However, Russia itself had its own neo-nazi groups. And, as the article points out, Putin was using some of these groups for his own ends. Also, Putin has strong parallels with Hitler. For instance, the Z symbol being parallel to the swastika. The mass meetings that Putin has held trying to galvanise support. The war crimes, and apparent attempts at genocide etc.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
The problem lies with the US. Even if Russia wins in Ukraine the US, like Robert the Bruce, will keep on trying until Russia is crushed. Who will be their next lot of "cannon fodder" after the Ukraine? The Finns. perhaps?
Putting aside the fact that you are not answering my comment about Nazism in Russia, what you are asserting is complete nonsense.
It doesn't take much history research to realise that there is no way that Ukraine, Finland, Poland et al will willingly submit to Russia regardless of whether they are getting help from the west. Sure, Ukraine would likely be occupied by Russia now if it wasn't for the west. But the Ukrainians would still be fighting via an insurgency. There is no way they would be giving up. It would end up being another Afghanistan for Russia.
All that the west is doing is enabling the Ukrainians to fight more effectively. And it isn’t like the west is forcing these weapons down the Ukrainian’s throats. Ukraine is not getting anything like what they are asking for. If anything, the west has been dragging its heels in supplying weaponary.
And, your myopic focus on the US is a bit ridiculous considering that a lot of heavy weaponary is now coming from NATO countries, including heavy tanks.
Russia is the aggressor, the war will and can not end until Russia stops attacking.
Ukraine is the defender, the war will and can not end while Ukraine keeps defending.
As long as Russia keeps attacking, Ukraine will never stop resisting.
Even if the West withdraw their support for Ukraine. Ukrainians will fight an insurgent gorilla war against the Russia Federation occupation for as long as it takes. And Russia eventually withdraws.
France could not win in Vietnam.
America could not win in Vietnam
The USSR could not win in Afghanistan
America could not win in Afghanistan
The US war in Afghanistan is America's longest war and the US still could not win against an insurgent population.
No matter how long the Russian Federation continues the war they cannot win in Ukraine. History is against them.
The Post WW2 Ukrainian Insurgency wasn't snuffed out until 1956 in far Western Ukraine with help from Kim Philby & Anthony Blunt who passed information onto the KGB when Para Drops were due etc and successful penetration of the UPA.
When Khrushchev & his deputy for West Ukrainian affairs A.A. Stoiantsev started to run show following a massive restructuring within NKVD & the Ukrainian Communist Party Apparatus in Western Ukraine.
There was another Ukrainian Insurgency during the Inter-War Period but there is next to no information on it & it's probably a fair assumption that Holodomor probably has alot to do with destroying all of the oral & written History?
Russia won't "win" in Ukraine. That chance went up in smoke when they failed to capture Kiev in the first 72 hours of the invasion. The rest of the war is essentially a face saving exercise for Putin to allow him to shift the blame for any defeat somewhere else.
The only way Tsar Poot's can take Kivi now? If he changes his axis advance on 2 separate broad Armoured fronts attacking either side of Kivi from Belarus and encircle the city unlike the previous attempt on a very narrow front which favour the Ukranian Defenders.
But Poot's Logistics is so shit house, its ability to gain any form of Air Parity over the Battle Space is a complete joke & its unlikely the Army would achieve its objective without massive losses manpower & equipment.
The Russians still have to locate the Ukranian Theater Reserve Troops & its Armoured Corp Reserve Commanded by an ex Russian Officer who is Ukranian born. Who with the Chief of General Staff help plan & led the auturm offensive has disappear off the radar again with his merry band of Armoured Knights & Panzer Grenadiers (Mech Infantry).
Most if not all of Poot's FSU & SF Units have been captured, so he is running out of eyes & ears on ground in the rear. Thats an interesting story there from what I've heard.
Unless Poot's finds the Ukranian Reserves and it Armoured Corp, this phase of the War is going to be an old fashion meat grinder of Infantry Frontal Attacks with Artillery Support with Long Range/ Deep Fires using UAV's, Missiles on Civilian Tgts by the Russians. The Ukrainian's hitting Russian Military Tgt's & Log Hubs until Summer rolls in, with one eye on Belarus again.
The UK government is going to use a “section 35” order to block Scottish legislation for the first time. It is daring the SNP to make the legislation a cause in their fight for another referendum (the self ID gender legislation is not popular in Scotland).
… UK ministers are concerned about the potential impact on the Equality Act and its protections for women-only spaces, as well as the implications for UK-wide documents.
