"We use big science approaches to study the origins of the universe, to study particle physics, why are we not using big science approaches to address issues of existential risk to our societies." An integrated approach was desperately needed, he said.
The knight got it right. Scientists acting like spoilt brats wasting money on trivial shit in the atomic zoo has been polluting the tech scene way too long.
it looks like banter to me. And not an unreasonable response to being told they have personal bias and clouded judgement without any explanation of that or addressing the original comment content.
Liquidators have started bankruptcy proceedings against Eric Watson after he failed to repay $57 million borrowed from his company, Cullen Investments. In February, Justice Neil Campbell ordered the former high-flying Kiwi businessman to pay almost $60m to KPMG, liquidators of his failed Cullen Group.
The liquidators’ eighth and most recent report, filed on Monday, said Watson had failed to pay or settle the outstanding balance and solicitors had been instructed to begin bankruptcy proceedings.
So he's been naughty and defied the judge. Did four months in prison for being contemptuous of a court too. Very naughty crim. Last bastion of the neolibs goes down.
Now I seriously love the city of Dunedin, and occasionally I get really encouraged when someone tries something really useful.
This time it's the Port of Otago. They are proposing a big fat trucking hub in Mosgiel, which can take 3,500 heavy trucks a year off Dunedin roads and onto rail straight to Port Chalmers. Most of it is milk products and logs.
Yes, it puts more rail on the Port Chalmers line. But it takes most of the big trucks off that little state highway from Dunedin to the port, which makes everyone safer and ordinary motorists less aggravated.
Also it would not be too hard to stick a commuter carriage on the back of them and bingo you have a commuter line.
Ports of Otago have done some real stupid stuff in the past, and this isn't one of them.
Hate that road with the trucks on it, only feel safe in a bus on. Mind you have not traveled it in years. But family say their are way more trucks these days.
Luxon floundering as ever on Morning Report today. He hated Corin's first question where he put to him that the US and NZ were winning the global beauty pageant in terms of inflation rates according to the Herald.
Cue Luxon spouting a lot of inaccurate information about NZ's inflation rate. Corin later asks him “isn’t he talking down the NZ economy too much” and “is it fair of National on its website to describe the NZ economy as a house of cards”.
"(Of course we shouldn't host the games, but every NZ politician with a pulse can work that out, he doesn't get bonus points for stating the obvious)."
What do you know about Grant Robertson that I don't? Although he looks a bit overweight and doesn't seem to be very fit he still seems to be breathing and to have a working heart.
However he is certainly in favour of New Zealand hosting the Commonwealth Games and has said so on a number of occasions. " I am excited at the prospect and potential for us to host it here.". Not this year perhaps but certainly he doesn't see anything wrong with throwing money down the drain in the future.
As you know perfectly well, the topic addressed by Luxon this morning was the 2026 games, as was my comment. It is right there in the title of the link.
You don't lack comprehension skills, so please don't play the fool.
I really thought that you comment was arguing that we should never attempt to host these events. I was definitely in a mood to applaud your view.
Apparently though you are only talking about the 2026 games. Why not be sensible. We should never compete to hold these stupid events. All we get from it is a way of blowing enormous sums of money so that politicians can flaunt themselves, while attending all the events free in the best seats, and pretending we get something of benefit to the people of New Zealand.
Frankly if they want carnivals they should personally pay for them.
"Cue Luxon spouting a lot of inaccurate information about NZ's inflation rate".
Would you care to expand on this claim you have made? I'll admit that I found it rather hard to follow this interview because of Dann's repeated talking over the interviewee but I didn't see any obvious propagation of inaccurate material. What do you claim was wrong with what Luxon said?
I can't comment on the accuracy myself (haven't listened yet) but Luxon certainly shows incredible incompetence to be talking about the inflation rate only hours before it is released.
He's not just shooting himself in the foot, he's blown his head off.
Luxon gave the impression, falsely, that NZ's inflation rate was a disaster. Simply not true. He needs to be honest. The USA (which is only one country BTW) recent 3.0 rate is skewed by food and energy. NZ's has been skewed by one-off food inflation. Here is a comparison of some of the major economies:
NZ's 6.0 (excl food 4.6)
UK 8.7
Germany 6.4
Australia 7.0
Italy 6.4
USA 3.0 (excl food and energy 4.8)
Food inflation has been a massive issue here, mostly I think because of the weather events on the North Island.
The point is that in a world beset by inflation NZ's rate is relatively impressive.
Before the current run of terrible inflation numbers over the last 18 months or so the last time that New Zealand at this level was way back in 1990.
It doesn't make it any better if you say we are no worse than some other countries with terrible results. It just means there are other countries that are equally bad.
Why don't you ask why we aren't doing as well as the better countries? The year on year inflation rate for Switzerland in June 2023 for example was 1.7%. Why don't we compare ourselves with them rather than with the bottom of the heap?
