As a folklorist, I'm aware of the origins of the long and interesting journey this mythical figure has taken from European prehistory to today.
In European traditions, the Easter Bunny is known as the Easter Hare. The symbolism of the hare has had many tantalizing ritual and religious roles down through the years.
Hares were given ritual burials alongside humans during the Neolithic age in Europe. Archaeologists have interpreted this as a religious ritual, with hares representing rebirth.
Over a thousand years later, during the Iron Age, ritual burials for hares were common, and in 51 B.C., Julius Caesar mentions that in Britain, hares were not eaten, due to their religious significance.
Caesar would likely have known that in the Classical Greek tradition, hares were sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Meanwhile, Aphrodite's son Eros was often depicted carrying a hare, as a symbol of unquenchable desire.
From the Greek world through the Renaissance, hares often appear as symbols of sexuality in literature and art. For example, the Virgin Mary is often shown with a white hare or rabbit, symbolizing that she overcame sexual temptation. But it is in the folk traditions of England and Germany that the figure of the hare is specifically connected to Easter. Accounts from the 1600s in Germany describe children hunting for Easter eggs hidden by the Easter Hare… One tradition, known as the "Hare Pie Scramble," was held at Hallaton, a village in Leicestershire, England, which involved eating a pie made with hare meat and people "scrambling" for a slice. In 1790, the local parson tried to stop the custom due to its pagan associations, but he was unsuccessful, and the custom continues in that village until this day.
In 1835, the folklorist Jacob Grimm, one of the famous team of the fairy tale "Brothers Grimm," argued that the Easter Hare was connected with… the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, that Bede, an Anglo-Saxon monk considered to be the father of English history, mentioned in 731. Bede noted that in eighth-century England the month of April was called Eosturmonath, or Eostre Month, named after the goddess Eostre. He wrote that a pagan festival of spring in the name of the goddess had become assimilated into the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ.
In spring, hares are about the first little critters that poor people in Europe were allowed to hunt. All other animals were regulated to royals and their quislings. Rabbits, hares, and other rodents, pigeons and such were good food for the poor and landless.
Also, hens finally started laying eggs again, so you have meat and you have eggs. No worries about dying of starvation anymore, and it is getting warmer.
Spring time, fertility festivals galore, have the babies by end of summer, nicely fattened up to be able to survive the coming cold month of the year.
Here is an interesting video discussing three new rules of modern warfare that the Ukrainians are applying very effectively against the Russian army at the moment, and rules that the Russian army seems not to have learned.
The assumption that the Russians appear to have made in this conflict is that they would be confronting the Ukranians in conventional warfare, and that their overwhelming material superiority would quickly defeat the Ukranians.
However, as the video points out, independent analysis of photographic evidence of material losses indicates, in terms of tank losses alone, that the Russians have lost 507 tanks compared to the Ukranians 112 tanks.
More than that, the Russian losses have included 201 tanks that the Ukranians have captured from the Russians. Hence, the Ukranians have substantially increased their own armoured strength courtesy of the Russians.
Note, that, as the video points out, these figures are likely to be underestimates as they are based on what has actually been visually authenticated.
The video then discusses three new rules for warfare that the Ukranians are applying.
The first rule is that small can defeat big.
What is meant by that is small groups of soldiers armed with modern effective weapons can defeat much larger forces by using ambushes and the like to attack in unexpected ways.
The second rule is that finding beats flanking.
So, rather than try and out-manoeuvre, flanking and encircling opponents as a larger army would traditionally do, the emphasis is on accurately finding the position of enemy forces so they can be targeted effectively. As the video points out, this not only includes detailed intelligence provided by the west in this conflict, but also drones, and civilians in various areas who can use their cellphones to report back to Ukrainian headquarters the position, size, and movement of Russian forces in various areas.
The third rule is that swarming is better than surging.
Surging refers to the conventional strategy of both sides massing forces and coming together in head-on conflict. But swarming refers to identifying enemy weak points and focusing resources on attacking those weak points rather than attempting to confront a larger enemy head-on. The example given in the video is to take out the lead and end vehicles in a convoy, effectively paralysing the convoy and leaving the whole convoy vulnerable to attack, as has happened quite a few times in this conflict.
So, it seems to me that the Russians, to date, anyway, have made some really bad assumptions, and are just not up with the times so far as modern warfare goes. They have now tried to direct their war into topography that suits their style of combat, so it will be interesting to see how the Ukrainians adapt to that. The weather gods aren't helping the Russians at the moment as the weather is terrible in that area of Ukraine turning ground in to mud making it difficult to move their armour off the roads onto open ground as they would prefer to do.
Sounds a bit like the Battle of Agincourt when the French knights on horseback got bogged down in the mud and the English archers won the day. History says the night before the battle Henry V asked one of his close associates what the day would be like and the associate said trust me it will be wet my knee is telling me so. Lovely story of old.
"The example given in the video is to take out the lead and end vehicles in a convoy, effectively paralysing the convoy and leaving the whole convoy vulnerable to attack, as has happened quite a few times in this conflict………..
The weather gods aren't helping the Russians at the moment as the weather is terrible in that area of Ukraine turning ground in to mud making it difficult to move their armour off the roads onto open ground as they would prefer to do."
This whole conflict has got a bit of a "WW2" feel to it. Or even WW1, or medieval city sieges.
Quite bizarre really. Despite the technological advances the Russians have supposedly made, this war is being largely fought with old Soviet era equipment.
While this conflict is a proxy war by Nato against Russia, it is like the might of the Russian military being fought against the might of Nato's little finger as the weapon systems supplied to Ukraine that have wreaked havoc on the Russians have been basic, person-mobile equipment such as anti-tank weapons.
Hence, the reason the Russian military would be absolutely and quickly annihilated were they to come up against NATO, in a conventional war anyway.
Absolute rubbish tsmithfield. Military experts know that the Russian war with Ukraine is already decided. American experts no less. When Russia attacks in the east the Ukraine will be toast, burnt toast. Zelenski is desperate for weapons, food and everything else to wage war, they have run out and cannot be re supplied.
So far the Ukraine army has only fought the "soft" version of Russian war and have been shutdown, almost unable to wage war. The stage is being setup in the east for an all out assault by Russia and I fear they will bring a lot more force to this offensive. If Zelenski has a care for his people he will cease fire and walk out.
