Further evidence of a society in disarray.
The selfish neo-liberal approach is damaging the social structure.
Don’t expect the Herald to make the link between an economic system and such consequences, though.
However the Spirit Level has the research to prove it.
‘New research has found that New Zealanders are losing touch with their neighbours – and it’s affecting our wellbeing.
In the recently released results of the Sovereign Wellness Index, New Zealand trailed behind other countries when it came social connections and community, with our neighbourly relations particularly lacking.
“We came last when compared to 29 European countries that deployed the same survey, which is not only a disappointing result but, when compared to the first Sovereign Wellbeing Index in 2013, it shows no improvement,” said Grant Schofield professor of public health at AUT University, who led the research.’
I’ve been watching “Someone else’s country” again. In a general way you see the machinery at work during the 80’s/90’s that began to transform our society from a collective and cohesive one to a self serving and socially isolating one.
It’s certainly not in our imaginations that this transition occurred. The theorist, Uri Bronfenbrenner, who studied Human Development came up with his well known Ecological Theory to illustrate the impact of systems, including political systems upon the development of the individual. The political system exists within the Chronosystem. See handy chart below:
On the development where I live it’s all too easy to see the effect of community cohesion break down. It’s on the outer perimeter of existing suburbs, people are reliant of cars despite a good bus service, and very few residents have put any effort into creating gardens in the neighbourhood. There appears to be no connection to nature or one another.
To try and combat this sense of alienation I joined neighbourly.co.nz in an attempt to get people talking and break the ice. (The founder of that website is quoted in the Herald article) Twice I advertised an an afternoon tea at our place to discuss community resilience and response during an emergency, to be hosted by my husband whose a civil defence volunteer. Not one response from the 100+ members on the site. Twice I advertised an all ages kite flying day, a get to know your neighbours thing and once again, not one response.
It’s really quite depressing living here, but it’s what you do when you can’t afford to live in the established neighbourhoods closer to town.
Interestingly it’s those neighbourhoods that appear to be going from strength to strength with their efforts to improve social cohesion. There are many reports in the local papers about all the events they put on and their community building activities.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see more fracturing of social cohesion as we continue to sprawl out into former farmlands and as we move further away from our formerly collective and caring society. It can’t be denied that this is political in its origin.
The dismantling of the “awards” system for purposes of workplace bargaining along with disestablishing compulsory unionism should not be underestimated as to why there is less social cohesion in NZ society today. We have been forced into believing the neo liberal framing of the narrative that individual responsibility is saintly and collectivism & the concept of team work only works when it is controlled by the privileged and powerful for the benefits of capital.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a link existed between the politically motivated promotion of individualism in the workplace, the loss of widespread Union membership and diminishing social cohesion. – solidarity and collective strength is something that spreads beyond the walls of the workplace and into people’s consciousness.
You lose those bonds and surely that weakens the community as a whole. Think of the lock outs and strikes of the pre 1990 ECA era and how neighbours and sometimes local businesses rallied around to support the workers.
There are many contributing factors though and we are a long way now, from where we used to be.
The problem with the mass developments, like the one I live on, is often they’re out of sight out of mind, they’re new and not part of the culture of the region or city and all the more isolated because of it. It’s made worse by the fact that they often don’t have any amenities (shops etc) and no recreational facilities so there is no gathering place, something once so crucial to human socialising.
Thanks Rosie, I think you are 100% correct. I recall attending union meetings where the topic of conversation wasn’t solely focused on pay & conditions. Large work places were especially fertile ground for wider social issue type conversations. Where else could a large group of working people come together and share their thoughts and points of view on topics as diverse as social welfare benefits ( for freezing workers whose work was seasonal this was important – still is -) or the Vietnam war ( the recent deployment of troops to the Middle East makes that conversation as meaningful today as it was back in the 60’s & 70’s ).
The white apartheid regime in South Africa, especially when the All Blacks were due to tour was a hot topic that divided loyalties but raised consciousness levels of the many who supported tours, albeit begrudgingly and often with the exchange of more than a few words!
Of course it wasn’t all beer & skittles. People were shouted down. The loudest voice was sometimes the only one heard, while others were handier with their tongues then their mitts. But it was all part of the growing pains of a new and growing nation – we still are -.
I sympathise with what you are having to endure and as social animals we deserve better.
I should probably make it clear that when I speak of pre 1990 ECA era workplaces I speak not from experience but from learning from doco’s and sitting and listening to the fascinating stories of older Union activists.
You echo what my friend told me of his experiences in a large workplace where people sat in the canteen and discussed the Springbok tour. He was deeply involved in the anti tour movement and discussions got very lively, there was some aggro but on the whole, people did get to learn and came round to understanding why he did what he did, even if they didn’t always support him.
As for the ECA, I had been in the work force only two years before the ECA was introduced and the changes were horrendous. Our pay was dropped as we lost our penal rates and we had to work 6 days instead of 5 just to make up for the loss in wages. Retailers got to exploit the new law and it made it cheaper for them to keep shops open for longer. Thats were our long opening hours in retail came from, the ECA of 1990.
Bastards. Thats what woke me up. After that I started paying attention to what politicians do and what we can do to stop them.
‘Farmers seeking staff for the new milking season risk being named and shamed on social media if the money being offered in their job advertisement is below the minimum wage.
Outgoing Waikato Federated farmers dairy chairman Craig Littin revealed that trade unions were picking apart farm jobs placed on Fonterra’s Farm Source website.
Littin told farmers at the group’s annual meeting that unions were doing simple calculations around listed salary, hours worked and days off and posting them on social media.’
Helen Kelly has been doing that for months. Some of the jobs she highlights are atrocious. It highlights how NZ is becoming a low wage, high hours economy.
New Zealand’s ‘rock star economy’ is growing slower.
‘New Zealand’s recent economic growth is actually lower in the last two years than it has averaged over the last 20, despite being hailed as a “rock star economy”.
Quarterly growth figures show the economy grew on average 2.8 per cent between 1995 and 2014, slightly more than the 2.6 per cent it averaged in 2013-14.’
Yes… but at the same time not so subtly putting the knife into Little for shying away from CGT as it was seen as a vote shedder. Labour was on the right track, but really failed to deliver a clear and concise CGT policy that was not easily picked apart, with some artistic scaremongering, by the Nats.
@ Ben
Yes I thought that too. Why should the Hairy offer positives about Cunliffe? Just a way to pour a little salt and water into any crack they might find in Labour skin.
Not sure that Labour has ditched the CGT. Didn’t they just comment that it was the wrong time and not well presented to the electorate at that time. Now on the back burner.
CGT is one of the many previous policies Labour has under review – whether it gets picked up again is still debatable – there may well be other ways of dealing with property speculation eg removing tax benefits like property losses against other income.
Hi ianmac, I don’t think it was a case of being badly presented, but the political climate that still existed prior to the election made it the wrong time. To my way of thinking David Parker did a very good job of presenting it, but he was up against a well resourced and hostile political machine that successfully convinced the public they were going to “lose lots of money” when they sold their houses.
I hope Labour has finally learned the lesson that a little bit of pre-election subterfuge is inevitable if you want to get into power and make a real difference for everyone and not just a chosen few.
In an ideal world, none of this would be necessary…
Notes for Labour Party handlers #2:
“Phrases of a negative tone that have as the subject, “things that aren’t big”, should never leave the leader’s mouth. Instead, try positive expositions on how things that are not big often become important, and are necessary to success.”
I am disappointed that there is not more coverage of this and more dissembling of the way National frame moderate CPI-based increases in funding to essential services as ‘propping up’.
No such concern at ‘propping up’ yachties or aluminium smelters owned by wealthy overseas companies.
But to her credit MS Tolley has not checked the bloodlines which no Minister of the Crown would do. (Sarc)
Mihi is pretty good in a quiet understated way.
Luxon from Airnz on line with Radionz at 9.35am. He is one of those fast speakers who don’t sound as if there is room for thought between sentences! Comes up with a block of words that provide an explanation as to why they are doing okay as they are.
