I note the Herald’s website adds the following text under its opinion piece when rcommentunderWe aim to have healthy debate. But we won’t publish comments that abuse others.
I note the Herald’s website adds the following text under its opinion pieces ”we aim to have healthy debate. But we won’t publish comments that abuse others.”
If that’s the case, why do they let neo-con ideologues like Rodney Hide get away with abusive language in hate-filled and fear-mongering pieces on teacher unions today? Does an inflammatory article like this encourage ‘healthy debate’?
Rodney’s article suggests to me that NAct’s program to shovel education money into the pockets of their mates isn’t going as smoothly as they had hoped. Good on the teachers’ unions. Given the hatred they generate on the WhaleSpew blog as well, they must be having some successes.
Perhaps parents can even appreciate that teachers who continue working even though they can’t even be sure they’ll get paid are not the problem, but that Hide, the silent member for Epsom, and the rest of the government are.
The Arctic Sea is experiencing rapid ice loss at a pace so fast that the area will soon be ice-free in warmer months, scientists confirmed in a report this week—showing a collapse in total sea ice volume to one fifth of its level in 1980.
Jacob Chamberlain Staff writer, Common Dreams
Take particular notice of the comment thread.
Climate Change denial is a vanishing small opinion.
As Vernon Small also notes it, Climate Change is the widely held majority opinion.
Just a few years ago you could spark a political row by asking whether humans were partly to blame for climate change.
While there is still a strand of scepticism running through some sections of the National Party – and a mile-wide streak in the ACT party – there is by and large broad consensus across the divide.
Now the political debate is not about whether we should act, but how and what cost we should bear.
The explanation is simple. Political parties will not lead on this issue, or the issue of energy depletion, until they feel that middle class electorate opinion will support them.
I expect Jenny to start moaning that I am scapegoating the upper middle class Green voter with the new Prius (which happens to contain hundreds of kilograms of steel which used tonnes of coal to manufacture), airline tickets booked for the overseas holiday plans with the family, and new iPhone 5’s all round, for not being real about the lifestyle and consumption downgrades they need to undergo ASAP.
By the “middle class”, I presume you mean those not ground down by the daily existence of of low pay and extreme hours, and so able to lift their heads to give the environment and politics much more of their concentration.
The sort of people able to afford the leisure to go tramping fiordland.
The sort of people who marched against apartheid and nuclear ships.
Those who protested in their tens of thousands against the mining of schedule 4 land.
Or is it, some other “middle class” you are talking about? One of your own bigotted imaginings.
Tell me which of the examples you used above (tramping, apartheid, nuclear warships, preventing mining on schedule 4 land, etc) required those protestors to accept a rapid and substantially reduced level of lifestyle, consumption and income for themselves and their families.
Yep, that would be the only one, and the most recent example 70 years ago now. Ironically, the NZ public accepted it at that time as being necessary to preserve the existing way of life for King and Country.
Indeed and it was the middle classes that volunteered in percentage numbers way over their representation in the general population. Conscription had to brought in to get working class people involved in similar proportions.
The latest Roy Morgan poll provided a welcome bounce in support for Labour. Its support improved 3% to 34.5% while National’s support dropped to 44% and the Greens held steady on 13.5%. But Labour may find it hard to move its level of support past this level. It appears to have lost a fair chunk of the intellectual urban vote to the Greens and getting this vote back will be difficult.
I disagree, it would be easy to get this support back
What I take from this report is that the Labour Party is bleeding middle class support to the Greens.
It Labour wanted to get that “chunk of the intellectual urban” (middle class) support back, it would be easy.
All Labour have to do is outflank the Green Pary on the environment.
This would be so easy. It is indisputable that the that Greens are down playing the issue of Climate Change. Climate Change is not one of the Green Party’s three “Priorities”. Climate Change is not even one of the Green Party’s seven, “Other priorities that we are focusing on”. Climate Change is one of fiftynine, “Other” – “Issues”
The Green’s increase in support is significant and is having a fundamental effect on Labour. Many of those changing their allegiance are activists and/or well resourced, the sorts of people who you want not only as voters but also as supporters and members.
These “activists and/or well resourced” people are exactly the democraphic that Colonial Viper thoughtlessly disparages as “middle class”.
To having any chance of winning back this intellectual urban vote Labour needs to immediately promote David Cunliffe to the front bench wth full freedom of action. Of all the parliamentarians David Cunliffe is way ahead of the rest, even the Greens in addressing climate change the single most pressing issue facing humanity. Not as the Green Party insist, just one of 59, not even secondary, “Other Issues”.
A more fun way to get the middle class back is more glamorous events to go to.
In the last year of Helen Clark’s government the Auckland Labour staged a massive art auction; you should have seen the number of Senior Associates, Partners, Professors and bejewelled wives.
OMG it was fun, they hoovered the cash (and we got to trade bets across the room against Labour MPs), and absolutely no-one talked about anything so dreary as policy.
Anyone want the middle class? Stop talking policy bullshit, start having fun, help them spend do trucks of money for serious media buyouts 1 year from an election. Key understands this so so well. Which is one reason he kicks political ass every election he’s contested.
It is indisputable that the that Greens are down playing the issue of Climate Change.
As ever, Jenny, [citation needed]. And please note that you have phrased this as a deliberate action on the part of the Green party – “Greens are down playing” – not “but they’re talking about other things too” or “not every single media release is about climate change”, which I recall are your usual back-pedal points.
I agree the Greens are downplaying the issue after some strategic planning about what will engage voters the most. However banging on about it here is not helping you or anyone else, Jenny.
How can you look at their official website, or at their record in the last election and claim they are not?
Because that’s not what “downplaying” means, Jenny.
Downplaying would be Russel Norman saying “We don’t really think climate change is a significant issue.”
Downplaying would be Metiria Turei saying “The Green Party isn’t going to talk about climate change because it’s not going to have any major effect any time soon.”
What you continue to do is equivalent to me saying “Jenny is downplaying poverty because she talks about things other than poverty.” or “Jenny is actively avoiding talking about Christchurch school closures! See, her last 100 comments are all about climate change!” Whatever kind of logic that is, it ain’t our Earth logic.
Not to mention the computer you’re using right now CV.
The problem with your argument is that the data used to make that outdated finding hasn’t been made public and therefore cannot be verified. It’s also not relevant to New Zealand, because the US company involved is a for profit organisation that works for the car manufacturing industry.
If you just want to compare the steel used, then hybrid vehicles on average use less steel than conventional cars. They are usually lighter CV, to make them more efficient. Your argument might work if all our power generation came from coal, but in New Zealand it doesn’t with around 70% from hydro.
Although it has apparently improved recently, the US derived 49% of its power from coal generation in 2006, which was about the same time the defunct study was conducted. We could have 100% renewable energy production here if we wanted… The electric and hybrid vehicles we use today are already better than conventional gas powered vehicles for the environment, even with consideration to the materials used and manufacturing energy required.
Other studies have shown that using electric vehicles is comparably bad for the environment when the electricity used to power them is entirely generated by coal. If you use clean energy sources to power hybrid and electric vehicles, they are better for the environment than conventional petrol powered vehicles.
What I’m getting at is that we don’t need to reduce our living standards to ensure the environment is protected.
Not necessarily… Many countries can learn from our mistakes and initially incorporate more clean tech into their developments instead of relying on outdated and dirty technologies CV. In fact many are already.
For the same amount of investment, renewable energy production creates more than twice as many jobs as polluting industries, it usually has a better return on investment and doesn’t cost as much to maintain.
The problem is that the capitalists don’t want to lose their existing investment into dirty industries, and that’s why we’ve had little changeover yet. Developing countries don’t usually have that problem, because there hasn’t been much investment to be lost.
Wind energy for instance up 26% compared to coal, up 5.4%. So what’s your point CV?
Firstly get your numbers right. The EIA says that coal production increased by 66% between 2000 and 2010, from 5B short tons per year to over 8B short tons per year.
So, how does your 26% increase in wind energy, from a far far smaller starting base, look now?
Notice also that coal use, and hence environmental degradation, is increasing not decreasing. You might take solace from any slight slowing in that increase I suppose. Like drowning, just not as quickly.
More coal is being produced and burnt year on year, every year, and that is an improvement for the environment uh, because the number of wind turbines is growing as well?
The growth in coal consumption is reducing Coronial Wiper, which is a good thing… The growth in renewables is increasing, which is also good. Why do you insist on twisting everything I write to mean something else?
But back to your first assertion… Do you agree that hybrid and electric vehicles are more energy efficient than your average petrol powered vehicle or not?
Basically it comes down to a question of embodied energy. It takes the better part of a decade or so before something like a Prius comes close to breaking even on the embodied energy and CO2 front, assuming someone driving 10,000-20,000 km/year.
You mean you believe stuff, but cannot link to any evidence to support your claims?
Per K’s driven, a Prius is more efficient than a Corolla. The only area where it wins out is useful life. Your estimate exceeds the useful drive life of a Prius, which clearly indicates you’re making shit up Coronial Wiper. Yawn!
To make such a comparison, you must at least know what the useful drive life of a Toyota Corolla is… So what is it?
Per K’s driven, a Prius is more efficient than a Corolla.
So? It’ll take many many years for a brand new imported Prius to break even in terms of energy savings and CO2 emissions, compared to an existing standard Corolla.
To make such a comparison, you must at least know what the useful drive life of a Toyota Corolla is… So what is it?
A bit beneath you to resort to straw man arguments re embodied energy isn’ it CV? That’s what I’ve been talking about. Where’s your data that shows the embodied energy for a Prius vs a Carolla then smartass?
If you make a calculation believing that all the energy to power the Prius will come from coal it will be wrong! If you calculate the total units manufactured and the plants set up and energy costs it will be wrong! Capish?
You cannot compare embodied energy including total units of a car that’s been in manufacture for ages with one that has a shorter manufacturing history and therefore less units. That’s the only way your assertion will be correct. In the real world it isn’t.
lol – you don’t have the concept of embodied energy at all.
I’ll communicate the concept of ’embodied energy’ another way: if the aim is to reduce the amount of CO2 released and energy used in the world this year, then the answer is simple.
