Open mike 19/06/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 19th, 2015 - 72 comments
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72 comments on “Open mike 19/06/2015 ”

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  1. infused 1
    19 June 2015 at 7:54 am

    1st?

  3. Penny Bright 3
    19 June 2015 at 8:15 am

    BIG PHARMA will hate this UK development!

    Time for New Zealand to do the same?

    http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/16/chief-medical-officer-calls-review-after-statins-tamiflu-storm

    Chief medical officer calls for review after statins and Tamiflu storm
    Sally Davies writes to Academy of Medical Sciences in wake of negative press and public concern regarding the drugs

    Chief medical officer Sally Davies has expressed concerns over statins and Tamiflu. Photograph: Ken McKay/Rex

    Sarah Boseley Health editor

    Tuesday 16 June 2015 18.00 BST Last modified on Wednesday 17 June 2015 11.27 BST

    The chief medical officer, Sally Davies, has requested an expert review to shore up public confidence about the safety and effectiveness of medicines, in the wake of controversy around statins and Tamiflu.

    Davies wrote to ask the Academy of Medical Sciences if it would undertake the work. “I am very concerned about the lack of resolution of the statins and side-effects issues in both the medical and general press,” she said.

    “Coming on top of the debate about Tamiflu and the response to the ONS [Office for National Statistics] study on medication levels, there seems to be a view that doctors over-medicate, so it is difficult to trust them, and that clinical scientists are all beset by conflicts of interest from industry funding – and are therefore untrustworthy too. It cannot be in the interests of patients and the public’s health for this debate to continue as it is.”

    She had “reluctantly come to the conclusion that we do need an authoritative independent report looking at how society should judge the safety and efficacy of drugs as an intervention,” she said in her letter to the academy’s president, Sir John Tooke.

    There has been concern in some parts of the medical profession and the public about the widespread prescription of statins, which lower cholesterol. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended that anybody with a 10% risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years should take them – guidance that led to a fierce public war of words between doctors over the interpretation of the evidence. Critics of statins say the benefits do not outweigh the potential harm of side-effects.

    Other scientists have been investigating the trials used to license the antiviral drug Tamiflu. The Cochrane collaboration, together with the British Medical Journal (BMJ), campaigned for years to get access to the detailed trial results and last year published their findings, saying that the drug did not reduce hospital admissions or the complications of a flu bout.

    The academy has appointed Sir Michael Rutter, a former vice-president and professor of developmental psychopathology at King’s College London to head the working group that meetson Wednesday to scope out the review.

    News of Davies’ move comes ahead of a BBC Radio 4 programme looking at questions over the efficacy of alteplase, a clot-busting drug given to patients within hours of a stroke. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority has set up a working group to look at the evidence from trials of the drug. Concern was originally raised by Roger Shinton, a stroke specialist, in a letter to the Lancet medical journal.

    The BMJ, which published the papers critical of both statins and Tamiflu, is campaigning against over-treatment of patients by their doctors. Its Too Much Medicine campaign is intended to draw attention to the potential for harm as well as the waste of resources involved in over-medicalisation.

    This article was amended on 17 June 2015. The original referred to the Royal Academy of Science instead of the Academy of Medical Sciences. This has been corrected .
    ———————————————————————-

    Penny Bright

    http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz

    • Colonial Rawshark 3.1
      19 June 2015 at 10:52 am

      THanks for this important update, Penny.

      As most of us already realise, big medicine is not about science, it is about big money.

    • Bill 3.2
      19 June 2015 at 12:55 pm

      Am I correct in remembering that Tamiflu was pushed onto governments after being fast tracked (perhaps) courtesy of Dick Cheney who had financial dealings with the company?

      edit – Rumsfeld

      http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/04/27/725102/-Tamiflu-Rumsfeld-and-Cheney

      The real point of interest is the company in California who developed Tamiflu, Gilead Sciences, listed on the NASDAQ as (GILD). US Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, was Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences from 1997 until early 2001 when he became Defense Secretary.

