Anyway…listening to "The Country" Radio show, with Jamie McKay and Rowena Duncum (again, I kid you not : ). I maybe expected Wailing/Gnashing..but there was a real feeling of National had no chance…so we went with the least harm option. And that was their theory anyway. Ok…I thought, see later and sure enough
Maybe…Its just the Farm Workers…and everyone else that ISN'T a Farmer actually liked Labour?
Edit…Dont know if anyone here remembers sir Key and his “Devil Beast” Analogy from years back. Maybe the rightie Farm types prefer a little less Beast with their Devil?
The red tide of party-vote-Labour in Southland came from the rural towns – the farmer vote is too small to count but the whipped-up hysteria did cause some southern farmers to vote Labour Party on the day! Good strategy, I say and if The Greens turn-down Labour's likely offer of a coalition, their influence will be higher, their long-term prospects brighter and the terror felt by the Federated Farmers of Southland, and regional councillor Eric Roy, greatly heightened. Good thing.
Aye. Fed Farmers…Militant Union.I wonder if the "She's a pretty Communist" feelings had to be Well Repressed. : )
Oh and also Queenstown…etc ; Huge Party Vote Labour. (I used to work as Builders Labour er years ago lol) I remember tryin to talk Workers/NZ Interests at smoko time… "are you a commie?”…Also where I got interested in Green…as some wank was happily talking how he had drill poisoned Trees. "You're not a man of the Trees are ya ?"
Had the election been held on 19 September instead of 17 October the Goldsmith $4b error would not have had such an influence on voters. I think the farming and business community looked at the ability of Robertson and Goldsmith.
Had the election been held on Sept 19 the result would have been worse for National polls were showing Labour at 50% plus.National had the wrong strategy wrong type of leadership Shane Reti would have been better.
National don't have nice people in their party .Dirty politics caught up with them after years of Denials all their chooks came home to roost.Scandal after Scandal showed how low National was prepared to go to gain power.Collins bullying and Bullshitting style went down like a cup of hot sick while she had an initial dead cat bounce,National reverted to simple Soimans perpetual whinging and crying Wolf. National supporters were not impressed with these low life politicians trying Trumpish tactics in the face of the biggest crisis since WW2.
Some random musings on vote-share comparisons between 2002 when the Nats got "Englished" and 2020 when the Nats got "Crushed":
In 2002 to the left of Labour there was also Jim Anderton (vote share 1.70%), and the Alliance (1.27%), as well as the Greens (7.00%)(although in 2002 the Greens flavour was somewhat more green compared the strong social activist flavour of 2020 Greens). This "lefter than Labour" vote share added up to 10% of the vote. In 2020, the "lefter than Labour" vote share is solely represented by the Greens on 7.57% (guess 8% after specials).
In 2002 there were two viable choices for more-or-less centrists that didn't want to choose between Labour and Nats. Winnie First (10.38%), and the Dunnys (6.69%). Between them they drew 17%. In 2020, there were vestigial WinnieFirst (2.7%) and TOP (1.4%) parties, adding up to 4% wasted centrist vote that probably won't vote Labour or Nat under any circumstances. For the sake of argument, let's infer there were 13% (17% – 4%) of centrist voters in 2002 amenable to voting Labour or Nat, but since there were viable centrist alternatives they chose those alternatives, but without those viable alternatives would have split 50/50 Lab/Nat and did so in 2020.
On the left, add up the "lefter than Labour", Labour, and "amenable centrists". In 2002 that came to 10% "ltL", 41.26% Lab, 6.5% "ac", for a total left vote share of 58%. In 2020, call it 8% "ltL" plus 49% Labour plus 0% "ac" for a total left vote share of 57%.
So in overall big picture left vs right terms, 2020 looks pretty similar to 2002 but without the fragmentation on the left.
Maybe there is a sea-change in progress, Eric Watson has been jailed in England for being an arsehole and hiding assets so that he didn't have to pay Owen Glenn for deceiving him on a dodgy deal. The times they are a-changing and arseholery is having it's day of reckoning.
These bloody colonials come from the wrong side of the sheet and don't rate for any ameliorating circumstances – like Eton etc. – the defrauding is just too harrowing.
That scumbag being imprisoned is an occasion for joy, like the equally good news that that filthy water polluter Nick Smith has been fired by the voters of Nelson. The high-minded and decent Adrian, who clearly shares this writer's euphoria, writes that this means "arseholery is having it's [sic] day of reckoning."
Really? In the United Kingdom, exactly what kind of person is running the Conservative Party and the Labour Party? Who are the people running the police and the judiciary?
Sadly, one lowlife shyster getting a small percentage of his just desserts does not mean that "arseholery" is in any danger.
Yeah Dr. Custard pissed me off because he smarmily pretended to be so reasonable and so green, when he was neither. But he was able to fool a lot of people.
At least you know where you are with Crusher (and A-hole Eric Watson).
For anyone vaguely interested in the US preznit election on a state by state basis, but not interested enough to go looking, here's a brief look at the state of current polling averages (reminder, 270 Electoral College votes are needed to win):
Biden is ahead by more than 5% in every state Clinton won (232 EC votes), plus Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16), Wisconsin (10) and Nebraska 2nd district (1). These add up to 279 EC votes. That's enough more than 270 to survive a few faithless electors, but those three states are slow to count early and mail-in votes so are unlikely to declare a winner on election night. If it comes down to slow counts in those three states, expect mayhem.
Biden is also ahead by 2 to 3%ish in Arizona (11), North Carolina (15) and Florida (29). These states have good systems for counting early and mail-in votes so there's a good chance they will declare winners election night unless the margin is extremely close. Florida plus one other (plus Clinton states) is enough to go over 270. A clear election night victory for Biden in these states will likely deflate Il Douche's inevitable lies he lost because of cheating, so the likelihood of serious mayhem would go down.
Polling averages are within 1.5%ish in Ohio (18), Iowa (6), Georgia (16), Maine 2nd district (1), so call them true toss-ups.
If polling companies have waay over-corrected from their 2016 errors, then Texas (38 EC votes, 3.6% lean to Deranged Dotard) and Alaska (3 EC votes, 6% lean) are within Biden's reach.
There's going to be the inevitable cries of "but the 2016 polls were useless". Pollsters learn and adapt, and will have put a lot of effort into figuring out what they did poorly last time and made changes. Polling errors this time around are just as likely to be against Biden as for him.
