It is my opinion that the desire for less remote and more accountable governance, and a rejection of uncountable central authority, is what drives both the desire for Brexit in Britain and the desire for independence in Scotland.
In an attempt to play one off against the other, Theresa May uses Scottish desire for independence from Britain, as an excuse to drag her heels over the Brexit.
At the very least this vacillation and back tracking by the Tories, shows bad faith with the British electorate, and will weaken Britain’s hand in getting a good deal for the British people in the Brexit negotiations. And by becoming the gate keepers in defiance of the popular will, the Tory leader puts power back into the hands of the elite
“I have already said that I won’t be triggering Article 50 until I think that we have a UK approach and objectives for negotiations – I think it is important that we establish that before we trigger Article 50,” British Prime Minister Theresa May
The British Labour Party needs to step up.
Instead of being silent on all these developments, Labour need to release a statement promising to allow the Scots to have their second referendum. And demanding that the tories also honour the wish of the British people Article 50 be triggered immediately.
By showing respect for the desire for more independence and local democracy by both the British and Scottish people is where the British Labour could out flank the Tories.
(Under the rules of the first referendum, a second referendum was supposed to be triggered if there was any major change in the Scottish/British political relationship.)
In the wake of the Brexit vote, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calls for second referendum on Scottish Independence.
“If independence then turns out to be the best way for Scotland to remain an EU member, Sturgeon argues there should be another referendum on the issue. Polls suggest support for independence had risen since the Brexit vote.
On Friday (Saturday NZT), Sturgeon said it would be inconceivable for a British prime minister to block a referendum voted for by the Scottish parliament.
“I work on the basis that trying to block a referendum, if there’s a clear sense that that’s what people in Scotland want, would be completely the wrong thing to do,” Sturgeon told Sky News after the meeting with May on Friday (Saturday NZT).
Sturgeon states that it is “inconceivable” for a British Prime Minister to block the second referendum.
The British PM like her predecessor David Cameron, is a steadfast “Remainer”. No doubt she also intends to as much a possible to deny the democratic will of both the Scottish and British people.
Instead of being used against each other, these two disparate strands need to be brought together.
The Labour Party need to stand with the Scottish people and demand a second referendum and that a date be set for it to be held as soon as possible.
At the same time Labour need to condemn Theresa May’s plan to use the Scots desire for independence as an excuse to thwart the democratic will of the British people, and immediately demand the start of the Brexit negotiations with the E.U.
The British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn can also out flank the Right by demanding that they honour the democratic wish of the British People and that the government must pay the Brexit Dividend into National Health service, as promised by the Right Wing Leavers, but who have since backtracked on this promise.
Under the TTIP the EU was stealing the British people’s democracy
The Brexit is necessary to protect NHS from TTIP, says David Owen
Former health secretary, claims that the proposed trade deal between the US and the European Union could make any privatisation irreversible
+1 Jenny – whether true or false about Brexit, people want and demand change from neoliberalism. It has not worked. Instead it has created a climate change, warfare, unaccountability and social crisis around the world that many people want stopped.
Totally agree. Unbelievable and pretty much hijacking Labour brand by making members pay an increased fee to nobble the process. That is why people are not voting Labour, why would you, with that toxic mix of Blairite careerists still sucking from the teat.
Legacy of the ‘third way’, ConservLite. No wonder they lost the last election with all the Labour hijacker MP’s worshiping Blair, the guy that started an illegal war and sent British troops to war without a plan or equipment. Like Key, Blair still thinks he was right and it was all worth it.
No wonder the people want Corbyn. He has been consistently right all along. And those Labour MP’s that voted for war should go and join the Conservatives and send their own offspring to Iraq, but it is easier to be a parasite on Labour and try to cling on to their failed legacy than admit they were wrong all along.
It seems that all the nitwits in the PLP/NEC have done is hardened support for Corbyn by outraging the waverers and turning it into an us vs them battle even with their own electorate committees.
