Holy crap i mustve shit the bed !! Fijoas have been falling for a week or so round here very welcome they are too but im struck by how big they are this year ?cause of the wet spring maybe ? Others are telling me that the incidence of moth infestation is not as bad as last year .Certainly was bad though in some of the peaches .
'Campbell explains how pollsters have a spreadsheet of more than 400 different segments or profiles that need to be ticked off, and why pollsters have to work so hard to reach the "19-year-old man living on the West Coast". '
I would say I am probably a natural Labour supporter but I have voted Green in the last two elections as I feel they are more environmentally and anti-poverty oriented and at points I have had concerns over their survival. The sort of thing I have found off putting from the Greens is stuff like the reclaiming off the word "cunt" it was a "WTF" for me I didn't "get it" then I don't now and doubt I ever will. Apologies for the rambling comment.
I shared your reaction at the time. I kinda reframed on it after pondering awhile. Language does shape our world. Her explanation made sense on the basis that males had hijacked the word and turned it into a perjorative. So she did it as a liberationist feminist thing – reclaiming the word.
Pretty shallow if you vote for all the other parties that will do little about CC for that reason Barfly. Look at the big picture not the fringe elements-the media will of course play up the "cunt" issue, but then they should know.
Several years since I posted here about Substack, so here's an update:
Substack is an online newsletter platform: it was founded in 2017 by developers Chris Best and Jairaj Sethi, and writer Hamish McKenzie – a New Zealander who was raised in Alexandra and edited Critic, Otago University’s student magazine, in 2004.
Pretty much anyone can create a newsletter: once you’ve done that, people can sign up for it and Substack will email the newsletter to all your subscribers. It also provides an online WordPress-style platform where writers can interact with their readers.
You can sign up to a newsletter for free, or you can choose to pay for content, with writers deciding what they charge. Generally, Substack takes a 10 per cent cut of paying subscriptions, and the rest goes to the content creator. All in all, more than half a million people have paid Substack subscriptions, and the top 10 writers earn nearly $30 million every year.
The Detail talks to two former writers for mainstream publications who’ve turned to Substack about whether it’s changing the media game for the better.
The biggest hassle that I have with sub-stack or protean is that it is difficult and expensive to follow multiple people at once when you're only interested in reading some of each authors work.
Currently the only single author sites that I pay for are Politik and Phoronix. The former has a low article rate but is in depth on the type of analysis that I want on national politics. The latter, well it is the best news place for linux and the relationship to underlying hardware.
I have the same issue with pay walled media sites.
I subscribe to a number of newspaper/magazine media, but generally just the best international ones. My criteria tends to be ones that I will read a quarter of their articles in the morning read. But many media just don't hit that.
For instance I like reading Fallon's (now guest) economic/political writing on the Herald – but I'm not going to buy a subscription to the Herald to get it. Same for about 4 other authors on there. The articles in the Herald are just too damn uneven. I scan the headlines most days, but seldom want to open more than one or two articles.
I'll scan Stuff, RNZ, ABC.au, BBC.world in preference for an overview.
I'd prefer having a pay per use model at the NZ Herald, rather like the Auckland Transport parking app (which I love) or the AT bus dongle. Don't know why no-one seems to want to do that. Technically it is possible using exactly the same model.
Media site subscriptions are a pain unless it is The Economist – which gives me about a ~80% read article rate.
It was why I had to dropped Medium. Lots of good opinion articles. Highly uneven. Eventually I wasn't reading them because I already knew what each author was likely to say on politics history or science, and the usefulness of the technical was limited. I dropped down to about a 10% article read rate. I really wanted pay-per-view there.
I almost dropped Washington Post last renewal. But when I did, they came back with a offer that I couldn't refuse – about a 10th of the full rate. I guess they tracked what my actual usage was.
So I donate to Stuff because I use their site as the main local news overview pickup.
I donate to wikipedia because I love their random page. Nothing like getting bored and flicking through and scanning pages of information. That is when I'm not using wikipedia as a entry point to fact check or initial research on a topic.
I've trained Google Chrome's 'Discover' to give me the weird and wonderful opinion links in tech and science – which now has a ~50% read article rate… 🙂
"New COBOL contender emerges: gcobol"
"ASUS warns of Cyclops Blink malware attacks targeting routers"
"Eight RS232 Ports, one ethernet port"
"Canonical updfates the Ubuntu logo in time for 22.04 LTS"
"In 2045: Alpha Centauri"
"10 amazing exoplanet discoveries"
"C isn't a programming language anymore"
But really I want a conglomeration site like Discover which picks up from all over the place, learns my interests and reading level, and that I pay per view – mostly to the author.
Interesting feedback. I agree with pay per view, in principle. I'd prefer a tick box system though – placed at the end so you can tick it to register your opinion that it was worth reading. And the billing to then happen monthly. That way it would be easy to monitor the expense and the frequency of approvals.
My reading identifies me as a dilettante, notoriously so inasmuch as visitors have been known to try counting how many books they can find lying open with bookmark in place on various tables, chairs etc around the place – often in piles of same. I did a count once & reached 24 despite being a tidy person by nature.
So I share your online tendency. I'm allergic to paying anyone so tend to cruise around doing a brief scan of topics on any site. I have been a regular payer to Wikipedia though. I'd pay for a provider service if their qc was up to my standard.
…notoriously so inasmuch as visitors have been known to try counting how many books they can find…
I used to have piles of completed books around. Just because I read at least one book a day, and more like 8 fiction in a day when I relax.
However I offloaded the extensive paper library in 2012 after moving it around 2 houses when my partner needed a bigger workspace for editing a documentary. I'm now up to ~90% of the paper library as epubs.
These days my library is Calibre running on my servers with a couple of offsite repositories. I seem to be buying most of my books on Kobo at present. Periodically I batch them, strip the DRM and toss them into Calibre. I mostly use FBReader as my reader using ODPS from my servers.
FBReader is good enough that I’m contemplating using their SDK as a core to do my own reader. There are a few features that would make a better reader like the kobo font-sizer.
I've dug through the epub open source enough to know that it'd be a pain doing it from there.
I'm allergic to paying anyone
I don't mind paying. I just don't like wasting my time. Paying to waste my time with reading rubbish (eg NZ Herald) feels like a sin.
Calibre looks useful. I actually can't read for pleasure on a screen – physically unable to relax with one for some reason. Consequently the e-books option has never appealed. However I can see that it would be useful for sourcing text from nonfiction books to illustrate blog comments by expanding or proving points.
Such copying saves having to type it in or run it thro ocr. If there was a way to hook it up to TS it would benefit essay-writers. Expand the resource base considerably! Book writers tend to include more interesting stuff than the more superficial online writing culture provides…
Substack is great. Subscribed to David Farrier's Webworm (free). I thought Medium was really cool as well, until they locked it down and tried charging users to read more than 10 articles a week. Screw that. (there are browser extensions to get around it, but I just don't care enough to go to Medium much these days)
RSS aggregators were pretty nifty and I used a few of them over the years. Found some neat blogs. But eventually it became too tiring/tedious to curate all the crud.
So now I am like a magpie, getting bits off TS, TDB, Twitter, RNZ, NZHerald, Stuff. And occasionally foreign outlets when something significant happens overseas. I follow TheRegister and HackerNews and a few tech journos on Twitter, it's enough to get the gist of what's going on.
There are also useful tools like Outline.com and Bypass Paywalls that will get you full access to most news sites. DuckDuckGo is good for finding stuff that Google doesn’t want you to see. Plus a big shout out to Sci-Hub for the occasional academic paper that would normally cost an unreasonable amount of $$$$
Partner reads Webworm. I had the problem that after reading it a few times I could predict at the start of a article what he was likely to say from the title and first paragraph.
I originally paid for Medium because of the useful articles on the Android display API plus discussions on some of the languages and libraries that I don't use and was vaguely interested in the philosophy of (like flutter, react, haskell, kotlin etc). That was how I started to write in kotlin. I spread to the political, history, and science from that. But it simply wasn't deep enough and usually lacked links to deeper material if I wanted to delve deeper – one of the things that wikipedia was good on (and mass media is usually terrible at).
I magpie as well. But I have a basic set of sites that I go through every day – typically between 0630 and 0830 while I wake up, have breakfast, coffee, and before I start thinking about work.
We ought to give Labour credit for this lurch out of the 19th century into the 21st:
Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti… says the refresh of the school curriculums is scheduled over the next five years and it will be progressed in stages. The social studies curriculum is now out for review as well. "Also the vision for young people and this is an exciting part of the curriculum, this is the first time in this country that we've got a vision for young people that is created by young people."
The PM said
The curriculum has taken three years to develop… It would be very rare to find a country that didn't teach its own history so I think this is about New Zealand joining the pack
Just gloss over why it didn't happen in the 20th century. Try to ignore all the years that Labour was in govt then without feeling the need to drag education out of the 19th. Just feel good that it's finally happening.
She acknowledges NZ finally joining with other countries that teach kids their nation's history without any explanation of Labour's part in why it took more than a century to do it. Still – this is genuine evidence of Labour being transformational. Well done!
Clarks Labour did introduce a researched and comprehensive new curriculum while in Government.
Of course this took time.
To be dumped for Nationals return to the 1890's, emphasise on 3/R's and rote learning. National's low standards ended up coming at the same time as the new curriculum. Leading to an inivitable and typical right wing education stuff up.
No one in teaching is surprised that education standards in everything, including the 3R's, has dropped since. As it always does when right wing zealots get their sticky beaks into teaching.
Paul Goldsmith was reported this morning on breakfast tv as saying that the new history curriculum divides people into "oppressors" and "victims". Will be interesting to see how far the right gets with this line. It's bollocks, but still a promising line of attack for two reasons:
It aims to erase any suggestion that the current distribution (maldistribution?) of wealth/power was unjustly arrived at, i.e.. it allows people to believe that they are fundamentally decent
Binary folk will always default into a binary framing. Their brains can't function without doing so. Oodles of third alternatives are always evident to anyone with an open mind. I bet most settlers & maori would fit more accurately into the opportunist category, for instance.
