RNZ this morning govts books the envy of every other country in the world.With a Conservative growth rate of 2 1/2 % and the lowest debt rate of any country with supply constraints stopping a better result
Bridges and luxon bald face liars saying the govt can't manage the economy ,barking at cars again.
yep, whenever my nat-supporting mates pipe up about labour being useless economically I always point out to them that the evidence is otherwise. They always go silent (because they have never considered any evidence, only listened to the myth).
As a business owner I prefer left governments because the economy always improves and I get more sales. I said to said mates the same would happen when this government got in, and it has.
Conservatives on the other hand always act conservatively and the economy shrinks back from its natural tendency courtesy of that conservatism.
Most of my mates haven't even considered that the nats are the conservatives. They go silent on this again.
So many people don't even think about this stuff.. they just repeat the lines they hear…
National – conservatives and with a record of poorly economic outcome.
Labour – forward-stepping and with a record of superior economic outcome
this is the evidence
it needs shouting to the rooftops – like, really shouting
Progressives grow opportunities through better fiscal management and money supply, which though it does increase inflation also leads to a better tax take and "money go round". People are employed and contributing, so social and environmental concerns start getting addressed.
Conservatives shrink it all through austerity. That means less tax to do any social or environmental work. Unemployment grows though conservatives become Nelson like looking with their "blind eye" at problems, which becomes "what problems?'
Victoria University Professor of Strategic Studies Robert Ayson:
While the Assessment begins with climate change and strategic competition as the top two problem generators, it's the second of these which does most of the work. And "strategic competition" is a euphemism. A one sentence summary of the 36-page public version of the Assessment could easily read: China is threatening New Zealand's interests in the South Pacific.
That means continuity and change in comparison to the 2018 Strategic Defence Policy Statement of Ardern's first term which also raised a series of concerns about China's behaviour, but focused more specifically on what Beijing was doing in the South China Sea. The first major defence policy publication of the second term brings the strategic competition into New Zealand's immediate region.
Officials want Cabinet Ministers and commentators to stop treating what goes on in the wider region (now commonly called the Indo-Pacific) as a species of intense strategic competition that is seldom encountered in the Pacific. That means some of the NZDF's future operations in the immediate region will not be so different to deployments to conflict zones further afield: "This binary is now being eroded," the writers of the 2021 Assessment argue, "and Defence operations within New Zealand's immediate neighbourhood will increasingly require the use of more sophisticated military capabilities in support of regional partners."
He doesn't explain what these sophisticated military capabilities are, nor even mention whether or not they are available for using. Typical academic!
if Labour Ministers nonetheless want New Zealand to play a leading defence role in the Pacific, they will want to improve on the tepid and publicity shy response to the latest Solomon Islands crisis.
But will they?? Could be the govt's refusal to interpret the crisis to our public is due to perception that it would not be in the interests of the Solomons to do so. And belief that folks here ain't all that interested in the Solomons anyway. Lay low, say nuffin is a traditional strategy (http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/brer-rabbit-wonderful-tar-baby-story.html) which Labour is prudently deploying.
America is extremely jealous of China's rising influence.
China has the will and the resources to challenge U.S dominance in technology science,and engineering.
Who else can compete against the U.S behemoths like the FAANG's.
Companies like Huawei,Ali Baba,Tiktok,Weibo etc…can.
The belt and road initiative and the scale of China's soft loans from the Pacific to Africa are a source of discontent for the Hawks in the U.S.
A campaign ,almost a Cold War, to try and demonise and isolate China is in play.
The usual vassals line up to support the U.S.
Australia ,the americans BFF is taking a prominent role in criticising Chinese actions in the Sth China Sea.
The propaganda machine highlights the tennis star controvosy ,the designs of China on Taiwan, Chinas increasing military resources,and the defaults of chinese developers.
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
With Afghanistan another flop on the record,the military/industrial interests are onto another moneymaker.
How easy is it to win over the hearts and minds of the chattering class.
All the above is true, certainly, but Chinese officials are now also adopting a much more publicly muscular tone in demanding that critics shut up or they will face PRC retaliatory measures.
We need to steer a very careful course, being so dependent on them economically.
So far our Government has managed to tread softly around the belligerence between the US and China. The US certainly hasn't done us any favours in the trade area.
Astonishing how you managed to get almost everything wrong on that little rant. But just two will do:
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
In reality the US is re-industrialising at a rapid pace, and supply chains are pulling out from a PRC now widely regarded as unreliable as fast as they possibly can.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
Laughable. Russia has shrunk to a GDP a little larger than Australia and NZ combined and it's population is shrinking even faster. (Recent data suggests it could be even worse than shown there.)
Old assumptions about how the world works are crumbling because the US is now defining it's interests on a far more transactional basis than it did in the past. On current trends there will soon be no US boots on the ground anywhere in the world – short of that needed to man their network of bases and alliances they choose to maintain. Already Putin calculates that if he invades Ukraine the US will not intervene, and the Middle East is on it's own.
But if you imagine that any of this will make the world safe for Communism I suspect you're in for a disappointment.
You had your opportunity to make a substantive reply and you had nothing.
All it will say is that the US like all great powers can be very ruthless. I’ve pointed this out many times before. But that does not makes it’s opponents lilly-white – as you obviously pretend they are.
Quite right Blazer, but trying to get through to the red neck of logic is useless, his imbedded faith will not allow him to see anything good in anything that mentions communism.
Well given the US has been embarrassed in every conflict since the Vietnam War I think the cartoon is appropriate.
China is developing its technology at a much faster rate than the US.
Also manufacturing capability wins wars China has a much larger capability.especially in modern technology hence Biden spending billions on chip manufacturing capability so the US is not reliant on 84% imports mostly from China.
From China? Are you sure? Taiwan's coming up in google as the world's largest computer chip manufacturer:
Taiwan is the country that produces the most number of chips globally, thanks to TSMC – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which controls 51% of the global chip market.
I think we gave up on good political satire a while back which is why John Clarke left these shores. Even without him, Aus still does good satire. Heres Australia's Defence Policy Explained. It could be that though Scotty hasn't got the memo, Ardern has seen it and is acting on it by doing a Brer fox even though shes not responsible for the tar baby and is unlikely to roll on the ground laughing
Yep….Juice Media, The Chaser, The Shovel…all good Aussie political satire. haven't found anything quite like an Australian equivalent of the Standard, though (not suggesting that most of posters here are satirical!).
Try discord heaps of hard out commentary. Your right about the sledging, but it's fun.
My fav of the last couple of weeks, reminding the Aussies of all the crying into the camera of late on losing the captaincy. Or more bluntly, if you wanna send dick pix you get whats coming to ya.
Matt McCarten has written a One Union Letter to the Speaker:
Kia Ora Trevor,
Rafael Gonzalez-Montero We have tried to resolve this matter confidentially for months. I don’t know what’s wrong with Rafael… two young staffers got shafted after he promised he would protect them. Rafael has never contested the facts.
We offered him a confidential mediation that would be binding on everyone, so we can all move on. It was simple, fair and easy. But his lawyer got in his ear and he refused. I guess lawyers don’t get paid if we settle matters.
As you can appreciate this is a matter that we have to pursue. The victim and the witness were treated abysmally by Rafael. I don’t think it was deliberate. Just careless and incompetent. Frankly I don’t know what’s worse… From the very beginning, when I first wrote to Rafael in August, he won’t answer any questions.
But Matt, why would you expect a public service manager to take responsibility for their misbehaviour?? They know the privilege system protects them.
Also tell Michael Quigg writing me threatening letters doesn’t work and is counterproductive. Bullying this worker and me kind of reinforces our argument that parliament is a bully’s cesspool.
Bullying works better if you use a lawyer to do it too rather than just diy. Rafael must realise that one tough guy ain't enough to victimise his employees. He needs to ramp things up into some kind of public shit-fight. High Noon would be good.