Yes, they all signed on to it. L, N, G and A. Every single one happy to throw women and children under the gravy train that is gender ideology, 'gender' affirmation and medical care in the form of extreme body modification. So much gravy!!!!
disclaimer:
women – adult human females (large gametes havers)
boy – human male child (small gamete havers)
girl – human female child (large gamete havers)
hard to tell what's happened there but I would guess either the removed tweet used the word man but the tweets saying male survived (which is interesting). Or it's the tweet saying male that got her suspended.
Well that is a science we are to deny. Men are what ever men say they are, and women (the ones born without penises) better shut up, put up and swallow.
The McCarthy led majority in the House of Representatives is threatening the world economy, refusing to enable funding for US debt repayment unless there are cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
I guess that explains why a reply upthread got eaten when I went to copy a quote from another tab. I may leave it until later in the week to comment on the site. Cheers for all the work you put in to keep it going anyway; lprent.
Any nation with a CGT, an assets/land tax, wealth tax or estate tax will gather some revenue from the huge increase in wealth at some point in time. Only a nation with no taxes in any of these areas will fail to do so … such as … well here in New Zealand.
The ideal time to have introduced a CGT would have been two years ago.
If it is started during a decline in asset values, then there will be a lot of tax credits floating around that need to be soaked up before a CGT starts generating income for the government.
Not that I am a fan of CGTs. If it were levied across all assets (including the family home) then it would probably be OK. But if there are lots of exclusions it starts becoming less and less workable IMO.
The issue becomes complex when you look at kinds of capital gain resulting from activities other than real estate speculation and inflation.
An engineering or manufacturing business, and some forms of horticulture or agriculture, may grow their business through improvements, R&D, growing their customer base and so forth. They ought not to be treated identically to rent-seeking entities inflicting a deadweight cost upon the economy.
When it gets to valuing business assets etc, it just becomes God's gift to valuers and creates unnecessary churn on business activity, and is not good for employers or employees.
And if it is limited to houses, but not privately owned ones, it starts looking quite lite-weight in terms of revenue gained. Especially if the housing market is quite flat or declining.
So, you either end up with something that is highly complex in terms of exclusions, or something that is a nightmare in terms of administration for those it is inflicted on.
So, you either end up with something that is highly complex in terms of exclusions, or something that is a nightmare in terms of administration for those it is inflicted on.
And yet some well-to-do countries have a CGT – compare NZ and Norway.
Pity those 'poor' Nordmenn inflicted with their highly complexnightmare
The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, signed in 1997, which fixed the principle of strategic partnership, the recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, and respect for territorial integrity and mutual commitment not to use its territory to harm the security of each other.
Of course after the events of 2014 (Russian support for secession in the Donbass and annexation of Crimea) there came a review.
History and Content of the Treaty
The Treaty was signed on 31 May 1997 by the second President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma and the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. The Treaty entered into force on 1 April 1999.
The Treaty was concluded for ten years, but provided for the possibility to be renewed automatically for successive 10-year periods, if neither party intended to terminate the Treaty (Article 40). If the party did intend to terminate the Treaty, it had to notify the other party at least six months before the expiry of the current 10-year period. In 2008, the Treaty was automatically renewed for another ten years. On 17 September 2018, President Poroshenko initiated the process of the Treaty termination before another 10-year renewal. On 21 September 2018, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the Russian Federation about the intention not to renew the treaty.
Russian View on Termination
The Kremlin Press Secretary criticised Ukrainian move towards termination of the Treaty, calling it ‘shooting yourself in the foot’. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded with denying the violation of the Treaty and ‘declared readiness’ to hold negotiations to update the bilateral legal framework, which ‘may admittedly have become somewhat outdated.’ The Russian Federation also accused Ukraine in violation of a number of provisions of the Treaty, including Article 6 of the Treaty, prescribing the parties ‘not to enter into any agreements with any countries directed against the other party’ and Article 12 of the Treaty, ensuring the ‘protection of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious identity of national minorities on their territory’ and promoting ‘the creation of equal opportunities and conditions for the study of […] the Russian language in Ukraine.’ According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, these provisions were violated by Ukraine’s ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine and the Alliance on Host Nation Support for NATO Operations, amending Ukraine’s Military Doctrine to proclaim the strategic goal of joining NATO, and adopting a number of laws ‘waging a consistent offensive against the Russian language and the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine’
Of course Russian interference in its internal politics has had an impact on Ukraine 's perception of its place as a nation state in the world.