It seems to me also that we have been fed a stinking pile of anti-Russian propaganda. I don't like Putin, but I distrust equally that 'angelic' Ukrainian leader with the strange surname. Our general news media are not informing us well about this war. Lots of reports of Russian atrocities, but no mention of even USA intelligence people later questioning the truth of them. Just more anti-Russian dross.
Here you have a corrupt despotic authoritarian regime with no redeeming features whatsoever, who have invaded their inoffensive neighbour, and are committing multiple atrocities there, and your primary concern seems to be that press coverage may not be evenhanded!
It oughtn't to need to be mentioned that, even were Ukrainian forces as ill-disciplined in terms of atrocities as their neighbours (and there is nothing to support that supposition) the opportunities for invaders to get up to mischief are much greater than they are for defenders. So that you should expect that to be reflected in media reports, and not leap (at least in the absence of evidence) to the presumption that the forces the Russians themselves refer to as Orcs, are misunderstood innocents impugned by a Machiavellian foreign press.
But swarming refers to identifying enemy weak points and focusing resources on attacking those weak points rather than attempting to confront a larger enemy head-on.
I think the Russians have just discovered a Ukranian weak point. Apparently they have shot down a Ukranian plane that was bringing in new weapons. Perhaps the fourth lesson, which the Ukranians may soon learn, is that you can't win a war without weapons.
So the Productivity Commission is calling for a full review of GM technology regulations – the first since 2001.
Currently, GM is found only in medicines and some ingredients in imported food, like the Impossible Burger. The plant-based patty from California contains a genetically-modified ingredient, soy leghemoglobin, which makes the patty taste and even bleed like the real thing.
If it bleeds, eat it. Become so macho even the Nats will look like wimps!
“Nature must be protected from this very powerful technology, people must be protected,” said Jon Carapiet, spokesperson for GE Free NZ.
He said the tight controls on GM have served New Zealand well. “We’ve actually had a very good reputation for safe food and that’s more important than ever before,” said Carapiet.
Farmers say GM would bring big gains for them and the environment. They’re keen to enter into the debate which they say has been sidelined since the 2005 general election. “We’re at risk of missing out if we sort of refuse to partake in what the rest of the world is doing quite frankly,” said Andrew Hoggard from Federated Farmers.
Great to see the rest of the world doing something quite frankly, long may the trend continue. Should farmers sort of refuse to participate? Fudging often works as a deceit strategy, so it could be a better strategy than definitely refusing. A bob each way, as it were. Sort of agreeing as well, just to spice up the mix. Labour & National have long been adept at this so farmers ought to be able to get leverage with it.
In response to the Productivity Commission, the Government said it’s “timely to start informed conversations around New Zealand’s use of GM technologies”. But now the Environment Minister David Parker says the debate will be restricted to just medicines, saying there is still a suspicion around genetically-modified food. “It’s actually something that I share….we’ve got to be very careful in that space so we are not contemplating anything there,” Parker said.
There's a real danger of someone pointing out to him that we swallow medicines same as we swallow food, eh? No worries. Parker, with his rocket-scientist razor-sharp intellect, is sure to be able to explain the critical difference.
Yeah, good point. Parker may think of it. Would only work for pragmatists though. Purists would freak out about tiny threats (as they normally do). I presume the Health Dept would specify a ballpark safety level even if (presumably) the WHO doesn't have one yet. Or the devil in the detail may prevail in the arm-wrestle…
"This is not a way to make money," Musk told TED chief Chris Anderson. "My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization."
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO railed against what he saw as a lack of free speech on Twitter, and said Twitter should open-source its algorithm to increase transparency in the company's content moderation decisions.
"The code should be on Github so people can look through it and say, 'I see a problem here,' 'I don't agree with this,' they can highlight issues, suggest changes," said Musk.
Asked how he would change Twitter's content moderation, Musk explained that his test for whether a platform adheres to free speech principles is simple: "Is someone you don't like allowed to say something you don't like? And if that is the case, then we have free speech."
Cynics will doubt him of course, but there's a point in his favour suggesting it could be realistic to take his altruism at face value. Not born a yank. In fact, when it comes to citizenship, Musk wields a triad! An internationalist in outlook is the result.
Elon has 3 citizenships – South Africa, Canada, and the USA.
Elon Musk’s father Errol Musk was a South African citizen, and his mother Maye Musk was a Canadian citizen. In 1971, Maye Musk gave birth to her first child Elon Musk in Pretoria, South Africa. Therefore by birth, Elon is a South African citizen.
Elon got Canadian citizenship through his mother. Then he came to the US as a student from Canada. After completing a bachelor’s degree and deferring the Ph.D. for six months, Elon started an internet company – Zip2. When investors in Zip2 realized Elon does not have a green card, they helped Elon to get an EB-5 investor green card in 1997. In 2002, Elon became a US citizen through the naturalization process.
I think Ukraine is definitely winning the cost-benefit analysis of the war.
The sinking of the Moskva was probably the ultimate expression of that. It was a pretty good investment of a couple of cheap missiles to sink one of their best warships possibly valued at over a billion dollars, given that it has had quite a number of upgrades in its history despite being quite an old ship.
President Emmanuel Macron promised on Saturday to make France the "first great nation" to stop using oil, coal and gas as energy sources
Ahead of the April 24 runoff, the presidential race is being fought on the left, with both contenders seeking to attract voters who chose Melenchon in the first round last Sunday.
Macron said he would put his next prime minister directly in charge of what he called "green planning", appealing to left-wing voters' nostalgia for post-war Communist-inspired central planning while tapping into 21st century worries about climate change.
Framing that integrates past governance methods with future planning, anchoring the synthesis in a transitional present, is sophisticated politics. I suspect this triad macron is wielding will suffice to defeat his far-right opponent.
Macron can afford to take France down the Green path. About 70% of its electricity comes from Nuclear plants. He also had the sense to stop, or at least put back by many years, the program of closing the nuclear power plants down.
I'll bet the German Government are wishing that they had done the same instead of committing to closing all their nuclear stations down by the end of this year. What a shame that Angela Merkel will be remembered for that foolish path she chose to take, rather than increase the use of nuclear power in the country and be able to tell Putin where he could stick the Russian gas and oil production they send to Germany.
I'm agnostic. I reported here the pro-nuke stand of Green avatar Stewart Brand from his book some years back. Got some incoherent responses from Green fundies. However there's merit & quotable experts on both sides.
Sadly that article recycles the usual pack of talking point cards the fossil funding anti-nuclear crowd have been using for decades.
It uses out of date GenIII designs as the basis for all of its projections into the future – assuming that no progress in terms of cost and safety can ever be made.
