Strike me ! ya Tory Blaggards, Scurvy Cut-throats and Scurrilous Scabs ! … If I aint just posted this provocative little treatise on me very own Blog !!! … Aye !, but not before sailing her to the South Pacific, scuttling her on the seas of high finance.and rowing ashore every last God-forsaken barrel of rum !!!
Ere’s a heartbreakin’ little quote from me very own Conclusion that pretty well sums up the whole Goddam thing, me Hearties
Prominent National Party operative David Farrar has very successfully managed to sell the MSM a bogus honeymoon meme. This, in turn, has generated a whole series of negative headlines for the Ardern Coalition … reinforcing, in the process, some of National’s key attack lines around the alleged fragility and illegitimacy of the new Government.
Hey swordfish, how about emailing a ‘condensed’ version of your findings to each of the journalists/columnists named and to Farrar himself of course. I say condensed because I doubt the attention span of some would be sufficient to cover the whole post.
Great work. If you want to condense it, can I suggest starting with your section containing the actual figures, then adding the preamble for those who need it. Also maybe explicitly add in NZF figures separately.
Would be great to see how some journos (don’t) react.
To clarify (now that my caffeine levels have been restored), I mean move the numbers section to the beginning.
I also believe you may be giving Farrar too much credit for strategic campaigns masterminded and spread by the Nat leader’s office (as we saw with Dirty Politics) to all their party operatives including the penguin and assorted tame hacks.
Aaarr matey, ’tis not International Talk Like a Pirate day til September, but Go’bli’me if it ain’t fun anytime.
Fuck that was a good post. Like the media suckers busy repeating it, I hadn’t imagined that Farrar would just make shit up to that extent. Thanks for putting in the work on it.
Apparently all pirates, including Arab, Turkish and Chinese pirates spoke with Cornish accents, and the were supposedly all loveable rogues, and not essentially Mongerel Mob prospects on sailing ships.
I was thinking the last time I saw ITLAP Day advertised that there’s probably a movie many decades ago of Treasure Island with someone hamming it up as Long John Silver, and that’s become the default “pirate” in people’s minds, even for those of us who’ve never seen that movie.
What amazes me about the obsession pundits on left blogs have with Farrara ability to craft media narratives is how it’s all rooted in jealously that no one can do it on the left. Despite all the outrage on twitter he generates
Post-election honeymoons are quite common across the world. It seems to me that David Farrar quite successfully appealed to people’s common sense and wishful thinking, with their other biases filling in the gaps, to concoct and highly plausible storyline, which then gets a life of its own and becomes self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing and sometimes even self-fulfilling …
There is a welcome, but sadly rare, investigation into the sale of Aotearoa to wealthy foreigners on Stuff this morning. Entitled Half a million hectares sold, it looks into the privatisation of the high country. The introfuction says.
We’ve paid $65m to get rid of some of our most treasured landscapes, through an obscure process critics have described as a vast wave of privatisation. Wealthy foreigners are snapping up valuable land once owned by the public, who in some cases paid to dispose of it. As gated estates and manicured golf courses spread through our wild places, Charlie Mitchell investigates: Who owns the high country?
It would be great to see continued follow up to this story in the mainstream media as it is an important story. Murray Horton and the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa have for too long run a solo mission to record and struggle against the take over of our country by rich foreign interests. From the key facts page on their website, there are many startling piece of information many New Zealanders will not know. Here is one.
Foreign investors owned 24% (or $368 billion) of net wealth in New Zealand whose commercial net value totalled $1.5 trillion at March 2015. They owned 27% of private net wealth. This comprised housing, land, other property, plant, equipment and financial assets owned directly or indirectly by households, government, non-profit organisations and foreign investors.
This is another sad story of how New Zealand was looted and pillaged by neo-liberalism.
Key politicians should be brought before a people’s court and tried for treason.
you’ll get silence from the labour as they love giving good land to farmers while turning mountain country into weeds and killing of the high country lifestyle in one sweep, the Clark gov went full throttle at tenure review
i bet they were , they got paid for land that wasn’t theirs got to own top land for cheap then could afford to invest heavily on irrigation etc, and sell for huge capital gain if they wanted, the losers were the rest of us.
This one looks at how Maggy Barry and others pulled the wool over New Zealanders eyes with advertising and thereby put our threatened birdlife even more at risk.
Of course, if Fairfax cared about this issue, it would be a story front and foremost week in, week out, that would shame governments about our conservation. For 9 long years, under John Key, he was given a free hand by the media to loot and pillage this land for his very wealthy puppeteers.
Ask Tourism New Zealand what 100% Pure means and they’ll tell you: it’s not a ‘clean, green’ campaign, but a campaign that delivers a “100% Pure New Zealand experience”.
What it is is 100 per cent pure advertising, and a slogan fit to replace the fertiliser used in the country’s intensive farming.
John Saker has written an interesting piece which has some connection to the article I referred to about the looting of our high country. His story is about the corporate and foreign takeover of our wine industry.
He starts by saying
When I heard last year that Central Otago’s Mount Difficulty had been swallowed up by Foley Family Wines (one of US billionaire Bill Foley’s many companies), I felt a small sadness…….
He coninues
The Mount D sale hammered home how New Zealand’s wine-producing profile is being reshaped right now.
While overseas ownership is on the rise (roughly 40 per cent of the grapes crushed every year are foreign owned), so is the overall corporate share of NZ wine.
You are far too credulous with your rightie-rose-tinted spectacles, Stunned Mullet. Your foreign-owned vinyards that have been ‘reinvested in’ will be paying minimum wages or less, driving our country ever-deeper into the disastrous low-wage economy zone, while the vast majority of benefits go overseas. Your beloved policies will turn us into third-world tenants in our own country. Look to globalist right-wingers for throwaway buzzwords like ‘increased prosperity for all’.
Any link for the Foley Family Wines group paying minimum wage to their employees ?
Any link for the majority of benefits going overseas ?
Do you expect all of these wineries to stay in the original owners hands for ever ?
Good grief before you start bemoaning all and sundry why don’t you ask employees at the actual wineries in question how they are treated and the unions that represent them and then perhaps try to get some input from the senior people in the wine industry in NZ before going straight to the ‘overseas investment is bad mkay’.
But assuming that the new owner/s still employs, produces, sells, exports and the business resides in NZ for tax purposes surely there’s no net difference to the ‘riches’ or lack thereof for the ‘we’.
Big assumptions that have not been borne out over NZ history, in all categories you mention.
But to be kind to you, let’s go with all of them.
There are many smart New Zealanders who raise up a business out of nothing, and risk everything absolutely everything they have to do it, then in time sell.
Some of those who cash up reinvest in other businesses. And good on them.
But too many cash up in New Zealand.
The net effect is the businesses stay very small within NZ, or are subsumed. Wealth doesn’t grow, and is too highly concentrated.
Whereas what New Zealand needs more of is ambitious owners who are not satisfied, are prepared to form and protect a brand, don’t cash out, grow a business requiring more local shareholders, forming a broader pool of those who get the real money: profit in the form of dividends.
Neither National nor Labour have been able to support that over two decades.
So instead we have the pathetic necessity of the government having to shore up low wages with Working For Families increases. Which IMHO is no way to run a successful economy. And not enough rich people. And too many wage slaves. And of course far too many poor children.
Ok understand your position and I agree with much of what you say to a large extent – but from what I understand in this particular case the group who bought this vineyard and other vineyards in their group have taken private smallish vineyards and maintained the NZ flavour, workforce and managment and are reinvesting in the vineyards and have also allowed public investment.
We also have the perverse situation when individuals do just as you say – I’m thinking of people like George Fistonich of Villa Maria wines they’ll be accused by many commenters here of being rich pricks, 1%’rs etc etc.
Let’s face it Stunned, anything for the benefit of the general populace of New Zealander and not foreign owners or governments is bizarre to the right isn’t it mate.
