The battle for Mariupol is over. The "second phase" of the war/special military operation, the battle for Odessa and Moldova, is about to begin.
From RT:
Will the Ukraine conflict spread into other parts of Europe?
17 May, 2022 15:35 – RT, (formerly Russia Today)
The breakaway Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR)….
…the PMR is close to the southwest of Ukraine, bordering Odessa and Vinnitsa.
The possibility of “defrosting” the Transnistria conflict has been discussed for a few years.
….Acting Commander of Russia’s Central Military District Major General Rustam Minnekayev announced that one of the goals of the second phase of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine would be securing access to Transnistria. This opinion was later supported by Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
A Russian peacekeeping force is currently stationed in Transnistria….
…..controlling the southern regions of Ukraine that Minnekayev mentioned would potentially enable Russia to reopen a logistics pathway for its peacekeepers.
But whether the Russian Federation Forces will actually be able to press ahead with their "second phase" may be in doubt as the Russian assault on Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine runs into the sand.
Still the intention is clear with daily Russian missile attacks on Odessa, the usual 'softening up' before a full on assault.
It is clear that Russia will not stop, until they are stopped. World War III, has begun.
Whether this World War can be derailed or stopped will be up to the resolve of the Ukrainian people to continue fighting and not surrender until they have defeated the invasion and pushed the Russian Federation back to its border.
If the Ukrainians can stop this war.
To paraphrase the immortal words of the British Empire's war time leader Churchill.
There is little chance the Russians will attempt a full scale amphibious operation to try and capture Odessa considering they failed to even cross a river sccessfully. They are proving themselves incompetent but they aren't suicidal.
Aw c'mon!! Read what Putin says for goodness sake. And Lavrov. These are statesmen of quality. Listen to Ritter. This is a NATO CREATED WAR.
N A T O are the bad guys.
Ukraine isn't going to push Russia anywhere! Don't you get it ?! They're DONE. Gonzalo Lira reckons they're loosing 400 troops a day plus. Unsustainable losses.. Ukranazi using those poor Ukrainian boys as cannon fodder. And anyway, world war three began with the 911 False Flag…
You do appear to be divorced from military reality. The effect of an invasion is mainly measured on taking and holding objectives.
So far the Russian armed forces have mostly been falling back from the over-extended positions that they took in the first 14 days. They are no longer threatening Kyiv, are no longer in the position that allowed them bombard Kharkiv, and while they can do long range bombardments of Odessa thay aren’t a position to take the whole of Ukrainian Black sea coast.
They haven’t destroyed the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to resist. Their expenditures of soldiers, equipment, and ammunition appears to have been very high – at least from the view of reasonably respected military observers.
Gonzalo Lira reckons they’re loosing 400 troops a day plus.
Whoever this dickwad is, you haven’t supplied a link, nor what position they are to be able to judge military performance or casualty figures. I wonder what their estimates of the Russian casualty figures are, or if they’re counting civilians being executed by Russian troops.
Making statements filled with silly slogans and made up words is just some juvenile wanking about something that they are too lazy to spend time to understand. It just sounds like an incel posing for their mates.
As an ex-soldier, I prefer to look to people who know what they’re talking about. For instance this Russian military analyst. “Retired colonel speaks out on Russian TV“.
The Kremlin still maintains that the Russian offensive is going according to plan.
But on Monday night, studio guest Mikhail Khodarenok, a military analyst and retired colonel, painted a very different picture.
He warned that “the situation [for Russia] will clearly get worse” as Ukraine receives additional military assistance from the West and that “the Ukrainian army can arm a million people”.
Referring to Ukrainian soldiers, he noted: “The desire to defend their motherland very much exists. Ultimate victory on the battlefield is determined by the high morale of troops who are spilling blood for the ideas they are ready to fight for.
“The biggest problem with [Russia’s] military and political situation,” he continued, “is that we are in total political isolation and the whole world is against us, even if we don’t want to admit it. We need to resolve this situation.
“The situation cannot be considered normal when against us, there is a coalition of 42 countries and when our resources, military-political and military-technical, are limited.”
The other guests in the studio were silent. Even the host, Olga Skabeyeva, normally fierce and vocal in her defence of the Kremlin, appeared oddly subdued.
In many ways, it’s a case of “I told you so” from Khodarenok. Writing in Russia’s Independent Military Review back in February, before Moscow attacked Ukraine, the defence analyst had criticised “enthusiastic hawks and hasty cuckoos” for claiming that Russia would easily win a war against Ukraine.
His conclusion back then: “An armed conflict with Ukraine is not in Russia’s national interests.”
That is close to how I view the undeclared war against and invasion of Ukraine. It was a stupid idea even without the intervention of nations supporting the UN principles about the sovereignty of nations. It is now pretty much of an impossible situation for Russia unless they escalate to launching nuclear attacks on other sovereign nations. That wouldn’t go well for them either.
Aw c'mon!! Read what Putin says for goodness sake. And Lavrov. These are statesmen of quality. Listen to Ritter. This is a NATO CREATED WAR.
N A T O are the bad guys……
…..world war three began with the 911 False Flag…
An anonymous 911 truther, citing someone called 'Ritter'; as evidence, writes, that Segei Lavrov, is a stateman of quality?
Hmmm
Who is Ritter?
Why no link to what Ritter says?
What does the actual record show?
Russia's Lavrov says Syria chemical weapons attack was 'staged'
Lavrov cited "irrefutable data that [this] was yet another staged event and staging was done … by the special services of one of the countries at the forefront of the anti-Russia campaign."…
Education agents warn that foreign students are not queuing up to return to New Zealand next year.
They told RNZ this country's handling of the pandemic was not the drawcard the government had expected and recently-announced changes to post-study work rights would hit the Indian market especially hard.
