”Australian report finds profit, not wages, driving inflation
[unlinked copy and paste deleted]
So why not a windfall profits tax here? It’ll raise a little revenue, but more importantly send a message to big business to stop rorting the consumer. The optics that Labour look after the majority of the country, rather than the big end of town, wouldn’t be bad either.
No one in the southern hemisphere has appetite for major tax increases. Not even the neo-socialists in South America.
But even with the existing tax settings we have, it does not help that our government remains very, very weak at breaking oligopolies like we have in fishing, dairy production, supermarkets, fuel, red meat production, construction materials, insurance, sea ports, shipping, international airports, airlines, and so much more. We must surely have one of the most concentrated economies in the world.
We do not appear to have in Cabinet anyone with the business sense to regulate prices hard., or even in the Commerce Commission. Oligopolists are driving inflation because nothing resists them passing increases on.
The effective inflation fighter we have, our own Reserve Bank, has the dual mandate of low inflation and lowest possible unemployment, but according to them if we have maximum sustainable employment, we should not be having inflation at all:
"When more people find jobs and fewer people are unemployed, employers tend to offer higher wages to fill their vacancies. If this happens nationwide, it generates wage inflation and eventually widespread inflation as businesses pass on the higher wage costs to the prices of goods and services.
When employment is at its maximum sustainable level, there will be low and stable inflation. However, if employment is above the maximum sustainable level for too long, it will eventually cause prices to rise more and more quickly, requiring the MPC to raise interest rates to keep inflation under control."
I don't consider the dual mandate an issue. Many central banks have a dual mandate and have for some time, then NZ was an exception with its single mandate.
The actual issue is how the RBNZ approaches monetary policy which is not something which follows from any mandate. Previously the central bank policy was typically pre-emptive, steps would be taken to any increase in inflation, which would immediately aim to break a wage price spiral. Now, at least descriptively, there can be a wait and see to observe if the price increase would translate to a wage increase, and then seeing if there was a lead to more price increases, before policy shift. This is probably marginally more healthy a policy.
The other issue the RBNZ has is the cash rate is quite blunt a tool to target inflation and has poor distributional outcomes.
And its not going to resolve any of the supply side price increases (many coming from overseas) in anything like a fair way.
My simple observation was not with the dual mandate itself but with their stated expectation that "When employment is at its maximum sustainable level, there will be low and stable inflation".
This is clearly wrong. They need to re-consult their Moniac.
I agree that stronger trends in wage and salary increases would be much preferable, especially after 20 years of waiting for them to arrive.
I think your ultimately right that low and stable inflation has little to do with the employment level, but that the RBNZ would disagree their statement is wrong.
Essentially they are saying that there is an employment level at which there is low and stable inflation. This is called the NAIRU level in technical terms. The NAIRU replaced the Phillips curve though its conceptually incoherent. The modern mathematical replacement for the Moniac will (if consulted) tell the RBNZ to increase unemployment because the inflation rate is too high. Probably better that they actually use their brains, rather than acting mechanically, to determine monetary policy.
They would probably also disagree that the present NZ economic situation is a test of this given the amount of imported inflation and supply side issues involved. That's not a judgement which the Moniac is capable of.
On the other hand the underlying Wicksellian theory that there exists one single interest rate which is most appropriate for the prevailing economic situation is clearly not applicable. The actual occurring economy is more broad and varied than the model economy which could support such a theory existing. So I consider the most suitable monetary policy will typically be to set the rate at zero and leave it there. Inflation issues should be resolved either via fiscal policy and within the contextual understanding that somebody will lose out cost wise when external prices change and this cost should be fairly distributed.
Doing it via monetary policy gives the pretense that imported inflation doesn't have distributional impacts, but it doesn't make those impacts go away.
Its a political question introducing such a tax, the revenue is irrelevant.
The question is will the windfall tax discourage profit gouging, and at what cost in govt popularity. It might make sellers say why bother making extraordinary profits they just get taxed away, but it might also lead to price hikes just to make a point to the public about whos boss.
just to make a point to the public about whos boss
And also make that same point to any government that tried to impose a windfall tax. I don't know of any examples of it happening elsewhere in the world, but it's a level of spitefulness that wouldn't surprise me in NZ.
It should then be easier for an effective political leader to use the spiteful behaviour of the commercial bosses as an example of why we need to restrain their antisocial excesses.
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace–business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me–and I welcome their hatred.
I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.
There has certainly been some piss taking with fuel, There has been a 30-40 cent per litre difference in diesel pricing between Auckland and not to far out of Auckland.
That's far more than can be explained by regional fuel tax etc. Could well call it price gouging.
In Auckland, the price of 91 octane petrol was between $2.88 and $3.05 a litre across stations on Tuesday morning, while diesel was between $2.79 and $2.97, according to PriceWatch.
Prices had dropped below $3 in Wellington and Christchurch.
AA principal policy adviserTerry Collins said the decline was down to two things: the drop in price of crude oil and refinery, but also the questioning of why fuel companies had high profit margins by the Government." (my bold)
So even the threat of the Government doing something causes the big boys to moderate their profits.
If you had read your article instead of spray & walk away you’d known how stupid you sound.
News of the truce and the ensuing reduction in public gun violence came too late for embattled former police minister Poto Williams.
She was replaced by Chris Hipkins on June 13 as part of a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who said she had lost focus in the portfolio.
If you keep up your dump & jump trolling here you’ll be treated that way.