During my tenure in Kyiv, State Department–sponsored public opinion polling never showed a majority of Ukrainian public support for NATO membership. Private sector polling showed that as late as 2012, only 28 percent of Ukrainians wished to join NATO. Not surprisingly, pro-Russian sentiment was stronger in the east, but the largest plurality was for neutrality. The 2014 Russian seizure of Crimea and the fomenting of a violent separatist movement in eastern Ukraine sharply shifted Ukrainian public opinion. A poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation in June 2017 found 69 percent supported joining the alliance.
That 1997 Friendship Treaty was seen as an extension of the Lisbon Protocol & Budapest Memorandum.
The Friendship Treaty was to provide a foundation stone to Russia Guarantees that it signed. From what I can gather things began to slowly change when Poot's replace Yeltsin as the Russian President.
This was also during a period in Ukraine where corruption was also starting to taking root which allowed the Russian Mafia to move in, which btw are linked to Poot's & slowly the snowball/ avalanche got bigger until the young population of Ukraine realise the old corrupt farts running the show wanted to go back to a backward looking Russia instead of forward looking EU.
Thence the uprising in 2014 where basically Western Ukraine booted out Poot's Toady's. Now when we go back through History from now ie previous National Polling Results & through to Imperial Russia Eastern Ukraine has naturally aligned itself with Russia. But it isn't much in IRT percentage points or population.
One could see similarities to Nth'en Ireland, the former Yugoslavia or the divide between West & East German through the political & religious lenses.
In April 1963, King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, after he defied a state court’s injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit, urging an Easter boycott of white-owned stores. A statement published in The Birmingham News, written by eight moderate white clergymen, criticized the march and other demonstrations.
This prompted King to write a lengthy response, begun in the margins of the newspaper. He smuggled it out with the help of his lawyer, and the nearly 7,000 words were transcribed. The eloquent call for “constructive, nonviolent tension” to force an end to unjust laws became a landmark document of the civil-rights movement. The letter was printed in part or in full by several publications, including the New York Post, Liberation magazine, The New Leader, and The Christian Century.
The Atlantic published it in the August 1963 issue, under the headline “The Negro Is Your Brother.”
Cancelled our Herald sub in 2005 after a particularly disgusting front page feature after the Election night that I will not repeat here. I won't have it in the house, and I "return to sender" the 6 monthly exhortations to renew my sub with exactly what I think of them written on the envelope.
I actually find the NZ Herald quite left leaning. Other than Steven Joyce a lot of the writers lean to the left. I think Stuff is even more left leaning.
Looks that way. Keep 'em lean and hungry – they're not starving – hur hur hur.
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
The Herald is traditionally a centre-right newspaper, and was given the nickname "Granny Herald" into the 1990s.
The Herald's stance on the Middle East is supportive of Israel, as seen most clearly in its 2003 censorship and dismissal of cartoonist Malcolm Evans following his submission of cartoons critical of Israel.
In 2007, an editorial strongly disapproved of some legislation introduced by the Labour-led government, the Electoral Finance Act, to the point of overtly campaigning against the legislation.
sure. And your 'centre right' position is why you see NZH as a left leaning paper. But what you consider centre right is actually solid right wing. It’s a feature of the Overton Window.
My wife insists on a Herald subscription, even though it is more a newsletter than a paper these days. Its all about the crossword before work. I am horrified, but she makes me breakfast most days so I can live with my compromised principles.
Crosswords, like many other puzzles, can be bought in book form. Though I must confess the most visited pages of my daily paper, aka 'the two minute silence', are the puzzles. That and the death notices….. The first keeps me alive, the second tells me I am.
It was the same name, in full. Then I got to the name of his wife, and kids, and discovered I could start breathing again. And yes, it was disconcerting for a few seconds.
Just about every person I know has been dumping their herald subscriptions – online or paper – mostly because the news that they provide is either just a repeat from offshore, or it is what I'd class as unsupported opinions sourced off of the net.
As far as I can tell, you now have to be way older than me and operating a sub by rote, or you'd class twitter as being a legitimate well researched news source to still be on the site.
Even their business news was total drivel last time I looked at it. These days I have a subscription to and read BusinessDesk instead. There is a pile of hard information in what is in BD with a lot less of the bullshit spin that seems to be in all parts of the NZH these days.
Can't read the Herald comments – but if anyone wants to see a range of (probably) similar ones – the article has also been opened for comments on the Herald's facebook page (I've converted to a tinyurl – since the actual FB link was 5 lines long!)
