It's not really the dogs that are the problem it's their dimwitted owners. I live on an estuary and get sick of owners letting their dogs chase wading birds who are minding their own business and having lunch. I stay sometimes at Piha where I watch entitled owners walk past the signs that say no dogs because of nesting penguins – belonging, I presume to the 'my dog wouldn't' brigade. I also have issues with being sniffed at in the street while the owner tries to reassure me that it won't bite. That's not the point – I don't want to be sniffed either!
I remember a few years ago some snot got most upset as I did not want his slobbering dog rubbing its filthy face up against my clothing I didn't want to go home smelling of this dog. something a lot of dog owners don't get.
Yeah, dogs are for people searching for a subservient pet to control, those who don't have the personality to deal with living with an independent apex predator.
Y'know, I actually eat very little meat. Maybe 150g a week, on average. As much as anything else, because I really can’t be arsed learning about how to ensure I get enough of all the nutrients needs from a vegetarian diet, and even if I did get the knowledge, I wouldn’t be arsed following it when just a small amount of meat easily provides those nutrients that are hard to get from a vegetarian diet.
But somehow, sanctimonious twattery against meat-eating always gives me an irresistable urge to go snarf down a big chunk of gruesomely murdered and hacked up dead animal.
BTW, there are lots of good arguments for reducing meat consumption, or at least biasing the mix away from beef and lamb towards chicken and pork. But the colon cancer thing is really one of the feeblest of the many arguments against eating meat.
I don't eat a lot of red meat now, but I enjoy a good steak about once every two weeks. Eating more chicken, fish and pork these days. But certainly do not want to give it up.
then there are the idiots who preen that (middle-class boast) that they 'only eat organic' chickens/whatever..
they seem deluded to such a degree that they think they are the 'good guys'..and that the exploiters who peddle these organic animals are somehow green/good guys…
..which is bullshit in both cases..
as just one example…what do they think happens to all the male chicks on 'organic'farms..?
..like on the blatantly cruel chicken farms..these cute little chicks are fed(still alive) into the macerator..
this grinds them up…as I said..while they are still alive..
use that nugget of knowledge to wash down your next mouthful of chicken flesh..eh..?
On that note, I've just been inspired to head into town to find some kind of bogan joint to chow down a month's worth of my normal consumption in one sitting.
I'll very likely regret it later tonight and tomorrow morning, but I'll blame that on you, too.
Having read through everything that followed from my Churchillian quote I'm not sure I should have offered it.
That is particularly the case since I have just finished dinner where I had an truly excellent fillet steak. Cooked about halfway between saignant and bleu. Quite wonderful. It absolutely melted in the mouth.
Sorry Phillip, but that is not something I am willing to give up.
You obviously were not brought up on a farm before Hydatdids was erradicated. I still feel uneasy with dogs near me. I have had to give up on cats because I live in an area of ecological importance. I am hoping for a big rabbit for Xmas !
Will the new Minister of Transport pull some reins around Waka Kotahi NZTA?
I am hearing multiple signature projects that I won't list here are billions over budget with many pushed out a decade due to redesign and others with governance changes. This is on top of the billion-plus blowout we've already seen this week.
This is the agency now in charge of changing the largest proportion of our CO2 emissions.
Chair Brian Roche is far more powerful than the Minister of Transport.
Bomber Bradbury has made some interesting predictions for 2021.
He predicts significant social unrest, a crime wave, a dangerous expansion of the meth trade and unemployment, poverty, homelessness and inequality to rise.
Our extreme centrist neoliberal government does not have the tools to fix the issues.
Only a people’s republic of Aotearoa will be able to implement the necessary economic, social and ecological revolution to prepare us for the tsunami of challenges climate change will present us.
Idiot Savant, the author of the No Right Turn, is an excellent and succinct commentator who does not subscribe to the failed liberal ideology.
In a recent blog, he pointed out the world can see through our bullshit about climate change. He records that …..
”Over the weekend, countries which are serious about climate change got together virtually at the international Climate Ambition Summit 2020. But New Zealand pointedly was not invited:”
The Green Party leaders should not have signed up to this government.
According to that story our emissions have increased. Is it because we have had a solid population increase for the transport increase ? or something else?
… He has been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers. He told me, he did not doubt, that, in eight years more, he should be able to supply the governor's gardens with sunshine, at a reasonable rate …
(Swift 1726. Gulliver's Travels)
IMO bottled sunshine isn't the only thing these projects have in common …
Meanwhile, the Iter fusion reactor in France is currently 70% constructed and is expected to achieve first plasma in 2025. This is will be a fully-working demonstration fusion reactor, providing 500 megawatts of fusion power – enough, if converted to electricity, to power a city the size of Liverpool.
The main hurdle will be the interface between the new fusion reactor and existing power plant. Sadly, there is no such thing as a USB port for power plants …the time and cost of having to build an entirely new power plant is significant. The comparatively small size of the Step reactor is also advantageous.
The promise of "the Sun in a bottle" has meant incalculable time, energy and resources invested this vision of a clean, never-ending fuel source.It could have been argued in the 1930s that fusion was folly. But now, we could genuinely have fusion within a few decades’ time.
Still a boondoggle that has consumed a huge amount of research funding over several decades (and looks like it will continue to do so). That funding, IMO, would have (and would be) better spent elsewhere.