Dhingra said many courses that used to attract Indian and Chinese students no longer grant the right to work after graduation.
Almost as if study in New Zealand was secondary to the right to work in New Zealand!
+1 Good to see that Labour has closed some of the sneaky backdoors that National left open to pump up property and lower wages for the benefit of the wealthy and to keep the workers down.
Yep. I've said it before and I'll be a bore and repeat it: the majority of these foreign students whom I tried to help into permanent jobs after they had completed their NZ studies – already had degrees from their home countries that were superior to the various diplomas etc. they gained in NZ. My existing contempt for National plumbed new depths on discovering this. They are the 'free lunch for us, expensive crumbs for you' party.
"Education agents"? "The Indian market"? "secondary to the right to work in New Zealand"? This makes me so angry. Way past time the rort was ended – and long may it stay ended. Dodgy courses, work rights, residency – then bring in their sisters and their cousins and their aunts etc etc.
It was vastly more mechanised than that. A family would put up the $$$ to get Person A in on an investors visa. Person A would buy a couple of $2 Shops. Nephew B and Nephew C would come in to do the cheapest business course available and then work at the said $2 as staff while studying, and as managers when they graduated. They would do that for the time it took to get residency while Relatives D and E did the business courses ready to take over. Rinse and repeat.
But this is important. I have several friends with apartments in the CBD – even the guys are reluctant to go out in the evenings on their own, while the women have been self-protecting for quite some time.
I know of 2 teens (both uni students – and both 'Asian' appearing) who've been beaten up – ostensibly for their phones, but actually, it appears with a simply racist motivation. And this is not at 2 am – it's around 8 in the evening.
Yes, the police come – after the event… if you're lucky. But actually they do nothing – the people are still on the streets, harassing, intimidating and assaulting.
If there is a perception that the police are not in control of this (and there certainly is) there's a very strong temptation for vigilante justice. And we've just seen in the Burr trial – juries aren't going to convict the vigilantes.
Right or wrong, there is a growing perception that Labour is soft on crime. And that the interventions they promised (reduce numbers in prison, etc.) have resulted in a crime wave.
It may be (and probably is, to a certain extent) unfair – but it's a reality that Labour needs to deal with effectively over the next 18 months. Or this will be a significant election issue.
Yes, it is not true this Govt. is soft on crime but their opponents are succeeding in convincing people otherwise. It is equally unfair they are pinning the blame on Poto Williams. Unfortunately Poto is not a good public communicator and on those grounds she is probably not the best person for the portfolio.
Totally agree that if Labour does not deal with the perception then they are going to be trounced at the next election.
I sometimes wonder if this is the reason some in the media are giving this current wave of ramraids and related crimes so much attention. By doing so, they know it will reflect badly on the Govt. which is what they dearly want to do.
However, that's no reason to disdain completely anything she happens to say.
And, in this case, (supported by other articles and private information), she is right on the button that this is a significant issue.
If they don't get control of this pronto, Labour and the Greens are toast in Auckland central next year which is bad news for the greens cos they do horrifically in the suburbs, especially the poorer ones.
Auckland central is finding out what poorer communities have been going through for years. Get terrorized by crims, if you're lucky they'll get arrested and if you're really lucky some community service at best and they'll be out terrorizing people within 24 hours.
We don't evict dangerous Tennant's from state house and the woke left seem to have become defenders of gangs and gang violence giving them carte blanche to do whatever they want.
Labour needs to get ahead on crime. Labour is a party for the working class, the working class work, they don't ram cars into peoples places of employment.
Corey-Google "Youth crime trends NZ" and you will find the following:
"Overall, the Youth Justice Indicators Summary report shows a substantial drop in youth offending. The report shows that between 2010 and 2018, there was a large reduction in children aged 10 to 13 and young people aged 14 to 16 offending, with offending rates dropping by 55% and 58% respectively."
If the main barrier to climate action isn’t technological, but social and political, we need new tools for change.
Given this is the primary assumption of the essay (and thus indisputably relevant) I would challenge the author to produce a clear case to support it. Can you show a clear pattern in human history where social change usually precedes and drives changes in technology – as contrasted to the converse case?
I agree that social and political considerations can often impede change, or even bring about total collapse – and there are plenty of examples of this. But for all of recorded history the fundamental challenge facing all societies has been how to access and control a sufficiently stable and secure surplus source of energy and food in order to move beyond a hunter-gatherer subsistence life. Only when such a surplus exists are we able to concern ourselves with higher order issues such as transgender males cheating in female sports. (Notably most pre-industrial peasant societies daily life was so labour intensive that few even thought of exerting themselves for sport or recreation, much less have the spare time for it.)
Note carefully – I am not ruling out social and political change as a necessary part of the total process. Indeed I have spent many years here hinting at exactly what I think those changes might look like. But it is my view that relegating the technological advances necessary to physically support such a society to will only ensure nothing changes.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[I asked you politely to stay out of my posts for the rest of the month, and I linked to that again yesterday. Now I’m making it formal. – weka]
Apologies for the abuse of moderation. This behaviour is shameful and is the reason why I asked Lynn some months back to remove my access to moderation – because I found it no longer tenable to be associated with this kind of behaviour.
Usually you find out a great deal about someone when you give them a little bit of power.
Various angles have been reported.
"On March 2, during the police operation, almost every third person can be seen videoing on their phone, and likely live streaming. Video content of the protest was spread across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Zello and Telegram, all on public domains monitored by the researchers.
Despite the volume of content, 73% of the disinformation identified on Facebook was created by only 12 people."
"The Disinformation Project says people used Covid-19 disinformation like a 'trojan horse', initially discussing disinformation, but quietly pushing their own ideas that go larger than the pandemic.
