Robert, once you’ve finished stroking your cat, stretch your membrane a little and give us a piece on what a Green New Deal would look like for New Zealand.
Talking of animals this story has cut right through me. What kind of vile creep could do such a thing to a gentle miniature horse. It’s beyond understanding:
On TV1 news tonight the vet who attended the horse said he believed there was more than one person involved.
I had two pets (a dog and a cat) who died and a further dog who was maimed – all at different times and in mysterious circumstances. The vet who attended two of the animals (in the 1980s) was quite sure their death/injury were not accidental.
I never found out for sure who was responsible or exactly why they did it but I had my suspicions.
It’s appalling Anne. Poor little Star, a defenceless innocent animal. Can’t even imagine what pain and trauma he must have suffered before succumbing to his horrendous injuries.
It would have been some gutless abomination of human scum who got some sort of perverted pleasure to have done this.
Harsher penalties required urgently for this sort of extreme animal cruelty
Hi Anne
I know that this later than your blog here but i have just watched news coverage of this disgusting act of evil cruelty.
It made me weep when i listened to the awful attack on a defenseless animal and somebody’s pet who should have been safe in its own surroundings.
I hope they will catch who is responsible for this and make an example out of them.
These people are deranged and a threat to innocent life and should be placed in psychiatric care where they can be detained and not be a risk.
This is a small community and someone will know who did this.
That is what transpired in my case back in the 1980s, but the problem is these people are not easy to identitfy because they are cunning and operate in a clandestine way. It goes without saying they are seriously unstable and a threat to the community they live in as mosa says,
I see the Tony Blair Tribute band has finally decided to make it’s move in the UK, and Chuka Umunna is about to finally see his wish come true and become leader of the opposition – except that he is leader of the opposition to the opposition, which I am sure isn’t quite how that entitled Blairite tosspot thought things would end up.
We all know what these UK Labour traitors don’t like – Jeremy Corbyn, Socialism, any who doesn’t bow and scrape to Israel – but what do they stand for?
As far as i can tell, they stand for austerity and cuts and more of the same.
They’ll retire to sideline where, via their numerous mouthpieces in the Liberal establishment MSM, they’ll spend their whole time making sure the Tories can run Britain for ever or until they are wiped out at the soonest opportunity the voters get.
Seems about right. Tory pro-Brexiteers are motivated by the neoliberal wet dream of free markets liberated from Europe’s insistence on labour, environmental and human rights regulations. Plus it seems also by a little bit of the resurrected imperial glory that comes from sending aircraft carriers here and there.
Labour pro-Brexiteers want to be able to nationalise sectors of the economy that are natural monopolies and don’t want EU membership disallowing such moves.
In this muddle, I’m not sure what not dithering might look like. Possibly Corbyn could say that the bigger risk to a socialist Britain is not the EU, but an unrestrained Tory party. Therefore he is calling for a second referendum. Damn risky though given so many of his base voted for Brexit.
I think you’re right. Corbyn isn’t given to hasty decisions, but Brexit is a festering wound; better to reject it decisively than let it run its course.
As for the ‘anti-Semitic’ crap, it has no more substance than the mudslinging campaign about Chinese sounding names. Corbyn should summarily
eject the MPs involved from the party, and let them fight byelections if they dare.
@Sanctuary +1
Best news I have heard in UK politics for quite a while..
Good riddance to rotten apples…this is one of the best things that could have happened to Labour UK…clear away that stinking rotten carcass of Liberal Centrism..and let the fresh air wash in.
And here a taste of the low rent war loving, intervention supporting, scaremongering bullshit that spews out from these sort of revolting sycophantic Blairite centrists…
“Jeremy Corbyn and those around him are on the wrong side on so many international issues – from Russia, to Syria, to Venezuela. A Corbyn Labour government would threaten our national security and international alliances.”
Of course as we all know, Corbyn has a track record of being on the right side of history unparalleled by any current politician in the UK.
The Seven Nobodies for Israel have certainly excited the foolish right in this country…
NewstalkZzzzzzB News, Tuesday 19 February 2019, 8:30 a.m.
Niva Retimanu intones: “The British Labour Party has SPLIT, with MPs resigning in protest against Jeremy Corbyn. For more, we go to our British correspondent ROD LIDDLE…”
[Rod Liddle * mutters something banal, electing this time not to inject any racist invective. An effortless little twenty-second earner.]
Back to the breathless Niva Retimanu to sum up the crisis: “Critics say that the Labour Party has been overwhelmed by the machine politics of the hard left.”
@Morrissey, I love the way that MSM frame a political party having policies that actually represent the interests of most citizens in meaningful ways and not just talking up meaningless bullshit platitudes (like most centre left parties.. you know who I’m talking about ), is considered ‘hard left’, it just exposes them for what they are, defenders of the status quo, at whatever cost.
But I hate the way that so many smart people on the left, buy into this obvious propaganda…in fact they seem so blinded and open to any liberal propaganda that now many of them unbelievably think that the FBI is now on their side in some sort of war on Trump…I will say that again..they actually think that the FBI is somehow in alignment with left wing progressives.
Congrats on winning Momentum Word Bingo, Sanctuary! You’ve managed to use all today’s key words (incl. maximum points for Blair, Blairite and Traitor!).
Your prize is Brexit, followed by Labour in opposition for all eternity.
Of course they could follow your well worn track down the rabbit hole of pragmatic centrism for the prize of..more of the same, with a different name…can’t you see that the time has passed for half measures, endless compromises and pragmaticism?
It has come time for the Right and big business to start to compromise, take some half measures and show some pragmatism for the good of the people for a while.
Actually, I’m all good with those things, Adrian. It would be lovely if the right learned to compromise. And, as we speak, apparently a number of Tory MP’s are looking at joining the new grouping, so perhaps you are getting your wish.
The problem I have with the response to these resignations is that the use of ‘Blairite’ to describe those leaving is fundamentally ignorant. They each have their own reasons for leaving, but they all seem to share a bewilderment at Corbyn’s failure to lead, when winning popular support has never been easier.
Have you seen the state of the Conservatives? Just a shambles. And yet, Corbyn can’t land a blow because he refuses to enter the ring. No wonder most of his caucus are disenchanted.
“when winning popular support has never been easier”
I don’t see that this is the case at all, the UK is deeply divided on this subject, Corbyn will alienate and lose voters either way in pretty much equal numbers.
For most of this year, polls have shown remain ahead of leave, typically by four to six points. But in a referendum between staying in the EU and leaving on the terms that the government has negotiated, staying enjoys an 18-point lead: 59-41%.
Of the more than 17 million who voted leave in 2016, just 10 million people say they would vote for the government’s deal – 2 million would vote to stay, while 3 million are not sure or would not vote. In contrast, of the 16 million who voted remain in 2016, 13.5 million would still vote to stay in the EU. Only 1.4 million would vote for May’s deal, and 1 million are not sure or would not vote.
Exactly.
🙁
This is the result of having a referendum they didn’t need to have, and had no idea what is was they were voting on. Well done that man David Cameron.
Indeed they are still floundering around trying to find out what it was they actually voted for. And on the 29 March at 11pm GMT when they are still trying to work out what it was, they will exit the EU. The goods they sent off shore will be sent back (except for the Faroe Islands – they signed a trade deal yesterday!) and the roads to the ports will block up for miles.
You do realise that the support for something called “Brexit”* has never been much more than 52% (In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent of the votes cast, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1 percent of votes cast, favoured staying), and as the bloomberg poll points out(47 % would now vote leave and 53% would now vote remain according to the poll of polls – which concurs with the you govt poll I quoted) over the past year as more older people die off, and those remaining wake up to the realisation of just what is actually on offer, and as the economy continues to take a 800 million quid hit week on week, and as overseas car manufactures stop producing cars, and as overseas companies pull out of Britian the “remember Dunkirk” faction grow smaller by the day.
Only the Alt-right and the Alt- left are stupid enough to want to carry on with a no-deal Brexit – but that is where the country is headed right now.
*(nobody actually knew what it was they were voting for – as the terms were never set out, and the “leave” campaign had filled the country with mis-information)
I didn’t sat I am for or against Brexit, none of my business really, but I do know this, leave voters won the free and fair referendum…so end of story really.
Macro it is refreshing to read someone who looks dispassionately at the Brexit vote.
So there was a majority. Only because the UK parliament went into it without thinking what a suitable majority for such a grave move would be. Any thinking body would consider it carefully and perhaps decide on 80:20 of votes, knowing that there many wouldn’t vote, were unsure, were confused, not quite old enough, too old and being helped etc.
It was an emotional vote. A teenager who threw a wobbly and said I am leaving home, you lot are a bunch of w…s. Later the said teenager would probably say I want to come home but I want to make some changes, and then they and home would dicker about some different rules.
It’s a disgraceful situation when one thinks how much money gets poured into parliament and government and trained and educated and specialised advisors. Give me my money back you w….s
should be the message from taxpayers to the Conservative Party.
So in your opinion the referendum was free and fair?
Firstly Aron Banks is currently under criminal investigation for a mysterious 8 million quid that suddenly appeared in his back pocket and ended up in the campaign finances. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-man-who-bankrolled-brexit-arron-banks-under-criminal-investigation
Secondly as I have already indicated people actually had no idea what it was they were actually voting for. Ask any educated person in the UK. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-14/the-only-brexit-chart-you-need-to-see/10615104
The terms and conditions of the exit were unknown, and even at this time are still unknown, apart from the deal which May has arranged with the EU which will allow some sort of normality to continue after the 29th March, but actually is so toxic that hardly anyone wants a bar of it.
This is hardly “fair”.
A hard Brexit was for most people something they never envisaged. Yes some want it – but any sensible person realises that such a thing would be catastrophic to Britain. Even now the country is stockpiling essential items just in case. But what happens when those run out? Prices are set to soar. In 2017 I was fortunate to visit and was amazed at the price of grocery items in their supermarkets – in many cases equivalent to half the price of what we pay here. Currently much of what the UK eats comes from across the channel – tomatoes from Spain, cheese from the Netherlands, and so on. With no trade deal in place, and no deal in order to send goods back trade will slow dramatically, and that is bad news for both business and the ordinary person in the street.
My folks came from Scotland and England in the 1920’s, I grew up with people still talking about the UK as “home”. I remember the first time I flew in to UK and travelling on the bus into the city feeling as if I had lived there all my life. In some ways it was so familiar. This stupidity that has currently beset the country has to stop before it is too late. Unfortunately neither leader seems capable of doing anything about it and the politicians on both sides seem more worried about preserving their constituencies than actually working to save the country.
Meanwhile, the Mueller inquiry has reached Brexit.
A director of the controversial data company Cambridge Analytica, who appeared with Arron Banks at the launch of the Leave.EU campaign, has been subpoenaed by the US investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
A spokesman for Brittany Kaiser, former business development director for Cambridge Analytica – which collapsed after the Observer revealed details of its misuse of Facebook data – confirmed that she had been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller, and was cooperating fully with his investigation.
He added that she was assisting other US congressional and legal investigations into the company’s activities and had voluntarily turned over documents and data.
Is the UK only under scrutiny because its the historical home of Karl Marx, or is there some non historical reason the UK should not be allowed to interfere in US elections?
And does it look like, in terms of a little bit of objective discernment, that the paradigm change of Brexit, originated, & the driver of it’s emergence, had much to do with the unfurling fault lines of the chaotic British political governing classes which unlike much of europes i would guess, is essentially unchanged structurally since the war?
It came out of UKIP, The right wing pro fascist party of Nigel Farage.
UKIP is now all but defunct but a couple of elections ago won a sizable slice of the vote (around 13%) and demanded action on “immigration”. David Cameron had this “brilliant” idea that he would run a referendum on exiting from the EU. Like the previous referendum in Scotland on Scottish independence had failed, and in the process shut the Scottish Nationalists up. hehehe. So if he held a referendum on Brexit, then that too would fail and that would shut the UKIPers up! Well that was the general idea. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the message out just how fucking stupid such a plan was, and his cunning plan which was so cunning you could put a tail on it, really did turn out to be a weasel.
Despite the last 3 years of incessant remain propaganda. The UK economy is actually performing slightly better than before the referendum and much better than the Eurozone and most of europe but, regardless we are supposed to understand the UK is about collapse due to impending trade barriers (even less severe than those faced by NZ exporters).
Funny, did those projections (by now a year old) you just posted tell you Germany was heading for recession in a years time? Since we have them by now, might we be permitted to review the actuals rather than assuming the inaccurate forecast is the gospel truth?
Footnote, you can safely dismiss this comment as fake news because Germany actually narrowly avoided recording a recession by the narrowest of margins. Go back to sleep, the European economy is working exactly as intended.
