Your biggest problem is who’s going to be the boss? Who is going to make the hard decisions. It’s all well and good to have a collective, but you have to have a leader or you will just be stuck in committees.
Democratic election of “the boss” is required. All workers discuss, vote on and approve overall strategy and budgets. They then democratically select “the boss” (preferably from amongst their own number) who will carry out that strategy day to day and week to week.
The boss is also democratically replaceable, and should receive no more than 25% more than the pay the other workers receive.
You do not need a leader to make hard decisions if the people involved in the cooperative have all the necessary information to make decisions. Needing a leader is a lie told by authoritative types.
Effectively a different way of delivering (primarily software development) projects. The point I was making is that they are non-hierarchical and somewhat akin to a workers co-op in a micro sense.
In this instance it is because the team can more efficiently deal with change through collaborative effort. In a lot of ways they have much greater control over their own “destiny” if you will as their work practices aren’t dictated to them – they define them themselves.
Not at all. In the “agile team” construct the workers employment status maintains much less relevance to what (I assume) it would within a workers co-op.
What will the big bosses do when the workers realise that the big bosses don’t add value to the core business of the enterprise to justify their 5x or 10x higher salaries?
So the guy on $150K pa gets tossed out, and the remaining 10 workers each get a raise from $50K pa to $65K pa.
Sounds fair. (If he’s actually good for something other than “management” they could offer to rehire him at their rates of course…my how the tables could quickly turn).
“You do not need a leader to make hard decisions if the people involved in the cooperative have all the necessary information to make decisions. Needing a leader is a lie told by authoritative types.”
I find both of those sentences at odds with the reality of human existence to a very large extent.
When the other Mr Key got back stage with his family for the photo-op with a recent touring female artist, what strings would have been pulled for that one.
I can imagine the conversation going something like…
“… the Prime Minister is out the back and he would like his family to come and meet you…”
Just wondering when the Prime Minister bit ends and Joe Citizen kicks in. Would be terrible to think that he used his official status to garner favour.
I think most international superstars who come to Aotearoa really do so with a desire to meet with our great PM and his family. His brilliance shines forth from Aotearoa like a beacon and they feel humbled in his presence. In a recent poll undertaken by Penguins R Us, only the Dalai Lama was voted anywhere near FJK in the “Inspiring leaders I’d cut off both my arms and kick myself repeatedly in the goolies to meet”.
I do not think there is any substance to your suspicions.
Hospital admission rates for skin infection in young children in New Zealand are higher than in other developed countries and have steadily increased over the past 20 years
Figures provided to DFNZ under the Official Information Act show just 17 pupils in decile one schools received special assessment conditions for external NCEA exams in 2014. Just under 1300 pupils in decile 10 schools received help.
This perpetuates what amounts to systemic discrimination against students at lower decile schools, where SACs can make all the difference between achieving or not achieving NCEA qualifications
Regarding Dunedin Hospital’s frozen meals being trucked in from Auckland, someone has written some thoughtful comments to the Southern District Health Board and here’s the letter [edited] for your information:
Dear Sir,
I am a retired psychiatrist, who worked for the Dunedin Hospital Board for many years. I am writing on behalf of many others I have spoken to in the Dunedin community, of which I have been part for 36 years.
I recently wrote a letter to the Otago Daily Times on this issue, and have been urged to bring our concerns to the attention of the Southern District Health Board (SDHB) members.
There are two related issues:
[1] Food Services should not be privatised. This is not simply a matter of jobs being lost locally and renovated kitchens standing idle. It is inhumane to talk about money-saving as a primary object, rather about human beings who are unwell.
Psychologically, as well as physiologically, food is very important for all people. We are hard-wired to associate food with care and motherly love, which makes us feel secure and cared-for. Natural endorphins thus released help healing. Part of this is the feeling of intimacy and individual care local cooking provided. “If you don’t
like the chicken, I will see what the kitchen can fix up for you.” They do not need carefully devised, nutritionally accurate airline-type food sent from some hub where cost-saving is the main focus at the bottom line of the spreadsheet.
Local food comes with concern and love from our own community. Everybody knows each other: two degrees of separation here, not six.
When food cooked on site the delicious aromas drift up to stimulate flagging appetites, as occurs in the home.
[2] Greater and longer lasting risks and problems will be faced by the SDHB if they accept Compass Group as their contract food service. They are the largest contract food service in the world, based in the UK, but having operations in over 50 countries. It is a multinational organisation, listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent
of the FTSE 100 Index. Compass Group may seem to offer a good deal, but additional costs may be covert, like the recently discovered ‘setting up costs’. They are out to make as much money for their shareholders as they can, and are not offering a ‘good deal’ to Otago and Southland out of goodwill. They want to make money out of us. Our sick and infirm are commodities to them. And the money will mainly leave NZ. They will pay a little tax, exploiting our tax loop-holes perfectly legally, and will siphon away the money that needs to be circulating in NZ for New Zealanders.
Once locked into a contract with a multinational like this, the SDHB will find themselves riding a tiger. Multinationals can start to demand terms in the decision-making process regarding service delivery, and may take this out of the SDHB’s hands, as they can have recourse to the Investor States Disputes Settlement [ISDS] if they deem that their free access to making profit is being impaired in some way. If the Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement comes in, this is more likely to happen. They could bring objections in from one of their many other sites in countries who are signatories.
For example, NZ has laws about the ingredients in food, both how they are sourced, and whether they are GE free, to name but two. One can speculate how they will avoid meeting these laws in the search for the cheapest ingredients, or failing that, take the issue to the ISDS, which is an off-shore tribunal and costs to contest objections are
huge. Besides, the tribunal is weighted in favour of the multinational.
It would be better, if hospital food services must be privatised, to give the contract to a New Zealand-based and owned firm, even if it seems not to save as much money. It may well be cheaper in the long run. Of course, care must be taken that that company is not covertly owned by a multinational itself, as can be the case.
Please give the above earnest consideration before action is taken.