This time around the polling averages are remarkably stable over time, with much fewer undecideds and no highly visible third parties. That contrasts with volatile polls in 2016, and Stein and that other guy also pulling variable support. The attempted smear campaigns against Biden are falling flat, rather than gaining traction like the ones against Hillary.
edit: if you find your way to RCPs 2020 vs 2016 comparison, check the full 2016 timeline before you panic:
Right now is equivalent to Hillary’s high point and Tinyfingers Twittertwat’s low point, between the pussygrabbing tape release, and Comey announcing the re-opening of the e-mails investigation.
I too like the 538 snake. Was interested in the lack of quality polls for Texas showing. Unlikely to flip I guess but it's the big haul of electoral votes.
If like me you live in central Auckland you can entertain yourself by going to the Domain and hopping from side to side, so you're crossing between New Zealand's most right-wing electorate and Aotearoa's most left-wing electorate.
Opportunities for domestic tourism here, maybe a drinks cart on the boundary, serving gin and tonics on the Epsom side or carrot juice on the other.
Fairly sure he is in ACT territory ? During lockdown Hoskings was praising MP David Seymour because of his assistance getting his daughter back to Australia to continue studies.
"Apparently, Collins’ concession speech was gracious and tearful, although I couldn’t really hear it because a drunk Leftie was hurling Samoan swear words at the screen. My wife promptly told me to stop swearing and sent me in the kitchen to make some tea."
Wouldn't the american election be so much more interesting if it were bernie up there slugging it out with trump..?..(sigh..!)…instead we have biden campaigning on the fact he isn't trump…it's all seriously underwhelming…
You aren't allowed to say that, because it shows: you don't understand the concept of 'electability', you are at best a useful idiot and at worst a closet Trump supporter, and (worst of all) you are denying 'agency' to all the Democratic primary voters who voted for Biden after having their agency denied by being told to vote for Biden. Even such a simple statement of Biden's self-evident uselessness and inadequacy for the horrendous task he will be faced with, is impermissible. Let's hope he wins though.
The Greek word for idiot, literally translated, means one who does not participate in politics. That sums up my conviction on the subject. Gladys Pyle d.1989 USA politician (and philosopher) http://www.picturequotes.com/
(She would know: Gladys Shields Pyle was an American politician and the first woman elected to the United States Senate without having previously been appointed to her position;
she was also the first female senator to serve as a Republican and the first female senator from South Dakota). Wikipedia
Yeah..nah…eh..?..to yr either/or..u CD b overthinking it…I was bemoaning on an intellectual/entertainment level…as bernie wd eviscerate the orange carbuncle..and I see you playing that 'electability' card…it's looking a bit tired/frayed around the edges..eh..?..that electability-card…as this election is clearly about trump vs the other person…and bernie would have been much more effective in that role than biden..and is yr playing of that tired piece of cardboard/anti-bernie trope an indicator that you could be some sort of neoliberal-incrementalism apologist..?
Something that is apparent to many Americans now, that may not have been during the primaries, is that simple competence in the skills needed for government actually do matter. And that those skills will be desperately needed from the moment the new prez sits down to work, after 4 (or 8) years of the tangerine toddler trashing everything he could get his bleached-white microscale creepy raccoon-paws on.
Biden demonstrably has those skills, in spades. Sanders' unblemished record of zero accomplishments of significance to show from his decades in government strongly suggests he does not possess those skills in governing.
You must be ignoring his record in his state..where he receives wide support…and this in a state that is resolutely republican…what his long record there shows is that he works for all people…and for the good of the whole community he served…it's one of the anomalies of the american political world…that widespread support for a self-avowing democratic socialist in a deeply conservative state….any claims bernie has no record of success ..are falsehoods…his actual record proves just the opposite…and as an aside..I know there are many in labour who are neoliberal-incrementalists..and they really need to realise that bankrupt ideology is past its' use by date…continuing that/those policies will doom us all to environmental self-destruction….it is the time for bold action….not a continuing of what came before…
Yankistanis have a mortal dread of the Socialism and would vote against a socialist if the opponent ran on a platform of beating a child to death in the main street of every town beofore lunch.
They have a mortal dread of the Socialism that benefits the poors.
The USDA has released a projection that net U.S. farm income will reach $102.7 billion this year. This would be a 23% increase from net farm income in 2019 and is the result of record farm subsidy payments that were meant to offset losses from COVID-19 and global trade disputes. Farm subsidies in 2020 are expected to total $37.2 billion, a 66% increase from 2019. The question now is if these payments will continue in 2021 if the commodity market does not fully recover from its current state.
More than a third of U.S. farm income in 2019 will come from the U.S. government in the form of the trade-war bailout, crop-insurance payouts and other federal assistance.
[…]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects farm income to be $88 billion. Of that, $19.5 billion will come from direct farm-payment programs and another projected $10.5 billion will come from crop-insurance indemnities. Farmers help pay for federal crop insurance, but the premiums are more than 60% subsidized.
Wouldn't be wonderful if NZ politics has shifted in tone. Could Jacinda's unending kindness and courtesy rub off on other MPs? Is it possible that the people are sick of the aggressive bullying of leaders like Brownlee and Collins? Could cross party cooperation become a standard reality?
And within that new tone still get the job done and even get militant grumpy farmers to further develop positive repairs to our country.
Brilliant idea – NZ has no appetite to elect an extreme left or right government. So perhaps for starters Dr Reti could be given a health portfolio in formation of some grand coalition…
But Ad what do you think about the principle of inviting someone from the Opposition to have an input into a Government proposition? Climate Change for example?
I have had Shane Reti help me first hand . He was very proactive and he has a nice manner. It would be great if someone bringing valuable knowledge into Parliament was utilised for these skills. I really do not think his "politic " leanings would get in the way. I believe he just likes to help more than anything.
If they had unique skills that were not within the existing caucus … maybe.
I can't see the point of a Minister for Climate Change. It just Balkanises the whole issue rather than making it a whole-of-government requirement. Also they already have a Commission for it, and a functioning legislative regime for carbon.
Ministers need to focus on actual climate change consequences, such as rural fire and the insurance and planning issues, or transport and fuel issues, electricity and heat plant issues, water supply and reticulation issues, or home insulation and materials issues.
Generally if it's about everything it achieves nothing. As with poverty measures, Ministers need accountability frameworks that are Specific Measurable Accurate Rational and Timebound.
During the Leaders Debates it just seemed that Jacinda's positivity contrasted so sharply with the harshness of Judiths attempt to appear strong/tough, just might be the future. Of course journalists want/need for MPs to be tough/aggressive so there is something to write about. Maybe a matter of personal perspective but remembering how the Greens developed a reputation for parliamentary courtesy?
