You would have to assume that the farming community in Hawkes Bay want to simply want to take this river all for themselves for use an irrigator and a cow-sewer drain.
They think everything and everyone is just a commodity.
No, it’s actually worse than that – they think everything and everyone is there for their convenience. Thing is, we’ve actually been telling them that for the last 100 years or so.
“…You would have to assume that the farming community in Hawkes Bay want to simply want to take this river all for themselves for use an irrigator and a cow-sewer drain…”
Take out the word assume…
Effectively, what they want is to take control of a public asset (water) for their exclusive private profit (dairy conversions) and expect the ratepayers and taxpayers to pay for the consequences.
The brazen cheek of it, the complete and utter dismissal of environmental issues, the zero concern for the flora and fauna which currently inhabits the area (i.e. kill the animals, no worry), the lack of respect, the lack of care.
It is the colonial settler approach to the environment.
@vto….especially the corporate farming sector( and I would overseas newly arrived …last 20 years….Brits etc who dont give a toss about NZ’s natural environment …..just their back pocket dairy and property development profits)…..there are a lot of small non dairy NZ farmers who are environmentalists….as are many people living in the country who want their rivers back at full flow and clean so they can swim in them again…..
I’d like to ‘gag’ some of the male cats around my whare, sniffing around ‘Minnie’ and spraying on the freakin doorsteps. oooh, could be a few metaphorical analogies to be found in there… 😀
“What the fuck is the matter with the farming sector? Bloody ignorant and selfish in the extreme”
True-ish. But then there are the regulators, and the people that give them the power to regulate. How many people are taking regional council elections seriously at the moment? (sorry Canterbury).
Could this from John Armstrong in the Herald this morning be a sign that Armstrong is contemplating getting into his craft in an honourable and serious way ?
I expect there will be a few flashbacks to banal and lazy facileness but he’s starting to look not bad is Armstrong.
There does remain for correction/apology that risible hallucination of yore – “John Key has gravitas……”
I don’t mean to be nasty, but it seems that his Parkinsons’ had got the better of him.
You can say many things about Key, but that he has gravitas…it made me laugh out loud.
“The barrage against Cunliffe has started, [Key] accusing him of being far-left”
Well I guess to an extreme neo-liberal common social democratic policies might seem a bit difficult to understand. In successful Euro countries they’re just BAU.
I think he just found it refreshing to find someone who isn’t an oratorical retard in charge of the Labour party, to which I can only amen and hallelujah brother.
Agreed – except that I don’t regard someone versed in corporate-speak and buzz as being any better. Still – I bet he’s had ‘learnings’ since then, and we should never underestimate the ability of the s-h-r to survive. He (Key) said that he’ll treat Cunliffe with “respect”. That’ll be a change at least. Here’s hoping he treats parliament and democratic principles the same way.
Armstrong doesn’t seem to have understood that the caucus, not Cunliffe, decide the deputy & whip. Cunliffe can state his preference, and maybe do some lobbying, but ultimately he only has one vote on those roles in the caucus.
Thanks. In all the well-justified excitement around the Labour leadership election, the re-invigoration of the left, and the great start that DC has gotten off to .. it’s been easy to let these very large and fundamental matters slip off the radar.
The article you linked to is, of all the very many pixels I’ve devoured on the topic, one of the very most concise and cogent. Well worth the read.
Cunliffes had one day in charge and already he has taken the challenge to John Key on the copper issue, raised the issue of the nations children and poverty and made it clear he will do what’s necessary to bring about unity in the Labour caucus.
Key is doing his best to try and portray “Im not worried” but you can see in his eyes he is.
I know its very early days but no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on I think most would agree Cunliffe got off to a very good start on day one.
In the fall of 2008, the U.S. economy nearly collapsed thanks to an unprecedented wave of mortgage foreclosures. In “After the Meltdown — Where are they now?” the Center for Public Integrity revisits the subprime lenders, Wall Street banks and government regulators that were most responsible for the crash — and finds few if any have been held accountable.
an example,
Richard Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Fuld earned about $69.5 million in 2007, the year before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in Sept. 2008. From 2000 to 2007, he was awarded about $889.5 million and cashed out about $529 million of that before the company went bankrupt.
He owns homes in Greenwich, Connecticut, Jupiter Island, Florida and a ranch in rural Idaho.
Fuld has since started a consulting firm called Matrix Advisors LLC.
Yep when you get the money you can keep the honey.
Yup, the system is nicely stitched up, with Maddoff the only real fall guy inside the imperialist financial sector, and thats because he ripped off the very wealthy!
Otherwise its been SNAFU, with the banks/insurance/financial vehicles all steaming ahead, at expense of the planet, and its inhabitants!
All and any distractions, such as can be seen in the Middle East, are part of the on-going wars, which the controllers of the banking/financial/military industrial complex, are directing!
It takes unimaginable power, to brush off the largest crimes that history has ever known, as if they never happened at all!
Hey Muzza, yep I’m great (getting married in 3 weeks!!!)
I find it amazing that these scum have ended up (in truth they never had any fall at all) back earning the big bucks as if the meltdown and their greed never happened WTF!!!
marty, while what you say is true, these scum will eventually have meltdown of another kind not to do with money and greed, for meltdowns still happen to the wealthy. How many big bucks will they take with them (for they actually are going to die before very long!)? All I can suggest is that they ensure burial in solid gold coffins! That might make their uneasy souls feel a little better?
Yes Dr Terry so true – ‘Don’t fear the reaper’ – I think they would be wise to, considering the amount of suffering to others they have directly caused and are still causing. I’m sure when the inevitable becomes obvious to them they will turn up at the nearest soup kitchen to try and make amends lol – very few of them distribute their ill-gotten gains before the big scythe starts moving in their direction, more’s the pity.
Congratulations Marty, busy/exciting times for all involved.
I find it amazing that these scum have ended up (in truth they never had any fall at all) back earning the big bucks as if the meltdown and their greed never happened WTF!!!
The financial system is the biggest lie going, and with the architecture that is its design, it is with certainty, that the same entities come out on top, so tight are the industries which hang off global finance and markets.
Sure some businesses will falter and fail, but it makes no difference, the name of the game is monopoly, and that is more or less what the world has to deal with, control being the MO, and there is no view of it ending, if it does, it is going to be bad news, for pretty much all parts of the globe.
So in effect your right, there has been no fall off, if there was, the system would more or less collapse, derivatives running at orders of magnitude to what the planets energy, human/otherwise is able to support, pretty much locks in some rather nasty outcomes, not sure the bankers owners though, and their minions.
They are busy off buying real assets, life supporting assets, while the rest are left with debt, which requires energy to pay back, or if people are lucky, they will be left holding worthless paper, which won’t keep you alive if TSHTF!
…..this morning between 8.30 and 9.00am they had Peter Dunne giving his opinion that David Cunliffe was not going to be any good against John Key in parliament…..a pathetic personal attack!….(I thought we were over these)
….It was a statement not related to anything….just slotted in….just a bald party political broadcast from National undercutting and dissing David Cunliffe at a personal level….to Radio NZ listeners .
…..and since when has this badly discredited Peter Dunne…. some would say immoral and cynically expedient politician, recently found without a party…and scrambling to get membership….. without any moral compass except to stay in parliament, keep his money and perks…. and boot- lick John Key……been a political commentator on Labour and Labour Party members choice of a Leader….It is disgraceful! The gall and ego of this little, religious hypocritical turncoat greedy man parrot….
And SHAME on RadioNZ….who is in charge of ‘news’?!….are they also National Party boot- lickers?
It had nothing to do with anything …and it was great disrespect to Labour Party voters…is this a calculated indoctrination torture drip treatment to Radio NZ listeners …who expect fair play .
