Agree with this. Restore Auckland’s St James Theatre. It’s more important to Auckland’s culture and heritage than the SkyCity, pokie convention centre.
Well, bb, it’s me that used the words “heritage” and “culture” – so thanks for the insult.
And for the righties, the commons doesn’t rate unless they can profiteer from it, and do so in the short term. They’d rather bleed a city by pandering to the gaming industry, and well-off convention attendees, via such things as SkyCity dirty deals. Culture and heritage is a living part of communities – a thing that brings people together.
The St James has been an important part of Auckland’s heart beat in the past, and can be again – and, for the right wingers who view everything through the immediate profits evident on the balance sheets of private businesses – the St James has been a great part of Auckland’s culture while being managed as a successful private business.
yeah i think you should refrain from pointing the bludger finger mate.
but its funny that you have this weird jump from the issue of the st james to some unemployed artist.
Do you remember the history of the Civic in Auckland?
Whats the general opinion of the Civic, and the fact that it was not just saved from demolition, but restored and is in regular, income and employment generating use today?
can you then explain exactly how any of that is in any way related to your weird delusion about personal hobbies?
“I suspect this is another in the long line of demands by the bludging arts crowd for free and easy access to my money”
Like professional rugby bludging off old lady ratepayers for a stadium
Like professional cricket bludging off old lady ratepayers for a Hagley oval.
Like dairy farmers bludging off taxpayers to subsidise their business
Like aluminium factories sucking at the taxpayer tit.
Like so much corporate fucking welfare that this government doles out left right and centre.
Hi BB, my experience of shelling out as a tax payer is to subsidise financiers and their investors (SCF rings a bell), and as a rate payer in Wellington for various Right Wing mayors public shows of largesse such as fireworks, concessions to developers etc. Please add these to your list of bludgers, carpetbaggers and free lunchers.
the outside is rumored to be equally impressive – what we actually see is some rather ugly facade that was added in the 70s or 80s
Ive done a bit of event work in there from time to time – theres a huge amount of amazing features and back stage capabilities that have simply been blocked off and forgotten
and its not just the st james – theres 3 other main spaces that were once cinemas behind the facade – each with distinctive features. But i think theres been some slicing and dicing of these spaces over the years. So some might once have been part of the st james in a previous life
Having such an ornate and intricate interior and such a drab communist bloc exterior didn’t really make sense.
We had something similar down in Hamilton with one of our buildings, some arse back in the 70’s thought covering up this ornate art deco styled building with a plain concrete block facade was the height in style.
They’ve removed the blocks now and returned it to it’s former glory.
The 70s have a lot to answer for, including my 1920s Craftsman-style doors, over which someone decided to nail (and glue) hardboard. They even stopped the hardboard 15mm from the edge to avoid having to re-hang the doors.
We do have a pretty cool fish tank that’s reminiscent of the architecture of communist-era Poland, including the burnt-umber stand.
From the Herald online, Slippery the Prime Minister, obviously in a panic over the Campbell Live roadshow gathering the opinion of ‘heartland’ Kiwis, has in a written statement to the Herald said that He will restrict the GCSB from accessing Kiwis email accounts,
As the Minister in charge of the GCSB He says that no warrants will be signed by Him for such access to emails unless there is some credible threat to that users account and the account holder would have to give permission to allow the GCSB to access their account,
Begs the question doesn’t it, why capitulate now making special provisions for the GCSB to only be able to access private email accounts only with a specific warrant to do so signed by the Prime Minister with the knowledge of the account holder,
The next question is, should not such measures be a matter of the Law, this measure should be part of the Legislation not something at the simple discretion of the Prime Minister as the Minister in charge of the GCSB…
A cynic might interpret the swift foot shuffle of Slippery the Prime Minister as an admission that the previous ‘plan’ for the GCSB was to in fact have free reign to access the email accounts of the country’s citizens,
If the GCSB or the SIS have grounds to look into the email accounts,(or any other accounts for that matter),of private citizens those organizations should seek a search warrant and serve that warrant on the citizen concerned,
That should be what the Law says, fishing expeditions by the country’s citizens are a matter of legal proscription and the agents of the State should carry out their business under the same legal proscriptions,
Looks like we have heard the last tho of the Prime Minister and His Shills whining like beaten dogs that ‘the people’ are more interested in the snapper catch limits than the GCSB’s intention to trawl the peoples email accounts hoping to land the ‘big one’…
geoff
Of course not he is The Principal! And he knows what he is talking about.
Some useful quotes relating to words meaning whatever the speaker wants.
Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland site:
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6)
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
“Come, we shall have some fun now!” thought Alice. “I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles. — I believe I can guess that,” she added aloud.
“Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?” said the March Hare.
“Exactly so,” said Alice.
“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.
“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least–at least I mean what I say–that’s the same thing, you know.”
“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”
“You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!”
“You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”
(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 7)
– You have to ensure subservience/submission of the masses (eg through debt peonage, job insecurity, transfer of economic power to the corporates etc)
– You have to ensure that potential dissident groups are kept silenced or silent (eg. academics, civil society groups like the Law Society, activists and advocacy groups, trade unions)
– You have to disable checks and balances on executive power e.g. take away the right for judicial review, appointment Yes men (and women) to bodies like the Race Relations office etc
– You have to bolster the security and intelligence services and actively undermine, discredit or put down protestors, activists and mass movements.
And just look at what is happening in Egypt. Military forces killed over 500 civilians. And while the US is “monitoring” the situation, it is continuing military and political aid.
Also you raise divisions in society by targetting minority unliked classes (prisoners, benes, child abusers, …) and spreading out from there.
For the final steps of enabling a dictatorship you require a disaster or crisis to take advantage of, followed by a purge of all potential enemies. Can be quite nasty, looking back in history eg. the days after the Reichstag Fire.
News : Mining commentator says – Underground mining has no future in NZ.
News from informed opinion : New Zea-land has no future in New Zealand. Name seen as reflecting unpleasant reality of land being used with ‘New Zeal’ (of which land there will be considerably less and with change rendering it unrecognisable compared to its past appearance.) Soon to legislate for name change to New Nauru.
