as the cure to quell civil unrest.
Underlying this is the posed certainity that individual identity is destructive to society.
" We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society," says one O' the flock with an idea.
A direct, " No, that will maximise the conflict."
Instead we need to cross-pollinate.
" When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges."
Furthermore, after overlooking mass misery created through exploiting an earlier 'set of rules' in order to have a state run 'one-culture' , the whole of the Treaty is dumped. Its whole context, the history, its purpose and intent is now diminished through hand picking a two word convenient phrase to suit. The selection of just those two words "tino rangitira" and putting a spin on it is the "co-opting" of the convenient parts to impose a western world view. Applied then to the appropriation is a self-interpretation to shape the future in order to uphold an argument that a nation's people will coexist peacefully if multi-culturalism is cancelled out.
"Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to tossaside."
Which group has the right and should be the ones to interpret tikanga might be the first question, before all the lab rats are subjected to hegemony ?
A person's identity is the totality of all dimensions that make up 'self' . All the aspects that come into play that make each person's unique identity would need to be deconstructed and then it's just too bad, some need to be thrown out as they are not good.
Ancestory and family, parenting, gender, social practices, rites of passage, genetics, personality, peace or trauma, environment of events and resources in one's upbringing, belief systems, political leanings, cognitive abilities, looks, skin colour.. the perfect One identity will be created by the fix it up chappie.
This crazy cycle of rule changing would continue until everyone couldn't tell who was originally which type of Sneetch, we all at which point are the same, a pure-e.
To be pragmatic though, because 5 million can't fit in the meeting room, we would need to whittle down proportionately the attendees to a house of representatives. To show further fairness, the meeting would start with a co-opted practice of a prayer and then would precede by following co-opted archaic "Robert's Rules" for speaking.
Hopefully, none at the Make One Nation meeting has the rotten core of capitalism in their hearts.
The predominant majority of representatives would then decide the alogorithms for McBean's machine. A halt to any new immigrants would have to follow as they may taint the ideal identity or be too expensive to machinize into pure-e.
But for $10 more each says Mr. McBean, I can add dermabrasion in as an extra star to whitewash all. Then McBean will pack his bags up and leave loaded with cash.
The enlightenment to follow, what fun! There'd be no more diversity as there be no more " north and south going Zax ". For that matter, there'd be no more "green pants with nobody inside them" either, to invent our fears around.
Can you smell the vanilla coming off those algorithm decisions ?
Fees Free was expensive, but restoring the postgraduate student allowance was not. If you can't fulfil postgrad allowances in the 2017-2020 term, at the very least make sure you fulfil it in 2020-2023 ("better late than never").
As it is, this smacks of 1980s-1990s Bait and Switch. Hipkins can stay on at Health, but he's godawful at Education. Give the job to someone who doesn't betray students.
I think Hipkins is far too busy with both Health and Education. I agree and think he should stay as health minster (he's a lot better than David Clark, although Clark set the bar very low). Jacinda seems a bit reluctant to trust some of the other ministers and IMO has overloaded both Hipkins and Megan Woods.
It was a Labour flagship policy in their election campaign in 2017 and NZF and the Greens pledged support. I don’t know about NZF being the convenient handbrake but the Green Party is in full support.
They never even tried to implement it and using Covid as an excuse is an insult to our trust. It shows the short-term thinking and focus on ‘shovel-ready’ stuff suits Labour as much as National.
Gives the greens a couple of percent via their leftish platform rather than strict environmentalism.
Labour can afford to throw its main ally a bone, and they can do it without knobbling an electorate candidate. Teamwork. They'd probably govern alone if the Greens didn't get in this time, but Labour know they're better off having the Greens.
Besides the overstatement by comparing a widened schedule in a pandaemic with Lockwood Smith's outright lie, if my suspicion that this was an intentional tactic is correct (that Labour are easing off on education with the benefit to the Greens being at least a partial consideration in favour of that move), then that is literally the goal: spend some of their political capital by alienating some supporters in the group most likely to lean Green rather than NZ1/nat.
Piss of pensioners, they go NZ1. Piss of students, they go Green.
From tackling pollution to protecting coral reefs, the international community did not fully achieve any of the 20 Aichi biodiversity targets agreed in Japan in 2010 to slow the loss of the natural world. It is the second consecutive decade that governments have failed to meet targets.
Mainstreamers will be reassured by this. Doing something different would be terribly traumatic. You can see why they switched to Coro instead.
Those dumb ignorant Russians are in denial over novichok
They've done no decontamination of the Tomsk airport, which has been in full operational mode throughout.The aeroplane carrying Navalny, and in which he was induced to vomit has not been destroyed, fellow passengers have been questioned but not tested for novichok, neither have the crew.
There's a disgraceful photo of Navalny being put in the ambulance on the way to the Omsk hospital
What were they thinking!! No hazmat gear on , no precautions apart from the usual hospital gowns and masks
They'll be dying like flies over there you mark my words, Navalny and his colleagues will be trumpeting it from the rooftops
But I have to say, the Germans have done it on the cheap too. No tracheotomy for Navalny, unlike both the Skripals, and the Navalny dose was meant to be harder
No quarantining for Navalny
Navalny had his wife and family close the whole time, poor old Skripal was denied the visitation of friends or family
And we know he had friends in Salisbury, his old MI6 handler Pablo Miller lived in the same town and they had monthly lunches
The Skripals had to be expensively quarantined and safe housed and given new identities and shipped off to NZ.Or so an anonymous UK intelligence source told the Sunday Times of Britain , and they would surely not lie?