Covid-19 was never the only end goal of those sharing and producing disinformation over the past two years, they have strong ideas on what New Zealand should look like."(1news)
"The Disinformation Project report identified the protest movement's Chantelle Baker as a "super spreader" whose broadcasts over Facebook pulled greater engagement than mainstream media on key days in the protest.
The report said Baker – she is not named in the report – generated the most and second-highest engagement among all public Facebook pages in New Zealand from March 1 through to March 3."
It was Baker who broadcast demonstrably false claims Antifa were behind the fires and violence on March 3 when the protest was broken up. The same false claims were made about the invasion of the Capitol on January 6.
Since the protest, Baker has taken up the cudgel for Putin's Russia over the war in Ukraine. Like others in the protest movement, she offers a counter-narrative to the mass graves and war-mongering reported by mainstream media."
It seems strange that research into "disinformation," seeking to provide "information" doesn't provides the simple information like the names of the 12 people. The claim could be made that the names are irrelevant to research on what actually happened.
The names of those who controlling the national narrative? Surely they are relevant, surely it is relevant to know who they are. And surely the individuals would be proud of the recognition
Not the protestors so much but their governing bodies. Eg. Voice of Freedom.
Oh how I would love to see that lot receive a dirty great bill for the role they played in the affair. Especially after they crammed my letter box time after time with pamphlets full of lies and innuendo.
Fisher provides a link to The Disinformation Project webpage which allows those keen to access the full depth of this work to download this study, as well as their earlier efforts.
Their latest publication (and the topic of this and other mainstream media articles about the anti vaccine mandate protest) makes full use of the words "misinformation" and "disinformation", helpfully provides definitions of the same, but gives the barest minimum of examples where the protestors and so-called disinformation peddlers actually deployed such tactics.
Such references as there are are mostly from mainstream media articles which themselves are woefully scant on detail and actual links to where such and such outrageous claims were made. If mis and dis information are the enemies of democracy, they need to be properly and clearly identified so we can recognize them when they sneak into our view. And take appropriate protective measures.
To wit…vaccine mandates and the resultant deliberate creation of a two tier society in New Zealand. Vaccine adverse effects and the automatic dismissal and minimisation of injuries, the messaging from the Ministry of Health that even a serious reaction to the Pfizer Product will be unlikely to qualify one for an exemption to another shot to get a Vaccine Pass or keep one's job and valid concerns that the mRNA technology used in the Pfizer Product is largely untested and has been rushed into use without the proper cautions and oversights one would expect of what in effect has been a worldwide drug trial.
None of these issues are raised in this paper. A pity…because it would have been reassuring to have these experts show us that all of these concerns can be scientifically proven to be false and unfounded.
I wonder what the purpose of such studies are. All protests attract extremist and sometimes violent elements, but focusing solely on this very small club further alienates those who formed the bulk of the activist group.
"… vast majority of those opposed to [Covid-19] mitigation programmes are overwhelmingly peaceful and are driven by a diverse set of ideological frameworks and personal grievances,”
The headline of this article is a case in point…they could have written…"Intelligence agencies find vast majority of protestors are overwhelmingly peaceful, but a small group not so much…" but I suppose that would have given almost legitimacy to the bulk of the protest.
I personally think that the specific concerns of the 'vast majority of the protestors' are being ignored by the dedicated academics at The Disinformation Project because if they make note of them, list them, reference the origins of these concerns they'd have to debunk them all…and prove them to be baseless.
And that they cannot do.
So they focus on the arseholes…and drive the rest of us even further into the margins.
That team of academic specialists have been clear all along that the organised disinformation efforts they document are broader than any single topic – the prime stirrers just jump to whatever is the latest. Covid public health measures are just the latest. The amount of imported tosh about Trump and other foreign fixations is also no surprise to them.
And listing examples spreads the disinformation. So they do not. Nor do they need to prove that the earth is not flat.
Woah, woah, woah, slow down there. I was watching some lectures by Leonard Susskind on classical mechanics and he doesn't even give a definition of a scalar, supposedly its just like a number or something. Also his definition of a vector is its a symbol with an arrow or bar over it, unless its left out when it might be written just like a scalar. Then were supposed to assume that a particle (which can be as large as a planet) is well defined in terms of its centre of mass, like its some law of nature or something, so I don't think we want to be assuming the earth is round just yet.
PS did you know about Isaac Newtons contribution to all this. Don't know if we want to take to much of our understanding from just the one arsehole.
Not mentioning any of the very valid concerns of the majority of the protestors (as listed) serves what purpose? These brave academics, in doing what the government also did and ignoring all of the protestors issues (rather than the measured very few extremists) have further alienated much of that majority who had reasonable grounds to be very concerned about sweeping and punitive mandates based on flimsy evidence of product efficacy and safety.
And Vaccine Passes, and ensuing exclusion of unvaccinated 12 year olds from sports, and surf life saving and public swimming pools, what are we to make of that? Young people, under the age of thirty, have always been at very minimal risk from any of the Covid variants, and it is unconscionable to demand that they be coerced into taking an experimental product with no long term safety data…presumably to protect Nana. Did anyone ask Nana if she was happy risking the moko's health to save her?
In it's research, The Disinformation Project says the attention given to these 12 accounts is how a protest that wasn't vaccine mandate specific also ended up at the Parliament occupation.
"Those leading producers came into the Covid-19 protest with pre-existing values about what it means to be a New Zealander and who's allowed to be a New Zealander. During the protest, even though it was about Covid, they brought these goals.
"When people have a strong grievance, they are pushed into seeing an in and out group" says [Kate] Hannah.