Interesting moderation program operates at present. I ‘m not using Godwin’s law or anything but must be doing something out of the usual lexicon to strike the warning bell in the machine.
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There is a big lie dripping from the side of the mouth of NZ business leaders.
I heard a report on a Dunedin meeting of regional worthies who want to stop job losses. We regularly hear business leaders talk of exporting difficulties.
One of the solutions to job losses and exporting difficulties is to get interest rates, and as a consequence, exchange rates down. The fear of house price inflation is the main reason for our high interests rates. A strong Capital Gains Tax, including the family home, will enable the lowering of interest rates.
Business and regional leaders know that a lower exchange rate will stimulate exports and jobs. That also know that a CGT is required.
They know the problem and they know a significant part of the solution: but dare not speak it until they have made their own personal Tax Free gain.
Not a PS Staffer
That tax review info bite sounds like one of the gold nuggets of information that are very valuable to understanding how things actually work in our economy. Could you please put up a link. We need to have a source for this if it is a fact.
edit – This is awaiting moderation! I am very moderate I think. Well most of the time. Haha.
Got those thanks Not a PSStaffer
Will study. Am organising recovery equipment, pillow for falling on, tissues for crying into, alcoholic drink to forget it all.
“I’m now a PAYE tax payer who subsidises all those businesses and farmers that are not paying a Capital Gains Tax.”
I am in favour of a capital gains tax, but how will this extract a lot of tax from farmers? What is the size of the sector’s realised taxable capital gains?
CGT regimes are complex, but there are generally heavy discounts on the tax for active assets. In Australia for example, under the 15 year exemption the whole of the capital gain made on the sale of an active asset, such as farming property, is tax exempt.
Given the imperitave for tax harmonisation with Australia, we would need to do something similar.
So a CGT, yes. But you won’t extract much from farmers.
It appears that someone has been feeding the monkeys bananas, Maurice Williamson the Minister of buildings or something, in the online Herald today, just back from a trip to the States where He is absolutely gushing about ‘Affordable Homes’ and how they do it over in yankeeland,
Maurice is impressed that they prefabricate kitchens, bathrooms and garages in factories over there and then truck the components to the building site, my opinion is that Maurice needs something a little more mind expanding in His diet so as to gain a full understanding of prefabrication,
With the correct planning Houses can be mass produced in factories and only primitive apes would be engaged in the house building process by building one house at a time,
In a series of factories all the internal components of a house can be constructed as a unit which then needs only bolting in to the house, everything including ALL the internal walls which can be jibbed and wired with all the necessary wiring and plugs leading into the ceiling can be mass produced in a factory using largely unskilled labour,
The only components of a house that need be built on site are in fact only the foundation and the floor, even the actual roof can be pre-built in 2 halves in a factory whether it be tiled or colour steel clad and bolted into place using L plates,
With the right planning such housing could be erected in a day after the foundation and floor was laid and all that would remain is for the wiring, plumbing and outside cladding to be attached and any organization planning such a venture would only need one qualified builder along with a labouring gang to achieve such an outcome,
Maurice goes on in His little gush to point out that Kiwis would have to get used to living in houses that were much the same, aaaah derrrr Maurice, the place i am in at the moment is one of a whole street full of houses that are ‘the same’, the differing fences gardens and other added bits and pieces tho would mean you have to look hard to ascertain such similarity…
NZ already has the capability far and away more advanced than what Maurice is describing… http://www.go-homes.co.nz/
is but one example.
I have one which I have had for 5 years on two different sites! When we sold lifestyle block the new Overseas purchasers didn’t want the Go Home – all the NZ enquirers wanted it but not the eventual buyer – who does not live on the property. It was just to be land banked. So we moved the Go Home to a coastal site and enjoy it still. It takes all of one day to resite it and then move in.
Why these are not being considered for those unhoused in ChCh I cannot fathom…
Something tells me that that ruling is going to result in a lot of people innocent of charges finding themselves out of a job and persecuted by the community.
Just read Trotter on http://thedailyblog.co.nz/category/bloggers/chris-trotter/ He makes the point that Key runs rings around the likes of Shearer. Can the next Labour leader please be a common garden type who is inarticulate in a Kiwi kind of way but speaks decisively about how to catch snapper, and can draw analogies that feature darning socks with number 8 wire.
“Hi Denni. I receive change.org regularly in my in box, but haven’t seen this as yet. Is this really really really for real? Serious question.
Does it have to reach 100 signature’s before change.org will put it out on their international mailing list or something?”
I heaven’t heard back. Does anyone know anything about this and whether it’s legit?
Seems like a great idea but in reality even though Key is arse and the decisions, lies and legislation of his govt are arse, can he actually be removed from the office of P.M? Or is is just a wonderful fantasy?
It’s a fantasy. It’s a waste of time. Even if he had the power to do it, why on Earth would the ex head of the GCSB and great servant of the Empire that is our GG get rid of Key? I wish people would stop dreaming such useless rubbish.
Thanks Murray and yeshe. As expected. It was the (apparently) sudden appointment of such a military man that raised many an eyebrow, and for what? To protect the agenda.
He has nice digs though, if you ever get the opportunity to visit.
Basically, Kalecki said that the full employment delivered by Keynesian policy would eventually lead to a more assertive working class and weakening of the social position of business leaders, causing the elite to use their political power to force the displacement of the Keynesian policy even though profits would be higher than under a laissez faire system: The erosion of social prestige and political power would be unacceptable to the elites despite higher profits.
I think we can say that that is exactly what has happened over the last few decades.
From my understanding, the conservative blowback was the main reason Marx felt that incremental change was futile, and eventually the proles would simply pack a sad and have a revolution. But then of course the transitional dictatorship of the proletariat might end up wanting to preserve its elite status and forestall the completeion of the revolution (which is the main reason some communists I’ve met claimed that communism had never been tried – but it smacks as being the flipside of spylands’ argument that reason the country has tanked is simply because the neolib reforms of the last thirty years didn’t go far enough. An irrefutable proposition is a profession of faith, not an evaluation of fact).
