Hone Harawira under pressure in his Te Tai Tokerau electorate, last weekend a request was made by current Mana members for Clinton Dearlove to stand for Mana in the Tamaki Makaurau.
The request was declined by Mr Dearlove.
This was either a back channel offer by Mr Harawira himself or Mana members breaking ranks over the InternetMONEY party.
Don’t know if the link will function but this has been put up by the Ukraine govt. Purportedly an intercepted conversation proving authorisation from within Russia… (Source Telegraph clip yet to be verified).
It sounds like a horrible mistake in terms of miss identifying the plane, there is some social media from the separatists announcing they had shot down a military plane at the time and place where the Malaysian Jet ended up.
That’s exactly what it is. The rebels only obtained an SA-11 missile system two days ago, and two hours ago were claiming on social media that they’d shot down an AN-26 transport plane.
There is no way that responsible air traffic controllers should have directed a civilian flight through a war zone unnecessarily risking their passengers lives. Especially on a flight path on which two flights had just been shot down in previous days.
This is the height of incompetence and irresponsibility.
There is no way that this should have happened again.
The Soviet Union initially denied knowledge of the incident,[2] but later admitted the shootdown, claiming that the aircraft was on a spy mission.[3] The Politburo said it was a deliberate provocation by the United States[4] to test the Soviet Union’s military preparedness, or even to provoke a war. The White House accused the Soviet Union of obstructing search and rescue operations.[5] The Soviet military suppressed evidence sought by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) investigation, notably the flight data recorders,[6] which were eventually released eight years later after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[7]
The incident was one of the tensest moments of the Cold War and resulted in an escalation of anti-Soviet sentiment, particularly in the United States. The opposing points of view on the incident were never fully resolved. Consequently, several groups continue to dispute official reports and offer alternative theories of the event. The subsequent release of KAL 007 flight transcripts and flight recorders by the Russian Federation has clarified some details.
As a result of the incident, the United States altered tracking procedures for aircraft departing Alaska. The interface of the autopilot used on airliners was redesigned to make it more ergonomic.[8] In addition, the event was one of the most important single events that prompted the Reagan Administration to allow worldwide access to the United States military’s GNSS system, which was classified at the time. Today this system is widely known as GPS
It seems that civilian air flights are being sacrificed as pawns in prelude to all out war.
Putin talked to Obama soon after the downing of the flight. If reports of Putin flying through that airspace just 40 mins beforehand are true, they were probably targetting him.
That’s exactly what it is. The rebels only obtained an SA-11 missile system two days ago, and two hours ago were claiming on social media that they’d shot down an AN-26 transport plane.
The BUK systems require highly trained teams capable of deploying the weapon, arming the system, tracking targets, successfully locking on, and launching. Only Kiev has those teams.
Also AN26 are propeller planes, they look nothing like commercial jets, and usually operate at around 20,000-25,000 feet max: not the ~35,000 feet height of commercial airliners.
Or maybe, karol, people every bit as professional as the sailors on the USS Vincennes, mistaking Iran Air Flight 655 for a military aircraft. They had radars and electronic capabilities well in advance of anything soldiers on the ground with an AA missile launcher and a mobile radar would have.
At this stage I have no idea whether it’s the Ukrainian rebels acting with Russian support, or the neo-fascist government, trying to provoke a Western response. It also comes at a very convenient time for Netanyahu, so I’ll wait and see. While I doubt if the west will intervene militarily, their hypocrisy in condemning this after the number of innocents they have killed really gets to me.
In any case, and whoever did it, killing civilians is horrific. It needs to stop all over the world.
A single MP rather than the entire Parliament. There may even be some other MP’s who share her views but I would suggest they are in the minority. I could equally point you to anti-Jewish views expressed in Arab nations and propagated via state controlled media outlets. There are extremists on both sides.
The chief difference being the ‘terrorists’ in those Parliaments (usually) leave that level of hate-filled commentary to others, namely those not elected by their people to positions of democratic representation and responsibility. As Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan says “If these words had been said by a Palestinian, the whole world would have denounced it,”
The world, including you, conveniently forget on a regular basis how Hamas is part of a democratically elected government so when Egypt does not even bother to consult them when formulating a cease fire plan, can you blame them for doing what any government would do in that position and rightly claim the cease fire has no consideration for their position, so Palestine has no obligation to agree to it. Israel would have done the exact same thing and you likely would have applauded them for it.
Returning to the hate-speech of Ayelet Shaked. This intelligent experienced professional who is a computer engineer and has previously worked in the office of the Prime Minister, is a top five member of Knesset for the Jewish Home, a group who hold 10% of the Israel Parliament. This Parliamentarian you are so quick to dismiss is part of the unicameral national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. One might say her views hold some weight.
Update: According to a Dutch news paper an anonymous source told Russian Press agency Interfax that Putin’s plane returning from the BRIC meeting was in the same airspace shortly before or after the Malaysian plane was shot down. the plot thickens!
Wow! An anonymous source told a Russian media agency that there was a plane in the area that if targetted would absolve the Russian government of all blame. Why don’t I placve much store in that do you think?
I find interesting her gigantic leap of logic that simply pointing out that her potential conspiracy theory about the so called real reason for the shooting down of the plane somehow means you must support a war with Russia.
Hey Tinfoil, What conspiracy theory would that be. The one we got pushed down our throat within minutes of the plane crashing or how about we just wait and see and keep all our options open and some real investigative work needs to be done. In order of course to respect those who died 154 are my country men and women after all. Would not want them to used for the next godforsaken war.
The reality C.V it’s been bad for a while, just in the last three days leading up to the shooting down of this Malaysian aircraft. Their has been shelling and shootings across Ukraine. With at least 17 civilian deaths and no-one knows how many combatants have been killed – this includes militias and government forces. Anarchist activists on both sides have been arrested, many on the Russian speaking side of Ukraine are ending up in Russian prisons and have been charged as terrorists. And on the other half they just disappear into red tape, or into these guys hands http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28329329
Could someone tell me when the Labour leader is due back?
Seems odd to have a major launch in Wellington, but then, in the same week that Key is absent the media, Cunliffe accedes the media ground following the launch to National?
You can’t start a campaign, put it on hold, then start it again.
phillip ure
Can you keep your opinionated comments shut until after the election? You are neither use nor ornament when you can’t use your intelligence for good advantage to the left.. With this negative stuff you turn to the dark side.
Why not just shut up if you can’t say something helpful and positive. With friends like you… Perhaps after all you are a sneaky right wing white anter. If not, show it by not saying one more negative thing till the election is over or can’t you help being a smart arse know all.
@phillip
to your last comment – I repeat –
‘You are neither use nor ornament when you can’t use your intelligence for good advantage to the left..’ And the best thing you can do is use your judgment to decide to stop making comments that demean the left.
Jesus it’s like you lot are determined to destroy the left on the basis of pointless dogma. Which one of you is the “peoples popular front” and which one is the “popular peoples front”? It is, however, very entertaining.
Greywarbler, the short answer is F off wanker, the longer one, what comments of mine are you trying to suppress,
If you want me to begin a series of anti-Cunliffe/anti- Labour rants leading into the election attempting to suppress my comments is the exact means of achieving this…
@Bad 12 4.56
It is unfortunate that you are so unable to discipline yourself to find a more courteous and thoughtful approach to other people. You would then limit your bad language but you won’t try as I feel that you like yourself as you are too much.
Lets try again shall we greywarbler, exactly who the fuck do you think you are attempting to suppress how and upon what subjects i choose to comment on,
This is ‘Open Mike’ it is provided so that we can comment on ‘anything’ that might be exercising our brains so as to keep the actual Posts relatively free of such distractions,
The Moderators set the boundaries within which the discourse occurs not you greywarbler, so, if you cannot handle the comments i in particular make, its simple just scroll on by when you see the Bad username, or better still, F off with your inane whining…
As far as I can see, Mr. Ure is a complete narcissist who has somehow self-identified with the left. Sometimes he says something quite insightful and useful, but not more than 5% of the time. I don’t think he’s a right wing white anter like Populuxe, but he could usefully learn that less is more. The way he carries on here is likely to make new readers wonder what the hell they’ve staggered into.
As for the squabbles with bad12, the two of them have just about put me off this site completely. I still read some of the posts, but don’t feel very enthusiastic about contributing.
PS I ate chicken tonight and took oxycodone, so feel free to make remarks about fat dripping down my junkie chin.
Don’t go Murry don’t go. It’s not the election time already.
Just come and visit and read Colonial Viper and karol and a few favourites DtB ec etc. There are plenty. You just have to sort out the wheat from the chaff, the gold from the washings, etc etc. But please don’t increase some other blogs IQ and in your absence, drop ours.
All reports would suggest that the best thing Cunliffe could do is stay away. I do wonder how Labour followers are going to feel when the Greens are the official opposition after September 20th.
But Karol even offering “nothing” is polling better than the “something” Labour has proposed. Doesn’t that concern you that there is no resonance with the policies you espouse, despite in your opinion s lack of opposing policies to measure term against. Perhaps, like let’s say in a democracy, people don’t agree with these ” policies”. You might think they’re just peachy which is your right. Clearly most others don’t agree , which is their right.
I think Cunliffe and the team are on the brink of announcing major new policy about letter-boxes.
And I understand caucus and its advisors have been working around the clock and is almost ready to unleash exciting new policy on toothbrushes.
I know. But I expect National to support a status quo that advantages the already advantaged.
Can’t seem to stop expecting something significantly different and better from Labour. Hence the bitter diappointment.
(If Key announced a letterbox policy it would be lauded as a significant innovation).
Sorry Phil – it is not a global ranking. Your score (which is worked for BTW) – is primarily because of all the linking back from other sites considered relevant (Kiwiblog and the Standard).
So in effect you are crowing about something that is useless (at the moment) for how you are driving your site.
BUT – despite me not agreeing with anything you write (or your language skills for that matter) – you have earned the page rank by working / linking / posting etc.
It gives you a base to work from. so congratulations on that. I would recommend some reading on PR, QS, and SEO in order to further improve what you are trying to achieve.
Useless info – did you know Page rank is not named after “ranking the page”, but is named after Larry Page?
Sorry – It seems that your view of people who disagree with you poisons you a little.
I wasnt actually sneering in the slightest. If you read I was actually being congulatory and acknowledging that you have started building up a page – and that this was from your hard work.
If you search kiwiblog etc you will find your website mentioned many, many times – indeed not a link, but the upshot is whoar.co.nz is mentioned in your post on websites that are recognised as “quality content” (subjective I know) for when people are searching for political info in NZ. Also they are “high traffic” – which again increases their google quality index.
I play in this sandpit – with a very high level of success. What you are doing is right as a basis for moving forward – and I gave a polite idea on other ideas that you can continue to learn in order to become more successful.
So no denigrating or sneering from me. I know its hard to build up. So – dont be a hater – it dosnt make you happy.
i find it extremely difficult to dredge up any sympathy for Hamas in this conflict, having fired hundreds of largely ineffective rockets into Israel the only response that they could expect is for the Israeli’s to send in their army to attempt to crush the Hamas ability to fire such ordinance across the border,
Perhaps Hamas think that Israel will pack up lock stock and smoking guns for a destination other than the stolen Palestinian lands,
At some point in time Hamas will get hold of some of the really sophisticated big bangs being produced by both Syria and Iran and the playing field will be somewhat leveled giving Hamas the ability to total cities inside Israel and leaving Israel with the same problem it has after the Israeli army was mauled in the Lebanon,
It also has an even bigger problem only now in its genesis, should the rouge state that the ISIS rebels are trying to carve out of pieces of both Iraq and Syria become a reality Israel is in danger of being over-run at some point in the future…
All my sympathy goes to the average people throughout the region who have to continue to suffer under either the lunatics who rule them or the lunatics who want to rule them.
Unlikely. An offensive ground based military operation requires an awful lot of preparation. It is not something that is launched at a drop of a hat to take advantage of some other event. Unless you are stating the Israelis are responsible for shooting down the airliner. I am sure some wacky conspiracy theorists will claim that shortly.
He was never claiming that. Merely saying that, for Israel, it is fortuitous timing that they can launch their offensive at the same time as this other tragedy.
Unlikely. An offensive ground based military operation requires an awful lot of preparation. It is not something that is launched at a drop of a hat to take advantage of some other event.
Uh, Israel has been planning the details for weeks and has had plans drawn up in the filing cabinet ready to roll for years
It might take the Americans six months to prepare an invasion of Granada, but Israel is always at a high state of readiness and prides itself on being able to launch operations at short notice. Since Gaza is almost defenceless, with no army, navy, or air force, they can probably invade within 12 hours. Still, I doubt if they made the decision after the airliner went down.
Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.
Calling genocide is like crying wolf. When it really happens noone will be willing to do anything about it (e.g. Rwanda). The situation in Gaza is not genocide. If the Israelis were really interested in wiping out the population they would use the same sort of ordinance that the Syrian regime drops on rebel controlled areas.
And I’m pointing out that if there was actual intent the Israelis would be using much more lethal weapons to achieve their aims. In your views why are they not using more deadly weapons?
Because incremental assassination of the populace is more easily managed on the International stage and Israel have been firing from the grassy knoll for decades.
Apparently not if you and others are crying Genocide.
Also as a genocidal policy it isn’t very effective. These sorts of tactics have been carried out by the Israeli military fro decades yet the Palestinian population hasn’t diminished during this time.
“yet the Palestinian population hasn’t diminished during this time.”
are you ignorant or just stupid ?
https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/
“over 40 years of illegal Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; 0.1 million 1948-2011 violent Palestinian deaths, post-1967 excess deaths 0.3 million; post-1967 under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million; 3,600 under-5 year old Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) infants die avoidably EACH YEAR in the OPT “Prison” due to Apartheid Israeli war crimes.”
Except the Nazis were remarkable successful at reducing the Jewish population in large parts of Europe. Prior to WWII Jews made up a significant proportion of the population of Poland for example. Do you know how many Polish Jews left in Poland there are now?
The various apologists, doubters and hairsplitters here posting support for the dirty filthy Israeli military, should however unlikely, try and grow some human decency.
My point is by using emotional language and labelling anyone who dares to not agree with your point of view you effectively shut down any ability to sensibly debate and discuss options around the subject. Noone is downplaying any deaths or suffereing of any people here (innocent or otherwise). I am quite sure the Israelis think they are protecting their own innocent children via their actions though.
Please. Israel has done nothing but protect their own children by way of 60 years of settlement expansion, at the expense of the second class citizens’ children in that country, Palestinian children.
They can’t even vote…
If we exclude Gaza, one in every 4.5 people living under Israeli rule doesn’t have the right to vote in the coming elections; that one person is (almost) always Palestinian. If Gaza is included, it’s one in three who is not represented.
And when Hamas get their hands on some more sophisticated rockets and begin to smash up Israeli cities with them will you go Wah Wah Wah about the death of Israeli civilians,
Hamas firing of 100s of largely useless homemade rockets into Israel directly provoked this invasion…
They’re in for the long haul as no one else can give the place security from Hamas and other terror organisations.
Cluetip:
When you’re the one who has caused over 200 civilian deaths through naval bombardment, drone strikes, shelling, and airstrikes, including 4 young boys playing on the beach yesterday, YOU are the terror organisation.
Harrier Jump Jet, you are a very disturbed individual to be making such comments. Your pom pom cheerleading of the Israeli Defence Force, who have brought so much death, pain and suffering to innocent people is incredibly sickening.
I sense though, seeing this is very similar to a comment you made on karol’s post, that you could be intentionally trying to wind people up. Such misery is not a game.
Quite possibly. This intervention on the ground looks imilar to their last invasion of the Gaza strip. They are unlikely to achieve anything long term.