He is being questioned about their attitude to the provincial services and lack of co-operation. Highly complex systems are needed by the replacement regional services with IT etc.
Seems to be good at batting away suggestions. At a fast pace.
Auckland councillor Penny Webster is alarmed that some controls should be put on dairies selling sugar laden food. …the suggestions were “totally overboard” and she would oppose them if they were put before the council.
Sour woman, don’t know what her spiel to get into Council was. It couldn’t have been to help the people with planning and action to have a healthy and happy community.
The idea is to act with plans to lobby for changes to the Resource Management Act to give councils the power to stop new dairies, convenience stores and takeaways being built, in the same way they can for alcohol outlets.
Sounds a good idea. Talk about supermarkets and garages also being lolly outlets is just a smokescreen, and a strawman argument. The dairies are local, common and easily accessed. Way back, on my way to Sunday School, I would spend my collection money on chocolate fish, so know about the sweet temptation! Also I have had a dairy and being near a school is being near a good customer source for sales, and also on the downside, for shop stealing.
Retail industry lobbies and spokespeople for dairy owners, often Indian, need to step back or else they will be viewed negatively. They already are seen often running liquor stores in poor areas, and making a living from selling goods with a health-destroying effect will not give them mana in the community, quite the opposite.
During the apartheid era various performers disgraced themselves by playing at Sun City.
Today, Israel offers a lucrative market for various musicians. Some people just play there and take the blood money; some declare their love for the repressive racist state and complain how it is misunderstood. The latest ratbag in this category is the airhead Lady Gaga.
Meanwhile Roger Waters, ex of Pink Floyd, maintains his integrity, calling on artists to turn down offers to play there.
Ron Why don’t you just say that you do like Israelis, no matter what nasty people say about them – like running over protesters with a bulldozer. Using massive force against puny protests etc. But perhaps you are amoral as they have chosen to be.
Well I do like Israelis, I have not meet any that I dislike. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for some of people of other countries that I have met.
Better put me on the list
Don’t like the Israeli government or their policies of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and lethal use of heavy military weapons on civilians. That’s quite different to “not liking Israelis.”
Israeli Apologist Vs Pro-Palestinian Celebs and near-Celebs (a little list I’ve been compiling)
(one or two, as you’ll see, are now deceased)
In no particular order
Israel Cheerleaders (includes everything from extensive outspoken support for Israel to explicit opposition to BDS to signing pro-Israeli petitions/advertisements – usually as PR exercises during one of Israel’s regular massacres in Gaza, the West Bank or Lebanon)
Serena Williams (US tennis champ)
Ellen DeGeneres (US comedian/talkshow host)
Samuel L Jackson (US actor)
Scarlett Johansson (US actress/model)
Lady Gaga (US musician)
Simon Cowell (UK record/tv producer/prominent Tory supporter)
Vanessa Williams (US singer/actress)
Howard Stern (US radio personality)
Sylvester Stallone (US actor)
Nicole Kidman (Aussie actress)
Dennis Hopper (US actor/prominent Republican)
Bruce Willis (US actor/Republican)
Danny De Vito and Rhea Perleman (US actors/couple)
Don Johnson (US actor)
James Wood (US actor/prominent Republican)
Charlie Daniels (US Country Music)
Bill Maher (US comedian/talkshow host)
Dionne Warwick (US singer)
Ashton Kutcher (talentless US actor)
Jesse Eisenberg (US actor)
Joan Rivers (US comedian)
Jon Voight (US actor/prominent Republican)
Mayim Bialik (US actress)
Justin Timberlake (UK singer)
Mark Pellegrino (US actor – Lost/Dexter)
Robert De Niro (US actor)
Kelly Preston (US actress)
William Hurt (US actor)
Danny Schuler (US musician – Biohazard)
Jackie Mason (US comedian)
Gene Simmons (remarkably talentless US musician)
Ridley Scott (US Director)
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones (US/UK actors/’power couple’)
Dick Donner (US Director)
Tony Scott (US Director)
Michael Mann (US Director)
Elton John (UK singer/drama queen)
Patricia Heaton (US actress)
Barbra Streisand (US actress/singer)
Gal Gadot (US actress)
Adam Baldwin (US actor)
Madonna (US singer)
Adam Sandler (talentless US actor/comedian)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (over-the-top US/Austrian actor/politician)
John Lydon (UK musician – Sex Pistols)
Chuck Norris (US actor)
Maureen Lipman (UK actress)
Sympathy for Palestinians/Gaza/BDS and explicit criticism of Israel
Nelson Mandela
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Naomi Wolf (US author/political consultant)
Danny Glover (US actor)
Alice Walker (US writer/poet)
Roger Waters (UK musician – Pink Floyd)
Rihanna (US/Barbadian singer)
Alan Rickman (UK actor)
Mia Farrow (US actress)
Brian Eno (UK musician/producer/prominent LibDem)
Anthony Bourdain (US celebrity chef)
Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz (Spanish actors/’power couple’)
Rob Schneider (US actor/comedian)
Rosie O’Donnell (US actress/talkshow host)
John Cusack (US actor)
Selena Gomez (US actress/singer)
Stephen Hawking (UK leading Physicist)
Peter Gabriel (UK musician)
Bryan Adams (Canadian Singer)
Bobby Gillespie (Scots musician – Primal Scream)
William Dalrymple (UK journalist/historian)
David Morrissey (UK actor)
Maxine Peake (UK actress)
Alexei Sayle (UK comedian)
Mario Balotelli (Italian/Ghanaian Football player)
Whoopi Goldberg (US comedian/actress)
Dwight Howard (US NBA Basketballer)
Talib Kweli (US Hip Hop artist)
Joey Barton (UK Football)
Eddie Vedder (US singer – Pearl Jam)
Jarvis Cocker (UK musician – Pulp)
Sinead O’Connor (Irish singer/musician)
Zayn Malik (UK Boy Band singer)
Mark Ruffalo (US actor)
John Stewart (US – The Daily Show)
Wallace Shawn (US actor/playwright)
Jonathan Demme (US director)
Emma Thompson (UK actress)
Elvis Costello (UK musician)
Bella Freud (UK fashion designer)
Ken Loach (UK director/filmmaker)
Robert del Naja (UK musician – Massive Attack)
Jemima Khan (UK journalist/activist)
Will Self (UK writer)
Pedro Almodovar (Spanish director)
Hanif Kureishi (UK playwright/filmmaker)
Esther Freud (UK novelist)
Laura Bailey (UK actress)
Jeremy Hardy (UK comedian)
David Randall (UK music producer)
Boots Riley (US rapper/arts producer)
Chris Hedges (US journalist)
Kool A.D/Victor Vazquez (US musician)
Michael Ondaatje (Canadian writer)
Mike Leigh (UK writer/director)
Vanessa Redgrave (UK actress)
Christiano Ronaldo (Portuguese Football legend)
Lupe Fiasco (US Hip Hop)
Michael Radford (UK director/screenwriter)
Amare Stondemire (US NBA Basketballer)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italian footballer – Goalkeeper)
Dustin Hoffman (US actor)
Cynthia Nixon (US actress – Sex in the City)
Stephen Fry (UK actor/comedian)
Miriam Margolyes (UK actress)
Harold Pinter (UK playwright legend)
Jimmy McGovern (UK screenwriter)
Zoe Wanamaker (UK actress)
Jenny Diski (UK author)
Ben Elton (UK writer/comedian)
Susan Wooldridge (UK actress)
Patrick Neville (UK actor)
Tom Adams (US musician)
Andy de la Tour (UK actor/writer)
Mike Hodges (UK director/screenwriter)
Earl Okin (UK musician/comedian)
Hayley Carmichael (UK actress)
Reem Kelani (UK musician)
David Calder (UK actor)
Norma Cohen (UK actress)
Somaye Zadeh (UK singer/musician)
Pablo Navarette (director/producer)
Chris Thomas (UK director)
Laurie Penny (UK journalist)
Mark Thomas (UK comedian)
Kate Tempest (UK musician)
Robert Wyatt (UK musician)
Yeah, well I guess the SNP has, in its own way, become a kind of “celeb or near-celeb” since the Referendum/May Election. 🙂
That’s a pretty refreshing stance, akin to the position adopted by various Nordic Left-Socialist parties (and, to some extent, Germany’s Die Linke).