How would you have dealt with a "perfect storm" caused by a combination of 501's, and a large number of disaffected youth caused by the loss of social cohension due to decades of Neo-Liberal "there is no such thing as society" cruelty?
As well as constant White anting by ignorant fools such as David Seymour, at your workplace.
You wouldn't have a fucking clue, and be "well out of your depth".
Now, because of the idiot chorus from the RW, actually getting to the causes and really cutting crime has been set back another decade.
Really? Aside from there being no actual evidence that she was out of her depth and the fact she was beginning to make headway before Nat white anting made her position untenable, are you plugged into some collective Borg-like consciousness that lets you know what "Everyone" knows?
Her problem was: she didn't have very good communication skills. Especially when dealing with the media who aided and abetted the white-anters by shoving their mikes into her face whenever she dared venture out of her office… asking pointed questions designed to throw her off balance.
Unfortunately the criminals are getting bolder as the soft on crime approach has not worked. This guy shows how much respect or fear of the police (none) he has and absolutely nails the poor police woman. But then, I expect he is really a nice person just got mixed up with the wrong crowd and had a tough upbringing and was in the process of turning his life around. Hopefully the other officers gave out a bit of rough justice shortly afterwards.
"An illegal, violent reaction to the casual, un-provoked violence of a law breaker?"
That's what he did to the policewoman in the first few seconds of the video.
I can just imagine you sitting down with him over a cup of tea and explaining to him "What you did to that Policewoman wasn't really appropriate behavior, and you need to reflect on what you just did…..another cuppa?"
Directly or indirectly advocating violence in any shape or form (including ‘jest’ and advocating self-harm) to individuals or groups is simply not allowed. Moderators will have a no-tolerance humourless response as the only possible response. If you want to talk about political conflicts around the world, then do so being mindful of this proscription.
Carter Holt Harvey cited “short-term industry-wide supply issues”, while some blamed the mass export of logs to China, where our timber attracts a premium. But others saw more cynical motives at play. One industry commentator saw it as a “power move” to fight the low prices demanded of smaller retailers. ITM’s chief executive described it as a “corporate attack” that would “have ramifications for years to come”.
Earlier this year, Carter Holt Harvey stopped supplying wood products to Mitre 10 and ITM. The company, owned by New Zealand’s richest person, controls half the country’s structural timber trade and despite claiming shortages, kept supplying its own subsidiary, Carters. It was seen by many as a power move by the company against its competitors.
New Zealand is one of the few large log producing countries around the globe that allows their export without restrictions. At least 39 countries have log export bans of one kind or another and of these, at least 16 show clear intent to support domestic processing, according to a 2019 report from consultancy Sense Partners.
Selling off the harvesting rights to publicly owned forest to private and overseas interests has pretty much meant we have very little control over where our logs go.
The consortium comprises Fletcher Challenge (37.5 per cent); Brierley Investments (25 per cent); and Citifor, a subsidiary of China International Trust and Investment Corporation, (37.5 per cent).
China Forestry Group New Zealand Company Limited (China Forestry Group NZ) has agreed to acquire part of the NZ Superannuation Fund’s North Island forestry assets, following a competitive tender and Overseas Investment Office approval.
Hi Cricklewood. Oh fark yes…Bill Birch !. I'd maybe tried to suppress memories of THAT particular jerk. And of course what those a-holes legacy left Future NZ. Sad does not cover it.
I don't think I have ever seen the gossip, rumours and conspiracy theories to be as bad as they are now.
In my time in politics I heard them all – and many about myself. If I had a dollar for every time I heard about the untrue demise of Winston Peters and rumours of poor health then I would be a wealthy woman. I don't think a Green MP washes her hair in her own urine but this was told to me numerous times and as if it is fact.
I am sure that like a lot of workplaces the odd bit of after-hours shagging goes on but nowhere near as much as is rumoured and speculated on.
I had plenty of rubbish said about me and some of it still does the rounds on social media occasionally, all blatantly not true and actually insulting.
I once had to take out an injunction and get legal advice at my own expense to stop a so-called reputable radio station from repeating what someone who has obvious mental health issues had said about me on social media.
I understand at some level him projecting on to me just because he can – I couldn't reconcile tens of thousands of people believing and sharing it and mainstream media picking it up.
There aren't easy answers when you are under a full-on prolonged attack. By defending yourself you give them oxygen and although thousands might have seen it – I have to presume millions haven't – bringing it into the open just adds fuel and embarrassment. So they keep you quiet and reluctant to speak out.
Which brings me to the constant gossip about the Prime Minister and her partner.
I have been asked more times than I can remember if x is true about one or both of them. I am not in their lives and do not have intimate knowledge about them and I believe their private lives are exactly that – but I always answer no it's not true.
Purely because anyone with half a brain would not believe that in a country this size with two degrees of separation that the blatant extreme nonsense that people say would be ignored by our media if there was evidence to back it up.
My politics and ideology differ a lot from Jacinda Ardern's but as a woman, mum, partner and politician I would stand at her side and suggest everyone just leave her private life alone.
I have heard intelligent, respectable people repeating gossip about her. They all know someone who knows someone and as such they know it is true. Just because something is repeated a lot does not make it true.
Yes, by being in the public eye we open ourselves up to criticism, but let's leave that to being about performance and leave the personal stuff alone.
We need our best and our brightest putting their hands up for public office in the future and if it was your son or daughter would you want lies repeated about their private lives?
We are all guilty of enjoying a spot of gossip but when it comes to our leaders enough is enough.