Pter Dunne being interviewed by Demelza Leslie on Radionz with his well modulated baritone avuncular voice. Talking about John Key’s vast ability at understatement. Would that be like ‘Well Peter this policy is really important to us but of course you must decide its merits for yourself, and we will wait with pregnant anticipation to see if you deliver’. Like that maybe!
If people who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear in NZ, what does he think that Dnnne got to hide because he wont release his emails?
alternative
Given people who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear in giving up their communications why does this government have the worst record of Ministerial releases pursuant to the OIA?
From RadioNZ news at 10, David Cunliffe is said to favor David Parker as both His Finance Spokesperson and His deputy,
The claim goes further saying that Cunliffe is promoting Grant Robertson as ‘leader of the House’ which would leave Trevor Mallard out in the cold,
Those of course are not the words of David Cunliffe himself, and this maybe National Radio involving itself in a spot of underhand Jonolism which it will probably use if the Caucus elects Robertson as deputy, to set up a ‘Cunliffe got rolled slur’…
I think Grant would be a great leader of the house provided he has a great grasp of all the rules. We dont need another Brownlee in the house who despite 20 years in the place doesnt know the rules.
Lolz, other than repeating RadioNZ’s speculation i am not going to speculate, except LOLZ, to say that David Cunliffe obviously has the smarts to collect around Him a core group who He knows will give their full support to His Leadership,
Should Labours back-benches suddenly take on the look of the old folks home signalling bye bye to any number of familiar faces in 2014 i will Lolz all the louder,
Hopefully Party Central are now beginning to take a long hard look at the Party List with a view to arranging this so as to give David Cunliffe some top flight candidates for the future,
i do tho have to wonder what will become of that well known Gypsy Journo ‘Jane’, where next will Her fine feathers find a nest…
RadioNZ are giving more detail right now and it appears that they have got their detail from an earlier meeting between David Cunliffe,Grant Robertson,Shane Jones and Moira Coatsworth…
which still leaves the question of, why the leak? Unless someone in there isnt happy with what they are going to get and is using the media to get the message out so feelings can be expressed to change a mind?
No i don’t think it was a leak, seems to have been a deliberate fronting of the media after the meeting of the above by the above, if you can follow that,
More a show of ‘we are working this out together’ and quite happy to let the media and therefor the public see us doing that working out…
I think – am I being petty? Answer is yes I am. I think I’m jealous because I couldn’t dare to expose myself and my fat in lycra. Note to myself – leave the lycra alone but get sleek like a seal without it. Maybe I’ll start today.
Korn’s (not the band ), Alejandro (1830-1936) , born in San Vicente, Argentina, reading of Kant and Schopenhauer led him to move away from the *positivism predominant in Latin American philosophy in the late 19th century.While still retaining their central claim that knowledge must be based on experience, he went on to assert that philosophy must not be reduced to analysis of empirical facts, but is fundamentally concerned with values.In La libertard creadora he proposed a creative concept of *freedom according to which the ends of human actions is to overcome the laws of necessity that govern the objective world, through the realization of creative impulse, manifested in self-control and the technological (stewardship) of nature. Axiologia , his most important work (1930) defends a subjectivist position, wherein value is understood as relative to human evaluation.
-Solomon Lipp, Three Argentine Thinkers :New York, 1969.
I just throw in this fascinating, lively–minded, mobile action philosopher on something different from capitalism – what, how, beyond words. Follow Slavoj Žižek: Don’t Act. Just Think. Wise!
friend of mine follows his thought and work; must get a text.Anyway, interesting parallels between those Greek history references of yours and the Stephanides family central to the Eugenides grand social realism narrative middlesex . Can see why it won The Pulitzer.
Rogue T
Took a note of that for later, into my browser notes and saw an earlier one that someone mentioned . Here is a youtube of people singing something beautifully to brighten your day.
Ave Verum http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU4adUfck-AjT2y1pY1Qt9gQ
If I was advising Key I’d suggest to let Cunliffe have his honeymoon and only do some very gentle ribbing, something along the lines of hoping Cunliffe getts the same support he gave Goff and Shearer or something similar maybe involving Robertson…nothing major though
If i was advising Slippery i would tell him to book the tickets to Hawaii now and save a few bucks on the fare,
Now who did the little shyster shaft to get the top job in the National Party again, i forgot there’s been so many, Bill from Dipton??? Doctor Dullard Don Brash???, the detail escapes me around the laughter,
One more bad poll and Judith Collins will start counting the numbers among the back bench who are all counting the numbers right now to see who’s left after 41% and falling…
Kind of the point.
On 41%, with no friends other than Banks, Dunne and the Maori Party remnants, the nats are fucked. Or are you pinning your hopes on Winston.
And post-election, the government selleth, the government can also taketh away…
I’m quietly confident that National will be returned to power based on how the country has been run for the last couple of years and that Labour will (once again) shoot itself in the foot
So given the level of support of your current coalition partners are you suggesting that National will actually increase its vote and garner a majority to govern alone?
Of course he is. Nat support is increasing – 45% in 2008, 47% in 2011, at that rate they’ll be on 49/50% in 2014. Possibly even enough to govern alone!
Of course, reality might choose to show it’s liberal bias…
Seeing is ‘those numbers’ as you put it have been arrived at via 51% and 47% i would suggest that they are indeed numbers to die for as far as Slippery’s National Government is concerned,
And might add if it gets below 40% it’s odds on that it will be Judith Colin’s National Government that contests and loses(horribly) the 2014 election…
By your reckoning, then, over on the West Island, Tony Abbott must have got his arse handed to him when he only scored 31.76% of the vote compared with Kevin Rudd’s 33.83%.
Here’s a new word for you to learn: C o a l i t i o n.
Kropotkin, Peter (1842.-1921) was the most influential theorist of *anarchism for several decades following the death of Bakunin in 1876. (in the great scheme of things, not a long, long time ago, and considering the persistence of Putin…anyway I digress). Early in his life he rejected his aristocratic background, and while consistently maintaining his faith in the supreme goodness of human nature, attributed the evidence to the contrary (of which there is much, sadly) to the insidious influence of state authority and exploitative capitalism. For him, any external authority was corrupted by definition. This conviction underlay his disinclination to describe the organizational principles of an anarchist movement or society, believing that it was preferable the oppressed masses arrange the system under which they live.In addition to his attempts to imbue society with ethical principles, Kropotkin produced many practical plans for the improvement of the agricultural and industrial communities of his time.
His biting 😉 criticisms of the terrible power of the state to disrupt and destroy what he considered natural communities remain impressive and moving today.
Vote? Yes! Belong to a party if it meets needs for authenticity ; I will, what’s $5? Being John Malkovich fan and all that. haha 😀 (it’s all-comers time again, politically, I mean 😉 ).
Stable anyone?
Kuhn, Thomas (1922-1996), wrote the most influential book in modern philosophy of science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). In it he argued that scientists work within and against the background of ‘paradigms’, unquestioned theories and sets of beliefs.Sometimes these paradigms become unstuck, or redundant, and it is necessary that a new one be established. Stimulating, and controversial to Kuhn’s position (in addition to Polanyi’s claims of plagiarism), is his central claim that there can be no strictly logical reason for paradigm change; like political revolutions 😉 , partisans argue in a circular fashion from within their own camps. This claim was an anathema to traditional rationalists like Popper, for whom science is the apotheosis of sound and logical defensive thought (wonder where sarin and VX fit into that equation).
Paradoxically, however, both Kuhn and Popper are evolutionary epistemologists, seeing essential analogies between their (quite different) views on scientific change and the evolution of organisms.
G.Gutting, Paradigms and Revolutions :Notre Dame, Indiana, 1980.
“her father was a Grand Wizard in the KKK”- Iced T.