Navalny has just appeared on his instagram page looking very chipper indeed and stating that as soon as he gets out of hospital he's back to Russia .Goodness!
I must commend the German doctors, he's looking the very picture of rude health and well on the way to recovery
4weeks for Yulia and a couple of months for Sergei .Sergei's so burnt by the whole thing he's unable to contact his mother who he used to ring every week
Shame on you Brit doctors!
And you Russians , when will you learn to treat dissidents the good old democratic Western way ?
'End torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange"
Or they feel like the message is adequately sent either way – live or die, no matter, just make sure there's a lot of publicised suffering and expense and a teeny-tiny fig-leaf of plausible deniability to provoke ever more argument.
Nordstream 2 home and hosed and all of Europe plugged in,then finish off Navalny and all those pesky commies who do so much better in the polls than Navalny
Methinks those bungling bastards are resting on the laurels of puppetising Trump and inducing him to demand the end of Nordstream 2….well before the Navalny fiasco
Francesca You need to put sarc at the bottom of the comments that you write in a cynical/satirical way. We don't know what is going on and when you appear to know and state something it is taken as supposedly believable or completely dismissed depending on the bent of the reader.
It's way harder to almost kill someone , then allow them to return to full health ,than to kill them outright
You've got to get the measurements just right, enough surplus to spread all over Salisbury for instance and cause the maximum fuss and diplomatic downsides, but not quite enough to kill.
And it takes a lot of skill in the case of Navalny for instance to only contaminate the target and none of his colleaugues(who are just as noisome as Navalny)
You're driving in a war-torn land. You turn a corner and see a roadblock several hundred metres away. Your windscreen shatters and a bullet goes through the drivers' headrest not an inch away from you.
"Well gosh," thinks one person. "The shot can't have come from the roadblock, because at that range to miss me by inches is an amazing piece of marksmanship. Because the shot didn't come from there, it's safe for me to keep going in that direction. If they had wanted to kill me, with marksmanship like that I'd be dead already."
"Well gosh" thinks another person. "I guess they don't want me approaching, and aren't too bothered about whether I live or die so long as nobody approaches them. I think I will go back the way I came."
It's an abhorrent practice but the West has been doing the same sort of thing for decades. They also targeted innocent citizens of allied countries. Take the CIA for example. They were running almost rampant in Australia and NZ during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Many of their targets were aware of what was going on but they couldn't say anything because few people would have believed them.
Labour Party supporters and activists were particularly vulnerable and anyone who dared to have any contact – for whatever reason – with Russian nationals. My father was one of them. He couldn't harm a fly but that didn't stop them.
It's an abhorrent practice but the West has been doing the same sort of thing for decades.
As abhorrent as it is its also necessary because if we didn't do it we wouldn't be able to act to defend ourselves.
It's when such information is used for an attack that it breaches ethics and, by the way the Chinese labelled some people, it was obviously being used as an attack vector. That's what politically vulnerable means.
This is an interesting essay on how collusion between the authoritarian neoliberal left and "woke capitalism" has displaced actual activism for social change with "public castigation, social media mobbing or termination of employment".
TVNZ realised the public mood shifting around the Trump-esque lies Hosking engages in every day of the week and sacked him. It's a much bigger ask but it'd be progress if Newstalk ZB followed suit.
Although Hosking was found to be in breach of the Radio Code of Broadcasting Practice, the BSA did not make an order, instead saying its decision “was sufficient to censure the broadcaster and to provide guidance to broadcasters generally”.
No, really, it isn't.
The whole point of having codes is that there are consequences to breaching them especially after they’ve done it several times.
Never used the smoking stuff, but the value of the basic plants gives me a high. Perhaps we can get out of the conservative-blinkers into something with good prospects, slap taxes on second homes and above, and direct investment away from selling our basic needs to the wealthy and impoverishing the rest of us.
Has anyone thought that it follows the pattern of the Irish Famine – they had crops of corn I think but that had been contracted for delivery outside Ireland, I think to the British Army. Business before people, who would have been cited as a 'restraint to trade' if they had successfully blocked the export. And trade and profit are sacred matters to money-makers; people are expendable but suffer without homes and food.
"On a Single Day" by Christy Moore on exports from Cork in September 1847. Meanwhile up the road in Skibbereen lie thousands buried in mass graves. Business before people……..
They say that society is between 3 and 9 meals from anarchy, but it would depend on a number of other factors as well. Just the same, it seems to be a good rule of thumb as opposed to a rule of law.
For an individual, it may vary say for example, the point where a vegan or vegetarian would stop using a draft horse for agricultural purpose or for riding to and from the village on and slaughter it so as to cut it in to delicious bite size chunks for consumption.
I guess New Zealand has one thing going for it. That even if the economy were to go into free fall and we run out of backers and run out of those who would trade with us relative to what we have left to offer, which is kai, man!
Of course, unless or until someone with a large army decided that our fodder was going to be acquired by them, by hook or by crook.
We also have heaps of concepts and creative alternative lifestyle thoughts. Sure, we can’t eat these, but Hell, they must be worth something during a serious crisis.