North @ 8: Cheers! I thought it was a superb letter when it was shown to me.
Someone pointed out what naughty multi-nat profit-making Compass was up to a few years ago on the Facebook page ‘Stop Dunedin Hospital From Being Downgraded’ that can be viewed publicly (without needing to log in with one’s personal account):
Heh. I wondered what was behind that comment and had to refresh my own mind! I have stayed away from commenting on The Standard. About a year now. But TPPA, mass surveillance issues, and other things are bringing me back. Some interesting developments in recent months with grassroots and community activities have competed for my time and energy. But some of the stuff offline might make it here.
It is a fine letter, but as I mostly read the ODT online I haven’t seen how much of it got printed. [edit; rereading the above, I see it was addressed to the SDHB and not to the ODT editor; hope they read it with an open mind]
However I noted this in Saturday’s article (more about the immediate meals on wheels programme than the creeping corporate takeover of hospital meals and kitchens):
Grey Power Otago president Jo Millar said the board should have been more open from the start about the ”ridiculous” idea.
”What facilities are there going to be if they can’t truck this food down south in the mid-winter?
”How long is the food going to be in frozen storage?
”We have no idea what the quality of those meals are going to be coming down from Auckland – absolutely none.”
Meals would be heated before delivery, but Mrs Millar said many older people ate in the evening.
Heating meals twice was potentially ”extremely unsafe”.
She also feared the new meals for the hospital patients would lack nutritional value…
Compass Group New Zealand issued a statement yesterday saying the company could utilise sea or air links if road transport was blocked.
The company used the latest freezing technology for meals, which ensured maximum nutrient retention.
”Compass Group intends to work closely with volunteer organisations in Dunedin and Invercargill who deliver meals, to improve the information available and communication to recipients on safely handling their meals when they are received,” chief operating officer Julian Baldey said.
Which implies that if these; “volunteer organisations in Dunedin and Invercargill who deliver meals”, were to refuse to do so if Compass was the provider, then the entire proposal would fall flat on its face. This is a clear case of privitising profit and externalising costs to the public.
If Compass had to foot the bill for delivering the meals, then the SDHB would be more likely looking at a cost rather than saving to implement the scheme. Also, who would be paying for the cost of this air-freighting of meals? As a backup plan it seems flawed, as the kind of weather that would take out the road &/or ferry from Auckland down South, would also likely disrupt the; “sea or air links”.
Which implies that if these; “volunteer organisations in Dunedin and Invercargill who deliver meals”, were to refuse to do so if Compass was the provider, then the entire proposal would fall flat on its face. This is a clear case of privitising profit and externalising costs to the public.
Volunteers delivering the meals for frail people are providing aid to their community hospital which is an organisation providing free or low cost treatment and assistance to the community.
If companies or business trusts, even not-for-profit charities (which are often businesses with a plastic halo) like Compass are to take over and carry out this unsatisfactory system of food supply then a generous mileage should be paid to the volunteers. Otherwise they will be squeezing profit out of this very personal service to the community, and from the human activity of food provision.
The provision from outside the location is a waste of energy and will cause additional stress in the case of disaster or bad weather, wondering if the wagons are going to get through to the beleaguered citizens under seige by events. It
stretches the supply lines too far, which has led to great disasters. For instance in Russia
It is an idea thought up by brain-atrophied business economists and taken up probably by the person who hired the person who hired the thieving and conniving IT techology fellow who cost the Southern District Health Board $16.9 million. The Sensible Sentencing Trust is on this occasion rightly outraged that the fraudster Swann is being released from prison halfway through, and has not accounted for much of the lost funds.
Also the Southern District Health Board has not received help from the Ministry of Health in auditing an amount paid to a private health concern Southern Link Health, run by independent practitioners. Only under $1 million of spending for savings on service contracts has been accounted for, although $6.2 million was paid. And accrued interest has meant that the amount in contention is now $15 million!
The Health Board is in an unhealthy position. It needs an overhaul. But in trying to cut service costs it has got into a quagmire. The government has wiped a contract with a company which had a similar objective because its expenses were going up and the savings were down. Now this new efficiency move in Otago seems likely to be another costly boo-boo, and bound to cause heartache to managers and workers and possibly heartburn to patients.
It is a Trojan horse the Southern District Health Board is ushering in, that will open up spewing out little men who will pop out and grab sack fulls of money in exchange for sack fulls of chaff.
The ODT’s editorial from Saturday also covered this:
”The latest details of the proposal to outsource Dunedin and Invercargill hospital food services leave a bad taste in the mouth for southerners….
” There is – rightly – a healthy amount of scepticism about the reality of ”savings”, the transparency of procedures, not to mention the flow-on effects and local impact of health proposals….
”It is to be hoped other counterproposals may offer a more palatable solution, which can retain jobs and services locally. ”
Mean time – in China. Things are looking different and the same – but this I found to be very new – as in middle class China seems to be a questioning the status quo.
Positive and Hopeful for the future. But need our support.
That is a marvellous letter @ 6 ! The humanity (and the patent common sense) it conveys deepens my contempt for the Keys and the Joyces and the self-seeking sycophants who back them. They deserve to go down in history for the fetid moral crooks they are !
When does a fee become a tax? When the employer revokes your professional body that you pay a fee for, and creates a new organisatio with the same name but employer controlled, directing your proffessional fees to the employer ends.
Caught a news conference on te Chinese channel, english translation provided, and was shocked, China is introducing a deposits guarentee. I maybe misheard but what if its true?
China big notes its economic performance. The fact is they have ghost cities full of surplus real estate. Their demand for raw materials has dropped, as Australia has learned lately. I don’t think the country will collapse, but there is some belt-tightening afoot.