CV / DtB (in particular), Have you guys seen this? Not anything you probably haven’t read countless times elsewhere but interesting to see it all laid out in one article 🙂
Fully agree. Have a sniff around some of his other articles too – he manages to dig up the odd fillip of information that I haven’t previously seen or had context of. Likewise Matt Taibbi (although I don’t much share his political views).
Truth??? Well it certainly aligns with everything else that I have been following/reading/researching for the last few years and IMHO Greg Palast has been pretty reliable.
YMMV of course but such are the joys of critical thinking 🙂
Yep its going to be good we get our country back next election and the fascist austerity mongering thieving national party will be gone for good
First job to get the 1% to pay the 7 billion in tax they owe the rest of us so we can own what we’ve built since the beginning of time
And jail these so called elected officials who ruin this country with their back room deals
We need a system that will scare the powerful straight and make them personally accountable. Too much has happened in this country that has lead it on the rotten path to where we are now by politicians who have abused the offices the administer
And their estates should be liable as well
This is very sad, that have taken to write letters to yourself publicly to remind yourself of the mantra you have been brainwashed to believe in order to uphold the failed political views that you support.
Wouldn’t it be easier to revise your views and base them on what has occurred in the last few years?
The 1% is what keeps the government fiscally afloat. You know so you can get your welfare check each week.
Wrong as usual, shitlands. It’s actually the government which keeps the 1% afloat. By not taxing capital, by not closing tax loop holes, by allowing asset price speculation and by tolerating rentier behaviour.
Put another way, if the 1% want their social license to operate to continue, they better sort out their own more sociopathic members and demonstrate a little more solidarity and community with everyone else.
LOL @ you pretending to be in the 1%… apirational maybe but not actual…hence being led around by the nose by the 1% and their reps dangling the carrot of breaking into the 1% under your nose. They laugh at you more than I do.
Remember three weeks ago when you said you didnt care enough about politics to get emotional about it, when did that change because you’ve been quite aggressive and name-cally for a couple of weeks?
I have worked as a cleaner and know that a cleaner withdrawing their labour is much more effective than an academic. The thing is, SSlands would keep cleaning up their mess in the middle of a strike, all the while thinking he was one of them.
I meant no disrespect to cleaners, but will take the opportunity to tell a little story. One time, when I was at work in Brazil, a cleaner was in my office and we were chatting about Carnaval and stuff. One of the big professors entered and butted in. I told him “Excuse me, but I’m talking to Conceição.” He was appalled and asked me later what I thought I was doing. I told him I was giving equal value to all human beings, which seemed a bit of a novel concept. It made me a bit of a legend among the cleaners, the maintenance people, the security guards, and the kids from the favela. Even some of the students liked it. More importantly, the cleaners started to question why they were treated like shit on a daily basis.
Good story, Murray. I know you meant no disrespect to cleaners. I understood your point that you were making with Srylands. Indeed, the power elite need to have people like Srylands cleaning up after them whilst persuading these dupes that they are part of the elite.
It comes out in some working class folk who vote tory because that’s how their betters vote, and should be emulated, as some of the crumbs off the table just might come their way. A form of snobbery, a hope of inclusion by association, a need for security.
My point was about social value for money paid. Can’t let the 1% think they’re actually doing something useful for humanity, after all.
My cleaner story involved a mate at Uni who earned money in the evening cleaning at St Andrew’s College. Whilst sweeping out the prep room he noticed a student had made an error in his French homework and pointed it out. The student was amazed that a cleaner could actually know French, and be educated, and even know more than he did. Bill became quite popular in that prep room helping out with the HW- French, German, English.
Stated simply: every time you “charge it” and a credit card is swiped, literally or metaphorically, the NSA knows all about it and if it triggers a specific filter, congratulations: the NSA will be tracking your every transaction in perpetuity.
Diane Ravitch on the hoax that will be introduced next year.
The money allocated to privately managed charters and vouchers represents a transfer of critical public resources to the private sector, causing the public schools to suffer budget cuts and loss of staffing and services as the private sector grows, without providing better education or better outcomes for the students who transfer to the private-sector schools.
just in case, this is not in another thread.
-Nat announce 90M to Partnership Schools.
+to an offshoot of an existing Private School in Remmers
+in Mangere East, the Partnership School will not be teaching evolution
+no guarantee disadvantaged children’s needs will be met
+ the only barrier to privileged migration being geographic location
“Trish Rea, a spokeswoman for Legasea – which represents recreational fishers – said the changes would hurt mum and dad fishers who fished in inshore areas where 50 per cent of fish caught were below 30cm.”
Thanx Naaythaan Guuuyyyy,
What’s happened to the “mum and dad National Party”, oh yeah I forgot….they fulla shite
And that reminds me: what happens when due to unforeseen financial circumstances a purchaser can’t come up with the second instalment for their Meridian shares despite receiving dividends for 18 months, after only paying half the total cost on purchase day?
Question Time: 17.9.2013
Q.1 (on the Commerce Commission and Chorus)
-Key, the Clown, sooo bitchy; not even funny, hence the ‘canned laughter’ from the Nat benches (Carter The Ringmaster).
“govt. not going to provide demand-side incentivization re fibre uptake.” (was policy labour adopted under DC as Min. Telecommunications).
The ‘discussion document “every scenario” excludes Commerce Commission recommendations, ie, Nat are over-riding the regulator.
Q.3: Russel Norman on the RWSS.
-Nick Smith did discuss the DOC submission to the Board of Enquiry.
-avoids responsibility and passes the buck to the Deputy Director General.(this question needed to be asked three times).
-Thank Goodness for the Sky: into each community a little rain may fall.
-followed by more circularity (weak man) passes off to Adams (Adams fails to score; maybe a Four-Day meth. binge coming up for her).
-finally, NS acknowledges DOC’s role in fresh water quality issues; draft document went to the Minister. Russel called their bluff when Brownlee tried to block tabling the ‘draft’; no objection.
Q.3: essentially, Fed placing downward pressure on emerging economy currencies
and Syria /Oil
Q.5: The Sweetener; reductions in ACC levies.
Q.6: (Chippie looked down in the dumps with the other Chris) 😀
Q.8: Twyford on housing affordability to Nick Smith who cherry-picked his statistical data (Roost Home Affordability Index; contrast with 2007 and the present) before the increases in inequality.
Q.9: ‘Vanguard Military School’- says it all really. (although, both Parata and Smith sounded tipsy).
Q.9: wonder what the Right have to say about the “carving tutors”; % of registered teachers (core curriculum delivery) 100- 79- so on down the line…….
Q.10: well, even Dunne asserts that environmental matters will be worse under the Minister amy adams (small initials).
Has anyone asked PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA when he will be doing tours of the 1200 homes in his electorate which are for sale under half a mill.
I know I seem to be picking on him but he promised so much back in 2009
“Monday, May 11. 2009
National’s work in Maungakiekie only just begun
My work in Onehunga has only just begun with my electorate office now up and running says Maungakiekie MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.
More than 300 people braved the wind and rain last Friday night to attend the official opening of Sam’s office by Prime Minister, John Key.
“The Prime Minister said our win in Maungakiekie last year was one of the three great results from the 2008 election. He also said the diverse communities which make up Maungakiekie are the new face of New Zealand.
“I couldn’t agree with him more. I am committed to working hard for the people of Maungakiekie. I have an open door at my office and want to encourage people passing by to stop and meet the team.
“I was also honored to have Auckland City Mayor, the Hon. John Banks speak at the office opening. He is right behind my work in securing a positive outcome for the Onehunga Bay restoration project.
“I want to thank all the people and community groups, including the Maungakiekie Community board, the Onehunga Enhancement Society, and Progressive Panmure Business Association, who came along to celebrate the opening.
“Together, we can work together to build a strong community. National’s work in Maungakiekie has only just begun. We are here to stay”.
