An economist was speaking on RNZ this morning about how everything was pretty spiffy for NZ this coming year and I thought “what planet is he on and who is paying him to say such rubbish”. Just the same old same old coming out of RNZ morning news for the coming year methinks.
Good luck with John Campbell though, looking forward to listening to him again.
Chris Tennent Brown is the Chief Economist for the ASB.
He appears utterly delusional.
It’s as if the ‘concerning backdrop’ of collapsing oil prices, container ships stationery, the Chinese economy imploding and world stocks sliding 20%’ is just irrelevant.
As soon as he said, ‘this sort of stuff happens fairly regularly’, I know he was on the radio to spin some bs for the banks. They are probably buying some time to sell off some of their own stock.
Did you notice that the RNZ’s business editor, Gyles Beckford, did not challenge any of the myths that the banker said?
Not one assumption that was challenged.
It’s as if Chris Tennent Brown was spouting the gospel that could not be questioned.
RNZ… an echo chamber for neo-liberal baking ideology.
Look like Chris ‘this sort of stuff happens fairly regularly’, Tennent Brown was wrong……
‘NZ shares open week sharply down
The New Zealand share market fell sharply in the opening minutes of trade this morning in response to weakness on the major markets last week, driven by ongoing concerns about the China’s economy and extremely low oil prices.
After 10 minutes of trading, the benchmark NZX50 index was down 85 points or 1.3 per cent at 6084.7.
The market has started 2016 on a weak note after finishing 2015 at a record 6324.26, and with the index having rallied by 13.2 per cent over the December quarter alone.
“Financial institutions were hit pretty hard in the overseas markets and that’s started to flow through there,” Forsyth Barr equity analyst James Bascand said.’
Gulf shares in free fall after oil rout, Iran deal
Kuwait City (AFP) – Share prices in the energy-rich Gulf states nosedived Sunday following the sharp decline in oil prices as Iran prepares to resume crude exports after the lifting of sanctions.
The plunge in the first day of trading in the Muslim week also follows heavy losses in global bourses on Friday, when Gulf exchanges were closed for the weekend.
The price of oil, which contributes more than 80 percent to Gulf states’ revenues, shed more than 20 percent this year to drop below $30 a barrel. This follows a plunge of 65 percent in the past two years.
The expected return of Iran to the oil market, following the implementation Saturday of its historic nuclear deal with world powers, will only worsen the production glut that has been the main reason for the oil price dive.
All seven Gulf bourses saw a wave of panick selling, sending indices to multi-year lows.’
9/11
Clearly there was a conspiracy, based on its definition.
It is clearly a conspiracy theory to believe that Obama Bin Laden organised 20 people to hijack 4 planes and bring down the Twin Towers.
conspiracy
kənˈspɪrəsi/Submit
noun
a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
“a conspiracy to destroy the government”
synonyms: plot, scheme, stratagem, plan, machination, cabal;
Calling something a conspiracy theory is basically an intellectual scarlet letter. It’s a way of dismissing something you don’t like, of placing something outside the bounds of reasonable discourse. “That’s just a conspiracy theory” is a depressingly effective way of getting someone to plug their ears and turn their brains off.
I’m not sure why you point this out. Of course any concerted action by a group of people to achieve a particular end could be descibed as a ‘conspiracy’. What the term is generally used for in common parlance is to descibe complicated and secretative planning and actions by shadowy and ill defined groupings.
No that is only the way it is used by the likes of establishment types who fear for their own positions.
John Key, for example, conspires every single day, as does every politician and government, yet he has the gall to admonish others for conspiring to achieve ends.
He’s not admonishing anyone there for conspiring to achieve ends. He is stating the belief that he is attempting to do so in relation to the appointment of Ian Fletcher is a conspiracy theory.
Quite possibly correct but that is not that the same as admonishing others for conspiring to achieve ends which is what was alledged he did all the time.
Except your suggested use of the term is so broad as to make the term almost meaningless as it would mean ANY organised plan and action to achieve that plan could be classified as a conspiracy. The term only becomes useful when it is applied to a specific situation involving shadowy or ill defined people attempting to implement secret plans. These can be either real or imagined.
‘Calling something a conspiracy theory is basically an intellectual scarlet letter. It’s a way of dismissing something you don’t like, of placing something outside the bounds of reasonable discourse. “That’s just a conspiracy theory” is a depressingly effective way of getting someone to plug their ears and turn their brains off.’
ENVIRONMENTAL info:
On battery recycling – in the USA – from Google site. What do we do here with the millions of small batteries like the ones I am about to throw out? I will make enquiries first but I understand that they can be thrown in with ordinary rubbish when just a few, but any more, that creates a pocket of toxic stuff and they need to be handled separately. But I don’t know of anything like the USA system. We are so laid-back aren’t we, preferably on sun loungers, and we don’t bother with recycling many types of stuff because it’s not cost effective and the government might have to pay something to keep our environment as healthy as is possible. Too kostly.
http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/disposable.html
Recycling. Here’s another reason not to use alkalines: They’re harder to recycle than rechargeable batteries. Alkalines aren’t nearly as hazardous as NiCd’s, but they do contain useful metals, and it’s better for those metals to be reclaimed by recycling rather than strip-mining mountains.
In Europe recycling is easy—every store that sells batteries must take them back for recycling too. In the U.S. it’s tougher: while recycling for NiMH, NiZn, and NiCd is widespread (see RBRC), there just aren’t nearly as many places to recycle alkalines. That’s because the process just isn’t as cost-effective for the recyclers. A handful of retailers collect do collect them, though I don’t know of any who collect them at all their nationwide stores.
For most of us, that means our only option is to mail them to a recycling company, as well as pay a small fee to that company. I hope retailers who read this will start offering to collect alkalines from their customers as an extra service, and then ship the batteries to the recyclers by freight.
In California, all batteries are considered hazardous materials, so they can’t just be thrown in the trash. Check with your county government about collection facilities in your area.
Alkalines used to have a fair amount of toxic mercury, but Congress banned mercury in batteries except in trace amounts starting in 1996. (There’s an exception for button batteries, the circular kind that go in watches and calculators, which can still have mercury. Radio Shack accepts those for recycling.)
We really do need a law that ensures that all product is recycled. Sure, it will push the price up and may result in people using less of it but that’s actually what the pricing mechanism is for.
People who say that we shouldn’t have to do this are saying that we shouldn’t have to pay the full price thus negating the purpose of the pricing mechanism.
Instead of wasting time and effort attempting to disrupt the signing and ratification of the TPPa why don’t anti-TPPA people simply direct their efforts to promoting parties that will withdraw from the agreement if they gain control of the government benches?
The talks are going out to the burbs and regions in Wellington. We’ve got talks organised by TPP Free Wellington in Otaki, Newtown, Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and in Johnsonville we are lucky enough to get guest speaker, Fletcher Tabuteau from NZ First. That one is at the Uniting Church in Dr Taylor Tce, J Ville, 7pm, Wednesday, 20th Jan.
I can’t find on online source for the dates and venues but if you live in any of those areas and want to attend, let me know and I can get the info out of my inbox.
I figure thats the responsibility of TPP Free Wellington, who I’m not involved with. I suspect they work closely with It’s Our Future anyway, going by the discussions I’ve had with one of the group.