This was an interesting interview on 9toNoon this morning. A very engaging baskeball player and now wine expert from NZ on his career and development. I loved hearing how well he had done and his thoughtful and positive attitude. NZs who are doing it – let’s hear more of it, and learn from them!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171057
Former Tall Black’s love letter to basketball ( 25′ 41″ )
10:07 John Saker was a Tall Black from 1975 until 1987. He was one of the first New Zealanders to get a basketball scholarship to a US University, and then became the country’s first professional player, taking up a contract with a French side. During that stint in France, a love of wine blossomed, inspiring a secondary career as a wine writer. John Saker remains passionate about basketball, his latest book is called Open Looks and is a kind of a love letter to the sport.
One thing that struck me – he said that basketball is attracting in NZ a lot of brown players, keen and doing well. Can we get behind that sport, rather than the thuggish and increasingly amoral and injury-causing rugby, and have good things happening for teams of integrated and hopeful young teenagers in South Auckland? Please make it so.
If you did not hear it, I found this interview on RNZ National Nine to Noon this morning very enlightening in respect of the definitions used by NSA etc of terms such as “mass collection”, “mass surveillance” and “Full Take”.
Kathryn Ryan was interviewing “… Bruce Schneier is a US technology and security expert whose latest book “Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World”, highlights just how much information is being gathered by governments and corporations through our use of phones and computers.”
Ryan took the opportunity to question Schneler closely about what the terms “mass collection” etc meant when used by the NSA etc in view of Key’s dissembling in this regard.
Schneler’s explanations were excellent – clear and understandable; and IMO provided confirmation that Key knows full well how these terms are used in the international 5 Eyes setting.
Also on radionz this a.m. something on data surveillance and how many have their fingers in your daily soup of communications?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171051
Personal data collection and your technology footprint ( 18′ 44″ )
09:35 How much do you know about what others might know about you, from your use of technology? How do you minimise your online footprint on things you’d rather keep private?
Bruce Schneier is a US technology and security expert whose latest book “Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World”, highlights just how much information is being gathered by governments and corporations through our use of phones and computers.
NB I went to give a UNICEF donation towards Vanuatu and found they insisted on my address, phone number and email just so I could give them money they need. Talk about highwaymen without pistols! They didn’t get my money or my details. Stuff them I gave to someone else. Did you know that some professional fund raisers give under 10% of what they raise to the actual charity. Nice work extorting money, when you get it.
Encouraging, almost hopeful rallying cry from Bill McKibben on climate change. I love the bit about how it’s not the leaders that matter, it’s the pressure being brought to bear by the radicals and sane people.
Pressure is growing. A relentless climate movement is starting to win big, unprecedented victories around the world, victories which are quickly reshaping the consensus view.
The official view: all eyes are on Paris, where negotiators will meet in December for a climate conference that will be described as “the most important diplomatic gathering ever” and “a last chance for humanity.” Heads of state will jet in, tense closed-door meetings will be held, newspapers will report that negotiations are near a breaking point, and at the last minute some kind of agreement will emerge, hailed as “a start for serious action”.
The actual story: what happens at Paris will be, at best, one small part of the climate story, one more skirmish in the long, hard-fought road to climate sanity. What comes before and after will count more. And to the extent Paris matters, its success will depend not on the character of our leaders but on how much a resurgent climate movement has softened up the fossil fuel industry, and how much pressure the politicians feel to deliver something.
The good news is, that pressure is growing. In fact, that relentless climate movement is starting to win big, unprecedented victories around the world, victories which are quickly reshaping the consensus view – including among investors – about how fast a clean energy future could come. It’s a movement grounded in the streets and reaching for the photovoltaic rooftops, and its thinking can be easily summarised in a mantra: Fossil freeze. Solar thaw. Keep it in the ground.
Triumph is not certain – in fact, as the steadily rising toll of floods and droughts and melting glaciers makes clear, major losses are guaranteed. But for the first time in the quarter-century since global warming became a major public issue the advantage in this struggle has begun to tilt away from the Exxons and the BPs and towards the ragtag and spread-out fossil fuel resistance, which is led by indigenous people, young people, people breathing the impossible air in front-line communities. The fight won’t wait for Paris – the fight is on every day, and on every continent.
Fed Farmers Waikato have called for a moratorium on dairy conversions in the area (apparently most farm there are still small family owned farms). Good for them.
Lewis’s suggestion for a moratorium was heard “with interest” by the Waikato Regional Council’s industry and infrastructure manager Brent Sinclair.
In an emailed statement, Sinclair said the council would be happy to discuss further with Federated Farmers exactly what they were looking to achieve in terms of managing water quality in the region.
Dairy conversions were not regulated in the council’s regional plan, so it lacked hard data on the number of such conversions that have taken place or been planned in the past few years.
It’s never ceases to amaze me just how strongly the regional councils are still dragging the chain on environmental protection.
“Dairy conversions were not regulated in the council’s regional plan, ”
Dairy conversions require a number of buildings to be built or converted, especially the buildings where the milk collection equipment will be installed. These buildings require building permits, and in many cases food safety certificates, so for the Council to say ‘we don’t know’ is a bit fibby.
Yes, absolutely – my comment was prodding the reality that the info exists. Regional Councils have access to such info and it is a completely reasonable way to at least get a ball park picture of the recent number of conversions. But of course it is far easier and less troublesome to simply tell the public ‘ we don’t know’.
Seen on The Standard now and then: The best way to not have problems from the police/CIA/GCSB is to not break the law (yeah, it surprised me at first too)
Pippa Wetzell clearly perturbed by the frivolous approach of Mike Hosking this evening Seven Sharp, Television One, Monday 16 March 2015
Mike Hosking, Pippa Wetzell
Watching the following travesty a few minutes ago, I got the feeling that Pippa Wetzell was trying to treat the crap script she’d been handed with as much seriousness as she could muster. In spite of being in an utterly frivolous environment, she has obviously made up her mind to do her best. The contra king Hosking, on the other hand, is not serious in the slightest, and Wetzell seemed to acknowledge this when he made his idiotic comment about “strange countries like Russia”….
PIPPA WETZELL: Where’s Vladimir Putin? He hasn’t been seen for ten days. Top rumors on the internet are, one, that he’s dead and, two, that he’s been attending the birth of his love child.