It completely ignores that all new designs are explicitly required to take into account things such terrorist attack and cybersecurity into account. And that even if breached GenIV designs will fail safe and very local.
It falsely claims that nuclear power generates vast amounts on unmanageable radioactive waste – when the truth is that the actual volume is tiny compared to any other energy source and the current inventory is an ideal fuel for many next gen designs. Current solid fuel reactors consume barely more than 97% of the energy available and do not run to a full burn up. There are several Gen IV reactor types that can burn up almost all of this, reducing an already tiny volume of waste by a factor of 20 or more and reducing the dangerous half-life down to a few hundred years. This is readily managed by putting it down a suitable hole in the ground as the Finnish are about to do.
And finally it deliberately conflates 'next generation nuclear' with what are actually conventional PWR GenIII Plus designs like for example the APC1000. These come with no innate engineering advantages and are layered with even greater safety costs that are guaranteed to add huge cost. The article selectively picks a couple of 'first of a kind' projects as examples of cost overruns – ignoring that other nations are building similar repeat machines on budget and on-time.
And finally no mention of the rapid development already happening in the GenIV space. There are too many different types to mention here, but all of them are oriented around passive 'walk away safety', low cost factory built fabrication and a LCOE lower than coal, available on demand with no hidden requirement for massive storage and grid complexity.
This is just another weird, easily unpicked hit-piece which are a dime a dozen out there. It reminds me of the old adage that people who insist that something cannot be done, should keep out of the way of those who are doing it.
Thanks for that – it rings true. The problem with expert appraisals lies in flawed reasoning that isn't evident to anyone except the small group who have investigated to a deeper level.
When we last discussed the situation (a year ago?) I felt Gen IV was insufficiently developed. Perhaps that situation has changed in the interim.
Re your point about waste volume, I felt an internal query when I read the assertion from the Greenpeace analyst. I suspect differences on the topic depend on the framing used (total waste produced thus far vs amount produced by current optimal tech designs).
I felt Gen IV was insufficiently developed. Perhaps that situation has changed in the interim.
GenIV is progressing. The inside word I have is that we could run up a Molten Salt Reactor in less than a year if we wanted to. After all they got one running in the 1960's in less than three years as non-urgent experiment.
The big concern everyone has is that any tiny flaw or unexpected behaviour, regardless of whether it has any real safety impact, will be exploited ruthlessly by the anti-nuke lobby. For this reason the programs are progressing very cautiously. Whether you think this is a good thing or not depends on your perspective. Clearly the anti-nuke crowd may say one thing about CO2, but their actions demonstrate something different.
The German Greens being a prime example – they insist that Germany must close all of its perfectly functional nuclear reactors this year, while at the same time digging up even more coal and funding Putin's war machine with gas imports. Their words claim one thing, their actions another.
The other good news is that in just the past 18 months here has been a significant change within both the US DOE and NRC leadership with at least two very capable pro GenIV engineers – and both women to boot – appointed to senior roles. The old guard is passing.
Germany’s addiction to cheap Russian gas continues to be the first source of finance for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. By conservative accounts, Germany is paying Moscow €50 billion a year for its energy, mostly gas.
Germany’s Green party is probably experiencing an episode of extreme cognitive dissonance right now. When the party was founded in the eighties, the Green ideology was rooted in the anti-nuclear and anti-war movement that followed World War II and the Cold War period.
Now, the Greens are finding themselves in a rather unpleasant position: Their anti-nuclear ideology is directly financing war crimes in a neighbouring country.
Green vice-chancellor Robert Habeck was seen bowing before the Emir of Qatar – a country the Germans have long decried for its human right violations – all for the sake of getting a few cargoes of climate-wrecking LNG to replace Russian gas. But the best is yet to come. Today, Habeck, who leads a super ministry combining the economy, climate and energy portfolios, will officially oversee a resurgence of coal in Germany. Yes, you heard this right.
On Wednesday (23 March), Habeck is expected to announce an agreement with Germany’s coal-producing states to mandate higher outputs of lignite – the worst-polluting form of coal – to compensate for an expected shortage of Russian gas in the coming months.
And worth linking to Thorcon again. This page gives a quick and easily understood overview of the basic ideas of Gen IV reactors in a practical form.
While Thorcon are likely to be one of the first cabs off the rank within 2 -3 years, they are not the only ones in the game. All the designs optimise for some specific set of attributes, and collectively will push the envelop forward.
How fast will depend mainly on how much funding they get.
Well the first thing I scanned for was waste disposal and I couldn't find anything. Did I miss it??
I mean from a pr pov it ought to be on the front page to engage the attention of sceptics. But when I checked this page I couldn't find it there either.
Anyone would think the website was designed by engineers to impress capitalists! Lots of focus on tech. No evident comprehension of how to change the minds of concerned citizens.
Been busy all day – only just got around to seeing this. A highly pertinent question.
As I said each developer is optimising for some specific attributes – in the case of Thorcon it is speed to market and low cost. For this reason their physics is a virtual copy of the 1960's ORNL MSRE reactor – in other words nothing fancy.
Their approach is for each station to have two reactor cans only one of which is in use. These are not pressure or containment vessels, and while manufactured to a high standard are not super expensive. The intent is that after something like 4 years they deem both the steel vessel and carbon moderator to have accumulated enough neutron damage to need replacing. (This is of course well before any serious weakening occurs.)
At that point the hot molten salt and fuel mix is simply pumped into the spare can and the old one allowed to sit for four years to allow all residual radiation to decay. At that point a specialised can ship arrives, removes the old can and drops in a new fueled one, and the process can repeat. The molten salt itself can be reused indefinitely.
The old can and moderator is returned to a dedicated reprocessing location to be recycled.
In the longer run there is a need to remove fission products from the salt, and these can be separated and returned along with the old cans. For the foreseeable future Thorcon plan to store this very small volume of material until such time as fast spectrum waste burners are available to reduce it to an absolute minimum.
Gen IV will not be just one design, it will be an eco-system of differing types. The community is generally cooperative and have annual conferences where a lot of data and progress reports are exchanged. Watching them in action is quite inspiring.
Sounds like a well thought out design. They just need to do a bit more on presentation of the recycling side of things to reassure the public & I expect it could satisfy non-involved experts, relevant govt officials, & consequently politicians.
Then there would have to be a sophisticated marketing campaign to steer the sheeple through the gate of progress.
Talking rubbish again Alwyn. You should know that if Boris supports something it can't be any good.
