One group protests by setting up a camp at parliament and clogs up a few streets with cars because their freedoms have been restricted, and for some, their livelihoods have been destroyed through government mandates.
Another group, with a different form of protest, threatens to withdraw vital health resources during a dangerous pandemic.
''Their choice about their job as possibly infecting other people with a serious illness risk was too high for their employer or general public''
Maybe in the past, but debatably now there is little more infection risk than vaccinated people who can also infect others.
"'Those health strikes are usually minimally disruptive- deliberatly and dont involve abusing people for wearing masks or other vile threats''
Time will tell how disruptive if it goes ahead. But if resources are already stretched to the limit, then this action could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
Actually I support nurses and associated staff getting paid what they are worth. It is the only way to stop losing staff to Australia and other countries.
But, whatever you think, the threatened strike action has the potential to have a national impact compared to a very localised impact that the protesters at Wellington are having.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
"So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact."
Tribalism mainly. Once you have put a stake in the ground, it's hard to move it when the evidence changed.
We have come a long way since the wharfies did their thing in the '50's.
Twas before my time but there seemed to be a lot of deep divisions created or entrenched back then.
Another observation from the front lines of the last couple of nurses strikes. It was that the short-24 hour strikes were largely ineffective as management could reasonably easy cover the shortfalls. Bringing in some office folk, putting off procedures etc.
A longer, 72 hour, or indefinite period would be more effective as it hit the PTB in the balance sheet. The place where it has a noticeable effect, one of the metrics our neo-liberal managers and governance worship.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
They are having no effect on the government, which, after all, is the main purpose the protest. I suspect that the government will remain firm on this. The protesters might as well go home since all they are doing is disrupting Wellington traffic and businesses.
Apart from that they don't really have a legitimate cause. No-one is forcing the unvaccinated to accept the jab, while the "freedom" lovers are, in fact, denying the employer's freedom to refuse employment to an unvaccinated person in the interests of protecting his staff.
As a side issue Denmark is reporting 46,000 new cases per day. ( jan 31 2022) A country the TV1 News highlighted over its almost complete removal of covid restrictions.
Didnt think that number 46 k infections per day was mentioned, but TV1 story played to its brand by only talking to or about hospitality workers yet again.
In Australia rates of vaccination against COVID-19 are high, and the number of active cases in their Omicron wave peaked (at ~835,000) about one month ago. Going by the Australian response, imho it's unlikely that NZ vaccine mandates will be eased before we are well over our Omicron wave. Anti-mandate protest events and the associated travel will accelerate increase infection rates slightly.
Qld health chief upbeat but mandate wary [12 February]
Queensland’s health chief is “personally reluctant” to repeal a venue vaccine mandate before the end of winter and says it could in fact be the very last pandemic restriction ditched.
“The future of the vaccinated economy … is about balance,” he said on Thursday. “It’s about the proportional benefit that comes from it. It won’t be there forever.”
"There are circumstances when someone [who] is not vaccinated should be considered part of the community and can still be working, can still be treated, still be given that respect," he said.
"Australia has always had a position that it's preferable to have an educated community that does vaccines because they want to and see the benefits.
"I am comfortable to work with SAPOL, with the union, to say let's get people working, let's understand that, while they may not choose to have a vaccine — it may not be a position we necessarily support — wouldn't it be good if we could keep them productive, working safely."
…
Ms Williams said police had "an obligation" to provide a service to the community and "have people in the workplace able to do the job".
"At the moment, in terms of reducing transmission, their personal safety and the safety of the public and other officers, they're not able to come to work," she said.
Premier Steven Marshall said the state had "very few mandates" in place.
"Vaccination is our pathway to reduce restrictions in SA," he said.
They dont use random selection, instead have online panels and offer prizes to their subscribers/panellist for participating with the subject matter promoted in emails
put you in our next quarterly draw for $1,000 cash and the latest iPad Pro worth $1,199! Or you can take the lot in cash: $2,199!
Often their polls are sponsored by pressure groups as well
I pretty much ignore Horizon polls as being worthless these days.
They are completely worthless. That poll as report by gwwnz above would suffer from at least two major statistic errors namely selection bias and non-response bias. I would have given my students an F if they proposed such a sampling method as having any validity. You would think the media would have learnt by now – but they seem determined to repeat the errors of history. Notably the expensive error committed by the Literary Digest in 1936 – one of the most expensive polls ever conducted up until then and utterly wrong in its prediction of the outcome of the 1936 Presidential Election.
Arent the one of the worst DHBs in Palmy for not doing anything urgency even when money for upgraded or new facilities is secured for them
This is one a the main reasons the separate DHBs are being abolished as their have their own little silos and move at their own pace even on projects that have the go ahead
I had thought that too much earlier . The new Social Democrat led government is being railroaded into supporting the Nato nuclear carry weapons for its Luftwaffe.
And is it so recent that everyone has forgotten these predictions from all the US intell agencies. naturally then as now the 'consensus' supports the political view rather than reality on the ground.
'Four U.S. Intelligence Agencies Produced Extensive Reports on Afghanistan, but All Failed to Predict Kabul’s Rapid Collapse'
Or its about a number of things all relevant to irreversible loosening of the stranglehold that the US military has been able to apply to the economic structure of the world. Again we are faced with war hysteria of the same ilk as that from Collin Powell, Bush and Blair. Russia continues to assure that they have no invasion plans. So why the hysteria. Definitely German ability to gain access to cheap Russian gas is one thing but there is also a crisis in US politics as outlined by a past Russian Ambassador, Jack Matlock
Housing affordability in New Zealand has deteriorated to the worst level on record, with the average property worth 8.8 times the average income at the end of last year, a property analyst says.
That ratio was up from 8.3 just three months earlier, and from 7.0 in the last part of 2020, according to CoreLogic’s latest housing affordability report.