We live in a representative democracy where we elect MP’s to represent our views. National campaigned on support for the TPPA at the last election and won enough votes to form a government. Therefore there is nothing undemocratic about the TPPA being ratified. If you wish to change the electoral system then campaign for it but don’t claim what we have is undemocratic.
I want international trade to have structure and rules so that the strong do not screw the weak. Whilst not perfect the TPPA goes a long way to allow this. The alternative is each nation jiust doing what is in their own best interests and smaller nations like NZ get shafted.
I want international trade to have structure and rules so that the strong do not screw the weak. Whilst not perfect the TPPA goes a long way to allow this.
The TPPA goes a long way to entrenching the power of the corporations over the people so, according to you, you should be opposing it with every fibre of your being.
The alternative is each nation jiust doing what is in their own best interests and smaller nations like NZ get shafted.
False dichotomy and NZ will be thoroughly shafted under the TPPA.
National was quite clear during the 2014 election campaign that they would sign TPP. They were easily able to form the government following the election.
Therefore the government has a democratic mandate.
In contrast the idea, promoted by Byran Gould and others, that the GG should seriously entertain a petition to not sign any laws required to implement the TPP is highly undemocratic.
If you want to change things all you have to do is get a govt elected that would withdraw from TPP. If people are as angry as you say that should not be too difficult.
Apparently the results of an election in a representative democracy such as NZ means nothing to hard core leftists like Draco. It is as if they think the elections only allow the party that wins to form the government but the policies they have to implement need to be assent4ed to individually.
It is as if they think the elections only allow the party that wins to form the government but the policies they have to implement need to be assent4ed to individually.
Don’t think that at all. I don’t think parliament should be government at all. Parliament should not be able to do whatever they like and need to be constrained to what the people want.
Doing it the way you and Wayne want gives us a dictatorship and not a democracy.
Instead of wasting the people’s time and resources whoring for foreign corporations, why doesn’t John the Traitor Key do what New Zealanders want for a change. We are a democracy – what we want is John’s job. And he’s absolutely useless at it. No growth, no jobs, no brains, no guts, no morals – and hordes of moran supporters.
Quote: The Big Six point out that they buy their fuel over extended periods, evening out fluctuations. But last summer the Competition Commission concluded that they were overcharging households by a staggering £1.2bn a year. An unofficial survey suggests it is now almost £3bn.
You would expect top-level outrage, wouldn’t you? But the Prime Minister merely said last week that bills were “not falling as fast as I would like”. Admittedly, an inquiry is due shortly to propose ways to increase competition, but the Government’s real ire has been reserved for comparatively blameless renewables.
Since the election, ministers have implemented, or announced, at least nine measures to restrict them, from ending subsidies for onshore wind to scrapping targets for zero-carbon homes; from ending tax breaks for community renewables projects to slashing feed-in tariffs for rooftop solar power. The reason given? To keep down household energy bills. Quote end
oh well its the same everywhere? All these people just simply not trying hard enough and expecting help from the government. Don’t they know that the government is not there too help? Really, what are they thinking.
The government helps the rich prey upon the poor which is why they’re getting rid of the renewables. Renewables would help the poor to become free of the rich and thus the rich would no longer be rich.
Further proof, if any was needed that capitalism is failing the people of the world.
Unless you are one of the elite 62.
Maybe the 1% isn’t an appropriate term to describe the elite.
It should be the 0.000001%.
‘World’s rich getting richer, poor are definitely poorer
Just 62 people own as much wealth as the poorer half of the global population, as the widening of the gap between the rich and poor accelerates.
As the business elite converge on Davos for the World Economic Forum, an Oxfam report shows wealth is becoming further concentrated, with the number of people owning the same amount as the bottom half of humanity falling from 388 to 62 in five years.
It says a “broken” economic model underpinned by deregulation, privatisation and financial secrecy has seen the wealth of the richest 62 people jump by 44 per cent in five years to US$1.76 trillion ($2.74 trillion).
In that time, the wealth of the poorest 3.6 billion people plunged by 41 per cent.’
RNZ enabling Matthew Hooton telling lies on Nine to Noon again 🙄
The other guy is quite good on calling him on some of it, the Labour stuff, but he really doesn’t get the GP.
Maybe RNZ should have various commentators on to discuss the whole spectrum from the whole spectrum’s perspective instead of only a couple of left/right of centre embeds.
the last paragraph: Melissa Mays says after Flint switched its water supply her sons went from being straight-A students to struggling with basic studies. “And I worry because they’re gonna need tutors,” Mays said. “Because I don’t want them to just be set aside and (told) ‘Well okay, your IQ’s a little lower.’ No. I want them to be where they were before this happened.” Yet Mays says there’s little money available for tutors. Daily life in Flint has drained her family’s savings.
“Our garbage disposal just corroded, so that’s another hundred bucks. Went through three water heaters and they’re $500 a pop. And that was…that was it. ‘Cause the rest of it’s gone towards medication. Me being off work and he’s had to miss work from time to time to take care of me and the kids. So yeah, we’re paycheck to paycheck at this point.”
Ironically Mays says her water bills have skyrocketed. Refuse to pay them and the city will shut off the taps. On top of that, Child Protective Services could remove any children living in a house with no running water.
——————————————————————————————————————-
surely this type of thing would never happen in gods own n’est pas?
this how you fix an angry man dont send male policemen to talk to him you send strong good looking policewomen why its all on the outside thats why
The cops still think that beating people up is how u fix angry men
Because they are conditioned to violence being the area of expertise and the law of paid thuggery still survives in the police culture
They really have to stop, the police that is being so dumb
Why do the police take particulars when u call they dont use them unless its a criminal situation and if you make a false statement to get them there quicker alleging a crime in in progress you become the target for them if you are a male but women do get away with it
You see the police are not civil servants they are a corporation that gets paid to keep the stats in favour of govt policy even though the police are blatantly underfunded by the taxpayer because of the expense of priorities like protecting the dodgy govt and those who have a real danger going on might as well swing for it
Police psychology in understanding people is a joke its just ridiculous the fact that crime prevention is at an all time low in govt police policy because of the rate of incarceration is so important to achieve the maximum payout for the corporations running the prisons to return an international success rating that will kept people believing all is good
absolute rot this system we have now will perpetuate rising crime and it will go undetected especially in theft because the police mostly deal with drugs and any thieved property is retrieved thru that and the daily theft of people’s money thru bad law governing financial institutions is a must especially when the govt is run by a very suspect member of that shall we say profession which it is not just a highly sophisticated theft ie tax policy that protects the rich no FTT BUT GST which is biased in favour of the rich and then theres the sharemarket and weve all seen that ponzi scheme and so it goes
Dont rely on the law for any help it just aint there
OK I kind of get your point, though I could barely breathe trying to read it.
Break it up with Paragraphs, use some comma’s and full stops, as it helps make what your saying, more readable and easier to comprehend.
Your diatribe on the police makes me feel you had a recent interaction with them. Never a good idea, they have not a lot of sympathy, as doing their job and filling the courts is what they do.
Get a lawyer, anyway possible, and ring him soon as whatever it is happens, the advice he will give you, will, I hope, help you out.
I can’t argue with them, I gave up many years ago. It’s the nature of bullies and the stupid, to work in that sort of employment.