I'm not so sure that's her motive. I think it's more about keeping the discussion about "rumours and gossip about the PM and her partner" alive, and that she's tried to do this in a way that disguises that motive.
I was being just a little sarky. When I happened upon this effort earlier my first impression was that there was pot-stirring going on. A Westie don't change it's spots…
My politics and ideology differ a lot from Jacinda Ardern's but as a woman, mum, partner and politician I would stand at her side and suggest everyone just leave her private life alone.
Basically Bennett is saying – STFU with the gossip – let people's private lives be just that.
Basically Bennett is saying – STFU with the gossip – let people's private lives be just that.
Agree. Some of the stuff I have seen or heard about Clarke Gayford in particular is mind boggling crap. It has also beggared my belief that normally intelligent andrespectable people have actually believed it. In one instance the person claimed a certain rumour had to be correct because someone she knew had been there when it happened. The 'someone she knew' was an arch enemy of Labour and was lying.
Respect for Paula Bennett for coming out and saying what she did.
You might think that's Bennett's motive – but it would only apply if there was little gossip going on. I'm sorry to say, that's not the case – the trash being talked about Ardern and Gayford is increasing in volume – and spreading.
You may not like Bennett – but she's right on the money here.
Quite frankly, I find it disgusting. And choose not to participate (or link) to the rubbish which is being spread around.
Sure, I understand what you're saying – of course the sentiment may appear sincere. But I do not believe Bennett is capable of doing anything that does not have a self-serving aspect to it.
However, it's probably not you who is either the culprit, or the target audience for this piece.
Right-wing supporters are more likely to listen and/or believe a right-wing opinion writer. If/when a left-wing one contributes the same content, it's more likely to be dismissed by a right-wing audience (using exactly the same 'self-serving' justification).
I don't disagree that what you say happens, but I do not think the present situation is an example of that. There are, of course, right-wing politicians – even if fewer these days – who are or have been quite capable of holding opinions on particular matters that dedicated left-leaning people would agree with. I just cannot accept that Bennett could be one of them.
I had no idea there was gossip. Clearly I'm moving in the wrong circles. I did make a mental note to self to plumb the deeper depths of the darkweb and try and find out what Bennett is on about.
Any thoughts from other commentators on this?
Whist I think the current method is a crock of shit, it is the method used by all the other countries so why the change in NZ.
Changing the metric does seem an odd thing to do given we'll be an outlier in the way we report our data to the WHO makes comparing things all that much harder.
If you listened to/watched the press conference you would know your assertions are more BS. The change was prompted by the WHO and will be consistent with other countries we compare to. In addition, the current measure/statistic will continue to be reported.
I was being fair. It is fair to expect people to bring some logical consideration to things they may read, including actually being bothered to check they actually understand the the issues and facts, including their context. Just simple things we learn at school when we are taught how to think.
Daniel Anderson had a 17-year-old worker who was chiselling when a piece of metal flew into his right eye in March 2020. Despite multiple surgeries, the teenager lost sight in the eye.
Anderson did not notify WorkSafe of the injury, as required, but several months later the victim's mother did, triggering an investigation.
WorkSafe national manager of investigations Hayden Mander said when an inspector asked Anderson whether he told workers to use protective gear, his response was: "I'm not their mother and going to dress them every morning."
Fark…..what a P.O.S. . I have struck scum bags like this through my life. This is a 17 year old lad. He should have had a Boss worthy of that title. But I still recall when another young lad lost his leg….and the online vilification he was getting …from the same kind of scum. Just a sick mentality….
The kids are not alright. Don’t care about the cat role playing (although this seems more like something primary school kids would be doing), but there are some boundary issues here.
“TikTok unquestionably knew that the deadly Blackout Challenge was spreading through their app and that their algorithm was specifically feeding the Blackout Challenge to children, including those who have died,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit lists a number of complaints against TikTok, including that its algorithm promotes harmful content, allows underage users on the app, and it fails to warn users or their legal guardians of the app’s addictive nature.
Nah, not yet; once a comment ends up in Pre-Mod queue because it has too many links, for example, editing and removing links doesn’t automatically undo the move. IDK if deleting the comment and starting fresh is an option.
He's basically taking care of everything himself, no middle man
Did the comic himself, self published it himself, set up his own warehouse, all his part time workers are now full time, organising the distribution himself, so all the profits are his which he's reinvesting
So of course he's getting attacked by the left
Politics is downstream from culture and the culture is changing
The interwebs have always been a strange place full of strange people and children doing and saying strange shit. It's no reason to amplify hate mongers.
But if you do want something to be outraged about…
I went online to see the article, and website is articles predominantly promotion of gender ideology, and queer theory. Fair enough, I thought. Must be the rainbow community magazine for students, but no, it is the student magazine for all students.
Housing issues, courses, course fees, impact of Covid, etc. not apparent at first glance.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, completely missed that. Make sense now!
(However, I still find it disturbing to see young women undergo cosmetic mastectomies, even though it is celebrated as autonomy. I know you feel differently.)
I mean, call me a bit thick, but if it's UniQ Victoria's official account and they literally say it's their "annual collaboration with Salient", doesn't that clearly indicate it's a once a year special issue for the rainbow student community at Vic? Because I'm pretty sure Salient regularly runs stories on "housing issues, courses, course fees, impact of Covid, etc" the rest of the year. So either there is something terribly wrong with my literacy skills or you're building a straw man that's just missing Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion for the full Wizard of Oz.
Maybe don't take every little bit of fringe eccentricity amplified by social media algorithms as being indicative of larger social trends? That's how you get Covid conspiracies.
