Hang in there Luxflake – you were anointed by Sir Key himself (McCulloch Menzies, Lane Walker Rudkin, Elders Finance, Bankers Trust, Merrill Lynch ["the smiling assassin"], MP, PM, Air NZ, ANZ, Palo Alto Networks), and your ‘sorted’ brand (Unilever, Air NZ, MP, PM, ?) can only get better.
Another striking thing from that graph is just how effective the completely manufactured "winter of discontent" was in 2000, Clark's first full year in office. This was when the NZ's extremely conservative business establishment was given a megaphone by Fran O'Sullivan and the NZ Herald to essentially reject the 1999 election result – not in electoral terms obviously, but in terms of the public policy implications.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has won significant facetime with global heavyweight Narendra Modi on a frenetic full day in India where both pledged closer cooperation.
"We like each other," Luxon said. "We actually have a similar approach to how you run government and how you set targets and you drive towards delivery and outcomes."
And on to lunch.
After sharing lunch, both Modi and Luxon left for the opening of India's Raisina Dialogue, a prestigious geopolitics and security conference at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in New Delhi.
Oh…really ? Modi has eliminated some….things.
As chief guest, Luxon delivered the opening speech and laid the praise on thick, commending Modi for "eliminating extreme poverty" in India.
In the real world, protocol often requires delivering flowery praise to right-wing strongmen with abhorrent politics. It's just the way foreign policy works sometimes.
But Luxon could at least manage it with a shred of dignity.
Instead, he looks like a schoolboy awkwardly receiving an award from the principal rather than a leader engaging in serious diplomacy. And you have to ask serious questions about a man who can't even get smiling and waving right.
In the real world protocol often requires delivering flowery praise to right-wing strongmen with abhorrent politics. It's just the way foreign policy works sometimes.
Ahuh. Is that some patronisation perchance? I merely linked to Modi and his membership of a far right (some describe as fascist) group. His repression of dissent, minority groups, et al needed some light. However Luxon blurts…
"We like each other," Luxon said. "We actually have a similar approach to how you run government and how you set targets and you drive towards delivery and outcomes."
Would you be so pragmatic if he hypothetically flew to say…Moscow and met with Putin?
Ahuh. Is that some patronization perchance? I merely linked to Modi and his membership in a far-right (some describe as fascist) group.
I'm not saying the RSS isn't fascist. Or that the BJP isn’t a morally bankrupt, authoritarian party that has consolidated power by exploiting historical caste and religious divisions and outright condoning anti-Muslim violence. Or even that Modi isn’t an authoritarian strongman dragging Indian democracy into the mud.
What I am saying is that in diplomacy, smaller states like New Zealand don’t have much choice in how they push back against larger powers they desperately need something from—like, say, a free trade agreement.
So I get why the PM has to make the right noises in a press conference to secure what we need behind closed doors.
What irks me is that he managed to do it while looking like a grinning, fawning, vacuous buffoon. It was almost like an empty plane landed in India, and Christopher Luxon got out.
Would you be so pragmatic if he hypothetically flew to, say… Moscow and met with Putin?
Diplomacy isn’t a moral purity contest. If New Zealand needed something badly enough, a PM should absolutely engage with Putin—just like other Western leaders have, even while denouncing him.
The issue isn’t that Luxon met Modi. It’s that he did so like a clueless sycophant, seemingly prepared to whitewash outright ethnic cleansing in pursuit of a deal that delivers nothing of substance.
Diplomacy isn’t a moral purity contest. If New Zealand needed something badly enough, a PM should absolutely engage with Putin—just like other Western leaders have, even while denouncing him.
Thanks for reply and being honest enough to say your thoughts on.
I would definitely agree that Luxon is falling over everything (his own feet, Modi's repressions, et al) with a kind of manic desperation to save (IMO) his own ass…..
Generally those papers don't talk about much other
Unsurprising considering Modi's repression of dissenting views. I suppose like most media here, some Indian (version Herald, et al) will be fully in step with…others maybe fearful are not offering too much alternate takes on anything …
Critics of India's Modi migrate online as mainstream media stays deferential
Just occasionally our media representatives fulfill their proper function of shining a light into a dark corner so the public know what has been going on.
An example is the Stuff coverage of the awarding of a $2 million contract by Health NZ to a UK company of which an ACC manager was formerly a director. At the time the contract was awarded, the manager was advising Health NZ on system performance and accountability.
No tender was called for the work, apparently because the UK company was the only outfit capable of doing the job (reducing patient waiting lists). This point has been disputed by NZ businesses.
Maybe everything is above board, but it is vital the 4th estate gets onto these issues and, even more importantly, the bureaucrats know they are being watched and will be held to account.
The bills 'classes being trans as a “sexual deviation”. '
'Senate Bill 195 classes trans people as “obscene” and aims to ban “transgender exposure, performances, or display” to minors, essentially criminalising public presence of trans people.'
No going within 1000 yards of a school, etc, in case kids catch the trans.
This is tabled legislation yet to pass. A recent W. Virginia bill defining 'male' and 'female' included a clause that would have allowed medical personnel, eg school nurses, to inspect children's genitals without parental consent. But that clause was removed before becoming law, because that was seen as contravening parental rights, not in any sense of protecting the kids.
There are "trans" kids like there are vegan cats. Someone else is making the decision. The usual answer is a homophobic parent who is terrified of having a "gay" child because that child does not immediately conform to rigid sex stereotypes.
and the logical end-point of anti-feminist TRA propaganda: girls are forced to undress in front of a male student. Despite there being gender neutral options for the male student. Staff, including senior, made the girls go to the locker room and change.