Energy Cost (and this is 3 years ago so solar will be much cheaper now):
Solar $36-44 mw/h
Onshore Wind $29-56 (but with high landscape wrecking costs)
Nuclear power $112-189 mw/h
“The report estimates that since 2009 the average construction time for reactors worldwide was just under 10 years, well above the estimate given by industry body the World Nuclear Association (WNA) of between 5 and 8.5 years.'
Over the past decade, the WNISR estimates levelized costs – which compare the total lifetime cost of building and running a plant to lifetime output – for utility-scale solar have dropped by 88% and for wind by 69%.
For nuclear, they have increased by 23%, it said.
Capital flows reflect that trend. In 2018, China invested $91 billion in renewables but just $6.5 billion in nuclear.”
I am not really sure that I should base my opinion of the benefits or otherwise of nuclear power based on what someone named Boris might have said. Still it is certainly no worse than assuming that anything Grant says about inflation's causes are total rubbish. The evidence would seem to justify that is a very good predictor so perhaps assuming that the world is also the opposite of what Boris says may not be any less accurate.
I also have my doubts about something so pretentiously named as "the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report' when I find that it is the personal views of an anti-nuclear power drum-beater rather than a genuine industry wide report which is what the name would seem to imply.
Rubbish on top of rubbish today Alwyn…..you are excelling yourself.
The World Nuclear Industry Status Report is written by:
"Seven interdisciplinary experts from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Lebanon/U.S. and the U.K., from top think tanks like Chatham House in London and prestigious universities like Harvard in Cambridge, Meiji in Tokyo and Technical University in Berlin, have contributed to the report, along with a data engineer, numerous proofreaders and two artistic designers. The foreword was provided by Frank von Hippel, Professor Emeritus of Princeton University, and Jungmin Kang, former head of the safety authority in South Korea."
But in my opinion the world would be far better off investing the hundreds of billions that will need to be spent on (very expensive and potentially dangerous) nuclear power instead on things like solar power (especially), better power/battery storage technology (especially), offshore windfarms, enhanced building techniques, building insulation, dedicated cycleways/tracks, EV's and so on.
The nuclear industry told us the first wave of nuclear power stations would sort out the world's power problems…look how that turned out.
"So who are the people receiving the bulk of the payments in these circumstances? Those with assets. Those with a working partner, who would not be eligible for support in the current system. Those who were previously receiving high incomes. And those who are able to rearrange their affairs with their employer in order to claim the payment – as a between work holiday or early retirement.
Now, the discussion document tries to tip-toe around these facts by acting as if the scheme is not really related to the safety net. This is patently absurd."
Final paragraph really lays out the risks of a 2 tier unemployment scheme (no matter what language you choose to use about it).
" If this gets passed, and in 10 years there is a loss of social licence for the benefit system – leading to lower unemployment benefits and greater hardship for the truly vulnerable in society – then this would be a real tangible cost."
If the working middle class perceive that the benefit system is no longer a safety net (even if a holey and uncomfortable one) for them and their children – and that, instead, they are protected by this new unemployment insurance; then what incentive is there for them to continue to fund the base level benefit – let alone support increases?
It makes it very easy to demonize those on benefits as those who 'won't work'.
While I can see the merits of an unemployment insurance scheme (not personally – I have a guaranteed job in my industry until I'm tottering on the edge of the grave) – I'm less than convinced that this is the one I could support.
Seemingly the only conclusion has to be they are no longer a workers party, they are a party of the PMC. This sarcastic rationale from the article rings true:
A 80% replacement rate, with someone on around $131,000 p.a. the largest recipient, with no test based on your partner's income, and no asset test, doesn’t really sound like a safety net – it sounds like an insurance mechanism to support public servants concerned about facing job loss following a change in government.
I see it as GR's "Kiwi Saver" legacy. He's designed something the middle class would accept so the National Party will leave it in place.
There will be those calling for different amount settings to reduce cost and therefore contribution levels and it may be trimmed back a bit …
Yes the risk is National Party will keep it, but bring in term limits and outsourced management of the lives of those on benefits (not just a lower payment regime). A workhouse and charity regime, involving second tier status of citizenship to the individual not self-reliant, working for capitalist profit or government (service/community sector).
I think the 'leave it in place' is a bit optimistic in the current climate. Bearing in mind that Robertson was planning for this in a less stressed financial environment.
Even middle-class families are struggling with price increases – yes, they have more opportunity to cut back expenditure, but they're feeling the pain right now. Many lower income workers have zilch in the way of disposable income – this levy will come out of what they can spend of food, housing, power, etc.
Of course, if Labour do secure another term – the economic climate may well be very different in 4 years – and therefore less at risk of legislative change.
But, if Labour lose the next election, then I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was dis-established.
Fortunately it has not yet been legislated ….and may well fail to be…certainly in anything like its current form.
"If a decision is made to introduce the proposed scheme, the Government would introduce legislation in 2022, and the scheme could start operating in 2023."
The benefit as the main form of social security made sense in an era of one-income households where full employment was heavily prioritised, but NZ has moved on from that, and now a lot of households are double income households that would be outside benefit entitlement if they lost one income. Since they are outside the scheme as it currently stands, the current safety net risks being outside social license now. Arguably, the attacks on social welfare and beneficiaries themselves of the past 30 years is an example of the serious reduction in license compared to the 1960s.
It's a bit like when parental leave was introduced, working women got money when they had children and at home mothers got nothing – later came WFF tax credits and then support for new mothers.
As it requires two incomes to meet rent or mortgage payments, it makes sense to provide for a non working partner between jobs (and it would have to be at a higher rate than benefits to get "middle class" contributions).
But when UI comes in, for reasons of equity, there should be the introduction of benefit payment support to existing non working partners of the employed – some of whom have sickness and disability issues not covered by ACC. Where these are at home mothers, the amount received would reduce access to tax credits received based on income and number of children.
As we have created the absurd situation where property prices are more than 10 times median income AND we deem it appropriate to protect that position then there are far more effective and equitable methods other than this proposal which fails to perform any of its listed objectives as well canvassed by Matt Nolan
To address these issues, the Forum has identified three objectives:
1. minimise the immediate financial impact of losing income and work for workers and their families
2. support workers back to good jobs
3. support the economy to adjust more rapidly to shocks or downturns.
As a trans person involved in politics, I do not need to be infantilised and nor do other trans people. We certainly must not be excused from normal safeguarding procedures. As has been explained many times, transwomen are male and we need to be subjected to the same checks as every other male. Otherwise the trans community risks becoming a magnet to men who want to avoid those checks.