The Disinformation Project says people used Covid-19 disinformation like a 'trojan horse', initially discussing disinformation, but quietly pushing their own ideas that go larger than the pandemic.
"Covid-19 was never the only end goal of those sharing and producing disinformation over the past two years, they have strong ideas on what New Zealand should look like.
The protestors’ concerns were not valid because they were not based on fact but rather on misinformation and worse still… disinformation.
Young people, under the age of thirty, have always been at very minimal risk from any of the Covid variants,…
But their nanas and grandpas are at maximum risk. So you're saying… "who cares if the young people pass it on to their grandparents".
…and it is unconscionable to demand that they be coerced into taking an experimental product with no long term safety data…presumably to protect Nana. Did anyone ask Nana if she was happy risking the moko's health to save her?
It is NOT experimental and you know it. The Covid vaccines were subject to the strictest of testing regimes – in the same way vaccines over many decades have been tested. That they were able to achieve this in a shorter period of time is testament to the scientists and technicians around the world who worked 24/7 for months on end, and they should be celebrated for their efforts not demonised.
Btw, those "brave academics" are not employed to argue the toss over the individual issues (such as they are) that were involved. Their job is to provide a synopsis of the most likely outcome following the actions and beliefs of a small minority of the population who are willfully refusing to accept the facts and wallow instead in fictitious conspiracies and simplistic rhetoric.
… who had reasonable grounds to be very concerned about sweeping and punitive mandates based on flimsy evidence of product efficacy and safety.
There have been a few genuine and legitimate concerns about the mandates but vaccine efficacy and safety have so far not given good reasons to pull it. As new data came in the authorities have acted responsibly and carefully & cautiously weighing the pros & cons of the mass vaccination programme.
The Pfizer vaccine stopped being experimental when it was approved for use. The lack of long-term safety data was not a sufficient reason to wait when people were dropping like flies in parts of the world – remember Lombardy in Italy? The vaccine still is in wide use, isn’t it?
With the earlier variants transmission of the virus was more effectively inhibited by vaccination, which was one argument to vaccinate younger people too and introduce public health measures such as the Vaccine Pass. In any case, a 12-year old not being to go for a swim is not the same as an employee potentially losing their job. And I have experienced quite a few instances of ‘code brown’ in public swimming pools.
Anyway, for most Kiwis the mandates don’t apply anymore. Whether this may be a good thing you can judge by the daily updates – today, we passed more than 1,000 deaths in NZ.
The Disinformation Project (TDP) studies misinformation and disinformation in NZ. It does not study and therefore cannot comment on public health measures such as mandates or vaccine safety data as these are completely different issues. As the report by TDP shows the Parliament occupation wasn’t even about concerns over these issues, valid or not. You seem to be searching and hoping for a general and over-arching justification and legitimisation of the occupation when there’s no such thing to be found.
The vast majority of occupiers may have been peaceful, at least initially, but they gave some legitimacy and (moral) support, in their numbers, to the rotten core and the Trojan Horse they stalked into the occupation. The Dirty Dozen were responsible for generating much of the mis- and disinformation interactions but they could not personally have generated the hundreds of thousands of interactions online each day.
If the mis- and disinformation had remained confined to a small minority of 12 or so so-called ‘protest figureheads’ it would not have been the issue that it is and never attracted the attention (or as much attention?) from intelligence agencies or academic researchers such as TDP.
Of course, you couldn’t let the opportunity go by and not spread your own idiosyncratic mis- and disinformation again here on TS.
Vaccine adverse and injuries were not automatically dismissal and minimised. That’s blatantly untrue aka BS.
The MoH was never going to give people false hope or promise them that they were likely to get an exemption as this would be counterintuitive to having the mandates, which was explained by Dr Ashley Bloomfield during one of the press conferences. Very few people would qualify for an exemption and with this inbuilt high threshold a fair number of applications were granted with over 80% of applications by healthcare workers approved.
The mRNA technology has been around for decades and was obviously mature enough and ready for application in Covid-19 vaccines and not just in the Pfizer one. The Pfizer vaccine was properly tested in clinical trials and approvals were granted through the usual official regulatory channels without taking any shortcuts that could have compromised safety – safety has been monitored more closely than any other vaccine ever before. For this reason, the Pfizer vaccine is still widely in use across the world even though its effectivity against the more recent variants is not as high as against the original wild type virus.
Peter, myself and Sacha have commented on aspects of Rosemary's most recent claims, but it has now been pulled together by your well informed and detailed analysis.
With several polls now showing declining support for Labour. What do you think is the best strategy to win re-election. I personally believe that inflation will reach double digits by christmas and the cost of living crisis will continue to corrode support for the government.
With this in mind, would it not be best to go to the polls early, whilst you are still in reasonable shape politically? Can anyone actually see things getting better between now and late next year which would see a bump in support for the government?
Agree that voters tend to punish parties who call snap elections for evidently political purposes (1984 springs to mind).
Realistically, any early election plan is going to be fought against by the lower-ranked party list MPs currently in parliament. They know that, even if Labour or, more-likely, a Green-Labour-TPM coalition, snatch a win – the list will be drastically reduced, and they're out of parliament (and out of a job).
I'd say, right now, that Labour are going to hang on, and hope that things turn around in the next 18 months.
On the grounds that I cannot see much good things ahead for them. Just floating an idea out there. If people can honestly see support improving for the government, then fair enough, wait until next year.
But I personally cannot see much good news on the horizon. If anything we will be in hell of a lot more pain over the next twelve months when inflation, cost of living and mortgage rates trend up.
There will be no snap election, unless some extreme and unforeseen event warrants it. Labour will have to ride this out, but it won't be easy, particularly with the PM's own popularity currently in decline.