This is tabled legislation yet to pass. A recent W. Virginia bill defining 'male' and 'female' included a clause that would have allowed medical personnel, eg school nurses, to inspect children's genitals without parental consent. But that clause was removed before becoming law, because that was seen as contravening parental rights, not in any sense of protecting the kids.
I'm not sure you are right about that. I haven't read the legislation, but the clause is about parental consent not parental rights.
Kentucky GOP lawmakers vote to protect conversion therapy
Kentucky’s Republican lawmakers have passed a measure to protect conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youths as part of a bill that also would outlaw the use of Medicaid funds to pay for gender-affirming health care for transgender Kentucky residents.
I do think Team Trump and other right wing gender conservatives (eg Brian Tamaki) are patriarchal and anti-trans and are putting trans & gender non-conformists in danger, physically, socially and politically.
However, those like me who oppose discrimination and abuse of trans IDed people, and who also acknowledge the reality of 2 immutable human sexes, male and female, while seeing gender self ID is subjective, fluid &unstable, also get labelled anti-trans by a lot of those on the political left.
The patriarchal and identitarian right in the US are leading a strong backlash against the extreme, authoritarian, neoliberal, trans rights activism embraced by the many in the political left in the west.
Jane Clare Jones, a radical materialist feminist, has been looking into what is happening, especially with Trumpist USA, and in this post analyses some of the pendulum swings. "Against Identitarianism: Or, In Defence of Nuance."
"What I’m interested in here is thinking through the how and why of this pendulum swing, and what it tells us about the mechanisms, and reality distortions, of the culture war."
"What has happened here is that the political convictions of right wing identitarianism were inverted into left wing identitarianism which have now been inverted back into right wing identitarianism with added backlash rocket fuel."
I find JCJ's posts on this topic to be very useful. She cites a lot of sources that I wasn't previously familiar with. On the gender issues I agree with JCJ that the left need to get beyond the 'us' and 'them', look more at the realities and nuances, and find a way forward against the frightening upsurge in deceptive, plutocratic, authoritarian right wing politics.
against the extreme, authoritarian, neoliberal, trans rights activism embraced by the many in the political left in the west.
I would not call trans right activism, neo-liberal or authoritarian – if anything it is part of radical libertarianism, thus untempered – extremist. ACT never contended with it.
Neo-liberals on the political and economic right supported it to make society with greater inequality seem more inclusive and modern. Thus National said nothing (like ACT also supporting self ID).
Social progressives, centrist and centre left and left were on board, rather then side with social conservatives.
The Tories were the first UK party to introduce policy for it in 2018.It got stalled when other political priorities overshadowed it like Brexit. Other parties followed. The first opposition to it in the UK was from some Labour and Green party members and voters, some of whom were trade unionists. The UK (I think left wing parties) also introduced the #no debate mantra, and the censoring of opposing views to it.
The approach has long been to censor, no-platform, and demonise any opponents. This includes going after people's jobs, trying to criminalise them. UK policing has been focused on criminalising, arresting etc, opponents to the TRA theory and demands.
From early on, sex self ID, "trans women are women" etc was a top down authoritarian movement, and backed by big corporations. In NZ the GP introduced sex self ID before anyone really knew anything much about it. It followed the UK #no-debate and censoring MO. NZ corporations embraced it early by adopting the Rainbow Tick, which by 2019 was pretty much dominated by Transgender theory & demands. eg Fonterra.
Many local and international corporations embraced this theory from early on. Look at all the corporations that have adopted the NZ Rainbow Tick. The result is they and many public sector organisations adopted transgenderism well before most of the population knew what was involved. It has been a top-down,authoritarian movement.
The first person to pick up on what was happening in NZ was Renee Gerlich in about 2014. She was viciously smeared and censored. She opposed sex self ID, and drew other women's attention to it. Out of that came Speak Up for Women, largely consisting of left wing women. Here is the text of a talk Renee gave in 2019, in which she explains why the TRA movement was neoliberal.
"This is neoliberalism: the commodification of nature, and the removal and defunding of social services, ramped up for the age of multinational corporations."
Renee refers to the Shock Doctrine and then says:
"These are the disaster conditions that transgender ideology exploits, and that enable whole populations to buy into the idea that not only can women be bought and sold like products, but womanhood itself is a commodity to which men should be entitled. Transgenderism is a neoliberal ideology that treats the natural fact of biological sex itself as something to be ploughed over and substituted with the cash crop of gender identity. It is empowering for the individual to reject biological sex and substitute it for a customised gender that expresses one’s own essential tastes, like your clothes and shoes are meant to do, and even your car, your cellphone screen protector and your toothbrush."
Also, it's hard to gauge how many left wing women are opposed to the current TRA theory and sex self ID. This is because many women are afraid to speak out because of the silencing, censoring and demonisation that happens. I know many who don't speak out because they are afraid it will impact negatively on their jobs. I know one or two who have had TRAs go after their jobs
But not self ID. There was slippage to using 'gender' to mean sex in the 1990s I think, tho it maybe began earlier.
I have read it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg that first enshrined the slippage in US law, maybe because many in the US didn't like using the word 'sex' because of the links with meaning sexual activity. It gained traction internationally after that.
But it took longer for the notion of 'gender identity', and then sex/gender self identity, to be incorporated in the current trans theory. It's the problem of the meaning of 'gender' that confuses many people. It's an unstable and slippery concept.