Pedophiles want to work in childcare, Bashers want to work in the police force.
Never thought I’d say this, but: Bring Back Mike Williams.
Stephen Mills flattered to deceive last month; he’s just another politician. Political Commentators, RNZ National, Monday 18 January 2016, 11:10 a.m.
Lynn Freeman, Matthew Hooton, Stephen Mills
Lynn Freeman is a far better, more thoughtful and tougher host than Kathryn Ryan, but the basic problem remains: the “Left” person is dodgy, to say the least. Not long ago, I praised Stephen Mills as superior to Mike “I Agree With Matthew” Williams, who had a monopoly on the “Left” seat for much too long. [1] I was impressed by the no-nonsense way that Mills had taken on Matthew Hooton; it seemed that here was someone, finally, who had the guts to actually contest what Hooton said.
I’m sorry to say that my assessment of Mills was wrong. This morning, in the first program of the year, Hooton was immediately back into it; his little performance consisted of sneering at unions as “dinosaurs” and scoffing at the rise of politicians like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders.
For any principled and alert commentator, that would have been the perfect opportunity to point out that Corbyn and Sanders are not outliers, as the likes of Hooton always insist they are, but are firmly in the tradition of democratic, centrist, sensible thinking. Mills, however, decided to reiterate the Labour Party political leadership’s line. I sent the following email to Lynn Freeman….
Stephen Mills’ highly contentious claim about “most Labour voters”
Dear Lynn,
Stephen Mills (From the Left and Right) made the highly contentious assertion that “most Labour voters in New Zealand would support Hillary Clinton” and would regard a Jeremy Corbyn style leader as “inappropriate for New Zealand.”
New Zealand Labour supporters are probably not much different from British Labour supporters, who overwhelmingly voted for Corbyn as leader. And Bernie Sanders, who Stephen Mills chooses to portray as some sort of extremist, advocates moderate, sensible, humane policies that are pretty much the same as Labour has represented in this country, at least until the Douglasite faction took control.
The producers need to get a more rigorous and well informed representative of “The Left” for this program; we don’t need someone reiterating Matthew Hooton’s rhetoric like Mills did this morning.
Yours in concern at the standard of commentary on RNZ,
Renationalise railways to bring down fares. Franchises would be managed locally;
Locally owned energy suppliers, emulating the German model;
Integration of health and social care;
Creation of a lifelong education service that would help retrain and reskill workers;
Universal childcare;
Repeal the Tory Trade Union Act;
Fixed pay ratios for companies to stop top management earning many multiples more than lowest paid workers;
Restriction on dividend payments for firms that don’t pay the living wage.
People like Mills are the problem in the Labour Party. I have no doubt he actually supports Corbyn’s policies. But in the tiny, introspective bubble of Labour Party “strategy”, the only possible option is Blairite/Clarkite opportunism and “positioning”. The only views that matter for the likes of Mills, Stuart Nash, and whoever else is formulating “policy” for the Labour Party are the views of right wing political commentators like Hooton and the views of right wing business leaders.
Mills knows as well as anyone else that Corbyn is far more popular than the Blairite rump that dominates Labour Party discourse, and that it is Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, that is the extremist candidate for the Democrats.
I was very disappointed that he lacked the character to state that firmly and unequivocably this morning, instead opting for the nonsensical dogma of his Party leadership.
His problem is that the majority of the Scottish Labour Party sold out the Scottish people a long time ago, through years of Blairite treachery, so the Labour Party north of the border is toast.
No dear.
Somehow, having read some of your contributions(?) to reasoned(?) debate I wouldn’t regard you as a very good judge.
Just what part of the article didn’t you approve of?
Do you, or Morrissey, actually have anything to say about Corbyn and the way he differs from the SNP?
Or is your style of debate simply to make your childish remarks about people you don’t agree with because you are incapable of discussing things in a sensible manner?
Now just what part of the article didn’t you agree with?
And do you think that Corbyn will be able to get along with the SNP?
I have to go out in about 5 minutes so I can’t give this question the full attention it deserves.
My main objections are
(1) They lied to the people of Scotland about the referendum. They promised them that they could continue to use the pound. They promised that they would automatically become part of the EU. They promised that they would not have to take any responsibility for GB debts. They promised that things would be wonderful from the oil production. I don’t believe any of those were true.
(2) They waste the money they get from Great Britain on things to buy them popularity. Meanwhile, although University education may be free, less low income students (as a percentage) go to university in Scotland than they do in England.
(3) They try and dominate and suppress their opponents. I think they fit into the group of people, like the ones on this site, who would close down the NZ Herald because it is not faithful to what they believe. The Venezuelan Government would be proud of them.
(4) They want central control of all national affairs. All things are to be under the control of central government.
I suggest you read that article in the Economist I referenced. I agree with it.
The ‘funny’ bit about that segment of 9 to noon, was that Matthew Hooten was way more on to it in terms of what prospective Labour and Green voters are saying than was Mills.
Who is he by the way – this Stephen Mills? Ah….a pollster…a bear of few brains with lots of pieces of paper with conservative numbers on them in front of him – sigh.
He’s an improvement on Mike “I agree with Matthew” Williams, which I guess is something to be grateful for.
I thought that about Hooton as well except I thought it was all carefully crafted to sound like he was on to it and oh so reasonable 😉 Very little comes out of that man’s mouth that isn’t via his forked tongue.
Well, he (Hooton) is ‘on to it’ enough to read the more obvious social media sites. Now that’s a very fucking low bar. But it seems Stephen Mills cracks his numb, dumb skull on it nevertheless.
You seem to be conflating UK Labour *members* who elected Corbyn and their *voters* at the next election, a much larger group who may have different views. I imagine there has been polling about those.
The trickle down is failing to distribute the wealth required to sustain consumer demand, thus sustainable business growth and return. The consequences of which we are currently witnessing.
New Zealand has the combination of capital flight (returns heading off shore) negatively impacting on our current, ultimately leaving us with less, coupled with insufficient wealth distribution.
Yet, instead of addressing these problems, we exacerbate them. We continue to welcome offshore ownership and largely decimated the power of unions, which help keep incomes in check.
Since the 80’s there has been years of reforms, new trade deals etc, yet we’ve failed to put our current account into surplus and have made little to no improvements in inequality.
Local business leaders should be opposed to offshore ownership and supportive of unions. The more workers earn, the more they drive up consumer demand, thus business return.
Rest assured, if I had any spare they’d be going to a number of local politicians, their spin masters, and quite a few in the media. The ones they have must be nearing the end of their useful lives.
I’m not sure whether this will take …. I’m possibly banned for thinking wishfully
In November, MFAT issued a two-page summary of the estimated tariff and non-tariff trade gains from the TPP for the year 2030, when all agreed tariff changes should have been completed. In the column headed “Government treatment of results,” someone has slashed Goods NTBs in half, from $2,912 million to $1,456 million. This reduces the estimated total benefit to $2,704 million from $4,160 million. MFAT $$$ Summary Showing Arbitrary Cut
Such a reduction is surprising – the government normally hypes up the value of the TPP. However, what we see is a bold new theory of economics – if you don’t like a number, don’t understand it, or don’t have the political guts to accept professionally prepared data, then reduce it by 50.00000%. Problem solved! Now we know why the TPP negotiations were so secret. Even Bill English did not know about it or he would have cleared the Budget Deficit years ago.
