February breaks global temperature records by ‘shocking’ amounthttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/14/february-breaks-global-temperature-records-by-shocking-amount
Well, you know, we came marching out of Africa just not that long ago and spread around the globe, wiping out fellow species of human and Neanderthal on the way, reaching the farthest reaches like NZ in just the last millennium and ever since then we have just thickened up and thickened up until the current point where the natural environment is beginning to creak and break up, while we continue to thicken until, well, the natural environment is on the way to being in zoos only and we are as thick as ants crawling all over the entire place. This is the history and this is the future surely until some catastrophe wreaks havoc on the populace and the planet.
I don’t know, but I think we can be better as a species than the trivial, ignorant, self-centred, vacuous, unthinking and reactive model encouraged by the Herald.
No, that’s actually how the right-wing actually view things. They think that a dystopia is all we can ever hope to achieve and thus they only ever look out for #1 thus causing the dystopian vision that they have.
The NZ Wood Council says the free trade agreement with China is not working, they’ve been hit with multiple tariffs which make it hard to compete with China’s domestic wood product.
So much for free trade. Looking forward to TPP, anyone?
Because the political and business elite do not think in terms on nationality, unless it serves their purposes to do so. The non-elite have more in common with their equivalents in other countries than they do the rich and powerful from their own countries.
@ CV They are not even political or business elite – they are often just dumbo opportunists, un convicted white collar crims, or people with psychological disorders who just happened to have stumbled onto being able to control a country like some sort of public school, bully boy fiefdom with no rules having paid the MSM off.
I mean can we call Slater, Key, Brownlee, Bennett, Collins, English – political and business elite???
If they win another election, it will be like Lord of the Flies.
I actually blame the opposition too, if you can’t defeat these people and actually join forces against bullies for your own self presevation and get a few policies going that are reasonable and benefit most people and are relevant, what the F is going on?
Just copy Bernie Sanders, not only his policies but how to write and articulate them.
The opposition need to stop going on about pet issues, but start to articulate a bigger picture.
Free trade is really just turning into litegatious trade, where bigger and more wealthy parties win and stall all fights so that the little partners have to back down or spend all their time and money trying to fight. In short, it will just stall trade and innovation for NZ.
None of it bodes well.
With any agreement the detail is the most important. We all know ‘details’ or ‘potential consequences’ have never been a strong point with this government.
They can’t even get a convention centre or a supercity working or even public transport going. Lordy keep them away from exports.
They are like babes in the woods (but not so innocent) with economy and trade.
Would you let a bunch of 7 year olds loose with your ATM card, unlimited power to screw up a country and casks of wine? Pretty much Groser on the free trade trail with Fed farmers in tow. All being championed along by a currency speculator with zero scruples known as the smiling assassin, who gets off on making people redundant.
“A SHOCK JOCK who is politically WAY out of his depth.”
Did Toni Street take advice from Janet Wilson before she executed
Monday’s exquisite live-on-air attack on Mike “Contra” Hosking? Seven Sharp, Television One, Monday 14 March 2016
The glib little homilies scheduled for the end of each episode of Television One’s godawful Seven Sharp are usually not worth the wait. If it’s not thirty seconds of something banal, it’s something infuriating, like Mike “Contra” Hosking boasting, contrary to all evidence, how he gave Nicky Hager a “hard time”. [1] Anyone who actually makes a point of listening to them is either (a) bored, (b) stupid, ( c) bewildered, or (d) an aficionado of the dismal.
Tonight, however, the closing homilies followed an item that was actually interesting—about a dive bomb competition in Taupo. That’s why I was still watching when it came time for the sub-Father Ted routines. After the item was finished, Hosking’s offsider Toni Street stared at the camera, pausing just a little longer than would be comfortable. Then she delivered something she had clearly been planning for a long time: she let Hosking—and the viewers—know exactly what she thought of him.
But she could not afford to criticize him directly, of course; instead, she followed the time-honored tradition of criticizing someone who exhibits identical characteristics to the actual object of her scorn. [2] So to have a go at Hosking, she had to find a substitute target to attack. Who could be out there with a level of arrogance, pomposity, shallowness and overbearing conceitedness that approaches that of Mike Hosking?
After that tense extended pause at the end of the dive-bombing item, Toni Street launched her remarkable little insurrection. She began by talking about Megan Kelly, the Fox News broadcaster who suffered a nasty public attack by Donald Trump last year. Noting with satisfaction that Megan Kelly was now more popular than she had ever been, Street paused again, and then said this….
TONI STREET: The increase in her ratings indicates the support for someone who can out Donald Trump for what he is: a shock jock who is politically way out of his depth. …..
At the end of that remarkable little hatchet job, its victim immediately began thirty seconds of pedestrian and ill-informed comment about something else. He showed no apparent signs of appreciating he’d just been (metaphorically) tarred, feathered and kicked in the arse by someone who really despises him.
[2] What made it so effective was that Toni Street maintained her composure throughout. She wielded the hatchet with exemplary coolness. Media junkies will no doubt remember Janet Wilson’s far more hysterical hatchet job on her husband three years ago….
+100..Great !…thanks…that really is a good humorous expose on Hillary Clinton…although he didnt get into the more sinister stuff of what she did in Libya
Quote: “Unfortunately for the majority of the 3300 staff who were employed by Dick Smith, there’s probably zero chance of Kogan reviving any of the 393 physical stores in Australia and New Zealand. The deal was for the online stores only, plus the Dick Smith brand and its associated intellectual property.
Which is not to say that Kogan won’t open any stores. The retail entrepreneur was originally vehemently opposed to physical stores in favour of online shopping, but admitted in December last year that that absolute stance was wrong, and opened a pop-up shop in Melbourne’s posh Prahran. Kogan might just have to work out how to create a profitable physical presence to bring in the cash, as the online Dick Smith will be just a fraction of the size of the old company.” Quote end
In Christchurch alone there were 426 people on the social housing register – the millions of dollars spent on testing and treating P houses could have bought an extra 15 properties.
Then the government should probably stop taking a hundred million dollar dividend from HNZ every year.
That post of Georges just gets better and better … because Rachinger has accused me of being an alcoholic and Kitty Catkin has basically said that I suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder … and George and others believe that I am in cahoots with their mortal enemy. LOL.
Audrey writes another anti-Little piece. Poorly written and ambiguous really.
Except for this quote,
“But a tweet by Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway summed up Labour’s view of Key as “a complete and utter banker”.
Naughty Iain!
What got me was her assertion that Labour have lost on the TPP front because of all the tariffs it drops. Really? we got a list of this amazing tariff smashing TPP does? cause from what I remember it was incredibly limited.
Audrey is a moll troll. Can’t be said any other way sorry. The National Party is in her bones and everything. And fittingly given that she is the Political Editor of The Harold.
Good cooperative Left Opposition work in Parliament yesterday..despite the noise and heckling:
Winston Peters in parliament asks John Key:
Why Is the government blocking a free trade deal with Russia?
Why is the government pouring massive taxpayer support into the Hollywood film industry, Skycity Casino, Rio Tinto and now the TPPA campaign ?
(…when the Democratic and Republican campaign leadership in the United States think it is a REAL DOG…and a big corporate protection racket against the interests of their workers and farmers)
Andrew Little asks John Key:
Whose side is the PM on?… the dairy farmers?… or the banks?
“Scrappy start to the week with John Key and Winston Peters having a right honourable stoush, each accusing the other of misleading the House and demanding an apology. The Speaker, David Carter, was having none of that and was repeatedly back on his feet restoring order. Questions for the prime minister were dominated by the pressure on dairy farmers from lower milk prices and servicing bank loans.”
Notice that Winston did not say it was Key who spoke of the $5billion. He asked about the reported comments of two Ministers re the $5billion. Key deflected all that by accusing Winston of “misleading the House.” Carter refused Winston the right to re-read his question which would have defeated Key’s deflection. Funny that!
Michael Hill want the Queenstown basin all for himself and other rich people, nobody else.
That other wanker Sam Neill wanted pretty much the same a few years ago.
They want to stop all the huge development that has taken place already to accommodate them and their silly big houses, and have no more happen. They want to very selfishly pull up the ladder – quelle surprise…
Well I suggest one way to do this is to require, in fact, a reversal of development to make the place like it was, with even less people than now. That would improve the place even more, according to Michael Hill’s logic.
