After learning of yet another rise to minimum wage I want to extend my congratulations to superannuitants on getting their base rate benefit drastically increased.
Please don't crow too loudly lest the severely disabled and their families (the ONLY group who do not benefit from increased wages via linked benefits, iwtc or actual wages) hear you and realise the injustice the system has delivered yet again.
Why is the fact that those with disabilities are not getting enough, linked with super?
The fact is, disability support should be raised, by taxing the wealthy more, not by buying into right wing memes, attacking our one remaining, successful universal benefit.
With the latest polls showing Hillary Clinton remains likely to win the election on Tuesday, Republicans are preparing for the possibility of a second Clinton White House by promising to make the next four years a living hell. Some lawmakers are talking openly about refusing to approve any Supreme Court nominees until a Republican is elected president, the F.B.I. is investigating both the Clinton Foundation and the former secretary of state’s use of a private e-mail server, and House Republicans have vowed to launch additional investigations of their own. Now, a growing number of conservatives are warning that there could be a “constitutional crisis” if Clinton is elected, and threatening her with impeachment.
Hold it over him, adding articles by the day. Sounds good.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking lawmaker in the House, said Wednesday that Democrats must discuss a last-ditch gambit to delay sending articles of impeachment to the Senate and prevent the Republican-controlled chamber from summarily discarding the case against President Donald Trump.
“Some think it’s a good idea. And we need to talk about it,” Hoyer said just as the House began debating articles of impeachment that charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
As expected from the house of murdoch…..look over there anywhere but what scomo's up to and that your country's becoming too hot in parts to sustain humanity.
He also said there was an important psychological element — that is, that the lack of legal accountability promotes a more lax safety culture.
“This is not always empirically measurable, but it’s pretty basic psychology. If you’re the owner of a business and you know you cannot be sued for negligent conduct, you may adopt a cavalier safety approach.”
Finally, he said it fails the economics test.
“No-fault schemes typically become financially unsustainable,” he said. “The ACC has moved from one financial crisis to the next since it was drawn up in the 1970s.”
He makes confident assertions that can be questioned. However he may be correct when he says, 'the lack of legal accountability promotes a more lax safety culture.'
Also the limitations of what ACC is able to assist with for tourists with long-term affects from their trauma has been a criticism from those disappointed at returning home with some bodily damage that no insurance covers. I can't give details, but remember a few past cases.
And the lawyers' chagrin would change to a grin if they could sue for those extravagant amounts that the USA allows. I remember in the Simpsons that Bart was trying to cash in on that, dashing out in front of slow-moving cars and pretending to get knocked down. Homer, I think came along and accepted a small payment in lieu of starting an expensive Court case. Which is as moral as the real thing when they go full hog there.
Since Royal Caribbean was part of the process of getting their passengers on the tours to White Island, they may end up getting sued in an American court.
Will be very interesting how far that goes. New Zealand is very popular with the international cruise operators because of our "no fault" laws. Less chance of getting sued. The cruise operator gets a very solid commission on the ashore activities their passengers undertake, likely making more profit out of them than the activity operators. Showing a separation of liability in court could be tricky.
The enquiry into the complaints of sexual harassment, bullying and a serious sexual assault in the Labour Party have all but disappeared from stuff, radio NZ and the herald. You have to go searching to find them.
this story stayed in the media for days when it first broke and I believe cost Jacinda and labour in the polls.
i take wekas point last night about rape culture. I also take the point that absence of evidence doesn’t mean something didn’t happen. However allegations of sexual assault are about as serious as it gets. And given that the complainants evidence of the night contained critical errors, that her messages on fb and text on the months around the alleged assault do not reflect her allegations, and that evidence doesn’t verify she sent an attachment to labour officials about the sexual assault, we need to give the accused the benefit of the doubt and assume it didn’t happen.
also the reports of bullying and sexual harassment weren’t substantiated either, although there was an admission by the alleged offender that he could be aggressive and he did make two sexiest remarks.
i am at a bit of a loss to know what’s is going on here. All I know is that there are multiple victims, and that Paula b used these young people to make political capital and it worked.
Just looked through Herald online and can find not a word re the report released yesterday. Considering the heavy handed accusations and innuendo levelled at Jacinda and the Labour Party you would expect a correction of some sort. Shame on you Herald.
On Morning Report this morning around 8:15am Jane Patterson gave her views on the report and its likely effect on the Labour Party. She believed the matter is now behind the Party and she didn't think the outcome would have any lasting impact on them. She went on to say that it is wrong for people to claim it was part of a pre-Xmas dump because it was only received a day or two ago and yesterday was the first opportunity to release it. She pointed out it was imperative for them to get it out of the way by Xmas and not hanging around into the new year.
All fair points imo.
I would link to the item but it hasn't appeared online.
The Jane Patterson – Corin Dann segment on Morning Report has been up online at RNZ's website for a couple of hours, Anne. It was exactly where I expected to find it on the Morning Report section for today’s programme. Here it is
Like you, I thought it was a well reasoned summary without some of the "heat" of some other commentary on the report etc including some of that here on TS on last night's Daily Review.
"we need to give the accused the benefit of the doubt and assume it didn’t happen."
I don't. I'm good with assuming I don't know what happened.
"However allegations of sexual assault are about as serious as it gets"
I rate being raped as more serious than being accused of rape.
It's a given that National are opportunistic dirty politicos.
What concerns me here is the tying of Labour's wellbeing to lines that the complainents lied. This is unnecessary, and also, Labour's wellbeing is tied to how they handle things when they go badly. I think Labour did relatively ok this time, I'm guessing argely thanks to JA, and I can see some areas where they still need to up their game.
This is ok though, because it's ok to make mistakes, it's what one does after the mistake that matters. This is the antidote to macho politics and it paves the way to unravel rape culture. A position that trades of sexual abuse survivors for political gain both enforces macho politics and perpetuates rape culture.
People will believe what they want to believe. I'm talking about how the situation gets framed and used politically. I think the higher priority here is to pushing back against rape culture.
I completely accept that is how you see it Weka. I think most of us will form an opinion about what happened and of course we will never know for sure. Just like the Christchurch Creche case in which I think there could be some similarities. Or the Bain family murders.
I believe Labour took a hit in the polls for this as did Jacinda.
We don’t know for sure how Labour handled it because the second report into that hasn’t come out. But getting the thorough report from Maria Dew was a good thing to do.
I note from her summary virtually none of the complaints were upheld other than some aggressive behaviour and I think two sexiest comments made by the alleged offender. He apologized for both. Is this o.k.? Of course not. But the claims of bullying were not found. I think it was five incidents over 13 months.
Aggression is never o.k., but I am inclined to think it is likely rampant in politics. this is not to condone it.
I got the feeling after a quick read of the report on the alleged sexual misconduct, that it was a personal matter of relationship discontent, and the spat had been elevated to a formal complaint as a retaliation and punishment because of the soured relationship.
Labour has to ensure that those that wish to join Young Labour are there for the good of the Party, and advancing the ideals of the politics of the left into practice, and not just to meet the opposite sex and interesting people doing something to pass the time.
"…it was a personal matter of relationship discontent, and the spat had been elevated to a formal complaint as a retaliation and punishment because of the soured relationship…."
I agree grey though we can only guess I guess. Still as the names are withheld there should be no real problem for the complainants even though they were the ones who created the publicity in the first place. Anyway I guess there it lies and fades into the distance.