That mention of Beyer being transgender is revisionism. Beyer was always known as "transsexual". In 2007 it was reported:
"The world's first transsexual MP Georgina Beyer came into Parliament making a joke about her sexuality and left yesterday on the same note.
In her maiden speech Ms Beyer joked that she was the stallion that became a gelding, then a mayor (of Carterton) and then she became a member."
RBG was simply running with the feminist advocacy for "gender equality" speaking to equal participation in society, which was part of the 1960's.
The concept of gender distinct from birth sex, rather than as an interchangeable terminology (as the 1960's feminists were using it) was a separate matter.
But it was a known before 1980, as this was all was part of the DSM 3 in 1980.
GB was of the era when there was transvestite and transsexual, and she chose to be the latter.
Note this quote, as to being the same as those who call themselves transgender
We are transsexual or transgender
And this
Well, they certainly want me to cover my experiences in the political arena as a transgender person
The nuance.
We are transsexual or transgender, and I’m a transsexual woman. I’m not a biological female. I was born a biological male. That changed. That’s the biology of the thing, and that changed for me as I realised that that didn’t fit right. But I’m a transsexual woman. I don’t claim to be a female.’
And this
I had a Member’s Bill in the Parliament when I was there to include gender identity in Section 21 of the Human Rights Act – grounds upon which you cannot be discriminated against.
A separate reference to sex and gender in the HRA would be useful.
There transgender could be a category, as could gender expression.
Most people self-ID about something. I’ve come to believe that who/what adults identify as is none of my business, if they're behaving within the law.
People who object to certain types of self-ID, for example gender self-ID (legal in Aotearoa NZ), are free to lobby for law changes. And, if there is strong evidence (cf. belief) that ostensibly progressive laws are actually doing more harm than good, then that lobbying might stand a fair chance of success.
As your link notes self-ID on DL and passports since 2012.
Thus from sex ID to gender ID, then onto self ID.
Otherwise there was managed transition to realise formal gender ID change at least until parliamentary legislation – Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill (first introduced in 2017 and passed in 2023)
Ireland, a country of 5 mi, similar in many cultural ways to NZ, has had self-id for trans people since 2015. They publish the stats: equal numbers of trans men and women seek self-id, and the numbers are quite low.
Guess what. If there were any stats whatsoever about increased exual assaults in Irish toilets by male sexual predators who used self-id as women, the numbers would have been published ad nauseum in the UK anti-trans press. But nothing. Not a sausage.
A sexual predator doesn’t need self-id to harass people in public spaces.
Classifying being trans a sexual deviancy and calling being within a km of a school indecent exposure.
Identifying being trans as a sexual deviation is based on two concepts
1not dressing like one of their birth sex.
2.proscribing their sexuality.
Then this
1.a focus on those born males identifying as of the female gender. This is not the
the patriarchy being misogynist. It's just anger at those not part of their broliarchy …
2.a step towards punishing those born female who do not dress like Christian women puritans. Either because of their resistance to gender conformity or a lack of modesty.
This all leads to pejorative views of homosexuality, non procreative sex acts & non marital sexual relationships, in a roll back of progressive liberalism.
David Seymour reckons Jesus may well have supported the ACT Party
A reporter then asked if Jesus would have supported ACT, to which Seymour had a fulsome answer:
"I believe that Jesus very well might support ACT from what I know about him. He believed that each person had inherent dignity, was made in the image of God, imago dei, and deserved to be treated with universal human rights. In many respects the underlying teaching of Jesus and the ACT Party overlap," he said through laughter.
He definitely displays narcissist characteristics. dv
Plus his deflecting responsibility is concerning. In his Jack Tame interview about the lunch problems, he intoned those complaining were "conspiracy theorists". Right, so if anyone complains they will now be called that, and that deflects from the the main idea. Now he is marshalling the power of religion to give the Act Party credence. Whatever next? Bishop David Seymour of the Act Party?
He wishes to bring his brand of Religion to Councils. “God help us!!”
Well, Seymour did bemoan Labour's "war on landlords", who are treated "like al-Qaeda", and claimed that "If Nelson Mandela was alive today he would be campaigning for ACT.", so his delusional claim that Jesus would have supported ACT is hardly unsurprising – this is our deputy PM in waiting, FFS.
Nelson Mandela would not have supported the ACT party, grandson says
Asked for his response, Seymour said: "Far be it from me to question the great man's grandson, but Nelson Mandela did say 'all people are born equal, with each entitled in equal measure to life [and] liberty'.
David Seymour reckons Jesus may well have supported the ACT Party
🙄
To which one might quote Matthew 6 verse 24.
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.”They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
They are facing the same problems as the democrats in america…
However flawed his vision is… trump had a vision for change…that he sold to enough voters..
Whereas the democrats have no competing vision…
.. and in response to trump…are showing themselves as both rudderless and useless…
Which brings us back to labour…
(..and my abiding fear they are planning on just some more of the incrementalism they have relied on..in place of any vision/pathway to fixing what ails us..for decades..)
Could someone from labour please tell me that I am wrong…and that labour are working like Energizer bunnies on a version of the grand plan…
The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, John "Paddy" Hemingway, has died at the age of 105.
Mr Hemingway, who was originally from Dublin, joined the Royal Air Force [RAF] as a teenager before World War Two.
At 21, he was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, a three-month period when air force personnel defended the skies against a large-scale assault by the German air force, the Luftwaffe.
Well that's certainly an end of an era, I do have vague memories of my father and older brothers taking me to see the movie decades ago.