MIKE “CONTRA” HOSKING: He could be on holiday in the Seychelles.
PIPPA WETZELL: Maybe he’s sick. They don’t want the image of the macho man on horseback to be diminished.
MIKE “CONTRA” HOSKING: There’ll be a big vacuum. There’s always a vacuum in strange countries like Russia.
At that point, Pippa Wetzell frowns in consternation and disapproval. Hosking simply chunters on, oblivious to anything but the sound of his own voice….
Actually, Paul, I think it’s poor old Pippa Wetzell that deserves a medal. I don’t have to put up with that boor, and only listen to and watch him occasionally. Pippa Wetzell, on the other hand, had no escape last night. To her credit, she made her contempt for him quite clear.
One has to be cautious to come to any definite conclusions yet, because, there seems to be no big money going in generally for either of the candidates, except in minute amounts of mostly 1 dollar or so which is quite unusual. I am suspecting that there is some kind of cunning manipulation going on to scare the Nat supporters to go and vote for their ‘super’ candidate.
At the moment, here are the waiting orders:
Current Top 10 Buy Orders Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
1 $0.5610
5 $0.5510
1 $0.5510
1 $0.5410
5 $0.5375
1 $0.5310
5 $0.5250
1 $0.5210
1 $0.5110
1 $0.5010
Current Top 10 Sell Orders Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
1 $0.5710
1 $0.5810
1 $0.5910
1 $0.6010
1 $0.6100
1 $0.6110
1 $0.6210
3 $0.6275
1 $0.6310
15 $0.6380
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Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
by Daphna Whitmore Every Sunday for the past two months unionists from First Union, with supporters from other unions, have set out to the Ihumatao land protest, put up gazebos and gas barbeques, and cooked food for a few hundred locals and supporters who have come from across the country. ...
Newsroom today has an excellent, in-depth article on pine trees as carbon sinks. The TL;DR is that pine is really good at soaking up carbon, but people prefer far-less efficient native forests instead. Which is understandable, but there's two problems: firstly, we've pissed about so long on this problem that ...
Canan Kaftancioglu is a Turkish politician and member of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Like most modern politicians, she tweets, and uses the platform to criticise the Turkish government. She has criticised them over the death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a tear gas grenade during ...
Hi there, just call me Tim.We face tough problems, and I’d like to help, because there are solutions.An Auckand District Health Board member has nominated me for as a candidate for the ADHB, because her MS-related pain and fatigue is reduced with hemp products from Rotorua. Nothing else helped her. If I ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has published their report on whether the SIS and GCSB had any complicity in American torture. And its damning. The pull quote is this:The Inquiry found both agencies, but to a much greater degree, the NZSIS, received many intelligence reports obtained from detainees who, ...
Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...
For most of the time I was a British MP, my party was out of government – these were the Thatcher years, when it was hard for anyone else to get a look-in. As a front-bencher and shadow minister, I became familiar with the strategies required in a parliamentary democracy ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh On August 29th a video in which veteran FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commander Iván Márquez announced that they had taken up arms again was released. There was no delay in the reaction to it, from longtime Liberal Party figure and former president Uribe, for ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
In a landmark judgment issued this morning, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the Southern Response Concealment Class Action will proceed issued on an "opt out” basis. ...
Mainstream media, as the purveyors of truth and source of balanced information, took another backward step today with the announcement by Stuff that most New Zealand organisations had joined 170 media outlets from around the world in the “Covering ...
The goal of one million Kiwis having basic conversations in te reo by 2040 is unrealistic if more is not done to get serious about reo acquisition says the Māori Party. “While small steps have been taken to bolster efforts to increase the numbers of speakers, ...
Changes announced today by the Immigration Minister to employer-assisted visas will help businesses, but more work is needed to boost economic growth says Business Central. ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming today’s announcement that the Government will be streamlining the employer assisted work visa process to help businesses and farms fill skills shortages. ...
Lawrence Yule MP wrote to our Office with concerns about the Department of Corrections' approach to procuring design and build services for rapid deployment of prison accommodation. We have published our response to Mr Yule on our website . ...
That from the chair of the Wellington Region of the College of Midwives, Siobhan Connor, following the news that Hutt Valley District Health Board is targeting midwives from overseas to help fill gaps in maternity units. ...
70% of New Zealand’s surface water take is allocated to Meridian’s Manapouri Power Scheme. But when Environment Minister David Parker asked to exempt the Scheme from his Freshwater Action Plan, he didn’t tell Cabinet that. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that officers responded in a timely and appropriate manner as soon as they were aware that a fleeing driver had hit a pedestrian. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra John Howard is remembered by his Liberal tribe as a reformer, but his legacy is mixed. The GST has endured but he essentially doomed his government when he let his ideological obsession with industrial relations ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Hanna, Honorary Senior Fellow, Australian National University This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Global warming is accelerating, driven by the continuing rise in ...
Covering Climate Now: A new web series challenges the false idea that rangatahi Māori “aren’t engaged” in politics or civic participation, and presents what aims to be a more hopeful and inclusive alternative. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Over the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University Today, the Sri Lankan family who had resettled in the small town of Biloela in Queensland was given a last-minute reprieve in their fight to stay in Australia. A federal court judge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastien Darchen, Senior Lecturer in Planning, The University of Queensland The crashing chords of punk echoed through the end of the 70s, heralding the arrival of a diverse bunch of subcultures. In Brisbane, none was more notable than the tribe known as ...
Covering Climate Now: As the temperature of the planet increases, so to does the number of documentaries about climate change. Jean Sergent watched all of them to bring you this harrowing listicle. Do you want to know which climate change documentaries will make you depressed and which will make you hopeful? ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Ian Taylor, founder of of Animation Research Ltd.This week on Business is Boring ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lucas Walsh, Professor, Education Policy and Practice, Youth Studies in the Faculty of Education. Latest books with Rosalyn Black include "Imagining Youth Futures: University Students in Post-Truth Times" and "Rethinking Youth Citizenship after the Age of Entitlement", Monash University Senator Jacqui Lambie ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dodd, Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Today on Media Files, a podcast on major themes and issues in the media, we meet Bastian Obermayer, the Pulitizer prize-winning journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into global ...