I would not be surprised if the NEC simply suspended the Labour constitution and declared Eagle the winner without a vote…
I did have to laugh over the fact Eagle claimed she had to cancel a meeting because of threatening phone calls. This was reported in The Guardian. However, it turns out that the hotel pulled the plug because they were unaware of the nature of the meeting.
I’ve a nasty feeling that I heard that only in the “Lord of the Rings” when Galadriel speculated on what might happen should she accept Frodo’s offer of the ring.
But others may have said it before then! How about Miss Piggy?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11675391
At some stage our Govt will have to accept that there is a housing issue, especially when the likes of this is being reported
“But it takes bottle to confront Key’s “kitchen Cabinet” – Bill English, Steven Joyce, Gerry Brownlee and Paula Bennett – and tell them that when it comes to the housing crisis, many in business are coming to the view that their emperor has no clothes.”
Quite telling !!!
oh lookit, are they shopping for a different Prime Minister.
I really would enjoy if the stenographers at the Herald would finally come away from the “John Key is in denial” to “John Key does not give a fucking fuck about you , me and or our children and the same counts for his “kitchen cabinet”. In “John Keys ownership society you are on your own”.
Interesting article, if you read it like a Soviet citizen would have read a dispatch from a party insider published in Pravda.
For example, while the article is about the fall in tractor production a Soviet citizen would not have failed to notice the absense of Judith Collins from the “kitchen cabinet” of the central committee or the fact that clearly Key’s successor will be either Bennett or Joyce. A Soviet citizen would also note the emphasis on post-Key National, surely a crime if the head of the politburo was in full command. Finally, our comrade perusing Pravda would mull on the emphasis on the credentials of another candidate, similar to the current leader in being a leader of the militant business army, and conclude that no one on the favoured list is held in high regard by said army…
Yes, it’s serious CV. As serious as your ‘tactical’ embrace of Trump. To teach Clinton ‘a lesson’. Fuck everything else. Just teach Clinton a lesson. Because it’d make CV feel good and vindicated.
I’m expecting that your 40% of Sanders’ people going to Trump in high dudgeon is better than just pulled out of your arse……..Key/Smith/Bennett like CV. Is there a a poll or something ? Let’s be having it CV.
I believe Trump will be a better POTUS because he will shitcan the TPP, he will spend more money on US infrastructure and less on bailing out its banks and military industrial complex, and he will be less likely to start a shooting war in the Pacific against China and/or Russia.
I believe that Killary will be a shit POTUS for NZ because she is bought and paid for by the big US investment banks and corporates, she is a neocon, and her decisions were partly responsible for the horrific implosion of and loss of civilian life in Libya and Syria.
So, this is about a bit more than teaching Crooked Clinton a lesson.
“At least for a moment, Donald Trump seriously considered picking retired General Michael Flynn, fired as DIA chief for correctly predicting that Obama’s covert Syrian intervention would generate a jihadist monster such as ISIS.
Hillary Clinton meanwhile is reportedly pondering the selection of retired Admiral James G. Stavridis, a former Rumsfeld lickspittle who helped destroy Libya and thinks it would be a fine idea to hook up with Al Qaeda in Syria.
Clinton’s putative defense secretary, Michelle Flournoy, herself an ardent proponent of escalation in Syria and elsewhere, acclaims him as “one of the finest military officers of his generation.” One might think that for a candidate politically burdened by her vote for the invasion of Iraq, not to mention the Libyan disaster, Stavridis, currently Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, might not be the best choice.