Maybe don't take every little bit of fringe eccentricity amplified by social media algorithms as being indicative of larger social trends? That's how you get Covid conspiracies.
What she is demonstrating is not rare, the thinking involved and the boundary issues is common enough for me to want to post it here on a political blog. Maybe don't knee jerk dismiss something that you are unaware of, that's how we dumb down politics.
I'm not certain the furries are a unitary community – they have been a presence at scifi & fantasy events for decades, as cosplayers. These ones at least are typically fond of the movie Zootopia.
I wasn't thinking of furries as a community or sub culture so much as the boundary issues that are in many of the online subcultures now. Like I said, I'm not bothered by the cat role play. Having watched it again, it's just as likely to be a piss take.
I am aware of furries though. They're been around for decades and are about as concerning as, oh, I dunno, trekkies, larpers or any other kind of cosplayer. Why do you feel the need to gatekeep boundary issues anyway? How does it affect you at all?
Certain things have been happening in the pop culture realm as of late thats leading me to believe the pendulum is starting to move back towards the centre
The failure of movies like Thor (amongst others), the success of Top Gun: Maverick, the rise of TV series like Terminal List and Reacher shows that there is a disconnect between what the people want and what the media corporations are giving us
I haven't spoken much about comics because (I'm guessing) most people here don't read them but as bad as I say movies and TV are comics are even worse
Basically Manga is outselling American comics, in America.
There are some theories why and one of them is that Manga is not beholden to "The Message" like American comics are, ie:
You sound like one of those alt right hacks on YouTube who thinks they're owning the libs by complaining about Western pop culture being too woke while apparently ignoring that manga and anime is full of queer themes.
Having a close friend who was severely injured by this here in NZ, some of the surgeons comments are familiar.
Carole, then 60 and a recently retired personnel administrator, had returned to see the surgeon with her partner seven weeks after the surgery. She was in tears as she explained her debilitating pain.
'I told the surgeon that I could feel the mesh cutting into me, which was agonising,' Carole told Good Health.
'But he ignored this and said everything was OK. He told me: 'I just don't understand how you could be in pain. I will refer you to a psychiatrist.' Then he turned to Malcolm and said: 'I've made her nice and tight for you.' '
You sound like one of those alt right hacks on YouTube who thinks they're owning the libs by complaining about Western pop culture being too woke while apparently ignoring that manga and anime is full of queer themes.
Gay doesn't mean woke but retconning previously strait characters for the sake of diversity is woke and, given the drop in sales, its not what the readership want
Hence why Eric July is smashing it, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up making more money than the last top ten made together
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The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
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Lifted from The Spinoff’s Bulletin.
”Australian report finds profit, not wages, driving inflation
[unlinked copy and paste deleted]
So why not a windfall profits tax here? It’ll raise a little revenue, but more importantly send a message to big business to stop rorting the consumer. The optics that Labour look after the majority of the country, rather than the big end of town, wouldn’t be bad either.
No one in the southern hemisphere has appetite for major tax increases. Not even the neo-socialists in South America.
But even with the existing tax settings we have, it does not help that our government remains very, very weak at breaking oligopolies like we have in fishing, dairy production, supermarkets, fuel, red meat production, construction materials, insurance, sea ports, shipping, international airports, airlines, and so much more. We must surely have one of the most concentrated economies in the world.
We do not appear to have in Cabinet anyone with the business sense to regulate prices hard., or even in the Commerce Commission. Oligopolists are driving inflation because nothing resists them passing increases on.
The effective inflation fighter we have, our own Reserve Bank, has the dual mandate of low inflation and lowest possible unemployment, but according to them if we have maximum sustainable employment, we should not be having inflation at all:
"When more people find jobs and fewer people are unemployed, employers tend to offer higher wages to fill their vacancies. If this happens nationwide, it generates wage inflation and eventually widespread inflation as businesses pass on the higher wage costs to the prices of goods and services.
When employment is at its maximum sustainable level, there will be low and stable inflation. However, if employment is above the maximum sustainable level for too long, it will eventually cause prices to rise more and more quickly, requiring the MPC to raise interest rates to keep inflation under control."
Inflation and maximum sustainable employment – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua (rbnz.govt.nz)
SO apparently low and stable inflation should occur anytime now.
Does anyone in this joint know how to actually regulate?
I don't consider the dual mandate an issue. Many central banks have a dual mandate and have for some time, then NZ was an exception with its single mandate.
The actual issue is how the RBNZ approaches monetary policy which is not something which follows from any mandate. Previously the central bank policy was typically pre-emptive, steps would be taken to any increase in inflation, which would immediately aim to break a wage price spiral. Now, at least descriptively, there can be a wait and see to observe if the price increase would translate to a wage increase, and then seeing if there was a lead to more price increases, before policy shift. This is probably marginally more healthy a policy.
The other issue the RBNZ has is the cash rate is quite blunt a tool to target inflation and has poor distributional outcomes.
And its not going to resolve any of the supply side price increases (many coming from overseas) in anything like a fair way.
My simple observation was not with the dual mandate itself but with their stated expectation that "When employment is at its maximum sustainable level, there will be low and stable inflation".
This is clearly wrong. They need to re-consult their Moniac.
I agree that stronger trends in wage and salary increases would be much preferable, especially after 20 years of waiting for them to arrive.
I think your ultimately right that low and stable inflation has little to do with the employment level, but that the RBNZ would disagree their statement is wrong.
