"so on the 7th of July Winston was denying something he now admits to yesterday?" "Folks, Winston can’t just lie to our faces and be allowed to get way with it".
Strikes me there's a simple explanation that would get Winnie off the moral hook: NZF hired the secret agents after the 7th and before the 18th.
"It’s also incredibly dangerous to allow social media Brexit manipulators like Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore who used Facebook and Cambridge Analytica to become involved in NZ politics."
Really?? Buncha snowflakes are we? Can't handle it? However Bomber does pull himself together. He reveals Winston's master plan: angry white men. The thesis is that there's
"a large number of angry white men who don’t bother voting because they feel culturally alienated by the current paradigms of micro-aggression policing and Millennial sensibilities. This group of males are economically paranoid by their perceived lack of cultural power and whose economic anxiety clashes with being told they are the ones with the privilege."
Facebook and Cambridge Analytica changed all this. They suddenly had hundreds of data points to know how to precisely push those angry white non voters into rage fuelled voting machines. This manipulation of white male anger become the driving force that saw Trump win, Brexit win and Scott Morrison win.
With Crusher Collins clearly intending to trigger the same culture war hot buttons NZ First are now actively chasing, the race to trigger angry white men will see a spike in divisiveness aimed at getting a reaction out of woke Green activists which will echo resentment around social media feeds.
If you are an alienated angry white male, watching that Woke Green activist screaming in your social media feed is all you need to support whatever they are screaming against. Will the NZ Woke take the bait? They sure as fuck will.
So you see how this can be made to work. Get the left identified in the public mind as shrill wokeists who are totally delusional. Just a question of whether National or NZF stampede those hordes of angry white males into polling booths. Probably both.
The repetitive use of the word "woke" certainly helps the Brexit PR CA guys, why keep perpetrating that? I refuse to and I never hear it anywhere but here on TS & Peters & Collins. To not take the bait, stop using the word or even acknowledge it even means anything.
Disrespectful to BLM, since they invented it! As long as politically-correct folks embrace the term, it will maintain currency. Been in general use so many years now that there's no point trying to close the stable door – the horse has bolted!
Oxford Dictionaries record early politically conscious usage in 1962 in the article "If You're Woke You Dig It" by William Melvin Kelley in The New York Times and in the 1971 play Garvey Lives! by Barry Beckham ("I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr. Garvey done woke me up, I'm gon' stay woke. And I'm gon help him wake up other black folk."). Garvey had himself exhorted his early 20th century audiences, "Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa!"
Earlier, J. Saunders Redding recorded a comment from an African American United Mine Workers official in 1940 ("Let me tell you buddy. Waking up is a damn sight harder than going to sleep, but we'll stay woke up longer.") Lead Belly uses the phrase near the end of the recording of his 1938 song "Scottsboro Boys", while explaining about the namesake incident, saying "I advise everybody to be a little careful when they go along through there, stay woke, keep their eyes open".
The first modern use of the term "woke" appears in the song "Master Teacher" from the album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (2008) by soul singer Erykah Badu. Throughout the song, Badu sings the phrase: "I stay woke." Although the phrase did not yet have any connection to justice issues, Badu's song is credited with the later connection to these issues.
To "stay woke" in this sense expresses the intensified continuative and habitual grammatical aspect of African American Vernacular English, in essence to always be awake, or to be ever vigilant. David Stovall said: "Erykah brought it alive in popular culture. She means not being placated, not being anesthetized."
Implicit in the concept of being woke is the idea that such awareness must be earned. The rapper Earl Sweatshirt recalls singing "I stay woke" along to the song and his mother turning down the song and responding: "No, you're not."
I wonder why his mother rendered that negative verdict. Perhaps the dude was too young at the time to be genuinely self-aware in that sense & his mum knew she had to alert him to the importance of being authentic, not just copying…
Good point, since it raises the question of how identity is created in identity politics. I've always seen it as self-created, but it is true that identities are socially-created via labelling.
Since I lack experience of personal interactions with the minority group in Aotearoa that is being labelled woke by some, I can't testify to the extent to which those who marched in support of BLM here have genuinely performed the cultural appropriation of the woke label. Perhaps others here can?
Yeah, this bit really took me back into my 1960s self: " A major task of self-development during early adolescence is the differentiation of multiple selves as a function of social context (e.g., self with father, mother, close friends) with an awareness of the potential contradictions."
I remember the post-adolescent phase more clearly though. Late teens had me trying to present myself consistently to others and being puzzled that doing so felt inappropriate in some social contexts. I decided to yield to those feelings, and respond to circumstances intuitively instead.
The fact that NZ adopts memes from overseas which are probably spread through social media fastest to the young ones means that overseas usage has a quick uptake here, 'woke' included.
Also cis – that is used as part of identity trashing.
Well, if a sociologist wanted to establish a causal link, he/she would ask them, eh? BLM are just as likely to report cultural transmission as the gospel according to Badu.
BLM are just as likely to report cultural transmission as the gospel according to Badu.
This would be another evidence-free assertion that assumes no crossover of any note between an album you've never heard and a movement you've got no idea about?
Disrespectful to BLM, since they invented it! As long as politically-correct folks embrace the term, it will maintain currency. Been in general use so many years now that there's no point trying to close the stable door – the horse has bolted!
Pretty sure I explained this to you already. 'Woke' has a specific meaning in US black communities. It has a different meaning in NZ. In NZ it is now almost always used as a pejorative or tool of mocking or dismissal.
Collins and co are using it to foster dissent and taunt the left. Lefties might be using it as shorthand but I think the word meaning is still in transition here and like others I think it's better to avoid using it at all, unless one knows how to use it in reference to BLM, which I almost never see in NZ. I don't see many lefties/liberals/progressives using it to describe themselves now, some used to.
Haven't read Bomber's piece today, but he generally uses it to position himself and his argument in conflict with other left wing people. You might want to ask why he does that and whether it's useful.
Lefties might be using it as shorthand but I think the word meaning is still in transition here
Since language evolves. Clearly context ought to guide usage of labels.
Gordon Campbell: “Ngati Woke” March 2020
But he was citing Shane Jones. Sourcing the term in 19th century usage as the wiki does (re freeing slaves) suggests that to do transformational social change, one must first awaken from habitual acceptance of the status quo.
In that sense woke as a current term does signal a generic usage outside BLM. So any attempt to limit usage is probably doomed to failure. I do agree that usage to demonise leftists is problematic – but I expect it to escalate. Group labelling is integral to identity politics. Leftists calling Trump racist fueled that fire, so no surprise rightists have called their bluff…
I just woke up, but wouldnt have a clue what a woke is?some buzzword that somebody invented, that means nothing to the vast majority. use it and feel part of the crowd, or use it and feel like a tool…
The righties in America use the term woke as they once used unAmerican (leftie fellow traveller/not a Christian or not white in their thinking – supporting civil rights in the south).
The meaning of words evolve, why should woke meaning remain constant, or as a few wish it to be ?
look at a word like gay, todays usage of the word has little to do with how it was in past used.
I did find criticism of Nationals front benches ethnic composition strange. Its clearly the parties business who it puts on its front bench, but Muller etc handled this poorly. Collins seems to have killed it off.
This kind of reaction (rejecting the framing) to baseless criticisms should be kept in mind as the way to go.
Talkback hosts have been pumping "woke" for some time now, with such repetitious intensity that it's clear they are trying to embed the word in the minds of their listeners so that when it's needed, the single word will trigger anger with those who become furious believing they understand exactly what the word refers to, where in fact their response is emotional and Pavlovian.