And this is why it is necessary to speak up. Because this can’t go on and, as a society, we need to change. What use is fixing anything if we can, collectively, still fail at providing the most basic of securities to over half the population (including children here)?
piffle.
it is just an example of national party cronies out of their depth.
everytime kiwirail has passed into private hands it has been looted and handed back.
this time it is just ineptitude from national party appointees.
Do you have evidence that the people running Kiwi Rail have liks to the National Party?
Interestingly even if you did that would be another reason why the State should not run comercial enterprises because they can stack the board and management with political appointees.
Seems to me Gosman that like all ‘wing-nuts’ you just cannot help but dribble shit, here’s a taste of a few of the private ferry operator Bluebridges recent woes,
11 Feb 2013–The troubled Bluebridge ferry stuck in Wellington with engine problems may be out of action for a while,
Because it’s a private enterprise and so it’s running and inevitable collapse is of no public concern. Whereas the railways, being a natural monopoly, essential infrastructure and run by the state, is,
Yes, it is because it’s all part of the same infrastructure. We used to understand that. Well, our politicians did and they knew that a state monopoly of infrastructure is the most efficient and cost effective means of supplying that service. Then they got bitten by the neo-liberal bug and privatised everything pushing prices up and services down.
Then so is any enterprise that uses not just shipping terminals but roads and airports as well. I presume you think all of those are natural monopolies as well do you? Would be interesting to see how taxis would work if you do.
What is the reason that to all extents and purposes you are a functional dunce Gosman, Peter’s is grandstanding, looking for publicity from political points scoring,
What you do not know, and i do, probably because my old man was an AB on those ships, is that the ferries have been hitting the wharves at Aotea Quay and the Picton terminal with monotonous regularity since they first came into service,
It is only in the age of the ‘smart-phone’ that such occurrence are more likely than not to receive publicity,
The Aotea Quay wharf used by NZRail to berth its ferries is wide open to both the Northerly and Southerly gales that are a regular feature of Wellingtons weather,having to reverse into such berths mean that in such gales the chances of being blown into the wharf are greatly enhanced,
The ‘stretching’ of the Aratere by some 12 meters has turned that ship into a lemon as the insert allows for the ferry to flex in rough conditions more than the original design allowed for,
The private operator Bluebridge’s problem is of another nature, their ferry Santa Regina is 30 odd years old and just about ready for the scrap yard,
The danger of running these old and ill designed ships is that they will experience a significant engine failure, fully laden, in rough weather coming through the Wellington heads,
What is needed is a significant investment in this part of State Highway One with the building of some new ferries preferably here in New Zealand which would create 1000s of jobs and train 1000s of young workers in skills that are always in demand…
What is needed is a significant investment in this part of State Highway One with the building of some new ferries preferably here in New Zealand which would create 1000s of jobs and train 1000s of young workers in skills that are always in demand…
As much as I agree with you that those ferries should be build in NZ by NZers I doubt if doing so would produce more than a couple of hundred jobs.
That may very well be accurate. However the problem is that the National party gets in to office around half the time so has plenty of opportunity of placing their cronies in to positions of power in these organisations. The obvious solution to this is to not have the government being able to appoint their cronies in the first place.
The state should have no role in running Kiwi rail, nor should it be run by commercial interest either. Both have a shocking track record and both have trampled over the labour force in the industry. It seems to me, the only solution left, is a worker lead industry producing a rail system which works for the whole country. Otherwise were going to keep rolling on and on with this stupid system we currently have which is obviously not working for anyone.
Pity the other 87 New Zealand citizens who were also illegally spied upon have been refused the courtesy of also prosecuting those who behaved illegally toward them by the Governments refusal to inform those people that they had been the target of such illegality…
As a footnote: Perhaps Kim DotCom might like to consider widening His legal action against the illegally spying Government agencies into a class action suit covering all the 88 odd New Zealand citizens illegally spied upon,
In such an action the right of ‘discovery’ might reveal to those who were spied upon the fact that they were…
No Gosman, just pointing out your apparently inferior education or lack of actual ability to be educated,
Hint: i aint here as your on call fucking research department, if you want to ask twenty question and expect an answer then i suggest you fuck off and ask those questions of Google like normal people do…
Anyone interested in the culture of North American Indians will find this interview with Bryan Crump on Nights at Radio New Zealand last night awesome.
“Mixed blood Cherokee map-maker Aaron Carapella has created what appears to be the first map showing the names and locations of Native American tribes before Europeans set foot on the North American continent”
Air New Zealand is making its grabaseat special site customer unfriendly for people wanting to travel within NZ. There are nice informative windows for overseas but for NZ there is just a great mass of destinations run together, not even in a list form with some sort of alphabetic order. So I can’t run my eye down to see what is available.
They said they were doing an $8 flight thing and have 1143 – they say available but don’t count on it as they don’t change their available figures on the main list fast. Perhaps the cheap ones have all gone but no way at all of seeing what the status is.
But I have to start a booking before I am told what the price is.not the other way round. So I have made a tentative search with a trial booking and can’t find sign of anything special,not grabaseat price or $8. What a waste of time and smoke and mirrors. I am losing respect for Air NZ. Bring back Rod Fyfe, his stewardship of the airline led to good outcomes for Kiwis travelling within the country.
The problem that Labour have now is one of momentum, its now almost a like a sport to see just how low Labour can fall in the polls. Will Labour break the 20% barrier? Who knows but the msm will be pushing it and people will be interested in seeing it happen and so will try to make it happen.
Will the Australian government bar Obama from the G8?
(Because of his actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza.)
Radio NZ National, 9:30 a.m., Friday 18 July 2014
In August 1968, the U.S.-led propaganda machine went into catatonic overdrive when the USSR sent tanks and troops into Czechoslovakia in order to bring a halt to Alexander Dubček’s program of political liberalisation. Many observers, of course, noted that the last regime in the world that was entitled to denounce a country for invading another was the United States. In 1968 the United States had more than half a million troops perpetrating the murderous destruction of Vietnam, and in a few years it would go on to attack and destroy Laos and Cambodia, perhaps irreparably. The United States was also the major backer of the blood-soaked Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, as well as other gruesome regimes in Pakistan, Burma, Spain, Portugal, Israel, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia killed one hundred and eight people in total. Five months earlier, U.S. troops killed more than four times that number in a typical raid—this one was on two hamlets in Quảng Ngãi province in Vietnam. The hamlets were named My Khe and My Lai. The killings were nothing out of the ordinary; American troops did this so regularly that this particular massacre wasn’t even reported until more than a year later.
Over the years, the hypocrisy has never let up, not for a second. Uncle Sam still finds time to mount the pulpit, up to his knees in blood, and denounce others for doing what he himself has done, and continues to do, on a far greater scale.
It would be a lot harder for such vicious regimes to get away with it if people were more informed. To keep them uninformed, and stupid, and posting to Kiwiblog, and hosting radio talkback shows, it’s important to get the media on board. The best way to do this is to get “reporters” to repeat official blather, and routinely express “concern” at the “behavior” of official enemies, while studiously, diplomatically, putting aside such obvious and troublesome quibbles as: “What about what WE are doing?” There will always be troublemaking reporters, real reporters, of course, outriders like Jon Stephenson, Seymour Hersh, Julian Assange, and Matt Lee, but they can be easily sidelined when you have the vast majority of “reporters” on message, and able to suppress the urge to laugh at the absurdity, or screech at the obscenity, of the charade they are asked to perform.
On Radio NZ National this morning, there was a perfect example of this carefully cultivated blindness. A Malaysian Airlines passenger jet has been shot down in the Eastern Ukraine. It looks like there was possibly some Russian involvement. It looks like a significant number of the victims were Australians. To discuss this grave incident, Nine to Noon host Kathryn Ryan interviewed one Karen Middleton, of SBS. After some talk about the terrible event itself, Middleton moved from reporter to propagandist with sinister smoothness. She noted that Australia is due to host the G8 summit later this year, but that “there have been calls” to not invite Vladimir Putin “because of Russia’s actions in the Ukraine.”
She did not mention any calls to not invite Barack Obama or David Cameron, because of the actions of the United States and its deputy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza.
I am sure Kathryn Ryan thought exactly what I and virtually everyone else was thinking when she heard that: what cant, what exquisite hypocrisy, what specious, sanctimonious nonsense. But she stifled any qualms she might have had, and said nothing. The nasty little provocation was allowed to lie there, unchallenged. Even in the midst of an awful event like this, the propaganda barrage never stops. And, almost without exception, our media representatives, instead of challenging them, cooperate with the propagandists and serve as their megaphone.
I was also interested in both the statement and Ryan’s failure to challenge it.
The experts / propagandists are being trundled out by the Americans to establish a case against Russia and /or the pro-Russian rebels even though we don’t yet know for certain how the plane was brought down and, if it was by means of a sophisticated ground to air missile, it could have been fired from areas of Ukraine not under rebel control.
We do know that 295 civilians died which is tragic and an eerily similar number to the 290 who died when an American aircraft carrier shot down an Iranian commercial aircraft in 1988. They claimed it was an accident and as I recall no-one really questioned that much except the Iranians – and George Bush Snr gave the captain of the carrier involved an award 2 years later for his exemplary service.
It may be the pro-Russian rebels had acquired a sophisticated air to ground missile and the technical knowledge to launch it – although it’s hard to see how they (or the Russians) would think that shooting down an unidentified plane was going to do their cause anything other than great harm. As to the alleged phone conversation ‘confirming’ rebel involvement, how stupid would you have to be to think that a huge jet plane flying at 30,000 feet was bringing spies to the region?
It may of course be a dirty op – and you’d have to be a very ill-informed or ideologically blinkered person to deny the existence of loads of them or to deny the fact that the perpetrators of them wouldn’t give a damn about killing 300 innocents.
An idea that could be useful. A campaign throughout NZ by those wanting to get our democracy working.
Each day ask at least one new person ‘Are you a Sleeping Beauty?’ They will be puzzled and either reject the question as odd or irrelevant or ask for information. The answer would be ‘A Sleeping Beauty is a dreaming NZer who won’t vote in the September election.”
(If they did not reply it would not matter as they would have heard it and if it could go viral, then they hear other people discussing it, and there will have been a breakthrough in the ‘ignoring the election and our democracy’ wall of shame.)
This would just put the thought into people’s minds, become aware and could be done with anyone except people in authority over you, and those men who are so gender sensitive they might punch you in the nose.
If someone could put that idea up on Facebook it would get around fast, great consciousness raising, with a quirk to make it intriguing. It could mean that everyone in NZ would have heard the question, or about it, before the election.
Anyone up for making a positive personal difference as they circulate round the rohe!
Why don’t YOU start this thing off then? Create that FB page and start building the groundswell for the campaign. I personally don’t think it will be particulaly effective but good on you if you give it a go.
Thanks Gosman. Why don’t you give it a go? You have lots of time to sit and contribute critiques to the discourse and it would be good for you to practice your tech skills. I have lots of things that I absolutely must do. And little time to acquire the Facebook skills. You could put your time to something useful except negative stuff.
Or is it like typical NZ – no-one has an idea then someone brings one up, everyone else likes it and appoints the thinker to carry it out. Or it is damned with faint praise as you have done. Wishy-washy NZ. ‘Oh I don’t knoooww if that would work. Let’s sit around and do nothing and gossip. Oh well time to go home, see you tomorrow.’
Real red hen stuff. (This does not apply to all persons
involved with The Standard.)
I do so have permission to edit this comment.
Edited version.
gosamn is a paid moaner for the national party.
as far as I can recall he has never made a constructive contribution here or anywhere else for that matter.
Hello, I have 3 minutes to go but was not allowed to edit again my last comment.
I realise that I am being wishy washy.
Saying an idea that could be useful. How wet.
It is a great idea that would have big positive outcomes for small input. Like throwing a stone in a pond and the ripples spread in rings around – and each new action likewise.
Very funny Tiger Mountain 11.46am
However I am serious that it would be a good idea and not therefore suitable for saying amusing things of a scatalogical nature.
Companies complain that they can’t find skilled hires, but they aren’t doing much to impart those skills, economists and workforce experts say. U.S. companies have been cutting money for training programs for decades, expecting schools and workers to pick up the slack. Economists say that reluctance to develop workers in-house has made it hard for workers to launch or sustain careers, resulting in a stalemate in the labor market: Companies won’t look at job candidates who lack a specific skill set, so openings go unfilled even as millions linger on the unemployment rolls.
Sounds remarkably like what we have in NZ. Companies complaining about the lack of skills but are unwilling to actually do anything about it.
Great post by the Jackal today. National with a small meeting in what appears to be a rest home in Wanaka while IMP are filling halls in the North. Even some young people present.
Be interesting to see the numbers at West Auckland IMP Road Trip meeting on Sunday, 2pm, Kelston Community Centre top of Waikumete hill.
The Northland meetings were good turnouts being in the storm aftermath. The thing with these Internet Mana events is the people there are active locally or at the very least interested. Public meetings can be useful organisers as Winston knows.
TM – precisely. It is only outside of Harawira’s electorate and even down into the Waikato and BoP that we are going to really get a feel for how much momentum IMP actually has.
They’re getting there, but they do not have the big Mo yet.
This thread is a Gosman sandwich. Trouble is it’s our fingers and ideas being bitten off in Gosman’s mouth and other RWNJ peculiar gourmands.
You do have all day to spend here Gosman so please do go on Facebook and put up my suggestion. I really have to go and do some real work instead of just thinking and worrying about getting a better world so that you can come along and pass some superior judgment on it as being a waste of time.
The work was being completed under warranty, but Rail and Maritime Transport Union general secretary Wayne Butson yesterday said that was ”a false economy”.
”Without transparency of costs, it is hard to see whether the warranty work does, in reality, come at no cost.
”Is the loss of revenue while these wagons are out of service being taken into account? Is the involvement of KiwiRail staff supervising the Chinese workers being realised? ”When all costs are totalled, the result will support the RMTU and our members’ views that the new wagons should have been built at Hillside.”
The BERL report on why they should have been built in New Zealand said that we’d get higher quality from Hillside and now it seems that they were correct.
We didn’t need the BERL report, engineers and management at KiwiRail knew months ahead of product delivery that the rolling stock was going to be woefully substandard.
A political decision pushed through by the Tories, the final win for the Tories being them closing down Hillside workshops irreversibly.
We didn’t need the BERL report, engineers and management at KiwiRail knew months ahead of product delivery that the rolling stock was going to be woefully substandard.
Probably because they read the BERL report before the order went out.
A political decision pushed through by the Tories, the final win for the Tories being them closing down Hillside workshops irreversibly.
Nothing is ever irreversible – it’ll just take a long time to set up again.
We certainly do have to question why the Tories seem so hell bent on destroying NZ’s economy though.
Probably because they read the BERL report before the order went out.
FFS mate, no fucking economic consultants report was needed to tell the Kiwi Rail engineers who have had to deal first hand with the shit gear manufactured out of China for years and years that this was going to be more of the same.
That report was required to try and penetrate the muddle headed bureaucrats and media who had no idea and still have no idea.
It may come as news to you that we have a Free Trade Agreement with China. You can’t reverse that. Indeed there is no alternative to a rapid expansion of such agreements with East Asian countries. I would like to see the next one with Bangladesh. You are living in a 1970s bubble dream about New Zealand manufacturing. If cars can’t be made economically in Australia, how are we going to produce train sets? From memory the Hillside bid came in about sixth on price.
The only way your world view will work is a return to protectionism. That is not happening.
You would be much better advised to work with markets to advance the circumstances of the poor. Otherwise you are just pissing in the wind and irrelevant to modern life. Your ideas will simply never be implemented in New Zealand.