As a child and teenager, I lived within walking distance of two such homes.
One was the Owairaka Boys Home in Mt Albert where the "bad boys" lived which has been cited as one of those where serious abuse was occurring. The other in Allendale Rd, Mt Albert where the "bad girls" were housed. The house itself was up a long driveway and couldn't be seen from the road. We were told to cross the road when walking past this address yet in all those years I never saw a single girl coming in or out of them.
They were not bad kids of course, they were abused kids.
As a young person I remember sensing something was wrong about both of them but it is only now the truth is coming out.
Okay this data farm would take only 8% of the Manapouri power in the long term for only 25 permanent jobs. But do we want more data farms ? and do we want to sell more power cheaply to them? Or should we sell power at a much higher rate because these places thrive on cheap power. The rest of the story is pretty much overblown PR to disguise the lack of long term country benefits.
So what would be the best over all economic use for New Zealand for the power the smelter no longer uses? Would it be best to give all NZ households a basic dob of cheap / nearly free power (charge higher usages!) to improve the well being of low income households in particular? It would be the same as a modest benefit increase? Or do we look for manufacturing we could do here that provides good jobs and needs reasonable power prices? Some how I think all this decision making should not be left in the hands of the directors of a power company given the input of the taxpayer in the original build.
Laugh all you like but the most enviromently sensible thing to do with the spare Manapouri power ( the current smelter doesn't use all of it ) is to build another aluminium smelter and retire one elsewhere in the world that is powered by electricity produced from coal.
We have enough wind farm consents approved and ready to go to meet all of our needs for the foreseeable future, including EV transport. Storage is where we are short at the moment.
I had a brief look at the that . As far as I can see most of the remaining smelters are in Canada powered by hydro or China. There may be a strategic issue there if too much of the refining is done in China – but I don't see them closing smelters.I'm assuming future mining will use solar on the spot to stop the shipping costs.
So enviroment apart what is the best economic use for the power in NZ?
I think solar might be a bit of a problem as smelting must be a continuous process and with solar and indeed wind overnight and non-wind times would require enormous storage capacity.
There are efforts underway to make smelting more flexible and adaptable to variable electricity supply. Energia Potior (a spinoff from Auckland University) is just one:
Currently the energy input of a smelter cannot be varied by much more than plus or minus 5%, meaning a smelter essentially operates at full capacity 24/7, 365 days a year, for its entire lifespan.
…
EnPot gives smelter operators the ability to turn energy consumption up or down by as much as 30%* to take advantage of off-peak power prices, as well as accommodating the intermittency associated with renewable power supply. It also means production can be better matched to supply and demand.
A solar plant that is likely to significantly supply a smelter may be better suited as a concentrating solar thermal plant, rather than photovoltaic. Concentrating solar thermal plants can easily have their storage sized to give continuous overnight operation, and can also be easily adapted to gas emergency backup to keep things ticking along if really needed.
Having more datacenters here in NZ and bringing more of this tech to NZ in general is a good thing.
I remember the hell that broke out here when Fibre was announced and rolled out around the country. Fast forward to now, and I think it was one of the best decisions National ever made. I recall at the time a whole bunch of people here compared it to 'just being able to download faster'. Well, covid proved that shit wrong.
Another foot note, Hyper Fibre is going in to my place tomorrow. NZ needs to focus more on tech.
We have a growing gaming industry here now with growth predictions of 1BN of revenue by 2025. It's all exports.
It's not tech as such. Just a big warehouse of computers operated from overseas. My beef about the fibre broadband is that payment by the taxpayer doesn't seem to mean ownership. But that's the Nats. Business socialism
I would like to see acknowledgement for the damage and harm done to children, information disclosed to complainants, categorisation headings used under the Crimes Act 1961 of offending against every child sexually abused in state care or out of state care and the years of the offending since 1940.
I am appalled at how files have been treated by the government. In 1986 I tried to get a file of a rape trial and the lawyer told me the file was dumped in a warehouse in boxes and gave a date of a hearing. I did get confirmation from the police in 1990 that there was a trial but the police file had been destroyed. I intend to follow this up. If it is the case the present and past government, MSD and police need to clean this up.
And Ryman healthcare want to hang on to the $14.2mill of subsidies received because
Ryman Healthcare, the country’s largest retirement village operator, paid $44m in first-half dividends to its shareholders after taking $14.2m in wage subsidies. It has not paid it back.
Ryman justified the payments by saying it had spent three times the subsidy amount on PPE gear and other procedures such as additional cleaning and extra staff to protect residents and staff.
Well those reasons above where not the basis on which claims could be made – they were to protect staff wages if they could not work. I'd expect them to be getting a very stiff letter demanding repayment ASAP.
That just about cleans out the NZX top 50. There is another retirement company still to go I think. But – do they have to be humiliated one by one in the media before they think of paying it back. – some moral compass. Even ones that are well within the claim boundary Z say and Auckland Int airport – could look at repaying at some future date when they have recovered a bit more and not rule it out entirely.
That now just leaves all the listed companies outside the NZX top 50 plus overseas and other privately held organisations. It would be good if the super fund and ACC and other government investment pools holding shares made it clear that as shareholders they expect ethical action and repayment.