So legislate and regulate to require that every time one of these wankers wishes to sell their silly big homes, or passes on to the afterlife, their property is required to be sold solely for farming and other non-residential type activities… that should see it right ….
Seriously, what planet do these rich bastards live on? They are actually divorced from reality
Queenstown provides a centre for investment and tourism in southern NZ and is a blessing to some extent to preserve the region when Dairy goes down, till Sheep fight their way up more, Beef can perhaps keep going, and Bluff doesn’t have oysters killed by that disease.
No more housing for the wealthy in Queenstown as suggested by Sam Neill would be good. But attractive small apartments for the workers at reasonable rents close to Queenstown, with shuttle buses at very reasonable cost, would be of value. That is what is needed and if they have a council that isn’t run by Mini-Cooper type people, then that will be what is presently being planned and implemented. Bets anyone?
Money Supply:
Currency isn’t expanded to account for growth, debt is expanded to match demand.
Banks do not expand money supply, they extend temporary credit based on demand to enable transactions.
Once the transaction has been completed and credit repaid the supplied credit zeros out and creases to exist.
Banks have been positioned to supply virtually all currency to enable all financial transactions, this basically means they take a percentage cut off the top of all production. This is the cost of doing business, and is inflation.
The current system relies on all wealth created being a result of work done.
Wealth created outside of production; non productive wealth creation can only be payed for by destroying wealth for another sector of the economy.
Instead of the pie getting bigger, the pie gets cut into smaller slices, borrowers and those without appreciating assets effected the most.
The pie did actually increase, that increase remaining with the wealthy and being the difference between the government stated inflation and true inflation.
And that is how it works, the government, the elite and the banks working together to transfer wealth from production to the lords and masters, the banks facilitating the theft and government either to stupid or corrupt to care.
Additionally:
In a consumer society where the consumers only product is their time, as technology improves and populations increase the consumer has less to trade, thus less demand/ ability to consume, which means less credit supplied by the banks, which kills businesses and eventually threatens the wealthy, hence the need for a UBI.
Some time ago I said Putin was a great man! I was mocked as having a wet dream! 🙁
But events have born me out:
1. He’s restored Russia’s sovereignty and self respect after the neoliberal trashing under Yeltsin.
2. His military intervention in Syria has produced the beginnings of peace with most of the actors willing to talk with each other for the first time compared to the U$ and Anglo and Turkish behaviour of pouring gasoline onto a raging fire.
3. He has exposed the Neocon Warshington war criminals for all who can be bothered to notice. And the western presstitute media that has relentlessly demonised and slandered him.
4. We may,it’s hoped get peace in the Ukraine eventually.
Don’t omit the murders of Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Nemtsov, or of the civilian passengers of MH17, the civilians in the Moscow Theatre gassing, and many many more. Putin is a scumbag of epic proportions.
Just because the US involvement in the Ukraine was exceedingly seedy doesn’t give them godlike powers to rearrange events – or they’d do a better job. It would be better if the US were not involved – but it was Russia that shot down MH17. There is an abundance of physical evidence, and no evidence that bears scrutiny to the contrary.
The aircraft nonsense is largely discredited due to the lack of cannon damage in the debris. But equally important are the plethora of false stories Russian official sources serially released as they grasped desperately at straws to cover up their act of mass murder.
Stuart M
Scumbags of a determined character rise to the top when a nation’s systems of governance break down. They also can ooze through when there are pauses in the regular flow of society such as happens in USA. What caused Ronald Reagan to get up there, followed by Margaret Thatcher etc.? I forget. But they ooze upwards at cracks at pressure points like Christchurch liquefaction.
Putin might be the right person to be where he is with his KGB knowledge and ability to outmaneouvre others at home and those sly ones abroad. It’s considered that the Middle East scumbags removed by the USA scumbags, were preferable to the new ones. These days it is a time for pragmatism, go for the best scumbags available now, and work for 80% improvement, knowing that getting even 40% would be thankfully welcomed.
Perhaps we should have a popular vote on greatest scumbags since WW2.
Pot Pot and gang must be up there. Then who gassed people in their homes in the Middle East with one that would flow to the lowest point and be effective in cellars where women and children would be hiding?
“The worst part was when their venom turned toward me,” Troup wrote. “There were protestors around me who got ushered out, and then people started pointing at me, motioning for the Secret Service to ‘get him out of there.’ Now mind you, I hadn’t uttered a single word the entire rally, but people still said things like ‘Well what about this one? He needs to go too!’”
Ultimately, Troup left the event feeling as if he’d witnessed something darker and more insidious than a simple political rally.
“At that rally, I saw the scary underbelly of America I saw unadulterated hate, fueled by intentional misinformation,” Troup said. “These people who, just 2 hours ago, seemed like good and kind people, were now cheering for blood.”
It will be interesting if Anonymous can find anything incriminating on Trump …more than what we already know…(eg are there any hidden emails and secret associations and agendas like Hillary Clinton had in her closet)
‘Anonymous declares ‘total war’ on Trump, plans April attack (VIDEO)’
Interesting how spelling can get confused these days with all our aids. I see two ways to spell Sir Tipene O’Reagan/ O’Regan. Willie Jackson should know how to spell Sir Douglas Graham’s name after all the Maori Treaty negotiations yet it is Graeme in this article. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/local-blogs/willie-jackson/8338152/Different-rules-for-Maori-and-Pakeha
But the article is interesting itself, worth a read. Sounds factual as might be expected from someone of the Jackson family, with a high position in Maori matters.
He writes about the tribe that have control of Lake Taupo wanting a fee of $58,000 from the Ironman contest for using it. He points out that the Ironman contest is an $800,000 event.
And this next quote is one of the angry, dismissive, racist comments at the end of the article. With all the efforts that NZ has made to get a better understanding of the unpleasant start of this colony, and the shameful behaviour adopted by businessmen/land speculators with an armed gang to back them, this reaction is more frequent than we thought possible. I went on to background the late Louis Crimp who was a Maori hater, and to read about him gives insight into the type of person that befouls good attempts to provide some reparation and set NZ up as a country of justice, fairness and equality.
What a shame the Ironman New Zealand organisers lack the mettle of their competitors.
What a shame they agreed to bribe the tribe.
What a shame they did not reply to the Tuwharetoa extortion demand of $58,000 thus:
“Dear tribe,
“Get stuffed.
“We refuse to pay you so much as a bent cent to swim in our largest lake.
“And it is our lake. Not your lake. It belongs to us. All of us.
“All the people of New Zealand.
In the item Jackson refers to John Ansell, who was connected with ACT. (But the Louis Crimp item below says Ansell left ACT – Advertising guru John Ansell quit the party after adverts he designed asking Kiwis if they were “Fed up with the Maorification of Everything” were cancelled.)
Willie Jackson commented on him: He’s running the Treaty Gate project where he accuses all and sundry of telling lies over New Zealand’s history and relationship with Maori.
He clearly puts little value on Maori culture and his main financial backer has been Invercargill millionaire Louis Crimp, who last year claimed most Pakeha despise Maori.
Louis Crimp was a multi millionaire, now dead. He was one of a group of old white men whose blood has turned to vinegar, and who appear to have little left in life but to hold onto all their money, and their little energy goes to putting the Maori in his or her lower place than their high chairs. I saw them in full flow during the Constitution Conversations a year or so ago.
About Louis Crimp ACT supporter to John Ansell: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10806938 The biggest donor to the Act Party says he gave the money to Don Brash and John Banks so they could stop special treatment for Maori who were “either in jail or on welfare”.
In an extraordinary interview with the Weekend Herald, Louis Crimp said he believed he had the support of Brash, Banks and other “white New Zealanders”.
Mr Crimp made the largest financial contribution to the Act Party for the 2011 election with a $125,520 donation.
Crimp said in another interview: http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/two-hours-louis-crimp-ck-126301 “I can’t smile properly because my face is petrified, it doesn’t move, it’s paralysed because I had cancer. I can only smile with one side. So I’ve just got a grimace.”
Mr Crimp has made millions through his various property ventures, and has gained many supporters in Invercargill for his charitable donations, including more than $1 million each to the SPCA and the St John Ambulance Service….
Mr Crimp says that from an early age he has was forced to “watch [his] pennies. I was the oldest boy in Southland who had a paper run, at the age of 16, because we were poor, my family”.
His income? Derived from housing – rented to Maori gang and then evicted them.