Tourism accommodation, hospitality, and events/attractions are dependent for the foreseeable future on the smaller domestic market tourism.
We therefore need to urgently expand existing food crops and develop new crops which bring capital investment into the regions- and thus jobs- to help replace the loss of international revenues and jobs.
Non sequitur. Just because the tourism sector is collapsing doesn't mean that we need more farms.
There is substantial interest from investors to add the capital required into the industry to achieve rapid growth and scale for export marketing.
Agricultural export is a bad move as the excessive farming we already have has proved to our detriment.
We now need the entrepreneurial vision and determination, backed by our national economic agencies as well as investment funders
We do need the entrepreneurial vision and determination but we don't need the bludging investors who are no more than a blight upon our society.
Prior to this law change Hemp was a staple industrial crop in the USA and Europe because the motive power for sailing ships was hemp fibre for rigging, ropes and canvas sails.
By the time that the War on Drugs made hemp illegal it was no longer a staple for motive power. Sailing ships were long gone to the Age of Steam and diesel was on the up and up. Really, if it had still been vital there would have been no way to make it illegal.
If government wishes to support the rapid growth of revenue and regional jobs from Hemp, then the next Prime Minister needs to cut through the red tape and finesse the Hemp amendment regulations.
No, that is most definitely what the government should not be doing as it removes the necessary pricing to ensure that its actually a viable industry. Better regulations, certainly, but not the removal of regulations.
Instead of allowing the major construction companies to find the cheapest ways of using its post-Covid-19 investments (with substantial imports), the NZ Government could mandate the use of low or positive environmental impact materials such as hemp.
While I agree this is actually more about ensuring that there's local demand to support the burgeoning industry. In other words, he's asking for government guaranteed profits.
Surely all that is required for the burgeoning Hemp industry to guarantee profits is for us to all go back to hemp roped sailing ships? No more fuel oil either!
National health, an oxymoron. Did people hear the extravagant promises made under the National banner this morning. This from the party that is always promising to cut taxes. They know that their moron followers think that money grows on trees which are eternally fruitful. They know how to use it for their own purposes, but not how to put it back into the economy like fertiliser, to have a modern, thriving, busy and healthy country.
There is talk about 'navigators' and apparently they have picked that up from the UK. That is where the services have been run down, tightened so a patient can't have enough time with their GP to discuss more than one of their health problems! The country where they lied to the people about the money that would be released for their health system by going for Brexit and the main proponents of that have been in close contact with Big Pharma in the USA! And where they are really good at handling Covid-19 in a timely fashion and developing systems that limit its spread – not!
This from Dr Reti – 'He says the primary care navigators have been trialled in the United Kingdom with positive outcomes. They would offer counselling, help unlock government agencies, follow up appointments and referrals and do home visits.'
These under their Surgery heading:
Faster elective surgeries, with funding and surgery for patients within four months
DHBs will outsource elective surgeries they are unable to complete themselves within that timeframe – to other DHBs or private providers at no extra cost
Targets – that can't be met, leading to question of capability and a loss of respect for our public services, with more surgery done by private providers while the public hospitals get further squeezed and finally cannot find staff willing to work in them because of their under-funding impoverished state.
So go private, that will be the answer. Sneer at public, they are just so inefficient, mistakes and faults to heap on them.
The National Party is disgraceful – they can't lie straight in bed even. Their comment on Pharmac – they will keep it as it is excellent (for our ears) and for Big Pharmas ears – we will have more medicines available.
"National believes the Pharmac model is the best way to ensure New Zealanders are accessing much-needed medication."
"Year on year this will be more funding for Pharmac than at any time in the past decade, and New Zealanders will have better access to more medicines.
I read with interest the media reports ; (Stuff and NZ Herald) and also posts herein; (Anne and Draco Te Bastard) regarding the People's republic of China and reports of a database kept on New Zealanders.
Is this not terrible?
Who might have guessed they could have gone THAT far. Max and his baseball aspirations, Winnie and his daughter. Oh My Goodness.
Yep. The PRC are pretty resourceful from what is gleaned by such disclosures.
Bad, China. How could you?
And must I say in support of New Zealand what an entirely non-intrusive, blessed, clean, open, non-corrupted, non-corruptible, humble nation we as a sovereign state along with our fellow residents are, and how few (if any) would ever be likely not go to such lengths.
We pride ourselves and self promote on how we give everybody a Fair Go. And this must surely extend to the collection, analyses and dissemination of information on other people.
Surely as good folk, we wouldn't dear go anywhere near intruding or fishing just to get an upper hand on anybody else in relation to business, finances, politics, nor in relation to assessing competitors, nor even simply because we do not like someone or some group for any particular reason whether or not we get rewarded for doing so.
Surely we would rarely even engage in the wide or small scale collection of public domain material (court records for example), nor business and personal data on each other just to find out more about other Kiwis.
We leave it up to govern-mental for most of this, do we not?
Why? Because, again, it's simply not a Fair Go, and besides, there hefty penalties for unauthorized access to any closed material.
However, the reason we do not intrude in such a way as good Kiwis is not out of fear in relation to such legislation, it is because we care for each other so deeply and we like to think of ourselves as both ambassadors and teachers (even preachers) to the world, from our Aotearoa land of plenty that so many call "Godzone".
Isn't there some law we could invent or manufacture to stop others looking at us this way.