Janet We are talking about politics here, not just who has a nice manner when it suits him to be helpful to a patient. You refer to his 'politic' leanings, and believe he wants to help. I am interested in why he wants to get into politics and not stick with the very important medical profession, where he can help more people personally than in politics. It is people with ambition to drive policy in certain ways that enter politics and I wonder in which direction he would like to go?
Maybe REti could set up the border agency or build quarantine centres outside of Auckland, that many arm chair critics pontificated about since March…..
Dr Ayesha Verrall would outshine Dr Shane. Her review of contract tracing in NZ early in the pandemic, has likely saved lives, certainly lock down times…
But Chris H found REti constructive to work with, so it might be good to invite him to be involved.
BTW interesting that that arsehole Woodhouse held the Health Portfolio up until he was caught out receiving patient information…………..Then Dr Shane who was lowly ranked was given the port folio. WTF National?
He could maybe contribute by way of the select committee process couldn't he. Next election he could campaign on behalf of Labour. For Starters. Perhaps.
It is important to have strong informed voices on the opposition benches to ask questions about policy that is the best way for our parliamentary democracy to work.
Dr Komment says it is probably an incipient tumour in their brains, the signs of advancing dementia, or a slow aneurysm. Whatever I don't think they pass their medical and are not fit for purpose.
I've been looking at quotes – have some good ones to throw into the mix FTTT. Here's a goodie to sit under a thread about National.
George Orwell: “In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.”
Ooooh, Gameshow Goering won't be happy. The debate commission changed the rules, so now the other dude's mic is off for the first two minutes of answering a question. The $750 Man also doesn't like the topics. I wonder if that combo will be enough to make the Great White Shart flounce and do his own thing.
He's not wearing a cap though! Seeing him in the brilliant unreality of the image I started to hallucinate.
At first I thought he was holding a skull (but it looks like a hamburger), and I thought of 'Alas poor Yorick I knew him well.' Then I thought of a modern Colossus of Roads. He really is a mythical figure – A legend in his own time. I wonder when that will end, will I last long enough to see the train crash?
Yes I was just echoing His Great Stupidness of muddling everything. And he isn't a patch on the real Colossus which was a wonder of the world. Trump just gets the world wondering…
Fudging the failure of neolib economics and freemarket shittery for decades, government has pulled most of us down the ladder so as to allow room for the fast-movers who are charitable to political parties the room to bypass the ordinary guys.
Now with all the immigration and false bonhomie about our great economy Auckland is stretched to the limit, can't find big enough jeans to fit around its bulging body. Has to limit freedoms to choose schools, is forced to bring in socialist-style planning to all the freedom loving hopeful-socially mobile residents in Auckland. And also to the immigrants working hard to fill gaps with their keen, unswerving determination to make a buck and a good life for themselves. Auckland has grown beyond the resources available to the central or local government – the leaders of the freemarket revolution have stuffed up big time resulting in citizens being worse off on average than if caution had prevailed, and smaller steps taken as needed by our economy.
"Due to large-scale growth in Auckland we need a co-ordinated and accelerated approach to optimising the Auckland school network," the documents said.
"Without the implementation or amendment of enrolment schemes in line with the Auckland growth plan, the demand and need for additional classrooms in Auckland would increase significantly; and the overall cost in additional property provision could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
This is one reason that we need more taxes: to pay for this boon to the government's apparent financial success, this surge of immigrants and businesses to Auckland, the hub of NZ behind which the rest of the country is just a Sancho Panza. But no governments have ever wanted to turn up and do their Don Quixote charge, no they contract that out. It is the sleazy modern way to not be fully physically engaged with your work, and its results, from go to whoa with full payoff.
Given that our Auckland population surge hasn't resulted in any great increase in GDP per head Auckland is simply a drain on the rest of the country. Don't know what it's like now but for decades it was pretty much an internal economy – production & consumption about equal. maybe we need a specific tax for Auckland so they pay for their own population rather than burdening the rest of the country. Plus some serious measures to move business rather more nationwide
Maybe National could re-think and start to divorce into a United Party and a Reform Party again. Or even a Country Party. I mean it hasn't hurt Australia really has it?
The Repugs have always been an uneasy coalition of groups that detest each other only slightly less than they detest Democrats. The Democratic party is exactly the same. FPP almost necessarily forces politics into that kind of two-party configuration.
The best we can hope for is the Repug internecine warfare is prolonged to the maximum and leaves deep scars so the recovery time is measured in generations rather than election cycles.
Here, though, National could easily do it and make it work out just fine for them. MMP, y'know.
Commentators are suggesting that, just as Bill English lead the National Party to a disastrous election in 2002, the Party bounced back to nearly win the next one. In their combined analysis they appear to forget that Brash, in his first year as party leader, delivered his infamous Orewa speech and ran the Iwi/Kiwi campaign and Rob's mob flocked back. Will it take a similar, singular issue again?
The victim’s ordeal included having his naked body burned with a blow torch, threats of castration, cigarettes stubbed out on his eyelids and beatings…
Liam Hourigan and Henry Enoka Kea were sentenced at the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday for their parts in the kidnapping and torture that only ended when the man rolled out of a moving car.
That is horrible. Who would think in NZ. 90% sure that family difficulties would be behind the violent attitudes. We need to have a better NZ that comes about from families having the help and advice they need. How to get them to adopt it – start off with young parents and workshops on what they need to know, tied into a family benefit payment that keeps them involved. Help them over their problems while enabling them to stand tall, be proud, and help to keep them away from the hard drugs, and of course legalise cannabis and treat problems as medical or minor criminal.
Australians are peculiar about NZ? Irrational? NZ has control of its Covid-19 and so entering Melbourne was a risk to NZ not to them. This NZ traveller says that there is anger about them coming though she had checked to ensure that she was following protocols. It does pay to be aware that our countries are different, just united by a common language, and fairly close geographically.
Storm in a beer-glass. Interesting that their local tipples include Victoria Bitter, Melbourne Bitter so they like a bite, though they also have Carlton Draught. The Premier was kind to the breweries after they suffered a big drop in sales at the beginning of the pandemic. Though not to Kiwis. So if you want to protest you could go past theirs and choose a friendly NZ beer.
Tens of thousands of Israelis calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign demonstrated across the country Saturday evening, saying he is unfit to rule while on trial for corruption charges and accusing him of mismanaging the nation’s coronavirus crisis.
Protesters gathered at hundreds of locations across the country due to a nationwide lockdown that has barred them from protesting at the usual site outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem. The current lockdown regulations allow people only to gather within one kilometre of their home.