      A as-yet-unconfirmed report is that Rumsfeld recently purchased additional stock in his former company, Gilead Sciences, worth $18 million, making him one of its largest if not the largest stock owners today.

    • Bill 3.3
      19 June 2015 at 1:41 pm

      The following link gives a bit of an insight to the smoke, mirrors of drug trials. Worth the read. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/10/tamiflu-saga-drug-trials-big-pharma

      What has pissed me off for years is that the same bullshit regime that allows companies to cherry pick their own data to show efficacy also applies to psychotropic medicines (‘happy pills’). Unfortunately, the main critics – or the initial ‘whistleblower’ – hooked up with the scientologists to get info out there.

      Maybe the effect of the dismissive knee jerk reaction that is applied to their arguments will be less now?

      • weka 3.3.1
        19 June 2015 at 2:32 pm

        I think it’s safe to say by now that the whole drug trials process is so seriously flawed with cherry picking data that all medications should be understood in that light (not that all research is flawed, but that it’s so prevalent that it’s hard to know if any given trial is valid or not). There are two things holding drug companies to account to an extent. Peer review (itself seriously flawed), and science journalists. That’s pretty weak when it comes to something so serious, and often it takes years or even decades before changes can be made.

        Statins are going to be the health scandal of our time. We’ve known for a long time that the effects claimed come from massaged data interpretation, but it’s only very recently that that’s breaking out into the mainstream. That coupled with the inaccurate fat is bad messaging (also based on bad science) from public health authorities means that huge numbers of people have been given poor to damaging advice about what they should be doing.

        The biggest thing I see is the doctors are god meme that still exists so prevalently in society. Even here on ts, which let’s face is full of hyper critical commenters, there is still a strong theme of medical science is all good except for a few mistakes now and then, and so we often fail to look in depth at the fact that the problems are systemic and widespread.

        (Psych meds should have been the scandal of our time. There’s a lot of good stuff in the anti-psychiatry and psych survivor movements, including from practicing psychiatrists, about the problems with psych med research and use that doesn’t rely on the Scientology stuff)

  4. AmaKiwi 4
    19 June 2015 at 9:08 am

    Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

    There has been a major reversal of fortunes overnight. It’s very bad for TPPA opponents.

    Obama now has a good chance of getting TPPA because of a vote in the House of Representatives last night.

    It is complicated to explain but the upshot is the decision for the critical fast track approval will now go to a House and Senate conference committee.

    For details I suggest you read comments in the on-line Washington Post, NY Times, or other USA news sources.

    • Lanthanide 4.1
      19 June 2015 at 9:36 am

      Obama’s not out of the woods yet.

    • Murray Simmonds 4.2
      19 June 2015 at 4:31 pm

      Yes, over on “Stuff” (Quote)
      “The US House of Representatives on Thursday reversed course, approving “fast-track” legislation central to President Barack Obama’s trade deal with Pacific nations, including New Zealand, and sending it back to the Senate.

      The close vote in the House, which a week earlier rejected a related bill, kept alive Obama’s goal of bolstering US ties with Asia through the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, the economic element of a foreign policy shift aimed in part at countering the rising influence of China.

      The House voted 218 to 208 to give Obama the fast-track authority to speed trade deals, including the TPP, to conclusion with reduced interference from Congress.

      The TPP would encompass 40 percent of the global economy.”

      The beginning of the end to NZ Sovereignty, as we move to bow down to the whims and wishes of the US. Multinationals.

      All under ther guise of “Free Trade”. What utter bullshit!

    • Tracey 4.3
      19 June 2015 at 5:19 pm

      this is because of their add-on process. BUT also last time the fast track got reversed a number of opponents turned supporters had their coffers boosted immediately prior to the vote by donors to their individual re-election campaigns. 1.15m is all it took

      http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-30/how-little-it-cost-bribe-senates-fast-tracking-obamas-tpp-bill

  5. AmaKiwi 5
    19 June 2015 at 9:14 am

    Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

    There has been a major reversal of fortunes overnight. It’s very bad for TPPA opponents.