I never really got into the hegelian dialectic thing, though I do think that Marx outlined the problems of capitalism thoroughly and robustly.
(which is the main reason some communists I’ve met claimed that communism had never been tried
According to the academics communism lasted about 50 days after the Russian Revolution. As far as I know, no other “communist” country even got that far instead going straight down the oppressive/dictatorial route following Russia.
Marx’s argument though was that communism was the culmination (“synthesis”) of history, so it couldn’t “last” for a period and then fail. Basically if a community or nation is not genuinely communist now, then there never has been. Ergo none of its faults can be blamed on communism, because if it were communist everything would be pretty grand.
Like I say, a bit too semantically perfect for my liking.
“A theory like this, which cannot be falsified by any set of observations, is closer to religion than science.” – A good description of economics in general. Though, it is a stretch to think of economics as anything like a science.
Phillips, of the curve fame, was another Dannevirke product.
He spent his time talking about boxing, basically all sport is about clan affiliation, your team, your hero sportsman, etc. Yet then he goes on to call the winner economic view as neo-liberalism, like it hadn’t been pretty well crushed as bluster. Neo-liberals make a false claim, that the wealth we’ve experienced in the last thirty years was an effect of their economic views, when in fact the rush of cheap high density fuels would have engaged any democracy, and rewarded any open economy. The question is of course neo-liberals believe in one ‘perfect’ economy, and ignore the reality that no economy will or is perfect, or run by perfect ayran economists.
. . . My point is that the mainstream press in countries such as Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom, have (more often than not) failed to engage in critical investigations into, and analyses of, the accumulation and utilisation of power. And, it is this failure that has created a vacuum filled, at least in part, by WikiLeaks and Anonymous . . .
And then there is this, also from last nights Campbell Live, the rest home workers made ‘redundant’ by a paper shuffle which changed the name of the company running the rest home but to all extents and purposes the same people who owned the previous company are the ‘new’ owners,
Excuse my language but this is simply f**king fraud, a fraud designed to have the employees re-apply for their jobs where they will be offered a lower rate of pay,
RING RING, is anyone home over at :Labour, it is obvious from the actions of this company in particular that the Law has to be re-written so as to define for what are essentially criminal employers what is and what is not redundancy,
While your at it why not include some criminal sanctions like 5 years jail for employers that attempt to circumvent the Law surrounding redundancy it might just act as a deterrent,
Shuffling paper work also allows these same people to avoid orders from the various Tribunals where knowing that they are likely to have to cough up cash as the result of a Tribunal order these same ‘oh so honest’ people simply change the name of their company and resume trading the next day suffering no penalty what-so-ever,
All Tribunal orders made against a business entity should also make the beneficial owners of that entity responsible for the orders express wishes and where the beneficial owners have registered their business entity in people that are not the beneficial owners they too should end up parked in a jail cell…
Rock and Roll, wasn’t that a decent quake, not a shake the s**t of the shelves model but bigger than any of the previous in the series felt out here East of the City…
Hang a small weight on a nylon thread in a window you can see from where you spend most of your time. Watch for the wobble on that. My eyes have spent a lot of time in the last 3 years peering intensely at such a device.
6.9 according to the rickety scale, no damage what-so-ever here but in the City might be a different story,
The thing with these ongoing series is the damage to the bigger buildings that is not necessarily visible, all of the shakes will be stressing steel in various ways, and continued stressing will weaken structures…
Yes, it was big up the top of Newlands bad12. Got on the ground this time. Ground took a while to stop rolling. And it was rock n roll. It usually jolts and shakes up here on the rock. Everyone ok?
LOLZ, i deliberately sat in the chair to see what it felt like but fear got the better of me in the end and i parked my carcass in the doorway for the last bit,
Out here we are all good but i feel for anyone in the tower blocks downtown, felt as a ‘dip’ here followed by a shudder then a long rolling motion…
Central city and can still feel it rocking. I’m leaving next week – don’t know whether to be worried my family will still be here, or happy to be getting out of it.
LOLZ, in my guise as a labourer i worked on a lot of Wellington’s tower blocks but always quit once they started getting off the ground, if the piles start going on them you can feel free to blame me, l worked for years for a piling firm,
I only ever go into the City these days if i absolutely have to…
We live on the edge of the centre of the city, lol. So getting out is not an option. Not near any high rises though, and our building is earthquake strengthened (phew) – so you’re safe from blame from me.
At least we’re not one of the workers in cars trying to get home right now…
Thanks for the hot tip re the weight on a nylon line vto. Thats sage advice. Turns out the ground was still rolling after all with quakes coming in from the north and the south, only minutes apart. A real bombardment
Husband whose a civil defence volunteer who works on the 16th floor of a building in town said they are considering leaving for the day. It was really bad for them and others no doubt.
Yeah true, has been upgraded and then downgraded, cant those people get anything right, when Wellington gets it’s long overdue ‘Biggy’ i want to know immediately the minutae of destruction,
Another one just as i am typing, that i would call moderate but seemed to be a side-to-side east west motion whereas the 6.2 seemed to be a south to north rolling…
In town Contrarian? Just listening to radio active. Apparently it’s mass exodus heading north out of town, Glover park is full of people drinking (nothing new in that though) and the pubs are busier than they usually are on Friday arvo, so they must be heaving.
A man received 5 years 9 months jail sentence.
Taia beat up a St Albans neighbour, Vaea Lam, so badly that he had serious head and brain injuries and had to have part of his skull removed, and he lost five teeth.
Crown prosecutor Deidre Orchard said the head injury almost resulted in Lam’s death, and Taia had an extensive, very serious and alarming history of violence.
Lam was in court, and Taia called out, “Yeah but I didn’t start this, you should man up, man”.
There apparently was provocation. But that doesn’t excuse violence, certainly not to this level. This man should be kept in jail for a long, long time. He is a danger to anyone round him and is sure to commit other crimes up to an surpassing this.
Let half of our jail population with minor offences out after a month of intensive counselling, training, and life and trade skills orientation, the rest of their time to be suspended unless they commit law-breaking that is sufficiently serious. But keep people like this man in jail under safe conditions and away from other prisoners till he can handle anger and self-control issues and get a vision of making a better life for himself and others.