The discussion yesterday about ongoing viability of class analysis is germaine in respect to the durable alliance between middle & lower class on the left side of politics, in western countries following WWII through social democracy then neoliberalism. But culture wars have rended that alliance in recent years, so I was interested to see this take on the Brexit election from Mike Treen on TDB:
"Unfortunately, this advance in electoral support was largely reversed in the recent election with a drop to 32.2%. This came about because the right and centre of the party locked Corbyn into a position of supporting a second referendum on Brexit – leaving the European Union. This was seen by many Labour supporters who supported Leave as an attempt to overturn the democratic decision already made. Many voted Tory for the first time in their lives to ensure the decision was respected." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/12/19/for-a-green-new-deal-with-peoples-power/
This notion that the remainers (urban liberals) within Labour were so disrespectful to the verdict of the people that they wanted to overturn it via a second referendum rings true. His thesis seems to be that Labour's middle class retain sufficient influence in the party to hamstring Corbyn despite the Blairite exodus.
Makes sense if they do have the numbers (but only an insider would know). It explains the large defection and abstention of working class Labour voters. It raises the spectre of a tribal divide between the two classes within UK Labour.
I'm seeing sufficiently evidence of workers voting Tory. This analysis from Vox puts the shift around 6% in working class electorates…
"Educated urban professionals have drifted left and the working classes have tiled right, a shift that social scientists attribute to the rising importance of immigration and identity issues in European politics. In Britain, Brexit supercharged this long-running process, as highly educated city dwellers tended to oppose Brexit (making them more likely to vote Labour) while rural and less educated voters tended to support it (making them more likely to vote Conservative)."
"The 2019 election results reflected the post-Brexit realignment. Labour was absolutely devastated in its traditional working class constituencies (the UK equivalent to congressional districts), with the Conservatives — long caricatured as the parties of the rich — making historic inroads. “The resounding Conservative victory was driven by a dramatic swing of working-class support away from Labour,” as the Financial Times put it in a post-election data analysis."
“In seats with high shares of people in low-skilled jobs, the Conservative vote share increased by an average of six percentage points and the Labour share fell by 14 points. In seats with the lowest share of low-skilled jobs, the Tory vote share fell by four points and Labour’s fell by seven,” the FT said in its analysis. “The swing of working class areas from Labour to Conservative had the strongest statistical association of any explored by the FT.” https://www.vox.com/world/2019/12/13/21004755/uk-election-2019-jeremy-corbyn-labour-defeat
so Brexit…..although the reported widespread dislike of Corbyn (the personality) may have contributed. Will be interesting to see how the Labour party deal with such a fundamental conflict
Also worth considering: "How did Labour come to squander the promise of its unexpectedly good result in 2017? A central part of the explanation was dither and delay on Brexit, which meant that Labour lost ground with both leavers and remainers. Some early analysis from Datapraxis suggests that nearly half of the Labour seat losses could be attributed to losing more remainers to other parties than the size of the Tory majority in leave seats. By attempting to triangulate, Labour convinced leavers it was for remain and remainers that it was for leave. The party looked cynical and opportunistic, as if it were playing games on Brexit to secure electoral advantage, rather than sticking to its principles or standing up for the national interest." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/16/labour-2017-2019-corbyn-brexit-election
This one is more explicit on the class divide within Labour, and provides historical context to document the trend: "This was not the first election in which more working class voters backed the Tories rather than Labour. They did so in 1983—the year of Margaret Thatcher’s landslide victory—and in 2017. But the gap was just two points in both elections. This time there was 15-point gulf: Conservative 48 per cent, Labour 33 per cent. The Tory lead among middle-class voters was less: 12 points."
"However, as with Labour’s heartland decline, last week’s election accelerated a long-term trend. In 1970, when Edward Heath led the Tories back to government, the Conservatives enjoyed a 45-point lead among middle-class voters, while Labour led by 22 per cent among working-class voters. Combining the two figures, the “class gap” was 67 points (45 plus 22). Nine years later, when Thatcher came to power, the class gap had fallen to 47 points: a middle class Con lead of 36 per cent, compared with a working-class Lab lead of 11 per cent. The class gap slipped to 28 points in Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide and 14 points when David Cameron secured his overall majority in 2015. Last week the class gap was minus three: it had gone into reverse."
Interesting that 1983 result…it will have been around the time of increased industrial action in UK. I am assuming that the unions functioned much the same in the UK as here in that period and there was always a significant proportion of National voting union members here,' shy Tories ' although some not so shy, and their numbers grow during protracted industrial action as the lack of income bites. It is one reason why compulsory union membership is not the panacea its often painted as.
As big Norm Kirk once put it, “paralysis by analysis”.
People are still dealing with the debris but the result is clear.
As many a losing general has done you assess the landscape post-battle, husband your resources, seek allies and opportunities, and strategise the next campaign.
"Voters didn’t defect from Labour because they felt the top 5% were paying enough tax, or because they thought our privately run railway system was a shining success, or because of their affection for sky-high tuition fees…. In January, YouGov asked why voters with previously favourable opinions of Corbyn had changed their mind. About three-quarters of the responses were linked to Brexit, which dominated all political discourse after 2017 and smothered discussion of Labour’s popular domestic policies. Labour was tortured about how to keep its 2017 coalition of remain and leave supporters together, and was paralysed as a result."
Brexit, the mendacious and continuous right-wing media attacks on Corbyn (especially the anti semitic rubbish) and a poorly focused campaign was why Labour lost.
Brexit was go in to happen, or be stopped by…. ..well Labour. So Corbyn decided to do nothing, instead of accepting the decision of the people and stopped fighting. That's just staggering in heinsight. Given he could of, after accepting half of his pro exit party decision, he then offered a referendum on full integration, drop the pound, to assuage his remainers. no, instead he vacilated and lost. He should of resigned but Labour just doesn't do leadership anymore.
"A friend of mine was standing as the Conservative candidate in Newcastle upon Tyne North, where the Labour incumbent won a 10,000 majority two years ago, and I knocked on a few doors for him last week. Every person I spoke to said they were going to vote Tory. In some cases, it was because they wanted to “get Brexit done,” which has been the Conservatives’ endlessly repeated campaign slogan over the past six weeks, but in others it was because of their visceral dislike for Labour’s leader.
“Most people I know who used to be staunch Labour are now saying no way Jeremy Corbyn,” said Steve Hurt, an engineer. “It’s not our party any more. Same label, different bottle.”
"According to the activist I was with, that had been the reaction wherever he went. He had knocked on 100 doors in a council estate earlier that day and all but three people he’d spoken to told him they intended to vote Conservative—and this in a city where 26 per cent of the population are among the most deprived in England. I asked why, if these electors disliked Corbyn, they didn’t simply abstain? Why were they planning to brave the elements on a cold day in December to vote for a party led by an old Etonian toff? “Because they hate Corbyn that much,” he said. “The biggest message they can send to him is to elect a Tory government.” It’s the same story across England—working class electors deserting Labour en masse."
Would you like me to change the other comment that you posted as Agora to the correct user name and e-mail address or shall I move it to the Trash folder?
Thank you for your efforts. You bring a lot of patience to your moderation, in fact the patience you display in consistently treating Paaparakauta/Agora/etc as though he weren't an obnoxious arsehole sets a standard I'd never have a chance of meeting.