It was significantly higher than the long-term average of 5.9, and than previous cycle peaks of 6.1 in 2007 and 7.0 in 2016 to 2017.
The generally accepted definition of “affordable” was house prices of three times the median income.
“It is likely that without substantial changes in housing policy New Zealand will experience the equivalent of the intergenerational scarring, which resulted from the labour market reforms in the 1980s.”
"Amid a fast-widening Omicron outbreak, rates of Delta are holding steady – prompting concerns the nastier variant could keep causing hospitalisations here.
The latest data from ESR showed up to seven per cent of cases being genomically sequenced in New Zealand were Delta, which was still making up the majority of sequenced hospital cases.
…While researchers are still learning about what long-term problems Omicron infections might cause, successive studies have backed early predictions that a given case was typically less severe.
One pre-print study out of the Imperial College London suggested that, compared with Delta, Omicron cases carried an average 15 to 20 per cent lower risk of any hospitalisation – and a 40 to 45 per cent lower risk of actually being admitted.
…Otago University virologist Dr Jemma Geoghegan said contact tracing services should give any detected Delta cases priority – although that wouldn't be so easy with Omicron spreading our resources more thinly.
…In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health doesn't publish variant-specific hospitalisation data."
The mandates were put in primarily to target Delta because it has such a large impact on health resources. It is also the variant that will spreads in confined close spaces – like workplaces and entertainment venues.
So far there are no indications that Omicron is pushing Delta out of the initial communityinfections – which figures. Delta target the lungs first. Omicron targets the throat and nasal. It would not surprise me that people can catch both at the same time.
As your quote says, Delta is still in the NZ community, and is probably still being restricted largely by vaccines and mandates.
Until it is medically known to have been swept aside by omicron, it'd be as foolish as a NSW liberal politician to remove mandates. Having two local epidemics running at the same time is a known route to medical hell.
Just reporting on the article, as I couldn't find data re the strains currently present on the Ministry site.
My partner's co-workers are being contacted after fairly long delays (up to five days after exposure) to go and get tested. It makes me think, as suggested in the article that they may be prioritising getting in contact with Delta infections as they are currently still a significant portion of our daily positives. I'm all good with that approach, it makes sense to me.
I couldn't find data re the strains currently present on the Ministry site.
There won't be much at present. M0H announced back in late Jan (from memory – I didn't take a link) that they would stop looking at variants during routine community testing. I think they're still doing it at the MIQ and for hospitalisations.
The PCR testing is enough to determine that there is covid-19, but takes much more resources to determine variants. Resources that can't be spared as the amount of tests increase.
Where can you get Ukraine news from an unbiased perspective? All the usual suspects, our media, Politico, Guardian, anything from USA, all have a bias.
If you don't at least take in the Russian perspective you cant get balance. Antiwar.com can be a good place to start to find some alternative US voices.
Considering a comment from weston a couple of days ago, questioning the impact of gender ideology on lesbians, I thought about how disconnected we all are – myself included – from other peoples experiences.
Happy heterosexual that I am, when all's said and done I can't help but love the lesbians. When they see a need, they organise, and do it well.
An academic from the US, describes her journey in academia and the pushback and obstacles put in place for researching and speaking about homosexuality and lesbianism in that sphere (Substack article):
I spent years telling myself that academia could change, that my dream career as a research-focused, evidence-collecting, logic-loving professor could still be possible. I’ll be frank: giving up on that dream was the most painful thing I’ve ever done. But I had to do it, to make way for something new.
The concept for Lesbians United began when I left the ivory tower and sat down with a fairly new group of friends to kick ideas around. What could we do to get our community back? What could we do to help fellow lesbians who are suffering, and to prevent future generations from suffering the same?
Our answer was to create an organization diametrically opposed to the postmodernist institutions that have done so much damage to the lesbian community. They revel in ignorance; we have reams of research. They refuse to define their terms; we use clear language. They lie; we tell unmistakable truths. They play purity politics to keep the public distracted; we’re a laser-focused, single-issue organization that takes lesbians of all stripes.
Here in NZ, LAVA formed in 1988, publishes research and writes on issues to do with the impact of gender perspectives on lesbian women, and offers support to female detransitioners.
They are at least attempting to fill the gaps left by other organisations, such as Rainbow Youth in the wider community, that either ignore or superficially mention detransition. (Actually a Rainbow Youth site search for either 'detransition' or 'lesbian' comes up with no results. Apparently, no lesbians in our Rainbow Youth.)
LAVA is a large group of lesbians¹ in their 20s to their 80s. We come in all shapes and sizes and from very different backgrounds. What we have in common is a commitment to working towards lesbian¹ visibility and sex-based women’s rights.
LAVA is decidedly partisan, unashamedly biased in favour of lesbians¹, and fiercely protective of women’s rights.
We don’t IDENTIFY as lesbians¹ – we ARE lesbians¹.
Lesbians¹ are women = adult human females. We are not “queer” or any of the +variations. We reject the word “cis” as derogatory.
We make no apologies for being an exclusive space for lesbians¹.
If you like statements without equivocation, then this will appeal, whether or not you subscribe to their content. You know where they stand.
There's good information there looking at the impact of the updated 'queer' movement.
Oh dear. I came back to The Standard after a long time away to see what content was on it and whether the comments section had improved from the bigoted cesspool it was.
And straight away we see transphobic terf shit. I guess The Standard is still a shitty cesspool.
[if I see you using terf as a slur again on this site I will ban you. Only warning. Reread the Policy and ask if you don’t understand – weka]
I thought this was supposed to be a left-wing progressive website. But here we have an openly bigoted transphobic far right mod. I guess the standard has been captured by the same far right shit as has infected other purportedly left wing blogs.
In short, you're a fucking disgrace, the whole lot of you terfs who go around pretending like you have the remotest conception of how to be progressive or left wing. Sort out your fucking bigotry, and stop pretending to be left wing.