Don’t understand what I am supposed to take from that. It case it was unclear however you posted a bloomberg article dated Feb 2018 discussing a projection and saying,
“Growth will slow to 1.4 percent this year and 1.1 percent in 2019, the European Commission said Wednesday in its winter economic forecasts.”
Which you said means “Of all the economies in the EU the UK is performing the worst.”, though obviously you were discussing a forecast so that should read Of all the economies in the EU the UK *will* perform the worst.
It turns out on the contrary at the beginning of 2019 Germany has just recorded consecutive periods of -0.2 and 0.0 against the UK 0.6 and 0.2. Clearly the German economy performed worse than the UK (in fact there are a number of other large and worse performing European economies).
and now for some reason you want to raise that the UK treasury got its Q1 forecast for UK GDP growth wrong by 0.1 expecting 0.3 instead of the 0.2 recorded?
Not sure that’s gonna bother Jez. Looking at his record, he appears to be quite happy being a legislative opposer and not a legislative doer. Seriously, I went looking for any significant legislation Jez had a significant part in pushing through, and came up empty. Plenty of info on stuff he’s opposed, tho.
Actually I disagree.
Time in opposition is time to build up support for a change in direction.
counter the free market neo liberal austerity propaganda.
To present the population with a radically new vision of how to run a country, and spend for growth.
Unfortunately we have Labour Parties these days who are timid and fearful and determined to do nothing radical or different as they see being in power as the only way to be, even if it means being in power with no mandate to actually bring about real change.
They have no intention of trying to help the voters help themselves to a better future.
These modern Labour Party folk aren’t Leaders and rabble rousers..they are nice enough people, sales rep. types, who at Christmas might give their nephew a Che Guevara T shirt from Halensteins …for a laugh.
Hence we have Labour governments, both here and in the UK, and America for that matter, who come and go over the last 40 years, with no actual improvement/change of direction for the population in wages, job security and bargaining power, home ownership, percentage of income spent on rent, the economy (that most people live in..the economy for Business is fine).
Labour seems to exist purely to soften the blow and marginally tweak things between or Tory/national lead descent into a high tech version of the Middle Ages.
*And “yes”, Corbyn doesn’t have a chance as long as his party is littered with the usual labour party career politicians determined to follow the centre path.
you might also say that the party reflects the people that vote for it.
Cause the same can be said about pretty much everyone who votes for labour. followed by, i am now rich enough (by what ever means) to now vote for the party that gives me a tax cut.
or is it still not fashionable to actually blame the electorate especially the electorate with education?
Completely don’t understand the infatuation with European governance. The european influence is fundamentally anti democratic. The more integration the worse that influence is. The most immediate concern for the UK is being brought into the TISA regardless of the wishes of UK constituants. For the more integrated members of the Eurozone these countries no longer have control of their budgets (their budget is imposed regardless who they elect). Eventually a European military may be created, and no doubt lead to some European countries persuing foreign military interventions regardless of electing parties opposed to the interventions.
The difficulties with integrating europe as one polity are insurmountable, but that leaves the anti democratic nature of european institutions in place in perpetuity. I don’t understand why this appeals to anybody who holds democracy up as an ideal.
“In 1847 the Native American tribe Choctaw Nation donated a significant sum of money to Irish famine relief. Having at the time of the famine only recently been subject to the infamous Trail of Tears, the forced relocations of Native Americans, the Choctaw saw in Ireland a people being subject to similar colonial policies to themselves.
They wished to alleviate suffering during what was perhaps the most seismic demographic change in modern European history: the death by hunger of more than a million UK citizens and the migration of another million – at a time when food was being actively exported from the country to Britain and elsewhere”
..snip..
Here’s the lyrics of a song in return, on the subject of food actively exported.
Christy Moore – “On A Single Day” Lyrics
“A list of exports from Cork Harbour On a single day
The fourteenth of September, Eighteen Forty-Seven
Ran as follows:147 barrels of pork, 986 casks of ham, 27 sacks of bacon, 528 boxes of eggs, 1, 397 firkins of butter, 477 sacks of oats, 720 sacks of flour, 380 sacks of barley, 187 head of cattle, 296 head of sheep, and4, 338 barrels of miscellaneous provisions,
On a single day, The ships sailed out from Cork Harbour With their bellies in the water.
On a single day in County Galway, The great majority of the poor located there
Were in a state of starvation, Many hourly expecting death to relieve their suffering.
On a single day, The Lady Mayoress held a ball At the Mansion House in Dublin In the presence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Dancing continued until the early hours, and refreshments of the most varied and sumptuous nature were supplied with inexhaustible profusion.
On a single day. On a single day.
It’s about time this little country of ours had a bit
Of peace.”
I saw the coverage on the news last night, and it was quite atrocious. The mediaz only goal seems to be to do damage to the Greens by implying that because they are anti-GE then they can offer no alternative to 1080. lol Quite idiotic really.
They had an animal welfare lawyer on who seemed to think the common sense solution to stopping 1080 was playing around with possum genes instead. For the life of me I can’t see how someone who really cares about animals would be so gung-ho with permanent human manipulation or alteration of animals.
I was listening to a female intervieweron Radionz, perhaps yesterday, forgotten what was being discussed, but remember the interrogation technique, repetition in a high-handed way with voice of a carping parent. I immediately turned off respect for that interviewer because of the tone, where is the interviewing skill in that? Better she joins the police with their black and white views and often using an anything to get a confession style.
Julian Assange is a national Australian treasure. He is a brilliant, brave, honest, humane, relevant, genuine, journalist and publisher of immense influence and significance on the world stage. He has shown himself to be an enormous power for good in a world that is sadly, with some notable exceptions, (Yes John Pilger, I mean you among others,) starved of his ilk.
What Julian Assange is, as a publisher of real news, is a real hero. What he is not is a criminal. His initiative, WikiLeaks, helped expose to the world the hidden machinations of the real criminals in our society: the oligarchs, who in their insatiable quest for more and more wealth, would destroy the fragile planet we call home.
Julian, like all truth seekers scares the sh*t out of them. The truth is their enemy, that is why they and their agents, the governments of the western world, are determined to destroy him.
We, the citizens of the world, have an absolute duty to protect Julian Assange from their unwarranted and illegal attacks.
I unreservedly support and applaud the demonstrations called by the Socialist Equality Party in Australia to demand that the Australian government takes immediate action to secure the freedom of their citizen, Julian Assange, from his near seven-year house imprisonment in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. At least until recently the Ecuadorian presidency was solid in its promise of asylum, but the new president of Ecuador is showing himself to be more susceptible to insidious US pressure. Julian’s situation is dire.
BRING HIM HOME NOW!!!
RESIST!!!!!!!!!
DEMONSTRATE on MARCH 3rd in SYDNEY and MARCH 10th in MELBOURNE
AROUND THE WORLD, RAISE YOUR VOICE EVERYWHERE
DEMAND A SAFE HAVEN FOR JULIAN ASSANGE IN HIS HOME AUSTRALIA.
Roj thinks Julesy might find safe haven in Ocka? Seriously? Has he paid any attention whatsoever to how the Ocka government treats those it finds a tad inconvenient?
“In Canberra last week I met some Australian members of parliament. It gave me hope, because until I heard them speak I had always thought that Israel’s right wing politicians were the worst. —-(LAUGHTER)— I’ve never heard any Israeli politician speak about the Palestinian people the way that those Australian politicians did. But they are Australia’s problem, not mine. (LAUGHTER) I spoke with the Australian foreign minister; she talked and she was very nice but we could not agree on anything.” (LAUGHTER)
Thanks for the good work on your Gordon Levy transcription.
This from Nicholas Rowe is something worth re quoting..”Nationalism, he said, is crystal meth, cooked up in think tanks and exacerbated by peer pressure. Like all addictions, nationalism does not discriminate on the basis of economics. ”
Unbelievable that your post only solicited two comments on that day.
But then again, now I think about it, maybe not so surprising…unfortunately.
I don’t see how the Australian Government could do that much about him.
He is a citizen of Australia (born in Townsville) and as far as I am aware an Australian citizen cannot be deported from Australia.
There is an escaped predator roaming around the lower South Island. Authorities call for caution and ask for sightings to be immediately reported, and for people
nearby to remain inside and try to protect livestock. The authorities are prepared to shoot this animal which is dangerous to safety and life. /sarc
We actually know it is a human who will receive some sort of treatment, be put in jail, and be allowed out into society to release his (likely) poison into society which it is hoped, will dilute the mixture with relatively little damage to society overall. Until the next outbreak of viciousness.
Apart from the fact that cruelty to animals isn’t regarded as seriously as is that to humans, which is a faulty position, researchers have found that those who commit violence against animals are indicated to be more likely than the norm to commit such acts on humans.
The best option for NZ is the ECMWF model which keeps the original cyclone in the tropics, but a new low consisting of saturated tropical air stretching southward from the cyclone and a southerly system moving northward over NZ. Provided it occurs in the right place (fingers crossed) we would get the desperately needed rain but without the catastrophic cyclonic winds.
Failing the above… there is another T.C. expected to form further eastward (north of Fiji) sometime next week so we might get a big flick from that one instead. 🙂
I think you can rest Anne, it’s like it probably hit or put the willies up SE QLD aka BrisVegas from tonight’s weather report from ABC Darwin on the telly. Before everyone jump up and down about CC, when I was still living at by RAAF Amberley. The weather boffins were saying back around 2005, saying that South East Queensland aka south of Rockie is due for a Cyclone based on records and the law of averages.
It reminds me that Alan Gibbs has spent a large amount of money on an orange wall on his farm and calls it a sculpture. Did Trump pick up on his idea for the use of the USA? Perhaps Trump could get funding for his edifice if he calls it a sculpture, and lets go of the ‘wall’ word. He wants an enormous sculpture that can be seen from space, like the Chinese Wall, and that will bring the USA to the fore in competitive walls make America great again.
I think that the Wall will become another state-built entity that private businesses will utilise for free. It will be a focus for climbers and abseilers – a world icon for the!
Man that wall is ugly, but at the same time has a modernist brutality about it that I quite like…it also looks like it could be a left over film set from some random Sci Fi film made in 1987 about the post apocalyptic future in 2001…which I also quite like.
This could be another case where private business utilises a government infrastructure. I think The Wall will become a fabulous place for abseiling and climbers, a huge outdoor sporting facility. There will be armed guards to prevent random civilians approaching it using drones and sandbuggies like they had on Mars, so it will provide employment to the NRA and KKK, and businesses will buy concessions to use various parts of it for sport, also it could be used as a rifle range.
There’ll be profit in it for some.
Angela is not only painfully honest,she clearly has psychic/clairvoyant powers too.
Can guarantee voters in her electorate that Labour will lose and Corbyn will not become P.M.
Yep, that’s being truthful to the people who elect you. She was conflicted about some Labour policies and said so. You might think she shouldn’t stand for labour in those circumstances. She would now appear to agree with you.
@TRP, Are you serious? Angela “funny tinge” Smith, defender of Tony Blair, the same A Smith that most people have been constantly asking why on earth she was still in Labour since Corbyn was elected, the A Smith who has constantly attacked her leader and undermined the party for the past few years..It is plainly obvious that she was never ‘conflicted about some Labour policies’ she always hated them and hated Corbyn, and made absolutely no bones about it.
2016 “Angela Smith MP refers to Jeremy Corbyn as “a dead man walking” days after the murder of Jo Cox MP”
2016 “Labour MPs are trying to depose Jeremy Corbyn with a motion of no confidence” including A Smith
2016, Angela Smith MP earlier called for Corbyn to quit. Smith said: “Jeremy Corbyn has got to take responsibility. He should consider his position. He’s shown insufficient leadership.”
2017, ‘Why don’t you just GO?’ Corbyn HUMILIATED as senior Labour MP ‘tells leader to QUIT’
Yep, she didn’t like Corbyn and said so. So, honest. Like the majority of caucus, she voted no confidence in him. So, democratic. She did not actually refer to Corbyn as a dead man walking (watch the clip). So, lied about.
Good riddance? Still in Parliament, still an MP, still going to be having her say over the next 3 years. So, not an ex politician yet.
She’s not someone I’d be personally thrilled to vote for, but trying to ignore why she’s leaving in favour of just mindlessly abusing her is pretty fucken dumb. It’s that low level of political understanding and a refusal to analyse what’s going on that is dooming UK Labour to being eternally in opposition. As I said earlier, look at the state of the Tories. And yet Jezza won’t take them on.
No, far easier to demonise people who have the guts to say what they think and the principles to act on their principles.
PS, just a guess, but you never heard of Angela Smith till today, right?
“PS, just a guess, but you never heard of Angela Smith till today, right?”
I am not sure why you would say that?….how could you not have heard of her..what with all her bitching and moaning endlessly about Corbyn and momentum, she was like a broken record…and to make it worse she was like a shit record that no even one wanted to listen to begin with.
