What a pity Richie Allen can’t resist the cheap shot of having a go at royalty being wealthy. There were large areas of Britain owned by desert arabs back in the 1970s and the cities themselves have lots of money to direct this or that way and perhaps there are people who would have a direct line to the planning and regulation of these buildings who need finger pointing if he is looking for a target.
Yay stunned mullet is back. An unfortunate thing for those who like to measure
the value of their contributions against others on TS. Where will the drive come from to up the standards if measured against the minus level of this troll? We’ll never get over the high jump with him around, we’ll be stuck with the limbo dancers forever in limbo.
One of the horrifying plans of the Natz is to change our state housing to the UK style ‘social housing’. That’s the housing that just burned alive women and children and entire families in London. The Kensington council is apparently sitting on a 300 million pound contingency fund, so it wasn’t a lack of funds that led to the disaster.
The first clue National are doing this is always in their name. They are changing the name from Labour’s ‘state housing’ to National’s ‘social housing’.
National are now selling off or even giving it away our state houses to private developers, government ‘friendly’ charities, government friendly allies, so the state house land is changed from affordable housing for the most vulnerable, to profit driven development opportunities to opportunists who after leaky building will be only too willing to go with the cheapest options.
The next wave of Natz will be to put some sort of housing ‘management’ company in (which of course will be paid for) for the government and council to hide from any responsibility for the development and it’s effects.
To gauge the results, look at the USA and UK, citizens in the same country or community at war or totally removed from each other and being burnt alive in ones recently refurbished social housing home, while 200 fire appliances wait helplessly at the bottom.
Here’s what’s happened with housing in the UK
Grenfell Tower will forever stand as a rebuke to the right
“The refurbishment was carried out on behalf of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) which has managed all of the public housing owned by Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council since 1996.
On Friday, The Times of London reported that spending just another $8000 would have seen the entire tower fitted out with fire resistant cladding…..
It has also emerged that the four most senior staff at the KCTMO, who managed the tower, were potentially paid in excess of $1 million annually.
According to The Times, the not-for-profit paid its “key management personnel” £650,794 ($1,094,456) in 2015-16.
The company has not confirmed how many of its staff are “key”. However, only four senior executives are listed in its accounts.
Shared among four people, their individual salaries would be £163,000 ($274,000) each. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s annual salary is less than that at £142,500.”
National are now selling off or even giving it away our state houses to private developers, government ‘friendly’ charities, government friendly allies, so the state house land is changed from affordable housing for the most vulnerable, to profit driven development opportunities to opportunists who after leaky building will be only too willing to go with the cheapest options.
With the uk it is a result of devoluted responsibility initiated by the Blair government.
It was, in fact, Tony Blair’s Labour government which promoted separating the management of the stock from the local authority’s housing and homelessness duties.
I never understood the logic of this proposition. It weakened the local authority’s ability to deliver on its legal responsibilities, while at the same time leaving tenants confused about the division of responsibilities between the owner of the housing (the local authority) and the managing body. Elected councillors could offload responsibility by referring complainants to the managing organisation – something many councillors were relieved to be able to do
a website for which I take full personal responsibility for content.
Also on this above-mentioned website are copies of my key legal submissions, as an Appellant in my own name, so people can read them for themselves.
The main reason I organised the setting up of this website, was to counter the defamatory lies about myself being spread by Suzette Maree Dawson, which she has published on her own private websitehttp://occupysavvy.com
Suzette Maree Dawson published on her above-mentioned private website a statement by Ben Cooney (‘Redstar’) during his livestream video coverage of the protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) protest on 8 December 2012:
“There’s Penny Bright – SIS informant”.
The FACTS are, that I was one of 12 people responsible for organising Auckland anti-Springbok Tour protests in 1981, I was named in Muldoon’s SIS list as a ‘subversive’, and have never been able to get a copy of my SIS file.
If people think I’m going to put up with these sorts of filthy defamatory lies, when I have had a proven track record going back over 40 years as an activist – think again.
I strongly recommend that those involved in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, exercise commonsense and due diligence?
If people come from nowhere, with no proven track record in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, and make a beeline for controlling the message, or means of getting the message out – act in ways which cause dissension or conflict within the group, spread misinformation / disinformation about people, without facts and evidence to back it up – BEWARE!!!
Being involved in ‘media’ gives such people the ability to mix and mingle and take photos from inside the ranks of the ‘protest’ movement.
Where exactly are those photos going?
BEWARE of those who act like the 1%, without openness, transparency or democratic accountability.
Why is it that as a (successful) Appellant in the Occupy Auckland Appeal, I cannot post this information up on the Occupy Auckland facebook page?
WHO are ‘Admin’ currently responsible for the Occupy Auckland facebook page, and why am I being blocked?
I doubt that Internet Party will make much headway. Those that voted for, or who would have thought about voting for them will probably be swayed by Gareth Morgans lot.
And having a leader sitting in a flat in Moscow, ‘leading’ her party via Skype isnt the same as leading in person.
Germany wouldn’t bother fielding their best players if they had to meet a similarly ranked football nation so did the mighty AB’s play a first choice side or use a more developmental approach ?
It may just be an amazing example of 2 teams oceans apart in skill, fitness and coaching paired together in a sport that’s globally not even top 5 and often has these one sided matches.
The Pacific Island teams would be much more competitive if the IRB allowed them to pick from the plethora of rugby talent in New Zealand to represent them.
I watched, I thought it was good, but it was a rubbish clash.
It reminded me of the Harlem Globetrotters and those martial arts demonstrations where people pretend to hit each other. Entertaining but not really what the game is all about.
But yeah, it was great to watch the ABs pretending to be Harlem Globetrotters. Show-offs. I don’t think the Lions have too much to worry about yet. Steve Adam’s team would wipe the floor with the Globetrotters. If the All Black Warriors dominate tonight I think the Lions should throw the towel in and spend the rest of the tour pub-crawling with their fans.
The AB’s are basically becoming the Harlem Globetrotters, given the fact the the NZRU has been organising meaningless matches in Chicago, Hong Kong, Japan,etc with Ireland and Australia respectively.
These is nothing wrong with playing such exhibition matches, but I think a Barbarians style side is more suited to that sort of thing.
I think people that were involved in sport when in their formative years are the ones that often go on to have a long-lasting interest.
It conditions us like music, hearing the music we listened to when teens takes us back there. When a team has a few combinations and one gets pulled off, it’s a shared buzz that feels good to recall. Like listening to Pink Floyd.
One of the neat things about NZ is how access to any sport is available to all of us, regardless of background. The Chinese owned resort being developed near me is to have 100’s of villas. It is cheaper for someone living in Beijing to play golf for a week on Karikari Peninsula than in Beijing.
Have a chat to the prez of any the yachting clubs around NZ. Heaps of them just a Google away. Tell them of your burning desire to learn to sail and your minimal budget. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a club that didn’t push a few doors open for you or your kid. This is what happens at the clubs I’ve been associated with, most rugby clubs will have a cupboard of assorted sizes of boots somewhere. I suspect there are more than a few nod and a wink scholarships on the go.
I played cricket as a kid and the club had all the gear for poorer families like ours, so it was just paying subs and buying cheap white clothing. It was also free at school, as was softball, tennis and a host of other sports.
Yachting is available to anyone who is willing to help the boat owner antifoul.
Poor kids get into ski-ing as lifties.
Every State school has a cricket team.
Tennis is even easier. Courts and rackets can be used for a few dollars.
Every sport takes time and money to get to the top. Which makes any elite sport the almost exclusive domain of the well off.
Cricket and tennis are pretty much available to everyone, even those from low socio economic backgrounds. Certainly not elitest, well not in the mind’s eye of the well grounded.
At secondary school, for summer games, the choice was cricket, tennis or athletics. Opting for the easy life, I chose cricket.
Save for facing a few deliveries before letting one slip through the gate to rattle the timbers and back to the boundary for a well deserved rest to wait out the innings, or standing in the outfield miles from the pitch, occasionally waiting for a ball to roll up and throw it back, it’s the perfect lazy man’s game.
It’s not just the formative years in sport that imprint a long lasting interest in that sport.
I’m also of the impression that the government of the day for those who are 13-19 is also imprinted on them as well. Anecdotally, my peers were living under a labour government, and the majority are rather left leaning supporting nearly anyone but National/ACT.
OTOH, a young cohort I know through volunteering activities grew up under National and wholeheartedly support them as a good government. Despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Hard to believe in one of the richest countries in the world, in one of the richest cities in the world and in one of the richest boroughs in the world, that parents have to throw their kids out the window in a fire, to save them, because Tory right wing government policy seems to have allowed a continuation of deregulation, exploitation and profiteering to foster rather than basic safety and common sense in their city. Sadly it looks like the poor kid is going to be an orphan even though she survived.
Miracle of four-year-old girl who was caught by hero after being thrown from the tower
Sadly as well, they will probably find nobody responsible, as all the many people who made the decisions that led to this manslaughter will be deemed to be ‘doing their job’.
Yep, stupidity, profiteering and policy wonks who allowed this situation to happen and many more to be in danger, will be isolated, because it will be found to be completely legal to kill people in this way under a right wing government – profit before people.
Van Beynen’s article trying to scare people off socialist policies uses a common argument by the right and it’s one I don’t really know how to answer. That during the 1970s and 80s New Zealand’s economy was in crisis struggling to pay it’s way and I think inflation was very high. So something had to be done, hence Government budget cuts and state sell offs, etc.
My question is and it’s probably already been answered here many times, but how would the left have averted these economic crises? How could we have got through the 80s retaining full and high employment, good wages and New Zealand industries and a healthy economy?
I think it was inevitable that at some stage we were going to need to gear our economy to that of our potential major trading partners, the rest of the world. I think Rogernomics got that right.
But there is more than one way to skin a cat and I fear Roger Douglas and his team selected the ‘pointy stone’ method. Get there in the end, sort of, but crikey what a mess.