Matt asks Mallard to help resolve things instead:
your people caused this injustice and refuse to take responsibility. Now I have to do their bloody job. Fucking hopeless.
Parliamentary Services may not be hopeless. Wouldn't surprise me if a few of them are hoping for a change. Can the duck quack loudly enough?
Looks like Matt's making a start on his threat in a podcast earlier this week to publicly expose the bullies in Parliament. (I posted a link a day or two ago.)
He went on at some length about the tactic of employers and MPs sending lawyers letters to shut complainants up because they can't afford to litigate.
If he gets no joy from Speaker Trev, maybe we can expect him to start naming names?
He said in his podcast that bullying of powerless Parliamentary Services staff by certain MPs has been rampant for decades and he's going to do something about it.
For decades whoever is in government fails to grasp that it is usually the cover up which is worse than the original mistreatment of the person. The process to get the grievance exposed requires the person making the complaint to have the resources and all the documentation so the issue does not drag on for months, years or decades.
I have followed the plight of the children/youth who had their lives ripped apart when in so called welfare, religious or psychiatric care. I am pleased that what happened has been exposed.
Crown Law was the biggest obstacle due to having an endless supply of money, delay tactics, with holding information to squash children and youth. There are still historical cases involving the government which need addressing.
Thanks for posting. She did a lot of work on intersectionalism, and I'd come across a couple of clips recently of her talking to Laverne Cox, which may be of interest.
So, I searched and found the full discussion (haven't watched).
There's a series with bell hooks talking to others, one with Gloria Steinem, so I'll post links tp both. I'm sure that if people are interested they can find the rest.
One of Wokedom's leading dogmatists … has much to answer for.
Along with Crenshaw & a handful of others, she applied uber-relativist 1960s French Post-Modernism, divorced from truth & reality, to a crude, radical Identity Politics, seeking to destroy the main precepts of both Social Democracy and, more broadly, Liberal Democracy.
Subsequently adopted by a bloated financially-privileged narcissistic White ID Politics Cadre … then increasingly imposed on Society.
Philosophers, writers, artists, commentators etc all contribute to the public discourse by writing or articulating their perspective.
It doesn't mean we have to accept all, or indeed any, of their views. And we also have to be aware that sometimes those views can be mispresented by others.
There are many examples of bell hooks taking time to explain, or willing to be contested on her approach.
I think that is exactly the kind of robust debate we should be aiming for.
How many times does this make it that offenders have stolen police cars in the last couple of years? Do they leave the keys in the ignition – or do modern day electronic start ignitions make it easier for anybody to get in, start one up & drive away in it?
He had gone before Muller was leader. The leaks continued. Then Collins was leader. The leaks increased.
There should be a leak-lull now, at least until the New Year. Then Luxon has to make some decisions, dump some policies, and the tap will be turned back on.
I have no idea why you’d think that. Probably just an offhand idiotic comment that takes absolutely no cognisance of history. It is your usual comment style.
Offhand, I can only think of one journo (and that is a stretch because he was more of a presenter) becoming a MP for Labour. That is over the 4 decades I have been looking at Labour. That was Tamati Coffey. But he was really the exception.
There have been a few in National. One of the Smiths comes to mind. But that was decades ago.
Mostly people out of the journo and media world get involved in national politics by either training politicians to not look like fools in front of the camera, work on politicians staffs as press flacks, or on retirement go to become local body politicians.
Kris Faafoi was a broadcaster and journalist before becoming Phil Goff's press secretary and then MP in 2010. Still, only 2 in however long doesn’t suggest Labour as a natural home for journalists.
Essentially then, another reasoned proposition alongside the observed reality, as to why there will be no huge spike in hospital admissions and/or deaths in the UK, US and Europe. And yet politicians and supposed public health officials there are playing their fear cards again, and legacy media are running with what they're told to run with again and banging on about lock-downs and third injections and the sky falling in.
Is NZ going to cut the nonsense, dump the discriminatory traffic light and mandate bullshit and open the international border?
No. Like the Russia Hoax, the Covid narrative will run…and run…and run.
In terms of public health response, governments have dug a hole for themselves with the "fear monkey" messaging of the past few years.
But since the primary incentive for government actions has been political, and since the political objectives required that a particular health narrative was spun and then bolstered – they're stuck. Or rather, we're going to continue being pushed down a particular track unless or until we reject the "fear monkey" narrative that's driving levels of compliance across society that we're all going to come to regret.
Notice, that in stark contrast to the head of the South African Medical Association who has been reporting Omicron is mild infection, the line from Professor Shabir Madhi (a vaccinologist) …is that Omicron probably isn't less severe than Delta and that milder disease is only down to the effects of previous infection and vaccines.
I'm thinking that's questionable, because if that's the case, then why wasn't a similar pattern of decreasing hospitalisations and deaths observed in the case of Delta infections/re-infections?
Maybe the Professor Shabir Madhi has skin in the game?
A(nother) talk about “the end of the pandemic“! If "it's over" then it's about time, imho.
Mind you, the number of current COVID-19 patients has never been higher, having just passed 22,000,000, while the number people dying daily from COVID chugs along at a remarkably stable and tragic 7,000, give or take.
It's interesting that, for all our scientific understanding and technical progress, here we have someone with a PhD in engineering who is suggesting that relying on Homo sapiens' immune systems is at least as good as, if not a better bet than relying on medical interventions to save lives during this pandemic.
We have been around for millions of years, and, ah, we should have respect for our immune systems – it didn't come out of nowhere, ah, y-you know, and we have been through many pandemics in the past before.
So sure, modern technology could potentially ss-save, save lives, but you know the slogan that the vaccine is the only way out of it, is is not correct – you know, how did we get through it before modern medicine. Ah, and yeah, so this is a natural course and we have evolved as a species to beat viruses in this way.
No doubt that's correct – 'we' could indeed survive the current pandemic "as a species" without recourse to modern medicine. Once this pandemic is over, our scientific and medical communities will be in a better position to evaluate how many lives were saved by vaccinating against Covid-19, and whether there were better options (maybe they will even be able to learn a thing or two from little old NZ). For example, maybe 'we' could have designed a more transmissible and less virulent variant and deliberately seeded it globally. But be careful what you wish for…
“The hope is, that if the pandemic doesn’t go away, we will get new variants that are highly contagious but don’t produce much of a clinical illness,” said Armitage.
And between those mutations, less virulent strains, natural immunity, and vaccine-induced immunity, we’ll eventually get out of this.
Whether that is with Omicron or new variants we have yet to meet remains unclear.
“We’d all like it to be sooner rather than later, of course,” Armitage said.
"A crowd of hundreds has amassed at Wellington’s Civic Square ahead of a protest organised by Brian Tamaki’s Freedom & Rights Coalition in central Wellington today.
Tamaki estimated up to 50,000 people would be at the protest but those there believe the number was closer to 1000 by 10.50am at Civic Square, when Parliament grounds remained virtually empty."
In May 2019 at the announcement about the formation of the Coalition New Zealand Party (changed to Vision New Zealand) Tamaki promised the party would be a "vehicle" for the "silent majority" to express their beliefs.
"Our Kiwi way of life is in danger, our freedom, our values, our cultures, as a people, as we knew it, as New Zealanders living here, has been in danger because of the harmful policies that have been coming from this Government," he told reporters.
He said he had yet to decide if he will stand for a seat but would support his wife leading a party that he said would reflect "politics with teeth".
It's exactly the same stuff he's been saying in recent months. instead of the little sprint they had to the election last time, he's on the long run up.