Don’t build a new Prius requiring a new factory, new machine tools, new body steel + aluminium and then the use of more diesel for shipping to NZ along with many other associated industrial and economic activities; use a second hand Corolla which has long been built and already been transported to NZ.
You cannot compare embodied energy including total units of a car that’s been in manufacture for ages with one that has a shorter manufacturing history and therefore less units.
Of course you can compare them. They are totally comparable.
Using an existing already built second hand car doesn’t require the massive additional investment of energy and fresh emissions that fabricating a new car from scratch and transporting it to NZ does.
and I will be happy to provide more links that answer Jenny’s spam questions if necessary.
“Most people are convinced of the reality of Climate Change and they want something done about it.”
Until the people stop wanting something to be ‘done’ about it (ie for someone else to solve the problem for them), and start doing something themselves, nothing will change.
Until the people stop wanting something to be ‘done’ about it (ie for someone else to solve the problem for them), and start doing something themselves, nothing will change.
Colonial Weka
People do want something to be done. But anything major that is done by human beings requires teamwork and teamwork requires leadership. (Whether that is building a house or a road or a bridge or crossing an ocean)
Those who promote themselves as leaders and then give excuses for not leading are not leaders, they are followers.
When the Rena ran aground it wasn’t the crew who were held responsible it was the captain.
For your intemperate abuse and continual apology and misdirection over the Green Party sell out over climate change you and others like you are bringing the Green Party into disrepute. Especially among other environmentalist groups.
Politicians are for the most part not leaders Jenny, they are followers….
Colonial Viper
To which I might add, all frightened to voice an independent opinion….
However, wouldn’t it better if at least one or two of them were leaders?
herwise we might wind up with some sort of bland muttering headless bureaucracy, none with an independent thought or clue, hell bent on BAU, stumbling from one shambling disaster to the next.
On the other hand CV you may have a point. On seeing how the bureaucrats treat real leaders, someone with smarts, aware of the issues and able to voice them. I’m not surprised that the rest of them all keep their heads down and deliver up unanimous votes for the “leader” that would embarrass North Koreans.
otherwise we might wind up with some sort of bland muttering headless bureaucracy, none with an independent thought or clue, hell bent on BAU, stumbling from one shambling disaster to the next.
You may have noted: this is basically the current situation.
If your quote of Colonial Weka is anything to go by, then Colonial Weka and yourself are coming at the problem from different angles and are not ultimately in disagreement.
To single someone out or slam them and imply that they are not “for” your particular issue of the day because they have a different approach from you is not a good look, and I suggest therefore won’t have a great effect on what you appear to want to achieve.
You say that The Greens are playing down the issue of climate change and state that:
And that Climate Change not be one of their “Principles”, or even one of their “Issues”.
This appears to a case of a very narrow focus leading to a cherry picking effect of the data available on The Greens website.
One of the three main issues listed is that of creating 1000 Green jobs.
Q: Do you think that such an approach might improve the over-consumption of carbon usage issue?
Hint: Under Green Jobs details, second paragraph:
“…our economy is our environment and that our 100% Pure brand is invaluable in a world worried about carbon emissions, water shortages, and contaminated food.” [my emphasis]
One of the three main issues is cleaning our rivers up.
Q: Do you think that clean water isn’t of import for sustainable lives with climate change?
Q: Do you think that the methods of addressing this issue might not have some effect on the carbon issue too?
And what do we find listed at the top of the list under the “Policy” heading “Environment” section?
“We can avoid the worst of dangerous climate change if we act now.”
There is more than one way to skin a cat, and perhaps, Jenny, you might learn to appreciate the value of this, and also of not attacking those with similar concerns to that of yourself, yet who are approaching the problem in a different manner to that of yours.
An existential and environmental species extinction event comparable to that marked by the KT boundary saw the ended the age of the dinosaurs.
Not only completely wrong headed about the scale and magnitude of the the disaster facing us. But personally insulting as well. Suggestng that my concern about the climate is just my “particular issue of the day”.
If you wonder why I am angry, at Weka and Greens for deliberately down playing climate change, and just think it is matter of crossed wires,.
Then you obviously don’t get it.
If you think is all a simple misunderstanding…..
If you think concern about the changing climate it is all a matter of personal choice….
Then you or your grandchildren are in for a very rude awakening.
And as to what I am trying to achieve. All three major political parties Labour National and the Greens have a gentleman’s agreement to hold an Obama/Romney type election campaign in 2014 where it is agreed by all sides that Climate Change will not be an election issue.
I may not be able to change that corrupt stitch up. But I can expose it. And as it all unfolds as they plan, and the Green Party caucus then sign up to a government that allows deep sea oil drilling and the stripping of the Denniston Plateau for coal, it won’t come as a complete shock to cute cuddly toys like yourself.
I’m unclear why you didn’t just come out and say that you thought that this election rigging was going on.
Of course you will be asked to substantiate your claim, although I am open to this type of thing occurring; there are real big bikkies involved.
I am, however, in two minds about whether this would be an ‘arranged’ set up for big money interest, or simply information you have read/heard coming from people who have a good understanding what effect saturating an audience has.
I was trying to point out that The Greens, may not be calling out “Climate Change” from the rooftops, yet if even some of their policies were employed, there would be huge steps made toward addressing this issue.
“Name calling is a cognitive bias and a technique to promote propaganda. Propagandists use the name-calling technique to incite fears or arouse positive prejudices with the intent that invoked fear (based on fearmongering tactics) or trust will encourage those that read, see or hear propaganda to construct a negative opinion, in respect to the former, or a positive opinion, with respect to the latter, about a person, group, or set of beliefs or ideas that the propagandist would wish the recipients to believe. The method is intended to provoke conclusions and actions about a matter apart from an impartial examinations of the facts of the matter. When this tactic is used instead of an argument, name-calling is thus a substitute for rational, fact-based arguments against an idea or belief, based upon its own merits, and becomes an argumentum ad hominem.[1]”
Whilst I understand what you are trying to achieve by doing so, perhaps gauge your audience; fear-mongering propaganda might not work amongst people with an openness toward being informed. Rational, fact-based arguments can be effective too.
Re “My particular issue of the day”
Well, that worked a treat! heh
I personally do not think that sounding “Climate Change” from public speakers everywhere all day is the best approach on this one. I think it will only come across as fear-mongering and a high chance of getting people “freezing” or locked into denial (if this hasn’t already happened). Far better to come at it from different angles; promote tree-planting, walking, cycling, green jobs, green industries, buying local…. Get people empowered.
In my opinion what needs attacking most is, in fact, greed. Because until this is seen for the destructive condition that it is, policies such as financial gambling ets style schemes created by people with huge resources to address people with huge resources in a way that will simply allow huge resources to amass in the same hands, will not address the issues and just keep things going nowhere fast.
Goodness me, Blue leopard this certainly is a specious load. I didn’t even realise a stuffed toy could do such a mess.
I will have to pull on my forensic gloves to sift through the product of your output.
First of all, I will have to guess that you are trying to make the case that Climate Change is considered an equal issue with all other issues within the Green Party.
This is clearly not the case.
It is not one of their 3 “Priorities”. It appears nowhere on the front page of their official party website. It is not one of their secondary, 7 “Other priorities”.
Climate Change is considered be 3rd equal with 59 “Other Issues”.
And how about this howler from you, to show how important climate change is to the Green Party.
And what do we find listed at the top of the list under the “Policy” heading “Environment” section?
Climate Change
blue leopard
You are either terribly stupid, or you think we are. Climate Change is at the top of the list because because the topics are listed alpahbetically.
Let’s look at the whole list under the heading “Environment”:
Climate Change
Conservation
Contaminated Sites
Energy
Environment
Forestry
Marine and Oceans
Peak Oil
Rail
Rainforests
RMA
Waste
Water
Whaling
And you have the cheek to accuse me of cherry picking data from the Green Party website.
I suppose you are going to tell us now, that this is all just a crazy coincidence. And that climate change had been purposely put at the top of the list of the second “Policy Heading”.
In this list of topics it is very clear that Climate Change has no more emphasis than 59 other sub topics also listed alphabetically. Under the five “Policy Headings” also listed alphabetically.
Economy
Environment and resources
Fairness and society
Health and food
International relations
Politics and law
Other than starting with C, climate change is obviously considered to by the Green Party to be of no more significance than any of the 59 “Other Issues” listed alphabetically. And certainly much less important than the three Green Party “Priorities” or even the Green Party seven “Other Priorities we are concentrating on”.
And never forget we are talking about the biggest environmental disaster threatening to afflict the planet this side of the KT boundary.
Clearly the Green Party are selling out big time on climate change.
And blue leopard, please don’t force me to have to go through the rest of this appalling apologist rationalisation.
Particularly nauseating is your let’s “promote tree-planting, walking, cycling, green jobs, green industries, buying local…. Get people empowered.”
When most of the major solutions to climate change can only come through government legislation nothing could be more dis-empowering and disspiriting.
And that bit about looking after rivers will address climate change. That really is just to much, even for me.
Please don’t make me explain why this is a complete load of apologist nonsense.
But don’t let me stop you. Carry on your fight against greed till the climate crisis overwhelms us all.
You make a case for The Greens not emphasizing the issue of climate change over and above some of the other pressing problems we face, yet I do not believe you have made a good case for the Greens “checking out” on the matter.
Rather than acknowledging these indications that they have not dropped the ball, you, instead, chose to spend rather a lot of time explaining how “climate” was merely at the top of the page due to the list being in alphabetical order. This is a pretty easy concept to grasp and a fact that I omitted to notice, while I was glancing at their website in order to find out what my appraisal on the matter of “the Greens checking out” was. This was an honest mistake and hardly cherry picking; that you have ignored the other relevant non-mistaken points I have made, and merely focussed on this one is more a case of cherry-picking than anything I have done. If that is the best argument you can put up on the matter, then you really don’t have much evidence of what you are accusing the Greens of.
You ignored a question I posed to you, which was pivotal to one of the main points I was making.