As many have noted – it permits it's adherents the outrageous liberty of claiming virtue without ever requiring them to do the personal work necessary to earn it.
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This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
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The battle for Mariupol is over. The "second phase" of the war/special military operation, the battle for Odessa and Moldova, is about to begin.
From RT:
That's the battle plan anyway.
But whether the Russian Federation Forces will actually be able to press ahead with their "second phase" may be in doubt as the Russian assault on Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine runs into the sand.
Still the intention is clear with daily Russian missile attacks on Odessa, the usual 'softening up' before a full on assault.
It is clear that Russia will not stop, until they are stopped. World War III, has begun.
Whether this World War can be derailed or stopped will be up to the resolve of the Ukrainian people to continue fighting and not surrender until they have defeated the invasion and pushed the Russian Federation back to its border.
If the Ukrainians can stop this war.
To paraphrase the immortal words of the British Empire's war time leader Churchill.
Never will so many have owed so much to so few.
There is little chance the Russians will attempt a full scale amphibious operation to try and capture Odessa considering they failed to even cross a river sccessfully. They are proving themselves incompetent but they aren't suicidal.
Aw c'mon!! Read what Putin says for goodness sake. And Lavrov. These are statesmen of quality. Listen to Ritter. This is a NATO CREATED WAR.
N A T O are the bad guys.
Ukraine isn't going to push Russia anywhere! Don't you get it ?! They're DONE. Gonzalo Lira reckons they're loosing 400 troops a day plus. Unsustainable losses.. Ukranazi using those poor Ukrainian boys as cannon fodder. And anyway, world war three began with the 911 False Flag…
You do appear to be divorced from military reality. The effect of an invasion is mainly measured on taking and holding objectives.
So far the Russian armed forces have mostly been falling back from the over-extended positions that they took in the first 14 days. They are no longer threatening Kyiv, are no longer in the position that allowed them bombard Kharkiv, and while they can do long range bombardments of Odessa thay aren’t a position to take the whole of Ukrainian Black sea coast.
They haven’t destroyed the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to resist. Their expenditures of soldiers, equipment, and ammunition appears to have been very high – at least from the view of reasonably respected military observers.
Whoever this dickwad is, you haven’t supplied a link, nor what position they are to be able to judge military performance or casualty figures. I wonder what their estimates of the Russian casualty figures are, or if they’re counting civilians being executed by Russian troops.
I presume you’re talking about this dipshit. The Redpill Grifter Who Became an Anti-Ukraine Propagandist (And the wacko tale of his supposed murder). A loud mouthed idiot who appears to had exactly zero military experience. His previous claim to fame appears to be that he is a hero to some incels.
Perhaps you should look at some war bloggers with some experience. Unlike your dipshit fashionista, they’re pretty distinctive. I’ll even point you in the direction of some Russian ones. “Growing evidence of a military disaster on the Donets pierces a pro-Russian bubble.”
Making statements filled with silly slogans and made up words is just some juvenile wanking about something that they are too lazy to spend time to understand. It just sounds like an incel posing for their mates.
As an ex-soldier, I prefer to look to people who know what they’re talking about. For instance this Russian military analyst. “Retired colonel speaks out on Russian TV“.
That is close to how I view the undeclared war against and invasion of Ukraine. It was a stupid idea even without the intervention of nations supporting the UN principles about the sovereignty of nations. It is now pretty much of an impossible situation for Russia unless they escalate to launching nuclear attacks on other sovereign nations. That wouldn’t go well for them either.
An anonymous 911 truther, citing someone called 'Ritter'; as evidence, writes, that Segei Lavrov, is a stateman of quality?
Hmmm
Who is Ritter?
Why no link to what Ritter says?
What does the actual record show?
Lavrov insists Russia has not invaded Ukraine
lol
https://twitter.com/Nrg8000/status/1526232523298439168
New statue of Thatcher goes up and gets egged. Market forces provide an opening…
https://twitter.com/jimmfelton/status/1526573648752128003
Almost as if study in New Zealand was secondary to the right to work in New Zealand!
Steve Joyce's rort finally brought to an end.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/05/education-agent-warn-foreign-students-not-queuing-up-for-new-zealand-return-next-year.html
+1 Good to see that Labour has closed some of the sneaky backdoors that National left open to pump up property and lower wages for the benefit of the wealthy and to keep the workers down.
Yep. I've said it before and I'll be a bore and repeat it: the majority of these foreign students whom I tried to help into permanent jobs after they had completed their NZ studies – already had degrees from their home countries that were superior to the various diplomas etc. they gained in NZ. My existing contempt for National plumbed new depths on discovering this. They are the 'free lunch for us, expensive crumbs for you' party.
"Education agents"? "The Indian market"? "secondary to the right to work in New Zealand"? This makes me so angry. Way past time the rort was ended – and long may it stay ended. Dodgy courses, work rights, residency – then bring in their sisters and their cousins and their aunts etc etc.
It was vastly more mechanised than that. A family would put up the $$$ to get Person A in on an investors visa. Person A would buy a couple of $2 Shops. Nephew B and Nephew C would come in to do the cheapest business course available and then work at the said $2 as staff while studying, and as managers when they graduated. They would do that for the time it took to get residency while Relatives D and E did the business courses ready to take over. Rinse and repeat.
I know it's Fran O'Sullivan (perhaps perceived as a RW journalist) writing in the Herald (not flavour of the month with some commentators here).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/fran-osullivan-auckland-cbd-crime-gangs-more-police-action-presence-required/YBTLK34QLHZJFSASA2G5QCR7LA/?utm_source=pocket_mylist
But this is important. I have several friends with apartments in the CBD – even the guys are reluctant to go out in the evenings on their own, while the women have been self-protecting for quite some time.
