I’ve been in Christchurch since lastTtuesday night. It is certainly a shadow of its former self but you can see as you drive around the progress that is being made and the city it will become.
Two areas, traditionally (and still) working class have seen an influx of new (relocated businesses), Woolston and Hornby.
As an Aucklander the road works and associated traffic hold ups are nothing new but I know from my previous trips over the years and a period living there that CHCHCH residents will find it tough.
I tip my hat to the people of Christchurch for their perserverance and optimistic outlook. Most have no choice but to stay and persevere but no one said you had to do it with a smile on your face, so kudos to you all.
You certainly deserve better than this
” Affordable housing is being pushed out of reach for most of Christchurch’s most vulnerable residents as the number of pricey rentals across the city soars.
Fairfax Media has compared the number of rentals in different price ranges using Census data from 2006 and 2013.
It showed the high end of the Christchurch rental market has expanded dramatically, while the bottom end of the market collapsed.
Across the city, the percentage of rentals in the $200 to $299 price range fell from 40 per cent of all homes in 2006 to 26 per cent in 2013.
The percentage of homes in the $300 to $399 range rose from 12 per cent to 32 per cent, and from 3 per cent to 11 per cent in the $400 to $499.
The number of rentals costing more than $500 a week skyrocketed city-wide, especially in the more affluent suburbs.
In Linwood, the number of rentals in the $100 to $199 price range decreased from 729 to 258 between 2006 and 2013.
The number in the $300 to $399 bracket increased from 69 to 225.
Aranui’s rentals in the $300 to $399 price range rose from nine to 114 – a 1167 per cent increase. ”
and this
” The earthquake recovery minister’s Christmas card said the challenges of life in Christchurch continued this year but the “light at the end of the tunnel” was a little more evident.
It read: “2014 I’m sure will be brighter. I hope you enjoy the festive season and wish you well for 2014 which will be a big year for National.” G Brownlee former head of Ministry responsible for Pike River
Yep felt it too – short and sharp equals nearby. Then there was another a few minutes later. Reminded me of times when we use to get three in a row with the third being the wallop. Luckily it didn’t come…
Can’t believe the nanny state term is still used by Tory politicians …after Pike River, forestry deaths and the CTV building collapse.
That’s right Tony you and your obscene government’s refusal to care for people’s safety at work costs lives.
And you have the nerve to gibber on about nanny state.
Revolting.
“New Zealand is getting fatter – with three in every 10 adults now regarded as obese.
A leading diabetes researcher has called the new figures alarming and has accused the Government of failing to take the problem seriously.
However, Health Minister Tony Ryall has rejected “nanny state” measures, instead arguing that providing information and support to people is enough.
“In the end, the Government can pass all the laws it likes but unless people eat less and exercise more, things won’t change,” Mr Ryall said yesterday in response to the new figures.”
Well, ya know Paul, we don’t want to regulate now, that might interfere with corporate foods’ right to a profit.
There are so many facets to our deteriorating health stats but the free run that corporates have in the market has to be a contributor towards poor health – IMO.
.
One example might be the abundance of jumbo packs of junk food constantly on special. 3 X 150 gm bags of fat and msg laden chippies for $5. Chocolate as an everyday cheap commodity.(ethical issue here too with child labour being used in the production of some brands) Booze easily available 24/7 in some areas. Soft drinks, litres of the stuff that take up half an aisle.
We had a New World open up in our neighbourhood recently. It’s more like a glorified dairy selling convenience food rather than a place to go and get healthy ingredients.
Think back 35+ years to what supermarket shelves looked like, ok maybe less variety, all rather meat and 3 vege stylez but there wasn’t the abundance of junk food. I remember as a kid in the 70’s chippies and ‘fizzy’ were a treat for birthdays and Xmas. All biscuits and cakes were home made and treat only. Did we worry about type 2 diabetes then?
Our govt exists to serve the corporates, not society.
and lets not forget people are working longer hours than ever and are too tired to cook decent healthy meals, and can’t afford good ingredients anyway – convenience food manufacturers benefit from a poorly regulated labour force?
Ultimately Governments have a hand in the health of the population. Tony Ryall is wrong.
“Our govt exists to serve the corporates, not society.”
Quite, and we might want to consider that obesity is being defined by a fairly useless indicator (the BMI) and who benefits from that? Big pharma is making shit loads of money from poor health. The MoH can wax lyrical about diet and exercise all it wants, but until structural changes are made, money will go straight from the tax payer to corporate via health.
I was a child of the 70s and ate plenty of sweet things 😉 There is an issue with type 2 diabetes increasing, and the reason it is showing up now is because the generation that ate all those lollies in the 1970 and 80s is now reaching the age where type two kicks in. Worse, the age at which type 2 kicks in will get lower with each generation now.
Diet and exercise are big factors in this, but the mainstream health advice is probably causing more problems than its fixing: dietary fat doesn’t cause diabetes, refined carbs do (or rather insulin resistance does, so you have to figure out why the individual is on a track to that, and its usually related to blood sugar). When you tell people to eat a low fat diet, you achieve two things: one is that you create a diet deficient in fat-soluble vitamins that are critical to health (especially hormonal and brain), and two, you force people to eat more carbs (got to get energy for metabolism from somewhere). High carb diets create the blood sugar conditions to create insulin resistance, which eventually causes type 2 diabetes and other diseases.
The other issue here is that the other illnesses associated with insulin resistance eg heart disease are being targeted by big pharma. Statins is the classic, where the ‘normal’ range for cholesterols has been shifted so that now younger and younger people are being put on statins ‘preventatively’ despite the research showing this has dubious health outcomes across the population. Statins also come with significant side effects and guess how those are treated and who makes money from them?
Sometimes when I hit health professionals and their food advice, I find myself thinking of Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ and the mindlessly repeated slogan ‘Two legs bad, four legs good’ and the later ‘Two legs good, four legs bad’.
Hi weka. The low fat approach gets a lot of air time but like you I’d look to refined carbs and sugars as one of the main contributors to type 2 diabetes and it’s precursor, insulin resistance. (No I’m not a nutritionist but I know folks who are).
And yes, cutting out all fats or minimising then severely mean you lose out on valuable nutrition from seeds and nuts, and dare I say dairy products with their fat soluble vitamins, a + d. Vitamin d is important for calcium uptake. (with apologies to the vegans, I know I know, unhulled tahini……) Trim milk is a con.
Big Pharma: Went to a fascinating lecture many years ago entitled “The cholesterol juggernaut”. The premise was that cholesterol, even the “bad” ldl type isn’t the problem, and to a certain degree is important for immune health but scarring within the arteries is the problem. The cholesterol “catches” on the scars and builds up in the artery, leading to the old clogged arteries scenario. The lecturer proposed that homocysteine, an amino acid found in red meat was the cause of the scarring and spent ages railing against trans fatty acids too. It’s now commonly known that trans fats are bad for our health. Trans fats, found in those cheap as chips chippies!
At the same time I respect there is a need, and time and place for cholesterol lowering drugs and I’m no expert on the topic. Coming from a family with high rates of heart disease on both sides, and my Father dying when he was only 54 I tend to be hyper alert to heart issues and learn what I can and have been known to ignore the cardiologist’s advice to go on statins – there was nothing wrong with my cholesterol levels 6 years ago and there isn’t today either, so I’ll take my chances.
Final word, because I’ve got to dash, I always remember what John Campbell said in regard to an article they had about child poverty, in particular children going hungry for hours and eating only highly refined cheap foods because that’s all they had access to. He said (approximately) “that is a type 2 diabetes epidemic waiting in the wings!” and suggested it was the governments role to intervene to help these children immediately but also to prevent a costly public health burden later. I agree.
The classic tory hands off approach to public health is a lose lose.
How do sumo wrestlers put on all the weight their sport demands? They eat copious amounts of rice. How do they shed the excess weight when their career is over? They stop eating copious amounts of rice.
How do you go about sustaining energy for long periods of physical exertion or extended periods of time? Eat or drink carbohydrates. What do you think happens if you don’t burn them off or continually ‘top up’?
Spread marg, munch pasta and pop dietary pills…don’t eat meat, drink milk or spread butter. Smash your eggs… and remember there is no difference between 10 teaspoons of cane sugar and 10 teaspoons of fruit sugars (that orange is just as unhealthy as that coke – honest)
And, one size fits all! All people metabolise food in the same way, so you should all eat what we say. We know best! Even if you have no money you can still exercise. Even if you don’t know how to cook, you can still eat raw veges. Even if you don’t have enough money to buy food, you can still not eat fat. There is no excuse, if you are unwell it’s all your own fault 🙂 But wait, it’s ok, because we have these magic pills for you…
As someone who does grow their own veges, or to be more exact, my wife does, it is not a cheaper option on the whole, and not viable for those without much money up front.
When you have a tiny plot, where the developer has left an inch of topsoil, and you don’t have the money up front for fertilizer, soil, seeds and tools, a vege garden is not an easy, or even cheaper, option.
The advantages are they are much nicer and healthier, but it is still cheaper just buying them.
It is very noticeable how much trying to buy only healthy foods, adds to your grocery bill. Especially fruit.
The fact is, it costs the poor much more to live because they do not have access to the bulk buying, finance and spreading your cost, options, you have on a higher income.
“When you have a tiny plot, where the developer has left an inch of topsoil, and you don’t have the money up front for fertilizer, soil, seeds and tools, a vege garden is not an easy, or even cheaper, option”
Exactly. And don’t you get sick of talk back types complaining about the poor and working poor not eating enough fruit and vege saying glib and predictable things like “they can always grow their own free food”. Sigh.
Some neighbourhoods have set up communal gardens where folks have access to a plot but even so, potting mix may need to purchased for raised gardens, or compost to mix into topsoil if it’s a standard plot and then theres the cost of seedlings unless some clever person with time on their side has been able to raise seed. And then their patch gets raided! Hungry people are everywhere.
Hi Roguey! Up here, above you! No reply button. (I also grow my own cups of tea, in pots, we live on rock)
Hunger on many levels. Hungry for change. But in terms of hungry for food, I have heard of the local community garden getting plundered, and they had to do a fundraiser to put up lockable fencing. Kinda sad. Other folks I know who run similar gardens in other parts of the city have experienced the same.
They don’t mind sharing with non gardeners if those people requiring their food can’t afford to buy, they just want them to ask and they will provide it. The whole idea is community connectedness and resilience in a world facing pending food shortages. (And tasty fresh food. Om nom nom!)
yes, to conversations that I have been privy to just this past week; somebody I know sharing they take cabbages / caulis from the community garden I work in (I not mind, they are really poor) and another chappie sharing about the gathering of kaimoana, and live-stock.
you can try pallet gardens, some companies will give away a couple of heat treated pallets if you say you are making a garden… BUT you are correct that even a pallet for small spaces requires painti, cloth, wire for baskets, soil, seeds or plants.
Thats why the initiative in ashburton is so very call. The hand over a Hundy. I dont believe in knighthoods but the woman who started this deserves one… as opposed to bob jones, richard hadlee, Susan devoy, owen glenn and so on.
Rosie
I think that what should be tried is bucket gardens in places with half inch top soil. Nurture your bucket, keep away from public areas and urinating dogs, cats looking for dirt boxes etc. The gardeners life may be complicated.
