The new Prime Minister of Australia has made moves to scrap the tax on carbon emissions put in place to deter polluters, and gather revenue to help fund the necessary transition away from fossil fuels.
This decision will cost the Australian government almost $4billion in revenue, undermining the transition away from fossil fuels.
The carbon tax will be replaced with a Pollution Trading Scheme similar to New Zealand’s corrupt ETS, which as well as encouraging speculators and investors to make money out of pollution trading, and letting the polluters off the hook, dumps the bill on the tax payers.
Pollution Trading Schemes are a proven rort, overseeing a huge increases in carbon emissions by the polluters, but as money making scheme for investors, speculators and and international money traders, Pollution Trading Schemes have been less effective.
As a scheme to fight carbon pollution they are a total failure.
Despite the cuts to environmental and clean energy programs needed to scrap the carbon tax. In a statement that would make even John Key blush. The Australian Prime Minister insisted that this was a “good day for the environment”.
In an act of political showmanship Kevin Rudd has challenged the conservative opposition to a debate on removing the carbon tax knowing that they won’t show up because they basically support his moves, and have no counter argument.
Interesting post on Socialist Aotearoa, about the relationship between supermarkets over-pricing fruit & vege, and hungry children.
* Fruit and vegetable prices are too high – An organic vegetable grower told Campbell Live in February 2013 he sold a 1.5kg bag of potatoes to his supplier for $1.50, these were then sold in an Auckland supermarket for $7.99. Beetroot sold for $1.50 was resold at $9.50.
*In 2010 a Green Party survey of 75 New Zealand fruit and vegetable growers reported that 75% of growers thought the supermarket mark-ups on fresh produce were ‘far too high’.
*Food prices in NZ are rising quicker than the rest of the developed world – According to the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation, New Zealand consumers are paying 42.5 percent more for groceries than they were 10 years ago. This was the second fastest grocery price rise out of 30 OECD countries.
*Hungry children are a hidden cost of high prices – A 2006 survey of school children found that one in seven kids (Aged 5-14) were not eating breakfast before school.
It then goes onto alternative examples: e.g. Chavez nationalised some supermarkets and brought in price controls.
There’s also a problem with how the wholesalers are controlling things. It’s hard for many market gardeners to have choices about where and how they sell their produce, they get tied into existing supply line structures. I don’t quite know how it works except that when farmers try and get out of that it can be very hard.
My solution to such as this is the government buying enough farmland to supply all of NZ’s food needs. They then put in place a distribution network that delivers free to the door* at cost.
* Free delivery is far more efficient and cheaper than everyone going to a supermarket. It’s saves on time and fuel use.
Buy it off someone else. DTB’s suggestion, as I read it, was not for the government to take over all farmland, just “enough”. As we produce far more food than we consume, there would be plenty of land available to supply x, y and z through non-government sources.
Grow x, y and z yourself.
Vote for a party that will ensure x, y and z are available from the government.
Well,
1.) I’d have the farm managers instructed to meet demand
2.) Mono-culture would be banned
3.) All would be organic farms
Chances are that x,y and z would actually be grown if at all possible but if it isn’t then you’d still be able to purchase it elsewhere or, more than likely, the government distribution network would be able to supply it as well through standard purchasing agreements.
Has anyone suggested that the basket of goods that makes up the CPI is a crock of shit and doesn’t reflect real inflation? It certainly doesn’t reflect inflation for the poor, if you are a family in the rental market or wanting to purchase a house then your cost of living has risen much more than CPI.
Using the tool below, a $1 item in 2000 will have inflated to $1.39 in 2013. A $1 house in 2000 will have inflated to $2.28….perhaps Housing needs to be weighted more heavily in CPI. Or will this lead to higher wage costs, is that the motivation. Just a thought?
I was puzzled by the 3News coverage last night, because of the way it referred to inflation (I think in the same report).
It pissed me off to start with, with their promo for the item asking do the proposed changes to mortgage borrowing mean “you might not be able to afford to buy your first house” (or words to that effect). It DID include “you/your”. It set me thinking who 3 News consider to be their target audience? Certainly not low-mid income (lifetime) renters.
Anyway their factoring (in this or another news report last night) was too complicated (or at least covered too fast for my financial knowledge-level). But it seemed to relate to exports, imports and whatever….. low inflation (around 1%-2%) is good, no matter what.
It is fairly safe to assume as a demographic that even low-mid income renters contain a significant proportion of kiwi battlers who do indeed want the security of owning their own home, and a reasonable (emphasis here on the “reasonable”) person would consider the you/youre rhetorical. Do you likewise get all indignant because the news reader doesn’t address you personally by name?
Way to miss the point, pop. And to slip in another nasty ad hominem with it. Did I say anything about it not addressing me?
There are plenty of renters out there who are just struggling to pay the bills. Buying a home is not on the agenda. Many, like the state housing tenants in Glen Innes, just want secure state housing. Others just secure and safe affordable rental accommodation
The MSM does tend to cater to the middle classes. It’s no wonder that so many on low income people.
And part of NZ’s economic problems is the over-emphasis on home ownership as something everyone should be aspiring to.
Saarbo, there’s a section within the CPI called the non-tradeables, which more accurately reflects day to day costs. The CTU have just put out a press release which touches on that issue.
The holding down of wages and conditions, and the erosion of our social services, and the reduction of living standards for those at the bottom. Mean while, middle class home owners enjoy low mortgage rates.
IMO, we need inflation at 4-5% to ensure everyone has a decent standard of living, and the poor are not sleeping in the streets.
How long before one, several, many of this fetid oligarchy’s Leggo pieces loses it and something really, really, really bad happens ? At a WINZ office or the premises of some Haliburton/Blackwater modelled social mercenary corporate ?
Imagine the over-slapped Bennettoinette on Qeue + Adore the following Sunday, cheered on by the snippy gargoyle Susan Wood……..both aghast……..both deplooooaaaarrring violence……..both hating on the Leggo pieces……….Bennettoinette still proselytising the fantasy of King Canute.
This oligarchy’s cynical, amoral calculation to scapegoat and physically, mentally, and spiritually molest the weakest and the poorest……….it afflicts our society as a cancer.
Drug tests for employees are a bloody waste of time and illegal.
Drug tests test if someone has taken drugs in about the last three weeks. Lets similarly impose an alcohol test that tests if someone has had a drink in about the last three weeks.
Like everything this government does – it is a fucking lie and a con.
If beneficiaries are to be compulsorily drug tested then I don’t see why MPs shouldn’t be breath tested each time they enter the debating chamber. After all creating and changing law is an important challenging job and you wouldn’t want people to be doing it while they are under the influence.