[thanks for making my job easier. I already warned you of a ban, and now you are also attacking an author and mod as well as thinking the site is a person (the site Policy is clear on this). Permanent ban because I see little room for respecting this place and contributing to it – weka]
I will however stop and address the accusations of being right wing. This is a gender identity activism trope, designed to undermine gender critical feminists and is tied to No Debate. You are either too stupid to think beyond the talking points you have been given, or you know full well what the trope is and still chose to use it.
The cutting edge of gender critical feminism is in the UK, it's primarily a movement of left wing women. This is abundantly clear to anyone paying attention and who isn't trying to obscure what is happening. Most left and centre left women want trans people to be ok and to be allowed their right to take full part in society just like everyone else. The beef is with where there is a conflict of rights, and that's not a rw position, it's just bog standard feminism. Women get to have our own politics. That's progressive.
Terf is a weapon used by ideologues and has very clear connections to misogynistic behaviour towards women.
not as the term 'woke' is generally applied here on TS.
'Terf' on the other hand is associated with extreme misogyny, rape threats, death threats, threats of other violence, lesbophobia, targeted and generalised abuse and harassment, dehumanisation of women especially gender critical feminists, sexism, female ageism and body shaming.
This is why when Twitter got called to front up at a Human Rights Committee session of the UK government, the word 'terf' was part of questioning why twitter was so bad at safeguarding women on the platform from harassment, threat, and hate. Twitter acknowledged this and since then it has in fact upheld complaints against the kind of tweets you can see in my link above.
Anyone aware of that and using the term 'terf' is imo well outside the TS policy, and anyone not aware of that needs to educate themselves (and still can't use the term as a slur on TS). At this point in the war, I consider it a wilful ignorance from people that are aware enough to use the word like it was used above.
Sigh. You disagree with someone, so you label them with ignorant insults. Perhaps if you tried engaging with Molly like an adult, you might learn something.
I listened to an interview where the point was made that all sorts of prejudice was not condoned eg racism, ageism, religious intolerance etc.
Who you were attracted to, or more accurately, not attracted to, was an acceptable and legitimate prejudice. The latter part of the last century till now, it would appear some want that to change.
Yes. However, it's not a small movement. Indicative of how far this message has penetrated I return to Stonewall's CEO, Nancy Kelley:
Yet now it has emerged that months before the article appeared Stonewall’s chief executive Nancy Kelley wrote to the editorial director of BBC News to denounce Lowbridge’s work in an apparent attempt to get her piece stopped.
In her email, Kelley suggested that the BBC article would end up being ‘transphobic’ because it represented trans women as ‘sexual predators’, which was a ‘central anti-trans argument’.
She further complained that the ‘highly toxic’ cotton ceiling issue was ‘analogous to issues like sexual racism’.
…
And although she acknowledged that in sexual relationships ‘consent is paramount and we all want who we want’, she added that ‘structural oppression can influence who we want’.
Which is to say that social bias, in this case against those who say they are trans, can affect even our most private thoughts.
It is understood that it took many months of editorial discussions before the article was published on October 26.
Stonewall has appeared to confirm that changes were made to the original piece, although it remains unclear whether this was as a direct result of the leaked email, sent in September 2020.
This email exchange between Stonewall and the BBC was an attempt to stop publication of this article by Caroline Lowbridge:
So, if you gain a knighthood that makes you a highly respected person.
Apparently one such person is about to join the anti-mandate protest next week (hedging his bets there hoping that it might not be necessary for him to attend). And apparently he wants to stretch it to a protest for freedom – (we have become more and more limited in our freedoms).
This from one who benefitted from sucking on the tax-payers nipple on several occasions – one verging on using blackmail "or we'll take our America's cup challenge overseas", and then having milked the Kiwi good will for all it was worth, eventually jumped ship and sailed for the opposition.
Is the destabilisation on the Ukraine border possibly linked to the occupations in world capitals?. There are known links to the primary background agitators, QAnon, Bannon and Trump associates even, amongst others to the Russians, this type of agitation is very similar to Moseley and the Brownshirts in Britain and Il Duce and Blackshirts in Italy as well as right wing movements in other European countries in the late 30s. Asymmetrical warfare and the splintering of effort in opposing countries is very common in the lead up to aggressive invasions. Wouldn’t put it past the Kleputinomaniac- in- Chief.
Yes, she no doubt will spout some obligatory words like she did regarding school kids being discriminated against for not being vaccinated.
This from the OGH website:
''Vision statement
Otago Girls' High School is committed to quality education for all girls in a safe, caring and inclusive environment.
Inspire ~ Empower ~ Challenge~ Dream''
Also there's woke diversity imagery fronting their website. That obviously is bs, too.
You can find this crap on most school sites. And you can bet when it comes to bullying most schools suffer from the Cuddles Costa syndrome.
This type of stuff infuriates me because as someone who has a real problem with Islamic culture in western society, we just get clobbered with this. No one is interested in a reasoned debate.
The only good( I'm hoping) to come out of this situation is I'm ASSUMING, OGH, has a predominately European roll, therefore the chances favour the perpetrators not being Maori…for a change.
Contact zero in a bubble at my SO's work was notified along with more the 100 others as being a close contact of a case who attended a happy clappy devil dodging super-spreader event while symptomatic.
That sounds like a quite irresponsible god-botherer. Probably thought that happy-clapping pheromones would keep the virus at bay.
It is a pity that viruses just look at such events as being a good breeding site.
/sarc
BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care, and find the idea of gods being interested in my bowel movements to be somewhat offensive.
''BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am a devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care.''
Maybe you should take the plunge and become a material fundamentalist – also known as an atheist? That way, should you ever have to face the big boss, after writing your last post, you can save time on having to explain yourself and reviewing your life.