Yes, seriously, right-wingers call that “investment.” The theory is that the guys the foreigners bought out will now spend that money on growing new NZ businesses, rather than taking an extended overseas vacation and buying some property and a new boat. Theory may not of course be born out in practice.
…rather than taking an extended overseas vacation and buying some property and a new boat.
And when that happens they say that it’s really great that the rich person has created some jobs while completely ignoring the fact that many more jobs have been lost and that the wages paid are going down.
NZ has been for sale, against the wishes of the people, since the neo-liberal implementation by the 4th Labour Government. And Labour still refuses to listen to the people and listens to the ideologues instead.
All these folks who are buying up NZ horticulture are not stupid.
They know the god profits they get here can be milked and extracted from this country with out any ‘real’ taxing of profit.
We the taxpayer of NZ are being milked for all its worth to these overseas “investors” they are in it for profits not to ‘enrich us all here on our very low wage economy.
Wine industry uses massive levels of water irrigation also, so folks need to remember the cost to our economy here too.
I’ve tracked the issue down. I usually access The Standard through an Opera browser on my phone.
I found one of the boxed Xs on my phone and navigated to the same post on my PC and found a smiley face. I went through the generic browser on my phone to find, the same smiley face.
So it seems to be a mobile Opera issue where it presents “smiley faces” as a small vertical box with a X in it.
Phew! I thought people had secret language you have to be “in” to use more advanced than smiley faces. 😀
It’s really scary when one is driving up the valley and a campervan is in front of you driving on the wrong side of a straight piece of road while approaching a blind corner.
Flashed my lights and leaned on the horn flat out, he pulled over (on the wrong side), I indicated to his Mrs to roll down the window, called out (nicely) that we drive on the left in NZ, they responded with a friendly wave, then seconds later a car towing a trailer came around the blind corner.
Something needs to be done about educating overseas visitors about our road rules. A big bright sticker on the dash reading keep left would be a good start. Not much scares me, but that sure did.
Cinny…if it was a rental campevan…get the rego and phone the rental company and kick up the appropriate amount of shit. Give them dates. times, location. They will have the renter’s cellphone number on record and will contact them…I understand threats/gentle reminders ensue. I have done this…
OTOH…having traveled hither and thither, on and off the tarseal, to all corners of the Rohe I’d safely bet that the predominant centre -line crossers are locals.
And…the more off road capable the vehicle looks, the more likely it is to be over the centre line avoiding the rough on the edge of the road.
Will do if it happens again, was so flabbergasted at the time I didn’t think about it. Good advice.
Locals are centre line crosses especially up the valley with the narrow roads (me included), blind corners being the exception, but dang, driving on the wrong side, that’s a def not a local thing.
I once hitchhiked in a camper van where the driver took photos of the river while driving over a one lane bridge. Not stopping, but actually driving, camera up to the face kind of thing. I guess the rails would have stopped us going over, but a big drop if we did.
Apparently insurance records show most accidents are caused by locals (proportionally). But I do think that there is a thing whereby if someone is used to driving on the right and they get into a fast moving situation their body memory is going to have to be overridden to prevent them from doing the wrong things. That combined with being on holiday is not a good mix.
And yep, locals who drive too fast or have vehicles that make them feel bullet proof, definitely an issue too.
That’s a good idea, but a shit design. Needs a little louvre screen over the top or something so the driver can’t see the sticker arrow pointing towards them.
“Forget the educating – just don’t let them drive.”
Today I’m cleaning up our 22 year old honda odyssey (with 275,000 ks on the clock) with the view to sell to the highest bidder. As a trade in…$500-1000 if we smile very nicely to a dealer. Advertise in the backpacker car arena and these wee 4 wheel drive puppies can go for at least $2000 with a current wof and rego.
We really need the $$$, so a sale to an young overseas driver is on the cards…and this doesn’t particularly worry me, as unsurprisingly the younger foreign travelers have much less of a problem adapting to driving on the left.
And they tend to drive these smaller, older vehicles.
The real problem, and I’m betting again, lies with the older drivers….30 years and up…who simply forget, or revert to drive right when stressed.
And these older overseas travelers are the ones who can afford to rent larger campervans or newer, higher powered cars.
(Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to do a bit of driver and camper education when we sell….)
I think the problem is bit deeper than that Rosemary.
From my own experience we spent three months driving around Europe on the right (in our mid-20s) without a mishap or scare. Except for driving the wrong way down a one-way street in Delft but that had nothing to do with being on any side of the road!
Three decades later we spent some days driving in Italy and a week driving in Spain again with no mishaps. Got tooted at in Italy once and Spain once because in two situations I wasn’t sure who had right of way. We may have had one occasion where I started off on the wrong side after a stop but luckily my wife was alert.
So older people can drive safely in foreign lands as well as younger folk. But I think we were okay because at every stage we were very aware we were in somone else’s country and needed to follow their rules and wanted desparately not to have an embarassing crash and injure anyone.
In other words we were sh*t scared of doing anything wrong.
I think many of our tourists just don’t seem to give a sh*t. (Or they do but it’s by dumping in scenic places but that’s another story as we know).
I think we’re dealing with a shift in a whole lot of values, lack of empathy and responsibility, a sense of entitlement etc, that we thought were shared, but now aren’t.
It’s not just overseas drivers who do this – there is a poster on here who admits to doing it on purpose. To avoid the possibility of a filling rock from memory.
More than 677,000 users interacted with 50,000 supposedly Russian linked accounts tweeting the same message about the election at roughly the same time,
But it’s all a big nothing.
/
Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we are emailing notifications to 677,775 people in the United States who followed one of these accounts or retweeted or liked a Tweet from these accounts during the election period. Because we have already suspended these accounts, the relevant content on Twitter is no longer publicly available.
[…]
We have also provided Congress with the results of our supplemental analysis into activity believed to be automated, election-related activity originating out of Russia during the election period. Through our supplemental analysis, we have identified 13,512 additional accounts, for a total of 50,258 automated accounts that we identified as Russian-linked and Tweeting election-related content during the election period, representing approximately two one-hundredths of a percent (0.016%) of the total accounts on Twitter at the time. However any such activity represents a challenge to democratic societies everywhere, and we’re committed to continuing to work on this important issue.
How about we work on what we agree on – that trump is bad for working people. Rather than go with this divisive approach.
The Russian elites are as bad as the U.S elites. So let’s leave this stuff to investigators and wonks, and get on with helping our friends in the US fight this anti-work racist puke.
MORE: Coroner's office says specific cause of Petty's accidental death was "multisystem organ failure due to resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest due to mixed drug toxicity (fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, alprazolam, citalopram, acetylfentanyl, and despropionyl fentanyl).— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 20, 2018
As a fan of his work I am also sad.
However how on earth can anyone call that “accidental drug overdose”?
How did he get hold of all those drugs? And why was he taking such a lethal cocktail? Didn’t anyone vet them or care what he was ingesting?
Am also a great fan and was very sad to hear of his death. But just as an aside as to the lethal cocktail of drugs and noting that he was suffering from a number of ailments..
I was in hospital for a couple of weeks recently following an accident and while there a man was admitted to our orthopaedic ward as there no beds left in the medical wards in a very bad state. He was on 29! different medications. All prescribed by his doctor, and administered to him by his wife a nurse who worked at the hospital. The first task was to wean him of all those medications monitoring his BP and and heart rates etc until he was stabilized.
But really – one would think that health professionals would know that mixing medications can have serious side effects.
They should, but it’s rich person and performance medicine combined. Michael Jackson was similar, and then there’s sports team doctors.
I was on a course with a bunch of folks about ten years back, and one of the others was an ER doctor. Some of the others asked if he was into sports medicine (because they were sporty) and his response was that he couldn’t do that to people. Had a sports figure turn up in ER with massive rectal bleeding because the team doctor had the player on antiinflammatories at high doses for so long that it bust his guts.
When physical performance goals conflict with the health of the patient, the person paying the cheque will usually find someone willing to try to balance that conflict in favour of performance and hope the patient doesn’t fall off the surfboard.