Darn camera clickers and busy bodies they must appear to be, all on their own.
Unlike New Zealanders with all of our values and good conduct, and where butter would not melt in our mouths in relation to intrusion for profit, out of curiosity or to collect brownie points.
But most Kiwis I've come across are curious folk when it comes to looking over the back fence, and then pointing the finger when others appear to be inquisitive or nosy.
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
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A job for Billy TK.
Excellent scheme. The punishment fitting the crime – not in a nutshell but an oblong space.l
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWKrAQAhu-k
If a political party is unregistered, and passes the threshold at the election, can it get list candidates into parliament as a result? Probably not!
They deserve an award for value-added entertainment though. The Nat/Lab underwhelming strategy is clearly designed to turn voters off. NZF is clearly trying to scare voters off. Greens seem unsure which voters to piss off.
Of the peripherals, Vernon Tava has been a no-show, the Opportunists flicker on/off dimly, and the Neocons are off the wall. Only the nutters seem right on – fervently demonstrating god's will to the apathetic. Oh, but we can celebrate the Maori Party for advocating we ditch the dumb old colonial name and become Aotearoa! 👍
From the list of Koha in your first link, that is great that people from all over the country have given donations rounded to the nearest hundred dollars, or probably purely in hundred dollar bills. Restores ones faith in humanity, that the public won't encumber a political movement with superfluous accounting… The wonderful Billy TK.
Electoral Commission's Guide to Party Registration (link) says unregistered parties can only stand electorate candidates. Party vote is only for registered parties.
Thanks Alice, thought so. I guess it means the decision of JLR to stop contesting Botany is due to him presuming his party registration can get him in even though his partner's party must win a seat to get in. If the combo reaches 5% I mean. If the unlikely happens, could become a legal fight (all the way to the Supreme Court)…
Maybe stand electorate candidates under JLR's Advance NZ banner as that is a registered party.
Except that seems to contradict what you wrote in 2.2, so I was thinking he's somehow relying on how the combined party will work. Then again maybe neither leader actually thought it thro. Probably won't matter but nutters abound so if they vote we may get an interesting situation. A lawyer-fest.
In 2.2 I was thinking of NZPP standing under its own name.
NZPP is a component party of Advance NZ (link), so it might be okay if everything is done through the combined entity. (Or might be one for the lawyers.)
Oh yeah. I see there are four component parties listed. Went to the Advance website & the link there to Billy's party. Interesting bio:
It's tough at the top. Not enough to surf the wave of any hot conspiracy theory, you get competing theorists demonising you – bit like sharks in the water around the surfer…
maybe the existential question should be, is a unregistered cult with a leader who keeps the $$$$$ under his bed a political party? but, I agree, they do add colour, conspiracy nutters are fun to play with , gentley leading-pushing them further up their own orifice with each wild theory.(mine, not theirs)
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB194lJm?m=en-nz&ocid=News
“”The political, economic and environmental trends we’ve slavishly followed for decades have been exposed as not only redundant but actually dangerous. Maybe we should adopt not just a language but a way of thinking that’s indigenous to this country. Let’s start a conversation about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean now instead of patronising attempts to use Māori language to continue denying it.””
The state isn't co-opting Māori culture. If they were, things might actually be better.
A large part of the problem is that we've seemingly decided to remain a multi-cultural society rather than coming together as a single society that has aspects (preferably the best aspects while throwing out the worst) of multiple cultures.
Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here.
Well, that wasn't the deal made in 1840.
So we're left with a salad, not a puree. I prefer salads, anyway.
I was responding to this:
I agree that we do need to have such a conversation but the result of that conversation should be that we, as a nation, are one people with one culture. What's really up for discussion is the nature of that culture and if its still dividing us or brining us together.
Predetermining the outcome of a conversation makes the conversation pointless.
But also, we are a multicultural society. Arguing we should be "one culture" is either suggesting a sort of cultural homgeneity that the zealandia jerks seem to be after, or it's a meaningless proposition that our single culture is multicultural.
But what is the problem with talking about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean? There are several examples around the world of different cultures working together within one nation, but with diverse governance and service systems. Canada comes to mind, but there are others.
No it doesn't as it would be about how we went about it, what parts of which cultures we keep which get tossed aside.
Not really unless you want to proclaim identity politics as valid:
My bold.
The problem with a multi-cultural society is that it will always be tearing itself apart as it puts people, who should be friendly neighbours, against each other.
Who's?
As I said, identity politics tears a society apart.
Not really.
In all countries there's one set of rules at the top that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture.
A couple of points there.
Pretending that culture is determined by sitting down and discussing it, rather than a conglomerate of individuals and lived experience, is bullshit. So that discussion is lala-land for a start.
Secondly, "identity politics" is a phrase used by fuckwits to disparage the concept of treating individuals with respect even if they are different. Lived experience being ""automatically more correct" than what? And why is "correct" being used to score points in that essay? The problem wasn't the author's "identity politics", the problem was the author trying to score points against their parents rather than actually discuss the matter.
But that article shares what I believe to be your basic miscomprehension: diversity in culture doesn't need to lead to conflict. The conflict occurs when one culture tries to dominate the other. Discarding "aspects" of any culture, even if rationally determined by committee, will piss people off. Look at the claims of "social engineering" over smacking and lightbulbs.
We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society. Canada really is an interesting example with its approach to First Nations, French, and British heritage and culture. Not perfect by any means, but definitely something to look at.