Recall that Taranaki tribe who bought a ship from the Brits, sailed off to the Chathams to do genocide on the peaceful islanders? Extreme opportunism!
You are wrong there, Dennis. The late Sir Paul Reeves said in a speech ( to paraphrase) '' We came to your lands (Chathams) long ago'' There was no mention of genocide. I wonder if the new history curriculum will mention that with as much detail as Parihaka is recounted?
Dave Seymour was disappointing in this interview. He made few pertinent points in my opinion.
In 1835, around 900 Māori people from Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama were welcomed to the islands. This group arrived in two waves. The first arrived on 19 November 1835 via the hijacked European ship Lord Rodney and carried 500 people along with guns, clubs and axes. This first group killed and hung up a 12-year-old Moriori girl.
The second group arrived on 5 December 1835. With the arrival of the second group "parties of warriors armed with muskets, clubs and tomahawks, led by their chiefs, walked through Moriori tribal territories" and "curtly informed the inhabitants that their land had been taken and the Moriori living there were now vassals."
Due to the new arrivals' hostility, a hui (council) of 1,000 Moriori was convened at settlement called Te Awapatiki to debate possible responses. Younger members argued that the Moriori could fight back as they outnumbered Māori two-to-one. Elders, however, argued Nunuku's Law should not be broken.
Despite knowing Māori were not pacifist, Moriori ultimately decided to stay pacifist against the invaders, describing Nunuku's Law as "a moral imperative".
Although the council decided in favour of peace, the invading Māori inferred that the decision was a prelude to war. Violence erupted and around 300 Moriori were killed, with hundreds more enslaved. The invaders killed around 10% of the population in a ritual that included staking out women and children on the beach and leaving them to die in great pain over several days.
Yikes that is horrific. Debunks the “noble savage” myth. And here I thought our worst massacre was the little known killing of 250 Maori on Moturua Island in the BOI by some French settlers
Just one (albeit notable) example of the extraordinarily brutal violence & ethnic cleansing of the Musket Wars … but best keep schtum about it … destroys the highly paternalistic Noble Savage Romanticism – grounded in Critical Race Theory & Post-Colonial Theory – at the heart of the new History curriculum.
Eternal Māori virtue, innocence, powerlessness & pacifism at all times.
Historical facts & moral complexity are far too yukky & inconvenient for Woke dogmatists pursuing a pure Good vs Evil Morality Tale.
Of course any sensible person would trust teachers as far as they can kick them, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt to start with.
Any lack of teacher credibility can always be exposed by a parent who primes their kid to ask the right question in class. Unsatisfactory performance by the teacher revealed in consequence can then be dealt with via a formal complaint to the headmaster, the minister of education, or both.
As a beneficiary of the status quo, Goldsmith's primary fear is that it is examined and found wanting in terms of justice – either in its historical origins or present day operation.
His fears are indeed well-founded – and his response is to either erase historical context, or have it defined by the winners, in order to maintain this "just world" fallacy.
And it's a pretty good strategy, as most people who have done OK in life share exactly the same predisposition.
I don't think Goldsmith's concern is an examination of NZ History, I think the concern is who is doing the examining & how it is presented. A definition of history by the "losers" may be as biased as one presented by the ""winners". (Winners & losers being your definition)
European & Maori history is full of brutal acts within their own people & against other people. I hope our NZ History when taught shows a warts & all full picture. Sadly if it doesn't it will become "the history you are taught at school & then here are the other bits they didn't tell you" It will become a sad joke.
I don't think how well you have done in life should determine how you view history.
Nah she's an intelligent young Millennial, who lacks life experience, but has a fine mind and decent ethics, who wants a better NZ. Her blind spots are privilege and wokeness, but I think she is smart enough to overcome those limitations sooner or later. I like her leadership potential and outspoken socialist leanings.
Her understanding of issues and communication skills rival those of Jacinda. A bright future.
Unfortunately, I have a suspicion that some of the concerns raised by the letter to the Listener, regarding mātauranga Māori inclusion into the curriculum are justified, or at least worth getting more details on. If we conflate those concerns as opponents of the non-defined Critical Race Theory, we fall into the same trap as those who view Gender Critical as transphobic.
It is openness and transparency of process and impact that will allow the public to discuss.
I have had a conversation with someone who said that when compiling the new NCEA standards, the initial work is done by subject specialists, and then Māori representatives are asked for their input, which is then shoehorned in.
I can see problems if that is the case. And OIR of some of the drafted standards might be the only way to see if the concerns of the letter writers above are justified, or whether the dismissal of those concerns are.
Found the hardest "wordle" derivative yet … called "semantle" (h/t weka). Yesterday my score was 47. Today it was 63. 🤯
I solved Semantle #47 in 63 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 7.36. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #18. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 34.71 (949/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org
semantle is the hardest one so far, also much more addictive. Although sometimes I find myself wondering if the game as any meaning, lol. Not being geeky enough to understand quite what they are doing with the connections there.
Michael Laws said, “I’m afraid the toxicity of social media is killing freedom of speech."
He reckons social media was stifling expression. This is after reaction to comments he made on his Facebook page. We're coming to terms with social media and how to use it and respond to it.
He'd written, "When did girls with lovely faces/breasts but unhealthy bums/legs become sexy?"
I'm not on Facebook to see if someone answered his question with: "About the same time arseholes became politicians or media personalities."
Not boding well for the stability of "The Platform"… lots of large egos on there. Without some kind of moderation, the “Free speech” outlet could easily devolve into thoughtless ranting that turns people off.
Sounds like he is unhappy that freedom of expression does not include the freedom from other private citizens making comments, judgement and even ostracism whether on social media, in a pub or in the town square.
He's mentioned a real issue, but skipped over it to pursue his low tastes.
Most are probably aware of Popper's paradox of tolerance, that An open society needs to be intolerant of intolerance.
The rise of Trumpism brings us the spectacle of people that will cheerfully suppress the freedoms of others, claiming the protection of an enlightenment constitution that they clearly do not subscribe to.
The right of propagandists who oppose free speech to claim their own speech is protected is necessarily less than infinite. In a moral sense they are freeloaders on their more enlightened fellows. But Laws just wants to talk about boobies.
I would really like to know why meat is as expensive as it is in the supermarket.
A breakdown of costs in the total supply chain, from the price paid to the farmer, cost at the works, shipping to the wholesale butchery, cutting up, packaging, transport costs et etc.
Free marketeers would tell you it's just supply and demand, and prices meeting the market. But they ignore the anticompetitive behaviour of the supermarket duopoly that has been well documented and ongoing for decades.
I say, nationalise the lot. They are (like many segments of the economy) exploitative and profiteering from market power. Screwing suppliers and workers, and inflating prices of essentials.
Nationalising them isn't required. They each sell up say 25 sites across NZ which is then taken by a 3rd player (Aldi, sainsburys etc) and you have a competitive industry.
Aldi shook up oz along with Costco but the entrenched duopoly here requires political cajones to resolve.
That's the real issue….political will to rule for a fair deal for all kiwis.
Political will relies on opinion polls and vested interests. So public opinion is a prerequisite to any major change. And the public is quite restless and annoyed at the moment, so I do expect the government to come up with something more than the usual platitudes.
Sam Brooks is just another queer stuck in the queer bubble of believing the queer community have some relevance in mainstream life. Bridges was just being what a conservative should be – true to himself and his worldview, like Sam Brooks is to himself and his worldview.
But I don't blame the queer community for their militancy, and attempting to push their agenda's on the world. For so long they where discriminated against. Alan Turing and Quentin Crisp are famous examples of the shit gay people had to endure.
As an aside, someone gave me a book called ''The Alan Turing Cryptic Codebreaker's Puzzle Book.'' F@#k me, you not only have to solve the puzzle… you sometimes have to work out what the question is. This blog gives me plenty of practice.
“A report published last week by the World Health Organization (see go.nature.com/3j9xcpi) says that if policymakers didn’t have a “pathological obsession with GDP”, they would spend more on making health care affordable for every citizen. Health spending does not contribute to GDP in the same way that, for example, military spending does, say the authors, led by economist Mariana Mazzucato at University College London.”
"Health spending does not contribute to GDP in the same way that, for example, military spending does, say the authors, led by economist Mariana Mazzucato at University College London.”
The authors apparently say this, and you quote this but what on earth does it mean? Can you explain this statement?
It means that a healthy working populace is not valued properly by GDP measures. But around the world (especially with Covid) it has been shown that a functioning public health system is actually better for the economy than sending workers and their families into bankruptcy when someone is hit by illness or accident.
I have read both and do not see where the conflict lies. Both argue that GDP is incomplete and measures the price of everything but the real value of nothing.
Just like on a personal level, we take our health for granted, until one day misfortune strikes.
One has its foundation in degrowth and wishes to destructure GDP (Doughnut economics) whereas the other advocates growth as measured by GDP and promotes its adoption through the measure seen as problematic by the former….they couldnt be more opposed if they tried.
The problem the original has (doughnut) and the point I was making to Alwyn was, it is utopic without any roadmap…..great to have a vision but difficult to support without the 'how' and probably why GDP remains the poor measure we use ….the lack (yet) of a viable alternative.
Perhaps they choose to see health spending as a cost and military spending as an investment; in that mindset a fighter jet will seem a more effective acquisition than a linear accelerator and the trained staff to run it.
Look at anything GDP measures in the desperately out of date 20th-century model: who chooses the values and categories; quis custodes custodiet?
It's journos with a conscience vs zombies in Russia.
Protesting journalist says Russians zombified by propaganda… "I was an ordinary cog in the propaganda machine. Until the very last moment I didn't think about it too much," she said.
Before her protest she recorded a video in which she said she was ashamed to work for what she called Kremlin propaganda.
