This Sunday marks the day in 1966 in South Vietnam where a company of Australian and New Zealand soldiers in a rubber plantation called Long Tan fought to hold off a force of two thousand Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. Kriv Stenders has made a movie about the men of D Company who had to battle against the odds for four hours in torrential rain. The film is Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.
Here is probably on the best movies made on the conflict in Vietnam, and considered by many to be one of the best war movies overall….personally I would give that credit to Elem Klimov's Come and See (1985).
Cheers for the link, I'll listen to it when I'm out bush this week during my downtime while tidying up yard after the ministry of finance (wife) wanted a new flushing thunder box or in between fighting bush fires.
I'm hoping to catch the movie on the big screen when it comes to Darwin and not put it off as I did with movie "6 Days" a few yrs ago. From what I'm hearing atm the movie is pretty good from all accounts and it has impressed the yank movie critics etc.
It's a damn shame old Maurice Stanley the Kiwi FOO (Forward Observer Officer is not around anymore as he's after battle presentation on the Battle of Long Tan is worth listening too incl the lessons learnt from the Battle of Long Tan. Without him and his two signallers Willie Walker from the RNZAC and Murray Broomhall RNZA as Harry Smith's link back to the Dat and the Kiwi BC (battery Commander) incl his staff of NZ 161Bty in which ran/ Co-Ord all the Fire support and, Close Air support missions and the aerial resupply during the lull in the battle. They now without the Kiwi's it would've been a very different story for D Coy 6RAR and possible for the rest of the 1ATF at the Dat as the field defences of 1ATF hadn't been completed yet and wasn't fully up to strength IRT manpower either.
Heck even the US General Westmoreland and his staff were shitting bricks at was happening during the Battle of Long Tan from what I've read and have been told from a few vets of the Battle of Long Tan.
When MPs first turn up to Parliament they are often surprised at the incredibly varied demands of their jobs. And as their careers progress the skill demands change and increase. So who trains them to do those jobs? Parliamentary programme The House looks at new moves to upskill the people running the country.
Katherine Rich, Chair of the Parliamentary Education Charitable Trust and Girol Karacaoglu, head of the Victoria University School of Government Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Hi everybody – lovely day in Nelson though cool. I am putting up some interesting things from Radionz that are good.
This was interesting. It is wise to build relationships with China and build good business there, and at the same time ease off from the USA as we can.
This is NZ hypocrisy exposed, once again. Big on drugging really, and that is why it is hard to get appropriate controls on drugs, every time there must be some precious political time consumed deciding whether synthetic cannabis is all right but not something else. Always with alcohol being pushed. People allowed, almost encouraged to become addicted with RTDs being high alcohol. Just cut the hours for the bars down – make them get used to it, both the drinkers and the bars, normal closing at 11.30 and emptied by 12.30 am.
And they must have to apply for special licences limited to two a year or six for the area, to stay open till 1 am and be empty by 2.00 a.m. Moans and groans and concerns about lots of people milling about being more likely to become unmanageable will only happen rarely then.
This will save police and hospital time and safety and taxpayers paying out for the stupid and foolish and dissolute.
Perhaps we should all avoid being out at 3 am which seems to be the good time for violence! Trouble is that bring that down to 2 am – for this sort of premeditated attack any time at night would be good for the perps. To mount an attack they must be nearby sitting in a car/van and have someone follow the guy or gal in and monitor them and text or buzz when they move out. So a nasty feeling of background hate all the time if you are sensitive to that stuff.
“The article claimed that Mr Liu had fled to New Zealand from China and that he was returning to face corruption charges there, for which he could be executed and his organs harvested.
RNZ accepts that none of these statements were true.”
Everything about this guy just gets couriouser and couriouser
Not a silent movie, but in Foreign Correspondent (1940) Alfred Hitchcock made brilliant use of rear-projection to film a plane crash. Footage of a stunt plane diving towards the ocean was projected on a rice paper screen, then water was released, which smashed through the paper pic.twitter.com/mFIRpf4Fns
That is brilliant, you can be sure no one is going to be looking back on all the CGI that structures half the movies we see today with any kind of wonder.
I really wish someone of influence could get to Peter Jackson and say to him..'just because you can, doesn't mean you should ' before he ruins any more classic's with his appalling over the top CGI..yuk.