But 29 different pills! the poor guy was swallowing something different almost ever other hour! He was at deaths door when they admitted him.
My daughter had an experience a while back with an antibiotic and something else which I cant remember. She was getting much worse rather than better so I looked up the two prescriptions on line to see that there could be a reaction between them. I rang our doctor to see which she should cease. Ooops yes you are right! Dropping off the second medication had almost immediate positive results.
Yeah, it can be difficult enough looking for conflicts with just a few meds.
But when you get chronic pain, that gives a combo of slow release and maybe something to have at really bad times. Then you have surgeries on top, and the pit crew who managed the surgery might not have coordinated with the GP about who’s prescribing what. And then you have one that’s kind of the same as the other but not as good, but it does let/help you sleep, so that’s for night time. And if he was on the road and saw local docs, there’d be no coordination at all.
if you do find clashes or contra-indications that the doc has missed…say something…unless the doc has an ego problem you’ll be thanked.
It is imperative that people do their own research, double check, get second opinions and if you feel that the medical staff are not on to it…kick up bobsey…
When y’all having nothing better to do, spend a wee time here…
You really do need to be your own advocate, and learn what your on. Especially if you have or develop a chronic condition.
I would like to endorse Rosemary McDonalds comments and encourage people to look stuff up. New Ethicals is in plan(ish) english, a major plus by health advocates has been to get the medical profession to supply information in plan english. It’s no longer a hidden language.
If you do an internet search, check the source , check it’s peer reviewed, and check it’s legitimate – because there is still some idiots pushing ill informed quackery out there.
The Wellington Phoenix is a soccer team, isn’t it?
Someone at RNZ National doesn’t seem to realize.
RNZ National news, 5 p.m., Saturday 20 January 2018
Last item on the sports news in today’s bulletin was this surprising announcement:
…. and the Wellington Phoenix will play the Newcastle Jets tonight in an Australian Football League match, beginning at 9:30.
I’m sure I’m not the only one to be astonished that the Phoenix, and also by the sound of it, the Newcastle Jets, have abandoned the A-League and started playing in the Australian Football League.
What makes it more surprising is that the Australian Football League doesn’t start its 2018 season for another couple of months.
Radio New Zealand National: does NOT sound like us.
The Hyundai A league identify themselves [sic] as a football league
It’s a football league just like Super Rugby is, and just like the AFL is. But it’s known as a soccer league, and that’s what Australians call it. It doesn’t call itself the Australian Football League because that name has already been taken by what used to be the Victorian Football League.
….but feel free to revel in your pedantry if it makes you feel better.
Pedantry? Is the A-League the AFL or is it not? Try to be honest, now.
Actually, it’s mostly the yanks who tried to call football “soccer”. NZ and aus followed, but now we’re going with what the rest of the world calls it.
Yes, it can cause confusion, but if you’re going to play football then don’t use your bloody hands.
Actually, it’s mostly the yanks who tried to call football “soccer”.
It’s an English term, and it was used to distinguish Association football (codified in 1863) from Rugby football (codified in 1871). And the “Yanks” don’t try to call it soccer, they do call it soccer.
NZ and aus followed,
Along with Canada, Japan, Korea, and a good deal of the rest of the world.
but now we’re going with what the rest of the world calls it.
The rest of the world calls it soccer. Where there’s any doubt, it’s called soccer. When people like your good self scold others for using the word “soccer”, you’re simply following a directive from Sepp Blatter to stop calling it soccer and always call it football.
Yes, it can cause confusion, but if you’re going to play football then don’t use your bloody hands.
Goalkeepers? Heading? Throwing the ball in from touch? No kind of football is purely played with the feet.
Any other types of “football” where touching the ball with your hand is a foul?
Sure, other places also call football “soccer”. But the official name is football, always has been. It was founded as the “football association”, not a fucking soccer association.
Whatever, dude. If you want to follow american cultural norms, that’s your business.
Most of the forward movement is picking it up and carrying it, no?
No. There is only one way to propel the ball forward: that is to kick it. Yes it can be carried, too, but unlike in American football or rugby league, the kick is ever an option.
It’s “cuddleball”.
Unwittingly, perhaps, you’ve imitated perfectly the sneering putdowns of soccer that used to be so dire in this country, and that still, thanks to halfwits like Max Kellerman and Michelle Beadle on ESPN, are rife in the United States.
Drop goal. Is that the one where they hold it in their hands, then dropkick it?
The only type of scoring in rugby that doesn’t involve hands in some way is when literally everyone else stops playing and watches one dude kick.
There’s only one player in football who can hold the ball when the game is actually progressing and the ball is in the bounds of the game. And even then the space in which that is legal is heavily restricted. Even a football tackle is done with the feet.
Drop goal. Is that the one where they hold it in their hands, then dropkick it?
At last he shows some knowledge of football! Well done!
The only type of scoring in rugby that doesn’t involve hands in some way is when literally everyone else stops playing and watches one dude kick.
Fair point. Like soccer, hands are also used in rugby football. You’re onto it!
There’s only one player in football who can hold the ball when the game is actually progressing and the ball is in the bounds of the game.
Wrong. Any and all thirty players in football can hold the ball when the game is actually in progress.
And even then the space in which that is legal is heavily restricted.
In soccer, when the goalkeeper has the ball in his hands he can’t be shouldered or touched in any way. He’s protected absolutely, in the same way a kicker is in the NFL. (Now THERE’s a game which should not be called football; I wonder if you’re making a similar quixotic effort to police the language of Americans. Have you tried signing on to Deadspin?)
Even a football tackle is done with the feet.
Yes, when the ball is being dribbled, it is. But unfortunately, dribbling is almost always stymied because the laws of the game allow an opponent to dive on the ball and kill it—just like the goalkeeper does in association football.
and, lol, I ain’t you’re buddy, guy.
I told you before about “lol”. You haven’t got enough cred. to carry that off without coming across as a fool.
So to recap, the game you call football is primarily played with the hands holding the ball, and the game primarily played with the feet controlling the ball should not be called football.
In football, the ball is not merely dribbled – it is passed forward and back, and intercepted solely with the feet. Not in rugby (sorry, “cuddleball”).
Been called “Soccer” in New Zealand for over fifty years that I know of. Since I played it as a five year old.
Of course, if you want to be the language police?
What are you smoking, KJT? Only morons like Tony Veitch use that infantile word. It’s called “rugby” or “football”. It’s almost never called “rugby union”, “rugger” or “union”. And, as already mentioned, only the doltish and the puerile use the infantile “footy.”
Yeah – but what can you expect from Aussies!
Anyway they have 4 different types of “Footie” – just as well the American game hasn’t caught on there – so it can all be a bit confusing
The sandflys were swarming to day. They had 3 plays going at the same time lol like water off a ducks back. I could have gone for a check mate today but that risked a confrontation and they will minupulat that situation to what ever story they could dream up. Eco Maori say at least they won’t be harresing our Mokos and locking them up while they are pissing in the wind trying to play Me.
I think they should pay me with the crime rates in OUR beautiful COUNTRY NZ drop because of the ECO MAORI effect ie informaing the people about the realitys of the justice system of NZ and the west. Ana to kai
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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 ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Lecturer, General Dentist & PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Baby teeth, or milk teeth, act like lighthouses to guide the adult ones to their correct destination. A baby tooth will become wobbly and fall out because the adult tooth ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Simon Coley, co-founder of All Good and Karma Drinks.Bananas are one of the ...
Tackling topics such as rugby and body image, Stuff’s latest podcast shines a much-needed light on Aotearoa’s complex relationship with masculinity, writes Trevor McKewen, author of the book Real Men Wear Black.I wasn’t sure what to think when two episodes of the new local podcast He’ll Be Right landed in ...
The Rainforest Alliance reveals that 68%* of Kiwis say the COVID-19 pandemic has made them more conscious about environmental and social sustainability issues. Seventy two percent* state that they have been trying to make more sustainable purchasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin University The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has raised concerns that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it. His concerns ...