I know of 2 teens (both uni students – and both 'Asian' appearing) who've been beaten up – ostensibly for their phones, but actually, it appears with a simply racist motivation. And this is not at 2 am – it's around 8 in the evening.
Yes, the police come – after the event… if you're lucky. But actually they do nothing – the people are still on the streets, harassing, intimidating and assaulting.
If there is a perception that the police are not in control of this (and there certainly is) there's a very strong temptation for vigilante justice. And we've just seen in the Burr trial – juries aren't going to convict the vigilantes.
Right or wrong, there is a growing perception that Labour is soft on crime. And that the interventions they promised (reduce numbers in prison, etc.) have resulted in a crime wave.
It may be (and probably is, to a certain extent) unfair – but it's a reality that Labour needs to deal with effectively over the next 18 months. Or this will be a significant election issue.
Yes, it is not true this Govt. is soft on crime but their opponents are succeeding in convincing people otherwise. It is equally unfair they are pinning the blame on Poto Williams. Unfortunately Poto is not a good public communicator and on those grounds she is probably not the best person for the portfolio.
Totally agree that if Labour does not deal with the perception then they are going to be trounced at the next election.
I sometimes wonder if this is the reason some in the media are giving this current wave of ramraids and related crimes so much attention. By doing so, they know it will reflect badly on the Govt. which is what they dearly want to do.
Belladonna-there is no "perhaps" about it.
However, that's no reason to disdain completely anything she happens to say.
And, in this case, (supported by other articles and private information), she is right on the button that this is a significant issue.
If they don't get control of this pronto, Labour and the Greens are toast in Auckland central next year which is bad news for the greens cos they do horrifically in the suburbs, especially the poorer ones.
Auckland central is finding out what poorer communities have been going through for years. Get terrorized by crims, if you're lucky they'll get arrested and if you're really lucky some community service at best and they'll be out terrorizing people within 24 hours.
We don't evict dangerous Tennant's from state house and the woke left seem to have become defenders of gangs and gang violence giving them carte blanche to do whatever they want.
Labour needs to get ahead on crime. Labour is a party for the working class, the working class work, they don't ram cars into peoples places of employment.
Corey-Google "Youth crime trends NZ" and you will find the following:
"Overall, the Youth Justice Indicators Summary report shows a substantial drop in youth offending. The report shows that between 2010 and 2018, there was a large reduction in children aged 10 to 13 and young people aged 14 to 16 offending, with offending rates dropping by 55% and 58% respectively."
and:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300576087/is-youth-crime-really-a-growing-problem-and-what-can-be-done-about-it
Can I suggest that you should not believe what you read in the NZ Herald?
b-b-b-b-b-b-but "woke"!!!!!! Youth crime is down.
Pathetic comment
If the main barrier to climate action isn’t technological, but social and political, we need new tools for change.
Given this is the primary assumption of the essay (and thus indisputably relevant) I would challenge the author to produce a clear case to support it. Can you show a clear pattern in human history where social change usually precedes and drives changes in technology – as contrasted to the converse case?
I agree that social and political considerations can often impede change, or even bring about total collapse – and there are plenty of examples of this. But for all of recorded history the fundamental challenge facing all societies has been how to access and control a sufficiently stable and secure surplus source of energy and food in order to move beyond a hunter-gatherer subsistence life. Only when such a surplus exists are we able to concern ourselves with higher order issues such as transgender males cheating in female sports. (Notably most pre-industrial peasant societies daily life was so labour intensive that few even thought of exerting themselves for sport or recreation, much less have the spare time for it.)
Note carefully – I am not ruling out social and political change as a necessary part of the total process. Indeed I have spent many years here hinting at exactly what I think those changes might look like. But it is my view that relegating the technological advances necessary to physically support such a society to will only ensure nothing changes.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[I asked you politely to stay out of my posts for the rest of the month, and I linked to that again yesterday. Now I’m making it formal. – weka]
It does sound a bit like the sort of fluffy romantic feudalism that's never entirely clear on who is providing all the labour for utopia.
You can repost under the post if you like, we don’t have the capability to stop replies being moved to OM with comments
Apologies for the abuse of moderation. This behaviour is shameful and is the reason why I asked Lynn some months back to remove my access to moderation – because I found it no longer tenable to be associated with this kind of behaviour.
Usually you find out a great deal about someone when you give them a little bit of power.
Subtle as a brick
Indeed.
Mod note
That is not moderation – it is a flat out abuse of power.
You are obviously trying to ramp this up to the point where you can remove me like you have other male authors you do not like.
And then pretend to be the victim.
The Disinformation Project has done its job about the Wellington protest.
https://thedisinfoproject.org/resources/
Various angles have been reported.
"On March 2, during the police operation, almost every third person can be seen videoing on their phone, and likely live streaming. Video content of the protest was spread across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Zello and Telegram, all on public domains monitored by the researchers.
Despite the volume of content, 73% of the disinformation identified on Facebook was created by only 12 people."
"The Disinformation Project says people used Covid-19 disinformation like a 'trojan horse', initially discussing disinformation, but quietly pushing their own ideas that go larger than the pandemic.
Covid-19 was never the only end goal of those sharing and producing disinformation over the past two years, they have strong ideas on what New Zealand should look like."(1news)
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/05/18/dozen-created-73-of-disinformation-during-parliament-protest/
David Fisher, in the Herald:
"The Disinformation Project report identified the protest movement's Chantelle Baker as a "super spreader" whose broadcasts over Facebook pulled greater engagement than mainstream media on key days in the protest.
The report said Baker – she is not named in the report – generated the most and second-highest engagement among all public Facebook pages in New Zealand from March 1 through to March 3."