My ‘philosophy’ is that we tend to see only the tip of the iceberg when people comment here in terms of their overall personality. By analogy, some people transform into frothing maniacs brimming with (road) rage when they crawl/climb behind the wheel.
I don't think this is right. There is certainly no appetite in the UK Labour party to go back to Blairism.
A new younger woman leader*, the end of the Brexit debate and more focussed communication of basically the same policies will see Labour sweep home in 5 years time after the public has found Boris out.
Do you mean that they will try to sweep up the debris of the broken UK? Perhaps they will develop some vitality and enjoyment of life and each other as in the Greeks dancing Zorba in the street and breaking plates. That debris represents all sorts of confusing feelings that probably match the confusing feelings that led to an outpouring of desire for change, any change and the cutting of ties to Europe was chosen.
Greeks breaking plates – It meant that the couple were throwing away their old life and embarking on a new life together. Smashing plates could fool the spirits. It was believed that breaking plates would keep the evil spirits at bay because they would believe the people involved were angry and upset—instead of celebrating. https://holidappy.com/party-planning/Why-do-Greeks-smash-plates-at-weddings
Back when his column got reproduced in the NZ Herald he was usually accurate. Hasn't lost that faculty: "the English turkeys marched bravely up to the chopping block, confident this would be a Christmas to remember."
"Boris Johnson’s big victory in Thursday’s “Brexit election” was achieved almost entirely with English votes. Only 20 of the 364 seats won by the Conservative Party were in the other three nations of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom will continue to be called that for several years, but this election has sounded its death knell. It was the votes of English nationalists who gave Johnson his victory, and they don’t really care if the U.K. survives. Just as well, because it won’t."
"More than half of Europeans believe the EU is likely to collapse within a generation, despite support for the bloc hitting heights not recorded in more than a quarter of a century.
In France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Greece, the Czech Republic and Poland, a majority of people surveyed thought EU disintegration was a “realistic possibility” in the next 10 to 20 years."
Yes good read-thanks. He is right about Johnson being a hard-right operator hidden under a buffoon act.
I think if Scotland and Northern Ireland leave, which as Dyer says is likely, the English will turn on the Tories for breaking up the union. Labour should be a shoe-in in 5 years time.
Watching the ageing of NZ and people who have been prominent; the cracks start and widen. Those who have concentrated on their personal projects without thinking about ethics and the affects on their own psyche, mental health and the goodness to society of their addictive focus may find eventually they can not slide away unnoticed.
As you know, Moderators draw attention to their moderation notes and to bans in particular. There is an obvious reason for this, which is that moderation, in general, aims to be instructional, to encourage self-moderation and self-correction, and to (slightly) change behaviour on this site. However, the onus is on the commenters to read all the replies to their comments and respond accordingly and appropriately.
One so greedy many states want a part of him. And the other caught with kiddy porn – not just any old kiddy porn (sick as that is) – but really violent kiddy porn.
You have to hope that in February the Court of Appeal (and then the Supreme Court?) upholds the High Court's decision on the Cullen Group. Though this pales into insignificance compared to the $114m tax plus penalties owed by Watson. (Unless this is also subject to appeal-anyone out there know?)
A very sad death to add to the toll. Help the helper.
Sheila Cheng was killed in a car accident in the Bay of Plenty on Saturday, and her husband is in Waikato Hospital…
The nurse's friend Amanda Lorin said it is every family's worst nightmare.
A Givealittle page she set up to raise funds for the family has raised over $2000.
…Sheila was an experienced intensive care nurse who had worked in Taiwan, training others, before coming to New Zealand more than two years ago.
…Shelia had just gained a doctorate in nursing and started work at Whakatāne Hospital two months ago."She knew exactly what she was doing and I think they saw her as an angel that was sent because she knew so much about these burns victims."
Most people determine whether or not an email has a file attached. Lawyers apparently prefer to differ. Opine on the balance of probabilities rather than report the fact. They must have learnt the utility of the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment from physicists. However physicists use equations to calculate probabilities, such as whether the cat is alive or dead. They don't just refer to some kind of subjective guess and call it a balance.
“There is no reference in Dew’s report to the email sent to the Labour panel on April 26 which seeks “an update on the investigation” and stresses: “Just adding the seriousness of the situation here, an accusation of sexual assault, manipulation, bullying and emotional abuse.””
“Nor is there any reference to another email, dated June 11, sent to the three members of the investigation panel, in which the complainant directs them to “attached … notes of testimony”. The attached document, as previously reported by The Spinoff, contains clear reference to her allegation: “SEXUAL ASSAULT occurred February 2018”.”
Why would anyone expect a QC to acknowledge evidence? Authority figures are appointed to announce personal opinion as verdict. So the Spinoff journalists saw the file attached to the email, but the QC couldn’t care less. And folks wonder why the justice system is in disrepute…
As a fallback plan that's an idea, but I was still thinking more like "dolt supporters don't hate me because I'm not partisan, so I can beat the orange one".
But I reckon you might be more correct, the way she called the impeachment "partisan".
I can't believe she's so deluded she thinks there's a viable route to the White House. Looks to me like she's keenly aware of who her audience is and is playing them consciously and expertly.
But she must be aware the sum total of convergence moonbats, second-option bias fantasists, alt-lefties etc is tiny. The alt-righters, middle-finger voters, David Dukes and other deplorables aren't going to vote for her while they've still got the waddling spray-tan warning label to vote for. Nor will the tribal Repugs whose only voting criteria is what's got an (R) next to its name, even if it's the mouldering three-weeks-dead corpse of a brothel-keeper.
Nobody is expecting the outcome to be the departure of the Combover Con.
But impeachment still serves a bunch of purposes.
First, if trying to extort a foreign country by withholding congress approved taxpayer funded aid to pressure that foreign country into smearing a domestic political opponent isn't so unacceptable to merit impeaching, then where's the line?
Next, it further helps clarify what a bunch of spineless craven toadies the current crop of Repug senators really are.
For the sake of those on phones that don't want to deal with a massive comment I'll leave it there …
My favourite is if they keep investigating everything, any mismatch between his financial transactions and his tax returns will be made public. And while the repugs can protect him from federal crimes, their reach at a state level varies wildly.
I'm sure NY will be very interested, for example. I really like the idea of him defending completely legitimate fraud charges to his grave.
There's already enough stuff in public that would have buried any other pollie. Like the differences in property valuations he told his lenders and what he told local authorities. I'd be astonished if there weren't already things in progress on those issues. But they won't do anything to constrain his behaviour while he remains in office.
Arthur Allan Thomas, the man pardoned of the infamous 1970 Crewe murders, has been charged with historical sexual offending.
The 81-year-old's case was called today in the Manukau District Court where Judge Charles Blackie ordered his interim name suppression to lapse.
Thomas faces four charges of indecent assault and one count of rape….
The allegations are historical in nature and relate to two complainants, who have automatic name suppression, and recently came forward to police.
Extensive suppression orders, however, remain and prevent the Herald from publishing further details, such as the date and place of the alleged offending.
But Thomas' name is not suppressed. The women have been stewing about this for years and can apparently make a case. But there must be a limit. The justice and rightness together need to be carefully looked at.
It is different about institutions. With institutions, and Catholic or other priests, the institution is also on trial along with its procedures. Has it known and there been a hush-hush acceptance, which needs examination and its lack of responsibility to those under its care.