Tub buckets with holes in the bottom can grow a lettuce and small ones coming on, silver beet, spinach, boky choy grow tallish, and perhaps a courgette which is a very good veg that can be eaten at any size and taste like anything you want it to. It’s a start. You can handpick off the green veg bugs, and spray with baking soda and water to keep down powdery mildew. It takes a while to get a system that suits you but more green leafy vegs seem to be the thing that is often most needed, and they are easy to keep growing, just cutting a few leaves off.
Interesting link, thanks Tracey. I’m just trying to look up if sumo wrestlers have poorer health outcomes. It looks like they don’t at the time they are wrestling, but can’t tell what happens later in life. ie the obesity isn’t the problem. Some fat people get Syndrome X (heart disease, type 2 diabetes etc from insulin resistance) and some don’t. Some thin people get insulin resistant. We’re looking in the wrong place when we focus on obesity.
The negative health effects of the sumo lifestyle can become apparent later in life. Sumo wrestlers have a life expectancy of between 60 and 65, more than 10 years shorter than the average Japanese male. Many develop diabetes, high blood pressure, and are prone to heart attacks. The excessive intake of alcohol can lead to liver problems and the stress on their joints can cause arthritis. Recently, the standards of weight gain are becoming less strict, in an effort to improve the overall health of the wrestlers.
ihon Eiseigaku Zasshi. 1995 Aug;50(3):730-6.
[Risk factors for mortality and mortality rate of sumo wrestlers].
[Article in Japanese]
Hoshi A, Inaba Y.
Author information
Abstract
We compared the mortality rate of sumo wrestlers with that of the contemporaneous Japanese male population, and inferred the usefulness of an index for predicting longevity in sumo wrestlers. The standardized mortality ratios (SMR) for sumo wrestlers were very high in each period, and also high for ages from 35 to 74. Cox’s proportional hazards model analysis revealed that the variables in “nyuumaku” entry year and BMI were statistically significant (p < 0.05) factors in mortality. In the survival curves, the lower BMI group had good life expectancy compared with the higher BMI group. In conclusion, the higher rate of mortality in sumo wrestlers seems to be due to the markedly higher rate of mortality from 35 to 74 years old. In sumo wrestlers, also, this study provides evidence that the higher overweight groups have substantially higher risks for mortality.
Hi Rosie, thanks, that’s interesting. The way I understand it is that higher cholesterol is a sign of chronic inflammation in the body ie it’s a symptom not a cause.
Re statins, it’s always such a personal thing. AFAIK the statin research doesn’t show an overal descrease in mortality, just a decrease in death by heart attack (ie people die of other things instead). There are definitely people who need statins, but not whole swathes of the population, and the use prophylactically is especially dubious given the side effects.
Transfats… I think we need to differentiate between transfats in whole, traditional foods (meat), and transfats in highly processed foods like margarine or fast food oils.
I agree re child poverty. It’s pretty hard to improve public health when you don’t fix poverty first. We are so criminally negligent in this respect (and Labour is better but not that much).
AFAIK the statin research doesn’t show an overal descrease in mortality, just a decrease in death by heart attack (ie people die of other things instead)
Next to no improvement if you are under 60 and high cholesterol is the only thing you have going on.
It’s mainly caused by eating more calories than you expend in a day of work/exercise, with other primary causes being medication, mental health (comfort eating) and medical conditions. With ethnicity coming into play when the ethnic group involved wasn’t heavily into agriculture, and thus subject to feast and famine conditions. And having lots of cheap, easy to digest calories doesn’t help either.
However, obesity by itself isn’t that statistically good an indicator of health risks, as you need to take into account exercise levels and general fitness, as sufficient exercise leads to only small statistical differences in risk to otherwise healthy populations. While ironically, for the elderly, low body fat is associated with higher morbidity.
Slippery-ism’s, the re-definition of the English language by a Prime Minister displaying all the intellectual depth of a puddle, making the ravings of the average village idiot seem akin to divine enlightenment,
On RadioNZ National, a discussion of ‘the Referendum’ with sound-bites from the PM one of which claims National won the 2011 election in a ‘Landslide’, give the bloke His due as a sometimes quite amusing comic in the sense that He is a clown doing a stand-up routine in ‘serious’,
Think the word He was looking for was a ‘back-slide’…
Hooton and various Tory trolls have, of course, tried to argue over recent days that “National voters simply didn’t turnout as much as Labour voters” in the referendum.
Their strategy includes the claim that turnout was either:
(1) greater in Labour-held seats OR
(2) “fairly even throughout the country” (Hooton).
But, according to a quick bit of number-crunching on my part, they appear to be rather tragically mistaken.
I’ve used the Party-Vote (specifically, which Bloc – Left or Right – won) as the basis for determining the political complexion for each seat. (A few days ago, CV linked to a very impressive series of referendum result tables – Here http://imgur.com/a/qn7Pg#0 – but unfortunately they used the Candidate-Vote as the basis for colour-coding each seat).
If we look at the 20 seats with the HIGHEST turnout – we find that no less than 17 were won by the RIGHT in 2011 (And, what’s more, I’d classify only 1 of those 17 as MARGINAL RIGHT, the rest were either STRONG or FAIRLY STRONG RIGHT).
Of the 20 seats with the LOWEST turnout, 14 were won by the LEFT in 2011, 6 by the RIGHT. (And every single one of the 10 LOWEST-turnout seats were LEFT-leaning).
My first comment appears to be in moderation. Presumably, people can’t read it – thus rendering my second comment (2:32 pm) completely devoid of any context. (the “upshot” of what ?).
Meanwhile, dear old TightyRighty (sent off to board at an exclusive Prep-School at the age of 3) projecting his own vacuous lifestyle onto CV.
Er, actually CV was explicitly talking about John Banks, and so I specifically replied about John Banks.
You do understand how threading works in an online forum, yes? And that the purpose of it is to allow people to take conversations in different directions without derailing the entire discussion?
The purpose of the inquiry was to investigate any potential misuse of resources re: Bevan Chuang. He said there had been no such misuses, and that’s exactly what the inquiry showed.
In the referendum discussions I see everyone still calling it the “anti smacking” bill which I think came from the right wing religious spin.
How about, at least on TS we call it what it is “anti child assault” and leave the old spin behind. Kids got the same legal protection against assault that adults already had. I just don’t get people who want to hit someone smaller than themselves.
Any party advocating repeal of S59 should be portrayed accurately as “large people get the right to hit small people” and “politicians for increasing child abuse and domestic violence statistics.”
The MSM should also think over their somewhat two faced position on both these issues.
The misinformation around this change to the Crimes Act was staggering and harmful.
A person disciplining a child can no longer invoke the subjective test of believing it to be justified for disciplinary purposes. Such as the father who beat his child with a steel pipe but a jury found him not guilty because the father genuinely believe it was justified for discipline.
” justified in using force by way
of correction towards a child if that force
is reasonable in the circumstances”
Parents ought never see placing their hands on their child as their primary method of discipline. The port of first call if you will. To do so is lazy and speaks volumes about the parent in question. If parents cannot be bothered learning different ways to discipline their children, of correcting their behaviour, perhaps they ought not be parents?
You are quite correct Tracey; what physical violence delivered onto their children says about parents is very concerning if not for the purposes permitted by the current law.
The first person I heard call it “the anti-smacking bill” was Sue Bradford.
There were already laws against assaulting children.
You could equally call it the “bill to give police more power to harass poor people bill, because that has been its main noticeable effect.
Mind you, it has been a good distraction from addressing the really pervasive violence against children and their parents. Poverty.
Helping desperate people without hope to a better life, and a real “brighter future” will do more to prevent child abuse than any number of “tinkering with the symptoms” laws.
Most of the people I have seen lashing out at those around them, apart from the family fist type nutters, are more in need of help, than comfortable middle class condemnation.
The same as I have noted a distinct change in police attitude to me, when I go into bat for the local teenagers they are harassing, since I moved from the “big white house on the hill” to an ordinary house in the suburbs.
Police putting people in cells for the night, or giving someone a hard time, without charges, does not come up in the statistics.
Has the rate of child abuse gone down, since the bill, Tracey?
Gone up with the increase in impoverished children and parents, however.
sending a message that children are not property, that children can be difficult but parents need to learn about parenting/discipline s a good first step to valuing children.
I believe ANy law change has to be accompanied by community-wide education. No one is borne knowing how to be a parent, we, as a society, need to help. But we dont.
People still murder, even though we have a law against it, but the message the law sends is an important one.
Any party advocating repeal of S59 should be portrayed accurately as “large people get the right to hit small people” and “politicians for increasing child abuse and domestic violence statistics.”
Sue Bradford’s bill was the repeal of s59 and thus removing the legal protections that allowed child abusers to get off serious assault charges. But you’re right, people advocating to keep or reinstate s59 should be portrayed as people who want to increase child abuse.
Quite right DTB, ended up with the opposite of what I meant.Rushing to work. Thanks for the fix.
Oh and BTW it isn’t only poor people that hit their kids. Just better lawyered up at the rich end of town.
“There is a significant gap between the
prevailing message from research, which
suggests harsh physical punishment has
a negative outcome for children, and
public opinion, which argues that physical
punishment, when reasonable, is an
acceptable means of disciplining children. “
Spanking children can cause long-term developmental damage and may even lower a child’s IQ, according to a new Canadian analysis that seeks to shift the ethical debate over corporal punishment into the medical sphere.
That doesn’t explain the many parents who have no desire at all to even smack their kids, but know that a smack is better than a child who is burnt, electrocuted or run over.
The bill was changed to say that was permissible,. After the referendum. Which means of course no one has been convicted for trying to prevent a child from harming them selves.
By the way, if a hysterical adult was trying to run into the ” burning building”, I would use force if necessary to prevent them hurting themselves also. Including a slap in the face, if that is what it took. No different.
KJT – can you explain the relationship between hitting the child and preventing accidents.
The beating comes after the accident in these cases – a bit pointless.
A child can be shown that a hot element, dangerous road, or electrical fitting is dangerous through explanation. You should try it … it works. On the other hand if individuals have children who want to act dangerously out of spite or devilment – then I would suggest that their relationship with their toddlers may have partially broken down already and needs addressing.
“…A child can be shown that a hot element, dangerous road, or electrical fitting is dangerous through explanation.”
You do not appear to have addressed this point at all KJT.
(Just for starters, depending on the age of the toddler as to how deeply you can reason, a hot element or fire place, can be easily demonstrated as being dangerous – the slap on the hand indicates that the child is being defiant and there is very little communication happening.
You are showing a lack of understanding of the circumstances, my child and our continuous efforts to keep an impulsive, curious and very intelligent child, safe.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that physical sanction has been used in human society since forever pretty much, so unless we think that today we are the most advanced and civilised of all civilisations then it is we who are out of synch with history and human conduct. Our systems are the anomaly. Maybe we have it wrong in banishing physical sanction to the bin.
It also has less long term damaging effect than psychological sanction.
Will do, but it is all coming out in French…… he he
I also note re the use of physical sanction in our society that the sole permitted use of such is by the State, and we allow that, so where is the consistency. And let’s not even get started on war and what people think about it then…. most people are quite happy to go about killing other people then. How do people justify killing people then but not using the physical in other situations?
“It also has less long term damaging effect than psychological sanction.”
Maybe, but those aren’t the only two skill sets available, now or in the past.
I thought section 59 was about removing the defense of discipline in the case of beating children. There is evidence that many cultures historically have disapproved of child beating and had other strategies for raising children.
btw, we don’t apply to the ‘we’ve always done this’ rationale to lots of things.
The research actually said, and one was the NZ longitudinal study, is that “mild” physical sanctions, like a smack on the backside, which were fair and appropriate, made for slightly better outcomes than parents who only used verbal sanctions.