"Fauci, 79, is one of the most respected scientists in the United States and has served under Republican and Democratic presidents. He has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984."
But hey, what would he know?
Someone who knows…….SFA
"People are tired of Covid," Trump said. "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.
"Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths," Trump said.
"It’s been of late a tight run race (Auckland Central) and this time will be no different.The second and much more interesting bit is that Chloe Swarbrick won’t win it."
Hosking this morning after I accidentally bumped into him on radio. On John Key: "One of the great political leaders of the age."
Hosking will be like a pig in muck. There won't have to be muck, he will create it and he will be so happy with three more years for swilling.
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According to epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker, the decision to end the second Auckland lockdown after just three days was a ‘calculated risk’. The possibility of undetected community transmission cannot be ruled out. In the United States, modelling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that the ...
As I rose for the first time to speak from the Despatch Box in the House of Commons, I had the comfort of seeing that the Despatch Box had on it the inscription “A Gift from the People of New Zealand”. But I was also a little daunted, like so ...
This article is by Laura Biggs, from the Marxist-Feminist blog On the Woman Question. The term ‘sex work’ has come to replace the word ‘prostitution’ in contemporary discussions on the subject. This is not accidental. The phrase ‘sex work’ has been adopted by liberal feminists and powerful lobbyists in a ...
Sometimes it’s smaller, intensive studies that shed light on issues. Just reported results of daily sampling of COVID-19 patients indicate patients with the B.1.1.7 variant first observed in Kent, UK may have a longer infection compared to patients infected with non-B.1.1.7 variants. This is the variant seen in NZ’s most ...
Redline has just passed one million views – as I start writing this we have reached 1,000,015 views. It took us nearly seven years to reach our first 500,000 and just three months short of three years to reach our second 500,000, with 2019 being our best year, with over ...
. . As the rest of the world was perceived to be “going to hell in a handbasket with an out-of-control pandemic; ructions in Europe as Britain copes with “Brexit” chaos; Trumpism in the United States climaxing with the 6 January mob-led coup attempt in Washington’s Capitol; a deadly ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Feb 14, 2021 through Sat, Feb 20, 2021Editor's ChoiceQ&A: Is Elizabeth Kolbert’s New Book a Hopeful Look at the Promise of Technology, or a Cautionary Tale?The Pulitzer Prize-winning ...
Session Thirty-Five. We have had some in-game and out-of-game indication that we are drawing to the end of the Dreamland adventure… which has lasted since the fourth session. Getting back to the Waking World will require some mental adjustment, especially considering that Annalax has spent thirty-odd sessions not ...
A Friend In Need: I have grown up, and grown old, within earshot of New Zealand’s public broadcaster. Through times of peace and plenty, through days of tumult and recrimination, it has been a constant and reliable presence. The calm and authoritative voices of Radio New Zealand kept their fellow ...
This article, authored by Dr Lisa Schipper, Dr Morgan Scoville-Simonds, Dr Katharine Vincent and Prof Siri Eriksen, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Feb 10, 2021. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments posted on Carbon Brief. Photo by ...
. . As the rest of the world was perceived to be “going to hell in a handbasket with an out-of-control pandemic; ructions in Europe as Britain copes with “Brexit” chaos; Trumpism in the United States climaxing with the 6 January mob-led coup attempt in Washington’s Capitol; a deadly resurgent ...
by Georgina Blackmore Instead ask the government to separate the two issues caught under the heading of “Conversion Therapy”. 1) Gay Conversion Therapy which is what 99.9% of people believe this petition is about. It is a ban I personally support. 2) Gender Identity Conversion Therapy which doesn’t have any ...
The burning of books has a long history. That it no reason why we should add to it.If you want to get Burning of the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack from the National Library you may have to hurry. It is in the overseas nonfiction section; many books ...
by Daphna Whitmore After promising to tackle poverty, housing, transport, and climate issues in 2017, and failing on all these measures, Labour has moved to a Helen Clark “promise little and disappoint less” style of government. Poverty – perversely called “child poverty” by Ardern – has worsened under Labour. Much ...
This is one of those subject matters better suited to a thesis than a blog post, and far smarter people than I have tackled the question in a more detailed and accurate manner. But it’s a question that’s been running around in my brain for a fortnight or so. ...
Chris Fogwill, Keele University; Alan Hogg, University of Waikato; Chris Turney, UNSW, and Zoë Thomas, UNSWThe world experienced a few centuries of apocalyptic conditions 42,000 years ago, triggered by a reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles combined with changes in the Sun’s behaviour. That’s the key finding of our ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jan Ellen Spiegel Colorado is no stranger to drought. The current one is closing in on 20 years, and a rainy or snowy season here and there won’t change the trajectory. This is what climate change has brought. “Aridification” is what ...
Sweet Surrender: By 1933, Adolf Hitler was the last political leader left standing, and his Nazis the only party Germany had yet to try. It was ever thus. Dictators and dictatorships succeed by being the only medicine a desperately sick nation hasn’t swallowed; the only strength that hasn’t failed.NOT ALL ...
"I know what you're not thinking!" Thanks to their polling agency and the participants in its focus-groups, the Labour leadership possesses a great deal more information about the Kiwis clamouring for action on the housing and inequality fronts than most journalists and lobbyists.ACCORDING TO PEOPLE “in the know”, Labour is ...
James Higham, University of OtagoThe Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s second tourism report urges the government to take advantage of the disruption caused by COVID-19 to transform the tourism industry. Titled “Not 100% – but four steps closer to sustainable tourism”, it builds on commissoner Simon Upton’s 2019 “Pristine, ...
My column over at Newsroom this week points out the fairly obvious. The government can add daily saliva testing for everyone at the border to the existing testing regimen. If daily testing winds up proving the swab tests to be redundant, ditch the swab tests when we find that out. ...
Geoengineering heats up Sorry, that was irresistible. By chance in this edition of New Research are two intriguing papers including different perspectives on the subject of geoengineering, a topic increasingly arousing emotions. Happily both of these papers are open access and free to read. A third article underlines that enthusiasm ...
Tamra Burns Loeb, University of California, Los Angeles; AJ Adkins-Jackson, Harvard University, and Arleen F. Brown, University of California, Los AngelesRacial and ethnic minority communities that lack internet access have been left behind in the race to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The average monthly cost of internet access, about ...
Zach St. GeorgeThe first and only time Steve Jackson spoke to Bill Critchfield was in the late 1980s. Critchfield, an authority on the conifers of North America, was at home recovering from a heart attack. Jackson, then a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University, had called looking for advice on how ...