Q: Do you think that aiming at 1000 Green jobs is an approach might improve the over-consumption of carbon usage issue?
Having ignored this question, you come across as closed to the possibility that The Greens may not have “sold out big time” on the climate change issue, rather may be approaching the issue in a different manner than the “loudhailer” style approach, which appears to be your preference.
I view the Greens approach as savvy and pragmatic because it addresses the issue of reducing carbon usage, and deals with the consequences of dwindling fuel supplies, without saturating the NZ population with a message that would be extremely easy to come across as a fear-based ‘we are all doomed’ one. It is an approach that fosters hope, and empowers by giving us something to work toward, rather than run from.
Regarding my comment on getting rivers clean.
I didn’t make this point clearly; so fair enough that you didn’t “get” it, I won’t go into a detailed explanation of this in order to keep my comment shorter. I was hinting at the positive knock-on effects that planting has on fixing carbon into the soil, and also the raising of awareness in those involved of the interdependent nature that our environmental system consists of.
I completely fail to see your point that when the Greens get into power they will:
“then sign up to a government that allows deep sea oil drilling and the stripping of the Denniston Plateau for coal,”
I have noticed Gareth Hughes, in particular, on Parliament channel time and again making very reasoned, researched and credible arguments as to why activities such as fracking, deep-sea drilling and mining are no longer pragmatic ways of addressing modern-day issues nor leading us toward a positive future.
Combining the consistent messages that Mr Hughes (along with others) make with a quick appraisal of Labours press releases on the subject, there seems a good chance that Labour will have to support some shift in the approaches we are taking toward our financial and energy practises and address climate change, that is, unless they wish to be absolutely proven as liars.
I accept that there is always a fear regarding what parties will do once in power; how much compromise and reneging will occur, however I simply do not see you supplying anything other than your own assumptions to convince anyone reading that this is a real likelihood with regard to the Greens, while there is a good amount of information out there to indicate this is not going to be the case.
Regarding your comment: “Particularly nauseating is your let’s “promote tree-planting, walking, cycling, green jobs, green industries, buying local…. Get people empowered.”
You really show yourself as clueless here.
Getting people actively involved in an issue is the single best way to engage people; this gets people emotionally invested in the subject, and they in turn raise awareness in their circles.
I agree with the need for collective effort. I very much agreed with your comments on the “If” thread, Getting legislation, or strong leadership on an issue, however, requires public pressure, this requires the ability to “switch people on” to an issue, I am suggesting to you, Jenny, that attacking and making false accusations of those you relate with over the matter and whom share your concerns yet express differing ways of achieving the same goal is not going to get you achieving your wishes.
No amount of quibbling and excuses can cover for what is the biggest political sell out since Rogernomics.
I asked you not to have to make me explain the plain illogic of your cravenly apologist nonsense.
<blockQ: Do you think that aiming at 1000 Green jobs is an approach might improve the over-consumption of carbon usage issue?
blue leopard
No.
What on earth is the logical connection between the two?
The promise of funds for a thousand Green Jobs is purely a sop that the Green Party hope Labour will throw them for accepting Denniston, Deep Seal Oil Exploitation and Fracking.
With no bottom line restrictions on the polluters. Your thousand (unspecified) Green Jobs will ensure that the rest of the carbon economy carries on with business as usual unhindered.
What do you think?
Your thousand Green Jobs are going to shame the polluters into changing their behavior?
If you were being honest not even you would deny that this is another crock full.
What is needed is dramatic cuts in CO2 production. Cutting back will see many jobs created to fill the niches.
What we currently are seeing in this country, is a dramatic increase in CO2 fueled by more mining drilling and fracking.
No amount of Green Jobs will stop the opening of the massive open cast coal mine at Denniston to feed the needless and immoral coal export industry.
Nor will Green Jobs stop fracking, or deep sea oil drilling.
Yet the Green Party is planning to join a government that will permit all these three things.
The Green Party approach is not only back to front, it is a pathetic tinkering around the edges. It represents a cowardly backdown and accommodation to the polluters and their political agents.
Unfortunately, in the crazy off-chance that you really naively believe what you are saying.
For your sake I will use an analogy so simple that even a child could understand it.
Mammals existed alongside dinosaurs for millions of years. So what? They never made any significant progress. The dinosaurs had to swept away first., then the mammals were free to fill all the vacant ecological niches once filled by the dinosaurs.
The same with your Green Jobs. Get the unemployed planting trees or digging holes by hand. See how much progress you make against the unrestrained fossil fueled monster.
Instead of ignoring climate change in the next elections, the Green Party need to make climate change an election issue.
Instead of allowing Fracking, Deep Sea Oil Explorationa and the leveling of the Denniston Plateau for the Chinese export market.
Instead of down playing climate change in the hope of a political accommodation with Labour.The Green Party should be stating pubicly that the New Zealand Green Party will not be part of any government that allows these things.
Of course the Green Party will do no such thing. The siren call of those comfy front row seats is just too strong.
“For your intemperate abuse and continual apology and misdirection over the Green Party sell out over climate change you and others like you are bringing the Green Party into disrepute. Especially among other environmentalist groups.”
You don’t need a citation Weka. Just go and talk to the leaders of these groups. You only have to say two words, “Green Party” to witness, eye rolling and theatrical groans of dismay and disgust.
“Jenny Get fucked”
Indeed!
But do I see an ideology in the making? I thinks so. One that an Ad might at some time in the future be able to define as a “sub-culcha”
I’m at a loss to see why disparate ideas in the project of common cause get such negative acknowledgement. But actually… I’m not! It’s simply that ego has gotten in the way. (Not to mention growing up, the influence that having children has on life – politically, socially and economically)
Bullshit and Jellybeans. Quick to chastise means quick to discard.
Here we go again …….. ABC club, Labour Party Old guard – perfect examples
How else do you explain that LP person in the (WLG) Eastern Subs other than ascribing “matron” – just as we would have JUST post-WW2 to a load of injured people. In the 21stC – we’ve simply got another load of casualties in need of such matronly interest.
You have to admire her sacrifice though yea? Signing up to maternal instinct at the expense of political career, let alone the instinct for survival that lets her sell-out most of the core values she once had.
Oh.. yea …. Marion
Other than at an Aro Valley Green Party urban cycling track meet, anyone tried Climate Change as a conversation opener with real people? Other than the last storm being called “climate change”, few care. Wish it weren’t true.
With the failure of Kyoto to convince the major producers of CO2 to our atmosphere to become part of that accord there doesn’t seem a hell of a lot we can ‘do’ that will make a real difference in terms of the amount of CO2 produced that will alter the theory of what will occur in the next 30-100 years,
Even if we could stop tomorrow the production of any CO2 to the atmosphere from our activities,(which it’s obvious we can’t), the major polluters have shown no great desire, except for paying lip service, to engage in any serious lowering of their CO2 out-put,
my view has always been that Kyoto would not work for those very reasons, i prefer a dedicated NZ carbon tax that could be put to use planting trees, exploring the means of lowering industrially emitted CO2, and, exploring a means by which CO2 could be removed from the atmosphere on an industrial scale…
You obviously don’t work in a South Auckland factory. After the North Auckland tornadoes and Hurricane Sandy, climate change was everyone’s lips. The general feeling is that climate change is a real threat, and that they would support measures to counter it. .
Leadership is obviously called for, and that is what is missing.
That is simply an ‘assertion’ you make in an attempt to justify the stance you take,
Have you got any actual proof of the ‘views’ of those who work in the factories of South Auckland or anywhere else for that matter or is this simply another of your ‘i thunk it therefore it is’ rants,
There is in fact no action we can ‘take’ as a nation that will alter in any meaningful way the equation of CO2 being released into the atmosphere and just to be clear i mean alter in any meaningful way the equation that brings CO2 levels back to pre-1970’s levels on a global scale,
Anything we do as a country can only be symbolic in terms of the actual amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere on a global scale and your previous ‘plan’ to shame the major polluters into taking action would fall on as deaf a set of ears as did the actual Kyoto Accord which none of the major polluters had the slightest inclination to sign up to,
Should New Zealand find a relatively cost efficient means of extracting and storing CO2 from the atmosphere on an industrial scale then other countries may take heed, other than that your continual attack on the Green Party is a simple denial of reality on your part…
Did you hear anybody in South Auckland suggesting that they shut down the factory that they rely on for a weekly income, stopping the trucks which transport materials to and from the factory, or choosing to give up the daily convenience and use of their car, in order to reduce CO2 emissions?
Yep. And who really believes that a single inspirational leader can do anything much without the backing of a strong, able and loyal Cabinet.
The other thing to watch out for in the future as times get tougher – calls to curtail democracy, favouring of emergency powers, appointed unaccountable decision making bodies etc.
Interesting.
Does this mean:
the left get up earlier in the morning (shopping at local market?) so they vote first.
There is a link somewhere that encourages people to go over and vote.
or, and I hope this is the answer, people really are getting sick of the Nacts.
I thought I had noticed a trend on a lot of the comments pages for the left of centre response to be to the forefront. particularly the “bene bashing” type stories.
I suspect that the “right” are not so stupid as to believe the c**p that is in the Sunday papers published by Fairfax and never visit the site on a Sunday.
Lolz. mention one of those governing alone poll and hey presto TV1 spits one out with National polling 49%,
With a 3% margin of error i would suggest that they have done the usual and read the results with National from the high side of the margin and Labour from the low side,
It will be interesting to see how this latest ‘poll’ effects the poll of polls…
Hi VV. This poll has been running for a few days now. Unfortunately with stuff opinion polls you can click on the same voting option more than once, so its hard to know if the poll is accurate.
Twice over the last wee while they’ve asked something along the lines of “Do you support David Shearer as the Leader of the Labour Party?”
Yes
No
Not sure
On both occasions the YES option has had significantly more votes than the NO option. Curious at this result I clicked on NO option again and sure enough it accepted another vote from me. There was no message to say “Your vote has already been counted etc”. So I figured there was a bunch of Team Shearers’ sitting there hitting the YES YES YES button. Maybe stuff staff fixed this. I haven’t tried doing that for a few weeks. I tried to get on to the stuff site just now to have another go at the poll you linked, to check whether it would accept the same vote again Site doesn’t seem to be working at the mo.