And the IRD needs to publish the whole list because they made it clear from the beginning that they would. Not just give it to the media.
Taxpayers funds and I bet they’d get at least some people exposed for having claimed without employees being onpaid.
Chris Trotter wrote an excellent article a month or so ago describing the Professional Managerial Class. Political careerists ( who make up the majority of parliament) should be added to his list of abetters of neoliberalism.
“ The PMC is distinguished by the role it plays in mediating Capitalism’s relationship with its most injured victims. Without the PMC army of lawyers, probation officers, social workers, health professionals, teachers, journalists and “communications specialists” to extinguish the fires ignited constantly by economic exploitation and social exclusion, the whole of capitalist society would soon be engulfed in flames. .”
does anyone else remember grant robertson assuring us we were near the head of the queue for a vaccine..?
No, don't remember that – can you remember roughly when Robertson gave that assurance, or what the occasion/medium was? Could it have been a different government minister?
Have you got a link Phillip? Did a Google search and couldn't find any evidence of "grant robertson assuring us we were near the head of the queue for a vaccine".
Or maybe you could point me in the right direction? Bit of a vaccine mystery
Ginny Andersen: How will domestic capability and manufacturing contribute to New Zealand accessing a vaccine?
Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: New Zealand’s science and vaccine manufacturing sectors have an incredibly important role to play in ensuring New Zealanders get early access to a vaccine. Locally, the Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand will receive $10 million to lead COVID-19 vaccine research through a vaccine development and evaluation platform. This will see the brightest minds from the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, the University of Otago, and Victoria University of Wellington work together to support global efforts to develop vaccines that are safe and fit for purpose. BioCell will receive $3 million to upgrade its existing facilities so it’s in a position to scale up and support local and global vaccine manufacturing. Depending on the chosen vaccine, this could see up to 100 million vaccines manufactured annually right here in New Zealand—an important contribution to the global effort. New Zealand is well placed through the efforts of our researchers and Medsafe to leverage our expertise and to ensure that everybody can access a safe and effective vaccine as soon as possible.
Ginny Andersen: How will New Zealand’s relative success in dealing with the coronavirus mean we are at the back of the queue for the vaccine?
Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No. Our relative success to date in keeping COVID-19 contained in New Zealand does not count against us when we aim to secure a vaccine to keep our population protected from COVID-19. Our vaccine strategy has been developed with this in mind, and this latest boost in funding is key to being part of and contributing to global efforts. This is a novel approach to securing vaccine access, but new and innovative approaches are required to ensure that New Zealand does not get left behind. We know that vaccine nationalism is the inhibitor to progress in our search for a vaccine, so our multilateral approaches with leading international organisations and in partnership with our Australian neighbours mean we are well placed to secure supply as one become available. https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20200901_20200901
Of course, you’re not making up shit and nobody was implying such thing. However, people’s memories are notoriously unreliable. In addition, many things are open to interpretation. Sometimes, people accidentally leave out important context, which can have a dramatic and profound impact on meaning and purpose. For these reasons, mainly, it is common courtesy and thus generally a good idea to include links, especially when specifically asked.
The last time you provided a link was 14 October, last year (!) as far as I can tell, i.e. 442 comments ago. Surely, by now you have mastered your new phone to enrich your comments with links.
I’m going to have to up the stringency index and raise you to the Alert Level 2. I’m afraid your assurances and strong languages are no substitute for actual links, but I’m sure you will understand – Incognito]
does anyone else remember grant robertson assuring us we were near the head of the queue for a vaccine..?
Apologies Phillip – by asking for evidence of your recollection I wasn’t implying that you had a tendency to "fucken just make shit up". My reply to your question about what others remembered was in good faith – I didn't remember Robertson giving that assurance, and couldn’t find the evidence.
Obviously best for all concerned if I just accept your and Adrian's memories as evidence – no doubt you would be similarly unquestioning.
Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll have a clear memory of Robertson giving that assurance too – stranger things have happened
Robertson said something along the lines of spending $37million? got us in the queue for a number of vaccines when they became available.
Another thing that pisses me off is the number of numb nuts who espouse that we should relax all covid rules now when it was always stated by the Government that the lockdowns were to secure the hospital and medical resources until it was safe and a vaccine was freely available. Which by the way is still a long way off.;
I agree. The number of new daily cases is still on the rise. And thought I've said this often – now is the most likely time for a random human to catch covid-19.
I've only said it often because the number of new cases keeps going up.
Documents released by Treasury on Friday show that it is forecasting that the Ministry of Health will need $2.8 million in next year’s Budget for what it calls a “National Immunisation Solution”.
It is then forecasting that spending to double to $5.6 million in the 2022 Budget for 2022/23 and is forecasting the same amount of spending again in the 2023/24 year.
The projections would seem to suggest that funding has been set aside for six months of the 2021/22 year and then from July 2022 to ramp up to a full vaccination programme.
A spokesperson for Finance Minister Grant Robertson told POLITIK last night that if a vaccine were to be available earlier, then funding would be available.
Remember this? Point about questioning motives is apposite, don't you think?