Trying to mash us all into a homogeneous culture and say we are "one culture" is a fast way to start exploitation, dominance, and war. We've done that before.
edit: and laws and jurisdiction really is something you should read up on in Canada. Not that laws are culture, anyway.
Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to toss aside.
Its what we call government.
No, it really isn't. In fact, I first heard the concept of identity politics from those most in favour of it.
Yes it does. Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed.
Yes, governance does get that sort of response because they are engaging in social engineering. They're, quite literally, setting the rules that will determine the culture of a society. So you can probably understand why National were upset as the 5th Labour government tried to stop the ongoing excessive and uneconomical use of power and abuse of children.
No, that will maximise the conflict.
Nope.
When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges.
Well, I disagree with pretty much every point and characterisation and conflation you have made there.
But society won't fall apart if we don't hash out exactly which bits we should keep or discard.
So, a bit like calling a person by their chosen pronoun, I will leave it alone and merely wish you a good night. The Cultural Appropriations Committee can pick it up in the morning.
" Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here."
Then, one day a man named Sylvester McMonkey McBean came. Everyone from every persuasion that nature and nuture created sat down at a meeting with that "fix it up chappie" as mediator.
The agenda was to decide , " what parts of which cultures we keep (and) which get tossed aside."
The goal of the task was to make, "one set of rules at the top that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture."
A problem to ameliorate was that people in those lower bodies with their own unique identities were , according to some, problematic because they were through their identity, different from the ideal.
The problem was then reconfigured, not as 'the problem being the problem' but but dammit…those different people were the problem.
A little background to the current problem. In the 1830s, the British government decided it was time to curb the lawlessness of the land and officially make it a colony.
Sylvester McMonkey McBean the first, arrived on NZ shores and using an ever changing formula for the process, the natives were pushed through the suppresion machine to meld together for all to be one people. The melting pot machine had three main phases to pass through, Christianise against savage practices and beliefs, Colonise using one set of rules and expected behaviour because they are superior, then finally, Capitalise on the assets pilfered through that glorious new identity.
Over 180 years when some saw the cracks appear and the have nots started to uprise, it was easy to fix.. . add new rules again ( and imprison the rule breakers.)
The process is much like the original evolution of rules where the then recent, superior immigrants created more rules in the colonists' Native Land Court to affect cancelling the collective identity found in collective ownership of the commons and onto removing singular identity ( and assets) from being connected to the land.
The rationale purported for this more recent proposal here, of transformation to one culture, is that,
" Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed."
Once more in history, a policy sell of a One Nation melting pot that inflicted inequality, is now postured again as the cure to quell civil unrest.
Underlying this is the posed certainity that individual identity is destructive to society.
" We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society," says one O' the flock with an idea.
A direct, " No, that will maximise the conflict."
Instead we need to cross-pollinate.
" When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges."
Furthermore, after overlooking mass misery created through exploiting an earlier 'set of rules' in order to have a state run 'one-culture' , the whole of the Treaty is dumped. Its whole context, the history, its purpose and intent is now diminished through hand picking a two word convenient phrase to suit. The selection of just those two words "tino rangitira" and putting a spin on it is the "co-opting" of the convenient parts to impose a western world view. Applied then to the appropriation is a self-interpretation to shape the future in order to uphold an argument that a nation's people will coexist peacefully if multi-culturalism is cancelled out.
"Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to toss aside."
Which group has the right and should be the ones to interpret tikanga might be the first question, before all the lab rats are subjected to hegemony ?
A person's identity is the totality of all dimensions that make up 'self' . All the aspects that come into play that make each person's unique identity would need to be deconstructed and then it's just too bad, some need to be thrown out as they are not good.
Ancestory and family, parenting, gender, social practices, rites of passage, genetics, personality, peace or trauma, environment of events and resources in one's upbringing, belief systems, political leanings, cognitive abilities, looks, skin colour.. the perfect One identity will be created by the fix it up chappie.
This crazy cycle of rule changing would continue until everyone couldn't tell who was originally which type of Sneetch, we all at which point are the same, a pure-e.
To be pragmatic though, because 5 million can't fit in the meeting room, we would need to whittle down proportionately the attendees to a house of representatives. To show further fairness, the meeting would start with a co-opted practice of a prayer and then would precede by following co-opted archaic "Robert's Rules" for speaking.
Hopefully, none at the Make One Nation meeting has the rotten core of capitalism in their hearts.
The predominant majority of representatives would then decide the alogorithms for McBean's machine. A halt to any new immigrants would have to follow as they may taint the ideal identity or be too expensive to machinize into pure-e.
But for $10 more each says Mr. McBean, I can add dermabrasion in as an extra star to whitewash all. Then McBean will pack his bags up and leave loaded with cash.
The enlightenment to follow, what fun! There'd be no more diversity as there be no more " north and south going Zax ". For that matter, there'd be no more "green pants with nobody inside them" either, to invent our fears around.
Can you smell the vanilla coming off those algorithm decisions ?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300107808/university-students-may-reconsider-futures-after-labour-party-breaks-promise-of-additional-feesfree-years
Fees Free was expensive, but restoring the postgraduate student allowance was not. If you can't fulfil postgrad allowances in the 2017-2020 term, at the very least make sure you fulfil it in 2020-2023 ("better late than never").