The big fella can then send you straight on to your second death to join the likes of Johnny Lennon and other non god botherers.
A King Country father and his three young children remain missing more than two months after they were last seen.
Police today confirmed that enquiries were still ongoing to track down Ōtorohanga man Tom Phillips and his two primary-age daughters and son.
Earlier last month, 34-year-old Phillips did not show up for a court date to face a charge connected to an earlier disappearance, with a judge subsequently issuing a warrant for his arrest.
…
Last month, Phillips' ex-wife appealed for the public to help find her missing children once more.
At that stage she told Newshub the father and children hadn't been seen since December 10.
"My babies are missing and there's no trace of them, this time it's been way longer and it's more of a worry. His truck hasn't even been sighted," she said.
"I want people to keep an eye out, you know, they've been missing 34 days. Any pig hunters out there, anyone, if they see any sign of them please let us know."
She added they could be anywhere in New Zealand, including the South Island.
In December, police confirmed they were making inquiries to establish the location of a 34-year-old man and three children "following reports that the male has breached court-ordered conditions".
"There are no immediate concerns for their safety at this time," police said.
It's a funny old world and coincidences can be surprising
496 days since I drank alcohol and well things have been getting me down a little – the parliament protest, the right wingers here gleefully claiming to support the protesters (they support anything that can cause problems for the Labour Government) the anxiety and uncertainty over the covid pandemic because I have multiple co-morbidities et cetera.
So as I was walking to the supermarket and very likely to be breaking my sobriety – a young scruffy unwashed bloke beckons me over on the footpath – I am mentally sighing as this is always followed with(it seems) "can you spare some change please?" I am reaching to my back pocket to get whatever change I had to give to him and he's "nah nah I got something for you" and he gives me three small nice buds!
So I will not be breaking my no alcohol journey just yet
There are good people out there. Kia Kaha Barfly. it is a life long journey. Grant lost his sense of smell and taste with covid. He said it was ultra strange to mix his strawberry metamucil see it, but have no smell or taste. It is coming back a little now.
We're asking people to put comments about the protest under one of the dedicated posts. Would you mind reposting this and then I will delete this one? It keeps OM free for other discussions.
Anyhoo, seems you might be over-egging it when you talk "big hit" for the PM. Sure, he wants a change of mindset, but he's nowhere close to the parliament lawn jerks. For example he reiterates the govt lines on not testing if you're asymptomatic and vaccination. I still have issues with using sweden, uk and aus as justifications for cutting isolation times. Or anything covid-related, frankly.
Not sure he even covered "mandates", might have missed it.
You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife. Let just assume that you are as thick as Queensland National party supporter who votes Pauline Hanson and has about the same awareness of actual civics as Trump supporter.
We have had 3 snap elections. 1951, 1984, and 2002.
The first one was purely political after the 1951 waterfront strike. That worked. It was also the last purely political one we had.
The second was probably legit because National couldn’t stop their MPs from crossing the floor and voting with Labour. The questions about it being booze induced may have been simple jealousy by the press gallery at the time. Felt more like desperation, and was rewarded as such.
The third was after a government coalition partner Alliance unallied itself like the Warsaw Pact and the USSR a few years later earlier There were questions about being able to pass legislation due to the multiplicity factions of one remaining in the aftermath. This resulted in a landslide to Labour.
Basically we don’t have many early elections because kiwis aren’t that stupid. It is bad enough having to have one every 3 years. Why would we want to speed it up?
Aussie has a snap election virtually every election. I believe that this has something to do with the infighting of the crimelords and corruption cartels who pay for the campaigns..
But hey, we are aware that aussies like underarm bowling. So I can see how snap elections for corrupt motives appeals to aussies. But please try to learn some actual NZ history.
''You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife.''
Yes, many people have told me that. I don't worry about such nastiness. I just keep proving them wrong.
The difference between you and me is you deal with dry facts and political history.
I deal with emotions and undercurrents of power. I'm try to talk things into existence.
See, the New Zealand political landscape is becoming as bone dry as the aussie outback during a drought.
And during this political drought people are becoming more confused, more fractionised and more discontented. Even politicians are acting like headless chooks. Law and order is breaking down.
It will only take one vacuous liberal reporter to innocently ask some politician if an early election is on the cards, and WHOOSH, we have a meme in the publics mind… a possible way out of the morass we are currently enduring. Something to make the pain go away.
Can I guarantee this, no I can't. But I believe anyone who thinks it's not a solid possibility is living in an alternate universe.
Just my musings.
ps- just imagine if ONE protester with a loud hailer stood in front of parliament building and called for an election? A opportunity goes begging.
ONE protester with a loud hailer stood in front of parliament building and called for an election
They'd just be ignored. There is simply nothing in it for the PM, and she is the only person who can call it.
Convincing the GG to allow it without asking the opposition parties would be a big ask as well. It isn't like Labour has a a problem getting a majority on passing legislation or votes of confidence.
I don't even think that the opposition parties would be interested. Maybe Act would because their vote is siphoning away back to National at present. But who listens to them anyway.
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David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
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Which is worse here?
One group protests by setting up a camp at parliament and clogs up a few streets with cars because their freedoms have been restricted, and for some, their livelihoods have been destroyed through government mandates.
Another group, with a different form of protest, threatens to withdraw vital health resources during a dangerous pandemic.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/02/17/10000-health-workers-vote-to-strike-as-omicron-wave-hits/
Their choice about their job as possibly infecting other people with a serious illness risk was too high for their employer or general public
Those health strikes are usually minimally disruptive- deliberatly and dont involve abusing people for wearing masks or other vile threats
''Their choice about their job as possibly infecting other people with a serious illness risk was too high for their employer or general public''
Maybe in the past, but debatably now there is little more infection risk than vaccinated people who can also infect others.