Starkly contrasting with Britain’s two major parties with their powerful Friends of Israel lobbies (although, it seems Labour started to make some – admittedly tentative and half-hearted – moves away from knee-jerk Israeli support under Ed Miliband – enough to upset Zionist erstwhile-Labour-supporters like Maureen Lipman).
That’s amazing list Swordfish. Whaleoil for NZ and there is a new company starting up. They have very fresh ideas in business in Israel, very go-ahead, eating and living for two states I suppose has that effect.
Without going through the list with a fine tooth comb but Dennis Hoppers been dead 5 years and Joan Rivers passed away last year I’d suggest your lists are a bit out of date
There is a Neolib view in New Zealand that restricting the DPB stops teenage pregnancies ( see Post comments by Andrew on Miteria Turei’s May guest blog on the ‘Daily Blog’)
This is counter to the international prevailing view that looks at other social issues such as young female wellbeing and rights ….contraception, supportive family , education and employment independence opportunities etc…better to address these issues than chauvinist female victim blaming and making children of the poor even more disadvantaged
“In developed countries, teenage pregnancies are often associated with social issues, including lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and other poorer life outcomes in children of teenage mothers. Teenage pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage, and carries a social stigma in many communities and cultures.[8] By contrast, teenage parents in developing countries are often married, and their pregnancies welcomed by family and society. However, in these societies, early pregnancy may combine with malnutrition and poor health care to cause medical problems.
Teenage pregnancies appear to be preventable by comprehensive sex education and access to birth control.[9] Abstinence-only sex education does not appear to be effective.[10]”
In countries where women have equality of opportunity and good contraception options they do not choose to have teenage pregnancies…this is a feminist issue , a human rights issue and also an overpopulation issue
“There is a Neolib view in New Zealand that restricting the DPB stops teenage pregnancies..”
Even if it did, it would be no justification for making children and their parents suffer financial and material hardship. But since ‘the left’ (I’m using that term loosely) has ceded the debate on just about every fucking thing these days, we ain’t going to hear how it’s simply decent for society to support those most in need of support as much as possible.
Vodafone is bad, but Spark is worse 😉 I stick with vodafone because the call centre is better. That I have to call the call centre that much to be able to tell is an indictment of the whole telecommunications industry in NZ.
More like Banksie’s wife got some mates to make up some extra evidence. If you have enough money, you can buy just about anything these days – well, unless the US government is after you.
NOW?
Pity all those gullible leftists who let their bullshit detecting faculties get completely disarmed by the hope that KDC might be able to do some real damage to JK didn’t realise that THEN.
Too late now. Three more years….
Just hope those of you who got taken for absolute dummies will remember this case next time you get tempted by a false messiah pandering to your ‘obsession with JK’ weak point.
So you were the mug who bought it were you?
Now you realise that you were stupid to do so you are trying to palm it off on some other sucker. I doubt you will find anyone though who is quite as credulous as you were though.
Cue a post and one thousand comment thread about judicial corruption. What with centre-right governments being elected around the world the left can’t take a trick at the moment.
John Banks gets off, wipes egg from face, and denies it was ever there. Proceeds to fowlhouse for further feathered foolhardy, furtive and futile fandangos.
Todays the private sector can’t do it better than a collective comment.
Have a wee look at the phone book. I know you probably don’t – but at work yesterday we lost the internet – and, well, we tried using a phone book. It became a nightmare of epic proportions.
Try finding a government department – or anything which is community based. Ministry of health. And you local community centre.
Now that has probably frustrated you no end – think back before a private company got hold of it and it was privatised.
Just heard john key reiterate that there is no housing crisis in Auckland, and Andrew Little say there is one.
Why then has no one asked john Key what symptoms would be present in his opinion he would see for him to acknowledge that there is a crisis.
What is IOM – Part of United Nations Alliance of Civilisations http://www.unaoc.org/ibis/about/who-we-are-international-organization-for-migrations/ The IOM believes about half a dozen boats remain at sea, some close to shore. Mr. Lowry likened the search for the vessels that are further out to “looking for specific needles in a giant haystack,” and says a much greater search and rescue effort from the region’s governments is needed.
Food has been dropped to some by Thai helicopter. Indonesia is also offering help.
What is New Zealand doing to help its trading partner and Pacific neighbour Indenesia.
Two days ago – http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/15/asia/thailand-malaysia-rohingya-refugees/
The Thai govt is cracking down on smugglers. This boat had called into Malaysia which had provided water and food and sent it off. It broke down off Thailand, but after the engine was fixed, and food and water given it went back to Malaysia. An observer says it is like a game of ping-pong. And many boats have been abandoned by the smugglers because they have not been able to offload their passengers and are afraid for their own safety.
We need to help these truly helpless If not – The shame is on all of us. The USA military budget is $600 billion, Australian $32 B. The matter is widely reported by media from wealthy nations.
I did a google search –
What aid offered to Myanmar boat people by Red Cross
Red Cross have nothing up about these people, last is Nepal.
Then World Vision below
Then Oxfam – they have been working in Myanmar, but the boats no.
World Vision – a summary of the problemMyanmar’s Rohingya minority adrift with little aid
As many as 120,000 members of the Rohingya ethnic and religious group have fled Myanmar and Bangladesh by sea in the past three years. Now, about 8,000 of them are stranded in boats in the Andaman sea, having been abandoned by their traffickers as a result of crackdowns on international trafficking. Boatloads of Rohingya that have been left adrift without food and water are now being turned away by Thai, Malaysian, and Indonesian authorities. About 1.3 million Rohingya have lived for generations in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, but are not counted among its citizens. The Rohingya have long suffered displacement, abuse, and extreme poverty.
Google headings – The Guardian –
Burma’s boatpeople ‘faced choice of annihilation
also
5 days ago – With up to 8000 desperate people – Rohingya Muslims from Burma and … leaving an estimated 6,000 refugees to fend for themselves, according to reliable aid .
USNews –
500 people on a boat found Wednesday off northern Penang state were given …
Yahoo –
Southeast Asia for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Myanmar’s 1.3 million …
independent.co.uk –
Southeast Asia for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Myanmar’s 1.3 million …
phuketwan –
Nations Must Speedily Aid Desperate Boatpeople, Says Rights Group … to work together to rescue these desperate people and offer them humanitarian aid, help in … ”The world will judge these governments by how they treat these most …
msn news –
4 days ago – More than 1,600 migrants and refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh have…
trust –
Jeffrey Savage, who works for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees … boats for the next 20 days and given only small amounts of food and water.
jakartapost –
Australia’s slashing of foreign aid by almost Aus$1.0 billion (US$800 million) will hurt the most .
thedailybeast –
4 days ago – BANGKOK—As boatloads of stateless Rohingya people and other migrants drift off the … 8,000 boat people seeking to land somewhere—anywhere—as they struggle with a ..
Rohingya Blogger http://www.rohingyablogger.com/
6 hours ago – The price of living in a world of rules and norms widely shared is that you do not get … Malaysia prodded Myanmar on Sunday to halt the exodus from its shores as ..
Can AsEAN help in its own territory? NON-INTERVENTION PRINCIPLE
At the core of ASEAN’s inaction is its principle of non-interference in internal political affairs of its member states, observers said.
“There is a lot of sensitivity, a lot of prejudices and a lot of mutual suspicion that make it difficult for any entity to do something about this situation,” Surin said.
The U.N. has said the deadly pattern of migration across the Bay of Bengal would continue unless Myanmar ends discrimination against the Rohingya.
Most of Myanmar’s 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions. Almost 140,000 were displaced in clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012.