I have seen it several times recently, that parents who pride themselves in not smacking their kids, have often substituted much crueler mental manipulation. I like to suggest a “positive parenting course” for some more ideas.
I was happy about the defense of “discipline” as an excuse” for beating children was removed.
I was not so happy with the idea that I may go to police cells, for physically restraining my behaviorally and mentally challenged child from hurting someone.
Or smacking my daughter on the hand, when all else failed, to stop her fascination with fire and power points. And before we get some smart arse retort. We tried all the obvious and less obvious ways of stopping them first. Many times. In the end we had to go with what worked, to keep them safe.
Most of the majority, who voted against section 59a were not voting to “beat their children”.
smacked my daughter’s bottom, maybe half a dozen times until she reached the age of about four; yes meant yes (and they were by far the majority), no meant no. I had already studied human development by then though, and education is a great help if it is applied.
You need to read what I am saying. Instead of writing me off, along with the majority who were dubious about the original bill, as one of those “child bashers”.
It was much improved after the referendum, from the original bill.
But some of the wording is still rather ambiguous, and it still, like much of our legislation leaves too much to police discretion. Discretion which police too often abuse.
I am reading. I am not writing you off. I am trying to understand your objections. I know the difference between the bill as first proposed and the Act.
I just havent been able to find the abuse of discretion that you have encountered. I am NOT saying it hasnt happened, I wont deny your personal experience. I just havent seen evidence despite looking hard for it.
For example a few people get wrongly accused of rape, but we dont remove the rape laws, we dont remove the message that women are not property to be own and used at will by adults.
What I am saying is that the referendum wasn’t ignored.
The law as finally written took account of the objections.
Because of the referendum we got as much better law than the one originally written. which would have made physically restraining my child from attacking others. illegal.
And there was already a law against assaulting children.
Section 59a in the end did remove some ambiguous interpretation. Where some people got acquitted from what was, clearly, assault.
As I said, I am largely happy with how it ended up.
Due in part to public concern about the original draft.
Too much of our law, is however, ambiguous, hurriedly and poorly written and open to too much police interpretation.
Something which happens far less often in Switzerland, where referenda are, binding.
“A more recent study (Gravitas Research
and Strategy, 2005) found that 51% of all
parents and 21% of caregivers used physical
punishment, albeit relatively infrequently
and mostly when other forms of discipline
had been tried: “Physical discipline is
commonly used because parents and
caregivers consider it to be a required and/or
justified response to the child’s behaviour”
(p. 4). This approach was also acknowledged
by children who, while they highlighted the
negative consequences of being smacked,
also accepted “it as a parental right or fact of
life” (Dobbs cited in Smith, Gollop, Taylor &
Marshall, 2004, p. 28)”
“If we take the stance that minor smacking
on a child’s bottom is acceptable, then
Larzelere’s 1996 review of research on
nonabusive spanking shows that there
should still be some concern about how
effective even this form of discipline is. In
his review of 35 studies that examined the
effects of nonabusive spanking on children
by parents, “Thirty-four per cent of the
studies found negative effects on children,
26% found positive effects, and 40%
showed no net positive or negative effect.
Nonabusive spanking appears to be more
effective or have neutral effect on children
younger than 13 compared to teenagers.
Grounding appears to be more effective than
spanking in older children. Spanking appears
to be most effective when done sparingly,
non-violently, and within the context of a
healthy parent child relationship.”
Believing the only reason your children are “still alive” is because you used physical violence against them definitely makes me take you seriously as an objective commenter.
Frakking Lefties. 250,000 kids live in poverty day to day and all the Lefties have to moan about are bullshit legal and moral niceties. Which at the end of the day still haven’t been shown to do sweet FA in actually reducing the incidence of child physical abuse in society since they have been enacted.
In contrast I’m pretty fucking sure that if child poverty (and with it family poverty) were eliminated, it would measurably reduce the incidence of child physical abuse quickly and substantially.
Because what people see is a Left distracted by multitudes of bullshit academic, abstract, unpopular issues that not only garner no widespread support, but which everyone realises will make no practical difference to the lives that the Left says it is focussed on. And which people will never support en masse.
Again plenty of well off people hit their kids too. Well off can equate with self centred behaviour and an overwhelming sense of entitlement , and justifies “anything goes” in getting comliance from others. FFS DV doesn’t just happen at the poor end of town.
Because what people see is a Left distracted by multitudes of bullshit academic, abstract, unpopular issues that not only garner no widespread support, but which everyone realises will make no practical difference to the lives that the Left says it is focussed on. And which people will never support en masse.
riiiiiiiight, you just keep blaming other issues for “the Left’s” inability to argue economics persuasively.
If we could argue and campaign for a living wage and workers’ rights half as effectivey as we can campaign against domestic violence and discrimination, key would be sulking in hawaii after a dismal failure in 2008 and electoral ostracism.
RedbaronCV: agree with you entirely re: DV. Veitch wasn’t a pauper was he.
But I don’t care about a total solution, I care about solutions which will make a difference to a lot of people even if it’s not everyone, and s59 cost a lot politically to achieve fuck all of next to nothing on the ground.
McFlock
riiiiiiiight, you just keep blaming other issues for “the Left’s” inability to argue economics persuasively.
Nope I’m blaming the Left’s focus on abstract academic intellectually pretty bullshit which costs shit loads of rare political capital and makes negligible difference to the bottom 50% of society.
BTW I’m all for abstract academic intellectually pretty bullshit which makes a big difference to the bottom 50% of society.
Nope I’m blaming the Left’s focus on abstract academic bullshit which costs shit loads of rare political capital and makes no difference to anyone on the ground.
but but but even if people could only concentrate on one single issue over thirty years, surely YOU haven’t been distracted by “abstract academic bullshit”?
By the way, failing to convict parents who beat a child with a rubber hose or riding crop is neither “abstract” nor “academic”.
Oh? So how many prosecutions have got put through so far because of the new law which wouldn’t have otherwise? How much has the rate of physical child abuse been reduced since the new law?
Love him, or hate him, you gotta love McFlock.
as an aside, caught an article on RNZ today just before Midday (from the Tech Review chap) suggesting that the continuim of digitalizing life, from selfies through google glass, through to time-lapsed ongoing filming (yep, occurring, very trendy) is deteriorating the development of memory. What say you old boy? Eh? 😀
We keep falling into this weird and unhelpful binary trap in our thinking – for my money I think CV is right; and at the same time I think the S59 reform was a necessary step along the way.
A lot of people here would be surprised at some of the places I’ve lived – my partner and I are quite well-off, but we’ve lived in places where the reality of poverty was just over the fence.
We’ve seen all the things that go wrong in their lives; we’ve despaired at our sense of impotence around ‘fixing it’. We’re vividly aware that our middle-class pretensions and sensibilities have little place in their lives.
Just throwing money at them usually makes things worse.
Yet it is their inability to access money and security on their own terms which is the defining factor in their poverty. Crucially it is the inability of so many young men to find stable work that enables them to form stable families which perpetuates the cycle.
CV is right – this is a plain, real-life challenge. The solutions will not come out of a University department. The actions that will change things are not complex or terribly abstract; most of what is needed is already well known.
But the only people who will make any difference are the natural leaders who have come out of this world themselves, who understand the culture and who get listened to when they speak. All they need is a network and real support.
the continuim of digitalizing life, from selfies through google glass, through to time-lapsed ongoing filming (yep, occurring, very trendy) is deteriorating the development of memory. What say you old boy?
To a degree. But a blank-slate google search is qualitatively different, imo, from using it as a memory aid or locator for source documents (or even just getting a quick handle on adjacent fields of expertise – the crossover between AI, philosophy of mind, and experimental psychology, for example).
yes, the interviewer, K.Ryan I believe, headed down the “where is it all heading…” path 😉 yet neither her or the techie guy were aware of , or raised, the singularity thesis, which was discussed on TS earlier this year, from memory 😉 ; More important than memories Flockie, where do the actual years go as we get older? So in the flow , ideally, they just whizz by.
with respect, to me that smacks of the trite tryptic variation “A: …; B: get leader, networks and popular support; C: victory!”
Yes we can see the problems, and even largely agree on the solutions/desired-outcomes, but the problem we have is communicating it and gaining the support of the 47% of voters who supported national, and even the 30-odd% of Labour voters and 12-odd% of green voters. Without them, chances of getting anywhere are pretty much non-existent.
Alternatively, saturate the bureaucracy over 30 years despite it and nact’s best efforts, and hope for bureaucratic capture like lab4. If we have decades to spare (we don’t, and it would be of doubtful success probability).
If we look at the work of one person who has done a lot to address the problem of child poverty, Bryan Bruce has made two documentaries that used academia to prove there is a problem, people on the ground to show the reality, and a mixture of both to show what he sees as real solutions. I firmly believe that we need this sort of broad front to achieve change. We’re getting there – I keep the Child poverty Monitor in my hip pocket (cellphone 🙂 ) for arguments, and it was valuable if dry. Now the commissioner has put out infographics that are much more clear than the academic works some people are so hostile towards, but the information is backed up by the solid research. “Defense in depth”, if you will.
I think that the real divison on the left is in economics (the extent of safe inflationary financing that then likely affects the viability of UBI, for example), which is why we’re shit at arguing it – and therefore shit at getting support for it. If we can’t broadly persuade ourselves, what can we expect to achieve in the electorate?
I’m with RL in thinking that s59 was a necessary step “along the way” i.e. one tiny step on a journey of a thousand miles, so let’s keep it in that perspective.
Love your stats McFlock, looks like a National Govt has been quite able to reduce harm to children.
Love your stats McFlock, looks like a National Govt has been quite able to reduce harm to children.
credit where credit’s due.
Must be their massive efforts in reducing inequality, doubling of the numbers of social workers and parenting classes, and general overwhelming improvement in conditions for poorer families. /sarc
“The research actually said, and one was the NZ longitudinal study, is that “mild” physical sanctions, like a smack on the backside, which were fair and appropriate, made for slightly better outcomes than parents who only used verbal sanctions.”
What are the verbal sanctions being studied though? As with physical force, there are different kinds and degrees of ‘verbal sanctions’, so how can we compare? And why compare physical with mental manipulation? There are plenty of non-physical discipline styles that don’t require being mean to a child. And are we talking about teaching a child about boundaries, or are we talking about punishment?
I don’t have an problem with physically restraining a child that is out of control and hurting itself, someone else, or doing something damage that is beyond acceptable. But then I’m of the generation where my peers raised their kids excessively liberally and so have spent too much time around unmannered brats 😉 They have to learn boundaries sooner or later, better to learn them young than as a teenager I reckon. There is of course a big difference between physically restraining a child (or picking it up and carrying it against its will to another room) and hitting it.
“Most of the majority, who voted against section 59a were not voting to “beat their children”.”
I’d say most had never read the act and were voting according to how the MSM misrepresented the legislation.
Are you suggesting that most people who voted in the referendum had read the Act?
What did most of them make of the wording of the referendum and how it related to the Act? (from memory I spoiled my voting paper, because how could you answer properly?).
I think most people were aware that the bill, as originally written, removed options which most of us are aware are sometimes required.
The amendments, a consequence of the discussion around the referendum, which I was fine with, allowed physical force to prevent harm and or to prevent law breaking.
Including a smack, as an alternative to, say, putting a child’s hand in the fire to get the message across that you don’t play with fire.
I don’t believe that a majority of the population wanted to “bring back the cane”.