As it is, this smacks of 1980s-1990s Bait and Switch. Hipkins can stay on at Health, but he's godawful at Education. Give the job to someone who doesn't betray students.
I think Hipkins is far too busy with both Health and Education. I agree and think he should stay as health minster (he's a lot better than David Clark, although Clark set the bar very low). Jacinda seems a bit reluctant to trust some of the other ministers and IMO has overloaded both Hipkins and Megan Woods.
It was a Labour flagship policy in their election campaign in 2017 and NZF and the Greens pledged support. I don’t know about NZF being the convenient handbrake but the Green Party is in full support.
https://www.greens.org.nz/tertiary_education_policy
They never even tried to implement it and using Covid as an excuse is an insult to our trust. It shows the short-term thinking and focus on ‘shovel-ready’ stuff suits Labour as much as National.
So students should party vote Green then incog. This is a significant own goal by Labour.
The Green Party Policies have a lot to offer to young people.
They have a lot to offer most people and not just the young.
I agree, but we were referring to students, who are mostly (!) young, and the number of younger voters is relatively low. That was the context.
Gives the greens a couple of percent via their leftish platform rather than strict environmentalism.
Labour can afford to throw its main ally a bone, and they can do it without knobbling an electorate candidate. Teamwork. They'd probably govern alone if the Greens didn't get in this time, but Labour know they're better off having the Greens.
Labour can boost the Greens without getting a generation of students to view Labour as liars.
Honestly, there is a reason it took so long to put the demons of Phil Goff and Lockwood Smith back in the bottle.
Besides the overstatement by comparing a widened schedule in a pandaemic with Lockwood Smith's outright lie, if my suspicion that this was an intentional tactic is correct (that Labour are easing off on education with the benefit to the Greens being at least a partial consideration in favour of that move), then that is literally the goal: spend some of their political capital by alienating some supporters in the group most likely to lean Green rather than NZ1/nat.
Piss of pensioners, they go NZ1. Piss of students, they go Green.
Left/right collusion at the top level of politics remains effective in preventing progress by defending business as usual: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/15/every-global-target-to-stem-destruction-of-nature-by-2020-missed-un-report-aoe
Mainstreamers will be reassured by this. Doing something different would be terribly traumatic. You can see why they switched to Coro instead.
Those dumb ignorant Russians are in denial over novichok
They've done no decontamination of the Tomsk airport, which has been in full operational mode throughout.The aeroplane carrying Navalny, and in which he was induced to vomit has not been destroyed, fellow passengers have been questioned but not tested for novichok, neither have the crew.
There's a disgraceful photo of Navalny being put in the ambulance on the way to the Omsk hospital
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/world/europe/russia-navalny-poison-hospital.html
What were they thinking!! No hazmat gear on , no precautions apart from the usual hospital gowns and masks
They'll be dying like flies over there you mark my words, Navalny and his colleagues will be trumpeting it from the rooftops
But I have to say, the Germans have done it on the cheap too. No tracheotomy for Navalny, unlike both the Skripals, and the Navalny dose was meant to be harder
No quarantining for Navalny
Navalny had his wife and family close the whole time, poor old Skripal was denied the visitation of friends or family
And we know he had friends in Salisbury, his old MI6 handler Pablo Miller lived in the same town and they had monthly lunches
The Skripals had to be expensively quarantined and safe housed and given new identities and shipped off to NZ.Or so an anonymous UK intelligence source told the Sunday Times of Britain , and they would surely not lie?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12342962
Navalny has just appeared on his instagram page looking very chipper indeed and stating that as soon as he gets out of hospital he's back to Russia .Goodness!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/15/alexei-navalny-poisoned-russian-opposition-leader-photo-hospital
I must commend the German doctors, he's looking the very picture of rude health and well on the way to recovery
4weeks for Yulia and a couple of months for Sergei .Sergei's so burnt by the whole thing he's unable to contact his mother who he used to ring every week
Shame on you Brit doctors!
And you Russians , when will you learn to treat dissidents the good old democratic Western way ?
'End torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange"
You're so backward with this novichok that continues not to kill the target
How hard is a heart attack or car accident?
Da, comrade.
It's almost like the Russian State Security services are very good at killing people any more.
Or they feel like the message is adequately sent either way – live or die, no matter, just make sure there's a lot of publicised suffering and expense and a teeny-tiny fig-leaf of plausible deniability to provoke ever more argument.
And at the same time bungle the use of a poison guaranteed to cause maximum embarrassment to their boss.
Sighs … hard to find competent assassins these days.
Poots doesn't show the slightest sign of embarrassment. Quite the opposite from all appearances.
I know , and to get the timing so badly wrong!
Nordstream 2 home and hosed and all of Europe plugged in,then finish off Navalny and all those pesky commies who do so much better in the polls than Navalny
Methinks those bungling bastards are resting on the laurels of puppetising Trump and inducing him to demand the end of Nordstream 2….well before the Navalny fiasco
https://www.rferl.org/a/pompeo-u-s-will-do-everything-to-stop-nord-stream-2/30757543.html
Trump is such a Putin puppet hes also withdrawn the US from the INF arms control treaty
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-09/news/us-completes-inf-treaty-withdrawal
And the Open Skies treaty
Puppet Trump has given lethal weaponry to Ukraine , when even Obama stopped short
Francesca You need to put sarc at the bottom of the comments that you write in a cynical/satirical way. We don't know what is going on and when you appear to know and state something it is taken as supposedly believable or completely dismissed depending on the bent of the reader.