In reality, of course, this 50% cut is completely arbitrary and completely dishonest because the Government is setting up to game us even further regarding the TPP. Readers might have noticed that recent government statements qualify the dollar benefits of the TPP by using use phrases such as “At least ….” . Rabbits out of hats will come.
I’m John key trust me, I’m a family man. So out of touch with the common man it makes me wince. A daughter in Paris doing quite frankly soft porn sex shows. A poser of a son with the model hanging off his arms for those exceptional good looking publicity shots. This is NZ now, US style press and publicity. Gawd!
Carefully scripted images. If he wasn’t taking them(max) I wonder which political publicist organized it thanks to the National party coffers.
How’s Prince Harry’s love life going? Or did he get married while I was busy with something important to me? Or did I miss the news that some culture vulture unearthed that he is gay. and not likely to wed someone with a train as long as the Northern Express (if that exists)?
We can’t let this homegrown mini-celebrity Max cut out our normal gossip lines.
Well bugger, me the Herald posted three of my comments to Rodney hide and I was not polite at all.(no swear words )
In all my days what happened did they get a new editor,,, and Frans piece attacking Messam has had the part where she called him Gormless removed. Think the lawyers may have been in touch there.
Roughans piece has opened to comments, getting another hiding to nothing. But Frans remains closed no comments posted. Hmmm Frans made a boo boo this time me thinks.
” One of the threats looming over the slowdown in China is the precarious state of a $2 trillion shadow banking system that grew up with the boom. If it crashes, the current Chinese stock market collapse could look like a picnic. ”
quote: Chinese police have arrested hundreds of people suspected of running underground banks that illegally transferred more than Rmb800bn ($125bn) out of China into foreign currencies…..
quote: Over the past year, officials have issued arrest warrants for 56 people, frozen 3,000 bank accounts, shut down 37 unlicensed financial institutions allegedly laundering money and reviewed over 1.3 million suspicious transactions, reported state media.
Police busted another 10 unapproved banks this week, allegedly linked to about 51.6 billion yuan ($8.1 billion) in illegal transactions.
this is just stunning, and I would expect this to happen globally not only china. China might just be the biggest or one of the biggest player in the game. Sometimes I wonder why we bother pretending.
Hairild. Second headline. Arrh Marr Gaaaaard Mar Gaaaaard !!! Me Brokin Brokin Brokin !!!……World’s to an end. Maxi Mini PM, and that girl, you know. OH NO !!! Faaaaark !!!
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The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted ‘Remain’ rather than Brexit (or ‘Leave’). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
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.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
“It is basic human decency to speak up and protect any vulnerable child from harm, so withholding information in child abuse cases and allowing the abuse to happen by not speaking up is, put simply, a cowardly move,” says Jess McVicar Co-Leader ...
Allowing 1,000 returning international students back to New Zealand is the right move by the Government, and hopefully we will be able to welcome more, says ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard. "International education has contributed ...
A majority of the House of Representatives have voted to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. Follow the ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We believe it is vital to hold our new Labour-led government to account ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Rotorua Lakes District Council to urgently release the engineering report on the public safety and structural integrity of the visible foundation-misalignment and lean of the City’s Hemo Gorge monument to government ...
Changes in income and movement in and out of poverty over time are only weakly associated with higher rates of child hospitalisation in New Zealand, according to a new University of Auckland study. Published today in PLOS ONE, the collaborative study led by Dr ...
With a long, hot summer upon us, pet owners are urged to be extra mindful of their pet’s health and safety. Unusually warm weather can quickly take its toll on furry family members, who aren’t well equipped for dealing with blazing heat. The National ...
The Council for Civil Liberties is challenging a claim by former National Party leader Simon Bridges that people should have total freedom of expression on Twitter. ...
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study. The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences. The study indicates ...
62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By Arturo López-LevyOakland, CaliforniaUnfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values ...
The threatened Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will keep operating through to the end of December 2024, in a new deal just announced to the New Zealand stock exchange. Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto announced last year it was closing Tiwai due to high energy and transmission costs. Meridian Energy said that ...
The lack of Māori language or symbolism on the SuperGold Card isn’t just a design issue – it’s emblematic of the overwhelming whiteness of Aotearoa’s superannuant population, writes former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.I’ve enjoyed the SuperGold Card since I retired eight years ago. I appreciate the free public ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Brumm, Professor, Griffith University The dating of an exceptionally old cave painting of animals that was found recently on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is reported in our paper out today. The painting portrays images of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Garrick, University Fellow in Law, Charles Darwin University Just over a year has gone by since the novel coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and the world still has many questions about where and how it originated. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Young, Lecturer, Deakin University Medievalist references littered the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th. Rudy Giuliani called for a “trial by combat”; the “Q Shaman”, Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli), was covered in Norse tattoos; rioters brandished ...
A Whakatāne therapist says the Whakaari eruption and Christchurch mosque shooting reveal a health system unable to deal with mass casualty events. Whakaari after its eruption in 2019. Photo: Supplied/Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust This comes amid calls for millions of dollars of promised mental health funding to be urgently re-routed to Canterbury ...
The Herald is determined you don’t think there’s going to be a recession
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11575429
Or you could look at the facts
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/15/the-chart-that-explains-everything/
https://nz.news.yahoo.com/top-stories/a/30570402/new-zealand-named-most-expensive-country-in-the-world-to-buy-property/?cmp=st#play
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/economic-collapse-2016.html
An economist was speaking on RNZ this morning about how everything was pretty spiffy for NZ this coming year and I thought “what planet is he on and who is paying him to say such rubbish”. Just the same old same old coming out of RNZ morning news for the coming year methinks.
Good luck with John Campbell though, looking forward to listening to him again.
Chris Tennent Brown is the Chief Economist for the ASB.
He appears utterly delusional.
It’s as if the ‘concerning backdrop’ of collapsing oil prices, container ships stationery, the Chinese economy imploding and world stocks sliding 20%’ is just irrelevant.
As soon as he said, ‘this sort of stuff happens fairly regularly’, I know he was on the radio to spin some bs for the banks. They are probably buying some time to sell off some of their own stock.
As they did in 2008.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/businessnews/audio/201785754/sharemarkets-have-copped-the-worst-of-it
Did you notice that the RNZ’s business editor, Gyles Beckford, did not challenge any of the myths that the banker said?
Not one assumption that was challenged.
It’s as if Chris Tennent Brown was spouting the gospel that could not be questioned.
RNZ… an echo chamber for neo-liberal baking ideology.
Look like Chris ‘this sort of stuff happens fairly regularly’, Tennent Brown was wrong……
‘NZ shares open week sharply down
The New Zealand share market fell sharply in the opening minutes of trade this morning in response to weakness on the major markets last week, driven by ongoing concerns about the China’s economy and extremely low oil prices.
After 10 minutes of trading, the benchmark NZX50 index was down 85 points or 1.3 per cent at 6084.7.
The market has started 2016 on a weak note after finishing 2015 at a record 6324.26, and with the index having rallied by 13.2 per cent over the December quarter alone.