Essentially they are saying that there is an employment level at which there is low and stable inflation. This is called the NAIRU level in technical terms. The NAIRU replaced the Phillips curve though its conceptually incoherent. The modern mathematical replacement for the Moniac will (if consulted) tell the RBNZ to increase unemployment because the inflation rate is too high. Probably better that they actually use their brains, rather than acting mechanically, to determine monetary policy.
They would probably also disagree that the present NZ economic situation is a test of this given the amount of imported inflation and supply side issues involved. That's not a judgement which the Moniac is capable of.
On the other hand the underlying Wicksellian theory that there exists one single interest rate which is most appropriate for the prevailing economic situation is clearly not applicable. The actual occurring economy is more broad and varied than the model economy which could support such a theory existing. So I consider the most suitable monetary policy will typically be to set the rate at zero and leave it there. Inflation issues should be resolved either via fiscal policy and within the contextual understanding that somebody will lose out cost wise when external prices change and this cost should be fairly distributed.
Doing it via monetary policy gives the pretense that imported inflation doesn't have distributional impacts, but it doesn't make those impacts go away.
Its a political question introducing such a tax, the revenue is irrelevant.
The question is will the windfall tax discourage profit gouging, and at what cost in govt popularity. It might make sellers say why bother making extraordinary profits they just get taxed away, but it might also lead to price hikes just to make a point to the public about whos boss.
And also make that same point to any government that tried to impose a windfall tax. I don't know of any examples of it happening elsewhere in the world, but it's a level of spitefulness that wouldn't surprise me in NZ.
It should then be easier for an effective political leader to use the spiteful behaviour of the commercial bosses as an example of why we need to restrain their antisocial excesses.
Franklin Roosevelt's Address Announcing the Second New Deal
October 31, 1936 http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/od2ndst.html
[link required]
There has certainly been some piss taking with fuel, There has been a 30-40 cent per litre difference in diesel pricing between Auckland and not to far out of Auckland.
That's far more than can be explained by regional fuel tax etc. Could well call it price gouging.
Fuel companies pocket record margins, thanks to Govt excise cuts | Stuff.co.nz
"Piss taking".
Yet another reason to replace fossil fuels. Saving 9 billion a year, conservative estimate, in foreign exchange to subsidise the price gouging pricks.
I've deleted your copypasta. If you can copy and paste you can copy a link as well. It is a requirement here that all quoting comes with a link.
If you provide a link I will replace your text. And hope that you take this on board for next time.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/the-bulletin/19-07-2022/whats-driving-inflation
The Bulletin is a daily email newsletter from the Spinoff (I get it as well), but handily the Spinoff also publishes them on their website.
it's still possible to link from the Bulletin, there's a share button at the bottom of each segment.
Petrol prices drop across NZ as Government questions fuel companies
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/129313050/petrol-prices-drop-across-nz-as-government-questions-fuel-companies
"Fuel prices are dropping across the country after the Government questioned fuel companies’ profit margins.
In Auckland, the price of 91 octane petrol was between $2.88 and $3.05 a litre across stations on Tuesday morning, while diesel was between $2.79 and $2.97, according to PriceWatch.
Prices had dropped below $3 in Wellington and Christchurch.
AA principal policy adviser Terry Collins said the decline was down to two things: the drop in price of crude oil and refinery, but also the questioning of why fuel companies had high profit margins by the Government." (my bold)
So even the threat of the Government doing something causes the big boys to moderate their profits.
please read this and respond.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-07-2022/#comment-1900913
Noted.Thanks.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/07/18/federal-reserve-thinks-answer-inflation-imposing-class-war
Could someone please pass this onto Poto Williams.
Fark she must have been so full of herself to spout the shit she did while everyone in Auckland and NZ knew what the truth was.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-gang-warfare-city-sees-109-reported-gun-crimes-in-a-single-month/VERZANIUDJTL5VPP33O3KRHCFE/
If you had read your article instead of spray & walk away you’d known how stupid you sound.
If you keep up your dump & jump trolling here you’ll be treated that way.
Note: Poto Williams, and the police, efforts were starting to have an effect.
Of course stupid right wingers like you, expect instant solutions to the disasters that your policies have caused over decades.
Everyone knew Poto was well out of her depth. Hopefully Hipkins will manage to achieve something as he is their best minister.
How would you have dealt with a "perfect storm" caused by a combination of 501's, and a large number of disaffected youth caused by the loss of social cohension due to decades of Neo-Liberal "there is no such thing as society" cruelty?
As well as constant White anting by ignorant fools such as David Seymour, at your workplace.
You wouldn't have a fucking clue, and be "well out of your depth".
Now, because of the idiot chorus from the RW, actually getting to the causes and really cutting crime has been set back another decade.
How Finland reduced its prison population by two thirds – How to Cut New Zealand's Prison Population (cuttheprisonpop.nz)
Really? Aside from there being no actual evidence that she was out of her depth and the fact she was beginning to make headway before Nat white anting made her position untenable, are you plugged into some collective Borg-like consciousness that lets you know what "Everyone" knows?
Her problem was: she didn't have very good communication skills. Especially when dealing with the media who aided and abetted the white-anters by shoving their mikes into her face whenever she dared venture out of her office… asking pointed questions designed to throw her off balance.
A blind man on a fast horse could see she was promoted beyond her means. Even Jacinda realised it finally and moved her.
Unfortunately the criminals are getting bolder as the soft on crime approach has not worked. This guy shows how much respect or fear of the police (none) he has and absolutely nails the poor police woman. But then, I expect he is really a nice person just got mixed up with the wrong crowd and had a tough upbringing and was in the process of turning his life around. Hopefully the other officers gave out a bit of rough justice shortly afterwards.