And yes I do demonise her,and make no apologies about it, fuck her and fuck all her Liberal friends in Labour, they have only been like a cancer to the Left.
For over 25 years people like her have been calling the shots on the Left, and exactly where has it got us? pah.
Time for a change..a real change.
Say No to pragmatism, endless compromise and half measurers.
No he isn’t. The biggest criticism of Corbyn is that he is doing fuck all. His party members, and his party’s voters, want a fresh Brexit referendum, but as he’s a leaver, he’s refusing to take it on. He’s hopelessly conflicted on the issue.
The first polls on the breakaway group suggest an immediate 8% support, primarily based on the group’s Brexit position. That support could go to Labour, if Corbyn wasn’t so hopeless.
By narrowing the party’s vision down to some infantile leftist purity, Corbyn is dooming them to lose the next election, when they should win in a landslide.
But hey, we can sing Ooooh, Jeremyyyy Coooorbyn and feel good about how radical we all are.
Er, no. She’s been very open about her opposition to some Labour policies for quite a while. She tried to change that from within, which is y’know, democratic. But she’s had enough now and has walked.
Anybody else you want to disparage who’s been through a similar process?
John A Lee? Jim Anderton? Winston Peters? The NZ Greens? All departed parties that no longer delivered for them, some with more encouragement toward the door than others.
KJT could equally have said traitor or collaborator which is pretty ordinary language in that situation and on this forum, yet you compare it with a mentally unfit, far-right, murderous fascist.
The use of language like traitor, quisling etc is part of othering, which makes acts of extremism acceptable.
It’s also disrespectful to the victims of the real Quisling to equate an an actual Nazi sympathiser responsible for the deaths of many good people in Norway with an elected politician who has merely had a disagreement with her party and chosen to quit.
I said get a grip. I could have said get a sense of perspective or any number of similar phrasings. However it’s put, the point is that abuse at that level is not the sign of deep thinking.
“KJT could equally have said traitor or collaborator which is pretty ordinary language in that situation and on this forum,..
Muttonbird you have to remember that commenters face a perma ban for suggesting people go to another country to help with climate change efforts. Perhaps commenters could enforce a self-ban on themselves when they cross this extraordinarily high bar into outright alt-right behaviour, facism, nazism etc.
The whole thing is painful to read, one thing worse is it happened but no-one told the truth about it, so probably painfully honest is best usually. (Can’t be absolute here, some small prevarication may sometimes be needed.)
1 Painful that it happened
2 Painful if covered up so we don’t know as should.
3 Painful if half leaked, distorted, misused.
4 Painful to be confronted by whole truth but can be exposed to sunlight.
Business commentator Rod Oram talks to Kathryn about our trade relations with China, the government’s plans to completely revamp polytechs and industry training providers and also plans to tax online companies such as Google and Facebook on their revenues not their profits
Report from RNZ
Free-diver William Trubridge has swum Cook Strait underwater to raise awareness of critically endangered Hector’s and Māui dolphins. Yesterday’s 22 km crossing – the first of its kind – consisted of a series of 930 dives, interspersed with horizontal underwater swimming while holding the breath, before coming up for air like a dolphin.
Mr Trubridge said the currents pushed him around during the nine hour and 15 minute swim, but he’s grateful the conditions allowed him to complete it.
Chris Trotter at Bowalley Road is beyond being anxious about Labour’s restraining itself, unnecessarily, to austerity by ‘fiscal responsibility’. And the results are showing up in the inability to attend to the concerns of workers in basic sectors necessary for service provision in a decent society.
Very few of New Zealand’s social indices have registered a clear improvement in the lives of New Zealanders as a result of the so-called “Rogernomics Revolution”. The wage-earner’s share of company surpluses has reduced in comparison to the shareholder’s. The number of New Zealanders owning their own homes has declined sharply. The dramatic surge in average life expectancy that distinguished the 30 years following World War II has plateaued.
The explanation for New Zealand society’s resolute refusal to be improved by the Fourth Labour Government’s neoliberal “reforms” is very simple. Society is not a mechanism, it is an organism. Ripping things out from, or cutting them off, a living system doesn’t improve it. All that happens is that the system is left wounded and bleeding. Given sufficient time, an organism may adapt to the loss of a limb, or an organ. Wounds do heal. But attempting to pass off the maimed subject of your surgery as a vast improvement over what existed before, is a fool’s errand. Trauma endures.
Has this government, dominated as it is by the Labour Party, learned anything from what happened between 1984 and 1999?
Then he is anxious about CGT which he thinks will if applied across the board
will make Labour unpopular and lose the next election. Possibly for not much gain to taxes and only a short hiatus in the housing market with present drivers to prices. It might seem moral but is it fiscal, and reduce house prices I ask?
I agree with Chris. You have to question the basic political intelligence of a party wanting to sacrifice yet another election to chasing a CGT. Its not like there is any evidence they restrain housing markets either. There are plenty of examples of countries with CGTs also having housing bubbles collapse.
It appears the US has federal capital gains taxes but this didn’t in any way impede the Trump family from driving a bus through the US tax code to transfer the family wealth onto Trump. With less certainty my understanding is the same kind of transfer is presently occurring from Trump to his daughter (or that is what some of the campaign financing shenanigans we know about seem to indicate).
We do see a number of examples of countries which have CGT’s and those examples indicate they don’t effectively mitigate housing bubbles. This is going to be a pretty big political flaw if that is one of the primary arguments for introducing a CGT.
Some something more simple the government could do to make the tax code more fair it could just eliminate GST. There seems to be no need for a debate or electoral mandate to do that.
I suspect replacing GST with CGT, maybe FTT, and wealth taxes would be hugely popular.
I’ve never liked GST, as it is highly regressive. The introduction was a simple tax switch, from higher incomes getting reductions, while lower incomes paid more tax overall. A cynical move to less progressive taxes.
We could simply remove GST, and go back to a 60% top tax rate, which Australia has anyway.
That doesn’t remove the problem of tax avoidance, by choosing to make capital gains rather than income.
We cannot say that CGT doesn’t mitigate housing bubbles in countries that have it. Because we have no evidence, of the size their housing bubble would be without it. At the least CGT, gives the Government some income from the bubble which can be used to reduce the effects. To build more State houses, for example.
“We cannot say that CGT doesn’t mitigate housing bubbles in countries that have it. Because we have no evidence, of the size their housing bubble would be without it.”
If even the implementation of a policy doesn’t produce evidence of that policies effectiveness then you don’t seem to be dealing with a scientific theory at all.
Basic science. You have to have a control group or counterfactual, to have definitive evidence. I.e. What happens both with and without it. All else being equal.
In fact, in New Zealand, the housing market slowed after the bright line test was tightened.
That is an indication that a CGT, in New Zealand may have an effect on housing speculation. However that is not conclusive evidence, because there have been other possible causes at the same time. China’s economy slowed, they clamped down on money exports. Immigration slowed and lending criteria was changed.
The best argument for CGT, is simple fairness and efficiency of the tax system. You should not be able to avoid tax, simply by calling your income something different.
Seems like we just can’t do basic science on virtually any policy then.
Though in practice people who understand and use things like controlled clinical trials would never use a treatment based only on the statistical evidence of one or even many clinical trials. Statistics are fundamentally incapable of proving or disproving the truth value of scientific theories. At a minimum the theory needs to dig in and understand the next level, the mechanism which generates the statistics you get as an outcome.
If Labour ran of a CGT for fairness then I think that would at least be a defensible policy choice. But I think they would run it on the implication it substantially fixes the housing market and I don’t think its going to deliver on that.
Parliament: Question Time, 2pm, Tues 19 February 2019
An interesting mix of questions today, starting with the usual general one from Bridges to Ardern.
However, we also have Jami-Lee Ross’ first primary question since he became an Independent at Question 4 seeking specific information on Ministers travelling overseas since October 2017, including personal overseas travel. The last bit is the interesting aspect of this question …
JLR has primary questions only about every five + weeks, plus two supplementary questions weekly. Last week he used his two supplementary questions to ask questions on light rail proposals for Auckland under Paul Goldsmith’s primary question on this subject at Question 8 on Weds, 13 Feb.
And, presumably quite by coincidence, Sarah Dowie also has a question at 11 in her capacity as National spokesperson on conservation re the continued use of 1080. (As well as being a fully qualified lawyer, Dowie apparently also has tertiary qualifications in earth sciences(?) or similar and worked for DOC for some years.)
Here is the list of today’s questions to save you having to go to the link.
Questions to Ministers
1. Hon SIMON BRIDGES to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government’s statements, policies, and actions?
2. Hon AMY ADAMS to the Minister of Finance: Does he agree with the Prime Minister when she said, “If you’re a Minister and you want to spend money, you have to prove that you’re going to improve intergenerational well-being”?
3. Dr DUNCAN WEBB to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?
4. JAMI-LEE ROSS to the Prime Minister: How many times has she or the Cabinet granted approval for a Minister to travel overseas since 26 October 2017, and how many of those travel approvals have included approval for “personal travel overseas”, as outlined in sections 2.124 or 2.125 of the Cabinet Manual?
5. Hon PAULA BENNETT to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government’s statements, policies, and actions?
6. JO LUXTON to the Minister of Education: What responses has he seen to the vocational education reform proposals he announced last week?
7. Hon JUDITH COLLINS to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Does he remain committed to all of the housing and urban development policies outlined in the Speech from the Throne?
8. Hon NATHAN GUY to the Minister for Trade and Export Growth: Does he stand by all of his statements?
9. DARROCH BALL to the Minister for Veterans: What announcements has he made regarding recognition for Vietnam veterans?
10. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH to the Associate Minister of Transport: Does she stand by all of the Government’s statements and actions in relation to road safety?
11. SARAH DOWIE to the Minister of Conservation: Does she agree with the statement on pest control by the Minister for Regional Economic Development that “the reality is that there’s a strong case from the environmental movement for the continued utilisation of 1080”?
12. GINNY ANDERSEN to the Minister of Justice: What recent announcements have been made about ensuring victims’ voices are heard in relation to fixing New Zealand’s criminal justice system?
Not really trying to match Grey’s efforts above (5 new posts in a row), but Michelle at 9.1.4 over on the Colmar Brunton post mentioned that the biggie of the year for kapa haka – Te Matatini – is being held at the Westpac Stadium (and other venues) in Wellington this week/weekend, 20 -24 February 2019.
Here is a link to the very good website for those interested.
We really want some rain here in Welly (and across the country) urgently but do hope that it will not disrupt this great event.
I could not find whether it will be broadcast live on TV etc. Would love to know as I recall watching the weekend performances on TV in previous years. I’ll check out Maori TV scheduling and post any results I find.
Update – yes, Maori TV is covering the whole thing live from 8.30 am each day starting Thursday, 21 Feb – their most coverage ever.
2015 TED talk Yanis Varoufakis – 19.51
^ – ^ : Two peaks – one, debt – matched by another, money unemployed.
Capitalism will eat democracy.
Something occurs to me Jordan Peterson on on hand (hates Marxism and pervading an emotional answer to the quetions of anomic people who want something to dislike or hate to provide them with something definite, firm in their lives).
On the opposite side stands Yanis Varoufakis explaining his idea with a vision and outcome that he explains, with occasional humour, with an emphasis on getting firmness from the idea of getting a working future, perhaps with dislike for that which divides us.
A bit odd.
“4. JAMI-LEE ROSS to the Prime Minister: How many times has she or the Cabinet granted approval for a Minister to travel overseas since 26 October 2017, and how many of those travel approvals have included approval for “personal travel overseas”, as outlined in sections 2.124 or 2.125 of the Cabinet Manual?”
He seemed to be implying that a Minister on an approved overseas trip, would meet a foreign person to garner a donation. (Huh? Sounds more like a National ploy.)
I had the impression he might actually be working up to accusing one of the former Nat. ministers of going overseas to garner donations. But first he’s putting the scenario out there by asking the question of the current government.
Thanks Fireblade. You are right that Jamie mentioned in his speech, Ministers seeking donations from “foreign Nationals” while overseas. He said “in the past.”
Wonder if people like Judith will be checking that their tracks were covered.
A polite careful speech to an almost empty House, but…
Thanks also for the link…. seems like he’s doing the ground work to call someone out. That was really interesting.
jlr also says he supports dr. custard wanting changes to the electoral reform act. The only changes nick smith would want are ones that ensure his employment.
For those who follow or are interested in international politics, this interactive chart from Al Jazeera is like an election tracker, it’s really interesting.
Proud moment, NZ get’s a mention for being a world leader in women voting 🙂
2019 is a huge year for elections…….
‘In 2019, more people will vote than ever before.
Nearly two billion voters in 50 countries around the world will head to the polls this year to elect their leaders.