No, I’m not contesting anything other than, taking the earthly focus, outwards into space. The stories around asteroids have been changing on a regular basis, in terms of when, how frequent etc, now J90 link states that some are too small to track, which I simply do not buy into, given the technology, money, and time spent on such discoveries for many many decades.
The threats are very much on earth, what next, the predicted alien invasion, which was scheduled to follow a period of time after the human race has been terrorised by asteroids..
yeah I’m good muzza hope you and your loved ones are too.
I can see that outwards could be a distraction and to make it really distract an announcement of non-earthy life will be the big one – but pretty big risks in bullshitting that one though.
That B612 foundation – “The Sentinel mission will in effect create the first comprehensive dynamic map of the inner solar system showing the positions and orbital tracks of the hundreds of thousands of Near Earth Asteroids as they orbit the Sun.”
I can’t see a problem with this one because tracking near earth objects is a hell of a lot different than reading over your shoulder from space. They say they are tracking to give early warning which seems fine – personally it is a bit hollywoodish – most times the asteroid is past us before we even know it was coming and as they say to deflect any of them requires very early intervention and that is just not real-world compliant.
Another commercial space-mining venture, Deep Space Industries, is proposing its own set of asteroid-hunting space telescopes. “Placing 10 of our small FireFly spacecraft into position to intercept close encounters would take four years and less than $100 million,” David Gump, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. “This will help the world develop the understanding needed to block later threats.”
The above being my favourite from the link Joe.
Focus space cowboy, the threat is still very much on earth, but appreciate that its most likely all too much for you to keep up with, completely understandable!
Still not seen any links made to the Al Qaeda’s/Irans space terror training base yet though, suspect the story line would be hard sell, stay tuned!
Yes catch that piece of space rock hurtling along at 27,000 K an hour, drill it mine it frack it sell it and then find the ‘enemy’ and hurl it at them,
Capitalization of space rocks have just gotta be the way of the future…
It stands to reason that these contractors, who are doing the work, and have invested time and money into the job, get protected.
What Labour are promoting here should have positive effects on many people’s lives and businesses, so why would Neil Wilson frame it in the way he does?
Who is Neil Wilson? And why don’t “Stuff” have links to the writers name with a bit of information about them?
Our media sources are more befitting for …actually I can’t think of anything or anyone who deserves the level of misinformation, narrow bias and bull that our media sources consist of.
Top marks David Shearer, yes a trust fund set up so that each major project has it’s own account against which sub-contractors have a set period to lodge their payment claims against with a copy of the contractual arrangement and a sign off from the main contractor on work that has been completed,
Obviously the main contractor then has an imperative to ensure that after the ‘subbies’ have completed their work the paperwork and sign off are completed as soon as possible,
The interest held from such ‘trust’ accounts on each project should first pay the cost of administering the system and then any remainder after all the claims lodged against the ‘trust fund’ should pass back to the main contractor,
I do not expect Labour to fall all over themselves apologizing for 30 years of neo-liberal bullshit deregulation but i do expect them when a fault has been detected to react with speed in a proactive manner,
I would suggest an examination of such a process to see if such a ‘trust’ system could not be extended further where sub-contractors monies are also held until sign off for the work done has occurred and those who are employed by the subcontractors have been shown to have been payed any wages owed specific to that actual job on that actual contract…
If National is planning to make some boundary changes in its favour before the next election, can anything be done to stop them? Can we be ready for this possibility?
In theory a major party could win enough of the electorate seats to overpower it’s % of the party vote and create an overhang of seats in the Parliament,
It’s some sort of cross party commission, from memory. Lots of horse trading and jockeying for advantage, to use a couple of equine analogies. CV is only partially right. While the party vote determines the number of seats overall, its important that the left wins electorate seats so local voters have an MP that will put their interests forward. Ask Whanganui voters what its like have an MP who phones it in from the ‘naki. It stinks.
Specifically for the Labour Party, they need to lift their presence in provincial New Zealand. At the moment its only Palmy and the West Coast. Must do better.
Actually the electorate boundaries are decided by a body called the Representation Commission.
It is comprised of
A chairperson appointed by the Governor-General. I believe he is usually a judge or retired judge.
Four ex-officio members
The Surveyor-General
The Government Statistician
The Chief Electoral Officer
The Chairperson of the Local Government Commission
There were also two members representing the Government and the Opposition.
These were removed from the Electoral Commission. I am not sure whether they are still on the Representation Commission.
There are a few others added when determining the Maori electorate boundaries.
I would say it is obvious that the Government cannot specify Electorate boundaries.
Bad Colmar Brunton poll for Labour/Greens/Shearer, good for National/Key, possibly a correction from the pre-Xmas poll, but …
the revealing story was the next one. Same poll, same people, and a large majority of respondents dissatisfied with Parata, and therefore with Key for keeping Parata.
When will the penny drop for Labour? Voters dissatisfied with A doesn’t automatically mean votes switch to B. People have to be persuaded, and not by passivity or platitiudes.
Sun. = hot.
hot = beaches and swimming.
beaches and swimming = feel good.
feel good = BBQs and all’s well with the world.
all’s well with the world = John Key & his govt. good.
BUT in a few weeks/months:
the summer sun is waning… the rain sets in… it’s getting cold… the arthritis is painful… the bills are coming in thick and fast… Johnny’s ChCh school has closed and bingo… John Key & his govt. bad.
Broadly I agree Anne, a poll in Feb is pretty silly. Waste of TVNZ money.
But then that logic should apply to all the polls, Roy Morgan as much as Colmar Brunton. We can’t pick and choose. As I pointed out, the same people in that poll gave a clear thumbs down to Parata, at the start of the school year. They are thinking about what matters to them.
“The poll was not all positive for the Government though, with almost 60 per cent of the 1000 eligible voters who took part saying Key had made the wrong decision to keep Hekia Parata as Education Minister.”
Yes my comment was broad brush but it has some relevance. Lets face it, the majority in voter land are deaf and blind to all things politic at this time of the year. That will always favour the govt. of the day.
I am presuming all polling companies have their own individual method of polling. How that works out in practice is a moot point, but it is patently obvious that the polling companies used by the major media outlets always lean towards the National Party. I think Roy Morgan has a different polling method, and over time is likely to be more accurate.
I have never understood why the political parties of the left don’t use their publicity machines to inform the public that those media-backed polls can never be representative because they are only focused on land-line owners. Many voters like to go along with ‘the majority’, and it would help negate some of that spin-off to the right wing parties.
I have never understood why the political parties of the left don’t use their publicity machines to inform the public that those media-backed polls can never be representative
That would annoy the polling corporates, and Key would be responding front and centre with a ‘sour grapes’ line.
Further, does Labour really want to be associated with people who can’t afford a landline.
If one stubbornly clings to the Elimination strategy (I don’t support it, but that will have to wait for another occasion) then try to get it right. You need secure borders. We have attempted this with a very large measure of success. It has not been perfect as the Covid-19 Response ...
Diaspora: perception departs from reality In this collection of articles are two papers currently captivating the attention of people following the science and emergence of climate change, especially the rapid variety we've accidentally unleashed and which is now unfolding around us. The synthesis and review article Earth's Ice Imbalance by Slater ...
The ultra-rich have done very, very well out of the pandemic. Globally, the wealth of the ten richest people rose by US$540 billion last year, enough money to pay for the pandemic in its entirity. And in New Zealand, local billionaire Graeme Hart saw his wealth increase by almost NZ$3.5 ...
Postmodernism has long been looked upon as an indecipherable ideology and a source of amusement. In 1996 Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a hoax article published in ‘Social Text’ an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. In ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Anew study in Nature Sustainability incorporates the damages that climate change does to healthy ecosystems into standard climate-economics models. The key finding in the study by Bernardo Bastien-Olvera and Frances Moore from the University of California at Davis: The models have been underestimating the ...
In a recent interview with RNZ (14th of January), NZ Council of Civil Liberties Chair Thomas Beagle, in response to Simon Bridges condemnation of the post-Trump Twitter purge of local far Right and other accounts, said the following: “Cos the thing about freedom of expression is that it’s not just ...
Let’s be clear: if Trump is not politically killed off once and for all, he will become a MAGA Dracula, rising from the dead to haunt US politics for years to come and giving inspiration to his wretched family of grifters and thousands of deplorables well into the next decade. ...
Since its demise as an imperial power, and especially its deindustrialisation under Thatcher, the UK's primary economic engine has been its role as a money laundry, using its network of overseas territories as tax havens to enable rich people around the world to steal from the societies they live in. ...
Last month OMV quit the Great South Basin and surrendered its offshore exploration permits outside of Taranaki. This month, Australian-owned Beach Energy has done the same: Beach Energy Resources New Zealand has decided to abandon all of its oil and gas exploration permits off the South Island coast, including ...
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA ...
MARVIN HUBBARD, US citizen by birth, New Zealand citizen by choice, Quaker and left-wing activist, has been broadcasting his show, "Community or Chaos", on Otago Access Radio for the best part of 30 years. On 24 November last year, I spoke with him about the outcome of the 2020 General ...
This is a guest blog post by Daniel Tamberg, Potsdam, co-founder and director of SCIARA GmbH. The non-profit organisation SCIARA is developing and operating a flexible software platform for scientific simulation games that allows thousands of players to explore, design and understand possible climate futures together. Decision-makers in politics, business, ...
Yesterday's Gone: Cold shivers are running up and down the spines of conservatives everywhere. Donald Trump may have gone, but all the signs point to there being something much more momentous in the wind-shift than a simple return to the status quo ante. A change is gonna come. ONE COULD ...
Is it possible to live and let live in the post-Trump era? The online campaign to vilify Christopher Liddell, ex-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to Trump, makes for an interesting case study. Liddell is a New Zealander whose illustrious career in corporate America once earned him plaudits ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021Editor's Choice12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate changeAuthors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Michael Cowling, CQUniversity AustraliaWe’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end up spending hours downloading and updating before we can even play with our new toy. But ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the country’s top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. “The pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whānau at the heart of the child welfare sector. Pouārahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the Īhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of Māori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka (Te Aupōuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...