If anybody deserves to drown in their own bodily fluids. Fuckers.
//
In November, 80 smiling faces appeared on the front page of a fringe Canadian newspaper called Druthers. The headline read: “80 Canadian MDs VAXXED and Dead.”
Underneath each photograph: the doctor’s name, age, hometown, date of death, occupation and a few words about how they died. Many simply say “died unexpectedly.”
In many cases, this is true. But not in the way it is implied.
[…]
Social media was awash with dire warnings of the fourth booster, and the three doctors’ names were jotted down alongside an expanding group of Canadian physicians whose deaths were falsely linked to the vaccine, without cause or explanation.
The burgeoning conspiracy theory was soon picked up by tech-millionaire turned anti-vaccination advocate Steve Kirsch, who in August wrote about “14 young Canadian docs” who died after getting a shot of COVID vaccine.
In November, U.S. conservative radio show host Stew Peters, who also produced Died Suddenly, claimed in a Facebook video that “hundreds” of Canadian doctors had died. The video has reached countries as far away as New Zealand, spawning other country-specific, dead-doctor theories.
people were moaning on twitter yesterday about the full lockdowns and how people weren't allowed to go for a run out in the fresh air. As always, I can't tell if the moaners are really fucking stupid (as if everyone can be trusted to go on a run and not congregate), or disingenuous.
I don’t know what they think is going on with the pandemic. I guess in five years when we can more easily see the burden of repeated infections they’ll have a deeper kind of denial.
I don't think that's cognitive dissonance. Not entirely sure what it is tbh, other than it's batshit. Cognitive dissonance seems to me that people know something is real but they dissociate from it. Brad is on another planet altogether.
And when the penny drops that infection, and especially multiple infections, likely knocks holes in acquired immunity..hooboy..
If you have a kid at home, there’s a good chance they spent the last couple of months snotty, feverish, barfy or worse. Young people in particular have been pummelled by the tridemic of RSV, influenza and Covid-19—and you’ve probably heard that “immunity debt” is to blame. Even Justin Trudeau has parroted this popular theory that our immune systems have gotten weak after two years of coddling behind masks and under lockdowns. There’s just one problem: “It is totally, totally wrong,” says Colin Furness, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information who believes that Covid infections, not public health measures, are to blame for weakened immunity. Here, he explains why.
"China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years, a new milestone in the country’s deepening demographic crisis with significant implications for its slowing economy.
The population declined in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced during a Tuesday briefing on annual data."
"Since sampling is not perfectly uniform, it is not possible to pinpoint the number of people in each age group nationwide; but the overall pattern of the age distribution is consistent with past censuses. It suggests that post-1990 births continued to decline faster than I had predicted, and in fact did not peak in 2004 or 2011. That means China’s real population is not 1.41 billion (the official figure) and could be even smaller than my own estimate of 1.28 billion. It also means that China’s economic, social, foreign, and defense policies – as well as those of the United States and other countries toward China – are based on erroneous demographic data."
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
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One of the stated reasons for the invasion of Ukraine was so Ukraine could be "denazified". That is despite the far right only winning 2.15% of the vote in the 2019 election.
However, Russia itself had its own neo-nazi groups. And, as the article points out, Putin was using some of these groups for his own ends. Also, Putin has strong parallels with Hitler. For instance, the Z symbol being parallel to the swastika. The mass meetings that Putin has held trying to galvanise support. The war crimes, and apparent attempts at genocide etc.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
The problem lies with the US. Even if Russia wins in Ukraine the US, like Robert the Bruce, will keep on trying until Russia is crushed. Who will be their next lot of "cannon fodder" after the Ukraine? The Finns. perhaps?
Putting aside the fact that you are not answering my comment about Nazism in Russia, what you are asserting is complete nonsense.
It doesn't take much history research to realise that there is no way that Ukraine, Finland, Poland et al will willingly submit to Russia regardless of whether they are getting help from the west. Sure, Ukraine would likely be occupied by Russia now if it wasn't for the west. But the Ukrainians would still be fighting via an insurgency. There is no way they would be giving up. It would end up being another Afghanistan for Russia.
All that the west is doing is enabling the Ukrainians to fight more effectively. And it isn’t like the west is forcing these weapons down the Ukrainian’s throats. Ukraine is not getting anything like what they are asking for. If anything, the west has been dragging its heels in supplying weaponary.
And, your myopic focus on the US is a bit ridiculous considering that a lot of heavy weaponary is now coming from NATO countries, including heavy tanks.