Anyone else at the All Blacks game last night, notice the chorus of boos that went out when our PM was announced. Not sure if those at home could hear it on the television, but I thought it was disgraceful. Never heard that for previous PMs, I do note however that she handled the handshake with far more competence than a certain previous PM…
You'll find I wasn't talking to you. I try not to.
But just what are you trying to say?
That the rabid right were booing the PM not because of their political views, but because they don't like her? What has she done outside politics that has made them so angry? Been successful? Had a baby?
If it was only the “rabid right” booing Ardern, the left is in serious trouble. Because from what I witnessed last night, they must have made up roughly 70% of the crowd. And as for your comment about me mentioning this here, where else am I meant to mention it, this is open mic.
You're right, it was probably only 68%…I dont know if you were there or not, but I was, and it was frankly embarrassing. I get some dislike Ardern, but acting like toddlers and booing someone representing us and doing her job is pathetic. You want her gone, vote for the other guy.
guessing they booed her because they don’t like what her government is doing.
At a guess. As for their political views – who knows only a moron would assume the views of an entire 50,000 person crowd (you being a perfect example of being said moron)
I would agree with MB that it was a very large %age of the crowd booing her.
That's right facts dont matter when they hurt your feelings. Ardern got booed by thousands, I think it was out of line and embarrassing and I was there. It was all over talk back this afternoon. I suppose you're a flat earther too? Since you havent actually seen the earth from space right moron?
Simon Bridges was at the rugby on Saturday night. He was constantly ridiculed and made fun of. Stuff like "Hoi Soimun" and "where's ya Slushy Soimun". His wife looked a bit embarrassed, but drunken rugby buffheads will always take the piss.
Jones said Scott Morrison should "shove a sock down the throat" of Jacinda Ardern.
Several advertisers have pulled sponsorship from his show. His employer, Macquarie Media, has issued a final warning about such comments. Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have both condemned Jones, Turnbull calling him an "appalling misogynist" whose use of violent language against female politicians was disgraceful. Jones himself has been forced to apologise on air and in writing to the Prime Minister. Even Fiji hard-man, Frank Bainimarama, has slammed Jones.
Turnbull again, "I mean this is appalling language – and at a time when we are doing everything we can as a national priority to stamp out violence against women and children, you have this broadcaster who uses the language of violence against women as part of his regular rhetoric".
Yet this all seems to mean nothing to you, James, who is ever so quick to point the finger at commenters for not standing up to unacceptable speech. Or perhaps such speech directed at Jacinda Ardern is fine with you.
According to your own logic, you not condemning Jones the way politicians, advertisers and media both sides of the ditch and all over the Pacific have done means you endorse and agree with the latest utterances of that decrepit, far-right, woman hater.
With respect to a culture of violence against women, you sir appear to be part of the problem.
James has used the, "you didn't condemn x-behaviour/person, so that means you endorse/condone blah, blah" so many times that I find myself cheering Muttonbird on for his careful demolition of James's behaviour.
Robert – indeed I do do this – but I think you will find that I do this in regard to specific comments in a thread. – not normally to do with third party links
You must have read Muttonbird’s comment that you’re responding to yet you missed your opportunity to speak out and condemn the comments that Muttonbird was referring to!? Instead, you act all defensive and like a victim. BTW, your defence is pathetic IMHO.
Insulting, although well intended. They are aware of the WEAG report that recommended IMMEDIATE increase to benefits. But part of the answer is a very National sounding "budget advice".
"As part of our work on homelessness we are expanding the Sustaining Tenancies programme. It ensures that tenants who may be at-risk of losing their tenancy receive practical support to help them get back on track."
Let’s imagine….you are a landlord, your tenant is behind in rent but pleads with you to hold back on giving them notice because they are getting budgeting advice. Pleeze. They are out on their ear because they are too poor and too stressed to home. Any landlord with a modest level of experience will know it is far easier to get someone else in rather than set themselves up to be owed thousands more in arrears.
Here's a RNZ news link on the RNZAF's C130 Hec's and yes its amazing that the Erk's/ techo's have managed to keep flying or from falling out of the sky.
And yes "They get a lot of ridicule and not much in the way of praise but the RNZAF deserve a big hand for their work in the Pacific."