… Stavridis’ military record exhibits all the signs of an accomplished courtier, ably negotiating the reefs and shoals of service politics as he shinned up the ranks faster even than David Petraeus …
… Stavridis insisted on the provision of a special car for himself in motorcades, while junior officers, whom he importuned to do his shopping when traveling, staggered under the weight of his bags …
In a gratifyingly acerbic memoir, “Speech-Less,” former Rumsfeld speech writer Matthew Latimer recalls Stavridis’ assiduous toadying, offering fawning toasts to the secretary at dinners on overseas trips and busying himself with such humble but career-enhancing tasks as fixing a squeak in his master’s office chair…
… Promoting an image as a “warrior-scholar,” he wrote fluently in the pablum that passes for wisdom in the debased culture of the Washington defense-intelligentsia. Thus in 2005 his treatise “Deconstructing War,” which opened with the fatuous proposition that “War is changing, and not for the better” and headed downhill from there, won wide acclaim among the Osrics of the think-tank/op-ed circuit …
…Meanwhile, and unfortunately for the people of Libya, he was given the opportunity to burnish the “warrior” part of his favored appellation. When Hillary Clinton fatefully bounced Obama into agreeing to attack Libya, Stavridis was on point, overseeing the deployment of Nato air power …
Retiring from the military in 2013, Stavridis eased into the Deanship of the Fletcher School, a perfect platform for ponderous ruminations on modish topics such as “smart power” which he defines as combining “hard power” with “soft power.” Among his ongoing and remunerative connections to the former is his chairmanship of the International Advisory Board of mega-defense contractor Northrop-Grumman, whose overseers can find little fault with Admiral Fabuloso’s enthusiastic tub-thumping for the new cold war. From Ukraine to Syria, “Stav” is in the front lines, figuratively speaking, urging escalation against Russia. The Ukrainians should have “lethal aid” from the U.S., he announced in 2015, and when asked if that might not lead the Russians to escalate in turn, he conceded blithely, “when you release ordnance, everything changes.”…
But it is the Syrian war that has excited the warrior-scholar’s most martial instincts, an ominous indication of where the wind is blowing in the national security set. So eager is he to show that he is firmly on board that he actually touts in public what others dare only murmur in private: in confronting Russia for mastery of Syria, it’s OK to ally with Al Nusra, as Al Qaeda calls itself in Syria …
…Such is the intellectual bankruptcy of the Clinton campaign on national security that this dangerous time-server should be deemed a serious candidate for a slot on the ticket.”
“As political leaders across the world swear to engage in total war against Isis in the wake of the massacre in Nice, not enough notice is being taken of the fact that the long-term prospects of the group will be boosted if Hillary Clinton is elected as the next US President …
… But Hillary Clinton’s expected choice as Defence Secretary, Michèle Flournoy, has just co-authored a report by the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington that recommends that the destruction of Isis should no longer be the overriding objective of the US in Syria, but that equal priority should be given to taking military action against President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian Army …
… This proposed change of policy by a Clinton administration is all too likely, going by her past record of choosing military solutions to complex problems even when it means fighting more than one war at a time and when the outcome is unclear. As a Senator, she voted for the Iraq war in 2003 and, as Secretary of State in 2011, she was the driving force behind the Nato military intervention in Libya that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi and handed over the country to criminalised warlords. Her opinions normally coincide with those on the hawkish end of the US foreign policy establishment …
… A frightening preview of what is to come can be found in the CNAS report, which comes across as a caricature of Washington wishful thinking that is woefully detached from real conditions on the ground.”
JB MacKinnon’s excellent New Yorker piece tells the story of planned obsolescence and home lighting, but only skims the surface of the Internet of Things future of “smart” bulbs. It’s been less than a year since Philips pushed out a firmware update that gave its light fixtures the ability to detect and reject non-Philips lightbulbs — and thanks to laws like the DMCA, which have metastasized in the IoT era, it’s a potential felony to alter your light fixture to override this behavior and force it to work with non-Philips bulbs.
It seems that they’re also putting in light bulbs/sockets services that communicate with the manufacturer as well giving the manufacturer information about how you use the device.
the tea party and the republicans are the same.
and yes it is a party of mindfuckery the only sex they approve of. That and screwing over the poor. that too is permitted. Just all the other stuff the sweaty fun kind of fuckery is verboten. Only to make little babies 🙂 white ones of course.
Fran O’Sullivan’s getting a bit hoha with The Weak Man. The bit questioning whether the Weak Man will even let himself hear Stephen Jennings’s unequivocal warning is very telling. Fran in today’s Herald…….