Here is a video of proxy voters who are being interrogated in the belief that it will give an indication of future voting preferences. They are all looking a bit uncertain and sheepish though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcE5aDTszrY
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Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
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 ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
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 ...
Comment: The recent attack by Destiny Church front groups on a Drag science show at Te Atatū library crossed a line. This wasn’t the first time that Brian Tamaki, the multimillionaire self-appointed ‘apostle’, has ordered acts of aggression against the queer community. Last year, Drag Story Time events were targeted, ...
Martina Salmon is well versed in the fast-paced action on a netball court, but even she was caught by surprise with the speed at which her career changed tack last year.Staying in the fast lane is only part of her drive this season.Fresh off a nine-day camp in Sydney with ...
Last night I may as well have been in Taihape. Or, closer to home, for me at least, somewhere in the Wairarapa. Or Tūrangi, even – which is near where we used to spend the summer when I was a child. For there was that same gorgeous small town feeling ...
Having Auckland’s food scraps dumped onto your rural backyard sounds scandalous, but in the North Island town of Reporoa there’s no fuss about the thousands of tonnes carted here every week.From the same site as one truck drops the waste, another truck picks up fertiliser to spread on local sheep ...
Negotiating rights over freshwater in Treaty settlement negotiations could have extended negotiations a decade, a Ngāi Tahu leader says.Tribal leaders, and its umbrella body, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, have taken the Attorney-General to court in a bid to have the Crown recognise its rangatiratanga (chiefly authority) over wai māori ...
Analysis: Poor safeguarding of New Zealanders’ data could be a widespread practice within the public service and certainly within the health system, according to the findings of an independent inquiry into allegations of misused census and Covid-19 vaccination information.The Public Service Commission’s review, led by consultant Pania Gray and former ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Stone, Principal Research Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Having dense breasts is a clear risk factor for breast cancer. It can also make cancers hard to spot on mammograms. Yet you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The National Anti-Corruption Commission will finally investigate whether six people referred to it by the royal commission into Robodebt engaged in corrupt conduct. This follows an independent reconsideration by former High Court judge Geoffrey ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Last week in Europe, the United States sent some very strong messages it is prepared to upend the established global order. US Vice President JD Vance warned a stunned Munich ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank cut official interest rates on Tuesday, the first decrease in four years, saying inflationary pressures are easing “a little more quickly than expected”. However, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan Fels, Professor Allan Fels, Professor of Law, Economics and Business at the University of Melbourne and Monash University., The University of Melbourne Australia is creeping towards adding a divestiture power to its Competition and Consumer Act. Under such a law, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arjen Vaartjes, PhD Student, Quantum Physics, UNSW Sydney Dmitriy Rybin / Shutterstock What makes something quantum? This question has kept a small but dedicated fraction of the world’s population – most of them quantum physicists – up at night for decades. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University Australia’s minister for home affairs announced on Sunday that the federal government has struck a deal with Nauru to “resettle” three non-citizens from what’s come to be known as the “NZYQ cohort”. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Fitzpatrick, Professor in International History, Flinders University (From left to right): Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany.German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons Ukraine ...
The purpose was to establish the facts and provide an independent assessment of government agency activity in relation to allegations that personal data may have been misused during the 2023 General Election. ...
Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster said he is carefully reviewing the referrals raised in the two reports. That work will be done in the context the Privacy Act and the need to ensure individuals’ rights to privacy is protected and respected. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bhavna Middha, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The average Australian household size has decreased from 4.5 people per household in 1911 to 2.5 people in 2024. At the same time, the average house size has increased, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Page Jeffery, Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Sydney suriyachan/Shutterstock When the Australian government passed legislation in November last year banning young people under 16 from social media, it included exemptions for platforms “that are primarily for the purposes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leslie Roberson, Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland If you’ve ever been stopped by quarantine officers at the airport, you might think Australia’s international border is locked down like a fortress. But when it comes ...
Duncan Sarkies’ latest novel, Star Gazers, is about the collapse of democracy in a society of alpaca breeders. Here are some things his intensive research revealed. 1 How greed works, psychologicallyYes, I guess I already understood greed, but I could never understand why people who already have everything they ...
The proposed cuts would see only two full time Telehealth data and digital roles, and one Planning, Funding and Outcomes (PFO) role remain, reduced from 17 Telehealth support roles (including vacant roles). Roles proposed to be cut include Telehealth ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Ministers to end funding for Te Kurahuna programmes and workshop grifters that have received millions in taxpayer funding, despite the Government’s supposed focus on cutting costs. ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist, in Avarua, Rarotonga More than 400 people have taken to the streets to protest against Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown’s recent decisions, which have led to a diplomatic spat with New Zealand. The protest, led by Opposition MP and Cook Islands United Party ...
In the second episode, Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester unearth some truths about dating on a dance floor in South Canterbury. Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is a brand new documentary series for The Spinoff following award-winning comedians and friends Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester as they embark ...
The first half of a billion-dollar pipe that will drastically reduce wastewater overflows in the Auckland isthmus is now in operation. As I biked south, I thought about all the poo sloshing beneath my wheels. Tubes of it disgorging from U-bends, into wastewater pipes laid under our streets that become ...
🚐 The vulnerability continues as the pair head to the Hunt Ball in South Canterbury in search of a rich farmer, before getting some sage relationship advice from Brynley’s Dad and Oma. ❣️ Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club follows comedians Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester as they head out on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Garrett, Lecturer in Exercise Science and Physiology, Griffith University Australia’s love affair with the major football codes – the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) – is well documented. However, one aspect that stands out to many observers, ...
The White Lotus is back for season three. Here’s what we made of episode one. The third White Lotus season rinses and repeats – and thank God for that. Turns out there is enough comedic and dramatic juice in resort-set ensemble satires on privilege in the modern world, ...
Agree with this. Restore Auckland’s St James Theatre. It’s more important to Auckland’s culture and heritage than the SkyCity, pokie convention centre.
karol.