Yet another example of a word or phrase that is forced down the throats of the population and means different things to different people. It is used by self proclaimed, trend setting leaders of political discourse who have an agenda to push which can be either Left or Right.
As far as I can see it is mainly a tool of the Right in NZ and is being used to denigrate the Left in a DP context.
Appropriated African American vernacular used as an insult.
Says it all, really.
While Black folks are routinely dismissed and discriminated against because of our hairstyles and AAVE in personal and professional settings, white people profit off of our styles, wear dreads and awkwardly co-opt our words and cadences for cool-points.
Meanwhile, white millennials will play the word on their Scrabble boards and laugh as they collect points for a word they do not use properly. People will buy “stay woke” cocktails with Red Bull, and tweet that you should “stay woke” in reference to the unfairness of the C minus they got in trigonometry. Woke will lose its Blackness, it will fade into whiteness–the same whiteness which assumed the term was just misconjugated verb, and now thinks that it makes a great descriptor for their Corgi who is nice to Black people.
You must have never gone to the Daily Blog or Kiwblog. It’s used in a dispargaging way for the liberal left at both sites. At Kiwblog its just their new term for PC, at the Daily Blog its a term for those who deplatform others on social media (so the site tries to make any one woke as unwelcome as possible).
“Snowflake” and “virtue signaling” were US imports–derisive terms essentially used in one direction only, uttered by reactionaries in regards to those they wished to denigrate, usually perceived as being left.
“Woke” however has accumulated wider usage and connotations for both left and right, and seems set to hang around longer, as did PC. No one but the out of touch, uses “PC” any more except in an ironic way perhaps. “I know its not PC…but…” does remain a BBQ favourite though for bigots about to blather some more offensive shit.
“Woke” is offensive to me when used in the same way as “PC” was. Where perfectly just causes and actions are corralled under one label as being on the margins rather than something the mainstream need to concern themselves with.
Sure the awake to injustice, rather than unaware of it, or comfortable with its continuance.
Disparaging the woke reminds me of someone like Karl Du Fresne in MSM column or Desterre on blog saying criticism of old white male boomers is ageist, racist and sexist and they will deplatform or not vote for such people (young, coloured and female).
One could go back to JFK's book Why England Slept (not being awake to the white racist nation's fascist threat to peace/world order) to whom on the right would be wary of the woke and why.
When used by those on the left it is a disapproving term for other people on the left who exhibit a vehement response to identity-based slights and injustices – but have no underlying structural analysis of how those slights and injustices arise. (Put simply: it's Marxists criticising identity politics)
When used by those on the right, it is a generalised disparagement of everyone on the left who is annoyed by any form of injustice and has the impertinence to speak up about it with force or passion. As has been said above, it now replaces 'political correctness' and is mostly an expression of how irritated the right is by hearing anything from unimportant people who don't really count in their internalised hierarchies of humans
When used by ordinary people – it is just fatigue at having one’s language policed by zealots looking for hidden signs of impure thoughts. Rather like post-modernist literary critics, even the faintest linguistic cloudiness can be ‘problematized’ into a thing that deserves extensive commentary leading to denunciation.
"… mostly an expression of how irritated the right is by hearing anything from unimportant people who don't really count in their internalised hierarchies of humans".
…and is mostly an expression of how irritated the right is by hearing anything from unimportant people who don't really count in their internalised hierarchies of humans.
Oh God, how true is that for so many of us who are/were not deemed to have been born to the right parents. And what makes it more ironic is that in many cases (including my own) their judgement is borne of ignorance and lack of intelligence.
In the face of electoral oblivion, Peters played the hits. His proposals at the Highbrook Conference Suites may as well have been designed by a random New Zealand First policy generator. Peters argued for a limit on immigration numbers to 15,000 per year, and insisted a New Zealand First immigration minister would be a “bottom line” in any coalition agreement.
New Zealand First was like a “rock, steadfast against the surging sea,” he said. It would ensure the country didn’t “lurch too far left, or too far right”. Instead it would be safe with Peters, the eye in a storm of attempted progress.
Fear is a hard sell at the moment though. Most of Peters’ voting base just spent the last 12 weeks in front of the TV being reassured by prime minister Jacinda Ardern. It’s hard to present yourself as a barrier fending off the hordes of political loons when your coalition partner’s biggest selling point is its calm, steady handling of a global crisis.
The reviewer looks for something more relevant to a brighter future, finds it lacking. I'm inclined to agree that the x factor is missing. Winston's ripe for retirement.
Winstons trying to lift the parties popularity, at the last poll of under 2% he seems to think it's because of his association with Labour and the Greens.
I would suggest that it's because he has stymied the efforts of Labour and the Greens in their attempt improve conditions for all, not a few.
His boasting and denials on Q&A yesterday was directed at his base, the voice of sensibility, he claims.
Not really standard OP, most RSEs are well looked after and the arseholes exploiting the minority are getting eliminated.
In the vineyards the pay is above minimum and in most cases well above that, but the most important thing to remember is someone from Vanuatu and the like earning good money when seen on comparable basis back home are earning more like the PM does here, Marlborough vineyard work has made it possible to build hundreds of houses and start businesses in the islands, and when strife hits the islands locals here are quick to fill containers with building materials and gear and ship it up there with money raised locally.
Did you actually read the item which btw has been updated since my initial post?
And did you read the first 2 episodes? I'll concede that in most occasions the RSE workers think they're doing OK IF and WHEN they're treated OK and not as though they're some cheap alternative to local labour that they should be grateful for because some jumped up little gittus and his borderline crim mates think they're royalty who are magnanimously doing a few lesser beings a favour.
And, when they're not treated with the respect that is their due, AND/OR being paid their entitlements, they have a right to complain – just as anyone else does.
Their is a history to all this as you possibly well know (if you're claiming expertise in the matter) – going back a while. It doesn't JUST concern RSE workers either.
Unfortunately, Lees-Galloway (once again) has invited the opposition a few more free hits – which is a shame, because I'm told he's relatively intelligent and a 'nice guy'. Shame he's such a shit judge of character
You could almost be describing the Russian crews stranded in Lyttleton through the delinquency of Grinevich et al. Thirty years on and the only thing that has changed is that the exploitation has moved onshore.
How can earning 10 times the hourly rate back home and working for people who band together and support your community when disaster strikes be equated to Russian crews on Russian ships?
Perhaps you were unaware of how low wages are in Russia – when the first Russian charters began operating in NZ (probably the Fletcher Sovryflot vessels), crew received the princely sum of $2 US per day – vastly more than they could have made at home.
They were exploited, and illegally of course, with the connivance of both major parties. The vessels were required to be registered in NZ for fisheries purposes (which also sent a bit of work to local dockyards), but this also made them subject to NZ law in its entirety including minimum wage law. This was never enforced of course – both Labour and National MPs being completely onboard with slavery.
But to answer your question – the Lyttleton vessel crews were in dispute about unpaid wages, and just as reluctant to be repatriated before they their court case was settled as Once Was Tim's RSE workers.
In fact some kind of migrant worker ombudsman office is highly desirable, so that these very common exploitation rorts are carried through the courts to completion even if the complainants are obliged to return home, and the scoundrels responsible face the justice that at present they generally escape.
