Omigog, you’re right. And all the usual leftwing nutbars were out last night with their favourite conspiracy theory about why the polls are wrong. Even the dopey “landline bias” theory got a play! Thanks for alerting me.
No problem, Matthew. Any chance you can explain how Winnie gets more support as preferred PM than he does as an MP? That sorta tells me that Reid Research don’t know what they are doing and the poll counts for shit.
Any chance you can explain how Winnie gets more support as preferred PM than he does as an MP?
Not really, but I can speculate that it has something to do with the larrikinism in the NZ culture and that, among the 30% of the population who don’t like Key, Goff or Clark, which includes the majority of Labour voters now, a handfull names Peters when asked who they would like to be Prime Minister.
That to me, “Voice of Reason”, is a more reasonable explanation than “sorta tells me that Reid Research don’t know what they are doing and the poll counts for shit” but there you go.
I’m not sure Winston’s results are so hard to reconcile.
Does anyone know what the exact questions were? I can think of a few ways of phrasing them that might give that sort of result.
If you polled Helensville for example you might find a number of people who support John Key as PM but would rank him totally useless as their MP.
There’s also a big difference between “who do you prefer” and “who will you vote for”. People who “prefer” Helen Clark as PM for example presumably know that they aren’t going to be voting for her in November.
Matthew might have a point too about larrikinism. “I might just bloody well vote Winston if these bastards don’t pull finger” might not be an unheard-of sentiment in the current climate. Winston is in a way the ultimate protest vote.
Note that I neither know nor care about the accuracy of the poll in general, just pointing out that Winston’s result might not be as unusual as it seems on the face of it.
Good to see you displaying your usual reasoned and balanced self Matthew. Of course the MSM should go to you for views on the Labour Party and on politics in general. You can be guaranteed to provide carefully reasoned and fact based opinions every time and you never, ever try to spin anything.
Do you know how this polling company (or any other) has responded to the dislocation in the Christchurch population – people leaving the city, people living elsewhere in the city (where they are unlikely to be the respondent on the phone), people increasingly simply not having the time or inclination to respond, etc.?
Personally, I have no firm idea about what the poll means other than it still looks like National remains popular. That genuinely makes me sad as my belief is that the policies that National is pushing are likely to make most people’s lives in New Zealand that much worse and increase the fracturing of families, communities, etc..
I’m not sure if that makes me a “leftwing nutbar” or simply someone who has made considerable effort to reflect quite deeply on our society and what it is to be human. Compared to these issues, gloating over polls seems extraordinarily beside the point.
I’m guessing you are hapy because a high number for National (and Simon Power’s departure) will increase your chances of a right wing takeover of the National Party.
Could it be the first installment of the Mediaworks millions?
Oh, JohnDee, that is so desperate and pathetic. Are you seriously saying that Reid Research and the 3News newsroom carried out and reported a fake or dodgy poll because of the MediaWorks loan?
If so, this is the sort of thing which explains why the left is in such a hopeless position at present – a total detachment from reality. The situation for the left is far worse even than when Labour was 16% in 1996 because back then you had the Alliance and NZ First.
Things aren’t going to get better until the left’s activists stop living in conspiracyland.
Even more appropriate captcha this time – sciences
But Matthew you will have to agree that the polling company is often way out with its results and it does not publish its polling techniques so a certain degree of cynicism is justified. Also there are streets in the poorer parts of Auckland where the huge majority use cellphones rather than land lines. Surely this is a fertile area for bias?
There are streets in the richer parts of Auckland where everyone uses cellphones and no one would ever answer their land line, even if they still have one. What’s your point? The polling industry has an excellent record of being broadly accurate and anyone with high school stats can understand why.
The polling industry has an excellent record of being broadly accurate and anyone with high school stats can understand why.
You mean like on 8 August 2010 when Reid Research’s poll said it was Nat-Lab 54.5-30.6 and the same day Colmar Brunton said it was 49-35 and the comparable Roy Morgan said it was 50-33.5? Is that what you mean by being accurate? Reid Research has no history of being broadly accurate, it has not polled during an election period before.
Did a UMR poll last week. Every time I was asked to a ‘which party would you vote for’, ‘who do you prefer’ question National or John Key was the top choice. Every single time. No cycling of options. So of course National would rank above Labour…
Anyway, polling is fine but the country is still in the crapper, inflation is out of control, the outlook is bleak and National is the government. Congrats Hooten, your team are the Kings of Shitville…Kings yes but it’s still Shitville.
Aye Matthew you may well be correct. But there is now a question regarding mediaworks impartiality, especially when Key, Impey and Joyce are all implicated in this deal.
So people can be excused for wondering about TV3s motives in this affair.
Apart from blah blah blah blah blah it’s still and awful poll for Labour.
The leader isn’t going to change, the list is fixed, it doesn’t look like opinion is going to change in a hurry (in the left direction anyway), so what is going to have to change? Nothing isn’t a realistic option. Lalalalalala land isn’t going to last seven more months.
Does anybody know the exact process/method these polls follow? I mean unless we know that the process is just, one must take such information with a grain of salt. Apart from the obvious media bias, there are many areas that need improvement… Namely Labours performance at being an effective opposition party and Nationals ability to tell the truth.
I would not crow too loudly yet PeteG. There are a number of things happening that will take the sheen off National. Watch this space.
Anyone interested in a functioning parliamentary democracy should be worried about how shit an opposition Labour is, they are currently making the Nat opposition under Bill English look OK in retropsect.
Don’t have the expertise, but can someone email Radio NZ’s Kathryn Ryan ahead of this morning’s political slot (after 11am news) and link her to Hooten’s pitiable contribution on The Standard? Might be a wake-up call for her.
This Morning on National Radio Matthew will be reasonable and agreeable but at some point he will vent his spin and repeat it at least three times. The spin will be about Goff’s leadership, or the alleged failures of the Labour List or…… He does the “hammer a point of spin” each time while smiling for the rest of the slot. Bet a dollar on it.
Actually, what Hooten et al say on RNZ in the mornings is irrelevant. The station has a very limited audience. Most listeners are able to discern whether it is right/left spin or bias. I doubt you could record much of a political shift amongst listeners since national radio began – most have a political philosophy and they are unswayed, though often riled, by the comments of the pundits.
No, its the RadioNetwork, and their cronies that have more of an influence on public opinion. Again, not the phone in branch, but the DJs on the rock and popular stations, when they throw in their inane and bigoted comments between songs. Joyce had them well and truly recruited when he had influence.