If you have an employee who has taken a mind altering drug in the past 3 weeks how can you trust that they are in their ‘right mind’ to make sure they are not still affected by any subsequent drug taking when they come to work?
You can’t. A ‘P’ Head or stoner cannot think rationally or objectively and if that person does come to work under the influence and subsequently makes a mistake that kills or injures someone then that is an unacceptable situation.
(Same with people that come to work pissed) – but is a lot easier to detect without needed a test of nay sort.
They should go find a job that carries no responsibility for other folk (Paper run perhaps?)
Um, having taken drugs in the last 3 weeks doesn’t mean you are impaired when you go to work. And drug testing post accident is generally regarded as the only acceptable use of the regime. But even that is useless, because urine testing doesn’t show impairment for cannabis, just that its in the system.
are you seriously saying that the mere fact you might partake of something, anything in the weekends means that you are unfit for work all the time?
A ‘P’ Head or stoner cannot think rationally – when they are really, really high. When theyre straight, they are probably good to go. Pretty much like anyone whos had too much to drink, once you sober up, (and recover) your fine
(unless your an addict – which once again has to be pointed out – the drug testing policy doesnt apply to addicts)
and as for your claim that you can detect piss heads easily without a test – bollocks 1) it then becomes accusation, not provable outcome and 2) pissheads can be rather good at covering their pissy-ness
If its a health and safety issue, which i agree that it is, the answer is in impairment testing – not presence of substance testing
“You can’t. A ‘P’ Head or stoner cannot think rationally or objectively and if that person does come to work under the influence and subsequently makes a mistake that kills or injures someone then that is an unacceptable situation.”
Stoners can’t think rationally? Good grief, do you know how many people smoke cannabis in this country? You think they are all incapable of making a rational decision to not use drugs while at work?
The reality is that P (which does have a long term effect on personality and behaviour) cannot be detected by drug tests 48hrs after use, whereas cannabis tests can be positive 42 days after use. Well after the time that impaired decision making is an issue.
If the issue is preventative health and safety, it is not an effective tool. It also strikes me that those on manual jobs (and often the least paid) bear the brunt of random drug tests. Office workers and other services will be unlikely to be tested, but are probably just as likely to relax with their drug of choice – but it cannabis or alcohol.
“Labour MP Maryan Street is under pressure to drop a member’s bill which would legalise euthanasia because her party is concerned it could be a negative distraction in the lead-up to the general election next year.” (NZ Herald today)
Street’s proposal is ideal for a binding referendum. Convince the people it’s a good idea and a binding referendum makes it law.
AmaKiwi
+1
A chance for Labour to do something useful for the people in line with them being the party that examines the status quo and is prepared to make changes and it might drop this proposal! Says a lot about this bunch of jerks running Labour.
It will come as no surprise that I detest the Labour party and everything it stands for . However, I really hope that Maryan Street does not succumb to party political pressure to withdraw this bill.
It is near criminal that in the year 2013 we insist that the terminally ill suffer simply because some people choose to allow their stone age superstitions to cloud their judgement and to force those same stone age superstitions upon others.
Identification numbers attached to children as young as three could be used to track and punish their parents.
The ID system will be rolled out next year, paving the way for information to possibly be passed from kindergartens to the Government agency which monitors beneficiaries.
About 190,000 children in early childhood education will be assigned a national student number, with providers collecting information including each child’s daily attendance.
The Greens say childhood workers will effectively be asked to dob in parents who are not meeting their obligation to have their children in education, with preschool teachers used as “de facto benefit police”.
Since amongst the righties it’s farcically de rigueur to sheet many, many things back to Labour and Helen Clark……..imagine the outrage if this was in fact Labour and Clark ?
“Bloody nanny state…….numbering babies…….they’ll be tattoing them next !”
There is no law enforcing compulsory education in New Zealand for children under 6 years old. Why on earth does the government think it reasonable to coerce parents into sending their children to ‘early childhood education’ simply because they are beneficiaries?
What else might the government require? That beneficiaries vacuum and dust their residence daily? That any lawns at their residence should never grow deeper than three inches? That they should never use expletives in public? That they should comb and brush their children’s hair daily? That they should enrol their children into the cubs and brownies?
And it is no justification to claim that early childhood education is ‘good for children’. If it is, then the government, to be consistent, should change the law to make it compulsory for all children of that age.
Those TVNZ cuts are really biting now:
Look at who they’ve promoted to “U.S. correspondent”
Television One Breakfast, Wednesday 17 July 2013, 6:58 a.m.
A North Korean vessel has been detained in Panama. No need for Television One viewers to be concerned, however: smiley, cheery weatherman-cum-“United States correspondent” Jack Tame is on the case….
JACK TAME: This ship, which had stopped in CUBA, was stocked with sugar, but officials in Panama have also found MISSILES and NON-CONVENTIONAL ARMS underneath the cargo of sugar. RAWDON CHRISTIE:[sardonically] Oh yes? JACK TAME: When they were arrested, [snicker], the captain of the ship had a heart attack, [snicker], and then tried to commit suicide! TONI STREET:[troubled tone] Hmmmmmm…. JACK TAME: And the ship was apparently stocked up in CUBA with these missiles and arms.
At this point, to assist Television One viewers in formulating a suitable response, JACK TAME twists his mouth to indicate his distaste for the North Korean and Cuban scum.
RAWDON CHRISTIE:[grimly] And in violation of U.N. sanctions as well.
Cut to JACK TAME nodding his head, and frowning, to indicate how seriously he takes this story.
TONI STREET:[troubled tone] Hmmmmmm…. RAWDON CHRISTIE: Here’s Peter with the News.
Jack Tame is also the US correspondent for NZ Herald… My blood pressure often rises at his fatuous comments and irrelevance. At a time when I would like US news to be presented to us from a NZ perspective, we are inflicted with the same old spin but with a NZ accent.
It must have been a deliberate decision to put a half-baked journo into this position as NZ commentator on all things US.
Do any of the MPs have any idea of how difficult it is to transport children to and from a preschool (a) if you have no car and the preschool is some distance away
(b) you have 1 or more other pre-schoolers, especially a baby
(c) if you have other children to see off to school?
Being able to pick up the pre-schoolers at a fixed time can be difficult even for the SUV driving mums.
Warning: Rant to follow.
This government is NASTY and unbelievably mean-spirited. This government is not meeting ITS obligation to the people of this country in so many ways. SHAME!!