What does Russia vs USA/USA vs Russia have to do with nations defending themselves from foreign invasion (England of Scotland or Russia of Ukraine)?
Sounds logical.
The USA is trying to destroy Russia, by forcing Russia to plan and conduct unprovoked invasions of her neighbours.
How many times has Ukraine invaded Russia lately?
"Even if Russia wins in Ukraine….." Mikesh
Mikesh, there's no chance of that ever happening.
Russia can never win in Ukraine.
Russia is the aggressor, the war will and can not end until Russia stops attacking.
Ukraine is the defender, the war will and can not end while Ukraine keeps defending.
As long as Russia keeps attacking, Ukraine will never stop resisting.
Even if the West withdraw their support for Ukraine. Ukrainians will fight an insurgent gorilla war against the Russia Federation occupation for as long as it takes. And Russia eventually withdraws.
France could not win in Vietnam.
America could not win in Vietnam
The USSR could not win in Afghanistan
America could not win in Afghanistan
The US war in Afghanistan is America's longest war and the US still could not win against an insurgent population.
No matter how long the Russian Federation continues the war they cannot win in Ukraine. History is against them.
The Post WW2 Ukrainian Insurgency wasn't snuffed out until 1956 in far Western Ukraine with help from Kim Philby & Anthony Blunt who passed information onto the KGB when Para Drops were due etc and successful penetration of the UPA.
When Khrushchev & his deputy for West Ukrainian affairs A.A. Stoiantsev started to run show following a massive restructuring within NKVD & the Ukrainian Communist Party Apparatus in Western Ukraine.
There was another Ukrainian Insurgency during the Inter-War Period but there is next to no information on it & it's probably a fair assumption that Holodomor probably has alot to do with destroying all of the oral & written History?
Russia won't "win" in Ukraine. That chance went up in smoke when they failed to capture Kiev in the first 72 hours of the invasion. The rest of the war is essentially a face saving exercise for Putin to allow him to shift the blame for any defeat somewhere else.
The only way Tsar Poot's can take Kivi now? If he changes his axis advance on 2 separate broad Armoured fronts attacking either side of Kivi from Belarus and encircle the city unlike the previous attempt on a very narrow front which favour the Ukranian Defenders.
But Poot's Logistics is so shit house, its ability to gain any form of Air Parity over the Battle Space is a complete joke & its unlikely the Army would achieve its objective without massive losses manpower & equipment.
The Russians still have to locate the Ukranian Theater Reserve Troops & its Armoured Corp Reserve Commanded by an ex Russian Officer who is Ukranian born. Who with the Chief of General Staff help plan & led the auturm offensive has disappear off the radar again with his merry band of Armoured Knights & Panzer Grenadiers (Mech Infantry).
Most if not all of Poot's FSU & SF Units have been captured, so he is running out of eyes & ears on ground in the rear. Thats an interesting story there from what I've heard.
Unless Poot's finds the Ukranian Reserves and it Armoured Corp, this phase of the War is going to be an old fashion meat grinder of Infantry Frontal Attacks with Artillery Support with Long Range/ Deep Fires using UAV's, Missiles on Civilian Tgts by the Russians. The Ukrainian's hitting Russian Military Tgt's & Log Hubs until Summer rolls in, with one eye on Belarus again.
What happens in Summer is anyone's guess atm?
The UK government is going to use a “section 35” order to block Scottish legislation for the first time. It is daring the SNP to make the legislation a cause in their fight for another referendum (the self ID gender legislation is not popular in Scotland).
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64288757
Pity nobody blocked self ID here.
Agree!
Wholeheartedly!
Yes, they all signed on to it. L, N, G and A. Every single one happy to throw women and children under the gravy train that is gender ideology, 'gender' affirmation and medical care in the form of extreme body modification. So much gravy!!!!
disclaimer:
women – adult human females (large gametes havers)
boy – human male child (small gamete havers)
girl – human female child (large gamete havers)
Meanwhile, (Watson is a detrans woman)
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1615115810594512896
hard to tell what's happened there but I would guess either the removed tweet used the word man but the tweets saying male survived (which is interesting). Or it's the tweet saying male that got her suspended.
Well that is a science we are to deny. Men are what ever men say they are, and women (the ones born without penises) better shut up, put up and swallow.
Here’s a thought experiment for Francecsa, and the other Putin apologists.
Back before Te Tirit was signed, New Zealand was governed by Australia.