    Obama now has a good chance of getting TPPA because of a vote in the House of Representatives last night.

    It is complicated to explain but the upshot is the decision for the critical fast track approval will now go to a House and Senate conference committee.

    For details I suggest you read comments in the on-line Washington Post, NY Times, or other USA news sources.

    • saveNZ 5.1
      19 June 2015 at 9:44 am

      Thanks – do you have a link?

      Here are some articles about TPP from Guardian

      The Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty is the complete opposite of ‘free trade’
      Mark Weisbrot
      http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/19/trans-pacific-partnership-corporate-usurp-congress

      UN calls for suspension of TTIP talks over fears of human rights abuses
      http://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/may/04/ttip-united-nations-human-right-secret-courts-multinationals

      Medicines forecast to cost taxpayers millions more in secret TPP trade deal
      http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/23/medicines-forecast-to-cost-taxpayers-millions-more-in-secret-tpp-trade-deal

      Mass spying: how the US stamps its supremacy on the Pacific region
      Antony Loewenstein
      http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/09/mass-spying-pacific-prism

      But hey, we can believe Mike Hosking, and Granny Herald, Nothing to see here… all good…. trust John Key…..

      • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1
        19 June 2015 at 10:11 am

        As it stands NZ should be fully withdrawing from the TPPA talks. Signing should not be an option as it will be bad for NZ.

        National, who seems to work for the benefit of corporations and especially US corporations and not NZ, will sign it as fast as they can. Thing is, I’m reasonably sure that Labour would as well.

        • saveNZ 5.1.1.1
          19 June 2015 at 10:21 am

          Yes, in a Nat Lite way, Labour seemed to have agreed destroying the health system is bad in the TPPA, (but not willing to stand completely against TPP in public)

          Sign their poll (better than nothing I guess – If anyone knows any better ones..)

          Any public action from Greens or anyone else against TPPA?

          http://campaign.labour.org.nz

    • Draco T Bastard 5.2
      19 June 2015 at 4:20 pm

      The Muddled Case for Trade Agreements

      On the economic front, the trade agreements’ defenders tend to talk with both sides of their mouth. Reducing trade barriers is said to promote economic efficiency and specialization; but it is also supposed to increase exports and create jobs by increasing access to trade partners’ markets. The first of these is the conventional comparative-advantage argument for trade liberalization; the second is a mercantilist argument.

      The goals advanced by these arguments are mutually contradictory. From the standpoint of comparative advantage, gains from trade arise from imports; exports are what a country has to give up in order to afford them. These gains accrue to all countries, as long as trade expands in a balanced fashion. Trade agreements do not create jobs; they simply reallocate them across industries.

      In the mercantilist worldview, by contrast, exports are good and imports are bad. Countries that expand their net exports gain; all others lose. Trade agreements can create jobs, but only to the extent that they destroy jobs in other countries.

      Thing is, with productivity so high FTAs aren’t even translocating jobs and development. They’re destroying jobs in 1st world countries and pushing them and the development to the 3rd world.

  6. saveNZ 6
    19 June 2015 at 9:24 am

    Data-share may have saved life, Tolley says…

    Yep, the lowest of the low, apparently the cold damp house was not the problem for the death of the child, if the government could have spied on the family more, they MAY have saved her…

    Not sure what happened to those letters that were sent to government asking for help. Maybe a ‘letter’ is now like ‘social bonds’ – you need to waste tax payers money on spying on the family rather than actually responding to a letter asking for help or doing their job.

  7. AmaKiwi 7
    19 June 2015 at 9:24 am

    Some links regarding my TPPA comment above in addition to the Washington Post and NY Times.

    I am waiting for the Guardian to pick up the story. (The vote only happened 2 hours ago.)