After Morocco’s flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...
*This articlefirst appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...
I note the Herald’s website adds the following text under its opinion piece when rcommentunderWe aim to have healthy debate. But we won’t publish comments that abuse others.
I note the Herald’s website adds the following text under its opinion pieces ”we aim to have healthy debate. But we won’t publish comments that abuse others.”
If that’s the case, why do they let neo-con ideologues like Rodney Hide get away with abusive language in hate-filled and fear-mongering pieces on teacher unions today? Does an inflammatory article like this encourage ‘healthy debate’?
@Paul,
Does an inflammatory article like this encourage ‘healthy debate’?
No it doesn’t.
Rodney’s article suggests to me that NAct’s program to shovel education money into the pockets of their mates isn’t going as smoothly as they had hoped. Good on the teachers’ unions. Given the hatred they generate on the WhaleSpew blog as well, they must be having some successes.
Perhaps parents can even appreciate that teachers who continue working even though they can’t even be sure they’ll get paid are not the problem, but that Hide, the silent member for Epsom, and the rest of the government are.
‘
Scientists confirm Arctic ice collapse imminent.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/02/15-6
Take particular notice of the comment thread.
Climate Change denial is a vanishing small opinion.
As Vernon Small also notes it, Climate Change is the widely held majority opinion.
The explanation is simple. Political parties will not lead on this issue, or the issue of energy depletion, until they feel that middle class electorate opinion will support them.
I’ve said this to you before.
Yes, perhaps more of a reflection of our society than “The Greens” leadership or level of stupidity.
I expect Jenny to start moaning that I am scapegoating the upper middle class Green voter with the new Prius (which happens to contain hundreds of kilograms of steel which used tonnes of coal to manufacture), airline tickets booked for the overseas holiday plans with the family, and new iPhone 5’s all round, for not being real about the lifestyle and consumption downgrades they need to undergo ASAP.
By the “middle class”, I presume you mean those not ground down by the daily existence of of low pay and extreme hours, and so able to lift their heads to give the environment and politics much more of their concentration.
The sort of people able to afford the leisure to go tramping fiordland.
The sort of people who marched against apartheid and nuclear ships.
Those who protested in their tens of thousands against the mining of schedule 4 land.
Or is it, some other “middle class” you are talking about? One of your own bigotted imaginings.
Hey Jenny, since you’re being a smartass
Tell me which of the examples you used above (tramping, apartheid, nuclear warships, preventing mining on schedule 4 land, etc) required those protestors to accept a rapid and substantially reduced level of lifestyle, consumption and income for themselves and their families.
War
Yep, that would be the only one, and the most recent example 70 years ago now. Ironically, the NZ public accepted it at that time as being necessary to preserve the existing way of life for King and Country.
Indeed and it was the middle classes that volunteered in percentage numbers way over their representation in the general population. Conscription had to brought in to get working class people involved in similar proportions.
From the Waitakere news:
I disagree, it would be easy to get this support back
What I take from this report is that the Labour Party is bleeding middle class support to the Greens.
It Labour wanted to get that “chunk of the intellectual urban” (middle class) support back, it would be easy.
All Labour have to do is outflank the Green Pary on the environment.
This would be so easy. It is indisputable that the that Greens are down playing the issue of Climate Change. Climate Change is not one of the Green Party’s three “Priorities”. Climate Change is not even one of the Green Party’s seven, “Other priorities that we are focusing on”. Climate Change is one of fiftynine, “Other” – “Issues”
These “activists and/or well resourced” people are exactly the democraphic that Colonial Viper thoughtlessly disparages as “middle class”.
To having any chance of winning back this intellectual urban vote Labour needs to immediately promote David Cunliffe to the front bench wth full freedom of action. Of all the parliamentarians David Cunliffe is way ahead of the rest, even the Greens in addressing climate change the single most pressing issue facing humanity. Not as the Green Party insist, just one of 59, not even secondary, “Other Issues”.
A more fun way to get the middle class back is more glamorous events to go to.
In the last year of Helen Clark’s government the Auckland Labour staged a massive art auction; you should have seen the number of Senior Associates, Partners, Professors and bejewelled wives.
OMG it was fun, they hoovered the cash (and we got to trade bets across the room against Labour MPs), and absolutely no-one talked about anything so dreary as policy.
Anyone want the middle class? Stop talking policy bullshit, start having fun, help them spend do trucks of money for serious media buyouts 1 year from an election. Key understands this so so well. Which is one reason he kicks political ass every election he’s contested.
It is indisputable that the that Greens are down playing the issue of Climate Change.
As ever, Jenny, [citation needed]. And please note that you have phrased this as a deliberate action on the part of the Green party – “Greens are down playing” – not “but they’re talking about other things too” or “not every single media release is about climate change”, which I recall are your usual back-pedal points.
It is indisputable that the that Greens are down playing the issue of Climate Change.
How can you look at their official website, or at their record in the last election and claim they are not?
I agree the Greens are downplaying the issue after some strategic planning about what will engage voters the most. However banging on about it here is not helping you or anyone else, Jenny.
How can you look at their official website, or at their record in the last election and claim they are not?
Because that’s not what “downplaying” means, Jenny.
Downplaying would be Russel Norman saying “We don’t really think climate change is a significant issue.”
Downplaying would be Metiria Turei saying “The Green Party isn’t going to talk about climate change because it’s not going to have any major effect any time soon.”
What you continue to do is equivalent to me saying “Jenny is downplaying poverty because she talks about things other than poverty.” or “Jenny is actively avoiding talking about Christchurch school closures! See, her last 100 comments are all about climate change!” Whatever kind of logic that is, it ain’t our Earth logic.
Not to mention the computer you’re using right now CV.
The problem with your argument is that the data used to make that outdated finding hasn’t been made public and therefore cannot be verified. It’s also not relevant to New Zealand, because the US company involved is a for profit organisation that works for the car manufacturing industry.
If you just want to compare the steel used, then hybrid vehicles on average use less steel than conventional cars. They are usually lighter CV, to make them more efficient. Your argument might work if all our power generation came from coal, but in New Zealand it doesn’t with around 70% from hydro.
Although it has apparently improved recently, the US derived 49% of its power from coal generation in 2006, which was about the same time the defunct study was conducted. We could have 100% renewable energy production here if we wanted… The electric and hybrid vehicles we use today are already better than conventional gas powered vehicles for the environment, even with consideration to the materials used and manufacturing energy required.
Other studies have shown that using electric vehicles is comparably bad for the environment when the electricity used to power them is entirely generated by coal. If you use clean energy sources to power hybrid and electric vehicles, they are better for the environment than conventional petrol powered vehicles.
What I’m getting at is that we don’t need to reduce our living standards to ensure the environment is protected.
lol
of course WE don’t, it’s just the people in developing and third world countries who have to make the sacrifices now.
Not necessarily… Many countries can learn from our mistakes and initially incorporate more clean tech into their developments instead of relying on outdated and dirty technologies CV. In fact many are already.
For the same amount of investment, renewable energy production creates more than twice as many jobs as polluting industries, it usually has a better return on investment and doesn’t cost as much to maintain.
The problem is that the capitalists don’t want to lose their existing investment into dirty industries, and that’s why we’ve had little changeover yet. Developing countries don’t usually have that problem, because there hasn’t been much investment to be lost.
Nice reassuring talk, you should look up the direction of global coal and oil consumption trends for the last 10 years for the reality.
Renewables are growing faster than coal and oil… Wind energy for instance up 26% compared to coal, up 5.4%. So what’s your point CV?
Firstly get your numbers right. The EIA says that coal production increased by 66% between 2000 and 2010, from 5B short tons per year to over 8B short tons per year.
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=3350
So, how does your 26% increase in wind energy, from a far far smaller starting base, look now?
Notice also that coal use, and hence environmental degradation, is increasing not decreasing. You might take solace from any slight slowing in that increase I suppose. Like drowning, just not as quickly.
The figures I’ve used are just for 2011, not ten years CV… Clearly things are improving.
Things are improving?
More coal is being produced and burnt year on year, every year, and that is an improvement for the environment uh, because the number of wind turbines is growing as well?
The growth in coal consumption is reducing Coronial Wiper, which is a good thing… The growth in renewables is increasing, which is also good. Why do you insist on twisting everything I write to mean something else?
But back to your first assertion… Do you agree that hybrid and electric vehicles are more energy efficient than your average petrol powered vehicle or not?
They definitely are not.
A 5 year old petrol driven Toyota Corolla already on our roads today is far more energy and CO2 efficient than a new hybrid Prius, Insight or Camry.
Sure that’s good news, it’ll cross 8 billion metric tonnes produced per annum, probably this year or next.
Where’s your evidence of that CV?
Oh, I know stuff.
Basically it comes down to a question of embodied energy. It takes the better part of a decade or so before something like a Prius comes close to breaking even on the embodied energy and CO2 front, assuming someone driving 10,000-20,000 km/year.
You mean you believe stuff, but cannot link to any evidence to support your claims?
Per K’s driven, a Prius is more efficient than a Corolla. The only area where it wins out is useful life. Your estimate exceeds the useful drive life of a Prius, which clearly indicates you’re making shit up Coronial Wiper. Yawn!
To make such a comparison, you must at least know what the useful drive life of a Toyota Corolla is… So what is it?
Embodied energy Jackal, look it up.
So? It’ll take many many years for a brand new imported Prius to break even in terms of energy savings and CO2 emissions, compared to an existing standard Corolla.
No, its irrelevant at this time.
A bit beneath you to resort to straw man arguments re embodied energy isn’ it CV? That’s what I’ve been talking about. Where’s your data that shows the embodied energy for a Prius vs a Carolla then smartass?
If you make a calculation believing that all the energy to power the Prius will come from coal it will be wrong! If you calculate the total units manufactured and the plants set up and energy costs it will be wrong! Capish?