It doesn't make it any better if you say we are no worse than some other countries with terrible results. It just means there are other countries that are equally bad.
Why are so many other countries "equally bad"?
I love Central Otago cherries, but they're out of season
The year on year inflation rate for Switzerland in June 2023 for example was 1.7%. Why don't we compare ourselves with them rather than with the bottom of the heap?
Re "the bottom of the heap", do you mean countries with inflation rates >100%?
The less one-eyed will observe that NZ is in the middle of the pack – nowhere near as bad as some would have us believe, and trending in a good direction.
Aotearoa 6% inflation (down from 6.7%)
Australia 7% inflation (down from 7.8%)
EurUnion 7.1% (down from 8.1%)
Of the core products used to measure inflation in the euro zone, including food, housing and transport, almost one third (30%) are subject to price regulation in Switzerland — more than in any other European country.
High tariffs on certain agricultural imports also mean that domestically produced foods, such as milk and cheese, are preferentially priced and less impacted by movements in global food markets. That, in turn, has helped stimulate the country’s economy.
Swiss energy suppliers are also largely publicly owned, meaning that they are less exposed to extreme market volatility through financial safety nets, while being subject to stricter pricing regulation…. the nationalization of Swiss energy provision offered an important lesson to other countries, particularly those nations in Europe that underwent a broad shift to privatization and are now paying the price.
Thanks for the link.
So what is lacking in our politicians that stops them from adopting similar measures? (Tariffs on some imports, state owned energy entitites…)
Bind adherence to neoliberal ideology, without regards to evidence (there is plenty of evidence that privatisation often doesn't improve efficiency or public benefit, for example).
“Swiss energy suppliers are also largely publicly owned, “
Not for long.
European market developments and Switzerland's desire to phase out nuclear power have prompted the government to draft a new electricity supply law. This law provides for the complete liberalisation of the market and the rapid development of renewable energies in Switzerland.
Based on your own link (which opens at a selection of G20 countries), only 7 of those countries have higher rates of inflation than NZ currently. And if you use the same reference, but select ‘World’, NZ is 94th out of 186 entries. But in any event, these are measurements focused on a moment in time. Of even more concern is this:
“While inflation is ‘lower’, it is not ‘low’ by any stretch of the imagination,” said Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod.
“Importantly, measures of core inflation are continuing to run at rates of around 6 per cent, and some have actually picked up in the June quarter. That points to lingering strength in underlying price pressures. Similarly, domestic inflation – aka. non-tradables inflation – remains elevated at 6.6 per cent.”
With strong and persistent underlying price pressures, inflation was unlikely to return within the RBNZ’s target band any time soon, he said.”
Choosing your quotes carefully there Gypsy to bolster your hero Luxon's position. I do not accept your argument.
Looking at this rationally, NZ at 6.0, but 4.6 excluding food, is a valid statistic.
Compare this with the EU; 27 countries with a population of 447 million. The EU inflation rate is 5.5%, and that is with fruit and vegetables in season and no weather event that has smashed their fruit and veg production (to my knowledge). That makes NZ look just fine.
As Drowsy says above, NZ cherries are out of season. I saw some American cherries at New World the other day that were about a dollar each.
You have linked to G20 data. Compared to the G20 countries, NZ would rank as having the 8th highest rate of inflation. Using your reference further, NZ is somewhere in the middle of the countries of the world by current rate of inflation. These are not encouraging comparisons. That said, to some degree the current inflation rate is a snapshot. Of more concern is this:
“While inflation is ‘lower’, it is not ‘low’ by any stretch of the imagination,” said Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod.
“Importantly, measures of core inflation are continuing to run at rates of around 6 per cent, and some have actually picked up in the June quarter. That points to lingering strength in underlying price pressures. Similarly, domestic inflation – aka. non-tradables inflation – remains elevated at 6.6 per cent.”
With strong and persistent underlying price pressures, inflation was unlikely to return within the RBNZ’s target band any time soon, he said.“
Analysis of the rapidly falling inflation rate in the US. Bill Mitchell has been highly consistent in his categorization of the present inflationary period as supply driven, imported and transitory.
One of the main implications of this is that central bank policy (raising cash rates) has not been effective at reducing inflation. That makes comparing inflation rates between countries a bit dubious, especially if you then attribute the falling rate to central bank policy. Any rapid fall is more likely down to many other factors effecting the domestic economy (like ability to discourage corporate price gouging, release of fuel reserves) and a general fall in external supply pressures.
Gaia seems to be experimenting with a solution to the feral cat problem but unfortunately it also will target non-offending domestic cats:
The outbreak in Cyprus involves a feline coronavirus – not linked to Covid-19 – that also circulates in cats in the UK, but which does not infect people. The virus normally causes only a mild stomach upset, but can lead to feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), where white blood cells become infected, spreading the virus through the cat’s body and triggering an often fatal inflammatory reaction in the abdomen, kidneys and brain.