The journalist said she was detained and questioned by police for 14 hours, and fined 30,000 roubles ($280; £210) for the video. The authorities had been convinced she had been acting on someone else's behalf, she said. "Nobody believed it was my personal decision. They suggested it could be conflict at work, relatives who were angry about Ukraine or that I was doing it for Western special services."
"They couldn't believe that I had so many objections to the government that I could not stay silent," she said.
Marina Ovsyannikova is a Russian TV producer who was employed on the Channel One Russia TV channel. She worked for Russia's main evening newscast Vremya since beginning of the 2000s.
Okay, I need to explain the difference between those two job descriptions. When I was working in the TVNZ newsroom 30 years ago I cut stories for reporters & journalists, but often for a hybrid professional category called news producers. This third category were given responsibility for producing news stories on an assigned basis by the programme producer.
Marina seems to fall into this category of a journalist who also produces tv news stories. The fact [see her wiki] that she had done so for 20 years for the state broadcaster suggests attainment of a senior position.
Since her father is Ukrainian and her mother Russian, her identity naturally forms a bridge between the two nations. Childhood in Chechnya during the war there is probably a contributor to her antiwar feeling.
Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at state-controlled Channel 1, was detained after she ran on to the set on Monday holding a sign saying "no war". She said she had been questioned for 14 hours and not slept for two days, and was not given access to legal help.
"I'm ashamed that I allowed myself to tell lies from the television screen. Ashamed that I allowed Russians to be turned into zombies," she explained… since the war in Ukraine began, at least three journalists have resigned from top Russian TV channels: Zhanna Agalakova from Channel 1, and Lilia Gildeyeva and Vadim Glusker from NTV.
In this report she is given a third job description. I was a video editor (the craftsperson who actually creates the product) and I worked with journos who operated as programme editors sometimes. I suspect her role was sufficiently senior that she did that editorial work as part of her normal duties.
The four resignations we know of are probably just high-level news due to reputation – tip of the iceberg I suspect. State compulsion to produce disinformation creates a toxic work environment. For workers to sacrifice their career and possibly their safety (or even their life) it shows an intense commitment to a better alternative.
For workers to sacrifice their career and possibly their safety (or even their life) it shows an intense commitment to a better alternative.
"Possibly their safety" I think is a given. Someone needs to get her out of Russia. She's in mortal danger.
And I agree the few resignations and the fleeing we know about is just the tip of the iceberg. I would suggest there are a great many Russians fleeing their homeland as we speak. We won't know how many until its all over – bar the shouting.
Could be her husband is in a position to protect her – he's also in a significant job elsewhere in Russian television. She's courageous (or naive) enough to refuse the offer from Macron.
Russia’s Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova says she has quit her job but refused to accept an asylum offer in France… Speaking to France 24, the editor said she had “handed in all the documents” for her resignation from Channel One. “It’s a legal procedure,” she said.
Ovsyannikova, who has two young children, said she had “broken the life of our family with this gesture”, with her son in particular showing anxiety. “But we need to put an end to this fratricidal war so this madness does not turn into nuclear war. I hope when my son is older he will understand why I did this,” she said.
In a separate interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel, Ovsyannikova said she would not take up an asylum offer put forward by France’s President Emmanuel Macron and would stay in Russia. “I don’t want to leave our country. I am a patriot, my son is even more so. We don’t want to leave in any way, we don’t want to go anywhere,” she said.
Despite having been freed, she could face further prosecution, risking years in prison under draconian new laws approved on March 4 that limit freedom of speech about the war in Ukraine.
It wouldn't hurt to offer her asylum in NZ – the odd journalist that understands and appreciates the importance of democracy would be a breath of fresh air.
Men who identify as women would never rape women in the single sex spaces that they are allowed to as they now identify as women.
Unless of course it does. And then what?
Well it is easy
Deny that there is a man on the 'female only ward'
Deny that a man could have been in the 'female only ward'
Tell the police that there was no man on the 'female only ward'
Disregards the Nurses, others Staff and CCTV Camera.
Tell the women (female adult human) who got raped that clearly she did not get raped cause there was no male on the 'female only ward'.
Instruct NHS staff to lie about men on the 'female only wards'.
Find CTTV camera and view the contents there of, learn that indeed there was a man on the female only ward and that indeed a women got raped.
Offer meaningless arse covering excuses to the victim who for a period of one year was told that a. there was no male on the female only ward, and b. that she never got raped at all, and thus there is nothing the Police should or could do.
And then have a Baroness state all of that in the house, and hope that by gosh, golly and the gods that shit will finally hit the fan, while simultaneous know that nothing will happen.
female adult human beings, are they even human, and do we care at all?
Disclaimer: not all men rape, but the vast majority of rapists are men, and in the UK all rapists are men as in the UK by definition of the law a penis needs to be involved in that rape to make it rape. And yes, only men have penises.
I hope to find some time to follow that up and maybe write a post, but on the face of it that would have to be one of the worst instances I've seen of not just the problems with self-ID, but the problems with half the world, including many on the left, having lost their goddam minds.
It's massive gaslighting of the raped woman, women rape survivors, and well, just women generally.
Better you write this post then me, cause i am starting to piss vinegar when it comes to these stories that would never ever happen.
Also, there must be a better word then 'gaslighting' for the mindfuckery that we put women (adult human females) and girls (children human females) through in order to protect violent men no matter their self professed identity.
One aspect of this discussion, is that requests for clarity on this single-sex provision is often asked for, but not given. Even in institutional and government documents, the words sex, gender, and gender identity are often conflated and used interchangeably so that intention and meaning is impossible to define.
A nurse has claimed that NHS trusts are “gaslighting” patients with official policy documents labelling those who ask for single-sex spaces “transphobes” and “perpetrators”.
Annex B states that trans people should be accommodated “according to their presentation: the way they dress, and the name and pronouns they currently use”, rather than their biological sex at birth.
snip
The goalposts have been moved and I don’t quite understand who was consulted about Annex B and where we go from here.
“How can one reconcile this gender-friendly Annex B with a single-sex ward pledge in the main guidance.
“At the very least there needs to be a review of what exactly is the regime that we want to support.”
He added: “I was particularly concerned to see that effectively if you classify yourself as non-binary you can take your choice as to whether you go in a ward of any particular sex.”
so yeah, there is a law, but then there is a rule to ignore that law, and there is a rule to demonize those that point out that law by calling htem all sorts of not kind words…………and women and girls (the adult/child human female kind) are the ones paying the price.
But then, i guess someone is always forced to pay the piper, and why would it not be the adult/child human female kind. Its not as if they count, and have rights, or needs to respect, dignity and sex appropriate care and accommodation.
“This is the NHS gaslighting women patients,” she said. “In other policies, women patients who ask for wards to be single-sex are described variously as transphobic service users, offenders, perpetrators or those who should be given trans education sessions to improve their attitudes.”
So you are needing a double masectomy and some chemo for your cancer, but we have decided that before we can do that we need to give your trans education so as to improve your attitude before we can start working on that pesky breast cancer that brings you here and no you can not expect 'single sex accommodation' even tho we should actually provide this to you,.
Sabine thanks for posting this. I had just copied the link.
This is what happens when the trans lobby infiltrates Govt organisations and gas lights people with statements like trans women are women.
It is an outrage that this could happen, then the hospital denied the rape as there were “ no males” there.
This is one of the many reasons organisations like SUFW have been trying to get across that there are some circumstances when women require their own spaces, eg bathrooms, hospital wards and prisons. For that the SUFW were utterly vilified and treated with contempt by female politicians…
this will not be published in any NZ media outlets because there is a shut down of anything that challenges gender ideology and their spin.
When JKR made the statement that "the be-penised individual that raped you was a woman" she was referring to the discussion at the time of the some 436 cases of rape over about 5 years in England and Wales that were recorded as being committed by 'women" In those jurisdictions, rape can only be committed by the unlawful use of a penis. So that is 436 complaints about rape, committed by individuals with a penis who demand that they be recognised as women. https://4w.pub/uk-home-office-orders/
Just watched the PM on Australian Sunrise tv promoting NZ as a travel destination. She does that so well, looks so charming, and has such a friendly, welcoming personality.
Simply can't imagine Luxon being able to carry off a promotional slot with any panache at all. I suppose he could remind the Aussies he ran the airline that they may fly on.
Watched it on the Herald website, so of course being the Herald, immediately after that up loomed a large photo of Luxon demanding restrictions be over NOW. Their editorial staff maintain they are balanced, according to a recent response to questions from the public. Never noticed that particularly.
He waits for the government to signal it is making a review of policy and calls for change. If he was any faster follower, he would be accused of sniffing the PM's hair.
As a keen history buff, I am very interested to see what the new NZ history curriculum will be like. In school during the 1970s NZ history teaching was very limited.
In Primary school in Taranaki, in the 60's, I was taught a great deal about Māori culture and local history, including Parihaka down the road.
To the extent I didn’t realise Pakeha had a distinct culture until years later.
Stick games, Poi, Māori phrases and words were part of my education in that school, despite it being mostly Pakeha. (Between Ruapehu and Taranaki). Maybe it was the young, at the time, hippy Teachers?
Second World War, Tudors – still have my copy of Rowse's excellent book The England of Elizabeth, Wakefield Settlements in a way that presented the Wakefields as pioneering heroes.
Albert Wendt's poem post school introduced me to Parihaka and made me wonder why he felt anger that none of my European family or friends ever mentioned let alone expressed. That sent me on a journey of understanding NZ history in much more depth. Still my favourite poem.
ALBERT WENDT
Into the First Cold
1.
Once his sight and bones didn’t know the four seasons
He was born into Samoa’s two seasons of wet and dry
and the air’s wrap that rarely dropped below 22 degrees
The lush forests did not ever shed their green
and crops sucked up the soil’s precocious blood all year round
No need for fur or other animal skin or fabric
Apt nakedness was adequate clothing for the times
despite the Victorian taboo of covering from neck to toe
Not one inch of erect skin shine to be exposed
Sex was only for procreation and in the sin-chocka dark of night
2.