What could happen is that some idiot Aussie PM, (Morrison?) needing a poll boost claims that NZ is Australia’s by right, and launches an invasion.
Does Aotearoa defend itself, and call upon its allies the USA and GB to help? Or does it roll over?
According to our resident Russophiles, it rolls over.
The McCarthy led majority in the House of Representatives is threatening the world economy, refusing to enable funding for US debt repayment unless there are cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7tewcvkYoU
They're going to do it.
https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1615080979042893825
Had a report of caching issues between desktop and mobile for people not logged in, so I have chopped the max cache time to minutes.
I'm going to adjust it a bit for just the HTML. But there may a bit of fiddling over today and some mysterious slowdowns.
I guess that explains why a reply upthread got eaten when I went to copy a quote from another tab. I may leave it until later in the week to comment on the site. Cheers for all the work you put in to keep it going anyway; lprent.
Any nation with a CGT, an assets/land tax, wealth tax or estate tax will gather some revenue from the huge increase in wealth at some point in time. Only a nation with no taxes in any of these areas will fail to do so … such as … well here in New Zealand.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2023/01/top-1-percent-captured-nearly-twice-as-much-new-wealth-as-rest-of-world-over-last-two-years.html
Greens a 1% tax on net wealth over $1M is one party with a policy fit for the modern world. TOP has an across the board land tax.
The ideal time to have introduced a CGT would have been two years ago.
If it is started during a decline in asset values, then there will be a lot of tax credits floating around that need to be soaked up before a CGT starts generating income for the government.
Not that I am a fan of CGTs. If it were levied across all assets (including the family home) then it would probably be OK. But if there are lots of exclusions it starts becoming less and less workable IMO.
The issue becomes complex when you look at kinds of capital gain resulting from activities other than real estate speculation and inflation.
An engineering or manufacturing business, and some forms of horticulture or agriculture, may grow their business through improvements, R&D, growing their customer base and so forth. They ought not to be treated identically to rent-seeking entities inflicting a deadweight cost upon the economy.
I agree. And another reason I am not a fan.
When it gets to valuing business assets etc, it just becomes God's gift to valuers and creates unnecessary churn on business activity, and is not good for employers or employees.
And if it is limited to houses, but not privately owned ones, it starts looking quite lite-weight in terms of revenue gained. Especially if the housing market is quite flat or declining.
So, you either end up with something that is highly complex in terms of exclusions, or something that is a nightmare in terms of administration for those it is inflicted on.
And yet some well-to-do countries have a CGT – compare NZ and Norway.
Pity those 'poor' Nordmenn inflicted with their highly complex nightmare
Yes they do. But, again it seems very complex.
https://www.tradeclub.standardbank.com/portal/en/market-potential/norway/taxes
We do have, in effect, a very simple CGT on property called the Bright line test.
The question would be whether the marginal gain by widening the net would be worth the effort.
"Very complex" or "very simple" might depend on where you're sitting
Only one way to find out for sure. https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/
Once upon a time
The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, signed in 1997, which fixed the principle of strategic partnership, the recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, and respect for territorial integrity and mutual commitment not to use its territory to harm the security of each other.
Of course after the events of 2014 (Russian support for secession in the Donbass and annexation of Crimea) there came a review.
http://opiniojuris.org/2019/05/01/termination-of-the-treaty-of-friendship-between-ukraine-and-russia-too-little-too-late-%EF%BB%BF/
Ukraine and its history with NATO.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_37750.htm#:~:text=A%20few%20years%20later%2C%20in,individual%20partner%20countries%20and%20NATO.
Of course Russian interference in its internal politics has had an impact on Ukraine 's perception of its place as a nation state in the world.
https://afsa.org/did-nato-expansion-really-cause-putins-invasion
That 1997 Friendship Treaty was seen as an extension of the Lisbon Protocol & Budapest Memorandum.
The Friendship Treaty was to provide a foundation stone to Russia Guarantees that it signed. From what I can gather things began to slowly change when Poot's replace Yeltsin as the Russian President.
This was also during a period in Ukraine where corruption was also starting to taking root which allowed the Russian Mafia to move in, which btw are linked to Poot's & slowly the snowball/ avalanche got bigger until the young population of Ukraine realise the old corrupt farts running the show wanted to go back to a backward looking Russia instead of forward looking EU.
Thence the uprising in 2014 where basically Western Ukraine booted out Poot's Toady's. Now when we go back through History from now ie previous National Polling Results & through to Imperial Russia Eastern Ukraine has naturally aligned itself with Russia. But it isn't much in IRT percentage points or population.