Derived from pokies, which he could rail against or utilise takings of at random: Mr Crimp is in no position to rail, with any integrity, against the foundation’s use of pokie proceeds. He has, himself, been one of the grandfathers of the pokies industry in Invercargill, albeit in rivalry with the trust. So his contempt can hardly stem from holding the machines themselves to be an intolerable social harm. Far from overbrimming with sympathy for the problems of pokie addiction, he wrote to our public opinion column in April referring witheringly to “the suckers who addict themselves to poker machines”…
it is Mr Crimp who has been caught up in notorious and inglorious misuses of pokie funds. This was in the 1990s, and involved decisions so imperious that they offended rules that were less strict than they are now. The Southland Pool Players’ Club, upon whose executive Mr Crimp had been a member, dispensed the money from pokies at one of Mr Crimp’s most high-profile establishments, Players’ pool hall, for a team of nine members, including Mr Crimp, to attend a pool competition in Australia. This was just part of what Internal Affairs inspectors described as “gross misapplication of proceeds”.
Undaunted, as he so often is, by official disapproval, Mr Crimp had then stuck his hand out for Players’ pokie profits to help pay the 1998 election expenses of Southland Action, a group of candidates which he led into the Invercargill City Council election race.
So unprincipled himself, but cunning as a shithouse rat, to shamelessly accuse others. http://fundypost.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/louis-crimp-man-of-actions.html
Casino and share deals: http://shareinvestornz.blogspot.co.nz/2010/11/sky-city-entertainment-group-ltd.html The Christchurch Casino was purchased by SKC in June 2004, off Aspinall (NZ) Limited, which held a 40.5% shareholding in Christchurch Casinos Limited. The purchase price was NZ$93.75 million and in October 2010 SKC bought an 8.6 % stake held by Invercargill businessman Louis Crimp’s Southern Equities, to take their holding to near 50%. In 2008 SKC bought a 5.2% stake off their then business partner the Crowne Plaza Hotel, taking their ownership interest in Christchurch Casino to 45.7%. With the 8.6% stake then SKC control the company with a 54.3% stake.
Coarse in his speech, nastily prejudiced and as braindead and disgusting as a gutter drunk Crimp prompted Brian Rudman to comment on his backing ACT and Don Brash who Crimp hoped would pursue anti Maori policies: http://m.nzherald.co.nz/brian-rudman-on-auckland/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502866&objectid=11280946 Mr Crimp, you may recall, donated the money after Don Brash seized control of Act. Recalling Dr Brash’s notorious 2004 Orewa speech as National Party leader, Mr Crimp was hopeful his cash would ensure his anti-Maori views would be pursued. But in a follow-up interview on TV, the eccentric Mr Crimp soon went off subject and asked interviewer Jane Luscombe whether she’d ever had sex against a tree!
His Southland Times obituary says:
Crimp, an Invercargill businessman, philanthropist, former city councillor, character and longstanding critic of the Invercargill Licensing Trust, died at his home at 9.20pm last night.
Memorial – He knew what he was agin.
edited
@Brian
Yes he seemed evil and venal. You notice that the Southland Times obit was short, not unkind, and called him eccentric. ( And I noted what his memorial could be.)
I think he had so much money that he managed to suck in a fair few amoral buddies, such as the ones he gathered together to have a go at the Council. But to sweeten the report that he had been dipping his fingers in the pokie till, I think he felt it would be good PR to donate large to St Johns and the SPCA. He would have won some kudos there for helping these perennially cash strapped groups.
I was amazed at how despicable he was, and only his money meant that he couldn’t be ignored. And how low ACT was and is, is exemplified by them taking from him. Though it was only $125,000 or so, not millions. I think he was careful that his ‘philanthropy’-investments were sure to bring him advantage.
How many, I wonder, of our political parties are being funded by people who are such misanthropists like him. He seemed to despise everyone really.
Speaking of tin foil, the real economic crisis is happening in the daily lives of ordinary NZers.
A gram and a half for 100 bucks!? It’s daylight robbery: five times the average price for a gram and, at something like $300 per ounce wholesale (likely cheaper in larger, commercial amounts), a profit of $90 untaxed and straight into the black market.
Has Phil Goff really come out in favour of building a waterfront stadium in Auckland?
Be very afraid Auckland ratepayers.
The favoured candidate for the Mayoralty appears to be choosing a campaign slogan which starts “We’ve got to waste a billion or two, we’ve got to waste a billion or two”.
Even Len’s choo-choo isn’t as stupid.
“ignorant of your own one”
Like hell I am. It doesn’t mean Auckland have to repeat mistakes do they?
That was one of those things where the main proponent, Fran Wilde, managed to get a “loan” out of the local bodies that was promised to be repaid. It never was of course because you never do make money out of such things.
Melbourne is an exception but they have about 50 AFL games a year at the MCG and another 50 at Etihad stadium. The crowds probably range from 25,000 to 90,000 for the club games and 100,000 for the finals.
The Wellington cost $130 million I believe. However it is sunk money and we certainly can’t sell it. After all, who would buy it? At least they didn’t consider putting a roof on it.
Could be worse of course. The Olympic Stadium in Sydney went broke and ended up being owned by the ANZ I believe. They were silly enough to make a loan on the thing.
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Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
Winston Peters is in court today, suing a bunch of former Minister and civil servants over their pre-election leak of his superannuation repayment. He's characterised the leak as malicious, and said that it is repugnant that his information was passed on to Ministers to use for political advantage. And he's ...
Murray CoxDo I have to finish my favourite genome? That’s an often-asked question. Geneticists generally strive to produce high-quality genomes that sequence every last gene, making full use of the state-of-the-art technologies coming on stream. Sequencing DNA means determining the order of the four chemical building blocks – called ...
Transformative Politics: The idea is to turn each recipient into an unwitting accomplice in their own transformation. From interested observer to hyped-up activist, sharing our messages promiscuously with ‘friends’. You’ll be part of an ever-expanding circulatory system, Jennifer, for the ideas that will win us the election.”JENNIFER SKITTERED her chair ...
The boycott is a fundamental tool of protest. By choosing who we buy from, we can send a message, and hopefully change corporate behaviour. Historically, boycotts have been effective, for example over apartheid in South Africa and Israel, in forcing divestment from Myanmar, and in ending bus segregation in the ...
Jan Rivers spoke at the Abortion Legislation Select Committee in favour of the bill, but in opposition to calls from other submitters to exchange the word ‘woman’ for ‘person’ throughout the bill. Jan is a supporter of the feminist group Speak Up For Women and has recently written an excellent ...
I checked my traffic stats:I was intrigued by 'monica29' - who was this very dedicated individual? I clicked on the link, to be greeted with ...Ho, hum.Spreadin' the word, spreadin' the word. Doesn't matter who hears it, as long as it gets out there. ...
There have been three polls since the election was announced, and I will shamelessly steal YouGov / UK Polling Report's Anthony Wells' summary of them:Survation – CON 34%, LAB 26%, LDEM 19%, BREX 12%, GRN 1% Ipsos MORI – CON 41%, LAB 24%, LDEM 20%, BREX 7%, GRN 3% YouGov ...
The following article is translated from Lutte Ouvrière, the weekly newspaper of the organisation usually known by the same name in France. When, for the second time this year, Chilean President Piñera announced an increase in the price of Metro tickets from 800 to 830 pesos, students in the high ...
Today, a worker contacted me asking if she could go to the police over her employer stealing thousands of dollars from her in unpaid wages. The employer also did not pay this worker’s taxes or student loan which amounts to tax fraud. As a workers rights activist, who founded the ...
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, They're Yours: Is there any person more vulnerable than a jilted lover on the rebound? Or, anything more certain than that the charmer, the predator, the glib spinner of lies and promises will seek such broken people out? Yes, of course, he will love every one of ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence Minister of Defence Ron Mark will today launch the Advancing Pacific Partnerships 2019 Defence Assessment during a speech at Te Papa. The Assessment outlines how Defence will partner with our Pacific Island neighbours and invest in Pacific regional security architecture. The Plan aligns with the Coalition ...
A new Provincial Growth Fund investment could create about 80 new jobs in Gisborne over the next two years, turning a local small business into a “beacon of employment” in the process. Regional Economic Development Parliamentary Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau said the PGF’s Te Ara Mahi funding stream would provide $1.6m ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
The Treasury’s 2019 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) will be released on Wednesday December 11, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Coalition Government will publish the 2020 Budget Policy Statement at the same time, outlining the priorities for Budget 2020. Further details on arrangements for the release will ...