His first taste of ice water was a shocking burn around his teeth
then round his mouth and down his gullet and chest
as a long-nailed finger that scraped up choking tears
Ice cream was the only cold he loved but his family couldn’t afford it
He learned about snow and ice from books and films
Across the Pasefika on the banana boat out of the sun’s cling
into a cold that seeped down into his marrow and wouldn’t let go—
a journey from warm ease into seasick body crunched up
in his first ever woollen clothes and shoes the seas and skies turning
wilder darker predicting a New Zealand locked in the loneliness of cold
3.
First at boarding school under cone-perfect Taranaki beanied
with ice snow and tapu the cold and homesickness gripped his every bit
The teachers ordered early morning runs and cold showers afterwards
to toughen the will against the invading winter and shape them
into men who wouldn’t flinch from any kind of pain
Rugby and military drill were the other manly prescriptions
Twice weekly rugby practice and the game against another school and winter
Tackle and tackle attack and attack the pain was exhilarating and beat
the cold and forged the ideal team that would die for one another
Winning wasn’t everything—it was the only thing
Military drill in prickly uniforms with his courage as steely as the rifle
he carried erectly at the epic school parades with their much medalled
headmaster in splendid command and some of his teachers mimicking
the decorated heroes they’d been in the Second World War others with silence
refusing to glorify the futile leap into colonial wars’ insatiable gobs
Left-right left-right left-right halt! Young fit acclimatised he now lived
comfortably with the cold weather and being away from home
But every morning when he walked in Taranaki’s compass to breakfast
the mountain signalled not all was well with the path
His history teacher praised Te Whiti’s stand at Parihaka
He researched that and discovered almost 200 years
of settler invasion fraud and theft of iwi land
A deadlier cold slid into his throat and held him hostage
to an anger as rich as Taranaki’s beauty and defiance
of colonialism injustice and greed behind the eyes
''To the extent I didn’t realise Pakeha had a distinct culture until years later.''
I had a pakeha aunt pull me up when I said the exact same thing to her. My biggest mistake was thinking Maori culture was a way forward. It's not unless you are on the public tit – then it pays well.
We were well schooled in history when I was at school. Our teacher made it quite clear some Maori had been rorted out of land and that the crown had sometimes acted dishonourably much to the detriment of Maori self determination.
But…and this is a no-no, he also explained the benefits of colonisation, both for Maori and Pakeha.
Forget the 'woke whipping boy' ideological warblings.
Are you telling us that the benefits of colonisation will not be taught along with the downsides?
Because if you are, you dishonour the professional integrity of teachers, of academic knowledge, of the special understanding that history, the study of who we are, where we come from, what we have done as a human species brings us.
Which is why history, as a branch of learning, is so important.
And so feared by those who might feel ashamed, so liberating for those whose truth has been obscured and hidden, so enlightening for those who seek the truth and justice that come from real stories, told in truth and held up to the light of succeeding generations for their understanding and education.
Then we can investigate whether what you allege is true- that the teaching of colonisation as an historical concept is " an excuse for Māori failure", or on the other hand is an explanation for where our society has advanced from its earlier times, for good and bad, for good intentions or exploitation.
Truth ought not be feared. Historians teach the subject so we may learn from it and grow stronger as a society.
The fear comes from the realisation that we might need to change, alter our ways, and make right the wrongs.
History might teach us all that the cost of doing differently need not necessarily disadvantage us but rather benefit us all in a more harmonious and essentially just, fair and equal society.
Thanks, Blade, for the chance to put into words why I was a teacher of history. This is so important for our maturity as a society.
He says Maori have done historical research as part of the treaty settlement process but there hasn't been similar work done by pakeha because the Crown does that work.
"The unspoken contract that goes into this arrangement is don't disrupt the amnesia, don't disrupt the intentional and organised forgetting of our history that is a huge part of our pakeha culture.'
Regarding the rant about leaving the Māori language to die. The guest speaker at our graduation class in 1970 was the local Professor of German. He decried Māori as a second class language because it used so many borrowed words to overcome its vocabulary impoverishment.
He orated, naturally, in English……… what occurred to me even then was the errancy of this, and his contrary refusal to comprehend that the language he spoke in was similar with its seconded vocabulary- from French, Germanic and other sources- for example, garage, verandah, and the 30 instances I have used in these two paragraphs.
I wonder whether, as our German university academic for instance munched on his hamburger, did he discover what that grilled delicacy in its linguistic origins contained- beef, sauce, farmhouse bread, oil, tomato, onion, lettuce salad, mustard, salsa, all served with panache by the chef. Bon appétit!
Yes English probably has borrowed more words from other languages than any other. It is one of its delights. It is also clear that NZ English is really starting to adopt Maori words as well – hui, whanau, morena… I hear these as part of normal conversation spoken by lots of people who are not even close to fluent.
And then there is the beauty of words in all languages, that have no quite equivalent expression in English that are starting to make a difference in NZ thinking – manaakitanga in how we treat people and kaitiakitanga in how we treat our environment. Terms that I just never heard growing up that I now hear often.
We had 'the coming of the Maori to NZ' 3 years running, when I was in Primary School.
No idea why, or what happened to the curriculum in those years to get a double-up.
Lots of current events stuff around Bastion Point and the Maori Land marches, and later, the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal (social studies, politics, history).
Catholic primary school in a pretty much working-to-middle-class Auckland suburb, FWIW.
Really, then, as now, what will matter is the individual teacher. A good teacher with an interest in the subject will teach it well, and make it interesting; a poor teacher who is going through the motions, will make it dull as ditch-water.
Kids who have a passion for history will find their own resources (and that's a lot easier now, than it was 40 years ago); kids with zero interest will zone out in class, and forget what they've been taught in a week's time.
"Kids who have a passion for history will find their own resources (and that's a lot easier now, than it was 40 years ago); kids with zero interest will zone out in class, and forget what they've been taught in a week's time."
Around the world, people took action. Tens of thousands turned out to demonstrate support. People-power shamed politicians into action.
If countries want to enjoy the benefits of global trade, sports and investment, then they should agree to a minimum standard of behaviour. Civilised countries should exclude human rights abusers and genocidal maniacs. We don't need to trade only with democracies, but excluding war criminals, expansionists and murderers is not setting the bar too high.
Corporates around the world are rightly being required to observe environmental, social and corporate responsibility standards. One of those standards should be a bar on commerce with outlaw countries
Ukraine has become the frontline in a struggle over what the new world order will be – a moral one of tomorrow, or the paralysis of international institutions today and war-torn nationalism of the past?
PARIS, March 17 (Reuters) – The Ukraine crisis could knock more than a percentage point off global growth this year and add two and a half percentage points to inflation, the OECD estimated on Thursday, calling for targeted government spending hikes in response.
Former National politician and Northland MP Matt King, a Northland beef farmer, launched the DemocracyNZ Party on Friday afternoon… that he says stands for “freedom of choice” and unity.
The party stood for “democracy and uniting all Kiwis through our common values”, he said.
Cool! Obviously uniting the political left and political right is a task overdue for action! Their covert collusion has been going on too long.
Not sure if he's got what it takes, mind you, but full marks for ambition. It does mean, of course, that he will be unable to issue policies that are divisive. "Aha!" I hear you say. Don't assume he actually means what he says! Well, yeah, right-wing politician, fair point. Still, it does leave him wide open to attack from hungry journalists seeing a double-standard looming in whatever utterances he eventually utters…
We need as many anti-mandate parties as the ballot papers can fit. Also on polling day, if none of these fits you precisely, then its best to tick all the ones you support.
the current mandates against punching Matt King in the face are offending my freedom and I would like them removed, just in your case…
If you are sincere about bullshit freedoms which encroach on others and prevent their liberty to a much greater extent please start with this one. I’m sure we can find some takers to protest this mandate by punching you in the face.
Every disgruntled ambassador sent back to Russia increases pressure on the regime.
Everyone asks; 'What can we do to stop the war in Ukraine?'
The answer is very little. But every little bit helps.
Maybe we could do this.
Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Friday announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats over the invasion of Ukraine, prompting Moscow to say it would respond in kind…..
….Lithuania's foreign ministry meanwhile announced that it had declared four Russian embassy employees persona non grata, a move made "in solidarity with Ukraine".
"Russia's military attacks on civilians, civilian objects, hospitals, schools, maternity wards, and cultural objects are war crimes and crimes against humanity," it said in a statement…..
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Holy crap i mustve shit the bed !! Fijoas have been falling for a week or so round here very welcome they are too but im struck by how big they are this year ?cause of the wet spring maybe ? Others are telling me that the incidence of moth infestation is not as bad as last year .Certainly was bad though in some of the peaches .
Greens double their poll rating by doing nothing. Who said zen politics doesn't work?!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/labour-just-ahead-in-latest-poll-after-crash-in-support/4F6MDGBHUEMWZ3JSTUDDPBBJHY/
Picking up the Left vote, sick of neoliberal incrementalism
Exactly Robo.
Nope a sudden change like that is more likely a polling error , which is enevitable in the statistic based polling methods that are used.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018757020/polls-rogue-polls-and-statistics
'Campbell explains how pollsters have a spreadsheet of more than 400 different segments or profiles that need to be ticked off, and why pollsters have to work so hard to reach the "19-year-old man living on the West Coast". '
polls are all over the place.
Pretty typical in the mid-term
I would say I am probably a natural Labour supporter but I have voted Green in the last two elections as I feel they are more environmentally and anti-poverty oriented and at points I have had concerns over their survival. The sort of thing I have found off putting from the Greens is stuff like the reclaiming off the word "cunt" it was a "WTF" for me I didn't "get it" then I don't now and doubt I ever will. Apologies for the rambling comment.
Pretty shallow if you vote for all the other parties that will do little about CC for that reason Barfly. Look at the big picture not the fringe elements-the media will of course play up the "cunt" issue, but then they should know.