You cannot compare embodied energy including total units of a car that’s been in manufacture for ages with one that has a shorter manufacturing history and therefore less units. That’s the only way your assertion will be correct. In the real world it isn’t.
lol – you don’t have the concept of embodied energy at all.
I’ll communicate the concept of ’embodied energy’ another way: if the aim is to reduce the amount of CO2 released and energy used in the world this year, then the answer is simple.
Don’t build a new Prius requiring a new factory, new machine tools, new body steel + aluminium and then the use of more diesel for shipping to NZ along with many other associated industrial and economic activities; use a second hand Corolla which has long been built and already been transported to NZ.
Of course you can compare them. They are totally comparable.
Using an existing already built second hand car doesn’t require the massive additional investment of energy and fresh emissions that fabricating a new car from scratch and transporting it to NZ does.
So you have no data, just waffling! God you really have become a total bore CV.
Hey you know best keep on going mate.
Keep on going? You’ve lost the debate CV… You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to comprehend it.
How ironic
To say nothing of the chemicals and shit in the batteries. The best use I ever saw for a Prius is this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwwfWPQYcX0
Jenny, get fucked.
and I will be happy to provide more links that answer Jenny’s spam questions if necessary.
“Most people are convinced of the reality of Climate Change and they want something done about it.”
Until the people stop wanting something to be ‘done’ about it (ie for someone else to solve the problem for them), and start doing something themselves, nothing will change.
People do want something to be done. But anything major that is done by human beings requires teamwork and teamwork requires leadership. (Whether that is building a house or a road or a bridge or crossing an ocean)
Those who promote themselves as leaders and then give excuses for not leading are not leaders, they are followers.
When the Rena ran aground it wasn’t the crew who were held responsible it was the captain.
For your intemperate abuse and continual apology and misdirection over the Green Party sell out over climate change you and others like you are bringing the Green Party into disrepute. Especially among other environmentalist groups.
Politicians are for the most part not leaders Jenny, they are followers. Listen and learn please.
Politicians are for the most part not leaders Jenny, they are followers….
Colonial Viper
To which I might add, all frightened to voice an independent opinion….
However, wouldn’t it better if at least one or two of them were leaders?
herwise we might wind up with some sort of bland muttering headless bureaucracy, none with an independent thought or clue, hell bent on BAU, stumbling from one shambling disaster to the next.
On the other hand CV you may have a point. On seeing how the bureaucrats treat real leaders, someone with smarts, aware of the issues and able to voice them. I’m not surprised that the rest of them all keep their heads down and deliver up unanimous votes for the “leader” that would embarrass North Koreans.
You may have noted: this is basically the current situation.
@ Jenny,
If your quote of Colonial Weka is anything to go by, then Colonial Weka and yourself are coming at the problem from different angles and are not ultimately in disagreement.
To single someone out or slam them and imply that they are not “for” your particular issue of the day because they have a different approach from you is not a good look, and I suggest therefore won’t have a great effect on what you appear to want to achieve.
You say that The Greens are playing down the issue of climate change and state that:
And that Climate Change not be one of their “Principles”, or even one of their “Issues”.
This appears to a case of a very narrow focus leading to a cherry picking effect of the data available on The Greens website.
One of the three main issues listed is that of creating 1000 Green jobs.
Q: Do you think that such an approach might improve the over-consumption of carbon usage issue?
Hint: Under Green Jobs details, second paragraph:
“…our economy is our environment and that our 100% Pure brand is invaluable in a world worried about carbon emissions, water shortages, and contaminated food.”
[my emphasis]
One of the three main issues is cleaning our rivers up.
Q: Do you think that clean water isn’t of import for sustainable lives with climate change?
Q: Do you think that the methods of addressing this issue might not have some effect on the carbon issue too?
And what do we find listed at the top of the list under the “Policy” heading “Environment” section?
Climate Change
And go to the page this heading links to and what do we find?
A page full of approaches that the Greens have devised in order to address the matter.
…listed…under the statement written in bold
“We can avoid the worst of dangerous climate change if we act now.”
There is more than one way to skin a cat, and perhaps, Jenny, you might learn to appreciate the value of this, and also of not attacking those with similar concerns to that of yourself, yet who are approaching the problem in a different manner to that of yours.
An apologist, for an apologist.
What next?
MY PARTICULAR ISSUE OF THE DAY!
An existential and environmental species extinction event comparable to that marked by the KT boundary saw the ended the age of the dinosaurs.
Not only completely wrong headed about the scale and magnitude of the the disaster facing us. But personally insulting as well. Suggestng that my concern about the climate is just my “particular issue of the day”.
If you wonder why I am angry, at Weka and Greens for deliberately down playing climate change, and just think it is matter of crossed wires,.
Then you obviously don’t get it.
If you think is all a simple misunderstanding…..
If you think concern about the changing climate it is all a matter of personal choice….
Then you or your grandchildren are in for a very rude awakening.
And as to what I am trying to achieve. All three major political parties Labour National and the Greens have a gentleman’s agreement to hold an Obama/Romney type election campaign in 2014 where it is agreed by all sides that Climate Change will not be an election issue.
I may not be able to change that corrupt stitch up. But I can expose it. And as it all unfolds as they plan, and the Green Party caucus then sign up to a government that allows deep sea oil drilling and the stripping of the Denniston Plateau for coal, it won’t come as a complete shock to cute cuddly toys like yourself.
@ Jenny
I’m unclear why you didn’t just come out and say that you thought that this election rigging was going on.
Of course you will be asked to substantiate your claim, although I am open to this type of thing occurring; there are real big bikkies involved.
I am, however, in two minds about whether this would be an ‘arranged’ set up for big money interest, or simply information you have read/heard coming from people who have a good understanding what effect saturating an audience has.
I was trying to point out that The Greens, may not be calling out “Climate Change” from the rooftops, yet if even some of their policies were employed, there would be huge steps made toward addressing this issue.
lolz re apologist for an apologist!
Regarding name calling
From Wikipedia
Whilst I understand what you are trying to achieve by doing so, perhaps gauge your audience; fear-mongering propaganda might not work amongst people with an openness toward being informed. Rational, fact-based arguments can be effective too.
Re “My particular issue of the day”
Well, that worked a treat! heh
I personally do not think that sounding “Climate Change” from public speakers everywhere all day is the best approach on this one. I think it will only come across as fear-mongering and a high chance of getting people “freezing” or locked into denial (if this hasn’t already happened). Far better to come at it from different angles; promote tree-planting, walking, cycling, green jobs, green industries, buying local…. Get people empowered.
In my opinion what needs attacking most is, in fact, greed. Because until this is seen for the destructive condition that it is, policies such as financial gambling ets style schemes created by people with huge resources to address people with huge resources in a way that will simply allow huge resources to amass in the same hands, will not address the issues and just keep things going nowhere fast.
Goodness me, Blue leopard this certainly is a specious load. I didn’t even realise a stuffed toy could do such a mess.
I will have to pull on my forensic gloves to sift through the product of your output.
First of all, I will have to guess that you are trying to make the case that Climate Change is considered an equal issue with all other issues within the Green Party.
This is clearly not the case.
It is not one of their 3 “Priorities”. It appears nowhere on the front page of their official party website. It is not one of their secondary, 7 “Other priorities”.
Climate Change is considered be 3rd equal with 59 “Other Issues”.
And how about this howler from you, to show how important climate change is to the Green Party.
You are either terribly stupid, or you think we are. Climate Change is at the top of the list because because the topics are listed alpahbetically.
Let’s look at the whole list under the heading “Environment”:
Climate Change
Conservation
Contaminated Sites
Energy
Environment
Forestry
Marine and Oceans
Peak Oil
Rail
Rainforests
RMA
Waste
Water
Whaling
And you have the cheek to accuse me of cherry picking data from the Green Party website.
I suppose you are going to tell us now, that this is all just a crazy coincidence. And that climate change had been purposely put at the top of the list of the second “Policy Heading”.
In this list of topics it is very clear that Climate Change has no more emphasis than 59 other sub topics also listed alphabetically. Under the five “Policy Headings” also listed alphabetically.
Economy
Environment and resources
Fairness and society
Health and food
International relations
Politics and law
Other than starting with C, climate change is obviously considered to by the Green Party to be of no more significance than any of the 59 “Other Issues” listed alphabetically. And certainly much less important than the three Green Party “Priorities” or even the Green Party seven “Other Priorities we are concentrating on”.
And never forget we are talking about the biggest environmental disaster threatening to afflict the planet this side of the KT boundary.
Clearly the Green Party are selling out big time on climate change.
And blue leopard, please don’t force me to have to go through the rest of this appalling apologist rationalisation.
Particularly nauseating is your let’s “promote tree-planting, walking, cycling, green jobs, green industries, buying local…. Get people empowered.”
When most of the major solutions to climate change can only come through government legislation nothing could be more dis-empowering and disspiriting.
And that bit about looking after rivers will address climate change. That really is just to much, even for me.
Please don’t make me explain why this is a complete load of apologist nonsense.
But don’t let me stop you. Carry on your fight against greed till the climate crisis overwhelms us all.
You make a case for The Greens not emphasizing the issue of climate change over and above some of the other pressing problems we face, yet I do not believe you have made a good case for the Greens “checking out” on the matter.
Their recent press releases on the matter speak volumes against the point you are attempting to make.
I have already mentioned the full page of information under “climate change” on their website.
Which you simply didn’t acknowledge
And have also found their full policy statement on climate change.
Rather than acknowledging these indications that they have not dropped the ball, you, instead, chose to spend rather a lot of time explaining how “climate” was merely at the top of the page due to the list being in alphabetical order. This is a pretty easy concept to grasp and a fact that I omitted to notice, while I was glancing at their website in order to find out what my appraisal on the matter of “the Greens checking out” was. This was an honest mistake and hardly cherry picking; that you have ignored the other relevant non-mistaken points I have made, and merely focussed on this one is more a case of cherry-picking than anything I have done. If that is the best argument you can put up on the matter, then you really don’t have much evidence of what you are accusing the Greens of.
You ignored a question I posed to you, which was pivotal to one of the main points I was making.