And that is where Key is winning his battle. He has used the Network stations to trivialise government and managed to portray Parliament as an irrelevance and hooked into the population that believes it is all about ‘Question Time’ and an unruly rabble.
And that is where Key is winning his battle. He has used the Network stations to trivialise government and managed to portray Parliament as an irrelevance and hooked into the population that believes it is all about ‘Question Time’ and an unruly rabble.
Reminds of the matter of Key saying he would quit parliament if National lost rather than continue in opposition. There have been comments on this site about how this shows Key’s lack of commitment to the political process – and this may be so. But it probably resonates with much public opinion about politicians and the parliamentary process: it supports his everyman “just one of us” image. It’s probably a fairly honest response, too, rings true, just increases his kudos. More’s the pity.
Actually Freeman (interviewer) handed it onto a platter for Hooten to comment on the latest poll and the problems of Labour & it’s leadersip. The spin came later, where Hooten was claiming that National was clearly pursueing a moderate agenda (eg on student loan) and had no radical hidden agenda, that they wouldn’t privatise everything if they get back in or attack welfare etc… that was repeated at least three times. Sue Bradford’s response to this moderate line of spin was in the realms of “Yeah. Right.”
I’ve noticed that Hooten, Brash and various business leaders repeatedly claim that Key is too ‘centrist’, ‘moderate’, ‘un-radical’ and even that he is ruining New Zealand and squandering the chance to get New Zealand Inc. on the ‘right track’. That just reinforces the idea that Key is, indeed, centrist.
I actually suspect there may be considerable intention involved in these sorts of comments since those same critics seem absolutely ecstatic that National has such a lead over Labour in the polls (whatever the actual figure for that lead is).
This wouldn’t be the reaction you’d expect if they truly believed that National was taking us to hell in a handcart almost as rapidly as Labour would. They should be disconsolate with these polls – unless they suspect that National will, indeed, move towards their position once the votes are in.
Currently having many commentators to his right does at least two things for Key:
1. It creates in the minds of those parts of the electorate who like to see themselves as ‘pragmatic centrists’ that Key is their man;
2. Beyond the election, it also provides a bedrock of support for, and a movement of the discourse towards, the right so that, in the second term, Key will have a chorus of supporters lined up to say how, now, he is simply doing just what needs to be done.
The ideas that can now be talked about (e.g., via the various task forces and commentators such as Hooten) as being to the ‘right of Key’ get aired and spun into the discourse. It’s that familiarity that gives them an aura of reasonableness (as opposed to their actual reasonableness) and so as ‘worth considering’.
The population will have heard Key’s ‘critics’ to the right often enough and, so, even as he swings further to the right, those critics can offer grudging support and still argue that he hasn’t gone far enough. I’m not sure how many iterations of this strategy the electorate will put up with but a good number of people are very likely to go along with it for this second time (i.e., in 2011).
I wonder if there’s an ipredict bet that a returned National government would swing to the right after the election? Not sure how it would be worded in terms of a definitive outcome, but it would be fascinating to see the betting odds.
We probably get quite a few expats coming to this site. There’s a private group that has set up a survey for NZers living overseas. They had a short interview with one of the leading women this morning on Radio NZ – their main goal is to try and find out who is living overseas, and see if they can leverage their contacts/knowledge to help small and medium NZ exporters to grow and get footholds in foreign markets.
I guess this is one example where the private industry is much better than the government at this sort of thing!
I was wondering in a conspiracy sort of way if this contact could be used to track the unpaid student loans folk? One of my family is overseas but not with a Student Loan but I wonder?
It concerned me more that the private group’s aim is clearly to pursue the tired old neoliberal agenda…”blah, blah, blah…. growth, bliah, blah, blah…. .increase NZ’s exports….”
their main goal is to try and find out who is living overseas, and see if they can leverage their contacts/knowledge to help small and medium NZ exporters to grow and get footholds in foreign markets
Are they being fucking serious? I mean for fuck’s sake. There’s a reason newbies in the workforce are told to ask for a ‘long stand’ and all the rest of it.
But no. Some ‘bright spark’ in NZ wants to build the export sector on the back of bubbies on their OE who may or may not have contacts with customers in the tourist hotels they are working in or may or may not have drunken contacts with fellow traveler and similarly drunken Germans or Ozzies.
Or maybe they’re looking for longer established ex-pats to do a wee bit of moonlighting? For – what were those prizes again?
I sincerely hope it is a way…and the only way…that is being used to chase up student loans. At least then, only the terminally stupid will get sprung. (407 so far by the page counter)
From the interview this morning, it sounds like they were more interested in people who had been overseas long term and perhaps had businesses of there own or were highly placed in businesses that could be useful for NZ. They said that the results from their last survey (18,000 people, in 2006), 50% of them said they were planning on coming back to NZ at some point. So they don’t need “prizes” to encourage them to help NZ, and really this survey and the followup may prompt them to realise that actually, given who they know and where they are, they could be a valuable asset to certain companies in NZ, and pro actively do something about it.
Checking out your drinking water might be a good idea if you or a family member has asthma and allergies. A recent Belgian study concluded that chlorine, a common chemical added to water to help kill bacteria, could be making asthma in children worse. Fumes from chlorine in pools, and even in the shower, could trigger an attack for some people with asthma and allergies.
That page has no references to the original study making it impossible to evaluate the strength of evidence for the finding. A quick search online revealed a 2011 paper from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which concludes:
Conclusions: This first prospective longitudinal study suggests that swimming did not increase the risk of asthma or allergic symptoms in British children. Swimming was associated with increased lung function and lower risk of asthma symptoms, especially among children with preexisting respiratory conditions.
There were also pro/con editiorials on this article evaluating the evidence for the ‘chlorine hypothesis’. Overall, the take home message, as given in the summary/comment accompany this article is that:
… that we should encourage all patients with asthma to exercise regularly but still caution them that prolonged exposure to chlorine products (e.g., in elite swimmers) could cause lung injury
Note that all these studies are based on chlorine in swimming pools, which is a much higher level that that in drinking water. You can’t simply compare/extrapolate one set of findings to another simply because the same chemical is involved. Furthermore, any evidence for a risk associating with sterilising water with chlorine would have to be compared against the risk of not sterilising water or sterilising it by other means.
Interesting. Public swimming pools are chlorinated to a very high degree… often in the order of 2-5 ppm. That’s pretty high. What’s more it’s not the actual chlorine you can smell, but the by-product of the Cl2 reacting with all the organics in the water that the people put there. And it’s these organo-chlorides that since the 1960’s have been known to be quite powerful carcinogens; they are not nice chemicals at all.