Several years since I posted here about Substack, so here's an update:
The biggest hassle that I have with sub-stack or protean is that it is difficult and expensive to follow multiple people at once when you're only interested in reading some of each authors work.
Currently the only single author sites that I pay for are Politik and Phoronix. The former has a low article rate but is in depth on the type of analysis that I want on national politics. The latter, well it is the best news place for linux and the relationship to underlying hardware.
I have the same issue with pay walled media sites.
I subscribe to a number of newspaper/magazine media, but generally just the best international ones. My criteria tends to be ones that I will read a quarter of their articles in the morning read. But many media just don't hit that.
For instance I like reading Fallon's (now guest) economic/political writing on the Herald – but I'm not going to buy a subscription to the Herald to get it. Same for about 4 other authors on there. The articles in the Herald are just too damn uneven. I scan the headlines most days, but seldom want to open more than one or two articles.
I'll scan Stuff, RNZ, ABC.au, BBC.world in preference for an overview.
I'd prefer having a pay per use model at the NZ Herald, rather like the Auckland Transport parking app (which I love) or the AT bus dongle. Don't know why no-one seems to want to do that. Technically it is possible using exactly the same model.
Media site subscriptions are a pain unless it is The Economist – which gives me about a ~80% read article rate.
It was why I had to dropped Medium. Lots of good opinion articles. Highly uneven. Eventually I wasn't reading them because I already knew what each author was likely to say on politics history or science, and the usefulness of the technical was limited. I dropped down to about a 10% article read rate. I really wanted pay-per-view there.
I almost dropped Washington Post last renewal. But when I did, they came back with a offer that I couldn't refuse – about a 10th of the full rate. I guess they tracked what my actual usage was.
So I donate to Stuff because I use their site as the main local news overview pickup.
I donate to wikipedia because I love their random page. Nothing like getting bored and flicking through and scanning pages of information. That is when I'm not using wikipedia as a entry point to fact check or initial research on a topic.
I've trained Google Chrome's 'Discover' to give me the weird and wonderful opinion links in tech and science – which now has a ~50% read article rate… 🙂
"New COBOL contender emerges: gcobol"
"ASUS warns of Cyclops Blink malware attacks targeting routers"
"Eight RS232 Ports, one ethernet port"
"Canonical updfates the Ubuntu logo in time for 22.04 LTS"
"In 2045: Alpha Centauri"
"10 amazing exoplanet discoveries"
"C isn't a programming language anymore"
But really I want a conglomeration site like Discover which picks up from all over the place, learns my interests and reading level, and that I pay per view – mostly to the author.
Sounds like a retirement project.
Interesting feedback. I agree with pay per view, in principle. I'd prefer a tick box system though – placed at the end so you can tick it to register your opinion that it was worth reading. And the billing to then happen monthly. That way it would be easy to monitor the expense and the frequency of approvals.
My reading identifies me as a dilettante, notoriously so inasmuch as visitors have been known to try counting how many books they can find lying open with bookmark in place on various tables, chairs etc around the place – often in piles of same. I did a count once & reached 24 despite being a tidy person by nature.
So I share your online tendency. I'm allergic to paying anyone so tend to cruise around doing a brief scan of topics on any site. I have been a regular payer to Wikipedia though. I'd pay for a provider service if their qc was up to my standard.
I used to have piles of completed books around. Just because I read at least one book a day, and more like 8 fiction in a day when I relax.
However I offloaded the extensive paper library in 2012 after moving it around 2 houses when my partner needed a bigger workspace for editing a documentary. I'm now up to ~90% of the paper library as epubs.
These days my library is Calibre running on my servers with a couple of offsite repositories. I seem to be buying most of my books on Kobo at present. Periodically I batch them, strip the DRM and toss them into Calibre. I mostly use FBReader as my reader using ODPS from my servers.
FBReader is good enough that I’m contemplating using their SDK as a core to do my own reader. There are a few features that would make a better reader like the kobo font-sizer.
I've dug through the epub open source enough to know that it'd be a pain doing it from there.
I don't mind paying. I just don't like wasting my time. Paying to waste my time with reading rubbish (eg NZ Herald) feels like a sin.
Calibre looks useful. I actually can't read for pleasure on a screen – physically unable to relax with one for some reason. Consequently the e-books option has never appealed. However I can see that it would be useful for sourcing text from nonfiction books to illustrate blog comments by expanding or proving points.
Such copying saves having to type it in or run it thro ocr. If there was a way to hook it up to TS it would benefit essay-writers. Expand the resource base considerably! Book writers tend to include more interesting stuff than the more superficial online writing culture provides…
Substack is great. Subscribed to David Farrier's Webworm (free). I thought Medium was really cool as well, until they locked it down and tried charging users to read more than 10 articles a week. Screw that. (there are browser extensions to get around it, but I just don't care enough to go to Medium much these days)
RSS aggregators were pretty nifty and I used a few of them over the years. Found some neat blogs. But eventually it became too tiring/tedious to curate all the crud.
So now I am like a magpie, getting bits off TS, TDB, Twitter, RNZ, NZHerald, Stuff. And occasionally foreign outlets when something significant happens overseas. I follow TheRegister and HackerNews and a few tech journos on Twitter, it's enough to get the gist of what's going on.
There are also useful tools like Outline.com and Bypass Paywalls that will get you full access to most news sites. DuckDuckGo is good for finding stuff that Google doesn’t want you to see. Plus a big shout out to Sci-Hub for the occasional academic paper that would normally cost an unreasonable amount of $$$$
Partner reads Webworm. I had the problem that after reading it a few times I could predict at the start of a article what he was likely to say from the title and first paragraph.
I originally paid for Medium because of the useful articles on the Android display API plus discussions on some of the languages and libraries that I don't use and was vaguely interested in the philosophy of (like flutter, react, haskell, kotlin etc). That was how I started to write in kotlin. I spread to the political, history, and science from that. But it simply wasn't deep enough and usually lacked links to deeper material if I wanted to delve deeper – one of the things that wikipedia was good on (and mass media is usually terrible at).
I magpie as well. But I have a basic set of sites that I go through every day – typically between 0630 and 0830 while I wake up, have breakfast, coffee, and before I start thinking about work.
I checked out his archive & found the Bill Gates conspiracy one – based on a public media even, great context!![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
We ought to give Labour credit for this lurch out of the 19th century into the 21st:
The PM said
Just gloss over why it didn't happen in the 20th century. Try to ignore all the years that Labour was in govt then without feeling the need to drag education out of the 19th. Just feel good that it's finally happening.
She acknowledges NZ finally joining with other countries that teach kids their nation's history without any explanation of Labour's part in why it took more than a century to do it. Still – this is genuine evidence of Labour being transformational. Well done!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/463479/aotearoa-new-zealand-history-curriculum-launches
This is wonderful to see.
Financial literacy is something I think needs to be taught at an…early age.
Clarks Labour did introduce a researched and comprehensive new curriculum while in Government.
Of course this took time.
To be dumped for Nationals return to the 1890's, emphasise on 3/R's and rote learning. National's low standards ended up coming at the same time as the new curriculum. Leading to an inivitable and typical right wing education stuff up.
No one in teaching is surprised that education standards in everything, including the 3R's, has dropped since. As it always does when right wing zealots get their sticky beaks into teaching.
Paul Goldsmith was reported this morning on breakfast tv as saying that the new history curriculum divides people into "oppressors" and "victims". Will be interesting to see how far the right gets with this line. It's bollocks, but still a promising line of attack for two reasons:
Binary folk will always default into a binary framing. Their brains can't function without doing so. Oodles of third alternatives are always evident to anyone with an open mind. I bet most settlers & maori would fit more accurately into the opportunist category, for instance.
Recall that Taranaki tribe who bought a ship from the Brits, sailed off to the Chathams to do genocide on the peaceful islanders? Extreme opportunism!
You are wrong there, Dennis. The late Sir Paul Reeves said in a speech ( to paraphrase) '' We came to your lands (Chathams) long ago'' There was no mention of genocide. I wonder if the new history curriculum will mention that with as much detail as Parihaka is recounted?
Dave Seymour was disappointing in this interview. He made few pertinent points in my opinion.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/david-seymour-and-graeme-ball-on-aotearoa-new-zealand-history-being-compulsory/
A history lesson for you:
Yikes that is horrific. Debunks the “noble savage” myth. And here I thought our worst massacre was the little known killing of 250 Maori on Moturua Island in the BOI by some French settlers
.
Just one (albeit notable) example of the extraordinarily brutal violence & ethnic cleansing of the Musket Wars … but best keep schtum about it … destroys the highly paternalistic Noble Savage Romanticism – grounded in Critical Race Theory & Post-Colonial Theory – at the heart of the new History curriculum.
Eternal Māori virtue, innocence, powerlessness & pacifism at all times.
Historical facts & moral complexity are far too yukky & inconvenient for Woke dogmatists pursuing a pure Good vs Evil Morality Tale.
Of course any sensible person would trust teachers as far as they can kick them, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt to start with.
Any lack of teacher credibility can always be exposed by a parent who primes their kid to ask the right question in class. Unsatisfactory performance by the teacher revealed in consequence can then be dealt with via a formal complaint to the headmaster, the minister of education, or both.
Would the Musket Wars have been so brutal had not Maori been fuelled by the white man's technology, deceit, and theft?
Clearly they would not have been called the Musket Wars if it were not for muskets.
They would have been more noble, had they been more savages? I mean you have an open and shut case there regarding the technology.
It seems less clear that Maori were unfamiliar with deceit and theft from times before settlers arrived.
Maori warfare before the arrival of the settlers was brutal. Ever heard of Pouwhenua? Tewhatewha? Tao? Huata? Patu?
Funny – your first bullet point seems to confirm Paul Goldsmith's fears.
As a beneficiary of the status quo, Goldsmith's primary fear is that it is examined and found wanting in terms of justice – either in its historical origins or present day operation.