Hayton is spot on there. This is good too,
The truth is that there are three vulnerable groups impacted by this debate. It’s not just about trans people – women have found themselves having to defend sex-based rights they thought were secure. Meanwhile some children who have been told that they can be the sex they want to be have have believed this, with profound consequences on their development. That is why we must keep the spotlight on the trans debate.
Made sense to me. However we need to wait & see if other experts can find a flaw. It would hinge on the notion that cereals produced hierarchy. Evidence for & against. The writer seems to feel the researchers have compliled sufficient evidence for.
Scepticism would be more likely to get traction on their inclusion of trade into the theory. Seems intuitively obvious that trade in items of mutual value would have operated independently. Inclusion would therefore depend on a separate ramping-up effect for viability…
Read this for a powerful sense of history happening since time began while we're not paying attention:
Tolstoy’s path to pacifism
No writer captures warfare in Russia more poignantly than Tolstoy, a former soldier turned Russia’s most famous pacifist. In his last work, “Hadji Murat,” which scrutinizes Russia’s colonial exploits in North Caucasus, Tolstoy showed how senseless Russian violence toward a Chechen village caused instant hatred of Russians.
Tolstoy’s greatest work about Russian warfare, “War and Peace,” is a novel that Russians have traditionally read during great wars, including World War II. In “War and Peace,” Tolstoy contends that the morale of the Russian military is the key to victory. The battles most likely to succeed are defensive ones, in which soldiers understand why they are fighting and what they are fighting to protect: their home.
[…]
In one of his most famous pacifist writings, 1900’s “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” Tolstoy presciently diagnosed the problem of today’s Russia.
“The misery of nations is caused not by particular persons, but by the particular order of Society under which the people are so bound up together that they find themselves all in the power of a few men, or more often in the power of one single man: a man so perverted by his unnatural position as arbiter of the fate and lives of millions, that he is always in an unhealthy state, and always suffers more or less from a mania of self-aggrandizement.”
Well this is one less for Kelvin's prisons which helps the statistics.
If he was " sentence in November last year of two years, six months in prison on charges including burglary, police chases, failing to stop, escaping custody and theft."
How the hell was he able to be out driving around?
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New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
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Just in case of grandchildren asking where did it come from…
In spring, hares are about the first little critters that poor people in Europe were allowed to hunt. All other animals were regulated to royals and their quislings. Rabbits, hares, and other rodents, pigeons and such were good food for the poor and landless.
Also, hens finally started laying eggs again, so you have meat and you have eggs. No worries about dying of starvation anymore, and it is getting warmer.
Spring time, fertility festivals galore, have the babies by end of summer, nicely fattened up to be able to survive the coming cold month of the year.
That makes me wonder if the British religious aversion to eating hares that Caesar wrote about was pre-Celtic, pre-Bronze Age. Indigenous.
But yeah, I take the point about economic resilience. Survival skills.
Here is an interesting video discussing three new rules of modern warfare that the Ukrainians are applying very effectively against the Russian army at the moment, and rules that the Russian army seems not to have learned.
The assumption that the Russians appear to have made in this conflict is that they would be confronting the Ukranians in conventional warfare, and that their overwhelming material superiority would quickly defeat the Ukranians.
However, as the video points out, independent analysis of photographic evidence of material losses indicates, in terms of tank losses alone, that the Russians have lost 507 tanks compared to the Ukranians 112 tanks.
More than that, the Russian losses have included 201 tanks that the Ukranians have captured from the Russians. Hence, the Ukranians have substantially increased their own armoured strength courtesy of the Russians.
Note, that, as the video points out, these figures are likely to be underestimates as they are based on what has actually been visually authenticated.
The video then discusses three new rules for warfare that the Ukranians are applying.
The first rule is that small can defeat big.
What is meant by that is small groups of soldiers armed with modern effective weapons can defeat much larger forces by using ambushes and the like to attack in unexpected ways.
The second rule is that finding beats flanking.
So, rather than try and out-manoeuvre, flanking and encircling opponents as a larger army would traditionally do, the emphasis is on accurately finding the position of enemy forces so they can be targeted effectively. As the video points out, this not only includes detailed intelligence provided by the west in this conflict, but also drones, and civilians in various areas who can use their cellphones to report back to Ukrainian headquarters the position, size, and movement of Russian forces in various areas.
The third rule is that swarming is better than surging.
Surging refers to the conventional strategy of both sides massing forces and coming together in head-on conflict. But swarming refers to identifying enemy weak points and focusing resources on attacking those weak points rather than attempting to confront a larger enemy head-on. The example given in the video is to take out the lead and end vehicles in a convoy, effectively paralysing the convoy and leaving the whole convoy vulnerable to attack, as has happened quite a few times in this conflict.
So, it seems to me that the Russians, to date, anyway, have made some really bad assumptions, and are just not up with the times so far as modern warfare goes. They have now tried to direct their war into topography that suits their style of combat, so it will be interesting to see how the Ukrainians adapt to that. The weather gods aren't helping the Russians at the moment as the weather is terrible in that area of Ukraine turning ground in to mud making it difficult to move their armour off the roads onto open ground as they would prefer to do.
Rewriting history, Russian style:
https://twitter.com/berndbollmann/status/1515447595480592392
Sounds a bit like the Battle of Agincourt when the French knights on horseback got bogged down in the mud and the English archers won the day. History says the night before the battle Henry V asked one of his close associates what the day would be like and the associate said trust me it will be wet my knee is telling me so. Lovely story of old.
As Shakespeare wrote in Henry V (who led the English at Agincourt
"That's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion."
"The example given in the video is to take out the lead and end vehicles in a convoy, effectively paralysing the convoy and leaving the whole convoy vulnerable to attack, as has happened quite a few times in this conflict………..
The weather gods aren't helping the Russians at the moment as the weather is terrible in that area of Ukraine turning ground in to mud making it difficult to move their armour off the roads onto open ground as they would prefer to do."
Those are WW2 lessons lol![devil devil](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/devil_smile.png?x42494)
This whole conflict has got a bit of a "WW2" feel to it. Or even WW1, or medieval city sieges.
Quite bizarre really. Despite the technological advances the Russians have supposedly made, this war is being largely fought with old Soviet era equipment.
While this conflict is a proxy war by Nato against Russia, it is like the might of the Russian military being fought against the might of Nato's little finger as the weapon systems supplied to Ukraine that have wreaked havoc on the Russians have been basic, person-mobile equipment such as anti-tank weapons.