Tautoko Viper
Good points. I believe this government hates parents from the lower income group, who get called by the definition ‘strugglers’, and doesn’t like their children much either, despite the fuss that they make in the news. Government only appears to care because our statistics compare badly to the rest of the developed world and attract criticism.
Scapegoating parents who can’t get their children to preschool is totally stupid. A more constructive solution is to provide free minibus transport to and from preschools- a pick up and drop off service. I would like to see preschools on the same site as a community centre with kitchen and rooms so that young mothers could be picked up by minibus together with their pre-schoolers, taken to the community centre. The kindergarten age children could then attend the kindergarten, younger babies could be in a crèche and the mothers could opt to join in free cooking classes or other educational courses, all run free of charge. Classes would include art, dance, yoga, and general interest, rather like the type of classes that night schools used to run (before this miserable lot scuppered them.)
Tautoko Viper
Yes agree completely. I would like school classes for the parents to be offered too. Many haven’t been able to complete their education. Once they have children it can provide a real incentive and steadying influence to get further education. Children can concentrate your mind in a totally new way!
All would benefit and it is so sad that there are these lost opportunities while gummint and the Mins of Ed and Social Welfare keep weaving their sticky little webs to trap beneficiaries, roll them up and eat them – just like spiders. Nothing left but some dry husks when the parents should be bounding upwards with a great life and opportunities in front of them and their children.
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More humbugs….
No. 16 Barack Obama: “I wish Muslims across America & around the world a month blessed with the joys of family, peace & understanding.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11072013/#comment-661330
No.15 John Key: “They know this is an issue of national security…”
No. 14 Charles Saatchi: “I abhor violence of any kind against women…”
No. 13 Toyota New Zealand: “The more Kiwis that lean, the more motivated our ETNZ crew will be to win.”
No. 12 Pem Bird: “We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
No.11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 [REMOVED]
No. 9 [REMOVED]
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…” No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Part of the Replublican Movement of Aotearoa campaign for a New Zealand head of State this year has been to push for better media coverage.
TV3’s show The Vote has offered this opportunity for the head of State debate.
For the republic side Bob Jones, Shane Jones and Laila Harre.
For the monarchy.. the usual suspects: Simon O’Conner, Ron Mark and Louise Wright.
The voting will open on 17 July (Wednesday) when the show is broadcast from 8:30 until 9:30.
This is our best oppportunity to get the issue discussed fully since TVNZ’s program in 2005.
Yet at least as instructive as the proportion of people agreeing with each proposal is the number who could not rouse themselves to an opinion one way or the other. For example, some (actually 39%, I can reveal) supported removing some of the UK’s waters from the Common Fisheries Policy, but nearly half had no view either way.
The question should be: Why did they have no view either way?
I think you’ll find that they just have no information about the policy (i.e, they really just don’t know) and, most importantly, don’t know how to get the information. This is why having open government and referenda is actually important. It gives people the information they need to make a decision and then has them making that decision.
good to see greaseball garner getting his comeuppance, sort of, in the dompost this a.m.
he thinks that because he is on teevee that he can do what he likes.
just a bit more rope and he will hang himself.
Still think that fluoridation of public water supplies helps to save the teeth of poor people?
Please don’t exercise ‘wilful blindness’, and write off those who base their anti-fluoride position on
scientifically-researched FACTS and EVIDENCE, (unlike the arguably pro-fluoride ‘nutters’)?
“..chronic effects of fluoride involve alterations in the chemical activity of calcium by the fluoride ion. Natural calcium fluoride with low solubility and toxicity from ingestion is distinct from fully soluble toxic industrial fluorides …”
“Industrial fluoride ingested from treated water enters saliva at levels too low to affect dental caries. Blood levels during lifelong consumption can harm heart, bone, brain, and even developing teeth enamel.
The widespread policy known as water fluoridation is discussed in light of these findings. ….”
Dr. Paul Connett
Professor of Chemistry
St. Lawrence University, NY 13617
______________________________________________________________________________
FYI ……………
OPEN LETTER
Tony Ryall
Minister of Health
Dear Minister,
In response to your reply, received today, 17 July 2013:
“On behalf of Hon Tony Ryall, Minister of Health, thank you for your email of 16 July 2013 about Fluoridation.
The Minister has asked Ministry of Health officials to advise him on the matters you have raised. Please be aware that due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, a personal reply to your letter may take some weeks.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Please be advised that am not requesting a ‘personal reply’ to my letter – I am expecting an OIA reply, according to the statutory framework – of 20 working days?
Arguably, if the ‘science is settled’, and yourself as Minister of Health and the Ministry of Health are so sure:
“there was no doubt science pointed to the fact that there were benefits for families from fluoridation, and that the levels of fluoridation in water were safe for New Zealanders.”
then the FACTS and EVIDENCE should surely be readily available, unless, of course it is yourself as Minister and Ministry of Health officials, who are providing the ‘misinformation’ about the benefits and safety of water fluoridation?
I do sincerely hope that this is not the case.
My understanding is that the basis of the scientific method is to ‘seek truth from facts’?
That is what I try to do as an ‘investigative activist’ (as it were).
I do understand that you’re extremely busy (there you are not alone), but both yourself, and Ministry of Health officials, may find it beneficial to take the time to read the results of some hundreds of hours of voluntary research I did relating to the quality of Waikato river water as a ‘raw source’ of drinking water for the Auckland region, back in November 2002:f
Then you may have a better understanding of why people such as myself, do NOT trust either the Ministry of Health, or Watercare Services Ltd, when it comes to the safeguarding of public health and drinking water supplies.
Please be reminded that as a 2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate, I do NOT support the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies, and this will be one of the my ‘campaign issues’.
Looking forward to receiving this OIA reply within 20 working days.
“Ranting! Reacting! Reasoning! Reflecting!”
The voice of complacency and intolerance is as unbearable as ever. The Huddle, NewstalkZB, Wednesday 17 July 2013, 5:45 p.m.
Larry “Lackwit” Williams, Colin Espiner, Janet Wilson
NewstalkZB is the radio station on which an increasingly unhinged and irrational Paul Holmes unleashed his obscenity-larded tirades against “darkies”, “lazy bludging Maoris” and “the professors” who had the temerity to call him a racist. It is the station on which the likes of Murray Deaker, Tony “Boot Boy” Veitch and Mark Watson have been given free rein to preach about “lazy” and “dumb” Polynesians and black American athletes that look like gorillas (Veitch’s assessment of Serena Williams). It is, most infamously of all, the station that mounted a public campaign of support for a man who chased down a fifteen-year-old boy and knifed him to death on a South Auckland street, and combined that with a brutal, orchestrated, round-the-clock, day after day, week after week, month after month, denunciation of the victim, his mother, his tetraplegic father, and his family. They even mocked the boy’s mother for crying in court; NewstalkZB’s evening chatterbox Kerre Woodham was heartless and craven enough to extend the campaign to admonishing her in print.