I suspect this is another in the long line of demands by the bludging arts crowd for free and easy access to my money.
Whenever I see the words “heritage” and “culture” it is normally means that some talentless hack wants the public to subsidise their hobby.
Well, bb, it’s me that used the words “heritage” and “culture” – so thanks for the insult.
And for the righties, the commons doesn’t rate unless they can profiteer from it, and do so in the short term. They’d rather bleed a city by pandering to the gaming industry, and well-off convention attendees, via such things as SkyCity dirty deals. Culture and heritage is a living part of communities – a thing that brings people together.
The St James has been an important part of Auckland’s heart beat in the past, and can be again – and, for the right wingers who view everything through the immediate profits evident on the balance sheets of private businesses – the St James has been a great part of Auckland’s culture while being managed as a successful private business.
Yep agree Karol, lucky we saved from it the Cath Tizard and the visionless Auckland council who wanted to knock it over.
yeah i think you should refrain from pointing the bludger finger mate.
but its funny that you have this weird jump from the issue of the st james to some unemployed artist.
Do you remember the history of the Civic in Auckland?
Whats the general opinion of the Civic, and the fact that it was not just saved from demolition, but restored and is in regular, income and employment generating use today?
can you then explain exactly how any of that is in any way related to your weird delusion about personal hobbies?
“I suspect this is another in the long line of demands by the bludging arts crowd for free and easy access to my money”
Like professional rugby bludging off old lady ratepayers for a stadium
Like professional cricket bludging off old lady ratepayers for a Hagley oval.
Like dairy farmers bludging off taxpayers to subsidise their business
Like aluminium factories sucking at the taxpayer tit.
Like so much corporate fucking welfare that this government doles out left right and centre.
You’re a joke bb
“Like dairy farmers bludging off taxpayers to subsidise their business”
New Zealand agricultural subsidies are by far the lowest in the world. So this statement is a bit silly. One thing we have got right in NZ.
http://www.economist.com/node/21563323
You will find the picture is similar across other sectors (but less stark than for ag).
So the “corporate welfare” mantra is a myth. A chant not supported by any empirical evidence.
what absolute rubbish
“Whenever I see the words “heritage” and “culture” it is normally means that some talentless hack wants the public to subsidise their hobby.”
Like the America’s Cup or the Velodrome at Cambridge
Hi BB, my experience of shelling out as a tax payer is to subsidise financiers and their investors (SCF rings a bell), and as a rate payer in Wellington for various Right Wing mayors public shows of largesse such as fireworks, concessions to developers etc. Please add these to your list of bludgers, carpetbaggers and free lunchers.
I just googled the St James theater, looks really average from the out side, but the inside is really impressive.
It would be a real shame to see something of that caliber disappear.
the outside is rumored to be equally impressive – what we actually see is some rather ugly facade that was added in the 70s or 80s
Ive done a bit of event work in there from time to time – theres a huge amount of amazing features and back stage capabilities that have simply been blocked off and forgotten
and its not just the st james – theres 3 other main spaces that were once cinemas behind the facade – each with distinctive features. But i think theres been some slicing and dicing of these spaces over the years. So some might once have been part of the st james in a previous life
I did wonder about that.
Having such an ornate and intricate interior and such a drab communist bloc exterior didn’t really make sense.
We had something similar down in Hamilton with one of our buildings, some arse back in the 70’s thought covering up this ornate art deco styled building with a plain concrete block facade was the height in style.
They’ve removed the blocks now and returned it to it’s former glory.
“some arse back in the 70′s thought covering up this ornate art deco styled building with a plain concrete block facade was the height in style.”
heh – thats some what NZ architectural history from that time distilled into one sentence
The 70s have a lot to answer for, including my 1920s Craftsman-style doors, over which someone decided to nail (and glue) hardboard. They even stopped the hardboard 15mm from the edge to avoid having to re-hang the doors.
We do have a pretty cool fish tank that’s reminiscent of the architecture of communist-era Poland, including the burnt-umber stand.
yeah some communist era design has its merits – though i think they did better at the monument side of things
Move aside Miss Liberty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motherland_Calls
Never to be forgiven.
http://www.worldarchitecturemap.org/buildings/wanganui-departmental-building
Wasn’t just NZ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture
I hate to see beautiful buildings go – once they are gone you can never get them back.
Holy fuck! http://eyeonauckland.com/2013/06/akl-inspired-2/
According to this page, the facade was added in the 50s for a royal visit.
any gamers out there..?
..my son found this deal yesterday..that really needs to be passed around..
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/ed-gamers-have-electronic-arts-got-a-deal-for-you/
..electronic arts..(the dark empire of gaming) are attempting to rehabilitate their lousy reputation with gamers..
..by offering a killer humble-deal..
..eight a-grade/big-selling games – for about u.s.$4-$5..
..plus monies from all sales go to a charity you choose from a provided-list..
..what is not to love about that..?
(just one of those eight games will cost you $60 if brought over the counter today..in auckland..
(nb..i am not in the employ of electronic arts..or any of their agents..and receive no gain of any sort from this recommendation..
..but this one is just too good not to pump..
phillip ure..
Just a pity that they’re not the type of games that I play.
Still, there is always GOG.com and Steam.
From the Herald online, Slippery the Prime Minister, obviously in a panic over the Campbell Live roadshow gathering the opinion of ‘heartland’ Kiwis, has in a written statement to the Herald said that He will restrict the GCSB from accessing Kiwis email accounts,
As the Minister in charge of the GCSB He says that no warrants will be signed by Him for such access to emails unless there is some credible threat to that users account and the account holder would have to give permission to allow the GCSB to access their account,
Begs the question doesn’t it, why capitulate now making special provisions for the GCSB to only be able to access private email accounts only with a specific warrant to do so signed by the Prime Minister with the knowledge of the account holder,
The next question is, should not such measures be a matter of the Law, this measure should be part of the Legislation not something at the simple discretion of the Prime Minister as the Minister in charge of the GCSB…
Yep.
As I said in karol’s Key vs Campbell transcript, John boy only responds to threats to his popularity. He has no principles.