Some of the biggest elections include India – the world’s largest democracy with 800 million eligible voters, Indonesia – 187 million registered voters and Nigeria – 84 million registered voters.’
Kia ora Eco Maori can not wait till the next generating grab power from THE NEANDERTHALS as its there future that we are making a mess of NOW.
I can’t wait for the striking schoolchildren to grab the reins of power
The UK’s kids protesting climate change were passionate, articulate and unafraid – those with old ideas need to get out of the way
T
his is a country for old men. So is the United States. Donald Trump is 72, and people are talking about Joe Biden running against him, aged 76; another possible presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, is 77. In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn is 69; John McDonnell is 67; Vince Cable is 75. Jacob Rees-Mogg is 89. Only one of these ages is a lie. I guess you can work it out. Whatever happened to retiring? Why are these men considered to be at their political peak? I speak as a nan myself. Will I be running for office in 15 years’ time?
The blokes who govern the “free” world were brought into sharp relief by last week’s strike against climate change. My God, it was something. Suddenly in my house and on TV screens there were angry, informed teenage girls – and yes, it was mostly girls – talking about how we have just 12 years to do something. They were passionate, articulate and unafraid. Their energy was contagious. The fact they were having a fabulous time at a protest was inspiring and all the daft criticism about bunking off came from the zombie class such as Andrea Leadsom and various dullard rentagobs who don’t even seem to understand what school is: an hour a day of learning followed by hours of crowd control. But then I guess bunking off is as outre as running through fields of wheat for these alien suck-ups.
I cannot wait for these people to grab the reins of power. I neither want the closed and aged mindsets of the Tories banging on about wars they didn’t fight, nor the inflexibility of old Labour men obsessed with revolutions that produced dictators. Ageing is a fact, but open minds stay youthful. Those with old ideas need to get out of the way. Fast Links below ka kite ano
Eco Maori use the barbecue 2 days ago to cook kebabs and I turned it OFF .
I Know it was off because I have a small house and a freezer in the shed to get into the shed I am only 2 feet away from the shed SO I have to touch it every day also if it was left on for 48 hours the bottle would have been empty but NO when I just went to use the barbecue this afternoon it was going hot as and the bottle is 1/4 full. You see the sandflys expect to beable to swarm around me and my whanau spinning lies about US make mine and my whanau life harder and Eco Maori is supposed to eat tu tai get stuffed you dirty rotten Kunekune,s who trys to make out the are church going good christian YEA RIGHT . 1 barbecue on for 48 hours 2 the hose was lose 3 Eco Maori has been talking about barbecued mussles for 2 days 3 the sandfly / goverment listens to every word said in my house .They don’t like me pointing out the Pike river evedince going missing they don’t like it that when I sue them they will be liable for million in lost potential earning Ana to kai P.S Andrew Little you are responsible for these MUPPETS ACTIONS they are still trying to intimidate Eco Maori
Your should have heard there sirens going off after Eco Maori posted the post above you see whanau the NZ UNjustice system is the biggest GANG in New Zealand thats a FACT Ana to kai Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub Why did that idiot change his Name to Tainui he is staining the name of a Great Maori tipuna.
Amy how desperate to try and use a thing like a spreadsheet to attack our governments Wellbeing budget.
There you go Mcabe the FBI Directors.
That’s a awesome photo of the Orca playing with the camera and eating tooth fish /some call it Chilean bass just another name to hide the fish’s origins that’s all the more reasons to protect the tooth fish fisheries to protect the Orcas to.
Selwyn Te Matatini is awesome this year how’s my mate and my Wahines m8 when I first started writing on Thestandard I could see some people were shy to talk Maori or even admit that they were Maori Times Are Changing Fast for the better Ka pai. Ka kite ano
Kia ora James & Mulls from The Crowd Goes Wild I see our Summer sport is going great.
Our farmers are the back bone of OUR country and many of them are the back bone of some sports.
YEA the Maori from the whenua of te pounamu had a good week.
That was close the Ice hockey puat just about hitting that reporter.
David Butterbean I have said you have a good cause getting people off the couch to get fit Ka pai for your event at Edin Park. Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub I think the Wahine team who has 2 gold medals cleaned up in Hamilton and Australia is the team deserves the prize .
NO seenothing we have a let the wealthy OFF PAYING TAXES system you are full of it not everyone will be effected by the capital gains tax Alot of people have no capital O that’s correct you don’t no or can’t see the poor common person way of life with your Rosie rich glasses only wealthy views can be seen from your Rosie glasses so everyone with assets on top of the family house will have to pay a bit more.
That tax is easier to implement than means testing superannuation of the top 20 %. People from that part of OUR society do not NEED superannuation So a capital gains tax will even up the % of taxes per income tax payers. The he top 20 %, of people have accountants that have lobby the system so they pay no or low taxes if they are want to behave like that.
Te Matatini is on today well you cut that part of the show short that tells Eco Maori Alot but this is what you will get because you are still stuck in the undies you wore 2 Years ago I call the way you treat and
Bully Mark Richardson is not a good look he is ok.
Lloyd it is Ka pai that those MP are standing up to the people who are trying to ram brexit though the British parliament weather the majority want it OR NOT I can see the majority want a second referendum it looks like they have a big backing all ready .
In the near future a person like the guy who stole a great tipuna great name will not be able to lie when computer chips are planted into our brains the big problem is the Billionaire will have the power of gods being able to have the best hackers in the world to change the data on other people Reality every little thought and every ones visions all data will be stored and could be minupulated by the POWERFUL THAT’S one of my biggest concerns with artificial intelligence we have to have the best minds in the world to keep this genie under humane human control.
trump is trying to get other country’s to clean up Americas mess once again and put there citizens lives at risk after he has sprayed Wai on them YEA RIGHT.
I don’t totally condemn alcohol in moderation I just want the youth to KNOW that when they binge drink they are/ can lose control of their lives and anyone can take advantage of them in a drunk state they are throwing there futures into the wind basically turning yourselves in disabled PERSON with out the safety sense humans have when they get DRUNK that is lossed .
Is he another national puppet who can spread topic that’s cause disharmony in our society topics that national are scared to handle the tax paying union u 2 are there to play your little harp for dancans little self-centred views. Ka kite ano
This neanderthal can not handle this good Dutch person Rutger Bregman straight up comments that is exactly what I have been branding the Papatuanukus worlds media brought and paid for buy billionaires and the 3% of scientists who are climate change deniers. I also agree on his view of TAXS TAXS as the carbon trading skeem is just another way for the billionaires to suck more money from the common tangata/people THATS A FACT Tax carbon and give the money to poor nations who cannot fund there climate change mitergation and give the money to people who prouduce clean cheap green energy. Ka pai Rutger Ana to kai neanderthal
Historian who confronted Davos billionaires leaks Tucker Carlson rant
In a heated exchange that was not aired, Rutger Bregman accused Carlson of being a pawn for the Murdochs and Kochs
Rutger Bregman is the Dutch historian who became a global sensation after an appearance at this year’s Davos summit where he accused the billionaires in attendance of ignoring the issue of taxation. Now he’s created another viral moment in an extremely uncomfortable interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.
By the end of the exchange, Bregman has so riled Carson with his accusations of hypocrisy, critiques of Fox’s conservative agenda and attacks on Donald Trump, that the TV host calls him a “moron” and angrily tells him: “Go fuck yourself.”
According to Bregman he recorded the interview with Carlson on Tuesday and it was meant to air that night, but never did. NowThis have obtained Bregman’s own recording of the exchange, where only the audio of Carlson’s questions can be heard.
The interview then sees Bregman accuse Carlson of being bought by the Murdoch family and the Cato Institute, a neoliberal think tank of which Carlson was a fellow until 2015. He says Tucker took the “dirty money” of the institute, which is funded in large part by the Koch brothers and opposes higher taxes.
He says Carlson is “a millionaire funded by billionaires” and “not part of the solution” but “part of the problem, actually”.
Bregman finishes by acknowledging that the interview probably wouldn’t be aired, but saying that he “went to Davos to speak truth to power and I’m doing exactly the same right now”.
Carlson, near-speechless for much of the interview, replies by saying: “Why don’t you go fuck yourself, you tiny brain… you’re a moron. I tried to give you a hearing but you were too fucking annoying.”
The next day on Twitter, Bregman said he decided to leak the interview to NowThis because “we should keep talking about the corrupting influence of money in politics. It also shows how angry elites can get if you do that”.
He also challenged Carlson to air the interview in full. Ka kite ano links below P.S This story backs my views on Aotearoa Mainstream Media to
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The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) 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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
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I’m sitting on this hearing panel, talking cats, as you can see 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/110673369/fluffy-you-need-to-be-home-by-10pm
Robert, once you’ve finished stroking your cat, stretch your membrane a little and give us a piece on what a Green New Deal would look like for New Zealand.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/green-new-deal-costs-climate-change_n_5c66285be4b01757c369e3df
Ad – I’m just about to start hearing submissions in the chamber, so it’ll have to wait…
The labelling on under the photo is a bit confusing. Robert is it you with the glorious long white beard?
I’ll answer in RGs absence – yes ianmac. Looks like my idea of a druid.
Quite a commanding presence don’t you think? 😉
Talking of animals this story has cut right through me. What kind of vile creep could do such a thing to a gentle miniature horse. It’s beyond understanding:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12205108
Probably someone in need bnb of serious mental health help .
Yes.
Just horrible Anne. Someone who is dangerously deranged.
On TV1 news tonight the vet who attended the horse said he believed there was more than one person involved.
I had two pets (a dog and a cat) who died and a further dog who was maimed – all at different times and in mysterious circumstances. The vet who attended two of the animals (in the 1980s) was quite sure their death/injury were not accidental.
I never found out for sure who was responsible or exactly why they did it but I had my suspicions.
There’s a lot of evil people out there.
It’s appalling Anne. Poor little Star, a defenceless innocent animal. Can’t even imagine what pain and trauma he must have suffered before succumbing to his horrendous injuries.
It would have been some gutless abomination of human scum who got some sort of perverted pleasure to have done this.
Harsher penalties required urgently for this sort of extreme animal cruelty
Hi Anne
I know that this later than your blog here but i have just watched news coverage of this disgusting act of evil cruelty.
It made me weep when i listened to the awful attack on a defenseless animal and somebody’s pet who should have been safe in its own surroundings.
I hope they will catch who is responsible for this and make an example out of them.
These people are deranged and a threat to innocent life and should be placed in psychiatric care where they can be detained and not be a risk.
This is a small community and someone will know who did this.
I’m picking someone had it in for the family who owned her.
That is what transpired in my case back in the 1980s, but the problem is these people are not easy to identitfy because they are cunning and operate in a clandestine way. It goes without saying they are seriously unstable and a threat to the community they live in as mosa says,
It is, ianmac. My wife convinced me not to wear my Dumbledore hat and gown, but she had to stop me at the door and send me back to change.
So… she stood in front of a wizard and said “you shall not pass!”
Ha!
lmao !!! You would look magnificent in wizards garb.
Really cool to put a face to the name and personality.
Love it Robert, very distinguished.
I see the Tony Blair Tribute band has finally decided to make it’s move in the UK, and Chuka Umunna is about to finally see his wish come true and become leader of the opposition – except that he is leader of the opposition to the opposition, which I am sure isn’t quite how that entitled Blairite tosspot thought things would end up.
We all know what these UK Labour traitors don’t like – Jeremy Corbyn, Socialism, any who doesn’t bow and scrape to Israel – but what do they stand for?
As far as i can tell, they stand for austerity and cuts and more of the same.
They’ll retire to sideline where, via their numerous mouthpieces in the Liberal establishment MSM, they’ll spend their whole time making sure the Tories can run Britain for ever or until they are wiped out at the soonest opportunity the voters get.
Corbyn’s dithering has caused this.
There’s a market wedge from the decline of the Liberal Democrats.
Speaking of which, it was exactly this kind of leadership weakness that caused the Liberal Democrats to split off from Labour in the first place.
Umunna will likely get the Mayor of London into the tent as well.
I doubt his alleged dithering has anything to do with the split. Both parties seem divided over brexit anyway.
Seems about right. Tory pro-Brexiteers are motivated by the neoliberal wet dream of free markets liberated from Europe’s insistence on labour, environmental and human rights regulations. Plus it seems also by a little bit of the resurrected imperial glory that comes from sending aircraft carriers here and there.
Labour pro-Brexiteers want to be able to nationalise sectors of the economy that are natural monopolies and don’t want EU membership disallowing such moves.
In this muddle, I’m not sure what not dithering might look like. Possibly Corbyn could say that the bigger risk to a socialist Britain is not the EU, but an unrestrained Tory party. Therefore he is calling for a second referendum. Damn risky though given so many of his base voted for Brexit.