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/bipartisan-rescue-bid-obamas-trade-agenda-31850003

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-tries-revive-obama-trade-agenda/

    • saveNZ 7.1
      19 June 2015 at 10:15 am

      Thanks – bad news indeed. Shows that traditional ‘party’ lines now are being destroyed by individuals within the party to an ideological neoliberal end. Happening everywhere, including Labour, which is why democracy and lobbyists are winning, seeking to recruit individuals across party lines to get legalisation through that is undemocratic. i.e.

      Because many Republicans do not support the TAA program, it will likely only pass with Democratic support. In an rare role reversal, Republicans are working with Mr. Obama to pass the trade deal over the objections of Democrats.

      • Colonial Rawshark 7.1.1
        19 June 2015 at 10:55 am

        “traditional party lines”? In the US you have a choice of the bankers’ party or the Other bankers’ party. Yes some elected officials and members of both parties still hold sincerely to the principles and roots of those parties, but in practice the hierarchies have long been bought out.

        Obama is the perfect front face of that phenomenon.

        • Kevin 7.1.1.1
          19 June 2015 at 1:09 pm

          I am sure there will be an increase in political donations prior to the next vote.

        • Amanda Atkinson 7.1.1.2
          19 June 2015 at 2:38 pm

          what??? ….. and you want to turn the on money printing presses here in NZ and do a Kiwi version of Quantitative Easing. Idiot. The best way to give the dirty rotten scum banking industry more profit, is your (and Russell Norman’s) stupid idea, money printing. Adding digits to banks balance sheets with a computer entrys (today’s version of money printing) is how these banks are making billions, and their share prices are flying up. That money is not worth the paper it is not printed on, but there is still a price to pay for doing it, and who bears that cost? We do. The banking industry raping the world is not a left/right issue you complete fool. It is a money printing issue.

          • Draco T Bastard 7.1.1.2.1
            19 June 2015 at 4:24 pm

            The best way to give the dirty rotten scum banking industry more profit, is your (and Russell Norman’s) stupid idea, money printing.

            Ah, no. The private banks already create around 98% of money in circulation in NZ and they’re making a massive profit from it. Taking that ability off of the private banks will drop their massive down a notch or three.

            That money is not worth the paper it is not printed on, but there is still a price to pay for doing it, and who bears that cost? We do.

            Well, that’s the thing about having it so that only the government can create money – only the government benefits from its production. And it costs the country far less.

          • Colonial Rawshark 7.1.1.2.2
            19 June 2015 at 5:24 pm

            Amanda Atkinson: you have correctly identified the priority of the US ‘Quantitative Easing’ experiment – to pump money into the financial sector and to bubble up financial asset prices.

            This is of course the classic ‘feeding Wall St’ and ‘starving Main St’ approach to (upwards wealth distribution).

            NZ could do it better and do it differently – spend the money created in order to benefit ordinary people, benefit SMEs, while putting the fat cat financial sector on a strict diet.

        • AmaKiwi 7.1.1.3
          19 June 2015 at 3:03 pm

          The USA has the best political system money can buy.

          We are trying to emulate them.

  8. Puckish Rogue 8
    19 June 2015 at 9:51 am

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11467418

    Tell you what it’d be damn funny the reaction if this was ever seriously comtemplated

    • Charles 8.1
      19 June 2015 at 11:38 am

      Unfortuntely it’s a bit of vicious cycle. Oldies know damn well what they’ve done and what they’ve taught their kids to value, and it ain’t them. No way would they trust their kids to look out for them. You could have GenX or Y kill off their parents with poverty by following Morgan’s recipe, but millenials have no moral compass either. Effectively they’d be starting from scratch on their E.Q., spirituality, or whatever you want to call it, with no authoritative guidence or impetous to make any personal serious efforts. It’s a recipe for extended, avoidable, and unnecessary disaster in this post-modern age, where anything means whatever we like. Ethical voting relies on a collective moral awareness that NZ is going hard-out to wipe-out from living memory. The band of wealth would move once again to the centre, and age of extreme wealth would drop, with more older people living in poverty as Morgan’s The Party of Young took/stole/appropriated/re-applied/pre-invested their inheritance before the oldies died.