Quite a remarkable amount of dead-skin, skin oils and filth is washed off people in pools, and without some form of disinfectant they’d been dangerous to swim in within days or even hours.
Some pools use alternate forms of disinfectant, UV and various forms of oxygen are useful, but nothing beats Cl2 for it’s persistence in the water. (By contrast UV is only effective for the short period while the water transits the sterilising unit, which is a few seconds at best.) There are some alternatives out there which use silver ions as well, but they aren’t mainstream yet.
The only reason why chlorine is tolerated in swimming pools is that it’s assumed the exposure time is short enough not to matter too much. Wouldn’t surprise me if these organo-chlorides trigger asthma though.
The NZ Drinking Water Standard for potable water is quite different. The whole aim of water treatment is to virtually eliminate the organics in the water before the Cl2 is added, minimising the formation of organo-chlorides along with their associated odour/taste issues and long-term health risks.
The amount added at the treatment plant is much less than in swimming pools, usually around 0.7 ppm. By the time it reaches your taps it’s less again … often around 0.2 ppm. The purpose of Cl2 in water supply is primarily to deal to the thin bio-film that always cling to the inside of the pipes and the sludge that inevitably builds up in the bottom of reservoirs over time. And whenever maintenance work is done, a little extra chlorine is added locally at the end of the job to ensure that the system is sterile again.
I’d accept there is probably a live issue here with chlorine in public swimming pools, but the public water supply here in NZ is far better controlled to much lower levels. It’s one thing that we do get right in most of NZ, although some smaller centers have yet to become fully compliant. (And the situation in many other countries is far less desirable again. )
Meanwhile the poll that counts is seven months away, National are continuing with their poor effort at being a good government and a week is still a long time in politics.
For some people like a good friend and his family, you can be polling them as much as you like but they are not ready yet to revisit how they voted in the past election (they swung to Nats).
Tellingly, they drop their eyes to the ground when I ask them if their tax cuts made a difference and if they would vote for a right-leaning Govt.
A new proposal being put forward in the US:
A National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace
Convenience for users is the main rationale for adopting this new protocol according to the clip however serious questions over the impact on free speech and privacy remain unaddressed. ‘Surfing the net’ would not be ID verified (though one would be foolish to think that such activities are not tracked already) however it is easy to see ID verified being extended to postings for example.
Given that technology to create entire identities and track internet usage is available to governments already the only loser here is the average member of the public whose details will be held by a mix of private and public sector organizations who will apparently not disclose them to third parties (yeah right)
Rather than protect us from identity theft this proposal will mean that any thief will only need to make one stop to gain access to a persons entire online persona.
Protest and dissent are becoming more common across the globe as citizens resist draconian power grabs by corrupt governments. It is surely no coincidence that this ‘strategy’ if it is accepted by the public will result in governments being able to more easily quash dissenters and prosecute them.
Shonkey thinks National can’t do much except control expenditure. Inflation based on oil cannot be rectified until our reliance on this is curbed. Although this is not the only factor in the high inflation rate and is being somewhat used as an excuse… The sooner we change away from petroleum, the more we will save. There are many things that the Government can do to develop our infrastructure so that we are not reliant on an imported and polluting resource. It is a pity National has no intention of moving New Zealand into a brighter future though.
Understand they could be targeting a few more personalities for candidates – former top New Zealand sportsman who now move around in the corporate circles.
ACT party vote in Empsom was 6.2% of total party vote in Epsom and 2.8% of the party vote received throughout the country. Epsom voters were canny with their electorate vote but obviously do not have much more time for the ACToids than the rest of the country has.
Just a thought.
Anyone done a head count on the animals in Christchurch’s Orana Wildlife park since February?
Makes you wonder how safe the suburbs would be if any of the “big cats”, and other less than human friendly animals were to escape into the wild. That goes for Auckland and Wellington – (never say “never”, because that’s the meme the Nuclear energy lot have consistently assured us with…)
Release the animals into the Beehive I say- the Green MPs are probably the fittest and will most likely escape – the rest of them should be made to battle it out with the beasts live on Parliament TV. Our elected representatives owe us at the very least some decent entertainment.
Spartacus. Im getting some great ideas on how to deal with tyrannical slave masters. It is a messy solution I will admit however Im sure that we can get close to 100% voter turn out if it is a fight to the death between candidates, or between candidates and people they have marginalised (eg Paula Bennet vs. a horde of desperate and hungry benificiaries)
Its not democracy – but then what we currently have isn’t either – beats watching the RWC anyway.
I recall a snippet on the radio, pretty sure it was after the February quake. The giraffes were apparently very wary of their shelter house and didn’t want to go back inside for a few days after.
I’m pretty sure if any dangerous animals had escaped, we’d know about it (there were stories about an escaped monkey a few months back).
The chance of getting killed by an escaped big cat or something like that is probably a lot less than the chance of being killed by lightning and certainly a few orders of magnitude less than the chance of being killed in a cat accident. Of course the probability is not zero, but I really don’t think it’s something worth worrying about.
And what empirical research would you be basing that assurance on wtl. Tell that to people living around Western Springs in Auckland. Presumably the park keepers would have it all under control – assumes they are on site at the time of course…
LOL, emprical research? No, I didn’t bother doing any, I just used some common sense based on my estimates of:
1) The number of people killed by escaped big cats. In NZ, I estimate this to be zero, as I’ve never heard of any such cases. Worldwide the number is presumeably very low, the only case I can think of is one in a zoo in the US (San Diego?) where a tiger jumped over a moat a few years ago. Note that this is the kind of story that would be widely reported if it did happen.
2) The number of people killed by lightning is a certainly not zero. In fact its probably hundreds if not thousands a year worldwide.
3) It doesn’t take a genius to know that the chance of being killed in a car accident is actually very high. Probably tens or hundreds of thousands a year worldwide.
Assuming the ‘escaped big cat attacks’ followed a roughly even distribution over time, and keeping in mind that any single instance of such an event is only going to result in a few deaths (rather than hundreds/thousands deaths), it is perfectly reasonable to use an approach such as above to estimate the probably of being killed in such an event.
What are the odds on a former All Black being a National MP this year? They teased us with that last time.. I can just see Michael Jones being unveiled next to his statue at Eden Park..
the poll only means that kiwis dont really give a stuff at the moment.
they have more important things to consider like the world cup, holidays in hawaii and christmas.
wait till november dingbat.
Interesting story by Madeleine Bunting in “The Guardian” about the sudden ‘discovery’ of old Foreign Office files relating to the Kenyan Mau Mau uprising and which throw the old official version of that conflict into a new light.