That 27 year old who has held a woman by the neck for heightened sexual effect, he is still not named is he. And he definitely killed that silly woman, and he is responsible for the force that she died from. Why isn't his name openly available, or has NZ suddenly become too dainty to cope with sexuality? We are a farming nation, and live by procreation. Strange attitudes.
Probably could have worded that better … deliberately murdering someone isn't sexuality.
But there is so much wrong with Grey's post – Psycho Milt and others spell out some of them. I don't think Greywarshark thinks of women as actual people.
Grey I can't believe it. are you really referring Grace Millane as "that silly woman" or I have misunderstood what you are saying? Surely I have misunderstood. If not I think the moderators here need to take a look at this.
The police have taken a case against Thomas based on the evidence the complainants presented. The Crown lawyers must feel there is a case to answer.
Is there no end to this hysterical, historical sexual accusation witchhunt thing?
The women have been stewing about this for years and can apparently make a case. But there must be a limit.
No there isn't, and nor should there be, but interesting why you would rape apologise your comment with the use of 'hysterical' and 'witch hunt' to describe sexual assaults and rape.
That 27 year old who has held a woman by the neck for heightened sexual effect, he is still not named is he. And he definitely killed that silly woman, and he is responsible for the force that she died from. Why isn't his name openly available, or has NZ suddenly become too dainty to cope with sexuality? We are a farming nation, and live by procreation. Strange attitudes.
Oh, strange fucking attitudes alright. That is the strangest I've seen for a while.
1. He didn't "hold a woman by the neck," he strangled a woman to death.
2. The heightened sexual effect was for him. What she wanted or didn't want can't be known.
3. Calling his victim "that silly woman" is seriously fucked up.
4. His name isn't openly available because he appealed the dropping of name suppression and NZ has rule of law, not because NZ is "too dainty to cope with sexuality."
5. Murdering someone isn't "sexuality"
6. Murdering someone isn't "procreation," in fact it's kind of the opposite.
As incredulous as posts like that are, and as much as I detest reading bullshit rape culture apologist nonsense, they do at least serve a purpose in letting us know who walks among us.
Job done, but probably not in the way the Nelson nibbler expected.
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This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
The new minister of transport has opened the door for public consultation on at least some of the speed limit changes the government said would be automatic. ...
Officially, they’re called ‘memecoins,’ but Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon says the crypto world has another name for them: ‘shitcoins’.In digital finance, that phrase is used for tokens that have no true value – in essence, a money-grab.A few days before his inauguration, US President Donald Trump launched his own ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. Guy Williams has made a whole show off the joke that he is a “volunteer” journalist. So getting publicly owned by David Seymour while trying to act as a journalist is a good and timely reminder not to underestimate the nuance and ...
Many of Sāmoa’s beloved dishes are the result of cultural collaboration, writes Madeleine Chapman. All photos by Jin FelletIf you ever find yourself at a barbecue in a Sāmoan home, there’s 99% chance that sapasui (chop suey) will be on the table. For the past century, sapasui has ...
The funnyman takes us through his life in television, including Jono and Ben mayhem, live Telethon flubs, and funnelling all those experiences into his new comedy Vince. There’s an inciting incident in Three’s new comedy Vince where morning television presenter Vince Walters (Jono Pryor) is visiting sick kids in hospital ...
People often claim they just want Waitangi Day to be a celebration. At Waitangi, away from the headlined political acrimony and the marae ātea, celebrating is what most people are doing. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous ...
Is there anything more fashionable than a Māori get together? One of the best things about Northland is that nobody cares what they look like — probably because they’re all naturally more stylish than the rest of us, famously. Māori from the Far North, especially. In 27 degree heat, wearing ...
I’ve been in love with him since last July, but it’s only now in this tepid hotel room that I find myself wondering why. The first thing he does when we arrive is smoke a cone in the bathroom – he emerges, hacking up a lung, fists thrust into his ...
MONDAY“Name,” barked a representative of the lower orders.I regarded him with a look of stern disapproval, and told him from up high, “May I remind you that I have name suppression. I shall also thank you to ask with more respect as befits a former president of the Act Party, ...
Books of Mana: 180 Māori-Authored Books of Significance, edited by Jacinta Ruru, Angela Wanhalla and Jeanette Wikaira has just been released by Otago University Press. In this essay, Books are Taonga, Jeanette Wikaira explores her personal relationship to books and their value.For me, books are taonga. The knowledge ...
Get to know Tara, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Tara’s human for their support! Dog name: Tara Age: Two Breed: Mostly Border Collie and a little bit Catahoula Leopard dog If dog ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
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After learning of yet another rise to minimum wage I want to extend my congratulations to superannuitants on getting their base rate benefit drastically increased.
Please don't crow too loudly lest the severely disabled and their families (the ONLY group who do not benefit from increased wages via linked benefits, iwtc or actual wages) hear you and realise the injustice the system has delivered yet again.
Oh, hey look…good work. I still expect super to remain the superior benefit and have no faith at all that the gap between benefits will be bridged.
The part of the article that talks about yearly increases is incorrect as CPI linked increases were never that big.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/budget/113093347/budget-nz-2019-benefits-will-follow-wage-growth-in-historic-change
Why is the fact that those with disabilities are not getting enough, linked with super?
The fact is, disability support should be raised, by taxing the wealthy more, not by buying into right wing memes, attacking our one remaining, successful universal benefit.
All eyes on the white house, it's going to be a massive day. The debate has begun and should finish in around 6 hours time.
Live stream link here…
No no Cinny, I've got too much to do today. Oh well, I'll just watch a teensy weensy bit. 😡
Hehehehe, work was quiet today so I was lucky enough to be able to listen/watch a good chunk of it. Found it absolutely fascinating.
Partisan hypocrites.
https://twitter.com/ABCWorldNews/status/1207371985606434816
With the latest polls showing Hillary Clinton remains likely to win the election on Tuesday, Republicans are preparing for the possibility of a second Clinton White House by promising to make the next four years a living hell. Some lawmakers are talking openly about refusing to approve any Supreme Court nominees until a Republican is elected president, the F.B.I. is investigating both the Clinton Foundation and the former secretary of state’s use of a private e-mail server, and House Republicans have vowed to launch additional investigations of their own. Now, a growing number of conservatives are warning that there could be a “constitutional crisis” if Clinton is elected, and threatening her with impeachment.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/republicans-are-already-talking-about-impeaching-clinton
'Murica, where a corrupt, racist, lying, serial rapist is just like the Rabbi Yeshua
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1207378548337598464
edit:
https://twitter.com/rutiregan/status/1207379842582372353
Then-and-nows of every single Repug that had a public profile in 1998 and now are just as stark.
There's always an old tweet or interview …
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/donald-trump-impeachment-nancy-pelosi-bush-interview.html
https://twitter.com/wolfblitzer/status/1207375509698596867
One moment a Messiah, the next, a fucking military base
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1207386979744116736
Hold it over him, adding articles by the day. Sounds good.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking lawmaker in the House, said Wednesday that Democrats must discuss a last-ditch gambit to delay sending articles of impeachment to the Senate and prevent the Republican-controlled chamber from summarily discarding the case against President Donald Trump.
“Some think it’s a good idea. And we need to talk about it,” Hoyer said just as the House began debating articles of impeachment that charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/18/trump-impeachment-trial-steny-hoyer-087319
Cheers for posting all of those awesome links Joe
Pictures speaking words. Govt TV welcomes Chump: https://www.thedailybeast.com/russias-state-tv-calls-trump-their-agent
Headline in Aussie news: A law unique to New Zealand means the surviving White Island victims and their families will not receive proper compensation, legal experts say.