I think you’re right. Corbyn isn’t given to hasty decisions, but Brexit is a festering wound; better to reject it decisively than let it run its course.
As for the ‘anti-Semitic’ crap, it has no more substance than the mudslinging campaign about Chinese sounding names. Corbyn should summarily
eject the MPs involved from the party, and let them fight byelections if they dare.
@Sanctuary +1
Best news I have heard in UK politics for quite a while..
Good riddance to rotten apples…this is one of the best things that could have happened to Labour UK…clear away that stinking rotten carcass of Liberal Centrism..and let the fresh air wash in.
And here a taste of the low rent war loving, intervention supporting, scaremongering bullshit that spews out from these sort of revolting sycophantic Blairite centrists…
“Jeremy Corbyn and those around him are on the wrong side on so many international issues – from Russia, to Syria, to Venezuela. A Corbyn Labour government would threaten our national security and international alliances.”
Of course as we all know, Corbyn has a track record of being on the right side of history unparalleled by any current politician in the UK.
The Seven Nobodies for Israel have certainly excited the foolish right in this country…
NewstalkZzzzzzB News, Tuesday 19 February 2019, 8:30 a.m.
Niva Retimanu intones: “The British Labour Party has SPLIT, with MPs resigning in protest against Jeremy Corbyn. For more, we go to our British correspondent ROD LIDDLE…”
[Rod Liddle * mutters something banal, electing this time not to inject any racist invective. An effortless little twenty-second earner.]
Back to the breathless Niva Retimanu to sum up the crisis: “Critics say that the Labour Party has been overwhelmed by the machine politics of the hard left.”
ad nauseam….
* Liddle is a notorious racist.
@Morrissey, I love the way that MSM frame a political party having policies that actually represent the interests of most citizens in meaningful ways and not just talking up meaningless bullshit platitudes (like most centre left parties.. you know who I’m talking about ), is considered ‘hard left’, it just exposes them for what they are, defenders of the status quo, at whatever cost.
But I hate the way that so many smart people on the left, buy into this obvious propaganda…in fact they seem so blinded and open to any liberal propaganda that now many of them unbelievably think that the FBI is now on their side in some sort of war on Trump…I will say that again..they actually think that the FBI is somehow in alignment with left wing progressives.
It beggars belief.
Congrats on winning Momentum Word Bingo, Sanctuary! You’ve managed to use all today’s key words (incl. maximum points for Blair, Blairite and Traitor!).
Your prize is Brexit, followed by Labour in opposition for all eternity.
Of course they could follow your well worn track down the rabbit hole of pragmatic centrism for the prize of..more of the same, with a different name…can’t you see that the time has passed for half measures, endless compromises and pragmaticism?
It has come time for the Right and big business to start to compromise, take some half measures and show some pragmatism for the good of the people for a while.
Actually, I’m all good with those things, Adrian. It would be lovely if the right learned to compromise. And, as we speak, apparently a number of Tory MP’s are looking at joining the new grouping, so perhaps you are getting your wish.
The problem I have with the response to these resignations is that the use of ‘Blairite’ to describe those leaving is fundamentally ignorant. They each have their own reasons for leaving, but they all seem to share a bewilderment at Corbyn’s failure to lead, when winning popular support has never been easier.
Have you seen the state of the Conservatives? Just a shambles. And yet, Corbyn can’t land a blow because he refuses to enter the ring. No wonder most of his caucus are disenchanted.
When two animals are fighting to the death, sometimes it’s better to just observe.
@Kevin+1…exactly right.
“when winning popular support has never been easier”
I don’t see that this is the case at all, the UK is deeply divided on this subject, Corbyn will alienate and lose voters either way in pretty much equal numbers.
The Remain/Leave split has remained pretty much static despite the last 3 years.
Actually the polls show that there is now a definite majority for Remain.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/20/polls-stay-eu-yougov-brexit-peoples-vote
https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/5v5qj2t7c8/PVResults_181214_Brexit_w.pdf
It’s like the tories and Labour are competing to see who can burn down Britain, and the winner gets to destroy themselves first.
Exactly.
🙁
This is the result of having a referendum they didn’t need to have, and had no idea what is was they were voting on. Well done that man David Cameron.
Indeed they are still floundering around trying to find out what it was they actually voted for. And on the 29 March at 11pm GMT when they are still trying to work out what it was, they will exit the EU. The goods they sent off shore will be sent back (except for the Faroe Islands – they signed a trade deal yesterday!) and the roads to the ports will block up for miles.
Come on, that all depend on the poll you are looking at….
“While support for Brexit fell in 2018, polls show the country hasn’t shifted significantly since 2016”
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-brexit-deal-public-sentiment/
I can find some more if you want…
You do realise that the support for something called “Brexit”* has never been much more than 52% (In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent of the votes cast, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1 percent of votes cast, favoured staying), and as the bloomberg poll points out(47 % would now vote leave and 53% would now vote remain according to the poll of polls – which concurs with the you govt poll I quoted) over the past year as more older people die off, and those remaining wake up to the realisation of just what is actually on offer, and as the economy continues to take a 800 million quid hit week on week, and as overseas car manufactures stop producing cars, and as overseas companies pull out of Britian the “remember Dunkirk” faction grow smaller by the day.
Only the Alt-right and the Alt- left are stupid enough to want to carry on with a no-deal Brexit – but that is where the country is headed right now.
*(nobody actually knew what it was they were voting for – as the terms were never set out, and the “leave” campaign had filled the country with mis-information)
I didn’t sat I am for or against Brexit, none of my business really, but I do know this, leave voters won the free and fair referendum…so end of story really.
Macro it is refreshing to read someone who looks dispassionately at the Brexit vote.
So there was a majority. Only because the UK parliament went into it without thinking what a suitable majority for such a grave move would be. Any thinking body would consider it carefully and perhaps decide on 80:20 of votes, knowing that there many wouldn’t vote, were unsure, were confused, not quite old enough, too old and being helped etc.
It was an emotional vote. A teenager who threw a wobbly and said I am leaving home, you lot are a bunch of w…s. Later the said teenager would probably say I want to come home but I want to make some changes, and then they and home would dicker about some different rules.
It’s a disgraceful situation when one thinks how much money gets poured into parliament and government and trained and educated and specialised advisors. Give me my money back you w….s
should be the message from taxpayers to the Conservative Party.
So in your opinion the referendum was free and fair?
Firstly Aron Banks is currently under criminal investigation for a mysterious 8 million quid that suddenly appeared in his back pocket and ended up in the campaign finances.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-man-who-bankrolled-brexit-arron-banks-under-criminal-investigation
Secondly as I have already indicated people actually had no idea what it was they were actually voting for. Ask any educated person in the UK.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-14/the-only-brexit-chart-you-need-to-see/10615104
The terms and conditions of the exit were unknown, and even at this time are still unknown, apart from the deal which May has arranged with the EU which will allow some sort of normality to continue after the 29th March, but actually is so toxic that hardly anyone wants a bar of it.
This is hardly “fair”.
A hard Brexit was for most people something they never envisaged. Yes some want it – but any sensible person realises that such a thing would be catastrophic to Britain. Even now the country is stockpiling essential items just in case. But what happens when those run out? Prices are set to soar. In 2017 I was fortunate to visit and was amazed at the price of grocery items in their supermarkets – in many cases equivalent to half the price of what we pay here. Currently much of what the UK eats comes from across the channel – tomatoes from Spain, cheese from the Netherlands, and so on. With no trade deal in place, and no deal in order to send goods back trade will slow dramatically, and that is bad news for both business and the ordinary person in the street.
My folks came from Scotland and England in the 1920’s, I grew up with people still talking about the UK as “home”. I remember the first time I flew in to UK and travelling on the bus into the city feeling as if I had lived there all my life. In some ways it was so familiar. This stupidity that has currently beset the country has to stop before it is too late. Unfortunately neither leader seems capable of doing anything about it and the politicians on both sides seem more worried about preserving their constituencies than actually working to save the country.
Meanwhile, the Mueller inquiry has reached Brexit.
A director of the controversial data company Cambridge Analytica, who appeared with Arron Banks at the launch of the Leave.EU campaign, has been subpoenaed by the US investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
A spokesman for Brittany Kaiser, former business development director for Cambridge Analytica – which collapsed after the Observer revealed details of its misuse of Facebook data – confirmed that she had been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller, and was cooperating fully with his investigation.
He added that she was assisting other US congressional and legal investigations into the company’s activities and had voluntarily turned over documents and data.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/17/brittany-kaiser-trump-russia-robert-mueller-cambridge-analytica?
Is the UK only under scrutiny because its the historical home of Karl Marx, or is there some non historical reason the UK should not be allowed to interfere in US elections?
And does it look like, in terms of a little bit of objective discernment, that the paradigm change of Brexit, originated, & the driver of it’s emergence, had much to do with the unfurling fault lines of the chaotic British political governing classes which unlike much of europes i would guess, is essentially unchanged structurally since the war?
So then, did it just come out of the blue??
It came out of UKIP, The right wing pro fascist party of Nigel Farage.
UKIP is now all but defunct but a couple of elections ago won a sizable slice of the vote (around 13%) and demanded action on “immigration”. David Cameron had this “brilliant” idea that he would run a referendum on exiting from the EU. Like the previous referendum in Scotland on Scottish independence had failed, and in the process shut the Scottish Nationalists up. hehehe. So if he held a referendum on Brexit, then that too would fail and that would shut the UKIPers up! Well that was the general idea. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the message out just how fucking stupid such a plan was, and his cunning plan which was so cunning you could put a tail on it, really did turn out to be a weasel.
o.k.
Despite the last 3 years of incessant remain propaganda. The UK economy is actually performing slightly better than before the referendum and much better than the Eurozone and most of europe but, regardless we are supposed to understand the UK is about collapse due to impending trade barriers (even less severe than those faced by NZ exporters).
https://nordic.businessinsider.com/uk-economy-q4-gdp-brexit-2018-3/
UK growth hits five-year low of 0.1% as business investment falls – as it happened
https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2018/may/25/uk-gdp-growth-figures-markets-ftse-sterling-business-live
https://www.ft.com/content/cf51e840-7147-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9
So I call Bullshit.
I recommend you continue to believe all the other quarterly GDP samples (including the more recent ones) came out just like that quarter.
Pretty much:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/gdp-growth
Of all the economies in the EU the UK is performing the worst.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/u-k-set-to-leave-european-union-as-slowest-growing-economy#gs.8OYZ8dAE
the current cost of Brexit is estimated to be 800 quid per week to the UK economy
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/14/brexit-has-cost-uk-economy-at-least-80bn-since-vote-bank-of-england-rate-setter
Funny, did those projections (by now a year old) you just posted tell you Germany was heading for recession in a years time? Since we have them by now, might we be permitted to review the actuals rather than assuming the inaccurate forecast is the gospel truth?
Footnote, you can safely dismiss this comment as fake news because Germany actually narrowly avoided recording a recession by the narrowest of margins. Go back to sleep, the European economy is working exactly as intended.
🙄
latest report 11/2/19 growth 0.2% – 0.1% below Treasury projection
That year went pretty quick.
So now you want to shift the goal posts – figures.
Don’t understand what I am supposed to take from that. It case it was unclear however you posted a bloomberg article dated Feb 2018 discussing a projection and saying,
“Growth will slow to 1.4 percent this year and 1.1 percent in 2019, the European Commission said Wednesday in its winter economic forecasts.”
Which you said means “Of all the economies in the EU the UK is performing the worst.”, though obviously you were discussing a forecast so that should read Of all the economies in the EU the UK *will* perform the worst.
It turns out on the contrary at the beginning of 2019 Germany has just recorded consecutive periods of -0.2 and 0.0 against the UK 0.6 and 0.2. Clearly the German economy performed worse than the UK (in fact there are a number of other large and worse performing European economies).
and now for some reason you want to raise that the UK treasury got its Q1 forecast for UK GDP growth wrong by 0.1 expecting 0.3 instead of the 0.2 recorded?
Thats right trp..at least Blair got Labour into Government!! Yay!! Victory!!
Well, you can do bugger all in opposition. That’s a warning, not a mantra, if you’re reading this, Jez.
Not sure that’s gonna bother Jez. Looking at his record, he appears to be quite happy being a legislative opposer and not a legislative doer. Seriously, I went looking for any significant legislation Jez had a significant part in pushing through, and came up empty. Plenty of info on stuff he’s opposed, tho.
Actually I disagree.
Time in opposition is time to build up support for a change in direction.
counter the free market neo liberal austerity propaganda.
To present the population with a radically new vision of how to run a country, and spend for growth.
Unfortunately we have Labour Parties these days who are timid and fearful and determined to do nothing radical or different as they see being in power as the only way to be, even if it means being in power with no mandate to actually bring about real change.