“Financial institutions were hit pretty hard in the overseas markets and that’s started to flow through there,” Forsyth Barr equity analyst James Bascand said.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11575572
Gulf shares in free fall after oil rout, Iran deal
Kuwait City (AFP) – Share prices in the energy-rich Gulf states nosedived Sunday following the sharp decline in oil prices as Iran prepares to resume crude exports after the lifting of sanctions.
The plunge in the first day of trading in the Muslim week also follows heavy losses in global bourses on Friday, when Gulf exchanges were closed for the weekend.
The price of oil, which contributes more than 80 percent to Gulf states’ revenues, shed more than 20 percent this year to drop below $30 a barrel. This follows a plunge of 65 percent in the past two years.
The expected return of Iran to the oil market, following the implementation Saturday of its historic nuclear deal with world powers, will only worsen the production glut that has been the main reason for the oil price dive.
All seven Gulf bourses saw a wave of panick selling, sending indices to multi-year lows.’
http://news.yahoo.com/gulf-shares-free-fall-oil-rout-iran-deal-094848186.html#
‘Inflation tipped to drop to new low, mounting pressure on Reserve Bank to cut
This will see the NZ dollar drop.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/75958884/inflation-tipped-to-drop-to-new-low-mounting-pressure-on-reserve-bank-to-cut
9/11
Clearly there was a conspiracy, based on its definition.
It is clearly a conspiracy theory to believe that Obama Bin Laden organised 20 people to hijack 4 planes and bring down the Twin Towers.
conspiracy
kənˈspɪrəsi/Submit
noun
a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
“a conspiracy to destroy the government”
synonyms: plot, scheme, stratagem, plan, machination, cabal;
Calling something a conspiracy theory is basically an intellectual scarlet letter. It’s a way of dismissing something you don’t like, of placing something outside the bounds of reasonable discourse. “That’s just a conspiracy theory” is a depressingly effective way of getting someone to plug their ears and turn their brains off.
I’m not sure why you point this out. Of course any concerted action by a group of people to achieve a particular end could be descibed as a ‘conspiracy’. What the term is generally used for in common parlance is to descibe complicated and secretative planning and actions by shadowy and ill defined groupings.
No that is only the way it is used by the likes of establishment types who fear for their own positions.
John Key, for example, conspires every single day, as does every politician and government, yet he has the gall to admonish others for conspiring to achieve ends.
Who does John Key admonish for conspiring to achieve ends? I’m not sure I have seen him do this. do you have an example?
are you serious?
here is one – there are countless others
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10068990/Key-knocks-Campbell-conspiracy-theories
John Key conducts conspiracies – it is his m.o. as it is with most all politicians.
He’s not admonishing anyone there for conspiring to achieve ends. He is stating the belief that he is attempting to do so in relation to the appointment of Ian Fletcher is a conspiracy theory.
He was simply pointing out that Campbell was wrong again.
He was *claiming* Campbell was wrong, without supplying any evidence. Normal MO for this government, in other words.
Fisiani is a believer.
What Key says, he believes.
Evidence is not needed.
Quite possibly correct but that is not that the same as admonishing others for conspiring to achieve ends which is what was alledged he did all the time.
I am commenting on the hijacking of language for political ends.
Except your suggested use of the term is so broad as to make the term almost meaningless as it would mean ANY organised plan and action to achieve that plan could be classified as a conspiracy. The term only becomes useful when it is applied to a specific situation involving shadowy or ill defined people attempting to implement secret plans. These can be either real or imagined.
Did you read this bit?
‘Calling something a conspiracy theory is basically an intellectual scarlet letter. It’s a way of dismissing something you don’t like, of placing something outside the bounds of reasonable discourse. “That’s just a conspiracy theory” is a depressingly effective way of getting someone to plug their ears and turn their brains off.’
That may be related to the fact that many of the conspiracy theories out there are truly bizarre and rather unbelievable.
Oh you mean like John Key’s out there claim about the poor?
ENVIRONMENTAL info:
On battery recycling – in the USA – from Google site. What do we do here with the millions of small batteries like the ones I am about to throw out? I will make enquiries first but I understand that they can be thrown in with ordinary rubbish when just a few, but any more, that creates a pocket of toxic stuff and they need to be handled separately. But I don’t know of anything like the USA system. We are so laid-back aren’t we, preferably on sun loungers, and we don’t bother with recycling many types of stuff because it’s not cost effective and the government might have to pay something to keep our environment as healthy as is possible. Too kostly.
http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/disposable.html
Recycling. Here’s another reason not to use alkalines: They’re harder to recycle than rechargeable batteries. Alkalines aren’t nearly as hazardous as NiCd’s, but they do contain useful metals, and it’s better for those metals to be reclaimed by recycling rather than strip-mining mountains.
In Europe recycling is easy—every store that sells batteries must take them back for recycling too. In the U.S. it’s tougher: while recycling for NiMH, NiZn, and NiCd is widespread (see RBRC), there just aren’t nearly as many places to recycle alkalines. That’s because the process just isn’t as cost-effective for the recyclers. A handful of retailers collect do collect them, though I don’t know of any who collect them at all their nationwide stores.
For most of us, that means our only option is to mail them to a recycling company, as well as pay a small fee to that company. I hope retailers who read this will start offering to collect alkalines from their customers as an extra service, and then ship the batteries to the recyclers by freight.
In California, all batteries are considered hazardous materials, so they can’t just be thrown in the trash. Check with your county government about collection facilities in your area.
Alkalines used to have a fair amount of toxic mercury, but Congress banned mercury in batteries except in trace amounts starting in 1996. (There’s an exception for button batteries, the circular kind that go in watches and calculators, which can still have mercury. Radio Shack accepts those for recycling.)
We really do need a law that ensures that all product is recycled. Sure, it will push the price up and may result in people using less of it but that’s actually what the pricing mechanism is for.
People who say that we shouldn’t have to do this are saying that we shouldn’t have to pay the full price thus negating the purpose of the pricing mechanism.
I quite like the South Australia can method – include a fee in the sale price, to be refunded at the appropriate depots.
Instead of wasting time and effort attempting to disrupt the signing and ratification of the TPPa why don’t anti-TPPA people simply direct their efforts to promoting parties that will withdraw from the agreement if they gain control of the government benches?
Maybe you should find out
Auckland
Auckland Town Hall, 7pm Tuesday 26th January – including a panel of leading politicians
Wellington
Wellington St Andrews Church, The Terrace 7pm Wednesday 27th January
Christchurch
Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral, 7pm Thursday 28th January
Dunedin
Dunedin, Burns Hall, Morray Place at 7pm Friday 29th January
These are free events. Get there early – the venues will fill up quickly. Donations to cover costs would be appreciated.
The talks are going out to the burbs and regions in Wellington. We’ve got talks organised by TPP Free Wellington in Otaki, Newtown, Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and in Johnsonville we are lucky enough to get guest speaker, Fletcher Tabuteau from NZ First. That one is at the Uniting Church in Dr Taylor Tce, J Ville, 7pm, Wednesday, 20th Jan.
I can’t find on online source for the dates and venues but if you live in any of those areas and want to attend, let me know and I can get the info out of my inbox.