His fears are indeed well-founded – and his response is to either erase historical context, or have it defined by the winners, in order to maintain this "just world" fallacy.
And it's a pretty good strategy, as most people who have done OK in life share exactly the same predisposition.
I don't think Goldsmith's concern is an examination of NZ History, I think the concern is who is doing the examining & how it is presented. A definition of history by the "losers" may be as biased as one presented by the ""winners". (Winners & losers being your definition)
European & Maori history is full of brutal acts within their own people & against other people. I hope our NZ History when taught shows a warts & all full picture. Sadly if it doesn't it will become "the history you are taught at school & then here are the other bits they didn't tell you" It will become a sad joke.
I don't think how well you have done in life should determine how you view history.
The subject is so all encompassing that what is taught in schools will only ever be a selective once over lightly
Great news. I appreciated Chlöe's response to those complaining about "critical race theory" or whatever… 💪🏾
https://twitter.com/_chloeswarbrick/status/1504588865449132035?s=20&t=C2_FidPOJnZ503XBLdM0uQ
She’s a grandstanding narcissist who knows neither New Zealand history nor historiography.
Hope you are going ok. Swordfish?
Interesting comments about Chole. Not a fan myself
Nah she's an intelligent young Millennial, who lacks life experience, but has a fine mind and decent ethics, who wants a better NZ. Her blind spots are privilege and wokeness, but I think she is smart enough to overcome those limitations sooner or later. I like her leadership potential and outspoken socialist leanings.
Her understanding of issues and communication skills rival those of Jacinda. A bright future.
Unfortunately, I have a suspicion that some of the concerns raised by the letter to the Listener, regarding mātauranga Māori inclusion into the curriculum are justified, or at least worth getting more details on. If we conflate those concerns as opponents of the non-defined Critical Race Theory, we fall into the same trap as those who view Gender Critical as transphobic.
https://www.fsu.nz/in_defence_of_science_article
It is openness and transparency of process and impact that will allow the public to discuss.
I have had a conversation with someone who said that when compiling the new NCEA standards, the initial work is done by subject specialists, and then Māori representatives are asked for their input, which is then shoehorned in.
I can see problems if that is the case. And OIR of some of the drafted standards might be the only way to see if the concerns of the letter writers above are justified, or whether the dismissal of those concerns are.
Found the hardest "wordle" derivative yet … called "semantle" (h/t weka). Yesterday my score was 47. Today it was 63. 🤯
Also recommended: hellowordl, Absurdle, Quordle, Octordle
semantle is the hardest one so far, also much more addictive. Although sometimes I find myself wondering if the game as any meaning, lol. Not being geeky enough to understand quite what they are doing with the connections there.
loving Octordle and its wide screen mode!
I failed it today! 😭
just started, taking it slowly now though haha.
I fucked it up. Seem to be a lot of words with the same letters.
Yeah I think it's a bit too weird, Quordle is more fun
🙂
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1504681446778163204
Whaaat! 30 guesses … I didn't realise #48 was available yet. Will give it a crack.
It's a test of similarity – i.e. how similar your brain is to a thesaurus.
yes, but some words that are quite similar have very low scores so it must be more than that
It's about the meanings, themes and thoughts behind the words. Synonyms on steroids. Maybe my practice of Cryptic crosswords helps!
If you fancy the same but different, try Globle.
It sure tests your knowledge of where countries are, and how to spell their names😎
https://globle-game.com/
Free speech makes the news again.
Michael Laws said, “I’m afraid the toxicity of social media is killing freedom of speech."
He reckons social media was stifling expression. This is after reaction to comments he made on his Facebook page. We're coming to terms with social media and how to use it and respond to it.
He'd written, "When did girls with lovely faces/breasts but unhealthy bums/legs become sexy?"
I'm not on Facebook to see if someone answered his question with: "About the same time arseholes became politicians or media personalities."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/appalling-example-michael-laws-obesity-comments-draw-fire-online/TMWIRJNDILGBSHNIAB3P4QP4KQ/
There are all sorts of problems with FB and other social media. There are also problems with Laws being a sexist, body shaming, regressive.
Aww poor Antoinette Beck's "friend" it's harsh out here.
Not boding well for the stability of "The Platform"… lots of large egos on there. Without some kind of moderation, the “Free speech” outlet could easily devolve into thoughtless ranting that turns people off.
Sounds like he is unhappy that freedom of expression does not include the freedom from other private citizens making comments, judgement and even ostracism whether on social media, in a pub or in the town square.
He's mentioned a real issue, but skipped over it to pursue his low tastes.
Most are probably aware of Popper's paradox of tolerance, that An open society needs to be intolerant of intolerance.
The rise of Trumpism brings us the spectacle of people that will cheerfully suppress the freedoms of others, claiming the protection of an enlightenment constitution that they clearly do not subscribe to.
The right of propagandists who oppose free speech to claim their own speech is protected is necessarily less than infinite. In a moral sense they are freeloaders on their more enlightened fellows. But Laws just wants to talk about boobies.
Regarding the price of meat.
I would really like to know why meat is as expensive as it is in the supermarket.
A breakdown of costs in the total supply chain, from the price paid to the farmer, cost at the works, shipping to the wholesale butchery, cutting up, packaging, transport costs et etc.
You can see the beef and sheep schedules here on interest.co.nz – rural dropdown shows the various cattle schedules.
https://www.interest.co.nz/rural/sheep/lamb-y
Free marketeers would tell you it's just supply and demand, and prices meeting the market. But they ignore the anticompetitive behaviour of the supermarket duopoly that has been well documented and ongoing for decades.
‘Extraordinary profits’: New Zealand considers breaking up supermarket duopoly | New Zealand | The Guardian
I say, nationalise the lot. They are (like many segments of the economy) exploitative and profiteering from market power. Screwing suppliers and workers, and inflating prices of essentials.
Nationalising them isn't required. They each sell up say 25 sites across NZ which is then taken by a 3rd player (Aldi, sainsburys etc) and you have a competitive industry.
Aldi shook up oz along with Costco but the entrenched duopoly here requires political cajones to resolve.
That's the real issue….political will to rule for a fair deal for all kiwis.
Political will relies on opinion polls and vested interests. So public opinion is a prerequisite to any major change. And the public is quite restless and annoyed at the moment, so I do expect the government to come up with something more than the usual platitudes.
Your saying two players doesn't make a competitive market but 3 will? Colour me skeptical.
You have to start somewhere, it's just an example of one of the submissions I heard was tabled.
That submitter has a future on Tui billboards.
A different take on Simon Bridges. And one nearer the mark of the man than the usual fawning MSM interviews.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/18-03-2022/what-simon-bridges-means-to-me
Sam Brooks is just another queer stuck in the queer bubble of believing the queer community have some relevance in mainstream life. Bridges was just being what a conservative should be – true to himself and his worldview, like Sam Brooks is to himself and his worldview.
But I don't blame the queer community for their militancy, and attempting to push their agenda's on the world. For so long they where discriminated against. Alan Turing and Quentin Crisp are famous examples of the shit gay people had to endure.
As an aside, someone gave me a book called ''The Alan Turing Cryptic Codebreaker's Puzzle Book.'' F@#k me, you not only have to solve the puzzle… you sometimes have to work out what the question is. This blog gives me plenty of practice.![sad sad](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png?x42494)
GDP is not infinite.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00723-1?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=bd4e52b6e3-briefing-dy-20220317&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-bd4e52b6e3-47041915
“A report published last week by the World Health Organization (see go.nature.com/3j9xcpi) says that if policymakers didn’t have a “pathological obsession with GDP”, they would spend more on making health care affordable for every citizen. Health spending does not contribute to GDP in the same way that, for example, military spending does, say the authors, led by economist Mariana Mazzucato at University College London.”
GDP is a crude measure but it serves the interests of the corporate elites plundering the Earth, who only measure things in terms of money.
"Health spending does not contribute to GDP in the same way that, for example, military spending does, say the authors, led by economist Mariana Mazzucato at University College London.”
The authors apparently say this, and you quote this but what on earth does it mean? Can you explain this statement?
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/council-on-the-economics-of-health-for-all/who_councilbrief3.pdf?sfvrsn=b121f943_11&download=true
Its long and involved and will still leave you asking the same question.
It means that a healthy working populace is not valued properly by GDP measures. But around the world (especially with Covid) it has been shown that a functioning public health system is actually better for the economy than sending workers and their families into bankruptcy when someone is hit by illness or accident.
How prioritizing health could help rebuild economies | McKinsey
You do realise that the article you linked to is in direct opposition to the one that is the basis of Stephen D's post?
I have read both and do not see where the conflict lies. Both argue that GDP is incomplete and measures the price of everything but the real value of nothing.
Just like on a personal level, we take our health for granted, until one day misfortune strikes.
Please elaborate.
One has its foundation in degrowth and wishes to destructure GDP (Doughnut economics) whereas the other advocates growth as measured by GDP and promotes its adoption through the measure seen as problematic by the former….they couldnt be more opposed if they tried.
The problem the original has (doughnut) and the point I was making to Alwyn was, it is utopic without any roadmap…..great to have a vision but difficult to support without the 'how' and probably why GDP remains the poor measure we use ….the lack (yet) of a viable alternative.
Perhaps they choose to see health spending as a cost and military spending as an investment; in that mindset a fighter jet will seem a more effective acquisition than a linear accelerator and the trained staff to run it.
Look at anything GDP measures in the desperately out of date 20th-century model: who chooses the values and categories; quis custodes custodiet?
Is that small thought too 'simplistic'?
Not a simple thought, a reasonable explanation.
It's journos with a conscience vs zombies in Russia.
Okay, I need to explain the difference between those two job descriptions. When I was working in the TVNZ newsroom 30 years ago I cut stories for reporters & journalists, but often for a hybrid professional category called news producers. This third category were given responsibility for producing news stories on an assigned basis by the programme producer.