Road trip to and from Whangarei for me from the Far North today, Mangamuka Gorge closed, so National will probably promise to build a Tunnel through it to go with their promised Bridges /sarc National, Building a Blighted Future
Thanks Sacha, SH10 is open and only adds another 10min to a trip so shouldn't be a problem really, but the Gorge road does sound munted and will need a lot of money spent on it. Was really just poking fun at Nationals un-costed yet promised tunnels and bridges. Blue skies and we're drying out here now, fingers crossed.
Heard a civil defence guy on radio saying slips and washouts all over the show, warning locals to not assume the road is same as last time they drove it.
As the Dotard of Doltistan and his Banana Republicans do their best to shatter the norms and values of functioning democracy, let's take a moment to be grateful for the relatively healthy state of our own democracy and how minor the rorts and distortions we get fired up about here really are.
Here there really is no question that the result of the election will be respected, and any subsequent transfer of power will happen in a peaceful and orderly manner. Contrast that with the decomposing jack'o'lantern's tease of refusing to accept the upcoming election results, with the real risk of armed extremists committing violence.
Here we go to substantial efforts to enable everyone to vote freely and that the final result fairly reflects the electorate's wishes. Contrast that with the partisan dirty tricks that are so prevalent in the US, such as voter suppression, removing polling booths, gerrymandering etc.
All of that without even starting on the failings of sham democracies such as Russia, Zimbabwe, Syria etc where elections only exist to stoke their ruler's ego and give useful idiots elsewhere talking points to hang false equivalences and other sham arguments from.
Could that possibly be because there weren't any actual UN election observers at the 2014 Syrian election? I've yet to find any reports of any.
Could it be that what is referred to was a gathering of pro-Assad propagandists calling themselves observers, holding a press conference at the UN, so that gullible useful idiots can spread propaganda fake news misdescribing it as "a press conference of UN observers of the Syrian Presidential election of 2014" ?
Forgive the preachy tone, but journalism was given its Fourth Estate privileges in order to discern who benefits from any given public policy, who’s likely to suffer the consequences of it, and what the wider repercussions are likely to be when this or that political direction is taken..
Don't bother asking Gordon when this happened. It didn't. Only in his mind – he's a leftist, of course. Trawl through the relevant history in search of his origin myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Estate
Gordon does make an important point in his footnote, however, and readers ought to check that out! Media responsibilities to the public are imaginal/real…
Oh, true. I was just reacting to the obvious falsity of his claim. The fourth estate does seem to have become accepted as a de facto component of the privilege system – even if the proof of that remains lacking. Thus my reference to imaginal/real. The social contract, however ephemeral, does condition people, politics, even power…
Thanks for that link Dennis – interesting footnote from Campbell; perceptive and fun.
"A disturbing downside of the media air kisses to Collins (for her services to news bulletins past and present) has been the skewing of the news agenda that has come in its wake. On Wednesday PM Jacinda Ardern delivered a major speech on this country’s route of re-engagement with the outside world, including a four part breakdown of the plans for handling the Covid-19 infection outbreaks that Ardern conceded would almost certainly ensue.
However, this announcement got buried in the blizzard of Collins stories, at least one of which (“The Many Sides of Judith Collins”) consisted of one journalist asking three other journalists to share their perceptions of Collins. Meanwhile, the Australians were treating the Ardern speech as rather big news. The Melbourne Age ran it prominently on its website. So did the Sydney Morning Herald, under the headline: “‘We have a plan’: Ardern says NZ must prepare for virus resurgence.”"
Could much of our media be regarded as infected with a sort of virus that attacks the 'little grey cells'? Perhaps some should go into isolation and spend it in thinking and reading non-fiction books that aren't Jordan Peterson's.
"Perhaps some should go into isolation…" – like your thinking Grey; a gulag would be too good for the worst of them, IMHO. In NZ, however, we'll just have to muddle through with 'a contest of ideas'.
Wouldn't mind so much, if only it was a fair joust, but one competitor in particular does have substantial recent form for playing dirty.
Keep laughing Robert it's good for the health. And funnily enough being a bit grey gives a number of characters to present, which is privately amusing at times.
I think you will find that the Fees Free policy has had very minimal impact on the increased enrolments that the institutions are seeing because the eligibility critera for Fees Free restricts alot of learners who have previouly studied at Level 3 .
[You have already used at least three different user names here and you don’t need to use a fourth one! We ask every commenter to pick one and stick with it. I have changed yours to the most recent (22 June 2020) user name that you seem to have used here – Incognito]
You didn't read what I wrote. I said increase enrolments would make it hard for National to attack fees-free. I didn't say increased enrolments are a result of fees-free.
My sister is in her second year of study to be a early childhood educator, something she had never considered until fee's free. I'm mighty proud of her.
Just Is What type of education though? I look at what we have and find it facing backwards to the 2Oth century. I just found this 2012 article by George Monbiot commenting on 'the barons', the present young dispossessed from just about everything that we all thought that WW2 fighting was for.
To be young in the post-industrial nations today is to be excluded. Excluded from the comforts enjoyed by preceding generations; excluded from jobs; excluded from hopes of a better world; excluded from self-ownership.
Those with degrees are owned by the banks before they leave college. Housing benefit is being choked off. Landlords now demand rents so high that only those with the better jobs can pay. Work has been sliced up and outsourced into a series of mindless repetitive tasks, whose practitioners are interchangeable. Through globalisation and standardisation, through unemployment and the erosion of collective bargaining and employment laws, big business now asserts a control over its workforce almost unprecedented in the age of universal suffrage.
The promise the old hold out to the young is a lifetime of rent, debt and insecurity. A rentier class holds the nation's children to ransom. Faced with these conditions, who can blame people for seeking an alternative?
But the alternatives have also been shut down: you are excluded yet you cannot opt out.
This is what I see. So a different sort of education is needed, one that won't just reinforce the above behaviour, one that will help ameliorate the present situation, and will encourage strong, good and kind people to help each other to grow individually to largely follow their own path within the community. They might be like freemen, or husbandmen of medieval times, or guildsmen. There could be the option of leaving school at 13 and going into an apprenticeship with block courses off for learning other subjects, one of which would be humanity and philosophy, but not religion as such.
Guilds might be the answer for us now. They could be formed on a local region basis to take on apprentices to make things for local use and work up superior types of product for sale in other regions or for export. This would apply to both males and females. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/guilds.html
There are trends in treatment and lack of opportunity for women to learn skills apart from domestic work among religious groups at present that are following medieval paths as referred to here:
… general observations about English peasant women: "A peasant woman's life was, in fact, hemmed in by prohibition and restraint." If single, women had to submit to the male head of her household; if married, to her husband, under whose identity she was subsumed. English peasant women generally could not hold lands for long, rarely learnt any craft occupation and rarely advanced past the position of assistants, and could not become officials.
For elite woman of the medieval ages, the situation sounds similar to that available to late 20th century women – since then opportunities and conditions have changed under neolib and freemarket strictures:
Noble women were natural parts of the cultural and political environments of their time due to their positions and kinship. Particularly when acting as regents, elite women would assume the full feudal, economic, political and judicial powers of their husbands or young heirs. These women were never prohibited during the Middle Ages from receiving fiefdoms or owning real property during their husbands' lives. Noble women were often patrons of literature, art, monasteries and convents, and religious men. It was not uncommon for them to be knowledgeable in Latin literature. For the wives of elite merchants in Northern Europe, their roles extended to commercial undertakings both with their husbands and on their own, however in Italy tradition and law excluded them from commerce.