Why don’t you forward to Its Our Future?
http://itsourfuture.org.nz/
I figure thats the responsibility of TPP Free Wellington, who I’m not involved with. I suspect they work closely with It’s Our Future anyway, going by the discussions I’ve had with one of the group.
Because we’re really pissed off that the government is signing against the peoples will. We are a democracy, not a dictatorship.
Every party should be against the TPPA because that is the will of the people.
Why do you RWNJs find dictatorship acceptable?
I thought libertarians like gosman would be anti the TPP.
Sadly, though, they seem just to be big corporations’ best friends.
This
We live in a representative democracy where we elect MP’s to represent our views. National campaigned on support for the TPPA at the last election and won enough votes to form a government. Therefore there is nothing undemocratic about the TPPA being ratified. If you wish to change the electoral system then campaign for it but don’t claim what we have is undemocratic.
I thought libertarians like you would be anti the TPP.
Sadly, though, you seem just to be big corporations’ best friend.
At the time of the election, the details of the TPP were secret.
How could people make an informed decision?
The TPP is not democratic.
Stop kidding yourself.
I want international trade to have structure and rules so that the strong do not screw the weak. Whilst not perfect the TPPA goes a long way to allow this. The alternative is each nation jiust doing what is in their own best interests and smaller nations like NZ get shafted.
‘I want international trade to have structure and rules so that the strong do not screw the weak. ‘
So you would be strongly opposed to the TPP then.
The TPPA goes a long way to entrenching the power of the corporations over the people so, according to you, you should be opposing it with every fibre of your being.
False dichotomy and NZ will be thoroughly shafted under the TPPA.
Which our MPs are failing to do.
Yes there is as the people don’t want the TPPA signed in their name.
If the present system brings about undemocratic results, which it does, then it is undemocratic.
Draco,
National was quite clear during the 2014 election campaign that they would sign TPP. They were easily able to form the government following the election.
Therefore the government has a democratic mandate.
In contrast the idea, promoted by Byran Gould and others, that the GG should seriously entertain a petition to not sign any laws required to implement the TPP is highly undemocratic.
If you want to change things all you have to do is get a govt elected that would withdraw from TPP. If people are as angry as you say that should not be too difficult.
Apparently the results of an election in a representative democracy such as NZ means nothing to hard core leftists like Draco. It is as if they think the elections only allow the party that wins to form the government but the policies they have to implement need to be assent4ed to individually.
Don’t think that at all. I don’t think parliament should be government at all. Parliament should not be able to do whatever they like and need to be constrained to what the people want.
Doing it the way you and Wayne want gives us a dictatorship and not a democracy.
No-one knew what was in the TPP.
Instead of wasting the people’s time and resources whoring for foreign corporations, why doesn’t John the Traitor Key do what New Zealanders want for a change. We are a democracy – what we want is John’s job. And he’s absolutely useless at it. No growth, no jobs, no brains, no guts, no morals – and hordes of moran supporters.
Please remind us again of how, when, where, and by whom the TPPA will be ratified in NZ.
The signing on 4th Feb in Auckland by the 12
Apostles of GreedTrade Ministers and equivalent is just ashambolicsymbolic side show.people dying of cold. oh well, i guess that is what happens in countries that are slowly but surely turning into third wold status.
oh well, but i am sure it can’t happen here cause gods own and National will safe us.
link to support the statement. 🙂
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/energy-bills-the-big-six-and-the-scandal-of-people-dying-of-cold-in-their-own-homes-a6816796.html
Quote: The Big Six point out that they buy their fuel over extended periods, evening out fluctuations. But last summer the Competition Commission concluded that they were overcharging households by a staggering £1.2bn a year. An unofficial survey suggests it is now almost £3bn.
You would expect top-level outrage, wouldn’t you? But the Prime Minister merely said last week that bills were “not falling as fast as I would like”. Admittedly, an inquiry is due shortly to propose ways to increase competition, but the Government’s real ire has been reserved for comparatively blameless renewables.
Since the election, ministers have implemented, or announced, at least nine measures to restrict them, from ending subsidies for onshore wind to scrapping targets for zero-carbon homes; from ending tax breaks for community renewables projects to slashing feed-in tariffs for rooftop solar power. The reason given? To keep down household energy bills. Quote end
oh well its the same everywhere? All these people just simply not trying hard enough and expecting help from the government. Don’t they know that the government is not there too help? Really, what are they thinking.
The government helps the rich prey upon the poor which is why they’re getting rid of the renewables. Renewables would help the poor to become free of the rich and thus the rich would no longer be rich.
Further proof, if any was needed that capitalism is failing the people of the world.
Unless you are one of the elite 62.
Maybe the 1% isn’t an appropriate term to describe the elite.
It should be the 0.000001%.
‘World’s rich getting richer, poor are definitely poorer
Just 62 people own as much wealth as the poorer half of the global population, as the widening of the gap between the rich and poor accelerates.
As the business elite converge on Davos for the World Economic Forum, an Oxfam report shows wealth is becoming further concentrated, with the number of people owning the same amount as the bottom half of humanity falling from 388 to 62 in five years.
It says a “broken” economic model underpinned by deregulation, privatisation and financial secrecy has seen the wealth of the richest 62 people jump by 44 per cent in five years to US$1.76 trillion ($2.74 trillion).
In that time, the wealth of the poorest 3.6 billion people plunged by 41 per cent.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/75977407/worlds-rich-getting-richer-poor-are-definitely-poorer
RNZ enabling Matthew Hooton telling lies on Nine to Noon again 🙄
The other guy is quite good on calling him on some of it, the Labour stuff, but he really doesn’t get the GP.
Maybe RNZ should have various commentators on to discuss the whole spectrum from the whole spectrum’s perspective instead of only a couple of left/right of centre embeds.
After Dirty Politics, Hooton should never have got another gig.
qft
Please list the candidates you think would be suitable.
Someone not compromised by his involvement in Dirty Politics.
Which would include who then?
I’d be up for it.
Bet I could elicit a stunned silence in a fair few listeners 🙂
This is an interesting link heavy diary from Daily Kos re Flint Michingan and how to poison a city.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/17/1466892/-Anatomy-of-a-community-poisoned-The-water-disaster-in-Flint-Michigan#read-more
the last paragraph: Melissa Mays says after Flint switched its water supply her sons went from being straight-A students to struggling with basic studies. “And I worry because they’re gonna need tutors,” Mays said. “Because I don’t want them to just be set aside and (told) ‘Well okay, your IQ’s a little lower.’ No. I want them to be where they were before this happened.” Yet Mays says there’s little money available for tutors. Daily life in Flint has drained her family’s savings.
“Our garbage disposal just corroded, so that’s another hundred bucks. Went through three water heaters and they’re $500 a pop. And that was…that was it. ‘Cause the rest of it’s gone towards medication. Me being off work and he’s had to miss work from time to time to take care of me and the kids. So yeah, we’re paycheck to paycheck at this point.”
Ironically Mays says her water bills have skyrocketed. Refuse to pay them and the city will shut off the taps. On top of that, Child Protective Services could remove any children living in a house with no running water.