BZ, 40SQN and to 5SQN.
BTW, they also hold the record for the shortest possible landing at Dili Airport. in Timor Leste by a C130 and 40SQN hold's a number of other 1st places IRT to the C130 operations incl finding a Sub during a Fincastle Comp in-conjunction with the 5SQN boys when their P3 went tits up and the funny thing is that 5SQN ending up wining the Comp as well which piss off the other Commonwealth Crews.
A wee bit of useless information if you get bored or stumped for a silly question for Trivial night.
Check out this Twitter thread about a LL who asked to look through the tenants current property (not owned by LL, inspecting prior to accepting them as a tenant)
Applied to rent a place. Landlord asked agent to inspect our CURRENT rental property and take photos of our family. I said no – forget it. Our place is immaculate but that doesn’t make it ok. Anyone else ever had this request?
Exposing Australia's housing crisis | 60 Minutes Australia, screened this last week.
Because the world financial system is entering unknown territory, and our housing status isn't far from that in Australia, this 16 minute video makes for interesting viewing.
And dissolution of Parliament rather than proroguing it is a real possibility in the Tory's minds according to this article. Boorish the Rogue should be his nom-de-gloom. Gina Miller 18/8/19 businesswoman and transparency activist writing for The Guardian.
MPs won’t be forgiven if they fail to stop Boris Johnson’s Brexit ploy
…Unsaid in the letter, but streaming through it like shafts of light through a broken roof, Johnson’s plan of action – doubtless guided by the arch-Brexiter svengali Dominic Cummings – is clearly to call an election and dissolve parliament as soon as the beginning of next month, with polling at some point after the existing Brexit day of 31 October.
He is gambling everything on Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity and a public which, at that point, will have yet to experience the full force of no-deal economic headwinds. He may even hold a pre-Brexit budget to lull the public into a false sense of security, bribing them with their own money, through a splurge of new spending promises and tax cuts funded by an increase in the national debt…
Our unwritten constitution has always been based on the assumption that no one as unscrupulous as Johnson or his chief adviser would ever come to reside in 10 Downing Street, but that is what we now have to face up to. A general election on their terms and timetable would guarantee their sacred no-deal Brexit, and assure him five years in office in which to turn the UK into a laboratory for experimenting with the most extreme rightwing ideology we have ever seen.
Brexit is their cloak to disguise political ambitions to change our country. Surrounded by individuals set on putting a torch to the old order, they are using propaganda to set the people against parliament and create chaos out of which will emerge a survivalist economy…
Poll after poll has shown that a no-deal Brexit is emphatically not what the public wants – whatever the Leave campaign-staffed No 10 press office may tell lobby correspondents. For all Dominic Raab’s protests, it was never the way Brexit was sold in the referendum of 2016. And keep in mind these two statistics: Johnson came into office with his talk of “do or die” Brexit on the back of just 92,153 Tory members’ votes. By contrast, more than 6.1 million citizens have signed a petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked.
What could possibly go wrong with this pair at the helm.
At the heart of this government are two men, one a pathological liar, a demagogue, the other a career psychopath who is defined by illegal and unethical practices he employs to win at any cost to the nation.https://t.co/Qqy6yDQXoD
There was a saying that a UK person's home was their castle. Which was apparently about security of tenure and respect for the individual's property. What about your face? Does that belong to you? Would you allow people to have a mask of your face and wear it wherever they and you go, you could get trouble coming to you that they caused. Facial recognition is rife in the UK and has been for some time, done in secret and by private companies rather than official authorities.
"If Fonterra wants to recover from this low point in its history and thrive it needs a bold new and practical strategy, not a tidy up of its failed one. The obvious opportunity is to become one of the world’s leading exponents of dairy farming that’s healthy for the planet, while producing dairy nutrition that’s healthier for people.
Currently, that’s an oxymoron. Dairying is an extractive industry that always damages the climate, and often land and water too, unless it is done exceptionally well. But dairy farmers mustn’t feel picked on. Many ways we produce food globally are as damaging or worse, as a growing body of research details."
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...
Covering Climate Now:Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we go crazy for crickets in a climate week special.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. ...
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married ...