Female police officer knocked unconscious by offender, vicious Manurewa assault caught on camera – NZ Herald
An illegal, violent reaction to the casual, un-provoked violence of a law breaker?
One can only imagine the state of your strides.
"An illegal, violent reaction to the casual, un-provoked violence of a law breaker?"
That's what he did to the policewoman in the first few seconds of the video.
I can just imagine you sitting down with him over a cup of tea and explaining to him "What you did to that Policewoman wasn't really appropriate behavior, and you need to reflect on what you just did…..another cuppa?"
Do you really think someone who's so casual with their use of violence would respond in any positive way to more violence?
They'd laugh at your pissant lust for vengeance.
They wouldn't laugh while they are being bent over in the showers in Mt Eden.
WTF is it with you lot and your rape fantasies?
It's how they view the world
[Mod note]
https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/#banning
[This is your warning]
Had a tradie rant about our high cost of timber being due to our FTA with china.
Im aware we don't own all our forests, so those we don't that timber goes where it's owners want.
So how plausible is it that it's all the FTA with china ?
but also:
– Who owns the NZ domiciled sawmills?
Hi tc. The Answer as always…..is not one thing. Carters…China….”Monopoly” . Does seem we in NZ are being shafted though.
Selling off the harvesting rights to publicly owned forest to private and overseas interests has pretty much meant we have very little control over where our logs go.
Pretty clear who we can thank for that…
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/2026-billion-sale-forestry-corporation-completed
The consortium comprises Fletcher Challenge (37.5 per cent); Brierley Investments (25 per cent); and Citifor, a subsidiary of China International Trust and Investment Corporation, (37.5 per cent).
https://accentuatepr.co.nz/chinese+soe+makes+long-term+investment+in+new+zealand+forestry+sector
China Forestry Group New Zealand Company Limited (China Forestry Group NZ) has agreed to acquire part of the NZ Superannuation Fund’s North Island forestry assets, following a competitive tender and Overseas Investment Office approval.
Hi Cricklewood. Oh fark yes…Bill Birch !. I'd maybe tried to suppress memories of THAT particular jerk. And of course what those a-holes legacy left Future NZ. Sad does not cover it.
Yeah, our trouble now with timber is demonstrable proof of how short sighted the Nats are with their assets sales.
Be worth pointing that out when the building supply issues are thrust at the current govt.
Here in the shadow of the hill,
Lies Mrs Birch, mother of Bill.
Her soul of course has fled this vale
of tears, and so this plot's For Sale.
Funny because..it might be true : ) ?
And, Bill rap.?
Ol' Bill forever, Think Big playa,
Planned the Dawn Raids to nab overstayer,
Unions another target thats a fact
A brain fart called Employment Contract Act,
If Bill ever had a sister,
She's down the river… to.. some… rich lister
Not wrong.
But other causes as well, like building supply monopolies price gouging in NZ.
Thanks folks it's rarely a single thing so appreciate that context.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/paula-bennett-jacinda-ardern-and-the-insidious-rumour-mill/6K7GD3SYGFVAGYZDQ37ILWZJ7Y/?dicbo=v2-fd1b224c1396237124f1bc3496e26fbb&&ref=topbox
That someone could decide to print this should be unbelievable.
Got to pay to read it.
Surprise surprise, what misinformation and disinformation are the Nat & Act Supporters spewing now? Pullya's article is paywalled.
It's nationals herald. It provides soapboxes and facilitates Dirty politics which is like rust….it never sleeps.
If you have an Auckland Library card, you can read all the Heralds free of charge via Pressreader. Great to bypass the paywall.
This article, while being typically self serving, actually made a reasonable point about the online abuse that the PM has been receiving.
Arch ladder kicker waxes kind…
I don't think I have ever seen the gossip, rumours and conspiracy theories to be as bad as they are now.
In my time in politics I heard them all – and many about myself. If I had a dollar for every time I heard about the untrue demise of Winston Peters and rumours of poor health then I would be a wealthy woman. I don't think a Green MP washes her hair in her own urine but this was told to me numerous times and as if it is fact.
I am sure that like a lot of workplaces the odd bit of after-hours shagging goes on but nowhere near as much as is rumoured and speculated on.
I had plenty of rubbish said about me and some of it still does the rounds on social media occasionally, all blatantly not true and actually insulting.
I once had to take out an injunction and get legal advice at my own expense to stop a so-called reputable radio station from repeating what someone who has obvious mental health issues had said about me on social media.
I understand at some level him projecting on to me just because he can – I couldn't reconcile tens of thousands of people believing and sharing it and mainstream media picking it up.
There aren't easy answers when you are under a full-on prolonged attack. By defending yourself you give them oxygen and although thousands might have seen it – I have to presume millions haven't – bringing it into the open just adds fuel and embarrassment. So they keep you quiet and reluctant to speak out.
Which brings me to the constant gossip about the Prime Minister and her partner.
I have been asked more times than I can remember if x is true about one or both of them. I am not in their lives and do not have intimate knowledge about them and I believe their private lives are exactly that – but I always answer no it's not true.
Purely because anyone with half a brain would not believe that in a country this size with two degrees of separation that the blatant extreme nonsense that people say would be ignored by our media if there was evidence to back it up.
My politics and ideology differ a lot from Jacinda Ardern's but as a woman, mum, partner and politician I would stand at her side and suggest everyone just leave her private life alone.