Is the UN going to wait till talks on May 29 which Myanmar says it will not attend if the word Rohingya is mentioned! Can people live on air and hope? Is this a time to put aside regional thoughts and make it an all-world crisis and do the blaming and reproaching later!!
Recent http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/05/18/indonesias-boat-people-the-numbers/
After this is over it might be that we should look at helping Muslim Aid as a counter to so much of the destruction and violence that they are suffering. It might help in the healing that hopefully would come soon. Muslim Aid
The USA military budget is $600 billion, Australian $32 B.
This is a statement from somebody who doesn’t understand economics. Economics isn’t about money but about resources and we’re running out of them.
There’s also the point that, no matter how much money was spent on militaries around the world, almost none of those resources would help the people on the boats even if they hadn’t left their homeland. You cannot eat or drink steel.
You can’t say that if we just spent the money here rather than there and everything will be fixed because of the difference between what resources are being used and what resources are needed to bring about the change you desire.
What are you on about DTB. You’re making an argument out of a mud pie.
If countries can afford to spend on war to that extent then they can find the machinmery to fly or sail to help those people. They can find a bit in a corner of their extensive budgets to pay for water food and humanitarian aid. Don’t make a blockbuster drama out of a very simple premise.
Stop being so objective too, when people are hurting. They don’t want your considered opinion on the cost benefit of helping them, or care whether you care or not, just as long as you don’t stop other people from paying attnetion to their plight which was what my bloody comment was about.
I’ve taken the leap and joined twitter. So if you really, really need to know two minutes ahead of time that I’m about to put up a post, this is the place for you:
Any PR/media consultants/publicists with the inside goss to share are welcome to send it to me as well. No promises that it’ll make it into the Standard though; my bullshit detector is finely tuned.
Labour Party in England is repeating the exact same mistake as in the last leader selection: only Oxbridge graduates who subsequently became “Special Advisers” are entered into the race.
Andy Burnham: English, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
Yvette Cooper: PPE, Balliol College, Oxford.
Mary Creagh:Languages, Pembroke College, Oxford.
Liz Kendall: History, Queen’s College, Cambridge.
Tristram Julian William Hunt: History, Trinity College, Cambridge.
As long as they continue to draw from this small clique they will continue to be loosers.
In contract the SNP intake is remarkably representative of broad society.
Pretty much the same issue here. Caused in no small part by the destruction of the trade union movement and Labours natural leaders. Of course Andrew Little at least has a union background and a strong understanding of workers issues. Unfortunately the union movement in this country is predominantly led by academics and they are appointed rather than elected, albeit they are in all probability good people with sound humanitarian values, but I would doubt that any of them would have ever lined up in the dole queue waiting to see their case officer or boned a quarter of beef or sweated over a cheese vat or polished a lino floor 40 hours a week.
With respect I think you’d find that many people with academic qualifications, especially older ones have in their student days.done the sorts of jobs that you mention.
and your point is? Roger Douglas was a pig farmer once.
I wasn’t trying to be disingenuous as I think their hearts and intentions are noble and some of them could have (had) high paying positions utilising their qualifications in other vocations.
But I wonder if they have the passion, understanding and desire to lead those who perform those jobs their entire working lives? Douglas didn’t.
Oh well I hope I’m wrong.
My point about Oxbridge, SPADs and the small elite which had control of the English Labour Party.
There are 109 universities in the current UK. There is an additional 133 Higher Education Institutes that don’t use the term university. The great prosperity bestowed (another story) on “Oxbridge” was and is marvellous. I don’t begrudge them their history and their current standing as two great places of learning, research and thought leadership.
When the five contestants for Labour leadership in 2010 and the five in 2015 all come from a tiny section of society there is a systemic problem.
No argument from me Northsider. I’m with you on this one.
My 25.1.1.2 was a response to 25.1.1.
Seems to me that Labour here and the UK need a broader mix of people standing for public office and a reconnection with communities and their real needs. Ain’t necessarily enough to simply ask about & attempt to resolve there issues, but more about having as their representatives those people themselves. Not really convinced that Grant is capable of representing the financial views of labour simply because he picked a few apples during the summer break.
I’ve no issue with an individual Oxbridge grad and spad becoming a Labour MP. I’ve no issue with an individual rolling down the hill from Victoria to a back office role in a political office and then onto becoming an MP.
When a powerful group at HQ all have the same career profile then there is a systemic problem. Robertson, Ardern, Faafoi in Labour and many in the Nats have these narrow profiles.
The public hear similar mechanical messaging styles.
The public turn off.
In the 1970s UK Labour had a third of its MPs come from labouring and manual work backgrounds, including a couple of dozen MPs who were former coal miners. The unions frequently sponsored workers from within their own ranks to run as candidates in electorates.
Today, Labour all around the world are professional middle class and upper middle class politicians: former student politicians, former Parliamentary staffers, former academics and policy wonks, PhDs and upper middle class professionals.
Labour thinks that it represents the best interests of almost all NZers; sadly only about one in five voters agreed.
When a powerful group at HQ all have the same career profile then there is a systemic problem. Robertson, Ardern, Faafoi in Labour and many in the Nats have these narrow profiles.
Yep. Hipkins. It’s a self perpetuating systemic issue with Labour now, as you infer.
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
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Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
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The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
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The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
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62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
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Further evidence of a society in disarray.
The selfish neo-liberal approach is damaging the social structure.
Don’t expect the Herald to make the link between an economic system and such consequences, though.
However the Spirit Level has the research to prove it.
‘New research has found that New Zealanders are losing touch with their neighbours – and it’s affecting our wellbeing.
In the recently released results of the Sovereign Wellness Index, New Zealand trailed behind other countries when it came social connections and community, with our neighbourly relations particularly lacking.
“We came last when compared to 29 European countries that deployed the same survey, which is not only a disappointing result but, when compared to the first Sovereign Wellbeing Index in 2013, it shows no improvement,” said Grant Schofield professor of public health at AUT University, who led the research.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11450741
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/spirit-level
I’ve been watching “Someone else’s country” again. In a general way you see the machinery at work during the 80’s/90’s that began to transform our society from a collective and cohesive one to a self serving and socially isolating one.
It’s certainly not in our imaginations that this transition occurred. The theorist, Uri Bronfenbrenner, who studied Human Development came up with his well known Ecological Theory to illustrate the impact of systems, including political systems upon the development of the individual. The political system exists within the Chronosystem. See handy chart below:
http://cicsworld.centerforics.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/02061.jpeg
On the development where I live it’s all too easy to see the effect of community cohesion break down. It’s on the outer perimeter of existing suburbs, people are reliant of cars despite a good bus service, and very few residents have put any effort into creating gardens in the neighbourhood. There appears to be no connection to nature or one another.
To try and combat this sense of alienation I joined neighbourly.co.nz in an attempt to get people talking and break the ice. (The founder of that website is quoted in the Herald article) Twice I advertised an an afternoon tea at our place to discuss community resilience and response during an emergency, to be hosted by my husband whose a civil defence volunteer. Not one response from the 100+ members on the site. Twice I advertised an all ages kite flying day, a get to know your neighbours thing and once again, not one response.
It’s really quite depressing living here, but it’s what you do when you can’t afford to live in the established neighbourhoods closer to town.
Interestingly it’s those neighbourhoods that appear to be going from strength to strength with their efforts to improve social cohesion. There are many reports in the local papers about all the events they put on and their community building activities.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see more fracturing of social cohesion as we continue to sprawl out into former farmlands and as we move further away from our formerly collective and caring society. It can’t be denied that this is political in its origin.
The dismantling of the “awards” system for purposes of workplace bargaining along with disestablishing compulsory unionism should not be underestimated as to why there is less social cohesion in NZ society today. We have been forced into believing the neo liberal framing of the narrative that individual responsibility is saintly and collectivism & the concept of team work only works when it is controlled by the privileged and powerful for the benefits of capital.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a link existed between the politically motivated promotion of individualism in the workplace, the loss of widespread Union membership and diminishing social cohesion. – solidarity and collective strength is something that spreads beyond the walls of the workplace and into people’s consciousness.