Q: Do you think that aiming at 1000 Green jobs is an approach might improve the over-consumption of carbon usage issue?
Having ignored this question, you come across as closed to the possibility that The Greens may not have “sold out big time” on the climate change issue, rather may be approaching the issue in a different manner than the “loudhailer” style approach, which appears to be your preference.
I view the Greens approach as savvy and pragmatic because it addresses the issue of reducing carbon usage, and deals with the consequences of dwindling fuel supplies, without saturating the NZ population with a message that would be extremely easy to come across as a fear-based ‘we are all doomed’ one. It is an approach that fosters hope, and empowers by giving us something to work toward, rather than run from.
Regarding my comment on getting rivers clean.
I didn’t make this point clearly; so fair enough that you didn’t “get” it, I won’t go into a detailed explanation of this in order to keep my comment shorter. I was hinting at the positive knock-on effects that planting has on fixing carbon into the soil, and also the raising of awareness in those involved of the interdependent nature that our environmental system consists of.
I completely fail to see your point that when the Greens get into power they will:
“then sign up to a government that allows deep sea oil drilling and the stripping of the Denniston Plateau for coal,”
I have noticed Gareth Hughes, in particular, on Parliament channel time and again making very reasoned, researched and credible arguments as to why activities such as fracking, deep-sea drilling and mining are no longer pragmatic ways of addressing modern-day issues nor leading us toward a positive future.
Combining the consistent messages that Mr Hughes (along with others) make with a quick appraisal of Labours press releases on the subject, there seems a good chance that Labour will have to support some shift in the approaches we are taking toward our financial and energy practises and address climate change, that is, unless they wish to be absolutely proven as liars.
I accept that there is always a fear regarding what parties will do once in power; how much compromise and reneging will occur, however I simply do not see you supplying anything other than your own assumptions to convince anyone reading that this is a real likelihood with regard to the Greens, while there is a good amount of information out there to indicate this is not going to be the case.
Regarding your comment:
“Particularly nauseating is your let’s “promote tree-planting, walking, cycling, green jobs, green industries, buying local…. Get people empowered.”
You really show yourself as clueless here.
Getting people actively involved in an issue is the single best way to engage people; this gets people emotionally invested in the subject, and they in turn raise awareness in their circles.
I agree with the need for collective effort. I very much agreed with your comments on the “If” thread, Getting legislation, or strong leadership on an issue, however, requires public pressure, this requires the ability to “switch people on” to an issue, I am suggesting to you, Jenny, that attacking and making false accusations of those you relate with over the matter and whom share your concerns yet express differing ways of achieving the same goal is not going to get you achieving your wishes.
No amount of quibbling and excuses can cover for what is the biggest political sell out since Rogernomics.
I asked you not to have to make me explain the plain illogic of your cravenly apologist nonsense.
<blockQ: Do you think that aiming at 1000 Green jobs is an approach might improve the over-consumption of carbon usage issue?
blue leopard
No.
What on earth is the logical connection between the two?
The promise of funds for a thousand Green Jobs is purely a sop that the Green Party hope Labour will throw them for accepting Denniston, Deep Seal Oil Exploitation and Fracking.
With no bottom line restrictions on the polluters. Your thousand (unspecified) Green Jobs will ensure that the rest of the carbon economy carries on with business as usual unhindered.
What do you think?
Your thousand Green Jobs are going to shame the polluters into changing their behavior?
If you were being honest not even you would deny that this is another crock full.
What is needed is dramatic cuts in CO2 production. Cutting back will see many jobs created to fill the niches.
What we currently are seeing in this country, is a dramatic increase in CO2 fueled by more mining drilling and fracking.
No amount of Green Jobs will stop the opening of the massive open cast coal mine at Denniston to feed the needless and immoral coal export industry.
Nor will Green Jobs stop fracking, or deep sea oil drilling.
Yet the Green Party is planning to join a government that will permit all these three things.
The Green Party approach is not only back to front, it is a pathetic tinkering around the edges. It represents a cowardly backdown and accommodation to the polluters and their political agents.
Unfortunately, in the crazy off-chance that you really naively believe what you are saying.
For your sake I will use an analogy so simple that even a child could understand it.
Mammals existed alongside dinosaurs for millions of years. So what? They never made any significant progress. The dinosaurs had to swept away first., then the mammals were free to fill all the vacant ecological niches once filled by the dinosaurs.
The same with your Green Jobs. Get the unemployed planting trees or digging holes by hand. See how much progress you make against the unrestrained fossil fueled monster.
Instead of ignoring climate change in the next elections, the Green Party need to make climate change an election issue.
Instead of allowing Fracking, Deep Sea Oil Explorationa and the leveling of the Denniston Plateau for the Chinese export market.
Instead of down playing climate change in the hope of a political accommodation with Labour.The Green Party should be stating pubicly that the New Zealand Green Party will not be part of any government that allows these things.
Of course the Green Party will do no such thing. The siren call of those comfy front row seats is just too strong.
“For your intemperate abuse and continual apology and misdirection over the Green Party sell out over climate change you and others like you are bringing the Green Party into disrepute. Especially among other environmentalist groups.”
[citation needed]
You don’t need a citation Weka. Just go and talk to the leaders of these groups. You only have to say two words, “Green Party” to witness, eye rolling and theatrical groans of dismay and disgust.
“Jenny Get fucked”
Indeed!
But do I see an ideology in the making? I thinks so. One that an Ad might at some time in the future be able to define as a “sub-culcha”
I’m at a loss to see why disparate ideas in the project of common cause get such negative acknowledgement. But actually… I’m not! It’s simply that ego has gotten in the way. (Not to mention growing up, the influence that having children has on life – politically, socially and economically)
Bullshit and Jellybeans. Quick to chastise means quick to discard.
Here we go again …….. ABC club, Labour Party Old guard – perfect examples
How else do you explain that LP person in the (WLG) Eastern Subs other than ascribing “matron” – just as we would have JUST post-WW2 to a load of injured people. In the 21stC – we’ve simply got another load of casualties in need of such matronly interest.
You have to admire her sacrifice though yea? Signing up to maternal instinct at the expense of political career, let alone the instinct for survival that lets her sell-out most of the core values she once had.
Oh.. yea …. Marion
Other than at an Aro Valley Green Party urban cycling track meet, anyone tried Climate Change as a conversation opener with real people? Other than the last storm being called “climate change”, few care. Wish it weren’t true.
With the failure of Kyoto to convince the major producers of CO2 to our atmosphere to become part of that accord there doesn’t seem a hell of a lot we can ‘do’ that will make a real difference in terms of the amount of CO2 produced that will alter the theory of what will occur in the next 30-100 years,
Even if we could stop tomorrow the production of any CO2 to the atmosphere from our activities,(which it’s obvious we can’t), the major polluters have shown no great desire, except for paying lip service, to engage in any serious lowering of their CO2 out-put,
my view has always been that Kyoto would not work for those very reasons, i prefer a dedicated NZ carbon tax that could be put to use planting trees, exploring the means of lowering industrially emitted CO2, and, exploring a means by which CO2 could be removed from the atmosphere on an industrial scale…
You obviously don’t work in a South Auckland factory. After the North Auckland tornadoes and Hurricane Sandy, climate change was everyone’s lips. The general feeling is that climate change is a real threat, and that they would support measures to counter it. .
Leadership is obviously called for, and that is what is missing.
That is simply an ‘assertion’ you make in an attempt to justify the stance you take,
Have you got any actual proof of the ‘views’ of those who work in the factories of South Auckland or anywhere else for that matter or is this simply another of your ‘i thunk it therefore it is’ rants,
There is in fact no action we can ‘take’ as a nation that will alter in any meaningful way the equation of CO2 being released into the atmosphere and just to be clear i mean alter in any meaningful way the equation that brings CO2 levels back to pre-1970’s levels on a global scale,
Anything we do as a country can only be symbolic in terms of the actual amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere on a global scale and your previous ‘plan’ to shame the major polluters into taking action would fall on as deaf a set of ears as did the actual Kyoto Accord which none of the major polluters had the slightest inclination to sign up to,
Should New Zealand find a relatively cost efficient means of extracting and storing CO2 from the atmosphere on an industrial scale then other countries may take heed, other than that your continual attack on the Green Party is a simple denial of reality on your part…
Did you hear anybody in South Auckland suggesting that they shut down the factory that they rely on for a weekly income, stopping the trucks which transport materials to and from the factory, or choosing to give up the daily convenience and use of their car, in order to reduce CO2 emissions?
Yeah, thought so.
Didn’t hear Jenny say she was willing to give up anything either.
Never mind, the new Winston Churchill is just around the corner (we can manufacture him out of thin air!), so everything will be alright.
Yep. And who really believes that a single inspirational leader can do anything much without the backing of a strong, able and loyal Cabinet.
The other thing to watch out for in the future as times get tougher – calls to curtail democracy, favouring of emergency powers, appointed unaccountable decision making bodies etc.
Another good reason for the Greens to be going for as much govt power as they can get. Ditto Mana.
Stuff has an opinion poll on it’s site ‘Who would you vote for if an election were held today’
The numbers are currently
Act 1.2%
Conserv: 4 .0%
Greens 27.4%
Labour 25.9%
Mana 2.9%
Maori 0.6%
NZ First 4.7%
United Future 0.5%
National 32.8%
So far there are 6683 votes.
If only 🙂
Interesting.
Does this mean:
the left get up earlier in the morning (shopping at local market?) so they vote first.
There is a link somewhere that encourages people to go over and vote.
or, and I hope this is the answer, people really are getting sick of the Nacts.
I thought I had noticed a trend on a lot of the comments pages for the left of centre response to be to the forefront. particularly the “bene bashing” type stories.
I suspect that the “right” are not so stupid as to believe the c**p that is in the Sunday papers published by Fairfax and never visit the site on a Sunday.
At least that’s what you hope.