Posted September 13 NZ Businesses Will Not Thrive Until COVID Elimination Policy Ends
A Vaccine Fix Is a Fantasy…
Because the truth is, NZ is now using dynamite to blow up the ship in order to kill a flea that’s really only an ant. We’re going to sink if we don’t stop. NZ’s current refusal to change course with updated information doesn’t make sense. No wonder people are starting to question both narratives and motives.
Watched the Trevor Mallard interview with the Select Committee. His version seemed reasonable and no matter how the Nats picked at him, he seemed confident. As for Bishop trying to be clever, he really is a self-serving prick. No substance to his questions and imagine him being highly ranked in his cabinet!!!
was he questioned about how dodgy it seems that after doing what he did..he got his deputy to change the law..to exempt him from any financial penalties..
and these penalties to be shouldered by the taxpayers..?
…was he questioned about how dodgy it seems that after doing what he did..he got his deputy to change the law..to exempt him from any financial penalties.
Except that he didn't which you would know if you had listened to the select committee.
The point you seem to be making is that Mallard gave Tolley instructions to make that decision in a certain way.
Whereas what seems to have happened is that he avoided an obvious conflict of interest by delegating a decision that directly affected him to the deputy speaker.
I must have been watching a different interview then. I don't think Mallard sounded very confident or convincing at all. It sounds likely this is going to cost the tax payer a lot more than $333k.
"he interpreted misconduct as rape which it did not amount to rape"
A real claytons apology if ever I heard one, He basically still claims the mans actions as miss-conduct even when Parliamentary services found no evidence to support the accusations.
Ah well it's okay since he plays for the Red team, I can only imagine the outrage here if he was on the Blue team.
this is going to cost the tax payer a lot more than $333k.
The accused has a seperate case against the Parl Services but that is about the way they suspended him. Nothing to do with Mallard at all.
When Mallard made his fateful remarks he was going on the just released Review of the unsafe Parl Environment. That was what he commented on and didn't know anything about the particular accused. At that time.
Knew he was wrong within 24 hours and makes no effort to retract – an effective Bishop skewering of the Mallard sausage before going on the babrie.
Now every National MP asked by the Speaker of the House to withdraw and apologise in the next three years can say – may I have 24 hours to think about that?
It's mighty impressive to see Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison complain about China banning the importation of their coal. Morrison has led a government that has repeatedly scorned attempts to mitigate climate change and in particular supporting a massive new coal mine in Queensland, and killing off any carbon trading effort,
Morrison is right to ask "Which one of Australia's sovereign national interests .. the government should have traded away" to appease China.
a list showcasing 15 of New Zealand’s top trade partners, countries that imported the most shipments by dollar value from New Zealand during 2019. Also shown is each trade partner’s percentage of total New Zealand exports.
China: US$11 billion (28.8% of New Zealand’s total exports)
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When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
“It is basic human decency to speak up and protect any vulnerable child from harm, so withholding information in child abuse cases and allowing the abuse to happen by not speaking up is, put simply, a cowardly move,” says Jess McVicar Co-Leader ...
Allowing 1,000 returning international students back to New Zealand is the right move by the Government, and hopefully we will be able to welcome more, says ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard. "International education has contributed ...
A majority of the House of Representatives have voted to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. Follow the ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We believe it is vital to hold our new Labour-led government to account ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Rotorua Lakes District Council to urgently release the engineering report on the public safety and structural integrity of the visible foundation-misalignment and lean of the City’s Hemo Gorge monument to government ...
Changes in income and movement in and out of poverty over time are only weakly associated with higher rates of child hospitalisation in New Zealand, according to a new University of Auckland study. Published today in PLOS ONE, the collaborative study led by Dr ...
With a long, hot summer upon us, pet owners are urged to be extra mindful of their pet’s health and safety. Unusually warm weather can quickly take its toll on furry family members, who aren’t well equipped for dealing with blazing heat. The National ...
The Council for Civil Liberties is challenging a claim by former National Party leader Simon Bridges that people should have total freedom of expression on Twitter. ...
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study. The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences. The study indicates ...
62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By Arturo López-LevyOakland, CaliforniaUnfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values ...
I know that some people live without dogs in their lives..
but I find it hard to figure out why..?
why would you do that..?
I know! I've got 8 of the buggers .
yr giving me dog-envy here…I only have two..
with five having been my dog-peak in the past..
Birds
?
It's not really the dogs that are the problem it's their dimwitted owners. I live on an estuary and get sick of owners letting their dogs chase wading birds who are minding their own business and having lunch. I stay sometimes at Piha where I watch entitled owners walk past the signs that say no dogs because of nesting penguins – belonging, I presume to the 'my dog wouldn't' brigade. I also have issues with being sniffed at in the street while the owner tries to reassure me that it won't bite. That's not the point – I don't want to be sniffed either!
well..I get yr point..
but as it turns out mine 'wouldn't'..
they are both re-homed ex pig-hunting dogs ..
and pig hunting dogs are trained to hunt wild pigs..
..and to be nice to/studiously ignore all other living creatures…
and so…unlike cats…they don't prey on native birds..
Don't do cats either because – birds
Nice one JanM Agree 200%, especially the,
" I don't want to be sniffed either!" bit.
I remember a few years ago some snot got most upset as I did not want his slobbering dog rubbing its filthy face up against my clothing I didn't want to go home smelling of this dog. something a lot of dog owners don't get.