It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that the chatterboxes on NewstalkZB have no problem at all with the government’s recent moves to make life even tougher for the poorest of the poor. But, even though I expected it, I was still shocked by the combination of indifference, callousness and the cavalier disregard for human rights expressed by the empty vessels on this evening’s edition of The Huddle. I tuned in toward the end of the program, but I’m sure the first half was no better than what I did manage to hear….
LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Issue number two: the G-r-r-r-r-reens are worried that tracking kindergarten children could be used for sinister purposes. Colin, what do you think? COLIN ESPINER: I personally have not got a problem with it, Larry. I mean, …..[rambles on incoherently for a minute or so.] LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Exactly! Janet, what do you think? JANET WILSON: I don’t have a problem with it as it stands, Larry. In fact, I think it’s a FANTASTIC idea. It’s a WONDERFUL idea….[continues raving for a minute and a half] LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Issue number three, the Labour Party is putting pressure on Maryan Street to withdraw her private member’s bill for Euthanasia from the ballot, because it has the potential to be seen as a distraction in election year. COLIN ESPINER: This says a lot about the state of mind of the Labour Party! They don’t want to be caught up in something controversial again, like they were when they supported Sue Bradford’s smacking bill. JANET WILSON: Mmmmm, mmmmm. LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Exactly! That’s The Huddle for another night. Janet Wilson and Colin Espiner, thank you! JANET WILSON: Thank you Larry! COLIN ESPINER: Thank you Larry!
Note that Espiner got away, unchallenged, with misrepresenting Sue Bradford’s bill, which removed the parental right to beat children to within an inch of their lives, as a “smacking bill”. Both Wilson and Lackwit Williams knew perfectly well what Espiner was doing; neither of them had the gumption or the integrity to correct him on air.
POINT TO PONDER:
One of the advertising slogans for this outlet of unremitting bile and third-rate ranting is “NewstalkZB: Fair and Balanced.”
Issue number two: the G-r-r-r-r-reens are worried that tracking kindergarten children could be used for sinister purposes.
I am a Radio NZ listener, but on a Wed. morning I listen to Annette King and Steven Joyce. Once in a blue moon I forget to re-tune to Radio NZ and I caught the same segment.
I relate a story which happened three decades ago to a member of my family. It’s as relevant today as it was then. She was a solo Mum of three small children (Dad met another woman and left her literally holding the babies). The youngest (two years old) was prone to tantrums. It was an attention getting exercise and she would let him scream himself to sleep. A woman whose home backed onto the relative’s property (couldn’t see anything) rang Social Welfare and claimed physical abuse of the child. She made no attempt to ascertain the truth and my relative was put through the hoops. She was interrogated (twice) and made to feel like a criminal. The toddler was eventually examined and found to be fit and healthy. No apologies were forthcoming of course. This is the outcome of punitive ‘tracking’ exercises as being proposed by the Nat. govt. Innocent people get hurt and it can take a long time to recover from the ordeal. A good case in point was the “dob a beneficiary a day” scheme in the mid to late 1990s. Disgraceful stuff happened and I should know as I was one of the many victims who were falsely dobbed in…
And sooooooooo intelligent …….lambasting the venerable Bob Jones with the callow monkey-screeching of “You’re A Hypocrite. !” Oh whateveeeeer !
My porridge has never rested in a belly which rejoiced about Bob Jones. Heartburn if anything.
But…………particularly as a senior I have to say this: Good on you Bob ! You ain’t got a thing to lose so I expect lots more of this………punch home that good old commonsense !
It’s a piece of nonsense as Jones says. Why burden our selves trying to hold back the tide ?
What I akshully rilly like is that Jones acted, underneath it all, like he understands conclusively that the whole bizo of “The Vote” is a piece of crap and he might as well be reading a good book. Since he was there he just just danced the danced for commonse as he reflexively might. Better akshully than anyone there. ?
That’s all………..back on the zimmer !
Oh God How The Magnate And The Mouse Converge (giggle giggle……)
You can have almost anything you want as long as you plan ahead and save for it.
So sayeth the company whose top man got 8.55 million in 2011 and whose workers get pay reductions when franchises change hands and get sacked if they strike because of the injustice of it all.
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TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
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TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
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The new Prime Minister of Australia has made moves to scrap the tax on carbon emissions put in place to deter polluters, and gather revenue to help fund the necessary transition away from fossil fuels.
This decision will cost the Australian government almost $4billion in revenue, undermining the transition away from fossil fuels.
The carbon tax will be replaced with a Pollution Trading Scheme similar to New Zealand’s corrupt ETS, which as well as encouraging speculators and investors to make money out of pollution trading, and letting the polluters off the hook, dumps the bill on the tax payers.
Pollution Trading Schemes are a proven rort, overseeing a huge increases in carbon emissions by the polluters, but as money making scheme for investors, speculators and and international money traders, Pollution Trading Schemes have been less effective.
As a scheme to fight carbon pollution they are a total failure.
Despite the cuts to environmental and clean energy programs needed to scrap the carbon tax. In a statement that would make even John Key blush. The Australian Prime Minister insisted that this was a “good day for the environment”.
In an act of political showmanship Kevin Rudd has challenged the conservative opposition to a debate on removing the carbon tax knowing that they won’t show up because they basically support his moves, and have no counter argument.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/4b-of-cuts-to-terminate-carbon-tax-20130716-2q0xq.html
I think the Aussies should be taxed for their bush fires – think of all that immoral CO2 being released.
Tax the polluters I say!
And Jimmie proves the intellectual vigor of the RWNJ – absolutely none.
Interesting post on Socialist Aotearoa, about the relationship between supermarkets over-pricing fruit & vege, and hungry children.
It then goes onto alternative examples: e.g. Chavez nationalised some supermarkets and brought in price controls.
karol, I think this was the link you meant to put in:
http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/2013/07/supermarkets-super-profits-and-hidden.html
Yes, thanks. I had both posts open on separate tabs at the same time.
There’s also a problem with how the wholesalers are controlling things. It’s hard for many market gardeners to have choices about where and how they sell their produce, they get tied into existing supply line structures. I don’t quite know how it works except that when farmers try and get out of that it can be very hard.
My solution to such as this is the government buying enough farmland to supply all of NZ’s food needs. They then put in place a distribution network that delivers free to the door* at cost.