In 2020 out of 2,886,420 votes cast they got 4,237. It's likely they'll double their vote in 2023. To get a list seat? He'll have to
Will he stand as a candidate? No. Why? Because he couldn't stand to be seen as a loser. "In 2004, Tamaki predicted the Destiny Church would be "ruling the nation" before its tenth anniversary in 2008." (wiki)
The funniest thing about this is the organisers genuinely believed that MPs would be in the House today, made their plans weeks ago, and their followers simply followed without questioning (or even Googling).
That suggests Labour are so principled that they're willing to turn criminals into MPs in their own party. However it is tradition that one swallow don't make a summer.
To establish a tradition of rehabilitating criminals in this manner, they need more than one. A sequence would suffice.
To make this happen, Labour ought to organise a team of recruiters to hang out with the gangs on checkpoints this summer. An ideal opportunity!
I am reading John A. Lee's Simple On A Soapbox. Labour have just been re-elected in 1938. Savage, Nash and Fraser are being criticised for objecting to social policies.
The Old Man (Savage), resisted increasing the super and lowering the age from 65 to 60. Ironically he was hailed and received the credit for doing so from the adulating crowds.
Of course, this is just Lee's reckons. He has a lovely turn of phrase. He describes Nash (finance minister), as 'a codlin moth that would starve if it didn't own the apple it was on.'
The only things that stops people being a candidate are being a Returning Officer or on the Electoral Commission, not being a citizen or being disqualified as a voter. Criminal convictions only affect that if they are for corrupt practices as defined by the Electoral Act.
An MP is automatically removed as an MP if they are convicted of an offence with a possible sentence of at least 2 years' imprisonment, but if they are not an MP at the time, it does not disqualify them from standing. Likewise someone in prison for more than 3 years can't stand while they are in prison as they can't be registered to vote either, but once they are out, are free to stand (if they can find people willing to nominate them).
The patent application, for “Drone Implemented Border Patrol,” states: “If a person is detected, an onboard facial recognition algorithm will attempt to identify the person. … In one embodiment, the facial recognition algorithm works by comparing captured facial features with the U.S. Department of State’s facial recognition database.”
The patent specifies that the onboard stun gun is a Taser X26, a powerful, discontinued electroshock weapon associated with “higher cardiac risk than other models,” according to a 2017 Reuters investigation. But a stun gun was only one of many possible options. Other potential anti-migrant armaments described in the patent include pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, rubber buckshot, plastic bullets, beanbag rounds, sponge grenades, an “electromagnetic weapon, laser weapon, microwave weapon, particle beam weapon, sonic weapon and/or plasma weapon,” along with “a sonic approach to incapacitate a target.”
Obviously the migrants will have to wear Trump masks in future. You can imagine the border guards watching the screens: "Hey, there goes Trump again! Boy, whatta dude! Sure does get around."
According to the police summary of facts, Kalinowski’s corrupt business practices resulted in at least 180 incidents of people being illegitimately issued various classes of motorcycle licences.
“None of these people sat the required practical assessment to show they have the necessary skills to safely operate a motorcycle and interact with other road users,” the summary said.
The offending began in 2018 and increased “exponentially” from 2020 until he was arrested in June 2021.
Police said Kalinowski made more than $50,000 from his corruption. Most of his customers were gang members of established organised criminal groups including the Hells Angels, King Cobras, Mongrel Mob, Head Hunters and Black Power.
I wonder how many of these gang bikies the police are stopping to check their licences now?
When we look at dishonesty in our society, do we look past the bikers to the people using forged vaccination certificates? And then beyond that to those without current vehicle registrations? And then to the drug users, the scammers, the letter box pilferers? And then beyond them to those collecting benefits etc unentitledly?
Do we look at the speedsters, the drunk drivers?
Then do we look at those rorting the taxation system?
And then do we ask, how many of us are there left?
In 2020, 34 percent of Republicans and independents who lean to the right surveyed by Pew Research Center agreed that it was "probably" or "definitely true" that powerful people intentionally planned the COVID-19 outbreak. Eighteen percent of Democrats and left-leaners agreed, too.
Jung once wrote that the demise of society wouldn't be a physical threat, but instead mass delusion — a collective psychosis of sorts… Indeed, Jung himself warned that modern society was prone to collapse due to a pandemic of "delusional ideas."
"Greater than all physical dangers are the tremendous effects of delusional ideas, which are yet denied all reality by our world-blinded consciousness," Jung wrote. "Our much vaunted reason and our boundlessly overestimated will are sometimes utterly powerless in the face of 'unreal' thoughts." Notably, Jung believed that the United States was particularly prone to society-breaking delusions.
National identity is primarily based on the nation state, but there's always a substantial component of mythos which folks share. Symbolism & icons are often a focus for that. Origin myths are the most potent form. Any collective belief can become an element of mythos when it percolates down the generations.
Cultural theorists often describe the history of human civilization as one of a transition between different central guiding myths. In the Western world, Christianity undergirded everyday existence and society for over a thousand years. After the Renaissance, the central guiding myth became a belief in rationalism; then, in modernity, a belief that technology might improve the lot of all humans.
Though the phrase is often reviled, the postmodern era — which, roughly, began in the 1960s or 1970s depending on who you ask — merely means the cultural transition into an epoch into which there were no longer any fundamental guiding myths that unified human societies and drove progress. Such an era is, by its nature, more fractured socially; two humans plucked at random from a postmodern epoch might find themselves believing wildly different things about human society, progress and morality, with little in common.
Competing groups with different belief systems may seem nothing new, but if the overall US social matrix is disintegrating the competition becoming shrill and incoherent could be an indicator of the onset of mass psychosis as pandemic…
The first electric ferry in the southern hemisphere is soon to hit the seas in Wellington. Ika Rere – it means 'flying fish' – will join the East by West ferry fleet, as part of the return service from Wellington to Eastbourne.
East by West managing director Jeremy Ward decided to bring electric passenger ferries to New Zealand after seeing them in action in fiords of Norway.
Not only did the pair bring the electric ferry to Wellington, they've helped bring boat building back to the capital – 20 years after it fizzled out, and they hope to keep building electric ferries from their Lower Hutt base.
Excellent! Seems like proven tech so no teething problems or design-tweaking.
The batteries take a couple of hours to charge, Foote says. There is a charger in Eastbourne and one will be built at Queens Wharf.
They have devised a system to keep the batteries cool and operating optimally on board, he says, and there is no diesel backup on board. “If there is a problem with one side of the boat, there's a computer system that enables us to shut the boat down safely on one side. So, being a catamaran with two propellers, all you do is just go to the shore using one propeller. “
“A normal diesel boat will do about 15,000 to 20,000 hours before you have to do a major rebuild on the motor, our boat does 50,000 hours and you change one bearing and there's nothing more to do".
Great that they’ve set up a boat building company as well. There are a few car ferries up North (eg Russell, The Hokianga harbour) that might be interested.
special facilities to manage feedlot stock management from runoff etc
and
and
Our country is rife with 'farmers' squeezing productivity out of country that is not designed for it – like someone trying to fit into shoes that are too small.
Crikey corruption watch from across the ditch. Murdoch family insider gets to chair the ACCC for 5 years.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb was lachlans lawyer, director of Murdoch's family trust so she now gets to hold sway over transactions that impact Murdoch's tv, newspaper and real estate websites.
She could be great, samuels was despite initial concerns but crikey those optics aren't good.
Leaders hold virtual summit as Putin declares Russia-China relations ‘a proper example of interstate cooperation’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have held a video meeting, as friction persists in both countries’ relations with the West.
In their opening remarks at the virtual summit on Wednesday, Putin and Xi hailed relations between Russia and China, with the Russian leader declaring them “a proper example of interstate cooperation in the 21st century”.
“A new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries, based among other things on such principles as not interfering in internal affairs [of each other], respect for each other’s interests, determination to turn the shared border into a belt of eternal peace and good neighbourliness,” Putin said.