Trade, women's economic empowerment, the Pacific and space were among the broad range of topics discussed between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Japanese counterpart. ...
Vegan lube? Faux feather strokers? Condoms made from employees paid the living wage? Emily Writes delves into the world of having ethical sex. There are many upsides to being vegan, but when it comes to getting down (and by that I mean rooting), it can be quite a challenge finding 100% ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is making no apology for her focus on the Christchurch Call at the United Nations next week and points to Facebook's recent action as a sign of early success. ...
Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere's latest verbal outrage moves his campaign strategy from the bellicose to the bizarre. Mark Jennings listens in at yet another debate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute Compared to the rest of the world, income inequality is not particularly high in Australia, nor is it getting much worse. The real problem is housing inequality. Rising house prices have increased wealth inequality. ...
A harrowing account of what it’s like trying to save your child from suicide, and the toll it takes on everyone involved.This essay discusses suicide in detail. Please proceed with caution.Last week there was a lot of stuff shared around suicide awareness, and I wanted to share something as well, ...
Chloe Blades reviews Kate Weinberg’s first novel, which is selling like mad and earning the London writer comparisons to Agatha Christie and Donna Tartt. It was always going to be unfair on whichever book I read after Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women; that divisive, genre-defying masterpiece on the manipulation of female desire. ...
Annual economic growth has slowed to its weakest level in nearly six years as growth in service industries offset construction and manufacturing weakness. ...
By Wansolwara staff in Suva Twelve leading journalists from 11 Pacific Island countries will converge in Suva, Fiji, this Friday to discuss critical issues affecting the region including climate change and natural disaster relief and recovery and regional security. The one-day “Capstone at The University of the South Pacific” (USP) Laucala ...
Covering Climate Now: The release of the new Nissan Leaf electric vehicle signals a shift in the role of cars in our society. Simon Day was at the launch of the new model. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!According to ...
Covering Climate Now: Charging businesses for their greenhouse gas emissions seems simple enough, but in New Zealand, at least, emissions keep on rising. Is the system flawed, or is it how we’re implementing it?The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Economists ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Foreign affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Global uncertainty and domestic troubles as Ardern heads ...
Covering Climate Now: Earlier this year, the climate change response (zero carbon) bill had its first reading. The public was then invited to submit their takes on it to the government. We assessed a few of the stranger ones.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to ...
Op-Ed by Luis Alfonso de Alba – UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Climate Action SummitLuis Alfonso de Alba – UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Climate Action SummitClimate change is not a far-away problem– it is causing huge damage right now in Asia-Pacific and around the world. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bill Bateman, Associate professor, Curtin University Every spring in Australia is heralded by reports of magpies swooping at people. While it is of little comfort to those at the receiving end of a surprise attack, such events are actually quite rare when ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University There’s no shortage of special days throughout the year. Some — like International Literacy Day — speak to important issues in society. Others speak to our inner dag. Today marks one of the daggier days, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Pickles, Professor of History at the University of Canterbury and current Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi James Cook Research Fellow, University of Canterbury Today marks the passing of the much celebrated 1893 Electoral Act, 126 years ago, which made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meagan Brennan, Clinical A/Prof Breast Physician, Westmead Breast Cancer Institute, University of Sydney Victorian Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos recently announced six new 3D breast screening machines would be rolled out across the state. These will be used to assess women recalled ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Brodie, Professorial Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Few feel the pain of the Great Barrier Reef’s decline more acutely than the scientists trying to save it. Ahead of next week’s UN climate summit, two ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hilary Whitehouse, Associate Professor, James Cook University This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Youqing Fan, Lecturer, Western Sydney University Affordable housing is a critical problem for Australia’s biggest housing markets. Five Australian cities are in the top 25 with “severely unaffordable” housing in a 2019 Demographia survey of 91 major metropolitan markets. Sydney was ranked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Angelina Hurley, PhD candidate, Griffith University From Darkness, directed by Isaac Drandic, La Boite Theatre From Darkness is the story about the aftermath of sorry business – Aboriginal rituals that are observed during a period of mourning. It looks at how, on ...
Mana whenua say they want the government to negotiate with Fletcher Building to return the land at Ihumātao. But Winston Peters is questioning if the consensus includes everyone's voice. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Difficult decision looms for govt over Ihumātao, NZDF story scrutinised at inquiry, and innovative new bus service to be trialled in Timaru. This is far from the end of the story about what will happen to the land at Ihumātao. A ...
People in central and eastern Europe take a different view on climate change than many in the west, writes the Hungarian news site Index, for the Covering Climate Now project. ...
Open mike 16/03/2015 
Open mike is your post.
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...4 hours ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...5 hours ago
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...9 hours ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...19 hours ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...1 day ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...1 day ago
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...1 day ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...2 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...2 days ago
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In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...3 days ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...3 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...4 days ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...4 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...5 days ago
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...6 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...6 days ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...7 days ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...1 week ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...1 week ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...1 week ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 1 week ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...1 week ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...1 week ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...1 week ago
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...1 week ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...1 week ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...1 week ago
Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...2 weeks ago
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...5 hours ago
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Hi there all, could any of y’all point me in the direction of resources on how to run a workers run business?
No, but you can google Riccardo Semler for an interesting example of how to turn a large existing business into a worker-run business.
Hi gsays, there are a few articles and videos on workers cooperatives on Films for Action.
I watched one recently that referenced a website that has a lot of resources for those just starting out. Can’t remember which one though, sorry.
hi there molly and felix, thanx for that.
a rare inside day today so i will investigate.
Try these guys. I’m sure that they’ll be happy to help.
Your biggest problem is who’s going to be the boss? Who is going to make the hard decisions. It’s all well and good to have a collective, but you have to have a leader or you will just be stuck in committees.