BTW, a New Zealander, Sir Keith Park, was the General Officer in Command of the day to day air battle, during the Battle of Britain, he also went on to command the RAF's air defence during the siege of Malta.
Talking of World War two, David Seymour, our "Minister of Catering" and new boyfriend of Jesus, would do well to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who fought and died during the second world war. The fruits of victory for for all of us, not just the lucky and wealthy. I'm hoping with the baby Jesus now a follower of ACT, the minister of Catering will be reminded of a few things, like "the loaves and fishes", "those who have much, much is expected", "it's easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God", along with the commandment about taking the Lord's name in vain…
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And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1921ALL OVER THE WORLD, devout Christians will be reaching for their bibles, reading and re-reading Revelation 13:16-17. For the benefit of all you non-Christians out there, these are the verses describing ...
Give me what I want, what I really, really want: And what India really wants from New Zealand isn’t butter or cheese, but a radical relaxation of the rules controlling Indian immigration.WHAT DOES INDIA WANT from New Zealand? Not our dairy products, that’s for sure, it’s got plenty of those. ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Yesterday, 5,500 senior doctors across Aotearoa New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to strike for a day.This is the first time in New Zealand ASMS members have taken strike action for 24 hours.They are asking the government tofund them and account for resource shortfalls.Vacancies are critical - 45-50% in some regions.The ...
For years and years and years, David Seymour and his posse of deluded neoliberals have been preaching their “tough on crime” gospel to voters. Harsher sentences! More police! Lock ‘em up! Throw away the key. But when it comes to their own, namely former Act Party president Tim Jago, a ...
Judith Collins is a seasoned master at political hypocrisy. As New Zealand’s Defence Minister, she's recently been banging the war drum, announcing a jaw-dropping $12 billion boost to the defence budget over the next four years, all while the coalition of chaos cries poor over housing, health, and education.Apparently, there’s ...
I’m on the London Overground watching what the phones people are holding are doing to their faces: The man-bun guy who could not be less impressed by what he's seeing but cannot stop reading; the woman who's impatient for a response; the one who’s frowning; the one who’s puzzled; the ...
You don't have no prescriptionYou don't have to take no pillsYou don't have no prescriptionAnd baby don't have to take no pillsIf you come to see meDoctor Brown will cure your ills.Songwriters: Waymon Glasco.Dr Luxon. Image: David and Grok.First, they came for the Bottom FeedersAnd I did not speak outBecause ...
The Health Minister says the striking doctors already “well remunerated,” and are “walking away from” and “hurting” their patients. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Wednesday, April 16:Simeon Brown has attacked1 doctors striking for more than a 1.5% pay rise as already “well remunerated,” even ...
The time is ripe for Australia and South Korea to strengthen cooperation in space, through embarking on joint projects and initiatives that offer practical outcomes for both countries. This is the finding of a new ...
Hi,When Trump raised tariffs against China to 145%, he destined many small businesses to annihilation. The Daily podcast captured the mass chaos by zooming in and talking to one person, Beth Benike, a small-business owner who will likely lose her home very soon.She pointed out that no, she wasn’t surprised ...
National’s handling of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis is an utter shambles and a gutless betrayal of every Kiwi scraping by. The Coalition of Chaos Ministers strut around preaching about how effective their policies are, but really all they're doing is perpetuating a cruel and sick joke of undelivered promises, ...
Most people wouldn't have heard of a little worm like Rhys Williams, a so-called businessman and former NZ First member, who has recently been unmasked as the venomous troll behind a relentless online campaign targeting Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle.According to reports, Williams has been slinging mud at Doyle under ...
Illustration credit: Jonathan McHugh (New Statesman)The other day, a subscriber said they were unsubscribing because they needed “some good news”.I empathised. Don’t we all.I skimmed a NZME article about the impacts of tariffs this morning with analysis from Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr. Kerr, their Chief Economist, suggested another recession is the ...
Let’s assume, as prudence demands we assume, that the United States will not at any predictable time go back to being its old, reliable self. This means its allies must be prepared indefinitely to lean ...
Over the last three rather tumultuous US trade policy weeks, I’ve read these four books. I started with Irwin (whose book had sat on my pile for years, consulted from time to time but not read) in a week of lots of flights and hanging around airports/hotels, and then one ...
Indonesia could do without an increase in military spending that the Ministry of Defence is proposing. The country has more pressing issues, including public welfare and human rights. Moreover, the transparency and accountability to justify ...
Former Hutt City councillor Chris Milne has slithered back into the spotlight, not as a principled dissenter, but as a vindictive puppeteer of digital venom. The revelations from a recent court case paint a damning portrait of a man whose departure from Hutt City Council in 2022 was merely the ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
The economy is not doing what it was supposed to when PM Christopher Luxon said in January it was ‘going for growth.’ Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short from our political economy on Tuesday, April 15:New Zealand’s economic recovery is stalling, according to business surveys, retail spending and ...
This is a guest post by Lewis Creed, managing editor of the University of Auckland student publication Craccum, which is currently running a campaign for a safer Symonds Street in the wake of a horrific recent crash.The post has two parts: 1) Craccum’s original call for safety (6 ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff has published an opinion piece which makes the case for a different approach to economic development, as proposed in the CTU’s Aotearoa Reimagined programme. The number of people studying to become teachers has jumped after several years of low enrolment. The coalition has directed Health New ...
The growth of China’s AI industry gives it great influence over emerging technologies. That creates security risks for countries using those technologies. So, Australia must foster its own domestic AI industry to protect its interests. ...