Marina seems to fall into this category of a journalist who also produces tv news stories. The fact [see her wiki] that she had done so for 20 years for the state broadcaster suggests attainment of a senior position.
Since her father is Ukrainian and her mother Russian, her identity naturally forms a bridge between the two nations. Childhood in Chechnya during the war there is probably a contributor to her antiwar feeling.
In this report she is given a third job description. I was a video editor (the craftsperson who actually creates the product) and I worked with journos who operated as programme editors sometimes. I suspect her role was sufficiently senior that she did that editorial work as part of her normal duties.
The four resignations we know of are probably just high-level news due to reputation – tip of the iceberg I suspect. State compulsion to produce disinformation creates a toxic work environment. For workers to sacrifice their career and possibly their safety (or even their life) it shows an intense commitment to a better alternative.
For workers to sacrifice their career and possibly their safety (or even their life) it shows an intense commitment to a better alternative.
"Possibly their safety" I think is a given. Someone needs to get her out of Russia. She's in mortal danger.
And I agree the few resignations and the fleeing we know about is just the tip of the iceberg. I would suggest there are a great many Russians fleeing their homeland as we speak. We won't know how many until its all over – bar the shouting.
Could be her husband is in a position to protect her – he's also in a significant job elsewhere in Russian television. She's courageous (or naive) enough to refuse the offer from Macron.
It wouldn't hurt to offer her asylum in NZ – the odd journalist that understands and appreciates the importance of democracy would be a breath of fresh air.
I agree. Someone ought to email Mahuta & suggest she call in the Russian ambassador to make the offer!![enlightened enlightened](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/lightbulb.png?x42494)
![angel angel](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/angel_smile.png?x42494)
The PM says that they will review mandates and passes next week.
So "clever" Luxton and Bishop declare to media ,"We demand that mandates and passes be dropped immediately."
When the PM announces such action next week, Lux/Bish will claim that they made the
PM act. How clever – not.
I demand that the sun sets this evening! And claim that I made it happen.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-national-party-leader-christopher-luxon-calls-for-vaccine-passes-mandates-passes-and-other-covid-19-restrictions-to-be-dumped/LFNBLVCZHGODSGCBBECBUJDAGY/
Yep, for the 20th time, and this time on a very busy Lower Hutt road, the National Party has declared this pandemic, over!
Until it's not, then we'll have to reinstate restrictions, The Bish adds helpfully.
Ah! The intellectual basis of virtually all prototype priesthoods. Time and season management.
Ahh but is only seasonal waves as Europe goes into its seventh winter in 2 years.
https://twitter.com/zorinaq/status/1503782053531193346
File this under would never happen.
Men who identify as women would never rape women in the single sex spaces that they are allowed to as they now identify as women.
Unless of course it does. And then what?
Well it is easy
Deny that there is a man on the 'female only ward'
Deny that a man could have been in the 'female only ward'
Tell the police that there was no man on the 'female only ward'
Disregards the Nurses, others Staff and CCTV Camera.
Tell the women (female adult human) who got raped that clearly she did not get raped cause there was no male on the 'female only ward'.
Instruct NHS staff to lie about men on the 'female only wards'.
Find CTTV camera and view the contents there of, learn that indeed there was a man on the female only ward and that indeed a women got raped.
Offer meaningless arse covering excuses to the victim who for a period of one year was told that a. there was no male on the female only ward, and b. that she never got raped at all, and thus there is nothing the Police should or could do.
And then have a Baroness state all of that in the house, and hope that by gosh, golly and the gods that shit will finally hit the fan, while simultaneous know that nothing will happen.
speech by the Baroness
CFWBaronessNicholsonHouseofLords170322_0104am
transcript on Glinner https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/baroness-nicholson-uncovers-a-horrific?s=r
female adult human beings, are they even human, and do we care at all?
Disclaimer: not all men rape, but the vast majority of rapists are men, and in the UK all rapists are men as in the UK by definition of the law a penis needs to be involved in that rape to make it rape. And yes, only men have penises.
I hope to find some time to follow that up and maybe write a post, but on the face of it that would have to be one of the worst instances I've seen of not just the problems with self-ID, but the problems with half the world, including many on the left, having lost their goddam minds.
It's massive gaslighting of the raped woman, women rape survivors, and well, just women generally.
Better you write this post then me, cause i am starting to piss vinegar when it comes to these stories that would never ever happen.
Also, there must be a better word then 'gaslighting' for the mindfuckery that we put women (adult human females) and girls (children human females) through in order to protect violent men no matter their self professed identity.
I watched her speech this morning, and looked up the NHS Annex A and B documents, and got confused over the apparent contradictions in advice.
However, Sex Matters organisation has gone through the documentation in a series of articles so I don't have to.
Download of pdf specifically to do with Annex B here:
https://sex-matters.org/posts/publications/reviewing-annex-b/
do you have a link to the series of articles? I find their website a bit hard to navigate.
Link, click view for starters …
what?
Using the link given, click view to see Annex B.
Just a site search for "Annex B".
Four hits, including the pdf linked above.
Other three are articles/posts:
NHS Hospitals: “single-sex” accommodation cannot be mixed sex
No need for sex data on domestic abuse? – regarding the impact on domestic violence refuges
EHRC to issue guidance on single-sex and separate-sex services
One aspect of this discussion, is that requests for clarity on this single-sex provision is often asked for, but not given. Even in institutional and government documents, the words sex, gender, and gender identity are often conflated and used interchangeably so that intention and meaning is impossible to define.
I can understand hte nurses stating that 'no men are on female (adult/child human females) only wards'
from the daily fail….
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10500729/Nurses-sacked-raising-concerns-trans-patients-single-sex-wards.html
paywalled in the same sense The Times UK
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nhs-gaslights-women-who-want-single-sex-wards-as-transphobes-claims-nurse-9xntx69p5
from the Independent
so yeah, there is a law, but then there is a rule to ignore that law, and there is a rule to demonize those that point out that law by calling htem all sorts of not kind words…………and women and girls (the adult/child human female kind) are the ones paying the price.
But then, i guess someone is always forced to pay the piper, and why would it not be the adult/child human female kind. Its not as if they count, and have rights, or needs to respect, dignity and sex appropriate care and accommodation.
Times article archived here:
https://archive.ph/qMDlI
“This is the NHS gaslighting women patients,” she said. “In other policies, women patients who ask for wards to be single-sex are described variously as transphobic service users, offenders, perpetrators or those who should be given trans education sessions to improve their attitudes.”
How familiar.
So you are needing a double masectomy and some chemo for your cancer, but we have decided that before we can do that we need to give your trans education so as to improve your attitude before we can start working on that pesky breast cancer that brings you here and no you can not expect 'single sex accommodation' even tho we should actually provide this to you,.
That's how it reads to me as well.
thanks. Sorry, I thought you meant they'd done a series of posts on that case.
Oh, ok.
Apparently the amendment 184ZBA proposed by the Baroness was withdrawn.
UK Hansard regarding amendment here:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2022-03-16/debates/84C9B6AA-0214-4CEF-A41D-302373BDC190/HealthAndCareBill
Haven't had time to read through, but it may be of use if you are writing a post.
thanks Molly. I'll see if I can piece it all together, appreciate the links.
Sabine thanks for posting this. I had just copied the link.
This is what happens when the trans lobby infiltrates Govt organisations and gas lights people with statements like trans women are women.
It is an outrage that this could happen, then the hospital denied the rape as there were “ no males” there.
This is one of the many reasons organisations like SUFW have been trying to get across that there are some circumstances when women require their own spaces, eg bathrooms, hospital wards and prisons. For that the SUFW were utterly vilified and treated with contempt by female politicians…
this will not be published in any NZ media outlets because there is a shut down of anything that challenges gender ideology and their spin.
When JKR made the statement that "the be-penised individual that raped you was a woman" she was referring to the discussion at the time of the some 436 cases of rape over about 5 years in England and Wales that were recorded as being committed by 'women" In those jurisdictions, rape can only be committed by the unlawful use of a penis. So that is 436 complaints about rape, committed by individuals with a penis who demand that they be recognised as women. https://4w.pub/uk-home-office-orders/
Just watched the PM on Australian Sunrise tv promoting NZ as a travel destination. She does that so well, looks so charming, and has such a friendly, welcoming personality.
Simply can't imagine Luxon being able to carry off a promotional slot with any panache at all. I suppose he could remind the Aussies he ran the airline that they may fly on.
Watched it on the Herald website, so of course being the Herald, immediately after that up loomed a large photo of Luxon demanding restrictions be over NOW. Their editorial staff maintain they are balanced, according to a recent response to questions from the public. Never noticed that particularly.
The Herald/ Balanced? Oxymoron.
He waits for the government to signal it is making a review of policy and calls for change. If he was any faster follower, he would be accused of sniffing the PM's hair.
Granny Herald who was a cheerleader for the war in the Waikato?
No the bigger question should be why they have supported Jacinda as much as they have…
perhaps look as far as OneRoof for that
As a keen history buff, I am very interested to see what the new NZ history curriculum will be like. In school during the 1970s NZ history teaching was very limited.
It pretty much didn't exist. I learnt way more about Tudor and Stuart history than I ever learnt about anything in NZ.
Must have depended greatly on the Teachers..
In Primary school in Taranaki, in the 60's, I was taught a great deal about Māori culture and local history, including Parihaka down the road.
To the extent I didn’t realise Pakeha had a distinct culture until years later.
Stick games, Poi, Māori phrases and words were part of my education in that school, despite it being mostly Pakeha. (Between Ruapehu and Taranaki). Maybe it was the young, at the time, hippy Teachers?
Second World War, Tudors – still have my copy of Rowse's excellent book The England of Elizabeth, Wakefield Settlements in a way that presented the Wakefields as pioneering heroes.
Albert Wendt's poem post school introduced me to Parihaka and made me wonder why he felt anger that none of my European family or friends ever mentioned let alone expressed. That sent me on a journey of understanding NZ history in much more depth. Still my favourite poem.