It may come as news to you that we have a Free Trade Agreement with China.
A free trade agreement doesn’t mean that we have to buy from them. Willing buyer, willing seller and such.
If cars can’t be made economically in Australia, how are we going to produce train sets?
Cars can be made economically in Australia same as they can be made economically here. The problem you have, and it’s right across economics, is that you confuse finances with economics.
The only way your world view will work is a return to protectionism.
Nope – count full costs properly and trade between nations will end.
You would be much better advised to work with markets to advance the circumstances of the poor.
Markets only work to empower and enrich the already rich – as we’ve seen throughout history.
What is it with the sub-editors or those who write the headers for the Herald.
“NZ First’s shoot to kill law.”
Sound pretty lethal. But Adam Bennett’s column just explains that NZF wants the laws regarding self-defence to be clarified. Farmers or dairy owners defending themselves. A good idea. Have written to Adam as such a misleading header detracts from the quality of his writing. Shame. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11295250
It is the misleading headers in the Herald that bug me: “Toby Manhire: Dotcom’s delayed bombshell looks like a fizzer.”
Not what Toby says at all + the NZF I forgot to send this morning @21.1
If Samuels took the trouble to read what Cunliffe actually said, not what the MSM reported, you will see that in context it was a brave attempt to initiate a debate on the real problem of violence against women to which our shallow PM could only say this was a “silly” thing to say. Pathetic response.
The highway north can be improved without spending the vast amounts proposed by National. The balance can be spent on things that are desperately needed in NZ like better public transport, smaller class sizes, paying off the $50 billion in debt incurred by this National government etc etc
Notice also that he is not moving his vote to National.
If Samuels took the trouble to read what Cunliffe actually said, not what the MSM reported, you will see that in context it was a brave attempt to initiate a debate on the real problem of violence against women to which our shallow PM could only say this was a “silly” thing to say. Pathetic response.
Dover Samuels a good man? Good at looking after himself. At least as good as Shane Jones. Not quite so good at doing anything worthwhile for the people of Matauri Bay, let alone Te Tai Tokerau.
Each time I make a comment I need to fill in my name and email address. It’s been happening for a few days. Don’t know whether the problem is at my end or TS end.
Lolz, it is giving me apoplexy, i mean how hard is it to learn to ‘look’ each time you make a comment, yet for the last few days despite telling myself how fucking stupid i am over and over i still keep not looking,
Laughs, it got me a goody again this afternoon, straight after i logged onto the Standard i filled in the name and email thinking that will fix it,
Browsed a couple of Posts and then made a comment, again forgetting to look, and the name and email had done the disappearo again….
Please show us where they highlight those who have moved on from a benefit such as ‘Widow’s’ benefit or DPB or Long-Term Invalid’s benefit and are now receiving Superannuation? Whilst doing that would you be so kind to present any data available about those who have simply been removed from assistance with no other form of income. That might be difficult by the way as the government choose not to collect that data. It is a bit tougher to rah rah when reality is asked for isn’t it Puckish Rogue.
snap Freedom.
The Household Labour force survey has in recent years consistently shown higher numbers of unemployed, looking for work and discouraged unemployed, not actively seeking work, than there are numbers on unemployment benefits. And no, they have not migrated to sickness benefits, let alone found stable jobs. Remember the benefit system has been collapsed down into nearly everyone being considered a ‘jobseeker’ regardless of circumstances, inclusive of the sick, some invalids and sole parents.
The answer is;
a) the two Paulas (Bennett and Rebstock) war on the poor which includes making WINZ effectively a difficult to negotiate sadistic process which people basically avoid if they can possibly do so. WINZ have their own designated doctors and more required meetings and useless seminars than you can imagine that require transport, a mobile phone, presentable clothing etc.
b) a large slice of struggling lower mid socio level people drawing Keys “communism by stealth” in work tax credit aka WFF. If not for this Labour devised handout many more would be caught in the WINZ catch 22.
So people end up in cars, garages, petty crime, begging, precarious employment and the ‘black’ economy. Lower benefit numbers mean diddly with all the social dislocation and strife in this country.
It shouldn’t happen but it does and the latest example of racial profiling is shocking.
After police entered Stratford’s Whakaahurangi Marae on Saturday morning, the children, aged from 4 to 17, were made to get out of bed and lined up to show their hands so that police could look for evidence of an assault, marae spokeswoman Lovely Read said.
She said the children were left shaken after rude and aggressive treatment from the police.
This little movie, made of 36 ‘smoothed’ or interpolated images of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, takes it to the next level, showing the comet’s complex shape even more clearly as Rosetta nudges ever closer to its target. Some have likened it to a duck, a boot and even a baby’s foot.
The facts are bald and simple; India is now the most populous country in the world and the fifth largest economy and is on track to becoming the fourth. Despite that, New Zealand’s relationship with India could best be described as in its infancy, even though New Zealand has ...
Open access notables Multiple studies indicate changes in the properties of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) over the past half century. These changes involve density and hence will affect both local and distant circulation of the oceans, not least overturning effects that are vital for marine biology but also climate and ...
Completed reads for May: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne Round the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne The Secret of the Island, by Jules Verne From the Earth ...
Ben Roberts-Smith is apparently "Australia’s most decorated living soldier", having won a Victoria Cross for killing people in Afghanistan. But today, after a stupendous self-own defamation case, he's also been proven to be a war criminal who committed multiple murders: Ben Roberts-Smith VC, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has ...
Hey Uncle Dave, My house got wrecked in the summer floods. Do you know if the government’s got any plans to help me, or are they too busy making bilingual road signs?Noah InsuranceYou picked a good day to ask, Noah, the Govt has just announced there’ll be an offer of ...
The government has looked at imposing a tax on nitrogen fertiliser, used heavily in NZ agriculture, but yesterday Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor conceded he had not convinced farming leaders to go ahead with it. ACT”s Mark Cameron claimed credit in Parliament for “killing” the plan. Both Federated ...
Are women the new Māori?Since Christopher Luxon has been leader National have shown they’re prepared to throw Māori under a bus. Be it not wanting them to have a seat at the table on water management, referring to the Treaty as a “little experiment”, or the monocultural candidate selection polices ...
Are women the new Māori?Since Christopher Luxon has been leader National have shown they’re prepared to throw Māori under a bus. Be it not wanting them to have a seat at the table on water management, referring to the Treaty as a “little experiment”, or the monocultural candidate selection polices ...
Buzz from the Beehive An email from Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta had yet to be posted on the government’s official website, when Point of Order made its morning check on our ministers and what they are (officially) up to. She was providing us with an account – a ...
Multiple reviews are examining options to address a $25M to $40M funding hole in its operating budget and a reported $300M, 70,000 hour maintenance backlog for huts, tracks and visitor assets.Thomas Cranmer writes – Following Friday’s revelation that Budget 2023has left the Department of Conservation ...
Property values fell a further 0.7% in May from April across Aotearoa, but Core Logic sees evidence in the data “the current downturn is winding up.” Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: There are fresh signs this morning the housing market-with-bits-tacked-on economy is brightening up going into winter, and just ...
This is a cross post by Malcom McCracken at Better things are possible. It was from between when National signalled their change in housing policy but before they announced it but highlights why the Medium Density Residential Standards are important. Yesterday, the leader of the National Party, Christopher Luxon, ...
Do the global climate models (GCMs) we use for describing future climate change really capture the change and variations in the region that we want to study? There are widely used tools for evaluating global climate models, such as the ESMValTool, but they don’t provide the answers that I ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). The world is getting hotter and the headlines are scary. So does climate change mean the world is about to pass ...
Politik (paywalled) reports that He waka eke noa, the farmers' scam to have the rest of us subsidise their emissions forever, so they can keep on destroying the planet, is dead: Reality appears to be about to shatter Jacinda Ardern's dream that New Zealand could lead the world in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two ministerial press statements today draw attention to the Government’s incorporation of mātauranga Māori in its science policies and programmes. One of these announced the launch of the national space policy, which will oblige our space boffins to bring indigenous knowledge into their considerations. The ...
The Stations of the Cross, as all of us know from our devout and Godly ways, is a series of fourteen stations that depict the final hours in the story of Christ our Lord - appearing before Pilate, shouldering the wooden cross, whistling the Monty Python tune, so on and ...
The Stations of the Cross, as all of us know from our devout and Godly ways, is a series of fourteen stations that depict the final hours in the story of Christ our Lord - appearing before Pilate, shouldering the wooden cross, whistling the Monty Python tune, so on and ...
The Herald reports on a trivial but telling incident from Parliament: Labour Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan read the wrong speech at the third reading of a freedom camping bill in Parliament last night. She re-read almost word for word a speech given at the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation bill’s ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Very well-intentioned politicians, judges and others have taken New Zealand down into a Treaty rabbit hole, from which few know how to exit without creating more social divisions. The modern interpretations of the Maori version of Treaty have set aside a common understanding of ...
It’s like deja-vu all over again. House prices are primed to surge 10-20% soon after any clear National-ACT win on October 14. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: There are increasing signs in economists’ forecasts, auction clearance rates, migration rates, divergent tax policies and house building rates that a clear ...
I did something yesterday that I hadn’t done in ages. Watch Oral Questions in parliament. I’m not sure what happened in all the episodes I missed, but nothing much seemed to have changed.For those unfamiliar, Question Time takes place in parliament at 2pm each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the ...
Slow Learner: Effective leaders develop a political “muscle memory” of their own. The National Party should get one.SPEAKING IN PUBLIC tops most people’s list of fearful situations. There are some careers, however, for which public fluency is a non-negotiable pre-requisite. There’s little point in pursuing an acting career, for example, ...
Reality appears to be about to shatter Jacinda Ardern’s dream that New Zealand could lead the world in showing how to deal with farm emissions. The Government is facing a breakdown in negotiations over its much-vaunted He Waka Eke Noa deal with farmers to price greenhouse gas emissions and ...
Hi,Webworm won a Voyager media award over the weekend for “Best Team Investigation”! This would not have been possible without readers. Without you. Thank you.Also, there’s a new Flightless Bird out today, where I look at drug rehab clinics in Florida. I talk to three former addicts, and their stories ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Government is coy about some aspects of its relationship with China – and with the United States. Earlier this month, the PM spent a hectic 23 hours in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, where he responded to the superpower security deal just ...
What do Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and your daily newspaper all have in common? They all tell tales of imaginary worlds.In Game of Thrones the honourable Stark family find themselves in deadly conflict with the ruthless House of Lannister.In the NZ Herald the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins finds himself ...
What do Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and your daily newspaper all have in common? They all tell tales of imaginary worlds.In Game of Thrones the honourable Stark family find themselves in deadly conflict with the ruthless House of Lannister.In the NZ Herald the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins finds himself ...
In 2022 the government announced a periodic review of the Intelligence and Security Act, the legislation governing New Zealand's spies. Yesterday the review presented its report, Taumaru: Protecting Aotearoa New Zealand as a Free, Open and Democratic Society. Its a chunky read, and I'm not finished yet, but from the ...
The Charities Services decision to require the Waipareira Trust to claw back $385,000 of interest-free loans from John Tamihere brings renewed attention to the links between Whānau Ora and the Trust.Thomas Cranmer writes – Revelations earlier this month in the Herald that the social services charity Waipareira ...
National has developed a novel election strategy. It involves being both for and against almost every issue that comes down the pike. The use of te reo on public signage? Recently National Party leader Christopher Luxon came out against the bi-lingual use of te reo in the naming of government ...
Anti-densification residents’ and ratepayers’ groups are cock-a-hoop over National’s partial backflip on MDRS over the weekend and have ramped up their campaigns to stop densification in their areas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: NIMBY groups are cock-a-hoop this morning, calling on councils and the Government to completely abandon the MDRS housing ...
It’s been two months but today the Auckland Transport board meet for again. There’s a lot on the agenda so I can’t cover it all in this post but here are some of the highlights from their regular board papers. The open session starts at 9am and can be watched on ...
This story by Aaron Cantú was originally published in Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Monic Uriarte was thrilled to get approved for an affordable apartment in Los Angeles’ University Park, close to USC. But soon after she and her ...
This incomplete picture speaks of everything we love most about a summer holiday in Aotearoa: The bach, the beach, the barbecue, the sand, the christmas ham sandwiches, the serenity.We love it, don’t we, Aotearoa? Getting away to somewhere warm and quiet with a high tide and a hammock. And if ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers who took time out from the Labour Party congress to attend to portfolio duties were focused largely on promoting the country’s interests overseas. The statements with the widest implications dealt with: Trade – Damien O’Connor joined ministerial representatives at a meeting in Detroit, USA, ...
In the last year of a second term in government. the election outcome shouldn’t even be close. All that’s required for a competent Opposition to be streets ahead in the polls, is an ability to look like a credible government-in-waiting. Instead, we’ve got a very tight contest. There’s a reason ...
The Herald reports that WINZ debt has reached the staggering total of $2.4 billion, with the usual racism and sexism in who owes and how much they pay: Anti-poverty groups say the poorest Kiwis are caught in a debt trap as the total amount of money owed to the ...
There was a poll last week which asked if now was the right time for a tax cut. Which is quite an odd thing to ask really, don’t you think?We’ve got to pay back the money used to keep paying people and stop businesses going under during the pandemic. Our ...
The Treasury released its budget economic forecasts. What do they say about the economy over the next four months?Brian Easton writes – Let me begin me with an irritation. One post-budget headline was ‘Treasury optimistic over recession risk in Budget 2023‘. Treasury being optimistic is almost an ...
As a politician swallowing a rat under a very public spotlight, Chris Bishop gave a spirited and relatively smooth account of himself yesterday. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Chris Bishop has detailed National’s new housing policy for Election 2023 that confirms a National Government would not force councils ...
After signalling it a week ago, yesterday National launched their new housing policy which abandons their support for the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) that they had worked with the government to deliver back in 2021 and shifts the focus to more sprawl. Overall there are three key areas National ...
The audacity of National’s “u-turn” over housing intensification is an extraordinary slap in the face for Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis. If it does nothing else, it raises questions about their political judgement, not for the first time.. Some in the Caucus have still not forgiven them for their ...
As the general election approaches, the Association of Former Members of the Parliament of New Zealand has organised an essay competition to to foster democracy. Secondary school students are being challenged to identify the important elements of a successful democracy, explain their value and consider whether they can be improved ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: For paying subscribers, here's my pick of the week’s top six news developments, quotes and charts of the week with my personal reflections, plus my suggestions for Sunday reading and listening. There’s also one fun thing. In summary this week, my six takeaways were:Christopher ...
With Open Arms: Is it at all reasonable to suppose that a colonial society in which whites traditionally occupied all the upper rungs of the ethnic hierarchy, and where the colonised were relegated to the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, will respond positively to a concerted indigenous push from below, ...
Hi,Just a quick online-only update that Webworm won “Best Team Investigation” last night at the Voyagers.This means a lot, especially considering we were up against giant newsrooms like Stuff and TVNZ:WINNER: David Farrier and Hayden Donnell | Webworm – The Downward Spiral of Arise ChurchJUDGES: Alan Sunderland and Ali Ikram“This ...
May 28, 2025.Ladies and gentlemen. It’s a beautiful clear morning here in Auckland City. We’re heading for a maximum temperature of 14 degrees, and the local time is now 10:30am. Please remain seated if you’d like to, or get up and walk around the plane if you prefer. New regulations ...
Somebody has made a new survey and it tells us this little waterlogged nation of ours is rocketing up the misery charts. Maybe they took it before the sun came back out.Or maybe they took it any time in the last two years. Because negativity is quite surely the new ...