* Free delivery is far more efficient and cheaper than everyone going to a supermarket. It’s saves on time and fuel use.
I want x, y, z not a, b, c. How does that work?
Not sure what your asking? Why wouldn’t you be able to buy x,y and z?
If the governement doesn’t grow it.
Buy it off someone else. DTB’s suggestion, as I read it, was not for the government to take over all farmland, just “enough”. As we produce far more food than we consume, there would be plenty of land available to supply x, y and z through non-government sources.
Grow x, y and z yourself.
Vote for a party that will ensure x, y and z are available from the government.
Well,
1.) I’d have the farm managers instructed to meet demand
2.) Mono-culture would be banned
3.) All would be organic farms
Chances are that x,y and z would actually be grown if at all possible but if it isn’t then you’d still be able to purchase it elsewhere or, more than likely, the government distribution network would be able to supply it as well through standard purchasing agreements.
How do we reconcile the two Headlines out of the NZ Herald???
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10899065
HOUSE PRICES SKYROCKET
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10898808
INFLATION DROPS TO LOWEST SINCE 1999
Has anyone suggested that the basket of goods that makes up the CPI is a crock of shit and doesn’t reflect real inflation? It certainly doesn’t reflect inflation for the poor, if you are a family in the rental market or wanting to purchase a house then your cost of living has risen much more than CPI.
Using the tool below, a $1 item in 2000 will have inflated to $1.39 in 2013. A $1 house in 2000 will have inflated to $2.28….perhaps Housing needs to be weighted more heavily in CPI. Or will this lead to higher wage costs, is that the motivation. Just a thought?
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary_policy/inflation_calculator/
I was puzzled by the 3News coverage last night, because of the way it referred to inflation (I think in the same report).
It pissed me off to start with, with their promo for the item asking do the proposed changes to mortgage borrowing mean “you might not be able to afford to buy your first house” (or words to that effect). It DID include “you/your”. It set me thinking who 3 News consider to be their target audience? Certainly not low-mid income (lifetime) renters.
Anyway their factoring (in this or another news report last night) was too complicated (or at least covered too fast for my financial knowledge-level). But it seemed to relate to exports, imports and whatever….. low inflation (around 1%-2%) is good, no matter what.
It is fairly safe to assume as a demographic that even low-mid income renters contain a significant proportion of kiwi battlers who do indeed want the security of owning their own home, and a reasonable (emphasis here on the “reasonable”) person would consider the you/youre rhetorical. Do you likewise get all indignant because the news reader doesn’t address you personally by name?
Way to miss the point, pop. And to slip in another nasty ad hominem with it. Did I say anything about it not addressing me?
There are plenty of renters out there who are just struggling to pay the bills. Buying a home is not on the agenda. Many, like the state housing tenants in Glen Innes, just want secure state housing. Others just secure and safe affordable rental accommodation
The MSM does tend to cater to the middle classes. It’s no wonder that so many on low income people.
And part of NZ’s economic problems is the over-emphasis on home ownership as something everyone should be aspiring to.
Saarbo, there’s a section within the CPI called the non-tradeables, which more accurately reflects day to day costs. The CTU have just put out a press release which touches on that issue.
http://union.org.nz/news/2013/price-rises-hitting-low-income-families-harder
Thanks TRP. Exactly what I was thinking, glad to see CTU onto it!
HK, the new H1!
Yes, great idea!
Low inflation has a price.
The holding down of wages and conditions, and the erosion of our social services, and the reduction of living standards for those at the bottom. Mean while, middle class home owners enjoy low mortgage rates.
IMO, we need inflation at 4-5% to ensure everyone has a decent standard of living, and the poor are not sleeping in the streets.
THE WAR ON THE POOR:
The gluttonous Paula Bennettoinette steps in to distract from ShonKey Python’s failure to create the 170,000 new jobs he promised.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10899035
How long before one, several, many of this fetid oligarchy’s Leggo pieces loses it and something really, really, really bad happens ? At a WINZ office or the premises of some Haliburton/Blackwater modelled social mercenary corporate ?
Imagine the over-slapped Bennettoinette on Qeue + Adore the following Sunday, cheered on by the snippy gargoyle Susan Wood……..both aghast……..both deplooooaaaarrring violence……..both hating on the Leggo pieces……….Bennettoinette still proselytising the fantasy of King Canute.
This oligarchy’s cynical, amoral calculation to scapegoat and physically, mentally, and spiritually molest the weakest and the poorest……….it afflicts our society as a cancer.
North, you usually bring in interesting perspectives, but can I say that many of your post lately are bordering on the illegible.
Noted Weka. Since all comments on TS are in identical font I guess you mean “unintelligible”. As I say however, point noted. Cheers.
🙂
Drug tests for employees are a bloody waste of time and illegal.
Drug tests test if someone has taken drugs in about the last three weeks. Lets similarly impose an alcohol test that tests if someone has had a drink in about the last three weeks.
Like everything this government does – it is a fucking lie and a con.
Agreed vto.
If beneficiaries are to be compulsorily drug tested then I don’t see why MPs shouldn’t be breath tested each time they enter the debating chamber. After all creating and changing law is an important challenging job and you wouldn’t want people to be doing it while they are under the influence.
And MPs drug tested for that matter Mickey………you know………you can never be too vigilant(e).
Jah man!
Fair enough
And from watching Question time I am of an opinion that out esteemed PM /sarc has been partaking of the grape before entering the chamber.
Not really – Health & Safety Issue.
If you have an employee who has taken a mind altering drug in the past 3 weeks how can you trust that they are in their ‘right mind’ to make sure they are not still affected by any subsequent drug taking when they come to work?
You can’t. A ‘P’ Head or stoner cannot think rationally or objectively and if that person does come to work under the influence and subsequently makes a mistake that kills or injures someone then that is an unacceptable situation.
(Same with people that come to work pissed) – but is a lot easier to detect without needed a test of nay sort.
They should go find a job that carries no responsibility for other folk (Paper run perhaps?)
Um, having taken drugs in the last 3 weeks doesn’t mean you are impaired when you go to work. And drug testing post accident is generally regarded as the only acceptable use of the regime. But even that is useless, because urine testing doesn’t show impairment for cannabis, just that its in the system.
that doesnt even make sense jimmie
are you seriously saying that the mere fact you might partake of something, anything in the weekends means that you are unfit for work all the time?