      It’s all the worst of the bastardised left-wing redistribution slogans the right like to propagate. You can’t improve the vote by restricting the vote, can’t teach morality by acting immorally, can’t teach someone kindness by attempting to beat them to death as an example of “not kindness” and then asking them to guess what kindness is and which they prefer. (In fact you can’t teach kindness, period, but trying rarely makes the outcome worse.)

      What would be easier, flawed, but less flawed? Extend the vote to younger people (15yo perhaps), political instruction in High Schools (difficult to avoid hi-jacking but try anyway) voting for prisoners, or anyone else currently excluded. If Morgan’s centralisation of the power to decide is the “solution”, then I say more views, not less, inclusion not exclusion, would be better.

      • Puckish Rogue 8.1.1
        19 June 2015 at 2:30 pm

        Not kids and not prisoners.

        • mac1 8.1.1.1
          19 June 2015 at 2:48 pm

          “not prisoners”.

          I suppose in your cryptic way, Puckish Rogue, you are saying that prisoners should not be entitled to vote?

          Now why is that. Is that loss of civic privilege for doing a crime? Or for getting caught?

          Because if the proper punishment for having committed a crime includes loss of the vote, how many of us would be voting in 2017?

          “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” and all that, my self-admitted roguish friend. 🙂

  9. David H 9
    19 June 2015 at 9:55 am

    The best comment by far on a Herald story ever. Talking about the drivel that replaced Campbell Live.

    “jo-anne
    “How do you get on Come Dine With Me NZ show?”

    Have half of your brain surgically removed, then phone Mediaworks.”

    Link? You all know where the Granny is.

  10. Stephanie Rodgers 10
    19 June 2015 at 10:00 am

    Great column from Dita de Boni on health and safety and Talley’s.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11467424

  11. Michael 11
    19 June 2015 at 10:02 am

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/16/bernie_sanders_new_hampshire_surge_vermont_senator_starts_to_close_the_gap.html

    Self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders has surged in the New Hampshire Democratic primary polls. Hillary Clinton now just has a 10 point lead on Sanders, despite having a 40-point lead before, and with Sanders taking no corporate funding.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7L9V7oGRv8 Good video.

  12. ianmac 12
    19 June 2015 at 10:26 am

    Pretty impressive is Bernie Sanders. With aspirations like his wouldn’t we be in a much better place. And his effort is without the millions poured into the campaigns of others. Mind you the system typically will lynch him before long.

    • Colonial Rawshark 12.1
      19 June 2015 at 10:56 am

      And Bernie has to beat the same pro-war, pro-Israel drum as the rest of them. The minimum concessions to stay politically alive.

      • T Chris 12.1.1
        19 June 2015 at 1:10 pm

        The bloke is going to be about 80 at the end of his first term

        • b waghorn 12.1.1.1
          19 June 2015 at 1:12 pm

          Don’t panic Chris he wants to make america a better place for all so he’s got no chance of winning

        • Clemgeopin 12.1.1.2
          19 June 2015 at 5:10 pm

          All old people are not necessarily senile nor lacking in faculties.

          Just two examples for you;

          [1] Joan Rivers, Born: June 8, 1933. Gone.

          [2] David Murdock, Born: April 11, 1923. Still going.

          The Billionaire (ones penniless!) Who Is Planning His 125th Birthday!

          “I never have anything go wrong,” he said later. “Never have a backache. Never have a headache. Never have anything else.” This would make him a lucky man no matter his age. Because he is 87, it makes him an unusually robust specimen, which is what he must be if he is to defy the odds (and maybe even the gods) and live as long as he intends to. He wants to reach 125, and sees no reason he can’t, provided that he continues eating the way he has for the last quarter century: with a methodical, messianic correctness that he believes can, and will, ward off major disease and minor ailment alike.