The appointment of Elizabeth Longworth as Chair of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO was one of just two press statements on the government’s official website today. Perhaps that’s because ministers have been busy preparing speeches for the Labour Party faithful who have gathered in Wellington for the party’s ...
Alarm bells have been rung by the department after its Deputy Director-General for Operations warns, ‘the initial view shows that we do not have sufficient funding to cover our basic running costs’.Thomas Cranmer writes – Following last week’s budget, alarm bells have been rung by the Department ...
Luxon went after the NIMBY vote, declaring National’s 2021 bipartisan deal with Labour to make it much easier to put three townhouses on a regular section ‘wrong’. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: The week’s news in Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for subscribers included:The Labour ...
Hello! This is the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the week.Here’s what you may have missed.Last Sunday’s column was about the budget A big chunk of this year’s budget coverage was brought to us by the words crass, gauche and venal. The big questions ...
Hi,Usually Webworms are quite focussed — this one is the opposite. No rhyme or reason. A bit like my brain: sometimes ultra-focussed, other times utterly unable to settle on a goddamn thing. And as we head into the weekend, there are a bunch of things buzzing around in my head ...
The Mainstream Media, and especially the New Zealand Herald, regularly carry misinformed columns on the causes of the country’s low-grade economic performance over recent years. One old codger, John Gascoigne, who describes himself as “a Cambridge-based economic commentator” (not the university, alas!) correctly told us early this week that New ...
The Treasury released its budget economic forecasts. What do they say about the economy over the next four months?Let me begin me with an irritation. One post-budget headline was ‘Treasury optimistic over recession risk in Budget 2023'. Treasury being optimistic is almost an oxymoron. They fire down the centre.It is ...
Photo by Ron Fung on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with special guests:5.00 pm ...
1. Who most likely gave LOTO Luxon the idea to pull the rug on the urban density policy?a. A leading thinker on affordable housing b. A leading thinker on 15 minute cities c. A leading thinker on sustainable urban planning d. National-Party-supporting property developers2 . With what was this illustration made?a. Artificial inseminationb. ...
Buzz from the BeehivePoint of Order tallied $314.4 million of spending in the latest ministerial statements posted on the government’s official website. This includes a lump of money to – yes, really – help identify businesses in tourism and hospitality which treat their staffs well and to fund the ...
It’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for an hour from midday (my apologies for the late start today), including:the Government’s payment of $130 million of Climate Emergency Fund money to NZ Steel to help it cut ...
National/ACT would have 62 seats in a 120 seat Parliament if the latest poll results were replicated in the October election, but micro-movements around the median and the size of Te Pāti Māori’s caucus will decide who governs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: National/ACT could govern alone after October ...
Welcome to Friday – again! Hard to believe we’re almost in June. Here’s our latest roundup of stories that caught our eye this week. The Week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Matt covered the transport highlights from this year’s Budget. On Tuesday, Matt asked if the end is ...
What should one make of the Reserve Bank Governor’s extraordinary donation of a hostage to fortune in forecasting an end to interest rate hikes? Conspiracy theorists will be scratching their tinfoil hats and mumbling about positioning for a whacking great payoff on being forced out by a new government. ...
During New Zealand First coalition negotiations our policy was to train and resource 1800 new frontline police. We secured this coalition policy win to ensure our streets had a police force that could tackle crime - after years of neglect. Remember those previous nine years of neglect saw a ‘tag ...
Katie Kenny from Stuff published an article today with a lazy attempt at so-called ‘fact checking’ my recent comments on the World Health Organisation’s concerning new regulations being developed. What is most surprising is that throughout this entire ‘fact checking’ process, Kenny never once rang me asking for my side ...
The National Party has released another confused and rushed policy that will only further worsen the inequality that is driven by unaffordable housing. ...
Welcome to sunny and calm Wellington, which I know those of you who are visiting would of course expect to be the case. It’s been a busy week since we put forward the 2023 Budget. Labour MPs have been out across the motu giving the good oil on the Budget. ...
Kia orana, Talofa lava, Mālo e lelei, Taloha ni, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Noa’ia e mauri, Ni sa bula vinaka, Kia ora, Tena Koutou Katoa. Labour Party President Jill Day, Prime Minister Hipkins, Party faithful, delegates and comrades, whānau and friends, it’s a privilege to be here today. I begin my ...
One of my kaumātua up North stood before the Waitangi Tribunal and said: ‘He aha kē ahau, te tangata kore hara i mua i te Atua, e tu nei kia whakawaatia e koe, te tangata tāhae, te tangata hara, te tangata kore tikanga?Ko koe kē te tika, kia tū ...
New Zealanders will be highly concerned that the World Health Organisation proposes to effectively take control of independent decision making away from sovereign countries and place control with the Director General. W.H.O International Health Regulations on future outbreaks of disease aim to give the Director General extraordinary and wide-sweeping powers. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take responsibility for reducing inflation by taxing wealth instead of leaving RBNZ to continue hiking the Official Cash Rate. ...
The Green Party has released its list of candidates for the 2023 election. With a mix of familiar faces, fresh new talent, and strong tangata whenua voices, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to set the direction of the next Government. ...
Thank you for your invitation to be here, after yesterday's budget, and for the opportunity to talk with you. In the economic and social turmoil following the arrival of COVID 19 in New Zealand many concerns emerged. How would we keep our economy going and maintain our exports which are ...
At the heart of Budget 2023 is a cost of living package, designed to ease the pressure on New Zealanders in the face of global inflation and the challenges of rebuilding from extreme weather events. It provides practical cost of living relief across some of the core expenses facing Kiwis ...
A long standing Green Party policy has been extended yet again in this year’s Budget. This will deliver warmer homes for thousands of people, lower power bills, and cut climate pollution. ...
The Green Party is fully on board with free bus and train travel for under 12s and half price travel for under 25s - next stop, free travel for all under 18s, students, and apprentices. ...
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced a billion dollar flood and cyclone recovery package as part of Budget 2023. This is about doing the basics - repairing and rebuilding what has been damaged and making smart investments, including $100 million of protection funding to ensure future events don’t cause ...
The Fuel Industry (Improving Fuel Resilience) Amendment Bill would: boost New Zealand’s fuel supply resilience and economic security enable the minimum stockholding obligation regulations to be adapted as the energy and transport environment evolves. “Last November, I announced a six-point plan to improve the resiliency of our fuel supply from ...
The Government is making sure those on low incomes will no longer have to wait five weeks to get the minimum weekly rate of ACC, and improving the data collected to make the system fairer, Minister for ACC Peeni Henare said today. The Accident Compensation (Access Reporting and Other Matters) ...
A compulsory code of conduct will ensure school board members are crystal clear on their responsibilities and expected standard of behaviour, Minister of Education Jan Tinetti said. It’s the first time a compulsory code of conduct has been published for state and state-integrated school boards and comes into effect on ...
Tena koutou katoa and thank you, Mayor Nadine Taylor, for your welcome to Marlborough. Thanks also Doug Saunders-Loder and all of you for inviting me to your annual conference. As you might know, I’m quite new to this job – and I’m particularly pleased that the first organisation I’m giving a ...
The Government will enter into a funding arrangement with councils in cyclone and flood affected regions to support them to offer a voluntary buyout for owners of Category 3 designated residential properties. It will also co-fund work needed to protect Category 2 designated properties. “From the beginning of this process ...
The Government has announced changes to strengthen requirements in venues with pokie (gambling) machines will come into effect from 15 June. “Pokies are one of the most harmful forms of gambling. They can have a detrimental impact on individuals, their friends, whānau and communities,” Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds said. ...
The total Police workforce is now the largest it has ever been. Police constabulary stands at 10,700 officers – an increase of 21% since 2017 Māori officers have increased 40%, Pasifika 83%, Asian 157%, Women 61% Every district has got more Police under this Government The Government has delivered on ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Nanaia Mahuta met with Korea President Yoon, as well as Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna, during her recent visit to Korea. “It was an honour to represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the first Korea – Pacific Leaders’ Summit. We discussed Pacific ambitions under the ...
The Government’s Research and Development Tax Incentive has supported more than $2 billion of New Zealand business innovation – an increase of around $1 billion in less than nine months. "Research and innovation are essential in helping us meet the biggest challenges and seize opportunities facing New Zealand. It’s fantastic ...
The next ‘giant leap’ in New Zealand’s space journey has been taken today with the launch of the National Space Policy, Economic Development Minister Barbara Edmonds announced. “Our space sector is growing rapidly. Each year New Zealand is becoming a more and more attractive place for launches, manufacturing space-related technology ...
A new Year 7-13 designated character wharekura will be built in Pāpāmoa, Associate Minister of Education Kelvin Davis has announced. The wharekura will focus on science, mathematics and creative technologies while connecting ākonga to the whakapapa of the area. The decision follows an application by the Ngā Pōtiki ā Tamapahore ...
Protecting the environment by establishing a stronger, more consistent system for freedom camping Supporting councils to better manage freedom camping in their region and reduce the financial and social impacts on communities Ensuring that self-contained vehicle owners have time to prepare for the new system The Self-Contained Motor Vehicle ...
A new law passed last night could see up to 25 percent of Family Court judges’ workload freed up in order to reduce delays, Minister of Justice Kiri Allan said. The Family Court (Family Court Associates) Legislation Bill will establish a new role known as the Family Court Associate. The ...
New Zealand businesses will begin reaping the rewards of our gold-standard free trade agreement with the United Kingdom (UK FTA) from today. “The New Zealand UK FTA enters into force from today, and is one of the seven new or upgraded Free Trade Agreements negotiated by Labour to date,” Prime ...
The Government will reform outdated surrogacy laws to improve the experiences of children, surrogates, and the growing number of families formed through surrogacy, by adopting Labour MP Tāmati Coffey’s Member’s Bill as a Government Bill, Minister Kiri Allan has announced. “Surrogacy has become an established method of forming a family ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little departs for Singapore tomorrow to attend the 20th annual Shangri-La Dialogue for Defence Ministers from the Indo-Pacific region. “Shangri-La brings together many countries to speak frankly and express views about defence issues that could affect us all,” Andrew Little said. “New Zealand is a long-standing participant ...
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall and the Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang met in Wellington today and affirmed the two countries’ long-standing science relationship. Minister Wang was in New Zealand for the 6th New Zealand-China Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation. Following ...
5 percent uplift clearer and simpler to navigate Domestic productions can access more funding sources 20 percent rebate confirmed for post-production, digital and visual effects Qualifying expenditure for post-production, digital and visual effects rebate dropped to $250,000 to encourage more smaller productions The Government is making it easier for the ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs (Pacific Region) Carmel Sepuloni will represent New Zealand at Samoa’s 61st Anniversary of Independence commemorations in Apia. “Aotearoa New Zealand is pleased to share in this significant occasion, alongside other invited Pacific leaders, and congratulates Samoa on the milestone of 61 ...
The Government is continuing to support retailers with additional funding for the highly popular Fog Cannon Subsidy Scheme, Police and Small Business Minister Ginny Andersen announced today. “The Government is committed to improving retailers’ safety,” Ginny Andersen said. “I’ve seen first-hand the difference fog cannons are making. Not only do ...
The Government has received the first independent review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says. The review, considered by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, was presented to the House of Representatives today. “Ensuring the safety and security of New Zealanders is of the utmost ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has expressed condolences on behalf of New Zealand to the Kingdom of Tonga following the death of Her Royal Highness Princess Mele Siu’ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili. “New Zealand sends it’s heartfelt condolences to the people of Tonga, and to His Majesty King Tupou VI at this time ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has expressed condolences on behalf of New Zealand to the Kingdom of Tonga following the death of Her Royal Highness Princess Mele Siu’ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili. “New Zealand sends it’s heartfelt condolences to the people of Tonga, and to His Majesty King Tupou VI at this time ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta have today announced the extension of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) deployment to Solomon Islands, as part of the regionally-led Solomon Islands International Assistance Force (SIAF). “Aotearoa New Zealand has a long history of working alongside the Royal Solomon ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to the Republic of Korea today to attend the Korea–Pacific Leaders’ Summit in Seoul and Busan. “Korea is an important partner for Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific region. I am eager for the opportunity to meet and discuss issues that matter to our ...
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor joined ministerial representatives at a meeting in Detroit, USA today to announce substantial conclusion of negotiations of a new regional supply chains agreement among 14 Indo-Pacific countries. The Supply Chains agreement is one of four pillars being negotiated within the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework ...
Our most spoken Pacific language is taking centre stage this week with Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa – Samoa Language Week kicking off around the country. “Understanding and using the Samoan language across our nation is vital to its survival,” Barbara Edmonds said. “The Samoan population in New Zealand are ...
Over 90 per cent of New Zealanders are expected to receive this year’s nationwide test of the Emergency Mobile Alert system tonight between 6-7pm. “Emergency Mobile Alert is a tool that can alert people when their life, health, or property, is in danger,” Kieran McAnulty said. “The annual nationwide test ...
ENGLISH: Whakatōhea and the Crown sign Deed of Settlement A Deed of Settlement has been signed between Whakatōhea and the Crown, 183 years to the day since Whakatōhea rangatira signed the Treaty of Waitangi, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Whakatōhea is an iwi based in ...
Elizabeth Longworth has been appointed as the Chair of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, Associate Minister of Education Jo Luxton announced today. UNESCO is the United Nations agency responsible for promoting cooperative action among member states in the areas of education, science, culture, social science (including peace and ...
Tourism and hospitality employer accreditation scheme to recognise quality employers Better education and career opportunities in tourism Cultural competency to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces Innovation and technology acceleration to drive satisfying, skilled jobs Strengthening our tourism workers and supporting them into good career pathways, pay and working conditions ...
Tourism and hospitality employer accreditation scheme to recognise quality employers Better education and career opportunities in tourism Cultural competency to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces Innovation and technology acceleration to drive satisfying, skilled jobs Strengthening our tourism workers and supporting them into good career pathways, pay and working conditions ...
Greater access to primary care, including 193 more front line clinical staff More hauora services and increased mental health support Boost for maternity and early years programmes Funding for cancers, HIV and longer term conditions Greater access to primary care, improved maternity care and mental health support are ...
Greater access to primary care, including 193 more front line clinical staff More hauora services and increased mental health support Boost for maternity and early years programmes Funding for cancers, HIV and longer term conditions Greater access to primary care, improved maternity care and mental health support are ...
The Government continues progress on the survivor-led independent redress system for historic abuse in care, with the announcement of the design and advisory group members today. “The main recommendation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Abuse in Care interim redress report was for a survivor-led independent redress system, and the ...
Aotearoa New Zealand is providing NZ$7.75 million to respond to urgent humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The Horn of Africa is experiencing its most severe drought in decades, with five consecutive failed rainy seasons. At least 43.3 million people require lifesaving and ...
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall has opened two new state-of-the-art mental health facilities at the Christchurch Hillmorton Hospital campus, as the Government ramps up its efforts to build a modern fit for purpose mental health system. The buildings, costing $81.8 million, are one of 16 capital projects the Government has funded ...
The Government is continuing to invest in our regional economies by announcing another $24 million worth of investment into ten diverse projects, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan says. “Our regions are the backbone of our economy and today’s announcement continues to build on the Government’s investment to boost regional economic ...
An $8 million boost to New Zealand Māori Tourism will help operators insulate themselves for the future. Spread over the next four years, the investment acknowledges the on-going challenges faced by the industry and the significant contribution Māori make to tourism in Aotearoa. It builds on the $15 million invested ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the first 18 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles for the New Zealand Army, alongside personnel at Trentham Military Camp today. “The arrival of the Bushmaster fleet represents a significant uplift in capability and protection for defence force personnel, and a milestone in ...