Democratic election of “the boss” is required. All workers discuss, vote on and approve overall strategy and budgets. They then democratically select “the boss” (preferably from amongst their own number) who will carry out that strategy day to day and week to week.
The boss is also democratically replaceable, and should receive no more than 25% more than the pay the other workers receive.
You do not need a leader to make hard decisions if the people involved in the cooperative have all the necessary information to make decisions. Needing a leader is a lie told by authoritative types.
+1
It’s skill to work in a leaderless group, but a learnable skill.
Indeed. Have a look at Agile teams in an I.T context – they are self organising and self managing and it works exceptionally well.
what’s an Agile team?
Effectively a different way of delivering (primarily software development) projects. The point I was making is that they are non-hierarchical and somewhat akin to a workers co-op in a micro sense.
That’s interesting. Do you know why that structure has evolved or been adopted?
In this instance it is because the team can more efficiently deal with change through collaborative effort. In a lot of ways they have much greater control over their own “destiny” if you will as their work practices aren’t dictated to them – they define them themselves.
Are they contractors rather than employees then?
Not at all. In the “agile team” construct the workers employment status maintains much less relevance to what (I assume) it would within a workers co-op.
What will the big bosses do when the workers realise that the big bosses don’t add value to the core business of the enterprise to justify their 5x or 10x higher salaries?
They’re going to get fired and they won’t like it.
So the guy on $150K pa gets tossed out, and the remaining 10 workers each get a raise from $50K pa to $65K pa.
Sounds fair. (If he’s actually good for something other than “management” they could offer to rehire him at their rates of course…my how the tables could quickly turn).
Or they could hire another three people at $50k each.
I think we’d see the massive incomes disappearing really quick along with the poverty that they induce.
“You do not need a leader to make hard decisions if the people involved in the cooperative have all the necessary information to make decisions. Needing a leader is a lie told by authoritative types.”
I find both of those sentences at odds with the reality of human existence to a very large extent.
In what way?
Democracy at work
http://www.democracyatwork.info/
Also search for Richard Wolff economist, on YouTube.
here is one of his articles from 2012 that touches on a broad range of the issues
http://rdwolff.com/content/richard-d-wolff-can-we-remake-our-workplaces-be-more-democratic
For the doomers and eschatologists among us, I enjoyed this one:
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/14/when_humans_go_extinct_how_life_will_evolve_after_were_gone/
Another wonderful National Northland by-election billboard doing the rounds on Twitter and Facebook to cheer your Monday morning!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAICtGCVEAALfwL.jpg:large
Apparently, this one is on Waiteitei Road, Wellsford.
Just shows the wheels really have come off Joyce’s campaign rig. This photo is creating quite a lot good jokes on Facebook.
“Sabin uncovered”
“Who needs Teflon John”
“The liar unmasked!”
When the other Mr Key got back stage with his family for the photo-op with a recent touring female artist, what strings would have been pulled for that one.
I can imagine the conversation going something like…
“… the Prime Minister is out the back and he would like his family to come and meet you…”
Just wondering when the Prime Minister bit ends and Joe Citizen kicks in. Would be terrible to think that he used his official status to garner favour.
I think most international superstars who come to Aotearoa really do so with a desire to meet with our great PM and his family. His brilliance shines forth from Aotearoa like a beacon and they feel humbled in his presence. In a recent poll undertaken by Penguins R Us, only the Dalai Lama was voted anywhere near FJK in the “Inspiring leaders I’d cut off both my arms and kick myself repeatedly in the goolies to meet”.
I do not think there is any substance to your suspicions.
@ Murray R
It’s all right you didn’t need to put sarc in your piece – we all knew it was farce! And some force in that farce too.
By the way I know I’m going to seem a dolt, but what is the F in FJK? You don’t have to spell it out, just give me a steer on it.
It’s a shortened version of MLTJK, or Make Love To John Key. Saves typing, which I like doing because I’m a lazy lefty.
Child health in the news – preventable hospital admissions
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/67402054/sugar-rush
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/67362116/healthy-homes-maybe
Also dyslexic children get more help if they’re in high decile schools.
can you post the link to Peratas response?
The national-led government is committed to raising achievement…. National Standards… Charter schools
Nah – just joking. Did you expect a response from her?
Regarding Dunedin Hospital’s frozen meals being trucked in from Auckland, someone has written some thoughtful comments to the Southern District Health Board and here’s the letter [edited] for your information:
North @ 8: Cheers! I thought it was a superb letter when it was shown to me.
Someone pointed out what naughty multi-nat profit-making Compass was up to a few years ago on the Facebook page ‘Stop Dunedin Hospital From Being Downgraded’ that can be viewed publicly (without needing to log in with one’s personal account):
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Dunedin-Hospital-from-being-downgraded/670234713085374
Jim Nald you always add value to comments and the post when you join in the discussion. Thanks.
Heh. I wondered what was behind that comment and had to refresh my own mind! I have stayed away from commenting on The Standard. About a year now. But TPPA, mass surveillance issues, and other things are bringing me back. Some interesting developments in recent months with grassroots and community activities have competed for my time and energy. But some of the stuff offline might make it here.
Great. See you round.
It is a fine letter, but as I mostly read the ODT online I haven’t seen how much of it got printed. [edit; rereading the above, I see it was addressed to the SDHB and not to the ODT editor; hope they read it with an open mind]
However I noted this in Saturday’s article (more about the immediate meals on wheels programme than the creeping corporate takeover of hospital meals and kitchens):
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/336234/frozen-meals-south-slammed
Which implies that if these; “volunteer organisations in Dunedin and Invercargill who deliver meals”, were to refuse to do so if Compass was the provider, then the entire proposal would fall flat on its face. This is a clear case of privitising profit and externalising costs to the public.