I have heard intelligent, respectable people repeating gossip about her. They all know someone who knows someone and as such they know it is true. Just because something is repeated a lot does not make it true.
Yes, by being in the public eye we open ourselves up to criticism, but let's leave that to being about performance and leave the personal stuff alone.
We need our best and our brightest putting their hands up for public office in the future and if it was your son or daughter would you want lies repeated about their private lives?
We are all guilty of enjoying a spot of gossip but when it comes to our leaders enough is enough.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/paula-bennett-jacinda-ardern-and-the-insidious-rumour-mill/6K7GD3SYGFVAGYZDQ37ILWZJ7Y/?dicbo=v2-fd1b224c1396237124f1bc3496e26fbb&&ref=topbox
I'm not so sure that's her motive. I think it's more about keeping the discussion about "rumours and gossip about the PM and her partner" alive, and that she's tried to do this in a way that disguises that motive.
I was being just a little sarky. When I happened upon this effort earlier my first impression was that there was pot-stirring going on. A Westie don't change it's spots…
Sorry – what's unbelievable about it.
The key point:
Basically Bennett is saying – STFU with the gossip – let people's private lives be just that.
Agree. Some of the stuff I have seen or heard about Clarke Gayford in particular is mind boggling crap. It has also beggared my belief that normally intelligent and respectable people have actually believed it. In one instance the person claimed a certain rumour had to be correct because someone she knew had been there when it happened. The 'someone she knew' was an arch enemy of Labour and was lying.
Respect for Paula Bennett for coming out and saying what she did.
Sorry, here's my response here:
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-07-2022/#comment-1900992
You might think that's Bennett's motive – but it would only apply if there was little gossip going on. I'm sorry to say, that's not the case – the trash being talked about Ardern and Gayford is increasing in volume – and spreading.
You may not like Bennett – but she's right on the money here.
Quite frankly, I find it disgusting. And choose not to participate (or link) to the rubbish which is being spread around.
Sure, I understand what you're saying – of course the sentiment may appear sincere. But I do not believe Bennett is capable of doing anything that does not have a self-serving aspect to it.
However, it's probably not you who is either the culprit, or the target audience for this piece.
Right-wing supporters are more likely to listen and/or believe a right-wing opinion writer. If/when a left-wing one contributes the same content, it's more likely to be dismissed by a right-wing audience (using exactly the same 'self-serving' justification).
I don't disagree that what you say happens, but I do not think the present situation is an example of that. There are, of course, right-wing politicians – even if fewer these days – who are or have been quite capable of holding opinions on particular matters that dedicated left-leaning people would agree with. I just cannot accept that Bennett could be one of them.
I had no idea there was gossip. Clearly I'm moving in the wrong circles. I did make a mental note to self to plumb the deeper depths of the darkweb and try and find out what Bennett is on about.
I'd call that a result.
Seems like the Covid number was getting to large for the Govt.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid19-omicron-outbreak-ashley-bloomfield-to-give-daily-update-changes-to-reporting-of-deaths/IBEIDDBTMU5RIK2JD4K4IT5CYY/
Any thoughts from other commentators on this?
Whist I think the current method is a crock of shit, it is the method used by all the other countries so why the change in NZ.
Changing the metric does seem an odd thing to do given we'll be an outlier in the way we report our data to the WHO makes comparing things all that much harder.
If you listened to/watched the press conference you would know your assertions are more BS. The change was prompted by the WHO and will be consistent with other countries we compare to. In addition, the current measure/statistic will continue to be reported.
To be fair the article linked to doesnt explain that. All you get is
" Until now, all deaths where someone had died within 28 days of a positive Covid 19 result have been reported, as had been done by other countries"
Not everyone is able or indeed willing to sit through the press conference.
I was being fair. It is fair to expect people to bring some logical consideration to things they may read, including actually being bothered to check they actually understand the the issues and facts, including their context. Just simple things we learn at school when we are taught how to think.
So where did you get "we'll be an outlier in the way we report our data to the WHO" from?
That is strange as we only just changed recently to this reporting method which is in line with overseas. Back in March per this article.
Why the hell are we changing again other than someone doesn't like the numbers?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/463975/measuring-and-reporting-covid-19-deaths-what-you-need-to-know
Fark…..what a P.O.S. . I have struck scum bags like this through my life. This is a 17 year old lad. He should have had a Boss worthy of that title. But I still recall when another young lad lost his leg….and the online vilification he was getting …from the same kind of scum. Just a sick mentality….
The kids are not alright. Don’t care about the cat role playing (although this seems more like something primary school kids would be doing), but there are some boundary issues here.
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1549105010729832448
Ah, tiktok.
https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/05/tiktok-girls-dead-blackout-challenge
Hi Weka
I've taken out a few links from my post (awaiting moderation) but I can't really take anymore out as I need them to illustrate my points
Also my pronouns are nya/nyan/nyanself
Number of links is fine. Someone might have put you in temp premod. You been misbehaving?
Nah, not yet; once a comment ends up in Pre-Mod queue because it has too many links, for example, editing and removing links doesn’t automatically undo the move. IDK if deleting the comment and starting fresh is an option.
Hesca fascinating guy, YoungRippa
He's basically taking care of everything himself, no middle man
Did the comic himself, self published it himself, set up his own warehouse, all his part time workers are now full time, organising the distribution himself, so all the profits are his which he's reinvesting
So of course he's getting attacked by the left
Politics is downstream from culture and the culture is changing
Ah, hate site.