NZ Post has, with little or no warning, stopped sending mail to 34 countries; there are another 21 that aren’t sending mail to us. But it's kept pretty quiet about it ...
Why is she in trouble, and what could happen if she’s found in contempt? Scorn and entitlement. Or, at least, contempt and privilege. In the strange world where constitutional law and politics intersect, people are bad at naming things. Parliament has “privileges”, and even a whole committee specially devoted to ...
What questions will a green doctor ask you? What should you do if police see your weed? And should you really drink it in a tea? Natalie Lowe is placing her sandwich board on a central Auckland footpath. She’s been outside mere seconds when she’s approached by three burly men ...
The ANZ Premiership grand final will be a showdown of netball’s great wingwomen – Mystics’ Michaela Sokolich-Beatson vs Stars’ Gina Crampton. Suzanne McFadden speaks to both athletes, on a common mission. It’s a gritty battle just too close to call. Stars wing attack Gina Crampton and Mystics wing defence Michaela ...
The first King's Birthday Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list, described by Steve Braunias FICTION 1 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35) Next week's Book of the Week review at ReadingRoom is by Philip Matthews (crowned Best Reviewer at last year's ...
Aotearoa has vast tracts of suburban and urban terrain. The possibilities for reformulating under-used landscapes into massive carbon-capture terrains are enormousOpinion: Many New Zealanders are engaged in the environmental work that needs to be done to halt the degradation of our planet. However, addressing increasing carbon dioxide emissions and ...
New Zealand's big emitters are under pressure to do more as the country heads towards its zero carbon 2050 target. NZ Steel's the first mover with a big deal with the Government to help it cut its emissions. Who will be next? The $300 million deal between NZ Steel ...
This week on the Raw Politics podcast: National struggles to deal with race relations and Labour and National fall out over housing density - plus the risk of a caucus breakdown for ACT The Raw Politics team takes a look at how National's leader and MPs are dealing with ...
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A new poem by Wellington poet Victoria Lewis. Carmine well – the cherries appeared quietly there on the kitchen bench as if to smile and say i love you,and you dared to forget those gleaming fruit form a prayer, a devotion bloody on the inside, taut on the out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra nitpicker/Shutterstock By coincidence, the furore around the consultancy firm PwC is raging just as the National Anti-Corruption Commission is gearing up for its start of business on July 1. The PwC scandal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ricardo Villegas, Senior Lecturer of Law, University of South Australia Today, Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko handed down his long-awaited judgment in the defamation case that Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living former SAS soldier, brought against the Age, the Sydney Morning ...
Wayne Brown has named and attempted to shame councillors who oppose the sale of the council's airport shares, but some are returning fire, saying he does not have the votes to pass his plan. ...
Some certainty has arrived for those impacted by severe weather events earlier this year but the bulk of the detail for a buyout scheme affecting at least 700 homes is a work in progress, writes political editor Jo Moir.Analysis: Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson has been determined since February ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Rolph, Professor of Law, University of Sydney At the heart of the spectacular defamation trial brought by decorated Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith were two key questions. Had the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times damaged his reputation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Bateson, Professor of Practice, University of Sydney Shutterstock Australians’ access to a range of contraceptive options depends on where they live and how wealthy they are. A recent parliamentary inquiry recommends ways to end this “postcode lottery” for people ...
Labour's campaign chair is standing by a social media post which likens National's prescriptions policy to dystopian TV show and novel The Handmaid's Tale. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition’s decision to oppose the Voice to Parliament has put its moderate members in a jam. Some moderates are active yes advocates, while others are trying to keep low profiles. Bridget Archer, the outspoken ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa is calling out the agriculture industry’s "undue influence" over the Government’s agricultural emissions policy, saying that " predatory denial and delay " have stalled the development of plans to price and reduce ...
“The huge fire in South Auckland illustrates the serious human health risks of incinerating flock, the residual material left over from the scrap metal process. It is one reason we will be opposing the building of a waste incinerator in Te Awamutu ...
It’s reassuring to think that by paying for private treatment you’re ‘freeing up a bed’ in a public hospital. But the reality is private beds don’t free up public beds, they replace them. Ethicists argue that healthcare is special. Unlike other consumer goods, its availability and accessibility should be based ...
The office of mayor Wayne Brown has hit back at criticism journalists were “cherry-picked” for this morning’s budget announcement. A number of media outlets, including The Spinoff, Stuff, TVNZ and Newshub, were not invited to hear Brown’s budget address. Some, however, made it into the room after Brown had started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Klugman, Research Fellow, Institute for Health & Sport, member of the Community, Identity and Displacement Research Network, and Co-convenor of the Olympic Research Network, Victoria University Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains mention of the Stolen ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sudyumna Dahal, PhD Student, Australian National University Shutterstock The human costs of tobacco and smoking worldwide are huge. 1.3 billion people use tobacco, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. More than 8 million people die prematurely because of tobacco, at ...
Today, the Government released a discussion document: Safer Online Services and Media Platforms. It aims to reduce people’s exposure to harmful content, and create a system that is easier to navigate if people need to report harmful content. The ...
The Act Party’s compared a proposal to improve online safety to the government’s doomed hate speech laws, and pledged to “kill” it off as well. Consultation is set to begin on a Department of Internal Affairs proposal to change how online content is regulated in New Zealand. But David Seymour ...
A new report from the Auditor-General on four initiatives to improve outcomes for Māori has highlighted the importance of strong relationships between public organisations and Māori, and of taking the time needed to build these relationships. However, ...
The Broadcasting Standards Authority welcomes today’s launch of the public discussion document, Safer Online Services and Media Platforms, on a proposed new content regulation framework. The Authority has long been an advocate for a more flexible regulatory ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alice Clement, Research Associate in the College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University Virtual Australian Museum of Palaeontology, Author providedPalaeontology is the study of evolution and prehistoric life, usually preserved as fossils in rocks. It combines aspects of geology ...
Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono welcomes the release of the Safer Online Services and Media Platforms report from Te Tari Taiwhenua, dealing with content regulation for media and social media. “We welcome the move to an independent regulator that ...
The drearily titled “Safer Online Services and Media Platforms” document has just been released. Here’s a TLDR summary from The Spinoff’s Shanti Mathias: The suggested changes are pretty different from what we have right now. All digital industries that publish content, including overseas companies like Meta and Google and local ...
The drearily titled “Safer Online Services and Media Platforms” document has just been released. Here’s a TLDR summary from The Spinoff’s Shanti Mathias: The suggested changes are pretty different from what we have right now. All digital industries that publish content, including overseas companies like Meta and Google and local ...
The Safer Online Services and Media Platforms document has just been released by the government’s Content Regulatory Review. It does more than capitalise nouns – here’s what you need to know about what’s inside. What is this document with the world’s most boring name?It’s a proposal from the Department ...
The Safer Online Services and Media Platforms document has just been released by the government’s Content Regulatory Review. It does more than capitalise nouns – here’s what you need to know about what’s inside. What is this document with the world’s most boring name?It’s a proposal from the Department ...
The 2010s musical theatre phenomenon has finally made it to Spark Arena. Does does it live up to the years of expectation? This Angelica Schuyler is transcendent Full disclosure: I am overly familiar with Hamiton without being a full-on Hamilstan. I’ve listened to the cast recording countless times, watched it ...
The 2010s musical theatre phenomenon has finally made it to Spark Arena. Does does it live up to the years of expectation? This Angelica Schuyler is transcendent Full disclosure: I am overly familiar with Hamiton without being a full-on Hamilstan. I’ve listened to the cast recording countless times, watched it ...
Members of the press being turned away from the door distracted from the announcement of asset sales and inflation-pegged rates in Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s final budget proposal Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown didn’t mince words at a fiery press conference this morning where he confirmed he’d be calling for a ...
During New Zealand First coalition negotiations our policy was to train and resource 1800 new frontline police. We secured this coalition policy win to ensure our streets had a police force that could tackle crime - after years of neglect. Remember those ...
The government and councils will offer a buyout option to property owners whose land is too risky to rebuild on, and co-fund protection works for those who need it. ...
The government will work with councils to offer a “voluntary buyout” for owners of homes written off by Cyclone Gabrielle and other recent severe weather. About 700 category three properties – those where it’s deemed the risk of future severe weather cannot be sufficiently mitigated – are expected to be ...
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed budget presents a dangerous false choice between cutting public services and privatising Auckland’s assets. The proposal to councillors offers to reinstate funding for public services and increase the pay ...
A leaked consultation document from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) shows plans to draft and introduce legislation that would entirely restructure the New Zealand censorship regime, bringing online speech, such as material on social media ...
A crucial day for the future of the city, and the mayor’s message to hundreds of thousands of Aucklanders: I don’t want to talk to you. Wayne Brown was right. The media is awash with drongos. I personally have behaved drongoistically – to borrow a Winstonism – at least twice ...
The PSA is pleased Te Whatu Ora has listened to its concerns and is seeking further consultation with unions on a major restructuring as it seeks to remove duplication and centralise services. "This will be a huge relief for workers," said ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images When TVNZ cancelled reality TV show Police Ten 7 earlier this year, it certainly rattled some law-and-order cages. The show’s former host Graham Bell, who described suspects variously ...
A new survey from Consumer NZ has once again found customer’s prefer the country’s smaller power providers. For the third year in a row, Powershop has come out on top with a satisfaction score of 74% – the sixth time overall it has achieved the accolade. Frank Energy received a ...
Applications to mine in the ocean could begin in July. Why are scientists and activists so concerned?Far from the light of the surface, animals are pale; some glow in the dense darkness, have translucent shells; grow very big or very small. Even the most comprehensive list of deep ocean ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that a Police dog handler was not justified in using his dog to bite a man who was resisting arrest but was justified in using the dog against a second man who threatened Police. At a Whanganui suburb ...
The interdisciplinary artist from Te Whanganui-a-Tara shares all the mahi that happens behind the scenes. Ana (Ngāti Tāwhaki, Ngāi Tūhoe) has won multiple awards for her theatre work, and has been the recipient of the Te Tumu Toi New Zealand Arts Foundation Springboard Award, where she was mentored by ...
Sustainable Tarras (ST) supports today’s commitment from the new Christchurch City Holdings (CCHL) board seeking increased transparency and community engagement on the Tarras airport, as debated with Christchurch City Council (CCC) at today’s ...
This Sunday, 4 June, Wellington and Christchurch will join over 300 cities worldwide in observing the National Animal Rights Day. The events remember the billions of animals who lose their lives each year due to human actions, and acknowledge the ...
EDS has lodged its submission on “ Strengthening National Direction on Renewable Electricity Generation and Electricity Transmission ”, a consultation document prepared by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment and the Ministry ...
Auckland’s mayor snubbed most journalists from a morning launch of his new budget. While the Herald was among a select few allowed in the room, reporters from outlets like Stuff weren’t sent an invitation. In a story headlined “Wayne Brown snubs Stuff readers on major Auckland Council budget update”, a ...
A nationwide poll on pay gaps shows nearly 2 out of every 3 New Zealanders consider pay gaps to be a ‘significant’ or ‘very significant’ issue (64%), with a similar number supporting new pay transparency policies to address the issue (63%). ...
I said we could still be friends but now I just want him to leave me alone.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to [email protected]Dear HeraTowards the end of last year, I was surprised to see a university acquaintance from a different city – we’d had one tutorial together – at ...
Wayne Brown’s proposed budget will see rates increases pegged to inflation – but it requires his desired sell-off of Auckland Airport shores. The mayor is presenting his budget in Auckland today. Few were invited to witness the moment live, with media like Stuff reportedly left out (The Spinoff was not ...
When it was first unveiled, the government’s extension in this year’s Budget of 20 hours free early childhood education to 2-year-olds from next March was hailed as a masterstroke. The Minister of Finance said it would save qualifying households ...
I didn’t know this but because we have reciprocal health agreements with Australia and the United Kingdom, visitors from those countries will not have to pay for prescriptions once the $5 fee is removed here in July. Naturally that means New Zealanders enjoy reciprocity in their experience of local health ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Pang, Research Fellow in Psychology, Monash University Shutterstock The human brain is made up of around 86 billion neurons, linked by trillions of connections. For decades, scientists have believed that we need to map this intricate connectivity in detail ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gapps, Historian and Conjoint Lecturer, University of Newcastle Benjamin Duterrau, The Conciliation 1840, oil on canvas. Purchased by the Friends of TMAG and the Board of Trustees, 1945. Collection: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, AG79.Note of warning: This article ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena Plebanski, Professor of Immunology, RMIT University Philippe Leone/Unsplash Influenza, or the flu, is a virus transmitted by respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing. It can cause the sudden onset of a fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, headache, muscle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven J Lade, Resilience researcher at Australian National University, Australian National University Shutterstock People once believed the planet could always accommodate us. That the resilience of the Earth system meant nature would always provide. But we now know this is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vera Weisbecker, Associate Professor, Flinders University Shutterstock Australia’s dingo fence is an internationally renowned mega-structure. Stretching more than 5,600 kilometres, it was completed in the 1950s to keep sheep safe from dingoes. But it also inadvertently protects some native ...
Hone Harawira under pressure in his Te Tai Tokerau electorate, last weekend a request was made by current Mana members for Clinton Dearlove to stand for Mana in the Tamaki Makaurau.
The request was declined by Mr Dearlove.
This was either a back channel offer by Mr Harawira himself or Mana members breaking ranks over the InternetMONEY party.
link below
https://www.facebook.com/289480731230120/photos/a.289845987860261.1073741828.289480731230120/300839110094282/?type=1
🙄
Doubly 🙄 so 🙄 ,i have been meaning to ask NzJackson if He has been in possession of a high powered slug rifle recently…
Very very bad news. Malaysian airliner destroyed over eastern Ukraine. Its going to get ugly, fast.
Don’t know if the link will function but this has been put up by the Ukraine govt. Purportedly an intercepted conversation proving authorisation from within Russia… (Source Telegraph clip yet to be verified).
It sounds like a horrible mistake in terms of miss identifying the plane, there is some social media from the separatists announcing they had shot down a military plane at the time and place where the Malaysian Jet ended up.
Correct to say it’s going to get ugly fast…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V5E8kDo2n6g
Shit. Sounds like some amateurs with deadly weapons, mistaking a civilian plane for a military one.
intercepted phone calls show two russian intelligence officers involved..
That’s exactly what it is. The rebels only obtained an SA-11 missile system two days ago, and two hours ago were claiming on social media that they’d shot down an AN-26 transport plane.
There is no way that responsible air traffic controllers should have directed a civilian flight through a war zone unnecessarily risking their passengers lives. Especially on a flight path on which two flights had just been shot down in previous days.
This is the height of incompetence and irresponsibility.
There is no way that this should have happened again.
From Wikipedia: KAL 007
It seems that civilian air flights are being sacrificed as pawns in prelude to all out war.
it is common for civilian overflights of areas of conflict..
..they fly high..at 30,000 ft…
..and there is no way that hand-held rocket-launchers etc can take them down..
..it has to be a sophisticated missile..one beyond the ken of most conflicts..
Putin talked to Obama soon after the downing of the flight. If reports of Putin flying through that airspace just 40 mins beforehand are true, they were probably targetting him.
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/obama-warns-putin-more-sanctions-over-ukraine-crisis-after-malaysia-
Russia Today reports Kiev had deployed over two dozen BUK advanced anti-aircraft systems to the Donetsk region.
http://rt.com/news/173636-buk-malaysian-plane-crash/
The BUK systems require highly trained teams capable of deploying the weapon, arming the system, tracking targets, successfully locking on, and launching. Only Kiev has those teams.
Also AN26 are propeller planes, they look nothing like commercial jets, and usually operate at around 20,000-25,000 feet max: not the ~35,000 feet height of commercial airliners.