You lose those bonds and surely that weakens the community as a whole. Think of the lock outs and strikes of the pre 1990 ECA era and how neighbours and sometimes local businesses rallied around to support the workers.
There are many contributing factors though and we are a long way now, from where we used to be.
The problem with the mass developments, like the one I live on, is often they’re out of sight out of mind, they’re new and not part of the culture of the region or city and all the more isolated because of it. It’s made worse by the fact that they often don’t have any amenities (shops etc) and no recreational facilities so there is no gathering place, something once so crucial to human socialising.
Thanks Rosie, I think you are 100% correct. I recall attending union meetings where the topic of conversation wasn’t solely focused on pay & conditions. Large work places were especially fertile ground for wider social issue type conversations. Where else could a large group of working people come together and share their thoughts and points of view on topics as diverse as social welfare benefits ( for freezing workers whose work was seasonal this was important – still is -) or the Vietnam war ( the recent deployment of troops to the Middle East makes that conversation as meaningful today as it was back in the 60’s & 70’s ).
The white apartheid regime in South Africa, especially when the All Blacks were due to tour was a hot topic that divided loyalties but raised consciousness levels of the many who supported tours, albeit begrudgingly and often with the exchange of more than a few words!
Of course it wasn’t all beer & skittles. People were shouted down. The loudest voice was sometimes the only one heard, while others were handier with their tongues then their mitts. But it was all part of the growing pains of a new and growing nation – we still are -.
I sympathise with what you are having to endure and as social animals we deserve better.
I should probably make it clear that when I speak of pre 1990 ECA era workplaces I speak not from experience but from learning from doco’s and sitting and listening to the fascinating stories of older Union activists.
You echo what my friend told me of his experiences in a large workplace where people sat in the canteen and discussed the Springbok tour. He was deeply involved in the anti tour movement and discussions got very lively, there was some aggro but on the whole, people did get to learn and came round to understanding why he did what he did, even if they didn’t always support him.
As for the ECA, I had been in the work force only two years before the ECA was introduced and the changes were horrendous. Our pay was dropped as we lost our penal rates and we had to work 6 days instead of 5 just to make up for the loss in wages. Retailers got to exploit the new law and it made it cheaper for them to keep shops open for longer. Thats were our long opening hours in retail came from, the ECA of 1990.
Bastards. Thats what woke me up. After that I started paying attention to what politicians do and what we can do to stop them.
I’m quite sure we share different political beliefs Rosie, but can I just say I was quite moved by your story. Well spoken.
Thanks Jan
Stingy farmers named and shamed on social media.
‘Farmers seeking staff for the new milking season risk being named and shamed on social media if the money being offered in their job advertisement is below the minimum wage.
Outgoing Waikato Federated farmers dairy chairman Craig Littin revealed that trade unions were picking apart farm jobs placed on Fonterra’s Farm Source website.
Littin told farmers at the group’s annual meeting that unions were doing simple calculations around listed salary, hours worked and days off and posting them on social media.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/68509128/stingy-farmers-named-and-shamed-on-social-media
Helen Kelly has been doing that for months. Some of the jobs she highlights are atrocious. It highlights how NZ is becoming a low wage, high hours economy.
telling headlines eh…stingy, not illegal, naming and shaming, not prosecution.
New Zealand’s ‘rock star economy’ is growing slower.
‘New Zealand’s recent economic growth is actually lower in the last two years than it has averaged over the last 20, despite being hailed as a “rock star economy”.
Quarterly growth figures show the economy grew on average 2.8 per cent between 1995 and 2014, slightly more than the 2.6 per cent it averaged in 2013-14.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/68626049/new-zealands-rock-star-economy-is-growing-slower
So the Herald is now praising David Cunliffe’s CGT policies (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11450781).
I now look forward to it apologising to David for its Donghua Liu coverage (http://thestandard.org.nz/the-more-complete-donghua-liu-timeline/).
Yes… but at the same time not so subtly putting the knife into Little for shying away from CGT as it was seen as a vote shedder. Labour was on the right track, but really failed to deliver a clear and concise CGT policy that was not easily picked apart, with some artistic scaremongering, by the Nats.
@ Ben
Yes I thought that too. Why should the Hairy offer positives about Cunliffe? Just a way to pour a little salt and water into any crack they might find in Labour skin.
Not sure that Labour has ditched the CGT. Didn’t they just comment that it was the wrong time and not well presented to the electorate at that time. Now on the back burner.
CGT is one of the many previous policies Labour has under review – whether it gets picked up again is still debatable – there may well be other ways of dealing with property speculation eg removing tax benefits like property losses against other income.
Hi ianmac, I don’t think it was a case of being badly presented, but the political climate that still existed prior to the election made it the wrong time. To my way of thinking David Parker did a very good job of presenting it, but he was up against a well resourced and hostile political machine that successfully convinced the public they were going to “lose lots of money” when they sold their houses.
I hope Labour has finally learned the lesson that a little bit of pre-election subterfuge is inevitable if you want to get into power and make a real difference for everyone and not just a chosen few.
In an ideal world, none of this would be necessary…
Notes for Labour Party handlers #2:
“Phrases of a negative tone that have as the subject, “things that aren’t big”, should never leave the leader’s mouth. Instead, try positive expositions on how things that are not big often become important, and are necessary to success.”
yeah it’s the basics…
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/05/19/what-happens-if-there-is-another-example-of-key-pulling-a-womans-hair-in-a-workplace/
Hmmm? Possible that someone knows that there is? Indeed what then!
Very cryptic indeed. Sounds like there is another case of hair pulling waiting in the wings.
“He” behaves like those horrible boys in my day who liked pulling wings off butterflies and tipping baby birds out of their nests.
And in a Government department.. was this Roger Sutton’s ponytail?
Bradbury shouldn’t play games with this (as evidenced by his readers comments who either make jokes or say nothing will happen).
This story highlights the effects of a funding freeze on services.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/273983/govt-won't-'prop-up'-counselling-service
I am disappointed that there is not more coverage of this and more dissembling of the way National frame moderate CPI-based increases in funding to essential services as ‘propping up’.
No such concern at ‘propping up’ yachties or aluminium smelters owned by wealthy overseas companies.
Listening confirmed my take-away from lasts nights Native Affairs – Tolley’s a dissembling fool.
@ 22 minutes, Mihi Forbes has the fool on the rack over the make up the CYF review panel and lack of Māori input.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/native-affairs/S09E011/native-affairs
But to her credit MS Tolley has not checked the bloodlines which no Minister of the Crown would do. (Sarc)
Mihi is pretty good in a quiet understated way.
I’m not sure why but the bloodline references turned my stomach.
And in IMO Mihi Forbes is by far the best interviewer on the box today.
Defining poverty down
And National’s actual priorities?
Proof, if any more was actually needed, that National just doesn’t give a shit about anything except protecting the status quo.
Luxon from Airnz on line with Radionz at 9.35am. He is one of those fast speakers who don’t sound as if there is room for thought between sentences! Comes up with a block of words that provide an explanation as to why they are doing okay as they are.
He is being questioned about their attitude to the provincial services and lack of co-operation. Highly complex systems are needed by the replacement regional services with IT etc.
Seems to be good at batting away suggestions. At a fast pace.
Mike Yardley – columnist for The Press seems to be kept awake at night at the thought of the City of Christchurch owning power grids and airports.
Auckland councillor Penny Webster is alarmed that some controls should be put on dairies selling sugar laden food. …the suggestions were “totally overboard” and she would oppose them if they were put before the council.
Sour woman, don’t know what her spiel to get into Council was. It couldn’t have been to help the people with planning and action to have a healthy and happy community.
The idea is to act with plans to lobby for changes to the Resource Management Act to give councils the power to stop new dairies, convenience stores and takeaways being built, in the same way they can for alcohol outlets.