Dogs. Husbands. Whatever. Give me a cat any day.
Agree
Yeah, dogs are for people searching for a subservient pet to control, those who don't have the personality to deal with living with an independent apex predator.
when did you meet my ex..?
Patience of a saint awards ceremony
that'd be that time I got my award..
Sure, you seem like a believable sort of guy lol
I think Winston Churchill had it right.
He said "I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals".
He might, of course, have been thinking of the people he met in the House of Commons. There aren't many cats or dogs there.
pigs are awesome…
so so clever..
… so so tasty… mmmmm, bacon …
so so original…
It is indeed, with bacon being one of the oldest cuts of meat, dating back to around 1500bc.
You should look at how pigs are farmed nowadays.
Your pleasure = their pain.
…. mmmmm, shoulder roast …
https://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipes/recipe-collections/roast-pork-recipes-17931
mmm..!..bowel cancer…
but idiots won't be told..
will they..
Y'know, I actually eat very little meat. Maybe 150g a week, on average. As much as anything else, because I really can’t be arsed learning about how to ensure I get enough of all the nutrients needs from a vegetarian diet, and even if I did get the knowledge, I wouldn’t be arsed following it when just a small amount of meat easily provides those nutrients that are hard to get from a vegetarian diet.
But somehow, sanctimonious twattery against meat-eating always gives me an irresistable urge to go snarf down a big chunk of gruesomely murdered and hacked up dead animal.
BTW, there are lots of good arguments for reducing meat consumption, or at least biasing the mix away from beef and lamb towards chicken and pork. But the colon cancer thing is really one of the feeblest of the many arguments against eating meat.
fact..nz has very high consumption of animal flesh..
nz has very high rates of bowel cancer…
you join the dots..eh..?
like I said: 'idiots can't be told'..
I don't eat a lot of red meat now, but I enjoy a good steak about once every two weeks. Eating more chicken, fish and pork these days. But certainly do not want to give it up.
they don't fucken care about that..
they can't claim to not know..
so they just don't care..
their cannablistic addiction to eating flesh over-rules that..
then there are the idiots who preen that (middle-class boast) that they 'only eat organic' chickens/whatever..
they seem deluded to such a degree that they think they are the 'good guys'..and that the exploiters who peddle these organic animals are somehow green/good guys…
..which is bullshit in both cases..
as just one example…what do they think happens to all the male chicks on 'organic'farms..?
..like on the blatantly cruel chicken farms..these cute little chicks are fed(still alive) into the macerator..
this grinds them up…as I said..while they are still alive..
use that nugget of knowledge to wash down your next mouthful of chicken flesh..eh..?
organic..or not..
and think about what is done in your name..
the unholy trinity ..
cruelty..cancer…and fucking the planet…
just to eat flesh…
what a deal..!
On that note, I've just been inspired to head into town to find some kind of bogan joint to chow down a month's worth of my normal consumption in one sitting.
I'll very likely regret it later tonight and tomorrow morning, but I'll blame that on you, too.
Having read through everything that followed from my Churchillian quote I'm not sure I should have offered it.
That is particularly the case since I have just finished dinner where I had an truly excellent fillet steak. Cooked about halfway between saignant and bleu. Quite wonderful. It absolutely melted in the mouth.
Sorry Phillip, but that is not something I am willing to give up.
addictions are like that..
I used to feel the same way about heroin and cocaine mixed together in a syringe..
..addictions are like that..
The Silence of the Lambs.
That's a bit hard Rosie, dogs are not that bad.
Mmmm. Maybe not. But husbands?
You obviously were not brought up on a farm before Hydatdids was erradicated. I still feel uneasy with dogs near me. I have had to give up on cats because I live in an area of ecological importance. I am hoping for a big rabbit for Xmas !
I am hoping for a big rabbit for Xmas !
Yum! Might I suggest…http://allrecipes.com.au/recipes/tag-1232/rabbit.aspx
Little ones taste sweeter but much less meat than a biggie.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/rabbit-sausage-recipe-zmaz78mjzgoe
https://www.yummly.com/recipes/rabbit-sausage
Amazing that ~2/3rds of NZ households manage ‘sans dog’ – some will have cats!
Used to care for a 'pet', but it was a bit of a luxury. https://www.petplan.co.nz/
Will the new Minister of Transport pull some reins around Waka Kotahi NZTA?
I am hearing multiple signature projects that I won't list here are billions over budget with many pushed out a decade due to redesign and others with governance changes. This is on top of the billion-plus blowout we've already seen this week.
This is the agency now in charge of changing the largest proportion of our CO2 emissions.
Chair Brian Roche is far more powerful than the Minister of Transport.
Bomber Bradbury has made some interesting predictions for 2021.
He predicts significant social unrest, a crime wave, a dangerous expansion of the meth trade and unemployment, poverty, homelessness and inequality to rise.
Our extreme centrist neoliberal government does not have the tools to fix the issues.
Only a people’s republic of Aotearoa will be able to implement the necessary economic, social and ecological revolution to prepare us for the tsunami of challenges climate change will present us.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/12/16/2021-the-year-sht-hits-the-fan-predictions/
I agree with your last paragraph..
neoliberal governments are too in thrall to vested interests..to be up for the job..