Sorry grey
The daniki were burning and I forgot to put the sarc tag in
Actually Red , it shows they're even more skilful
It's way harder to almost kill someone , then allow them to return to full health ,than to kill them outright
You've got to get the measurements just right, enough surplus to spread all over Salisbury for instance and cause the maximum fuss and diplomatic downsides, but not quite enough to kill.
And it takes a lot of skill in the case of Navalny for instance to only contaminate the target and none of his colleaugues(who are just as noisome as Navalny)
Thank you Francesca for unpicking the remarkable inconsistencies in these cases.
Scenario:
You're driving in a war-torn land. You turn a corner and see a roadblock several hundred metres away. Your windscreen shatters and a bullet goes through the drivers' headrest not an inch away from you.
"Well gosh," thinks one person. "The shot can't have come from the roadblock, because at that range to miss me by inches is an amazing piece of marksmanship. Because the shot didn't come from there, it's safe for me to keep going in that direction. If they had wanted to kill me, with marksmanship like that I'd be dead already."
"Well gosh" thinks another person. "I guess they don't want me approaching, and aren't too bothered about whether I live or die so long as nobody approaches them. I think I will go back the way I came."
Some people just don't get the message.
Navalny certainly didnt, he's raring to get back to Russia
He got the message. He's brave, not stupid.
Might've got into the habit of using contractors like the Night Wolves.
While on the subject of international affairs…
I'm no defender of the Chinese government but talk about the pots calling the kettle black:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122773268/new-zealand-politicians-diplomats-judges-and-fraudsters-found-on-massive-chinese-intelligence-database
It's an abhorrent practice but the West has been doing the same sort of thing for decades. They also targeted innocent citizens of allied countries. Take the CIA for example. They were running almost rampant in Australia and NZ during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Many of their targets were aware of what was going on but they couldn't say anything because few people would have believed them.
Labour Party supporters and activists were particularly vulnerable and anyone who dared to have any contact – for whatever reason – with Russian nationals. My father was one of them. He couldn't harm a fly but that didn't stop them.
Sympathy for you and your father Anne
Tough times
He's been gone many years francesca but the last years of his life were destroyed and I will never forgive the bastards who were responsible.
As abhorrent as it is its also necessary because if we didn't do it we wouldn't be able to act to defend ourselves.
It's when such information is used for an attack that it breaches ethics and, by the way the Chinese labelled some people, it was obviously being used as an attack vector. That's what politically vulnerable means.
Precisely what I mean by abhorrent practice. Its what happened to my father.
This is an interesting essay on how collusion between the authoritarian neoliberal left and "woke capitalism" has displaced actual activism for social change with "public castigation, social media mobbing or termination of employment".
https://savageminds.substack.com/p/whats-driving-authoritarianism-today
TVNZ realised the public mood shifting around the Trump-esque lies Hosking engages in every day of the week and sacked him. It's a much bigger ask but it'd be progress if Newstalk ZB followed suit.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300108163/mike-hoskings-comments-about-italys-coronavirus-deaths-misleading-bsa
No, really, it isn't.
The whole point of having codes is that there are consequences to breaching them especially after they’ve done it several times.
Given the context in these covid times this 'code' requires an overhaul if mr journalism suffers no consequences.
Some interesting stuff about hemp if you missed it on Monday.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2009/S00197/hemp-just-needs-the-nod-a-2bn-transition-for-nzs-economy.htm
Never used the smoking stuff, but the value of the basic plants gives me a high. Perhaps we can get out of the conservative-blinkers into something with good prospects, slap taxes on second homes and above, and direct investment away from selling our basic needs to the wealthy and impoverishing the rest of us.
Has anyone thought that it follows the pattern of the Irish Famine – they had crops of corn I think but that had been contracted for delivery outside Ireland, I think to the British Army. Business before people, who would have been cited as a 'restraint to trade' if they had successfully blocked the export. And trade and profit are sacred matters to money-makers; people are expendable but suffer without homes and food.
"On a Single Day" by Christy Moore on exports from Cork in September 1847. Meanwhile up the road in Skibbereen lie thousands buried in mass graves. Business before people……..
Here's a link to Christy Moore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKH1vbl1b1g
They say that society is between 3 and 9 meals from anarchy, but it would depend on a number of other factors as well. Just the same, it seems to be a good rule of thumb as opposed to a rule of law.
For an individual, it may vary say for example, the point where a vegan or vegetarian would stop using a draft horse for agricultural purpose or for riding to and from the village on and slaughter it so as to cut it in to delicious bite size chunks for consumption.
I guess New Zealand has one thing going for it. That even if the economy were to go into free fall and we run out of backers and run out of those who would trade with us relative to what we have left to offer, which is kai, man!
Of course, unless or until someone with a large army decided that our fodder was going to be acquired by them, by hook or by crook.
We also have heaps of concepts and creative alternative lifestyle thoughts. Sure, we can’t eat these, but Hell, they must be worth something during a serious crisis.
Quoting article:
Non sequitur. Just because the tourism sector is collapsing doesn't mean that we need more farms.
Agricultural export is a bad move as the excessive farming we already have has proved to our detriment.