"'Those health strikes are usually minimally disruptive- deliberatly and dont involve abusing people for wearing masks or other vile threats''
Time will tell how disruptive if it goes ahead. But if resources are already stretched to the limit, then this action could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
Actually I support nurses and associated staff getting paid what they are worth. It is the only way to stop losing staff to Australia and other countries.
But, whatever you think, the threatened strike action has the potential to have a national impact compared to a very localised impact that the protesters at Wellington are having.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
"So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact."
Tribalism mainly. Once you have put a stake in the ground, it's hard to move it when the evidence changed.
That, and 'nazis'. /sarc
The health workers' strikes are timetabled to last 24 hours, then cease.
The "plague campers" occupation "will continue till we get what we want!!"
That's why someone might support the former, not the latter.
That is another take.
We have come a long way since the wharfies did their thing in the '50's.
Twas before my time but there seemed to be a lot of deep divisions created or entrenched back then.
Another observation from the front lines of the last couple of nurses strikes. It was that the short-24 hour strikes were largely ineffective as management could reasonably easy cover the shortfalls. Bringing in some office folk, putting off procedures etc.
A longer, 72 hour, or indefinite period would be more effective as it hit the PTB in the balance sheet. The place where it has a noticeable effect, one of the metrics our neo-liberal managers and governance worship.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
They are having no effect on the government, which, after all, is the main purpose the protest. I suspect that the government will remain firm on this. The protesters might as well go home since all they are doing is disrupting Wellington traffic and businesses.
Apart from that they don't really have a legitimate cause. No-one is forcing the unvaccinated to accept the jab, while the "freedom" lovers are, in fact, denying the employer's freedom to refuse employment to an unvaccinated person in the interests of protecting his staff.
Infection risk of vaccinated compared to non vaccinated
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/31/the-new-omicron-subvariant-is-more-contagious-but-vaccinated-people-are-less-likely-to-spread-it-study-finds.htmlc
Also mandates apply to super spreader type jobs
As a side issue Denmark is reporting 46,000 new cases per day. ( jan 31 2022) A country the TV1 News highlighted over its almost complete removal of covid restrictions.
Didnt think that number 46 k infections per day was mentioned, but TV1 story played to its brand by only talking to or about hospitality workers yet again.
In Australia rates of vaccination against COVID-19 are high, and the number of active cases in their Omicron wave peaked (at ~835,000) about one month ago. Going by the Australian response, imho it's unlikely that NZ vaccine mandates will be eased before we are well over our Omicron wave. Anti-mandate protest events and the associated travel will accelerate increase infection rates slightly.
I'll tell you what isn't good…when the Minister of Health finds out from the media about the strike.
I notice Stuff is reporting an unreliable poll from Horizon
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/127808790/parliament-protest-new-poll-shows-30-per-cent-of-kiwis-support-antimandate-protest
They dont use random selection, instead have online panels and offer prizes to their subscribers/panellist for participating with the subject matter promoted in emails
Often their polls are sponsored by pressure groups as well
I pretty much ignore Horizon polls as being worthless these days.
They are completely worthless. That poll as report by gwwnz above would suffer from at least two major statistic errors namely selection bias and non-response bias. I would have given my students an F if they proposed such a sampling method as having any validity. You would think the media would have learnt by now – but they seem determined to repeat the errors of history. Notably the expensive error committed by the Literary Digest in 1936 – one of the most expensive polls ever conducted up until then and utterly wrong in its prediction of the outcome of the 1936 Presidential Election.
C'mon Andy, get angry about this family's plight.
The extensions talked about will not make a difference, the beds in MAPU are used by people who have to go through ED. The EDOA beds are similar.
The hospital is too small and the staffing levels and experience are dire in the ED.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/127796196/24hour-wait-for-hospital-bed-highlights-urgency-for-ed-upgrade
Arent the one of the worst DHBs in Palmy for not doing anything urgency even when money for upgraded or new facilities is secured for them
This is one a the main reasons the separate DHBs are being abolished as their have their own little silos and move at their own pace even on projects that have the go ahead
I thought it was suspect, 30 per cent is way too low.
We can't have that many elderly and 'work from home class.
what?
Yeah. Sorry, I meant it as a reply to comment 2.
Too fast on the quick-draw and shot myself in the foot.
Not for the first time…
A very plausible analysis of the U.S-Russia-Ukraine situation and the motives driving it.
The Crisis in Ukraine is not about Ukraine. It's about Germany, by Mike Whitney – The Unz Review
I had thought that too much earlier . The new Social Democrat led government is being railroaded into supporting the Nato nuclear carry weapons for its Luftwaffe.
And is it so recent that everyone has forgotten these predictions from all the US intell agencies. naturally then as now the 'consensus' supports the political view rather than reality on the ground.
'Four U.S. Intelligence Agencies Produced Extensive Reports on Afghanistan, but All Failed to Predict Kabul’s Rapid Collapse'
https://www.wsj.com/articles/four-u-s-intelligence-agencies-produced-extensive-reports-on-afghanistan-but-all-failed-to-predict-kabuls-rapid-collapse-11635415201
Or its about a number of things all relevant to irreversible loosening of the stranglehold that the US military has been able to apply to the economic structure of the world. Again we are faced with war hysteria of the same ilk as that from Collin Powell, Bush and Blair. Russia continues to assure that they have no invasion plans. So why the hysteria. Definitely German ability to gain access to cheap Russian gas is one thing but there is also a crisis in US politics as outlined by a past Russian Ambassador, Jack Matlock
Another record …broken!
Housing affordability in New Zealand has deteriorated to the worst level on record, with the average property worth 8.8 times the average income at the end of last year, a property analyst says.
That ratio was up from 8.3 just three months earlier, and from 7.0 in the last part of 2020, according to CoreLogic’s latest housing affordability report.
It was significantly higher than the long-term average of 5.9, and than previous cycle peaks of 6.1 in 2007 and 7.0 in 2016 to 2017.