One could see similarities to Nth'en Ireland, the former Yugoslavia or the divide between West & East German through the political & religious lenses.
Because it's MLK day.
https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1614654819851010048
In April 1963, King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, after he defied a state court’s injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit, urging an Easter boycott of white-owned stores. A statement published in The Birmingham News, written by eight moderate white clergymen, criticized the march and other demonstrations.
This prompted King to write a lengthy response, begun in the margins of the newspaper. He smuggled it out with the help of his lawyer, and the nearly 7,000 words were transcribed. The eloquent call for “constructive, nonviolent tension” to force an end to unjust laws became a landmark document of the civil-rights movement. The letter was printed in part or in full by several publications, including the New York Post, Liberation magazine, The New Leader, and The Christian Century.
The Atlantic published it in the August 1963 issue, under the headline “The Negro Is Your Brother.”
https://archive.li/XjXWD
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/
Simon Wilson doing his best to talk up the Labour party, but the NZ Herald has opened the comments……..not too many of them going his way.
Unfortunately it is paywalled so unless you subscribe you cant really get the gist of it.
Simon Wilson: The 2023 election is a choice between the best Government yet, and the worst – NZ Herald
And you posted it because supporters of the government subscribe to RW rags. Right?
/
lots of left wing people here have NZH subs.
Fools and their money…
I don't have a Herald subscription.
1. I don't subscribe to any other news sites either but I do have far too many subscriptions elsewhere. Enough is enough.
2. By subscribing to the NZ Herald you are directly contributing to their overt, overall RW campaign for a change in government. Don't do it!
Cancelled our Herald sub in 2005 after a particularly disgusting front page feature after the Election night that I will not repeat here. I won't have it in the house, and I "return to sender" the 6 monthly exhortations to renew my sub with exactly what I think of them written on the envelope.
I don't even look at them on line.
I actually find the NZ Herald quite left leaning. Other than Steven Joyce a lot of the writers lean to the left. I think Stuff is even more left leaning.
it looks that way because you are so far right wing.
Looks that way. Keep 'em lean and hungry – they're not starving – hur hur hur.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/16-08-2022/the-side-eyes-two-new-zealands-the-table
I consider myself centre right.
But The Herald is centre right:
Therefore, by definition, you must be far right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Zealand_Herald
sure. And your 'centre right' position is why you see NZH as a left leaning paper. But what you consider centre right is actually solid right wing. It’s a feature of the Overton Window.
My wife insists on a Herald subscription, even though it is more a newsletter than a paper these days. Its all about the crossword before work. I am horrified, but she makes me breakfast most days so I can live with my compromised principles.
I just discovered Newsroom's crossword (online, so not quite the same, but still).
Crosswords, like many other puzzles, can be bought in book form. Though I must confess the most visited pages of my daily paper, aka 'the two minute silence', are the puzzles. That and the death notices….. The first keeps me alive, the second tells me I am.
It'd be a bit disconcerting if you read your own death notice 😈
Ah, but bloggers and online personas as just constructs and figments of imagination and implication 😉
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/482544/romance-writer-s-fake-death-reminds-us-the-author-is-a-construct
I did do that once.
It was the same name, in full. Then I got to the name of his wife, and kids, and discovered I could start breathing again. And yes, it was disconcerting for a few seconds.
🙂
I once played the banjo, yes shock horror, in a show, "Spamalot", for a song called 'I am not dead yet."
Here's a video from "The Holy Grail"of the original scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdf5EXo6I68
And the song.from Spamalot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTg0WpJLyhA
it's the pattern of a new crossword every day that's attractive I think. Different than getting a book all at once.
I bought The Listener a few weeks ago and did the cryptic crossword, really enjoyed it. It used to be a regular weekly staple.
RWH. A regular treat.
Indeed. Not such a fan of Mr Tossman.
Just about every person I know has been dumping their herald subscriptions – online or paper – mostly because the news that they provide is either just a repeat from offshore, or it is what I'd class as unsupported opinions sourced off of the net.
As far as I can tell, you now have to be way older than me and operating a sub by rote, or you'd class twitter as being a legitimate well researched news source to still be on the site.
Even their business news was total drivel last time I looked at it. These days I have a subscription to and read BusinessDesk instead. There is a pile of hard information in what is in BD with a lot less of the bullshit spin that seems to be in all parts of the NZH these days.
Ummm.. nonpaywalled article at BD to give non-readers an idea of the relative quality. "Hotel bill for MIQ surpassed $1 billion"
Almost worth taking the time to write a opinion post on.