Xi said that the Russian president “strongly supported China’s efforts to protect key national interests and firmly opposed attempts to drive a wedge between our countries.”
It’s a difficult issue for the West, this thing China & Russia have about not criticising each other – or other countries – over what they say are solely their own internal affairs. The major western powers – & NZ – will criticise their internal policies or actions.
But the US & we all seem to be strangely silent about some repressive countries like, say, Saudi Arabia. Double standards are the pits. They cut you off from the moral high ground at the knees.
Our silence has emboldened these scoundrels who, now they are partners in crime, propose to seize weak adjacent territories whose citizens would vote that they not do so.
Interesting factoid: The Taliban announced that one of the IS suicide bombers that killed many people in Kabul notblong after they took over was a Uyghur.
The PRC of course claim the measures they have taken in Xinjiang province are to deal with a significant terrorism problem.
It's a tricky matter – but the Russians killed about half the population of Chechenya, and dislocated many of the survivors to Ingushetia. Should these people become pacifists then? It will be hard to persuade the rising generation of young men of that. I expect some similar logic applies to the Uyghurs, though the creation of the Mujahideen complicates such calculations.
Military coups may in some instances be justified – though Thailand and Fiji are very different instances. NZ did not choose wisely in respect of Fiji, in part due to the murders.
But, voting, the democratic mandate, is a vehicle by which regimes can claim a degree of legitimacy.
Where's Burma? You mean Myanmar? The country that had a circus of foreign puppets as a government? The country where the military, who constituted around 50% of the legitimate government called time on the farce of foreign control?
You do know that a swathe of SE Asia is being heavily messed with by the US in ways that are on an entirely different plain to anything that Russia was meant to be engaged in with the whole Russia Hoax stuff, right?
The ludicrous farce of Trump somehow being a Russian puppet was the reality (with receipts) for Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi (and her inner circle) of Washington puppets.
And yet somehow, all the people who frothed over Trump/Putin reckon it's not legitimate for a country to claim itself back from foreign control? pfft
The coup and the Rohinga genocide are not the same thing. Separate crimes requiring separate defenses.
No one cares what NZ has to say.
Communist and former communist states are particularly sensitive to the propaganda effect of some kinds of official responses. Had NZ denounced either event, the dodgy regimes concerned would have been mightily miffed. Other civilised countries would have given the matter more thought, and some of the more enlightened ones would likely have added their voices.
You did not say cultural genocide, you said genocide.
That said, watering down the definition of genocide is a road I don't want to walk down. It really does undercut what happened in the Armenian, Safo, Romani, East Timor, Rwandan, Bosnian, Jewish, and Cambodian genocides.
So I'm not buying into the media saying there is a genocide happening to the the Uygur. First of all, no bodies and secondly where is the proof that their culture is being crushed? Your link was rather lite on any proof, a lot of emotional manipulation and supposition, sure, but cold hard proof, not really. It's why I called you on the dead bodies, and the cop out of cultural genocide is a weak response at best.
Yeah – you didn't really read the links. Scepticism is fine, uninformed scepticism not so much.
intent to "destroy in whole or in part" a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. "All five criteria of genocide are evidenced as taking place in Xinjiang," she said. Ms Ghani said detainees were subject to "brutal torture methods, including beatings with metal prods, electric shocks and whips".
From the UK declaration on the Uyghur genocide in my link.
Love the quote you published to prove my point. Low on facts, heavy on emotional manipulation and way off the mark where genocide is concerned. It's like screw all the people in the past who were murdered as part of a actually genocide, we have propaganda we want to spin.
As it's not going to sink in with you, lets just stop ah.
There is not and never was a Uygur genocide, neither actual nor cultural.
There was a separatist movement slaughtering people (including Muslims) in Xinjjang, who were jihadists sunk in the ideology of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism.
They fucked off to chop heads in Syria. They are still there. And also in Afghanistan.
And they're funded and promoted by the the US State Department through their National Endowment for Democracy.
You want to see genocide in Xinjiang? Then wait for the day they ever manage to re-enter the region. Chances are they wont be able to for two reasons. Firstly, the Chinese government invested in a shitload of economic development and infrastructure in the region and secondly, they put in place a surveillance framework that essentially means they know if you so much as scratch your arse.
A few weeks ago an invitation dropped into my email inbox to attend a joint Treasury/Motu seminar on recent, rather major, changes that had apparently been made to the discount rates used by The Treasury to evaluate proposals from government agencies. It was all news to me, but when ...
All your life is Time magazineI read it tooWhat does it mean?PressureI'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationaleBut here you are with your faithAnd your Peter Pan adviceYou have no scars on your faceAnd you cannot handle pressureSongwriter: Billy Joel.Christopher Luxon is under pressure from all sides. The reviews are ...
After seeing yet-more-months of political debate and policy decisions to ‘go for growth’ by pulling the same old cheap migration and cheap tourism levers without nearly-enough infrastructure, or any attempt to address the same old lack of globally conventional tax incentives for investment, I thought it would be worth issuing ...
The plans for the buildings that will replace the downtown carpark have been publicly notified giving us the first detailed glance at what is proposed for one of the biggest and best development sites in the city centre. The council agreed to sell the site to Precinct Properties for $122 ...
With the Reserve Bank expected today to return the Official Cash Rate to where it was in mid-2022 comes a measure of how much of a psychological impact the rate has. Federated Farmers has published its latest six-monthly farm confidence survey, which shows that profit expectations have fallen and risen ...
Kiwis Disallowed From Waiting Lists Based on Arbitrary MeasuresWellington hospital are now rejecting patients from specialist waiting lists due to BMI (body mass index).This article from Rachel Thomas for The Post says it all (emphasis mine):A group of Porirua GPs are sounding alarm bells after patients with body mass indexes ...
The Prime Minister says he's really comfortable with us not knowing the reoffending rate for his boot camp programme.They asked him for it at yesterday’s press conference, and he said, nah, not telling, have to respect people's privacy.Okay I'll bite. Let's say they release this information to us:The rate of ...
Warning 1: There is a Nazi theme at the end of this article related to the disabled community. Warning 2: This article could be boring!One day, last year, I excitedly opened up a Substack post that was about how to fight back, and the answer at the end was disappointing ...
This may be rhetorical but here goes: did any of you invest in the $Libra memecoin endorsed and backed by Argentine president and darling of the global Right Javier Milei (who admitted to being paid a fee for his promotion of the token)? You know, the one that soared above ...
Last week various of the great and good of New Zealand economics and public policy trooped off to Hamilton (of all places) for the annual Waikato Economics Forum, one of the successful marketing drives of university’s Vice-Chancellor. My interest was in the speeches delivered by the Minister of Finance and ...
The Prime Minister says the Government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached. The government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects, including $11m spent to improve popular visitor sites and further $19m towards biodiversity efforts. A New Zealand-born ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler “But what about when the sun doesn't shine?!” Ah yes, the energy debate’s equivalent of “The Earth is flat!” Every time someone mentions solar or wind power, some self-proclaimed energy expert emerges from the woodwork to drop this supposedly devastating truth bomb: ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yanyan Hong, PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, University of Adelaide IMDB On the surface, Ne Zha 2: The Sea’s Fury (2025), the sequel to the 2019 Chinese blockbuster Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child, is a high-octane, action-packed and ...
Wellington travellers say their buses are so hot they’re often forced to get off early and walk. Shanti Mathias explores the impact of non-functioning air conditioning on public transport. When Bella, a young professional living in Wellington, thinks about taking the bus, her first thought is “Ugh”. The bus might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Kroen, Research Fellow Planning and Transport, RMIT University The cleanup is underway in northern Queensland following the latest flooding catastrophe to hit the state. More than 7,000 insurance claims have already been lodged, most of them for inundated homes and other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subha Parida, Lecturer in Property, University of South Australia Carl Oberg/Shutterstock Houses and fire do not mix. The firestorm which hit Los Angeles in January destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings and forced 130,000 people to evacuate. The 2019–20 Australian megafires destroyed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal. The commission found physical productivity – the total number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pascale Lubbe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Molecular Ecology, University of Otago Royal spoonbills are among several new species that have crossed the Tasman and naturalised in New Zealand. JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA When people arrived on the shores of Aotearoa ...