          So that sore throat wasn’t just an irritant. It was a challenge to the whole gut-centered worldview on which his bid for extreme longevity rests. “I went back in my mind: what am I not eating enough of?” he told me. Definitely not fruits and vegetables: he crams as many as 20 of them, including pulverized banana peels and the ground-up rinds of oranges, into the smoothies he drinks two to three times a day, to keep his body brimming with fiber and vitamins. Probably not protein: he eats plenty of seafood, egg whites, beans and nuts to compensate for his avoidance of dairy, red meat and poultry, which are consigned to a list of forbidden foods that also includes alcohol, sugar and salt.

          “I couldn’t figure it out,” he said. So he made a frustrated peace with his malady, which was gone in 36 hours and, he stressed, not all that bad. ”

          http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06murdock-t.html?_r=0
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_H._Murdock

  13. b waghorn 13
    19 June 2015 at 11:15 am

    http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/69423366/Mexico-bound-livestock-cared-for-in-shipment
    They really are very keen for us to believe its all above board .
    One thing that know one has mentioned is that all these animals will be slaughtered in the end as no farmer I’ve heard of has a retirement home for ewes past there useful breeding age.

    • T Chris 13.1
      19 June 2015 at 1:11 pm

      Of course they will be slaughtered in the end.

      All sheep are

      • b waghorn 13.1.1
        19 June 2015 at 1:16 pm

        Yes they are and as we stopped exporting because we can’t guarantee humane slaughter there is a gapping hole in the “they are being exported for breeding” line.

  14. adam 14
    19 June 2015 at 1:04 pm

    As someone who is very much in favour of Medical Marijuana. This is very depressing to read.

    Actually, as has been said on here over and over. Money in politics is a very evil thing indeed.

    http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/06/18/17469/political-profiteers-push-ohios-pot-vote

    • Charles 14.1
      19 June 2015 at 1:14 pm

      Money is inherently destructive, period. Humanity has known it for thousands of years. Why no one has found a way to get rid of it is one of the great unsolved mysteries of the World.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 14.1.1
        19 June 2015 at 2:57 pm

        Humanity has known no such thing. The love of money, on the other hand…

  15. weka 15
    19 June 2015 at 3:48 pm

    The Pencilsword cartoon about privilege has had 1.5 million reads* around the world. Cartoonist Toby Morris is being interviewed on RNZ Sunday Morning 9.40am

    http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday

    *(gee, Fairfax).

  17. adam 17
    19 June 2015 at 4:19 pm

    Then I think I really need to see if Clarke and Dawe can make the world more understandable. And wouldn’t you know it…

  18. adam 18
    19 June 2015 at 4:30 pm

    Sorry more video’s. As kiwis we know the only terrorism we have had to deal with has come from the extreme right. Funny in the States it’s the same.

    Rightwing terrorist kill more americans, than Islamic terrorists. The real kicker – they both extremely right wing.

    • Colonial Rawshark 18.1
      19 June 2015 at 5:20 pm

      These kinds of people are highly influential in Ukraine at the moment but the western power elite have no issues with them because they are our kind of bastards. For the moment.

      • adam 18.1.1
        19 June 2015 at 6:06 pm

        I’ve not added a lot of links here to that issue Colonial Rawshark. Mainly because they are gut wrenching – but if you want try looking up “following fascist killing in the Ukraine”. Be warned the video’s are way beyond disturbing.

        I’m no fan of Putin’s’ Russia, but that said, the extreme right wing scum from all over Europe are killing Russians in the Ukraine – For no other reason, than they are Russian. If we gave a rats we’d been sending our troops here to stop these scum bags rather than a Iraq. Just saying…

        • Colonial Rawshark 18.1.1.1
          19 June 2015 at 6:15 pm

          Yep. Putin’s Russia is highly corrupt and poverty rates are skyrocketing (partly due to western attacks on the ruble causing inflation to jump). But I have to respect them because they are not going to let the western bankster/military industrial complex oligarchs push their country into becoming yet another vassal state.