‘Full employment capitalism’ will, of course, have to develop new social and political institutions which will reflect the increased power of the working class. If capitalism can adjust itself to full employment, a fundamental reform will have been incorporated in it. If not, it will show itself an outmoded system which must be scrapped.
Reading the whole piece (only 5 pages) is kind of enlightening. I had a bit of too and fro with NicNz (?) a while back. We disagreed whether capitalism can create and maintain full employment (an aspect of social democracy) without a backlash where ‘monied interests’ essentially cut off their noses to spite their tails. With full employment, they make more money but have lower margins and much, much less power than they’d expect under liberal capitalism.
The 1980s was an assault on the power of the working class. That’s all it was, although it wasn’t presented as such – we got fed all the red herrings of TINA.
I think the playing field is changing, full employment a sunset aspiration.
I fib to my Father. “Putting in long hours Dad, burning the midnight oil, hoping to get out for a few hours fishing late Sunday afternoon.”
To my Dad, hours on the grindstone is a measure of a man’s value and worth. It worked well for him. He looks about his mates and believes that the ones that have ruined their backs through hard Yakka have got the formula right. To a degree he is right, it’s generally his mates with crook backs that groan all the way to Europe and back.
Since my Dad’s generation we’ve had the ‘Don’t work harder work smarter’ thing come along. This concept appealed to me, I found a way. I much prefer gas-bagging on a blog to balancing tyres at Beaurepaires.
Soooo….while we were once pursuing full employment, I wonder if these days we shouldn’t be looking for ways for us to cost effectively do less. Well not less, but teaching a kid to play a ukulele rather than doing a wheel alignment on a Pulsar.
By George David Mac I think you’ve got it. Soooo….while we were once pursuing full employment, I wonder if these days we shouldn’t be looking for ways for us to cost effectively do less. Well not less, but teaching a kid to play a ukulele rather than doing a wheel alignment on a Pulsar.
Everyone go to primary and learn the basics in any way that suits their learning style – able to write, express thoughts, describe a project from start to finish and then manufacture it to finality, though not abolutely perfectly.
Know your basic maths, show how to apply it practically.
Describe a page of a fictional novel and what the writer was trying to say.
Describe a page of non-fiction and what elements of the events the author has focussed on.
Then at intermediate choose an interest and spend six months on finishing off a goal while still doing schoolwork. But also write up the practices used to do the project. The goal would be to finish and to overcome problems.
A sort of Myth Busters approach.
The emphasis would be applied knowledge and gaining knowledge as the project continued and which would be applied to progressing it. It would be to finish something even if it wasn’t perfect.
By George David Mac I think you’ve got it. Soooo….while we were once pursuing full employment, I wonder if these days we shouldn’t be looking for ways for us to cost effectively do less. Well not less, but teaching a kid to play a ukulele rather than doing a wheel alignment on a Pulsar.
Everyone go to primary and learn the basics in any way that suits their learning style – able to write, express thoughts, describe a project from start to finish and then manufacture it to finality, though not abolutely perfectly.
Know your basic maths, show how to apply it practically.
Describe a page of a fictional novel and what the writer was trying to say.
Describe a page of non-fiction and what elements of the events the author has focussed on.
Then at intermediate choose an interest and spend six months on finishing off a goal while still doing schoolwork. But also write up the practices used to do the project. The goal would be to finish and to overcome problems.
A sort of Myth Busters approach.
The emphasis would be applied knowledge and gaining knowledge as the project continued and which would be applied to progressing it. It would be to finish something even if it wasn’t perfect. Learning how to direct your own life and get satisfaction from your own creative efforts is what we will soon need with the constant disintegration of our local enterprise by undercutting from overseas imports.
Today I met a man who lost his job unexpectedly mid life and was at a loss living in the country but not a farmer, what to do? He and his wife set themselves to make some wooden craft things, now he has a business making beautiful jigsaw-pieced toys, works of art in themselves – animals, fairy tale designs, flowers in a vase, a Hundertwasser building, all beautifully coloured by his wife. Anyone interested (they cost about $25 or so) just ask and I’ll put up his info.
We have to spend locally and support ourselves and our own enterprise in a spiral effect, that goes round and round and finally can go off to other areas. That is what sustainable living will be like. Not as glossy for some, but very vibrant with people taking interest in their neighbours’ skilled output, instead of damning their neighbour for being unemployed in the free market which is oxymoronic.
This is just to register this USA person was in NZ in April and seemed to have some good ideas on getting local support enterprise groups going.
She also is speaking on the Campbell Latta discussion What Next on TV1.
That during the 1970s and 80s New Zealand’s economy was in crisis struggling to pay it’s way and I think inflation was very high.
It was because even Keynesian Capitalism had failed. That was true around the world and not just in NZ.
But the politicians listened to the capitalists and went backwards to more capitalism, the type of capitalism that had brought about the staggering poverty of the 19th century and brought about the Great Depression. The inevitable result of which was the increasing poverty that we’ve seen over the last few decades and the Great Recession.
The way we needed to go was further away from capitalism.
Why do you always avoid saying what this alternate approach is Draco ie you want a communist Marxist state, just say it draco it will avoid many having to put up with your long winded and repeated daily rants
It seems a fair point – the opposite of capitalism is communism? For some that duality is true. What about you draco. If not capitalism (which I hate) what??? And sure a hypothetical and a real example would work for me.
It seems a fair point – the opposite of capitalism is communism? For some that duality is true.
The world isn’t a duality.
I want to get rid of ownership of land (not that we own land in NZ), houses and business as it causes so much inequality as Piketty proved. Ownership is the heart of capitalism same as it was the heart of feudalism. And that basis for society goes back thousands of years and every single society that used it has collapsed due to the wealth going in increasing amounts to the owners.
Necessities (housing, food, education, etcetera) should be provided by the state to ensure that everyone has a reasonable living standard. Work that people do is paid but there’s also a maximum income preventing runaway wealth accumulation.
Stop the banks from creating money and all money to be created by the government and spent into the economy. A UBI of course as a fundamental part of the monetary flow.
Extraction of resources to be done by the state on an as need basis with the acceptance that those resources are limited and need to be husbanded rather than sold off as fast as possible as is done now.
Reduction of farming to enough to feed us with the rest returned of the land to the wild with limits on population growth.
Increased automation to reduce the need for physical labour while also increasing the number of people in R&D. That automation would include the building of factories to produce what as much as possible here in NZ from our own resources. It’s physically impossible for an offshore factory to produce anything cheaper than we could. These factories would also be state owned but run by cooperatives – or maybe not even state owned but ‘self-owned’.
The private sector would supply ‘nice to haves’ through cooperative businesses that are ‘self-owned’. The workers would work and administer the business. Loans would be taken out and repaid by the business and not the workers.
People would be encouraged to join groups that they’re interested in that would be fully resourced for R&D and innovation.
Then what do you want in a couple of sentences that would realistically work, please don’t sprout Germany or Scandinavia, simply benificaries or the other side of excessive Southern Europe debt, consumption and government deficits.
Toasted ice cream, there’s an idea Bill , maybe toasted waffles, hot chocolste sauce with ice cream center Just need to be a little more creative bill and think a bit more lateral, outside your pre disposed paradigm and bias😀
It wasn’t that Keynesian had failed per se – but we had lazy fools in power who thought Keynesianism means you can do any damned thing you please. Now we have opposite kind of lazy fools, who think neo-liberalism means you can do any damned thing you please.
Actually, whichever of these twin gods you worship, you must try to maximize the positive results for citizens from your interventions, if you wish to be a be a credible government. NZ hasn’t had a credible government in quite some time.
I agree Stuart. We need to find a way for the guy that currently owns a taxi to retain his business when his taxi starts driving itself. Stop the $ from funneling into a big faceless money hole called Uber.
We need to find a way for the guy that currently owns a taxi to retain his business when his taxi starts driving itself.
The business was driving. Once the taxi drives itself they no longer have a business.
IMO, once the taxi starts driving itself it should become just another aspect of public transport with automatic optimisation of the transportation. In other words, I wouldn’t be able to take one from where I live to the middle of the city. I’d get taken to the nearest train/bus station instead.
Why don’t we just do what it takes to prosper between the goalposts we’ve got? I keep getting the feeling that the quality of your life is somehow geared to my wallet.
We are surrounded by abundance in this beautiful county of ours Draco. We just need to get better at getting more of us hooked into that abundance.
Declaring “OK all you pickers, you now have equal shares in this Kiwifruit Farm” it sounds like a free lunches solution.
Production bonuses and incentives, hell yes, more of it. Give me a good reason to pick hard all day, give me 2k at the end of the week and I’m in.
MVB trots out the usual old chestnuts, about how it took 6 weeks to get the phone on, and how the watersiders and ferry workers would go on strike every 5 mins. They must have some master Word document somewhere that they copy and paste accordingly.
He could have asked to be posted to a more cheaper rural area? At least on the force, they would have helped him with relocation costs.
If he cannot afford to live in Auckland on a policeman’s salary, then how is he going to live on a student allowance. And it is harder to get into the finance industry than it is the police force.
Done well, satire is a thing of extraordinary beauty.
Like political cartoons, it can ram home raw public sentiment with such brutal efficiency that it leaves the object of ridicule reeling.
Of course, the best satire is done so cleverly, and so close to the bone, that its targets often don’t recognise it as satire at all. So it was with a Twitter account that started appearing on my timeline a few weeks back.
Whoever @pureNZdairy happened to be, he was great at getting every clean water lover – which these days is most New Zealanders – wound up like a taut line of new farm fencing.
Using hashtags like #toomanyrivers or #toomanytownies, he self-described as “Just a dairy industry PR guy, telling the Real Pure NZ DAIRY story”, and spoke just like the dairy industry folks that I’ve spent a lifetime around.
As a result, I fell for it too. Hook, line and sinker.
Elizabeth Warren puts the slipper into a bankster.
“Why should anyone believe you?”