The generally accepted definition of “affordable” was house prices of three times the median income.
'Drastic fall' in NZ housing affordability takes it to worst level on record | Stuff.co.nz
In 1980 bought our first home for 45k
salary abt 10k
Had 20k from home ownership
And 10k from state advances at 2%ish
But had to get 2nd mort of 14k at 20%
So different balance of affordability cause of the high 2nd mort rate.
Looks like the Salvation Army were more on to it.
“It is likely that without substantial changes in housing policy New Zealand will experience the equivalent of the intergenerational scarring, which resulted from the labour market reforms in the 1980s.”
"Sustained moderation" was never going to cut it.
The Sallies aren't seeking reelection though.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/108301/pm-jacinda-ardern-says-sustained-moderation-remains-governments-goal-when-it-comes
Of interest to those that were wondering (Herald):
The mandates were put in primarily to target Delta because it has such a large impact on health resources. It is also the variant that will spreads in confined close spaces – like workplaces and entertainment venues.
So far there are no indications that Omicron is pushing Delta out of the initial communityinfections – which figures. Delta target the lungs first. Omicron targets the throat and nasal. It would not surprise me that people can catch both at the same time.
As your quote says, Delta is still in the NZ community, and is probably still being restricted largely by vaccines and mandates.
Until it is medically known to have been swept aside by omicron, it'd be as foolish as a NSW liberal politician to remove mandates. Having two local epidemics running at the same time is a known route to medical hell.
Just reporting on the article, as I couldn't find data re the strains currently present on the Ministry site.
My partner's co-workers are being contacted after fairly long delays (up to five days after exposure) to go and get tested. It makes me think, as suggested in the article that they may be prioritising getting in contact with Delta infections as they are currently still a significant portion of our daily positives. I'm all good with that approach, it makes sense to me.
(Copied to dedicated post to move discussion).
There won't be much at present. M0H announced back in late Jan (from memory – I didn't take a link) that they would stop looking at variants during routine community testing. I think they're still doing it at the MIQ and for hospitalisations.
The PCR testing is enough to determine that there is covid-19, but takes much more resources to determine variants. Resources that can't be spared as the amount of tests increase.
I put up a post.
Where can you get Ukraine news from an unbiased perspective? All the usual suspects, our media, Politico, Guardian, anything from USA, all have a bias.
Al Jazeera?
Look at my earlier post…up the thread.
If you don't at least take in the Russian perspective you cant get balance. Antiwar.com can be a good place to start to find some alternative US voices.
Considering a comment from weston a couple of days ago, questioning the impact of gender ideology on lesbians, I thought about how disconnected we all are – myself included – from other peoples experiences.
Happy heterosexual that I am, when all's said and done I can't help but love the lesbians. When they see a need, they organise, and do it well.
An academic from the US, describes her journey in academia and the pushback and obstacles put in place for researching and speaking about homosexuality and lesbianism in that sphere (Substack article):
Here in NZ, LAVA formed in 1988, publishes research and writes on issues to do with the impact of gender perspectives on lesbian women, and offers support to female detransitioners.
They are at least attempting to fill the gaps left by other organisations, such as Rainbow Youth in the wider community, that either ignore or superficially mention detransition. (Actually a Rainbow Youth site search for either 'detransition' or 'lesbian' comes up with no results. Apparently, no lesbians in our Rainbow Youth.)
If you like statements without equivocation, then this will appeal, whether or not you subscribe to their content. You know where they stand.
There's good information there looking at the impact of the updated 'queer' movement.
Oh dear. I came back to The Standard after a long time away to see what content was on it and whether the comments section had improved from the bigoted cesspool it was.
And straight away we see transphobic terf shit. I guess The Standard is still a shitty cesspool.
[if I see you using terf as a slur again on this site I will ban you. Only warning. Reread the Policy and ask if you don’t understand – weka]
mod note.
I thought this was supposed to be a left-wing progressive website. But here we have an openly bigoted transphobic far right mod. I guess the standard has been captured by the same far right shit as has infected other purportedly left wing blogs.
In short, you're a fucking disgrace, the whole lot of you terfs who go around pretending like you have the remotest conception of how to be progressive or left wing. Sort out your fucking bigotry, and stop pretending to be left wing.
[thanks for making my job easier. I already warned you of a ban, and now you are also attacking an author and mod as well as thinking the site is a person (the site Policy is clear on this). Permanent ban because I see little room for respecting this place and contributing to it – weka]
I will however stop and address the accusations of being right wing. This is a gender identity activism trope, designed to undermine gender critical feminists and is tied to No Debate. You are either too stupid to think beyond the talking points you have been given, or you know full well what the trope is and still chose to use it.
The cutting edge of gender critical feminism is in the UK, it's primarily a movement of left wing women. This is abundantly clear to anyone paying attention and who isn't trying to obscure what is happening. Most left and centre left women want trans people to be ok and to be allowed their right to take full part in society just like everyone else. The beef is with where there is a conflict of rights, and that's not a rw position, it's just bog standard feminism. Women get to have our own politics. That's progressive.
Terf is a weapon used by ideologues and has very clear connections to misogynistic behaviour towards women.
https://terfisaslur.com/
mod note for you.
Hey, Horace.
I understand perhaps Twiitter use may inhibit ability for discourse, but did you have a discussion point?
Can that also apply to 'Woke' as a slur too?
not as the term 'woke' is generally applied here on TS.
'Terf' on the other hand is associated with extreme misogyny, rape threats, death threats, threats of other violence, lesbophobia, targeted and generalised abuse and harassment, dehumanisation of women especially gender critical feminists, sexism, female ageism and body shaming.
https://terfisaslur.com/
This is why when Twitter got called to front up at a Human Rights Committee session of the UK government, the word 'terf' was part of questioning why twitter was so bad at safeguarding women on the platform from harassment, threat, and hate. Twitter acknowledged this and since then it has in fact upheld complaints against the kind of tweets you can see in my link above.