I also don’t think they were stupid enough to believe the extremes, on both sides of the argument.
That would be wrong vto, there are many societies through history that have never used violence against children. The present Western Civilisation that covers the world seems to be one of the more violent ones.
Xox
Suggestions (links) for current independent, quality news site(s) for New Zealanders? Have given up on Herald and Dom Post. TVNZ is a frivolous joke, not to mention Jim Mora ‘ s lala chuckle session on RNZ’s ‘Afternoons’.
I take it you watch “Breakfast” for the same reasons I sometimes watch Fox News @ phill?
(It’s the only way I can find do drum up feelings of pity for the deluded, and its some of the best comedy there is on TV these days)
ALWAYS save Phill as you go about your electronic bizznus.
I was discussing the benefits of this just this morning. Do so as frequently as possible.
The disk cleaners providing a level of comfort by overwriting, the algoritms in play allocating ‘space’ on disk, the way in which a delete doesn’t actually delete but makes space available for subsequent storage – yea – save and overwrite.
But THEN ‘clean’
But – long story short, I’ll spend the next week watching a Rawdon and his prop-up blonde what’s-her-thing (both doing their best to convince us they’re hard-hitting, ‘incisive’ journalists) for a laugh. (After all, Rawdon used to work for the BBC dontcha know!)
Tossers in, Xhosas out
Local mourners have to make way for the likes of Richard Branson
If you have any kind of a conscience, you will be well and truly glutted with the obscene parade of arm-waving impostors [1], insincere sentimental posturing [2], murderously hypocritical “tributes” [3] and mindless “celebrities” [4] that has hijacked the mourning for Nelson Mandela.
Many people who were disgusted with that farce in Johannesburg believed, or hoped against hope, that some sense of decency would be restored when the great leader was finally laid to rest in his home town in the Eastern Cape.
On this morning’s news on Al Jazeera, however, it was immediately apparent that, while the impostors, war criminals and democracy-suppressors at least were not there for the final send-off, there was still an infestation of irritating “celebrities” present. Prominent in the front row at the church were former Blair cheerleader “Sir” Richard Branson, the Obama-cult high priestess Oprah Winfrey and The Rev. Jesse Jackson. The last-named at least has some credentials to justify his presence there—but Branson and Winfrey?
What really was heartbreaking, though, was the forlorn sight of the local people of Qunu, herded behind fences, excluded from the funeral service because of “security” concerns.
Still, on the bright side, at least the main speakers were South Africans this time and, in contrast to those that “led the mourners” in last week’s horror show, were not the sort of people that would have persecuted and defamed Mandela thirty years ago .
John Key, Steven Joyce, et al. Picking winners. I wish I was that f**king rich. Pity the poor, the infirm, the poverty stricken, the children, the low paid, and other marginalized folks in New Zealand who don’t qualify for John Key’s “hand up, not hand out”. Yeah right.
So once again the rank and file tax payer gets to subsidize the rich, our deficit has rocketed from $10 billion in 2008 to over $70 billion now. Welcome to Planet Key/National/Act.
Midday Report:
Government will increase the baseline tax rebate for film production brought to NZ to 20% and up to 25% for the next three ‘Avatar’ films which are likely to be made here.
“Almost singlehandedly, Colin Craig has neutralised one of the Key government’s most potent tactical weapons in the next election. Without Craig, National might have been able to run a credible scare campaign next year around the prospect of the Greens – those scary socialist enviro-extremist boogey men – being part of any government led by Labour’s David Cunliffe. Yet anytime next year that John Key, Steven Joyce or the captains of industry do try to raise the Greens spectre, they’ll need to explain their own reliance on Craig, the far more visible loose wheel on their own wagon.”
Nicely put, and important to remember – anytime some right-winger tries to spook the horses about the Greens, ask them why Key is trying to buddy up with Crazy Craig.
After reading it, I think he’s a little irritated that Hone got treated with more respect than he did (getting to go and perform a haka at the private ceremony) and he didn’t manage to get in on the selfie with his best buds Obama.
2 snubs in one trip – it’s more than the egotistical narcissist can handle!
The reporter didn’t say just what Hone did on his Speaker approved “junket”.
Was it “getting to go and perform a haka at the private ceremony” as you say Zorr?
What was that? Could have been a sincere real moment for Hone who actually fronted the 81 protest, as opposed to the hypocritical performance by some undeserving MP bludgers with very dodgy memories.
I hate to say it – but has Key truly devalued the office of PM to the point that every time I hear that he has said something, my immediate response is can he shut up and stop embarrassing us as a nation. We need to stop reporting on him like he is somehow still connected to reality.
Just heard him comment on RadioNZ. Fucking fucked is what it is. Hone went ‘on a jolly’!!!? JK had picked a representative cross section to attend!!!!?
All that came to my mind was that image of John Key and David Cameron laughing at some fuck knows what and my strong suspicion that JK couldn’t have given a flying monkey’s fuck about the guy who’s memorial he was attending .
Just like he doesn’t give a flying monkey’s fuck about reality. All that matters is spin and power and control. And probably wringing every last cent out of NZ while he’s still got the chance (his paymasters probably have a bonus system in place).
Spot on Zorr. Gauche arsehole. Devalues the brand of Kiwi akshully.
Farcical. In 1981 Bolger a minister in Muldoon’s cabinet and McKinnon the Junior Government Whip. Active supporters at the highest level of the apartheid regime. Then there’s the Prime Mournister. Who believes he wasn’t reflexively with them ? The people who DIDN’T bring a ray of sunshine into the cells of Robbin Island.
They all get their costs paid. Hone gets his costs paid and we have the Prime Mournister shrieking offensively about a “jolly”.
My God the vulgar, barefaced hypocrisy. Pathological. Borderline.
How would you feel if a right-wing politician secretly took $39,000* from a casino company to cheat on his wife while he was lobbying to have the law changed to benefit that casino company and then lied about it to the public?
I don’t know, but it is bit ironic when the ACTiod types get in a tizz about the effects of the Auckland Dictatorship, they deliberately created, so that Banks could steal Aucklander’s assets.
Is this one of your usual drop and run comments or are you actually here to debate?
By the way, you seem obsessed with the Brown story. You seem to have the same news priorities as Slater.
Another centre-left Presidente in South America. Michelle Bachelet is back and she has caned it 62% versus 38% to the centre-right candidate in the run-off vote for Chile’s president.
Great interview with socialist Brian Roper from Otago Uni on RNZ. Time to disband Treasury he says, and farm out the functions to different Departments.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
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The feed on the Transport Blog won’t have as much history as usual. It started feeding comments through into their post RSS feed.
Seems ok after I purged what we have stored and reloaded
I’ve been in Christchurch since lastTtuesday night. It is certainly a shadow of its former self but you can see as you drive around the progress that is being made and the city it will become.
Two areas, traditionally (and still) working class have seen an influx of new (relocated businesses), Woolston and Hornby.
As an Aucklander the road works and associated traffic hold ups are nothing new but I know from my previous trips over the years and a period living there that CHCHCH residents will find it tough.
I tip my hat to the people of Christchurch for their perserverance and optimistic outlook. Most have no choice but to stay and persevere but no one said you had to do it with a smile on your face, so kudos to you all.
You certainly deserve better than this
” Affordable housing is being pushed out of reach for most of Christchurch’s most vulnerable residents as the number of pricey rentals across the city soars.
Fairfax Media has compared the number of rentals in different price ranges using Census data from 2006 and 2013.
It showed the high end of the Christchurch rental market has expanded dramatically, while the bottom end of the market collapsed.
Across the city, the percentage of rentals in the $200 to $299 price range fell from 40 per cent of all homes in 2006 to 26 per cent in 2013.
The percentage of homes in the $300 to $399 range rose from 12 per cent to 32 per cent, and from 3 per cent to 11 per cent in the $400 to $499.
The number of rentals costing more than $500 a week skyrocketed city-wide, especially in the more affluent suburbs.
In Linwood, the number of rentals in the $100 to $199 price range decreased from 729 to 258 between 2006 and 2013.
The number in the $300 to $399 bracket increased from 69 to 225.
Aranui’s rentals in the $300 to $399 price range rose from nine to 114 – a 1167 per cent increase. ”
and this
” The earthquake recovery minister’s Christmas card said the challenges of life in Christchurch continued this year but the “light at the end of the tunnel” was a little more evident.
It read: “2014 I’m sure will be brighter. I hope you enjoy the festive season and wish you well for 2014 which will be a big year for National.” G Brownlee former head of Ministry responsible for Pike River
Did you enjoy the little shake yesterday?
That one had the feeling like it was going to get bigger. All my family that felt it (in different areas of the city) thought the same.
Yep felt it too – short and sharp equals nearby. Then there was another a few minutes later. Reminded me of times when we use to get three in a row with the third being the wallop. Luckily it didn’t come…
Can’t believe the nanny state term is still used by Tory politicians …after Pike River, forestry deaths and the CTV building collapse.
That’s right Tony you and your obscene government’s refusal to care for people’s safety at work costs lives.
And you have the nerve to gibber on about nanny state.
Revolting.
“New Zealand is getting fatter – with three in every 10 adults now regarded as obese.
A leading diabetes researcher has called the new figures alarming and has accused the Government of failing to take the problem seriously.
However, Health Minister Tony Ryall has rejected “nanny state” measures, instead arguing that providing information and support to people is enough.
“In the end, the Government can pass all the laws it likes but unless people eat less and exercise more, things won’t change,” Mr Ryall said yesterday in response to the new figures.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11173055
Well, ya know Paul, we don’t want to regulate now, that might interfere with corporate foods’ right to a profit.
There are so many facets to our deteriorating health stats but the free run that corporates have in the market has to be a contributor towards poor health – IMO.
.
One example might be the abundance of jumbo packs of junk food constantly on special. 3 X 150 gm bags of fat and msg laden chippies for $5. Chocolate as an everyday cheap commodity.(ethical issue here too with child labour being used in the production of some brands) Booze easily available 24/7 in some areas. Soft drinks, litres of the stuff that take up half an aisle.
We had a New World open up in our neighbourhood recently. It’s more like a glorified dairy selling convenience food rather than a place to go and get healthy ingredients.
Think back 35+ years to what supermarket shelves looked like, ok maybe less variety, all rather meat and 3 vege stylez but there wasn’t the abundance of junk food. I remember as a kid in the 70’s chippies and ‘fizzy’ were a treat for birthdays and Xmas. All biscuits and cakes were home made and treat only. Did we worry about type 2 diabetes then?
Our govt exists to serve the corporates, not society.
and lets not forget people are working longer hours than ever and are too tired to cook decent healthy meals, and can’t afford good ingredients anyway – convenience food manufacturers benefit from a poorly regulated labour force?
Ultimately Governments have a hand in the health of the population. Tony Ryall is wrong.
For the past 30 years.
“Our govt exists to serve the corporates, not society.”
Quite, and we might want to consider that obesity is being defined by a fairly useless indicator (the BMI) and who benefits from that? Big pharma is making shit loads of money from poor health. The MoH can wax lyrical about diet and exercise all it wants, but until structural changes are made, money will go straight from the tax payer to corporate via health.
I was a child of the 70s and ate plenty of sweet things 😉 There is an issue with type 2 diabetes increasing, and the reason it is showing up now is because the generation that ate all those lollies in the 1970 and 80s is now reaching the age where type two kicks in. Worse, the age at which type 2 kicks in will get lower with each generation now.
