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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Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
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Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
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ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
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Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
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The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
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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
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.
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