Wagner convoy enters new home base, Belarus boosted as regional power:
On Tuesday, Belarus's President, Alexander Lukashenko – an ally of Russia – said Wagner "are currently in their camps" inside the country. "If Belarus needs them, we will instantly call upon the Wagner private military company to defend the nation," Mr Lukashenko said.
can you please stop using OM as a news feed. Lynn said this in the back end recently,
This is a site for opinions to be expressed and debated. It isn't there for just copy-pasting. If I was wanting to do that, I'd just write a netscraper and curation algorithm then hook it to a front-end.
I think you bring both interesting news items, and opinions to the commentariat. However the four comments you made today are more appropriate to FB or twitter than TS. My strong suggestion is to post less and put more into the comments you do make in terms of explaining what the issue is and what you think about it: "opinions to be expressed and debated".
Casual and/or short comments are ok in moderation, but when they become the main way that someone posts, it becomes a problem.
Being called a 'troll', 'clouded judgement' and having 'biases' (all comments unexplained) is enough to put anyone off from posting expanded points of view, explaining items.
If the comments are meant in banter can they at least have a smiley or wink icon, or better still not be posted at all?
People get called trolls here, I wouldn't worry about someone else being called a troll, just carry on with whatever you wanted to reply (to the original comment). There is a degree of robustness needed to comment here, because rudeness or bluntness per se isn't considered an inherent problem (personalised abuse or rudeness with the intention if flaming are where the problems start).
Okay, will do. I agree with your reasoning. I thought the point about Belarus ascending into the regional pivot position was worth making though. Perhaps the way I did that was too brief…
Also, I don't do twitter or facebook due to the cultures being too shallow. Seems to me folks here like to dig under the surface appearance of things. That's why I see the site operating as part of the solution rather than part of the problem – plus acceptance of centrists participating with leftists, plus non-toxic ethos.
Nice one Dennis. That's great feedback about the site. To clarify, there's nothing wrong with the topics you are bringing, it is indeed the brevity where that becomes a habit.
I thought the point about Belarus ascending into the regional pivot position was worth making though. Perhaps the way I did that was too brief…
It doesn't make a lot of difference to the military standing of Belarus. Basically they have barely upgraded any weapons since independence from the Soviet union 30+ years ago. Most of their manpower are very poorly trained conscripts.
With the exception of their relatively small special forces, everything I've read (wikipedia has a goodish overview) about the armed forces of Belarus tends to indicate that they're be graded as target practice quality by all of their neighbours forces. Not even up to the standards of the pre-2014 Ukrainian forces. There is a moderate amount of material around about the quality of Belarus armed forces.
Wagner adds a core of reasonably well trained and veteran infantry. But how many of those arrive there is a question.Wagner have missions in other countries, which are unlikely to go away, so most of the time most of the mercs will be absent. Plus there are considerations of supply and logistics.
So if they are the supply that Wagner depends on, then in all likelyhood they will at best get mostly outdated, non-updated gear and munitions that will be dangerous to handle.
Of course the Russian armed forces have quite a lot of troops in Belarus at any one point in time doing exercises, semi-permanently based there, and doing a odd bit of invading neighbouring countries. So I guess that they could get supply from there.
But I suspect that main value of having Wagner in-country is that they have quite a lot of experience of propping up old dictators. It is their main line of business.
Don't forget that a large section of the under 30's in Belarus will probably not fight. The crack downs of the last few years have left a high level of enmity towards the state within that age group.
Looks like I can take you're word for it, given all that research, thanks. So not so much of a regional pivot point. I wonder how the co-founders of Wagner will adapt to their new home. Not the type to sit around playing tiddlywinks.
I expect, when ensconced satisfactorily, there'll be some back to Africa, but if that doesn't keep them busy enough they'll need live target practice elsewhere.
The 'research' was just 15 minutes on google between compiles. Like this mornings comments are being done while listening to a work "connect" on zoom. The modern version of a all-of-company meeting – but across multiple time zones.
I keep a general eye on military and political trends in potential conflict regions. Personally I consider this is to be general knowledge. The links were just to give others something to dig into if they feel like it.
From the link. Wooton claims that "GB News is the biggest threat to the establishment in decades," Heh – GB News is the establishment, just a faction of it that is a little more deranged in their use of anti-wokeness to disguise their actual intentions.
A leading Jewish group has criticised a prominent GB News presenter for spreading “a dangerous conspiracy theory” after she tweeted that the Covid virus appeared to have been bioengineered to be less dangerous to some Jewish people.
In a tweet sent on Tuesday afternoon, Beverley Turner supported the idea first popularised by the controversial Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr that the coronavirus was engineered to target some ethnic groups and spare others.
In her message, which has since been deleted, Turner, who co-presents a regular morning show on GB News, appeared to argue that this bioengineering could be linked to Dr Anthony Fauci, who as the chief medical adviser to the US presidency during Covid was a common target for conspiracy theorists.