ALBERT WENDT
Into the First Cold
1.
Once his sight and bones didn’t know the four seasons
He was born into Samoa’s two seasons of wet and dry
and the air’s wrap that rarely dropped below 22 degrees
The lush forests did not ever shed their green
and crops sucked up the soil’s precocious blood all year round
No need for fur or other animal skin or fabric
Apt nakedness was adequate clothing for the times
despite the Victorian taboo of covering from neck to toe
Not one inch of erect skin shine to be exposed
Sex was only for procreation and in the sin-chocka dark of night
2.
His first taste of ice water was a shocking burn around his teeth
then round his mouth and down his gullet and chest
as a long-nailed finger that scraped up choking tears
Ice cream was the only cold he loved but his family couldn’t afford it
He learned about snow and ice from books and films
Across the Pasefika on the banana boat out of the sun’s cling
into a cold that seeped down into his marrow and wouldn’t let go—
a journey from warm ease into seasick body crunched up
in his first ever woollen clothes and shoes the seas and skies turning
wilder darker predicting a New Zealand locked in the loneliness of cold
3.
First at boarding school under cone-perfect Taranaki beanied
with ice snow and tapu the cold and homesickness gripped his every bit
The teachers ordered early morning runs and cold showers afterwards
to toughen the will against the invading winter and shape them
into men who wouldn’t flinch from any kind of pain
Rugby and military drill were the other manly prescriptions
Twice weekly rugby practice and the game against another school and winter
Tackle and tackle attack and attack the pain was exhilarating and beat
the cold and forged the ideal team that would die for one another
Winning wasn’t everything—it was the only thing
Military drill in prickly uniforms with his courage as steely as the rifle
he carried erectly at the epic school parades with their much medalled
headmaster in splendid command and some of his teachers mimicking
the decorated heroes they’d been in the Second World War others with silence
refusing to glorify the futile leap into colonial wars’ insatiable gobs
Left-right left-right left-right halt! Young fit acclimatised he now lived
comfortably with the cold weather and being away from home
But every morning when he walked in Taranaki’s compass to breakfast
the mountain signalled not all was well with the path
His history teacher praised Te Whiti’s stand at Parihaka
He researched that and discovered almost 200 years
of settler invasion fraud and theft of iwi land
A deadlier cold slid into his throat and held him hostage
to an anger as rich as Taranaki’s beauty and defiance
of colonialism injustice and greed behind the eyes
Brilliant…poem.![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
''To the extent I didn’t realise Pakeha had a distinct culture until years later.''
I had a pakeha aunt pull me up when I said the exact same thing to her. My biggest mistake was thinking Maori culture was a way forward. It's not unless you are on the public tit – then it pays well.
We were well schooled in history when I was at school. Our teacher made it quite clear some Maori had been rorted out of land and that the crown had sometimes acted dishonourably much to the detriment of Maori self determination.
But…and this is a no-no, he also explained the benefits of colonisation, both for Maori and Pakeha.
Why do you say it is a no-no?
I'm a history teacher from the 70s. Explain to me why the benefits of colonisation are a 'no-no'.
In the modern context, colonisation is a woke whipping boy. An excuse for Maori failure. It supports woke culture.
I can't wait to see what the new school history studies have to say about colonisation.
Forget the 'woke whipping boy' ideological warblings.
Are you telling us that the benefits of colonisation will not be taught along with the downsides?
Because if you are, you dishonour the professional integrity of teachers, of academic knowledge, of the special understanding that history, the study of who we are, where we come from, what we have done as a human species brings us.
Which is why history, as a branch of learning, is so important.
And so feared by those who might feel ashamed, so liberating for those whose truth has been obscured and hidden, so enlightening for those who seek the truth and justice that come from real stories, told in truth and held up to the light of succeeding generations for their understanding and education.
Then we can investigate whether what you allege is true- that the teaching of colonisation as an historical concept is " an excuse for Māori failure", or on the other hand is an explanation for where our society has advanced from its earlier times, for good and bad, for good intentions or exploitation.
Truth ought not be feared. Historians teach the subject so we may learn from it and grow stronger as a society.
The fear comes from the realisation that we might need to change, alter our ways, and make right the wrongs.
History might teach us all that the cost of doing differently need not necessarily disadvantage us but rather benefit us all in a more harmonious and essentially just, fair and equal society.
Thanks, Blade, for the chance to put into words why I was a teacher of history. This is so important for our maturity as a society.
We like to forget.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201839522/taranaki-tensions-rooted-in-pakeha-collective-amnesia
He says Maori have done historical research as part of the treaty settlement process but there hasn't been similar work done by pakeha because the Crown does that work.
"The unspoken contract that goes into this arrangement is don't disrupt the amnesia, don't disrupt the intentional and organised forgetting of our history that is a huge part of our pakeha culture.'
Regarding the rant about leaving the Māori language to die. The guest speaker at our graduation class in 1970 was the local Professor of German. He decried Māori as a second class language because it used so many borrowed words to overcome its vocabulary impoverishment.
He orated, naturally, in English……… what occurred to me even then was the errancy of this, and his contrary refusal to comprehend that the language he spoke in was similar with its seconded vocabulary- from French, Germanic and other sources- for example, garage, verandah, and the 30 instances I have used in these two paragraphs.
I wonder whether, as our German university academic for instance munched on his hamburger, did he discover what that grilled delicacy in its linguistic origins contained- beef, sauce, farmhouse bread, oil, tomato, onion, lettuce salad, mustard, salsa, all served with panache by the chef. Bon appétit!
Yes English probably has borrowed more words from other languages than any other. It is one of its delights. It is also clear that NZ English is really starting to adopt Maori words as well – hui, whanau, morena… I hear these as part of normal conversation spoken by lots of people who are not even close to fluent.
And then there is the beauty of words in all languages, that have no quite equivalent expression in English that are starting to make a difference in NZ thinking – manaakitanga in how we treat people and kaitiakitanga in how we treat our environment. Terms that I just never heard growing up that I now hear often.
The Suez crisis
TheIrish Question
The leadup to the first world war
thats how I remember it
We had 'the coming of the Maori to NZ' 3 years running, when I was in Primary School.
No idea why, or what happened to the curriculum in those years to get a double-up.
Lots of current events stuff around Bastion Point and the Maori Land marches, and later, the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal (social studies, politics, history).
Catholic primary school in a pretty much working-to-middle-class Auckland suburb, FWIW.
Really, then, as now, what will matter is the individual teacher. A good teacher with an interest in the subject will teach it well, and make it interesting; a poor teacher who is going through the motions, will make it dull as ditch-water.
Kids who have a passion for history will find their own resources (and that's a lot easier now, than it was 40 years ago); kids with zero interest will zone out in class, and forget what they've been taught in a week's time.
"Kids who have a passion for history will find their own resources (and that's a lot easier now, than it was 40 years ago); kids with zero interest will zone out in class, and forget what they've been taught in a week's time."
And aint that the truth
Have often wondered about the ECE industry and their capitalist, extreme profit model. Also, what are they teaching our youngest people?
It appears some of them are teaching racist, anti-semitic propaganda via BitChute.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kids-kampus-parent-in-disbelief-as-auckland-preschool-emails-far-right-conspiracy-website-link-to-caregivers/OPCA27YFCKJLB3K6WQUCXLMQZU/
This kind of thing is why I strongly support freedom of speech.
The cognitive dissonance of "man".
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/127943246/people-power-shames-governments-into-action
https://www.reuters.com/business/ukraine-crisis-could-cut-1-off-global-growth-this-year-oecd-2022-03-17/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Reuters%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_content=17-3-22&utm_campaign=17-3-22
A peaceful resolution, rather than a Cold War with Russia – and its consequences for western capability to contain the rise of China is possible.
https://original.antiwar.com/david_stockman/2022/02/23/george-kennan-warned-nato-expansion-would-lead-to-this/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/128082010/we-should-dump-the-net-zero-carbon-goal
No more vast than a new Cold War involved weaning the EU off Russia oil an gas and the global impact on growth and inflation.
Murderous little prick's boosters must be feeling real good now.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1504627665097089027
Whats wrong with it?
He didn't sell it enough. I don't think his heart was in the role this time.
Bit like Bruce Willis you reckon, only in it for the money
Bruce Willis career was negatively affected when Christmas movie roles dried up. He was simply type cast.
His best was Fifth Element – there are plenty more Moebius or Druillet stories he could have done.
I see your Fifth Element and I raise you a Pulp Fiction
12 monkeys.
Cool! Obviously uniting the political left and political right is a task overdue for action! Their covert collusion has been going on too long.
Not sure if he's got what it takes, mind you, but full marks for ambition. It does mean, of course, that he will be unable to issue policies that are divisive. "Aha!" I hear you say. Don't assume he actually means what he says! Well, yeah, right-wing politician, fair point. Still, it does leave him wide open to attack from hungry journalists seeing a double-standard looming in whatever utterances he eventually utters…
Perhaps he is looking to attract United Future ex voters. He needs a worm!
Yes:
We need as many anti-mandate parties as the ballot papers can fit. Also on polling day, if none of these fits you precisely, then its best to tick all the ones you support.
lol
https://twitter.com/LI_politico/status/1504656859818754052
Dear Matt King,
the current mandates against punching Matt King in the face are offending my freedom and I would like them removed, just in your case…
If you are sincere about bullshit freedoms which encroach on others and prevent their liberty to a much greater extent please start with this one. I’m sure we can find some takers to protest this mandate by punching you in the face.
sincerely
newsense
Mandates will be over (or close) by the election!!!!
Every disgruntled ambassador sent back to Russia increases pressure on the regime.
Everyone asks; 'What can we do to stop the war in Ukraine?'
The answer is very little. But every little bit helps.
Maybe we could do this.
Send the Russian Ambassador in Wellington packing
So what if our protest makes little difference, every little bit helps. Surely it is better than doing nothing.