They have no intention of trying to help the voters help themselves to a better future.
These modern Labour Party folk aren’t Leaders and rabble rousers..they are nice enough people, sales rep. types, who at Christmas might give their nephew a Che Guevara T shirt from Halensteins …for a laugh.
Hence we have Labour governments, both here and in the UK, and America for that matter, who come and go over the last 40 years, with no actual improvement/change of direction for the population in wages, job security and bargaining power, home ownership, percentage of income spent on rent, the economy (that most people live in..the economy for Business is fine).
Labour seems to exist purely to soften the blow and marginally tweak things between or Tory/national lead descent into a high tech version of the Middle Ages.
*And “yes”, Corbyn doesn’t have a chance as long as his party is littered with the usual labour party career politicians determined to follow the centre path.
you might also say that the party reflects the people that vote for it.
Cause the same can be said about pretty much everyone who votes for labour. followed by, i am now rich enough (by what ever means) to now vote for the party that gives me a tax cut.
or is it still not fashionable to actually blame the electorate especially the electorate with education?
Completely don’t understand the infatuation with European governance. The european influence is fundamentally anti democratic. The more integration the worse that influence is. The most immediate concern for the UK is being brought into the TISA regardless of the wishes of UK constituants. For the more integrated members of the Eurozone these countries no longer have control of their budgets (their budget is imposed regardless who they elect). Eventually a European military may be created, and no doubt lead to some European countries persuing foreign military interventions regardless of electing parties opposed to the interventions.
The difficulties with integrating europe as one polity are insurmountable, but that leaves the anti democratic nature of european institutions in place in perpetuity. I don’t understand why this appeals to anybody who holds democracy up as an ideal.
“In 1847 the Native American tribe Choctaw Nation donated a significant sum of money to Irish famine relief. Having at the time of the famine only recently been subject to the infamous Trail of Tears, the forced relocations of Native Americans, the Choctaw saw in Ireland a people being subject to similar colonial policies to themselves.
They wished to alleviate suffering during what was perhaps the most seismic demographic change in modern European history: the death by hunger of more than a million UK citizens and the migration of another million – at a time when food was being actively exported from the country to Britain and elsewhere”
..snip..
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/brexit/2019/02/how-britain-s-dark-history-ireland-haunts-brexit
Thanks for that story!
Here’s the lyrics of a song in return, on the subject of food actively exported.
Christy Moore – “On A Single Day” Lyrics
“A list of exports from Cork Harbour On a single day
The fourteenth of September, Eighteen Forty-Seven
Ran as follows:147 barrels of pork, 986 casks of ham, 27 sacks of bacon, 528 boxes of eggs, 1, 397 firkins of butter, 477 sacks of oats, 720 sacks of flour, 380 sacks of barley, 187 head of cattle, 296 head of sheep, and4, 338 barrels of miscellaneous provisions,
On a single day, The ships sailed out from Cork Harbour With their bellies in the water.
On a single day in County Galway, The great majority of the poor located there
Were in a state of starvation, Many hourly expecting death to relieve their suffering.
On a single day, The Lady Mayoress held a ball At the Mansion House in Dublin In the presence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Dancing continued until the early hours, and refreshments of the most varied and sumptuous nature were supplied with inexhaustible profusion.
On a single day. On a single day.
It’s about time this little country of ours had a bit
Of peace.”
whatever happened to the UK SDP?
Folded into the Liberal Democrats.
apparently so…..so much for independence, may as well have just left and joined the Liberals and be done with it
Foolishly I paid attention to Susie Fegusson interview Shane Jones about possible compliments to 1080 on morning report.
What followed was terrible attempts to catch Jones out, over and over again.
The only mention of an alternative was late in the piece when conflict was sought around GE and the Greens.
There are so many strands to discuss in this issue.
Provincial Growth Fund allocation, where and who?
What are the current alternatives and what are the emerging alternatives?
What is the ratio of 1080 to other methods used by DOC?
the link:https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018683098/19-point-5-package-to-find-1080-alternatives-to-pest-control
I saw the coverage on the news last night, and it was quite atrocious. The mediaz only goal seems to be to do damage to the Greens by implying that because they are anti-GE then they can offer no alternative to 1080. lol Quite idiotic really.
They had an animal welfare lawyer on who seemed to think the common sense solution to stopping 1080 was playing around with possum genes instead. For the life of me I can’t see how someone who really cares about animals would be so gung-ho with permanent human manipulation or alteration of animals.
We want the possums gone. Are you suggesting it would be nicer to send them back to ockyland?
Good point Gabby, the GE frakenfix, may not go down too well with our ozzie cousins.
I was listening to a female intervieweron Radionz, perhaps yesterday, forgotten what was being discussed, but remember the interrogation technique, repetition in a high-handed way with voice of a carping parent. I immediately turned off respect for that interviewer because of the tone, where is the interviewing skill in that? Better she joins the police with their black and white views and often using an anything to get a confession style.
Nat voting exhusband is anti 1080.
Complains about it often to the girls. Miss 14 had great pleasure in pointing out that national had done nothing about it.
Wonder if he will be complaining about it to the girls this weekend? Can hear it now…. But dad….. what about the announcement. Hehehehe
Loving how our new government is listening to the people and gradually making changes. Good on them.
Personally I’m anti 1080 so am thrilled about this announcement.
Roger Waters speaks out for JULIAN ASSANGE
9th February 2019, Switzerland
https://www.facebook.com/notes/roger-waters/julian-assange/2536797786334656/
Julian Assange is a national Australian treasure. He is a brilliant, brave, honest, humane, relevant, genuine, journalist and publisher of immense influence and significance on the world stage. He has shown himself to be an enormous power for good in a world that is sadly, with some notable exceptions, (Yes John Pilger, I mean you among others,) starved of his ilk.
What Julian Assange is, as a publisher of real news, is a real hero. What he is not is a criminal. His initiative, WikiLeaks, helped expose to the world the hidden machinations of the real criminals in our society: the oligarchs, who in their insatiable quest for more and more wealth, would destroy the fragile planet we call home.
Julian, like all truth seekers scares the sh*t out of them. The truth is their enemy, that is why they and their agents, the governments of the western world, are determined to destroy him.
We, the citizens of the world, have an absolute duty to protect Julian Assange from their unwarranted and illegal attacks.
I unreservedly support and applaud the demonstrations called by the Socialist Equality Party in Australia to demand that the Australian government takes immediate action to secure the freedom of their citizen, Julian Assange, from his near seven-year house imprisonment in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. At least until recently the Ecuadorian presidency was solid in its promise of asylum, but the new president of Ecuador is showing himself to be more susceptible to insidious US pressure. Julian’s situation is dire.
BRING HIM HOME NOW!!!
RESIST!!!!!!!!!
DEMONSTRATE on MARCH 3rd in SYDNEY and MARCH 10th in MELBOURNE
AROUND THE WORLD, RAISE YOUR VOICE EVERYWHERE
DEMAND A SAFE HAVEN FOR JULIAN ASSANGE IN HIS HOME AUSTRALIA.
Love, R
Roj thinks Julesy might find safe haven in Ocka? Seriously? Has he paid any attention whatsoever to how the Ocka government treats those it finds a tad inconvenient?
You’re correct, Andre. Julia Gillard was brazen in her support for his persecutors…
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/02/julian-assange-confronts-julia-gillard.html
And Scott Morrison is, if anything, even worse….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/three-thoughtful-kiwi-commentatorswell.html
Thanks for the good work on your Gordon Levy transcription.
This from Nicholas Rowe is something worth re quoting..”Nationalism, he said, is crystal meth, cooked up in think tanks and exacerbated by peer pressure. Like all addictions, nationalism does not discriminate on the basis of economics. ”
Unbelievable that your post only solicited two comments on that day.
But then again, now I think about it, maybe not so surprising…unfortunately.
I don’t see how the Australian Government could do that much about him.
He is a citizen of Australia (born in Townsville) and as far as I am aware an Australian citizen cannot be deported from Australia.
Dunno exactly what they’d do. But they seem to be experts in creative malice so I’m sure they’d come up with something.
On the other hand, it is Assflange we’re talking about here, so I’d almost be curious to find out what they do come up with.
There is an escaped predator roaming around the lower South Island. Authorities call for caution and ask for sightings to be immediately reported, and for people
nearby to remain inside and try to protect livestock. The authorities are prepared to shoot this animal which is dangerous to safety and life. /sarc
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/382810/brutal-miniature-horse-stabbing-in-otago-horrifies-vets
We actually know it is a human who will receive some sort of treatment, be put in jail, and be allowed out into society to release his (likely) poison into society which it is hoped, will dilute the mixture with relatively little damage to society overall. Until the next outbreak of viciousness.
Apart from the fact that cruelty to animals isn’t regarded as seriously as is that to humans, which is a faulty position, researchers have found that those who commit violence against animals are indicated to be more likely than the norm to commit such acts on humans.
Dunno what their malfunction is, but I think someone probably needs serious psych treatment. This isn’t the regular dropkick fucked-uppedness.
Sadly the little horse has died from internal injuries.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/brutal-horse-stabbing-horrifies-vets
Someone will know who did it and be covering for the little turd.
The latest details on the movement of Cyclone Oma:
https://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/uncertainty-continues-about-cyclone-omas-track-nz-uncertainty-around-rainfall-totals-too-12-
The best option for NZ is the ECMWF model which keeps the original cyclone in the tropics, but a new low consisting of saturated tropical air stretching southward from the cyclone and a southerly system moving northward over NZ. Provided it occurs in the right place (fingers crossed) we would get the desperately needed rain but without the catastrophic cyclonic winds.
Thanks for the link, Anne. I was about to search for more info on this cyclone and you have saved me the effort. Cheers.
Failing the above… there is another T.C. expected to form further eastward (north of Fiji) sometime next week so we might get a big flick from that one instead. 🙂
Or we might get both. 🙁
I think you can rest Anne, it’s like it probably hit or put the willies up SE QLD aka BrisVegas from tonight’s weather report from ABC Darwin on the telly. Before everyone jump up and down about CC, when I was still living at by RAAF Amberley. The weather boffins were saying back around 2005, saying that South East Queensland aka south of Rockie is due for a Cyclone based on records and the law of averages.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018683121/moveon-us-protests-over-wall-and-oscar-pressure
There is a striking image of a wall in this link.
It reminds me that Alan Gibbs has spent a large amount of money on an orange wall on his farm and calls it a sculpture. Did Trump pick up on his idea for the use of the USA? Perhaps Trump could get funding for his edifice if he calls it a sculpture, and lets go of the ‘wall’ word. He wants an enormous sculpture that can be seen from space, like the Chinese Wall, and that will bring the USA to the fore in competitive walls make America great again.
I think that the Wall will become another state-built entity that private businesses will utilise for free. It will be a focus for climbers and abseilers – a world icon for the!
Man that wall is ugly, but at the same time has a modernist brutality about it that I quite like…it also looks like it could be a left over film set from some random Sci Fi film made in 1987 about the post apocalyptic future in 2001…which I also quite like.
I felt the same. And I like the rust effect on it. I’m reluctant to find anything good about it but my mind kept working.
Further thoughts.
This could be another case where private business utilises a government infrastructure. I think The Wall will become a fabulous place for abseiling and climbers, a huge outdoor sporting facility. There will be armed guards to prevent random civilians approaching it using drones and sandbuggies like they had on Mars, so it will provide employment to the NRA and KKK, and businesses will buy concessions to use various parts of it for sport, also it could be used as a rifle range.
There’ll be profit in it for some.
Bye bye Angela Smith! You won’t be missed.
One of the Sufferin’ Seven is called on her lies. Elle est embarrassante.
Brilliant. Talk about dishonest. She stood in an election as a Labour Party candidate but had her own personal manifesto? What a clown. Bye byes.
Appears to be the wrong clip, Moz. No lies exposed in this video. But it does show that Angela Smith is painfully honest.
Angela is not only painfully honest,she clearly has psychic/clairvoyant powers too.
Can guarantee voters in her electorate that Labour will lose and Corbyn will not become P.M.
Well, she was right on both counts! So either tuned into the cosmos or just capable of reading the polls. So very hard to tell which it is.
Who needs an election?
Stood under the Labour Party manifesto, but had her own personal one that she was sharing with her constituents?
And that’s not dishonest?
Yep, that’s being truthful to the people who elect you. She was conflicted about some Labour policies and said so. You might think she shouldn’t stand for labour in those circumstances. She would now appear to agree with you.
@TRP, Are you serious? Angela “funny tinge” Smith, defender of Tony Blair, the same A Smith that most people have been constantly asking why on earth she was still in Labour since Corbyn was elected, the A Smith who has constantly attacked her leader and undermined the party for the past few years..It is plainly obvious that she was never ‘conflicted about some Labour policies’ she always hated them and hated Corbyn, and made absolutely no bones about it.