Only when the right see one that shows the National Failure Government governing alone right,
Then you all fall about the place displaying signs of sexual orgasm and screeching like chimpanzees about National having the numbers to Govern alone,
November 2014, my prediction, another 9 in the sin-bin for the Slippery Shyster lead National Party…
Lolz. mention one of those governing alone poll and hey presto TV1 spits one out with National polling 49%,
With a 3% margin of error i would suggest that they have done the usual and read the results with National from the high side of the margin and Labour from the low side,
It will be interesting to see how this latest ‘poll’ effects the poll of polls…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/ if anyone wants to vote.
+ 1 Nice to see a few for Mana and the Greens at 27% – wouldn’t that be nice in the real world.
Hi VV. This poll has been running for a few days now. Unfortunately with stuff opinion polls you can click on the same voting option more than once, so its hard to know if the poll is accurate.
Twice over the last wee while they’ve asked something along the lines of “Do you support David Shearer as the Leader of the Labour Party?”
Yes
No
Not sure
On both occasions the YES option has had significantly more votes than the NO option. Curious at this result I clicked on NO option again and sure enough it accepted another vote from me. There was no message to say “Your vote has already been counted etc”. So I figured there was a bunch of Team Shearers’ sitting there hitting the YES YES YES button. Maybe stuff staff fixed this. I haven’t tried doing that for a few weeks. I tried to get on to the stuff site just now to have another go at the poll you linked, to check whether it would accept the same vote again Site doesn’t seem to be working at the mo.
Hi, I’ll take anything, the left are being recognised at least, my fingers are always
crossed.
Lolz it is still working, i just went round twice and bumped the Green Party vote up by 2, pretty meaningless considering that,
But, an interesting means of perhaps ‘leading’ the uncommitted who don’t have a lot of political knowledge,
You know the one’s, i voted for that nice man Key coz he looks so honest, or i voted for Slippery coz He isn’t a woman…
So Labour people are less web-literate? Hmmm.
Another crock of the week from Peter Sinclair.
http://climatecrocks.com/2013/02/13/minding-nemo-jeff-masters-on-snowstorms-in-a-warming-world/
World Press Photo award: 2 Palestinan pre-schoolers killed by IDF missile strike
Swedish photographer Paul Hansen took the photo in Gaza, Nov 2012.
http://rt.com/news/gaza-photo-award-target-353/
Oh dear, small enough to make tracking difficult and big enough to cause a catastrophe.
http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/16/16985690-estimates-raised-for-nuclear-sized-asteroid-blast-that-hit-russia?
Joe all this has been predicted for some period of time, that asteroids would be the *next big threat*..
Too small to track, how convenient, and what a load of absolute shit!
Will certainly provide cover stories for yet more weaponizing of space!
Not for profit B612 Foundation….
NASA -ATLAS
Planetary Recources – Yeah mine those roids!
NBC news, who owns them again!
Kia ora muzza – wot – are you saying they aren’t asteroids – that’s a bit out there mate
Hey Marty how you doing…
No, I’m not contesting anything other than, taking the earthly focus, outwards into space. The stories around asteroids have been changing on a regular basis, in terms of when, how frequent etc, now J90 link states that some are too small to track, which I simply do not buy into, given the technology, money, and time spent on such discoveries for many many decades.
The threats are very much on earth, what next, the predicted alien invasion, which was scheduled to follow a period of time after the human race has been terrorised by asteroids..
Lets not forget this recent announcement
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/7845215/Search-for-alien-life-steps-up
yeah I’m good muzza hope you and your loved ones are too.
I can see that outwards could be a distraction and to make it really distract an announcement of non-earthy life will be the big one – but pretty big risks in bullshitting that one though.
I agree that the threats are on earth.
That B612 foundation – “The Sentinel mission will in effect create the first comprehensive dynamic map of the inner solar system showing the positions and orbital tracks of the hundreds of thousands of Near Earth Asteroids as they orbit the Sun.”
I can’t see a problem with this one because tracking near earth objects is a hell of a lot different than reading over your shoulder from space. They say they are tracking to give early warning which seems fine – personally it is a bit hollywoodish – most times the asteroid is past us before we even know it was coming and as they say to deflect any of them requires very early intervention and that is just not real-world compliant.
Bolide impacts are actually weapons test gone awry?. Too funny.
Atmospherium
The above being my favourite from the link Joe.
Focus space cowboy, the threat is still very much on earth, but appreciate that its most likely all too much for you to keep up with, completely understandable!
Still not seen any links made to the Al Qaeda’s/Irans space terror training base yet though, suspect the story line would be hard sell, stay tuned!
Your fixation seems to be that there’s only one threat.
Yes catch that piece of space rock hurtling along at 27,000 K an hour, drill it mine it frack it sell it and then find the ‘enemy’ and hurl it at them,
Capitalization of space rocks have just gotta be the way of the future…
B12 – drill it, mine it, frak it, sell it, then find the enemy and hurl it at them..
Classic, Just read this, thanks for the laugh
Whats with the bias on the subject of contractors being protected from bankruptcies?
Labour pushes for the subbie protection it axed
It stands to reason that these contractors, who are doing the work, and have invested time and money into the job, get protected.
What Labour are promoting here should have positive effects on many people’s lives and businesses, so why would Neil Wilson frame it in the way he does?
Who is Neil Wilson? And why don’t “Stuff” have links to the writers name with a bit of information about them?
Our media sources are more befitting for …actually I can’t think of anything or anyone who deserves the level of misinformation, narrow bias and bull that our media sources consist of.
sounds like a prime opportunity for lab to issue another “seen the light” speech.
Top marks David Shearer, yes a trust fund set up so that each major project has it’s own account against which sub-contractors have a set period to lodge their payment claims against with a copy of the contractual arrangement and a sign off from the main contractor on work that has been completed,
Obviously the main contractor then has an imperative to ensure that after the ‘subbies’ have completed their work the paperwork and sign off are completed as soon as possible,
The interest held from such ‘trust’ accounts on each project should first pay the cost of administering the system and then any remainder after all the claims lodged against the ‘trust fund’ should pass back to the main contractor,
I do not expect Labour to fall all over themselves apologizing for 30 years of neo-liberal bullshit deregulation but i do expect them when a fault has been detected to react with speed in a proactive manner,
I would suggest an examination of such a process to see if such a ‘trust’ system could not be extended further where sub-contractors monies are also held until sign off for the work done has occurred and those who are employed by the subcontractors have been shown to have been payed any wages owed specific to that actual job on that actual contract…
If National is planning to make some boundary changes in its favour before the next election, can anything be done to stop them? Can we be ready for this possibility?
It’s MMP, the party vote remains the most significant, and on that count it’s all in Labour’s court.
Besides, our electoral commission is pretty darn fair and impartial.
In theory a major party could win enough of the electorate seats to overpower it’s % of the party vote and create an overhang of seats in the Parliament,
Hasn’t happened yet and i doubt it will…
It’s some sort of cross party commission, from memory. Lots of horse trading and jockeying for advantage, to use a couple of equine analogies. CV is only partially right. While the party vote determines the number of seats overall, its important that the left wins electorate seats so local voters have an MP that will put their interests forward. Ask Whanganui voters what its like have an MP who phones it in from the ‘naki. It stinks.
Specifically for the Labour Party, they need to lift their presence in provincial New Zealand. At the moment its only Palmy and the West Coast. Must do better.
Actually the electorate boundaries are decided by a body called the Representation Commission.
It is comprised of
A chairperson appointed by the Governor-General. I believe he is usually a judge or retired judge.
Four ex-officio members
The Surveyor-General
The Government Statistician
The Chief Electoral Officer
The Chairperson of the Local Government Commission
There were also two members representing the Government and the Opposition.
These were removed from the Electoral Commission. I am not sure whether they are still on the Representation Commission.
There are a few others added when determining the Maori electorate boundaries.
I would say it is obvious that the Government cannot specify Electorate boundaries.
Bad Colmar Brunton poll for Labour/Greens/Shearer, good for National/Key, possibly a correction from the pre-Xmas poll, but …
the revealing story was the next one. Same poll, same people, and a large majority of respondents dissatisfied with Parata, and therefore with Key for keeping Parata.
When will the penny drop for Labour? Voters dissatisfied with A doesn’t automatically mean votes switch to B. People have to be persuaded, and not by passivity or platitiudes.
Sun. = hot.
hot = beaches and swimming.
beaches and swimming = feel good.
feel good = BBQs and all’s well with the world.
all’s well with the world = John Key & his govt. good.
BUT in a few weeks/months:
the summer sun is waning… the rain sets in… it’s getting cold… the arthritis is painful… the bills are coming in thick and fast… Johnny’s ChCh school has closed and bingo… John Key & his govt. bad.
Broadly I agree Anne, a poll in Feb is pretty silly. Waste of TVNZ money.
But then that logic should apply to all the polls, Roy Morgan as much as Colmar Brunton. We can’t pick and choose. As I pointed out, the same people in that poll gave a clear thumbs down to Parata, at the start of the school year. They are thinking about what matters to them.
links anyone?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8315702/Support-grows-for-National-Key-poll
“The poll was not all positive for the Government though, with almost 60 per cent of the 1000 eligible voters who took part saying Key had made the wrong decision to keep Hekia Parata as Education Minister.”
Ta.
Yes my comment was broad brush but it has some relevance. Lets face it, the majority in voter land are deaf and blind to all things politic at this time of the year. That will always favour the govt. of the day.
I am presuming all polling companies have their own individual method of polling. How that works out in practice is a moot point, but it is patently obvious that the polling companies used by the major media outlets always lean towards the National Party. I think Roy Morgan has a different polling method, and over time is likely to be more accurate.
I have never understood why the political parties of the left don’t use their publicity machines to inform the public that those media-backed polls can never be representative because they are only focused on land-line owners. Many voters like to go along with ‘the majority’, and it would help negate some of that spin-off to the right wing parties.
That would annoy the polling corporates, and Key would be responding front and centre with a ‘sour grapes’ line.
Further, does Labour really want to be associated with people who can’t afford a landline.
Do people who can’t afford a landline really want to be associated with Labour anymore? Greens or Mana might be more to their liking…
Just reading Debt: the first 5000 years by David Graeber. Really interesting so far, recommend it.