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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Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
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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.