('exempting agriculture' being a recent potent example of that thrall/vested interests neoliberal paradigm..)
..and we are fishing out the oceans..and the current reformist activity is to try to let those ocean predators allow us to film them doing this..
how seriously fucked up/impotent is that..?
b.t.w….fish have central nervous systems remarkably similar to ours..
so..if you can imagine the hook thru the cheek/in the stomach…then the hauling in../then the drowning in air..
..you kinda get the idea/picture..
Much kinder to use a priest
Idiot Savant, the author of the No Right Turn, is an excellent and succinct commentator who does not subscribe to the failed liberal ideology.
In a recent blog, he pointed out the world can see through our bullshit about climate change. He records that …..
”Over the weekend, countries which are serious about climate change got together virtually at the international Climate Ambition Summit 2020. But New Zealand pointedly was not invited:”
The Green Party leaders should not have signed up to this government.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2020/12/climate-change-calling-us-on-our.html
Truth?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/12/jacinda-ardern-hits-back-at-speculation-over-new-zealand-s-absence-from-climate-action-summit.html
According to that story our emissions have increased. Is it because we have had a solid population increase for the transport increase ? or something else?
Signed up? This is a Labour government, not a Labour led government. The Greens are irrelevant and this government can do what it wants.
Which means more of the neo lib bloody same.
I don’t think you understand the Green Party and NZ politics. Why don’t you read The Standard for a while before you start commenting here?
France and the UK getting serious about fusion …
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201214-the-uks-quest-for-affordable-fusion-by-2040
Geez, we have had fusion for ever!!
Its called the sun.
They've been serious about fusion power since the 1950s, still haven't got sustained fusion. Always been 10 to 20 years away.
(https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201214-the-uks-quest-for-affordable-fusion-by-2040)
(Swift 1726. Gulliver's Travels)
IMO bottled sunshine isn't the only thing these projects have in common …
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201214-the-uks-quest-for-affordable-fusion-by-2040
Put the quote in context.
Still a boondoggle that has consumed a huge amount of research funding over several decades (and looks like it will continue to do so). That funding, IMO, would have (and would be) better spent elsewhere.
For mine, it's the more options we have the better.
This story is becoming more harrowing by the day:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/432925/250-000-estimated-to-have-been-abused-in-state-and-faith-based-care
As a child and teenager, I lived within walking distance of two such homes.
One was the Owairaka Boys Home in Mt Albert where the "bad boys" lived which has been cited as one of those where serious abuse was occurring. The other in Allendale Rd, Mt Albert where the "bad girls" were housed. The house itself was up a long driveway and couldn't be seen from the road. We were told to cross the road when walking past this address yet in all those years I never saw a single girl coming in or out of them.
They were not bad kids of course, they were abused kids.
As a young person I remember sensing something was wrong about both of them but it is only now the truth is coming out.
Okay this data farm would take only 8% of the Manapouri power in the long term for only 25 permanent jobs. But do we want more data farms ? and do we want to sell more power cheaply to them? Or should we sell power at a much higher rate because these places thrive on cheap power. The rest of the story is pretty much overblown PR to disguise the lack of long term country benefits.
So what would be the best over all economic use for New Zealand for the power the smelter no longer uses? Would it be best to give all NZ households a basic dob of cheap / nearly free power (charge higher usages!) to improve the well being of low income households in particular? It would be the same as a modest benefit increase? Or do we look for manufacturing we could do here that provides good jobs and needs reasonable power prices? Some how I think all this decision making should not be left in the hands of the directors of a power company given the input of the taxpayer in the original build.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123714254/up-to-1200-workers-would-be-needed-to-build-south-island-data-centre
Laugh all you like but the most enviromently sensible thing to do with the spare Manapouri power ( the current smelter doesn't use all of it ) is to build another aluminium smelter and retire one elsewhere in the world that is powered by electricity produced from coal.
We have enough wind farm consents approved and ready to go to meet all of our needs for the foreseeable future, including EV transport. Storage is where we are short at the moment.
I had a brief look at the that . As far as I can see most of the remaining smelters are in Canada powered by hydro or China. There may be a strategic issue there if too much of the refining is done in China – but I don't see them closing smelters.I'm assuming future mining will use solar on the spot to stop the shipping costs.
So enviroment apart what is the best economic use for the power in NZ?
I think solar might be a bit of a problem as smelting must be a continuous process and with solar and indeed wind overnight and non-wind times would require enormous storage capacity.
There are efforts underway to make smelting more flexible and adaptable to variable electricity supply. Energia Potior (a spinoff from Auckland University) is just one:
A solar plant that is likely to significantly supply a smelter may be better suited as a concentrating solar thermal plant, rather than photovoltaic. Concentrating solar thermal plants can easily have their storage sized to give continuous overnight operation, and can also be easily adapted to gas emergency backup to keep things ticking along if really needed.
Got to store those cat photos somewhere
Luv It!
data farms? lol, never heard that before.
Having more datacenters here in NZ and bringing more of this tech to NZ in general is a good thing.
I remember the hell that broke out here when Fibre was announced and rolled out around the country. Fast forward to now, and I think it was one of the best decisions National ever made. I recall at the time a whole bunch of people here compared it to 'just being able to download faster'. Well, covid proved that shit wrong.