A new initiative to better support small businesses through hands-on mentoring and advice has been launched by the Minister for Small Business. The first event in the Kiwi Business Boost series of regional workshops and online tools has been launched in Wairoa by Stuart Nash. “The Business Boost initiative combines ...
The latest Quarterly Connectivity Report shows that more and more New Zealanders are moving to Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB), with Rolleston having the highest uptake at 74 per cent, as at the end of September. “This means that nearly three quarters of Rolleston’s households and businesses have moved to ultra-fast services. ...
The passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill will help ensure a safe planet for our kids and grandkids, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said today. The landmark legislation which provides a framework to support New Zealanders to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects ...
The review of Oranga Tamariki practice around the planned uplift of a Hastings baby in May shows significant failings by the Ministry and that the planned and funded changes to shift from a child crisis service to a proper care and protection service need to be accelerated, Children’s Minister Tracey ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has wished students the best of luck for this year’s NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams which start tomorrow. Around 140,000 students will have participated in 119 NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams by the end of the exam period on 3 December. “I want to ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of Bede Corry as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. “The appointment of a senior diplomat to this important role underlines the significance New Zealand places on our relationship with the United Kingdom,” said Mr Peters. “The United ...
An innovative approach to boosting the number of frontline Police has seen 20 new officers graduate from one of the uncommon training wings in Auckland. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation of 20 constables today means that 1,765 new Police officers have been deployed since the coalition government took ...
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the 1.2 million hours of community work completed by offenders in the last financial year has helped local communities right across the country. “Community work sentences are a great way for people to pay something positive back to society. There is a massive benefit to ...
While the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission are examining whether New Zealand laws properly balance the issues of freedom of speech and hate speech (whatever that might be), taxpayers are helping to finance Chinese propaganda. Hateful propaganda, we suggest. The Screen Production Grant has handed a $243,000 subsidy to a ...
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.Media Peter Thompson (Stuff): A new model for public media – but have the old ...
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 Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin $35)“Olive struggles to figure herself out, and has an urgent ...
After more than seven months of trying to end a tenancy to protect neighbours, a Rotorua property manager has finally received approval from the High Court to end the tenancy. ...
We agree with the Ombudsman Peter Boshier in his new report on councils QUOTE ; “leaders, officials lack of action to "ensure an approach is adopted that is consistent with openness and transparency" Un-quote. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00186/chief-ombudsman-new-report-wakeup-call-for-council-leaders.htm ...
Māori food systems are rich with potential, and whānau-based food producers across the country are looking to traditional ways to ensure their communities thrive in the future. Alice Neville reports from the Eat New Zealand Food Hui.In recent years there has been much talk – in food business, hospitality, tourism ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) commends the Government’s proposal to take school zoning responsibilities out of the hands of school boards and principals and instead have these taken up by a new Education Service Agency. ...
SINGAPORE, Nov 15, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Global BioLife Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore eDevelopment Ltd (SeD), will present its 3F Antimicrobial Fragrance as a new method to prevent and treat Tuberculosis at the ASM Biothreats Conference, ...
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...
Responding to news that the Screen Production Grant handed a $243,000 subsidy to a propaganda film produced by Chinese state-owned enterprises, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Louis Houlbrooke says: “Taxpayers have all been made complicit ...
The campaign to take more colour coded bins into the regions has been developed by The Packaging Forum which promotes recycling under the Government’s Love NZ brand and The Auckland Litter Prevention Steering Group which manages the Be a Tidy Kiwi ...
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodie Bradby, Professor of Physics, Australian National University There’s a lot of uncertainty in a research career. Most funding – and most jobs – are doled out by the project, or in chunks of a few years at a time. Recently, however, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney The Australian government has indicated that “diaspora communities” are crucial to Australia’s public diplomacy mission to promote the country abroad. It has also identified online and social media as essential ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bright, Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University For many parents whose teenage children are completing Year 12, this time of year means mixed emotions. Parents might feel proud, exhausted and excited. And as young people start heading to schoolies and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heiko Timmers, Associate Professor of Physics, School of Science, UNSW Canberra, UNSW Much is made of the “next generation” of nuclear reactors in the debate over nuclear power in Australia. They are touted as safer than older reactors, and suitable for helping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fran Gale, Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare, School of Social Science and Psychology, Western Sydney University Children are too rarely asked their perspectives on public spaces. Traditionally, adults make choices for children, particularly about how they live and play. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW What do a billionaire, a former vice president, and a US democratic socialist have to do with Australia’s nearly three-decade run of economic growth? More than you might think. The race for the Democratic Party’s 2020 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lydia Edwards, Fashion historian, Edith Cowan University Eyebrows can turn a smile into a leer, a grumpy pout into a come hither beckoning, and sad, downturned lips into a comedic grimace. So, it’s little wonder these communicative markers of facial punctuation have ...
The rules around use of parliamentary TV are set to be liberalised and MPs will no longer have to give permissions for clips of them to be used in political advertising. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When five former fire chiefs held a news conference on Thursday to urge the federal government to take more action on climate change, it was a challenging moment for Scott Morrison. Those who fronted the ...
A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Farmers square off with Shane Jones at parliament, tax rebates for Chinese propaganda film criticised, and ructions over future shape of public media.Now first of all, I just want to make it clear rednecks isn’t the term I’d use. But it was ...
'Policing' is increasingly falling to private security and citizen-led initiatives. Yet the wages and the training don't match the responsibility. So what can we do? ...
The biggest shakeup in the country’s broadcasting history looks to be looming as the Government gets serious about its options for strengthening public service broadcasting. ...
Support for the Zero Carbon Bill shows our action on climate will have to disrupt the status quo, writes Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton. That will mean new opportunities - and costs. ...
Football Ferns captain Ali Riley is making the most of her opportunity to play for German giants Bayern Munich, harbouring a dream to represent NZ at her fifth World Cup ...
Yesterday, Stuff reported that the 2017 Chinese-made propaganda blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2 was partially made in New Zealand. Sam Brooks watched it and – spoiler alert – found it weird as hell.About halfway through Wolf Warrior 2 on Netflix, the unnamed leader of a revolution in an unnamed African country marches up ...
Rather than get distracted by the stadium debate, we need to urgently acknowledge that unlocking this land now for future integration into the CBD is critical for Auckland’s future, aruges Paul Winstanley.Don’t be fooled. This is not just another story about the waterfront stadium. Well, not really. Like the mayor ...
The Period Poverty Solution Petition: The Health and Wellbeing Implications was presented by the Positive Periods campaign team, of which The Period Place is a part of, at a cross-party breakfast, thanks to Louisa Wall MP and Joanne Hayes MP in Parliament ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.This week on the Great Kiwi Bake Off, it’s all about weird biscuits. Savoury biscuits. Mushroomy biscuits. Biscuits about cross fit. Who had the best biscuit art of them all? Why is Trev ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University Australia continues to experience unprecedented destruction from bushfires. Now is the time to harness our technological tools, and find innovative ways to help alleviate the problem, and also prevent future disaster. ...
The KickStart Breakfast programme will tomorrow celebrate 10-years as the only national breakfast programme of its kind in Aotearoa, serving more than 30 million breakfasts since 2009. ...
This is a rare public edition of The Bulletin World Weekly, an exclusive newsletter for The Spinoff Members that gets delivered every Thursday afternoon. Today’s edition focuses on the aftermath of Bolivian president Evo Morales being forced from office. Earlier in the week, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, was forced out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tregear, Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne Review: Platform Papers 61: Criticism, Performance and the Need for Conversation, by Alison Croggon (Currency Press) “Pay no attention to what the critics say”, quipped the composer Jean Sibelius in 1937, because “there has ...
The recent decision to allow massive amounts of Otago’s Lindis River to be extracted for irrigation and intensive farming has been labelled environmental vandalism by a national angling organization. ...
Alex Casey goes on a journey to find out all there is to know about what a “normal” vulva looks like. Spoiler alert: there are many, many versions of normal. The funniest and most embarrassing thing anyone has ever said to me in my whole life happened during my very first ...
A political communications analyst says voters may be overwhelmed by the prospect of two referendums and a general election at the same time next year. ...