The endgames of our empire never quite finished – just look at Bahrain
Key quote: ‘The Foreign Office attributed the forgotten boxes to “an earlier misunderstanding about contents” and stated that there needed to be an “improvement in archive management”. In a superbly smooth statement, the Foreign Office commented that “it was the general practice for the colonial administrations to transfer to the UK … selected documents held by the governor which were not appropriate to hand on to the successor government”…’
So it’s official, according to Hooters on the wireless. As of last wednesday the tories have been forced to slough ACT, leaving them with no friends whatsoever in stormiest political weather for decades.
A first for MMP, and a first in Breathtaking Arrogance.
Grand day, brothers and sisters, mark it down, and celebrate.
Sorry guys, I just can’t help it – best I’ve seen for a while.
A small airplane was flying from Auckland to Wellington with 5 passengers on board when suddenly the motor cut out and there were only 4 parachutes available. The first passenger said “I’m Pita Sharples, co leader of the Maori Party, it’s imperative I survive to make sure those nasty Pakeha don’t make off with our foreshore and seabed” so pita grabbed the first parachute and jumped from the plane. The second passenger Red Russel said “I’m also an extremely important man, without me around they would have the bulldozers in and the country would be leveled within a week” so Red Russel grabs the second chute and leaps out the door. The third passenger, Goofy, he said “I’m the leader of the opposition and I am the smartest man in NZ, if I wasn’t keeping the government honest the place would be a capitalist hell hole” Goofy makes a grab for chute and rushes head first out the door. The fourth passenger was Shonkey and the fifth passenger a 10 year old schoolgirl, Shonkey turns to talk to the girl and says “I’m sure New Zealanders will re-elect National no matter if I’m leader or not ………so I will sacrifice my life for yours” “That’s all right Mr prime minister” the little girl says ,” there’s a parachute left for you, New Zealand’s smartest man just took my schoolbag”.
Nice one grumpy. That joke has been circulating for years. The only things that you have changed are the names and a couple of current agendas. Obviously nothing original even in the National Party apologists joke coffers either. Pathetic…
Grumpy, You just can’t help it?
You and your rightwing crims have been helping themselves to our assets ever since they morphed into suits, shaved the body hair and stood upright – last week sometime… Hide’s still learning to balance on two limbs and JKeyll’s still taking the ‘I forget where I left my cheque book, oh sorry New Zealand’s cheque book…’ pills.
Some nice work here by Paul Norris about TVNZ. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10719996
“Make no mistake – the public may own TVNZ, but it is a public broadcaster no more.” Couldn’t agree more. Stop pretending, TVNZ, you’re not NZ’s TV so cough up the name and hand it over.
Thanks Tigger.
Two parts that stood out:
‘A mere two hours a day has transferred to TVNZ7, which has enough funding to last until mid-2012. After that it will disappear from our screens unless a solution is found’.
** Vote Labour and Greens
‘Why should we care about this situation? First, because viewers will be disadvantaged by the loss of these channels.
Already there have been complaints from parents who found value in the range and quality of children’s programmes on TVNZ6 and who are unwilling to have to subscribe to Sky to get them.’
** Maybe they’re not ‘unwilling’ maybe they cannot ‘afford’ to.
More brain-dead polling from TV3. Apparently 70% support spending cuts. So says Dunce Garner.
No, I think about 100% support spending cuts. I support spending cuts. So do you.
Until we ask – “on what?”. BMWs and Beehive consultants’ jobs for the boys and Rugby World Cup – yes. Schools and hospitals – no.
In tomorrow’s poll: Dunce Garner says 70% support tax cuts, because when asked “Would you like some more money in your pocket?” they said yes, they would, thanks.
Moronic Mediaworks.
Yep, that Mediaworks backhander is really paying dividends now. I came in to the item late, something about 50% don’t reckon Labour should replace Goff, followed by the percentages for the potential replacements. BTW, is it just me or does Garner’s gimp talk like he’s had a recent stroke?
(No offence, stroke victims, you’ve got enough to deal without unfair comparisons to mike’d up morons)
Mediaworks backhander is really paying dividends now.
The 2nd night in a row that TV3 has conducted a hatchet job on Labour. Compare with the time devoted to analysing Key’s segment at a presser when he claimed that the GST rise was fully compensated (none)
It did occur to me that few would be able to name the “spending cuts.”
Q1: Can you name 3 spending cuts?
A: Not sure.
Q2: Do you approve of spending cuts?
A: I guess so. Er yes.
Paranoia reigns! I don’t watch TV, I listen – but pricked up my ears at an item on evil Chinese hackers – a reporter with a faux British accent did a story about the afore-mentioned evil Chinese hackers, and had a tame one sitting beside her and she cooed admiringly as he hacked into her ‘account’, and took her credit card details. (His face was blacked out and his name not given.) Then there was an interview with him, that showed him once again blacked out – but also the concerned face of his interpreter – who was none other than the well-known American actress Ming Na! Maybe she’s on hiatus from Stargate Universe or it’s finally just ended, and she has to take any work she can get?
Just a wee bit weird, I think…
Unrest in North Africa and the Middle East has left Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations nervous of political instability and of a sharp fall in oil prices that could lead to a fiscal crunch while populations are restive. The kingdom promised nearly $93 billion in handouts to its citizens in the wake of the wave of unrest that swept the Arab world this spring, making a sharp fall in oil prices a major risk for its budget.
The email is off after the server move on Sunday. I was going to do it last night but an old friend came around to check that I was still alive. I will sneak it into today.
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On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter has apologised in Parliament after National accused her of intimidating and attacking one of its ministers in the House. ...
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So, what about that poll then?
captcha = support !
Try and keep up Matthew. That one was put to bed yesterday.
Omigog, you’re right. And all the usual leftwing nutbars were out last night with their favourite conspiracy theory about why the polls are wrong. Even the dopey “landline bias” theory got a play! Thanks for alerting me.
No problem, Matthew. Any chance you can explain how Winnie gets more support as preferred PM than he does as an MP? That sorta tells me that Reid Research don’t know what they are doing and the poll counts for shit.
Any chance you can explain how Winnie gets more support as preferred PM than he does as an MP?
Not really, but I can speculate that it has something to do with the larrikinism in the NZ culture and that, among the 30% of the population who don’t like Key, Goff or Clark, which includes the majority of Labour voters now, a handfull names Peters when asked who they would like to be Prime Minister.
That to me, “Voice of Reason”, is a more reasonable explanation than “sorta tells me that Reid Research don’t know what they are doing and the poll counts for shit” but there you go.
I’m not sure Winston’s results are so hard to reconcile.