2006: Bank CEO says it's safe to deregulate his bank2008: His bank gets $1.4B bailoutYesterday: He's back asking for deregulationWatch: pic.twitter.com/h9SjvdAd7o— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 16, 2017
2006: Bank CEO says it's safe to deregulate his bank 2008: His bank gets $1.4B bailout Yesterday: He's back asking for deregulation Watch: pic.twitter.com/h9SjvdAd7o
Absolutely. She is an awful human being. Reminded me of a number of politicians here with no moral compass.
Notice how despite any question she was asked, she basically ignored it and returned time and again to her script. The interviewer (good her!) tried but it’s hard to reason with the Maybot.
Well, I think you guys are being a bit harsh. As pointed out by the interviewer (at around 6:55), there are 4000 high rises, and as May responded, the government has managed to identify them. That’s awesome.
I have zero time for right wing scum like May but ffs she is a politician – nuff said. I listened to her and thought that it was a no win interview for her – she could have said anything and it still would have been rubbished.
It is time for her to resign – she cannot survive and she knows it.
Yeah Marty, you’re right, tough interview to do that one. I couldn’t of done it, I’d be a blubbing mess.
It’s like she was icy cold, a disconcerting disconnect. Talking of the horror like she was reviewing a movie. But yeah, some people need to put a face on like that so they’re not blubbing messes.
She, and I’d suggest the entire government and whatever local authority bodies there may be, are completely out of their depth.
On top of that, I could guess it came as a bit of a shock to May that someone could have a house burn down and wind up with nothing at all. I mean, if it happened to her, she’d file an insurance claim and move into another property. She might pull down on some investments or whatever in the short term to fund the cost and inconvenience of setting things up.
In her world, the worst case scenario likely involves getting mummy and daddy or “George” to provide a private loan of some description – maybe make one of their ‘second’ cars available, and possibly pull in a favour or two from their good friends the lawyer, the school principle, the city councillor, the undertaker, the real estate agent…
Well, I think you are being more than a bit kind Bill. The one good thing is that the longer she clings to power, more UK voters will (hopefully) wonder: ” Is this the best the Tories have got?”
Efforts to ensure the victims aren’t naked or starving 2 days after the catastrophe is the action plan of someone addressing a jolly nuisance.
“The Fire Service is looking into it.” A leader that gave a genuine damn would have a list of the buildings clad in that death skin on their desk 20 minutes after hearing of the fire. The occupants of those 4000 other buildings must be leaning out their windows tapping the cladding. ‘So what’s this then?’
A pair of top White House officials is pushing to broaden the war in Syria, viewing it as an opportunity to confront Iran and its proxy forces on the ground there, according to two sources familiar with the debate inside the Donald Trump administration.
Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, and Derek Harvey, the NSC’s top Middle East advisor, want the United States to start going on the offensive in southern Syria, where, in recent weeks, the U.S. military has taken a handful of defensive actions against Iranian-backed forces fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Their plans are making even traditional Iran hawks nervous, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, who has personally shot down their proposals more than once, the two sources said.
People love complaining and being shocked. Shit happens, but not in front of me sort of thing. A woman in USA passes out in the toilet and they rush her out on a narrow stretcher to where there is room to give her assistance. It upset some other passengers, who don’t know the difference between underwear and being truly naked, it must be the ‘Victorian’ effect of people who have never been desensitised by television and films.
It was a trauma that she suffered but other passengers’ feelings were paramount –
“‘They’ should have”………..
“One described her as being “dragged down the aisle” on a tarp-like stretcher, partially clothed, in front of the other passengers. She was described as naked from the waist down, although the airline says she was wearing underwear.
Art Endress told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “The EMT was out of line. The flight attendants could have thrown a blanket on her.”
Attempts to revive Hines failed and she later died.”
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan defended emergency workers.
He told People: “When we boarded, the patient was in the rear of the plane and our effort was focused on getting her out and onto the jet bridge. If she were conscious we could have used an aisle chair, which is like a wheelchair, but we used a device that first responders all over the country use when you’re dealing with someone in a narrow space.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/93715517/us-airline-accused-of-dragging-partiallyclothed-dying-woman-off-flight
Court records raise big questions: Was Castile targeted by police? Or was he just a careless or unlucky driver?
An NPR analysis of those records shows that the 32-year-old cafeteria worker who was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in a St. Paul, Minn., suburb, was stopped by police 46 times and racked up more than $6,000 in fines. Another curious statistic: Of all of the stops, only six of them were things a police officer would notice from outside a car — things like speeding or having a broken muffler
We notice how people are accepting of low conditions for others who have problems, like trip up, flout the rules and you don’t deserve to be treated like a person. I found a stuff piece about a poor person who had no creds being charged $370 pw for a one bedroom place.
But this is the extra corkscrew, the shower is mounted on the wall over the toilet. And another oddment, the title in the address bar doesn’t hold the title, just the number of the item. It is as if it is too negative about the truth so you just get – http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/93767001
and not – Community support worker horrified at unit with shower over toilet.
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It seems we can’t even get through a week these days without the National Party's leader, Simon Bridges, making some sort of silly announcement about a policy that doesn’t actually exist.Usually concerning Bridges’ gut instinct and the undoing of whatever the Government has recently announced, National’s reactionary opinions and uncosted ...
Oh look! NZ First's secret slush fund was laundering donations from Talley's:One of the country's biggest fishing companies, Talley's, and its managing director donated nearly $27,000 to the New Zealand First Foundation, which has been bankrolling the New Zealand First Party. The foundation received $26,950 from seafood giant Talley's and ...
Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, Andrew Waa, Nick Wilson, George ThomsonMinister Jenny Salesa announced the Government’s long-awaited Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill on Sunday 23 February. The Bill contains some important provisions as it works to strike a balance between ensuring regulated products are available to ...
Surprisingly enough, one could argue (as I often do) that the day inserted into a leap year is not that we label 29th February, but actually the 24th of February. Here I explain why, briefly. Almost everyone assumes that the day added into February in a leap year is the ...
If you haven’t watched Newsroom’s video showing Oranga Tamariki staff attempting to uplift a newborn baby yet you should do so. Although it's not the worst case as far as interventions go, it’s certainly not a good look for the Government. Because of this controversy there’s been a plethora of ...
Genesis Energy is planning to build the country's biggest PV solar farm:Power generator and retailer Genesis Energy says it is in advanced discussions to build New Zealand's biggest solar farm in northern Waikato. The company, which earlier reported a 15 per cent decline in operating earnings to $167.2 million, said ...
Transport is our second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Any credible effort to reduce emissions to net-zero has to target it. So what is the government doing? Subsidising some of the dirtiest, most inefficient vehicles on the roads:New Zealand's favourite cars - double cab utes - are largely exempt ...
You’ve really got to wonder what the NZ First Party was thinking and drinking last Friday? Not only did they hamstring the Greens by halting one of their main environmental policies, the electric vehicle fee-bate scheme, a policy that the public was led to believe was a done deal…but they ...
High Risk Call: Insensitive though it may seem to even pose the question: how will the electorate respond to what the Prime Minister’s opponents will undoubtedly characterise as an attack on New Zealanders’ freedom of speech? At more than twelve month’s remove from the terrible events of 15 March 2019, ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Climate change leads to more violence against women, girlsRape, domestic violence, forced marriages: A new ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 16, 2020 through Sat, Feb 22, 2020 Editor's Pick JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human raceLeaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says ...
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance, Fletcher Tabuteau has welcomed Statistics New Zealand’s latest report as a timely reminder of the value that this Coalition Government brings to every day New Zealanders: “This Coalition Government has meant a ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic DevelopmentTe Tii, the lower marae at Waitangi, is among more than 70 marae now connected to broadband internet thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund’s marae connectivity scheme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today.In February 2019, the Provincial Growth Fund ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The West Coast has had a funding injection of over $1.2 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika today. The PGF projects announced are: $800,000 to Development ...
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...
Improved air quality to support better health and environmental wellbeing is the focus of proposed amendments to air quality regulations, says the Associate Minister for the Environment, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. “Although our air quality is good in most places, during winter certain places have spikes in air pollution, mainly from ...
The remote eastern Bay of Plenty community of Raukokere will receive a Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $10.6 million for a water storage facility, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “This is great news for the rural community. The landowner, Te Whānau a Maruhaeremuri Hapū Trust, will use ...
New legislation is being proposed which aims to reduce the stress and financial hardship caused by late payments to small businesses. The Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash is considering stricter rules around payment practices between businesses. “Late payments from large organisations to smaller suppliers can be crippling for these ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ngā ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Merryn McKinnon, Senior lecturer, Australian National University Public representation of science in the media still struggles to reflect the true diversity of those who work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). According to the Women in Leadership Australia’s 2019 Women for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Mathews, Professor of Strategic Management, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University Australia is the world’s third largest fossil fuels exporter – a fact that generates intense debate as climate change intensifies. While the economy is heavily reliant on coal and ...
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) voted today to request that Minister for the Environment Hon. David Parker exercise his authority to ‘call in’ upcoming proposed plan changes to the Regional Plan for Otago: Water and Regional Plan for Otago: Waste ...
This week’s plummeting international stock markets are a sign the ‘best case scenario’ economic outcomes of the coronavirus are increasingly unlikely. And that’s a worry for NZ’s manufacturers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, is optimistic that Labor is better placed to prosecute its climate policy at the next election, compared to the last. “I think we are better positioned ...
The huge majority of New Zealanders think fishing industry donations to Members of Parliament at the last election have the potential to “strongly influence” decisions the MPs make, according to a poll conducted by Horizon Research. The poll, ...
Wellington councillors have voted to expand the mayor's proposed taskforce on the city's water problems, to include business and community members and water experts. The council has today voted to establish the taskforce proposed by mayor Andy Foster. The group he envisaged comprised only councillors, officials and iwi representatives. However, ...