A cynic might interpret the swift foot shuffle of Slippery the Prime Minister as an admission that the previous ‘plan’ for the GCSB was to in fact have free reign to access the email accounts of the country’s citizens,
If the GCSB or the SIS have grounds to look into the email accounts,(or any other accounts for that matter),of private citizens those organizations should seek a search warrant and serve that warrant on the citizen concerned,
That should be what the Law says, fishing expeditions by the country’s citizens are a matter of legal proscription and the agents of the State should carry out their business under the same legal proscriptions,
Looks like we have heard the last tho of the Prime Minister and His Shills whining like beaten dogs that ‘the people’ are more interested in the snapper catch limits than the GCSB’s intention to trawl the peoples email accounts hoping to land the ‘big one’…
geoff
Of course not he is The Principal! And he knows what he is talking about.
Some useful quotes relating to words meaning whatever the speaker wants.
Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland site:
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6)
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
“Come, we shall have some fun now!” thought Alice. “I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles. — I believe I can guess that,” she added aloud.
“Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?” said the March Hare.
“Exactly so,” said Alice.
“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.
“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least–at least I mean what I say–that’s the same thing, you know.”
“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”
“You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!”
“You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”
(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 7)
But does not restrict NSA etc access to all Kiwi emails plus metadata .. we should yet remain vigilant !
What are the steps toward dictatorship?
– You have to ensure subservience/submission of the masses (eg through debt peonage, job insecurity, transfer of economic power to the corporates etc)
– You have to ensure that potential dissident groups are kept silenced or silent (eg. academics, civil society groups like the Law Society, activists and advocacy groups, trade unions)
– You have to disable checks and balances on executive power e.g. take away the right for judicial review, appointment Yes men (and women) to bodies like the Race Relations office etc
– You have to bolster the security and intelligence services and actively undermine, discredit or put down protestors, activists and mass movements.
And just look at what is happening in Egypt. Military forces killed over 500 civilians. And while the US is “monitoring” the situation, it is continuing military and political aid.
Also you raise divisions in society by targetting minority unliked classes (prisoners, benes, child abusers, …) and spreading out from there.
For the final steps of enabling a dictatorship you require a disaster or crisis to take advantage of, followed by a purge of all potential enemies. Can be quite nasty, looking back in history eg. the days after the Reichstag Fire.
All good points C.V.
News : Mining commentator says – Underground mining has no future in NZ.
News from informed opinion : New Zea-land has no future in New Zealand. Name seen as reflecting unpleasant reality of land being used with ‘New Zeal’ (of which land there will be considerably less and with change rendering it unrecognisable compared to its past appearance.) Soon to legislate for name change to New Nauru.
Interesting moderation program operates at present. I ‘m not using Godwin’s law or anything but must be doing something out of the usual lexicon to strike the warning bell in the machine.
And that awaits moderation also. I am Numero Uno on the unbucket list.
[Bunji: an awful lot going to moderation at the moment, not just from you… LPrent? What’s happening?]
I’ve been getting these this morning
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LOLZ, me too, made me feel like the enemy at the gate, snigger, a small ,matter of log off log back on fixes it…
I just wait and refresh the page.
me too
You get that when you have lots of tabs open.
Ultra user like me who likes to swallow the Standard by the pint gets annoyed with waiting tho 😈
There is a big lie dripping from the side of the mouth of NZ business leaders.
I heard a report on a Dunedin meeting of regional worthies who want to stop job losses. We regularly hear business leaders talk of exporting difficulties.
One of the solutions to job losses and exporting difficulties is to get interest rates, and as a consequence, exchange rates down. The fear of house price inflation is the main reason for our high interests rates. A strong Capital Gains Tax, including the family home, will enable the lowering of interest rates.
Business and regional leaders know that a lower exchange rate will stimulate exports and jobs. That also know that a CGT is required.
They know the problem and they know a significant part of the solution: but dare not speak it until they have made their own personal Tax Free gain.
Yep.
Classic example of the capitalist class working against everyone else.
Aaaaah Tax Free income!
I’m now a PAYE tax payer who subsidises all those businesses and farmers that are not paying a Capital Gains Tax.
Many farms are set up to pay very lille tax and for all the gain to be in the Tax Free “sale” to the next generation or a third party.
The average kiwi farmers pays less tax than PAYE farmworkers. (See the Tax Review commissioned by Key in 2009).
Not a PS Staffer
That tax review info bite sounds like one of the gold nuggets of information that are very valuable to understanding how things actually work in our economy. Could you please put up a link. We need to have a source for this if it is a fact.
edit – This is awaiting moderation! I am very moderate I think. Well most of the time. Haha.
Hi Greywarbler,
Here is the report
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacl/cagtr/pdf/tax-report-website.pdf
If you are a PAYE tax payer i suggest a large box of tissues and a still drink to accompny the reading.
and here is some related comment.
http://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/news/2009-10-19-finance-ministers-speech-nzica
https://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/about/publications/twg-whatlessonsforpolicydevelopment.pdf
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0906/S00174.htm
Got those thanks Not a PSStaffer
Will study. Am organising recovery equipment, pillow for falling on, tissues for crying into, alcoholic drink to forget it all.
“I’m now a PAYE tax payer who subsidises all those businesses and farmers that are not paying a Capital Gains Tax.”
I am in favour of a capital gains tax, but how will this extract a lot of tax from farmers? What is the size of the sector’s realised taxable capital gains?
CGT regimes are complex, but there are generally heavy discounts on the tax for active assets. In Australia for example, under the 15 year exemption the whole of the capital gain made on the sale of an active asset, such as farming property, is tax exempt.
Given the imperitave for tax harmonisation with Australia, we would need to do something similar.
So a CGT, yes. But you won’t extract much from farmers.