Auckland's booming industrial market is paying off for Goodman Property Trust (GMT), with a more than 10-fold increase in gains on the value its portfolio. ...
A review into Corrections' mail system identified multiple "deficiencies" and has recommended the department be given more powers to read, copy, and store letters coming in and out of prison. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Bushfires continue to burn across NSW and Queensland, the death toll has risen, and the damage to properties, wildlife and the environment is devastating. With conditions predicted to worsen over the summer, climate change has ...
New Chief Executive Dawn Baxendale says Christchurch City Council has moved swiftly to address concerns raised by the Chief Ombudsman about the organisation’s official information practices. ...
The Mental Health Foundation strongly opposes the introduction of armed police to Aotearoa New Zealand due to well-founded concerns that guns will disproportionately be used against individuals experiencing mental health crises. ...
The Chief Ombudsman says his latest report into official information practice at local authorities is a wakeup call for all council leaders about the importance of an open and transparent workplace culture-and their accountability for achieving ...
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 Jade Tang-Taylor and Anna Guenther from Cheese Cartel.Cheese Cartel was the outcome of ...
An untimely leak to RNZ brought some clarity to the government’s plans for its media assets – yet left many questions unanswered. Duncan Greive analyses the latest revelations.RNZ’s flagship Morning Report programme today led its prime 7.10am slot with a bombshell about Radio New Zealand itself. Political editor Jane Patterson ...
The 2019 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards are just a few hours away and, believe it, we have reckons. Who will win? Who should win? Sam Brooks is ready for some prognosticating.It’s the biggest night in New Zealand music – the one that’s televised, the one that got (fake) Paula ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry welcomes Judge Coral Shaw as its new Chairperson to lead it through the delivery phase of the Inquiry. Inquiry Executive Director Mervin Singham said Judge Shaw brings significant experience to her new ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jill Newby, Associate Professor and MRFF/NHMRC Career Development Fellow, UNSW It’s a busy day at the office and your left eye has been twitching uncontrollably. So, out of curiosity and irritation you Google it. Various benign causes — stress, exhaustion, too much ...
As whitebait season ends, Forest & Bird is calling for action to protect endangered native fish before it’s too late. Four of the fish species in the whitebait catch are in trouble. They are īnanga (at risk - declining), kōaro (at risk - declining), ...
The Prime Minister says doing nothing to address the challenges facing public broadcasting in New Zealand is not an option, after news of a proposal to replace RNZ and TVNZ. ...
A single public broadcaster would be "too powerful" and "bad for democracy", National leader Simon Bridges says, after news of a proposal to replace RNZ and TVNZ; ...
Thursday 14 November 2019 Independent review of prisoner mail management released The independent review into the prisoner mail system has today been released, with Corrections accepting all 13 recommendations and making a number of changes to strengthen ...
TVNZ boss Kevin Kenrick has moved quickly to reassure advertisers after this morning’s leak that the Government is considering setting up a new public service media organisation. ...
In the second part of our parenting series “What They Don’t Tell You”, Catherine Woulfe welcomes the daughter she fought for.The extremely strange thing about a planned c-section is that you get a text from the hospital booking in the birth, like it’s a dentist appointment. Text YES to confirm. Then ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that former Inspector Hurimoana Dennis unlawfully detained an Auckland teenager in 2015, and improperly influenced the outcome of a criminal investigation into his own son in 2014. Inspector Dennis ...
Police acknowledge the two reports released today by the Independent Police Conduct Authority in relation to misconduct by a now former Police officer and the unlawful detention of a young person. ...
A “best of luck” message should be extended to the good people of Tāneatua, who have waited patiently for a new police station. Our experience suggests that if or when they get their new police station, they should check the fine print regarding hours of operation. We make this suggestions ...
Open mike 16/03/2016 
Open mike is your post.
NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...56 mins ago
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...3 hours ago
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...1 day ago
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...2 days ago
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...2 days ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...3 days ago
3 days ago
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ... 5 days ago
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
Installation complete: this was nothing ... 1 week ago
Today, a worker contacted me asking if she could go to the police over her employer stealing thousands of dollars from her in unpaid wages. The employer also did not pay this worker’s taxes or student loan which amounts to tax fraud. As a workers rights activist, who founded the ...2 weeks ago
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...1 day ago
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...7 days ago
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...1 hour ago
While the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission are examining whether New Zealand laws properly balance the issues of freedom of speech and hate speech (whatever that might be), taxpayers are helping to finance Chinese propaganda. Hateful propaganda, we suggest. The Screen Production Grant has handed a $243,000 subsidy to a ...58 mins ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
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 Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin $35)“Olive struggles to figure herself out, and has an urgent ...1 hour ago
After more than seven months of trying to end a tenancy to protect neighbours, a Rotorua property manager has finally received approval from the High Court to end the tenancy. ...1 hour ago
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...4 hours ago
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...4 hours ago
The rules around use of parliamentary TV are set to be liberalised and MPs will no longer have to give permissions for clips of them to be used in political advertising. ...5 hours ago
A widening of the definition of "culturally arranged marriage" means this week's change for Immigration NZ is greater than originally thought. ...5 hours ago
A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. ...6 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. ...6 hours ago
The Tall Ferns reward their first home crowd in four years with a massive victory over the Philippines on their road to Tokyo 2020. ...7 hours ago
'Policing' is increasingly falling to private security and citizen-led initiatives. Yet the wages and the training don't match the responsibility. So what can we do? ...7 hours ago
The biggest shakeup in the country’s broadcasting history looks to be looming as the Government gets serious about its options for strengthening public service broadcasting. ...7 hours ago
Support for the Zero Carbon Bill shows our action on climate will have to disrupt the status quo, writes Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton. That will mean new opportunities - and costs. ...7 hours ago
Football Ferns captain Ali Riley is making the most of her opportunity to play for German giants Bayern Munich, harbouring a dream to represent NZ at her fifth World Cup ...7 hours ago
The dairy farmers who celebrated an historic court victory against the ANZ Bank earlier this year, have learned the fight isn’t over yet. ...8 hours ago
Chloe Swarbrick's 'OK Boomer' aside in Parliament has a serious message behind it ...8 hours ago
National has proved it can’t be trusted on our climate or other environmental challenges. ...17 hours ago
In an over-stretched funding environment an more DHB-affiliated charities are plugging the holes. ...19 hours ago
It is economic necessity, not moral imperative, driving the Asian superpower's climate action - but others will benefit nonetheless. ...19 hours ago
The space sector has contributed almost $1.7 billion to New Zealand's economy in the past financial year. ...20 hours ago
The race is on as synthetics suppliers and manufacturers move to undetectable chemical compounds. ...22 hours ago
Auckland's booming industrial market is paying off for Goodman Property Trust (GMT), with a more than 10-fold increase in gains on the value its portfolio. ...22 hours ago
A highly paid Transport Agency senior manager's team has tripled in size in a year, with most of the spots taken by contractors, documents show. ...22 hours ago
A single public broadcaster would be "too powerful" and "bad for democracy", National leader Simon Bridges says, after news of a proposal to replace RNZ and TVNZ; ...24 hours ago
TVNZ boss Kevin Kenrick has moved quickly to reassure advertisers after this morning’s leak that the Government is considering setting up a new public service media organisation. ...1 day ago
February breaks global temperature records by ‘shocking’ amounthttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/14/february-breaks-global-temperature-records-by-shocking-amount
Milk continues its slide
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/299027/global-dairy-prices-drop-overnight
And the Herald thinks the goings on in the Bachelor are more important
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11606103
Well, you know, we came marching out of Africa just not that long ago and spread around the globe, wiping out fellow species of human and Neanderthal on the way, reaching the farthest reaches like NZ in just the last millennium and ever since then we have just thickened up and thickened up until the current point where the natural environment is beginning to creak and break up, while we continue to thicken until, well, the natural environment is on the way to being in zoos only and we are as thick as ants crawling all over the entire place. This is the history and this is the future surely until some catastrophe wreaks havoc on the populace and the planet.
what else can there be?
I don’t know, but I think we can be better as a species than the trivial, ignorant, self-centred, vacuous, unthinking and reactive model encouraged by the Herald.
+1 And we often are better than that. The Herald is an aberration.
No, that’s actually how the right-wing actually view things. They think that a dystopia is all we can ever hope to achieve and thus they only ever look out for #1 thus causing the dystopian vision that they have.