Dr Bryce Edwards“Diversity” is a central theme of the current local government elections – with the common criticism that incumbent politicians are generally too “stale, male, and pale” (or variations on that). Numerous commentators and candidates have lamented the lack of women, ethnic minorities, and youth in local government. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Climate change, environment Paul Gorman (Stuff): How would you spend an unlimited war chest for ...
A review into the Ministry for Culture and Heritage will look into the relationship between a staffer and the external developer responsible for a massive data breach. ...
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)Obvs. (Read our review by Pip Adam here)2 Three ...
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites.We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears ...
Auckland rapper JessB has just released a new EP and wraps up a national mini-tour tonight in her home town. Jogai Bhatt talked to her about her world travels, performing at Ihumātao, and how her community and her music intersect.It’s only been two years since JessB entered the public radar ...
A new poem by Waiheke poet Rata Gordon.PacingA deep bow to NerudaIt so happens I am sick of being a woman. It happens that I walk into BP stations and supermarkets greasy, swollen, like a cow made of soap, losing my way in a field of placentas and pesticides.The smell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Gardiner, Lecturer, Edith Cowan University In August, a 24-year-old woman appeared before the Western Australian District Court after pleading guilty to concealing the birth of her newborn baby in 2018. The charge of concealment of birth refers to hiding the dead ...
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...
Sydney shock-jock Alan Jones has written to Jacinda Ardern saying he didn't intend any violence towards her when he said on air that Australia's Prime Minister should "shove a sock down [her] throat". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Allen, Senior Lecturer in Public Management, Victoria University of Wellington This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. For three years in a row, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Thousands of school students across Australia are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin., Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Newstart recipients and other Australians on benefits get their half-yearly pay rise today (and also on March 20). This one is vanishingly small. Announced very quietly by Social Services Minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney The budget was for practical purposes in neither deficit nor in surplus in 2018-19, the final figures released by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Thursday reveal. The underlying cash deficit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...
Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and ...
It's not a risk assessment, but it's a start: an instruction manual for the experts who'll be writing New Zealand's first national climate risk report for the government was released on Thursday. ...
The Wellington Mayor's main rival in the upcoming local elections, Andy Foster, won't say how much Sir Peter Jackson has stumped up in a bid to get him elected. ...
Open mike 18/08/2019 
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...16 hours ago
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...1 day ago
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...1 day ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...1 day ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...2 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...2 days ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...2 days ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...2 days ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...3 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...3 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...3 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...4 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...4 days ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...5 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...5 days ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...5 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...6 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...1 week ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...1 week ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...1 week ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...1 week ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 1 week ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...2 weeks ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...2 weeks ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...2 weeks ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...2 weeks ago
On Newshub Nation: Simon Shepherd Interviews The New Zealand Initiative's Executive Director Oliver Hartwich ...12 hours ago
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...10 hours ago
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...14 hours ago
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...15 hours ago
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...16 hours ago
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...17 hours ago
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...18 hours ago
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...19 hours ago
To tackle the crises of climate and unsustainability we need great cultural changes in civil society, business and politics. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...1 day ago
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d ...1 day ago
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...1 day ago
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...1 day ago
A congestion charge is needed to deter motorists from clogging central city districts at peak times, according to an economics consultancy. ...1 day ago
Jacinda Ardern confuses Japan with China - and she's not the only one with a case of political foot-in-mouth. ...2 days ago
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...2 days ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...2 days ago
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kyllie Cripps, Scientia Felllow and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law UNSW Sydney, UNSW In Western Australia more than half the children placed in state care are Aboriginal. The state government committed this month to reducing this over-representation, in a move that parallels ...2 days ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...2 days ago
Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and ...2 days ago
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ExKiwiForces this would interest you.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018709193/kriv-stenders-the-battle-of-long-tan
Kriv Stenders: The Battle of Long Tan Listen duration 10′ :04″
From Sunday Morning, 7:23 am today
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This Sunday marks the day in 1966 in South Vietnam where a company of Australian and New Zealand soldiers in a rubber plantation called Long Tan fought to hold off a force of two thousand Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. Kriv Stenders has made a movie about the men of D Company who had to battle against the odds for four hours in torrential rain. The film is Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.