I know a bunch of folks in alternative Aotearoa who share these fantasies – old friends & acquaintances, university degrees & successful entrepreneurs.
My technique for engaging with them again (sporadically) is to ignore such tendencies as much as possible. If they go there, I hit them with `been there done that long ago' acknowledgement. Delivered with a tone of dismissal verging on boredom usually works ok. If they act obtuse & continue, I become a critic via instant personality switch, point out where their thinking is going wrong.
Mostly that works. It helps to share the ole govt always lies thing, along with `corporations always lie' etc. Then point out that conspiracy theorists are mostly delusional due to inventing correlations and being proud of it. Then ya gotta admit that sometimes the theories appear to be correct – but not often! Once you've led them down the garden path like that they tend to end up admiring the flowers…
Thanks for the heads up observer. I avoid low hanging British tabloid fruit so had never heard of him. A right-wing DP gamer with a record of lies and deceit? He's now playing the wounded innocent who has been targeted by a jealous ex-lover.
Having had personal experience of someone (not an ex-lover) who projected their unsound and unlawful behaviour onto me… I can see the self-same scenario playing out here. Here's hoping Karma has indeed got him.
Wootton's NZ-born, started at The Dom-Post, and was visiting his parents in Wellington when accusation broke, according to the spinoff (see 10.02 am post). No wonder he took pleasure in (and maybe initiated) anti-Ardern messaging.
Jfkjr is in the shit again at a private dinner he dared to suggest that cov 19 was a bio weapon that had more of an effect on some races than others an the dems have got their nickers well an truly in a twist over it declaring that he shouldnt be a witness in Jim Jordens hearing on censorship he's a racist he's an antisemetic etc etc .JFKjr is perceived as a huge threat to the dems and they're out to get him anyway they can apparently adding to all the attention he's getting of course !!.Personally i find him him intelligent warm thoughtful and capable of talking for hours on subjects with no notes something rather lacking in the big players of American politics .As i said the other night amongst the woeful selection of pres candidates currently in the race and especially compared to the incumbent he's head and shoulders above imo.
Someone here yesterday even tried to give me a hard time for merely commenting on him. Dunno if the guy is wacko or not, but he does have relevance to our election since conspiracy theorists have become influential in both countries in recent years.
Anyway so despite disagreeing with you recently about something I've forgotten, I agree he's worth tracking & suggest you stand by to repel boarders, as a pirate would say. Brain-police alert!
In the US, there is effectively a two-candidate presidential election by an electoral college. At the moment, candidates are strutting their stuff for the Democrat nominating convention, which chooses that party's presidential candidate. RFK jnr is one of those Democrat candidates.
The US party presidential selection process has no relevance to upcoming NZ elections, where we are choosing a government. Here, conspiracists fortunately have a plethora of looney tunes parties amongst which to split their votes.
The reason for pointing out RFK jnr's behaviour is to show how low the marketplace of political ideas has sunk in the US, not to draw a tenuous parallel with our own political circus.
Marjorie Taylor Greene compares Biden to FDR, LBJ. Thanks for the free campaign ad!
The predominantly ludicrous lawmaker from Georgia did Biden a solid this weekend, telling Republicans the Democratic president is fiendishly attempting to make people's lives better.
There is the case for a permanent host of the CG, with occasional diversions to other venues. Obviously cities that have hosted the Olympic Games (or could do so/aspire to) could provide alternatives from time to time.
A nation like New Zealand could still do it – but the games village concept requires a city host.
The only place to host twice is Auckland and the only continent not to host is Africa. The only major city not to host (out of Africa) would be Toronto Canada.
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TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
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Gluckman on saving the world: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/494018/call-for-un-sustainable-development-goals-to-be-science-led
The knight got it right. Scientists acting like spoilt brats wasting money on trivial shit in the atomic zoo has been polluting the tech scene way too long.
Your personal bias is shining through your clouded judgment, again.
All good. Greener is better. Thus spake the Gluckman!
![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
And now you’re trolling and you know it.
it looks like banter to me. And not an unreasonable response to being told they have personal bias and clouded judgement without any explanation of that or addressing the original comment content.
Bad capitalist: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/132563683/liquidators-start-bankruptcy-proceedings-against-eric-watson
So he's been naughty and defied the judge. Did four months in prison for being contemptuous of a court too. Very naughty crim. Last bastion of the neolibs goes down.
If he follows the standard route, he'll write a book about his escapades.
I recall the geezer behind the Goldcorp saga did that.
Now I seriously love the city of Dunedin, and occasionally I get really encouraged when someone tries something really useful.
This time it's the Port of Otago. They are proposing a big fat trucking hub in Mosgiel, which can take 3,500 heavy trucks a year off Dunedin roads and onto rail straight to Port Chalmers. Most of it is milk products and logs.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/proposal-inland-depot-near-mosgiel
Yes, it puts more rail on the Port Chalmers line. But it takes most of the big trucks off that little state highway from Dunedin to the port, which makes everyone safer and ordinary motorists less aggravated.