That’s not what I was saying.
I was pointing out that the views of the NZHerald aren’t an aberration. That it’s simply how RWNJs think.
So what were you saying?
That the culture at the herald is an aberration of humans.
That the culture at the herald is an aberration of humans.
I agree with you that we can be better, but we won’t be.
We can be better. Unfortunately it seems to me that humanity is at its best when things are at their worst.
Unfortunately the movie idiocracy is rapidly becoming a reality
The NZ Wood Council says the free trade agreement with China is not working, they’ve been hit with multiple tariffs which make it hard to compete with China’s domestic wood product.
So much for free trade. Looking forward to TPP, anyone?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/299028/china-accused-of-unfair-play-on-forestry
+1 amirite
Oh, good – means that we can save our forests, use the wood to build houses in NZ instead and rebuild our saw-milling industry.
Yup however its a japanese company doing a fair amount of the extraction currently from mills in kaitaia, masterton and gisborne.
New Zealand will never solve its problems until it abandons neoliberalism and globalism.
Free trade deals are killing this country.
The political and business elite who work against the long term interests of their own people are killing this country.
Because the political and business elite do not think in terms on nationality, unless it serves their purposes to do so. The non-elite have more in common with their equivalents in other countries than they do the rich and powerful from their own countries.
+1
@ CV They are not even political or business elite – they are often just dumbo opportunists, un convicted white collar crims, or people with psychological disorders who just happened to have stumbled onto being able to control a country like some sort of public school, bully boy fiefdom with no rules having paid the MSM off.
I mean can we call Slater, Key, Brownlee, Bennett, Collins, English – political and business elite???
If they win another election, it will be like Lord of the Flies.
I actually blame the opposition too, if you can’t defeat these people and actually join forces against bullies for your own self presevation and get a few policies going that are reasonable and benefit most people and are relevant, what the F is going on?
Just copy Bernie Sanders, not only his policies but how to write and articulate them.
The opposition need to stop going on about pet issues, but start to articulate a bigger picture.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/
+100 saveNZ
+1 Paul
Free trade is really just turning into litegatious trade, where bigger and more wealthy parties win and stall all fights so that the little partners have to back down or spend all their time and money trying to fight. In short, it will just stall trade and innovation for NZ.
None of it bodes well.
With any agreement the detail is the most important. We all know ‘details’ or ‘potential consequences’ have never been a strong point with this government.
They can’t even get a convention centre or a supercity working or even public transport going. Lordy keep them away from exports.
They are like babes in the woods (but not so innocent) with economy and trade.
Would you let a bunch of 7 year olds loose with your ATM card, unlimited power to screw up a country and casks of wine? Pretty much Groser on the free trade trail with Fed farmers in tow. All being championed along by a currency speculator with zero scruples known as the smiling assassin, who gets off on making people redundant.
+1
The Free-trade deals are killing the world.
“A SHOCK JOCK who is politically WAY out of his depth.”
Did Toni Street take advice from Janet Wilson before she executed
Monday’s exquisite live-on-air attack on Mike “Contra” Hosking?
Seven Sharp, Television One, Monday 14 March 2016
The glib little homilies scheduled for the end of each episode of Television One’s godawful Seven Sharp are usually not worth the wait. If it’s not thirty seconds of something banal, it’s something infuriating, like Mike “Contra” Hosking boasting, contrary to all evidence, how he gave Nicky Hager a “hard time”. [1] Anyone who actually makes a point of listening to them is either (a) bored, (b) stupid, ( c) bewildered, or (d) an aficionado of the dismal.
Tonight, however, the closing homilies followed an item that was actually interesting—about a dive bomb competition in Taupo. That’s why I was still watching when it came time for the sub-Father Ted routines. After the item was finished, Hosking’s offsider Toni Street stared at the camera, pausing just a little longer than would be comfortable. Then she delivered something she had clearly been planning for a long time: she let Hosking—and the viewers—know exactly what she thought of him.
But she could not afford to criticize him directly, of course; instead, she followed the time-honored tradition of criticizing someone who exhibits identical characteristics to the actual object of her scorn. [2] So to have a go at Hosking, she had to find a substitute target to attack. Who could be out there with a level of arrogance, pomposity, shallowness and overbearing conceitedness that approaches that of Mike Hosking?
After that tense extended pause at the end of the dive-bombing item, Toni Street launched her remarkable little insurrection. She began by talking about Megan Kelly, the Fox News broadcaster who suffered a nasty public attack by Donald Trump last year. Noting with satisfaction that Megan Kelly was now more popular than she had ever been, Street paused again, and then said this….
TONI STREET: The increase in her ratings indicates the support for someone who can out Donald Trump for what he is: a shock jock who is politically way out of his depth. …..
At the end of that remarkable little hatchet job, its victim immediately began thirty seconds of pedestrian and ill-informed comment about something else. He showed no apparent signs of appreciating he’d just been (metaphorically) tarred, feathered and kicked in the arse by someone who really despises him.
[1] /open-mike-15032015/#comment-985614
[2] What made it so effective was that Toni Street maintained her composure throughout. She wielded the hatchet with exemplary coolness. Media junkies will no doubt remember Janet Wilson’s far more hysterical hatchet job on her husband three years ago….
So you support Hillary
@Adam +100 – that is very funny!!! Someone should show it to NZ media and the Labour party.
+100..Great !…thanks…that really is a good humorous expose on Hillary Clinton…although he didnt get into the more sinister stuff of what she did in Libya
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/13/exposing-libyan-agenda-closer-look-hillarys-emails
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/01/13/what-hillary-knew-about-libya
I see Paula Bennett has figured out how to respond to the dairy crisis.
single mums, the worlds most dangerous being
and then there is this – but I am sure the rock star economy will provide with well paying jobs for these soon to be unemployed people.
I wonder what happened to the 700+ people that lost their jobs with Fonterra a few month back, wonder if they are back into work?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11606127
Quote: “Unfortunately for the majority of the 3300 staff who were employed by Dick Smith, there’s probably zero chance of Kogan reviving any of the 393 physical stores in Australia and New Zealand. The deal was for the online stores only, plus the Dick Smith brand and its associated intellectual property.
Which is not to say that Kogan won’t open any stores. The retail entrepreneur was originally vehemently opposed to physical stores in favour of online shopping, but admitted in December last year that that absolute stance was wrong, and opened a pop-up shop in Melbourne’s posh Prahran. Kogan might just have to work out how to create a profitable physical presence to bring in the cash, as the online Dick Smith will be just a fraction of the size of the old company.” Quote end
Then the government should probably stop taking a hundred million dollar dividend from HNZ every year.
OH MY GOD !!!
Just saw a post that George wrote about me last night … with people like Rachinger chiming in with their opinions about me.
It’s mostly bull-shit and it is a very carefully manipulated piece of text.
I said last week that I thought Pete George was losing it … and I still think it.
As for Rachinger … everybody will see soon enough who he really is.
The stats on YourNZ have dropped recently … so George won’t be happy about that.
Good to know that in my absence … I am still useful to him as “Click-Bait” fodder. LOL.
That post of Georges just gets better and better … because Rachinger has accused me of being an alcoholic and Kitty Catkin has basically said that I suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder … and George and others believe that I am in cahoots with their mortal enemy. LOL.
http://yournz.org/2016/03/15/mike-c-and-lf/
Audrey writes another anti-Little piece. Poorly written and ambiguous really.
Except for this quote,
“But a tweet by Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway summed up Labour’s view of Key as “a complete and utter banker”.
Naughty Iain!
What got me was her assertion that Labour have lost on the TPP front because of all the tariffs it drops. Really? we got a list of this amazing tariff smashing TPP does? cause from what I remember it was incredibly limited.
Audrey is a moll troll. Can’t be said any other way sorry. The National Party is in her bones and everything. And fittingly given that she is the Political Editor of The Harold.
Good cooperative Left Opposition work in Parliament yesterday..despite the noise and heckling:
Winston Peters in parliament asks John Key:
Why Is the government blocking a free trade deal with Russia?
Why is the government pouring massive taxpayer support into the Hollywood film industry, Skycity Casino, Rio Tinto and now the TPPA campaign ?