Stats NZ’s head is stepping down over the agency’s failure to safeguard census data, and more officials may soon be in the firing line, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘absolutely unacceptable’ failure Stats NZ chief ...
Health NZ is under greater government scrutiny, with the new health minister setting up a unit he says will "drive greater accountability and performance". ...
Manurewa Marae acknowledges should have done better at handling completed census forms, following an inquiry into steps government agencies took to protect data. ...
Police failed to protect people from protesters at a high-profile rally and made unlawful arrests at another, the Independent Police Conduct Authority says. ...
Comment: Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are making it easier for people to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum without having to handle digital wallets or private keys. These allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency through their regular brokerage accounts.This has opened the door for billions of dollars ...
Two long-awaited reports into alleged personal data misuse, centred on census collection and Covid-19 vaccination efforts at Manurewa Marae, were released yesterday. Here’s what you need to know.“Very sobering reading” was how public service commissioner Sir Brian Roche described his organisation’s long-awaited report into the alleged misuse of census ...
Backbench MPs reached new levels of patsy questions in an extraordinarily dull question time on Tuesday. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. “MPs ask questions to explore key issues ...
The New Zealand Government says the Cook Islands must share more information about the deals it has signed with China, following the release of an ‘action plan’ in the face of protests in the Pacific nation’s capital.The Cook Islands government has also revealed plans to spend $3 million on a ...
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Comment: The recent attack by Destiny Church front groups on a Drag science show at Te Atatū library crossed a line. This wasn’t the first time that Brian Tamaki, the multimillionaire self-appointed ‘apostle’, has ordered acts of aggression against the queer community. Last year, Drag Story Time events were targeted, ...
Martina Salmon is well versed in the fast-paced action on a netball court, but even she was caught by surprise with the speed at which her career changed tack last year.Staying in the fast lane is only part of her drive this season.Fresh off a nine-day camp in Sydney with ...
Last night I may as well have been in Taihape. Or, closer to home, for me at least, somewhere in the Wairarapa. Or Tūrangi, even – which is near where we used to spend the summer when I was a child. For there was that same gorgeous small town feeling ...
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RNZ this morning govts books the envy of every other country in the world.With a Conservative growth rate of 2 1/2 % and the lowest debt rate of any country with supply constraints stopping a better result
Bridges and luxon bald face liars saying the govt can't manage the economy ,barking at cars again.
yep, whenever my nat-supporting mates pipe up about labour being useless economically I always point out to them that the evidence is otherwise. They always go silent (because they have never considered any evidence, only listened to the myth).
As a business owner I prefer left governments because the economy always improves and I get more sales. I said to said mates the same would happen when this government got in, and it has.
Conservatives on the other hand always act conservatively and the economy shrinks back from its natural tendency courtesy of that conservatism.
Most of my mates haven't even considered that the nats are the conservatives. They go silent on this again.
So many people don't even think about this stuff.. they just repeat the lines they hear…
National – conservatives and with a record of poorly economic outcome.
Labour – forward-stepping and with a record of superior economic outcome
this is the evidence
it needs shouting to the rooftops – like, really shouting
Progressives grow opportunities through better fiscal management and money supply, which though it does increase inflation also leads to a better tax take and "money go round". People are employed and contributing, so social and environmental concerns start getting addressed.
Conservatives shrink it all through austerity. That means less tax to do any social or environmental work. Unemployment grows though conservatives become Nelson like looking with their "blind eye" at problems, which becomes "what problems?'
It's taxes and keeping wages down businesses focus on not turnover and profits
Another interpretation is that that Luxon, Bridges etc DONT actually know how the economy works.
Yep. That's my pick. Hollow men.
gosh, Jacinda must be a bit embarrassed then, I mean she did pick Chris Luxon to head her Business Advisory Group
Probably, yes. Although running a business is not the same thing as running an economy.
Yes its a hard message to get through Gezza.
She picked Rob Fyfe too.
Wonder if he thinks Luxona …turned Air NZ …around!
Luxton and Bridges are still stuck in the Thatcher philosophy that economies run the same as your household budget.
Victoria University Professor of Strategic Studies Robert Ayson:
He doesn't explain what these sophisticated military capabilities are, nor even mention whether or not they are available for using. Typical academic!
But will they?? Could be the govt's refusal to interpret the crisis to our public is due to perception that it would not be in the interests of the Solomons to do so. And belief that folks here ain't all that interested in the Solomons anyway. Lay low, say nuffin is a traditional strategy (http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/brer-rabbit-wonderful-tar-baby-story.html) which Labour is prudently deploying.
America is extremely jealous of China's rising influence.
China has the will and the resources to challenge U.S dominance in technology science,and engineering.
Who else can compete against the U.S behemoths like the FAANG's.
Companies like Huawei,Ali Baba,Tiktok,Weibo etc…can.
The belt and road initiative and the scale of China's soft loans from the Pacific to Africa are a source of discontent for the Hawks in the U.S.
A campaign ,almost a Cold War, to try and demonise and isolate China is in play.
The usual vassals line up to support the U.S.
Australia ,the americans BFF is taking a prominent role in criticising Chinese actions in the Sth China Sea.
The propaganda machine highlights the tennis star controvosy ,the designs of China on Taiwan, Chinas increasing military resources,and the defaults of chinese developers.
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
With Afghanistan another flop on the record,the military/industrial interests are onto another moneymaker.
How easy is it to win over the hearts and minds of the chattering class.
All the above is true, certainly, but Chinese officials are now also adopting a much more publicly muscular tone in demanding that critics shut up or they will face PRC retaliatory measures.
We need to steer a very careful course, being so dependent on them economically.
So far our Government has managed to tread softly around the belligerence between the US and China. The US certainly hasn't done us any favours in the trade area.
Astonishing how you managed to get almost everything wrong on that little rant. But just two will do:
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
In reality the US is re-industrialising at a rapid pace, and supply chains are pulling out from a PRC now widely regarded as unreliable as fast as they possibly can.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
Laughable. Russia has shrunk to a GDP a little larger than Australia and NZ combined and it's population is shrinking even faster. (Recent data suggests it could be even worse than shown there.)
China has numerous structural and political problems that present an intractable challenge to it's long term stability. Not to mention a terminal demography of it's own. Compare this with the US projection.
Old assumptions about how the world works are crumbling because the US is now defining it's interests on a far more transactional basis than it did in the past. On current trends there will soon be no US boots on the ground anywhere in the world – short of that needed to man their network of bases and alliances they choose to maintain. Already Putin calculates that if he invades Ukraine the US will not intervene, and the Middle East is on it's own.
But if you imagine that any of this will make the world safe for Communism I suspect you're in for a disappointment.
So the U.S are reindustrializing are they?Wonderful,does it rely on Govt stimulus/susidies or reducing wages?
True that U.S sanctions have reduced GDP in Russia.
So how many of the 800 plus U.S bases around the world are closing down and when!
No boots on the ground….when will this occur,20,50 years from now.Patent nonsense.
Safe from Communism!Where does Capt America change into his tights,with no phone booths around now-when will the world be safe from
https://youtu.be/77jVMsOWKIo
I provided a number of references – all you have is a silly cartoon. About sums it up.
The 'silly' cartoon is made by an experienced ex U.S State Dept officer.
I would think he may have a better understanding of U.S foreign 'policy' than you.
What part of the 'silly' cartoon,do you have an issue with?