Also it would not be too hard to stick a commuter carriage on the back of them and bingo you have a commuter line.
Ports of Otago have done some real stupid stuff in the past, and this isn't one of them.
That is a good idea.
Of course ideally the train network between Picton and Invercargill should be carrying masses of freight with freight hubs in the major centres.
Bloody good Idea.
Hate that road with the trucks on it, only feel safe in a bus on. Mind you have not traveled it in years. But family say their are way more trucks these days.
The big cycleway from Dunedin right through to Port Chalmers is due to open in mid August.
That will make Dunedin the first big city in New Zealand with dedicated cycleways from one side of the harbour to the other.
Can't wait to do it myself.
They going to finish the part from Roseneath to Port???!??
Scope of works here:
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/sh88-dunedin-to-port-chalmers-safety-improvements/publications
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/sh88-dunedin-to-port-chalmers-safety-improvements/SH88-shared-path-and-rail-alignment-plan.pdf
Thanks Ad
3500 truck movements per year? Like 10 a day… Last time I was on SH88 it was getting close to 10 truck movements a minute.
Looks like Port Otago are using the same comms people as Aurora.
Luxon floundering as ever on Morning Report today. He hated Corin's first question where he put to him that the US and NZ were winning the global beauty pageant in terms of inflation rates according to the Herald.
Cue Luxon spouting a lot of inaccurate information about NZ's inflation rate. Corin later asks him “isn’t he talking down the NZ economy too much” and “is it fair of National on its website to describe the NZ economy as a house of cards”.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018898972
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018898972/national-eyes-inflation-potholes-and-kiwisaver
He's a weekly comedy show, every Wednesday morning.
His latest …
Luxon said he had fond memories of attending the 1974 Games in Christchurch as a 4-year-old but "we've got to face up to reality".
He was born in July 1970 so he can't count. But like all his "fond memories", they exist only as feeble, fabricated attempts to appear relatable.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/07/commonwealth-games-national-leader-christopher-luxon-wouldn-t-back-new-zealand-bid-for-2026.html
(Of course we shouldn't host the games, but every NZ politician with a pulse can work that out, he doesn't get bonus points for stating the obvious).
"(Of course we shouldn't host the games, but every NZ politician with a pulse can work that out, he doesn't get bonus points for stating the obvious)."
What do you know about Grant Robertson that I don't? Although he looks a bit overweight and doesn't seem to be very fit he still seems to be breathing and to have a working heart.
However he is certainly in favour of New Zealand hosting the Commonwealth Games and has said so on a number of occasions. " I am excited at the prospect and potential for us to host it here.". Not this year perhaps but certainly he doesn't see anything wrong with throwing money down the drain in the future.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-signals-interest-hosting-2034-commonwealth-games
As you know perfectly well, the topic addressed by Luxon this morning was the 2026 games, as was my comment. It is right there in the title of the link.
You don't lack comprehension skills, so please don't play the fool.
I really thought that you comment was arguing that we should never attempt to host these events. I was definitely in a mood to applaud your view.
Apparently though you are only talking about the 2026 games. Why not be sensible. We should never compete to hold these stupid events. All we get from it is a way of blowing enormous sums of money so that politicians can flaunt themselves, while attending all the events free in the best seats, and pretending we get something of benefit to the people of New Zealand.
Frankly if they want carnivals they should personally pay for them.
"Cue Luxon spouting a lot of inaccurate information about NZ's inflation rate".
Would you care to expand on this claim you have made? I'll admit that I found it rather hard to follow this interview because of Dann's repeated talking over the interviewee but I didn't see any obvious propagation of inaccurate material. What do you claim was wrong with what Luxon said?
I can't comment on the accuracy myself (haven't listened yet) but Luxon certainly shows incredible incompetence to be talking about the inflation rate only hours before it is released.
He's not just shooting himself in the foot, he's blown his head off.
Luxon gave the impression, falsely, that NZ's inflation rate was a disaster. Simply not true. He needs to be honest. The USA (which is only one country BTW) recent 3.0 rate is skewed by food and energy. NZ's has been skewed by one-off food inflation. Here is a comparison of some of the major economies:
NZ's 6.0 (excl food 4.6)
UK 8.7
Germany 6.4
Australia 7.0
Italy 6.4
USA 3.0 (excl food and energy 4.8)
Food inflation has been a massive issue here, mostly I think because of the weather events on the North Island.
The point is that in a world beset by inflation NZ's rate is relatively impressive.
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate
Before the current run of terrible inflation numbers over the last 18 months or so the last time that New Zealand at this level was way back in 1990.
It doesn't make it any better if you say we are no worse than some other countries with terrible results. It just means there are other countries that are equally bad.