(…when the Democratic and Republican campaign leadership in the United States think it is a REAL DOG…and a big corporate protection racket against the interests of their workers and farmers)
Andrew Little asks John Key:
Whose side is the PM on?… the dairy farmers?… or the banks?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/inparliament/audio/201793289/today-in-parliament-for-15-march-2016-evening-edition
“Scrappy start to the week with John Key and Winston Peters having a right honourable stoush, each accusing the other of misleading the House and demanding an apology. The Speaker, David Carter, was having none of that and was repeatedly back on his feet restoring order. Questions for the prime minister were dominated by the pressure on dairy farmers from lower milk prices and servicing bank loans.”
Notice that Winston did not say it was Key who spoke of the $5billion. He asked about the reported comments of two Ministers re the $5billion. Key deflected all that by accusing Winston of “misleading the House.” Carter refused Winston the right to re-read his question which would have defeated Key’s deflection. Funny that!
Michael Hill want the Queenstown basin all for himself and other rich people, nobody else.
That other wanker Sam Neill wanted pretty much the same a few years ago.
They want to stop all the huge development that has taken place already to accommodate them and their silly big houses, and have no more happen. They want to very selfishly pull up the ladder – quelle surprise…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/77806483/cap-tourists-and-development-to-keep-arrowtown-special–sir-michael-hill
Well I suggest one way to do this is to require, in fact, a reversal of development to make the place like it was, with even less people than now. That would improve the place even more, according to Michael Hill’s logic.
So legislate and regulate to require that every time one of these wankers wishes to sell their silly big homes, or passes on to the afterlife, their property is required to be sold solely for farming and other non-residential type activities… that should see it right ….
Seriously, what planet do these rich bastards live on? They are actually divorced from reality
Queenstown provides a centre for investment and tourism in southern NZ and is a blessing to some extent to preserve the region when Dairy goes down, till Sheep fight their way up more, Beef can perhaps keep going, and Bluff doesn’t have oysters killed by that disease.
No more housing for the wealthy in Queenstown as suggested by Sam Neill would be good. But attractive small apartments for the workers at reasonable rents close to Queenstown, with shuttle buses at very reasonable cost, would be of value. That is what is needed and if they have a council that isn’t run by Mini-Cooper type people, then that will be what is presently being planned and implemented. Bets anyone?
Thinking out loud….Big lies and flawed models:
Money Supply:
Currency isn’t expanded to account for growth, debt is expanded to match demand.
Banks do not expand money supply, they extend temporary credit based on demand to enable transactions.
Once the transaction has been completed and credit repaid the supplied credit zeros out and creases to exist.
Banks have been positioned to supply virtually all currency to enable all financial transactions, this basically means they take a percentage cut off the top of all production. This is the cost of doing business, and is inflation.
The current system relies on all wealth created being a result of work done.
Wealth created outside of production; non productive wealth creation can only be payed for by destroying wealth for another sector of the economy.
Instead of the pie getting bigger, the pie gets cut into smaller slices, borrowers and those without appreciating assets effected the most.
The pie did actually increase, that increase remaining with the wealthy and being the difference between the government stated inflation and true inflation.
And that is how it works, the government, the elite and the banks working together to transfer wealth from production to the lords and masters, the banks facilitating the theft and government either to stupid or corrupt to care.
Additionally:
In a consumer society where the consumers only product is their time, as technology improves and populations increase the consumer has less to trade, thus less demand/ ability to consume, which means less credit supplied by the banks, which kills businesses and eventually threatens the wealthy, hence the need for a UBI.
Some time ago I said Putin was a great man! I was mocked as having a wet dream! 🙁
But events have born me out:
1. He’s restored Russia’s sovereignty and self respect after the neoliberal trashing under Yeltsin.
2. His military intervention in Syria has produced the beginnings of peace with most of the actors willing to talk with each other for the first time compared to the U$ and Anglo and Turkish behaviour of pouring gasoline onto a raging fire.
3. He has exposed the Neocon Warshington war criminals for all who can be bothered to notice. And the western presstitute media that has relentlessly demonised and slandered him.
4. We may,it’s hoped get peace in the Ukraine eventually.
Don’t omit the murders of Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Nemtsov, or of the civilian passengers of MH17, the civilians in the Moscow Theatre gassing, and many many more. Putin is a scumbag of epic proportions.
Hi Stuart
MH17 has conclusively been shown to have been caused by the U$ backed Ukrainians, that Putin had anything to do with this atrocity is another slander of the western presstitute media.http://www.globalresearch.ca/meet-the-pilot-who-shot-down-malaysian-boeing-mh-17-vladislav-voloshin-the-plane-was-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time/5421363
Nonsense – and that is why the Dutch investigators found conclusively against Russia.
If you’re interested in the facts most of them are here:
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/10/08/mh17-the-open-source-evidence/
http://www.goodfellow.com/E/Tin-Foil.html
Just because the US involvement in the Ukraine was exceedingly seedy doesn’t give them godlike powers to rearrange events – or they’d do a better job. It would be better if the US were not involved – but it was Russia that shot down MH17. There is an abundance of physical evidence, and no evidence that bears scrutiny to the contrary.
The aircraft nonsense is largely discredited due to the lack of cannon damage in the debris. But equally important are the plethora of false stories Russian official sources serially released as they grasped desperately at straws to cover up their act of mass murder.
I agree, Stuart. I replied in the wrong place.
Stuart M
Scumbags of a determined character rise to the top when a nation’s systems of governance break down. They also can ooze through when there are pauses in the regular flow of society such as happens in USA. What caused Ronald Reagan to get up there, followed by Margaret Thatcher etc.? I forget. But they ooze upwards at cracks at pressure points like Christchurch liquefaction.
Putin might be the right person to be where he is with his KGB knowledge and ability to outmaneouvre others at home and those sly ones abroad. It’s considered that the Middle East scumbags removed by the USA scumbags, were preferable to the new ones. These days it is a time for pragmatism, go for the best scumbags available now, and work for 80% improvement, knowing that getting even 40% would be thankfully welcomed.
Perhaps we should have a popular vote on greatest scumbags since WW2.
Pot Pot and gang must be up there. Then who gassed people in their homes in the Middle East with one that would flow to the lowest point and be effective in cellars where women and children would be hiding?
+100 johnm
johnm, here is Pussy Riot to sing to you, why you are wrong.
A black man goes to a Trump rally.
“The worst part was when their venom turned toward me,” Troup wrote. “There were protestors around me who got ushered out, and then people started pointing at me, motioning for the Secret Service to ‘get him out of there.’ Now mind you, I hadn’t uttered a single word the entire rally, but people still said things like ‘Well what about this one? He needs to go too!’”
Ultimately, Troup left the event feeling as if he’d witnessed something darker and more insidious than a simple political rally.
“At that rally, I saw the scary underbelly of America I saw unadulterated hate, fueled by intentional misinformation,” Troup said. “These people who, just 2 hours ago, seemed like good and kind people, were now cheering for blood.”
http://fusion.net/story/280795/donald-trump-dayton-rally/
It will be interesting if Anonymous can find anything incriminating on Trump …more than what we already know…(eg are there any hidden emails and secret associations and agendas like Hillary Clinton had in her closet)
‘Anonymous declares ‘total war’ on Trump, plans April attack (VIDEO)’
https://www.rt.com/usa/335725-anonymous-total-war-trump/
Today is a BFD – 691 Democrat delegates and 358 Republican delegates are up for grabs.
AP Eastern U.S. Verified account
@APEastRegion
As the polls begin to close, a quick reminder of what’s at stake in tonight’s primary elections. #Elections2016
edit: forgot the results/tracker
http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president
http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/delegate-count-tracker
Interesting how spelling can get confused these days with all our aids. I see two ways to spell Sir Tipene O’Reagan/ O’Regan. Willie Jackson should know how to spell Sir Douglas Graham’s name after all the Maori Treaty negotiations yet it is Graeme in this article.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/local-blogs/willie-jackson/8338152/Different-rules-for-Maori-and-Pakeha
But the article is interesting itself, worth a read. Sounds factual as might be expected from someone of the Jackson family, with a high position in Maori matters.
He writes about the tribe that have control of Lake Taupo wanting a fee of $58,000 from the Ironman contest for using it. He points out that the Ironman contest is an $800,000 event.
And this next quote is one of the angry, dismissive, racist comments at the end of the article. With all the efforts that NZ has made to get a better understanding of the unpleasant start of this colony, and the shameful behaviour adopted by businessmen/land speculators with an armed gang to back them, this reaction is more frequent than we thought possible. I went on to background the late Louis Crimp who was a Maori hater, and to read about him gives insight into the type of person that befouls good attempts to provide some reparation and set NZ up as a country of justice, fairness and equality.