2016 “Angela Smith MP refers to Jeremy Corbyn as “a dead man walking” days after the murder of Jo Cox MP”
2016 “Labour MPs are trying to depose Jeremy Corbyn with a motion of no confidence” including A Smith
2016, Angela Smith MP earlier called for Corbyn to quit. Smith said: “Jeremy Corbyn has got to take responsibility. He should consider his position. He’s shown insufficient leadership.”
2017, ‘Why don’t you just GO?’ Corbyn HUMILIATED as senior Labour MP ‘tells leader to QUIT’
Good riddance to a vile politician, about time.
Thanks for the list Adrian T good to know some background from a trusted source.
Yep, she didn’t like Corbyn and said so. So, honest. Like the majority of caucus, she voted no confidence in him. So, democratic. She did not actually refer to Corbyn as a dead man walking (watch the clip). So, lied about.
Good riddance? Still in Parliament, still an MP, still going to be having her say over the next 3 years. So, not an ex politician yet.
She’s not someone I’d be personally thrilled to vote for, but trying to ignore why she’s leaving in favour of just mindlessly abusing her is pretty fucken dumb. It’s that low level of political understanding and a refusal to analyse what’s going on that is dooming UK Labour to being eternally in opposition. As I said earlier, look at the state of the Tories. And yet Jezza won’t take them on.
No, far easier to demonise people who have the guts to say what they think and the principles to act on their principles.
PS, just a guess, but you never heard of Angela Smith till today, right?
“PS, just a guess, but you never heard of Angela Smith till today, right?”
I am not sure why you would say that?….how could you not have heard of her..what with all her bitching and moaning endlessly about Corbyn and momentum, she was like a broken record…and to make it worse she was like a shit record that no even one wanted to listen to begin with.
And yes I do demonise her,and make no apologies about it, fuck her and fuck all her Liberal friends in Labour, they have only been like a cancer to the Left.
For over 25 years people like her have been calling the shots on the Left, and exactly where has it got us? pah.
Time for a change..a real change.
Say No to pragmatism, endless compromise and half measurers.
Turn Labour Left!
If they had principles, they would be standing for re-election right now.
Politicians elected to represent Labour voters, should be re-presenting Labour voters who put them there.
“Politicians elected to represent Labour voters, should be re-presenting Labour voters who put them there.”
Couldn’t agree more. So why isn’t Corbyn doing that?
He is.
Have you actually been following UK politics, or have you just decided to jump in with an opinion?
No he isn’t. The biggest criticism of Corbyn is that he is doing fuck all. His party members, and his party’s voters, want a fresh Brexit referendum, but as he’s a leaver, he’s refusing to take it on. He’s hopelessly conflicted on the issue.
The first polls on the breakaway group suggest an immediate 8% support, primarily based on the group’s Brexit position. That support could go to Labour, if Corbyn wasn’t so hopeless.
By narrowing the party’s vision down to some infantile leftist purity, Corbyn is dooming them to lose the next election, when they should win in a landslide.
But hey, we can sing Ooooh, Jeremyyyy Coooorbyn and feel good about how radical we all are.
In the meantime, more Tory government.
You have been totally indoctrinated by the Guardian.
Try reading something else. Including Corbyns own statements.
Corbyn, unlike you, is respecting the result of a democratic vote.
The “leftist purity” is proving rather popular.
80% public support for re-nationalisations, for example.
After the fact. How very brave of her.
Er, no. She’s been very open about her opposition to some Labour policies for quite a while. She tried to change that from within, which is y’know, democratic. But she’s had enough now and has walked.
Anybody else you want to disparage who’s been through a similar process?
John A Lee? Jim Anderton? Winston Peters? The NZ Greens? All departed parties that no longer delivered for them, some with more encouragement toward the door than others.
So much in opposition to Labour policies, that you have to wonder why she joined the party in the first place.
Like the ACT, members of 1984 Labour.
Quisling, is the most appropriate word.
Get a grip. That’s the sort of mindset that led to Jo Cox being shot.
Really?
I think you just leapt beyond decent discussion there.
Time for bed, TRP.
Yeah, really. Look it up, Muttonbird.
KJT could equally have said traitor or collaborator which is pretty ordinary language in that situation and on this forum, yet you compare it with a mentally unfit, far-right, murderous fascist.
A bit unfair, IMO.
The use of language like traitor, quisling etc is part of othering, which makes acts of extremism acceptable.
It’s also disrespectful to the victims of the real Quisling to equate an an actual Nazi sympathiser responsible for the deaths of many good people in Norway with an elected politician who has merely had a disagreement with her party and chosen to quit.
I said get a grip. I could have said get a sense of perspective or any number of similar phrasings. However it’s put, the point is that abuse at that level is not the sign of deep thinking.
Bullshit!
There’s that deep thinking I was talking about.
“KJT could equally have said traitor or collaborator which is pretty ordinary language in that situation and on this forum,..
Muttonbird you have to remember that commenters face a perma ban for suggesting people go to another country to help with climate change efforts. Perhaps commenters could enforce a self-ban on themselves when they cross this extraordinarily high bar into outright alt-right behaviour, facism, nazism etc.
I’ll think you’ll find that was a mistake maui.
That awful woman is painfully honest in the sense that her mentor Tony Blair was painfully honest.
[I’ve rebuked you previously about gendered abuse. Stop it or be stopped. TRP]
The whole thing is painful to read, one thing worse is it happened but no-one told the truth about it, so probably painfully honest is best usually. (Can’t be absolute here, some small prevarication may sometimes be needed.)
1 Painful that it happened
2 Painful if covered up so we don’t know as should.
3 Painful if half leaked, distorted, misused.
4 Painful to be confronted by whole truth but can be exposed to sunlight.
+1 yucky person.
Someone probably already put up this on our map peeve and John Oliver and Rhys Darby.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/382831/british-comedian-john-oliver-offers-solution-to-nz-being-excluded-from-world-maps
Rod oram good to listen to again.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018683132/taxing-online-companies-and-china-trade-relations
Taxing online companies & China trade relations
Business commentator Rod Oram talks to Kathryn about our trade relations with China, the government’s plans to completely revamp polytechs and industry training providers and also plans to tax online companies such as Google and Facebook on their revenues not their profits
I like this sharp little article about footpaths makes good points.
The fight is between ‘fresh humans’ and ‘canned humans’. LOL
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=116313
The fight on the footpaths
Many NZs can’t swim. This guy can. Perhaps I’d better brush up my (lack of) style.
Nine-hour swim across Cook Strait underwater – for dolphins
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=116306
Report from RNZ
Free-diver William Trubridge has swum Cook Strait underwater to raise awareness of critically endangered Hector’s and Māui dolphins. Yesterday’s 22 km crossing – the first of its kind – consisted of a series of 930 dives, interspersed with horizontal underwater swimming while holding the breath, before coming up for air like a dolphin.
Mr Trubridge said the currents pushed him around during the nine hour and 15 minute swim, but he’s grateful the conditions allowed him to complete it.
Chris Trotter at Bowalley Road is beyond being anxious about Labour’s restraining itself, unnecessarily, to austerity by ‘fiscal responsibility’. And the results are showing up in the inability to attend to the concerns of workers in basic sectors necessary for service provision in a decent society.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2019/02/just-like-rogernomics-capital-gains-tax.html
Very few of New Zealand’s social indices have registered a clear improvement in the lives of New Zealanders as a result of the so-called “Rogernomics Revolution”. The wage-earner’s share of company surpluses has reduced in comparison to the shareholder’s. The number of New Zealanders owning their own homes has declined sharply. The dramatic surge in average life expectancy that distinguished the 30 years following World War II has plateaued.
The explanation for New Zealand society’s resolute refusal to be improved by the Fourth Labour Government’s neoliberal “reforms” is very simple. Society is not a mechanism, it is an organism. Ripping things out from, or cutting them off, a living system doesn’t improve it. All that happens is that the system is left wounded and bleeding. Given sufficient time, an organism may adapt to the loss of a limb, or an organ. Wounds do heal. But attempting to pass off the maimed subject of your surgery as a vast improvement over what existed before, is a fool’s errand. Trauma endures.
Has this government, dominated as it is by the Labour Party, learned anything from what happened between 1984 and 1999?
Then he is anxious about CGT which he thinks will if applied across the board
will make Labour unpopular and lose the next election. Possibly for not much gain to taxes and only a short hiatus in the housing market with present drivers to prices. It might seem moral but is it fiscal, and reduce house prices I ask?
I agree with Chris. You have to question the basic political intelligence of a party wanting to sacrifice yet another election to chasing a CGT. Its not like there is any evidence they restrain housing markets either. There are plenty of examples of countries with CGTs also having housing bubbles collapse.
CGT is required so that PAYE, payers, and low income earners, do not bear the entire payment of taxes.
The lack of CGT is how many wealthy avoid tax.
It is also much more popular than politicians would like us to think.
Taxing the wealthy more is well supported.
Outright lies about the effect of a CGT, on normal people are being used to turn the public against it.
The effect on house prices is largely unknown as there are so few examples of before and after CGT.
However our largely hit or miss CGT, leaves a loop hole which wealthy tax dodgers are driving a bus through.
It appears the US has federal capital gains taxes but this didn’t in any way impede the Trump family from driving a bus through the US tax code to transfer the family wealth onto Trump. With less certainty my understanding is the same kind of transfer is presently occurring from Trump to his daughter (or that is what some of the campaign financing shenanigans we know about seem to indicate).
We do see a number of examples of countries which have CGT’s and those examples indicate they don’t effectively mitigate housing bubbles. This is going to be a pretty big political flaw if that is one of the primary arguments for introducing a CGT.
Some something more simple the government could do to make the tax code more fair it could just eliminate GST. There seems to be no need for a debate or electoral mandate to do that.
I suspect replacing GST with CGT, maybe FTT, and wealth taxes would be hugely popular.
I’ve never liked GST, as it is highly regressive. The introduction was a simple tax switch, from higher incomes getting reductions, while lower incomes paid more tax overall. A cynical move to less progressive taxes.
We could simply remove GST, and go back to a 60% top tax rate, which Australia has anyway.
That doesn’t remove the problem of tax avoidance, by choosing to make capital gains rather than income.
We cannot say that CGT doesn’t mitigate housing bubbles in countries that have it. Because we have no evidence, of the size their housing bubble would be without it. At the least CGT, gives the Government some income from the bubble which can be used to reduce the effects. To build more State houses, for example.
“We cannot say that CGT doesn’t mitigate housing bubbles in countries that have it. Because we have no evidence, of the size their housing bubble would be without it.”
If even the implementation of a policy doesn’t produce evidence of that policies effectiveness then you don’t seem to be dealing with a scientific theory at all.
This is a discussion of a similar problem with other economic theories.
https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/the-law-of-demand-a-useless-tautology-immunized-against-empirical-facts/
Actually I wasn’t suggesting any other tax changes needed to accompany removing GST. Any other tax changes should be assessed on their own merits.
Basic science. You have to have a control group or counterfactual, to have definitive evidence. I.e. What happens both with and without it. All else being equal.
In fact, in New Zealand, the housing market slowed after the bright line test was tightened.
That is an indication that a CGT, in New Zealand may have an effect on housing speculation. However that is not conclusive evidence, because there have been other possible causes at the same time. China’s economy slowed, they clamped down on money exports. Immigration slowed and lending criteria was changed.
The best argument for CGT, is simple fairness and efficiency of the tax system. You should not be able to avoid tax, simply by calling your income something different.
Seems like we just can’t do basic science on virtually any policy then.
Though in practice people who understand and use things like controlled clinical trials would never use a treatment based only on the statistical evidence of one or even many clinical trials. Statistics are fundamentally incapable of proving or disproving the truth value of scientific theories. At a minimum the theory needs to dig in and understand the next level, the mechanism which generates the statistics you get as an outcome.
If Labour ran of a CGT for fairness then I think that would at least be a defensible policy choice. But I think they would run it on the implication it substantially fixes the housing market and I don’t think its going to deliver on that.
Parliament: Question Time, 2pm, Tues 19 February 2019
An interesting mix of questions today, starting with the usual general one from Bridges to Ardern.
However, we also have Jami-Lee Ross’ first primary question since he became an Independent at Question 4 seeking specific information on Ministers travelling overseas since October 2017, including personal overseas travel. The last bit is the interesting aspect of this question …
JLR has primary questions only about every five + weeks, plus two supplementary questions weekly. Last week he used his two supplementary questions to ask questions on light rail proposals for Auckland under Paul Goldsmith’s primary question on this subject at Question 8 on Weds, 13 Feb.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=204904
And, presumably quite by coincidence, Sarah Dowie also has a question at 11 in her capacity as National spokesperson on conservation re the continued use of 1080. (As well as being a fully qualified lawyer, Dowie apparently also has tertiary qualifications in earth sciences(?) or similar and worked for DOC for some years.)