“
All they need is a hardworking candidate that can take it too the snakey sam and highlight his statements and behaviours, he pretty much got a free ride from the ineffective Beaumont in 08 and 11.
Sam even put back up the loansharking legislation that beaumont had voted down to which she made no fuss about in town hall debates during the 11 campaign.
An example of a seat that can be won back by labour with the right candidate.
They are very effective though at using the parliamentary dosh to poke flyers in the letterboxes on a regular basis.
Just watched a clip from question…oh dear Cunliffe its too early to be losing momentum just now so best be upping your game or you’ll just make it too easy for JK
41% and falling ain’t quite a definite bye bye Slippery card, 40 tho is definitely the redundancy notice with a convenient map of the way to the exit printed on the reverse…
sorta like they say; Paper Fish; Rec. down to 7 and up to 30cm min; Commercial remains at 25cm (heaps of discarded by-catch) A few more hundy tonne for Rec (yet requiring greater discards and so on, sigh.). Observers (cameras?) on all Comm. boats by 2018.
and then, there is always the local chippie… 😀 (gotta go and research what a ‘nerf’ is).Demonstration effect. Ha.Hilarious.
I hope something effective can be done against dumping, but I won’t be holding my breath with this government. I’d also love to see more marine reserves.
well, with this proposed ‘National Significance’ plan change Board of Freakin’ Enquiry for the RWSS the NActs are ignoring aspects of legislated Fresh Water Management, Coastal Management, and the current RMA, so no need to hold our breaths, there will be f*ck all water.
(learnt to Wheelie, and so Forth, on those riverbanks, and a few other rites of passage).
Campbell Live tonight – the Maungakiekie electorate held by selfish, mainchance, self-promoting National Party MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iinga – the claims he made on TV3’s 3rd Degree last week as to (1) availability and (2) affordability of first home-buyer housing in his electorate:
It is palpable and indisputable. He was spectacularly wrong on both counts. Not just a little bit wrong, spectacularly wrong.
There are two stark choices – (a) Sam is so ignorant of the realities in his electorate as to be guilty of recklesslessness/negligence, or (b) he knows the realities but wilfully misrepresents.
Take your pick. Either way he is unfit and a scab on his people. Oh how ShonKey Python’s much vaunted “higher standards” have cleansed and enhanced NZ politics.
The whole CL segment was depressing to this renter. Property madness is totally out of control. One suburb after another gets taken over by people desperate to pay more than the land’s worth to get their own little patch. Meanwhile the poor are squeezed out of yet more suburbs.
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For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
NONFICTION1 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Books, $25)Number one with a bullet of common sense and concise thinking on the Treaty, boiled down to 32 pages. A free copy of the most important book in New Zealand right now was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway ...
Opinion: Recent media reports revealed Te Whatu Ora did not follow a formal tender process when purchasing $575,000 worth of vaping products from RELX, a company accused of allegedly bribing the New Zealand Government.These latest revelations come after several controversial policy decisions that appear to favour tobacco and vape industry ...
When it comes to having a baby in New Zealand, you’re not spoilt for choice.Strains on maternity services mean many families cannot get a community midwife, just as the World Health Organization calls for the expansion of the model, saying it would save millions of lives each year.It’s all about ...
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New Zealand is now in a sweet spot for potential infrastructure funding and projects, a new report from law firm Bell Gully concludes.The report, The Big Picture: Infrastructure – changing tides and new opportunities, says a surge of announcements before Christmas and the advent of new agencies, tools and mechanisms, ...
By Lagi Keresoma in Apia The Miss Pacific Islands Pageant (MPIP) Committee has finally issued a statement — 5 days after damaging social media attacks following the 2025 Pageant finals hosted by the Solomon Islands last Saturday. The statement yesterday simply said the committee recognised and deeply regretted the distress ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – The New Zealand government and the mainstream media have gone ballistic (thankfully not literally just yet) over the move by the small Pacific nation to sign a strategic partnership with China in Beijing this week. It is the latest in ...
The Chinese have politely told the Kiwis to back off. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters that China and the Cook Islands have had diplomatic relations since 1997 which “should not be disrupted or restrained by any third party”. “New Zealand is rightly furious about it,” a TVNZ Pacific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When parliamentarians left Canberra on Thursday after the fortnight sitting, federal politics had the air of an uneasy waiting game. Waiting for the election date, although the campaign has been running for months. ...
The Health Committee has heard from both the Minister for Mental Health, and from members of the public offering their own lived experience of mental health treatment. ...
The regional imperialist powers, including Australia, New Zealand and France have maintained neo-colonial control over the Southwest Pacific for more than a century, keeping the fragile island nations in a state of dependency with conditions of poverty ...
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You would have to assume that the farming community in Hawkes Bay want to simply want to take this river all for themselves for use an irrigator and a cow-sewer drain.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/221858/doc-paper-says-dam-proposal-'risky‘
Eating the environment. Again.
What the fuck is the matter with the farming sector? Bloody ignorant and selfish in the extreme
They think everything and everyone is just a commodity.
Their grandchildren will not thank them.
No, it’s actually worse than that – they think everything and everyone is there for their convenience. Thing is, we’ve actually been telling them that for the last 100 years or so.
I do agree that theres too many dairy farms being set up in areas where they shouldn’t be
“…You would have to assume that the farming community in Hawkes Bay want to simply want to take this river all for themselves for use an irrigator and a cow-sewer drain…”
Take out the word assume…
Effectively, what they want is to take control of a public asset (water) for their exclusive private profit (dairy conversions) and expect the ratepayers and taxpayers to pay for the consequences.
Yep. I am gobsmacked.
The brazen cheek of it, the complete and utter dismissal of environmental issues, the zero concern for the flora and fauna which currently inhabits the area (i.e. kill the animals, no worry), the lack of respect, the lack of care.
It is the colonial settler approach to the environment.
Completely irresponsible.
@vto….especially the corporate farming sector( and I would overseas newly arrived …last 20 years….Brits etc who dont give a toss about NZ’s natural environment …..just their back pocket dairy and property development profits)…..there are a lot of small non dairy NZ farmers who are environmentalists….as are many people living in the country who want their rivers back at full flow and clean so they can swim in them again…..
“could kill the Tukituki River; focus on phosphorus to the exclusion of nitrogen level increases toxic”.
Where America goes….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag-Gag
I’d like to ‘gag’ some of the male cats around my whare, sniffing around ‘Minnie’ and spraying on the freakin doorsteps. oooh, could be a few metaphorical analogies to be found in there… 😀
“What the fuck is the matter with the farming sector? Bloody ignorant and selfish in the extreme”
True-ish. But then there are the regulators, and the people that give them the power to regulate. How many people are taking regional council elections seriously at the moment? (sorry Canterbury).
Could this from John Armstrong in the Herald this morning be a sign that Armstrong is contemplating getting into his craft in an honourable and serious way ?
I expect there will be a few flashbacks to banal and lazy facileness but he’s starting to look not bad is Armstrong.
There does remain for correction/apology that risible hallucination of yore – “John Key has gravitas……”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/john-armstrong-on-politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502865&objectid=11125624
I don’t mean to be nasty, but it seems that his Parkinsons’ had got the better of him.
You can say many things about Key, but that he has gravitas…it made me laugh out loud.
But, back to reality. The barrage against Cunliffe has started, he’s accusing him of being far-left – like it is a bad thing?
Get real, PinoKeyo.:
Key snipes at rival on trade
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11125594
“The barrage against Cunliffe has started, [Key] accusing him of being far-left”
Well I guess to an extreme neo-liberal common social democratic policies might seem a bit difficult to understand. In successful Euro countries they’re just BAU.
Cunliffe already stated that he is not scared by the far left label, in his RNZ interview yesterday.