You had your opportunity to make a substantive reply and you had nothing.
All it will say is that the US like all great powers can be very ruthless. I’ve pointed this out many times before. But that does not makes it’s opponents lilly-white – as you obviously pretend they are.
Not at all.Never thought any country was 'lily white'…but I recognise double standards and hypocrisy when I see it.
Just labelling something as 'silly' is as weak as someones response to a Jordan Peterson video put up recently…Jordan's a 'twit'.
Imo your response to my initial post illustrated that you'had nothing'.
Quite right Blazer, but trying to get through to the red neck of logic is useless, his imbedded faith will not allow him to see anything good in anything that mentions communism.
Well given the US has been embarrassed in every conflict since the Vietnam War I think the cartoon is appropriate.
China is developing its technology at a much faster rate than the US.
Also manufacturing capability wins wars China has a much larger capability.especially in modern technology hence Biden spending billions on chip manufacturing capability so the US is not reliant on 84% imports mostly from China.
From China? Are you sure? Taiwan's coming up in google as the world's largest computer chip manufacturer:
Taiwan is the country that produces the most number of chips globally, thanks to TSMC – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which controls 51% of the global chip market.
Because China has been building infrastructure and developing poor countries with cheap loans.
The US is having to match Chinese expansionist with similar initiatives.
So developing countries are winning.
I think we gave up on good political satire a while back which is why John Clarke left these shores. Even without him, Aus still does good satire. Heres Australia's Defence Policy Explained. It could be that though Scotty hasn't got the memo, Ardern has seen it and is acting on it by doing a Brer fox even though shes not responsible for the tar baby and is unlikely to roll on the ground laughing
Yep….Juice Media, The Chaser, The Shovel…all good Aussie political satire. haven't found anything quite like an Australian equivalent of the Standard, though (not suggesting that most of posters here are satirical!).
haven't found anything quite like an Australian equivalent of the Standard,
Probably because the prospect of moderating a pack of rabid Aussies all sledging each other flat out would make any sane person's blood run cold.
Try discord heaps of hard out commentary. Your right about the sledging, but it's fun.
My fav of the last couple of weeks, reminding the Aussies of all the crying into the camera of late on losing the captaincy. Or more bluntly, if you wanna send dick pix you get whats coming to ya.
Matt McCarten has written a One Union Letter to the Speaker:
But Matt, why would you expect a public service manager to take responsibility for their misbehaviour?? They know the privilege system protects them.
Bullying works better if you use a lawyer to do it too rather than just diy. Rafael must realise that one tough guy ain't enough to victimise his employees. He needs to ramp things up into some kind of public shit-fight. High Noon would be good.
Matt asks Mallard to help resolve things instead:
Parliamentary Services may not be hopeless. Wouldn't surprise me if a few of them are hoping for a change. Can the duck quack loudly enough?
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/12/15/one-union-letter-to-mallard/
Looks like Matt's making a start on his threat in a podcast earlier this week to publicly expose the bullies in Parliament. (I posted a link a day or two ago.)
He went on at some length about the tactic of employers and MPs sending lawyers letters to shut complainants up because they can't afford to litigate.
If he gets no joy from Speaker Trev, maybe we can expect him to start naming names?
He said in his podcast that bullying of powerless Parliamentary Services staff by certain MPs has been rampant for decades and he's going to do something about it.
For decades whoever is in government fails to grasp that it is usually the cover up which is worse than the original mistreatment of the person. The process to get the grievance exposed requires the person making the complaint to have the resources and all the documentation so the issue does not drag on for months, years or decades.
I have followed the plight of the children/youth who had their lives ripped apart when in so called welfare, religious or psychiatric care. I am pleased that what happened has been exposed.
Crown Law was the biggest obstacle due to having an endless supply of money, delay tactics, with holding information to squash children and youth. There are still historical cases involving the government which need addressing.
https://i.imgur.com/ulsBhIv.gif
Tweet of the day:
https://twitter.com/ImperatorFish/status/1470979903096901633
lol, perfect.
Leading feminist leaves us.
https://twitter.com/AKPressDistro/status/1471201192956989440
Thanks for posting. She did a lot of work on intersectionalism, and I'd come across a couple of clips recently of her talking to Laverne Cox, which may be of interest.
So, I searched and found the full discussion (haven't watched).
There's a series with bell hooks talking to others, one with Gloria Steinem, so I'll post links tp both. I'm sure that if people are interested they can find the rest.
https://youtu.be/9oMmZIJijgY
https://youtu.be/tkzOFvfWRn4
.
One of Wokedom's leading dogmatists … has much to answer for.
Along with Crenshaw & a handful of others, she applied uber-relativist 1960s French Post-Modernism, divorced from truth & reality, to a crude, radical Identity Politics, seeking to destroy the main precepts of both Social Democracy and, more broadly, Liberal Democracy.
Subsequently adopted by a bloated financially-privileged narcissistic White ID Politics Cadre … then increasingly imposed on Society.
Philosophers, writers, artists, commentators etc all contribute to the public discourse by writing or articulating their perspective.
It doesn't mean we have to accept all, or indeed any, of their views. And we also have to be aware that sometimes those views can be mispresented by others.
There are many examples of bell hooks taking time to explain, or willing to be contested on her approach.
I think that is exactly the kind of robust debate we should be aiming for.
How many times does this make it that offenders have stolen police cars in the last couple of years? Do they leave the keys in the ignition – or do modern day electronic start ignitions make it easier for anybody to get in, start one up & drive away in it?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-car-stolen-in-crash-aftermath-on-state-highway-38-in-kaingaroa-forest/JCRMM4UXFUEUVPS2MRSSOY6SMA/
Keystone cops! The bloke needs to be charged and be made to pay for damage to the police vehicle.
Trev officially thanks Tova in parliament:
It wouldn't surprise me to see Tova as a Labour party list MP in a few years.
How high up the list would she have to be to get in given there will be those who got in this time as electorate MPs who will miss out next time?
Not as high as Tamati Coffey but above the bottom 15 that the majority of, aren't very well known.
Those deep relationships she has built with Nat caucus leakers should come in handy. Oh, wait..
JLR has gone now.
He had gone before Muller was leader. The leaks continued. Then Collins was leader. The leaks increased.
There should be a leak-lull now, at least until the New Year. Then Luxon has to make some decisions, dump some policies, and the tap will be turned back on.
I have no idea why you’d think that. Probably just an offhand idiotic comment that takes absolutely no cognisance of history. It is your usual comment style.
Offhand, I can only think of one journo (and that is a stretch because he was more of a presenter) becoming a MP for Labour. That is over the 4 decades I have been looking at Labour. That was Tamati Coffey. But he was really the exception.
There have been a few in National. One of the Smiths comes to mind. But that was decades ago.
Mostly people out of the journo and media world get involved in national politics by either training politicians to not look like fools in front of the camera, work on politicians staffs as press flacks, or on retirement go to become local body politicians.
Surely even you know this?
Kris Faafoi was a broadcaster and journalist before becoming Phil Goff's press secretary and then MP in 2010. Still, only 2 in however long doesn’t suggest Labour as a natural home for journalists.
What is the story he is referring to do you think?
I wonder if it relates to this?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/124229190/man-who-sued-mallard-over-sex-assault-defamation-given-suppression
That seems logical – thanks
An update on Omicron from SA:
Essentially then, another reasoned proposition alongside the observed reality, as to why there will be no huge spike in hospital admissions and/or deaths in the UK, US and Europe. And yet politicians and supposed public health officials there are playing their fear cards again, and legacy media are running with what they're told to run with again and banging on about lock-downs and third injections and the sky falling in.
Is NZ going to cut the nonsense, dump the discriminatory traffic light and mandate bullshit and open the international border?
No. Like the Russia Hoax, the Covid narrative will run…and run…and run.