Does anyone know what the exact questions were? I can think of a few ways of phrasing them that might give that sort of result.
If you polled Helensville for example you might find a number of people who support John Key as PM but would rank him totally useless as their MP.
There’s also a big difference between “who do you prefer” and “who will you vote for”. People who “prefer” Helen Clark as PM for example presumably know that they aren’t going to be voting for her in November.
Matthew might have a point too about larrikinism. “I might just bloody well vote Winston if these bastards don’t pull finger” might not be an unheard-of sentiment in the current climate. Winston is in a way the ultimate protest vote.
Note that I neither know nor care about the accuracy of the poll in general, just pointing out that Winston’s result might not be as unusual as it seems on the face of it.
Good to see you displaying your usual reasoned and balanced self Matthew. Of course the MSM should go to you for views on the Labour Party and on politics in general. You can be guaranteed to provide carefully reasoned and fact based opinions every time and you never, ever try to spin anything.
Matthew spins so much that Jim Mora uses him to generate electricity to power RNZ afternoons , helps to keep the costs down .
Hi Matthew,
Do you know how this polling company (or any other) has responded to the dislocation in the Christchurch population – people leaving the city, people living elsewhere in the city (where they are unlikely to be the respondent on the phone), people increasingly simply not having the time or inclination to respond, etc.?
Personally, I have no firm idea about what the poll means other than it still looks like National remains popular. That genuinely makes me sad as my belief is that the policies that National is pushing are likely to make most people’s lives in New Zealand that much worse and increase the fracturing of families, communities, etc..
I’m not sure if that makes me a “leftwing nutbar” or simply someone who has made considerable effort to reflect quite deeply on our society and what it is to be human. Compared to these issues, gloating over polls seems extraordinarily beside the point.
To me it says, the lackaballsical Labour caucus shoulda rolled Goff weeks ago when he bungled the Hughes affair.
H1 FTW !!!
I’m guessing you are hapy because a high number for National (and Simon Power’s departure) will increase your chances of a right wing takeover of the National Party.
So what about the poll?
Could it be the first installment of the Mediaworks millions?
Could it be the first installment of the Mediaworks millions?
Oh, JohnDee, that is so desperate and pathetic. Are you seriously saying that Reid Research and the 3News newsroom carried out and reported a fake or dodgy poll because of the MediaWorks loan?
If so, this is the sort of thing which explains why the left is in such a hopeless position at present – a total detachment from reality. The situation for the left is far worse even than when Labour was 16% in 1996 because back then you had the Alliance and NZ First.
Things aren’t going to get better until the left’s activists stop living in conspiracyland.
Even more appropriate captcha this time – sciences
But Matthew you will have to agree that the polling company is often way out with its results and it does not publish its polling techniques so a certain degree of cynicism is justified. Also there are streets in the poorer parts of Auckland where the huge majority use cellphones rather than land lines. Surely this is a fertile area for bias?
There are streets in the richer parts of Auckland where everyone uses cellphones and no one would ever answer their land line, even if they still have one. What’s your point? The polling industry has an excellent record of being broadly accurate and anyone with high school stats can understand why.
The polling industry has an excellent record of being broadly accurate and anyone with high school stats can understand why.
Yep – exactly, they are all roughly in line with one another. Always prudent to average them out though.
The margin is RR-CB-RM 24-14-16. Is that really “broadly accurate”? A 10% variation in the margin? 10% is about twelve seats.
They are roughly in line with each other if you average them out though.
Did a UMR poll last week. Every time I was asked to a ‘which party would you vote for’, ‘who do you prefer’ question National or John Key was the top choice. Every single time. No cycling of options. So of course National would rank above Labour…
Anyway, polling is fine but the country is still in the crapper, inflation is out of control, the outlook is bleak and National is the government. Congrats Hooten, your team are the Kings of Shitville…Kings yes but it’s still Shitville.
Hooten was just on RadioNZ and was as calm and as balanced as I can ever remember him being in that smarmy condescending way that he has perfected.
Good comment about Shitville. The nats may retain power and continue to feed their corporate mates but the country will just continue to decline.
And may the Kings of shitsville deepen the contradiction and bring about a revolution!!!!
It’s a powder kegg I tell you!!!!!
Captains of the Titanic
Aye Matthew you may well be correct. But there is now a question regarding mediaworks impartiality, especially when Key, Impey and Joyce are all implicated in this deal.
So people can be excused for wondering about TV3s motives in this affair.
Fuck off Hooten, you have pretty much devoted ourself to flogging this country off to the highest bidder, starting with Lyttleton Port.
Your nothing better than a fucking quisling – you and your string pullers in the Nats.
You may win this round, but I dont think even you will stomach the sight of single mums having to live in the street.
“The sight of single mums having to live in the street.”
He would be the sort of creep who would put his hand in his wallet with glee!!!
Apart from blah blah blah blah blah it’s still and awful poll for Labour.
The leader isn’t going to change, the list is fixed, it doesn’t look like opinion is going to change in a hurry (in the left direction anyway), so what is going to have to change? Nothing isn’t a realistic option. Lalalalalala land isn’t going to last seven more months.
Does anybody know the exact process/method these polls follow? I mean unless we know that the process is just, one must take such information with a grain of salt. Apart from the obvious media bias, there are many areas that need improvement… Namely Labours performance at being an effective opposition party and Nationals ability to tell the truth.
I would not crow too loudly yet PeteG. There are a number of things happening that will take the sheen off National. Watch this space.
Well, we hope it doesn’t anyway but National could always get back in.
Anyone interested in a functioning parliamentary democracy should be worried about how shit an opposition Labour is, they are currently making the Nat opposition under Bill English look OK in retropsect.
I think five years of Gerry Brownlee dictatorship is a bigger threat to democracy than a period of weakness for one of the two major parties.
I think five years under Brownlee would kill us.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4899125/Tolleys-Wild-West-call-to-ride-horses-to-school-derided
Yes, let them ride horses and let them eat cake. Hooters can shout with glee over the poll results but in the real world (where the rest of us live) this government is a pile of elitist shit.
And Hooten calls himself a grown-up?
In the ‘Boys Own’ world of the Hollow Men anything can mean anything.
Don’t have the expertise, but can someone email Radio NZ’s Kathryn Ryan ahead of this morning’s political slot (after 11am news) and link her to Hooten’s pitiable contribution on The Standard? Might be a wake-up call for her.
Ryan’s not on this morning. There’s a stand-in: Freeman, I think.