Diet and exercise are big factors in this, but the mainstream health advice is probably causing more problems than its fixing: dietary fat doesn’t cause diabetes, refined carbs do (or rather insulin resistance does, so you have to figure out why the individual is on a track to that, and its usually related to blood sugar). When you tell people to eat a low fat diet, you achieve two things: one is that you create a diet deficient in fat-soluble vitamins that are critical to health (especially hormonal and brain), and two, you force people to eat more carbs (got to get energy for metabolism from somewhere). High carb diets create the blood sugar conditions to create insulin resistance, which eventually causes type 2 diabetes and other diseases.
The other issue here is that the other illnesses associated with insulin resistance eg heart disease are being targeted by big pharma. Statins is the classic, where the ‘normal’ range for cholesterols has been shifted so that now younger and younger people are being put on statins ‘preventatively’ despite the research showing this has dubious health outcomes across the population. Statins also come with significant side effects and guess how those are treated and who makes money from them?
Sometimes when I hit health professionals and their food advice, I find myself thinking of Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ and the mindlessly repeated slogan ‘Two legs bad, four legs good’ and the later ‘Two legs good, four legs bad’.
We’re being farmed by various industries, that’s for sure.
Hi weka. The low fat approach gets a lot of air time but like you I’d look to refined carbs and sugars as one of the main contributors to type 2 diabetes and it’s precursor, insulin resistance. (No I’m not a nutritionist but I know folks who are).
And yes, cutting out all fats or minimising then severely mean you lose out on valuable nutrition from seeds and nuts, and dare I say dairy products with their fat soluble vitamins, a + d. Vitamin d is important for calcium uptake. (with apologies to the vegans, I know I know, unhulled tahini……) Trim milk is a con.
Big Pharma: Went to a fascinating lecture many years ago entitled “The cholesterol juggernaut”. The premise was that cholesterol, even the “bad” ldl type isn’t the problem, and to a certain degree is important for immune health but scarring within the arteries is the problem. The cholesterol “catches” on the scars and builds up in the artery, leading to the old clogged arteries scenario. The lecturer proposed that homocysteine, an amino acid found in red meat was the cause of the scarring and spent ages railing against trans fatty acids too. It’s now commonly known that trans fats are bad for our health. Trans fats, found in those cheap as chips chippies!
At the same time I respect there is a need, and time and place for cholesterol lowering drugs and I’m no expert on the topic. Coming from a family with high rates of heart disease on both sides, and my Father dying when he was only 54 I tend to be hyper alert to heart issues and learn what I can and have been known to ignore the cardiologist’s advice to go on statins – there was nothing wrong with my cholesterol levels 6 years ago and there isn’t today either, so I’ll take my chances.
Final word, because I’ve got to dash, I always remember what John Campbell said in regard to an article they had about child poverty, in particular children going hungry for hours and eating only highly refined cheap foods because that’s all they had access to. He said (approximately) “that is a type 2 diabetes epidemic waiting in the wings!” and suggested it was the governments role to intervene to help these children immediately but also to prevent a costly public health burden later. I agree.
The classic tory hands off approach to public health is a lose lose.
How do sumo wrestlers put on all the weight their sport demands? They eat copious amounts of rice. How do they shed the excess weight when their career is over? They stop eating copious amounts of rice.
How do you go about sustaining energy for long periods of physical exertion or extended periods of time? Eat or drink carbohydrates. What do you think happens if you don’t burn them off or continually ‘top up’?
Spread marg, munch pasta and pop dietary pills…don’t eat meat, drink milk or spread butter. Smash your eggs… and remember there is no difference between 10 teaspoons of cane sugar and 10 teaspoons of fruit sugars (that orange is just as unhealthy as that coke – honest)
lolz.
And, one size fits all! All people metabolise food in the same way, so you should all eat what we say. We know best! Even if you have no money you can still exercise. Even if you don’t know how to cook, you can still eat raw veges. Even if you don’t have enough money to buy food, you can still not eat fat. There is no excuse, if you are unwell it’s all your own fault 🙂 But wait, it’s ok, because we have these magic pills for you…
“growing your own veges and flowers (and cups of tea) is like printing your own money”. 😀
🙂
As someone who does grow their own veges, or to be more exact, my wife does, it is not a cheaper option on the whole, and not viable for those without much money up front.
When you have a tiny plot, where the developer has left an inch of topsoil, and you don’t have the money up front for fertilizer, soil, seeds and tools, a vege garden is not an easy, or even cheaper, option.
The advantages are they are much nicer and healthier, but it is still cheaper just buying them.
It is very noticeable how much trying to buy only healthy foods, adds to your grocery bill. Especially fruit.
The fact is, it costs the poor much more to live because they do not have access to the bulk buying, finance and spreading your cost, options, you have on a higher income.
Unhealthy foods are usually the cheapest option.
“When you have a tiny plot, where the developer has left an inch of topsoil, and you don’t have the money up front for fertilizer, soil, seeds and tools, a vege garden is not an easy, or even cheaper, option”
Exactly. And don’t you get sick of talk back types complaining about the poor and working poor not eating enough fruit and vege saying glib and predictable things like “they can always grow their own free food”. Sigh.
Some neighbourhoods have set up communal gardens where folks have access to a plot but even so, potting mix may need to purchased for raised gardens, or compost to mix into topsoil if it’s a standard plot and then theres the cost of seedlings unless some clever person with time on their side has been able to raise seed. And then their patch gets raided! Hungry people are everywhere.
it is interesting you mention the hunger that is so prevalent in our society Rosie; certainly another country.
Hi Roguey! Up here, above you! No reply button. (I also grow my own cups of tea, in pots, we live on rock)
Hunger on many levels. Hungry for change. But in terms of hungry for food, I have heard of the local community garden getting plundered, and they had to do a fundraiser to put up lockable fencing. Kinda sad. Other folks I know who run similar gardens in other parts of the city have experienced the same.
They don’t mind sharing with non gardeners if those people requiring their food can’t afford to buy, they just want them to ask and they will provide it. The whole idea is community connectedness and resilience in a world facing pending food shortages. (And tasty fresh food. Om nom nom!)
yes, to conversations that I have been privy to just this past week; somebody I know sharing they take cabbages / caulis from the community garden I work in (I not mind, they are really poor) and another chappie sharing about the gathering of kaimoana, and live-stock.
I wonder if the allotment idea of the uk could work here…
I know many community gardens which willingly teach people the tricks of the trade in return for labour and a share of the spoils…
you can try pallet gardens, some companies will give away a couple of heat treated pallets if you say you are making a garden… BUT you are correct that even a pallet for small spaces requires painti, cloth, wire for baskets, soil, seeds or plants.
Thats why the initiative in ashburton is so very call. The hand over a Hundy. I dont believe in knighthoods but the woman who started this deserves one… as opposed to bob jones, richard hadlee, Susan devoy, owen glenn and so on.
http://handoverahundy.org.nz/
Rosie
I think that what should be tried is bucket gardens in places with half inch top soil. Nurture your bucket, keep away from public areas and urinating dogs, cats looking for dirt boxes etc. The gardeners life may be complicated.
Tub buckets with holes in the bottom can grow a lettuce and small ones coming on, silver beet, spinach, boky choy grow tallish, and perhaps a courgette which is a very good veg that can be eaten at any size and taste like anything you want it to. It’s a start. You can handpick off the green veg bugs, and spray with baking soda and water to keep down powdery mildew. It takes a while to get a system that suits you but more green leafy vegs seem to be the thing that is often most needed, and they are easy to keep growing, just cutting a few leaves off.
Have you ever thought of taking up dancing, KJT? When I come back, I want to try it.
that was wonderfully inspiring Murray Olsen; coincidentally, now I’m settled, I’ve been putting materials on the garden to block light to weeds.
VERY cool
sumo wrestler’s diet
http://japanese.lingualift.com/blog/what-sumo-eat-wrestlers-diet/
Interesting link, thanks Tracey. I’m just trying to look up if sumo wrestlers have poorer health outcomes. It looks like they don’t at the time they are wrestling, but can’t tell what happens later in life. ie the obesity isn’t the problem. Some fat people get Syndrome X (heart disease, type 2 diabetes etc from insulin resistance) and some don’t. Some thin people get insulin resistant. We’re looking in the wrong place when we focus on obesity.
The negative health effects of the sumo lifestyle can become apparent later in life. Sumo wrestlers have a life expectancy of between 60 and 65, more than 10 years shorter than the average Japanese male. Many develop diabetes, high blood pressure, and are prone to heart attacks. The excessive intake of alcohol can lead to liver problems and the stress on their joints can cause arthritis. Recently, the standards of weight gain are becoming less strict, in an effort to improve the overall health of the wrestlers.
wikipedia
http://reedyoung.com/retired-sumo-wrestlers/reed-young-sumo-konishiki-yasokichi/
ihon Eiseigaku Zasshi. 1995 Aug;50(3):730-6.
[Risk factors for mortality and mortality rate of sumo wrestlers].
[Article in Japanese]
Hoshi A, Inaba Y.
Author information
Abstract
We compared the mortality rate of sumo wrestlers with that of the contemporaneous Japanese male population, and inferred the usefulness of an index for predicting longevity in sumo wrestlers. The standardized mortality ratios (SMR) for sumo wrestlers were very high in each period, and also high for ages from 35 to 74. Cox’s proportional hazards model analysis revealed that the variables in “nyuumaku” entry year and BMI were statistically significant (p < 0.05) factors in mortality. In the survival curves, the lower BMI group had good life expectancy compared with the higher BMI group. In conclusion, the higher rate of mortality in sumo wrestlers seems to be due to the markedly higher rate of mortality from 35 to 74 years old. In sumo wrestlers, also, this study provides evidence that the higher overweight groups have substantially higher risks for mortality.
Hi Rosie, thanks, that’s interesting. The way I understand it is that higher cholesterol is a sign of chronic inflammation in the body ie it’s a symptom not a cause.
Re statins, it’s always such a personal thing. AFAIK the statin research doesn’t show an overal descrease in mortality, just a decrease in death by heart attack (ie people die of other things instead). There are definitely people who need statins, but not whole swathes of the population, and the use prophylactically is especially dubious given the side effects.
Transfats… I think we need to differentiate between transfats in whole, traditional foods (meat), and transfats in highly processed foods like margarine or fast food oils.
I agree re child poverty. It’s pretty hard to improve public health when you don’t fix poverty first. We are so criminally negligent in this respect (and Labour is better but not that much).
Next to no improvement if you are under 60 and high cholesterol is the only thing you have going on.
mmm, butter spread on split weet-bix, not ‘Praise” the margarine .
Obesity results from malnutrition. When you are unable to get the right kind of food.
🙄
Elder things save me from the utterly ignorant.
It’s mainly caused by eating more calories than you expend in a day of work/exercise, with other primary causes being medication, mental health (comfort eating) and medical conditions. With ethnicity coming into play when the ethnic group involved wasn’t heavily into agriculture, and thus subject to feast and famine conditions. And having lots of cheap, easy to digest calories doesn’t help either.
However, obesity by itself isn’t that statistically good an indicator of health risks, as you need to take into account exercise levels and general fitness, as sufficient exercise leads to only small statistical differences in risk to otherwise healthy populations. While ironically, for the elderly, low body fat is associated with higher morbidity.