Why don't you ask why we aren't doing as well as the better countries? The year on year inflation rate for Switzerland in June 2023 for example was 1.7%. Why don't we compare ourselves with them rather than with the bottom of the heap?
Why are so many other countries "equally bad"?![sad sad](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png?x42494)
I love Central Otago cherries, but they're out of season
Re "the bottom of the heap", do you mean countries with inflation rates >100%?
The less one-eyed will observe that NZ is in the middle of the pack – nowhere near as bad as some would have us believe, and trending in a good direction.
Aotearoa 6% inflation (down from 6.7%)
Australia 7% inflation (down from 7.8%)
EurUnion 7.1% (down from 8.1%)
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate?continent=world
Seems the Swiss aren't particularly neoliberal in a few aspects and this contributes to lower inflation:
Thanks for the link.
So what is lacking in our politicians that stops them from adopting similar measures? (Tariffs on some imports, state owned energy entitites…)
Courage?
Imagination?
Bind adherence to neoliberal ideology, without regards to evidence (there is plenty of evidence that privatisation often doesn't improve efficiency or public benefit, for example).
“Swiss energy suppliers are also largely publicly owned, “
Not for long.
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/explainer–how-the-swiss-electricity-market-works/47943438
Switzerland imports around 70% of its power consumption (https://www.eda.admin.ch/aboutswitzerland/en/home/wirtschaft/energie/energie—fakten-und-zahlen.html), of which 36% is oil and 20% nuclear. The country plans to phase out nuclear, and interestingly they have the highest density of dams in the world. With a strong focus on renewables, they are likely to be looking to private investment.
Based on your own link (which opens at a selection of G20 countries), only 7 of those countries have higher rates of inflation than NZ currently. And if you use the same reference, but select ‘World’, NZ is 94th out of 186 entries. But in any event, these are measurements focused on a moment in time. Of even more concern is this:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/have-we-walloped-inflation-new-consumers-price-index-data-to-be-revealed/YDVJYOZI2NBTDFCBSUZFY7OTRQ/
Choosing your quotes carefully there Gypsy to bolster your hero Luxon's position. I do not accept your argument.
Looking at this rationally, NZ at 6.0, but 4.6 excluding food, is a valid statistic.
Compare this with the EU; 27 countries with a population of 447 million. The EU inflation rate is 5.5%, and that is with fruit and vegetables in season and no weather event that has smashed their fruit and veg production (to my knowledge). That makes NZ look just fine.
As Drowsy says above, NZ cherries are out of season. I saw some American cherries at New World the other day that were about a dollar each.
You have linked to G20 data. Compared to the G20 countries, NZ would rank as having the 8th highest rate of inflation. Using your reference further, NZ is somewhere in the middle of the countries of the world by current rate of inflation. These are not encouraging comparisons. That said, to some degree the current inflation rate is a snapshot. Of more concern is this:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/have-we-walloped-inflation-new-consumers-price-index-data-to-be-revealed/YDVJYOZI2NBTDFCBSUZFY7OTRQ/
Apologies for duplicate post.
Analysis of the rapidly falling inflation rate in the US. Bill Mitchell has been highly consistent in his categorization of the present inflationary period as supply driven, imported and transitory.
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=60980
One of the main implications of this is that central bank policy (raising cash rates) has not been effective at reducing inflation. That makes comparing inflation rates between countries a bit dubious, especially if you then attribute the falling rate to central bank policy. Any rapid fall is more likely down to many other factors effecting the domestic economy (like ability to discourage corporate price gouging, release of fuel reserves) and a general fall in external supply pressures.
Gaia seems to be experimenting with a solution to the feral cat problem but unfortunately it also will target non-offending domestic cats:
Wagner convoy enters new home base, Belarus boosted as regional power:
can you please stop using OM as a news feed. Lynn said this in the back end recently,
I think you bring both interesting news items, and opinions to the commentariat. However the four comments you made today are more appropriate to FB or twitter than TS. My strong suggestion is to post less and put more into the comments you do make in terms of explaining what the issue is and what you think about it: "opinions to be expressed and debated".
Casual and/or short comments are ok in moderation, but when they become the main way that someone posts, it becomes a problem.
It is hard to know though. Personally I usually find DF links useful on the basis that 9/10 times I would not have found the links/ideas myself.
This comment of mine is also in response to
19 July 2023 at 6:11 am
Being called a 'troll', 'clouded judgement' and having 'biases' (all comments unexplained) is enough to put anyone off from posting expanded points of view, explaining items.
If the comments are meant in banter can they at least have a smiley or wink icon, or better still not be posted at all?
Dennis' banter comment had two emoticons!
People get called trolls here, I wouldn't worry about someone else being called a troll, just carry on with whatever you wanted to reply (to the original comment). There is a degree of robustness needed to comment here, because rudeness or bluntness per se isn't considered an inherent problem (personalised abuse or rudeness with the intention if flaming are where the problems start).