This Morning on National Radio Matthew will be reasonable and agreeable but at some point he will vent his spin and repeat it at least three times. The spin will be about Goff’s leadership, or the alleged failures of the Labour List or…… He does the “hammer a point of spin” each time while smiling for the rest of the slot. Bet a dollar on it.
Actually, what Hooten et al say on RNZ in the mornings is irrelevant. The station has a very limited audience. Most listeners are able to discern whether it is right/left spin or bias. I doubt you could record much of a political shift amongst listeners since national radio began – most have a political philosophy and they are unswayed, though often riled, by the comments of the pundits.
No, its the RadioNetwork, and their cronies that have more of an influence on public opinion. Again, not the phone in branch, but the DJs on the rock and popular stations, when they throw in their inane and bigoted comments between songs. Joyce had them well and truly recruited when he had influence.
And that is where Key is winning his battle. He has used the Network stations to trivialise government and managed to portray Parliament as an irrelevance and hooked into the population that believes it is all about ‘Question Time’ and an unruly rabble.
And that is where Key is winning his battle. He has used the Network stations to trivialise government and managed to portray Parliament as an irrelevance and hooked into the population that believes it is all about ‘Question Time’ and an unruly rabble.
Reminds of the matter of Key saying he would quit parliament if National lost rather than continue in opposition. There have been comments on this site about how this shows Key’s lack of commitment to the political process – and this may be so. But it probably resonates with much public opinion about politicians and the parliamentary process: it supports his everyman “just one of us” image. It’s probably a fairly honest response, too, rings true, just increases his kudos. More’s the pity.
Actually Freeman (interviewer) handed it onto a platter for Hooten to comment on the latest poll and the problems of Labour & it’s leadersip. The spin came later, where Hooten was claiming that National was clearly pursueing a moderate agenda (eg on student loan) and had no radical hidden agenda, that they wouldn’t privatise everything if they get back in or attack welfare etc… that was repeated at least three times. Sue Bradford’s response to this moderate line of spin was in the realms of “Yeah. Right.”
I think you’re right Carol.
I’ve noticed that Hooten, Brash and various business leaders repeatedly claim that Key is too ‘centrist’, ‘moderate’, ‘un-radical’ and even that he is ruining New Zealand and squandering the chance to get New Zealand Inc. on the ‘right track’. That just reinforces the idea that Key is, indeed, centrist.
I actually suspect there may be considerable intention involved in these sorts of comments since those same critics seem absolutely ecstatic that National has such a lead over Labour in the polls (whatever the actual figure for that lead is).
This wouldn’t be the reaction you’d expect if they truly believed that National was taking us to hell in a handcart almost as rapidly as Labour would. They should be disconsolate with these polls – unless they suspect that National will, indeed, move towards their position once the votes are in.
Currently having many commentators to his right does at least two things for Key:
1. It creates in the minds of those parts of the electorate who like to see themselves as ‘pragmatic centrists’ that Key is their man;
2. Beyond the election, it also provides a bedrock of support for, and a movement of the discourse towards, the right so that, in the second term, Key will have a chorus of supporters lined up to say how, now, he is simply doing just what needs to be done.
The ideas that can now be talked about (e.g., via the various task forces and commentators such as Hooten) as being to the ‘right of Key’ get aired and spun into the discourse. It’s that familiarity that gives them an aura of reasonableness (as opposed to their actual reasonableness) and so as ‘worth considering’.
The population will have heard Key’s ‘critics’ to the right often enough and, so, even as he swings further to the right, those critics can offer grudging support and still argue that he hasn’t gone far enough. I’m not sure how many iterations of this strategy the electorate will put up with but a good number of people are very likely to go along with it for this second time (i.e., in 2011).
I wonder if there’s an ipredict bet that a returned National government would swing to the right after the election? Not sure how it would be worded in terms of a definitive outcome, but it would be fascinating to see the betting odds.
Next time, email:
ninetonoon [at] radionz.co.nz
We probably get quite a few expats coming to this site. There’s a private group that has set up a survey for NZers living overseas. They had a short interview with one of the leading women this morning on Radio NZ – their main goal is to try and find out who is living overseas, and see if they can leverage their contacts/knowledge to help small and medium NZ exporters to grow and get footholds in foreign markets.
I guess this is one example where the private industry is much better than the government at this sort of thing!
The website is: http://www.everykiwicounts.com
captcha: solutions
I was wondering in a conspiracy sort of way if this contact could be used to track the unpaid student loans folk? One of my family is overseas but not with a Student Loan but I wonder?
I see that they promise to not pass on information to a third party.
It concerned me more that the private group’s aim is clearly to pursue the tired old neoliberal agenda…”blah, blah, blah…. growth, bliah, blah, blah…. .increase NZ’s exports….”
their main goal is to try and find out who is living overseas, and see if they can leverage their contacts/knowledge to help small and medium NZ exporters to grow and get footholds in foreign markets
Are they being fucking serious? I mean for fuck’s sake. There’s a reason newbies in the workforce are told to ask for a ‘long stand’ and all the rest of it.
But no. Some ‘bright spark’ in NZ wants to build the export sector on the back of bubbies on their OE who may or may not have contacts with customers in the tourist hotels they are working in or may or may not have drunken contacts with fellow traveler and similarly drunken Germans or Ozzies.
Or maybe they’re looking for longer established ex-pats to do a wee bit of moonlighting? For – what were those prizes again?
I sincerely hope it is a way…and the only way…that is being used to chase up student loans. At least then, only the terminally stupid will get sprung. (407 so far by the page counter)
From the interview this morning, it sounds like they were more interested in people who had been overseas long term and perhaps had businesses of there own or were highly placed in businesses that could be useful for NZ. They said that the results from their last survey (18,000 people, in 2006), 50% of them said they were planning on coming back to NZ at some point. So they don’t need “prizes” to encourage them to help NZ, and really this survey and the followup may prompt them to realise that actually, given who they know and where they are, they could be a valuable asset to certain companies in NZ, and pro actively do something about it.
Link Between Chlorine and Asthma
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/04/link-between-chlorine-and-asthma.html
Checking out your drinking water might be a good idea if you or a family member has asthma and allergies. A recent Belgian study concluded that chlorine, a common chemical added to water to help kill bacteria, could be making asthma in children worse. Fumes from chlorine in pools, and even in the shower, could trigger an attack for some people with asthma and allergies.
That page has no references to the original study making it impossible to evaluate the strength of evidence for the finding. A quick search online revealed a 2011 paper from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which concludes:
There were also pro/con editiorials on this article evaluating the evidence for the ‘chlorine hypothesis’. Overall, the take home message, as given in the summary/comment accompany this article is that:
Note that all these studies are based on chlorine in swimming pools, which is a much higher level that that in drinking water. You can’t simply compare/extrapolate one set of findings to another simply because the same chemical is involved. Furthermore, any evidence for a risk associating with sterilising water with chlorine would have to be compared against the risk of not sterilising water or sterilising it by other means.