ANALYSIS:By Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path Two weeks after the storming of the US Capitol by the followers of his predecessor, in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Lecturer, Creative Writing & English Literature, University of Southern Queensland Described as “the world’s greatest storyteller”, Roald Dahl is frequently ranked as the best children’s author of all time by teachers, authors and librarians. However, the new film adaptation of ...
Peak housing body, Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA) welcomes the updated Public Housing Plan announced today by Minister Woods, and the commitment by this Government to fix New Zealand’s housing crisis. The 8,000 additional homes are a significant ...
Having recently walked much of the South Island stretch of Te Araroa, Kirsten O’Regan reflects on the magnificent landscapes and interesting characters she encountered along the way.On our 36th day of walking, we climb through the fire-blackened hills above Ohau, stopping to examine heat-disfigured trail markers. Fresh green shoots have ...
Miss Torta in central Auckland is putting the spotlight on a snack that’s commonplace in Mexico, but until now relatively unknown in New Zealand.You’ve heard of a torta, but what is it, exactly? Well, depending on the cuisine it can mean a flatbread, cake, tart, sweet pie, savoury pie or ...
Two of three ministerial statements from the Beehive have been released in the name of the PM over the past two days. The more important, insofar as it involves political action that will affect the wellbeing of significant numbers of Kiwis, was the release of the government’s Public Housing Plan ...
Jacinda Ardern has reminded Labour MPs "ongoing vigilance" will be required in 2021 to avoid another Covid outbreak, admitting she held her breath over the summer break. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Pinged $65 for overstaying 10 minutes in a parking block? Put away your hard-earned cash and read this first.Hopefully, by now, I’ve already established myself at The Spinoff as the resident tightarse, determined to avoid all unfair and unnecessary punishments (see: oversize baggage charges). Today, I’m focusing my attention on ...
Nuclear weapons states and their allies risk reputational ruin if they flout a new UN Treaty, Carolina Panico argues The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will come into force this month, on January 22, 2021, turning nuclear weapons into illegal objects. It is an achievement that ...
How does one turn into a rabid extremist over the description of a children’s bike? Emily Writes looks at Facebook comments so you don’t have to.You’ve been there, I know it. You’re scrolling along, trying to avoid QAnon conspiracy theories and Trump apocalypse memes when a story catches your eye. ...
Joe Biden is now the President of the United States and many people across America and throughout the world will consequently be breathing more easily. But while the erratic, unpredictable and irresponsible years of the Trump Presidency may be over, ...
Tough border testing for New Zealand honey imports to Japan is re-igniting the conversation about the use of the weed killer glypohsate in New Zealand. ...
The Taxpayers Union should be aware of the law and of the history of ACC. The ACC is a legal system introduced in 1974 to replace the common law right of accident victims to sue for damages for personal injury sustained as a result of negligence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Terrorism, political extremism, Donald Trump, social media and the phenomenon of “cancel culture” are confronting journalists with a range of agonising free-speech dilemmas to which there are no easy answers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney You’ve just come from your monthly GP appointment with a new script for your ongoing medical condition. But your local pharmacy is out of stock of your usual medicine. Your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna D’Alessandro, Professor & ARC Future Fellow, University of Sydney On Wednesday this week, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was measured at at 415 parts per million (ppm). The level is the highest in human history, and is growing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It might be summer in New Zealand but we’re in for some wild weather this week with forecasts of heavy wind and rain, and a plunge in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University Last week, the McIver’s Ladies Baths in Sydney came under fire for their (since removed) policy stating “only transgender women who’ve undergone a gender reassignment surgery are allowed entry”. The policy was ...
There are good grounds for optimism after the guardrails of American democracy held firm through to Joe Biden's inauguration today as President, writes Stephen Hoadley Pessimism abounds about the perilous condition of American democracy. Commentators and headline writers proffer memes such as ‘broken and divided nation’, ‘the threat from within’. ...
A new plan shows how and where the Government will build 8,000 new state housing places it funded in Budget 2020, Marc Daalder reports Jacinda Ardern has kicked off the political year with a major announcement, promising hundreds of new state housing places in regional centres across the country. With ...
*This article was originally appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Donald Trump will forever be remembered as the president who was impeached twice - and for his rhetoric that struck a chord so deep in America that it will take years to dissipate. Donald Trump leaves Washington with the lowest approval ...
This is the full transcript of President Joe Biden's speech after being sworn in at his inauguration this morning in Washington DC Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, and my distinguished guests, my fellow Americans, this is America's day. This ...
Analysis: President Donald Trump has left the White House, and his deputy chief of staff confirms he is withdrawing his candidacy to lead the OECD. New Zealander Christopher Liddell withdrew his nomination to be Secretary-General of the powerful 37-member OECD and was one of the last members of the Trump Administration to depart ...
Kate Wills is facing stage four cancer with the same fierce approach she takes into her ocean swimming - never say can't. Even on the mornings Kate Wills feels wretched from her fortnightly chemotherapy treatment, she drags herself up at 5am and goes swimming. “I have to. It’s my job – to ...
Some costs associated with meetings speak for themselves, others are less conspicuous. Victoria University of Wellington's Val Hooper lays those costs out, making suggestions on where we can rein them in. Meetings – when last did we count the costs? And so it’s back to work and one of the ...
Andrew Paul Wood assesses the best-selling picture book by Grahame Sydney It's no great secret the commercially very successful Grahame Sydney has a long-standing beef that his work doesn’t receive more critical and institutional approval. I sympathise about the lack of critical attention, but I can understand why. The Discourse™ ...
This story was produced in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and Columbia Journalism Investigations. It was originally published by Public Integrity, Mother Jones, The Arizona Republic and Orlando Sentinel. It is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the ...
Analysis: It has been easy to ignore anyone daring to criticise or even question any aspect of the government’s Covid-19 response. Their voices have rarely been heard, and when they have been raised they have been quickly and decisively howled down by the favoured coterie of academics. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US presidential inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated through Wednesday and Thursday. The inauguration ceremony begins at 5.15am Thursday, NZ time, and Joe Biden takes the oath of office around 6am. 7.25am: And what about Trump?In the early hours of this morning, NZ ...
In 10 x 100, we survey a group of 100 people via Stickybeak and ask them 10 questions. Last month we quizzed Wellingtonians. Today, we ask NZ drivers how they’ve found a holiday period without international tourists, and what they get up to while they’re on the road.Across Aotearoa roads ...
Emmanuel Macron's anti-separatist policies have garnered backlash from the international Muslim community. Now, a global coalition has complained to the UN. ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they go on an odyssey of women’s rage, and find out how we can channel our anger into good. First published September 15, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by ...
By Lorraine Ecarma in Cebu City The University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) will continue to stand against any threats to human rights, chancellor Clement Camposano has declared in response to the termination of a long-standing accord preventing military incursion on campus. In a Facebook post, Camposano said the academic ...
ANALYSIS:By Jennifer S. Hunt, Australian National University Every four years on January 20, the US exercises a key tenant of democratic government: the peaceful transfer of power. This year, the scene looks a bit different. If the last US presidential inauguration in 2017 debuted the phrase “alternative facts”, the ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby In spite of Papua New Guinea’s mandatory mask-wearing requirement under the National Pandemic Act 2020, many public servants attending a dedication service in Port Moresby have failed to wear one. They were issued masks before entering the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex but took ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University How do scabs form? — Talila, aged 8 Great question, Talila! Our skin has many different jobs. One is to act as a barrier, protecting us from harmful things in the ...
US President Donald Trump is pardoning former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who is accused of fraud in a case involving funds for the border wall. ...
Joel Little with Lorde, Dera Meelan with Church & AP, Josh Fountain with Maala and Randa and Benee – producers make good songs great. Now a new fund from NZ on Air is putting the focus on them.Six months ago it looked like the music industry was on the brink ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denise Buiten, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice and Sociology, University of Notre Dame Australia On average, one child is killed by a parent almost every fortnight in Australia. Last week, three children — Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 — were ...