Another foot note, Hyper Fibre is going in to my place tomorrow. NZ needs to focus more on tech.
We have a growing gaming industry here now with growth predictions of 1BN of revenue by 2025. It's all exports.
It's not tech as such. Just a big warehouse of computers operated from overseas. My beef about the fibre broadband is that payment by the taxpayer doesn't seem to mean ownership. But that's the Nats. Business socialism
I would like to see acknowledgement for the damage and harm done to children, information disclosed to complainants, categorisation headings used under the Crimes Act 1961 of offending against every child sexually abused in state care or out of state care and the years of the offending since 1940.
I am appalled at how files have been treated by the government. In 1986 I tried to get a file of a rape trial and the lawyer told me the file was dumped in a warehouse in boxes and gave a date of a hearing. I did get confirmation from the police in 1990 that there was a trial but the police file had been destroyed. I intend to follow this up. If it is the case the present and past government, MSD and police need to clean this up.
And Ryman healthcare want to hang on to the $14.2mill of subsidies received because
Ryman Healthcare, the country’s largest retirement village operator, paid $44m in first-half dividends to its shareholders after taking $14.2m in wage subsidies. It has not paid it back.
Ryman justified the payments by saying it had spent three times the subsidy amount on PPE gear and other procedures such as additional cleaning and extra staff to protect residents and staff.
Well those reasons above where not the basis on which claims could be made – they were to protect staff wages if they could not work. I'd expect them to be getting a very stiff letter demanding repayment ASAP.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/123721687/retirement-village-operator-summerset-to-repay-86m-covid19-wage-subsidy
rnz news reporting that ryman is also paying back..
who else is on that list of the undeserving..?
Ryman had no other option but to repay it after Summerset came out of the blocks first and said they'd repay it.
I think that a citizen based campaign to publicise who these companies are..will be effective..
(social media..phone calls..picket line..)
..and for many who took it..the economic upturn must mean they are doing fine ..
so…pay it back..!
And publicly admitted they hadn't used the correct criteria? Some lawyer must have given a few words of advice.
That just about cleans out the NZX top 50. There is another retirement company still to go I think. But – do they have to be humiliated one by one in the media before they think of paying it back. – some moral compass. Even ones that are well within the claim boundary Z say and Auckland Int airport – could look at repaying at some future date when they have recovered a bit more and not rule it out entirely.
That now just leaves all the listed companies outside the NZX top 50 plus overseas and other privately held organisations. It would be good if the super fund and ACC and other government investment pools holding shares made it clear that as shareholders they expect ethical action and repayment.
And the IRD needs to publish the whole list because they made it clear from the beginning that they would. Not just give it to the media.
Taxpayers funds and I bet they’d get at least some people exposed for having claimed without employees being onpaid.
Our Child Poverty statistics are appalling.
Bryan Bruce has written an open letter to the Prime Minister.
“According to the 2018 census there are an estimated 4,833 children living in dwellings with no amenities.
Think – that’s the equivalent of the total number of pupils of at least 5 New Zealand High Schools who live in dwellings that have zero….
Cooking facilities
Tap water that is safe to drink
Kitchen sink
Refrigerator
Electricity supply
Refrigerator
Bath or shower
Toilet
Tell me again how addessing Child Poverty in our country is a priority.”
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/12/16/guest-blog-bryan-bruce-dear-prime-minister/
Chris Trotter wrote an excellent article a month or so ago describing the Professional Managerial Class. Political careerists ( who make up the majority of parliament) should be added to his list of abetters of neoliberalism.
“ The PMC is distinguished by the role it plays in mediating Capitalism’s relationship with its most injured victims. Without the PMC army of lawyers, probation officers, social workers, health professionals, teachers, journalists and “communications specialists” to extinguish the fires ignited constantly by economic exploitation and social exclusion, the whole of capitalist society would soon be engulfed in flames. .”
does anyone else remember grant robertson assuring us we were near the head of the queue for a vaccine..?
I wonder how all that's going..
There is an upside to be getting it later.
And we are not the most at risk so I'd rather some in the USA/India/Brazil got it before me.
No, don't remember that – can you remember roughly when Robertson gave that assurance, or what the occasion/medium was? Could it have been a different government minister?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/123501010/covid19-kiwis-will-have-to-wait-even-once-vaccine-is-approved-overseas
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/ministers-still-unsure-overseas-tourists-let-into-nz-countries-begin-covid-vaccine-roll
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/covid-19/nz-gets-in-line-for-covid-19-vaccine
it was robertson…back when the first talk about vaccines was happening..
and responding to the usual cries of ‘what about us?’..
and multi-media…and repeated/more than once…
Have you got a link Phillip? Did a Google search and couldn't find any evidence of "grant robertson assuring us we were near the head of the queue for a vaccine".
Or maybe you could point me in the right direction? Bit of a vaccine mystery
see what Adrian said below..
and just quietly..
I write under my own name..
..and I don’t fucken just make shit up ..
..take that as a given..
[Hi Phil,
Of course, you’re not making up shit and nobody was implying such thing. However, people’s memories are notoriously unreliable. In addition, many things are open to interpretation. Sometimes, people accidentally leave out important context, which can have a dramatic and profound impact on meaning and purpose. For these reasons, mainly, it is common courtesy and thus generally a good idea to include links, especially when specifically asked.