My intent was for just basic high quality teaching from year 1 in all our schools and institutions, access for everyone, smaller classes, proper wages for those who educate.
We know low decile schools tend to have poor outcomes for many students, is there a way to change that.
Make sure the school buildings are fit for purpose, safe and healthy.
Tertiary education Institutes have been commercialized, its all about profit.
But what are we educating for? We are not teaching kids to think. Our lives have changed immeasurably and we don't have the width of learning and practice of analysis to have understanding and influence on what is happening. We have lost the 20th century, and we have had a poor batting average, we must regroup now in education, or we'll be run out. And that isn't cricket, for the oldies to give to the young ones. I have gone all sporty, time to retire for the post game cup of tea.
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I'd agree with Bryce … I think Winston's in real trouble. With inadequate Bridges & Muller in charge of the Nats, there was still an outside chance of a last-minute 2002-style resurrection for NZF (though even then, it would’ve almost certainly been a highly anaemic version of that hefty 02 swing) … but Collins' leadership might just be the final nail in the Winstonista coffin. They're certainly fighting for their electoral lives (hence, the UK Beagle Boys).
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I've always held my tongue because there was Thatcher, the shoe collector wife of that leader, Ismeralda? Imelda? Shipley, but not many, and generally, they don't seem to get caught up in sex scandals or sending unsolicited porn…
I mentioned in the Wellington central post that Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury appeared to have a tendency toward misogyny. He's promptly confirmed that he genuinely despises women in a childishly immature post on the Daily Blog.
In this case, the primary object of his hate is the leader of the National Party, with another woman, Fran O'Sullivan getting a backhander too.
No mention of where the image used came from, and unless I miss my guess, it appears to be something he has composed himself. Presumably while typing one handed.
To save clicking through, it's a composite of Judith Collin's face under a PornHub header.
te reo putake hit piece on a female journalist. If you have not read it, ask te reo putake he can give it to you.
[still no idea what you are on about and I’m not willing to trawl through TRP’s posts to try and figure it out. I warned you yesterday not to do this bullshit innuendo stuff and poking at people without any real intent to communicate. You’re out for a week. Please up your game when you return – weka]
I saw the same thing on TDB, and saw Bomber as attacking the Herald's standards of journalism, in pushing Fran's positive promotion of Judith.
I think Bomber tends to rush in boots and all, and does not always think about how easy it is for people with different attitudes to misinterpret the bombast that he has thrown forth.
I don't see him as a misogynist, only as a naughty, at times over-exuberant propagandist.
This in response to an unprecedented assault on the laws of asylum .So much for the rule of law and simple human decency
TRP's attacks on Assange were ugly and well in line with the character assassination that Nils Melzer described .TRP jumped on the bandwagon along with all the other republicans and cowards baying for his blood
Collins def gets rabid whenever she starts on "those lot at Labour" rants, she's just full of seething anger, I can't think of a counterpart in Labour or Greens. Nicky knows where the bodies are buried, he's seen the emails, I'm glad he's speaking out.
Reading between the lines, this sounds like an intensely personal issue, and shouldn't be lumped in with the other Nats getting out (especially as he has a safe seat).
Andrew Falloon will not stand for National in the Rangitata seat
Suicides of friends and unresolved grief, for which he has been having counselling given as the reason in a written statement. Get well Andrew.
Stuff understands the (National) Party was alerted to some of Falloon’s behaviour, which was “unbecoming of an MP”.
Wonder if we’ll ever find out what the behaviour was? And call me cynical but ‘mental health issues’ seems to have become a very convenient way for all political parties to shut down a potentially damaging issue.
Probably making sure lots of people don't die and that we survive the economic recession. After that I expect they will release policy in the lead up to the election.
Certainly is … my older brother brought a couple of Kliban's books of cartoons home around 1981/82 IIRR. Whack Your Porcupine & Two Guys Fooling Around with the Moon … brilliantly eccentric, irreverent & off-centre.
Took them to College to amuse friends & one or two teachers (including the one below … which my Biology teacher thought was hilarious … though possibly borders on non-PC now):
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TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
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Bomber struggles to get his head around it: "So, ummmmmm." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/07/19/ummm-shouldnt-winston-be-taken-to-task-for-this-outrageous-falsehood/
Winston a liar?? Surely not! 🤔
Strikes me there's a simple explanation that would get Winnie off the moral hook: NZF hired the secret agents after the 7th and before the 18th.
Really?? Buncha snowflakes are we? Can't handle it? However Bomber does pull himself together. He reveals Winston's master plan: angry white men. The thesis is that there's
So you see how this can be made to work. Get the left identified in the public mind as shrill wokeists who are totally delusional. Just a question of whether National or NZF stampede those hordes of angry white males into polling booths. Probably both.
The repetitive use of the word "woke" certainly helps the Brexit PR CA guys, why keep perpetrating that? I refuse to and I never hear it anywhere but here on TS & Peters & Collins. To not take the bait, stop using the word or even acknowledge it even means anything.
Disrespectful to BLM, since they invented it! As long as politically-correct folks embrace the term, it will maintain currency. Been in general use so many years now that there's no point trying to close the stable door – the horse has bolted!
Where have you heard anyone using it about themselves?
On it's wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke
I wonder why his mother rendered that negative verdict. Perhaps the dude was too young at the time to be genuinely self-aware in that sense & his mum knew she had to alert him to the importance of being authentic, not just copying…
Given we are talking about NZ, some examples of that embrace rather than people slagging others for it would be welcome.
Good point, since it raises the question of how identity is created in identity politics. I've always seen it as self-created, but it is true that identities are socially-created via labelling.
Since I lack experience of personal interactions with the minority group in Aotearoa that is being labelled woke by some, I can't testify to the extent to which those who marched in support of BLM here have genuinely performed the cultural appropriation of the woke label. Perhaps others here can?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/nz/blog/science-choice/201412/basics-identity
Yeah, this bit really took me back into my 1960s self: " A major task of self-development during early adolescence is the differentiation of multiple selves as a function of social context (e.g., self with father, mother, close friends) with an awareness of the potential contradictions."
I remember the post-adolescent phase more clearly though. Late teens had me trying to present myself consistently to others and being puzzled that doing so felt inappropriate in some social contexts. I decided to yield to those feelings, and respond to circumstances intuitively instead.
O’kay.
So you are citing an 'embrace' for which you have no actual evidence? Noted.
You’ll see it when you believe it.
Only insofar as no evidence of repudiation has shown up in the media. If that minority feels they aren't woke, they need to start saying so!!
Isn’t that a horror movie, The Awakening? Scary stuff, those woke beings.
No repudiation, you say.
‘When did you stop beating your wife, Dennis?’
The fact that NZ adopts memes from overseas which are probably spread through social media fastest to the young ones means that overseas usage has a quick uptake here, 'woke' included.
Also cis – that is used as part of identity trashing.
So you have provided a link that disproves your assertion BLM "invented" the term "woke".
Cheers. Politically correct is one thing, but you are not factually correct in that instance.
Yes, I learnt that from the wiki. They recycled lingo that had become historical. So we live & learn, as usual…
"They" being "Erika Badu" using lingo from a few decades previously, well before BLM was a thing.
Well, if a sociologist wanted to establish a causal link, he/she would ask them, eh? BLM are just as likely to report cultural transmission as the gospel according to Badu.
This would be another evidence-free assertion that assumes no crossover of any note between an album you've never heard and a movement you've got no idea about?