This commendable and realistic decision again underlines that it is the police, not government, who are largely responsible for the reduction in cannabis prosecutions over the past 15 years, writes Russell Brown.The news that New Zealand police have discontinued the annual Helicopter Recovery Operation, which has, each summer for more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Professor and Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington We will not be able to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us until the world’s population is mostly immune through vaccination ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated throughout Wednesday and Thursday, NZ time. Reach me at catherine@thespinoff.co.nz.4.00pm: What will Trump be doing tomorrow?It’s pretty well known by now that outgoing president Donald Trump intends to throw out the rulebook when it comes to ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling out Mayor Phil Goff for his undignified comment that the claim made by Councillor Greg Sayers asking why Auckland Council is funding yoga classes is “bullshit.” Yesterday, Councillor Greg Sayers penned ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At 4am Thursday AEDT, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be inaugurated as president and vice president of the United States, replacing Donald Trump and Mike Pence. What follows is ...
*This article was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission. New Zealanders flocked to beaches and lakes this summer, but it wasn't enough to fill the gap left by international tourists in other regions. The tourism industry is struggling to fill a $6 billion hole left by international tourists ...
Summer reissue: Chef Monique Fiso joins us for a chat about Hiakai – her acclaimed Wellington restaurant, and the title of her stunning new book.First published November 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn ...
A new trough was brought to our attention this morning, although ethnicity will limit the numbers of eligible applicants. If you are non-Maori, it looks like you shouldn’t bother getting into the queue – but who knows?We learned of the trough from the Scoop website, where the Kapiti ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Britta Denise Hardesty, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, CSIRO Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing costs economies up to US$50 billion globally each year, and makes up to one-fifth of the global catch. It’s a huge problem not only for the ...
Police stopping major cannabis eradication operations has given the green light to drug dealers and gangs to expand operations, make more profit, and continue to wreak havoc on the most vulnerable in our society, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. ...
Varieties of merino wool footwear are emerging faster than Netflix series about British aristocracy. Michael Andrew takes a look at the rise of the shoe that almost everyone – including his 95-year-old grandma – is wearing.Some might say it all started with Allbirds. After all, to the average consumer, it ...
A new report from New Zealand’s Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) highlights the realities and challenges disabled people faced during the COVID-19 emergency. The report, Making Disability Rights Real in a Pandemic, Te Whakatinana i ngā Tika ...
The Maritime Union is questioning the reasons provided for ongoing delays at the Ports of Auckland. Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says there is a need for an honest conversation about what has gone wrong at the ...
As New Zealand faces a dire shortage of veterinarians, a petition has been launched urging the Government to reclassify veterinarians as critical workers so we can Get Vets into NZ. “New Zealand desperately needs veterinarians from overseas to counter ...
New Zealand is fast developing a reputation as a South Pacific vandal, says Greenpeace, as the government continues to fight against increased ocean protection. At the upcoming meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and Netsafe are urging parents and caregivers to be mindful of the online content their tamariki may be consuming in the lead up to the inauguration of president-elect of the United States of America Joe Biden ...
Care is at the centre of Auckland Zoo’s mandate, and it’s clear to see when you witness the staff doing their day-to-day jobs up close. Leonie Hayden went behind the scenes to talk to two people who would do anything for the animals they look after. “We were having this ...
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Strike me ! ya Tory Blaggards, Scurvy Cut-throats and Scurrilous Scabs ! … If I aint just posted this provocative little treatise on me very own Blog !!! … Aye !, but not before sailing her to the South Pacific, scuttling her on the seas of high finance.and rowing ashore every last God-forsaken barrel of rum !!!
Farrar’s Honeymoon Scam
https://subzpsubzp.blogspot.co.nz/
Ere’s a heartbreakin’ little quote from me very own Conclusion that pretty well sums up the whole Goddam thing, me Hearties
Least ways, that’s how I sees it, says I.
Good post. Mind if we cross post these from time to time?
No Probs, micky
Though this particular one is probably slightly out of date (really should’ve finished it weeks ago), not to mention a little overly-long & repetitive
I need to be just a little more ruthless with my editing
Hey swordfish, how about emailing a ‘condensed’ version of your findings to each of the journalists/columnists named and to Farrar himself of course. I say condensed because I doubt the attention span of some would be sufficient to cover the whole post.
Excellent job from an excellent pundit.
Great work. If you want to condense it, can I suggest starting with your section containing the actual figures, then adding the preamble for those who need it. Also maybe explicitly add in NZF figures separately.
Would be great to see how some journos (don’t) react.
To clarify (now that my caffeine levels have been restored), I mean move the numbers section to the beginning.
I also believe you may be giving Farrar too much credit for strategic campaigns masterminded and spread by the Nat leader’s office (as we saw with Dirty Politics) to all their party operatives including the penguin and assorted tame hacks.
You be cross posting that treasure chest, arrrhhh to be sure.
ummm, why are we talking like pirates?
Aaarr matey, ’tis not International Talk Like a Pirate day til September, but Go’bli’me if it ain’t fun anytime.
Fuck that was a good post. Like the media suckers busy repeating it, I hadn’t imagined that Farrar would just make shit up to that extent. Thanks for putting in the work on it.
Apparently all pirates, including Arab, Turkish and Chinese pirates spoke with Cornish accents, and the were supposedly all loveable rogues, and not essentially Mongerel Mob prospects on sailing ships.
I was thinking the last time I saw ITLAP Day advertised that there’s probably a movie many decades ago of Treasure Island with someone hamming it up as Long John Silver, and that’s become the default “pirate” in people’s minds, even for those of us who’ve never seen that movie.
Robert Newton.
Funnily enough, the origin of the pirate voice came up somewhere a week or two back – probably a QI rerun lol
Excellent analysis swordfish! Very interesting read. And your analysis of voting preference compared to family income is telling!
Nice work…..the length would deter some but none of it superfluous.
Have you sent a copy to all the ‘journalists’ named?
Farrar’s Honeymoon Scam
Actual link for posterity.
What amazes me about the obsession pundits on left blogs have with Farrara ability to craft media narratives is how it’s all rooted in jealously that no one can do it on the left. Despite all the outrage on twitter he generates
In this case, “craft media narratives” is a euphemism for “lying”.
People on the left can certainly lie. We just try not to, because it’s wrong.
Nailed it. Well done.
Post-election honeymoons are quite common across the world. It seems to me that David Farrar quite successfully appealed to people’s common sense and wishful thinking, with their other biases filling in the gaps, to concoct and highly plausible storyline, which then gets a life of its own and becomes self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing and sometimes even self-fulfilling …
There is a welcome, but sadly rare, investigation into the sale of Aotearoa to wealthy foreigners on Stuff this morning. Entitled Half a million hectares sold, it looks into the privatisation of the high country. The introfuction says.
It would be great to see continued follow up to this story in the mainstream media as it is an important story. Murray Horton and the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa have for too long run a solo mission to record and struggle against the take over of our country by rich foreign interests. From the key facts page on their website, there are many startling piece of information many New Zealanders will not know. Here is one.
This is another sad story of how New Zealand was looted and pillaged by neo-liberalism.
Key politicians should be brought before a people’s court and tried for treason.
Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa
http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/
you’ll get silence from the labour as they love giving good land to farmers while turning mountain country into weeds and killing of the high country lifestyle in one sweep, the Clark gov went full throttle at tenure review
yeah, but it’s not like farmers weren’t really into it either given they got given huge tracts of public land for really good prices.
i bet they were , they got paid for land that wasn’t theirs got to own top land for cheap then could afford to invest heavily on irrigation etc, and sell for huge capital gain if they wanted, the losers were the rest of us.
yep. Something just turned up on twitter about this (or more, the net loss to taxpayers), might see if I can get a post up.
what you say is essentially so although the previous Labour Gov. did belatedly stop the process in 2007…only for Key to reinstate it upon election
“But not long after the reviews were stopped, the John Key-led National Party came to power, and in 2009 restarted the process.”