Sounds a good idea. Talk about supermarkets and garages also being lolly outlets is just a smokescreen, and a strawman argument. The dairies are local, common and easily accessed. Way back, on my way to Sunday School, I would spend my collection money on chocolate fish, so know about the sweet temptation! Also I have had a dairy and being near a school is being near a good customer source for sales, and also on the downside, for shop stealing.
Retail industry lobbies and spokespeople for dairy owners, often Indian, need to step back or else they will be viewed negatively. They already are seen often running liquor stores in poor areas, and making a living from selling goods with a health-destroying effect will not give them mana in the community, quite the opposite.
Webster is from the Act party.
Sacha Useful to know. It is good that ACT are staying true to their do-nothing, don’t care motto.
During the apartheid era various performers disgraced themselves by playing at Sun City.
Today, Israel offers a lucrative market for various musicians. Some people just play there and take the blood money; some declare their love for the repressive racist state and complain how it is misunderstood. The latest ratbag in this category is the airhead Lady Gaga.
Meanwhile Roger Waters, ex of Pink Floyd, maintains his integrity, calling on artists to turn down offers to play there.
Pimping for Israel: Lady Gaga, Madonna and Dionne Warwick:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/pimping-for-israel-lady-gaga-madonna-and-dionne-warwick/
Why not just say that you don;t like Israelis
I imagine because that is not what he is saying Ron.
Ron Why don’t you just say that you do like Israelis, no matter what nasty people say about them – like running over protesters with a bulldozer. Using massive force against puny protests etc. But perhaps you are amoral as they have chosen to be.
Well I do like Israelis, I have not meet any that I dislike. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for some of people of other countries that I have met.
Better put me on the list
Don’t like the Israeli government or their policies of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and lethal use of heavy military weapons on civilians. That’s quite different to “not liking Israelis.”
Golly you are going to have a real problem with Hamas, ISISL, Boko Haram then
Israeli Apologist Vs Pro-Palestinian Celebs and near-Celebs (a little list I’ve been compiling)
(one or two, as you’ll see, are now deceased)
In no particular order
Israel Cheerleaders (includes everything from extensive outspoken support for Israel to explicit opposition to BDS to signing pro-Israeli petitions/advertisements – usually as PR exercises during one of Israel’s regular massacres in Gaza, the West Bank or Lebanon)
Serena Williams (US tennis champ)
Ellen DeGeneres (US comedian/talkshow host)
Samuel L Jackson (US actor)
Scarlett Johansson (US actress/model)
Lady Gaga (US musician)
Simon Cowell (UK record/tv producer/prominent Tory supporter)
Vanessa Williams (US singer/actress)
Howard Stern (US radio personality)
Sylvester Stallone (US actor)
Nicole Kidman (Aussie actress)
Dennis Hopper (US actor/prominent Republican)
Bruce Willis (US actor/Republican)
Danny De Vito and Rhea Perleman (US actors/couple)
Don Johnson (US actor)
James Wood (US actor/prominent Republican)
Charlie Daniels (US Country Music)
Bill Maher (US comedian/talkshow host)
Dionne Warwick (US singer)
Ashton Kutcher (talentless US actor)
Jesse Eisenberg (US actor)
Joan Rivers (US comedian)
Jon Voight (US actor/prominent Republican)
Mayim Bialik (US actress)
Justin Timberlake (UK singer)
Mark Pellegrino (US actor – Lost/Dexter)
Robert De Niro (US actor)
Kelly Preston (US actress)
William Hurt (US actor)
Danny Schuler (US musician – Biohazard)
Jackie Mason (US comedian)
Gene Simmons (remarkably talentless US musician)
Ridley Scott (US Director)
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones (US/UK actors/’power couple’)
Dick Donner (US Director)
Tony Scott (US Director)
Michael Mann (US Director)
Elton John (UK singer/drama queen)
Patricia Heaton (US actress)
Barbra Streisand (US actress/singer)
Gal Gadot (US actress)
Adam Baldwin (US actor)
Madonna (US singer)
Adam Sandler (talentless US actor/comedian)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (over-the-top US/Austrian actor/politician)
John Lydon (UK musician – Sex Pistols)
Chuck Norris (US actor)
Maureen Lipman (UK actress)
Sympathy for Palestinians/Gaza/BDS and explicit criticism of Israel
Nelson Mandela
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Naomi Wolf (US author/political consultant)
Danny Glover (US actor)
Alice Walker (US writer/poet)
Roger Waters (UK musician – Pink Floyd)
Rihanna (US/Barbadian singer)
Alan Rickman (UK actor)
Mia Farrow (US actress)
Brian Eno (UK musician/producer/prominent LibDem)
Anthony Bourdain (US celebrity chef)
Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz (Spanish actors/’power couple’)
Rob Schneider (US actor/comedian)
Rosie O’Donnell (US actress/talkshow host)
John Cusack (US actor)
Selena Gomez (US actress/singer)
Stephen Hawking (UK leading Physicist)
Peter Gabriel (UK musician)
Bryan Adams (Canadian Singer)
Bobby Gillespie (Scots musician – Primal Scream)
William Dalrymple (UK journalist/historian)
David Morrissey (UK actor)
Maxine Peake (UK actress)
Alexei Sayle (UK comedian)
Mario Balotelli (Italian/Ghanaian Football player)
Whoopi Goldberg (US comedian/actress)
Dwight Howard (US NBA Basketballer)
Talib Kweli (US Hip Hop artist)
Joey Barton (UK Football)
Eddie Vedder (US singer – Pearl Jam)
Jarvis Cocker (UK musician – Pulp)
Sinead O’Connor (Irish singer/musician)
Zayn Malik (UK Boy Band singer)
Mark Ruffalo (US actor)
John Stewart (US – The Daily Show)
Wallace Shawn (US actor/playwright)
Jonathan Demme (US director)
Emma Thompson (UK actress)
Elvis Costello (UK musician)
Bella Freud (UK fashion designer)
Ken Loach (UK director/filmmaker)
Robert del Naja (UK musician – Massive Attack)
Jemima Khan (UK journalist/activist)
Will Self (UK writer)
Pedro Almodovar (Spanish director)
Hanif Kureishi (UK playwright/filmmaker)
Esther Freud (UK novelist)
Laura Bailey (UK actress)
Jeremy Hardy (UK comedian)
David Randall (UK music producer)
Boots Riley (US rapper/arts producer)
Chris Hedges (US journalist)
Kool A.D/Victor Vazquez (US musician)
Michael Ondaatje (Canadian writer)
Mike Leigh (UK writer/director)
Vanessa Redgrave (UK actress)
Christiano Ronaldo (Portuguese Football legend)
Lupe Fiasco (US Hip Hop)
Michael Radford (UK director/screenwriter)
Amare Stondemire (US NBA Basketballer)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italian footballer – Goalkeeper)
Dustin Hoffman (US actor)
Cynthia Nixon (US actress – Sex in the City)
Stephen Fry (UK actor/comedian)
Miriam Margolyes (UK actress)
Harold Pinter (UK playwright legend)
Jimmy McGovern (UK screenwriter)
Zoe Wanamaker (UK actress)
Jenny Diski (UK author)
Ben Elton (UK writer/comedian)
Susan Wooldridge (UK actress)
Patrick Neville (UK actor)
Tom Adams (US musician)
Andy de la Tour (UK actor/writer)
Mike Hodges (UK director/screenwriter)
Earl Okin (UK musician/comedian)
Hayley Carmichael (UK actress)
Reem Kelani (UK musician)
David Calder (UK actor)
Norma Cohen (UK actress)
Somaye Zadeh (UK singer/musician)
Pablo Navarette (director/producer)
Chris Thomas (UK director)
Laurie Penny (UK journalist)
Mark Thomas (UK comedian)
Kate Tempest (UK musician)
Robert Wyatt (UK musician)
Might want to throw the SNP on that second list Swordfish 😉
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/scottish-first-minister-6963
Yeah, well I guess the SNP has, in its own way, become a kind of “celeb or near-celeb” since the Referendum/May Election. 🙂
That’s a pretty refreshing stance, akin to the position adopted by various Nordic Left-Socialist parties (and, to some extent, Germany’s Die Linke).