Okay, will do. I agree with your reasoning. I thought the point about Belarus ascending into the regional pivot position was worth making though. Perhaps the way I did that was too brief…
Also, I don't do twitter or facebook due to the cultures being too shallow. Seems to me folks here like to dig under the surface appearance of things. That's why I see the site operating as part of the solution rather than part of the problem – plus acceptance of centrists participating with leftists, plus non-toxic ethos.
Nice one Dennis. That's great feedback about the site. To clarify, there's nothing wrong with the topics you are bringing, it is indeed the brevity where that becomes a habit.
"I don't do twitter or facebook due to the cultures being too shallow"
Fair enough and IMHO a lot more wrong than just being a bit shallow over there.
You could find Mastodon as being somewhere between The Standard and those other sites, depending on which instance you join.
It doesn't make a lot of difference to the military standing of Belarus. Basically they have barely upgraded any weapons since independence from the Soviet union 30+ years ago. Most of their manpower are very poorly trained conscripts.
With the exception of their relatively small special forces, everything I've read (wikipedia has a goodish overview) about the armed forces of Belarus tends to indicate that they're be graded as target practice quality by all of their neighbours forces. Not even up to the standards of the pre-2014 Ukrainian forces. There is a moderate amount of material around about the quality of Belarus armed forces.
https://ecfr.eu/article/putins-last-ally-why-the-belarusian-army-cannot-help-russia-in-ukraine/
https://icds.ee/en/the-belarusian-armed-forces-structures-capabilities-and-defence-relations-with-russia/
https://newbelarus.vision/the-reluctant-army/
https://kyivindependent.com/does-belarus-military-have-the-capacity-to-attack-ukraine/
Wagner adds a core of reasonably well trained and veteran infantry. But how many of those arrive there is a question.Wagner have missions in other countries, which are unlikely to go away, so most of the time most of the mercs will be absent. Plus there are considerations of supply and logistics.
So if they are the supply that Wagner depends on, then in all likelyhood they will at best get mostly outdated, non-updated gear and munitions that will be dangerous to handle.
Of course the Russian armed forces have quite a lot of troops in Belarus at any one point in time doing exercises, semi-permanently based there, and doing a odd bit of invading neighbouring countries. So I guess that they could get supply from there.
But I suspect that main value of having Wagner in-country is that they have quite a lot of experience of propping up old dictators. It is their main line of business.
Don't forget that a large section of the under 30's in Belarus will probably not fight. The crack downs of the last few years have left a high level of enmity towards the state within that age group.
Yeah, the special forces did the crackdown on protest a few years ago.
Looks like I can take you're word for it, given all that research, thanks. So not so much of a regional pivot point. I wonder how the co-founders of Wagner will adapt to their new home. Not the type to sit around playing tiddlywinks.
I expect, when ensconced satisfactorily, there'll be some back to Africa, but if that doesn't keep them busy enough they'll need live target practice elsewhere.
The 'research' was just 15 minutes on google between compiles. Like this mornings comments are being done while listening to a work "connect" on zoom. The modern version of a all-of-company meeting – but across multiple time zones.
I keep a general eye on military and political trends in potential conflict regions. Personally I consider this is to be general knowledge. The links were just to give others something to dig into if they feel like it.
Total creep turns out to be total creep … who could have guessed?
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jul/18/sun-and-mail-publishers-examine-claims-against-journalist-dan-wootton
If anyone doesn't know this guy's track record, simply Google his name and Jacinda Ardern. A vile man. And now Karma delivers.
From the link. Wooton claims that "GB News is the biggest threat to the establishment in decades," Heh – GB News is the establishment, just a faction of it that is a little more deranged in their use of anti-wokeness to disguise their actual intentions.
They keep on telling everyone.
A leading Jewish group has criticised a prominent GB News presenter for spreading “a dangerous conspiracy theory” after she tweeted that the Covid virus appeared to have been bioengineered to be less dangerous to some Jewish people.
In a tweet sent on Tuesday afternoon, Beverley Turner supported the idea first popularised by the controversial Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr that the coronavirus was engineered to target some ethnic groups and spare others.
In her message, which has since been deleted, Turner, who co-presents a regular morning show on GB News, appeared to argue that this bioengineering could be linked to Dr Anthony Fauci, who as the chief medical adviser to the US presidency during Covid was a common target for conspiracy theorists.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jul/18/jewish-group-criticises-gb-news-host-beverley-turner-over-dangerous-conspiracy-theory
I know a bunch of folks in alternative Aotearoa who share these fantasies – old friends & acquaintances, university degrees & successful entrepreneurs.![sad sad](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png?x42494)
My technique for engaging with them again (sporadically) is to ignore such tendencies as much as possible. If they go there, I hit them with `been there done that long ago' acknowledgement. Delivered with a tone of dismissal verging on boredom usually works ok. If they act obtuse & continue, I become a critic via instant personality switch, point out where their thinking is going wrong.