If Compass had to foot the bill for delivering the meals, then the SDHB would be more likely looking at a cost rather than saving to implement the scheme. Also, who would be paying for the cost of this air-freighting of meals? As a backup plan it seems flawed, as the kind of weather that would take out the road &/or ferry from Auckland down South, would also likely disrupt the; “sea or air links”.
+100
Volunteers delivering the meals for frail people are providing aid to their community hospital which is an organisation providing free or low cost treatment and assistance to the community.
If companies or business trusts, even not-for-profit charities (which are often businesses with a plastic halo) like Compass are to take over and carry out this unsatisfactory system of food supply then a generous mileage should be paid to the volunteers. Otherwise they will be squeezing profit out of this very personal service to the community, and from the human activity of food provision.
The provision from outside the location is a waste of energy and will cause additional stress in the case of disaster or bad weather, wondering if the wagons are going to get through to the beleaguered citizens under seige by events. It
stretches the supply lines too far, which has led to great disasters. For instance in Russia
It is an idea thought up by brain-atrophied business economists and taken up probably by the person who hired the person who hired the thieving and conniving IT techology fellow who cost the Southern District Health Board $16.9 million. The Sensible Sentencing Trust is on this occasion rightly outraged that the fraudster Swann is being released from prison halfway through, and has not accounted for much of the lost funds.
Also the Southern District Health Board has not received help from the Ministry of Health in auditing an amount paid to a private health concern Southern Link Health, run by independent practitioners. Only under $1 million of spending for savings on service contracts has been accounted for, although $6.2 million was paid. And accrued interest has meant that the amount in contention is now $15 million!
The Health Board is in an unhealthy position. It needs an overhaul. But in trying to cut service costs it has got into a quagmire. The government has wiped a contract with a company which had a similar objective because its expenses were going up and the savings were down. Now this new efficiency move in Otago seems likely to be another costly boo-boo, and bound to cause heartache to managers and workers and possibly heartburn to patients.
It is a Trojan horse the Southern District Health Board is ushering in, that will open up spewing out little men who will pop out and grab sack fulls of money in exchange for sack fulls of chaff.
we are also seeing the result of nationals leadership… dont vote for dont expect anything
The ODT’s editorial from Saturday also covered this:
”The latest details of the proposal to outsource Dunedin and Invercargill hospital food services leave a bad taste in the mouth for southerners….
” There is – rightly – a healthy amount of scepticism about the reality of ”savings”, the transparency of procedures, not to mention the flow-on effects and local impact of health proposals….
”It is to be hoped other counterproposals may offer a more palatable solution, which can retain jobs and services locally. ”
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/336197/proposal-hard-stomach
not to mention the difficulties in dealing with food allergies and associated issues
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11417950
great stuff.
the outrage reserved for a vacuous tv show would be better directed to tbis kind of thing.
what a horrid little lot we are becoming.
Mean time – in China. Things are looking different and the same – but this I found to be very new – as in middle class China seems to be a questioning the status quo.
Positive and Hopeful for the future. But need our support.
https://libcom.org/blog/free-womens-day-five-statements
On the support front. Ukrainian friends in need.
https://libcom.org/news/join-international-solidarity-campaign-alexander-kolchenko-11032015
That is a marvellous letter @ 6 ! The humanity (and the patent common sense) it conveys deepens my contempt for the Keys and the Joyces and the self-seeking sycophants who back them. They deserve to go down in history for the fetid moral crooks they are !
When does a fee become a tax? When the employer revokes your professional body that you pay a fee for, and creates a new organisatio with the same name but employer controlled, directing your proffessional fees to the employer ends.
Caught a news conference on te Chinese channel, english translation provided, and was shocked, China is introducing a deposits guarentee. I maybe misheard but what if its true?
China’s banking system is under a lot of strain presently…
China big notes its economic performance. The fact is they have ghost cities full of surplus real estate. Their demand for raw materials has dropped, as Australia has learned lately. I don’t think the country will collapse, but there is some belt-tightening afoot.
FYI
http://reece.liberty.me/2015/03/09/25-statist-propaganda-phrases-and-how-to-rebut-them/
Thanks for the, laughter break. 🙂
This was an interesting interview on 9toNoon this morning. A very engaging baskeball player and now wine expert from NZ on his career and development. I loved hearing how well he had done and his thoughtful and positive attitude. NZs who are doing it – let’s hear more of it, and learn from them!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171057
Former Tall Black’s love letter to basketball ( 25′ 41″ )
10:07 John Saker was a Tall Black from 1975 until 1987. He was one of the first New Zealanders to get a basketball scholarship to a US University, and then became the country’s first professional player, taking up a contract with a French side. During that stint in France, a love of wine blossomed, inspiring a secondary career as a wine writer. John Saker remains passionate about basketball, his latest book is called Open Looks and is a kind of a love letter to the sport.
One thing that struck me – he said that basketball is attracting in NZ a lot of brown players, keen and doing well. Can we get behind that sport, rather than the thuggish and increasingly amoral and injury-causing rugby, and have good things happening for teams of integrated and hopeful young teenagers in South Auckland? Please make it so.
If you did not hear it, I found this interview on RNZ National Nine to Noon this morning very enlightening in respect of the definitions used by NSA etc of terms such as “mass collection”, “mass surveillance” and “Full Take”.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/20171051/personal-data-collection-and-your-technology-footprint
Kathryn Ryan was interviewing “… Bruce Schneier is a US technology and security expert whose latest book “Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World”, highlights just how much information is being gathered by governments and corporations through our use of phones and computers.”
Ryan took the opportunity to question Schneler closely about what the terms “mass collection” etc meant when used by the NSA etc in view of Key’s dissembling in this regard.
Schneler’s explanations were excellent – clear and understandable; and IMO provided confirmation that Key knows full well how these terms are used in the international 5 Eyes setting.
thanks for this and the li k
+1
Also on radionz this a.m. something on data surveillance and how many have their fingers in your daily soup of communications?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171051
Personal data collection and your technology footprint ( 18′ 44″ )
09:35 How much do you know about what others might know about you, from your use of technology? How do you minimise your online footprint on things you’d rather keep private?