Starkly contrasting with Britain’s two major parties with their powerful Friends of Israel lobbies (although, it seems Labour started to make some – admittedly tentative and half-hearted – moves away from knee-jerk Israeli support under Ed Miliband – enough to upset Zionist erstwhile-Labour-supporters like Maureen Lipman).
I thought Maureen Lipman was a humorist. Has she lost her fine sense of what’s ridiculous and what’s nauseous?
That’s amazing list Swordfish. Whaleoil for NZ and there is a new company starting up. They have very fresh ideas in business in Israel, very go-ahead, eating and living for two states I suppose has that effect.
Without going through the list with a fine tooth comb but Dennis Hoppers been dead 5 years and Joan Rivers passed away last year I’d suggest your lists are a bit out of date
Hence, my second sentence (in parentheses)
Ridley Scott’s a Brit..
Our scumbag PM is addressing child poverty – by redefining what counts:
https://www.greens.org.nz/news/press-releases/pms-%E2%80%98oliver-twist%E2%80%99-poverty-measure-excuse-breaking-budget-promise
There is a Neolib view in New Zealand that restricting the DPB stops teenage pregnancies ( see Post comments by Andrew on Miteria Turei’s May guest blog on the ‘Daily Blog’)
This is counter to the international prevailing view that looks at other social issues such as young female wellbeing and rights ….contraception, supportive family , education and employment independence opportunities etc…better to address these issues than chauvinist female victim blaming and making children of the poor even more disadvantaged
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy
“In developed countries, teenage pregnancies are often associated with social issues, including lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and other poorer life outcomes in children of teenage mothers. Teenage pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage, and carries a social stigma in many communities and cultures.[8] By contrast, teenage parents in developing countries are often married, and their pregnancies welcomed by family and society. However, in these societies, early pregnancy may combine with malnutrition and poor health care to cause medical problems.
Teenage pregnancies appear to be preventable by comprehensive sex education and access to birth control.[9] Abstinence-only sex education does not appear to be effective.[10]”
http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/36/4/415.abstract
In countries where women have equality of opportunity and good contraception options they do not choose to have teenage pregnancies…this is a feminist issue , a human rights issue and also an overpopulation issue
“There is a Neolib view in New Zealand that restricting the DPB stops teenage pregnancies..”
Even if it did, it would be no justification for making children and their parents suffer financial and material hardship. But since ‘the left’ (I’m using that term loosely) has ceded the debate on just about every fucking thing these days, we ain’t going to hear how it’s simply decent for society to support those most in need of support as much as possible.
Smile of the morning, I got a phishing email pretending to be vodafone and it was signed off with ‘Yours Truly’.
Just giving up on Vodafone and switching to Spark @ $30 less per month. Hope the service is OK.
Vodafone is bad, but Spark is worse 😉 I stick with vodafone because the call centre is better. That I have to call the call centre that much to be able to tell is an indictment of the whole telecommunications industry in NZ.
I have never had to ring Spark as I have never had a problem, and have been with them for years.
Banksie.
Discuss,
Kim Dotcom changed his evidence.
zero credibility now for the fat german
More like Banksie’s wife got some mates to make up some extra evidence. If you have enough money, you can buy just about anything these days – well, unless the US government is after you.
Yeah more like that
“zero credibility now for the fat german”
NOW?
Pity all those gullible leftists who let their bullshit detecting faculties get completely disarmed by the hope that KDC might be able to do some real damage to JK didn’t realise that THEN.
Too late now. Three more years….
Just hope those of you who got taken for absolute dummies will remember this case next time you get tempted by a false messiah pandering to your ‘obsession with JK’ weak point.
At least now its official before the courts. Dotcom is telly porkies.
John Banks was/is the most credible witness.
I have a collateralised future dividend option on Auckland Harbour Bridge that might interest you.
But apparently there are two harbour bridges and you have conveniently forgotten to tell the crown about the other one?
Metaphor fail: Banks agrees that donations were discussed; the disclosure failure was the Crown’s.
Nice try though: far better than Alwyn’s feeble effort.
So you were the mug who bought it were you?
Now you realise that you were stupid to do so you are trying to palm it off on some other sucker. I doubt you will find anyone though who is quite as credulous as you were though.
Some interesting questions during question time today in parliament.
Here are the questions:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1505/S00275/questions-for-oral-answer-may-19.htm
Here is the parliament TV available from 2 pm:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/about-parliament/see-hear/ptv
Cue a post and one thousand comment thread about judicial corruption. What with centre-right governments being elected around the world the left can’t take a trick at the moment.
The anglo-saxon FVEY nations have systems biased towards the establishment conservative (now right wing) players. No one argues that is not the case.
John Banks gets off, wipes egg from face, and denies it was ever there. Proceeds to fowlhouse for further feathered foolhardy, furtive and futile fandangos.
The court found it was never there. He has been acquitted, therefore did not commit the crime of which he was accused.
Never mind the courts. Do you really think he is not guilty?
Mud’s mud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU46_HMmziw
@ SHG
Well that’s good for you.
John Banks acquitted today of submitting false returns. Honest John at last.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/68668623/john-banks-acquitted-by-court-of-appeal-on-falsereturn-charges
Post up now. http://thestandard.org.nz/john-banks-conviction-quashed/
Todays the private sector can’t do it better than a collective comment.
Have a wee look at the phone book. I know you probably don’t – but at work yesterday we lost the internet – and, well, we tried using a phone book. It became a nightmare of epic proportions.
Try finding a government department – or anything which is community based. Ministry of health. And you local community centre.
Now that has probably frustrated you no end – think back before a private company got hold of it and it was privatised.
Just heard john key reiterate that there is no housing crisis in Auckland, and Andrew Little say there is one.
Why then has no one asked john Key what symptoms would be present in his opinion he would see for him to acknowledge that there is a crisis.
Meanwhile Rohingya people from Myanmar float on boats crying for water, fighting, hungry, lying sick. What can we do about it.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indonesiarealtime/2015/05/18/international-agencies-pitch-in-to-help-boat-people-in-indonesia/
What is IOM – Part of United Nations Alliance of Civilisations
http://www.unaoc.org/ibis/about/who-we-are-international-organization-for-migrations/
The IOM believes about half a dozen boats remain at sea, some close to shore. Mr. Lowry likened the search for the vessels that are further out to “looking for specific needles in a giant haystack,” and says a much greater search and rescue effort from the region’s governments is needed.
Food has been dropped to some by Thai helicopter. Indonesia is also offering help.
What is New Zealand doing to help its trading partner and Pacific neighbour Indenesia.
Two days ago –
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/15/asia/thailand-malaysia-rohingya-refugees/
The Thai govt is cracking down on smugglers. This boat had called into Malaysia which had provided water and food and sent it off. It broke down off Thailand, but after the engine was fixed, and food and water given it went back to Malaysia. An observer says it is like a game of ping-pong. And many boats have been abandoned by the smugglers because they have not been able to offload their passengers and are afraid for their own safety.
We need to help these truly helpless If not – The shame is on all of us. The USA military budget is $600 billion, Australian $32 B. The matter is widely reported by media from wealthy nations.
I did a google search –
What aid offered to Myanmar boat people by Red Cross
Red Cross have nothing up about these people, last is Nepal.
Then World Vision below
Then Oxfam – they have been working in Myanmar, but the boats no.
World Vision – a summary of the problemMyanmar’s Rohingya minority adrift with little aid
As many as 120,000 members of the Rohingya ethnic and religious group have fled Myanmar and Bangladesh by sea in the past three years. Now, about 8,000 of them are stranded in boats in the Andaman sea, having been abandoned by their traffickers as a result of crackdowns on international trafficking. Boatloads of Rohingya that have been left adrift without food and water are now being turned away by Thai, Malaysian, and Indonesian authorities. About 1.3 million Rohingya have lived for generations in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, but are not counted among its citizens. The Rohingya have long suffered displacement, abuse, and extreme poverty.