Oh right, Collins, Peters et al are addressing the BLM movement here in NZ, all clear now.
Pretty sure I explained this to you already. 'Woke' has a specific meaning in US black communities. It has a different meaning in NZ. In NZ it is now almost always used as a pejorative or tool of mocking or dismissal.
Collins and co are using it to foster dissent and taunt the left. Lefties might be using it as shorthand but I think the word meaning is still in transition here and like others I think it's better to avoid using it at all, unless one knows how to use it in reference to BLM, which I almost never see in NZ. I don't see many lefties/liberals/progressives using it to describe themselves now, some used to.
Haven't read Bomber's piece today, but he generally uses it to position himself and his argument in conflict with other left wing people. You might want to ask why he does that and whether it's useful.
Lefties might be using it as shorthand but I think the word meaning is still in transition here
Since language evolves. Clearly context ought to guide usage of labels.
Gordon Campbell: “Ngati Woke” March 2020
But he was citing Shane Jones. Sourcing the term in 19th century usage as the wiki does (re freeing slaves) suggests that to do transformational social change, one must first awaken from habitual acceptance of the status quo.
In that sense woke as a current term does signal a generic usage outside BLM. So any attempt to limit usage is probably doomed to failure. I do agree that usage to demonise leftists is problematic – but I expect it to escalate. Group labelling is integral to identity politics. Leftists calling Trump racist fueled that fire, so no surprise rightists have called their bluff…
Stay woke.
I just woke up, but wouldnt have a clue what a woke is?some buzzword that somebody invented, that means nothing to the vast majority. use it and feel part of the crowd, or use it and feel like a tool…
"I just woke up"
Turns out that is the correct usage.
The righties in America use the term woke as they once used unAmerican (leftie fellow traveller/not a Christian or not white in their thinking – supporting civil rights in the south).
Stay woke indeed.
The meaning of words evolve, why should woke meaning remain constant, or as a few wish it to be ?
look at a word like gay, todays usage of the word has little to do with how it was in past used.
Word evolution is great – those using 'woke' as a slur are asleep at the wheel.
#ReclaimWoke
I did find criticism of Nationals front benches ethnic composition strange. Its clearly the parties business who it puts on its front bench, but Muller etc handled this poorly. Collins seems to have killed it off.
This kind of reaction (rejecting the framing) to baseless criticisms should be kept in mind as the way to go.
Talkback hosts have been pumping "woke" for some time now, with such repetitious intensity that it's clear they are trying to embed the word in the minds of their listeners so that when it's needed, the single word will trigger anger with those who become furious believing they understand exactly what the word refers to, where in fact their response is emotional and Pavlovian.
Just another tiresome import from the US righties by their unoriginal local counterparts.
Judith Collins has used it already.
Yesterday, Winston claimed his party is the only true Green party in Parliament.
Stealing the self-labling of those you oppose is a common strategy nowadays.
Ahhh, Winnie, my favourite Charlatan
Shane Jones must rate alongside, Mista Smokey? He's slick and loud.
Daresay. Maybe.
But who's the classy one, Robbie G?
Winston is crimped and coiffured, it's true!
Winston maybe a handbrake vote from National supporters as they continue to implode.
Collins dodgy past and corroberators in Dirty politics are still players in the shadows.
Now, this comes to mind, from a fair way back:
Helen Clark saying, "Every three years, Winston pops up like Rumpelstiltskin."
It ended badly for ol' Rumpy, as I recall.
Winston is green the way the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is democratic.
And Winston, of course 😉
Yet another example of a word or phrase that is forced down the throats of the population and means different things to different people. It is used by self proclaimed, trend setting leaders of political discourse who have an agenda to push which can be either Left or Right.
As far as I can see it is mainly a tool of the Right in NZ and is being used to denigrate the Left in a DP context.
I'm still waiting for an example of the term being used in NZ except to describe others..
NZ lefties used to. Don't see it any more though.
Never seen it from that direction myself. Must be leading a sheltered existence. 🙂
haha, I would have thought my existence more sheltered than yours. I'm thinking of twitter. Will see if I can find an example.
the wokest may have blocked me by now
Appropriated African American vernacular used as an insult.
Says it all, really.
While Black folks are routinely dismissed and discriminated against because of our hairstyles and AAVE in personal and professional settings, white people profit off of our styles, wear dreads and awkwardly co-opt our words and cadences for cool-points.
Meanwhile, white millennials will play the word on their Scrabble boards and laugh as they collect points for a word they do not use properly. People will buy “stay woke” cocktails with Red Bull, and tweet that you should “stay woke” in reference to the unfairness of the C minus they got in trigonometry. Woke will lose its Blackness, it will fade into whiteness–the same whiteness which assumed the term was just misconjugated verb, and now thinks that it makes a great descriptor for their Corgi who is nice to Black people.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170709055948/https://wearyourvoicemag.com/identities/race/white-people-ruined-on-fleek-woke
edit: this too
https://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/2018/06/dear-white-people-woke-requires-work/
Here we go. Collins will lead a well funded campaign using all the latest tools.
Manufacturing consent, dissent and whatever it takes to get a bigger vote.
They've worn out 'social justice warrior' and 'snoflake'.
You must have never gone to the Daily Blog or Kiwblog. It’s used in a dispargaging way for the liberal left at both sites. At Kiwblog its just their new term for PC, at the Daily Blog its a term for those who deplatform others on social media (so the site tries to make any one woke as unwelcome as possible).
“Snowflake” and “virtue signaling” were US imports–derisive terms essentially used in one direction only, uttered by reactionaries in regards to those they wished to denigrate, usually perceived as being left.
“Woke” however has accumulated wider usage and connotations for both left and right, and seems set to hang around longer, as did PC. No one but the out of touch, uses “PC” any more except in an ironic way perhaps. “I know its not PC…but…” does remain a BBQ favourite though for bigots about to blather some more offensive shit.
“Woke” is offensive to me when used in the same way as “PC” was. Where perfectly just causes and actions are corralled under one label as being on the margins rather than something the mainstream need to concern themselves with.
Sure the awake to injustice, rather than unaware of it, or comfortable with its continuance.
Disparaging the woke reminds me of someone like Karl Du Fresne in MSM column or Desterre on blog saying criticism of old white male boomers is ageist, racist and sexist and they will deplatform or not vote for such people (young, coloured and female).
One could go back to JFK's book Why England Slept (not being awake to the white racist nation's fascist threat to peace/world order) to whom on the right would be wary of the woke and why.
Woke.
When used by those on the left it is a disapproving term for other people on the left who exhibit a vehement response to identity-based slights and injustices – but have no underlying structural analysis of how those slights and injustices arise. (Put simply: it's Marxists criticising identity politics)
When used by those on the right, it is a generalised disparagement of everyone on the left who is annoyed by any form of injustice and has the impertinence to speak up about it with force or passion. As has been said above, it now replaces 'political correctness' and is mostly an expression of how irritated the right is by hearing anything from unimportant people who don't really count in their internalised hierarchies of humans
When used by ordinary people – it is just fatigue at having one’s language policed by zealots looking for hidden signs of impure thoughts. Rather like post-modernist literary critics, even the faintest linguistic cloudiness can be ‘problematized’ into a thing that deserves extensive commentary leading to denunciation.
So it’s all a complete mess
"… mostly an expression of how irritated the right is by hearing anything from unimportant people who don't really count in their internalised hierarchies of humans".
Elegantly put, AB.