Suing lawyer complains NZ legal system unfairly discriminates against
suing lawyerspeople who sue.What a wretched excuse of an article that is.
Where 'proper' compensation means lawyers making out like bandits.
As expected from the house of murdoch…..look over there anywhere but what scomo's up to and that your country's becoming too hot in parts to sustain humanity.
Lump of coal anybody ? Piece of the reef maybe ?
Part of the linked article –
He also said there was an important psychological element — that is, that the lack of legal accountability promotes a more lax safety culture.
“This is not always empirically measurable, but it’s pretty basic psychology. If you’re the owner of a business and you know you cannot be sued for negligent conduct, you may adopt a cavalier safety approach.”
Finally, he said it fails the economics test.
“No-fault schemes typically become financially unsustainable,” he said. “The ACC has moved from one financial crisis to the next since it was drawn up in the 1970s.”
He makes confident assertions that can be questioned. However he may be correct when he says, 'the lack of legal accountability promotes a more lax safety culture.'
Also the limitations of what ACC is able to assist with for tourists with long-term affects from their trauma has been a criticism from those disappointed at returning home with some bodily damage that no insurance covers. I can't give details, but remember a few past cases.
And the lawyers' chagrin would change to a grin if they could sue for those extravagant amounts that the USA allows. I remember in the Simpsons that Bart was trying to cash in on that, dashing out in front of slow-moving cars and pretending to get knocked down. Homer, I think came along and accepted a small payment in lieu of starting an expensive Court case. Which is as moral as the real thing when they go full hog there.
What he forgets/omits is that suing is not the only form of legal accountability.
The OSH outcome on this is going to be pretty severe, I suspect.
Yes there are big holes in his argument. Comes from a self-interest POV. Needs more learning, that young fellow.
Workers on the ground, are pretty motivated to make sure they come home safe.
Since Royal Caribbean was part of the process of getting their passengers on the tours to White Island, they may end up getting sued in an American court.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/12/white-island-eruption-us-lawyer-considers-legal-action-against-royal-caribbean-cruises.html
Will be very interesting how far that goes. New Zealand is very popular with the international cruise operators because of our "no fault" laws. Less chance of getting sued. The cruise operator gets a very solid commission on the ashore activities their passengers undertake, likely making more profit out of them than the activity operators. Showing a separation of liability in court could be tricky.
The enquiry into the complaints of sexual harassment, bullying and a serious sexual assault in the Labour Party have all but disappeared from stuff, radio NZ and the herald. You have to go searching to find them.
this story stayed in the media for days when it first broke and I believe cost Jacinda and labour in the polls.
i take wekas point last night about rape culture. I also take the point that absence of evidence doesn’t mean something didn’t happen. However allegations of sexual assault are about as serious as it gets. And given that the complainants evidence of the night contained critical errors, that her messages on fb and text on the months around the alleged assault do not reflect her allegations, and that evidence doesn’t verify she sent an attachment to labour officials about the sexual assault, we need to give the accused the benefit of the doubt and assume it didn’t happen.
also the reports of bullying and sexual harassment weren’t substantiated either, although there was an admission by the alleged offender that he could be aggressive and he did make two sexiest remarks.
i am at a bit of a loss to know what’s is going on here. All I know is that there are multiple victims, and that Paula b used these young people to make political capital and it worked.
Just looked through Herald online and can find not a word re the report released yesterday. Considering the heavy handed accusations and innuendo levelled at Jacinda and the Labour Party you would expect a correction of some sort. Shame on you Herald.
On Morning Report this morning around 8:15am Jane Patterson gave her views on the report and its likely effect on the Labour Party. She believed the matter is now behind the Party and she didn't think the outcome would have any lasting impact on them. She went on to say that it is wrong for people to claim it was part of a pre-Xmas dump because it was only received a day or two ago and yesterday was the first opportunity to release it. She pointed out it was imperative for them to get it out of the way by Xmas and not hanging around into the new year.
All fair points imo.
I would link to the item but it hasn't appeared online.
Edit: two items under politics ianmac.
Thanks Anne. True the articles were somewhat buried well down the page on the Herald.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/ardern-staffer-abuse-claims-thrown-out-20191218-p53l4v.html
Here's what the Sydney Morning Herald had to say. Very different to the local press who IMO gave it a very different slant.
The Jane Patterson – Corin Dann segment on Morning Report has been up online at RNZ's website for a couple of hours, Anne. It was exactly where I expected to find it on the Morning Report section for today’s programme. Here it is
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018727629/labour-party-alleged-assault-victim-reportedly-stands-by-her-version-of-events
Like you, I thought it was a well reasoned summary without some of the "heat" of some other commentary on the report etc including some of that here on TS on last night's Daily Review.
Thanks vv. They took their time putting the item online. It wasn't there around 9:30. Looked in MR of course.
Some slightly dubious semantics in play last night on this site. 🙂
"we need to give the accused the benefit of the doubt and assume it didn’t happen."
I don't. I'm good with assuming I don't know what happened.
"However allegations of sexual assault are about as serious as it gets"
I rate being raped as more serious than being accused of rape.
It's a given that National are opportunistic dirty politicos.
What concerns me here is the tying of Labour's wellbeing to lines that the complainents lied. This is unnecessary, and also, Labour's wellbeing is tied to how they handle things when they go badly. I think Labour did relatively ok this time, I'm guessing argely thanks to JA, and I can see some areas where they still need to up their game.
This is ok though, because it's ok to make mistakes, it's what one does after the mistake that matters. This is the antidote to macho politics and it paves the way to unravel rape culture. A position that trades of sexual abuse survivors for political gain both enforces macho politics and perpetuates rape culture.
People will believe what they want to believe. I'm talking about how the situation gets framed and used politically. I think the higher priority here is to pushing back against rape culture.
I completely accept that is how you see it Weka. I think most of us will form an opinion about what happened and of course we will never know for sure. Just like the Christchurch Creche case in which I think there could be some similarities. Or the Bain family murders.
I believe Labour took a hit in the polls for this as did Jacinda.
We don’t know for sure how Labour handled it because the second report into that hasn’t come out. But getting the thorough report from Maria Dew was a good thing to do.
I note from her summary virtually none of the complaints were upheld other than some aggressive behaviour and I think two sexiest comments made by the alleged offender. He apologized for both. Is this o.k.? Of course not. But the claims of bullying were not found. I think it was five incidents over 13 months.
Aggression is never o.k., but I am inclined to think it is likely rampant in politics. this is not to condone it.
I got the feeling after a quick read of the report on the alleged sexual misconduct, that it was a personal matter of relationship discontent, and the spat had been elevated to a formal complaint as a retaliation and punishment because of the soured relationship.
Labour has to ensure that those that wish to join Young Labour are there for the good of the Party, and advancing the ideals of the politics of the left into practice, and not just to meet the opposite sex and interesting people doing something to pass the time.
"…it was a personal matter of relationship discontent, and the spat had been elevated to a formal complaint as a retaliation and punishment because of the soured relationship…."
I agree grey though we can only guess I guess. Still as the names are withheld there should be no real problem for the complainants even though they were the ones who created the publicity in the first place. Anyway I guess there it lies and fades into the distance.
Old scandals never die, they just lie and fester?