——————————————————————————————————————-
surely this type of thing would never happen in gods own n’est pas?
this how you fix an angry man dont send male policemen to talk to him you send strong good looking policewomen why its all on the outside thats why
The cops still think that beating people up is how u fix angry men
Because they are conditioned to violence being the area of expertise and the law of paid thuggery still survives in the police culture
They really have to stop, the police that is being so dumb
Why do the police take particulars when u call they dont use them unless its a criminal situation and if you make a false statement to get them there quicker alleging a crime in in progress you become the target for them if you are a male but women do get away with it
You see the police are not civil servants they are a corporation that gets paid to keep the stats in favour of govt policy even though the police are blatantly underfunded by the taxpayer because of the expense of priorities like protecting the dodgy govt and those who have a real danger going on might as well swing for it
Police psychology in understanding people is a joke its just ridiculous the fact that crime prevention is at an all time low in govt police policy because of the rate of incarceration is so important to achieve the maximum payout for the corporations running the prisons to return an international success rating that will kept people believing all is good
absolute rot this system we have now will perpetuate rising crime and it will go undetected especially in theft because the police mostly deal with drugs and any thieved property is retrieved thru that and the daily theft of people’s money thru bad law governing financial institutions is a must especially when the govt is run by a very suspect member of that shall we say profession which it is not just a highly sophisticated theft ie tax policy that protects the rich no FTT BUT GST which is biased in favour of the rich and then theres the sharemarket and weve all seen that ponzi scheme and so it goes
Dont rely on the law for any help it just aint there
OK I kind of get your point, though I could barely breathe trying to read it.
Break it up with Paragraphs, use some comma’s and full stops, as it helps make what your saying, more readable and easier to comprehend.
Your diatribe on the police makes me feel you had a recent interaction with them. Never a good idea, they have not a lot of sympathy, as doing their job and filling the courts is what they do.
Get a lawyer, anyway possible, and ring him soon as whatever it is happens, the advice he will give you, will, I hope, help you out.
I can’t argue with them, I gave up many years ago. It’s the nature of bullies and the stupid, to work in that sort of employment.
Pedophiles want to work in childcare, Bashers want to work in the police force.
Actually you don’t use an apostrophe when you write commas as it is a plural.
🙂
Yeah perhaps pretending I was an engrish teacher was a bridge tooo far.
Thanks mate lolz.
Never thought I’d say this, but: Bring Back Mike Williams.
Stephen Mills flattered to deceive last month; he’s just another politician.
Political Commentators, RNZ National, Monday 18 January 2016, 11:10 a.m.
Lynn Freeman, Matthew Hooton, Stephen Mills
Lynn Freeman is a far better, more thoughtful and tougher host than Kathryn Ryan, but the basic problem remains: the “Left” person is dodgy, to say the least. Not long ago, I praised Stephen Mills as superior to Mike “I Agree With Matthew” Williams, who had a monopoly on the “Left” seat for much too long. [1] I was impressed by the no-nonsense way that Mills had taken on Matthew Hooton; it seemed that here was someone, finally, who had the guts to actually contest what Hooton said.
I’m sorry to say that my assessment of Mills was wrong. This morning, in the first program of the year, Hooton was immediately back into it; his little performance consisted of sneering at unions as “dinosaurs” and scoffing at the rise of politicians like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders.
For any principled and alert commentator, that would have been the perfect opportunity to point out that Corbyn and Sanders are not outliers, as the likes of Hooton always insist they are, but are firmly in the tradition of democratic, centrist, sensible thinking. Mills, however, decided to reiterate the Labour Party political leadership’s line. I sent the following email to Lynn Freeman….
Stephen Mills’ highly contentious claim about “most Labour voters”
Dear Lynn,
Stephen Mills (From the Left and Right) made the highly contentious assertion that “most Labour voters in New Zealand would support Hillary Clinton” and would regard a Jeremy Corbyn style leader as “inappropriate for New Zealand.”
New Zealand Labour supporters are probably not much different from British Labour supporters, who overwhelmingly voted for Corbyn as leader. And Bernie Sanders, who Stephen Mills chooses to portray as some sort of extremist, advocates moderate, sensible, humane policies that are pretty much the same as Labour has represented in this country, at least until the Douglasite faction took control.
The producers need to get a more rigorous and well informed representative of “The Left” for this program; we don’t need someone reiterating Matthew Hooton’s rhetoric like Mills did this morning.
Yours in concern at the standard of commentary on RNZ,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07122015/#comment-1105872
Here are some of Corbyn’s key policies.
Renationalise railways to bring down fares. Franchises would be managed locally;
Locally owned energy suppliers, emulating the German model;
Integration of health and social care;
Creation of a lifelong education service that would help retrain and reskill workers;
Universal childcare;
Repeal the Tory Trade Union Act;
Fixed pay ratios for companies to stop top management earning many multiples more than lowest paid workers;
Restriction on dividend payments for firms that don’t pay the living wage.
How Mills could refute Corbyn is beyond me.
People like Mills are the problem in the Labour Party. I have no doubt he actually supports Corbyn’s policies. But in the tiny, introspective bubble of Labour Party “strategy”, the only possible option is Blairite/Clarkite opportunism and “positioning”. The only views that matter for the likes of Mills, Stuart Nash, and whoever else is formulating “policy” for the Labour Party are the views of right wing political commentators like Hooton and the views of right wing business leaders.
Mills knows as well as anyone else that Corbyn is far more popular than the Blairite rump that dominates Labour Party discourse, and that it is Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, that is the extremist candidate for the Democrats.
I was very disappointed that he lacked the character to state that firmly and unequivocably this morning, instead opting for the nonsensical dogma of his Party leadership.
They are scared people.
I wonder how Corbyn would be in dealing with the SNP, if what you say about his beliefs is correct?
“Franchises would be managed locally”
“Locally owned energy suppliers”
The SNP appear to want the opposite approach where they centralise control over everything. I suggest you have a look at this opinion piece.
http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21674723-soft-autocracy-nationalist-scotland-cawdors-shadow
The SNP sounds like an organisation of the most rabid contributors to this blog and to WO.
His problem is that the majority of the Scottish Labour Party sold out the Scottish people a long time ago, through years of Blairite treachery, so the Labour Party north of the border is toast.
Alwyn, you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
No dear.
Somehow, having read some of your contributions(?) to reasoned(?) debate I wouldn’t regard you as a very good judge.
Just what part of the article didn’t you approve of?
He’s a great deal more lucid with you – why not just run along and play with the rest of juveniles on kiwiblog where you belong?
Do you, or Morrissey, actually have anything to say about Corbyn and the way he differs from the SNP?
Or is your style of debate simply to make your childish remarks about people you don’t agree with because you are incapable of discussing things in a sensible manner?
Now just what part of the article didn’t you agree with?
And do you think that Corbyn will be able to get along with the SNP?
Why are you so hostile to the SNP?
😱
I have to go out in about 5 minutes so I can’t give this question the full attention it deserves.
My main objections are
(1) They lied to the people of Scotland about the referendum. They promised them that they could continue to use the pound. They promised that they would automatically become part of the EU. They promised that they would not have to take any responsibility for GB debts. They promised that things would be wonderful from the oil production. I don’t believe any of those were true.
(2) They waste the money they get from Great Britain on things to buy them popularity. Meanwhile, although University education may be free, less low income students (as a percentage) go to university in Scotland than they do in England.
(3) They try and dominate and suppress their opponents. I think they fit into the group of people, like the ones on this site, who would close down the NZ Herald because it is not faithful to what they believe. The Venezuelan Government would be proud of them.