Well put AB. Post modernist philosophy, especially when combined with neo liberal individualism, has a lot to answer for!
Read this?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/20-07-2020/nicky-hager-five-reasons-why-judith-collins-wont-be-prime-minister/?fbclid=IwAR2_spUsWPgQmBirXOoh9wv755K4wyEc2CvlWa9K0LkzyOa3OYCQUSJmqCs#.XxTEJXUcBnB.facebook
Thanks for that Robert
Good piece from Nicky
Have now, thank you Robert–sincerely hope Mr Hager is correct.
Nicky deals in facts and unclothes them from various buried graves. Thanks Nicky and Robert.
Cheers Robert. Nicky Hager is a credible journalist.
Unfortunately NZ is extremely short of journalists of Nicky's calibre, intellect and in depth knowledge of political issues.
Oh God, how true is that for so many of us who are/were not deemed to have been born to the right parents. And what makes it more ironic is that in many cases (including my own) their judgement is borne of ignorance and lack of intelligence.
The Lincoln Project's tribute to John Lewis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqZV–6Q2fg
Spinoff reviews NZF campaign launch: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/20-07-2020/fear-and-loathing-and-john-farnham-at-winston-peters-campaign-launch/
The reviewer looks for something more relevant to a brighter future, finds it lacking. I'm inclined to agree that the x factor is missing. Winston's ripe for retirement.
Winstons trying to lift the parties popularity, at the last poll of under 2% he seems to think it's because of his association with Labour and the Greens.
I would suggest that it's because he has stymied the efforts of Labour and the Greens in their attempt improve conditions for all, not a few.
His boasting and denials on Q&A yesterday was directed at his base, the voice of sensibility, he claims.
Winston also trying to persuade a couple of % of Nat voters to switch to him as a handbrake on progress. That's all he needs to do.
I wouldn't like to predict the election outcome, but I'm kinda hoping hoping NZF sits the next term on the sidelines.
As do many of us..
Heh, no shit! You are in good company Just Is. Winston helped a Labour led Govt. assume office as per MMP, then bailed.
He has often acted more like he was actually in opposition.
Agree whole heartedly. Voters don't like blockers.
Some voters certainly do!
Episode 3: BAU – shunt the exploited out of the if possible, as quickly as possible
RSE workers: ‘Nothing will happen’
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/rse-workers-nothing-will-happen
Standard operating procedure
Not really standard OP, most RSEs are well looked after and the arseholes exploiting the minority are getting eliminated.
In the vineyards the pay is above minimum and in most cases well above that, but the most important thing to remember is someone from Vanuatu and the like earning good money when seen on comparable basis back home are earning more like the PM does here, Marlborough vineyard work has made it possible to build hundreds of houses and start businesses in the islands, and when strife hits the islands locals here are quick to fill containers with building materials and gear and ship it up there with money raised locally.
It is a form of foreign aid that works both ways.
Did you actually read the item which btw has been updated since my initial post?
And did you read the first 2 episodes? I'll concede that in most occasions the RSE workers think they're doing OK IF and WHEN they're treated OK and not as though they're some cheap alternative to local labour that they should be grateful for because some jumped up little gittus and his borderline crim mates think they're royalty who are magnanimously doing a few lesser beings a favour.
And, when they're not treated with the respect that is their due, AND/OR being paid their entitlements, they have a right to complain – just as anyone else does.
Their is a history to all this as you possibly well know (if you're claiming expertise in the matter) – going back a while. It doesn't JUST concern RSE workers either.
Unfortunately, Lees-Galloway (once again) has invited the opposition a few more free hits – which is a shame, because I'm told he's relatively intelligent and a 'nice guy'. Shame he's such a shit judge of character
Krekshun. 'Their is a history………' should read 'There is a history ……..'
(Brain was going slower than my really phat arthritic fingers – as gorgeous as they are, and frankly, you pissed me off with your comment)
You could almost be describing the Russian crews stranded in Lyttleton through the delinquency of Grinevich et al. Thirty years on and the only thing that has changed is that the exploitation has moved onshore.
How can earning 10 times the hourly rate back home and working for people who band together and support your community when disaster strikes be equated to Russian crews on Russian ships?
Perhaps you were unaware of how low wages are in Russia – when the first Russian charters began operating in NZ (probably the Fletcher Sovryflot vessels), crew received the princely sum of $2 US per day – vastly more than they could have made at home.
They were exploited, and illegally of course, with the connivance of both major parties. The vessels were required to be registered in NZ for fisheries purposes (which also sent a bit of work to local dockyards), but this also made them subject to NZ law in its entirety including minimum wage law. This was never enforced of course – both Labour and National MPs being completely onboard with slavery.
But to answer your question – the Lyttleton vessel crews were in dispute about unpaid wages, and just as reluctant to be repatriated before they their court case was settled as Once Was Tim's RSE workers.
In fact some kind of migrant worker ombudsman office is highly desirable, so that these very common exploitation rorts are carried through the courts to completion even if the complainants are obliged to return home, and the scoundrels responsible face the justice that at present they generally escape.
Road trip to and from Whangarei for me from the Far North today, Mangamuka Gorge closed, so National will probably promise to build a Tunnel through it to go with their promised Bridges /sarc National, Building a Blighted Future
Drive well. Looks hairy.
Thanks Sacha, SH10 is open and only adds another 10min to a trip so shouldn't be a problem really, but the Gorge road does sound munted and will need a lot of money spent on it. Was really just poking fun at Nationals un-costed yet promised tunnels and bridges. Blue skies and we're drying out here now, fingers crossed.
Heard a civil defence guy on radio saying slips and washouts all over the show, warning locals to not assume the road is same as last time they drove it.
Far North might be advantaged from using the flat bottomed coastal shipping that used to be common up there way into last century.
Do you think the Mangamuka Gorge will suffer the same fate as the Manawatu Gorge?
As for Collin's 31b road project, the Nats when in government just cleared the slips from the Manawatu Gorge and closed the gorge road for months.
You mean suffer an expensive alternative route being built? Not enough farmers at either end.
As the Dotard of Doltistan and his Banana Republicans do their best to shatter the norms and values of functioning democracy, let's take a moment to be grateful for the relatively healthy state of our own democracy and how minor the rorts and distortions we get fired up about here really are.
Here there really is no question that the result of the election will be respected, and any subsequent transfer of power will happen in a peaceful and orderly manner. Contrast that with the decomposing jack'o'lantern's tease of refusing to accept the upcoming election results, with the real risk of armed extremists committing violence.
Here we go to substantial efforts to enable everyone to vote freely and that the final result fairly reflects the electorate's wishes. Contrast that with the partisan dirty tricks that are so prevalent in the US, such as voter suppression, removing polling booths, gerrymandering etc.
All of that without even starting on the failings of sham democracies such as Russia, Zimbabwe, Syria etc where elections only exist to stoke their ruler's ego and give useful idiots elsewhere talking points to hang false equivalences and other sham arguments from.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2018/jan/21/this-is-how-democracies-die
https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2018/9/21/17886252/forgotten-majority-norms-democracy
Andre, perhaps instead of blindly repeating the lies of your favourite media you could check that their statements aren't false.
To get you started, here is a video of a press conference of UN observers of the Syrian Presidential election of 2014.
Useful idiot indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnFQd4wBXnk
[url fixed, that was some weird tracking bits – weka]
"video unavailable".
yup.
Could that possibly be because there weren't any actual UN election observers at the 2014 Syrian election? I've yet to find any reports of any.