It appears that someone has been feeding the monkeys bananas, Maurice Williamson the Minister of buildings or something, in the online Herald today, just back from a trip to the States where He is absolutely gushing about ‘Affordable Homes’ and how they do it over in yankeeland,
Maurice is impressed that they prefabricate kitchens, bathrooms and garages in factories over there and then truck the components to the building site, my opinion is that Maurice needs something a little more mind expanding in His diet so as to gain a full understanding of prefabrication,
With the correct planning Houses can be mass produced in factories and only primitive apes would be engaged in the house building process by building one house at a time,
In a series of factories all the internal components of a house can be constructed as a unit which then needs only bolting in to the house, everything including ALL the internal walls which can be jibbed and wired with all the necessary wiring and plugs leading into the ceiling can be mass produced in a factory using largely unskilled labour,
The only components of a house that need be built on site are in fact only the foundation and the floor, even the actual roof can be pre-built in 2 halves in a factory whether it be tiled or colour steel clad and bolted into place using L plates,
With the right planning such housing could be erected in a day after the foundation and floor was laid and all that would remain is for the wiring, plumbing and outside cladding to be attached and any organization planning such a venture would only need one qualified builder along with a labouring gang to achieve such an outcome,
Maurice goes on in His little gush to point out that Kiwis would have to get used to living in houses that were much the same, aaaah derrrr Maurice, the place i am in at the moment is one of a whole street full of houses that are ‘the same’, the differing fences gardens and other added bits and pieces tho would mean you have to look hard to ascertain such similarity…
NZ already has the capability far and away more advanced than what Maurice is describing…
http://www.go-homes.co.nz/
is but one example.
I have one which I have had for 5 years on two different sites! When we sold lifestyle block the new Overseas purchasers didn’t want the Go Home – all the NZ enquirers wanted it but not the eventual buyer – who does not live on the property. It was just to be land banked. So we moved the Go Home to a coastal site and enjoy it still. It takes all of one day to resite it and then move in.
Why these are not being considered for those unhoused in ChCh I cannot fathom…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10913071
– Finally somethings being done about this and why was it suddenly envoked?
Something tells me that that ruling is going to result in a lot of people innocent of charges finding themselves out of a job and persecuted by the community.
Just read Trotter on http://thedailyblog.co.nz/category/bloggers/chris-trotter/ He makes the point that Key runs rings around the likes of Shearer. Can the next Labour leader please be a common garden type who is inarticulate in a Kiwi kind of way but speaks decisively about how to catch snapper, and can draw analogies that feature darning socks with number 8 wire.
Sounds like Shearer…
+1 Ennui
And be someone who has proven themselves in Parliament
And be someone who has won a seat by winning direct votes from the Public.
And not a former parliamentary office boy/girl.
Yesterday this petition was posted in the comments on The Daily Blog:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-general-of-new-zealand-dismiss-the-national-led-government-of-new-zealand
And I asked this question:
“Hi Denni. I receive change.org regularly in my in box, but haven’t seen this as yet. Is this really really really for real? Serious question.
Does it have to reach 100 signature’s before change.org will put it out on their international mailing list or something?”
I heaven’t heard back. Does anyone know anything about this and whether it’s legit?
Seems like a great idea but in reality even though Key is arse and the decisions, lies and legislation of his govt are arse, can he actually be removed from the office of P.M? Or is is just a wonderful fantasy?
It’s a fantasy. It’s a waste of time. Even if he had the power to do it, why on Earth would the ex head of the GCSB and great servant of the Empire that is our GG get rid of Key? I wish people would stop dreaming such useless rubbish.
yes, the appt of our current GG is going to come back to bite us .. this was well-planned by thems as wish to hold power regardless.
Thanks Murray and yeshe. As expected. It was the (apparently) sudden appointment of such a military man that raised many an eyebrow, and for what? To protect the agenda.
He has nice digs though, if you ever get the opportunity to visit.
IS THE “NATURAL RATE” OF UNEMPLOYMENT AN OUT-OF-DATE CONCEPT?
Yeah its a totally false mathematical construct to justify throwing some people on the waste heap of unemployment
Economist Michal Kalecki’s amazingly correct prediction
I think we can say that that is exactly what has happened over the last few decades.
Marx beat him to it, methinks.
From my understanding, the conservative blowback was the main reason Marx felt that incremental change was futile, and eventually the proles would simply pack a sad and have a revolution. But then of course the transitional dictatorship of the proletariat might end up wanting to preserve its elite status and forestall the completeion of the revolution (which is the main reason some communists I’ve met claimed that communism had never been tried – but it smacks as being the flipside of spylands’ argument that reason the country has tanked is simply because the neolib reforms of the last thirty years didn’t go far enough. An irrefutable proposition is a profession of faith, not an evaluation of fact).
I never really got into the hegelian dialectic thing, though I do think that Marx outlined the problems of capitalism thoroughly and robustly.
According to the academics communism lasted about 50 days after the Russian Revolution. As far as I know, no other “communist” country even got that far instead going straight down the oppressive/dictatorial route following Russia.
Academics are not a homogeneous mass 🙂
Marx’s argument though was that communism was the culmination (“synthesis”) of history, so it couldn’t “last” for a period and then fail. Basically if a community or nation is not genuinely communist now, then there never has been. Ergo none of its faults can be blamed on communism, because if it were communist everything would be pretty grand.
Like I say, a bit too semantically perfect for my liking.
“A theory like this, which cannot be falsified by any set of observations, is closer to religion than science.” – A good description of economics in general. Though, it is a stretch to think of economics as anything like a science.
Phillips, of the curve fame, was another Dannevirke product.
Bob Jones is an idiot, saying neo-liberalism works because it got rid of restaurant vetos, like bad law is now no longer possible, or that no regulation is good for the economy. what a twerp.http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20130816-1006-sir_robert_jones_-_nz_businessman_and_author-048.mp3
He spent his time talking about boxing, basically all sport is about clan affiliation, your team, your hero sportsman, etc. Yet then he goes on to call the winner economic view as neo-liberalism, like it hadn’t been pretty well crushed as bluster. Neo-liberals make a false claim, that the wealth we’ve experienced in the last thirty years was an effect of their economic views, when in fact the rush of cheap high density fuels would have engaged any democracy, and rewarded any open economy. The question is of course neo-liberals believe in one ‘perfect’ economy, and ignore the reality that no economy will or is perfect, or run by perfect ayran economists.
‘
Interesting opinion piece from Christian Christensen over at Al Jazeera . . .