A ‘P’ Head or stoner cannot think rationally – when they are really, really high. When theyre straight, they are probably good to go. Pretty much like anyone whos had too much to drink, once you sober up, (and recover) your fine
(unless your an addict – which once again has to be pointed out – the drug testing policy doesnt apply to addicts)
and as for your claim that you can detect piss heads easily without a test – bollocks 1) it then becomes accusation, not provable outcome and 2) pissheads can be rather good at covering their pissy-ness
If its a health and safety issue, which i agree that it is, the answer is in impairment testing – not presence of substance testing
“You can’t. A ‘P’ Head or stoner cannot think rationally or objectively and if that person does come to work under the influence and subsequently makes a mistake that kills or injures someone then that is an unacceptable situation.”
Stoners can’t think rationally? Good grief, do you know how many people smoke cannabis in this country? You think they are all incapable of making a rational decision to not use drugs while at work?
Does your point apply to alcohol? Why not?
The reality is that P (which does have a long term effect on personality and behaviour) cannot be detected by drug tests 48hrs after use, whereas cannabis tests can be positive 42 days after use. Well after the time that impaired decision making is an issue.
If the issue is preventative health and safety, it is not an effective tool. It also strikes me that those on manual jobs (and often the least paid) bear the brunt of random drug tests. Office workers and other services will be unlikely to be tested, but are probably just as likely to relax with their drug of choice – but it cannabis or alcohol.
Given the high percentage of NZers that have used cannabis, it is well past time a reasoned discussion is held about decriminalisation.
Someone get snapped? How are they illegal?
“Labour MP Maryan Street is under pressure to drop a member’s bill which would legalise euthanasia because her party is concerned it could be a negative distraction in the lead-up to the general election next year.” (NZ Herald today)
Street’s proposal is ideal for a binding referendum. Convince the people it’s a good idea and a binding referendum makes it law.
It should be OUR decision.
AmaKiwi
+1
A chance for Labour to do something useful for the people in line with them being the party that examines the status quo and is prepared to make changes and it might drop this proposal! Says a lot about this bunch of jerks running Labour.
It will come as no surprise that I detest the Labour party and everything it stands for . However, I really hope that Maryan Street does not succumb to party political pressure to withdraw this bill.
It is near criminal that in the year 2013 we insist that the terminally ill suffer simply because some people choose to allow their stone age superstitions to cloud their judgement and to force those same stone age superstitions upon others.
You are terminally stupid. I would support your being euthanized forthwith.
Hear hear Big Bruv ! Quite alot though not all is forgiven. Come up for sentence in 6 months if called upon.
Big Brother is watching….. 3 year olds! How much more of this do we have to take?
Since amongst the righties it’s farcically de rigueur to sheet many, many things back to Labour and Helen Clark……..imagine the outrage if this was in fact Labour and Clark ?
“Bloody nanny state…….numbering babies…….they’ll be tattoing them next !”
This is extraordinary.
There is no law enforcing compulsory education in New Zealand for children under 6 years old. Why on earth does the government think it reasonable to coerce parents into sending their children to ‘early childhood education’ simply because they are beneficiaries?
What else might the government require? That beneficiaries vacuum and dust their residence daily? That any lawns at their residence should never grow deeper than three inches? That they should never use expletives in public? That they should comb and brush their children’s hair daily? That they should enrol their children into the cubs and brownies?
And it is no justification to claim that early childhood education is ‘good for children’. If it is, then the government, to be consistent, should change the law to make it compulsory for all children of that age.
Thank goodness we’re no longer under Labour’s “Nana State”.
Those TVNZ cuts are really biting now:
Look at who they’ve promoted to “U.S. correspondent”
Television One Breakfast, Wednesday 17 July 2013, 6:58 a.m.
A North Korean vessel has been detained in Panama. No need for Television One viewers to be concerned, however: smiley, cheery weatherman-cum-“United States correspondent” Jack Tame is on the case….
JACK TAME: This ship, which had stopped in CUBA, was stocked with sugar, but officials in Panama have also found MISSILES and NON-CONVENTIONAL ARMS underneath the cargo of sugar.
RAWDON CHRISTIE: [sardonically] Oh yes?
JACK TAME: When they were arrested, [snicker], the captain of the ship had a heart attack, [snicker], and then tried to commit suicide!
TONI STREET: [troubled tone] Hmmmmmm….
JACK TAME: And the ship was apparently stocked up in CUBA with these missiles and arms.
At this point, to assist Television One viewers in formulating a suitable response, JACK TAME twists his mouth to indicate his distaste for the North Korean and Cuban scum.
RAWDON CHRISTIE: [grimly] And in violation of U.N. sanctions as well.
Cut to JACK TAME nodding his head, and frowning, to indicate how seriously he takes this story.
TONI STREET: [troubled tone] Hmmmmmm….
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Here’s Peter with the News.
Savour more cutting-edge Jack Tame journalism HERE….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21102012/#comment-537097
and HERE…
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16122012/#comment-563484
tame is just so bad it is beyond fucken belief..
..tame appears..and i disappear..
..(i find that best for blood-pressure/general peace-of-mind..
..his faux brow-furrows particularly annoy..little emoticons twitching away up there..)..
..so i flicked over to three..
..just in time to see the compere there curl her lips in utter disdain/disbelief..
..at the wildly out-there idea/examples..(from a visiting academic)..of workers co-op-run businesses..
..actually being successful..
..and a potent/practical means to help lessen inequality..to re-balance..
..which is shallower..?..
..tame or that breakfast compere..?
..aren’t we well served..
..phillip ure..
The video is here: http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/seized-n-korean-cargo-ship-contained-obsolete-cuban-weapons-5512781/video
Pretty different from your transcript, I can’t see what you are outraged about (other than his retarded hand gestures)
Pretty different from your transcript,
Like hell it’s “pretty different.” My rush transcript is as close as you can get to being there.
I can’t see what you are outraged about (other than his retarded hand gestures)
You “can’t see”? Why don’t you click on the two other links I provided and then do some thinking?
Jack Tame is also the US correspondent for NZ Herald… My blood pressure often rises at his fatuous comments and irrelevance. At a time when I would like US news to be presented to us from a NZ perspective, we are inflicted with the same old spin but with a NZ accent.
It must have been a deliberate decision to put a half-baked journo into this position as NZ commentator on all things US.
Do any of the MPs have any idea of how difficult it is to transport children to and from a preschool (a) if you have no car and the preschool is some distance away
(b) you have 1 or more other pre-schoolers, especially a baby
(c) if you have other children to see off to school?
Being able to pick up the pre-schoolers at a fixed time can be difficult even for the SUV driving mums.
Warning: Rant to follow.
This government is NASTY and unbelievably mean-spirited. This government is not meeting ITS obligation to the people of this country in so many ways. SHAME!!