Hence, the reason the Russian military would be absolutely and quickly annihilated were they to come up against NATO, in a conventional war anyway.
Absolute rubbish tsmithfield. Military experts know that the Russian war with Ukraine is already decided. American experts no less. When Russia attacks in the east the Ukraine will be toast, burnt toast. Zelenski is desperate for weapons, food and everything else to wage war, they have run out and cannot be re supplied.
So far the Ukraine army has only fought the "soft" version of Russian war and have been shutdown, almost unable to wage war. The stage is being setup in the east for an all out assault by Russia and I fear they will bring a lot more force to this offensive. If Zelenski has a care for his people he will cease fire and walk out.
It seems to me also that we have been fed a stinking pile of anti-Russian propaganda. I don't like Putin, but I distrust equally that 'angelic' Ukrainian leader with the strange surname. Our general news media are not informing us well about this war. Lots of reports of Russian atrocities, but no mention of even USA intelligence people later questioning the truth of them. Just more anti-Russian dross.
It was unfair of Ukraine, hosting this war going into summer, negating Russia's only reliable move – "Retreat until the winter snows come".
May I remind you it was Russia that determined when this war would start, not the Ukraine?
Or maybe you just wanted to add to the russophobe avalanche with a weak joke?
It's a curious construction, your 'Russophobia'.
Here you have a corrupt despotic authoritarian regime with no redeeming features whatsoever, who have invaded their inoffensive neighbour, and are committing multiple atrocities there, and your primary concern seems to be that press coverage may not be evenhanded!
It oughtn't to need to be mentioned that, even were Ukrainian forces as ill-disciplined in terms of atrocities as their neighbours (and there is nothing to support that supposition) the opportunities for invaders to get up to mischief are much greater than they are for defenders. So that you should expect that to be reflected in media reports, and not leap (at least in the absence of evidence) to the presumption that the forces the Russians themselves refer to as Orcs, are misunderstood innocents impugned by a Machiavellian foreign press.
But swarming refers to identifying enemy weak points and focusing resources on attacking those weak points rather than attempting to confront a larger enemy head-on.
I think the Russians have just discovered a Ukranian weak point. Apparently they have shot down a Ukranian plane that was bringing in new weapons. Perhaps the fourth lesson, which the Ukranians may soon learn, is that you can't win a war without weapons.
So the Productivity Commission is calling for a full review of GM technology regulations – the first since 2001.
If it bleeds, eat it. Become so macho even the Nats will look like wimps!
Great to see the rest of the world doing something quite frankly, long may the trend continue. Should farmers sort of refuse to participate? Fudging often works as a deceit strategy, so it could be a better strategy than definitely refusing. A bob each way, as it were. Sort of agreeing as well, just to spice up the mix. Labour & National have long been adept at this so farmers ought to be able to get leverage with it.
There's a real danger of someone pointing out to him that we swallow medicines same as we swallow food, eh? No worries. Parker, with his rocket-scientist razor-sharp intellect, is sure to be able to explain the critical difference.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/04/16/genetic-modification-review-being-called-for-reigniting-debate/
"There's a real danger of someone pointing out to him that we swallow medicines same as we swallow food, eh?"
How's this for a danger? There's several orders of magnitude different in the volume involved eh?
You know one part per hundred versus one part per million et cetera.
Yeah, good point. Parker may think of it. Would only work for pragmatists though. Purists would freak out about tiny threats (as they normally do). I presume the Health Dept would specify a ballpark safety level even if (presumably) the WHO doesn't have one yet. Or the devil in the detail may prevail in the arm-wrestle…
Already got enough.
Cynics will doubt him of course, but there's a point in his favour suggesting it could be realistic to take his altruism at face value. Not born a yank. In fact, when it comes to citizenship, Musk wields a triad! An internationalist in outlook is the result.
Turkey says they plucked 54 out of the briny but hey, let's take Moscow's word because it's not like they lie about absolutely every fucking thing.
Russia has said all of the 500 crew were rescued after the blast late on Wednesday.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/head-russian-navy-meets-crew-sunken-missile-cruiser-tass-2022-04-16/
I think Ukraine is definitely winning the cost-benefit analysis of the war.
The sinking of the Moskva was probably the ultimate expression of that. It was a pretty good investment of a couple of cheap missiles to sink one of their best warships possibly valued at over a billion dollars, given that it has had quite a number of upgrades in its history despite being quite an old ship.
Dennis Frank, you don't mean this, do you? "Great to see the rest of the world doing something quite frankly, long may the trend continue." Very good!
The ole double-entendre (deployed with non-risqué intent) to be frank. But thanks to the farmer rep for providing the basis.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
Something else to be factored into our new health management paradigm.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/16/vaccines-long-covid-science?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Macron goes Green:
Framing that integrates past governance methods with future planning, anchoring the synthesis in a transitional present, is sophisticated politics. I suspect this triad macron is wielding will suffice to defeat his far-right opponent.
Macron can afford to take France down the Green path. About 70% of its electricity comes from Nuclear plants. He also had the sense to stop, or at least put back by many years, the program of closing the nuclear power plants down.
I'll bet the German Government are wishing that they had done the same instead of committing to closing all their nuclear stations down by the end of this year. What a shame that Angela Merkel will be remembered for that foolish path she chose to take, rather than increase the use of nuclear power in the country and be able to tell Putin where he could stick the Russian gas and oil production they send to Germany.
Perhaps, but a careful examination of the pros & cons suggests it isn't really a clear-cut choice: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/52758/reasons-why-nuclear-energy-not-way-green-and-peaceful-world/
I'm agnostic. I reported here the pro-nuke stand of Green avatar Stewart Brand from his book some years back. Got some incoherent responses from Green fundies. However there's merit & quotable experts on both sides.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Discipline
Sadly that article recycles the usual pack of talking point cards the fossil funding anti-nuclear crowd have been using for decades.
This is just another weird, easily unpicked hit-piece which are a dime a dozen out there. It reminds me of the old adage that people who insist that something cannot be done, should keep out of the way of those who are doing it.
Thanks for that – it rings true. The problem with expert appraisals lies in flawed reasoning that isn't evident to anyone except the small group who have investigated to a deeper level.
When we last discussed the situation (a year ago?) I felt Gen IV was insufficiently developed. Perhaps that situation has changed in the interim.
Re your point about waste volume, I felt an internal query when I read the assertion from the Greenpeace analyst. I suspect differences on the topic depend on the framing used (total waste produced thus far vs amount produced by current optimal tech designs).