“Let me be clear, Maori have a guardianship, ownership and protection role when it comes to the nations freshwater ways and let me be even clearer – if what has been happening to our freshwater eco-systems and ecology over the last hundred years ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yvonne Zurynski, Associate Professor of Health System Sustainability, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University If you have a rare disease, you may be the only person in Australia with that condition. You may not know, however, that being diagnosed with a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Akshaya Kamalnath, Lecturer (Corporate law), Auckland University of Technology Global investment company Goldman Sachs recently announced it would only take startups public if they had at least one diverse board member. In New Zealand, a new KiwiSaver fund, CareSaver, announced it would ...
BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) Executive Director Tina Schirr welcomes the release of the World Energy Council’s Issues Monitor for 2020. The Issues Monitor provides a snapshot of what keeps energy policymakers, CEOs and leading experts in 104 countries ...
Investors in the failed Ross Asset Management (RAM) company will be seeking $80 million from ANZ Bank when they start a legal claim next week. The group of more than 550 investors has claimed the bank either knew or should have known that Wellington financial adviser David Ross was operating ...
Apple exporter Scales Corporation has posted a higher full year profit of $121.6 million, boosted by $78m in asset sales and improvement in its food ingredients division. Revenue was up 20 percent to $484.6m, which included the first full year's trading of the petfood company, Shelby Foods, which Scales acquired ...
PGG Wrightson has reported a lift in earnings on improved sales for its livestock and horticultural businesses. The rural services company's net profit for the half year ended December was $12.8 million, compared with $0.3m the year before, which reflected the sale of its seeds business and accounting changes. Chief ...
The retirement village operator and takeover target Metlifecare has posted a larger half year profit, on the back of valuation gains, encouraging it to progress its development timeline. Its net profit rose 28 percent to $24.6 million in the six months ended December, as it built more retirement homes. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Words matter. Especially when you are the director-general of security and head of ASIO. Barely three months into the post, and delivering his first ASIO Annual ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Terry, Vice-Chancellor, Curtin University This is an edited extract of a speech to the National Press Club given by Chair of Universities Australia, Professor Deborah Terry AONew modelling for Universities Australia prepared by Ernst and Young finds close to 17,000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Maguire, Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, James Cook University In today’s terms, June Dally-Watkins was Australia’s OG (original gangster) #girlboss. The illegitimate child of a single mother, Dally-Watkins came from humble rural beginnings and found fame as a young model ...
A new index ranking ‘soft power’ praises ‘a shining example of how to build a tolerant and inclusive society in the face of adversity’ – and offers a rejoinder to sneers at the prime minister’s appearances in international media, writes Toby Manhire.At the end of last week of Jacinda Ardern ...
Six60 are on pace to overtake Pink Floyd for one of the most formidable records in NZ chart history. Duncan Greive breaks down their dominance.Over the weekend, Six60 played Western Springs to around 50,000 people for the second straight year, a feat which seemed utterly unfathomable 18 months ago, but ...
The New Zealand College of Midwives (the College) has congratulated Ontario midwives following a landmark legal decision from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The Tribunal has ordered the Canadian Government to take concrete actions to end the ...
NZME, New Zealand’s largest media company, released its 2019 financial report yesterday. Michael Andrew checks in on the health of huge brands like the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB.It was apparently a good year for NZME, which yesterday reported a strong financial performance with $19.7m operating profit and the growth ...
Welcome to the Bulletin World Weekly, an email exclusively for The Spinoff Members. As a one-off, we’ve put today’s edition up for everyone to read. If you want to get this every week, sign up to The Spinoff Members here.In the last week, outbreaks of the Covid-19 coronavirus have shaken ...
Sam Brooks watches I Am Not Okay With This, the new show that feels like a calculated mash-up of a bunch of other Netflix shows you really liked.“Oh, it’s like Sex Education meets Stranger Things.”It’s not a new thing to describe a television show in this X-meets-Y fashion. It’s convenient ...
By Nicola Igusa The value of different perspectives in film making is valued now more than ever, says Auckland University of Technology screen production Associate Professor Arezou Zalipour. “We’ve just seen the historic win of Parasite at the 2020s Oscars – the first non-English language production to win Best ...
The New Zealand College of Midwives (the College) has congratulated Ontario midwives following a landmark legal decision from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The Tribunal has ordered the Canadian Government to take concrete actions to end the ...
Cross-examination strategies in rape trials remain resistant to reforms, which continues to negatively impact on complainants despite initiatives to improve the legal process, a University of Canterbury (UC) expert says. Professor Elisabeth McDonald specialises ...
Early model electric vehicles are already running low on juice, with some batteries down to around half their original capacity. With the international auto industry slow to find solutions, one New Zealand company is using Kiwi ingenuity to repurpose old batteries and keep the cars – and their owners – ...
The Government's looking at law changes to ensure small businesses are paid on time. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash said he is willing to legislate, if necessary, to ensure payments within 20 days, with interest imposed for late payments. He said prompt payment and cash flow are vital to small ...
Meridian Energy has made a record first half profit with improved revenue. The South Island generator's net profit for the six months ended December rose 26 percent to $191 million. Revenue was up 5 percent to $1.78bn on record hydro generation from the South Island lakes. It had significant customer ...
Economists are predicting a flat - or slightly down - March quarter, as the effects of the Covid-19 coronavirus and the drought come to a head. The Institute of Economic Research's (NZIER) latest Quarterly Economic Predictions picks the virus impact will be short and sharp, with the economy gradually recovering ...
New Zealanders throw away 295 million single-use cups per year. Alice Neville ponders our obsession with takeaway culture, and looks at what’s needed for consumers to change their behaviour. How many commuters did you see clutching single-use takeaway coffee cups on your way to work this morning? Or how many empty ...
New Conservative is extremely concerned over what is tantamount to the confiscation by government of private land, without compensation. Taranaki farmers and landowners have had portions of their properties classed as “Significant Natural Areas” ...
Half of New Zealanders are more likely to vote for a political party in this year’s general election that promises to ‘significantly and urgently’ improve the unhealthy state of homes in Aotearoa. The Consumerlink survey, carried out for the Green Building ...
Mike, a 30-something professional, cares enough about better cannabis policy that he and other local supporters will be at the Riccarton Sunday Market, March 1st from 9am-2pm. “I don't want my kids to grow up in a country that criminalises them for ...
The Salvation Army is strongly opposed to the Government’s new Racing Bill. Today, Salvation Army staff will make our oral submission to the Bill. “Harm from gambling is already at unacceptable levels in this country and increasing availability and ...
One of the men charged over donations to the National Party was at one stage to have gone to the party's candidate college, which identifies and train potential members of Parliament. ...
Child poverty figures released today by Statistics New Zealand show further urgent Government action is needed to lift more children and whānau out of poverty, says The Salvation Army, which is calling for a change in core welfare benefits to be ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentChild poverty, welfare Max Rashbrooke (RNZ): Child poverty stats promising, but more is needed Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Child poverty ...
Data released under the Official Information Act today reveals almost 12,000 more children are dependent on welfare benefits since December 2017. "At 31 December 2019 there were 206,395 children aged 0-18 reliant on caregiver on a main benefit ...
The Government would consider direct assistance to tourism industry players if the fallout from coronavirus lasts well beyond the first half of the year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute Opposition leader Anthony Albanese sought to claim the climate policy high ground last week with his commitment to a net-zero emissions target by 2050. But figures on Australia’s emissions from the Department of the Environment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Marston, Head of School, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland The Australian government touts compulsory income management as a way to stop welfare payments being spent on alcohol, drugs or gambling. The Howard government introduced the BasicsCard more than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Clarkson, Professor in Archaeology, The University of Queensland About 74,000 years ago a volcanic eruption at what is now Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia, created one of the most dramatic natural disasters of the past 2 million years. The plume of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Omer Yezdani, Director, Office of Planning and Strategic Management, Australian Catholic University Philanthropy is a growing source of revenue for Australian universities. It’s essential to advancing quality research, equity and learning. On average, Australia’s top five fundraising universities receive nearly 20 times ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Dawson, Honorary Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne The assumption that retired people have minimal housing costs underpins the settings of our retirement incomes system. But the real state of housing for older Australians today makes it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Keating, Visiting Fellow, College of Business & Economics, Australian National University We are continually being told that more of us are employed than ever before. Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe points out (correctly) that a higher proportion of us are in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben McCann, Associate Professor of French Studies, University of Adelaide Berlin. February 26 1920. A new silent film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, is released to unsuspecting German audiences and quickly becomes a worldwide sensation. “When will I die?” asks one character ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New child poverty statistics show little change yet, Greenpeace call for fishing policy review over donations, and a focus on Covid-19 effects on forestry.New figures were released yesterday on one of the most important issues facing the country – how many ...
He may be marooned in Texas, but Joseph Parker is closer to a return to boxing's big time than you'd think. Joseph Parker’s road back to boxing relevance won’t ever lead to the now fully resurgent Tyson Fury. But that doesn’t mean the Gypsy King won’t be a key figure ...
A cruel string of injuries could have prematurely ended Shiray Kaka's sevens career. But with determination and meditation, she's back in the Black Ferns, focused on finally playing at the Olympics. This time last year, Shiray Kaka was living in Japan, studying to be a dog trainer and setting up ...
ReadingRoom is devoting all week to the best-selling book in New Zealand right now, In The Clearing, the brilliant new thriller by Ngāpuhi author JP Pomare, inspired by creepy Australian cult The Family. Today: the author backgrounds his interest in the story. A few years ago I become obsessed ...
A jury didn't accept abused woman Karen Ruddelle killed her partner in self-defence. What does that say about our attitudes towards women in violent relationships? Karen Anne Ruddelle was charged with murdering her partner. Last week, at the High Court in Auckland, she was acquitted of murder but convicted of ...
Former regional parks chair Sandra Coney says a purchase of the disputed land at Ihumātao by Auckland Council would be entirely in keeping with historical precedent and the actions of local government in preserving open spaces for future generations. With various claims being made about the Government stepping in to ...