Unfortunately we have another National Party government in power at the moment, and as a consequence, another economic dumpster fire taking hold. Inflation’s hurting Kiwis, and instead of providing relief, National is fiddling while wallets burn.Prime Minister Chris Luxon's response is a tired remix of tax cuts for the rich ...
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girlsWho do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveSongwriters: Damon Albarn / Graham Leslie Coxon / Alexander Rowntree David / Alexander James Steven.Last month, I wrote about the Birds and Bees being ...
Australia needs to reevaluate its security priorities and establish a more dynamic regulatory framework for cybersecurity. To advance in this area, it can learn from Britain’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which presents a compelling ...
Deputy PM Winston Peters likes nothing more than to portray himself as the only wise old head while everyone else is losing theirs. Yet this time, his “old master” routine isn’t working. What global trade is experiencing is more than the usual swings and roundabouts of market sentiment. President Donald ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The imbroglio over the reported Russian request to Indonesia to base planes in Papua initially tripped Peter Dutton, and now is dogging Anthony Albanese. After the respected military site Janes said a request had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross Cardinals attend Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, before they enter the conclave to decide who the next pope will be, on March 12, 2013, in Vatican City.Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Reardon, Postdoctoral Researcher, Pulsar Timing and Gravitational Waves, Swinburne University of Technology Artist’s impression of a pulsar bow shock scattering a radio beam.Carl Knox/Swinburne/OzGrav With the most powerful radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, we have observed a twinkling star ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Hodge, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday, aged 88, the Vatican announced. The head of the Catholic Church had recently survived being hospitalised with a serious bout of double pneumonia. ...
Of the 1500 new places, 1000 were last week allocated to five housing providers through 'strategic partnerships' to make contracting the homes more efficient. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathleen Garland, PhD Candidate, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University The faces of living and extinct theropod dinosaurs.Left: Riya Bidaye; right: Indian Roller model (NHMUK S1987) from TEMPO bird project – MorphoSource. Bird beaks come in almost every shape and size ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (Climate Science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Shutterstock/EvaL Miko If heat rises, why does it get colder as you climb up mountains? – Ollie, 8, Christchurch, New Zealand That is an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Rindert Algra-Maschio, PhD Candidate, Social and Political Sciences, Monash University Three weeks into the federal election campaign and both major parties have already pledged to spend billions in taxpayer dollars if elected on May 3. But with so many policies ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Palazzo, Adjunct Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra, UNSW Sydney For more than a century, Australia has followed the same defence policy: dependence on a great power. This was first the United Kingdom and then ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Farah Houdroge, Mathematical Modeller, Burnet Institute ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock Needle and syringe programs are a proven public health intervention that provide free, sterile injecting equipment to people who use drugs. By reducing needle sharing, these programs help prevent the spread of blood-borne viruses ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hazel, Associate Professor, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide Lucigerma/Shutterstock Caring for a new puppy can be wonderful, but it can also bring feelings of depression, extreme stress and exhaustion. This is sometimes referred to as “the ...
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This Easter Sunday harassment of the victim’s family is part of a deliberate tactic to silence the victims, who were wrongfully duped of their money, efforts and hopes for a better future. ...
Māori own huge areas of land in Aotearoa but as climate change accelerates and carbon markets take hold, many are being backed into a corner.Māori connections to the whenua and ngahere run deep, rooted in whakapapa and sustained through generations. Today, that whenua is at a crossroads – squeezed ...
Comment: Two decades ago, I drove from Germany to Southern Belgium to visit the Commonwealth Memorial at Tyne Cot. The remains of my great grandmother’s brother, Private Robert Macalister, lay there. I didn’t know what to expect.Even in early summer, nine decades later, Passchendaele was blanketed in a thick, low ...
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Watched with interest and a little humour as Luxon stepped off the plane in India and immediately announced the trip a success.
Then I realized what he must have meant – the plane didn't break down on the way there…
"Luxon's epic unpopularity on one chart" – Should I Stay ir Should I Go?
Well, "Everyone Must Go".
I certainly prefer the Spinoff to the ‘Centrist’.
Hang in there Luxflake – you were anointed by Sir Key himself (McCulloch Menzies, Lane Walker Rudkin, Elders Finance, Bankers Trust, Merrill Lynch ["the smiling assassin"], MP, PM, Air NZ, ANZ, Palo Alto Networks), and your ‘sorted’ brand (Unilever, Air NZ, MP, PM, ?) can only get better.
Up next – Seymour ("engineering sector", a Canadian think tank on "the libertarian or social conservative side of the true-blue ideological spectrum", MP, deputy PM, ???)
Another striking thing from that graph is just how effective the completely manufactured "winter of discontent" was in 2000, Clark's first full year in office. This was when the NZ's extremely conservative business establishment was given a megaphone by Fran O'Sullivan and the NZ Herald to essentially reject the 1999 election result – not in electoral terms obviously, but in terms of the public policy implications.
Brave? Oblivious? Smug? Damned if I know…
C'mon… entitled and sorted.
Luxon cuddles up (literally) to far right leader.
Should we be worried about this? IMO..hell yes.
And on to lunch.
Oh…really ? Modi has eliminated some….things.
Modi . Far right.
In the real world, protocol often requires delivering flowery praise to right-wing strongmen with abhorrent politics. It's just the way foreign policy works sometimes.
But Luxon could at least manage it with a shred of dignity.
Instead, he looks like a schoolboy awkwardly receiving an award from the principal rather than a leader engaging in serious diplomacy. And you have to ask serious questions about a man who can't even get smiling and waving right.