Here is probably on the best movies made on the conflict in Vietnam, and considered by many to be one of the best war movies overall….personally I would give that credit to Elem Klimov's Come and See (1985).
La 317ème section, Pierre Schoendoerffer (1965)
Come and See – (1985)
Haven't seen these two and thank you for the heads up.
Cheers for the link, I'll listen to it when I'm out bush this week during my downtime while tidying up yard after the ministry of finance (wife) wanted a new flushing thunder box or in between fighting bush fires.
I'm hoping to catch the movie on the big screen when it comes to Darwin and not put it off as I did with movie "6 Days" a few yrs ago. From what I'm hearing atm the movie is pretty good from all accounts and it has impressed the yank movie critics etc.
It's a damn shame old Maurice Stanley the Kiwi FOO (Forward Observer Officer is not around anymore as he's after battle presentation on the Battle of Long Tan is worth listening too incl the lessons learnt from the Battle of Long Tan. Without him and his two signallers Willie Walker from the RNZAC and Murray Broomhall RNZA as Harry Smith's link back to the Dat and the Kiwi BC (battery Commander) incl his staff of NZ 161Bty in which ran/ Co-Ord all the Fire support and, Close Air support missions and the aerial resupply during the lull in the battle. They now without the Kiwi's it would've been a very different story for D Coy 6RAR and possible for the rest of the 1ATF at the Dat as the field defences of 1ATF hadn't been completed yet and wasn't fully up to strength IRT manpower either.
Heck even the US General Westmoreland and his staff were shitting bricks at was happening during the Battle of Long Tan from what I've read and have been told from a few vets of the Battle of Long Tan.
It was a very close run indeed.
Hearing about what training for political life is availabe to MPs was a bracer for me.
7.32 The House http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house
When MPs first turn up to Parliament they are often surprised at the incredibly varied demands of their jobs. And as their careers progress the skill demands change and increase. So who trains them to do those jobs? Parliamentary programme The House looks at new moves to upskill the people running the country.
Katherine Rich, Chair of the Parliamentary Education Charitable Trust and Girol Karacaoglu, head of the Victoria University School of Government Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Audio for above https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018708709/mps-head-back-to-school
Hi everybody – lovely day in Nelson though cool. I am putting up some interesting things from Radionz that are good.
This was interesting. It is wise to build relationships with China and build good business there, and at the same time ease off from the USA as we can.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018708828/disappearing-students-how-nz-is-wasting-opportunities-with-our-chinese-graduates
Thank you grey.
Fighting on the streets in Queenstown at 3 am. What is the bet that these had been drinking alcohol in bars? If they had been sitting in bars drinking coffee and listening to music and chatting or singing it would have been unlikely to end like this.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396937/two-injured-in-serious-assault-in-queenstown
This is NZ hypocrisy exposed, once again. Big on drugging really, and that is why it is hard to get appropriate controls on drugs, every time there must be some precious political time consumed deciding whether synthetic cannabis is all right but not something else. Always with alcohol being pushed. People allowed, almost encouraged to become addicted with RTDs being high alcohol. Just cut the hours for the bars down – make them get used to it, both the drinkers and the bars, normal closing at 11.30 and emptied by 12.30 am.
And they must have to apply for special licences limited to two a year or six for the area, to stay open till 1 am and be empty by 2.00 a.m. Moans and groans and concerns about lots of people milling about being more likely to become unmanageable will only happen rarely then.
This will save police and hospital time and safety and taxpayers paying out for the stupid and foolish and dissolute.
Fighting in the streets of London at 3am.
Owen Jones targeted by the far right
Perhaps we should all avoid being out at 3 am which seems to be the good time for violence! Trouble is that bring that down to 2 am – for this sort of premeditated attack any time at night would be good for the perps. To mount an attack they must be nearby sitting in a car/van and have someone follow the guy or gal in and monitor them and text or buzz when they move out. So a nasty feeling of background hate all the time if you are sensitive to that stuff.
so they came for the immigrants, now they're going for the columnists.
Sunday WTH? Moment
UN report claims "dozens" of NZers seeking asylum. The mind boggles.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396928/new-zealanders-seeking-asylum-abroad-un-report
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018705590/can-new-zealand-s-mental-health-crisis-be-cured
Maybe new New Zealanders who didn't feel like being honourkilled.