Slippery-ism’s, the re-definition of the English language by a Prime Minister displaying all the intellectual depth of a puddle, making the ravings of the average village idiot seem akin to divine enlightenment,
On RadioNZ National, a discussion of ‘the Referendum’ with sound-bites from the PM one of which claims National won the 2011 election in a ‘Landslide’, give the bloke His due as a sometimes quite amusing comic in the sense that He is a clown doing a stand-up routine in ‘serious’,
Think the word He was looking for was a ‘back-slide’…
Cunliffe was excellent today on Morning Report on the asset sales referendum-just before 8 o’clock.
Hooton and various Tory trolls have, of course, tried to argue over recent days that “National voters simply didn’t turnout as much as Labour voters” in the referendum.
Their strategy includes the claim that turnout was either:
(1) greater in Labour-held seats OR
(2) “fairly even throughout the country” (Hooton).
But, according to a quick bit of number-crunching on my part, they appear to be rather tragically mistaken.
I’ve used the Party-Vote (specifically, which Bloc – Left or Right – won) as the basis for determining the political complexion for each seat. (A few days ago, CV linked to a very impressive series of referendum result tables – Here http://imgur.com/a/qn7Pg#0 – but unfortunately they used the Candidate-Vote as the basis for colour-coding each seat).
(see next comment)
So, the upshot…
If we look at the 20 seats with the HIGHEST turnout – we find that no less than 17 were won by the RIGHT in 2011 (And, what’s more, I’d classify only 1 of those 17 as MARGINAL RIGHT, the rest were either STRONG or FAIRLY STRONG RIGHT).
Of the 20 seats with the LOWEST turnout, 14 were won by the LEFT in 2011, 6 by the RIGHT. (And every single one of the 10 LOWEST-turnout seats were LEFT-leaning).
So, NZ is basically a socialist leaning country, from top to bottom. Which are our socialist leaning political parties, please.
Huh? writing that as you sit by the pool in your father in laws gated house quaffing champagne? nice “socialism”
new zealand is capitalist through and through, despite the best efforts of all the “progressive” hurdles to success
My first comment appears to be in moderation. Presumably, people can’t read it – thus rendering my second comment (2:32 pm) completely devoid of any context. (the “upshot” of what ?).
Meanwhile, dear old TightyRighty (sent off to board at an exclusive Prep-School at the age of 3) projecting his own vacuous lifestyle onto CV.
Socialism for the Rich! (And especially for the banking and investment classes)
Capitalism for the Poor!
That’s only if you think that stealing assets from your fellow citizens equals “success”.
The age of crony capitalism and ponzi innovation.
And while TightyRighty’s father in law won’t even let him on the property. Life can be so hard, but try to be a better person. Or maybe just a person.
NZ governments go along with socialist policies though try to remove them whenever they have a chance, despite this harming the economy.
Very telling and interesting analysis thank you swordfish.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11173003
Why would this very, very honest man refuse to pay?
Why would anyone really give a big fat one???
Why do you care so much? You seem obsessed.
Why should he pay?
Why? Because he’s a douche of the highest order.
So how much does Banksy owe for all the court and judge time he’s used so far?
He’s likely to miss out on a few months of salary once his seat is vacated, which will save the taxpayers a bit of coin.
[deleted]
[lprent: Already banned. Another IP for autospam. ]
Er, actually CV was explicitly talking about John Banks, and so I specifically replied about John Banks.
You do understand how threading works in an online forum, yes? And that the purpose of it is to allow people to take conversations in different directions without derailing the entire discussion?
Nothing I’ve seen indicates that Brown is corrupt although there’s serious questions to be asked about him accepting free rooms from SkyCity.
why would this very, very honest man keep racing up the lies?
http://thestandard.org.nz/an-honest-man/
Most recently telling the public the books were a “mess” when he came to power and he has turned them around.
I don’t think he should pay.
The purpose of the inquiry was to investigate any potential misuse of resources re: Bevan Chuang. He said there had been no such misuses, and that’s exactly what the inquiry showed.
+1
In the referendum discussions I see everyone still calling it the “anti smacking” bill which I think came from the right wing religious spin.
How about, at least on TS we call it what it is “anti child assault” and leave the old spin behind. Kids got the same legal protection against assault that adults already had. I just don’t get people who want to hit someone smaller than themselves.
Any party advocating repeal of S59 should be portrayed accurately as “large people get the right to hit small people” and “politicians for increasing child abuse and domestic violence statistics.”
The MSM should also think over their somewhat two faced position on both these issues.
+1
The misinformation around this change to the Crimes Act was staggering and harmful.
A person disciplining a child can no longer invoke the subjective test of believing it to be justified for disciplinary purposes. Such as the father who beat his child with a steel pipe but a jury found him not guilty because the father genuinely believe it was justified for discipline.
” justified in using force by way
of correction towards a child if that force
is reasonable in the circumstances”
Parents ought never see placing their hands on their child as their primary method of discipline. The port of first call if you will. To do so is lazy and speaks volumes about the parent in question. If parents cannot be bothered learning different ways to discipline their children, of correcting their behaviour, perhaps they ought not be parents?
Interesting article here
http://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/10092/670/1/12602518_Section%2059%20crimes%20act%201961.pdf
You are quite correct Tracey; what physical violence delivered onto their children says about parents is very concerning if not for the purposes permitted by the current law.
+1
Challenge the lingo and spin at EVERY opportunity (going forward)!
The first person I heard call it “the anti-smacking bill” was Sue Bradford.
There were already laws against assaulting children.
You could equally call it the “bill to give police more power to harass poor people bill, because that has been its main noticeable effect.
Mind you, it has been a good distraction from addressing the really pervasive violence against children and their parents. Poverty.
Helping desperate people without hope to a better life, and a real “brighter future” will do more to prevent child abuse than any number of “tinkering with the symptoms” laws.
Most of the people I have seen lashing out at those around them, apart from the family fist type nutters, are more in need of help, than comfortable middle class condemnation.
Link required to a credible source for
“You could equally call it the “bill to give police more power to harass poor people bill, because that has been its main noticeable effect.”
Personal observation.
The same as I have noted a distinct change in police attitude to me, when I go into bat for the local teenagers they are harassing, since I moved from the “big white house on the hill” to an ordinary house in the suburbs.
Police putting people in cells for the night, or giving someone a hard time, without charges, does not come up in the statistics.
Has the rate of child abuse gone down, since the bill, Tracey?
Gone up with the increase in impoverished children and parents, however.
sending a message that children are not property, that children can be difficult but parents need to learn about parenting/discipline s a good first step to valuing children.
I believe ANy law change has to be accompanied by community-wide education. No one is borne knowing how to be a parent, we, as a society, need to help. But we dont.
People still murder, even though we have a law against it, but the message the law sends is an important one.
Most of us already had that message.
But, I suppose the law change made people feel like they were doing something.
this is thought-provoking RedBaron
Sue Bradford’s bill was the repeal of s59 and thus removing the legal protections that allowed child abusers to get off serious assault charges. But you’re right, people advocating to keep or reinstate s59 should be portrayed as people who want to increase child abuse.
Quite right DTB, ended up with the opposite of what I meant.Rushing to work. Thanks for the fix.
Oh and BTW it isn’t only poor people that hit their kids. Just better lawyered up at the rich end of town.
And while I’m feeling riled about this. Why do these people personally get satisfaction from wanting to hit others?
“There is a significant gap between the
prevailing message from research, which
suggests harsh physical punishment has
a negative outcome for children, and
public opinion, which argues that physical
punishment, when reasonable, is an
acceptable means of disciplining children. “
Research says, as you would expect, that “harsh” physical or mental punishment harms children.
Actually, the research shows that any physical punishment harms children.
That one was also ambiguous about the effects of a smack on the butt, in a fair context..
No, it wasn’t – there are no fair contexts. Smacking causes harm.
So does jumping into the fireplace.
Breathing oxygen causes harm as well. So you’re going to have to do better than that, mate.
I think 20+ years of research is better than that.
20 years of research does not wholly agree with you, DTB.
Tracey showed some above.
because for a brief moment they feel a sense of power in a world they otherwise feel powerless. many were hit themsleves. Monkey see, monkey do.
That doesn’t explain the many parents who have no desire at all to even smack their kids, but know that a smack is better than a child who is burnt, electrocuted or run over.
and out of all the parents who have slapped or grabbed a child for that purpose, how many have been convicted of it as a crime under s59a/
The bill was changed to say that was permissible,. After the referendum. Which means of course no one has been convicted for trying to prevent a child from harming them selves.
By the way, if a hysterical adult was trying to run into the ” burning building”, I would use force if necessary to prevent them hurting themselves also. Including a slap in the face, if that is what it took. No different.
KJT – can you explain the relationship between hitting the child and preventing accidents.
The beating comes after the accident in these cases – a bit pointless.
A child can be shown that a hot element, dangerous road, or electrical fitting is dangerous through explanation. You should try it … it works. On the other hand if individuals have children who want to act dangerously out of spite or devilment – then I would suggest that their relationship with their toddlers may have partially broken down already and needs addressing.
Don’t you think we didn’t try all the other available options first.
More than a few.
A smack on the butt is not a beating, for starters.
And better than the other option, letting them continue to try and get at the fire.
A toddler does not know it is dangerous or hurts, unless you can show or tell them FFS.
Waiting until after they have learn’t the lesson the really hard way, is cruel!
“…A child can be shown that a hot element, dangerous road, or electrical fitting is dangerous through explanation.”
You do not appear to have addressed this point at all KJT.
(Just for starters, depending on the age of the toddler as to how deeply you can reason, a hot element or fire place, can be easily demonstrated as being dangerous – the slap on the hand indicates that the child is being defiant and there is very little communication happening.
You are showing a lack of understanding of the circumstances, my child and our continuous efforts to keep an impulsive, curious and very intelligent child, safe.
Take them to sea, challenging waters make for good sailors.
Yep. One of my best memories is my daughter, as a baby in her high chair in the cockpit, chortling every time we went over a wave.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that physical sanction has been used in human society since forever pretty much, so unless we think that today we are the most advanced and civilised of all civilisations then it is we who are out of synch with history and human conduct. Our systems are the anomaly. Maybe we have it wrong in banishing physical sanction to the bin.
It also has less long term damaging effect than psychological sanction.
have a read of the article I posted a link to above vto. It makes interesting reading about the impacts (or not) of physical punishment.
Will do, but it is all coming out in French…… he he
I also note re the use of physical sanction in our society that the sole permitted use of such is by the State, and we allow that, so where is the consistency. And let’s not even get started on war and what people think about it then…. most people are quite happy to go about killing other people then. How do people justify killing people then but not using the physical in other situations?
😉 @ french
Like the SAS guy convicted of theft… yet imagine what he may have done sanctioned by the state. It’s a crazy world.
“It also has less long term damaging effect than psychological sanction.”
Maybe, but those aren’t the only two skill sets available, now or in the past.
I thought section 59 was about removing the defense of discipline in the case of beating children. There is evidence that many cultures historically have disapproved of child beating and had other strategies for raising children.
btw, we don’t apply to the ‘we’ve always done this’ rationale to lots of things.
The research actually said, and one was the NZ longitudinal study, is that “mild” physical sanctions, like a smack on the backside, which were fair and appropriate, made for slightly better outcomes than parents who only used verbal sanctions.
I have seen it several times recently, that parents who pride themselves in not smacking their kids, have often substituted much crueler mental manipulation. I like to suggest a “positive parenting course” for some more ideas.
I was happy about the defense of “discipline” as an excuse” for beating children was removed.
I was not so happy with the idea that I may go to police cells, for physically restraining my behaviorally and mentally challenged child from hurting someone.