Ahuh. Is that some patronisation perchance? I merely linked to Modi and his membership of a far right (some describe as fascist) group. His repression of dissent, minority groups, et al needed some light. However Luxon blurts…
Would you be so pragmatic if he hypothetically flew to say…Moscow and met with Putin?
I'm not saying the RSS isn't fascist. Or that the BJP isn’t a morally bankrupt, authoritarian party that has consolidated power by exploiting historical caste and religious divisions and outright condoning anti-Muslim violence. Or even that Modi isn’t an authoritarian strongman dragging Indian democracy into the mud.
What I am saying is that in diplomacy, smaller states like New Zealand don’t have much choice in how they push back against larger powers they desperately need something from—like, say, a free trade agreement.
So I get why the PM has to make the right noises in a press conference to secure what we need behind closed doors.
What irks me is that he managed to do it while looking like a grinning, fawning, vacuous buffoon. It was almost like an empty plane landed in India, and Christopher Luxon got out.
Diplomacy isn’t a moral purity contest. If New Zealand needed something badly enough, a PM should absolutely engage with Putin—just like other Western leaders have, even while denouncing him.
The issue isn’t that Luxon met Modi. It’s that he did so like a clueless sycophant, seemingly prepared to whitewash outright ethnic cleansing in pursuit of a deal that delivers nothing of substance.
Thanks for reply and being honest enough to say your thoughts on.
I would definitely agree that Luxon is falling over everything (his own feet, Modi's repressions, et al) with a kind of manic desperation to save (IMO) his own ass…..
Reply to psyching
This trip, I tried something new and checked out some of the local India media, to see what India thinks about the delegation.
Generally those papers don't talk about much other than Luxon coming to India and Modi giving up some time to him and they both talked about cricket.
It didn't sound like the game-changer that's posted locally.
I wondered if the trip is an attempt to woo the South-Asian vote, come 2026.
He did take his $900 per day grifter with him to show off as his most devoted Indian.
Unsurprising considering Modi's repression of dissenting views. I suppose like most media here, some Indian (version Herald, et al) will be fully in step with…others maybe fearful are not offering too much alternate takes on anything …
Re Luxons woo? Apart from his palpable desperation for something…anything, positive; there could be a factor of vote woo also….
From the Conversation.
https://theconversation.com/trump-is-surveying-australian-academics-about-gender-diversity-and-china-what-does-this-mean-for-unis-and-their-research-252282?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%2018%202025%20-%203300633704&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%2018%202025%20-%203300633704+CID_aa633c0971b91b38b29bf381bdf3ef85&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Trump%20is%20surveying%20Australian%20academics%20about%20gender%20diversity%20and%20China%20%20what%20does%20this%20mean%20for%20unis%20and%20their%20research
Some of the questions to the research universities.
”Some of the specific questions include:
Cartel style.
https://x.com/ValentinaForUSA/status/1901441849979535380
She may well be the public face of a competing cartel who did a better job of buying off local police and ICE officials.
Just occasionally our media representatives fulfill their proper function of shining a light into a dark corner so the public know what has been going on.
An example is the Stuff coverage of the awarding of a $2 million contract by Health NZ to a UK company of which an ACC manager was formerly a director. At the time the contract was awarded, the manager was advising Health NZ on system performance and accountability.
No tender was called for the work, apparently because the UK company was the only outfit capable of doing the job (reducing patient waiting lists). This point has been disputed by NZ businesses.
Maybe everything is above board, but it is vital the 4th estate gets onto these issues and, even more importantly, the bureaucrats know they are being watched and will be held to account.
I’m puzzled why you didn’t link to the article!?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360611085/2m-contract-senior-govt-advisors-business-partner
Good point, thanks for putting it up.
Crony capitalism. Bill could whip up something as he knows as much about health as housing.
Waiting lists reflect a lack of resources, long ED waits caused through that and a lack of available GP's.
Its fixed by funding it not robbing it blind.
The logical end-point of anti-trans propaganda:
New [W. Virgina] Republican bills seek to ban trans people from public spaces, and refer to them as ‘obscene’
The bills 'classes being trans as a “sexual deviation”. '
'Senate Bill 195 classes trans people as “obscene” and aims to ban “transgender exposure, performances, or display” to minors, essentially criminalising public presence of trans people.'
No going within 1000 yards of a school, etc, in case kids catch the trans.
This is tabled legislation yet to pass. A recent W. Virginia bill defining 'male' and 'female' included a clause that would have allowed medical personnel, eg school nurses, to inspect children's genitals without parental consent. But that clause was removed before becoming law, because that was seen as contravening parental rights, not in any sense of protecting the kids.
There are "trans" kids like there are vegan cats. Someone else is making the decision. The usual answer is a homophobic parent who is terrified of having a "gay" child because that child does not immediately conform to rigid sex stereotypes.
Aahh..!… that's a contentious subject…for some…
Vegan cats and vegan dogs.,
..not for me… I've been doing the vegan dog/cat thing for a quarter of a century..
..ask me anything…
And you are making the decision on what those animals eat. Point made.
yep.
and the logical end-point of anti-feminist TRA propaganda: girls are forced to undress in front of a male student. Despite there being gender neutral options for the male student. Staff, including senior, made the girls go to the locker room and change.
https://x.com/ReduxxMag/status/1900991195020513297
Maybe it's time the left got its shit together and started listening to each other.
I'm not sure you are right about that. I haven't read the legislation, but the clause is about parental consent not parental rights.