The discussion yesterday about ongoing viability of class analysis is germaine in respect to the durable alliance between middle & lower class on the left side of politics, in western countries following WWII through social democracy then neoliberalism. But culture wars have rended that alliance in recent years, so I was interested to see this take on the Brexit election from Mike Treen on TDB:
"Unfortunately, this advance in electoral support was largely reversed in the recent election with a drop to 32.2%. This came about because the right and centre of the party locked Corbyn into a position of supporting a second referendum on Brexit – leaving the European Union. This was seen by many Labour supporters who supported Leave as an attempt to overturn the democratic decision already made. Many voted Tory for the first time in their lives to ensure the decision was respected." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/12/19/for-a-green-new-deal-with-peoples-power/
This notion that the remainers (urban liberals) within Labour were so disrespectful to the verdict of the people that they wanted to overturn it via a second referendum rings true. His thesis seems to be that Labour's middle class retain sufficient influence in the party to hamstring Corbyn despite the Blairite exodus.
Makes sense if they do have the numbers (but only an insider would know). It explains the large defection and abstention of working class Labour voters. It raises the spectre of a tribal divide between the two classes within UK Labour.
That theory might be correct if Labour supporters had voted Tory rather than stayed at home. They didn't.
I'm seeing sufficiently evidence of workers voting Tory. This analysis from Vox puts the shift around 6% in working class electorates…
"Educated urban professionals have drifted left and the working classes have tiled right, a shift that social scientists attribute to the rising importance of immigration and identity issues in European politics. In Britain, Brexit supercharged this long-running process, as highly educated city dwellers tended to oppose Brexit (making them more likely to vote Labour) while rural and less educated voters tended to support it (making them more likely to vote Conservative)."
"The 2019 election results reflected the post-Brexit realignment. Labour was absolutely devastated in its traditional working class constituencies (the UK equivalent to congressional districts), with the Conservatives — long caricatured as the parties of the rich — making historic inroads. “The resounding Conservative victory was driven by a dramatic swing of working-class support away from Labour,” as the Financial Times put it in a post-election data analysis."
“In seats with high shares of people in low-skilled jobs, the Conservative vote share increased by an average of six percentage points and the Labour share fell by 14 points. In seats with the lowest share of low-skilled jobs, the Tory vote share fell by four points and Labour’s fell by seven,” the FT said in its analysis. “The swing of working class areas from Labour to Conservative had the strongest statistical association of any explored by the FT.” https://www.vox.com/world/2019/12/13/21004755/uk-election-2019-jeremy-corbyn-labour-defeat
so Brexit…..although the reported widespread dislike of Corbyn (the personality) may have contributed. Will be interesting to see how the Labour party deal with such a fundamental conflict
Interesting, thanks. Wasn't the overall swing higher than 6%?
"General election results 2019 – national swing
Labour to Conservative: 4.70%
Conservative to Lib Dem: 1.36%
Labour to Lib Dem: 6.06%"
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/who-won-general-election-2019-21067495
The 6% who deserted Labour for the LibDems are presumably remainers…
Also worth considering: "How did Labour come to squander the promise of its unexpectedly good result in 2017? A central part of the explanation was dither and delay on Brexit, which meant that Labour lost ground with both leavers and remainers. Some early analysis from Datapraxis suggests that nearly half of the Labour seat losses could be attributed to losing more remainers to other parties than the size of the Tory majority in leave seats. By attempting to triangulate, Labour convinced leavers it was for remain and remainers that it was for leave. The party looked cynical and opportunistic, as if it were playing games on Brexit to secure electoral advantage, rather than sticking to its principles or standing up for the national interest." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/16/labour-2017-2019-corbyn-brexit-election
This one is more explicit on the class divide within Labour, and provides historical context to document the trend: "This was not the first election in which more working class voters backed the Tories rather than Labour. They did so in 1983—the year of Margaret Thatcher’s landslide victory—and in 2017. But the gap was just two points in both elections. This time there was 15-point gulf: Conservative 48 per cent, Labour 33 per cent. The Tory lead among middle-class voters was less: 12 points."
"However, as with Labour’s heartland decline, last week’s election accelerated a long-term trend. In 1970, when Edward Heath led the Tories back to government, the Conservatives enjoyed a 45-point lead among middle-class voters, while Labour led by 22 per cent among working-class voters. Combining the two figures, the “class gap” was 67 points (45 plus 22). Nine years later, when Thatcher came to power, the class gap had fallen to 47 points: a middle class Con lead of 36 per cent, compared with a working-class Lab lead of 11 per cent. The class gap slipped to 28 points in Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide and 14 points when David Cameron secured his overall majority in 2015. Last week the class gap was minus three: it had gone into reverse."
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/five-crucially-important-but-frequently-ignored-facts-about-the-2019-election-labour-conservatives-brexit-corbyn-johnson
Interesting that 1983 result…it will have been around the time of increased industrial action in UK. I am assuming that the unions functioned much the same in the UK as here in that period and there was always a significant proportion of National voting union members here,' shy Tories ' although some not so shy, and their numbers grow during protracted industrial action as the lack of income bites. It is one reason why compulsory union membership is not the panacea its often painted as.
As big Norm Kirk once put it, “paralysis by analysis”.
People are still dealing with the debris but the result is clear.
As many a losing general has done you assess the landscape post-battle, husband your resources, seek allies and opportunities, and strategise the next campaign.
https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.historynet.com%2Fsecond-punic-war-hannibals-war-in-italy.htm
[With the assumed understanding and agreement of the commenter, I have changed the user name and e-mail to the ones we had settled on (I thought); https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-12-2019/#comment-1674546 – Incognito]
Owen Jones in the Guardian gets it right:
"Voters didn’t defect from Labour because they felt the top 5% were paying enough tax, or because they thought our privately run railway system was a shining success, or because of their affection for sky-high tuition fees…. In January, YouGov asked why voters with previously favourable opinions of Corbyn had changed their mind. About three-quarters of the responses were linked to Brexit, which dominated all political discourse after 2017 and smothered discussion of Labour’s popular domestic policies. Labour was tortured about how to keep its 2017 coalition of remain and leave supporters together, and was paralysed as a result."
Brexit, the mendacious and continuous right-wing media attacks on Corbyn (especially the anti semitic rubbish) and a poorly focused campaign was why Labour lost.
IMO it's as much about the qaulity of their advisers and strategists then the front person who often doesn't get to set the agenda.
Tories were laser focused, labour all over the place with JC tasked to deliver it.
Yep-the Tories seem to have got the nice simple message and back room strategy together better than Labour.
This must be the case because, as Gwynne Dyer says, the Labour Red Wall seats were turkeys voting for xmas.
Brexit was go in to happen, or be stopped by…. ..well Labour. So Corbyn decided to do nothing, instead of accepting the decision of the people and stopped fighting. That's just staggering in heinsight. Given he could of, after accepting half of his pro exit party decision, he then offered a referendum on full integration, drop the pound, to assuage his remainers. no, instead he vacilated and lost. He should of resigned but Labour just doesn't do leadership anymore.
There's a good in-depth analysis here: https://quillette.com/2019/12/13/britains-labour-party-got-woke-and-now-its-broke/
"A friend of mine was standing as the Conservative candidate in Newcastle upon Tyne North, where the Labour incumbent won a 10,000 majority two years ago, and I knocked on a few doors for him last week. Every person I spoke to said they were going to vote Tory. In some cases, it was because they wanted to “get Brexit done,” which has been the Conservatives’ endlessly repeated campaign slogan over the past six weeks, but in others it was because of their visceral dislike for Labour’s leader.