Could it be that what is referred to was a gathering of pro-Assad propagandists calling themselves observers, holding a press conference at the UN, so that gullible useful idiots can spread propaganda fake news misdescribing it as "a press conference of UN observers of the Syrian Presidential election of 2014" ?
Useless idiot is confused.
lol
http://webtv.un.org/watch/bashar-ja%E2%80%99afari-syria-and-us-observers-on-the-syrian-presidential-elections-press-conference/3629865488001/
Gordon Campbell explains why journalism was created: http://werewolf.co.nz/2020/07/gordon-campbell-on-the-mainstream-medias-romance-with-judith-collins/
Don't bother asking Gordon when this happened. It didn't. Only in his mind – he's a leftist, of course. Trawl through the relevant history in search of his origin myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Estate
Gordon does make an important point in his footnote, however, and readers ought to check that out! Media responsibilities to the public are imaginal/real…
You're conflating 'given privileges' with 'being created'. Nice strawman.
saying something does not exist if it does not have a creation date is spurious.
Our constitution within parliament system evolved, as did the role of the so called media estate.
Oh, true. I was just reacting to the obvious falsity of his claim. The fourth estate does seem to have become accepted as a de facto component of the privilege system – even if the proof of that remains lacking. Thus my reference to imaginal/real. The social contract, however ephemeral, does condition people, politics, even power…
Thanks for that link Dennis – interesting footnote from Campbell; perceptive and fun.
Could much of our media be regarded as infected with a sort of virus that attacks the 'little grey cells'? Perhaps some should go into isolation and spend it in thinking and reading non-fiction books that aren't Jordan Peterson's.
"Perhaps some should go into isolation…" – like your thinking Grey; a gulag would be too good for the worst of them, IMHO. In NZ, however, we'll just have to muddle through with 'a contest of ideas'.
Wouldn't mind so much, if only it was a fair joust, but one competitor in particular does have substantial recent form for playing dirty.
Aren't you a "little grey cell", Grey?
Keep laughing Robert it's good for the health. And funnily enough being a bit grey gives a number of characters to present, which is privately amusing at times.
Tertiary enrolments up! This is a problem for National because it makes attacking fees-free difficult.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/421583/tertiary-enrolments-rise-as-job-opportunities-fall
Also helps with unemployment figures.
I think you will find that the Fees Free policy has had very minimal impact on the increased enrolments that the institutions are seeing because the eligibility critera for Fees Free restricts alot of learners who have previouly studied at Level 3 .
[You have already used at least three different user names here and you don’t need to use a fourth one! We ask every commenter to pick one and stick with it. I have changed yours to the most recent (22 June 2020) user name that you seem to have used here – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 11:37 AM.
You didn't read what I wrote. I said increase enrolments would make it hard for National to attack fees-free. I didn't say increased enrolments are a result of fees-free.
Good to see free fees working for the older cohort and for potential tradies.
My sister is in her second year of study to be a early childhood educator, something she had never considered until fee's free. I'm mighty proud of her.
Nats hate Educating people and hate Educated people
They'd much rather prefer to import the expertise, saying there's no one in NZ with qualifications
The FACT is that Education is the BIGGEST LONG TERM INVESTMENT any country can make with huge long term benefits.
Just Is What type of education though? I look at what we have and find it facing backwards to the 2Oth century. I just found this 2012 article by George Monbiot commenting on 'the barons', the present young dispossessed from just about everything that we all thought that WW2 fighting was for.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/barons-in-control-of-britain
To be young in the post-industrial nations today is to be excluded. Excluded from the comforts enjoyed by preceding generations; excluded from jobs; excluded from hopes of a better world; excluded from self-ownership.
Those with degrees are owned by the banks before they leave college. Housing benefit is being choked off. Landlords now demand rents so high that only those with the better jobs can pay. Work has been sliced up and outsourced into a series of mindless repetitive tasks, whose practitioners are interchangeable. Through globalisation and standardisation, through unemployment and the erosion of collective bargaining and employment laws, big business now asserts a control over its workforce almost unprecedented in the age of universal suffrage.
The promise the old hold out to the young is a lifetime of rent, debt and insecurity. A rentier class holds the nation's children to ransom. Faced with these conditions, who can blame people for seeking an alternative?
But the alternatives have also been shut down: you are excluded yet you cannot opt out.
This is what I see. So a different sort of education is needed, one that won't just reinforce the above behaviour, one that will help ameliorate the present situation, and will encourage strong, good and kind people to help each other to grow individually to largely follow their own path within the community. They might be like freemen, or husbandmen of medieval times, or guildsmen. There could be the option of leaving school at 13 and going into an apprenticeship with block courses off for learning other subjects, one of which would be humanity and philosophy, but not religion as such.
Guilds might be the answer for us now. They could be formed on a local region basis to take on apprentices to make things for local use and work up superior types of product for sale in other regions or for export. This would apply to both males and females. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/guilds.html
It would pay to read about 'the Estates of the Realm and how society has been ordered in different places and ages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_of_the_realm
There are trends in treatment and lack of opportunity for women to learn skills apart from domestic work among religious groups at present that are following medieval paths as referred to here:
… general observations about English peasant women: "A peasant woman's life was, in fact, hemmed in by prohibition and restraint." If single, women had to submit to the male head of her household; if married, to her husband, under whose identity she was subsumed. English peasant women generally could not hold lands for long, rarely learnt any craft occupation and rarely advanced past the position of assistants, and could not become officials.
For elite woman of the medieval ages, the situation sounds similar to that available to late 20th century women – since then opportunities and conditions have changed under neolib and freemarket strictures:
Noble women were natural parts of the cultural and political environments of their time due to their positions and kinship. Particularly when acting as regents, elite women would assume the full feudal, economic, political and judicial powers of their husbands or young heirs. These women were never prohibited during the Middle Ages from receiving fiefdoms or owning real property during their husbands' lives. Noble women were often patrons of literature, art, monasteries and convents, and religious men. It was not uncommon for them to be knowledgeable in Latin literature. For the wives of elite merchants in Northern Europe, their roles extended to commercial undertakings both with their husbands and on their own, however in Italy tradition and law excluded them from commerce.
My intent was for just basic high quality teaching from year 1 in all our schools and institutions, access for everyone, smaller classes, proper wages for those who educate.
We know low decile schools tend to have poor outcomes for many students, is there a way to change that.
Make sure the school buildings are fit for purpose, safe and healthy.
Tertiary education Institutes have been commercialized, its all about profit.
But what are we educating for? We are not teaching kids to think. Our lives have changed immeasurably and we don't have the width of learning and practice of analysis to have understanding and influence on what is happening. We have lost the 20th century, and we have had a poor batting average, we must regroup now in education, or we'll be run out. And that isn't cricket, for the oldies to give to the young ones. I have gone all sporty, time to retire for the post game cup of tea.
+100%
They don't like educated well-informed people because they will ask questions.
"The FACT is that Education is the BIGGEST LONG TERM INVESTMENT any country can make with huge long term benefits."
Including lifelong learning by SELF EDUCATION.
A sense of self worth and confidence given to children by the people who raise them helps here.
That requires a stable household income, healthy accomodation and workplaces, available healthcare and and a secure old age.
Bryce Edwards on the AM Show this morning commenting on NZF and Winston
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/time-to-start-writing-off-winston-peters-expert-explains-why-nz-first-have-no-hope.html
Bryce is writing him off, but history suggests that you never know
Bryce is very supportive of the Nats new leader, no mention of her previous "History" though.