Or smacking my daughter on the hand, when all else failed, to stop her fascination with fire and power points. And before we get some smart arse retort. We tried all the obvious and less obvious ways of stopping them first. Many times. In the end we had to go with what worked, to keep them safe.
Most of the majority, who voted against section 59a were not voting to “beat their children”.
smacked my daughter’s bottom, maybe half a dozen times until she reached the age of about four; yes meant yes (and they were by far the majority), no meant no. I had already studied human development by then though, and education is a great help if it is applied.
Ad: “ Praising Alone ” 😀
and were you arrested?
It was before section 59a.
And, as I said, the ACT as eventually passed allows a degree of physical force to prevent harm.
exactly, I am confused about what you object to about it in its current form.
You need to read what I am saying. Instead of writing me off, along with the majority who were dubious about the original bill, as one of those “child bashers”.
It was much improved after the referendum, from the original bill.
But some of the wording is still rather ambiguous, and it still, like much of our legislation leaves too much to police discretion. Discretion which police too often abuse.
I was happy about the defense of “discipline” as an excuse” for beating children was removed.
I am reading. I am not writing you off. I am trying to understand your objections. I know the difference between the bill as first proposed and the Act.
I just havent been able to find the abuse of discretion that you have encountered. I am NOT saying it hasnt happened, I wont deny your personal experience. I just havent seen evidence despite looking hard for it.
For example a few people get wrongly accused of rape, but we dont remove the rape laws, we dont remove the message that women are not property to be own and used at will by adults.
What I am saying is that the referendum wasn’t ignored.
The law as finally written took account of the objections.
Because of the referendum we got as much better law than the one originally written. which would have made physically restraining my child from attacking others. illegal.
And there was already a law against assaulting children.
Section 59a in the end did remove some ambiguous interpretation. Where some people got acquitted from what was, clearly, assault.
As I said, I am largely happy with how it ended up.
Due in part to public concern about the original draft.
Too much of our law, is however, ambiguous, hurriedly and poorly written and open to too much police interpretation.
Something which happens far less often in Switzerland, where referenda are, binding.
Didn’t we have a discussion a few days ago about the police abuse of discretion, with legally protesting demonstrators.
Why do you think that some of them, far too many, are any better on other occasions.
Though, to be fair, you get some, it may even be the majority who are there for the right reasons and do an excellent job in trying circumstances..
@ KJT …
16 December 2013 at 12:11 pm
Thanks for the clarification because I did NOT get that was where you were coming from. Thank you.
“A more recent study (Gravitas Research
and Strategy, 2005) found that 51% of all
parents and 21% of caregivers used physical
punishment, albeit relatively infrequently
and mostly when other forms of discipline
had been tried: “Physical discipline is
commonly used because parents and
caregivers consider it to be a required and/or
justified response to the child’s behaviour”
(p. 4). This approach was also acknowledged
by children who, while they highlighted the
negative consequences of being smacked,
also accepted “it as a parental right or fact of
life” (Dobbs cited in Smith, Gollop, Taylor &
Marshall, 2004, p. 28)”
“If we take the stance that minor smacking
on a child’s bottom is acceptable, then
Larzelere’s 1996 review of research on
nonabusive spanking shows that there
should still be some concern about how
effective even this form of discipline is. In
his review of 35 studies that examined the
effects of nonabusive spanking on children
by parents, “Thirty-four per cent of the
studies found negative effects on children,
26% found positive effects, and 40%
showed no net positive or negative effect.
Nonabusive spanking appears to be more
effective or have neutral effect on children
younger than 13 compared to teenagers.
Grounding appears to be more effective than
spanking in older children. Spanking appears
to be most effective when done sparingly,
non-violently, and within the context of a
healthy parent child relationship.”
26% showed positive effects.
Did for my kids. They are still alive!
Believing the only reason your children are “still alive” is because you used physical violence against them definitely makes me take you seriously as an objective commenter.
I sort of knew that the holier than though would come to the fore.
Now we just need some words from the nuts on the other extreme. Family fist!
Both extremes just want the debate to shut down.
Frakking Lefties. 250,000 kids live in poverty day to day and all the Lefties have to moan about are bullshit legal and moral niceties. Which at the end of the day still haven’t been shown to do sweet FA in actually reducing the incidence of child physical abuse in society since they have been enacted.
In contrast I’m pretty fucking sure that if child poverty (and with it family poverty) were eliminated, it would measurably reduce the incidence of child physical abuse quickly and substantially.
Exactly.
Yeah, ‘cos none of us care about child poverty or try and do anything about it.
That’s almost totally irrelevant, weka.
Because what people see is a Left distracted by multitudes of bullshit academic, abstract, unpopular issues that not only garner no widespread support, but which everyone realises will make no practical difference to the lives that the Left says it is focussed on. And which people will never support en masse.
Again plenty of well off people hit their kids too. Well off can equate with self centred behaviour and an overwhelming sense of entitlement , and justifies “anything goes” in getting comliance from others. FFS DV doesn’t just happen at the poor end of town.
riiiiiiiight, you just keep blaming other issues for “the Left’s” inability to argue economics persuasively.
If we could argue and campaign for a living wage and workers’ rights half as effectivey as we can campaign against domestic violence and discrimination, key would be sulking in hawaii after a dismal failure in 2008 and electoral ostracism.
RedbaronCV: agree with you entirely re: DV. Veitch wasn’t a pauper was he.
But I don’t care about a total solution, I care about solutions which will make a difference to a lot of people even if it’s not everyone, and s59 cost a lot politically to achieve fuck all of next to nothing on the ground.
McFlock
Nope I’m blaming the Left’s focus on abstract academic intellectually pretty bullshit which costs shit loads of rare political capital and makes negligible difference to the bottom 50% of society.
BTW I’m all for abstract academic intellectually pretty bullshit which makes a big difference to the bottom 50% of society.
but but but even if people could only concentrate on one single issue over thirty years, surely YOU haven’t been distracted by “abstract academic bullshit”?
By the way, failing to convict parents who beat a child with a rubber hose or riding crop is neither “abstract” nor “academic”.
Oh? So how many prosecutions have got put through so far because of the new law which wouldn’t have otherwise? How much has the rate of physical child abuse been reduced since the new law?
well, if we’re being pointlessly vacuous, you tell me.
Love him, or hate him, you gotta love McFlock.
as an aside, caught an article on RNZ today just before Midday (from the Tech Review chap) suggesting that the continuim of digitalizing life, from selfies through google glass, through to time-lapsed ongoing filming (yep, occurring, very trendy) is deteriorating the development of memory. What say you old boy? Eh? 😀
Love him, or hate him, you gotta love McFlock.
Both, but glad he’s here.
We keep falling into this weird and unhelpful binary trap in our thinking – for my money I think CV is right; and at the same time I think the S59 reform was a necessary step along the way.
A lot of people here would be surprised at some of the places I’ve lived – my partner and I are quite well-off, but we’ve lived in places where the reality of poverty was just over the fence.
We’ve seen all the things that go wrong in their lives; we’ve despaired at our sense of impotence around ‘fixing it’. We’re vividly aware that our middle-class pretensions and sensibilities have little place in their lives.
Just throwing money at them usually makes things worse.
Yet it is their inability to access money and security on their own terms which is the defining factor in their poverty. Crucially it is the inability of so many young men to find stable work that enables them to form stable families which perpetuates the cycle.
CV is right – this is a plain, real-life challenge. The solutions will not come out of a University department. The actions that will change things are not complex or terribly abstract; most of what is needed is already well known.
But the only people who will make any difference are the natural leaders who have come out of this world themselves, who understand the culture and who get listened to when they speak. All they need is a network and real support.
To a degree. But a blank-slate google search is qualitatively different, imo, from using it as a memory aid or locator for source documents (or even just getting a quick handle on adjacent fields of expertise – the crossover between AI, philosophy of mind, and experimental psychology, for example).
yes, the interviewer, K.Ryan I believe, headed down the “where is it all heading…” path 😉 yet neither her or the techie guy were aware of , or raised, the singularity thesis, which was discussed on TS earlier this year, from memory 😉 ; More important than memories Flockie, where do the actual years go as we get older? So in the flow , ideally, they just whizz by.
@RedLogix:
with respect, to me that smacks of the trite tryptic variation “A: …; B: get leader, networks and popular support; C: victory!”
Yes we can see the problems, and even largely agree on the solutions/desired-outcomes, but the problem we have is communicating it and gaining the support of the 47% of voters who supported national, and even the 30-odd% of Labour voters and 12-odd% of green voters. Without them, chances of getting anywhere are pretty much non-existent.
Alternatively, saturate the bureaucracy over 30 years despite it and nact’s best efforts, and hope for bureaucratic capture like lab4. If we have decades to spare (we don’t, and it would be of doubtful success probability).
If we look at the work of one person who has done a lot to address the problem of child poverty, Bryan Bruce has made two documentaries that used academia to prove there is a problem, people on the ground to show the reality, and a mixture of both to show what he sees as real solutions. I firmly believe that we need this sort of broad front to achieve change. We’re getting there – I keep the Child poverty Monitor in my hip pocket (cellphone 🙂 ) for arguments, and it was valuable if dry. Now the commissioner has put out infographics that are much more clear than the academic works some people are so hostile towards, but the information is backed up by the solid research. “Defense in depth”, if you will.
I think that the real divison on the left is in economics (the extent of safe inflationary financing that then likely affects the viability of UBI, for example), which is why we’re shit at arguing it – and therefore shit at getting support for it. If we can’t broadly persuade ourselves, what can we expect to achieve in the electorate?
@rogue
The years don’t rush by, we just become more adept at ignoring them 🙂
I’m with RL in thinking that s59 was a necessary step “along the way” i.e. one tiny step on a journey of a thousand miles, so let’s keep it in that perspective.
Love your stats McFlock, looks like a National Govt has been quite able to reduce harm to children.
credit where credit’s due.
Must be their massive efforts in reducing inequality, doubling of the numbers of social workers and parenting classes, and general overwhelming improvement in conditions for poorer families. /sarc
“The research actually said, and one was the NZ longitudinal study, is that “mild” physical sanctions, like a smack on the backside, which were fair and appropriate, made for slightly better outcomes than parents who only used verbal sanctions.”
What are the verbal sanctions being studied though? As with physical force, there are different kinds and degrees of ‘verbal sanctions’, so how can we compare? And why compare physical with mental manipulation? There are plenty of non-physical discipline styles that don’t require being mean to a child. And are we talking about teaching a child about boundaries, or are we talking about punishment?
I don’t have an problem with physically restraining a child that is out of control and hurting itself, someone else, or doing something damage that is beyond acceptable. But then I’m of the generation where my peers raised their kids excessively liberally and so have spent too much time around unmannered brats 😉 They have to learn boundaries sooner or later, better to learn them young than as a teenager I reckon. There is of course a big difference between physically restraining a child (or picking it up and carrying it against its will to another room) and hitting it.
“Most of the majority, who voted against section 59a were not voting to “beat their children”.”
I’d say most had never read the act and were voting according to how the MSM misrepresented the legislation.
I suggest, like National, you have a contempt for the intelligence of the majority.
Are you suggesting that most people who voted in the referendum had read the Act?
What did most of them make of the wording of the referendum and how it related to the Act? (from memory I spoiled my voting paper, because how could you answer properly?).
I think most people were aware that the bill, as originally written, removed options which most of us are aware are sometimes required.
The amendments, a consequence of the discussion around the referendum, which I was fine with, allowed physical force to prevent harm and or to prevent law breaking.