“The unions decided the leader of the Labour Party,” Mr Key said at his post-Cabinet press conference.
To which the retort is Sky City, Merrill Lynch and Warner Brothers selected the leader of the National Party.
Labour: democratic
National: kleptocratic
Good billboard.
lol
since national standards have come in, there’ll be a raft of crashes as people try to figure out what “kleptocratic” means.
Who needs to prescribe newspeak, when all you have to do is fail to adequately teach oldspeak….
“You can say many things about Key, but that he has gravitas…it made me laugh out loud.”
Well you’ll recall right fro the outset, people (oops, I meant MSM) described him as having ‘charisma’! FFS! Maybe to an ugboot
I think he just found it refreshing to find someone who isn’t an oratorical retard in charge of the Labour party, to which I can only amen and hallelujah brother.
Agreed – except that I don’t regard someone versed in corporate-speak and buzz as being any better. Still – I bet he’s had ‘learnings’ since then, and we should never underestimate the ability of the s-h-r to survive. He (Key) said that he’ll treat Cunliffe with “respect”. That’ll be a change at least. Here’s hoping he treats parliament and democratic principles the same way.
Armstrong doesn’t seem to have understood that the caucus, not Cunliffe, decide the deputy & whip. Cunliffe can state his preference, and maybe do some lobbying, but ultimately he only has one vote on those roles in the caucus.
This is an interesting article about systemic evil, civil disobedience and attitudes to whistleblowers.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/the-banality-of-systemic-evil/?_r=2&
Tautoko V,
Thanks. In all the well-justified excitement around the Labour leadership election, the re-invigoration of the left, and the great start that DC has gotten off to .. it’s been easy to let these very large and fundamental matters slip off the radar.
The article you linked to is, of all the very many pixels I’ve devoured on the topic, one of the very most concise and cogent. Well worth the read.
back so soon RL; just couldn’t stay away. 😉
Cunliffes had one day in charge and already he has taken the challenge to John Key on the copper issue, raised the issue of the nations children and poverty and made it clear he will do what’s necessary to bring about unity in the Labour caucus.
Key is doing his best to try and portray “Im not worried” but you can see in his eyes he is.
I know its very early days but no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on I think most would agree Cunliffe got off to a very good start on day one.
The fear is in Key’s dead-fish eyes – who cares what his mouth says?
This is worth a read – http://www.publicintegrity.org/finance/after-meltdown
an example,
Yep when you get the money you can keep the honey.
Hey Marty, hope you’re well.
Yup, the system is nicely stitched up, with Maddoff the only real fall guy inside the imperialist financial sector, and thats because he ripped off the very wealthy!
Otherwise its been SNAFU, with the banks/insurance/financial vehicles all steaming ahead, at expense of the planet, and its inhabitants!
All and any distractions, such as can be seen in the Middle East, are part of the on-going wars, which the controllers of the banking/financial/military industrial complex, are directing!
It takes unimaginable power, to brush off the largest crimes that history has ever known, as if they never happened at all!
Hey Muzza, yep I’m great (getting married in 3 weeks!!!)
I find it amazing that these scum have ended up (in truth they never had any fall at all) back earning the big bucks as if the meltdown and their greed never happened WTF!!!
marty, while what you say is true, these scum will eventually have meltdown of another kind not to do with money and greed, for meltdowns still happen to the wealthy. How many big bucks will they take with them (for they actually are going to die before very long!)? All I can suggest is that they ensure burial in solid gold coffins! That might make their uneasy souls feel a little better?
Yes Dr Terry so true – ‘Don’t fear the reaper’ – I think they would be wise to, considering the amount of suffering to others they have directly caused and are still causing. I’m sure when the inevitable becomes obvious to them they will turn up at the nearest soup kitchen to try and make amends lol – very few of them distribute their ill-gotten gains before the big scythe starts moving in their direction, more’s the pity.
Congratulations Marty, busy/exciting times for all involved.
The financial system is the biggest lie going, and with the architecture that is its design, it is with certainty, that the same entities come out on top, so tight are the industries which hang off global finance and markets.
Sure some businesses will falter and fail, but it makes no difference, the name of the game is monopoly, and that is more or less what the world has to deal with, control being the MO, and there is no view of it ending, if it does, it is going to be bad news, for pretty much all parts of the globe.
So in effect your right, there has been no fall off, if there was, the system would more or less collapse, derivatives running at orders of magnitude to what the planets energy, human/otherwise is able to support, pretty much locks in some rather nasty outcomes, not sure the bankers owners though, and their minions.
They are busy off buying real assets, life supporting assets, while the rest are left with debt, which requires energy to pay back, or if people are lucky, they will be left holding worthless paper, which won’t keep you alive if TSHTF!
Q.E delivered a gift of 2.75 Trillion to the Markets; see what happens when the Fed signals shutting off the slush fund again.
Yet all’s well – for some.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/09/debates-of-the-great-recession-are-over-hooray.html
Cunliffe’s address to the Black Salt Bar, Sun Sept 15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIl3x1fQay4
Hat tip Jim Nald…
Heh.
I was requesting for it and asking for it (http://thestandard.org.nz/labour-leader/#comment-696822).
And then the video turned up! Thanks to the bright soul who recorded it.
Excellent – rousing stuff. Thanks.
Peter Dunne calls David Cunliffe “pompous”.
Mwahahahahahahahahhhahahah!
Yeah, I thought that was a bit rich.
a writer in the guardian did a totally unhinged/logic-free anti-pot rant..
..and i tried to..but i couldn’t just let it go past..
..i had to unpack it..
..it’s taken about 30 bloody mins to do..!
..fighting the spreading of ignorance is no easy task..
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/ed-an-old-school-anti-pot-rant-so-impressive-in-examples-of-logic-failure-it-deserves-unpacking/
phillip ure..
What is wrong with Radio NZ News?
…..this morning between 8.30 and 9.00am they had Peter Dunne giving his opinion that David Cunliffe was not going to be any good against John Key in parliament…..a pathetic personal attack!….(I thought we were over these)
….It was a statement not related to anything….just slotted in….just a bald party political broadcast from National undercutting and dissing David Cunliffe at a personal level….to Radio NZ listeners .
…..and since when has this badly discredited Peter Dunne…. some would say immoral and cynically expedient politician, recently found without a party…and scrambling to get membership….. without any moral compass except to stay in parliament, keep his money and perks…. and boot- lick John Key……been a political commentator on Labour and Labour Party members choice of a Leader….It is disgraceful! The gall and ego of this little, religious hypocritical turncoat greedy man parrot….
And SHAME on RadioNZ….who is in charge of ‘news’?!….are they also National Party boot- lickers?
It had nothing to do with anything …and it was great disrespect to Labour Party voters…is this a calculated indoctrination torture drip treatment to Radio NZ listeners …who expect fair play .
Where is Morriessy?
Pter Dunne being interviewed by Demelza Leslie on Radionz with his well modulated baritone avuncular voice. Talking about John Key’s vast ability at understatement. Would that be like ‘Well Peter this policy is really important to us but of course you must decide its merits for yourself, and we will wait with pregnant anticipation to see if you deliver’. Like that maybe!
Or more to the point, ”You don’t want the public to read all those steamy emails between you and Andrea Vance do you”…
LOL
Could someone ask key the following question?
If people who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear in NZ, what does he think that Dnnne got to hide because he wont release his emails?
alternative
Given people who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear in giving up their communications why does this government have the worst record of Ministerial releases pursuant to the OIA?