AN 26 data
http://www.flugzeuginfo.net/acdata_php/acdata_an26_en.php
Or maybe, karol, people every bit as professional as the sailors on the USS Vincennes, mistaking Iran Air Flight 655 for a military aircraft. They had radars and electronic capabilities well in advance of anything soldiers on the ground with an AA missile launcher and a mobile radar would have.
At this stage I have no idea whether it’s the Ukrainian rebels acting with Russian support, or the neo-fascist government, trying to provoke a Western response. It also comes at a very convenient time for Netanyahu, so I’ll wait and see. While I doubt if the west will intervene militarily, their hypocrisy in condemning this after the number of innocents they have killed really gets to me.
In any case, and whoever did it, killing civilians is horrific. It needs to stop all over the world.
A horrible mistake? Giving surface to air weapons to a bunch of lunatics in the first place is a horrible mistake. Thanks Vlad.
And yet the Americans keep doing so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
??
Even worse. Netanyahu just ordered the ground invasion into Gaza to go live.
Here is an example of the unmitigated sickness of mind in the Israeli Parliament
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/07/16/371556/israel-must-kill-all-palestinian-mothers/
A single MP rather than the entire Parliament. There may even be some other MP’s who share her views but I would suggest they are in the minority. I could equally point you to anti-Jewish views expressed in Arab nations and propagated via state controlled media outlets. There are extremists on both sides.
breaking news from Gosman
The chief difference being the ‘terrorists’ in those Parliaments (usually) leave that level of hate-filled commentary to others, namely those not elected by their people to positions of democratic representation and responsibility. As Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan says “If these words had been said by a Palestinian, the whole world would have denounced it,”
The world, including you, conveniently forget on a regular basis how Hamas is part of a democratically elected government so when Egypt does not even bother to consult them when formulating a cease fire plan, can you blame them for doing what any government would do in that position and rightly claim the cease fire has no consideration for their position, so Palestine has no obligation to agree to it. Israel would have done the exact same thing and you likely would have applauded them for it.
Returning to the hate-speech of Ayelet Shaked. This intelligent experienced professional who is a computer engineer and has previously worked in the office of the Prime Minister, is a top five member of Knesset for the Jewish Home, a group who hold 10% of the Israel Parliament. This Parliamentarian you are so quick to dismiss is part of the unicameral national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. One might say her views hold some weight.
Her post by the way, was published the day before the Palestinian teen was abducted and burned alive in retaliation for the three Israeli teens whose deaths have been central to this latest incident. The same tragic deaths Netanyahu was all too eager to manipulate into full hysteria and escalate into true bloodlust.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/netanyahu-government-knew-teens-were-dead-it-whipped-racist-frenzy/13533
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-lawmakers-call-genocide-palestinians-gets-thousands-facebook-likes
Update: According to a Dutch news paper an anonymous source told Russian Press agency Interfax that Putin’s plane returning from the BRIC meeting was in the same airspace shortly before or after the Malaysian plane was shot down. the plot thickens!
Wow! An anonymous source told a Russian media agency that there was a plane in the area that if targetted would absolve the Russian government of all blame. Why don’t I placve much store in that do you think?
ANNDDDD Wow, The Gos is bored and needs to earn his shill money! Gagging for a war with Russia are you? You fuckin moron.
Please go back to your dark hole Travelleve- your bilious and vile conspiracy theories are grossly disrespectful to those killed and their families.
I find interesting her gigantic leap of logic that simply pointing out that her potential conspiracy theory about the so called real reason for the shooting down of the plane somehow means you must support a war with Russia.
You can go away as well.
Apart from offering heart felt condolences to those involved there’s not much else to be said at present.
+1
hey ev, dont you mean moran!
Hey Tinfoil, What conspiracy theory would that be. The one we got pushed down our throat within minutes of the plane crashing or how about we just wait and see and keep all our options open and some real investigative work needs to be done. In order of course to respect those who died 154 are my country men and women after all. Would not want them to used for the next godforsaken war.
You want to write moron as moran be my guest.
The reality C.V it’s been bad for a while, just in the last three days leading up to the shooting down of this Malaysian aircraft. Their has been shelling and shootings across Ukraine. With at least 17 civilian deaths and no-one knows how many combatants have been killed – this includes militias and government forces. Anarchist activists on both sides have been arrested, many on the Russian speaking side of Ukraine are ending up in Russian prisons and have been charged as terrorists. And on the other half they just disappear into red tape, or into these guys hands http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28329329
Could someone tell me when the Labour leader is due back?
Seems odd to have a major launch in Wellington, but then, in the same week that Key is absent the media, Cunliffe accedes the media ground following the launch to National?
You can’t start a campaign, put it on hold, then start it again.
Cunliffe, you need to come back.
Wasnt he in Queenstown yesterday campaigning with Liz Craig? But yes, basically everyone has bizzarely gone for school holidays.
mp’s can’t be expected to interrupt their ‘school-holidays’..!
..what heresy are you suggesting..?
..they need their extended/frequent holiday-breaks..
..they work so hard..on our behalf..the poor-luvvies..!
..i mean..all those questiontimes..?
Ideally some shots of him with a hammer in his hand putting up billboards tomorrow wouldn’t go astray.
Also we have campaign headquarters open and the old engine gets turned on again.
For most activists, we are neck deep in it – and moral support really counts winter, and when the polls are down.
Yep. Me and mates are putting up hoardings all around Region 6 next weekend. And the one after that.
cunnliffe should have been here..filling that media/information vaccuum..
..he needs a fucken holiday more..?
..that is more important..?..
..at this particular point in time..?
..yet another tactical foot-shot..
..it’s getting to be a long fucken list of them..isn’t it..?
It’s negative comments that fuel the anti-Cunliffe debate. He is good value and the right man for the job.
There is a massive anti Cunliffe MSM campaign out there. He was campaigning in Queenstown not on holiday in Hawaii.
FFS give the man a break and say something positive about him. We are 9 weeks out from an election and the Left needs to pull together.
BG @3.1.3.1. 100+
phillip ure
Can you keep your opinionated comments shut until after the election? You are neither use nor ornament when you can’t use your intelligence for good advantage to the left.. With this negative stuff you turn to the dark side.
Why not just shut up if you can’t say something helpful and positive. With friends like you… Perhaps after all you are a sneaky right wing white anter. If not, show it by not saying one more negative thing till the election is over or can’t you help being a smart arse know all.
and that goes for bad 12 too.
“..or can’t you help being a smart arse know all…”
..i’ve tried treatment..nothing worked…
..and i am ‘working for the left’..
..i am ‘working’ for a real ‘left’ govt..
..not just a national-lite/clark-years rehash..
..which you seem to be more than happy with the prospect of..?
In what way are you working for those things?
u go first tracey..
@phillip
to your last comment – I repeat –
‘You are neither use nor ornament when you can’t use your intelligence for good advantage to the left..’ And the best thing you can do is use your judgment to decide to stop making comments that demean the left.
re yr comment:..i repeat..
“….not just a national-lite/clark-years rehash..
..which you seem to be more than happy with the prospect of..?.”
Jesus it’s like you lot are determined to destroy the left on the basis of pointless dogma. Which one of you is the “peoples popular front” and which one is the “popular peoples front”? It is, however, very entertaining.
Greywarbler, the short answer is F off wanker, the longer one, what comments of mine are you trying to suppress,
If you want me to begin a series of anti-Cunliffe/anti- Labour rants leading into the election attempting to suppress my comments is the exact means of achieving this…
@Bad 12 4.56
It is unfortunate that you are so unable to discipline yourself to find a more courteous and thoughtful approach to other people. You would then limit your bad language but you won’t try as I feel that you like yourself as you are too much.
Lets try again shall we greywarbler, exactly who the fuck do you think you are attempting to suppress how and upon what subjects i choose to comment on,
This is ‘Open Mike’ it is provided so that we can comment on ‘anything’ that might be exercising our brains so as to keep the actual Posts relatively free of such distractions,
The Moderators set the boundaries within which the discourse occurs not you greywarbler, so, if you cannot handle the comments i in particular make, its simple just scroll on by when you see the Bad username, or better still, F off with your inane whining…
As far as I can see, Mr. Ure is a complete narcissist who has somehow self-identified with the left. Sometimes he says something quite insightful and useful, but not more than 5% of the time. I don’t think he’s a right wing white anter like Populuxe, but he could usefully learn that less is more. The way he carries on here is likely to make new readers wonder what the hell they’ve staggered into.
As for the squabbles with bad12, the two of them have just about put me off this site completely. I still read some of the posts, but don’t feel very enthusiastic about contributing.
PS I ate chicken tonight and took oxycodone, so feel free to make remarks about fat dripping down my junkie chin.
Don’t go Murry don’t go. It’s not the election time already.
Just come and visit and read Colonial Viper and karol and a few favourites DtB ec etc. There are plenty. You just have to sort out the wheat from the chaff, the gold from the washings, etc etc. But please don’t increase some other blogs IQ and in your absence, drop ours.
He was indeed CV!
😀
All reports would suggest that the best thing Cunliffe could do is stay away. I do wonder how Labour followers are going to feel when the Greens are the official opposition after September 20th.
It’s a shame the right has nothing to campaign on but negativity. Got nothing to offer the country or the majority of Kiwis.
you also really need to look to labour..
..there are no real game-changing policies ..on matters that really matter ..on offer from them..
..just the same old faces..preaching the same old neo-lib ‘growth’/arbeit-macht-frei! bullshit…
..but as long as the greens and internet/mana pick up those collapsing labour votes..
(.and more..).
..the left bloc cd end up looking how many (including me) wd like it..
..with neo-lib labour collapsing out to those smaller parties..
..the ones that have ‘real’ labour policies…
..and the greens/internet/mana together being able to force labour to enact the changes we need..
..i for one was not happy at the prospect of a dominant-labour..greens as ministers..supported by peters..
..with internet/mana glowering on the opposition benches..
..from chaos comes change..
..(and you can’t say labor haven’t been warned..repeatedly..with the polls also underlining that story..
..a cunnliffe promising major change..soared in the polls..
..cunnliffe/labour veering back to the centre/right since then..showing a corresponding dive in support..’
..just exactly how much more of a fucken heads-up do they need..?..)
Phillip-negative negative negative. Do take a look at all the policies Labour have announced with more to come.
Are you trolling for the Nats now?
yes they have some bits and bobs that r ok…
..but there is no poverty-busting..
..there is no serious fighting global climatechange in there..
..(in fact..to the contrary…more drilling/mines etc..)
..there is no financial transaction tax on the banksters..etc..etc..
..they are just promising more of the fucken same..
..you can’t see that..?
..we should all clap n unison for the hope of a clark yrs reprise…?
..r u kidding me..?
..u can’t see this as the cause for the collapse in support..?
..we do have memories slightly longer than goldfish..
..and show me anyone who just wants that reprise of the clark yrs..
…it’s the same faces..offering the same stuff..and saying ‘trust us..!..again..!..’..
..u seriously can’t see that..?
..and b clear..were they rolling out policies such as above..i wd b cheering them thru the rafters..
..but they ain’t..and i won’t…until they do..
..it’s called agitating for change..real change..
It’s a shame the right has nothing to campaign on but negativity
Really?
Off the top of my head Labour has gone about the:
boat building crisis
manufacturing crisis
housing crisis
social-housing crisis
forestry crisis
immigration crisis (too many kiwis leaving)
immigration crisis (too many people arriving)
marine industry crisis
Because thats positive
yeah – you need to show the positivity from the right to make your argument work
“were not as bad as you” doesnt make something a positive (irrespective of validity of initial claim)
Ah, no, those crisis are all the result of National’s policies. Admittedly, policies originally brought in by the 4th Labour government.
You’ll also note that National are the truly negative party with their outright attacks upon the opposition and no policies.
But Karol even offering “nothing” is polling better than the “something” Labour has proposed. Doesn’t that concern you that there is no resonance with the policies you espouse, despite in your opinion s lack of opposing policies to measure term against. Perhaps, like let’s say in a democracy, people don’t agree with these ” policies”. You might think they’re just peachy which is your right. Clearly most others don’t agree , which is their right.
I think Cunliffe and the team are on the brink of announcing major new policy about letter-boxes.
And I understand caucus and its advisors have been working around the clock and is almost ready to unleash exciting new policy on toothbrushes.
National however is rolling out definitive and innovative new policies on…
…oh look! a photo of John Key with a lei!
I know. But I expect National to support a status quo that advantages the already advantaged.
Can’t seem to stop expecting something significantly different and better from Labour. Hence the bitter diappointment.
(If Key announced a letterbox policy it would be lauded as a significant innovation).
+1
woo-bloody-hoo..!
..last nite at a meeting of internetty-people..
..i heard for the first time about googles’ page-ranking…
..which evaluates websites in a global-ranking between one to ten..
..(a super-ranking..if you will..)
..(ie..facebook is a nine..)
..and looking locally…the standard is a six..which is very very good…
..only pipped by kiwiblog…which is a seven..(‘boo..!’..)
..both whaleoil and the daily blog…are at five..which is also very very good…
..and whoar..?…whoar is also at five..(woo-bloody-hoo..!..eh..?..)
..as the internetty-people looked at me nodding their heads in unison as they said..’that is very very good..!’..
..i felt a definite lifting of spirits..a ‘high’ even…
..and i have achieved this ranking despite no social-media action..no seo-tweaking on my part..
..and that makes where i am now..even sweeter…
..(but as i said to those internetty-people last nite..’ok..but why am i still poor..?’..)
Sorry Phil – it is not a global ranking. Your score (which is worked for BTW) – is primarily because of all the linking back from other sites considered relevant (Kiwiblog and the Standard).
Here is some reading if you are interested: http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html
So in effect you are crowing about something that is useless (at the moment) for how you are driving your site.
BUT – despite me not agreeing with anything you write (or your language skills for that matter) – you have earned the page rank by working / linking / posting etc.
It gives you a base to work from. so congratulations on that. I would recommend some reading on PR, QS, and SEO in order to further improve what you are trying to achieve.
Useless info – did you know Page rank is not named after “ranking the page”, but is named after Larry Page?
that’s funny..!
..kiwiblog..and the standard..linking back to me..?
..that’ll be a cold day in hell..
..where did you pluck that one from..?
..and really..i wd rather take the word/opinion of the people i was with last nite..their credibility/areas of work speak for themselves..
..their ‘very very good’ outweighs yr sneer..
..and hey..!..there are over 20,000 other websites around the world that have me/whoar on their best-blog list..
..how wd you explain away/denigrate that one..?
..and yes..i did know it was named after larry page…
..i learnt that also last nite..
Sorry – It seems that your view of people who disagree with you poisons you a little.
I wasnt actually sneering in the slightest. If you read I was actually being congulatory and acknowledging that you have started building up a page – and that this was from your hard work.
If you search kiwiblog etc you will find your website mentioned many, many times – indeed not a link, but the upshot is whoar.co.nz is mentioned in your post on websites that are recognised as “quality content” (subjective I know) for when people are searching for political info in NZ. Also they are “high traffic” – which again increases their google quality index.
I play in this sandpit – with a very high level of success. What you are doing is right as a basis for moving forward – and I gave a polite idea on other ideas that you can continue to learn in order to become more successful.
So no denigrating or sneering from me. I know its hard to build up. So – dont be a hater – it dosnt make you happy.
apologies 4 negative-reaction..
..i unreservedly withdraw..
..and..chrs..
I read your comment as praising but making a slight information corre tion
Israel has celebrated the end of the truce by killing some more kids and beginning a ground invasion. Shits.
Cynical: while the world is focused on the Ukraine!