We do need the entrepreneurial vision and determination but we don't need the bludging investors who are no more than a blight upon our society.
By the time that the War on Drugs made hemp illegal it was no longer a staple for motive power. Sailing ships were long gone to the Age of Steam and diesel was on the up and up. Really, if it had still been vital there would have been no way to make it illegal.
Of course, there was still no way ethical way to make hemp illegal and so some industrialists got together and made it so anyway. They just wanted to get rid of the competition.
No, that is most definitely what the government should not be doing as it removes the necessary pricing to ensure that its actually a viable industry. Better regulations, certainly, but not the removal of regulations.
While I agree this is actually more about ensuring that there's local demand to support the burgeoning industry. In other words, he's asking for government guaranteed profits.
Surely all that is required for the burgeoning Hemp industry to guarantee profits is for us to all go back to hemp roped sailing ships? No more fuel oil either!
Hemp jeans would be a good start – very long life fabric.
edit
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/426163/national-health-policy-promises-800m-in-new-funding-over-four-years-targeting-pharmac-and-cancer
National health, an oxymoron. Did people hear the extravagant promises made under the National banner this morning. This from the party that is always promising to cut taxes. They know that their moron followers think that money grows on trees which are eternally fruitful. They know how to use it for their own purposes, but not how to put it back into the economy like fertiliser, to have a modern, thriving, busy and healthy country.
There is talk about 'navigators' and apparently they have picked that up from the UK. That is where the services have been run down, tightened so a patient can't have enough time with their GP to discuss more than one of their health problems! The country where they lied to the people about the money that would be released for their health system by going for Brexit and the main proponents of that have been in close contact with Big Pharma in the USA! And where they are really good at handling Covid-19 in a timely fashion and developing systems that limit its spread – not!
This from Dr Reti – 'He says the primary care navigators have been trialled in the United Kingdom with positive outcomes. They would offer counselling, help unlock government agencies, follow up appointments and referrals and do home visits.'
These under their Surgery heading:
Targets – that can't be met, leading to question of capability and a loss of respect for our public services, with more surgery done by private providers while the public hospitals get further squeezed and finally cannot find staff willing to work in them because of their under-funding impoverished state.
So go private, that will be the answer. Sneer at public, they are just so inefficient, mistakes and faults to heap on them.
The National Party is disgraceful – they can't lie straight in bed even. Their comment on Pharmac – they will keep it as it is excellent (for our ears) and for Big Pharmas ears – we will have more medicines available.
"National believes the Pharmac model is the best way to ensure New Zealanders are accessing much-needed medication."
"Year on year this will be more funding for Pharmac than at any time in the past decade, and New Zealanders will have better access to more medicines.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-the-assange-hearing-day-6/
Craig Murray's excellent report on the goings on at the Old Bailey.
He's also written of the subsequent days 7, 8, and 9
I read with interest the media reports ; (Stuff and NZ Herald) and also posts herein; (Anne and Draco Te Bastard) regarding the People's republic of China and reports of a database kept on New Zealanders.
Is this not terrible?
Who might have guessed they could have gone THAT far. Max and his baseball aspirations, Winnie and his daughter. Oh My Goodness.
Yep. The PRC are pretty resourceful from what is gleaned by such disclosures.
Bad, China. How could you?
And must I say in support of New Zealand what an entirely non-intrusive, blessed, clean, open, non-corrupted, non-corruptible, humble nation we as a sovereign state along with our fellow residents are, and how few (if any) would ever be likely not go to such lengths.
We pride ourselves and self promote on how we give everybody a Fair Go. And this must surely extend to the collection, analyses and dissemination of information on other people.
Surely as good folk, we wouldn't dear go anywhere near intruding or fishing just to get an upper hand on anybody else in relation to business, finances, politics, nor in relation to assessing competitors, nor even simply because we do not like someone or some group for any particular reason whether or not we get rewarded for doing so.
Surely we would rarely even engage in the wide or small scale collection of public domain material (court records for example), nor business and personal data on each other just to find out more about other Kiwis.
We leave it up to govern-mental for most of this, do we not?
Why? Because, again, it's simply not a Fair Go, and besides, there hefty penalties for unauthorized access to any closed material.
However, the reason we do not intrude in such a way as good Kiwis is not out of fear in relation to such legislation, it is because we care for each other so deeply and we like to think of ourselves as both ambassadors and teachers (even preachers) to the world, from our Aotearoa land of plenty that so many call "Godzone".
Isn't there some law we could invent or manufacture to stop others looking at us this way.
Darn camera clickers and busy bodies they must appear to be, all on their own.
Unlike New Zealanders with all of our values and good conduct, and where butter would not melt in our mouths in relation to intrusion for profit, out of curiosity or to collect brownie points.
I'm now thinking about drones. It seems that nothing must happen to stop things happening until they do happen and then that is so unexpected.
Amen, I think
But what if they do, then when will we do, or will we do?
I'm thinking satellites in orbit.
I assume you are being sarcastic karol121. I certainly hope so. NZ is not squeaky clean. Never has been and never will be.
But no, I don't think our establishment would ever stoop to the levels some other countries are prepared to go – and that includes China.
Yes indeed. It was a little tongue in cheeky.
But most Kiwis I've come across are curious folk when it comes to looking over the back fence, and then pointing the finger when others appear to be inquisitive or nosy.
No offence intended