” Rich-lister Stephen Jennings’ warning that “we are facing an iceberg” deserves to shatter business complacency on housing.
It should also shatter the complacency of the Prime Minister – if he allows himself to hear it. Jennings has confronted the business elite with some unpalatable truths: rising house prices and immigration-fuelled economic growth are masking an underlying “iceberg that lies ahead”.
“We are sleepwalking into an economically ugly place,” he warns. How can we look at ourselves in the mirror and say how can we live with having one of the most unequal education systems in the Western world – and even if you are very selfish you better say to yourself that is not sustainable. Those chickens are going to come home to roost.”
With many chickens already here, and many more arriving daily, whom is the Weak Man going to blame ? Sixteen months out from the election the knives must be out. An emperor cannot go so struttingly, so remorselessly, so revoltingly unclothed.
National is a chicken without wings relying on mass Asian immigration and inflated housing prices to prop up an economy wallowing in $120 Billion debt $108 Billion increase since National became the Government in 2008.
“The long-awaited 28 pages of a 2002 congressional report on the 9/11 attacks have been released. The document indicates that prominent members of the Saudi Arabian were involved in planning and financing the terror attacks.
The declassified documents were released by Congress on Friday and released them the same day, release of the documents confirmed suspicions that the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks – most of whom were Saudi nationals – likely received support from high-ranking Saudi intelligence officers…
I think there’s a corollary with the coup plotters. If its the cult that was identified earlier behind the coup attempt, then, on the surface, they appear to be religious moderates. However, one of the the first things they intended to do was suspend the secular constitution and replace it with one of their own.
The mask quickly slipped.
Many New Zealanders have been pondering this question; “Where are the jobs and economic benefits for New Zealanders in the Deep Sea Oil industry?”
The Labour and National Party supporters of this extreme fossil fuel technology have either been silent on the issue of jobs, or admitted that there may be none.
But now at last, thanks to an oil industry environmental impact report, the question about jobs for New Zealanders in this industry has been answered.
“The Draft Environmental Impact Statement identifies many economic impacts arising from an accident associated with Project operations, but fails to recognize economic activity that would be generated by spill response,”
“When a spill occurs, new economic activity occurs to clean-up contaminated areas, remediate affected properties, and supply equipment for cleanup activities. Anecdotal evidence from recent spills suggests that such activity can be potentially large.”
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This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
The change allows for devices that do screening, similar to at drink-drive checkpoints, rather than having to test oral fluid to an evidentiary standard. ...
Almost 40% of those departing NZ long-term are aged 18 to 30. What sort of country will they leave behind, asks Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Young people leading the charge out the door Last year saw ...
New Health Minister Simeon Brown is presiding over a list of resignations from high-ranking health officials that some say is a "bloodbath". What's going on? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Rickerby, Lecturer, School of Product Design, University of Canterbury The Poly-1. MOTAT , CC BY-NC Some 45 years ago, a team of staff and students at Wellington Polytechnic designed and built a desktop computer with an operating system customised for ...
The Forum has raised concerns regarding the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill, which, if enacted, will radically undermine existing human rights protections, Indigenous rights, and constitutional safeguards ...
The passage of time hasn’t been kind to Ngāi Tahu.When its High Court hearing over wai māori (freshwater) commenced last week, 52 months after the claim was filed, the tribe mourned the loss of two named first plaintiffs – Bishop Richard Wallace, of Makaawhio, and Theo Bunker, of Wairewa – ...
Margie Apa, Nicholas Jones, Diana Sarfati, the board of Health New Zealand … and will Lester Levy be next?The biggest names in our health service are tumbling like dominos.It’s been called a bloodbath and a crisis.What’s going on?Every day there’s a new story about shortages, patients having to wait for ...
Opinion: The coalition Government’s recent revisions to the business investor visa, officially the Active Investor Plus but commonly known as the ‘golden visa’, has put pay-for-residency back in the headlines. While many object to the commodification of citizenship implicit in this policy, questions should be asked about its potential as ...