          • te reo putake 18.1.1.1.1
            19 June 2015 at 6:24 pm

            “But I have to respect them because they are not going to let the western bankster/military industrial complex oligarchs push their country into becoming yet another vassal state.”

            Huh? Russia is a mafia state bankrolled by bankster/mic oligarchs as well. With a sideline in crypto fascist expansionist border excursions. You shouldn’t be hating on Ukrainian fascists and lovin’ the Russian version, CV. It’s a bit odd.

            • adam 18.1.1.1.1.1
              19 June 2015 at 10:49 pm

              te reo putake is right Colonial Rawshark – side a are complete filth, and side b are complete filth. I still have friends/acquaintances locked up in Russian prisons. Still no trial date – been almost a year now.

              It’s a loss, loss, I don’t know why there are people in the USA and Europe who want to go to war with Russia.

              It’s like some sort of irrational desire to fight the cold war again, is coming to the fore.

            • millsy 18.1.1.1.1.2
              20 June 2015 at 1:14 am

              “Russia is a mafia state bankrolled by bankster/mic oligarchs as well”

              The same could be said about nearly all the countries in the old eastern bloc. And dont forget you now have the Catholic/Orthodox churches running things again. Sucks to be a woman in Poland because Solidarity gave their uteruses to the Holy See.

    • millsy 18.2
      20 June 2015 at 12:53 am

      From the 1870’s to the 1960’s the US hosted probably the worlds biggest and most powerful terrorist organisaton – the Ku Klux Klan.

  19. Draco T Bastard 19
    19 June 2015 at 4:54 pm

    So there’s been this tragic shooting in the US by a white supremacist and what do Fox News presenter do?

    Fox News contributor Alveda King, a conservative activist with the group Priests for Life, appeared on “Fox & Friends” this morning, where she linked the shooting to abortion rights: “You kill babies in the womb, kill people in their beds, shoot people on the streets so now you go into the church when people are praying.”

  20. Ad 20
    19 June 2015 at 5:48 pm

    Ports of Auckland and Auckland Council just got their reclamation consents completely overturned. See NZHerald.

    Winner: Urban Auckland, and all their supporters.

    And now the question: how much force will be brought to bear by Council Mayor and politicians to the Executive branch not to appeal?

    This story will have quite some legs.

  21. Morrissey 21
    19 June 2015 at 6:25 pm

    After Three Years, the Injustice Handed out to Assange Must End
    by JOHN PILGER, 18 June 2015
    The Assange case amplifies many truths, and one is the growing, global totalitarianism of Washington, regardless of who is elected president.

    On June 19, Julian Assange, founder and editor of WikiLeaks has been a refugee in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for three years. The key issue in his extraordinary incarceration is justice.

    He has been charged with no crime.

    The first Swedish prosecutor dismissed the misconduct allegations regarding two women in Stockholm in 2010. The second Swedish prosecutor’s actions were and are demonstrably political. Until recently, she refused to come to London to interview Assange – then she said she was coming; then she cancelled her appointment. It is a farce, but one with grim consequences for Assange should he dare step outside the Ecuadorean embassy. The U.S. criminal investigation against him and WikiLeaks – for the “crime” of exercising a right enshrined in the U.S. constitution, to tell unpalatable truths – is “unprecedented in scale and nature”, according to U.S. documents. For this, he faces much of a lifetime in the hellhole of a U.S. supermax should he leave the protection of Ecuador in London.

    The Swedish allegations are no more than a sideshow to this – the SMS messages between the women involved, read by lawyers, alone would exonerate him. They refer to the accusations as “made up” by the police. In the police report one of the women says she was “railroaded” by the Swedish police. What a disgrace this is for Sweden’s justice system.