I felt Gen IV was insufficiently developed. Perhaps that situation has changed in the interim.
GenIV is progressing. The inside word I have is that we could run up a Molten Salt Reactor in less than a year if we wanted to. After all they got one running in the 1960's in less than three years as non-urgent experiment.
The big concern everyone has is that any tiny flaw or unexpected behaviour, regardless of whether it has any real safety impact, will be exploited ruthlessly by the anti-nuke lobby. For this reason the programs are progressing very cautiously. Whether you think this is a good thing or not depends on your perspective. Clearly the anti-nuke crowd may say one thing about CO2, but their actions demonstrate something different.
The German Greens being a prime example – they insist that Germany must close all of its perfectly functional nuclear reactors this year, while at the same time digging up even more coal and funding Putin's war machine with gas imports. Their words claim one thing, their actions another.
The other good news is that in just the past 18 months here has been a significant change within both the US DOE and NRC leadership with at least two very capable pro GenIV engineers – and both women to boot – appointed to senior roles. The old guard is passing.
Green political dreams vs the real world:
Ah, the cruelty of fate…
And worth linking to Thorcon again. This page gives a quick and easily understood overview of the basic ideas of Gen IV reactors in a practical form.
While Thorcon are likely to be one of the first cabs off the rank within 2 -3 years, they are not the only ones in the game. All the designs optimise for some specific set of attributes, and collectively will push the envelop forward.
How fast will depend mainly on how much funding they get.
Well the first thing I scanned for was waste disposal and I couldn't find anything. Did I miss it??
I mean from a pr pov it ought to be on the front page to engage the attention of sceptics. But when I checked this page I couldn't find it there either.
https://thorconpower.com/environment/
Anyone would think the website was designed by engineers to impress capitalists! Lots of focus on tech. No evident comprehension of how to change the minds of concerned citizens.
Been busy all day – only just got around to seeing this. A highly pertinent question.
As I said each developer is optimising for some specific attributes – in the case of Thorcon it is speed to market and low cost. For this reason their physics is a virtual copy of the 1960's ORNL MSRE reactor – in other words nothing fancy.
Their approach is for each station to have two reactor cans only one of which is in use. These are not pressure or containment vessels, and while manufactured to a high standard are not super expensive. The intent is that after something like 4 years they deem both the steel vessel and carbon moderator to have accumulated enough neutron damage to need replacing. (This is of course well before any serious weakening occurs.)
At that point the hot molten salt and fuel mix is simply pumped into the spare can and the old one allowed to sit for four years to allow all residual radiation to decay. At that point a specialised can ship arrives, removes the old can and drops in a new fueled one, and the process can repeat. The molten salt itself can be reused indefinitely.
The old can and moderator is returned to a dedicated reprocessing location to be recycled.
In the longer run there is a need to remove fission products from the salt, and these can be separated and returned along with the old cans. For the foreseeable future Thorcon plan to store this very small volume of material until such time as fast spectrum waste burners are available to reduce it to an absolute minimum.
Gen IV will not be just one design, it will be an eco-system of differing types. The community is generally cooperative and have annual conferences where a lot of data and progress reports are exchanged. Watching them in action is quite inspiring.
Sounds like a well thought out design. They just need to do a bit more on presentation of the recycling side of things to reassure the public & I expect it could satisfy non-involved experts, relevant govt officials, & consequently politicians.
Then there would have to be a sophisticated marketing campaign to steer the sheeple through the gate of progress.
Fair point. Overcoming the PR problem is a far harder problem than the tech.
Talking rubbish again Alwyn. You should know that if Boris supports something it can't be any good.
Energy Cost (and this is 3 years ago so solar will be much cheaper now):
Solar $36-44 mw/h
Onshore Wind $29-56 (but with high landscape wrecking costs)
Nuclear power $112-189 mw/h
“The report estimates that since 2009 the average construction time for reactors worldwide was just under 10 years, well above the estimate given by industry body the World Nuclear Association (WNA) of between 5 and 8.5 years.'
Over the past decade, the WNISR estimates levelized costs – which compare the total lifetime cost of building and running a plant to lifetime output – for utility-scale solar have dropped by 88% and for wind by 69%.
For nuclear, they have increased by 23%, it said.
Capital flows reflect that trend. In 2018, China invested $91 billion in renewables but just $6.5 billion in nuclear.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-nuclearpower-idUSKBN1W909J
There is a significant difference with France and Germany in terms of Carbon intensity in electricity alone.
https://twitter.com/fmomboisse/status/1508343424130420740?cxt=HHwWiMC4qcmW2-4pAAAA
I am not really sure that I should base my opinion of the benefits or otherwise of nuclear power based on what someone named Boris might have said. Still it is certainly no worse than assuming that anything Grant says about inflation's causes are total rubbish. The evidence would seem to justify that is a very good predictor so perhaps assuming that the world is also the opposite of what Boris says may not be any less accurate.
I also have my doubts about something so pretentiously named as "the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report' when I find that it is the personal views of an anti-nuclear power drum-beater rather than a genuine industry wide report which is what the name would seem to imply.
To each his own though.
Rubbish on top of rubbish today Alwyn…..you are excelling yourself.
The World Nuclear Industry Status Report is written by:
"Seven interdisciplinary experts from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Lebanon/U.S. and the U.K., from top think tanks like Chatham House in London and prestigious universities like Harvard in Cambridge, Meiji in Tokyo and Technical University in Berlin, have contributed to the report, along with a data engineer, numerous proofreaders and two artistic designers. The foreword was provided by Frank von Hippel, Professor Emeritus of Princeton University, and Jungmin Kang, former head of the safety authority in South Korea."
https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/-World-Nuclear-Industry-Status-Report-2020-.html
I do accept that there is a wider debate here.
But in my opinion the world would be far better off investing the hundreds of billions that will need to be spent on (very expensive and potentially dangerous) nuclear power instead on things like solar power (especially), better power/battery storage technology (especially), offshore windfarms, enhanced building techniques, building insulation, dedicated cycleways/tracks, EV's and so on.
The nuclear industry told us the first wave of nuclear power stations would sort out the world's power problems…look how that turned out.
And another one bites the dust.
Major General Vladimir Frolov just announced as being killed in Ukraine this week.
This conflict must be some sort of world record for generals killed in a war. Up to eight now.
Stalin purged the Russian military just before WW2, which helps explain why they did so badly against the German onslaught.