One Christmas, to thank him for helping me hugely with my writing (on a mentor scheme), I sent Michael King a dark blue cashmere scarf. I chose it with the awful knowledge that he was battling cancer, and I somehow thought it might keep him warm and make him feel ...
Comment: Readers may recall the commentaries from academics that appeared on these pages as well as on many media outlets, alarmed and appalled by the disbanding of the Marsden panels for humanities and the social sciences.The Marsden Fund is a “blue skies” initiative established by Simon Upton in the 1990s. ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard seven hours of submissions. Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.An “insult to every one of our tīpuna” was the first advice the Justice Committee heard on the Treaty principles bill ...
The same councillors who decry excessive spending on pet projects just voted to pump millions of dollars into a greenhouse for flowers. On Thursday last week, Wellington City Council voted to consult on repairing Begonia House, the greenhouse for exotic flowers in Wellington Botanic Garden. The options for repairs range ...
It’s important to respect people’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly, but how much political deference is due when it isn’t peaceful? Commenting on Destiny Church members storming a children’s event at the Te Atatū library and community centre on Saturday, prime minister Christopher Luxon said it’s important to ...
Comment: US is capitulating to Moscow’s demands before negotiations over Ukraine even begin The post The day the West died appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 18 February appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Two Palestinian resistance groups have condemned “the brutal assault” on prisoners at Ofer Prison, saying it was “barbaric criminal behaviour that reflects the fascist and terrorist nature of” Israel. In the joint statement, Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) called the attack a “miserable attempt” by Israel ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown hopes to have “an opportunity to talk” with the New Zealand government to “heal some of the rift”. Brown returned to Avarua on Sunday afternoon (Cook Islands Time) following his week-long state visit to China, ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ella Barclay, Senior Lecturer, School of Art and Design, Australian National University Despite the perceived outrage at Khaled Sabsabi’s depiction of Hassan Nasrallah in his 2007 work You, Australian art has long made subjects of outlaws and questionable figures. And it is ...
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An additional $13 million will be invested in tourism infrastructure, including upgrading huts and resolving the backlog in Milford Sound concessions. ...
The reality is that we have no obligation to tolerate the intolerant. They are using violence to shut down and silence others. The result of tolerating intolerant views is the loss of everyone’s freedom of speech except for the one who most effectively ...
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Alex Casey unearths Simon Court’s full sales pitch for how menstrual cups could end poverty. On Friday last week, Act MP Simon Court was accused of “mansplaining” during a parliamentary committee hearing about benefit sanctions. After submitter Rachel Dibble shared her concerns about period poverty and the impact that sanctions ...
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Asia Pacific Report Two independent Jewish Voices groups in Aotearoa New Zealand have written an open letter to the government condemning the Zionist “colonisation” project leading to genocide and criticising the role of the NZ Jewish Council for its “unelected” and “uncritical support” for Israel. The groups, Alternative Jewish Voices ...
Independence, Freedom, Democracy
It is my opinion that the desire for less remote and more accountable governance, and a rejection of uncountable central authority, is what drives both the desire for Brexit in Britain and the desire for independence in Scotland.
In an attempt to play one off against the other, Theresa May uses Scottish desire for independence from Britain, as an excuse to drag her heels over the Brexit.
At the very least this vacillation and back tracking by the Tories, shows bad faith with the British electorate, and will weaken Britain’s hand in getting a good deal for the British people in the Brexit negotiations. And by becoming the gate keepers in defiance of the popular will, the Tory leader puts power back into the hands of the elite
The British Labour Party needs to step up.
Instead of being silent on all these developments, Labour need to release a statement promising to allow the Scots to have their second referendum. And demanding that the tories also honour the wish of the British people Article 50 be triggered immediately.
By showing respect for the desire for more independence and local democracy by both the British and Scottish people is where the British Labour could out flank the Tories.
(Under the rules of the first referendum, a second referendum was supposed to be triggered if there was any major change in the Scottish/British political relationship.)