Isn't one of them Suzie Dawson?
Well, who wouldn't seek asylum if they had holes appearing their ceiling.
Holy crap! I am sheltered, apparently
Right o, so WTF went on here then….
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396938/retraction-and-apology-to-donghua-liu-for-untrue-statements
“The article claimed that Mr Liu had fled to New Zealand from China and that he was returning to face corruption charges there, for which he could be executed and his organs harvested.
RNZ accepts that none of these statements were true.”
Everything about this guy just gets couriouser and couriouser
Before CGI film makers were clever.
That is brilliant, you can be sure no one is going to be looking back on all the CGI that structures half the movies we see today with any kind of wonder.
I really wish someone of influence could get to Peter Jackson and say to him..'just because you can, doesn't mean you should ' before he ruins any more classic's with his appalling over the top CGI..yuk.
Further sadness re the planet and animals.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/396929/famous-dugong-dies-after-eating-plastic
They are similar to manatees which also are having a hard time.
https://phys.org/news/2019-07-manatee-deaths-watercraft-pace-florida.html
Anyone else at the All Blacks game last night, notice the chorus of boos that went out when our PM was announced. Not sure if those at home could hear it on the television, but I thought it was disgraceful. Never heard that for previous PMs, I do note however that she handled the handshake with far more competence than a certain previous PM…
I was there and heard it.
Got to say – don’t like her and think that this government is a joke – but the booing behaviour was unacceptable.
Yeah, lots of right wing nut jobs in the crowd.
Interesting that you'd comment on it here…
Amusingly – you assume people booed because of their political views as opposed to their views on Jacinda.
More amusing that you find it interesting that I would comment on it in a political blog.
I guess you are just easily impressed.
You'll find I wasn't talking to you. I try not to.
But just what are you trying to say?
That the rabid right were booing the PM not because of their political views, but because they don't like her? What has she done outside politics that has made them so angry? Been successful? Had a baby?
Wearing your England shirt last night, were you?
If it was only the “rabid right” booing Ardern, the left is in serious trouble. Because from what I witnessed last night, they must have made up roughly 70% of the crowd. And as for your comment about me mentioning this here, where else am I meant to mention it, this is open mic.
You're claiming 70% of a 48K crowd were booing the Prime Minister? An event which didn't make the news.
Delusional.
You're right, it was probably only 68%…I dont know if you were there or not, but I was, and it was frankly embarrassing. I get some dislike Ardern, but acting like toddlers and booing someone representing us and doing her job is pathetic. You want her gone, vote for the other guy.
This obviously confirms that Ardern is the most despised PM we've had in modern times…
Obv that’s not the case (yet) but could be representative of the reason her popularity has dropped so much since April to July.
Biccymoyle I'd imagine a labour pm would get a similar reception at a fair few places full of welloff drunks.
guessing they booed her because they don’t like what her government is doing.
At a guess. As for their political views – who knows only a moron would assume the views of an entire 50,000 person crowd (you being a perfect example of being said moron)
I would agree with MB that it was a very large %age of the crowd booing her.
I think you and Mickey Boyle imagined it, and if there was booing it was just you and your boof-head friends.
That's right facts dont matter when they hurt your feelings. Ardern got booed by thousands, I think it was out of line and embarrassing and I was there. It was all over talk back this afternoon. I suppose you're a flat earther too? Since you havent actually seen the earth from space right moron?
Simon Bridges was at the rugby on Saturday night. He was constantly ridiculed and made fun of. Stuff like "Hoi Soimun" and "where's ya Slushy Soimun". His wife looked a bit embarrassed, but drunken rugby buffheads will always take the piss.
You were there and saw this ?
I assume that you would be ok with people talking to Jacinda in the same manner ?
Yes I was there and saw this.
No, verbal abuse is never ok. You should know that James.
i do. That’s why I didn’t boo Jacinda along with the 000’s of people who did.
James, the head of your pin is very small.
He's got it the wrong way around, hence his hippy-hoppity behaviour.
James, you aren’t virtue-signalling, are you?
No.
Thanks for asking.
Have you condemned right wing shock jock Alan Jones for his misogynistic rant the other day?
I love how when people say things about Jacinda what lefties don’t like – they run right to the misogynistic card.