From RadioNZ news at 10, David Cunliffe is said to favor David Parker as both His Finance Spokesperson and His deputy,
The claim goes further saying that Cunliffe is promoting Grant Robertson as ‘leader of the House’ which would leave Trevor Mallard out in the cold,
Those of course are not the words of David Cunliffe himself, and this maybe National Radio involving itself in a spot of underhand Jonolism which it will probably use if the Caucus elects Robertson as deputy, to set up a ‘Cunliffe got rolled slur’…
I think Grant would be a great leader of the house provided he has a great grasp of all the rules. We dont need another Brownlee in the house who despite 20 years in the place doesnt know the rules.
mallard’s day is gone. He knows that, right?
Lolz, other than repeating RadioNZ’s speculation i am not going to speculate, except LOLZ, to say that David Cunliffe obviously has the smarts to collect around Him a core group who He knows will give their full support to His Leadership,
Should Labours back-benches suddenly take on the look of the old folks home signalling bye bye to any number of familiar faces in 2014 i will Lolz all the louder,
Hopefully Party Central are now beginning to take a long hard look at the Party List with a view to arranging this so as to give David Cunliffe some top flight candidates for the future,
i do tho have to wonder what will become of that well known Gypsy Journo ‘Jane’, where next will Her fine feathers find a nest…
@bad12….she has increasingly been seen edging leftwards along the perches……. in terms of rooster politics…maybe she is waiting for Mr.Lefty Left?
….she likes the front perches
….who is going to push Trev off his perch?….he never was good enough for her……
RadioNZ are giving more detail right now and it appears that they have got their detail from an earlier meeting between David Cunliffe,Grant Robertson,Shane Jones and Moira Coatsworth…
which still leaves the question of, why the leak? Unless someone in there isnt happy with what they are going to get and is using the media to get the message out so feelings can be expressed to change a mind?
No i don’t think it was a leak, seems to have been a deliberate fronting of the media after the meeting of the above by the above, if you can follow that,
More a show of ‘we are working this out together’ and quite happy to let the media and therefor the public see us doing that working out…
“..mallard’s day is gone..”
you can trace the decline and fall of the mallard..
..directly back to when he first donned/dabbled in..the lycra..
..no-one could possibly take him seriously again..
..after exposure like that…
..phillip ure..
I think – am I being petty? Answer is yes I am. I think I’m jealous because I couldn’t dare to expose myself and my fat in lycra. Note to myself – leave the lycra alone but get sleek like a seal without it. Maybe I’ll start today.
@ greywarbler…you may have to go Vegan to look good in lycra….and get off the computer and on to a bike
Chooky
Ummm…I want a second opinion.
Mallard’s precipitous decline started when he started closing down schools in Labour heartland.
Korn’s (not the band ), Alejandro (1830-1936) , born in San Vicente, Argentina, reading of Kant and Schopenhauer led him to move away from the *positivism predominant in Latin American philosophy in the late 19th century.While still retaining their central claim that knowledge must be based on experience, he went on to assert that philosophy must not be reduced to analysis of empirical facts, but is fundamentally concerned with values.In La libertard creadora he proposed a creative concept of *freedom according to which the ends of human actions is to overcome the laws of necessity that govern the objective world, through the realization of creative impulse, manifested in self-control and the technological (stewardship) of nature. Axiologia , his most important work (1930) defends a subjectivist position, wherein value is understood as relative to human evaluation.
-Solomon Lipp, Three Argentine Thinkers :New York, 1969.
I just throw in this fascinating, lively–minded, mobile action philosopher on something different from capitalism – what, how, beyond words. Follow Slavoj Žižek: Don’t Act. Just Think. Wise!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavoj_Žižek
friend of mine follows his thought and work; must get a text.Anyway, interesting parallels between those Greek history references of yours and the Stephanides family central to the Eugenides grand social realism narrative middlesex . Can see why it won The Pulitzer.
Rogue T
Took a note of that for later, into my browser notes and saw an earlier one that someone mentioned . Here is a youtube of people singing something beautifully to brighten your day.
Ave Verum http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU4adUfck-AjT2y1pY1Qt9gQ
If I was advising Key I’d suggest to let Cunliffe have his honeymoon and only do some very gentle ribbing, something along the lines of hoping Cunliffe getts the same support he gave Goff and Shearer or something similar maybe involving Robertson…nothing major though
Then after a couple of days go into attack mode
🙄
fender
I’m expanding my icons. How did you get the blinky one.
It’s the roll eyes one Greywarbler, there’s many to see here
fender ta okay – struck me as better than ones I use. I’ll check them out.
“Then after a couple of days go into attack mode”
Except Key is out of the country for the next few weeks.
Fair point, then start it up when he gets back
If he’s still PM
If i was advising Slippery i would tell him to book the tickets to Hawaii now and save a few bucks on the fare,
Now who did the little shyster shaft to get the top job in the National Party again, i forgot there’s been so many, Bill from Dipton??? Doctor Dullard Don Brash???, the detail escapes me around the laughter,
One more bad poll and Judith Collins will start counting the numbers among the back bench who are all counting the numbers right now to see who’s left after 41% and falling…
“41% and falling”
– You do realise those are numbers Labour would die for
lolz there will be a change of government with Labour on 35% mate.
It’s amazing what one can do when one has friends 🙂
Even more amazing when one has the treasury benches…
Kind of the point.
On 41%, with no friends other than Banks, Dunne and the Maori Party remnants, the nats are fucked. Or are you pinning your hopes on Winston.
And post-election, the government selleth, the government can also taketh away…
I’m quietly confident that National will be returned to power based on how the country has been run for the last couple of years and that Labour will (once again) shoot itself in the foot
So given the level of support of your current coalition partners are you suggesting that National will actually increase its vote and garner a majority to govern alone?
Of course he is. Nat support is increasing – 45% in 2008, 47% in 2011, at that rate they’ll be on 49/50% in 2014. Possibly even enough to govern alone!
Of course, reality might choose to show it’s liberal bias…
@ Winston Smith
Perhaps it is you that must learn to see the difference between dreams and reality.
hahaha
Seeing is ‘those numbers’ as you put it have been arrived at via 51% and 47% i would suggest that they are indeed numbers to die for as far as Slippery’s National Government is concerned,
And might add if it gets below 40% it’s odds on that it will be Judith Colin’s National Government that contests and loses(horribly) the 2014 election…
You must learn the difference between dreams and reality
Yawn please someone send a far more intelligent species of Wing-Nut than the current knuckle-scrapers…
By your reckoning, then, over on the West Island, Tony Abbott must have got his arse handed to him when he only scored 31.76% of the vote compared with Kevin Rudd’s 33.83%.
Here’s a new word for you to learn: C o a l i t i o n.
if you really were ‘advising’ key..there..winston..
..surely you’d advise..that in his best interests..
..he should just continue on his holidays..?
..and let collins drive the national-train into dead(wo)mans’-gultch..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Key doesnt take advice.
For a guy running the country and not bovvered by labour, he sure is quick to have an opinion on the ins and outs of labour party workings.
” PM John Key says David Parker’s likely promotion to Labour deputy leader emphasises the rifts within the party’s caucus. ”
Whereas Tolley and Collins speaking out about their emails, that wasn’t a rift, right John?
Kropotkin, Peter (1842.-1921) was the most influential theorist of *anarchism for several decades following the death of Bakunin in 1876. (in the great scheme of things, not a long, long time ago, and considering the persistence of Putin…anyway I digress). Early in his life he rejected his aristocratic background, and while consistently maintaining his faith in the supreme goodness of human nature, attributed the evidence to the contrary (of which there is much, sadly) to the insidious influence of state authority and exploitative capitalism. For him, any external authority was corrupted by definition. This conviction underlay his disinclination to describe the organizational principles of an anarchist movement or society, believing that it was preferable the oppressed masses arrange the system under which they live.In addition to his attempts to imbue society with ethical principles, Kropotkin produced many practical plans for the improvement of the agricultural and industrial communities of his time.
His biting 😉 criticisms of the terrible power of the state to disrupt and destroy what he considered natural communities remain impressive and moving today.