In the wake of the Brexit vote, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calls for second referendum on Scottish Independence.
Sturgeon states that it is “inconceivable” for a British Prime Minister to block the second referendum.
The British PM like her predecessor David Cameron, is a steadfast “Remainer”. No doubt she also intends to as much a possible to deny the democratic will of both the Scottish and British people.
Instead of being used against each other, these two disparate strands need to be brought together.
The Labour Party need to stand with the Scottish people and demand a second referendum and that a date be set for it to be held as soon as possible.
At the same time Labour need to condemn Theresa May’s plan to use the Scots desire for independence as an excuse to thwart the democratic will of the British people, and immediately demand the start of the Brexit negotiations with the E.U.
The British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn can also out flank the Right by demanding that they honour the democratic wish of the British People and that the government must pay the Brexit Dividend into National Health service, as promised by the Right Wing Leavers, but who have since backtracked on this promise.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-result-nigel-farage-nhs-pledge-disowns-350-million-pounds-a7099906.html
Under the TTIP the EU was stealing the British people’s democracy
+1 Jenny – whether true or false about Brexit, people want and demand change from neoliberalism. It has not worked. Instead it has created a climate change, warfare, unaccountability and social crisis around the world that many people want stopped.
“Kennedy said famously, ‘Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable,'”
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/bill-maher-sick-police-brutality-tells-colbert-he-wants-cops-take-psychology-test?src=newsletter1060161
And is this what the Blairite rump are doing by repressing the democratic wishes of the Labour membership in the UK?
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/07/15/explosive-decision-shows-just-desperate-labour-elite-tweets-images/
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/07/14/breaking-labour-trawling-social-media-stop-voting-leadership-election/
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/07/14/breaking-labour-just-announced-devastating-new-way-purge-corbyn-voters/
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/07/13/labour-leadership-contest-delivered-massive-slap-face-working-class-britain/
Totally agree. Unbelievable and pretty much hijacking Labour brand by making members pay an increased fee to nobble the process. That is why people are not voting Labour, why would you, with that toxic mix of Blairite careerists still sucking from the teat.
Legacy of the ‘third way’, ConservLite. No wonder they lost the last election with all the Labour hijacker MP’s worshiping Blair, the guy that started an illegal war and sent British troops to war without a plan or equipment. Like Key, Blair still thinks he was right and it was all worth it.
No wonder the people want Corbyn. He has been consistently right all along. And those Labour MP’s that voted for war should go and join the Conservatives and send their own offspring to Iraq, but it is easier to be a parasite on Labour and try to cling on to their failed legacy than admit they were wrong all along.
a new party that genuinely represents the people who need representing is required.
U.K. Labour seems an establishment centric bunch of comfortably numb careerists…..sound familiar.
Even if Corbyn gets past this they’ve shown the uk public that JC’s agenda isn’t one they buy into so it opens up the field IMO.
like Oz they could see a rise in seats being held by xenophobic interests making the most of the chaos.
Angela Eagle can’t even command the support of her own branch!
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/14/labour-grassroots-rebel-against-nec-restrictions-on-leadership-contest
It seems that all the nitwits in the PLP/NEC have done is hardened support for Corbyn by outraging the waverers and turning it into an us vs them battle even with their own electorate committees.
I would not be surprised if the NEC simply suspended the Labour constitution and declared Eagle the winner without a vote…
I did have to laugh over the fact Eagle claimed she had to cancel a meeting because of threatening phone calls. This was reported in The Guardian. However, it turns out that the hotel pulled the plug because they were unaware of the nature of the meeting.
Breaking news.
Attempted coup in Turkey.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/turkey-coup-live-updates-explosion-8431256
This is big – if Turkey fragments Europe’s problems get another 2.5 million refugees added to them before any local displacement.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-15/jill-stein-just-promised-pardon-snowden-appoint-him-cabinet-if-elected
+1000 AsleepWhileWalking
Bernie should go Green. The biggest coup in history if they somehow managed to pull it off.
His endorsement of Hillary Clinton is already banked.