If RNZ hopes to court the youth audience with its new brand it should take some cues from the ones who’ve had that audience all along: student radio. RNZ has had a month from hell. News the state-run broadcaster was considering scaling back its long-running RNZ Concert network to make room ...
The Grace Millane murder case wasn't a who-dunnit - in fact it was easily solved. But it sparked intense public interest and international media coverage. What were the ingredients that caught the world's attention? A media frenzy descended on the High Court in Auckland last week as a sentence was handed down ...
OPINION:By Murray Horton in Christchurch For as long as the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (Cafca) has existed – more than 45 years now – we have called for the closure of the aluminium smelter, owned by giant transnational corporation, Rio Tinto. There are numerous grounds for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The inquiry into allegations of misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan is examining 55 separate incidents or issues, according to the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force report, tabled Tuesday. These involve “predominantly” allegations ...
Tourism bosses have been invited to join a new advisory group, allowing them to stay in "constant communication" with the government in their response to the coronavirus. ...
Alex Casey delivers her eighth power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where a humble avocado changed everything forever. Click here for previous instalments. Glass me with the talking bottle, slice my hand off with a fax machine and send me straight to the Centre De Emergencies, because this was the most ...
Open Mike 17/06/2017 
Fans are outraged at the prospect of Destiny Church pastor Hannah Tamaki joining the Black Caps ...3 hours ago
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This morning the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) pointed people at an article on "Playing Hide and Speak: Analyzing the Protected Disclosures Framework of the New Zealand Intelligence Community" by Caitlin Macdonald, Rhys Ball & William James Hoverd. The authors were trying to look at how the whistleblowing framework ...7 hours ago
I must say that it’s at loggerheads with the inclusive and free society we want to create in New Zealand that one of our largest media outlets, MediaWorks, would allow Hannah Tamaki to perform on their show, Dancing With The Stars.Hannah Tamaki and her husband Brian are after all well-known ...8 hours ago
The Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book is now available! The book uses cartoons, humor, and critical thinking to expose how and why some people reject climate science. It's now available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book outlets. If you're near the DC area, you're very welcome to ...15 hours ago
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...1 day ago
High Risk Call: Insensitive though it may seem to even pose the question: how will the electorate respond to what the Prime Minister’s opponents will undoubtedly characterise as an attack on New Zealanders’ freedom of speech? At more than twelve month’s remove from the terrible events of 15 March 2019, ...2 days ago
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...4 days ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...1 week ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...1 week ago
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...11 hours ago
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...1 day ago
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...2 hours ago
Global health officials have declared the world is not ready for coronavirus - but can we be ready for future outbreaks? ...41 mins ago
The response aims to avoid a 'one-size-fits-all' solution to homelessness. ...1 hour ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Merryn McKinnon, Senior lecturer, Australian National University Public representation of science in the media still struggles to reflect the true diversity of those who work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). According to the Women in Leadership Australia’s 2019 Women for ...1 hour ago
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) voted today to request that Minister for the Environment Hon. David Parker exercise his authority to ‘call in’ upcoming proposed plan changes to the Regional Plan for Otago: Water and Regional Plan for Otago: Waste ...3 hours ago
This week’s plummeting international stock markets are a sign the ‘best case scenario’ economic outcomes of the coronavirus are increasingly unlikely. And that’s a worry for NZ’s manufacturers. ...3 hours ago
Wellington councillors have voted to expand the mayor's proposed taskforce on the city's water problems, to include business and community members and water experts. The council has today voted to establish the taskforce proposed by mayor Andy Foster. The group he envisaged comprised only councillors, officials and iwi representatives. However, ...4 hours ago
Investors in the failed Ross Asset Management (RAM) company will be seeking $80 million from ANZ Bank when they start a legal claim next week. The group of more than 550 investors has claimed the bank either knew or should have known that Wellington financial adviser David Ross was operating ...4 hours ago
Apple exporter Scales Corporation has posted a higher full year profit of $121.6 million, boosted by $78m in asset sales and improvement in its food ingredients division. Revenue was up 20 percent to $484.6m, which included the first full year's trading of the petfood company, Shelby Foods, which Scales acquired ...4 hours ago
PGG Wrightson has reported a lift in earnings on improved sales for its livestock and horticultural businesses. The rural services company's net profit for the half year ended December was $12.8 million, compared with $0.3m the year before, which reflected the sale of its seeds business and accounting changes. Chief ...4 hours ago
The retirement village operator and takeover target Metlifecare has posted a larger half year profit, on the back of valuation gains, encouraging it to progress its development timeline. Its net profit rose 28 percent to $24.6 million in the six months ended December, as it built more retirement homes. The ...4 hours ago
Meridian Energy chief executive Neal Barclay says Rio Tinto's repeated threats to close down its aluminium smelter are getting old. ...4 hours ago
A new index ranking ‘soft power’ praises ‘a shining example of how to build a tolerant and inclusive society in the face of adversity’ – and offers a rejoinder to sneers at the prime minister’s appearances in international media, writes Toby Manhire.At the end of last week of Jacinda Ardern ...5 hours ago
As we acknowledged yesterday, Point of Order must declare a pecuniary interest in the boost to benefits announced by Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni. Some of the team are among the 800,000 people receiving New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension who will enjoy a rate increase by just over 3 ...6 hours ago
Government announces it won't raise residency requirements, it will simply stop looking at new applications for a while. ...6 hours ago
The Government is planning for a serious hit to the New Zealand economy following the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. ...7 hours ago
Simon Bridges would have a testing time putting together a Cabinet that balanced talent with experience and not too many sore egos ...10 hours ago
The Government's looking at law changes to ensure small businesses are paid on time. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash said he is willing to legislate, if necessary, to ensure payments within 20 days, with interest imposed for late payments. He said prompt payment and cash flow are vital to small ...10 hours ago
Meridian Energy has made a record first half profit with improved revenue. The South Island generator's net profit for the six months ended December rose 26 percent to $191 million. Revenue was up 5 percent to $1.78bn on record hydro generation from the South Island lakes. It had significant customer ...10 hours ago
Economists are predicting a flat - or slightly down - March quarter, as the effects of the Covid-19 coronavirus and the drought come to a head. The Institute of Economic Research's (NZIER) latest Quarterly Economic Predictions picks the virus impact will be short and sharp, with the economy gradually recovering ...10 hours ago
The Government's looking at law changes to ensure small businesses are paid on time. ...11 hours ago
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OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme not direct focus of probe, Govt says; and NZME encouraged by talks with Government over plan to buy Stuff. ...11 hours ago
He may be marooned in Texas, but Joseph Parker is closer to a return to boxing's big time than you'd think. Joseph Parker’s road back to boxing relevance won’t ever lead to the now fully resurgent Tyson Fury. But that doesn’t mean the Gypsy King won’t be a key figure ...14 hours ago
A cruel string of injuries could have prematurely ended Shiray Kaka's sevens career. But with determination and meditation, she's back in the Black Ferns, focused on finally playing at the Olympics. This time last year, Shiray Kaka was living in Japan, studying to be a dog trainer and setting up ...14 hours ago
ReadingRoom is devoting all week to the best-selling book in New Zealand right now, In The Clearing, the brilliant new thriller by Ngāpuhi author JP Pomare, inspired by creepy Australian cult The Family. Today: the author backgrounds his interest in the story. A few years ago I become obsessed ...14 hours ago
A jury didn't accept abused woman Karen Ruddelle killed her partner in self-defence. What does that say about our attitudes towards women in violent relationships? Karen Anne Ruddelle was charged with murdering her partner. Last week, at the High Court in Auckland, she was acquitted of murder but convicted of ...14 hours ago
Former regional parks chair Sandra Coney says a purchase of the disputed land at Ihumātao by Auckland Council would be entirely in keeping with historical precedent and the actions of local government in preserving open spaces for future generations. With various claims being made about the Government stepping in to ...14 hours ago
The Grace Millane murder case wasn't a who-dunnit - in fact it was easily solved. But it sparked intense public interest and international media coverage. What were the ingredients that caught the world's attention? A media frenzy descended on the High Court in Auckland last week as a sentence was handed down ...15 hours ago
Water meters might work, but they sure don't get you elected. ...24 hours ago
Empty, land-banked luxury mansions next to the charred ruins of the Grenfell ‘Austerity Tower’ – where poor people were burned alive.
How hideous is THAT?
‘Regeneration’ =
GENTRIFICATION.
Every time you hear the word ‘Regeneration’ – alarm bells should scream a warning, loudly and clearly …….
BEWARE!
‘Regeneration’ is yet another form of WAR on the POOR!
#RegenerationIsGentrification
#StopThisWarOnThePoor
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/16/theresa-may-scared-grenfell-survivors-finished-austerity-cameron-osborne
Richie Allen Show’s latest coverage of Grenfell Tower – talking about the issues the mainstream media won’t touch
What a pity Richie Allen can’t resist the cheap shot of having a go at royalty being wealthy. There were large areas of Britain owned by desert arabs back in the 1970s and the cities themselves have lots of money to direct this or that way and perhaps there are people who would have a direct line to the planning and regulation of these buildings who need finger pointing if he is looking for a target.
Yay Penny’s back.
How would you describe the contribution you make to the forum?
About the same as your mother’s contribution to the gene pool.
Classy.
Yay stunned mullet is back. An unfortunate thing for those who like to measure
the value of their contributions against others on TS. Where will the drive come from to up the standards if measured against the minus level of this troll? We’ll never get over the high jump with him around, we’ll be stuck with the limbo dancers forever in limbo.
One of the horrifying plans of the Natz is to change our state housing to the UK style ‘social housing’. That’s the housing that just burned alive women and children and entire families in London. The Kensington council is apparently sitting on a 300 million pound contingency fund, so it wasn’t a lack of funds that led to the disaster.
The first clue National are doing this is always in their name. They are changing the name from Labour’s ‘state housing’ to National’s ‘social housing’.