Interesting. Public swimming pools are chlorinated to a very high degree… often in the order of 2-5 ppm. That’s pretty high. What’s more it’s not the actual chlorine you can smell, but the by-product of the Cl2 reacting with all the organics in the water that the people put there. And it’s these organo-chlorides that since the 1960’s have been known to be quite powerful carcinogens; they are not nice chemicals at all.
Quite a remarkable amount of dead-skin, skin oils and filth is washed off people in pools, and without some form of disinfectant they’d been dangerous to swim in within days or even hours.
Some pools use alternate forms of disinfectant, UV and various forms of oxygen are useful, but nothing beats Cl2 for it’s persistence in the water. (By contrast UV is only effective for the short period while the water transits the sterilising unit, which is a few seconds at best.) There are some alternatives out there which use silver ions as well, but they aren’t mainstream yet.
The only reason why chlorine is tolerated in swimming pools is that it’s assumed the exposure time is short enough not to matter too much. Wouldn’t surprise me if these organo-chlorides trigger asthma though.
The NZ Drinking Water Standard for potable water is quite different. The whole aim of water treatment is to virtually eliminate the organics in the water before the Cl2 is added, minimising the formation of organo-chlorides along with their associated odour/taste issues and long-term health risks.
The amount added at the treatment plant is much less than in swimming pools, usually around 0.7 ppm. By the time it reaches your taps it’s less again … often around 0.2 ppm. The purpose of Cl2 in water supply is primarily to deal to the thin bio-film that always cling to the inside of the pipes and the sludge that inevitably builds up in the bottom of reservoirs over time. And whenever maintenance work is done, a little extra chlorine is added locally at the end of the job to ensure that the system is sterile again.
I’d accept there is probably a live issue here with chlorine in public swimming pools, but the public water supply here in NZ is far better controlled to much lower levels. It’s one thing that we do get right in most of NZ, although some smaller centers have yet to become fully compliant. (And the situation in many other countries is far less desirable again. )
The poll is probably accurate, excuses or no excuses.
Meanwhile the poll that counts is seven months away, National are continuing with their poor effort at being a good government and a week is still a long time in politics.
For some people like a good friend and his family, you can be polling them as much as you like but they are not ready yet to revisit how they voted in the past election (they swung to Nats).
Tellingly, they drop their eyes to the ground when I ask them if their tax cuts made a difference and if they would vote for a right-leaning Govt.
A new proposal being put forward in the US:
A National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace
Convenience for users is the main rationale for adopting this new protocol according to the clip however serious questions over the impact on free speech and privacy remain unaddressed. ‘Surfing the net’ would not be ID verified (though one would be foolish to think that such activities are not tracked already) however it is easy to see ID verified being extended to postings for example.
Given that technology to create entire identities and track internet usage is available to governments already the only loser here is the average member of the public whose details will be held by a mix of private and public sector organizations who will apparently not disclose them to third parties (yeah right)
Rather than protect us from identity theft this proposal will mean that any thief will only need to make one stop to gain access to a persons entire online persona.
Protest and dissent are becoming more common across the globe as citizens resist draconian power grabs by corrupt governments. It is surely no coincidence that this ‘strategy’ if it is accepted by the public will result in governments being able to more easily quash dissenters and prosecute them.
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CPI hits 4.5%. Key Gov’t promises to do nothing.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/4899053/Economists-forecast-inflation-rise-to-5-5pc
Which explains why the usual suspects want to talk about polls.
Shonkey thinks National can’t do much except control expenditure. Inflation based on oil cannot be rectified until our reliance on this is curbed. Although this is not the only factor in the high inflation rate and is being somewhat used as an excuse… The sooner we change away from petroleum, the more we will save. There are many things that the Government can do to develop our infrastructure so that we are not reliant on an imported and polluting resource. It is a pity National has no intention of moving New Zealand into a brighter future though.
With ACT getting the bum’s rush from National in Epsom, they’re going to have to lift their party vote nationwide.
Does anyone know what proportion of their 3.65% party vote came from Epsom?
Are we going to see the potentially hilarious spectacle of ACT candidates seriously campaigning outside of the eastern suburbs of Auckland?
Understand they could be targeting a few more personalities for candidates – former top New Zealand sportsman who now move around in the corporate circles.
Sports is entertainment too
ACT party vote in Empsom was 6.2% of total party vote in Epsom and 2.8% of the party vote received throughout the country. Epsom voters were canny with their electorate vote but obviously do not have much more time for the ACToids than the rest of the country has.
Just a thought.
Anyone done a head count on the animals in Christchurch’s Orana Wildlife park since February?
Makes you wonder how safe the suburbs would be if any of the “big cats”, and other less than human friendly animals were to escape into the wild. That goes for Auckland and Wellington – (never say “never”, because that’s the meme the Nuclear energy lot have consistently assured us with…)
Release the animals into the Beehive I say- the Green MPs are probably the fittest and will most likely escape – the rest of them should be made to battle it out with the beasts live on Parliament TV. Our elected representatives owe us at the very least some decent entertainment.
LOL Campbell – have you been watching ‘Rome’?
Anti-spam: feed
Spartacus. Im getting some great ideas on how to deal with tyrannical slave masters. It is a messy solution I will admit however Im sure that we can get close to 100% voter turn out if it is a fight to the death between candidates, or between candidates and people they have marginalised (eg Paula Bennet vs. a horde of desperate and hungry benificiaries)
Its not democracy – but then what we currently have isn’t either – beats watching the RWC anyway.
I recall a snippet on the radio, pretty sure it was after the February quake. The giraffes were apparently very wary of their shelter house and didn’t want to go back inside for a few days after.
I’m pretty sure if any dangerous animals had escaped, we’d know about it (there were stories about an escaped monkey a few months back).
…that apelike creature was Hide. Caught in the right light and angle he can look as though his knuckles should be dragging on the ground.
The chance of getting killed by an escaped big cat or something like that is probably a lot less than the chance of being killed by lightning and certainly a few orders of magnitude less than the chance of being killed in a cat accident. Of course the probability is not zero, but I really don’t think it’s something worth worrying about.
