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.
Your access to this service has been temporarily limited. Please try again in a few minutes. (HTTP response code 503)
Reason: Exceeded the maximum number of page requests per minute for humans.
Important note for site admins: If you are the administrator of this website note that your access has been limited because you broke one of the Wordfence firewall rules. The reason you access was limited is: “Exceeded the maximum number of page requests per minute for humans.”.
If this is a false positive, meaning that your access to your own site has been limited incorrectly, then you will need to regain access to your site, go to the Wordfence “options” page, go to the section for Firewall Rules and disable the rule that caused you to be blocked. For example, if you were blocked because it was detected that you are a fake Google crawler, then disable the rule that blocks fake google crawlers. Or if you were blocked because you were accessing your site too quickly, then increase the number of accesses allowed per minute.
If you’re still having trouble, then simply disable the Wordfence firwall and you will still benefit from the other security features that Wordfence provides.
If you are a site administrator and have been accidentally locked out, please enter your email in the box below and click “Send”. If the email address you enter belongs to a known site administrator or someone set to receive Wordfence alerts, we will send you an email to help you regain access. Please read our FAQ if this does not work.
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
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
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
Your access to this site has been limited
Your access to this service has been temporarily limited. Please try again in a few minutes. (HTTP response code 503)
Reason: Exceeded the maximum number of page requests per minute for humans.
Important note for site admins: If you are the administrator of this website note that your access has been limited because you broke one of the Wordfence firewall rules. The reason you access was limited is: “Exceeded the maximum number of page requests per minute for humans.”.
If this is a false positive, meaning that your access to your own site has been limited incorrectly, then you will need to regain access to your site, go to the Wordfence “options” page, go to the section for Firewall Rules and disable the rule that caused you to be blocked. For example, if you were blocked because it was detected that you are a fake Google crawler, then disable the rule that blocks fake google crawlers. Or if you were blocked because you were accessing your site too quickly, then increase the number of accesses allowed per minute.
If you’re still having trouble, then simply disable the Wordfence firwall and you will still benefit from the other security features that Wordfence provides.
If you are a site administrator and have been accidentally locked out, please enter your email in the box below and click “Send”. If the email address you enter belongs to a known site administrator or someone set to receive Wordfence alerts, we will send you an email to help you regain access. Please read our FAQ if this does not work.
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