+1 Rogue Trooper on anarchism….interesting….agree with their critique of Capitalist State ….but not with their views on not voting
Vote? Yes! Belong to a party if it meets needs for authenticity ; I will, what’s $5?
Being John Malkovich fan and all that. haha 😀 (it’s all-comers time again, politically, I mean 😉 ).
Stable anyone?
btw, Ripley’s Game 😉
Kuhn, Thomas (1922-1996), wrote the most influential book in modern philosophy of science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). In it he argued that scientists work within and against the background of ‘paradigms’, unquestioned theories and sets of beliefs.Sometimes these paradigms become unstuck, or redundant, and it is necessary that a new one be established. Stimulating, and controversial to Kuhn’s position (in addition to Polanyi’s claims of plagiarism), is his central claim that there can be no strictly logical reason for paradigm change; like political revolutions 😉 , partisans argue in a circular fashion from within their own camps. This claim was an anathema to traditional rationalists like Popper, for whom science is the apotheosis of sound and logical defensive thought (wonder where sarin and VX fit into that equation).
Paradoxically, however, both Kuhn and Popper are evolutionary epistemologists, seeing essential analogies between their (quite different) views on scientific change and the evolution of organisms.
G.Gutting, Paradigms and Revolutions :Notre Dame, Indiana, 1980.
“her father was a Grand Wizard in the KKK”- Iced T.
Rogue Trooper….+1….again very interesting on ‘evolutionary epistemology’…paradigm change, rationality and scientific revolution…..
….maybe ideas are alive like viruses?….(at a deep , deep level…ha ha?)
CV / DtB (in particular), Have you guys seen this? Not anything you probably haven’t read countless times elsewhere but interesting to see it all laid out in one article 🙂
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo
Ahhh thank you, that nicely fleshes out what I have already come across. The elite enrich themselves, and tens of millions of ordinary people pay.
This should warn us of the kind of shit the TPPA is likely full to the brim of.
Fully agree. Have a sniff around some of his other articles too – he manages to dig up the odd fillip of information that I haven’t previously seen or had context of. Likewise Matt Taibbi (although I don’t much share his political views).
Cheers.
its a 19th century aristocracy with people like Key in the big house
truth???
Truth??? Well it certainly aligns with everything else that I have been following/reading/researching for the last few years and IMHO Greg Palast has been pretty reliable.
YMMV of course but such are the joys of critical thinking 🙂
Mike Moore , knows nothing about all this , obviously, and neither did Helen /sarc!
Robert Rubin is John keys handler, among others.
Yep its going to be good we get our country back next election and the fascist austerity mongering thieving national party will be gone for good
First job to get the 1% to pay the 7 billion in tax they owe the rest of us so we can own what we’ve built since the beginning of time
And jail these so called elected officials who ruin this country with their back room deals
We need a system that will scare the powerful straight and make them personally accountable. Too much has happened in this country that has lead it on the rotten path to where we are now by politicians who have abused the offices the administer
And their estates should be liable as well
PM gone by the pm ?
+1 Democracy
a leadership change is a start, without hard work and some luck some folks are going to be very disappointed. no fait accompli here.
“First job to get the 1% to pay the 7 billion in tax they owe the rest of us so we can own what we’ve built since the beginning of time
Dear crazy person:
The 1% is what keeps the government fiscally afloat. You know so you can get your welfare check each week.
We don’t owe you shit.
Srylands,
This is very sad, that have taken to write letters to yourself publicly to remind yourself of the mantra you have been brainwashed to believe in order to uphold the failed political views that you support.
Wouldn’t it be easier to revise your views and base them on what has occurred in the last few years?
Wrong as usual, shitlands. It’s actually the government which keeps the 1% afloat. By not taxing capital, by not closing tax loop holes, by allowing asset price speculation and by tolerating rentier behaviour.
Put another way, if the 1% want their social license to operate to continue, they better sort out their own more sociopathic members and demonstrate a little more solidarity and community with everyone else.
“We don’t owe you shit.”
Right you are, it’s the IRD you owe it to.
or,
“we don’t owe you shit”
No, you’ve given ‘us’ enough, thanks, time for ‘us’ to give it back.
LOL @ you pretending to be in the 1%… apirational maybe but not actual…hence being led around by the nose by the 1% and their reps dangling the carrot of breaking into the 1% under your nose. They laugh at you more than I do.
Remember three weeks ago when you said you didnt care enough about politics to get emotional about it, when did that change because you’ve been quite aggressive and name-cally for a couple of weeks?
Cleaning their toilets doesn’t make you part of the 1%, SSlands.
But cleaning toilets make you one of the 1% who produce most social value! Better than bankers.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/dec/14/new-economics-foundation-social-value
Disclaimer: I work as a cleaner.
I have worked as a cleaner and know that a cleaner withdrawing their labour is much more effective than an academic. The thing is, SSlands would keep cleaning up their mess in the middle of a strike, all the while thinking he was one of them.
I meant no disrespect to cleaners, but will take the opportunity to tell a little story. One time, when I was at work in Brazil, a cleaner was in my office and we were chatting about Carnaval and stuff. One of the big professors entered and butted in. I told him “Excuse me, but I’m talking to Conceição.” He was appalled and asked me later what I thought I was doing. I told him I was giving equal value to all human beings, which seemed a bit of a novel concept. It made me a bit of a legend among the cleaners, the maintenance people, the security guards, and the kids from the favela. Even some of the students liked it. More importantly, the cleaners started to question why they were treated like shit on a daily basis.
Good story, Murray. I know you meant no disrespect to cleaners. I understood your point that you were making with Srylands. Indeed, the power elite need to have people like Srylands cleaning up after them whilst persuading these dupes that they are part of the elite.
It comes out in some working class folk who vote tory because that’s how their betters vote, and should be emulated, as some of the crumbs off the table just might come their way. A form of snobbery, a hope of inclusion by association, a need for security.
My point was about social value for money paid. Can’t let the 1% think they’re actually doing something useful for humanity, after all.
My cleaner story involved a mate at Uni who earned money in the evening cleaning at St Andrew’s College. Whilst sweeping out the prep room he noticed a student had made an error in his French homework and pointed it out. The student was amazed that a cleaner could actually know French, and be educated, and even know more than he did. Bill became quite popular in that prep room helping out with the HW- French, German, English.
“welfare check”
“LOL @ you pretending to be in the 1%”
That’s cheque, mate. 😆
Play for Today 😀
Cochise 😆
Kemosabe (Comanche) 😉
No it’s not. The 1% are the ones preventing real development of our society and economy.
has doncoyote choked on his red sock yet?
Question time and Cunliffe’s first question is on Chorus. And in a follow up the Securities Act is mentioned. Interesting …
here’s another headline in the making from DimPost on Paula Bennett’s contraceptives for beneficiaries farce
http://dimpost.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/long-term-contraception-for-beneficiaries-revisted/
More than 500 separate signals intelligence platforms employing around 30,000 people with a $10 billion budget, quite an empire.
http://theweek.com/article/index/249658/the-nsas-secret-org-chart
http://www.mindmeister.com/326632176/national-security-agency-operates-more-than-500-separate-signals-intelligence-platforms-employs-roughly-30-000-civilians-and-military-budget-10-billion
Murkier and murkier .
Stated simply: every time you “charge it” and a credit card is swiped, literally or metaphorically, the NSA knows all about it and if it triggers a specific filter, congratulations: the NSA will be tracking your every transaction in perpetuity.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-15/swift-takeover-follow-money-nsa-knows-all-about-your-spending-habits
edit: more
http://blogs.computerworld.com/android/22806/google-knows-nearly-every-wi-fi-password-world
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/07/does-nsa-know-your-wifi-password-android-backups-may-give-it-to-them/
http://ochronus.com/google-apple-know-wifi-passwords-world/
thanks for the abstract joe, it helps at times. You know, don’t you. 😀
Its called customer and payments, its a regulatory and compliance function, also known as ‘anti money laundering’
Jurisdictional boundaries act as boarder controls, they keep the little people in check, while the players walk through open doors in certain locales.