Predictable and weak.
Those people you mention, James: any of them say misogynistic things?
Alan Jones, does he say misogynistic things, do you know?
not necessarily Robert.
And I haven’t read the full Alan Jones column- I know it was far from complementary but have no idea if it was misogynistic or not.
I do think he has a point about the holier then thou “woke” comments however.
Perhaps muttonbirdbrain could point out the misogynistic comments he takes offence to?
"muttonbirdbrain"?
I see where you're coming from, James.
There are coloured swings and slides there and rubber safety-matting.
He's a bit of a pizzlenoggin though isn't he jimbo.
Jones said Scott Morrison should "shove a sock down the throat" of Jacinda Ardern.
Several advertisers have pulled sponsorship from his show. His employer, Macquarie Media, has issued a final warning about such comments. Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have both condemned Jones, Turnbull calling him an "appalling misogynist" whose use of violent language against female politicians was disgraceful. Jones himself has been forced to apologise on air and in writing to the Prime Minister. Even Fiji hard-man, Frank Bainimarama, has slammed Jones.
Turnbull again, "I mean this is appalling language – and at a time when we are doing everything we can as a national priority to stamp out violence against women and children, you have this broadcaster who uses the language of violence against women as part of his regular rhetoric".
Yet this all seems to mean nothing to you, James, who is ever so quick to point the finger at commenters for not standing up to unacceptable speech. Or perhaps such speech directed at Jacinda Ardern is fine with you.
According to your own logic, you not condemning Jones the way politicians, advertisers and media both sides of the ditch and all over the Pacific have done means you endorse and agree with the latest utterances of that decrepit, far-right, woman hater.
With respect to a culture of violence against women, you sir appear to be part of the problem.
James has used the, "you didn't condemn x-behaviour/person, so that means you endorse/condone blah, blah" so many times that I find myself cheering Muttonbird on for his careful demolition of James's behaviour.
Robert – indeed I do do this – but I think you will find that I do this in regard to specific comments in a thread. – not normally to do with third party links
Very well said, cleanly, fairly, accurately.
You did see where I clearly said I hadn’t read it right?
So you want me to condem comments I haven’t read?
You must have read Muttonbird’s comment that you’re responding to yet you missed your opportunity to speak out and condemn the comments that Muttonbird was referring to!? Instead, you act all defensive and like a victim. BTW, your defence is pathetic IMHO.
Hippity-hoppity.
Jones needs to take his cock out of his mouth IMHO.
That sounds analogous to a Möbius strip in some kind of very disturbingly weird way.
Wasn't there a thing where John Key walked around a rugby field and got booed by the crowd, then got surroiunded by suckups in the corporate box?
Call that walking?
This might create a real upset. One Nation will oppose ScoMo cash ban
Insulting, although well intended. They are aware of the WEAG report that recommended IMMEDIATE increase to benefits. But part of the answer is a very National sounding "budget advice".
"As part of our work on homelessness we are expanding the Sustaining Tenancies programme. It ensures that tenants who may be at-risk of losing their tenancy receive practical support to help them get back on track."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/115087754/government-annouces-54-million-for-homelessness-initiatives
Let’s imagine….you are a landlord, your tenant is behind in rent but pleads with you to hold back on giving them notice because they are getting budgeting advice. Pleeze. They are out on their ear because they are too poor and too stressed to home. Any landlord with a modest level of experience will know it is far easier to get someone else in rather than set themselves up to be owed thousands more in arrears.
They get a lot of ridicule and not much in the way of praise but the RNZAF deserve a big hand for their work in the Pacific.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/08/air-force-orion-s-chance-encounter-saves-18-lives.html
This search/rescue/patrol capability is vital and I think a core duty of New Zealand as a developed economy in the region.
The P8s should help establish an important presence for us in our region of responsibility.
Here's a RNZ news link on the RNZAF's C130 Hec's and yes its amazing that the Erk's/ techo's have managed to keep flying or from falling out of the sky.
And yes "They get a lot of ridicule and not much in the way of praise but the RNZAF deserve a big hand for their work in the Pacific."
BZ, 40SQN and to 5SQN.