Covid responses are about politics, not health.
Yes – the next month or so will tell us which govts are going to put public health ahead their perceived political advantage.
I'll pick….none.
In terms of public health response, governments have dug a hole for themselves with the "fear monkey" messaging of the past few years.
But since the primary incentive for government actions has been political, and since the political objectives required that a particular health narrative was spun and then bolstered – they're stuck. Or rather, we're going to continue being pushed down a particular track unless or until we reject the "fear monkey" narrative that's driving levels of compliance across society that we're all going to come to regret.
Article for this video can be found here. Deep data dive: is Omicron the end of the pandemic?
Dr Campbell's video up as well including links to data. He writes all the extrapolated facts in the description for the readers or time-constrained.
https://youtu.be/_XOerG5R290
Notice, that in stark contrast to the head of the South African Medical Association who has been reporting Omicron is mild infection, the line from Professor Shabir Madhi (a vaccinologist) …is that Omicron probably isn't less severe than Delta and that milder disease is only down to the effects of previous infection and vaccines.
I'm thinking that's questionable, because if that's the case, then why wasn't a similar pattern of decreasing hospitalisations and deaths observed in the case of Delta infections/re-infections?
Maybe the Professor Shabir Madhi has skin in the game?
can't make sense of his shorthand without watching the video.
A(nother) talk about “the end of the pandemic“! If "it's over" then it's about time, imho.
Mind you, the number of current COVID-19 patients has never been higher, having just passed 22,000,000, while the number people dying daily from COVID chugs along at a remarkably stable and tragic 7,000, give or take.
It's interesting that, for all our scientific understanding and technical progress, here we have someone with a PhD in engineering who is suggesting that relying on Homo sapiens' immune systems is at least as good as, if not a better bet than relying on medical interventions to save lives during this pandemic.
No doubt that's correct – 'we' could indeed survive the current pandemic "as a species" without recourse to modern medicine. Once this pandemic is over, our scientific and medical communities will be in a better position to evaluate how many lives were saved by vaccinating against Covid-19, and whether there were better options (maybe they will even be able to learn a thing or two from little old NZ). For example, maybe 'we' could have designed a more transmissible and less virulent variant and deliberately seeded it globally. But be careful what you wish for…
Brian Tamaki's election campaign continues:
"A crowd of hundreds has amassed at Wellington’s Civic Square ahead of a protest organised by Brian Tamaki’s Freedom & Rights Coalition in central Wellington today.
Tamaki estimated up to 50,000 people would be at the protest but those there believe the number was closer to 1000 by 10.50am at Civic Square, when Parliament grounds remained virtually empty."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127273863/crowd-gathers-before-protest-to-parliament-against-vaccine-mandates
In May 2019 at the announcement about the formation of the Coalition New Zealand Party (changed to Vision New Zealand) Tamaki promised the party would be a "vehicle" for the "silent majority" to express their beliefs.
"Our Kiwi way of life is in danger, our freedom, our values, our cultures, as a people, as we knew it, as New Zealanders living here, has been in danger because of the harmful policies that have been coming from this Government," he told reporters.
He said he had yet to decide if he will stand for a seat but would support his wife leading a party that he said would reflect "politics with teeth".
It's exactly the same stuff he's been saying in recent months. instead of the little sprint they had to the election last time, he's on the long run up.
In 2020 out of 2,886,420 votes cast they got 4,237. It's likely they'll double their vote in 2023. To get a list seat? He'll have to
Will he stand as a candidate? No. Why? Because he couldn't stand to be seen as a loser. "In 2004, Tamaki predicted the Destiny Church would be "ruling the nation" before its tenth anniversary in 2008." (wiki)
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/05/brian-and-hannah-tamaki-to-lead-new-destiny-church-political-party.html
Brian Tamaki is a legend in his own lunchtime living in the destiny bubble.
Change a consonant or 2 and it's the density church.
The funniest thing about this is the organisers genuinely believed that MPs would be in the House today, made their plans weeks ago, and their followers simply followed without questioning (or even Googling).
And they call the rest of us sheep.
Must admit, this one made me grin…
But this one didn't …
It appears that the 'invasion' of Congress in the US lives rent free in their heads!
With a criminal conviction he won't be able to run.
His wife ran last time. He never did.
Peter Fraser went to prison in 1916 and ended up becoming prime minister
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9184686/The-courage-of-their-convictions
That suggests Labour are so principled that they're willing to turn criminals into MPs in their own party. However it is tradition that one swallow don't make a summer.
To establish a tradition of rehabilitating criminals in this manner, they need more than one. A sequence would suffice.
To make this happen, Labour ought to organise a team of recruiters to hang out with the gangs on checkpoints this summer. An ideal opportunity!
I am reading John A. Lee's Simple On A Soapbox. Labour have just been re-elected in 1938. Savage, Nash and Fraser are being criticised for objecting to social policies.
The Old Man (Savage), resisted increasing the super and lowering the age from 65 to 60. Ironically he was hailed and received the credit for doing so from the adulating crowds.
Of course, this is just Lee's reckons. He has a lovely turn of phrase. He describes Nash (finance minister), as 'a codlin moth that would starve if it didn't own the apple it was on.'
AFAIK only if the offence is punishable by 2 or more years imprisonment.
Only if convicted while in Parliament.
Yet there doesn't appear to be any obligation to disclose criminal convictions..
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/11/bill-would-force-political-candidates-to-disclose-criminal-convictions.html
The only things that stops people being a candidate are being a Returning Officer or on the Electoral Commission, not being a citizen or being disqualified as a voter. Criminal convictions only affect that if they are for corrupt practices as defined by the Electoral Act.
An MP is automatically removed as an MP if they are convicted of an offence with a possible sentence of at least 2 years' imprisonment, but if they are not an MP at the time, it does not disqualify them from standing. Likewise someone in prison for more than 3 years can't stand while they are in prison as they can't be registered to vote either, but once they are out, are free to stand (if they can find people willing to nominate them).
oh boy, the future will be bright n rosy. Surely.
https://theintercept.com/2021/12/13/brinc-startup-taser-drones-migrants/
Obviously the migrants will have to wear Trump masks in future. You can imagine the border guards watching the screens: "Hey, there goes Trump again! Boy, whatta dude! Sure does get around."
Because others would not abuse the same situation. Good grief. Good effn grief.
The internet does love Keanu Reeves.
https://twitter.com/BenjaminCarollo/status/1470905374320570376
Other perspectives on Omicron. I'd still vote for the precautionary principle.
This from researcher Eric Topol (11/12/21)
https://twitter.com/MiwkmanCometh/status/1469470944062316544
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1469432991101321216
Omicron
Passenger Germany to Dubai to Auckland to Christchurch. NZ first omicron case.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/127297946/west-coast-driving-instructor-admits-falsifying-licences-for-gang-members
I wonder how many of these gang bikies the police are stopping to check their licences now?
You reckon they're crap riders?
That’s one way of putting it.
When we look at dishonesty in our society, do we look past the bikers to the people using forged vaccination certificates? And then beyond that to those without current vehicle registrations? And then to the drug users, the scammers, the letter box pilferers? And then beyond them to those collecting benefits etc unentitledly?
Do we look at the speedsters, the drunk drivers?
Then do we look at those rorting the taxation system?
And then do we ask, how many of us are there left?
I'm pretty confident it isn't just me.
National identity is primarily based on the nation state, but there's always a substantial component of mythos which folks share. Symbolism & icons are often a focus for that. Origin myths are the most potent form. Any collective belief can become an element of mythos when it percolates down the generations.
Competing groups with different belief systems may seem nothing new, but if the overall US social matrix is disintegrating the competition becoming shrill and incoherent could be an indicator of the onset of mass psychosis as pandemic…
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018824634/ika-rere-the-electric-ferry-heading-for-wellington-s-harbour
Cool.