    Julian Assange is a refugee under international law and he should be given right of passage by the British government out of the UK, to Ecuador. The nonsense about him “jumping bail” is just that – nonsense. If his extradition case went through the British courts today, the European Arrest Warrant would be thrown out and he would be a free man. So what is the British government trying to prove by its absurd police cordon around an embassy whose refuge Assange has no intention of giving up? Why don’t they let him go? Why is a man charged with no crime having to spend three years in one room, without light, in the heart of London?

    The Assange case amplifies many truths, and one is the growing, global totalitarianism of Washington, regardless of who is elected president.

    I am often asked if I think Assange has been “forgotten.” It’s my experience that countless people all over the world, especially in Australia, his homeland, understand perfectly well the injustice being meted out to Julian Assange. They credit him and WikiLeaks with having performed an epic public service by informing millions about what the powerful plan for them behind their backs, the lies governments and their vested interests tell, the violence they initiate. The powerful and the corrupt loathe this, because it is true democracy in action.

    http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/After-Three-Years-the-Injustice-Handed-out-to-Assange-Must-End-20150618-0026.html

    • te reo putake 21.1
      19 June 2015 at 6:37 pm

      Free the Rapey One! Je suis Rapey! I’m Sparapacus! I’d go on, but, well, bored now …

      • Morrissey 21.1.1
        20 June 2015 at 8:26 am

        Okay, that’s your rant over. Now would you like to read the article?

        • te reo putake 21.1.1.1
          20 June 2015 at 8:43 am

          Got about halfway through, Moz, but the rape apologist stuff made me want to chuck, so I stopped. I’m old enough to remember when John ‘Jon’ Pilger was a vocal supporter of women’s empowerment. Shame that he seems to have lost that commitment these days.

          • Morrissey 21.1.1.1.1
            20 June 2015 at 11:48 am

            Your abuse of Pilger is almost as darkly comical as your abuse of his friend and compatriot Assange.

            Have you ever thought of joining the ACT Party?

  22. The lost sheep 22
    19 June 2015 at 7:28 pm

    Gee, even the good citizens of Leftist icon Denmark have shifted to Center Right?

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/19/denmark-swings-right-centre-left-coalition-faces-defeat

    The defeat for the centre left in Denmark marks a further setback for Social Democrats in Europe, who have had a miserable time in recent years, losing elections in the UK and Germany while facing disastrous poll ratings in France and Sweden. Sweden’s Social Democrats are now the only labour party to hold power in Scandinavia, a historical bastion of social democracy.

  23. logie97 23
    20 June 2015 at 12:47 am

    Saw a headline on the Herald website this afternoon “JK resigns” and opened the link enthusiastically.
    Was sorry to read that it was that JK.
    The ex All Black great resigned on principle.
    Now, if only the other JK had principles …

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    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
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  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
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    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
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  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

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  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
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    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 19

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
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  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2024

    Open access notables Improving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
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  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
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    17 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
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    20 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
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    20 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
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    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
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    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
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    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
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    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
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    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
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    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
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    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
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    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
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  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
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    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
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    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
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    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
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    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
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    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

    With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
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    3 days ago
  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
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    3 days ago
  • Rebuilding the economy through better regulation

    Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
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    3 days ago
  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

    New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
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    3 days ago
  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
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    4 days ago
  • Accelerating Northland Expressway

    The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
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    4 days ago
  • Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy

    Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.    “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
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    4 days ago
  • Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024.  “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
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    4 days ago
  • NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane.    “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says.   “This will be our third visit to ...
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    4 days ago
  • Backing mental health services on the West Coast

    Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
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    4 days ago
  • NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries

    New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
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    4 days ago
  • Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
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    4 days ago
  • Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board

    In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today.  “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
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    5 days ago
  • Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum

    Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum.  While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation.  “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
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    5 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan.  “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
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    5 days ago
  • Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons

    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
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    7 days ago
  • Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot

    The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
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    7 days ago
  • Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway

    The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
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    1 week ago
  • Update on global IT outage

    Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
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  • New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership

    New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says.    “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
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  • New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns

    New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
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  • 'Pacific Futures'

    President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests.    Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone.    Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
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    1 week ago

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