BTW, they also hold the record for the shortest possible landing at Dili Airport. in Timor Leste by a C130 and 40SQN hold's a number of other 1st places IRT to the C130 operations incl finding a Sub during a Fincastle Comp in-conjunction with the 5SQN boys when their P3 went tits up and the funny thing is that 5SQN ending up wining the Comp as well which piss off the other Commonwealth Crews.
A wee bit of useless information if you get bored or stumped for a silly question for Trivial night.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396934/hercules-fleet-it-s-amazing-they-ve-managed-to-keep-them-flying
Check out this Twitter thread about a LL who asked to look through the tenants current property (not owned by LL, inspecting prior to accepting them as a tenant)
that's pretty fucked up. #culturechange
Exposing Australia's housing crisis | 60 Minutes Australia, screened this last week.
Because the world financial system is entering unknown territory, and our housing status isn't far from that in Australia, this 16 minute video makes for interesting viewing.
Boorish and the best lot of hogwash you have heard in a long time. With a background of angels and promises to high heaven.
https://www.indy100.com/article/brexit-news-latest-boris-johnson-vision-for-britain-video-reaction-9062441
And dissolution of Parliament rather than proroguing it is a real possibility in the Tory's minds according to this article. Boorish the Rogue should be his nom-de-gloom. Gina Miller 18/8/19 businesswoman and transparency activist writing for The Guardian.
MPs won’t be forgiven if they fail to stop Boris Johnson’s Brexit ploy
…Unsaid in the letter, but streaming through it like shafts of light through a broken roof, Johnson’s plan of action – doubtless guided by the arch-Brexiter svengali Dominic Cummings – is clearly to call an election and dissolve parliament as soon as the beginning of next month, with polling at some point after the existing Brexit day of 31 October.
He is gambling everything on Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity and a public which, at that point, will have yet to experience the full force of no-deal economic headwinds. He may even hold a pre-Brexit budget to lull the public into a false sense of security, bribing them with their own money, through a splurge of new spending promises and tax cuts funded by an increase in the national debt…
Our unwritten constitution has always been based on the assumption that no one as unscrupulous as Johnson or his chief adviser would ever come to reside in 10 Downing Street, but that is what we now have to face up to. A general election on their terms and timetable would guarantee their sacred no-deal Brexit, and assure him five years in office in which to turn the UK into a laboratory for experimenting with the most extreme rightwing ideology we have ever seen.
Brexit is their cloak to disguise political ambitions to change our country. Surrounded by individuals set on putting a torch to the old order, they are using propaganda to set the people against parliament and create chaos out of which will emerge a survivalist economy…
Poll after poll has shown that a no-deal Brexit is emphatically not what the public wants – whatever the Leave campaign-staffed No 10 press office may tell lobby correspondents. For all Dominic Raab’s protests, it was never the way Brexit was sold in the referendum of 2016. And keep in mind these two statistics: Johnson came into office with his talk of “do or die” Brexit on the back of just 92,153 Tory members’ votes. By contrast, more than 6.1 million citizens have signed a petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/18/boris-johnson-brexit-ploy-extreme-rightwing-ideology-gina-miller
What could possibly go wrong with this pair at the helm.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-08-16/brexit-architect-cummings-has-radical-no-deal-plans
heh
There was a saying that a UK person's home was their castle. Which was apparently about security of tenure and respect for the individual's property. What about your face? Does that belong to you? Would you allow people to have a mask of your face and wear it wherever they and you go, you could get trouble coming to you that they caused. Facial recognition is rife in the UK and has been for some time, done in secret and by private companies rather than official authorities.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/18/facial-recognition-is-now-rampant-implications-for-our-freedom-are-chilling
Stephanie Hare 18/8/2019 The Guardian
Cracking cover.
Rod Oram considers Fonterra.
"If Fonterra wants to recover from this low point in its history and thrive it needs a bold new and practical strategy, not a tidy up of its failed one. The obvious opportunity is to become one of the world’s leading exponents of dairy farming that’s healthy for the planet, while producing dairy nutrition that’s healthier for people.
Currently, that’s an oxymoron. Dairying is an extractive industry that always damages the climate, and often land and water too, unless it is done exceptionally well. But dairy farmers mustn’t feel picked on. Many ways we produce food globally are as damaging or worse, as a growing body of research details."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/08/18/756988/fonterra-last-chance#