Bryce! Says it all.
.
I'd agree with Bryce … I think Winston's in real trouble. With inadequate Bridges & Muller in charge of the Nats, there was still an outside chance of a last-minute 2002-style resurrection for NZF (though even then, it would’ve almost certainly been a highly anaemic version of that hefty 02 swing) … but Collins' leadership might just be the final nail in the Winstonista coffin. They're certainly fighting for their electoral lives (hence, the UK Beagle Boys).
.
https://twitter.com/swordfish7774/status/1285012897559482368
.
– Winston Peters to David Seymour
Good contender for political quote of the year.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12349322
Elegant! He's awful (but we like him – sometimes).
Here's some stats for Global management of Corona Virus comparing Male Leaders to Female Leaders, quite interesting
Just reinforces the fact of just "How Lucky We Are"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12349101
I remember Heather Duplicity-Allen had a mini-meltdown on air a couple of months ago about these exact observations.
Seems she is man's woman.
I was going to say Women tend to be kinder at heart but then I remembered….Collins
I've always held my tongue because there was Thatcher, the shoe collector wife of that leader, Ismeralda? Imelda? Shipley, but not many, and generally, they don't seem to get caught up in sex scandals or sending unsolicited porn…
Imelda Marcos, wife of the Phillipines President a decade or so ago.
There is a difference between strict and downright dishonest
NZFirst
Even after it's long time in Parliament, NZFirst is in fact a one person Jockey.
The sought of stallion who knows a lot, produces a few ideas, but does not get the main ideas up and running.
All words – and no work. Just talk. It's a real pity the Jockey has flopped.
But then, Winston Peters believes only in himself.
New Zealanders are not knocking on his door. They are tired. Same old words,
Yep, but you just can't write him off
I mentioned in the Wellington central post that Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury appeared to have a tendency toward misogyny. He's promptly confirmed that he genuinely despises women in a childishly immature post on the Daily Blog.
In this case, the primary object of his hate is the leader of the National Party, with another woman, Fran O'Sullivan getting a backhander too.
No mention of where the image used came from, and unless I miss my guess, it appears to be something he has composed himself. Presumably while typing one handed.
To save clicking through, it's a composite of Judith Collin's face under a PornHub header.
Vile.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/07/20/political-caption-competition-1253/
And he called it a "caption competition". Just to encourage the jerkoffs. Fucksake.
Fortunately no-one has commented on it, despite 89 views.
It's a good example of why people, esp men, need to stop using the Karen meme now.
also thankfully appears not to have gone out on twitter.
This image strikes me as misogynistic too. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
https://twitter.com/TheDailyBlogNZ/status/1284593831497924609
So generating death threats against female journalist isn't misogyny?
Is it just good woke politics?
what are you on about adam?
te reo putake hit piece on a female journalist. If you have not read it, ask te reo putake he can give it to you.
[still no idea what you are on about and I’m not willing to trawl through TRP’s posts to try and figure it out. I warned you yesterday not to do this bullshit innuendo stuff and poking at people without any real intent to communicate. You’re out for a week. Please up your game when you return – weka]
Maybe the "captions" are premoderated, and a certain bloviate didn't approve of the responses.
I'd forgotten they don't publish certain comments.
You could pop over there and test it out 😈
was tempted, but don't know if they want a legit email 🙂
There didn't used to be any confirm email thingy.
never actually commented there, I think. Don't read it regularly.
I saw the same thing on TDB, and saw Bomber as attacking the Herald's standards of journalism, in pushing Fran's positive promotion of Judith.
I think Bomber tends to rush in boots and all, and does not always think about how easy it is for people with different attitudes to misinterpret the bombast that he has thrown forth.
I don't see him as a misogynist, only as a naughty, at times over-exuberant propagandist.
who routinely dismisses the concerns of women though.
TRP
Your attacks on Assange,with his arms pinned , turned my stomach
And I was piled on for defending him
And your point is…?
rape is rape
“I think it’s kinda ironic that Assange was rudely awakened yesterday to find he was fucked without protection.” https://thestandard.org.nz/julian-assange-journeys-end/
This in response to an unprecedented assault on the laws of asylum .So much for the rule of law and simple human decency
TRP's attacks on Assange were ugly and well in line with the character assassination that Nils Melzer described .TRP jumped on the bandwagon along with all the other republicans and cowards baying for his blood
So as far as I'm concerned he's lost any moral or empathic credibility.
I know, I know. Poor Julian, it's not like he consented to be violated in that way.
Another zinger.
https://twitter.com/BMeiselas/status/1284970853357113344
test
test 2
test 3
Nicky Hager on 5 reasons why Collins will never be PM.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/20-07-2020/nicky-hager-five-reasons-why-judith-collins-wont-be-prime-minister/
And damn compelling reasons too!
Collins def gets rabid whenever she starts on "those lot at Labour" rants, she's just full of seething anger, I can't think of a counterpart in Labour or Greens. Nicky knows where the bodies are buried, he's seen the emails, I'm glad he's speaking out.
She knows her base, they do angry well.
Wow!
National MP Andrew Falloon quits amid 'significant mental health issues'
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12349451
Good on him for getting help.
Must be what the scumbags at Kiwibog were depserate to share the other day when even Farrar had to warn them off. https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/07/for_the_avoidance_of_doubt.html
depseration is a terrible thing
Reading between the lines, this sounds like an intensely personal issue, and shouldn't be lumped in with the other Nats getting out (especially as he has a safe seat).
As the PM says … "be kind".
Andrew Falloon will not stand for National in the Rangitata seat
Suicides of friends and unresolved grief, for which he has been having counselling given as the reason in a written statement. Get well Andrew.
(Slow typing)
Wonder if we’ll ever find out what the behaviour was? And call me cynical but ‘mental health issues’ seems to have become a very convenient way for all political parties to shut down a potentially damaging issue.
If you want to quote from somewhere new, please link to it.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300061190/national-mp-for-rangitata-andrew-falloon-will-not-contest-upcoming-election
Thanks
And the PMs office was notified last week and informed the leader of the oppo, respect.
Bad enough behaviour to trash one's career I suspect.
What are labours policies this election?
Probably making sure lots of people don't die and that we survive the economic recession. After that I expect they will release policy in the lead up to the election.
To battle corona virus and to restart the economy.. Seem to be doing ok. More later..
The TMBS lads discuss why "lame liberals" getting excited by the Lincoln Project ads is mostly a bad thing. In short – the Lincoln Project people have power/influence and a horrible agenda.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Finance have today put aside $14 billion in case of a second pandemic wave.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12349475
I lived through the oil crisis and Think Big 1977-1982, and this government response says we are in a bigger crisis than even that.
Probably a matter of when rather than if.
I'm a veteran of the Muldoon Years myself.
https://twitter.com/swordfish7774/status/1285086279021944832
Is that a B Kliban cartoon?
One of my favourite cartoonists, with a sometimes surreal bent.
Certainly is … my older brother brought a couple of Kliban's books of cartoons home around 1981/82 IIRR. Whack Your Porcupine & Two Guys Fooling Around with the Moon … brilliantly eccentric, irreverent & off-centre.
Took them to College to amuse friends & one or two teachers (including the one below … which my Biology teacher thought was hilarious … though possibly borders on non-PC now):
https://twitter.com/swordfish7774/status/1287565878830051328