/
https://twitter.com/MichaelEHayden/status/1536792584911306754
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/06/14/far-right-influencers-hyped-coeur-dalene-pride-patriot-front-showed
here ya go, something you can watch.
https://twitter.com/ramseyboltin/status/1547606632187629569
The interwebs have always been a strange place full of strange people and children doing and saying strange shit. It's no reason to amplify hate mongers.
But if you do want something to be outraged about…
https://www.dailydot.com/irl/wren-eleanor-exploitation-tiktok/
The latest cover of Victoria University's student magazine: Salient.
https://twitter.com/kiriceilidh/status/1549199730206724096?s=20&t=rdkSE9dg_-USWgfa-ZOvbw
I went online to see the article, and website is articles predominantly promotion of gender ideology, and queer theory. Fair enough, I thought. Must be the rainbow community magazine for students, but no, it is the student magazine for all students.
Housing issues, courses, course fees, impact of Covid, etc. not apparent at first glance.
https://www.salient.org.nz/
"Annual" edition should be a clue when you stop clutching those pearls.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, completely missed that. Make sense now!
(However, I still find it disturbing to see young women undergo cosmetic mastectomies, even though it is celebrated as autonomy. I know you feel differently.)
I mean, call me a bit thick, but if it's UniQ Victoria's official account and they literally say it's their "annual collaboration with Salient", doesn't that clearly indicate it's a once a year special issue for the rainbow student community at Vic? Because I'm pretty sure Salient regularly runs stories on "housing issues, courses, course fees, impact of Covid, etc" the rest of the year. So either there is something terribly wrong with my literacy skills or you're building a straw man that's just missing Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion for the full Wizard of Oz.
Thanks for pointing that out. Sacha made the same point above.
Something I had completely missed in my comment.
OMG…do these people get to vote?
Yes they get to vote – it is not their franchise that has been removed ……
Perhaps I should try and get my two cats on to the electoral role.
Your cats are probably neutered …… so surely qualify
Maybe don't take every little bit of fringe eccentricity amplified by social media algorithms as being indicative of larger social trends? That's how you get Covid conspiracies.
De furries! De furries!
https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1508491958662090764
https://twitter.com/HeartlandSignal/status/1519716100367429639
Luckily, we have more than social media to explain these identities.
Dedicated websites and research programmes. As one such site, FurScience.com says:
Probably of more relevance to this thread is the About Us page:
https://furscience.com/who-we-are/
A less academic take on furries can be found here: (1) Jesus Fox Forgives Your Yiffs | Facebook
Must be fun dreaming this shit up.
https://twitter.com/woot_master/status/1549180860183613440
The Bronies are something else – had a bunch of them in our Astroempires guild. Quirky – but waaay too fond of rape jokes.
What she is demonstrating is not rare, the thinking involved and the boundary issues is common enough for me to want to post it here on a political blog. Maybe don't knee jerk dismiss something that you are unaware of, that's how we dumb down politics.
I'm not certain the furries are a unitary community – they have been a presence at scifi & fantasy events for decades, as cosplayers. These ones at least are typically fond of the movie Zootopia.
I wasn't thinking of furries as a community or sub culture so much as the boundary issues that are in many of the online subcultures now. Like I said, I'm not bothered by the cat role play. Having watched it again, it's just as likely to be a piss take.
I am aware of furries though. They're been around for decades and are about as concerning as, oh, I dunno, trekkies, larpers or any other kind of cosplayer. Why do you feel the need to gatekeep boundary issues anyway? How does it affect you at all?
Certain things have been happening in the pop culture realm as of late thats leading me to believe the pendulum is starting to move back towards the centre
The failure of movies like Thor (amongst others), the success of Top Gun: Maverick, the rise of TV series like Terminal List and Reacher shows that there is a disconnect between what the people want and what the media corporations are giving us
I haven't spoken much about comics because (I'm guessing) most people here don't read them but as bad as I say movies and TV are comics are even worse
Basically Manga is outselling American comics, in America.
There are some theories why and one of them is that Manga is not beholden to "The Message" like American comics are, ie:
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-pop-culture/12-superheroes-came-2021-rcna3599
However this opens the doors for others. Here is a list of the biggest comic kickstarters from 2021:
https://www.gamesradar.com/comics-kickstarter/
The number one comic raised just under 1.5 million and stars and co-written by Keanu Reeves and in total the top ten raised 6.9 million
Well theres a new player on the block, Eric July and he is singlehandedly changing the industry:
https://rippaverse.com/product/isom-1-campaign/
As of the time of writing hes got just under 2.6 million with 66 days to go.
https://nypost.com/2022/07/15/anti-woke-comic-book-defies-cancel-culture-earns-1-7m-in-four-days/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU4qqGY1CTo
You sound like one of those alt right hacks on YouTube who thinks they're owning the libs by complaining about Western pop culture being too woke while apparently ignoring that manga and anime is full of queer themes.
Despite all the work women have done to be heard on the harms of surgical mesh, implants are back on the rise in the UK.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11025933/Are-Britains-sexist-surgeons.html
Having a close friend who was severely injured by this here in NZ, some of the surgeons comments are familiar.
You sound like one of those alt right hacks on YouTube who thinks they're owning the libs by complaining about Western pop culture being too woke while apparently ignoring that manga and anime is full of queer themes.
Gay doesn't mean woke but retconning previously strait characters for the sake of diversity is woke and, given the drop in sales, its not what the readership want
Hence why Eric July is smashing it, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up making more money than the last top ten made together
Sure, because new things erase old things from ever having existed or something.