Tautoko Viper
Good points. I believe this government hates parents from the lower income group, who get called by the definition ‘strugglers’, and doesn’t like their children much either, despite the fuss that they make in the news. Government only appears to care because our statistics compare badly to the rest of the developed world and attract criticism.
Scapegoating parents who can’t get their children to preschool is totally stupid. A more constructive solution is to provide free minibus transport to and from preschools- a pick up and drop off service. I would like to see preschools on the same site as a community centre with kitchen and rooms so that young mothers could be picked up by minibus together with their pre-schoolers, taken to the community centre. The kindergarten age children could then attend the kindergarten, younger babies could be in a crèche and the mothers could opt to join in free cooking classes or other educational courses, all run free of charge. Classes would include art, dance, yoga, and general interest, rather like the type of classes that night schools used to run (before this miserable lot scuppered them.)
Tautoko Viper
Yes agree completely. I would like school classes for the parents to be offered too. Many haven’t been able to complete their education. Once they have children it can provide a real incentive and steadying influence to get further education. Children can concentrate your mind in a totally new way!
All would benefit and it is so sad that there are these lost opportunities while gummint and the Mins of Ed and Social Welfare keep weaving their sticky little webs to trap beneficiaries, roll them up and eat them – just like spiders. Nothing left but some dry husks when the parents should be bounding upwards with a great life and opportunities in front of them and their children.
Humbug Corner
No. 17: JAY CARNEY
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“He is not a human rights activist, he is not a dissident.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—White House spokesman Jay Carney denounces dissident human rights activist Edward Snowden (17 July 2013)
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/snowden-not-human-rights-activist-white-house-5512106
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More humbugs….
No. 16 Barack Obama: “I wish Muslims across America & around the world a month blessed with the joys of family, peace & understanding.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11072013/#comment-661330
No.15 John Key: “They know this is an issue of national security…”
No. 14 Charles Saatchi: “I abhor violence of any kind against women…”
No. 13 Toyota New Zealand: “The more Kiwis that lean, the more motivated our ETNZ crew will be to win.”
No. 12 Pem Bird: “We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
No.11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 [REMOVED]
No. 9 [REMOVED]
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…” No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Interesting article on study of rich vs poor behavior
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IuqGrz-Y_Lc
Mighty River Power,
$2.43 and climbing,
Should be very good by the time the next election is held.
Now $2.42 and dropping.
Should be very good by the time the election is held. For the left, that is.
The Vote
Part of the Replublican Movement of Aotearoa campaign for a New Zealand head of State this year has been to push for better media coverage.
TV3’s show The Vote has offered this opportunity for the head of State debate.
For the republic side Bob Jones, Shane Jones and Laila Harre.
For the monarchy.. the usual suspects: Simon O’Conner, Ron Mark and Louise Wright.
The voting will open on 17 July (Wednesday) when the show is broadcast from 8:30 until 9:30.
This is our best oppportunity to get the issue discussed fully since TVNZ’s program in 2005.
Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/15/journalists-should-declare-vote
Yes I agree with this although in NZ you can pretty much guess that most journalists are left wing
no winston – they’re just grubby little opportunists
Winston
You are a shocker. You do a disservice by having the name Winston as I think Churchill was a wonderful man. You are just pitiful.
Wrong Winston. This one is Winston Smith, at the end of 1984 after he has learned to love
John KeyBig Brother.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10899034
This is a shame, I support this.
It might be this Ashcroft poll which the National Party is mailing out to electorates to determine
which policies they can sell.
But is this democracy ?
Wairua.
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2013/07/lord-ashcroft.html
The question should be: Why did they have no view either way?
I think you’ll find that they just have no information about the policy (i.e, they really just don’t know) and, most importantly, don’t know how to get the information. This is why having open government and referenda is actually important. It gives people the information they need to make a decision and then has them making that decision.
Amanda Palmer nails the Daily Mail, Daily Mail responds by, er, pretending it never happened:
http://amandapalmer.net/blog/20130713/
She is very cool.
good to see greaseball garner getting his comeuppance, sort of, in the dompost this a.m.
he thinks that because he is on teevee that he can do what he likes.
just a bit more rope and he will hang himself.
linky?
Yep, a satisfying read. And funny as.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/8923803/The-secret-diary-of-Duncan-Garner
Fitting name, as it’s Shearer walking the plank, blindfolded, in to a sea of sharks.
Still think that fluoridation of public water supplies helps to save the teeth of poor people?
Please don’t exercise ‘wilful blindness’, and write off those who base their anti-fluoride position on
scientifically-researched FACTS and EVIDENCE, (unlike the arguably pro-fluoride ‘nutters’)?
Have YOU yet read the following?
A) http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/439490/
“..chronic effects of fluoride involve alterations in the chemical activity of calcium by the fluoride ion. Natural calcium fluoride with low solubility and toxicity from ingestion is distinct from fully soluble toxic industrial fluorides …”
“Industrial fluoride ingested from treated water enters saliva at levels too low to affect dental caries. Blood levels during lifelong consumption can harm heart, bone, brain, and even developing teeth enamel.
The widespread policy known as water fluoridation is discussed in light of these findings. ….”
B) http://www.slweb.org/50reasons.html
50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation
Dr. Paul Connett
Professor of Chemistry
St. Lawrence University, NY 13617
______________________________________________________________________________
FYI ……………
OPEN LETTER
Tony Ryall
Minister of Health
Dear Minister,
In response to your reply, received today, 17 July 2013:
“On behalf of Hon Tony Ryall, Minister of Health, thank you for your email of 16 July 2013 about Fluoridation.
The Minister has asked Ministry of Health officials to advise him on the matters you have raised. Please be aware that due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, a personal reply to your letter may take some weeks.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Please be advised that am not requesting a ‘personal reply’ to my letter – I am expecting an OIA reply, according to the statutory framework – of 20 working days?
Arguably, if the ‘science is settled’, and yourself as Minister of Health and the Ministry of Health are so sure:
“there was no doubt science pointed to the fact that there were benefits for families from fluoridation, and that the levels of fluoridation in water were safe for New Zealanders.”
then the FACTS and EVIDENCE should surely be readily available, unless, of course it is yourself as Minister and Ministry of Health officials, who are providing the ‘misinformation’ about the benefits and safety of water fluoridation?
I do sincerely hope that this is not the case.
My understanding is that the basis of the scientific method is to ‘seek truth from facts’?
That is what I try to do as an ‘investigative activist’ (as it were).