Excellent! Seems like proven tech so no teething problems or design-tweaking.
Sounds good. Hopefully Wellington’s leading the way. Do you know of any other Kiwiland harbour ferries that are all-electric?
Welly’s probably lucky that the harbour is comparatively small so the ferry doesn’t have a particularly long haul between Eastbourne & Queen’s Wharf.
Do you know of any other Kiwiland harbour ferries that are all-electric?
Haven't heard of any. I suspect Wellington can stake a claim to being most progressive city in the nation as soon as the system is up & running!
Wonder how fast the Aucks will figure that out?? Then copy…
Great that they’ve set up a boat building company as well. There are a few car ferries up North (eg Russell, The Hokianga harbour) that might be interested.
Auckland will possibly want to build its own.
saying the heresy out loud
https://twitter.com/minnieprickle/status/1471306704654520320?s=21
Or without:
large scale imported stock food
and
heavy doses of fertiliser
and
special facilities to manage feedlot stock management from runoff etc
and
and
Our country is rife with 'farmers' squeezing productivity out of country that is not designed for it – like someone trying to fit into shoes that are too small.
Yes.
Crikey corruption watch from across the ditch. Murdoch family insider gets to chair the ACCC for 5 years.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb was lachlans lawyer, director of Murdoch's family trust so she now gets to hold sway over transactions that impact Murdoch's tv, newspaper and real estate websites.
She could be great, samuels was despite initial concerns but crikey those optics aren't good.
Leaders hold virtual summit as Putin declares Russia-China relations ‘a proper example of interstate cooperation’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have held a video meeting, as friction persists in both countries’ relations with the West.
In their opening remarks at the virtual summit on Wednesday, Putin and Xi hailed relations between Russia and China, with the Russian leader declaring them “a proper example of interstate cooperation in the 21st century”.
“A new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries, based among other things on such principles as not interfering in internal affairs [of each other], respect for each other’s interests, determination to turn the shared border into a belt of eternal peace and good neighbourliness,” Putin said.
Xi said that the Russian president “strongly supported China’s efforts to protect key national interests and firmly opposed attempts to drive a wedge between our countries.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/15/russia-putin-china-xi-to-hold-talks-amid-tensions-with-west
It’s a difficult issue for the West, this thing China & Russia have about not criticising each other – or other countries – over what they say are solely their own internal affairs. The major western powers – & NZ – will criticise their internal policies or actions.
But the US & we all seem to be strangely silent about some repressive countries like, say, Saudi Arabia. Double standards are the pits. They cut you off from the moral high ground at the knees.
The fact is we're not very outspoken about internal Russian or Chinese repression either.
No condemnation of the Uyghur genocide as such, nor of the Chechen genocide. That's Goffian Weak Sauce™ foreign policy.
Our silence has emboldened these scoundrels who, now they are partners in crime, propose to seize weak adjacent territories whose citizens would vote that they not do so.
Interesting factoid: The Taliban announced that one of the IS suicide bombers that killed many people in Kabul notblong after they took over was a Uyghur.
The PRC of course claim the measures they have taken in Xinjiang province are to deal with a significant terrorism problem.
It's a tricky matter – but the Russians killed about half the population of Chechenya, and dislocated many of the survivors to Ingushetia. Should these people become pacifists then? It will be hard to persuade the rising generation of young men of that. I expect some similar logic applies to the Uyghurs, though the creation of the Mujahideen complicates such calculations.
Whats voting got to do with anything….military coups in Thailand and Fiji,barely raised an…eyebrow.
Military coups may in some instances be justified – though Thailand and Fiji are very different instances. NZ did not choose wisely in respect of Fiji, in part due to the murders.
But, voting, the democratic mandate, is a vehicle by which regimes can claim a degree of legitimacy.
After all, Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses.
Military coups are…always 'justified.'
Burma is another case study.Rohingas.
Genocide-Armenians.-Kurds.
No one cares what NZ has to say.
Where's Burma? You mean Myanmar? The country that had a circus of foreign puppets as a government? The country where the military, who constituted around 50% of the legitimate government called time on the farce of foreign control?
You do know that a swathe of SE Asia is being heavily messed with by the US in ways that are on an entirely different plain to anything that Russia was meant to be engaged in with the whole Russia Hoax stuff, right?
The ludicrous farce of Trump somehow being a Russian puppet was the reality (with receipts) for Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi (and her inner circle) of Washington puppets.
And yet somehow, all the people who frothed over Trump/Putin reckon it's not legitimate for a country to claim itself back from foreign control? pfft
The coup and the Rohinga genocide are not the same thing. Separate crimes requiring separate defenses.
No one cares what NZ has to say.
Communist and former communist states are particularly sensitive to the propaganda effect of some kinds of official responses. Had NZ denounced either event, the dodgy regimes concerned would have been mightily miffed. Other civilised countries would have given the matter more thought, and some of the more enlightened ones would likely have added their voices.
Not to burst your bubble or anything Stuart Munro, but how do you have a genocide of the Uyghur, when their population keeps growing?
I would have though genocide implies the killing of people, so populations would go down would they not?
Genocide can not only be killing, but also the obliteration of whole cultures.
There is example evidence of erasure of Uyghurs.
You did not say cultural genocide, you said genocide.
That said, watering down the definition of genocide is a road I don't want to walk down. It really does undercut what happened in the Armenian, Safo, Romani, East Timor, Rwandan, Bosnian, Jewish, and Cambodian genocides.
So I'm not buying into the media saying there is a genocide happening to the the Uygur. First of all, no bodies and secondly where is the proof that their culture is being crushed? Your link was rather lite on any proof, a lot of emotional manipulation and supposition, sure, but cold hard proof, not really. It's why I called you on the dead bodies, and the cop out of cultural genocide is a weak response at best.
Yeah – you didn't really read the links. Scepticism is fine, uninformed scepticism not so much.
intent to "destroy in whole or in part" a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. "All five criteria of genocide are evidenced as taking place in Xinjiang," she said. Ms Ghani said detainees were subject to "brutal torture methods, including beatings with metal prods, electric shocks and whips".
From the UK declaration on the Uyghur genocide in my link.
Love the quote you published to prove my point. Low on facts, heavy on emotional manipulation and way off the mark where genocide is concerned. It's like screw all the people in the past who were murdered as part of a actually genocide, we have propaganda we want to spin.
As it's not going to sink in with you, lets just stop ah.
There is not and never was a Uygur genocide, neither actual nor cultural.
There was a separatist movement slaughtering people (including Muslims) in Xinjjang, who were jihadists sunk in the ideology of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism.
They fucked off to chop heads in Syria. They are still there. And also in Afghanistan.
And they're funded and promoted by the the US State Department through their National Endowment for Democracy.
You want to see genocide in Xinjiang? Then wait for the day they ever manage to re-enter the region. Chances are they wont be able to for two reasons. Firstly, the Chinese government invested in a shitload of economic development and infrastructure in the region and secondly, they put in place a surveillance framework that essentially means they know if you so much as scratch your arse.
There are four rather bold assertions there, scattered like faux pearls from a string which could not sustain them.
I wonder if you can support any of them – I'll excuse you the first – one cannot prove a negative.
I really hope Stuart Nash said to Hosking: "We won, you lost, drink that." (Michael Cullen RIP).
Nash bet on 90% vaccinated, so Hosking has to pay up
"determination to turn the shared border into a belt of eternal peace and good neighbourliness,” Putin said."
Despite the history of unequal treaties.
"The treaty also ceded parts of Outer Manchuria to the Russian Empire. It granted Russia the right to the Ussuri krai, a part of the modern day Primorye, the territory that corresponded with the ancient Manchu province of East Tartary. See Treaty of Aigun (1858), Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Peking