Richelle Butcher, Massey University; Britta Denise Hardesty, CSIRO, and Lauren Roman, CSIROPlastic in the ocean can be deadly for marine wildlife and seabirds around the globe, but our latest study shows single-use plastics are a bigger threat to endangered albatrosses in the southern hemisphere than we previously thought. You ...
We know that when our rural communities do well, all of New Zealand benefits. Labour is committed to supporting our regions so that, together, we can achieve even more. Here are just some of the ways we’re backing rural communities. ...
Government data today shows that the wealthiest New Zealanders aren’t paying their fair share of tax, whilst everyone else chips in, Green Party spokesperson on Finance Julie Anne Genter said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the change in the Reserve Bank’s remit to consider the impacts on housing when making financial decisions, but housing affordability shouldn’t be left to the Reserve Bank, Green Party Co-leader and Housing spokesperson Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the passing of the Local Electorate Act Māori Wards Amendment Bill which ensures Māori have a say on local issues across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
New UMR research reveals that 69 percent of New Zealanders agree that the government should increase the amount if income support paid to those on low incomes or not in paid work. ...
The Green Party are celebrating the Labour Government bringing forward the timeline to ban conversion therapy, and will push to ensure any draft bill properly protects all of our Rainbow communities. ...
The Green Party is joining the call for ‘brave policy action’ to address rapidly increasing inequality in New Zealand, which is likely to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
Green MPs currently in Auckland, Marama Davidson, Chlöe Swarbrick and Golriz Ghahraman, will remain in Auckland for the next 72 hours. Those in Auckland today for Big Gay Out who have flown home will self-isolate for 72 hours. These decisions will be subject to any new information that may arise ...
It’s Pride month, and as we celebrate our LGBTIA+ community, we’re taking the next steps towards a more inclusive Aotearoa. From investing in mental health services to banning harmful conversion therapy, we’re building a New Zealand where everyone can be safe, healthy and happy. ...
I acknowledge our whānau overseas, joining us from Te Whenua Moemoeā, and I wish to pay respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today. I am very pleased to be part of the conversation on Indigenous business, and part ...
Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced today that main benefits will increase by 3.1 percent on 1 April, in line with the rise in the average wage. The Government announced changes to the annual adjustment of main benefits in Budget 2019, indexing main benefit increases to the average ...
A Deed of Settlement has been signed between Ngāti Maru and the Crown settling the iwi’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The Ngāti Maru rohe is centred on the inland Waitara River valley, east to the Whanganui River and its ...
With a suite of Government income support packages available, Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni is encouraging people, and businesses, connected to the recent Auckland COVID-19 cases to check the Work and Income website if they’ve been impacted by the need to self-isolate. “If you are required to ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed her condolences at the passing of long-serving former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. “Our thoughts are with Lady Veronica Somare and family, Prime Minister James Marape and the people of Papua New Guinea during this time of great ...
E te tī, e te tā Tēnei te mihi maioha ki a koutou Ki te whenua e takoto nei Ki te rangi e tū iho nei Ki a tātou e tau nei Tēnā tātou. It’s great to be with you today, along with some of the ministerial housing team; Hon Peeni Henare, the ...
The Government is backing a new project to use drone technology to transform our understanding and protection of the Māui dolphin, Aotearoa’s most endangered dolphin. “The project is just one part of the Government’s plan to save the Māui dolphin. We are committed to protecting this treasure,” Oceans and Fisheries ...
Major water reform has taken a step closer with the appointment of the inaugural board of the Taumata Arowai water services regulator, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. Former Director General of Health and respected public health specialist Dame Karen Poutasi will chair the inaugural board of Crown agency Taumata Arowai. “Dame ...
The newly completed Hibiscus Coast Bus Station will help people make better transport choices to help ease congestion and benefit the environment, Transport Minister Michael Wood and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said today. Michael Wood and Phil Goff officially opened the Hibiscus Coast Bus Station which sits just off the ...
New funding announced by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan today will provide work and help protect the unique values of Northland’s Te Ārai Nature Reserve for future generations. Te Ārai is culturally important to Te Aupōuri as the last resting place of the spirits before they depart to Te Rerenga Wairua. ...
Today the Government has taken a key step to support Pacific people to becoming Community Housing providers, says the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “This will be great news for Pacific communities with the decision to provide Pacific Financial Capability Grant funding and a tender process to ...
Conservation Minister Kiri Allan is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on a proposed marine mammal sanctuary to address the rapid decline of bottlenose dolphins in Te Pēwhairangi, the Bay of Islands. The proposal, developed jointly with Ngā Hapū o te Pēwhairangi, would protect all marine mammals of the ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges. Two of the appointees will take up their roles on 1 April, replacing sitting Judges who have reached retirement age. Kirsten Lummis, lawyer of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to ...
Government announces list of life-shortening conditions guaranteeing early KiwiSaver access The Government changed the KiwiSaver rules in 2019 so people with life-shortening congenital conditions can withdraw their savings early The four conditions guaranteed early access are – down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Huntington’s disease and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder An alternative ...
The Reserve Bank is now required to consider the impact on housing when making monetary and financial policy decisions, Grant Robertson announced today. Changes have been made to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee’s remit requiring it to take into account government policy relating to more sustainable house prices, while working ...
The Labour Government will invest $6 million for 70 additional adult cochlear implants this year to significantly reduce the historical waitlist, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Cochlear implants are life changing for kiwis who suffer from severe hearing loss. As well as improving an individual’s hearing, they open doors to ...
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill passed its third reading today and will become law, Minister of Local Government Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. “This is a significant step forward for Māori representation in local government. We know how important it is to have diversity around ...
The Government has added 1,000 more transitional housing places as promised under the Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan (HAP), launched one year ago. Minister of Housing Megan Woods says the milestone supports the Government’s priority to ensure every New Zealander has warm, dry, secure housing. “Transitional housing provides people ...
A second batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived safely yesterday at Auckland International Airport, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “This shipment contained about 76,000 doses, and follows our first shipment of 60,000 doses that arrived last week. We expect further shipments of vaccine over the coming weeks,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni has today announced $18 million to support creative spaces. Creative spaces are places in the community where people with mental health needs, disabled people, and those looking for social connection, are welcomed and supported to practice and participate in the arts ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little today welcomed Moriori to Parliament to witness the first reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. “This bill is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from all the parties involved. “I am delighted to reach this significant milestone today,” Andrew ...
22,400 fewer children experiencing material hardship 45,400 fewer children in low income households on after-housing costs measure After-housing costs target achieved a year ahead of schedule Government action has seen child poverty reduce against all nine official measures compared to the baseline year, Prime Minister and Minister for Child Poverty ...