Bruce Schneier is a US technology and security expert whose latest book “Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World”, highlights just how much information is being gathered by governments and corporations through our use of phones and computers.
NB I went to give a UNICEF donation towards Vanuatu and found they insisted on my address, phone number and email just so I could give them money they need. Talk about highwaymen without pistols! They didn’t get my money or my details. Stuff them I gave to someone else. Did you know that some professional fund raisers give under 10% of what they raise to the actual charity. Nice work extorting money, when you get it.
Encouraging, almost hopeful rallying cry from Bill McKibben on climate change. I love the bit about how it’s not the leaders that matter, it’s the pressure being brought to bear by the radicals and sane people.
Pressure is growing. A relentless climate movement is starting to win big, unprecedented victories around the world, victories which are quickly reshaping the consensus view.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/09/climate-fight-wont-wait-for-paris-vive-la-resistance
Fed Farmers Waikato have called for a moratorium on dairy conversions in the area (apparently most farm there are still small family owned farms). Good for them.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/67402931/greens-welcome-federated-farmers-proposal-for-dairy-moratorium
Lewis’s suggestion for a moratorium was heard “with interest” by the Waikato Regional Council’s industry and infrastructure manager Brent Sinclair.
In an emailed statement, Sinclair said the council would be happy to discuss further with Federated Farmers exactly what they were looking to achieve in terms of managing water quality in the region.
Dairy conversions were not regulated in the council’s regional plan, so it lacked hard data on the number of such conversions that have taken place or been planned in the past few years.
It’s never ceases to amaze me just how strongly the regional councils are still dragging the chain on environmental protection.
“Dairy conversions were not regulated in the council’s regional plan, ”
Dairy conversions require a number of buildings to be built or converted, especially the buildings where the milk collection equipment will be installed. These buildings require building permits, and in many cases food safety certificates, so for the Council to say ‘we don’t know’ is a bit fibby.
That would be district councils though wouldn’t it?
Yes, absolutely – my comment was prodding the reality that the info exists. Regional Councils have access to such info and it is a completely reasonable way to at least get a ball park picture of the recent number of conversions. But of course it is far easier and less troublesome to simply tell the public ‘ we don’t know’.
Rural regional councils are controlled by farmers.
Seen on The Standard now and then: The best way to not have problems from the police/CIA/GCSB is to not break the law (yeah, it surprised me at first too)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11009161_10205735667009177_2212671886105859833_n.jpg?oh=67afb16967bb133dba7cd98a2122a8b4&oe=55B6CFE0&__gda__=1433411231_c34b8bf03cc7bf10dfe75e3e3f56b023
Pippa Wetzell clearly perturbed by the frivolous approach of Mike Hosking this evening
Seven Sharp, Television One, Monday 16 March 2015
Mike Hosking, Pippa Wetzell
Watching the following travesty a few minutes ago, I got the feeling that Pippa Wetzell was trying to treat the crap script she’d been handed with as much seriousness as she could muster. In spite of being in an utterly frivolous environment, she has obviously made up her mind to do her best. The contra king Hosking, on the other hand, is not serious in the slightest, and Wetzell seemed to acknowledge this when he made his idiotic comment about “strange countries like Russia”….
PIPPA WETZELL: Where’s Vladimir Putin? He hasn’t been seen for ten days. Top rumors on the internet are, one, that he’s dead and, two, that he’s been attending the birth of his love child.
MIKE “CONTRA” HOSKING: He could be on holiday in the Seychelles.
PIPPA WETZELL: Maybe he’s sick. They don’t want the image of the macho man on horseback to be diminished.
MIKE “CONTRA” HOSKING: There’ll be a big vacuum. There’s always a vacuum in strange countries like Russia.
At that point, Pippa Wetzell frowns in consternation and disapproval. Hosking simply chunters on, oblivious to anything but the sound of his own voice….
You deserve a medal for listening to that popinjay and narcissist.
Actually, Paul, I think it’s poor old Pippa Wetzell that deserves a medal. I don’t have to put up with that boor, and only listen to and watch him occasionally. Pippa Wetzell, on the other hand, had no escape last night. To her credit, she made her contempt for him quite clear.
The Prime Minister is both seriously worried and very defensive when PMsplaining why his State Visit to Japan has been shortened.
Pity the poor constituents in Northland though with every man and his dog dropping by to explain why the should still vote National!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67418640/john-key-shortens-japan-trip-for-northland-byelection
Yes, there’ll be no TPPA for him to sign with Japan if Winston wins in Northland.
I believe the TPP will not be going to the Parliament for a vote though – Key doesn’t need a majority in the House for it.
It says a lot that he’s shortening such trips.
Looks like even the NACT leaning pundits on ipredict are now putting their money on Winston winning Northland:
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=BE15.NTD.OTHER
Would this be the result of the Nat’s internal polling?
One has to be cautious to come to any definite conclusions yet, because, there seems to be no big money going in generally for either of the candidates, except in minute amounts of mostly 1 dollar or so which is quite unusual. I am suspecting that there is some kind of cunning manipulation going on to scare the Nat supporters to go and vote for their ‘super’ candidate.
At the moment, here are the waiting orders:
Current Top 10 Buy Orders Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
1 $0.5610
5 $0.5510
1 $0.5510
1 $0.5410
5 $0.5375
1 $0.5310
5 $0.5250
1 $0.5210
1 $0.5110
1 $0.5010
Current Top 10 Sell Orders Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
1 $0.5710
1 $0.5810
1 $0.5910
1 $0.6010
1 $0.6100
1 $0.6110
1 $0.6210
3 $0.6275
1 $0.6310
15 $0.6380
Some of them would be auto generated of course.
It is really annoying they are still only allowed to say Sabin resigned for personal reasons, rather than the real reason.
“every man and his dog dropping by “
More like, the Prime Minister and his dogs dropping by at taxpayer’s huge expense for their party benefit.
Apparently they are being billeted.
That is actually what Keys said.