It was Baker who broadcast demonstrably false claims Antifa were behind the fires and violence on March 3 when the protest was broken up. The same false claims were made about the invasion of the Capitol on January 6.
Since the protest, Baker has taken up the cudgel for Putin's Russia over the war in Ukraine. Like others in the protest movement, she offers a counter-narrative to the mass graves and war-mongering reported by mainstream media."
It seems strange that research into "disinformation," seeking to provide "information" doesn't provides the simple information like the names of the 12 people. The claim could be made that the names are irrelevant to research on what actually happened.
The names of those who controlling the national narrative? Surely they are relevant, surely it is relevant to know who they are. And surely the individuals would be proud of the recognition
(Paywalled)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/analysis-false-information-is-so-out-of-hand-that-it-should-be-a-national-security-issue/YDHIKEGME34VLVVDJPDYSLZ3VE/.
The cost of the cleanups should be billed to the protesters.
Not the protestors so much but their governing bodies. Eg. Voice of Freedom.
Oh how I would love to see that lot receive a dirty great bill for the role they played in the affair. Especially after they crammed my letter box time after time with pamphlets full of lies and innuendo.
Fisher provides a link to The Disinformation Project webpage which allows those keen to access the full depth of this work to download this study, as well as their earlier efforts.
Their latest publication (and the topic of this and other mainstream media articles about the anti vaccine mandate protest) makes full use of the words "misinformation" and "disinformation", helpfully provides definitions of the same, but gives the barest minimum of examples where the protestors and so-called disinformation peddlers actually deployed such tactics.
Such references as there are are mostly from mainstream media articles which themselves are woefully scant on detail and actual links to where such and such outrageous claims were made. If mis and dis information are the enemies of democracy, they need to be properly and clearly identified so we can recognize them when they sneak into our view. And take appropriate protective measures.
The product of the Disinformation Project, "The murmuration of information disorders: Aotearoa New Zealand’s mis- and disinformation ecologies and the Parliament Protest , unfortunately fails completely to address any of the issues that drove the vast majority of the protestors and their supporters to make a stand.
To wit…vaccine mandates and the resultant deliberate creation of a two tier society in New Zealand. Vaccine adverse effects and the automatic dismissal and minimisation of injuries, the messaging from the Ministry of Health that even a serious reaction to the Pfizer Product will be unlikely to qualify one for an exemption to another shot to get a Vaccine Pass or keep one's job and valid concerns that the mRNA technology used in the Pfizer Product is largely untested and has been rushed into use without the proper cautions and oversights one would expect of what in effect has been a worldwide drug trial.
None of these issues are raised in this paper. A pity…because it would have been reassuring to have these experts show us that all of these concerns can be scientifically proven to be false and unfounded.
I wonder what the purpose of such studies are. All protests attract extremist and sometimes violent elements, but focusing solely on this very small club further alienates those who formed the bulk of the activist group.
"… vast majority of those opposed to [Covid-19] mitigation programmes are overwhelmingly peaceful and are driven by a diverse set of ideological frameworks and personal grievances,”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/128067269/intelligence-agencies-warned-of-risk-of-violent-antiauthority-protest-over-covid19-measures-in-november
The headline of this article is a case in point…they could have written…"Intelligence agencies find vast majority of protestors are overwhelmingly peaceful, but a small group not so much…" but I suppose that would have given almost legitimacy to the bulk of the protest.
I personally think that the specific concerns of the 'vast majority of the protestors' are being ignored by the dedicated academics at The Disinformation Project because if they make note of them, list them, reference the origins of these concerns they'd have to debunk them all…and prove them to be baseless.
And that they cannot do.
So they focus on the arseholes…and drive the rest of us even further into the margins.
That team of academic specialists have been clear all along that the organised disinformation efforts they document are broader than any single topic – the prime stirrers just jump to whatever is the latest. Covid public health measures are just the latest. The amount of imported tosh about Trump and other foreign fixations is also no surprise to them.
And listing examples spreads the disinformation. So they do not. Nor do they need to prove that the earth is not flat.
Woah, woah, woah, slow down there. I was watching some lectures by Leonard Susskind on classical mechanics and he doesn't even give a definition of a scalar, supposedly its just like a number or something. Also his definition of a vector is its a symbol with an arrow or bar over it, unless its left out when it might be written just like a scalar. Then were supposed to assume that a particle (which can be as large as a planet) is well defined in terms of its centre of mass, like its some law of nature or something, so I don't think we want to be assuming the earth is round just yet.
PS did you know about Isaac Newtons contribution to all this. Don't know if we want to take to much of our understanding from just the one arsehole.
Rogue apple. Saw it on youtube
Not mentioning any of the very valid concerns of the majority of the protestors (as listed) serves what purpose? These brave academics, in doing what the government also did and ignoring all of the protestors issues (rather than the measured very few extremists) have further alienated much of that majority who had reasonable grounds to be very concerned about sweeping and punitive mandates based on flimsy evidence of product efficacy and safety.
And Vaccine Passes, and ensuing exclusion of unvaccinated 12 year olds from sports, and surf life saving and public swimming pools, what are we to make of that? Young people, under the age of thirty, have always been at very minimal risk from any of the Covid variants, and it is unconscionable to demand that they be coerced into taking an experimental product with no long term safety data…presumably to protect Nana. Did anyone ask Nana if she was happy risking the moko's health to save her?
I know no Nana that selfish.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/05/18/dozen-created-73-of-disinformation-during-parliament-protest/
Valid concerns of the majority of protestors?
The protestors’ concerns were not valid because they were not based on fact but rather on misinformation and worse still… disinformation.
But their nanas and grandpas are at maximum risk. So you're saying… "who cares if the young people pass it on to their grandparents".