It’s time to recognise the outstanding work early learning services, kōhanga reo, schools and kura do to support children and young people to succeed, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins says. The 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards are now open through until April 16. “The past year has reminded us ...
Three new Jobs for Nature projects will help nature thrive in the Bay of Plenty and keep local people in work says Conservation Minister Kiri Allan. “Up to 30 people will be employed in the projects, which are aimed at boosting local conservation efforts, enhancing some of the region’s most ...
The Government has accepted all of the Holidays Act Taskforce’s recommended changes, which will provide certainty to employers and help employees receive their leave entitlements, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said the Government established the Holidays Act Taskforce to help address challenges with the ...
The Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and faster than expected economic recovery has been acknowledged in today’s credit rating upgrade. Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today raised New Zealand’s local currency credit rating to AAA with a stable outlook. This follows Fitch reaffirming its AA+ rating last ...
Tena koutou e nga Maata Waka Ngai Tuahuriri, Ngai Tahu whanui, Tena koutou. Nau mai whakatau mai ki tenei ra maumahara i te Ru Whenua Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga mate ki te hunga mate Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga ora ki te hunga ora Tena koutou, Tena ...
The Minister of Justice has reaffirmed the Government’s urgent commitment, as stated in its 2020 Election Manifesto, to ban conversion practices in New Zealand by this time next year. “The Government has work underway to develop policy which will bring legislation to Parliament by the middle of this year and ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Social Development Hon Carmel Sepuloni today launched a new Creative Careers Service, which is expected to support up to 1,000 creatives, across three regions over the next two years. The new service builds on the most successful aspects of the former Pathways to ...
Overseas consumers eager for natural products in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic have helped boost honey export revenue by 20 percent to $425 million in the year to June 30, 2020, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says. “The results from the latest Ministry for Primary Industries’ 2020 Apiculture Monitoring ...
Thanks to more than $10-million in new services from the Government, more rangatahi will be able to access mental health and addiction support in their community. Minister of Health Andrew Little made the announcement today while visiting Odyssey House Christchurch and acknowledged that significant events like the devastating earthquakes ten ...
Two month automatic visitor visa extension for most visitor visa holders Temporary waiver of time spent in New Zealand rule for visitor stays Visitor visa holders will be able to stay in New Zealand a little longer as the Government eases restrictions for those still here, the Minister of Immigration ...
The Tourism and Conservation Ministers say today’s report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) adds to calls to overhaul the tourism model that existed prior to COVID19. “The PCE tourism report joins a chorus of analysis which has established that previous settings, which prioritised volume over value, are ...
The Government is providing certainty for the dietary supplements industry as we work to overhaul the rules governing the products, Minister for Food Safety Dr Ayesha Verrall said. Dietary supplements are health and wellness products taken orally to supplement a traditional diet. Some examples include vitamin and mineral supplements, echinacea, ...
The Government is joining the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (the Budapest Convention), Justice Minister Kris Faafoi and Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications Dr David Clark announced today. The decision progresses a recommendation by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terror attack to accede to ...
Attorney-General David Parker announced today that an appointment round for Queen’s Counsel will take place in 2021. Appointments of Queen’s Counsel are made by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Attorney-General and with the concurrence of the Chief Justice. The Governor-General retains the discretion to appoint Queen’s Counsel in ...
The new Resurgence Support Payment passed by Parliament this week will be available to eligible businesses now that Auckland will be in Alert Level 2 until Monday. “Our careful management of the Government accounts means we have money aside for situations like this. We stand ready to share the burden ...
A dry run of the end-to-end process shows New Zealand’s COVID-19 vaccination programme is ready to roll from Saturday, when the first border workers will receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “The trial run took place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch yesterday afternoon, ahead of the ...
From June this year, all primary, intermediate, secondary school and kura students will have access to free period products, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti announced today. The announcement follows a successful Access to Period Products pilot programme, which has been running since Term 3 last ...
The latest update shows the Government’s books are again in better shape than forecast, meaning New Zealand is still in a strong position to respond to any COVID-19 resurgence. The Crown Accounts for the six months to the end of December were better than forecast in the Half-year Economic and ...
Alie Benge abandons all attempts to pin down a beautiful, brainy book by Danyl McLauchlan. As I sat down with Tranquillity and Ruin in the work lunch room, I wondered what I’d say if someone asked what I was reading. I could say it was a book about existence and meditation, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barns, Sessional Lecturer in Law, RMIT University Australian prisoners are regularly subjected to drug and alcohol testing and strip searches. Each state and territory has rules that allow for drug testing and strip searching in prisons, driven by a desire to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ananish Chaudhuri, Professor of Behavioural and Experimental Economics, University of Auckland When National MP Simon Bridges called Police Commissioner Andrew Coster a “wokester” recently, his intention was apparently to suggest the police are too soft on crime. Debating the concept of “policing ...
COMMENTARY:By Graham Davis Last month, I wrote on Facebook that the resumption of my blog Grubsheet for 2021 was being postponed out of consideration for the national effort to assist the victims of tropical cyclones Yasa and Ana. I made the observation that it was not the time for ...
Today, 1 March, is Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day - the 67th anniversary of the 'Bravo' nuclear bomb detonation by the United States close to the surface of Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, which blasted out a crater more than 200 ...
Another lockdown, another round of recriminations, but, as Justin Latif reports, the very region being blamed has also been at the forefront of keeping the virus at bay. Our Covid-19 coverage is funded by The Spinoff Members. To help our journalists stay on top of this and other vital ...
By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she gets that everyone is angry over the latest New Zealand community covid-19 cases after it emerged there was contact between two families, but the important thing is to fix the situation. Contact between the families was not disclosed to contact tracers ...
What are you going to be watching in March? With thanks to our friends at Nando‘s, we round up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ on Demand.The biggiesScratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends (on TVNZ on Demand from March ...
Why are people - particularly young people - not obeying isolation orders? Dr Celia Lie examines the behaviours behind compliance to Covid guidelines. We have woken up today with New Zealand in varying states of lockdown (Level 3 for Auckland, and Level 2 for the rest of New Zealand) due to ...
Our Beehive Bulletin … Good news flowed from the Beehive at the weekend for Ngāti Maru treaty claimants and – affecting significantly more people – welfare beneficiaries. Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced that main benefits will increase by 3.1 percent on 1 April, in line with the ...
Stuck in another gloomy London lockdown and missing home, five New Zealand friends decided to bring a pastry-bound piece of Aotearoa to the people.A group of Kiwi mates were tucking into a steak pie in their London flat when it struck them that the British equivalent of the New Zealand ...