“Most people I know who used to be staunch Labour are now saying no way Jeremy Corbyn,” said Steve Hurt, an engineer. “It’s not our party any more. Same label, different bottle.”
"According to the activist I was with, that had been the reaction wherever he went. He had knocked on 100 doors in a council estate earlier that day and all but three people he’d spoken to told him they intended to vote Conservative—and this in a city where 26 per cent of the population are among the most deprived in England. I asked why, if these electors disliked Corbyn, they didn’t simply abstain? Why were they planning to brave the elements on a cold day in December to vote for a party led by an old Etonian toff? “Because they hate Corbyn that much,” he said. “The biggest message they can send to him is to elect a Tory government.” It’s the same story across England—working class electors deserting Labour en masse."
I recommend First Dog On The Moon's awards if you have a spare moment – sorry can't link from this wretched device.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/18/the-greta-thunberg-lovely-award-for-driving-bitter-old-white-men-apoplectic-goes-to-
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/11/theres-an-unprecedented-environment-catastrophe-and-the-greens-still-cant-get-votes
😎
Tnx
Read it Stuart-thanks for the tip. Excellent.
Post-campaign analysis from Lord Ashcroft's Conservative Home.
"Labour’s civil war is set to get worse before it gets better."
https://www.conservativehome.com/leftwatch/2019/12/labours-civil-war-is-set-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better.html
Would you like me to change the other comment that you posted as Agora to the correct user name and e-mail address or shall I move it to the Trash folder?
I'm glad to see you are in good form. I was worried you may be some kind of AI or bot. Please go ahead.
Which option do you prefer? I’m doing this as a service to the site.
Thanks Incognito – did I wish you Merry Christmas? If already, then feel free to have double.
I’m doing this as a service to the site.
Thank you for your efforts. You bring a lot of patience to your moderation, in fact the patience you display in consistently treating Paaparakauta/Agora/etc as though he weren't an obnoxious arsehole sets a standard I'd never have a chance of meeting.
Thank you 🙂
My ‘philosophy’ is that we tend to see only the tip of the iceberg when people comment here in terms of their overall personality. By analogy, some people transform into frothing maniacs brimming with (road) rage when they crawl/climb behind the wheel.
I don't think this is right. There is certainly no appetite in the UK Labour party to go back to Blairism.
A new younger woman leader*, the end of the Brexit debate and more focussed communication of basically the same policies will see Labour sweep home in 5 years time after the public has found Boris out.
*though Kier Starmer is very good. Deputy leader?
Do you mean that they will try to sweep up the debris of the broken UK? Perhaps they will develop some vitality and enjoyment of life and each other as in the Greeks dancing Zorba in the street and breaking plates. That debris represents all sorts of confusing feelings that probably match the confusing feelings that led to an outpouring of desire for change, any change and the cutting of ties to Europe was chosen.
Greeks breaking plates – It meant that the couple were throwing away their old life and embarking on a new life together. Smashing plates could fool the spirits. It was believed that breaking plates would keep the evil spirits at bay because they would believe the people involved were angry and upset—instead of celebrating. https://holidappy.com/party-planning/Why-do-Greeks-smash-plates-at-weddings
Gwynne Dyer writing from the UK casts a bright light on the doings and faintings there. https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/dyer-english-turkeys-vote-for-christmas-with-brexit-election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Dyer – Good read!
Back when his column got reproduced in the NZ Herald he was usually accurate. Hasn't lost that faculty: "the English turkeys marched bravely up to the chopping block, confident this would be a Christmas to remember."
"Boris Johnson’s big victory in Thursday’s “Brexit election” was achieved almost entirely with English votes. Only 20 of the 364 seats won by the Conservative Party were in the other three nations of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom will continue to be called that for several years, but this election has sounded its death knell. It was the votes of English nationalists who gave Johnson his victory, and they don’t really care if the U.K. survives. Just as well, because it won’t."
For a while Swordfish came to mind. Both show an addiction to studying the figures for accuracy and truth – crystal balls not allowed.
"More than half of Europeans believe the EU is likely to collapse within a generation, despite support for the bloc hitting heights not recorded in more than a quarter of a century.
In France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Greece, the Czech Republic and Poland, a majority of people surveyed thought EU disintegration was a “realistic possibility” in the next 10 to 20 years."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/15/majority-of-europeans-expect-end-of-eu-within-20-years
Yes good read-thanks. He is right about Johnson being a hard-right operator hidden under a buffoon act.
I think if Scotland and Northern Ireland leave, which as Dyer says is likely, the English will turn on the Tories for breaking up the union. Labour should be a shoe-in in 5 years time.
Watching the ageing of NZ and people who have been prominent; the cracks start and widen. Those who have concentrated on their personal projects without thinking about ethics and the affects on their own psyche, mental health and the goodness to society of their addictive focus may find eventually they can not slide away unnoticed.
Sir Ron Brierley – arrested. About – https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018727628/brierley-biographer-not-surprised-by-child-porn-arrest
In NZ Herald today – Gloriavale's shame: Second senior member convicted of child sex offending
Eric Watson's Cullen Group in liquidation https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12295218
* Eric Watson's Cullen Group has been moved into liquidation by court order, meaning it might no longer fight a $112 million tax judgment against it….
* Eric Watson loses appeal, can't avoid interest on £43 million payment to Sir Owen Glenn
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/search-results?q=Brierley
Attention: The Chairman
As you know, Moderators draw attention to their moderation notes and to bans in particular. There is an obvious reason for this, which is that moderation, in general, aims to be instructional, to encourage self-moderation and self-correction, and to (slightly) change behaviour on this site. However, the onus is on the commenters to read all the replies to their comments and respond accordingly and appropriately.
FYI, you were informed on 8th Dec: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-11-2019/#comment-1671692 and you can see the reasons here: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-11-2019/#comment-1669902
Sir Ron Brierley and Eric Watson.
Two of our worst capitalists, ruined.
Great end to 2019 in 1% land.
Shows how corrupting capitalism is in excess.
One so greedy many states want a part of him. And the other caught with kiddy porn – not just any old kiddy porn (sick as that is) – but really violent kiddy porn.
Couldn't agree more.
You have to hope that in February the Court of Appeal (and then the Supreme Court?) upholds the High Court's decision on the Cullen Group. Though this pales into insignificance compared to the $114m tax plus penalties owed by Watson. (Unless this is also subject to appeal-anyone out there know?)
The rich are often (nearly always) not the best of us.
So granting them supreme power isn't a great plan.
Peaches – The Presidents of the United States of America (Music Video)
We can do something to help a previous helper who nursed burns victims from Whakaari Island.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/Whakaari-White-Island/405750/whaakari-white-island-nurse-who-helped-victims-sheila-cheng-killed-in-car-crash
A very sad death to add to the toll. Help the helper.
Sheila Cheng was killed in a car accident in the Bay of Plenty on Saturday, and her husband is in Waikato Hospital…
The nurse's friend Amanda Lorin said it is every family's worst nightmare.
A Givealittle page she set up to raise funds for the family has raised over $2000.
…Sheila was an experienced intensive care nurse who had worked in Taiwan, training others, before coming to New Zealand more than two years ago.
…Shelia had just gained a doctorate in nursing and started work at Whakatāne Hospital two months ago."She knew exactly what she was doing and I think they saw her as an angel that was sent because she knew so much about these burns victims."