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2018/01/half-a-million-hectares-sold/
An excellent article in Stuff today.
Kiwis need to realise 100 per cent pure is 100 per cent propaganda.
This one looks at how Maggy Barry and others pulled the wool over New Zealanders eyes with advertising and thereby put our threatened birdlife even more at risk.
Of course, if Fairfax cared about this issue, it would be a story front and foremost week in, week out, that would shame governments about our conservation. For 9 long years, under John Key, he was given a free hand by the media to loot and pillage this land for his very wealthy puppeteers.
The final story from Stuff to catch my eye this morning is titled Are our wine regions at risk?
John Saker has written an interesting piece which has some connection to the article I referred to about the looting of our high country. His story is about the corporate and foreign takeover of our wine industry.
He starts by saying
He coninues
Aotearoa is not for sale.
Yeah, right.
Great to see the ongoing support for and investment in the NZ wine industry.
So you didn’t read the article.
Yes read it earlier today – great to see the ongoing support for and investment in the nz wine industry.
So you call buying the whole thing out and taking the profits overseas “investment”? A bit rose-tinted? Others might call it economic imperialism.
So the profits are being taken out overseas, no reinvestment into the wine industry in NZ ? I call bullshit on your throwaway buzzwords.
You are far too credulous with your rightie-rose-tinted spectacles, Stunned Mullet. Your foreign-owned vinyards that have been ‘reinvested in’ will be paying minimum wages or less, driving our country ever-deeper into the disastrous low-wage economy zone, while the vast majority of benefits go overseas. Your beloved policies will turn us into third-world tenants in our own country. Look to globalist right-wingers for throwaway buzzwords like ‘increased prosperity for all’.
Any link for the Foley Family Wines group paying minimum wage to their employees ?
Any link for the majority of benefits going overseas ?
Do you expect all of these wineries to stay in the original owners hands for ever ?
Good grief before you start bemoaning all and sundry why don’t you ask employees at the actual wineries in question how they are treated and the unions that represent them and then perhaps try to get some input from the senior people in the wine industry in NZ before going straight to the ‘overseas investment is bad mkay’.
We’re not going to get rich unless we own the business
So we’re nationalising the wine industry now ?
Bizarre notion but I’m willing to listen to the argument.
Nope not proposing nationalizing anything let alone the wine industry.
It’s pretty simple:
We will stay a low-wage and low-innovation economy unless we own the businesses.
Who’s ‘we’.
“We” of New Zealand.
ah OK understood.
But assuming that the new owner/s still employs, produces, sells, exports and the business resides in NZ for tax purposes surely there’s no net difference to the ‘riches’ or lack thereof for the ‘we’.
Big assumptions that have not been borne out over NZ history, in all categories you mention.
But to be kind to you, let’s go with all of them.
There are many smart New Zealanders who raise up a business out of nothing, and risk everything absolutely everything they have to do it, then in time sell.
Some of those who cash up reinvest in other businesses. And good on them.
But too many cash up in New Zealand.
The net effect is the businesses stay very small within NZ, or are subsumed. Wealth doesn’t grow, and is too highly concentrated.
Whereas what New Zealand needs more of is ambitious owners who are not satisfied, are prepared to form and protect a brand, don’t cash out, grow a business requiring more local shareholders, forming a broader pool of those who get the real money: profit in the form of dividends.
Neither National nor Labour have been able to support that over two decades.
So instead we have the pathetic necessity of the government having to shore up low wages with Working For Families increases. Which IMHO is no way to run a successful economy. And not enough rich people. And too many wage slaves. And of course far too many poor children.
Ok understand your position and I agree with much of what you say to a large extent – but from what I understand in this particular case the group who bought this vineyard and other vineyards in their group have taken private smallish vineyards and maintained the NZ flavour, workforce and managment and are reinvesting in the vineyards and have also allowed public investment.
We also have the perverse situation when individuals do just as you say – I’m thinking of people like George Fistonich of Villa Maria wines they’ll be accused by many commenters here of being rich pricks, 1%’rs etc etc.
Stunned @1.30pm wrote,
“Bizarre notion”
Let’s face it Stunned, anything for the benefit of the general populace of New Zealander and not foreign owners or governments is bizarre to the right isn’t it mate.
Yes, seriously, right-wingers call that “investment.” The theory is that the guys the foreigners bought out will now spend that money on growing new NZ businesses, rather than taking an extended overseas vacation and buying some property and a new boat. Theory may not of course be born out in practice.
And sending the profits to the Caymans
And when that happens they say that it’s really great that the rich person has created some jobs while completely ignoring the fact that many more jobs have been lost and that the wages paid are going down.
I though you and Ed were anti anything to do with alcohol are you now arguing for more local owners and growth. ?
Do you have any evidence of many jobs have being lost and the wages paid are going down in this case ?
It’s a general trend.
Wages have decreased and to counter the loss of real work we’ve seen the rise of Bullshit Jobs.
So that’s a no …good oh.
Specificity isn’t necessary as we have the general trend.
But you already knew that which is why you for specific data related to the wine industry. It’s a distraction from what’s actually happening.
In other words, reality is proving you wrong again and so you’re trying to hide from it by ignoring all relevant information.
🙄
NZ has been for sale, against the wishes of the people, since the neo-liberal implementation by the 4th Labour Government. And Labour still refuses to listen to the people and listens to the ideologues instead.
100% Draco,
All these folks who are buying up NZ horticulture are not stupid.
They know the god profits they get here can be milked and extracted from this country with out any ‘real’ taxing of profit.
We the taxpayer of NZ are being milked for all its worth to these overseas “investors” they are in it for profits not to ‘enrich us all here on our very low wage economy.
Wine industry uses massive levels of water irrigation also, so folks need to remember the cost to our economy here too.
Can someone tell me what the vertical X box thing means please.
This might be a bit cryptic. I’m referring to the framed X symbol used occasionally by posters on The Standard.
Still a bit cryptic I’m afraid. Can you link to an example?
😳
I’ve tracked the issue down. I usually access The Standard through an Opera browser on my phone.
I found one of the boxed Xs on my phone and navigated to the same post on my PC and found a smiley face. I went through the generic browser on my phone to find, the same smiley face.
So it seems to be a mobile Opera issue where it presents “smiley faces” as a small vertical box with a X in it.
Phew! I thought people had secret language you have to be “in” to use more advanced than smiley faces. 😀
heh, there are a few geeks around who occasionally do some things with comments the rest of us can’t. Glad you got it sorted.
Clean green New Zealand.
100 % pure.
Yeah right.
Don’t swim on the Kapiti Coast this weekend.
I used to know a time when we all had a clean green country when the population was half what it is now at around 2.4 Million.
I am sad at 74 yrs old how our beautiful country has now suffered so badly.
It’s really scary when one is driving up the valley and a campervan is in front of you driving on the wrong side of a straight piece of road while approaching a blind corner.
Flashed my lights and leaned on the horn flat out, he pulled over (on the wrong side), I indicated to his Mrs to roll down the window, called out (nicely) that we drive on the left in NZ, they responded with a friendly wave, then seconds later a car towing a trailer came around the blind corner.
Something needs to be done about educating overseas visitors about our road rules. A big bright sticker on the dash reading keep left would be a good start. Not much scares me, but that sure did.
+1
A sticker is a good idea.
Cinny…if it was a rental campevan…get the rego and phone the rental company and kick up the appropriate amount of shit. Give them dates. times, location. They will have the renter’s cellphone number on record and will contact them…I understand threats/gentle reminders ensue. I have done this…
OTOH…having traveled hither and thither, on and off the tarseal, to all corners of the Rohe I’d safely bet that the predominant centre -line crossers are locals.
And…the more off road capable the vehicle looks, the more likely it is to be over the centre line avoiding the rough on the edge of the road.
Humans.
Will do if it happens again, was so flabbergasted at the time I didn’t think about it. Good advice.