I’m sure a few here could name some of the locales!
Diane Ravitch on the hoax that will be introduced next year.
The money allocated to privately managed charters and vouchers represents a transfer of critical public resources to the private sector, causing the public schools to suffer budget cuts and loss of staffing and services as the private sector grows, without providing better education or better outcomes for the students who transfer to the private-sector schools.
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/15/diane_ravitch_school_privatization_is_a_hoax_reformers_aim_to_destroy_public_schools/
just in case, this is not in another thread.
-Nat announce 90M to Partnership Schools.
+to an offshoot of an existing Private School in Remmers
+in Mangere East, the Partnership School will not be teaching evolution
+no guarantee disadvantaged children’s needs will be met
+ the only barrier to privileged migration being geographic location
-John Gerritsen, RNZ
Snapper anyone?
red cod!
“Trish Rea, a spokeswoman for Legasea – which represents recreational fishers – said the changes would hurt mum and dad fishers who fished in inshore areas where 50 per cent of fish caught were below 30cm.”
Thanx Naaythaan Guuuyyyy,
What’s happened to the “mum and dad National Party”, oh yeah I forgot….they fulla shite
When national said they want a society that shares, they meant they want a society that buys shares and that’s who they work for.
And that reminds me: what happens when due to unforeseen financial circumstances a purchaser can’t come up with the second instalment for their Meridian shares despite receiving dividends for 18 months, after only paying half the total cost on purchase day?
it will be like a bank bailout
Question Time: 17.9.2013
Q.1 (on the Commerce Commission and Chorus)
-Key, the Clown, sooo bitchy; not even funny, hence the ‘canned laughter’ from the Nat benches (Carter The Ringmaster).
“govt. not going to provide demand-side incentivization re fibre uptake.” (was policy labour adopted under DC as Min. Telecommunications).
The ‘discussion document “every scenario” excludes Commerce Commission recommendations, ie, Nat are over-riding the regulator.
Q.3: Russel Norman on the RWSS.
-Nick Smith did discuss the DOC submission to the Board of Enquiry.
-avoids responsibility and passes the buck to the Deputy Director General.(this question needed to be asked three times).
-Thank Goodness for the Sky: into each community a little rain may fall.
-followed by more circularity (weak man) passes off to Adams (Adams fails to score; maybe a Four-Day meth. binge coming up for her).
-finally, NS acknowledges DOC’s role in fresh water quality issues; draft document went to the Minister. Russel called their bluff when Brownlee tried to block tabling the ‘draft’; no objection.
Q.3: essentially, Fed placing downward pressure on emerging economy currencies
and Syria /Oil
Q.5: The Sweetener; reductions in ACC levies.
Q.6: (Chippie looked down in the dumps with the other Chris) 😀
Q.8: Twyford on housing affordability to Nick Smith who cherry-picked his statistical data (Roost Home Affordability Index; contrast with 2007 and the present) before the increases in inequality.
Q.9: ‘Vanguard Military School’- says it all really. (although, both Parata and Smith sounded tipsy).
Q.9: wonder what the Right have to say about the “carving tutors”; % of registered teachers (core curriculum delivery) 100- 79- so on down the line…….
Q.10: well, even Dunne asserts that environmental matters will be worse under the Minister amy adams (small initials).
😎
Has anyone asked PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA when he will be doing tours of the 1200 homes in his electorate which are for sale under half a mill.
I know I seem to be picking on him but he promised so much back in 2009
“Monday, May 11. 2009
National’s work in Maungakiekie only just begun
My work in Onehunga has only just begun with my electorate office now up and running says Maungakiekie MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.
More than 300 people braved the wind and rain last Friday night to attend the official opening of Sam’s office by Prime Minister, John Key.
“The Prime Minister said our win in Maungakiekie last year was one of the three great results from the 2008 election. He also said the diverse communities which make up Maungakiekie are the new face of New Zealand.
“I couldn’t agree with him more. I am committed to working hard for the people of Maungakiekie. I have an open door at my office and want to encourage people passing by to stop and meet the team.
“I was also honored to have Auckland City Mayor, the Hon. John Banks speak at the office opening. He is right behind my work in securing a positive outcome for the Onehunga Bay restoration project.
“I want to thank all the people and community groups, including the Maungakiekie Community board, the Onehunga Enhancement Society, and Progressive Panmure Business Association, who came along to celebrate the opening.
“Together, we can work together to build a strong community. National’s work in Maungakiekie has only just begun. We are here to stay”.
“
All they need is a hardworking candidate that can take it too the snakey sam and highlight his statements and behaviours, he pretty much got a free ride from the ineffective Beaumont in 08 and 11.
Sam even put back up the loansharking legislation that beaumont had voted down to which she made no fuss about in town hall debates during the 11 campaign.
An example of a seat that can be won back by labour with the right candidate.
They are very effective though at using the parliamentary dosh to poke flyers in the letterboxes on a regular basis.
Campbell live is going to be having a look at ‘property for sale’ in the Maungakiekie electorate tonight…
Just watched a clip from question…oh dear Cunliffe its too early to be losing momentum just now so best be upping your game or you’ll just make it too easy for JK
Oh dear Winston, there goes your grip on reality again.
Keep up the excellent work, Labour Party caucus.
41% and falling ain’t quite a definite bye bye Slippery card, 40 tho is definitely the redundancy notice with a convenient map of the way to the exit printed on the reverse…
Government ups snapper quota to 7, but will the recreational fishermen swallow it.
I’d swallow it, depending on what happens with commercial fisheries.
sorta like they say; Paper Fish; Rec. down to 7 and up to 30cm min; Commercial remains at 25cm (heaps of discarded by-catch) A few more hundy tonne for Rec (yet requiring greater discards and so on, sigh.). Observers (cameras?) on all Comm. boats by 2018.
and then, there is always the local chippie… 😀 (gotta go and research what a ‘nerf’ is).Demonstration effect. Ha.Hilarious.
I hope something effective can be done against dumping, but I won’t be holding my breath with this government. I’d also love to see more marine reserves.
well, with this proposed ‘National Significance’ plan change Board of Freakin’ Enquiry for the RWSS the NActs are ignoring aspects of legislated Fresh Water Management, Coastal Management, and the current RMA, so no need to hold our breaths, there will be f*ck all water.
(learnt to Wheelie, and so Forth, on those riverbanks, and a few other rites of passage).
Campbell Live tonight – the Maungakiekie electorate held by selfish, mainchance, self-promoting National Party MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iinga – the claims he made on TV3’s 3rd Degree last week as to (1) availability and (2) affordability of first home-buyer housing in his electorate:
It is palpable and indisputable. He was spectacularly wrong on both counts. Not just a little bit wrong, spectacularly wrong.
There are two stark choices – (a) Sam is so ignorant of the realities in his electorate as to be guilty of recklesslessness/negligence, or (b) he knows the realities but wilfully misrepresents.
Take your pick. Either way he is unfit and a scab on his people. Oh how ShonKey Python’s much vaunted “higher standards” have cleansed and enhanced NZ politics.
The whole CL segment was depressing to this renter. Property madness is totally out of control. One suburb after another gets taken over by people desperate to pay more than the land’s worth to get their own little patch. Meanwhile the poor are squeezed out of yet more suburbs.
When will it end?
Parody or too true
http://ellipsister.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/too-pc-or-not-pc/
In Theory, Brian Edwards, Gavin Ellis, Bill Ralston and a gadfly walk into a bar…
Christ, that was funny!