National are now selling off or even giving it away our state houses to private developers, government ‘friendly’ charities, government friendly allies, so the state house land is changed from affordable housing for the most vulnerable, to profit driven development opportunities to opportunists who after leaky building will be only too willing to go with the cheapest options.
The next wave of Natz will be to put some sort of housing ‘management’ company in (which of course will be paid for) for the government and council to hide from any responsibility for the development and it’s effects.
To gauge the results, look at the USA and UK, citizens in the same country or community at war or totally removed from each other and being burnt alive in ones recently refurbished social housing home, while 200 fire appliances wait helplessly at the bottom.
Here’s what’s happened with housing in the UK
Grenfell Tower will forever stand as a rebuke to the right
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/16/grenfell-tower-rebuke-right-rampant-inequality
Social housing routs…
“The refurbishment was carried out on behalf of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) which has managed all of the public housing owned by Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council since 1996.
On Friday, The Times of London reported that spending just another $8000 would have seen the entire tower fitted out with fire resistant cladding…..
It has also emerged that the four most senior staff at the KCTMO, who managed the tower, were potentially paid in excess of $1 million annually.
According to The Times, the not-for-profit paid its “key management personnel” £650,794 ($1,094,456) in 2015-16.
The company has not confirmed how many of its staff are “key”. However, only four senior executives are listed in its accounts.
Shared among four people, their individual salaries would be £163,000 ($274,000) each. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s annual salary is less than that at £142,500.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11877802
National are now selling off or even giving it away our state houses to private developers, government ‘friendly’ charities, government friendly allies, so the state house land is changed from affordable housing for the most vulnerable, to profit driven development opportunities to opportunists who after leaky building will be only too willing to go with the cheapest options.
With the uk it is a result of devoluted responsibility initiated by the Blair government.
It was, in fact, Tony Blair’s Labour government which promoted separating the management of the stock from the local authority’s housing and homelessness duties.
I never understood the logic of this proposition. It weakened the local authority’s ability to deliver on its legal responsibilities, while at the same time leaving tenants confused about the division of responsibilities between the owner of the housing (the local authority) and the managing body. Elected councillors could offload responsibility by referring complainants to the managing organisation – something many councillors were relieved to be able to do
https://theconversation.com/yes-the-grenfell-tower-fire-is-political-its-a-failure-of-many-governments-79599
In Auckland the last of the mohicans is still up to his new wave tricks.
http://www.interest.co.nz/property/88335/auckland-mayor-phil-goff-calls-introduction-building-warranty-or-insurance-scheme
Social housing? Lester and Eagle are at it too.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/93410105/council-asks-developers-to-convert-innercity-buildings-into-affordable-apartments-and-it-will-be-landlord
Don’t know how many others frequent The Canary but this made my morning.
Poor Theresa needs your help
+1 Grey Area
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11877476
Suzie Dawson is the new head of the Internet party.
Just when you couldn’t take them any less seriously.
I take her more seriously than I take you James.
Yeah – I’d pick folk like you would be her target demographic.
BEWARE folks!
Suzie Dawson is the new ‘Leader’ of the Internet Party!
In my considered opinion, Suzette Maree Dawson is a fraud.
What on earth did ‘Suzie Dawson’ EVER do an ‘activist’ in New Zealand – that caused her to flee to Russia?
What is Suzie Dawson’s proven track record as an ‘activist’ in New Zealand?
How long has Suzie Dawson been an ‘activist’ and what has she ever done?
Here’s why I hold this VERY strong opinion about Suzette Maree Dawson:
http://www.indymedia.org.nz/articles/715
“….Please be advised, that as an Appellant in my own name, at no time did I express an opinion as a ‘Spokesperson’ for Occupy Auckland.
A copy of the Appeal decision of High Court Justice Ellis is available on
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
a website for which I take full personal responsibility for content.
Also on this above-mentioned website are copies of my key legal submissions, as an Appellant in my own name, so people can read them for themselves.
The main reason I organised the setting up of this website, was to counter the defamatory lies about myself being spread by Suzette Maree Dawson, which she has published on her own private websitehttp://occupysavvy.com
Suzette Maree Dawson published on her above-mentioned private website a statement by Ben Cooney (‘Redstar’) during his livestream video coverage of the protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) protest on 8 December 2012:
“There’s Penny Bright – SIS informant”.
The FACTS are, that I was one of 12 people responsible for organising Auckland anti-Springbok Tour protests in 1981, I was named in Muldoon’s SIS list as a ‘subversive’, and have never been able to get a copy of my SIS file.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0711/S00086.htm
If people think I’m going to put up with these sorts of filthy defamatory lies, when I have had a proven track record going back over 40 years as an activist – think again.
I strongly recommend that those involved in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, exercise commonsense and due diligence?
If people come from nowhere, with no proven track record in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, and make a beeline for controlling the message, or means of getting the message out – act in ways which cause dissension or conflict within the group, spread misinformation / disinformation about people, without facts and evidence to back it up – BEWARE!!!
Being involved in ‘media’ gives such people the ability to mix and mingle and take photos from inside the ranks of the ‘protest’ movement.
Where exactly are those photos going?
BEWARE of those who act like the 1%, without openness, transparency or democratic accountability.
Why is it that as a (successful) Appellant in the Occupy Auckland Appeal, I cannot post this information up on the Occupy Auckland facebook page?
WHO are ‘Admin’ currently responsible for the Occupy Auckland facebook page, and why am I being blocked?
…..”
Sooo you’re not voting Internet part this year then ?
Something a bit weird about using people’s full names a lot, Penelope Mary Bright.
You’ve made the same desperate smear here earlier this year: /the-return-of-kim-dotcom-and-the-internet-party-and-the-nz-journalist-seeking-asylum-in-russia/
It’s no more convincing this time. Get a life.
Sounds like you belong togeathor
I doubt that Internet Party will make much headway. Those that voted for, or who would have thought about voting for them will probably be swayed by Gareth Morgans lot.
And having a leader sitting in a flat in Moscow, ‘leading’ her party via Skype isnt the same as leading in person.
Is this New Zealand’s very own link to Russia in the upcoming election or am I missing something?
Do you have anything positive politically to contribute?
http://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/93781380/lions-tour-lions-should-be-afraid-after-ominous-all-blacks-send-chilling-message–uk-media
An amazing example of sporting excellence.
Germany wouldn’t bother fielding their best players if they had to meet a similarly ranked football nation so did the mighty AB’s play a first choice side or use a more developmental approach ?
It may just be an amazing example of 2 teams oceans apart in skill, fitness and coaching paired together in a sport that’s globally not even top 5 and often has these one sided matches.
Parfle, jimbo.
The Pacific Island teams would be much more competitive if the IRB allowed them to pick from the plethora of rugby talent in New Zealand to represent them.
I watched, I thought it was good, but it was a rubbish clash.
It reminded me of the Harlem Globetrotters and those martial arts demonstrations where people pretend to hit each other. Entertaining but not really what the game is all about.
But yeah, it was great to watch the ABs pretending to be Harlem Globetrotters. Show-offs. I don’t think the Lions have too much to worry about yet. Steve Adam’s team would wipe the floor with the Globetrotters. If the All Black Warriors dominate tonight I think the Lions should throw the towel in and spend the rest of the tour pub-crawling with their fans.
The AB’s are basically becoming the Harlem Globetrotters, given the fact the the NZRU has been organising meaningless matches in Chicago, Hong Kong, Japan,etc with Ireland and Australia respectively.
These is nothing wrong with playing such exhibition matches, but I think a Barbarians style side is more suited to that sort of thing.
Do you thinking parroting NZ sporting success shows that right wing nut jobs are true New Zealanders?
Yes Paul dear, or Ed or what ever
I think people that were involved in sport when in their formative years are the ones that often go on to have a long-lasting interest.
It conditions us like music, hearing the music we listened to when teens takes us back there. When a team has a few combinations and one gets pulled off, it’s a shared buzz that feels good to recall. Like listening to Pink Floyd.
One of the neat things about NZ is how access to any sport is available to all of us, regardless of background. The Chinese owned resort being developed near me is to have 100’s of villas. It is cheaper for someone living in Beijing to play golf for a week on Karikari Peninsula than in Beijing.
Not all sports are available to everyone.
Yachting?
Skiing?
Cricket?
Tennis?
do you like any sport ed?
Yes
why?
Why do I like some sports?
Thought this was a political blog.
Just trying to get some context to your views and postings. It is okay to do that – the thought police won’t don us in for frivolous thinking.
Pidgeon racing?
Machine Gun target shooting?
Darts?
I give up
ed ‘s list won’t be long – 🙂
sheep dog trials (flat)
ice dancing
non verbal rap battles
He especially likes it when the sheepdogs are found guilty of class oppression.
😆
Don’t know what I did to incur your wrath mm.
Is it my view that there are too many neoliberals in the Labour Party?
Ì was just being silly
Yep, all those sports Ed.
Have a chat to the prez of any the yachting clubs around NZ. Heaps of them just a Google away. Tell them of your burning desire to learn to sail and your minimal budget. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a club that didn’t push a few doors open for you or your kid. This is what happens at the clubs I’ve been associated with, most rugby clubs will have a cupboard of assorted sizes of boots somewhere. I suspect there are more than a few nod and a wink scholarships on the go.
That goes against his presumptive views – please don’t confuse him. He likes thinking that people won’t help.
Glad you are all speaking for me.
This cartoon by Emerson sums the lot of you up.
https://mobile.twitter.com/rodemmerson/status/875789296728289280/photo/1
I played cricket as a kid and the club had all the gear for poorer families like ours, so it was just paying subs and buying cheap white clothing. It was also free at school, as was softball, tennis and a host of other sports.
Yachting is available to anyone who is willing to help the boat owner antifoul.
Poor kids get into ski-ing as lifties.
Every State school has a cricket team.
Tennis is even easier. Courts and rackets can be used for a few dollars.
Every sport takes time and money to get to the top. Which makes any elite sport the almost exclusive domain of the well off.