And then there is this, also from last nights Campbell Live, the rest home workers made ‘redundant’ by a paper shuffle which changed the name of the company running the rest home but to all extents and purposes the same people who owned the previous company are the ‘new’ owners,
Excuse my language but this is simply f**king fraud, a fraud designed to have the employees re-apply for their jobs where they will be offered a lower rate of pay,
RING RING, is anyone home over at :Labour, it is obvious from the actions of this company in particular that the Law has to be re-written so as to define for what are essentially criminal employers what is and what is not redundancy,
While your at it why not include some criminal sanctions like 5 years jail for employers that attempt to circumvent the Law surrounding redundancy it might just act as a deterrent,
Shuffling paper work also allows these same people to avoid orders from the various Tribunals where knowing that they are likely to have to cough up cash as the result of a Tribunal order these same ‘oh so honest’ people simply change the name of their company and resume trading the next day suffering no penalty what-so-ever,
All Tribunal orders made against a business entity should also make the beneficial owners of that entity responsible for the orders express wishes and where the beneficial owners have registered their business entity in people that are not the beneficial owners they too should end up parked in a jail cell…
Rock and Roll, wasn’t that a decent quake, not a shake the s**t of the shelves model but bigger than any of the previous in the series felt out here East of the City…
a long wobble felt here in chch. would have been a doozy. hope everyone’s ok.
Not sure if ground still moving or my nerves are shattered…………..
Hang a small weight on a nylon thread in a window you can see from where you spend most of your time. Watch for the wobble on that. My eyes have spent a lot of time in the last 3 years peering intensely at such a device.
6.9 according to the rickety scale, no damage what-so-ever here but in the City might be a different story,
The thing with these ongoing series is the damage to the bigger buildings that is not necessarily visible, all of the shakes will be stressing steel in various ways, and continued stressing will weaken structures…
Yes, it was big up the top of Newlands bad12. Got on the ground this time. Ground took a while to stop rolling. And it was rock n roll. It usually jolts and shakes up here on the rock. Everyone ok?
LOLZ, i deliberately sat in the chair to see what it felt like but fear got the better of me in the end and i parked my carcass in the doorway for the last bit,
Out here we are all good but i feel for anyone in the tower blocks downtown, felt as a ‘dip’ here followed by a shudder then a long rolling motion…
Central city and can still feel it rocking. I’m leaving next week – don’t know whether to be worried my family will still be here, or happy to be getting out of it.
LOLZ, in my guise as a labourer i worked on a lot of Wellington’s tower blocks but always quit once they started getting off the ground, if the piles start going on them you can feel free to blame me, l worked for years for a piling firm,
I only ever go into the City these days if i absolutely have to…
We live on the edge of the centre of the city, lol. So getting out is not an option. Not near any high rises though, and our building is earthquake strengthened (phew) – so you’re safe from blame from me.
At least we’re not one of the workers in cars trying to get home right now…
Since 2.31pm this afternoon (20 minutes ago) there has been
a 6.2 near Seddon
a 5.7 near Seddon
a 3.5 near Murupara
a 4.4 near Seddon
a 3.5 near Taihape
a 5.3 near Seddon
The place is going nuts. Seddon will be terrified.
edit update: and a 3.6 near Wellington
Thanks for the hot tip re the weight on a nylon line vto. Thats sage advice. Turns out the ground was still rolling after all with quakes coming in from the north and the south, only minutes apart. A real bombardment
Husband whose a civil defence volunteer who works on the 16th floor of a building in town said they are considering leaving for the day. It was really bad for them and others no doubt.
Apparently there has been two aftershocks measuring 5.7 and 5.3, havn’t felt any of those two, these are all centered south of Seddon,
The 6.7 was felt in Auckland, ( Don’t tell anyone in case they unleash the men in white coats on me, but i quite enjoyed that one)…
It is apparently still shaking big-time down Seddon/Ward way…
6.2
Yeah true, has been upgraded and then downgraded, cant those people get anything right, when Wellington gets it’s long overdue ‘Biggy’ i want to know immediately the minutae of destruction,
Another one just as i am typing, that i would call moderate but seemed to be a side-to-side east west motion whereas the 6.2 seemed to be a south to north rolling…
Mental. It’s still rolling, like being on the ocean. Palms getting clammy……….
http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes/all
I was out walking and didn’t feel a god damn thing
In town Contrarian? Just listening to radio active. Apparently it’s mass exodus heading north out of town, Glover park is full of people drinking (nothing new in that though) and the pubs are busier than they usually are on Friday arvo, so they must be heaving.
I was up near Karori. Not sure how I missed it.
Brain death is usually the cause of such a failure…
meanie!
Huh? I’m getting stuck into auto-moderation for some reason.
[Bunji: Seem to be having a little trouble today – quite a lot going into auto-moderation for no apparent reason]
This is the sort of thing that fuels Garth McVicar and his bunch.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9051400/Victim-lost-part-of-skull-five-teeth-in-beating
A man received 5 years 9 months jail sentence.
Taia beat up a St Albans neighbour, Vaea Lam, so badly that he had serious head and brain injuries and had to have part of his skull removed, and he lost five teeth.
Crown prosecutor Deidre Orchard said the head injury almost resulted in Lam’s death, and Taia had an extensive, very serious and alarming history of violence.
Lam was in court, and Taia called out, “Yeah but I didn’t start this, you should man up, man”.
There apparently was provocation. But that doesn’t excuse violence, certainly not to this level. This man should be kept in jail for a long, long time. He is a danger to anyone round him and is sure to commit other crimes up to an surpassing this.
Let half of our jail population with minor offences out after a month of intensive counselling, training, and life and trade skills orientation, the rest of their time to be suspended unless they commit law-breaking that is sufficiently serious. But keep people like this man in jail under safe conditions and away from other prisoners till he can handle anger and self-control issues and get a vision of making a better life for himself and others.
This prick.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10913336
Here is a video of proxy voters who are being interrogated in the belief that it will give an indication of future voting preferences. They are all looking a bit uncertain and sheepish though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcE5aDTszrY