It is NOT experimental and you know it. The Covid vaccines were subject to the strictest of testing regimes – in the same way vaccines over many decades have been tested. That they were able to achieve this in a shorter period of time is testament to the scientists and technicians around the world who worked 24/7 for months on end, and they should be celebrated for their efforts not demonised.
Btw, those "brave academics" are not employed to argue the toss over the individual issues (such as they are) that were involved. Their job is to provide a synopsis of the most likely outcome following the actions and beliefs of a small minority of the population who are willfully refusing to accept the facts and wallow instead in fictitious conspiracies and simplistic rhetoric.
Well said Anne.
There have been a few genuine and legitimate concerns about the mandates but vaccine efficacy and safety have so far not given good reasons to pull it. As new data came in the authorities have acted responsibly and carefully & cautiously weighing the pros & cons of the mass vaccination programme.
The Pfizer vaccine stopped being experimental when it was approved for use. The lack of long-term safety data was not a sufficient reason to wait when people were dropping like flies in parts of the world – remember Lombardy in Italy? The vaccine still is in wide use, isn’t it?
With the earlier variants transmission of the virus was more effectively inhibited by vaccination, which was one argument to vaccinate younger people too and introduce public health measures such as the Vaccine Pass. In any case, a 12-year old not being to go for a swim is not the same as an employee potentially losing their job. And I have experienced quite a few instances of ‘code brown’ in public swimming pools.
Anyway, for most Kiwis the mandates don’t apply anymore. Whether this may be a good thing you can judge by the daily updates – today, we passed more than 1,000 deaths in NZ.
" … fails completely to address any of the issues that drove the vast majority of the protestors and their supporters to make a stand."
They have identified the phenomenon. Maybe someone else will take up the cause of addressing what drove the protestors.
The Disinformation Project (TDP) studies misinformation and disinformation in NZ. It does not study and therefore cannot comment on public health measures such as mandates or vaccine safety data as these are completely different issues. As the report by TDP shows the Parliament occupation wasn’t even about concerns over these issues, valid or not. You seem to be searching and hoping for a general and over-arching justification and legitimisation of the occupation when there’s no such thing to be found.
The vast majority of occupiers may have been peaceful, at least initially, but they gave some legitimacy and (moral) support, in their numbers, to the rotten core and the Trojan Horse they stalked into the occupation. The Dirty Dozen were responsible for generating much of the mis- and disinformation interactions but they could not personally have generated the hundreds of thousands of interactions online each day.
If the mis- and disinformation had remained confined to a small minority of 12 or so so-called ‘protest figureheads’ it would not have been the issue that it is and never attracted the attention (or as much attention?) from intelligence agencies or academic researchers such as TDP.
Of course, you couldn’t let the opportunity go by and not spread your own idiosyncratic mis- and disinformation again here on TS.
Vaccine adverse and injuries were not automatically dismissal and minimised. That’s blatantly untrue aka BS.
The MoH was never going to give people false hope or promise them that they were likely to get an exemption as this would be counterintuitive to having the mandates, which was explained by Dr Ashley Bloomfield during one of the press conferences. Very few people would qualify for an exemption and with this inbuilt high threshold a fair number of applications were granted with over 80% of applications by healthcare workers approved.
The mRNA technology has been around for decades and was obviously mature enough and ready for application in Covid-19 vaccines and not just in the Pfizer one. The Pfizer vaccine was properly tested in clinical trials and approvals were granted through the usual official regulatory channels without taking any shortcuts that could have compromised safety – safety has been monitored more closely than any other vaccine ever before. For this reason, the Pfizer vaccine is still widely in use across the world even though its effectivity against the more recent variants is not as high as against the original wild type virus.
Thanks for your commentary @ 7.2.3 Incognito.
Peter, myself and Sacha have commented on aspects of Rosemary's most recent claims, but it has now been pulled together by your well informed and detailed analysis.
With several polls now showing declining support for Labour. What do you think is the best strategy to win re-election. I personally believe that inflation will reach double digits by christmas and the cost of living crisis will continue to corrode support for the government.
With this in mind, would it not be best to go to the polls early, whilst you are still in reasonable shape politically? Can anyone actually see things getting better between now and late next year which would see a bump in support for the government?
On what grounds would they call a snap election, because they might lose the scheduled one?
Voters would hate that, I think.
Agree that voters tend to punish parties who call snap elections for evidently political purposes (1984 springs to mind).
Realistically, any early election plan is going to be fought against by the lower-ranked party list MPs currently in parliament. They know that, even if Labour or, more-likely, a Green-Labour-TPM coalition, snatch a win – the list will be drastically reduced, and they're out of parliament (and out of a job).
I'd say, right now, that Labour are going to hang on, and hope that things turn around in the next 18 months.
On the grounds that I cannot see much good things ahead for them. Just floating an idea out there. If people can honestly see support improving for the government, then fair enough, wait until next year.
But I personally cannot see much good news on the horizon. If anything we will be in hell of a lot more pain over the next twelve months when inflation, cost of living and mortgage rates trend up.
There will be no snap election, unless some extreme and unforeseen event warrants it. Labour will have to ride this out, but it won't be easy, particularly with the PM's own popularity currently in decline.
Quite a good article by Martin Bradbury.
https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/shallow-woke-identity-politics-trumps-all-in-nz-media
Some of us have been saying this for the best part of a decade. It ultimately represents a kind of materialistic religion that manifests as an outward moralising activism, rather than any inward direct, contemplative spirituality.
As many have noted – it permits it's adherents the outrageous liberty of claiming virtue without ever requiring them to do the personal work necessary to earn it.
Well even if they are neo natzi's i hope they get a good rest an a hot bath etc
good on them for surendering be nice to think their kids could have fathers .