Anyone aware of that and using the term 'terf' is imo well outside the TS policy, and anyone not aware of that needs to educate themselves (and still can't use the term as a slur on TS). At this point in the war, I consider it a wilful ignorance from people that are aware enough to use the word like it was used above.
Sigh. You disagree with someone, so you label them with ignorant insults. Perhaps if you tried engaging with Molly like an adult, you might learn something.
I listened to an interview where the point was made that all sorts of prejudice was not condoned eg racism, ageism, religious intolerance etc.
Who you were attracted to, or more accurately, not attracted to, was an acceptable and legitimate prejudice. The latter part of the last century till now, it would appear some want that to change.
"…it would appear some want that to change."
Yes. However, it's not a small movement. Indicative of how far this message has penetrated I return to Stonewall's CEO, Nancy Kelley:
This email exchange between Stonewall and the BBC was an attempt to stop publication of this article by Caroline Lowbridge:
'We're being pressured into sex by some trans women'
I can only view this perspective of sexual attraction, promoted by Kelley, as regressive. Particularly harmful for homosexuals and lesbians.
So, if you gain a knighthood that makes you a highly respected person.
Apparently one such person is about to join the anti-mandate protest next week (hedging his bets there hoping that it might not be necessary for him to attend). And apparently he wants to stretch it to a protest for freedom – (we have become more and more limited in our freedoms).
This from one who benefitted from sucking on the tax-payers nipple on several occasions – one verging on using blackmail "or we'll take our America's cup challenge overseas", and then having milked the Kiwi good will for all it was worth, eventually jumped ship and sailed for the opposition.
I can so I will … https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/coutts-mansion-wall-causing-controversy
And this, because I'm free … I can do what I want.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/sir-russell-coutts-multi-million-dollar-beach-pad-upsets-neighbours-it-looks-like-a-hospital-or-boarding-house/5SLDC23NIPVH576J7OABJJGAWQ/
And there's also the Crown Terrace Water War
This one has the potential to get quite messy, and not reflect well on Coutts or Otago Regional Council.
Is the destabilisation on the Ukraine border possibly linked to the occupations in world capitals?. There are known links to the primary background agitators, QAnon, Bannon and Trump associates even, amongst others to the Russians, this type of agitation is very similar to Moseley and the Brownshirts in Britain and Il Duce and Blackshirts in Italy as well as right wing movements in other European countries in the late 30s. Asymmetrical warfare and the splintering of effort in opposing countries is very common in the lead up to aggressive invasions. Wouldn’t put it past the Kleputinomaniac- in- Chief.
Bella Hadid just dropped an atomic publicity bomb of 49 million viewers onto those who attacked the Muslim girl at Otago Girls High School.
US supermodel Bella Hadid shares support of Otago High School girl after attack – NZ Herald
Very interesting to see how our PM reacts.
Yes, she no doubt will spout some obligatory words like she did regarding school kids being discriminated against for not being vaccinated.
This from the OGH website:
''Vision statement
Otago Girls' High School is committed to quality education for all girls in a safe, caring and inclusive environment.
Inspire ~ Empower ~ Challenge~ Dream''
Also there's woke diversity imagery fronting their website. That obviously is bs, too.
You can find this crap on most school sites. And you can bet when it comes to bullying most schools suffer from the Cuddles Costa syndrome.
This type of stuff infuriates me because as someone who has a real problem with Islamic culture in western society, we just get clobbered with this. No one is interested in a reasoned debate.
The only good( I'm hoping) to come out of this situation is I'm ASSUMING, OGH, has a predominately European roll, therefore the chances favour the perpetrators not being Maori…for a change.
And so it begins.
Contact zero in a bubble at my SO's work was notified along with more the 100 others as being a close contact of a case who attended a happy clappy devil dodging super-spreader event while symptomatic.
That sounds like a quite irresponsible god-botherer. Probably thought that happy-clapping pheromones would keep the virus at bay.
It is a pity that viruses just look at such events as being a good breeding site.
/sarc
BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care, and find the idea of gods being interested in my bowel movements to be somewhat offensive.
''BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am a devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care.''
Maybe you should take the plunge and become a material fundamentalist – also known as an atheist? That way, should you ever have to face the big boss, after writing your last post, you can save time on having to explain yourself and reviewing your life.
The big fella can then send you straight on to your second death to join the likes of Johnny Lennon and other non god botherers.
If you are a Christian what do you need to do to get into the Lennon gig?
I wouldn't have a clue. I'm not a Christian.
It's hard to see this as anything other than emotional abuse – of other family and friends – and most likely, his ex-wife (Herald article: Missing since December: Ōtorohanga dad Tom Phillips still on run with three children)
It's a funny old world and coincidences can be surprising
496 days since I drank alcohol and well things have been getting me down a little – the parliament protest, the right wingers here gleefully claiming to support the protesters (they support anything that can cause problems for the Labour Government) the anxiety and uncertainty over the covid pandemic because I have multiple co-morbidities et cetera.
So as I was walking to the supermarket and very likely to be breaking my sobriety – a young scruffy unwashed bloke beckons me over on the footpath – I am mentally sighing as this is always followed with(it seems) "can you spare some change please?" I am reaching to my back pocket to get whatever change I had to give to him and he's "nah nah I got something for you" and he gives me three small nice buds!
So I will not be breaking my no alcohol journey just yet
Bloody well don't Barfly
Stay strong !
3 small Budweisers?
There are good people out there. Kia Kaha Barfly. it is a life long journey. Grant lost his sense of smell and taste with covid. He said it was ultra strange to mix his strawberry metamucil see it, but have no smell or taste. It is coming back a little now.
Keep going you are doing great. G is 5 yrs.