Including a smack, as an alternative to, say, putting a child’s hand in the fire to get the message across that you don’t play with fire.
I don’t believe that a majority of the population wanted to “bring back the cane”.
I also don’t think they were stupid enough to believe the extremes, on both sides of the argument.
I would rather concentrate my efforts on the real causes of child abuse.
Including the ongoing abuse of over 200 000 children by our Government.
And helping all of us become better parents.
That would be wrong vto, there are many societies through history that have never used violence against children. The present Western Civilisation that covers the world seems to be one of the more violent ones.
Xox
Suggestions (links) for current independent, quality news site(s) for New Zealanders? Have given up on Herald and Dom Post. TVNZ is a frivolous joke, not to mention Jim Mora ‘ s lala chuckle session on RNZ’s ‘Afternoons’.
You know this one Philj?
http://www.scoop.co.nz
oh, and for overseas news don’t forgot http://www.democracynow.org/ and there’s Al Jazeera on channel 16 on freeview
AlterNet
Real News
Truth Out
Information Clearing House
the lip-balm emergency-crew @ tvone just had to be called in..
..after rawdon ‘ron burgandy’ christies final arse-kissing/reaming-out of john key for the year..
..christie resurfaced looking severely chapped..
..key was glowing/purring in/with delight..
..phillip ure..
I take it you watch “Breakfast” for the same reasons I sometimes watch Fox News @ phill?
(It’s the only way I can find do drum up feelings of pity for the deluded, and its some of the best comedy there is on TV these days)
shit..a long/considered reply to above..push publish..just vanished..
..left with header and blank white page..
..w.t.f..!
..this is not the first time this has happened..
(should we copy/save before hitting publish @ the standard..?..)
phillip ure..
ALWAYS save Phill as you go about your electronic bizznus.
I was discussing the benefits of this just this morning. Do so as frequently as possible.
The disk cleaners providing a level of comfort by overwriting, the algoritms in play allocating ‘space’ on disk, the way in which a delete doesn’t actually delete but makes space available for subsequent storage – yea – save and overwrite.
But THEN ‘clean’
But – long story short, I’ll spend the next week watching a Rawdon and his prop-up blonde what’s-her-thing (both doing their best to convince us they’re hard-hitting, ‘incisive’ journalists) for a laugh. (After all, Rawdon used to work for the BBC dontcha know!)
NZ’s media was bought a long time ago.
The owners of New Zealand need people like Christie to repeat their message.
Isn’t Labour barbeque season fantastic fun with all the leadership stuff done and full of political success?
Do you think Mallard has learned anything form the vote of the membership?
Is Annette King knitting woolen socks for DC’s christmas gift?
If ANYONE thinks they can revive any aspect of the Goff/Shearer era they should be put on top of the BBQ!
Stop being sarcastic. A leader without the support of caucus and a failed referendum does not constitute success.
Clearly we have to invite you to the right barbeques.
Gee Fisi do you mean that Key does not have the support of his caucus?
@ Fisiani,
Yes there must be a lot of discontent in National over the details you provide about Key and the policy failure indicated by the referendum
[snap Mickey Savage]
this is a useful best-of list..
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/15/50-best-apps-2013-iphone-android-observer
phillip ure..
Tossers in, Xhosas out
Local mourners have to make way for the likes of Richard Branson
If you have any kind of a conscience, you will be well and truly glutted with the obscene parade of arm-waving impostors [1], insincere sentimental posturing [2], murderously hypocritical “tributes” [3] and mindless “celebrities” [4] that has hijacked the mourning for Nelson Mandela.
Many people who were disgusted with that farce in Johannesburg believed, or hoped against hope, that some sense of decency would be restored when the great leader was finally laid to rest in his home town in the Eastern Cape.
On this morning’s news on Al Jazeera, however, it was immediately apparent that, while the impostors, war criminals and democracy-suppressors at least were not there for the final send-off, there was still an infestation of irritating “celebrities” present. Prominent in the front row at the church were former Blair cheerleader “Sir” Richard Branson, the Obama-cult high priestess Oprah Winfrey and The Rev. Jesse Jackson. The last-named at least has some credentials to justify his presence there—but Branson and Winfrey?
What really was heartbreaking, though, was the forlorn sight of the local people of Qunu, herded behind fences, excluded from the funeral service because of “security” concerns.
Still, on the bright side, at least the main speakers were South Africans this time and, in contrast to those that “led the mourners” in last week’s horror show, were not the sort of people that would have persecuted and defamed Mandela thirty years ago .
[1] http://cdn1.independent.ie/world-news/article29829821.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/PANews_bfce2d94-f4ec-4d75-b069-6d5218eab9d2_I1.jpg
[2] http://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/hard-news-mandela/?p=302690#post302690
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJwU_Uz8YT8#t=0
[4] http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qFLMAoRCtZ43k7k137JUGw–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQyMTtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz03NDk-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/74c9e12e6485715eb9ed284a478d28b25d1584a0.jpg
It’s clear they weren’t popular
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/11/nelson-mandela-anc-jacob-zuma-boo
Why didn’t they boo Obama?
And other fools there who show no respect
http://news.sky.com/story/1180483/cameron-and-obamas-selfie-at-mandela-service
Probably wise not to in case there’s a missile armed reaper drone or two keeping an eye on them.
Excellent article on Polity about Asset Sales
http://polity.co.nz/content/turnout-referendum
Chorus shortfall : services could deline, further
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11173023
Departing FMA watchdog concerned about NZ investment patterns
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11173019
Avatar sequels to be filmed in NZ!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/9522695/Avatar-sequels-to-be-made-in-NZ
All hail the Great Leader John Key.
Is that what you want people to say?
Probably not. It’s what they think but not what they say.
Fisiani, you really are a True Believer. Most people are embarrassed by Key. Or angry at him.
That referendum, and especially his arrogant dismissal of it, spelled out his doom.
Source?
John Key, Steven Joyce, et al. Picking winners. I wish I was that f**king rich. Pity the poor, the infirm, the poverty stricken, the children, the low paid, and other marginalized folks in New Zealand who don’t qualify for John Key’s “hand up, not hand out”. Yeah right.
So once again the rank and file tax payer gets to subsidize the rich, our deficit has rocketed from $10 billion in 2008 to over $70 billion now. Welcome to Planet Key/National/Act.
John Key kowtows to movie execs and gives them lots of other peoples, specifically NZ taxpayers, money – again.
Midday Report:
Government will increase the baseline tax rebate for film production brought to NZ to 20% and up to 25% for the next three ‘Avatar’ films which are likely to be made here.
ooh, a ‘Paul’ sandwich.
Great article from Gordon Campbell on Scoop today.
http://werewolf.co.nz/2013/12/the-blank-slate-boy/
“Almost singlehandedly, Colin Craig has neutralised one of the Key government’s most potent tactical weapons in the next election. Without Craig, National might have been able to run a credible scare campaign next year around the prospect of the Greens – those scary socialist enviro-extremist boogey men – being part of any government led by Labour’s David Cunliffe. Yet anytime next year that John Key, Steven Joyce or the captains of industry do try to raise the Greens spectre, they’ll need to explain their own reliance on Craig, the far more visible loose wheel on their own wagon.”
Nicely put, and important to remember – anytime some right-winger tries to spook the horses about the Greens, ask them why Key is trying to buddy up with Crazy Craig.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love said to me ….
3 Avatars pending ….
etc,
Christ they’re getting desperate!
John key says Hone Harawira took a “jolly” to south africa and here is a quote from him
“”He has to stand up to his own constituents, but I for one don’t support what he’s done.””
I have tried to find where he has stated he doesnt support what Mr Banks has done (not read a form before signing etc)… interesting
After reading it, I think he’s a little irritated that Hone got treated with more respect than he did (getting to go and perform a haka at the private ceremony) and he didn’t manage to get in on the selfie with his best buds Obama.
2 snubs in one trip – it’s more than the egotistical narcissist can handle!
The reporter didn’t say just what Hone did on his Speaker approved “junket”.
Was it “getting to go and perform a haka at the private ceremony” as you say Zorr?
What was that? Could have been a sincere real moment for Hone who actually fronted the 81 protest, as opposed to the hypocritical performance by some undeserving MP bludgers with very dodgy memories.
And I heard Mr Key commenting on Hone’s absence in the House. I thought it was unlawful for MPs to refer to a MPs absence in the House.
Key…lawful?
In the same sentence ha ha
“He performed a haka at the side of Mandela’s casket with the blessing of Mandela’s grandson. His wife performed a karanga mate or lament”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9523270/PM-slams-Harawira-trip
I hate to say it – but has Key truly devalued the office of PM to the point that every time I hear that he has said something, my immediate response is can he shut up and stop embarrassing us as a nation. We need to stop reporting on him like he is somehow still connected to reality.
Key’s breathless slamming is bizarre, especially given that it’s bumped Avatar from top news spot.
Just heard him comment on RadioNZ. Fucking fucked is what it is. Hone went ‘on a jolly’!!!? JK had picked a representative cross section to attend!!!!?
All that came to my mind was that image of John Key and David Cameron laughing at some fuck knows what and my strong suspicion that JK couldn’t have given a flying monkey’s fuck about the guy who’s memorial he was attending .
Just like he doesn’t give a flying monkey’s fuck about reality. All that matters is spin and power and control. And probably wringing every last cent out of NZ while he’s still got the chance (his paymasters probably have a bonus system in place).
Should have to wear sponsors jerseys, like some suggested for the US Congress.
At least we would know who is paying them.
Spot on Zorr. Gauche arsehole. Devalues the brand of Kiwi akshully.
Farcical. In 1981 Bolger a minister in Muldoon’s cabinet and McKinnon the Junior Government Whip. Active supporters at the highest level of the apartheid regime. Then there’s the Prime Mournister. Who believes he wasn’t reflexively with them ? The people who DIDN’T bring a ray of sunshine into the cells of Robbin Island.
They all get their costs paid. Hone gets his costs paid and we have the Prime Mournister shrieking offensively about a “jolly”.
My God the vulgar, barefaced hypocrisy. Pathological. Borderline.
[deleted]
[lprent: Already banned. Another IP for autospam. ]
Really?
Fact checking needed.
Repeating stuff from WO and DPF does not amount to critical analysis.
+1 karol.
Reading Lynn’s comment, does anyone know if Labour or the GP intend to fix the mess that is the Local Govt Act ammendment?
I don’t know, but it is bit ironic when the ACTiod types get in a tizz about the effects of the Auckland Dictatorship, they deliberately created, so that Banks could steal Aucklander’s assets.
It was part of Labour policy before the last election for Auckland.. I have no idea what it is now.
Is this one of your usual drop and run comments or are you actually here to debate?
By the way, you seem obsessed with the Brown story. You seem to have the same news priorities as Slater.
Another centre-left Presidente in South America. Michelle Bachelet is back and she has caned it 62% versus 38% to the centre-right candidate in the run-off vote for Chile’s president.
Very nice. South Americans learnt the hard way from many decades (centuries) of western colonialism and control.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/unemployed-told-to-leave-ireland-in-desperate-move-to-slash-welfare-costs-9002720.html
Oh Dear, and 1 in 4 under 25 still unemployed; EU banks are rubbing their hands though (stupid paddies they’ll be thinking).
Great interview with socialist Brian Roper from Otago Uni on RNZ. Time to disband Treasury he says, and farm out the functions to different Departments.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2580119
I have benefited from hearing and reading Brian Roper. (actually one of my fb ‘friends’; good feeds).