The last time you provided a link was 14 October, last year (!) as far as I can tell, i.e. 442 comments ago. Surely, by now you have mastered your new phone to enrich your comments with links.
Last time I moderated you (https://thestandard.org.nz/national-announces-terms-of-reference-for-its-election-campaign-review/#comment-1767959) it was also for not providing a link when specifically asked.
I’m going to have to up the stringency index and raise you to the Alert Level 2. I’m afraid your assurances and strong languages are no substitute for actual links, but I’m sure you will understand – Incognito]
Apologies Phillip – by asking for evidence of your recollection I wasn’t implying that you had a tendency to "fucken just make shit up". My reply to your question about what others remembered was in good faith – I didn't remember Robertson giving that assurance, and couldn’t find the evidence.
Obviously best for all concerned if I just accept your and Adrian's memories as evidence – no doubt you would be similarly unquestioning.
Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll have a clear memory of Robertson giving that assurance too – stranger things have happened
See my Moderation note @ 6:35 PM.
Why should NZ be at the head of the queue given we no longer have community spread or people dying/disabled from covid?
Robertson said something along the lines of spending $37million? got us in the queue for a number of vaccines when they became available.
Another thing that pisses me off is the number of numb nuts who espouse that we should relax all covid rules now when it was always stated by the Government that the lockdowns were to secure the hospital and medical resources until it was safe and a vaccine was freely available. Which by the way is still a long way off.;
I agree. The number of new daily cases is still on the rise. And thought I've said this often – now is the most likely time for a random human to catch covid-19.
I've only said it often because the number of new cases keeps going up.
Remember this? Point about questioning motives is apposite, don't you think?
Forced labour supplying China's cotton
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/nz0g306v8c/china-tainted-cotton
Watched the Trevor Mallard interview with the Select Committee. His version seemed reasonable and no matter how the Nats picked at him, he seemed confident. As for Bishop trying to be clever, he really is a self-serving prick. No substance to his questions and imagine him being highly ranked in his cabinet!!!
was he questioned about how dodgy it seems that after doing what he did..he got his deputy to change the law..to exempt him from any financial penalties..
and these penalties to be shouldered by the taxpayers..?
was he asked about that..?
Except that he didn't which you would know if you had listened to the select committee.
just for the record anne..
how was that timeline/those circumstances explained..?
Pay attention, it was Tolley who changed the law as the Speaker was not covered by the system like all other MPs.
yes…that is the point I am making…
The point you seem to be making is that Mallard gave Tolley instructions to make that decision in a certain way.
Whereas what seems to have happened is that he avoided an obvious conflict of interest by delegating a decision that directly affected him to the deputy speaker.
I must have been watching a different interview then. I don't think Mallard sounded very confident or convincing at all. It sounds likely this is going to cost the tax payer a lot more than $333k.
Agree, it may get worse considering he said that
"he interpreted misconduct as rape which it did not amount to rape"
A real claytons apology if ever I heard one, He basically still claims the mans actions as miss-conduct even when Parliamentary services found no evidence to support the accusations.
Ah well it's okay since he plays for the Red team, I can only imagine the outrage here if he was on the Blue team.
The accused has a seperate case against the Parl Services but that is about the way they suspended him. Nothing to do with Mallard at all.
When Mallard made his fateful remarks he was going on the just released Review of the unsafe Parl Environment. That was what he commented on and didn't know anything about the particular accused. At that time.
Knew he was wrong within 24 hours and makes no effort to retract – an effective Bishop skewering of the Mallard sausage before going on the babrie.
Now every National MP asked by the Speaker of the House to withdraw and apologise in the next three years can say – may I have 24 hours to think about that?
It's mighty impressive to see Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison complain about China banning the importation of their coal. Morrison has led a government that has repeatedly scorned attempts to mitigate climate change and in particular supporting a massive new coal mine in Queensland, and killing off any carbon trading effort,
Morrison is right to ask "Which one of Australia's sovereign national interests .. the government should have traded away" to appease China.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/15/scott-morrison-lashes-china-over-reported-ban-on-australian-coal-imports
Xi sure knows how to hit Australia where it hurts.
I suspect that their next target will be iron ore.
The best we can do right now is make small supportive noises.
Which side are we making small supportive noises to??
Both. Minister Mahuta is proposing to step in and be a peace-broker between Australia and China.
Rock and a hard place?
a list showcasing 15 of New Zealand’s top trade partners, countries that imported the most shipments by dollar value from New Zealand during 2019. Also shown is each trade partner’s percentage of total New Zealand exports.
http://www.worldstopexports.com/new-zealands-top-trade-partners/
The APEC conference will be hosted by Ardern and Mahuta next year.
While it will be virtual, it is still a big an opportunity we could get to enable China and Australia to talk properly.
They'll keep importing iron ore. And they'll tell Biden reducing the importation of coal is part of their GW mitigation effort.
Climate change , poverty and neo liberal fix it solutions to the housing crisis and other serious problems will not work.
If Adern and the rest of the cabinet had a conscience or a thread of decency they would resign.
But they won't of course as part of the privileged class with the super and other perks they are insulated from the extreme causes of deprivation.