We're asking people to put comments about the protest under one of the dedicated posts. Would you mind reposting this and then I will delete this one? It keeps OM free for other discussions.
https://thestandard.org.nz/convoy-protest-18-2-22/
What a nice thing to do. Very generous of Graeme Hart.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127796079/new-zealands-richest-person-donates-fishing-boats-tractors-and-food-to-tonga
Yes those are very worthy actions.
Brian Beattie, from the Royal College of Physicians (?) has BASICLY said we need to stop scaremongering about Covid, and learn to live with it.
This is a big big hit for Jacinda.
If things continue down this line, Labour's time in power is limited.
Wot?
Some bloke in the UK ?
"This is a big big hit for Jacinda."
Eh? Nah – Your dreaming mate
"Labour's time in power is limited."
Did anyone ever think that it would be infinite?
No, Noo Zealand I think. Didn't quite get the name.
Sounds like you have had your first roach?
RACP.
There are 30,000 doctors in NZ. None of them seem to be called "Brian Beattie". Maybe he's Australian?
I suspect the rest of your recollection is similarly reliable.
I had 150 kgs on the bar during a bench press. So excuse me for having a faulty memory.
But, thanks to some help….I have a name. Dr Bryan Betty. No link.
150? Oooo, you're ever so butch.
So not even RACP, but RNZCGP.
Anyhoo, seems you might be over-egging it when you talk "big hit" for the PM. Sure, he wants a change of mindset, but he's nowhere close to the parliament lawn jerks. For example he reiterates the govt lines on not testing if you're asymptomatic and vaccination. I still have issues with using sweden, uk and aus as justifications for cutting isolation times. Or anything covid-related, frankly.
Not sure he even covered "mandates", might have missed it.
I forgot I'm on a blog of effete liberals. I didn't mean to offend.
My spotter can lift 210 kgs. And germane to this topic – Clint Rickards could lift over 200 kgs.
Any guesses what that woke Cuddles Costa could lift.
You can spin it anyway you want and pick holes in my argument like:
''So not even RACP, but RNZCGP.'
The fact of the matter is it's a huge change in the medical mindset of this country.
Jacinda is losing control on a number of fronts.
Early election looming?
You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife. Let just assume that you are as thick as Queensland National party supporter who votes Pauline Hanson and has about the same awareness of actual civics as Trump supporter.
We have had 3 snap elections. 1951, 1984, and 2002.
The first one was purely political after the 1951 waterfront strike. That worked. It was also the last purely political one we had.
The second was probably legit because National couldn’t stop their MPs from crossing the floor and voting with Labour. The questions about it being booze induced may have been simple jealousy by the press gallery at the time. Felt more like desperation, and was rewarded as such.
The third was after a government coalition partner Alliance unallied itself like the Warsaw Pact and the USSR a few years
laterearlier There were questions about being able to pass legislation due to the multiplicity factions of one remaining in the aftermath. This resulted in a landslide to Labour.Basically we don’t have many early elections because kiwis aren’t that stupid. It is bad enough having to have one every 3 years. Why would we want to speed it up?
Aussie has a snap election virtually every election. I believe that this has something to do with the infighting of the crimelords and corruption cartels who pay for the campaigns..
But hey, we are aware that aussies like underarm bowling. So I can see how snap elections for corrupt motives appeals to aussies. But please try to learn some actual NZ history.
/sarc
''You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife.''
Yes, many people have told me that. I don't worry about such nastiness. I just keep proving them wrong.
The difference between you and me is you deal with dry facts and political history.
I deal with emotions and undercurrents of power. I'm try to talk things into existence.
See, the New Zealand political landscape is becoming as bone dry as the aussie outback during a drought.
And during this political drought people are becoming more confused, more fractionised and more discontented. Even politicians are acting like headless chooks. Law and order is breaking down.
It will only take one vacuous liberal reporter to innocently ask some politician if an early election is on the cards, and WHOOSH, we have a meme in the publics mind… a possible way out of the morass we are currently enduring. Something to make the pain go away.
Can I guarantee this, no I can't. But I believe anyone who thinks it's not a solid possibility is living in an alternate universe.
Just my musings.
ps- just imagine if ONE protester with a loud hailer stood in front of parliament building and called for an election? A opportunity goes begging.
They'd just be ignored. There is simply nothing in it for the PM, and she is the only person who can call it.
Convincing the GG to allow it without asking the opposition parties would be a big ask as well. It isn't like Labour has a a problem getting a majority on passing legislation or votes of confidence.
I don't even think that the opposition parties would be interested. Maybe Act would because their vote is siphoning away back to National at present. But who listens to them anyway.
Before or after you turned the shit cannon on yourself?
Hey Joe…where you goin with the sad argument in your hand:
When? got a link?
No, If you don't listen to talkback, you miss out. Sorry.
Some stories have no links.
lols.
Probably not missing out on anything then.
From your perspective- true.
UK did so well/sarc.
Meanwhile, away from the obsession with covid and protests, the government quietly goes about further making it harder to buy a house.
That is nonsense..the banks know it…and so does anyone with an objective view.
What is nonsense? Housing affordability being the worst in history, or the government making up rules without understanding the consequences?
Where's Luxon in all of this. Why isn't he calling for Costa's resignation?
When the liberal press turn on you, you know you have a problem.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300521443/what-the-police-fail-to-understand-about-camp-freedom
In fact, the jobs of three people are on the line:
1- Jacinda
2- Costa
3- Mallard.
Later in the peace, MAYBE Luxon, James Shaw and the Maori guy with tats who loves grandstanding.
Are there any other government departments you think should primarily be run by opinion piece?
I don't know what you mean?
Figures. Some of us attribute meaning to the statements we make, but that's probably overly restrictive for a free form artist such as yourself.
Tell me concisely what you mean and I will give you an answer. It's not rocket science…is it?