And what empirical research would you be basing that assurance on wtl. Tell that to people living around Western Springs in Auckland. Presumably the park keepers would have it all under control – assumes they are on site at the time of course…
LOL, emprical research? No, I didn’t bother doing any, I just used some common sense based on my estimates of:
1) The number of people killed by escaped big cats. In NZ, I estimate this to be zero, as I’ve never heard of any such cases. Worldwide the number is presumeably very low, the only case I can think of is one in a zoo in the US (San Diego?) where a tiger jumped over a moat a few years ago. Note that this is the kind of story that would be widely reported if it did happen.
2) The number of people killed by lightning is a certainly not zero. In fact its probably hundreds if not thousands a year worldwide.
3) It doesn’t take a genius to know that the chance of being killed in a car accident is actually very high. Probably tens or hundreds of thousands a year worldwide.
Assuming the ‘escaped big cat attacks’ followed a roughly even distribution over time, and keeping in mind that any single instance of such an event is only going to result in a few deaths (rather than hundreds/thousands deaths), it is perfectly reasonable to use an approach such as above to estimate the probably of being killed in such an event.
ps. Some quick digging indicates that:
What are the odds on a former All Black being a National MP this year? They teased us with that last time.. I can just see Michael Jones being unveiled next to his statue at Eden Park..
Amazing how a lot of sportsmen and personalities, given their humble backgrounds and support networks, kick the ladder from under them.
High
…and what are the expectations that they’ll add value to parliament ?
Low
Kicking away the ladder is one way to have the competitive edge in the free market (the fewer rules, the freer).
the poll only means that kiwis dont really give a stuff at the moment.
they have more important things to consider like the world cup, holidays in hawaii and christmas.
wait till november dingbat.
Interesting story by Madeleine Bunting in “The Guardian” about the sudden ‘discovery’ of old Foreign Office files relating to the Kenyan Mau Mau uprising and which throw the old official version of that conflict into a new light.
The endgames of our empire never quite finished – just look at Bahrain
Key quote: ‘The Foreign Office attributed the forgotten boxes to “an earlier misunderstanding about contents” and stated that there needed to be an “improvement in archive management”. In a superbly smooth statement, the Foreign Office commented that “it was the general practice for the colonial administrations to transfer to the UK … selected documents held by the governor which were not appropriate to hand on to the successor government”…’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/17/bahrain-foreign-office-empire
(Sorry, link function on toolbar didn’t work.)
So it’s official, according to Hooters on the wireless. As of last wednesday the tories have been forced to slough ACT, leaving them with no friends whatsoever in stormiest political weather for decades.
A first for MMP, and a first in Breathtaking Arrogance.
Grand day, brothers and sisters, mark it down, and celebrate.
Sorry guys, I just can’t help it – best I’ve seen for a while.
Stolen from Kiwiblog
Another bail-out for John? He’s getting good at them.
Betcha if the plane wasn’t insured John would pay the owner out on the taxpayer’s dime.
Nice one grumpy. That joke has been circulating for years. The only things that you have changed are the names and a couple of current agendas. Obviously nothing original even in the National Party apologists joke coffers either. Pathetic…
Used to be Muldoon exiting the plane with the backpack when I was a lad. And I think it was Peters for a while in the nineties.
Stolen from Kiwiblog
You paid too much 🙂
So you’re the leftie on these pages with a sense of humour – I knew there had to be one. 🙂
Grumpy, You just can’t help it?
You and your rightwing crims have been helping themselves to our assets ever since they morphed into suits, shaved the body hair and stood upright – last week sometime… Hide’s still learning to balance on two limbs and JKeyll’s still taking the ‘I forget where I left my cheque book, oh sorry New Zealand’s cheque book…’ pills.
Some nice work here by Paul Norris about TVNZ.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10719996
“Make no mistake – the public may own TVNZ, but it is a public broadcaster no more.” Couldn’t agree more. Stop pretending, TVNZ, you’re not NZ’s TV so cough up the name and hand it over.
Thanks Tigger.
Two parts that stood out:
‘A mere two hours a day has transferred to TVNZ7, which has enough funding to last until mid-2012. After that it will disappear from our screens unless a solution is found’.
** Vote Labour and Greens
‘Why should we care about this situation? First, because viewers will be disadvantaged by the loss of these channels.
Already there have been complaints from parents who found value in the range and quality of children’s programmes on TVNZ6 and who are unwilling to have to subscribe to Sky to get them.’
** Maybe they’re not ‘unwilling’ maybe they cannot ‘afford’ to.
More brain-dead polling from TV3. Apparently 70% support spending cuts. So says Dunce Garner.
No, I think about 100% support spending cuts. I support spending cuts. So do you.
Until we ask – “on what?”. BMWs and Beehive consultants’ jobs for the boys and Rugby World Cup – yes. Schools and hospitals – no.
In tomorrow’s poll: Dunce Garner says 70% support tax cuts, because when asked “Would you like some more money in your pocket?” they said yes, they would, thanks.
Moronic Mediaworks.
And they are running my favourite useless question;
“Who do you think will win?”
Rephrased as:
“Do you think Goff can win?”
It’s a useless question because it’s asking respondents to say how they think everyone else will vote. Horse race journalism at its worst
Yep, that Mediaworks backhander is really paying dividends now. I came in to the item late, something about 50% don’t reckon Labour should replace Goff, followed by the percentages for the potential replacements. BTW, is it just me or does Garner’s gimp talk like he’s had a recent stroke?
(No offence, stroke victims, you’ve got enough to deal without unfair comparisons to mike’d up morons)
The 2nd night in a row that TV3 has conducted a hatchet job on Labour. Compare with the time devoted to analysing Key’s segment at a presser when he claimed that the GST rise was fully compensated (none)
It did occur to me that few would be able to name the “spending cuts.”
Q1: Can you name 3 spending cuts?
A: Not sure.
Q2: Do you approve of spending cuts?
A: I guess so. Er yes.
Paranoia reigns! I don’t watch TV, I listen – but pricked up my ears at an item on evil Chinese hackers – a reporter with a faux British accent did a story about the afore-mentioned evil Chinese hackers, and had a tame one sitting beside her and she cooed admiringly as he hacked into her ‘account’, and took her credit card details. (His face was blacked out and his name not given.) Then there was an interview with him, that showed him once again blacked out – but also the concerned face of his interpreter – who was none other than the well-known American actress Ming Na! Maybe she’s on hiatus from Stargate Universe or it’s finally just ended, and she has to take any work she can get?
Just a wee bit weird, I think…
Sysadmin
My attampts to add something in the contribute or contact from are returning with “failed’ each time I try to send. I am using FF 4 on win 7.
KJT
The email is off after the server move on Sunday. I was going to do it last night but an old friend came around to check that I was still alive. I will sneak it into today.