What a shame the Ironman New Zealand organisers lack the mettle of their competitors.
What a shame they agreed to bribe the tribe.
What a shame they did not reply to the Tuwharetoa extortion demand of $58,000 thus:
“Dear tribe,
“Get stuffed.
“We refuse to pay you so much as a bent cent to swim in our largest lake.
“And it is our lake. Not your lake. It belongs to us. All of us.
“All the people of New Zealand.
In the item Jackson refers to John Ansell, who was connected with ACT. (But the Louis Crimp item below says Ansell left ACT – Advertising guru John Ansell quit the party after adverts he designed asking Kiwis if they were “Fed up with the Maorification of Everything” were cancelled.)
Willie Jackson commented on him:
He’s running the Treaty Gate project where he accuses all and sundry of telling lies over New Zealand’s history and relationship with Maori.
He clearly puts little value on Maori culture and his main financial backer has been Invercargill millionaire Louis Crimp, who last year claimed most Pakeha despise Maori.
Louis Crimp was a multi millionaire, now dead. He was one of a group of old white men whose blood has turned to vinegar, and who appear to have little left in life but to hold onto all their money, and their little energy goes to putting the Maori in his or her lower place than their high chairs. I saw them in full flow during the Constitution Conversations a year or so ago.
About Louis Crimp ACT supporter to John Ansell:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10806938
The biggest donor to the Act Party says he gave the money to Don Brash and John Banks so they could stop special treatment for Maori who were “either in jail or on welfare”.
In an extraordinary interview with the Weekend Herald, Louis Crimp said he believed he had the support of Brash, Banks and other “white New Zealanders”.
Mr Crimp made the largest financial contribution to the Act Party for the 2011 election with a $125,520 donation.
Crimp said in another interview:
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/two-hours-louis-crimp-ck-126301
“I can’t smile properly because my face is petrified, it doesn’t move, it’s paralysed because I had cancer. I can only smile with one side. So I’ve just got a grimace.”
Mr Crimp has made millions through his various property ventures, and has gained many supporters in Invercargill for his charitable donations, including more than $1 million each to the SPCA and the St John Ambulance Service….
Mr Crimp says that from an early age he has was forced to “watch [his] pennies. I was the oldest boy in Southland who had a paper run, at the age of 16, because we were poor, my family”.
His income? Derived from housing – rented to Maori gang and then evicted them.
Derived from pokies, which he could rail against or utilise takings of at random:
Mr Crimp is in no position to rail, with any integrity, against the foundation’s use of pokie proceeds. He has, himself, been one of the grandfathers of the pokies industry in Invercargill, albeit in rivalry with the trust. So his contempt can hardly stem from holding the machines themselves to be an intolerable social harm. Far from overbrimming with sympathy for the problems of pokie addiction, he wrote to our public opinion column in April referring witheringly to “the suckers who addict themselves to poker machines”…
it is Mr Crimp who has been caught up in notorious and inglorious misuses of pokie funds. This was in the 1990s, and involved decisions so imperious that they offended rules that were less strict than they are now. The Southland Pool Players’ Club, upon whose executive Mr Crimp had been a member, dispensed the money from pokies at one of Mr Crimp’s most high-profile establishments, Players’ pool hall, for a team of nine members, including Mr Crimp, to attend a pool competition in Australia. This was just part of what Internal Affairs inspectors described as “gross misapplication of proceeds”.
Undaunted, as he so often is, by official disapproval, Mr Crimp had then stuck his hand out for Players’ pokie profits to help pay the 1998 election expenses of Southland Action, a group of candidates which he led into the Invercargill City Council election race.
So unprincipled himself, but cunning as a shithouse rat, to shamelessly accuse others.
http://fundypost.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/louis-crimp-man-of-actions.html
Casino and share deals:
http://shareinvestornz.blogspot.co.nz/2010/11/sky-city-entertainment-group-ltd.html
The Christchurch Casino was purchased by SKC in June 2004, off Aspinall (NZ) Limited, which held a 40.5% shareholding in Christchurch Casinos Limited. The purchase price was NZ$93.75 million and in October 2010 SKC bought an 8.6 % stake held by Invercargill businessman Louis Crimp’s Southern Equities, to take their holding to near 50%. In 2008 SKC bought a 5.2% stake off their then business partner the Crowne Plaza Hotel, taking their ownership interest in Christchurch Casino to 45.7%. With the 8.6% stake then SKC control the company with a 54.3% stake.
Coarse in his speech, nastily prejudiced and as braindead and disgusting as a gutter drunk Crimp prompted Brian Rudman to comment on his backing ACT and Don Brash who Crimp hoped would pursue anti Maori policies:
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/brian-rudman-on-auckland/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502866&objectid=11280946
Mr Crimp, you may recall, donated the money after Don Brash seized control of Act. Recalling Dr Brash’s notorious 2004 Orewa speech as National Party leader, Mr Crimp was hopeful his cash would ensure his anti-Maori views would be pursued. But in a follow-up interview on TV, the eccentric Mr Crimp soon went off subject and asked interviewer Jane Luscombe whether she’d ever had sex against a tree!
His Southland Times obituary says:
Crimp, an Invercargill businessman, philanthropist, former city councillor, character and longstanding critic of the Invercargill Licensing Trust, died at his home at 9.20pm last night.
Memorial – He knew what he was agin.
edited
Crimp was a nasty man. A favourite of Fair Go. His Southland Times obituary was disgusting – he was an evil character with no grace.
@Brian
Yes he seemed evil and venal. You notice that the Southland Times obit was short, not unkind, and called him eccentric. ( And I noted what his memorial could be.)
I think he had so much money that he managed to suck in a fair few amoral buddies, such as the ones he gathered together to have a go at the Council. But to sweeten the report that he had been dipping his fingers in the pokie till, I think he felt it would be good PR to donate large to St Johns and the SPCA. He would have won some kudos there for helping these perennially cash strapped groups.
I was amazed at how despicable he was, and only his money meant that he couldn’t be ignored. And how low ACT was and is, is exemplified by them taking from him. Though it was only $125,000 or so, not millions. I think he was careful that his ‘philanthropy’-investments were sure to bring him advantage.
How many, I wonder, of our political parties are being funded by people who are such misanthropists like him. He seemed to despise everyone really.
Speaking of tin foil, the real economic crisis is happening in the daily lives of ordinary NZers.
A gram and a half for 100 bucks!? It’s daylight robbery: five times the average price for a gram and, at something like $300 per ounce wholesale (likely cheaper in larger, commercial amounts), a profit of $90 untaxed and straight into the black market.
http://thespinoff.co.nz/16-03-2016/a-nation-in-crisis-new-zealands-catastrophic-marijuana-shortage/
You should move up north weka, no shortage and cheap if your in the know.
Lol, I’m good thanks. I just thought it was a funny article all things considered.
Has Phil Goff really come out in favour of building a waterfront stadium in Auckland?
Be very afraid Auckland ratepayers.
The favoured candidate for the Mayoralty appears to be choosing a campaign slogan which starts “We’ve got to waste a billion or two, we’ve got to waste a billion or two”.
Even Len’s choo-choo isn’t as stupid.
Clearly you’re ignorant of your own one Wellingtonian.
“ignorant of your own one”
Like hell I am. It doesn’t mean Auckland have to repeat mistakes do they?
That was one of those things where the main proponent, Fran Wilde, managed to get a “loan” out of the local bodies that was promised to be repaid. It never was of course because you never do make money out of such things.
Melbourne is an exception but they have about 50 AFL games a year at the MCG and another 50 at Etihad stadium. The crowds probably range from 25,000 to 90,000 for the club games and 100,000 for the finals.
The Wellington cost $130 million I believe. However it is sunk money and we certainly can’t sell it. After all, who would buy it? At least they didn’t consider putting a roof on it.
Could be worse of course. The Olympic Stadium in Sydney went broke and ended up being owned by the ANZ I believe. They were silly enough to make a loan on the thing.
‘How the West Got It Wrong as the Syrian Civil War Developed’ by Robert Fisk
Five years ago, we were high on Arab revolutions, and journalists were growing used to ‘liberating’ Arab capitals
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/15/how-west-got-it-wrong-syrian-civil-war-developed