A Xmas present for the left? Or, at least, the promise of one.
In his speech to parliament yesterday Winstone said NZ First has 'new information' on National Party fundraising and "we're coming for you."
Here's hoping. At around the ten minute mark.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=210859
What happened with NZF irregularities? Have we forgotten about that now?
It stopped being relevant to National so it got dropped by the media?
Update: "The report determines that “on the balance of probabilities, the emails … did not contain any attached document detailing her allegation of sexual assault by the respondent.” https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/18-12-2019/worst-nightmare-labour-staffer-complainants-respond-to-dew-report/
Most people determine whether or not an email has a file attached. Lawyers apparently prefer to differ. Opine on the balance of probabilities rather than report the fact. They must have learnt the utility of the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment from physicists. However physicists use equations to calculate probabilities, such as whether the cat is alive or dead. They don't just refer to some kind of subjective guess and call it a balance.
“There is no reference in Dew’s report to the email sent to the Labour panel on April 26 which seeks “an update on the investigation” and stresses: “Just adding the seriousness of the situation here, an accusation of sexual assault, manipulation, bullying and emotional abuse.””
“Nor is there any reference to another email, dated June 11, sent to the three members of the investigation panel, in which the complainant directs them to “attached … notes of testimony”. The attached document, as previously reported by The Spinoff, contains clear reference to her allegation: “SEXUAL ASSAULT occurred February 2018”.”
Why would anyone expect a QC to acknowledge evidence? Authority figures are appointed to announce personal opinion as verdict. So the Spinoff journalists saw the file attached to the email, but the QC couldn’t care less. And folks wonder why the justice system is in disrepute…
🍑 on both counts: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Interesting play from Gabbard; voting present instead of yes or no.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/president-donald-trump-impeached_n_5df97044e4b08083dc5b1802
230 – 197 on abuse of power, two Dems voted with all the Repugs, they're from districts Tangerine Tantrump solidly won in 2016.
229 – 198 on obstruction of Congress; the splitter was Jared Golden of Maine 2nd district (heavily rural and solidly for Genghis Don in 2016).
Justin Amash (independent, formerly Repug from Michigan) voted to impeach on both counts.
Gives her a unique selling point for the dems to select on, I guess.
Angling for a talking head gig at Fox or One America News Network?
As a fallback plan that's an idea, but I was still thinking more like "dolt supporters don't hate me because I'm not partisan, so I can beat the orange one".
But I reckon you might be more correct, the way she called the impeachment "partisan".
I can't believe she's so deluded she thinks there's a viable route to the White House. Looks to me like she's keenly aware of who her audience is and is playing them consciously and expertly.
But she must be aware the sum total of convergence moonbats, second-option bias fantasists, alt-lefties etc is tiny. The alt-righters, middle-finger voters, David Dukes and other deplorables aren't going to vote for her while they've still got the waddling spray-tan warning label to vote for. Nor will the tribal Repugs whose only voting criteria is what's got an (R) next to its name, even if it's the mouldering three-weeks-dead corpse of a brothel-keeper.
Interesting times if they expect the badly behaved tenant to depart as instructed.
Nobody is expecting the outcome to be the departure of the Combover Con.
But impeachment still serves a bunch of purposes.
First, if trying to extort a foreign country by withholding congress approved taxpayer funded aid to pressure that foreign country into smearing a domestic political opponent isn't so unacceptable to merit impeaching, then where's the line?
Next, it further helps clarify what a bunch of spineless craven toadies the current crop of Repug senators really are.
For the sake of those on phones that don't want to deal with a massive comment I'll leave it there …
My favourite is if they keep investigating everything, any mismatch between his financial transactions and his tax returns will be made public. And while the repugs can protect him from federal crimes, their reach at a state level varies wildly.
I'm sure NY will be very interested, for example. I really like the idea of him defending completely legitimate fraud charges to his grave.
There's already enough stuff in public that would have buried any other pollie. Like the differences in property valuations he told his lenders and what he told local authorities. I'd be astonished if there weren't already things in progress on those issues. But they won't do anything to constrain his behaviour while he remains in office.
Sad but true.
He's getting worse.
Is there no end to this hysterical, historical sexual accusation witchhunt thing?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12295303
Arthur Allan Thomas, the man pardoned of the infamous 1970 Crewe murders, has been charged with historical sexual offending.
The 81-year-old's case was called today in the Manukau District Court where Judge Charles Blackie ordered his interim name suppression to lapse.
Thomas faces four charges of indecent assault and one count of rape….
The allegations are historical in nature and relate to two complainants, who have automatic name suppression, and recently came forward to police.
Extensive suppression orders, however, remain and prevent the Herald from publishing further details, such as the date and place of the alleged offending.
But Thomas' name is not suppressed. The women have been stewing about this for years and can apparently make a case. But there must be a limit. The justice and rightness together need to be carefully looked at.
It is different about institutions. With institutions, and Catholic or other priests, the institution is also on trial along with its procedures. Has it known and there been a hush-hush acceptance, which needs examination and its lack of responsibility to those under its care.
That 27 year old who has held a woman by the neck for heightened sexual effect, he is still not named is he. And he definitely killed that silly woman, and he is responsible for the force that she died from. Why isn't his name openly available, or has NZ suddenly become too dainty to cope with sexuality? We are a farming nation, and live by procreation. Strange attitudes.
Murdering somebody by forcefully strangling them for at least 5 minutes isn't anything to do with sexuality.
Probably could have worded that better … deliberately murdering someone isn't sexuality.
But there is so much wrong with Grey's post – Psycho Milt and others spell out some of them. I don't think Greywarshark thinks of women as actual people.
Grey I can't believe it. are you really referring Grace Millane as "that silly woman" or I have misunderstood what you are saying? Surely I have misunderstood. If not I think the moderators here need to take a look at this.
The police have taken a case against Thomas based on the evidence the complainants presented. The Crown lawyers must feel there is a case to answer.
No, you haven't misread it. This moran just called an innocent murder victim "that silly woman" 🙄
Moderator please.
No there isn't, and nor should there be, but interesting why you would rape apologise your comment with the use of 'hysterical' and 'witch hunt' to describe sexual assaults and rape.
That 27 year old who has held a woman by the neck for heightened sexual effect, he is still not named is he. And he definitely killed that silly woman, and he is responsible for the force that she died from. Why isn't his name openly available, or has NZ suddenly become too dainty to cope with sexuality? We are a farming nation, and live by procreation. Strange attitudes.
Oh, strange fucking attitudes alright. That is the strangest I've seen for a while.
1. He didn't "hold a woman by the neck," he strangled a woman to death.
2. The heightened sexual effect was for him. What she wanted or didn't want can't be known.
3. Calling his victim "that silly woman" is seriously fucked up.
4. His name isn't openly available because he appealed the dropping of name suppression and NZ has rule of law, not because NZ is "too dainty to cope with sexuality."
5. Murdering someone isn't "sexuality"
6. Murdering someone isn't "procreation," in fact it's kind of the opposite.
As incredulous as posts like that are, and as much as I detest reading bullshit rape culture apologist nonsense, they do at least serve a purpose in letting us know who walks among us.
Job done, but probably not in the way the Nelson nibbler expected.
psycho Milt 100%
"Silly woman" wtf???
Disgraceful comment.
I think its quite neat that you can imPEACH a NUT!