He’s staying with the Democrats.
Yes he is.
Roughly 40% of his supporters will not be, however.
Yep how to screw over more ethical people, tell them go with someone bad to stop someone worse getting in. What a choice!
Cornel West endorses Green Party’s Jill Stein, calls Trump “neo-fascist catastrophe,” Clinton “neoliberal disaster”
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/15/cornel_west_endorses_green_partys_jill_stein_calls_trump_neo_fascist_catastrophe_and_clinton_a_neoliberal_disaster/
“All shall love me
And despair.”
Anyone remember which Queen said that?
I’ve a nasty feeling that I heard that only in the “Lord of the Rings” when Galadriel speculated on what might happen should she accept Frodo’s offer of the ring.
But others may have said it before then! How about Miss Piggy?
If Rider Haggard’s Ayesha (She who must be obeyed) didn’t say it she should have.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11675391
At some stage our Govt will have to accept that there is a housing issue, especially when the likes of this is being reported
“But it takes bottle to confront Key’s “kitchen Cabinet” – Bill English, Steven Joyce, Gerry Brownlee and Paula Bennett – and tell them that when it comes to the housing crisis, many in business are coming to the view that their emperor has no clothes.”
Quite telling !!!
oh lookit, are they shopping for a different Prime Minister.
I really would enjoy if the stenographers at the Herald would finally come away from the “John Key is in denial” to “John Key does not give a fucking fuck about you , me and or our children and the same counts for his “kitchen cabinet”. In “John Keys ownership society you are on your own”.
Interesting article, if you read it like a Soviet citizen would have read a dispatch from a party insider published in Pravda.
For example, while the article is about the fall in tractor production a Soviet citizen would not have failed to notice the absense of Judith Collins from the “kitchen cabinet” of the central committee or the fact that clearly Key’s successor will be either Bennett or Joyce. A Soviet citizen would also note the emphasis on post-Key National, surely a crime if the head of the politburo was in full command. Finally, our comrade perusing Pravda would mull on the emphasis on the credentials of another candidate, similar to the current leader in being a leader of the militant business army, and conclude that no one on the favoured list is held in high regard by said army…
Bennett or Joyce. That’s like being asked to choose between lung cancer or colon cancer.
Swallow your coffee and put your cup down before checking out the new Trump-Pence logo…
https://twitter.com/darth/status/753983871880790016
As bad as our tea towel flag designs…. but at least the public rejected our eyesores.
Surely that can’t be serious…can it?
Seems to be for real. But wait, there’s more…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-logo-criticized_us_57891d63e4b0867123e115a0?section=
and you really have to scroll down to Samantha Bee’s version
http://adage.com/article/campaign-trail/responses-possibly-nsfw-trump-pence-logo/304984/
Yes, it’s serious CV. As serious as your ‘tactical’ embrace of Trump. To teach Clinton ‘a lesson’. Fuck everything else. Just teach Clinton a lesson. Because it’d make CV feel good and vindicated.
I’m expecting that your 40% of Sanders’ people going to Trump in high dudgeon is better than just pulled out of your arse……..Key/Smith/Bennett like CV. Is there a a poll or something ? Let’s be having it CV.
Hmmmm North, you full of shit.
I believe Trump will be a better POTUS because he will shitcan the TPP, he will spend more money on US infrastructure and less on bailing out its banks and military industrial complex, and he will be less likely to start a shooting war in the Pacific against China and/or Russia.
I believe that Killary will be a shit POTUS for NZ because she is bought and paid for by the big US investment banks and corporates, she is a neocon, and her decisions were partly responsible for the horrific implosion of and loss of civilian life in Libya and Syria.
So, this is about a bit more than teaching Crooked Clinton a lesson.
+100 CV…lol
The always reliable Andrew Cockburn on Hillary and “Admiral Fabuloso”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/15/admiral-fabuloso-hillary-syria-and-the-destructive-career-of-james-g-stavridis/
And from his brother, Patrick Cockburn …
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/15/how-a-hillary-clinton-presidency-could-let-isis-off-the-hook/
Wouldn’t give trumppence for it.