Google headings – The Guardian –
Burma’s boatpeople ‘faced choice of annihilation
also
5 days ago – With up to 8000 desperate people – Rohingya Muslims from Burma and … leaving an estimated 6,000 refugees to fend for themselves, according to reliable aid .
USNews –
500 people on a boat found Wednesday off northern Penang state were given …
Yahoo –
Southeast Asia for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Myanmar’s 1.3 million …
independent.co.uk –
Southeast Asia for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Myanmar’s 1.3 million …
phuketwan –
Nations Must Speedily Aid Desperate Boatpeople, Says Rights Group … to work together to rescue these desperate people and offer them humanitarian aid, help in … ”The world will judge these governments by how they treat these most …
msn news –
4 days ago – More than 1,600 migrants and refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh have…
trust –
Jeffrey Savage, who works for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees … boats for the next 20 days and given only small amounts of food and water.
jakartapost –
Australia’s slashing of foreign aid by almost Aus$1.0 billion (US$800 million) will hurt the most .
thedailybeast –
4 days ago – BANGKOK—As boatloads of stateless Rohingya people and other migrants drift off the … 8,000 boat people seeking to land somewhere—anywhere—as they struggle with a ..
Rohingya Vision TV | Human Trafficking
http://www.rvisiontv.com/category/daily-news-2/human-trafficking/
6 days ago – … Myanmar migrants on a boat stranded for a week in the Andaman Sea with no ..
Rohingya Blogger
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/
6 hours ago – The price of living in a world of rules and norms widely shared is that you do not get … Malaysia prodded Myanmar on Sunday to halt the exodus from its shores as ..
Can AsEAN help in its own territory?
NON-INTERVENTION PRINCIPLE
At the core of ASEAN’s inaction is its principle of non-interference in internal political affairs of its member states, observers said.
“There is a lot of sensitivity, a lot of prejudices and a lot of mutual suspicion that make it difficult for any entity to do something about this situation,” Surin said.
The U.N. has said the deadly pattern of migration across the Bay of Bengal would continue unless Myanmar ends discrimination against the Rohingya.
Most of Myanmar’s 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions. Almost 140,000 were displaced in clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012.
Is the UN going to wait till talks on May 29 which Myanmar says it will not attend if the word Rohingya is mentioned! Can people live on air and hope? Is this a time to put aside regional thoughts and make it an all-world crisis and do the blaming and reproaching later!!
Recent
http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/05/18/indonesias-boat-people-the-numbers/
Help Medecins Sans Frontieres with donation? http://www.msf.org.au/refugee/?gclid=CLmuoN7jzMUCFUIAvAodPJgA1Q
After this is over it might be that we should look at helping Muslim Aid as a counter to so much of the destruction and violence that they are suffering. It might help in the healing that hopefully would come soon.
Muslim Aid
This is a statement from somebody who doesn’t understand economics. Economics isn’t about money but about resources and we’re running out of them.
There’s also the point that, no matter how much money was spent on militaries around the world, almost none of those resources would help the people on the boats even if they hadn’t left their homeland. You cannot eat or drink steel.
You can’t say that if we just spent the money here rather than there and everything will be fixed because of the difference between what resources are being used and what resources are needed to bring about the change you desire.
What are you on about DTB. You’re making an argument out of a mud pie.
If countries can afford to spend on war to that extent then they can find the machinmery to fly or sail to help those people. They can find a bit in a corner of their extensive budgets to pay for water food and humanitarian aid. Don’t make a blockbuster drama out of a very simple premise.
Stop being so objective too, when people are hurting. They don’t want your considered opinion on the cost benefit of helping them, or care whether you care or not, just as long as you don’t stop other people from paying attnetion to their plight which was what my bloody comment was about.
I’ve taken the leap and joined twitter. So if you really, really need to know two minutes ahead of time that I’m about to put up a post, this is the place for you:
Tweets by tereoputake
Any PR/media consultants/publicists with the inside goss to share are welcome to send it to me as well. No promises that it’ll make it into the Standard though; my bullshit detector is finely tuned.
Me on Twitter
Cheers, DTB. Only quite a few thousand tweets before I catch up with you!
Meh, I’m only a baby tweeter really. A mere 7000 tweets in 5 years.
Add it to the twitter-auto-poster – right side of a post.
No women should look at this link – you might just get the wrong idea.
Labour Party in England is repeating the exact same mistake as in the last leader selection: only Oxbridge graduates who subsequently became “Special Advisers” are entered into the race.
Andy Burnham: English, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
Yvette Cooper: PPE, Balliol College, Oxford.
Mary Creagh:Languages, Pembroke College, Oxford.
Liz Kendall: History, Queen’s College, Cambridge.
Tristram Julian William Hunt: History, Trinity College, Cambridge.
As long as they continue to draw from this small clique they will continue to be loosers.
In contract the SNP intake is remarkably representative of broad society.
Pretty much the same issue here. Caused in no small part by the destruction of the trade union movement and Labours natural leaders. Of course Andrew Little at least has a union background and a strong understanding of workers issues. Unfortunately the union movement in this country is predominantly led by academics and they are appointed rather than elected, albeit they are in all probability good people with sound humanitarian values, but I would doubt that any of them would have ever lined up in the dole queue waiting to see their case officer or boned a quarter of beef or sweated over a cheese vat or polished a lino floor 40 hours a week.
With respect I think you’d find that many people with academic qualifications, especially older ones have in their student days.done the sorts of jobs that you mention.
yeah but that aint the same is it.
not
by
a
long
shot
aint no substitute for experience and time
and your point is? Roger Douglas was a pig farmer once.
I wasn’t trying to be disingenuous as I think their hearts and intentions are noble and some of them could have (had) high paying positions utilising their qualifications in other vocations.
But I wonder if they have the passion, understanding and desire to lead those who perform those jobs their entire working lives? Douglas didn’t.
Oh well I hope I’m wrong.
My point about Oxbridge, SPADs and the small elite which had control of the English Labour Party.
There are 109 universities in the current UK. There is an additional 133 Higher Education Institutes that don’t use the term university. The great prosperity bestowed (another story) on “Oxbridge” was and is marvellous. I don’t begrudge them their history and their current standing as two great places of learning, research and thought leadership.
When the five contestants for Labour leadership in 2010 and the five in 2015 all come from a tiny section of society there is a systemic problem.
No argument from me Northsider. I’m with you on this one.
My 25.1.1.2 was a response to 25.1.1.
Seems to me that Labour here and the UK need a broader mix of people standing for public office and a reconnection with communities and their real needs. Ain’t necessarily enough to simply ask about & attempt to resolve there issues, but more about having as their representatives those people themselves. Not really convinced that Grant is capable of representing the financial views of labour simply because he picked a few apples during the summer break.
I’ve no issue with an individual Oxbridge grad and spad becoming a Labour MP. I’ve no issue with an individual rolling down the hill from Victoria to a back office role in a political office and then onto becoming an MP.
When a powerful group at HQ all have the same career profile then there is a systemic problem. Robertson, Ardern, Faafoi in Labour and many in the Nats have these narrow profiles.
The public hear similar mechanical messaging styles.
The public turn off.
In the 1970s UK Labour had a third of its MPs come from labouring and manual work backgrounds, including a couple of dozen MPs who were former coal miners. The unions frequently sponsored workers from within their own ranks to run as candidates in electorates.
Today, Labour all around the world are professional middle class and upper middle class politicians: former student politicians, former Parliamentary staffers, former academics and policy wonks, PhDs and upper middle class professionals.
Labour thinks that it represents the best interests of almost all NZers; sadly only about one in five voters agreed.
Yep. Hipkins. It’s a self perpetuating systemic issue with Labour now, as you infer.
Tell me something, interesting?
Eggs don’t bounce and steam rollers don’t roll steam!