Here is the list of today’s questions to save you having to go to the link.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/list-of-oral-questions/oral-questions-19-february-2019/
I’ve got one for SARAH DOWIE.
Does she have poor moral judgement and a real mean streak, and why doesn’t she just resign already and leave parliament to decent people?
Not really trying to match Grey’s efforts above (5 new posts in a row), but Michelle at 9.1.4 over on the Colmar Brunton post mentioned that the biggie of the year for kapa haka – Te Matatini – is being held at the Westpac Stadium (and other venues) in Wellington this week/weekend, 20 -24 February 2019.
Here is a link to the very good website for those interested.
https://www.tematatini.co.nz/
We really want some rain here in Welly (and across the country) urgently but do hope that it will not disrupt this great event.
I could not find whether it will be broadcast live on TV etc. Would love to know as I recall watching the weekend performances on TV in previous years. I’ll check out Maori TV scheduling and post any results I find.
Update – yes, Maori TV is covering the whole thing live from 8.30 am each day starting Thursday, 21 Feb – their most coverage ever.
https://www.maoritelevision.com/shows/te-matatini-2019
2015 TED talk Yanis Varoufakis – 19.51
^ – ^ : Two peaks – one, debt – matched by another, money unemployed.
Capitalism will eat democracy.
Something occurs to me Jordan Peterson on on hand (hates Marxism and pervading an emotional answer to the quetions of anomic people who want something to dislike or hate to provide them with something definite, firm in their lives).
On the opposite side stands Yanis Varoufakis explaining his idea with a vision and outcome that he explains, with occasional humour, with an emphasis on getting firmness from the idea of getting a working future, perhaps with dislike for that which divides us.
StatsNZ has just released a new guidance framework for collecting data on sexual orientation and sexual identity, for those who are interested in such things.
A bit odd.
“4. JAMI-LEE ROSS to the Prime Minister: How many times has she or the Cabinet granted approval for a Minister to travel overseas since 26 October 2017, and how many of those travel approvals have included approval for “personal travel overseas”, as outlined in sections 2.124 or 2.125 of the Cabinet Manual?”
He seemed to be implying that a Minister on an approved overseas trip, would meet a foreign person to garner a donation. (Huh? Sounds more like a National ploy.)
Q4 as above:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=204994
Thanks for the link, that was a bit weird.
Because it’s jlr and he’s been unhappy with the nat party donation process, I wonder where he is going with this?
I had the impression he might actually be working up to accusing one of the former Nat. ministers of going overseas to garner donations. But first he’s putting the scenario out there by asking the question of the current government.
JLR made a speech in Parliament this afternoon. He raised the issue of party donations.
Thanks Fireblade. You are right that Jamie mentioned in his speech, Ministers seeking donations from “foreign Nationals” while overseas. He said “in the past.”
Wonder if people like Judith will be checking that their tracks were covered.
A polite careful speech to an almost empty House, but…
Thanks also for the link…. seems like he’s doing the ground work to call someone out. That was really interesting.
jlr also says he supports dr. custard wanting changes to the electoral reform act. The only changes nick smith would want are ones that ensure his employment.
https://twitter.com/bendepear/status/1097572500786024449
https://news.sky.com/story/honda-to-stun-ministers-with-closure-of-swindon-factory-11641154
For those who follow or are interested in international politics, this interactive chart from Al Jazeera is like an election tracker, it’s really interesting.
Proud moment, NZ get’s a mention for being a world leader in women voting 🙂
2019 is a huge year for elections…….
‘In 2019, more people will vote than ever before.
Nearly two billion voters in 50 countries around the world will head to the polls this year to elect their leaders.
Some of the biggest elections include India – the world’s largest democracy with 800 million eligible voters, Indonesia – 187 million registered voters and Nigeria – 84 million registered voters.’
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2019/how-the-world-votes-2019/index.html
Some good points raised here with regards to Nationals latest scare mongering on C. G . T
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/02/they-cant-take-it-with-them-when-they-go.html
Kia ora Eco Maori can not wait till the next generating grab power from THE NEANDERTHALS as its there future that we are making a mess of NOW.
I can’t wait for the striking schoolchildren to grab the reins of power
The UK’s kids protesting climate change were passionate, articulate and unafraid – those with old ideas need to get out of the way
T
his is a country for old men. So is the United States. Donald Trump is 72, and people are talking about Joe Biden running against him, aged 76; another possible presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, is 77. In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn is 69; John McDonnell is 67; Vince Cable is 75. Jacob Rees-Mogg is 89. Only one of these ages is a lie. I guess you can work it out. Whatever happened to retiring? Why are these men considered to be at their political peak? I speak as a nan myself. Will I be running for office in 15 years’ time?
The blokes who govern the “free” world were brought into sharp relief by last week’s strike against climate change. My God, it was something. Suddenly in my house and on TV screens there were angry, informed teenage girls – and yes, it was mostly girls – talking about how we have just 12 years to do something. They were passionate, articulate and unafraid. Their energy was contagious. The fact they were having a fabulous time at a protest was inspiring and all the daft criticism about bunking off came from the zombie class such as Andrea Leadsom and various dullard rentagobs who don’t even seem to understand what school is: an hour a day of learning followed by hours of crowd control. But then I guess bunking off is as outre as running through fields of wheat for these alien suck-ups.
I cannot wait for these people to grab the reins of power. I neither want the closed and aged mindsets of the Tories banging on about wars they didn’t fight, nor the inflexibility of old Labour men obsessed with revolutions that produced dictators. Ageing is a fact, but open minds stay youthful. Those with old ideas need to get out of the way. Fast Links below ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/19/i-cant-wait-for-the-striking-schoolchildren-to-grab-the-reins-of-power
Eco Maori use the barbecue 2 days ago to cook kebabs and I turned it OFF .
I Know it was off because I have a small house and a freezer in the shed to get into the shed I am only 2 feet away from the shed SO I have to touch it every day also if it was left on for 48 hours the bottle would have been empty but NO when I just went to use the barbecue this afternoon it was going hot as and the bottle is 1/4 full. You see the sandflys expect to beable to swarm around me and my whanau spinning lies about US make mine and my whanau life harder and Eco Maori is supposed to eat tu tai get stuffed you dirty rotten Kunekune,s who trys to make out the are church going good christian YEA RIGHT . 1 barbecue on for 48 hours 2 the hose was lose 3 Eco Maori has been talking about barbecued mussles for 2 days 3 the sandfly / goverment listens to every word said in my house .They don’t like me pointing out the Pike river evedince going missing they don’t like it that when I sue them they will be liable for million in lost potential earning Ana to kai P.S Andrew Little you are responsible for these MUPPETS ACTIONS they are still trying to intimidate Eco Maori
Your should have heard there sirens going off after Eco Maori posted the post above you see whanau the NZ UNjustice system is the biggest GANG in New Zealand thats a FACT Ana to kai Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
Kia ora Newshub Why did that idiot change his Name to Tainui he is staining the name of a Great Maori tipuna.
Amy how desperate to try and use a thing like a spreadsheet to attack our governments Wellbeing budget.
There you go Mcabe the FBI Directors.
That’s a awesome photo of the Orca playing with the camera and eating tooth fish /some call it Chilean bass just another name to hide the fish’s origins that’s all the more reasons to protect the tooth fish fisheries to protect the Orcas to.
Selwyn Te Matatini is awesome this year how’s my mate and my Wahines m8 when I first started writing on Thestandard I could see some people were shy to talk Maori or even admit that they were Maori Times Are Changing Fast for the better Ka pai. Ka kite ano
Kia ora James & Mulls from The Crowd Goes Wild I see our Summer sport is going great.
Our farmers are the back bone of OUR country and many of them are the back bone of some sports.
YEA the Maori from the whenua of te pounamu had a good week.
That was close the Ice hockey puat just about hitting that reporter.
David Butterbean I have said you have a good cause getting people off the couch to get fit Ka pai for your event at Edin Park. Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub I think the Wahine team who has 2 gold medals cleaned up in Hamilton and Australia is the team deserves the prize .
NO seenothing we have a let the wealthy OFF PAYING TAXES system you are full of it not everyone will be effected by the capital gains tax Alot of people have no capital O that’s correct you don’t no or can’t see the poor common person way of life with your Rosie rich glasses only wealthy views can be seen from your Rosie glasses so everyone with assets on top of the family house will have to pay a bit more.
That tax is easier to implement than means testing superannuation of the top 20 %. People from that part of OUR society do not NEED superannuation So a capital gains tax will even up the % of taxes per income tax payers. The he top 20 %, of people have accountants that have lobby the system so they pay no or low taxes if they are want to behave like that.
Te Matatini is on today well you cut that part of the show short that tells Eco Maori Alot but this is what you will get because you are still stuck in the undies you wore 2 Years ago I call the way you treat and
Bully Mark Richardson is not a good look he is ok.
Lloyd it is Ka pai that those MP are standing up to the people who are trying to ram brexit though the British parliament weather the majority want it OR NOT I can see the majority want a second referendum it looks like they have a big backing all ready .
In the near future a person like the guy who stole a great tipuna great name will not be able to lie when computer chips are planted into our brains the big problem is the Billionaire will have the power of gods being able to have the best hackers in the world to change the data on other people Reality every little thought and every ones visions all data will be stored and could be minupulated by the POWERFUL THAT’S one of my biggest concerns with artificial intelligence we have to have the best minds in the world to keep this genie under humane human control.
trump is trying to get other country’s to clean up Americas mess once again and put there citizens lives at risk after he has sprayed Wai on them YEA RIGHT.
I don’t totally condemn alcohol in moderation I just want the youth to KNOW that when they binge drink they are/ can lose control of their lives and anyone can take advantage of them in a drunk state they are throwing there futures into the wind basically turning yourselves in disabled PERSON with out the safety sense humans have when they get DRUNK that is lossed .
Is he another national puppet who can spread topic that’s cause disharmony in our society topics that national are scared to handle the tax paying union u 2 are there to play your little harp for dancans little self-centred views. Ka kite ano
This neanderthal can not handle this good Dutch person Rutger Bregman straight up comments that is exactly what I have been branding the Papatuanukus worlds media brought and paid for buy billionaires and the 3% of scientists who are climate change deniers. I also agree on his view of TAXS TAXS as the carbon trading skeem is just another way for the billionaires to suck more money from the common tangata/people THATS A FACT Tax carbon and give the money to poor nations who cannot fund there climate change mitergation and give the money to people who prouduce clean cheap green energy. Ka pai Rutger Ana to kai neanderthal
Historian who confronted Davos billionaires leaks Tucker Carlson rant
In a heated exchange that was not aired, Rutger Bregman accused Carlson of being a pawn for the Murdochs and Kochs
Rutger Bregman is the Dutch historian who became a global sensation after an appearance at this year’s Davos summit where he accused the billionaires in attendance of ignoring the issue of taxation. Now he’s created another viral moment in an extremely uncomfortable interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.
By the end of the exchange, Bregman has so riled Carson with his accusations of hypocrisy, critiques of Fox’s conservative agenda and attacks on Donald Trump, that the TV host calls him a “moron” and angrily tells him: “Go fuck yourself.”
According to Bregman he recorded the interview with Carlson on Tuesday and it was meant to air that night, but never did. NowThis have obtained Bregman’s own recording of the exchange, where only the audio of Carlson’s questions can be heard.
The interview then sees Bregman accuse Carlson of being bought by the Murdoch family and the Cato Institute, a neoliberal think tank of which Carlson was a fellow until 2015. He says Tucker took the “dirty money” of the institute, which is funded in large part by the Koch brothers and opposes higher taxes.
He says Carlson is “a millionaire funded by billionaires” and “not part of the solution” but “part of the problem, actually”.
Bregman finishes by acknowledging that the interview probably wouldn’t be aired, but saying that he “went to Davos to speak truth to power and I’m doing exactly the same right now”.
Carlson, near-speechless for much of the interview, replies by saying: “Why don’t you go fuck yourself, you tiny brain… you’re a moron. I tried to give you a hearing but you were too fucking annoying.”
The next day on Twitter, Bregman said he decided to leak the interview to NowThis because “we should keep talking about the corrupting influence of money in politics. It also shows how angry elites can get if you do that”.
He also challenged Carlson to air the interview in full. Ka kite ano links below P.S This story backs my views on Aotearoa Mainstream Media to
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/20/historian-who-confronted-davos-
billionaires-leaks-tucker-carlson-rant
https://twitter.com/i/status/1098282209834950657
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94dBVPpymac
Eco Maori can smell when my nemesis is trying to use raw fish on me