Goodbye climate.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-s-vp-doubts-climate-change1/
For 90 years, lightbulbs were designed to burn out. Now that’s coming to LED bulbs.
It seems that they’re also putting in light bulbs/sockets services that communicate with the manufacturer as well giving the manufacturer information about how you use the device.
A lot of this should simply be illegal.
Bernie has got the Democrats to make a Kiwibank for America one of their platform pledges
That’s pretty exciting.
Can you cite the clause from the platform?
Very interesting to see how it’s differentiated structurally from Freddie May and Freddie Mac.
People are having fun in the US
The tea party will love it.
the tea party and the republicans are the same.
and yes it is a party of mindfuckery the only sex they approve of. That and screwing over the poor. that too is permitted. Just all the other stuff the sweaty fun kind of fuckery is verboten. Only to make little babies 🙂 white ones of course.
Fran O’Sullivan’s getting a bit hoha with The Weak Man. The bit questioning whether the Weak Man will even let himself hear Stephen Jennings’s unequivocal warning is very telling. Fran in today’s Herald…….
” Rich-lister Stephen Jennings’ warning that “we are facing an iceberg” deserves to shatter business complacency on housing.
It should also shatter the complacency of the Prime Minister – if he allows himself to hear it. Jennings has confronted the business elite with some unpalatable truths: rising house prices and immigration-fuelled economic growth are masking an underlying “iceberg that lies ahead”.
“We are sleepwalking into an economically ugly place,” he warns. How can we look at ourselves in the mirror and say how can we live with having one of the most unequal education systems in the Western world – and even if you are very selfish you better say to yourself that is not sustainable. Those chickens are going to come home to roost.”
With many chickens already here, and many more arriving daily, whom is the Weak Man going to blame ? Sixteen months out from the election the knives must be out. An emperor cannot go so struttingly, so remorselessly, so revoltingly unclothed.
National is a chicken without wings relying on mass Asian immigration and inflated housing prices to prop up an economy wallowing in $120 Billion debt $108 Billion increase since National became the Government in 2008.
Today I am exceedingly glad that we live in such a politically boring country.
+1
Unconfirmed reports that one Turkish MP has been killed.
Saudis working with who on an inside job.?
(…so Travellerev was correct after all?)
‘Congress releases long-secret ’28 pages’ indicating Saudi ties to 9/11′
https://www.rt.com/usa/351327-congress-releases-pages-saudi/
“The long-awaited 28 pages of a 2002 congressional report on the 9/11 attacks have been released. The document indicates that prominent members of the Saudi Arabian were involved in planning and financing the terror attacks.
The declassified documents were released by Congress on Friday and released them the same day, release of the documents confirmed suspicions that the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks – most of whom were Saudi nationals – likely received support from high-ranking Saudi intelligence officers…
“gets upset because he accidentally exposed his ugly side”
Not for the first or the last time one suspects.
“Jackboot Billy” lol
I think there’s a corollary with the coup plotters. If its the cult that was identified earlier behind the coup attempt, then, on the surface, they appear to be religious moderates. However, one of the the first things they intended to do was suspend the secular constitution and replace it with one of their own.
The mask quickly slipped.
A good Stuff article on housing.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/82113498/could-a-massive-public-building-programme-fix-the-housing-crisis
+1
Many New Zealanders have been pondering this question; “Where are the jobs and economic benefits for New Zealanders in the Deep Sea Oil industry?”
The Labour and National Party supporters of this extreme fossil fuel technology have either been silent on the issue of jobs, or admitted that there may be none.
But now at last, thanks to an oil industry environmental impact report, the question about jobs for New Zealanders in this industry has been answered.
No jobs in it, no votes in it.
But oil spills, like earthquakes, are good for the economy.
Who knew?
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/15/3798835/oil-spills-good-for-economy-nature-vancouver/
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/campaigns/climate-change/Oil-drilling-not-a-solution/