Locals are centre line crosses especially up the valley with the narrow roads (me included), blind corners being the exception, but dang, driving on the wrong side, that’s a def not a local thing.
I once hitchhiked in a camper van where the driver took photos of the river while driving over a one lane bridge. Not stopping, but actually driving, camera up to the face kind of thing. I guess the rails would have stopped us going over, but a big drop if we did.
Good idea about the photos/contacting.
Apparently insurance records show most accidents are caused by locals (proportionally). But I do think that there is a thing whereby if someone is used to driving on the right and they get into a fast moving situation their body memory is going to have to be overridden to prevent them from doing the wrong things. That combined with being on holiday is not a good mix.
And yep, locals who drive too fast or have vehicles that make them feel bullet proof, definitely an issue too.
Rentals have all sorts of keep left reminders splashed over the steering wheel/dash/instrument panel.
https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/n/e/c/3/a/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1ncazw.png/1513055027503.jpg
I can’t make out what that is. Is it a sticker? Or a screen?
Poor man’s heads up display – a reflective sticker on the dash.
It’s a sticker on the dashboard designed to reflect on the windscreen so that the driver can see it without losing visibility.
ok, so the arrow going the wrong way is ignorable, the person driving just sees something on the left so they know they have to stay on that side?
Yes.
That’s a good idea, but a shit design. Needs a little louvre screen over the top or something so the driver can’t see the sticker arrow pointing towards them.
Forget the educating – just don’t let them drive.
“Forget the educating – just don’t let them drive.”
Today I’m cleaning up our 22 year old honda odyssey (with 275,000 ks on the clock) with the view to sell to the highest bidder. As a trade in…$500-1000 if we smile very nicely to a dealer. Advertise in the backpacker car arena and these wee 4 wheel drive puppies can go for at least $2000 with a current wof and rego.
We really need the $$$, so a sale to an young overseas driver is on the cards…and this doesn’t particularly worry me, as unsurprisingly the younger foreign travelers have much less of a problem adapting to driving on the left.
And they tend to drive these smaller, older vehicles.
The real problem, and I’m betting again, lies with the older drivers….30 years and up…who simply forget, or revert to drive right when stressed.
And these older overseas travelers are the ones who can afford to rent larger campervans or newer, higher powered cars.
(Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to do a bit of driver and camper education when we sell….)
Good luck Rosemary.
I think the problem is bit deeper than that Rosemary.
From my own experience we spent three months driving around Europe on the right (in our mid-20s) without a mishap or scare. Except for driving the wrong way down a one-way street in Delft but that had nothing to do with being on any side of the road!
Three decades later we spent some days driving in Italy and a week driving in Spain again with no mishaps. Got tooted at in Italy once and Spain once because in two situations I wasn’t sure who had right of way. We may have had one occasion where I started off on the wrong side after a stop but luckily my wife was alert.
So older people can drive safely in foreign lands as well as younger folk. But I think we were okay because at every stage we were very aware we were in somone else’s country and needed to follow their rules and wanted desparately not to have an embarassing crash and injure anyone.
In other words we were sh*t scared of doing anything wrong.
I think many of our tourists just don’t seem to give a sh*t. (Or they do but it’s by dumping in scenic places but that’s another story as we know).
I think we’re dealing with a shift in a whole lot of values, lack of empathy and responsibility, a sense of entitlement etc, that we thought were shared, but now aren’t.
Some tourist tipped his campervan on Baldwin st. His only comment was that the insurance guy wasn’t going to be happy. Didn’t give a shit.
deport
Forget the educating – just don’t let them drive.
Love it! Problem solved.
All the New Zealanders I see crossing the centreline and passing, on blind corners.
Confiscate their car. Problem solved.
It’s not just overseas drivers who do this – there is a poster on here who admits to doing it on purpose. To avoid the possibility of a filling rock from memory.
Finally, one rag gets it right about Trump’s physical.
https://archive.li/1dPRU/7540e78381f56da637c0ab6aaa6569948c74231e.png
😆
😆 😆
On shit-holes 🙂
😆
😆
Outstanding! Made my day.
Thanks Bill, that was so awesome.
🙂 🙂 🙂
More than 677,000 users interacted with 50,000 supposedly Russian linked accounts tweeting the same message about the election at roughly the same time,
But it’s all a big nothing.
/
Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we are emailing notifications to 677,775 people in the United States who followed one of these accounts or retweeted or liked a Tweet from these accounts during the election period. Because we have already suspended these accounts, the relevant content on Twitter is no longer publicly available.
[…]
We have also provided Congress with the results of our supplemental analysis into activity believed to be automated, election-related activity originating out of Russia during the election period. Through our supplemental analysis, we have identified 13,512 additional accounts, for a total of 50,258 automated accounts that we identified as Russian-linked and Tweeting election-related content during the election period, representing approximately two one-hundredths of a percent (0.016%) of the total accounts on Twitter at the time. However any such activity represents a challenge to democratic societies everywhere, and we’re committed to continuing to work on this important issue.
https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/2016-election-update.html
How about we work on what we agree on – that trump is bad for working people. Rather than go with this divisive approach.
The Russian elites are as bad as the U.S elites. So let’s leave this stuff to investigators and wonks, and get on with helping our friends in the US fight this anti-work racist puke.
Oh fuck, this makes me sad.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/tom-petty-died-accidental-drug-overdose-coroner-family-say-n839381
As a fan of his work I am also sad.
However how on earth can anyone call that “accidental drug overdose”?
How did he get hold of all those drugs? And why was he taking such a lethal cocktail? Didn’t anyone vet them or care what he was ingesting?
Read the family statement.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DT8WYMVWkAYQMfv.jpg
Am also a great fan and was very sad to hear of his death. But just as an aside as to the lethal cocktail of drugs and noting that he was suffering from a number of ailments..
I was in hospital for a couple of weeks recently following an accident and while there a man was admitted to our orthopaedic ward as there no beds left in the medical wards in a very bad state. He was on 29! different medications. All prescribed by his doctor, and administered to him by his wife a nurse who worked at the hospital. The first task was to wean him of all those medications monitoring his BP and and heart rates etc until he was stabilized.
But really – one would think that health professionals would know that mixing medications can have serious side effects.
They should, but it’s rich person and performance medicine combined. Michael Jackson was similar, and then there’s sports team doctors.
I was on a course with a bunch of folks about ten years back, and one of the others was an ER doctor. Some of the others asked if he was into sports medicine (because they were sporty) and his response was that he couldn’t do that to people. Had a sports figure turn up in ER with massive rectal bleeding because the team doctor had the player on antiinflammatories at high doses for so long that it bust his guts.
When physical performance goals conflict with the health of the patient, the person paying the cheque will usually find someone willing to try to balance that conflict in favour of performance and hope the patient doesn’t fall off the surfboard.
But 29 different pills! the poor guy was swallowing something different almost ever other hour! He was at deaths door when they admitted him.
My daughter had an experience a while back with an antibiotic and something else which I cant remember. She was getting much worse rather than better so I looked up the two prescriptions on line to see that there could be a reaction between them. I rang our doctor to see which she should cease. Ooops yes you are right! Dropping off the second medication had almost immediate positive results.
Yeah, it can be difficult enough looking for conflicts with just a few meds.
But when you get chronic pain, that gives a combo of slow release and maybe something to have at really bad times. Then you have surgeries on top, and the pit crew who managed the surgery might not have coordinated with the GP about who’s prescribing what. And then you have one that’s kind of the same as the other but not as good, but it does let/help you sleep, so that’s for night time. And if he was on the road and saw local docs, there’d be no coordination at all.
Shouldn’t have bloody happened.
Y”eah, it can be difficult enough looking for conflicts with just a few meds.?
Shouldn’t be.
You’ll find a copy of this…
http://www.mims.co.nz/MIMSNewEthicals.aspx
…on most hospital wards and medical centres.
Ask to borrow a copy and look shit up.
if you do find clashes or contra-indications that the doc has missed…say something…unless the doc has an ego problem you’ll be thanked.