Exactly! Never let a good crisis go unexploited.
they have heralded this over recent days..
..with a corresponding build-up of troops on the border..
..but yes..it does suit them…
..but unless they have e.s.p..
..i don’t think this plane-shooting down is why they are invading now.
..this is what they had planned all along..
i find it extremely difficult to dredge up any sympathy for Hamas in this conflict, having fired hundreds of largely ineffective rockets into Israel the only response that they could expect is for the Israeli’s to send in their army to attempt to crush the Hamas ability to fire such ordinance across the border,
Perhaps Hamas think that Israel will pack up lock stock and smoking guns for a destination other than the stolen Palestinian lands,
At some point in time Hamas will get hold of some of the really sophisticated big bangs being produced by both Syria and Iran and the playing field will be somewhat leveled giving Hamas the ability to total cities inside Israel and leaving Israel with the same problem it has after the Israeli army was mauled in the Lebanon,
It also has an even bigger problem only now in its genesis, should the rouge state that the ISIS rebels are trying to carve out of pieces of both Iraq and Syria become a reality Israel is in danger of being over-run at some point in the future…
All my sympathy goes to the average people throughout the region who have to continue to suffer under either the lunatics who rule them or the lunatics who want to rule them.
Exactly…
And the media who like to stir the pot…
Unlikely. An offensive ground based military operation requires an awful lot of preparation. It is not something that is launched at a drop of a hat to take advantage of some other event. Unless you are stating the Israelis are responsible for shooting down the airliner. I am sure some wacky conspiracy theorists will claim that shortly.
He was never claiming that. Merely saying that, for Israel, it is fortuitous timing that they can launch their offensive at the same time as this other tragedy.
Uh, Israel has been planning the details for weeks and has had plans drawn up in the filing cabinet ready to roll for years
It might take the Americans six months to prepare an invasion of Granada, but Israel is always at a high state of readiness and prides itself on being able to launch operations at short notice. Since Gaza is almost defenceless, with no army, navy, or air force, they can probably invade within 12 hours. Still, I doubt if they made the decision after the airliner went down.
So to be up front I am generally an Israel supporter.
But I’d have thought the had made their point by now.
They are acting like assholes.
Israel will occupy the West Bank like Macarther occupied Japan.
They’re in for the long haul as no one else can give the place security from Hamas and other terror organisations.
Go the Israelies.
you are openly supporting genocide?
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/07/16/371556/israel-must-kill-all-palestinian-mothers/
Calling genocide is like crying wolf. When it really happens noone will be willing to do anything about it (e.g. Rwanda). The situation in Gaza is not genocide. If the Israelis were really interested in wiping out the population they would use the same sort of ordinance that the Syrian regime drops on rebel controlled areas.
In a week or so Gosman when the death toll in Palestine passes 2000, 20,000, 200,000 will you still defend Israel?
The intent is what makes it genocide not the fucking bodycount.
How black is the heart that takes light from shadows.
And I’m pointing out that if there was actual intent the Israelis would be using much more lethal weapons to achieve their aims. In your views why are they not using more deadly weapons?
Because incremental assassination of the populace is more easily managed on the International stage and Israel have been firing from the grassy knoll for decades.
Apparently not if you and others are crying Genocide.
Also as a genocidal policy it isn’t very effective. These sorts of tactics have been carried out by the Israeli military fro decades yet the Palestinian population hasn’t diminished during this time.
“yet the Palestinian population hasn’t diminished during this time.”
are you ignorant or just stupid ?
https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/
“over 40 years of illegal Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; 0.1 million 1948-2011 violent Palestinian deaths, post-1967 excess deaths 0.3 million; post-1967 under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million; 3,600 under-5 year old Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) infants die avoidably EACH YEAR in the OPT “Prison” due to Apartheid Israeli war crimes.”
http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.co.nz/2006/05/post-1967-palestinian-israeli-deaths.html
“7. Post-1967 avoidable mortality and under-5 infant mortality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories total 0.3 and 0.2 million, respectively ”
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread581669/pg1
has some very clear charts in case reading is not your thing
The more pertinent questions are “What was the Palestinian population in 1967 and what is it now?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Palestinian_territories
Approximately 1 million in 1970 and over 4 million 40 years later. Not very successful genocide if they are attempting it wouldn’t you agree?
Is this the bit where I am meant to say ‘by that reckoning no genocide of Jews occurred in WWII’ and you get to accuse me of anti-Semitism ?
your tactics need tuning,
I have better things to do today
Except the Nazis were remarkable successful at reducing the Jewish population in large parts of Europe. Prior to WWII Jews made up a significant proportion of the population of Poland for example. Do you know how many Polish Jews left in Poland there are now?
Gossie. There were still plenty of Jews in Poland in 1938.
The various apologists, doubters and hairsplitters here posting support for the dirty filthy Israeli military, should however unlikely, try and grow some human decency.
Won’t someone please think of the little children.
That’s a ugly comment, Gosman, and highlights your lack of empathy. You know full well children are suffering.
My point is by using emotional language and labelling anyone who dares to not agree with your point of view you effectively shut down any ability to sensibly debate and discuss options around the subject. Noone is downplaying any deaths or suffereing of any people here (innocent or otherwise). I am quite sure the Israelis think they are protecting their own innocent children via their actions though.
Please explain how killing 4 young children on Gaza beach furthers that aim.
Please. Israel has done nothing but protect their own children by way of 60 years of settlement expansion, at the expense of the second class citizens’ children in that country, Palestinian children.
They can’t even vote…
– By Noam Sheizaf |Published October 30, 2012
http://972mag.com/who-gets-to-vote-in-israels-democracy/58756/
Apartheid, or not?
Which little children? The little children the Israelis murdered for the crime of playing soccer on a beach, maybe?
And when Hamas get their hands on some more sophisticated rockets and begin to smash up Israeli cities with them will you go Wah Wah Wah about the death of Israeli civilians,
Hamas firing of 100s of largely useless homemade rockets into Israel directly provoked this invasion…
Get your timeline right. Israel used the kidnapping and deaths of those Israeli teenagers as the pretext to launch these full scale military ops.
The deaths of those teenagers should have been dealt with as a CRIMINAL matter, not as a matter for collective responsibility via military assault.
When putting together a reply to Gosman earlier, I included an article which provides a lot of context for the current conflict. It also contains numerous links to associated stories.
you know where I stand,
humans need to grow up and stop hitting each other to solve their problems
You have watched too much FIFA in the last couple of weeks Harriet.
You have the rhythm and semantics of a football supporter in the throes of World Cup fever.
Take your misplaced cheerleading to another sport, until your fevered brain allows you to comment articulately.
This situation deserves more scrutiny and discussion than what you have offered.
Cluetip:
When you’re the one who has caused over 200 civilian deaths through naval bombardment, drone strikes, shelling, and airstrikes, including 4 young boys playing on the beach yesterday, YOU are the terror organisation.
Harrier Jump Jet, you are a very disturbed individual to be making such comments. Your pom pom cheerleading of the Israeli Defence Force, who have brought so much death, pain and suffering to innocent people is incredibly sickening.
I sense though, seeing this is very similar to a comment you made on karol’s post, that you could be intentionally trying to wind people up. Such misery is not a game.
Or part of the organised Israeli Govt social media campaign, as was featured in the Jerusalem Post a couple of days ago.
Quite possibly. This intervention on the ground looks imilar to their last invasion of the Gaza strip. They are unlikely to achieve anything long term.
One of the more powerful things I’ve read this week:
http://publicaddress.net/speaker/not-even-a-statistic/
And this is why it is necessary to speak up. Because this can’t go on and, as a society, we need to change. What use is fixing anything if we can, collectively, still fail at providing the most basic of securities to over half the population (including children here)?
I note Winston is wanting an enquiry in to the running of Kiwi Rail. Seems to me to be a good reason for the State not owning a commercial enterprise.
piffle.
it is just an example of national party cronies out of their depth.
everytime kiwirail has passed into private hands it has been looted and handed back.
this time it is just ineptitude from national party appointees.
Do you have evidence that the people running Kiwi Rail have liks to the National Party?
Interestingly even if you did that would be another reason why the State should not run comercial enterprises because they can stack the board and management with political appointees.
Seems to me Gosman that like all ‘wing-nuts’ you just cannot help but dribble shit, here’s a taste of a few of the private ferry operator Bluebridges recent woes,
11 Feb 2013–The troubled Bluebridge ferry stuck in Wellington with engine problems may be out of action for a while,
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/…/336738767-troubled-bluebridge-ferry-could-be-out-a-while
7 March 2013–Bluebridges 28 year old Santa Regina is one of three Cook Strait ferries to experience mechanical problems this week,
maritime-connections.com/…/three-cook-strait-ferries-hit-by-mechanical-problems/
29 November 2013–Bluebridge ferry Santa Regina misses sailings with mechanical problems,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/news/…/more-woes-for-cook-strait-ferries
31 Jnauary 2014–Mechanical problems meant Blubridge ferry Santa Regina was two and a half hours late sailing from Wellington this morning,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9671438/bluebridge-ferry-delayed
3 April 2014–The Bluebridge ferry has experienced overnight engine problems,
article.wn.com/view/2014/04/03/engine_problems_hamper_ferry/
Shall i dig you up the 2012 mechanical problems/cancellations for the privately owned Bluebridge ferry services Gosman…
What is the reason Winston Peters is not calling for an enquiry in to these problems?
Because it’s a private enterprise and so it’s running and inevitable collapse is of no public concern. Whereas the railways, being a natural monopoly, essential infrastructure and run by the state, is,
A ferry service is not a natural monopoly though is it DTB?
Yes, it is because it’s all part of the same infrastructure. We used to understand that. Well, our politicians did and they knew that a state monopoly of infrastructure is the most efficient and cost effective means of supplying that service. Then they got bitten by the neo-liberal bug and privatised everything pushing prices up and services down.
How is it the same infrastucture given that Bluebridge has a separte terminal (at least in Wellington)?
Did you see the bit where I said part of the same infrastructure?
It’s just another part of the transportation network.
Then so is any enterprise that uses not just shipping terminals but roads and airports as well. I presume you think all of those are natural monopolies as well do you? Would be interesting to see how taxis would work if you do.
Nope, only where having more than one operator is an increase in costs with no added benefits.
Who determines if there is no added benefit of additional players? You and your army of bureaucrats I presume?
How about a B/C study?
You know something, we’ve never actually done one on the privatisations – just gone with the ideology.
How much it should cost to get broadband into every home in the country? Shouldn’t take long for you to find out as it’s a regulated price.
What is the reason that to all extents and purposes you are a functional dunce Gosman, Peter’s is grandstanding, looking for publicity from political points scoring,
What you do not know, and i do, probably because my old man was an AB on those ships, is that the ferries have been hitting the wharves at Aotea Quay and the Picton terminal with monotonous regularity since they first came into service,
It is only in the age of the ‘smart-phone’ that such occurrence are more likely than not to receive publicity,
The Aotea Quay wharf used by NZRail to berth its ferries is wide open to both the Northerly and Southerly gales that are a regular feature of Wellingtons weather,having to reverse into such berths mean that in such gales the chances of being blown into the wharf are greatly enhanced,
The ‘stretching’ of the Aratere by some 12 meters has turned that ship into a lemon as the insert allows for the ferry to flex in rough conditions more than the original design allowed for,
The private operator Bluebridge’s problem is of another nature, their ferry Santa Regina is 30 odd years old and just about ready for the scrap yard,
The danger of running these old and ill designed ships is that they will experience a significant engine failure, fully laden, in rough weather coming through the Wellington heads,
What is needed is a significant investment in this part of State Highway One with the building of some new ferries preferably here in New Zealand which would create 1000s of jobs and train 1000s of young workers in skills that are always in demand…
As much as I agree with you that those ferries should be build in NZ by NZers I doubt if doing so would produce more than a couple of hundred jobs.
no only the national party does that.
they need the patronage and its their style to rely on nepotism rather than merit.
That may very well be accurate. However the problem is that the National party gets in to office around half the time so has plenty of opportunity of placing their cronies in to positions of power in these organisations. The obvious solution to this is to not have the government being able to appoint their cronies in the first place.
The state should have no role in running Kiwi rail, nor should it be run by commercial interest either. Both have a shocking track record and both have trampled over the labour force in the industry. It seems to me, the only solution left, is a worker lead industry producing a rail system which works for the whole country. Otherwise were going to keep rolling on and on with this stupid system we currently have which is obviously not working for anyone.
I have no problem if a worker owned collective bought the assets of KiwiRail and ran it. Just don’t expect Government funding to keep it operating.
cool..!..kim dotcom is to launch a private prosecution over his being spied on…
Pity the other 87 New Zealand citizens who were also illegally spied upon have been refused the courtesy of also prosecuting those who behaved illegally toward them by the Governments refusal to inform those people that they had been the target of such illegality…
As a footnote: Perhaps Kim DotCom might like to consider widening His legal action against the illegally spying Government agencies into a class action suit covering all the 88 odd New Zealand citizens illegally spied upon,
In such an action the right of ‘discovery’ might reveal to those who were spied upon the fact that they were…
Does the NZ justice system allow class action suits?
Does the New Zealand education system turn out functional idiots??? apparently so if you are anything to measure it by Gosman…
Anything actually useful to add or is just an ad-hominem attack because you are feeling a little down today?
No Gosman, just pointing out your apparently inferior education or lack of actual ability to be educated,
Hint: i aint here as your on call fucking research department, if you want to ask twenty question and expect an answer then i suggest you fuck off and ask those questions of Google like normal people do…
“Seriously considering…”
You (again) are reading into this what you want.
He said he was “seriously considering”
https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/489619734757797889
Not to be taken for granted as happening as per your post.
Like he was considering sponsoring Team New Zealand, and pitting in another internet pipe to NZ.
both “considered” and nothing happened.
Anyone interested in the culture of North American Indians will find this interview with Bryan Crump on Nights at Radio New Zealand last night awesome.
“Mixed blood Cherokee map-maker Aaron Carapella has created what appears to be the first map showing the names and locations of Native American tribes before Europeans set foot on the North American continent”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20142107
Air New Zealand is making its grabaseat special site customer unfriendly for people wanting to travel within NZ. There are nice informative windows for overseas but for NZ there is just a great mass of destinations run together, not even in a list form with some sort of alphabetic order. So I can’t run my eye down to see what is available.
They said they were doing an $8 flight thing and have 1143 – they say available but don’t count on it as they don’t change their available figures on the main list fast. Perhaps the cheap ones have all gone but no way at all of seeing what the status is.
But I have to start a booking before I am told what the price is.not the other way round. So I have made a tentative search with a trial booking and can’t find sign of anything special,not grabaseat price or $8. What a waste of time and smoke and mirrors. I am losing respect for Air NZ. Bring back Rod Fyfe, his stewardship of the airline led to good outcomes for Kiwis travelling within the country.
Do the climate a favor and hitch-hike…
The problem that Labour have now is one of momentum, its now almost a like a sport to see just how low Labour can fall in the polls. Will Labour break the 20% barrier? Who knows but the msm will be pushing it and people will be interested in seeing it happen and so will try to make it happen.
On the plus side its good for the Greens
Puckish-see jackals post today on IMP meetings. 22/20/7 gets a left wing government. You can choose who the 22/20 are!
But we may be seeing a Green Revolution developing at this election. Wouldn’t that give NZ some fantastic press across the world.
Its good to think positively, you think Dover Samuels thinks the same?
This is good from Dita de Boni today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11295224
Yes. The most “with restraint” McCully approach to diversion through boring everyone.
Will the Australian government bar Obama from the G8?
(Because of his actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza.)