(4) They want central control of all national affairs. All things are to be under the control of central government.
I suggest you read that article in the Economist I referenced. I agree with it.
The ‘funny’ bit about that segment of 9 to noon, was that Matthew Hooten was way more on to it in terms of what prospective Labour and Green voters are saying than was Mills.
Who is he by the way – this Stephen Mills? Ah….a pollster…a bear of few brains with lots of pieces of paper with conservative numbers on them in front of him – sigh.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/10717323/The-future-for-Labour
He’s an improvement on Mike “I agree with Matthew” Williams, which I guess is something to be grateful for.
I thought that about Hooton as well except I thought it was all carefully crafted to sound like he was on to it and oh so reasonable 😉 Very little comes out of that man’s mouth that isn’t via his forked tongue.
Well, he (Hooton) is ‘on to it’ enough to read the more obvious social media sites. Now that’s a very fucking low bar. But it seems Stephen Mills cracks his numb, dumb skull on it nevertheless.
You seem to be conflating UK Labour *members* who elected Corbyn and their *voters* at the next election, a much larger group who may have different views. I imagine there has been polling about those.
What evidence do you have for your rather remarkable claim?
What’s remarkable about that statement?
http://www.msn.com/en-nz/money/news/just-62-people-now-own-the-same-wealth-as-half-the-worlds-population-research-finds/ar-BBokP7Q?ocid=spartandhp
62 people in the world own more than 3.6b of the poorest. trickle down working as expected I see.
A must read Oxfam study, ( Not sure of the quality of Oxfam research) But it makes you wonder for sure.
The trickle down is failing to distribute the wealth required to sustain consumer demand, thus sustainable business growth and return. The consequences of which we are currently witnessing.
New Zealand has the combination of capital flight (returns heading off shore) negatively impacting on our current, ultimately leaving us with less, coupled with insufficient wealth distribution.
Yet, instead of addressing these problems, we exacerbate them. We continue to welcome offshore ownership and largely decimated the power of unions, which help keep incomes in check.
Since the 80’s there has been years of reforms, new trade deals etc, yet we’ve failed to put our current account into surplus and have made little to no improvements in inequality.
Local business leaders should be opposed to offshore ownership and supportive of unions. The more workers earn, the more they drive up consumer demand, thus business return.
I thought, and pondered, and have come to the exactly the same conclusion. Mr Chairman. Thanks it reinforces my results.
An eminently sensible nutshell overview of the problem and one that should be given more airing! Thanks TC.
If you have any spare dildos, send them to these guys
Ha! Well spotted, Morrissey.
lol
“now’s the time for action”
hit the trip wire there you’d think – I spose they have outlived their usefulness now…
Rest assured, if I had any spare they’d be going to a number of local politicians, their spin masters, and quite a few in the media. The ones they have must be nearing the end of their useful lives.
I’m not sure whether this will take …. I’m possibly banned for thinking wishfully
You like being banned don’t you Once Was Tim? It adds a bit of spice to your life I
feel.
In November, MFAT issued a two-page summary of the estimated tariff and non-tariff trade gains from the TPP for the year 2030, when all agreed tariff changes should have been completed. In the column headed “Government treatment of results,” someone has slashed Goods NTBs in half, from $2,912 million to $1,456 million. This reduces the estimated total benefit to $2,704 million from $4,160 million. MFAT $$$ Summary Showing Arbitrary Cut
Such a reduction is surprising – the government normally hypes up the value of the TPP. However, what we see is a bold new theory of economics – if you don’t like a number, don’t understand it, or don’t have the political guts to accept professionally prepared data, then reduce it by 50.00000%. Problem solved! Now we know why the TPP negotiations were so secret. Even Bill English did not know about it or he would have cleared the Budget Deficit years ago.
In reality, of course, this 50% cut is completely arbitrary and completely dishonest because the Government is setting up to game us even further regarding the TPP. Readers might have noticed that recent government statements qualify the dollar benefits of the TPP by using use phrases such as “At least ….” . Rabbits out of hats will come.
Just because everyone is dying to know the details of the PM’s son’s life. It will be good when this stops.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/love-sex/75992633/max-key-splits-with-girlfriend-amelia-finlayson
It won’t
It’s clickbait.
I’m John key trust me, I’m a family man. So out of touch with the common man it makes me wince. A daughter in Paris doing quite frankly soft porn sex shows. A poser of a son with the model hanging off his arms for those exceptional good looking publicity shots. This is NZ now, US style press and publicity. Gawd!
Carefully scripted images. If he wasn’t taking them(max) I wonder which political publicist organized it thanks to the National party coffers.
This is John Keys world.
No need to attack his kids. Don’t sink to his level.
How’s Prince Harry’s love life going? Or did he get married while I was busy with something important to me? Or did I miss the news that some culture vulture unearthed that he is gay. and not likely to wed someone with a train as long as the Northern Express (if that exists)?
We can’t let this homegrown mini-celebrity Max cut out our normal gossip lines.
Well bugger, me the Herald posted three of my comments to Rodney hide and I was not polite at all.(no swear words )
In all my days what happened did they get a new editor,,, and Frans piece attacking Messam has had the part where she called him Gormless removed. Think the lawyers may have been in touch there.
Roughans piece has opened to comments, getting another hiding to nothing. But Frans remains closed no comments posted. Hmmm Frans made a boo boo this time me thinks.
Can Josie Pagani and Phil Quinn apply for jobs at DPMC now please?
DPMC?
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
….someone has to shovel out the bullshit else it piles up…
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Bernie Sanders’ new tax plan will push the top marginal rate for the wealthiest to above 60 percent.
The shadow Banking System worth two trillion. 🙂 obviously, why not?
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/60880
” One of the threats looming over the slowdown in China is the precarious state of a $2 trillion shadow banking system that grew up with the boom. If it crashes, the current Chinese stock market collapse could look like a picnic. ”
oh dear
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2015-11/23/content_22510699.htm
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/83387282-8f60-11e5-8be4-3506bf20cc2b.html#axzz3xZbpS5wl
quote: Chinese police have arrested hundreds of people suspected of running underground banks that illegally transferred more than Rmb800bn ($125bn) out of China into foreign currencies…..
http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/20/news/china-underground-banking/
quote: Over the past year, officials have issued arrest warrants for 56 people, frozen 3,000 bank accounts, shut down 37 unlicensed financial institutions allegedly laundering money and reviewed over 1.3 million suspicious transactions, reported state media.
Police busted another 10 unapproved banks this week, allegedly linked to about 51.6 billion yuan ($8.1 billion) in illegal transactions.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/01022e62-a207-11e4-aba2-00144feab7de.html#axzz3xZbpS5wl
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/94227492-8247-11e5-a01c-8650859a4767.html#axzz3xZbpS5wl
this is just stunning, and I would expect this to happen globally not only china. China might just be the biggest or one of the biggest player in the game. Sometimes I wonder why we bother pretending.
Hairild. Second headline. Arrh Marr Gaaaaard Mar Gaaaaard !!! Me Brokin Brokin Brokin !!!……World’s to an end. Maxi Mini PM, and that girl, you know. OH NO !!! Faaaaark !!!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11575638