Please do.
Lots of access via a local library subscription but not the easiest format for reading.
Another pointless comment from you. When will you start contributing to debate?
So why don't you do a cut and paste, or if that offends then cut & paste the gist from your issue and put it on here with the link.
I am not surprised that the NZH subscribers have pushed back but good on him for writing such an article.
a full cut and paste will get the ire of the mods, but certainly a selection of quotes would work.
Can't read the Herald comments – but if anyone wants to see a range of (probably) similar ones – the article has also been opened for comments on the Herald's facebook page (I've converted to a tinyurl – since the actual FB link was 5 lines long!)
https://tinyurl.com/ymaxe3x6
Well done.
If anybody deserves to drown in their own bodily fluids. Fuckers.
//
In November, 80 smiling faces appeared on the front page of a fringe Canadian newspaper called Druthers. The headline read: “80 Canadian MDs VAXXED and Dead.”
Underneath each photograph: the doctor’s name, age, hometown, date of death, occupation and a few words about how they died. Many simply say “died unexpectedly.”
In many cases, this is true. But not in the way it is implied.
[…]
Social media was awash with dire warnings of the fourth booster, and the three doctors’ names were jotted down alongside an expanding group of Canadian physicians whose deaths were falsely linked to the vaccine, without cause or explanation.
The burgeoning conspiracy theory was soon picked up by tech-millionaire turned anti-vaccination advocate Steve Kirsch, who in August wrote about “14 young Canadian docs” who died after getting a shot of COVID vaccine.
In November, U.S. conservative radio show host Stew Peters, who also produced Died Suddenly, claimed in a Facebook video that “hundreds” of Canadian doctors had died. The video has reached countries as far away as New Zealand, spawning other country-specific, dead-doctor theories.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9405373/covid-conspiracy-theory-doctors-canada/
people were moaning on twitter yesterday about the full lockdowns and how people weren't allowed to go for a run out in the fresh air. As always, I can't tell if the moaners are really fucking stupid (as if everyone can be trusted to go on a run and not congregate), or disingenuous.
I don’t know what they think is going on with the pandemic. I guess in five years when we can more easily see the burden of repeated infections they’ll have a deeper kind of denial.
The finding out stage will be along soon enough.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1613944007138189313
I don't get how people cannot see this nor the cumulative effect. The cognitive dissonance is astoundingly strong.
Yep.
I don't think that's cognitive dissonance. Not entirely sure what it is tbh, other than it's batshit. Cognitive dissonance seems to me that people know something is real but they dissociate from it. Brad is on another planet altogether.
And when the penny drops that infection, and especially multiple infections, likely knocks holes in acquired immunity..hooboy..
If you have a kid at home, there’s a good chance they spent the last couple of months snotty, feverish, barfy or worse. Young people in particular have been pummelled by the tridemic of RSV, influenza and Covid-19—and you’ve probably heard that “immunity debt” is to blame. Even Justin Trudeau has parroted this popular theory that our immune systems have gotten weak after two years of coddling behind masks and under lockdowns. There’s just one problem: “It is totally, totally wrong,” says Colin Furness, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information who believes that Covid infections, not public health measures, are to blame for weakened immunity. Here, he explains why.
https://torontolife.com/city/i-was-appalled-to-see-the-prime-minister-making-those-comments-a-u-of-t-epidemiologist-on-the-myth-of-immunity-debt-and-the-real-reason-everyones-getting-sick/
China just shrank.
I remember back in the day China was just a source of perpetual youth and drive.
Looks like their population growth just peaked a decade earlier than expected.
China records first population decline in 60 years | CNN Business
"China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years, a new milestone in the country’s deepening demographic crisis with significant implications for its slowing economy.
The population declined in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced during a Tuesday briefing on annual data."
(641) China Population Pyramid 1950-2100 – YouTube
"Since sampling is not perfectly uniform, it is not possible to pinpoint the number of people in each age group nationwide; but the overall pattern of the age distribution is consistent with past censuses. It suggests that post-1990 births continued to decline faster than I had predicted, and in fact did not peak in 2004 or 2011. That means China’s real population is not 1.41 billion (the official figure) and could be even smaller than my own estimate of 1.28 billion. It also means that China’s economic, social, foreign, and defense policies – as well as those of the United States and other countries toward China – are based on erroneous demographic data."
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chinese-population-smaller-than-stated-and-shrinking-fast-by-yi-fuxian-2022-07