Cricket and tennis are pretty much available to everyone, even those from low socio economic backgrounds. Certainly not elitest, well not in the mind’s eye of the well grounded.
At secondary school, for summer games, the choice was cricket, tennis or athletics. Opting for the easy life, I chose cricket.
Save for facing a few deliveries before letting one slip through the gate to rattle the timbers and back to the boundary for a well deserved rest to wait out the innings, or standing in the outfield miles from the pitch, occasionally waiting for a ball to roll up and throw it back, it’s the perfect lazy man’s game.
It’s not just the formative years in sport that imprint a long lasting interest in that sport.
I’m also of the impression that the government of the day for those who are 13-19 is also imprinted on them as well. Anecdotally, my peers were living under a labour government, and the majority are rather left leaning supporting nearly anyone but National/ACT.
OTOH, a young cohort I know through volunteering activities grew up under National and wholeheartedly support them as a good government. Despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Food for thought.
Hard to believe in one of the richest countries in the world, in one of the richest cities in the world and in one of the richest boroughs in the world, that parents have to throw their kids out the window in a fire, to save them, because Tory right wing government policy seems to have allowed a continuation of deregulation, exploitation and profiteering to foster rather than basic safety and common sense in their city. Sadly it looks like the poor kid is going to be an orphan even though she survived.
Miracle of four-year-old girl who was caught by hero after being thrown from the tower
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11878164
Sadly as well, they will probably find nobody responsible, as all the many people who made the decisions that led to this manslaughter will be deemed to be ‘doing their job’.
Yep, stupidity, profiteering and policy wonks who allowed this situation to happen and many more to be in danger, will be isolated, because it will be found to be completely legal to kill people in this way under a right wing government – profit before people.
Van Beynen’s article trying to scare people off socialist policies uses a common argument by the right and it’s one I don’t really know how to answer. That during the 1970s and 80s New Zealand’s economy was in crisis struggling to pay it’s way and I think inflation was very high. So something had to be done, hence Government budget cuts and state sell offs, etc.
My question is and it’s probably already been answered here many times, but how would the left have averted these economic crises? How could we have got through the 80s retaining full and high employment, good wages and New Zealand industries and a healthy economy?
I think it was inevitable that at some stage we were going to need to gear our economy to that of our potential major trading partners, the rest of the world. I think Rogernomics got that right.
But there is more than one way to skin a cat and I fear Roger Douglas and his team selected the ‘pointy stone’ method. Get there in the end, sort of, but crikey what a mess.
Kalecki from 1943…
http://delong.typepad.com/kalecki43.pdf
Reading the whole piece (only 5 pages) is kind of enlightening. I had a bit of too and fro with NicNz (?) a while back. We disagreed whether capitalism can create and maintain full employment (an aspect of social democracy) without a backlash where ‘monied interests’ essentially cut off their noses to spite their tails. With full employment, they make more money but have lower margins and much, much less power than they’d expect under liberal capitalism.
The 1980s was an assault on the power of the working class. That’s all it was, although it wasn’t presented as such – we got fed all the red herrings of TINA.
I think the playing field is changing, full employment a sunset aspiration.
I fib to my Father. “Putting in long hours Dad, burning the midnight oil, hoping to get out for a few hours fishing late Sunday afternoon.”
To my Dad, hours on the grindstone is a measure of a man’s value and worth. It worked well for him. He looks about his mates and believes that the ones that have ruined their backs through hard Yakka have got the formula right. To a degree he is right, it’s generally his mates with crook backs that groan all the way to Europe and back.
Since my Dad’s generation we’ve had the ‘Don’t work harder work smarter’ thing come along. This concept appealed to me, I found a way. I much prefer gas-bagging on a blog to balancing tyres at Beaurepaires.
Soooo….while we were once pursuing full employment, I wonder if these days we shouldn’t be looking for ways for us to cost effectively do less. Well not less, but teaching a kid to play a ukulele rather than doing a wheel alignment on a Pulsar.
By George David Mac I think you’ve got it.
Soooo….while we were once pursuing full employment, I wonder if these days we shouldn’t be looking for ways for us to cost effectively do less. Well not less, but teaching a kid to play a ukulele rather than doing a wheel alignment on a Pulsar.
Everyone go to primary and learn the basics in any way that suits their learning style – able to write, express thoughts, describe a project from start to finish and then manufacture it to finality, though not abolutely perfectly.
Know your basic maths, show how to apply it practically.
Describe a page of a fictional novel and what the writer was trying to say.
Describe a page of non-fiction and what elements of the events the author has focussed on.
Then at intermediate choose an interest and spend six months on finishing off a goal while still doing schoolwork. But also write up the practices used to do the project. The goal would be to finish and to overcome problems.
A sort of Myth Busters approach.
The emphasis would be applied knowledge and gaining knowledge as the project continued and which would be applied to progressing it. It would be to finish something even if it wasn’t perfect.
Sorry. I don’t know how this half-baked idea got into this post. Below is the fully-baked one, with a cherry on top.
By George David Mac I think you’ve got it.
Soooo….while we were once pursuing full employment, I wonder if these days we shouldn’t be looking for ways for us to cost effectively do less. Well not less, but teaching a kid to play a ukulele rather than doing a wheel alignment on a Pulsar.
Everyone go to primary and learn the basics in any way that suits their learning style – able to write, express thoughts, describe a project from start to finish and then manufacture it to finality, though not abolutely perfectly.
Know your basic maths, show how to apply it practically.
Describe a page of a fictional novel and what the writer was trying to say.
Describe a page of non-fiction and what elements of the events the author has focussed on.
Then at intermediate choose an interest and spend six months on finishing off a goal while still doing schoolwork. But also write up the practices used to do the project. The goal would be to finish and to overcome problems.
A sort of Myth Busters approach.
The emphasis would be applied knowledge and gaining knowledge as the project continued and which would be applied to progressing it. It would be to finish something even if it wasn’t perfect. Learning how to direct your own life and get satisfaction from your own creative efforts is what we will soon need with the constant disintegration of our local enterprise by undercutting from overseas imports.
Today I met a man who lost his job unexpectedly mid life and was at a loss living in the country but not a farmer, what to do? He and his wife set themselves to make some wooden craft things, now he has a business making beautiful jigsaw-pieced toys, works of art in themselves – animals, fairy tale designs, flowers in a vase, a Hundertwasser building, all beautifully coloured by his wife. Anyone interested (they cost about $25 or so) just ask and I’ll put up his info.
We have to spend locally and support ourselves and our own enterprise in a spiral effect, that goes round and round and finally can go off to other areas. That is what sustainable living will be like. Not as glossy for some, but very vibrant with people taking interest in their neighbours’ skilled output, instead of damning their neighbour for being unemployed in the free market which is oxymoronic.
This is just to register this USA person was in NZ in April and seemed to have some good ideas on getting local support enterprise groups going.
She also is speaking on the Campbell Latta discussion What Next on TV1.
https://bealocalist.org/stephanie-rearick/
It was because even Keynesian Capitalism had failed. That was true around the world and not just in NZ.
But the politicians listened to the capitalists and went backwards to more capitalism, the type of capitalism that had brought about the staggering poverty of the 19th century and brought about the Great Depression. The inevitable result of which was the increasing poverty that we’ve seen over the last few decades and the Great Recession.
The way we needed to go was further away from capitalism.
Why do you always avoid saying what this alternate approach is Draco ie you want a communist Marxist state, just say it draco it will avoid many having to put up with your long winded and repeated daily rants
Have you anything positive to add or are you just trolling a left wing political website?
Yes Paul dear, Ed or what ever
Why would you think that I want a Marxist state?
If I wanted that I would have said so. Marx may have been right in his critique of capitalism but he got many things wrong in his solution.
And, no, neither the USSR nor China were/are Marxist. Marx would have been disgusted by them.
Red knows that.
She’s just trolling.
It seems a fair point – the opposite of capitalism is communism? For some that duality is true. What about you draco. If not capitalism (which I hate) what??? And sure a hypothetical and a real example would work for me.
The world isn’t a duality.
I want to get rid of ownership of land (not that we own land in NZ), houses and business as it causes so much inequality as Piketty proved. Ownership is the heart of capitalism same as it was the heart of feudalism. And that basis for society goes back thousands of years and every single society that used it has collapsed due to the wealth going in increasing amounts to the owners.
Necessities (housing, food, education, etcetera) should be provided by the state to ensure that everyone has a reasonable living standard. Work that people do is paid but there’s also a maximum income preventing runaway wealth accumulation.
Stop the banks from creating money and all money to be created by the government and spent into the economy. A UBI of course as a fundamental part of the monetary flow.
Extraction of resources to be done by the state on an as need basis with the acceptance that those resources are limited and need to be husbanded rather than sold off as fast as possible as is done now.
Reduction of farming to enough to feed us with the rest returned of the land to the wild with limits on population growth.
Increased automation to reduce the need for physical labour while also increasing the number of people in R&D. That automation would include the building of factories to produce what as much as possible here in NZ from our own resources. It’s physically impossible for an offshore factory to produce anything cheaper than we could. These factories would also be state owned but run by cooperatives – or maybe not even state owned but ‘self-owned’.
The private sector would supply ‘nice to haves’ through cooperative businesses that are ‘self-owned’. The workers would work and administer the business. Loans would be taken out and repaid by the business and not the workers.
People would be encouraged to join groups that they’re interested in that would be fully resourced for R&D and innovation.
“The world isn’t a duality.”
some say it is and some it isn’t 🙂
Thanks for the reply – Be good to see this as a guest post imo.
Maybe once I’ve finished my degree.
Then what do you want in a couple of sentences that would realistically work, please don’t sprout Germany or Scandinavia, simply benificaries or the other side of excessive Southern Europe debt, consumption and government deficits.
Ah, so you’re admitting to being too stupid to understand what I’ve already written.
Sounds. A lot like communism to me, why are you to afraid just to say it, would avoid you having to write a war and peace epistle to explain your self
Why would I call it something that it isn’t so that you can just write it off without thought?