Kentucky GOP lawmakers vote to protect conversion therapy
https://apnews.com/article/conversion-therapy-kentucky-cf61c100f6aad954a43e45f25dbd316c?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=share
I do think Team Trump and other right wing gender conservatives (eg Brian Tamaki) are patriarchal and anti-trans and are putting trans & gender non-conformists in danger, physically, socially and politically.
However, those like me who oppose discrimination and abuse of trans IDed people, and who also acknowledge the reality of 2 immutable human sexes, male and female, while seeing gender self ID is subjective, fluid &unstable, also get labelled anti-trans by a lot of those on the political left.
The patriarchal and identitarian right in the US are leading a strong backlash against the extreme, authoritarian, neoliberal, trans rights activism embraced by the many in the political left in the west.
Jane Clare Jones, a radical materialist feminist, has been looking into what is happening, especially with Trumpist USA, and in this post analyses some of the pendulum swings. "Against Identitarianism: Or, In Defence of Nuance."
I find JCJ's posts on this topic to be very useful. She cites a lot of sources that I wasn't previously familiar with. On the gender issues I agree with JCJ that the left need to get beyond the 'us' and 'them', look more at the realities and nuances, and find a way forward against the frightening upsurge in deceptive, plutocratic, authoritarian right wing politics.
I would not call trans right activism, neo-liberal or authoritarian – if anything it is part of radical libertarianism, thus untempered – extremist. ACT never contended with it.
Neo-liberals on the political and economic right supported it to make society with greater inequality seem more inclusive and modern. Thus National said nothing (like ACT also supporting self ID).
Social progressives, centrist and centre left and left were on board, rather then side with social conservatives.
Some feminists opposed it, but many did not.
The current trans rights theory originated in the US, and was first openly embraced politically by President Obama with an EO, in 2014. The US Democrat Party hierarchy is pretty neoliberal. Some big pharma corporations had jumped on board at some point seeing the possibility for a lucrative niche market. The number of gender clinics exploded in the US between 2007 and 2022.
The Tories were the first UK party to introduce policy for it in 2018.It got stalled when other political priorities overshadowed it like Brexit. Other parties followed. The first opposition to it in the UK was from some Labour and Green party members and voters, some of whom were trade unionists. The UK (I think left wing parties) also introduced the #no debate mantra, and the censoring of opposing views to it.
The approach has long been to censor, no-platform, and demonise any opponents. This includes going after people's jobs, trying to criminalise them. UK policing has been focused on criminalising, arresting etc, opponents to the TRA theory and demands.
From early on, sex self ID, "trans women are women" etc was a top down authoritarian movement, and backed by big corporations. In NZ the GP introduced sex self ID before anyone really knew anything much about it. It followed the UK #no-debate and censoring MO. NZ corporations embraced it early by adopting the Rainbow Tick, which by 2019 was pretty much dominated by Transgender theory & demands. eg Fonterra.
Many local and international corporations embraced this theory from early on. Look at all the corporations that have adopted the NZ Rainbow Tick. The result is they and many public sector organisations adopted transgenderism well before most of the population knew what was involved. It has been a top-down,authoritarian movement.
The first person to pick up on what was happening in NZ was Renee Gerlich in about 2014. She was viciously smeared and censored. She opposed sex self ID, and drew other women's attention to it. Out of that came Speak Up for Women, largely consisting of left wing women. Here is the text of a talk Renee gave in 2019, in which she explains why the TRA movement was neoliberal.
"This is neoliberalism: the commodification of nature, and the removal and defunding of social services, ramped up for the age of multinational corporations."
Renee refers to the Shock Doctrine and then says:
Jane Clare Jones on the authoritarianism of the transgender movement in the UK.
Also, it's hard to gauge how many left wing women are opposed to the current TRA theory and sex self ID. This is because many women are afraid to speak out because of the silencing, censoring and demonisation that happens. I know many who don't speak out because they are afraid it will impact negatively on their jobs. I know one or two who have had TRAs go after their jobs
We'll not agree on this.
Greens?
Gender was used in place of sex for ID purposes by 1999.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/1999/0100/latest/DLM281326.html
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/12060/georgina-beyer
The later change was from managed recognition process to self ID.
All parties supported self ID and not one MP voted against it.
All policy is top down as and when adopted by government.
But not self ID. There was slippage to using 'gender' to mean sex in the 1990s I think, tho it maybe began earlier.
I have read it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg that first enshrined the slippage in US law, maybe because many in the US didn't like using the word 'sex' because of the links with meaning sexual activity. It gained traction internationally after that.
But it took longer for the notion of 'gender identity', and then sex/gender self identity, to be incorporated in the current trans theory. It's the problem of the meaning of 'gender' that confuses many people. It's an unstable and slippery concept.
That mention of Beyer being transgender is revisionism. Beyer was always known as "transsexual". In 2007 it was reported:
In 2018 Beyer said:
RBG was simply running with the feminist advocacy for "gender equality" speaking to equal participation in society, which was part of the 1960's.
The concept of gender distinct from birth sex, rather than as an interchangeable terminology (as the 1960's feminists were using it) was a separate matter.
But it was a known before 1980, as this was all was part of the DSM 3 in 1980.
GB was of the era when there was transvestite and transsexual, and she chose to be the latter.
Note this quote, as to being the same as those who call themselves transgender
And this
The nuance.
And this
A separate reference to sex and gender in the HRA would be useful.
There transgender could be a category, as could gender expression.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1807/S00244/qa-georgina-beyer-interviewed-by-corin-dann.htm
Most people self-ID about something. I’ve come to believe that who/what adults identify as is none of my business, if they're behaving within the law.