Maybe Putin is getting the Ukrainians to do his purging for him?
Given the top-down nature of the Russian military, purging the military leaders is not a recipe for success.
Military toast
Add to the KIAs the ones that have been relieved of their command / arrested / purged.
Admiral Igor Ossipov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet was arrested by the FSB in last couple of days.
https://twitter.com/EerikNKross/status/1515297630288551939?s=20&t=43Hg2mwurXdkPk-14zf8fA
An outsider casts an eye over Labours proposed unemployment insurance scheme….and is unimpressed.
https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/115343/matt-nolan-argues-governments-push-unemployment-insurance-scheme-should-be
"So who are the people receiving the bulk of the payments in these circumstances? Those with assets. Those with a working partner, who would not be eligible for support in the current system. Those who were previously receiving high incomes. And those who are able to rearrange their affairs with their employer in order to claim the payment – as a between work holiday or early retirement.
Now, the discussion document tries to tip-toe around these facts by acting as if the scheme is not really related to the safety net. This is patently absurd."
Final paragraph really lays out the risks of a 2 tier unemployment scheme (no matter what language you choose to use about it).
If the working middle class perceive that the benefit system is no longer a safety net (even if a holey and uncomfortable one) for them and their children – and that, instead, they are protected by this new unemployment insurance; then what incentive is there for them to continue to fund the base level benefit – let alone support increases?
It makes it very easy to demonize those on benefits as those who 'won't work'.
While I can see the merits of an unemployment insurance scheme (not personally – I have a guaranteed job in my industry until I'm tottering on the edge of the grave) – I'm less than convinced that this is the one I could support.
That is indeed a risk…..and I see no merit in the proposal whatsoever and am confounded how a supposed workers party could come up with such a scheme.
Outsourcing is hardwired into the neoliberal pysche
Tweedledum and Tweedledee….aka Hobsons choice.
Seemingly the only conclusion has to be they are no longer a workers party, they are a party of the PMC. This sarcastic rationale from the article rings true:
Time for a name change?
It would at least be honest.
I see it as GR's "Kiwi Saver" legacy. He's designed something the middle class would accept so the National Party will leave it in place.
There will be those calling for different amount settings to reduce cost and therefore contribution levels and it may be trimmed back a bit …
Yes the risk is National Party will keep it, but bring in term limits and outsourced management of the lives of those on benefits (not just a lower payment regime). A workhouse and charity regime, involving second tier status of citizenship to the individual not self-reliant, working for capitalist profit or government (service/community sector).
I think the 'leave it in place' is a bit optimistic in the current climate. Bearing in mind that Robertson was planning for this in a less stressed financial environment.
Even middle-class families are struggling with price increases – yes, they have more opportunity to cut back expenditure, but they're feeling the pain right now. Many lower income workers have zilch in the way of disposable income – this levy will come out of what they can spend of food, housing, power, etc.
Of course, if Labour do secure another term – the economic climate may well be very different in 4 years – and therefore less at risk of legislative change.
But, if Labour lose the next election, then I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was dis-established.
Fortunately it has not yet been legislated ….and may well fail to be…certainly in anything like its current form.
"If a decision is made to introduce the proposed scheme, the Government would introduce legislation in 2022, and the scheme could start operating in 2023."
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/18666-a-new-zealand-income-insurance-scheme-a-discussion-document
page 13
The benefit as the main form of social security made sense in an era of one-income households where full employment was heavily prioritised, but NZ has moved on from that, and now a lot of households are double income households that would be outside benefit entitlement if they lost one income. Since they are outside the scheme as it currently stands, the current safety net risks being outside social license now. Arguably, the attacks on social welfare and beneficiaries themselves of the past 30 years is an example of the serious reduction in license compared to the 1960s.
It's a bit like when parental leave was introduced, working women got money when they had children and at home mothers got nothing – later came WFF tax credits and then support for new mothers.
As it requires two incomes to meet rent or mortgage payments, it makes sense to provide for a non working partner between jobs (and it would have to be at a higher rate than benefits to get "middle class" contributions).
But when UI comes in, for reasons of equity, there should be the introduction of benefit payment support to existing non working partners of the employed – some of whom have sickness and disability issues not covered by ACC. Where these are at home mothers, the amount received would reduce access to tax credits received based on income and number of children.
As we have created the absurd situation where property prices are more than 10 times median income AND we deem it appropriate to protect that position then there are far more effective and equitable methods other than this proposal which fails to perform any of its listed objectives as well canvassed by Matt Nolan
To address these issues, the Forum has identified three objectives:
1. minimise the immediate financial impact of losing income and work for workers and their families
2. support workers back to good jobs
3. support the economy to adjust more rapidly to shocks or downturns.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-scottish-greens-are-in-cloud-cuckoo-land-on-trans-rights
An excellent article written by transgender science teacher Debbie Hayton from the UK.
it’s in response to the Scottish Green Parties stance on standing transgender candidate in local elections
Hayton is spot on there. This is good too,
For those of us fascinated by how societies evolved.
https://www.sciencealert.com/there-s-a-new-hypothesis-for-how-human-civilizations-first-got-started
Not sure I go along entirely with their elite appropriation theory. But interesting nevertheless.
Made sense to me. However we need to wait & see if other experts can find a flaw. It would hinge on the notion that cereals produced hierarchy. Evidence for & against. The writer seems to feel the researchers have compliled sufficient evidence for.
Scepticism would be more likely to get traction on their inclusion of trade into the theory. Seems intuitively obvious that trade in items of mutual value would have operated independently. Inclusion would therefore depend on a separate ramping-up effect for viability…
Read this for a powerful sense of history happening since time began while we're not paying attention:
https://theconversation.com/how-should-dostoevsky-and-tolstoy-be-read-during-russias-war-against-ukraine-179932
Russian war mentality.
"If you don't defend yourselves we will slaughter you.
If you defend yourselves we will slaughter you because you pissed us off.."
Has a similarity to the creed of a certain Teutonic war monger of the 1930s.
Russian war mentality.
https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1514964537690177541
google translation
Latest Caspian Report, The Siloviki – the Men who own Russia. Remarkably pertinent to the comments above:
Well this is one less for Kelvin's prisons which helps the statistics.
If he was " sentence in November last year of two years, six months in prison on charges including burglary, police chases, failing to stop, escaping custody and theft."
How the hell was he able to be out driving around?
Fatal police shooting in New Plymouth: Victim Kaoss Price has been described as 'one-man crime wave' – NZ Herald