Tuariki Delamere’s sensational long jump technique could have been a game changer, writes track and field historian Grant Birkinshaw. He’s calling for the ban to be revoked. At a college track and field championships meet in 1974, a New Zealand long jumper representing Washington State University did something that had never ...
The Climate Change Commission’s report is trying to stop our ship from sinking. Nadine Anne Hura goes in search of its whakapapa and a story to try to make sense of it.I was 20 in 1998 and working at the New Zealand embassy in Buenos Aires. It was an unlikely ...
Jacinda Ardern says she gets that everyone is angry over the latest community cases after it emerged there was contact between two families, but the important thing is to fix the situation. ...
Te Uru Rākau - Forestry New Zealand is seeking feedback on proposed amendments to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Forestry Regulations that it hopes will encourage new planting of both indigenous and exotic forest. These latest proposals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Toole, Professor of International Health, Burnet Institute As of February 25, a total of 221.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered around the world. Well over one-third of these doses were in just two countries — the United States ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Bradsworth, PhD Candidate, Deakin University Picture this: you’re in your backyard gardening when you get that strange, ominous feeling of being watched. You find a grey oval-shaped ball about the size of a thumb, filled with bones and fur — a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abu Barkat ullah, Associate Professor of Cyber Security, University of Canberra Cyber criminals are very persistent and the daily numbers of cyber attacks show no sign of decreasing. The latest reported attack on an Australian university has disrupted the start of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saul Karnovsky, Lecturer & Bachelor of Education (Secondary) Course Coordinator, Curtin University Australian universities enrol thousands of people to become teachers. Some who choose to study education are motivated by a desire to make a difference to the lives of young people, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Speck, Professorial Fellow (Honorary), The University of Melbourne Review: Clarice Beckett — The Present Moment, Art Gallery of South Australia Featuring the artist’s luscious and distinctive soft focus, the Art Gallery of South Australia’s newly opened Clarice Beckett exhibition, curated by ...
All the latest developments as the restrictions kick in and the search for a source of the latest infection continues. Auckland is now at alert level three, NZ at level two. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz Our Members make The Spinoff happen. Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: How did we end up back in lockdown, employers accused of not offering wage-subsidy pay to staff, and disgust at Uyghur impersonation at Chinese New Year festivities.If you haven’t checked the news, or got the phone alert, or talked to ...
28 February “The Government needs to explain why people are being blocked from going IN to Auckland,” says ACT Leader David Seymour "People are beside themselves and ambulances have been reported rescuing people caught in a monumental traffic ...
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill has now passed through parliament. While there are many things that have caused consternation with people, like previously held referenda being disregarded, the process this bill ...
A personal essay from University of Otago academic Amanda Barusch on living in a United States that has lost more than half a million people to Covid-19 Half a million. Half a million Americans are dead from Covid-19. Early this year, the Public Broadcasting System started running stories of the ...
In a well-researched and evidence-based submission, the Federation of Islamic Association of NZ which is the umbrella national Muslim organisation, has set the timeframe and work scope parameters for the implementation of the Royal Commission recommendations. ...
Business & Investing: The effect of Auckland's fourth lockdown will today be seen on the already-pressured NZX, Plus, global markets wobble in February ...
In part five of our video series Hīkoi: Long Shadow of the March we talk to Deirdre Nehua. Her decision to join Dame Whina Cooper on her epic land march in 1975 led Deirdre, now 70 years old, into lifetime of activism that involved protesting at Bastion Point and Pākaitore. Born ...
If we want casual contacts of Covid-19 cases to stay home in the future, we have to pay them to do so, Marc Daalder writes After a person infected with Covid-19 and able to spread the virus worked two shifts at Kmart Botany late last week, more than 1,800 customers ...
New research into the wellbeing of New Zealand's top sportswomen has some surprising revelations, that should help lead a change in culture for happier, healthier, better performing female athletes. Ashley Stanley reports. Almost three quarters of New Zealand’s top female athletes in a new national survey feel elite sport is putting them under pressure to ...
The seizing and jailing of a Palestinian dancer is part of the silencing of cultural critics in Israel, writes the University of Auckland's Associate Professor Nicholas Rowe At 4am on February 2, Palestinian dancer and choreographer Ata Khatab was awoken roughly by Israeli soldiers in his home in the West Bank city ...
South Auckland councillor Fa’anana Efeso Collins says talk of a tough crackdown on those who don’t comply with Covid rules will only be counterproductive, particularly when so much has already been asked of his region in response to the pandemic.Following reports that the latest community Covid-19 case went to the ...
Modelling expert Shaun Hendy tells Toby Manhire which factors will be instrumental in the next big decision.Auckland begins its second of a scheduled seven days in alert level three today, with the rest of the country in level two, but it won’t be until the middle of the week that ...
A glamorous face in Nadia Lim, a delicious product - but how tempting really is the My Food Bag IPO? Since exploding on the scene in 2012, My Food Bag has become a classic Kiwi success story. Cashing in on the fame of public face Nadia Lim after she won ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison has received a great deal of criticism over the government’s handling of then Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’ allegation she was raped by a colleague in a minister’s office. Now, if it’s possible, he ...
A year ago, on February 28 2020, the first positive test for Covid-19 was recorded. As part of the country goes into a lockdown for the fourth time, you’d be forgiven for blurry recollections. This timeline, compiled by RNZ, lays it out day by day.While a historic ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury As expected, genome sequencing has now confirmed the new community COVID-19 case in Auckland is linked to the Papatoetoe cluster, and is the more infectious B.1.1.7 variant. When the first cases in this ...
Covid kills people. That's the message the Prime Minister is ramming home as Auckland battens down the hatches for a seven-day lockdown. Putting the fear of death in people is the latest tool the Government is using as compliance whittles away, writes political editor Jo Moir. While the rest of the ...
Since February 14, New Zealand has had to escalate alert levels twice. Marc Daalder examines how the outbreak has panned out so far Four families, 14 cases. The Valentine's Day cluster looks small, but it has now forced Auckland into lockdown twice in two weeks as officials struggle to manage an ...
Siouxsie Wiles explains what’s concerning about the new case, and urges a moment’s pause on today’s anniversary of the first case, to reflect on what could have been. Auckland woke this morning to another week at alert level three, with the rest of the country at alert level two, after ...
The New Zealand Union of Students' Associations is calling for increased student support to ensure that students can continue to study amid fluctuating Alert Levels. "With this morning’s increase in COVID Alert Levels, students face yet more ...