People who object to certain types of self-ID, for example gender self-ID (legal in Aotearoa NZ), are free to lobby for law changes. And, if there is strong evidence (cf. belief) that ostensibly progressive laws are actually doing more harm than good, then that lobbying might stand a fair chance of success.
As your link notes self-ID on DL and passports since 2012.
Thus from sex ID to gender ID, then onto self ID.
Otherwise there was managed transition to realise formal gender ID change at least until parliamentary legislation – Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill (first introduced in 2017 and passed in 2023)
Ireland, a country of 5 mi, similar in many cultural ways to NZ, has had self-id for trans people since 2015. They publish the stats: equal numbers of trans men and women seek self-id, and the numbers are quite low.
Guess what. If there were any stats whatsoever about increased exual assaults in Irish toilets by male sexual predators who used self-id as women, the numbers would have been published ad nauseum in the UK anti-trans press. But nothing. Not a sausage.
A sexual predator doesn’t need self-id to harass people in public spaces.
Classifying being trans a sexual deviancy and calling being within a km of a school indecent exposure.
Identifying being trans as a sexual deviation is based on two concepts
1not dressing like one of their birth sex.
2.proscribing their sexuality.
Then this
1.a focus on those born males identifying as of the female gender. This is not the
the patriarchy being misogynist. It's just anger at those not part of their broliarchy …
2.a step towards punishing those born female who do not dress like Christian women puritans. Either because of their resistance to gender conformity or a lack of modesty.
This all leads to pejorative views of homosexuality, non procreative sex acts & non marital sexual relationships, in a roll back of progressive liberalism.
Christian dominionism.
GEEZ
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360605837/stuff-politics-live-blog
He definitely displays narcissist characteristics. dv
Plus his deflecting responsibility is concerning. In his Jack Tame interview about the lunch problems, he intoned those complaining were "conspiracy theorists". Right, so if anyone complains they will now be called that, and that deflects from the the main idea. Now he is marshalling the power of religion to give the Act Party credence. Whatever next? Bishop David Seymour of the Act Party?
He wishes to bring his brand of Religion to Councils. “God help us!!”
Political 101: shoot the messenger.
Well, Seymour did bemoan Labour's "war on landlords", who are treated "like al-Qaeda", and claimed that "If Nelson Mandela was alive today he would be campaigning for ACT.", so his delusional claim that Jesus would have supported ACT is hardly unsurprising – this is our deputy PM in waiting, FFS.
So what's Seymour's plan to close our 7-year ethnicity gap in average life expectancy?
And what might Seymour and ACT party donors make of the idea that all Kiwis are entitled to an equal measure of prosperity, I wonder.
Oops, maybe that should be "hardly surprising"?
Do journos fear him ? Patsy question when school lunches and his ministry of waste go unchallenged.
The amount of dribble that comes from Atlas jnr reported ad nauseum from the media must make the hollowmen smile.
Are journos mainly employed by RW media owned by RW and paid to espouse RW talking points ?
MSM is not the ordinary person's friend.
🙄
To which one might quote Matthew 6 verse 24.
ACT – Association of Consumers and Taxpayers.
Then again Matthew 22: 15 – 22
Jesus gives the first recorded MMT lecture right there.
Oh crikey, now he's spouting Latin tags, like a certain former UK PM. Will that immaculate 'do soon be getting mussed up in further homage?
If Labour wants to have a shot at it in 2026, it needs to control the narrative and to do so means to get your story straight.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/17/labours-changed-public-private-partnerships-message/
FFS, sharpen up, Labour!
Once again, they show themselves to be lacking in abiding principles.
They give the appearance of being aware of the worse excesses of the 'market' but bereft of any idea of an alternative.
They are facing the same problems as the democrats in america…
However flawed his vision is… trump had a vision for change…that he sold to enough voters..
Whereas the democrats have no competing vision…
.. and in response to trump…are showing themselves as both rudderless and useless…
Which brings us back to labour…
(..and my abiding fear they are planning on just some more of the incrementalism they have relied on..in place of any vision/pathway to fixing what ails us..for decades..)
Could someone from labour please tell me that I am wrong…and that labour are working like Energizer bunnies on a version of the grand plan…
Idiots
That is the playbook of the RW attack trying to be launched by the CoCs (Hard c's)
.
The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, John "Paddy" Hemingway, has died at the age of 105.
Mr Hemingway, who was originally from Dublin, joined the Royal Air Force [RAF] as a teenager before World War Two.
At 21, he was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, a three-month period when air force personnel defended the skies against a large-scale assault by the German air force, the Luftwaffe.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1z42pkj8o
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hemingway_(RAF_officer)
Well that's certainly an end of an era, I do have vague memories of my father and older brothers taking me to see the movie decades ago.
BTW, a New Zealander, Sir Keith Park, was the General Officer in Command of the day to day air battle, during the Battle of Britain, he also went on to command the RAF's air defence during the siege of Malta.
Talking of World War two, David Seymour, our "Minister of Catering" and new boyfriend of Jesus, would do well to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who fought and died during the second world war. The fruits of victory for for all of us, not just the lucky and wealthy. I'm hoping with the baby Jesus now a follower of ACT, the minister of Catering will be reminded of a few things, like "the loaves and fishes", "those who have much, much is expected", "it's easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God", along with the commandment about taking the Lord's name in vain…
Mandela, Jesus, whoever next – Aslan? At least our next deputy PM is having a laugh.
Yes!! Drowsy M. Kram. 100%