Radio NZ National, 9:30 a.m., Friday 18 July 2014
In August 1968, the U.S.-led propaganda machine went into catatonic overdrive when the USSR sent tanks and troops into Czechoslovakia in order to bring a halt to Alexander Dubček’s program of political liberalisation. Many observers, of course, noted that the last regime in the world that was entitled to denounce a country for invading another was the United States. In 1968 the United States had more than half a million troops perpetrating the murderous destruction of Vietnam, and in a few years it would go on to attack and destroy Laos and Cambodia, perhaps irreparably. The United States was also the major backer of the blood-soaked Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, as well as other gruesome regimes in Pakistan, Burma, Spain, Portugal, Israel, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia killed one hundred and eight people in total. Five months earlier, U.S. troops killed more than four times that number in a typical raid—this one was on two hamlets in Quảng Ngãi province in Vietnam. The hamlets were named My Khe and My Lai. The killings were nothing out of the ordinary; American troops did this so regularly that this particular massacre wasn’t even reported until more than a year later.
Over the years, the hypocrisy has never let up, not for a second. Uncle Sam still finds time to mount the pulpit, up to his knees in blood, and denounce others for doing what he himself has done, and continues to do, on a far greater scale.
It would be a lot harder for such vicious regimes to get away with it if people were more informed. To keep them uninformed, and stupid, and posting to Kiwiblog, and hosting radio talkback shows, it’s important to get the media on board. The best way to do this is to get “reporters” to repeat official blather, and routinely express “concern” at the “behavior” of official enemies, while studiously, diplomatically, putting aside such obvious and troublesome quibbles as: “What about what WE are doing?” There will always be troublemaking reporters, real reporters, of course, outriders like Jon Stephenson, Seymour Hersh, Julian Assange, and Matt Lee, but they can be easily sidelined when you have the vast majority of “reporters” on message, and able to suppress the urge to laugh at the absurdity, or screech at the obscenity, of the charade they are asked to perform.
On Radio NZ National this morning, there was a perfect example of this carefully cultivated blindness. A Malaysian Airlines passenger jet has been shot down in the Eastern Ukraine. It looks like there was possibly some Russian involvement. It looks like a significant number of the victims were Australians. To discuss this grave incident, Nine to Noon host Kathryn Ryan interviewed one Karen Middleton, of SBS. After some talk about the terrible event itself, Middleton moved from reporter to propagandist with sinister smoothness. She noted that Australia is due to host the G8 summit later this year, but that “there have been calls” to not invite Vladimir Putin “because of Russia’s actions in the Ukraine.”
She did not mention any calls to not invite Barack Obama or David Cameron, because of the actions of the United States and its deputy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza.
I am sure Kathryn Ryan thought exactly what I and virtually everyone else was thinking when she heard that: what cant, what exquisite hypocrisy, what specious, sanctimonious nonsense. But she stifled any qualms she might have had, and said nothing. The nasty little provocation was allowed to lie there, unchallenged. Even in the midst of an awful event like this, the propaganda barrage never stops. And, almost without exception, our media representatives, instead of challenging them, cooperate with the propagandists and serve as their megaphone.
+111
I was also interested in both the statement and Ryan’s failure to challenge it.
The experts / propagandists are being trundled out by the Americans to establish a case against Russia and /or the pro-Russian rebels even though we don’t yet know for certain how the plane was brought down and, if it was by means of a sophisticated ground to air missile, it could have been fired from areas of Ukraine not under rebel control.
We do know that 295 civilians died which is tragic and an eerily similar number to the 290 who died when an American aircraft carrier shot down an Iranian commercial aircraft in 1988. They claimed it was an accident and as I recall no-one really questioned that much except the Iranians – and George Bush Snr gave the captain of the carrier involved an award 2 years later for his exemplary service.
It may be the pro-Russian rebels had acquired a sophisticated air to ground missile and the technical knowledge to launch it – although it’s hard to see how they (or the Russians) would think that shooting down an unidentified plane was going to do their cause anything other than great harm. As to the alleged phone conversation ‘confirming’ rebel involvement, how stupid would you have to be to think that a huge jet plane flying at 30,000 feet was bringing spies to the region?
It may of course be a dirty op – and you’d have to be a very ill-informed or ideologically blinkered person to deny the existence of loads of them or to deny the fact that the perpetrators of them wouldn’t give a damn about killing 300 innocents.
An idea that could be useful. A campaign throughout NZ by those wanting to get our democracy working.
Each day ask at least one new person ‘Are you a Sleeping Beauty?’ They will be puzzled and either reject the question as odd or irrelevant or ask for information. The answer would be ‘A Sleeping Beauty is a dreaming NZer who won’t vote in the September election.”
(If they did not reply it would not matter as they would have heard it and if it could go viral, then they hear other people discussing it, and there will have been a breakthrough in the ‘ignoring the election and our democracy’ wall of shame.)
This would just put the thought into people’s minds, become aware and could be done with anyone except people in authority over you, and those men who are so gender sensitive they might punch you in the nose.
If someone could put that idea up on Facebook it would get around fast, great consciousness raising, with a quirk to make it intriguing. It could mean that everyone in NZ would have heard the question, or about it, before the election.
Anyone up for making a positive personal difference as they circulate round the rohe!
Why don’t YOU start this thing off then? Create that FB page and start building the groundswell for the campaign. I personally don’t think it will be particulaly effective but good on you if you give it a go.
Thanks Gosman. Why don’t you give it a go? You have lots of time to sit and contribute critiques to the discourse and it would be good for you to practice your tech skills. I have lots of things that I absolutely must do. And little time to acquire the Facebook skills. You could put your time to something useful except negative stuff.
Or is it like typical NZ – no-one has an idea then someone brings one up, everyone else likes it and appoints the thinker to carry it out. Or it is damned with faint praise as you have done. Wishy-washy NZ. ‘Oh I don’t knoooww if that would work. Let’s sit around and do nothing and gossip. Oh well time to go home, see you tomorrow.’
Real red hen stuff. (This does not apply to all persons
involved with The Standard.)
I do so have permission to edit this comment.
Edited version.
gosamn is a paid moaner for the national party.
as far as I can recall he has never made a constructive contribution here or anywhere else for that matter.
“Each day ask at least one new person ‘Are you a Sleeping Beauty?’”
Yep – I cannot imaging anyone taking the mickey out of that at all.
Labour should run with it. Pure Genius!
Hello, I have 3 minutes to go but was not allowed to edit again my last comment.
I realise that I am being wishy washy.
Saying an idea that could be useful. How wet.
It is a great idea that would have big positive outcomes for small input. Like throwing a stone in a pond and the ripples spread in rings around – and each new action likewise.
“Be a voter not a floater…”
lol
Very funny Tiger Mountain 11.46am
However I am serious that it would be a good idea and not therefore suitable for saying amusing things of a scatalogical nature.
Sounds remarkably like what we have in NZ. Companies complaining about the lack of skills but are unwilling to actually do anything about it.
In light of Zetetic’s post this morning, I thought this article is quite apt http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/10264045/Bias-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder
No it is not. It is based on a false premise that media views are centralist and left and right views are on either side of reality.
Media bias in the eye of the beholder? – including the eye of the people saying it’s in the beholder’s eye?
Great post by the Jackal today. National with a small meeting in what appears to be a rest home in Wanaka while IMP are filling halls in the North. Even some young people present.
Watch IMP in the polls!
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-tale-of-two-meetings.html
Be interesting to see the numbers at West Auckland IMP Road Trip meeting on Sunday, 2pm, Kelston Community Centre top of Waikumete hill.
The Northland meetings were good turnouts being in the storm aftermath. The thing with these Internet Mana events is the people there are active locally or at the very least interested. Public meetings can be useful organisers as Winston knows.
+1 Tiger. Winston came to my mind when I saw the pictures of the meetings.
TM – precisely. It is only outside of Harawira’s electorate and even down into the Waikato and BoP that we are going to really get a feel for how much momentum IMP actually has.
They’re getting there, but they do not have the big Mo yet.
This thread is a Gosman sandwich. Trouble is it’s our fingers and ideas being bitten off in Gosman’s mouth and other RWNJ peculiar gourmands.
You do have all day to spend here Gosman so please do go on Facebook and put up my suggestion. I really have to go and do some real work instead of just thinking and worrying about getting a better world so that you can come along and pass some superior judgment on it as being a waste of time.
Slow progress made on wagon repairs
The BERL report on why they should have been built in New Zealand said that we’d get higher quality from Hillside and now it seems that they were correct.
We didn’t need the BERL report, engineers and management at KiwiRail knew months ahead of product delivery that the rolling stock was going to be woefully substandard.
A political decision pushed through by the Tories, the final win for the Tories being them closing down Hillside workshops irreversibly.
Probably because they read the BERL report before the order went out.
Nothing is ever irreversible – it’ll just take a long time to set up again.
We certainly do have to question why the Tories seem so hell bent on destroying NZ’s economy though.
FFS mate, no fucking economic consultants report was needed to tell the Kiwi Rail engineers who have had to deal first hand with the shit gear manufactured out of China for years and years that this was going to be more of the same.
That report was required to try and penetrate the muddle headed bureaucrats and media who had no idea and still have no idea.
It may come as news to you that we have a Free Trade Agreement with China. You can’t reverse that. Indeed there is no alternative to a rapid expansion of such agreements with East Asian countries. I would like to see the next one with Bangladesh. You are living in a 1970s bubble dream about New Zealand manufacturing. If cars can’t be made economically in Australia, how are we going to produce train sets? From memory the Hillside bid came in about sixth on price.
The only way your world view will work is a return to protectionism. That is not happening.
You would be much better advised to work with markets to advance the circumstances of the poor. Otherwise you are just pissing in the wind and irrelevant to modern life. Your ideas will simply never be implemented in New Zealand.
The sin of cheapness.
the idiocy of cheapness, too.
A cheap tender for cabs that have fucking asbestos. 🙄
Yep, people always try to get things that cost less money not realising that, one way or another, you still get to pay the full, real costs.
A free trade agreement doesn’t mean that we have to buy from them. Willing buyer, willing seller and such.
Cars can be made economically in Australia same as they can be made economically here. The problem you have, and it’s right across economics, is that you confuse finances with economics.
Nope – count full costs properly and trade between nations will end.
Markets only work to empower and enrich the already rich – as we’ve seen throughout history.
Toby Manhire superb as ever on Dotcom.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11295624
What is it with the sub-editors or those who write the headers for the Herald.
“NZ First’s shoot to kill law.”
Sound pretty lethal. But Adam Bennett’s column just explains that NZF wants the laws regarding self-defence to be clarified. Farmers or dairy owners defending themselves. A good idea. Have written to Adam as such a misleading header detracts from the quality of his writing. Shame.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11295250
It is the misleading headers in the Herald that bug me: “Toby Manhire: Dotcom’s delayed bombshell looks like a fizzer.”
Not what Toby says at all + the NZF I forgot to send this morning @21.1
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11295684
Don’t talk rubbish Pukish.
If Samuels took the trouble to read what Cunliffe actually said, not what the MSM reported, you will see that in context it was a brave attempt to initiate a debate on the real problem of violence against women to which our shallow PM could only say this was a “silly” thing to say. Pathetic response.
The highway north can be improved without spending the vast amounts proposed by National. The balance can be spent on things that are desperately needed in NZ like better public transport, smaller class sizes, paying off the $50 billion in debt incurred by this National government etc etc
Notice also that he is not moving his vote to National.
If Samuels took the trouble to read what Cunliffe actually said, not what the MSM reported, you will see that in context it was a brave attempt to initiate a debate on the real problem of violence against women to which our shallow PM could only say this was a “silly” thing to say. Pathetic response.
No, it just sounds like he’s still back in the 1950s.
Dover Samuels a good man? Good at looking after himself. At least as good as Shane Jones. Not quite so good at doing anything worthwhile for the people of Matauri Bay, let alone Te Tai Tokerau.
Johnny Winter has died.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tyg5SJDpiQ
RIP Johnny Winter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkTZvcZs9pY
Note for Lynn.
Each time I make a comment I need to fill in my name and email address. It’s been happening for a few days. Don’t know whether the problem is at my end or TS end.
Cheers.
Lolz, it is giving me apoplexy, i mean how hard is it to learn to ‘look’ each time you make a comment, yet for the last few days despite telling myself how fucking stupid i am over and over i still keep not looking,
Laughs, it got me a goody again this afternoon, straight after i logged onto the Standard i filled in the name and email thinking that will fix it,
Browsed a couple of Posts and then made a comment, again forgetting to look, and the name and email had done the disappearo again….
we could all just log in of course, but as bad12 says, it is it’s own fun 🙂
Lolz, nah it can’t be that easy, can it???…
Cunliffe just can’t catch a break:
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2014/07/benefit_numbers_down_5.html
Please show us where they highlight those who have moved on from a benefit such as ‘Widow’s’ benefit or DPB or Long-Term Invalid’s benefit and are now receiving Superannuation? Whilst doing that would you be so kind to present any data available about those who have simply been removed from assistance with no other form of income. That might be difficult by the way as the government choose not to collect that data. It is a bit tougher to rah rah when reality is asked for isn’t it Puckish Rogue.
Meanwhile here is a little indisputable fact. According to the Household Labour Force Survey, the preferred vehicle for National Government stats. Unemployment has increased by 42 thousand people since 2008. 105K in 2008 147K in 2014 http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/employment_and_unemployment/HouseholdLabourForceSurvey_HOTPMar14qtr.aspx
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/employment_and_unemployment/HouseholdLabourForceSurvey_HOTPDec08qtr-revised.aspx
snap Freedom.
The Household Labour force survey has in recent years consistently shown higher numbers of unemployed, looking for work and discouraged unemployed, not actively seeking work, than there are numbers on unemployment benefits. And no, they have not migrated to sickness benefits, let alone found stable jobs. Remember the benefit system has been collapsed down into nearly everyone being considered a ‘jobseeker’ regardless of circumstances, inclusive of the sick, some invalids and sole parents.
The answer is;
a) the two Paulas (Bennett and Rebstock) war on the poor which includes making WINZ effectively a difficult to negotiate sadistic process which people basically avoid if they can possibly do so. WINZ have their own designated doctors and more required meetings and useless seminars than you can imagine that require transport, a mobile phone, presentable clothing etc.
b) a large slice of struggling lower mid socio level people drawing Keys “communism by stealth” in work tax credit aka WFF. If not for this Labour devised handout many more would be caught in the WINZ catch 22.
So people end up in cars, garages, petty crime, begging, precarious employment and the ‘black’ economy. Lower benefit numbers mean diddly with all the social dislocation and strife in this country.
I would like to add by way of a small repost
For those listening to and reporting on the latest employment statistics
23 advertisements for the vacant position of a gumboot checker
does not mean there are 23 vacant gumboot checker positions
we’ll file with Treasury reporting on child poverty and police reporting on the burglary rate in Counties Manukau, shall we?
send a copy to vernon small too.
It shouldn’t happen but it does and the latest example of racial profiling is shocking.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10280576/Swoop-on-marae-likened-to-Tuhoe-raids
This was 2am in the morning btw. WTF is going on that these cases slime up every week or so. It is just not good enough not by a bloody long shot.
Yep, absolutely bloody disgusting actions by the police.
Amazing animation of a comet
http://www.universetoday.com/113317/rosetta-zooms-toward-an-extraordinary-comet/#more-113317
Such technical brilliance – mysteries revealed – a pity all of our brainpower couldn’t be used to stop war.
any effective drumbeat for war is typically led by a few hundred people at most, typically all members of the 0.1%.
http://www.fatherlyadviceandrants.com/orwell-vs-huxley.html
Old but good. Never really thought of these two as either/or. More of a blending seemed closer to reality.