Not that you’ve ever given any indication of being able to think.
A ‘communist Marxist state’ you say? How many contradictions can you squeeze into three words there Red? 😉
Next you’ll be saying you went to the local ice cream place and got the hump when they said they couldn’t serve you a ‘toasted ice-cream Tuesday’
Toasted ice cream, there’s an idea Bill , maybe toasted waffles, hot chocolste sauce with ice cream center Just need to be a little more creative bill and think a bit more lateral, outside your pre disposed paradigm and bias😀
It wasn’t that Keynesian had failed per se – but we had lazy fools in power who thought Keynesianism means you can do any damned thing you please. Now we have opposite kind of lazy fools, who think neo-liberalism means you can do any damned thing you please.
Actually, whichever of these twin gods you worship, you must try to maximize the positive results for citizens from your interventions, if you wish to be a be a credible government. NZ hasn’t had a credible government in quite some time.
I agree Stuart. We need to find a way for the guy that currently owns a taxi to retain his business when his taxi starts driving itself. Stop the $ from funneling into a big faceless money hole called Uber.
Many countries ban uber
The networking is cool. Bankrolling a 300ft boat for Mr Uber sux.
The business was driving. Once the taxi drives itself they no longer have a business.
IMO, once the taxi starts driving itself it should become just another aspect of public transport with automatic optimisation of the transportation. In other words, I wouldn’t be able to take one from where I live to the middle of the city. I’d get taken to the nearest train/bus station instead.
Nah, the business is providing a personal transport service to anyone with $5 a km to spend. The car is just his bag of tools.
You remember the time when there were typing pools?
If that was true then why not have the state do it and have him go do something more productive than sitting at home being a parasite?
The majority of NZers don’t want the state running business Draco.
It’ll take a hostile coup Colonel D….Have you got a Che T Shirt?
The state wouldn’t be because it wouldn’t be a business but a public service.
I have, got the classic red on khaki.
Why don’t we just do what it takes to prosper between the goalposts we’ve got? I keep getting the feeling that the quality of your life is somehow geared to my wallet.
We are surrounded by abundance in this beautiful county of ours Draco. We just need to get better at getting more of us hooked into that abundance.
Declaring “OK all you pickers, you now have equal shares in this Kiwifruit Farm” it sounds like a free lunches solution.
Production bonuses and incentives, hell yes, more of it. Give me a good reason to pick hard all day, give me 2k at the end of the week and I’m in.
If it’s a driverless electric car, more like $1/km for profit-based companies, less for shared and public transport.
Yeah but the cab owner has a sick Mum in Bologna, it’s $5. Save him to your favourites, your fifth ride is free.
MVB trots out the usual old chestnuts, about how it took 6 weeks to get the phone on, and how the watersiders and ferry workers would go on strike every 5 mins. They must have some master Word document somewhere that they copy and paste accordingly.
Here’s a little bit of plausible denial corruption.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/jobs/government-council/other/listing-1349990490.htm
Gotta love NZ and how it works, the beige revolution has sunk it’d teeth in here real well.
Good luck getting young people out voting, as it just got a little harder to get them enrolled.
Prediction – youth vote in the Auckland region just not going to produce any significant numbers.
An Auckland police officer has had to quit the job he loves, because he can’t afford to live in our biggest city on a police pay cheque.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11877760
poor thing.
let’s hope he will make more money in finance 🙂
He could have asked to be posted to a more cheaper rural area? At least on the force, they would have helped him with relocation costs.
If he cannot afford to live in Auckland on a policeman’s salary, then how is he going to live on a student allowance. And it is harder to get into the finance industry than it is the police force.
Yes I wondered about why he didn’t relocate too.
Rachel Stewart: Satire catches old guard off guard
Excellent read, cheers,draco.
Elizabeth Warren puts the slipper into a bankster.
“Why should anyone believe you?”
May.
What a dreadful person.
Absolutely. She is an awful human being. Reminded me of a number of politicians here with no moral compass.
Notice how despite any question she was asked, she basically ignored it and returned time and again to her script. The interviewer (good her!) tried but it’s hard to reason with the Maybot.
Well, I think you guys are being a bit harsh. As pointed out by the interviewer (at around 6:55), there are 4000 high rises, and as May responded, the government has managed to identify them. That’s awesome.
She didn’t reply to any question asked
the questions were idiotic
I have zero time for right wing scum like May but ffs she is a politician – nuff said. I listened to her and thought that it was a no win interview for her – she could have said anything and it still would have been rubbished.
It is time for her to resign – she cannot survive and she knows it.
Yeah Marty, you’re right, tough interview to do that one. I couldn’t of done it, I’d be a blubbing mess.
It’s like she was icy cold, a disconcerting disconnect. Talking of the horror like she was reviewing a movie. But yeah, some people need to put a face on like that so they’re not blubbing messes.
May was responsible for the reduction of 1000’s of firefighters in the area.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/election-tories-labour-corbyn-fire-service-dangerous-cuts-a7773826.html
She oversaw, and continues to oversee the reduction of medical and Primary Health facilities in the whole of the UK and including Central London
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/16/most-of-central-london-hospital-to-be-sold-off-secret-plans-reveal
May knows she does not have the sympathy of the unwealthy, those whom her continued austerity have hurt the most.
I feel no sympathy for her. She brought this on herself.
Of course she didn’t.
She, and I’d suggest the entire government and whatever local authority bodies there may be, are completely out of their depth.
On top of that, I could guess it came as a bit of a shock to May that someone could have a house burn down and wind up with nothing at all. I mean, if it happened to her, she’d file an insurance claim and move into another property. She might pull down on some investments or whatever in the short term to fund the cost and inconvenience of setting things up.
In her world, the worst case scenario likely involves getting mummy and daddy or “George” to provide a private loan of some description – maybe make one of their ‘second’ cars available, and possibly pull in a favour or two from their good friends the lawyer, the school principle, the city councillor, the undertaker, the real estate agent…
Well, I think you are being more than a bit kind Bill. The one good thing is that the longer she clings to power, more UK voters will (hopefully) wonder: ” Is this the best the Tories have got?”
And they’ll look at Boris and say “… yup”.
Efforts to ensure the victims aren’t naked or starving 2 days after the catastrophe is the action plan of someone addressing a jolly nuisance.
“The Fire Service is looking into it.” A leader that gave a genuine damn would have a list of the buildings clad in that death skin on their desk 20 minutes after hearing of the fire. The occupants of those 4000 other buildings must be leaning out their windows tapping the cladding. ‘So what’s this then?’
A picture is worth a thousands words:
https://www.indy100.com/article/theresa-may-jeremy-corbyn-grenfell-fire-survivors-firefighters-compare-pictures-7791821?utm_source=indy&utm_medium=top5&utm_campaign=i100
Which of these shows the most compassion?
Even the Queen made it to Grenfell Tower
https://www.indy100.com/article/grenfell-tower-hrh-queen-elizabeth-fire-security-theresa-may-concerns-reaction-7793161
Spot the leader.
The peace dividend.
/
A pair of top White House officials is pushing to broaden the war in Syria, viewing it as an opportunity to confront Iran and its proxy forces on the ground there, according to two sources familiar with the debate inside the Donald Trump administration.
Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, and Derek Harvey, the NSC’s top Middle East advisor, want the United States to start going on the offensive in southern Syria, where, in recent weeks, the U.S. military has taken a handful of defensive actions against Iranian-backed forces fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Their plans are making even traditional Iran hawks nervous, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, who has personally shot down their proposals more than once, the two sources said.
https://www.justsecurity.org/42230/trump-administration-weighs-confronting-irans-proxies-syria/
I’ll show my age by posting this, but A Tribe Called Quest still one of the best hip hop acts in the world.
This is a wee gem, which actually confronts politics of divide and conquer.
People love complaining and being shocked. Shit happens, but not in front of me sort of thing. A woman in USA passes out in the toilet and they rush her out on a narrow stretcher to where there is room to give her assistance. It upset some other passengers, who don’t know the difference between underwear and being truly naked, it must be the ‘Victorian’ effect of people who have never been desensitised by television and films.
It was a trauma that she suffered but other passengers’ feelings were paramount –
“‘They’ should have”………..
“One described her as being “dragged down the aisle” on a tarp-like stretcher, partially clothed, in front of the other passengers. She was described as naked from the waist down, although the airline says she was wearing underwear.
Art Endress told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “The EMT was out of line. The flight attendants could have thrown a blanket on her.”
Attempts to revive Hines failed and she later died.”
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan defended emergency workers.
He told People: “When we boarded, the patient was in the rear of the plane and our effort was focused on getting her out and onto the jet bridge. If she were conscious we could have used an aisle chair, which is like a wheelchair, but we used a device that first responders all over the country use when you’re dealing with someone in a narrow space.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/93715517/us-airline-accused-of-dragging-partiallyclothed-dying-woman-off-flight
Which Black Guy got killed by a cop? And which cop got away with this killing?
The courts have effectively decriminalised the killing of innocent young black people by poilice.
Guilty of DWB.
Court records raise big questions: Was Castile targeted by police? Or was he just a careless or unlucky driver?
An NPR analysis of those records shows that the 32-year-old cafeteria worker who was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in a St. Paul, Minn., suburb, was stopped by police 46 times and racked up more than $6,000 in fines. Another curious statistic: Of all of the stops, only six of them were things a police officer would notice from outside a car — things like speeding or having a broken muffler
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/15/485835272/the-driving-life-and-death-of-philando-castile
We notice how people are accepting of low conditions for others who have problems, like trip up, flout the rules and you don’t deserve to be treated like a person. I found a stuff piece about a poor person who had no creds being charged $370 pw for a one bedroom place.
But this is the extra corkscrew, the shower is mounted on the wall over the toilet. And another oddment, the title in the address bar doesn’t hold the title, just the number of the item. It is as if it is too negative about the truth so you just get – http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/93767001
and not – Community support worker horrified at unit with shower over toilet.