Mostly that works. It helps to share the ole govt always lies thing, along with `corporations always lie' etc. Then point out that conspiracy theorists are mostly delusional due to inventing correlations and being proud of it. Then ya gotta admit that sometimes the theories appear to be correct – but not often! Once you've led them down the garden path like that they tend to end up admiring the flowers…
Thanks for the heads up observer. I avoid low hanging British tabloid fruit so had never heard of him. A right-wing DP gamer with a record of lies and deceit? He's now playing the wounded innocent who has been targeted by a jealous ex-lover.
Having had personal experience of someone (not an ex-lover) who projected their unsound and unlawful behaviour onto me… I can see the self-same scenario playing out here. Here's hoping Karma has indeed got him.
Wootton's NZ-born, started at The Dom-Post, and was visiting his parents in Wellington when accusation broke, according to the spinoff (see 10.02 am post). No wonder he took pleasure in (and maybe initiated) anti-Ardern messaging.
"has developed a persona as a rightwing presenter criticising “woke” issues."
Say no more. In the best tradition of support as typified by "I am Spartacus!" I say I am a woke bloke.
Marina Purkiss was invited by GB News to debate with Rees Mogg (Tory MP).
She noted that the anti-woke GB News had a unisex bathroom and stated her fear that she might be in there when Dan Wooton walked in.
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/uk-news/gb-news-guest-marina-purkiss-29819794
A Murdoch media hack can only work for his media imitators afterwards.
Thus from Fox News to Newsmax OAN or pod casts on Rumble (or Twitter as per TC) in the USA.
Or the Sun to talkRADIO, MailOnline, GB News, Sky Australia.
The disconcerting thing is his working for the MailOnline.
Yes Prime Minister revealed how UK media covered scandals based on their prejudices
Dude's a POS.
https://bylinetimes.com/2023/07/17/gb-news-star-dan-wootton-unmasked-in-cash-for-sexual-images-catfishing-scandal/
Jfkjr is in the shit again at a private dinner he dared to suggest that cov 19 was a bio weapon that had more of an effect on some races than others an the dems have got their nickers well an truly in a twist over it declaring that he shouldnt be a witness in Jim Jordens hearing on censorship he's a racist he's an antisemetic etc etc .JFKjr is perceived as a huge threat to the dems and they're out to get him anyway they can apparently adding to all the attention he's getting of course !!.Personally i find him him intelligent warm thoughtful and capable of talking for hours on subjects with no notes something rather lacking in the big players of American politics .As i said the other night amongst the woeful selection of pres candidates currently in the race and especially compared to the incumbent he's head and shoulders above imo.
Someone here yesterday even tried to give me a hard time for merely commenting on him.
Dunno if the guy is wacko or not, but he does have relevance to our election since conspiracy theorists have become influential in both countries in recent years.
Anyway so despite disagreeing with you recently about something I've forgotten, I agree he's worth tracking & suggest you stand by to repel boarders, as a pirate would say. Brain-police alert!
In the US, there is effectively a two-candidate presidential election by an electoral college. At the moment, candidates are strutting their stuff for the Democrat nominating convention, which chooses that party's presidential candidate. RFK jnr is one of those Democrat candidates.
The US party presidential selection process has no relevance to upcoming NZ elections, where we are choosing a government. Here, conspiracists fortunately have a plethora of looney tunes parties amongst which to split their votes.
The reason for pointing out RFK jnr's behaviour is to show how low the marketplace of political ideas has sunk in the US, not to draw a tenuous parallel with our own political circus.
TBF, US elections, and especially US attack adds, are the greatest show on earth.
Odd as I thought all the Kennedy's were a bit off in one way or another. I mean look at the old old man, his bootlegging and lickspittle were famous.
When the opposition writes your adds. Gold!
@JoeBiden
I approve this message.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1681424737384435713
Marjorie Taylor Greene compares Biden to FDR, LBJ. Thanks for the free campaign ad!
The predominantly ludicrous lawmaker from Georgia did Biden a solid this weekend, telling Republicans the Democratic president is fiendishly attempting to make people's lives better.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/07/17/marjorie-taylor-greene-biden-speech-highlights-medicare-medicaid/70418859007/
Go to say – totally agree with the Premier of Victoria.
Why spend 7 billion on a 12 day event? Why should Schools and Hospitals have reduced spending to cover the costs of a 12 day sports event?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-19/commonwealth-games-victoria-daniel-andrews-decision-analysis/102616256
Touché
There is the case for a permanent host of the CG, with occasional diversions to other venues. Obviously cities that have hosted the Olympic Games (or could do so/aspire to) could provide alternatives from time to time.
A nation like New Zealand could still do it – but the games village concept requires a city host.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Commonwealth_Games_venues
The only place to host twice is Auckland and the only continent not to host is Africa. The only major city not to host (out of Africa) would be Toronto Canada.