I do understand that you’re extremely busy (there you are not alone), but both yourself, and Ministry of Health officials, may find it beneficial to take the time to read the results of some hundreds of hours of voluntary research I did relating to the quality of Waikato river water as a ‘raw source’ of drinking water for the Auckland region, back in November 2002:f
Then you may have a better understanding of why people such as myself, do NOT trust either the Ministry of Health, or Watercare Services Ltd, when it comes to the safeguarding of public health and drinking water supplies.
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Waikato-Amended-ACC-Presentation-18-10-02.pd
Please be reminded that as a 2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate, I do NOT support the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies, and this will be one of the my ‘campaign issues’.
Looking forward to receiving this OIA reply within 20 working days.
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
I know Bob Jones is a bit of a bastard but this piece in the Herald is funny.
He’s on The Vote tonight arguing against the monarchy. Can’t resist. Have to watch.
i thought it was the funniest show in ages..
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/the-vote-to-royal-or-not-to-royal-a-recommended-watch-as-a-comedy-show/
(excerpt:..)
“….first up for the royalists is that wettest of national mp’s..simon someone..(o’connor..)..”
(and by that i didn’t mean that he is ‘a wet’…just that he is ‘wet’..)
phillip ure..
“Ranting! Reacting! Reasoning! Reflecting!”
The voice of complacency and intolerance is as unbearable as ever.
The Huddle, NewstalkZB, Wednesday 17 July 2013, 5:45 p.m.
Larry “Lackwit” Williams, Colin Espiner, Janet Wilson
NewstalkZB is the radio station on which an increasingly unhinged and irrational Paul Holmes unleashed his obscenity-larded tirades against “darkies”, “lazy bludging Maoris” and “the professors” who had the temerity to call him a racist. It is the station on which the likes of Murray Deaker, Tony “Boot Boy” Veitch and Mark Watson have been given free rein to preach about “lazy” and “dumb” Polynesians and black American athletes that look like gorillas (Veitch’s assessment of Serena Williams). It is, most infamously of all, the station that mounted a public campaign of support for a man who chased down a fifteen-year-old boy and knifed him to death on a South Auckland street, and combined that with a brutal, orchestrated, round-the-clock, day after day, week after week, month after month, denunciation of the victim, his mother, his tetraplegic father, and his family. They even mocked the boy’s mother for crying in court; NewstalkZB’s evening chatterbox Kerre Woodham was heartless and craven enough to extend the campaign to admonishing her in print.
It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that the chatterboxes on NewstalkZB have no problem at all with the government’s recent moves to make life even tougher for the poorest of the poor. But, even though I expected it, I was still shocked by the combination of indifference, callousness and the cavalier disregard for human rights expressed by the empty vessels on this evening’s edition of The Huddle. I tuned in toward the end of the program, but I’m sure the first half was no better than what I did manage to hear….
LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Issue number two: the G-r-r-r-r-reens are worried that tracking kindergarten children could be used for sinister purposes. Colin, what do you think?
COLIN ESPINER: I personally have not got a problem with it, Larry. I mean, …..[rambles on incoherently for a minute or so.]
LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Exactly! Janet, what do you think?
JANET WILSON: I don’t have a problem with it as it stands, Larry. In fact, I think it’s a FANTASTIC idea. It’s a WONDERFUL idea….[continues raving for a minute and a half]
LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Issue number three, the Labour Party is putting pressure on Maryan Street to withdraw her private member’s bill for Euthanasia from the ballot, because it has the potential to be seen as a distraction in election year.
COLIN ESPINER: This says a lot about the state of mind of the Labour Party! They don’t want to be caught up in something controversial again, like they were when they supported Sue Bradford’s smacking bill.
JANET WILSON: Mmmmm, mmmmm.
LARRY “LACKWIT” WILLIAMS: Exactly! That’s The Huddle for another night. Janet Wilson and Colin Espiner, thank you!
JANET WILSON: Thank you Larry!
COLIN ESPINER: Thank you Larry!
Note that Espiner got away, unchallenged, with misrepresenting Sue Bradford’s bill, which removed the parental right to beat children to within an inch of their lives, as a “smacking bill”. Both Wilson and Lackwit Williams knew perfectly well what Espiner was doing; neither of them had the gumption or the integrity to correct him on air.
POINT TO PONDER:
One of the advertising slogans for this outlet of unremitting bile and third-rate ranting is “NewstalkZB: Fair and Balanced.”
I am a Radio NZ listener, but on a Wed. morning I listen to Annette King and Steven Joyce. Once in a blue moon I forget to re-tune to Radio NZ and I caught the same segment.
I relate a story which happened three decades ago to a member of my family. It’s as relevant today as it was then. She was a solo Mum of three small children (Dad met another woman and left her literally holding the babies). The youngest (two years old) was prone to tantrums. It was an attention getting exercise and she would let him scream himself to sleep. A woman whose home backed onto the relative’s property (couldn’t see anything) rang Social Welfare and claimed physical abuse of the child. She made no attempt to ascertain the truth and my relative was put through the hoops. She was interrogated (twice) and made to feel like a criminal. The toddler was eventually examined and found to be fit and healthy. No apologies were forthcoming of course. This is the outcome of punitive ‘tracking’ exercises as being proposed by the Nat. govt. Innocent people get hurt and it can take a long time to recover from the ordeal. A good case in point was the “dob a beneficiary a day” scheme in the mid to late 1990s. Disgraceful stuff happened and I should know as I was one of the many victims who were falsely dobbed in…
Oh What A Big Pure Piece Is DungCan Garner?
And sooooooooo intelligent …….lambasting the venerable Bob Jones with the callow monkey-screeching of “You’re A Hypocrite. !” Oh whateveeeeer !
My porridge has never rested in a belly which rejoiced about Bob Jones. Heartburn if anything.
But…………particularly as a senior I have to say this: Good on you Bob ! You ain’t got a thing to lose so I expect lots more of this………punch home that good old commonsense !
It’s a piece of nonsense as Jones says. Why burden our selves trying to hold back the tide ?
What I akshully rilly like is that Jones acted, underneath it all, like he understands conclusively that the whole bizo of “The Vote” is a piece of crap and he might as well be reading a good book. Since he was there he just just danced the danced for commonse as he reflexively might. Better akshully than anyone there. ?
That’s all………..back on the zimmer !
Oh God How The Magnate And The Mouse Converge (giggle giggle……)
McDonalds agrees – an employee cannot live on the minimum wage in the U.S. They helpfully suggest the employee budget in a second income and then, according to their example
So sayeth the company whose top man got 8.55 million in 2011 and whose workers get pay reductions when franchises change hands and get sacked if they strike because of the injustice of it all.