It is imperative that people do their own research, double check, get second opinions and if you feel that the medical staff are not on to it…kick up bobsey…
When y’all having nothing better to do, spend a wee time here…
http://www.hdc.org.nz/decisions–case-notes/commissioner's-decisions
You really do need to be your own advocate, and learn what your on. Especially if you have or develop a chronic condition.
I would like to endorse Rosemary McDonalds comments and encourage people to look stuff up. New Ethicals is in plan(ish) english, a major plus by health advocates has been to get the medical profession to supply information in plan english. It’s no longer a hidden language.
If you do an internet search, check the source , check it’s peer reviewed, and check it’s legitimate – because there is still some idiots pushing ill informed quackery out there.
The Wellington Phoenix is a soccer team, isn’t it?
Someone at RNZ National doesn’t seem to realize.
RNZ National news, 5 p.m., Saturday 20 January 2018
Last item on the sports news in today’s bulletin was this surprising announcement:
I’m sure I’m not the only one to be astonished that the Phoenix, and also by the sound of it, the Newcastle Jets, have abandoned the A-League and started playing in the Australian Football League.
What makes it more surprising is that the Australian Football League doesn’t start its 2018 season for another couple of months.
Radio New Zealand National: does NOT sound like us.
The Hyundai A league identify themselves as a football league but feel free to revel in your pedantry if it makes you feel better.
The Hyundai A league identify themselves [sic] as a football league
It’s a football league just like Super Rugby is, and just like the AFL is. But it’s known as a soccer league, and that’s what Australians call it. It doesn’t call itself the Australian Football League because that name has already been taken by what used to be the Victorian Football League.
….but feel free to revel in your pedantry if it makes you feel better.
Pedantry? Is the A-League the AFL or is it not? Try to be honest, now.
https://www.a-league.com.au
Actually, it’s mostly the yanks who tried to call football “soccer”. NZ and aus followed, but now we’re going with what the rest of the world calls it.
Yes, it can cause confusion, but if you’re going to play football then don’t use your bloody hands.
Actually, it’s mostly the yanks who tried to call football “soccer”.
It’s an English term, and it was used to distinguish Association football (codified in 1863) from Rugby football (codified in 1871). And the “Yanks” don’t try to call it soccer, they do call it soccer.
NZ and aus followed,
Along with Canada, Japan, Korea, and a good deal of the rest of the world.
but now we’re going with what the rest of the world calls it.
The rest of the world calls it soccer. Where there’s any doubt, it’s called soccer. When people like your good self scold others for using the word “soccer”, you’re simply following a directive from Sepp Blatter to stop calling it soccer and always call it football.
Yes, it can cause confusion, but if you’re going to play football then don’t use your bloody hands.
Goalkeepers? Heading? Throwing the ball in from touch? No kind of football is purely played with the feet.
Any other types of “football” where touching the ball with your hand is a foul?
Sure, other places also call football “soccer”. But the official name is football, always has been. It was founded as the “football association”, not a fucking soccer association.
Whatever, dude. If you want to follow american cultural norms, that’s your business.
In rugby football, you cannot move the ball forward except by kicking it. It’s football.
Most of the forward movement is picking it up and carrying it, no? And they have that weird group hug thing too.
It’s “cuddleball”.
Most of the forward movement is picking it up and carrying it, no?
No. There is only one way to propel the ball forward: that is to kick it. Yes it can be carried, too, but unlike in American football or rugby league, the kick is ever an option.
It’s “cuddleball”.
Unwittingly, perhaps, you’ve imitated perfectly the sneering putdowns of soccer that used to be so dire in this country, and that still, thanks to halfwits like Max Kellerman and Michelle Beadle on ESPN, are rife in the United States.
lol
So how is a try scored again?
And how’s a drop-goal scored exactly?
Word of advice, buddy: drop the “lol” habit. It does as much for your credibility as your assertion that “the yanks” invented the word “soccer.”
Drop goal. Is that the one where they hold it in their hands, then dropkick it?
The only type of scoring in rugby that doesn’t involve hands in some way is when literally everyone else stops playing and watches one dude kick.
There’s only one player in football who can hold the ball when the game is actually progressing and the ball is in the bounds of the game. And even then the space in which that is legal is heavily restricted. Even a football tackle is done with the feet.
and, lol, I ain’t you’re buddy, guy.
Drop goal. Is that the one where they hold it in their hands, then dropkick it?
At last he shows some knowledge of football! Well done!
The only type of scoring in rugby that doesn’t involve hands in some way is when literally everyone else stops playing and watches one dude kick.
Fair point. Like soccer, hands are also used in rugby football. You’re onto it!
There’s only one player in football who can hold the ball when the game is actually progressing and the ball is in the bounds of the game.
Wrong. Any and all thirty players in football can hold the ball when the game is actually in progress.
And even then the space in which that is legal is heavily restricted.
In soccer, when the goalkeeper has the ball in his hands he can’t be shouldered or touched in any way. He’s protected absolutely, in the same way a kicker is in the NFL. (Now THERE’s a game which should not be called football; I wonder if you’re making a similar quixotic effort to police the language of Americans. Have you tried signing on to Deadspin?)
Even a football tackle is done with the feet.
Yes, when the ball is being dribbled, it is. But unfortunately, dribbling is almost always stymied because the laws of the game allow an opponent to dive on the ball and kill it—just like the goalkeeper does in association football.
and, lol, I ain’t you’re buddy, guy.
I told you before about “lol”. You haven’t got enough cred. to carry that off without coming across as a fool.
So to recap, the game you call football is primarily played with the hands holding the ball, and the game primarily played with the feet controlling the ball should not be called football.
In football, the ball is not merely dribbled – it is passed forward and back, and intercepted solely with the feet. Not in rugby (sorry, “cuddleball”).
lol
The fool invokes foolishness.
Been called “Soccer” in New Zealand for over fifty years that I know of. Since I played it as a five year old.
Of course, if you want to be the language police?
no shortage of recruits to the force in this thread…
You can singlehandedly try to change the long used, and standard NZ word “Soccer” if you wish. Good luck with that.
And Rugby was “Rugby” or “footy”.
“Football”is the anachronism in New Zealand .
What are you smoking, KJT? Only morons like Tony Veitch use that infantile word. It’s called “rugby” or “football”. It’s almost never called “rugby union”, “rugger” or “union”. And, as already mentioned, only the doltish and the puerile use the infantile “footy.”
Yeah – but what can you expect from Aussies!
Anyway they have 4 different types of “Footie” – just as well the American game hasn’t caught on there – so it can all be a bit confusing
The word is football.
And there’s a fair case for saying that the American game is NOT football, as this idiotic article demonstrates…
https://deadspin.com/5823549/dear-chris-kluwe-when-we-want-the-punters-opinion-well-ask-for-it-we-wont
You use the word “football”if that makes you happy.
Aussies go to the “Footie”
No, they go to the football. Only the puerile and the stupid—like Tony Veitch and All Black flanker Sam Cane—use that infantile word for football.
On refection you’re absolutely right Moz – send a letter to RNZ demanding the immediate execution of the employee in question.
As is evident by the sloppiness of that item, standards of accuracy matter little at RNZ.
I think a protest in person is vital Moz – get the placard ready and turn up outside their offices bright and early Monday morning.
Great idea, Mullet. Thanks.
Shush….they’re easily confused so don’t tell them…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gridiron_Australia#Member_leagues_and_teams
The sandflys were swarming to day. They had 3 plays going at the same time lol like water off a ducks back. I could have gone for a check mate today but that risked a confrontation and they will minupulat that situation to what ever story they could dream up. Eco Maori say at least they won’t be harresing our Mokos and locking them up while they are pissing in the wind trying to play Me.
I think they should pay me with the crime rates in OUR beautiful COUNTRY NZ drop because of the ECO MAORI effect ie informaing the people about the realitys of the justice system of NZ and the west. Ana to kai