BusinessDesk‘s Rebecca Stevenson on how to access the Resurgence Support Payment and other Covid-19 response provisions.With Auckland thrown back into level three as the Papatoetoe cluster spreads and the rest of New Zealand now in level two, the government has activated the Covid-19 Resurgence Support Payment (RSP).Alongside the resurgence payment ...
Analysis - Tokelau may have no prisons or court buildings, but that hasn't stopped New Zealand from leading a sweeping overhaul of its justice system, writes Mackenzie Smith. ...
27 February “Unfortunately ACT predicted tonight’s plunge back into Level 3 lockdown for Auckland and the rest of New Zealand into Level 2,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “ I said yesterday the South Auckland cluster wasn’t under control ...
All the latest developments as the restrictions kick in and the search for a source of the latest infection continues. Get in touch at info@thespinoff.co.nz Our Members make The Spinoff happen. Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Alexander Stronach interviews the person he’s been friends with the longest, a Wellington science fiction and fantasy writer on the brink of world domination. Casey Lucas is a Swiss army knife. Casey Lucas is six feet tall and extremely bisexual. Casey Lucas is back from the dead (again). Casey Lucas is ...
Fatigue, depression, pain, puking – Mark Graham explains how life is still impacted by his concussion, over a year later.A friend of mine wrote a wonderful piece on his life being “shattered by two punches” and his attempts to piece it back together again.It made me cry.Timothy Giles described his ...
Mānuka honey producers have been reaping the profits of selling pots of gold in recent years, but now there’s a surplus of non-mānuka varieties as beekeepers stockpile, hoping prices will recover. The NZ Herald’s Jane Phare looks at why the country is oozing with honey, in this Herald Premium article.It ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – Author Margaret Mills speaking at the launch of The Nine Lives of Kitty K at Waiheke Library today. IMAGE: David Robie Introduction for the book launch of The Nine ...
Analysis: One new case was enough to force Auckland back into lockdown less than a week after it returned to Level 1. Marc Daalder explains why New Zealand has dealt with nearly a dozen border failures and minor community outbreaks of Covid-19. Only a couple have resulted in an alert ...
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"The Greens have an agenda to decimate New Zealand farming if any of their policies are implemented," he said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/428684/farmers-want-labour-to-govern-alone-fed-farmers
Really?!
Anyway…listening to "The Country" Radio show, with Jamie McKay and Rowena Duncum (again, I kid you not : ). I maybe expected Wailing/Gnashing..but there was a real feeling of National had no chance…so we went with the least harm option. And that was their theory anyway. Ok…I thought, see later and sure enough
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/123134716/strategic-voting-thought-to-give-labour-the-edge-in-southland
Maybe…Its just the Farm Workers…and everyone else that ISN'T a Farmer actually liked Labour?
Edit…Dont know if anyone here remembers sir Key and his “Devil Beast” Analogy from years back. Maybe the rightie Farm types prefer a little less Beast with their Devil?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/green-leader-tears-into-smiling-key/D3L2T4LIBWDP4T5AS6QWZCSVXE/
Anyway….Best of for Labour/Greens !!
The red tide of party-vote-Labour in Southland came from the rural towns – the farmer vote is too small to count but the whipped-up hysteria did cause some southern farmers to vote Labour Party on the day! Good strategy, I say and if The Greens turn-down Labour's likely offer of a coalition, their influence will be higher, their long-term prospects brighter and the terror felt by the Federated Farmers of Southland, and regional councillor Eric Roy, greatly heightened. Good thing.
Aye. Fed Farmers…Militant Union.I wonder if the "She's a pretty Communist" feelings had to be Well Repressed. : )
Oh and also Queenstown…etc ; Huge Party Vote Labour. (I used to work as Builders Labour er years ago lol) I remember tryin to talk Workers/NZ Interests at smoko time… "are you a commie?”…Also where I got interested in Green…as some wank was happily talking how he had drill poisoned Trees. "You're not a man of the Trees are ya ?"
Hmmm. gotta laugh and….. Activate.
I think the "National supporters voted tactically for Labour" argument is bollocks.
I think they liked Jacinda, especially what she had done re Covid, and didn't see her as a threat to farming, which is entirely different.
" I think the "National supporters voted tactically for Labour" argument is bollocks. "
I agree. I'm sure a handful did, but barely enough to matter.
Since when did any votes belong to any party?
Back in the 40s the voters didn't belong to Labour.
In the 70s the votes didn't belong to National
In the 80s the votes didn't belong to Labour
in the 90s the votes didn't belong to National … et cetera
And in 2020 none of the votes belonged to National.
Had the election been held on 19 September instead of 17 October the Goldsmith $4b error would not have had such an influence on voters. I think the farming and business community looked at the ability of Robertson and Goldsmith.
Had the election been held on Sept 19 the result would have been worse for National polls were showing Labour at 50% plus.National had the wrong strategy wrong type of leadership Shane Reti would have been better.
National don't have nice people in their party .Dirty politics caught up with them after years of Denials all their chooks came home to roost.Scandal after Scandal showed how low National was prepared to go to gain power.Collins bullying and Bullshitting style went down like a cup of hot sick while she had an initial dead cat bounce,National reverted to simple Soimans perpetual whinging and crying Wolf. National supporters were not impressed with these low life politicians trying Trumpish tactics in the face of the biggest crisis since WW2.
Elections are won on trust and good policy.
No way of finding out if farmers and the business community changed their vote between 19 September and 17 October.
Innovative.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/428677/greens-signal-innovative-ways-of-partnering-with-labour
(I like the Bike in the background : )
edit…And the ladder ! : )
Some random musings on vote-share comparisons between 2002 when the Nats got "Englished" and 2020 when the Nats got "Crushed":
In 2002 to the left of Labour there was also Jim Anderton (vote share 1.70%), and the Alliance (1.27%), as well as the Greens (7.00%)(although in 2002 the Greens flavour was somewhat more green compared the strong social activist flavour of 2020 Greens). This "lefter than Labour" vote share added up to 10% of the vote. In 2020, the "lefter than Labour" vote share is solely represented by the Greens on 7.57% (guess 8% after specials).
In 2002 there were two viable choices for more-or-less centrists that didn't want to choose between Labour and Nats. Winnie First (10.38%), and the Dunnys (6.69%). Between them they drew 17%. In 2020, there were vestigial WinnieFirst (2.7%) and TOP (1.4%) parties, adding up to 4% wasted centrist vote that probably won't vote Labour or Nat under any circumstances. For the sake of argument, let's infer there were 13% (17% – 4%) of centrist voters in 2002 amenable to voting Labour or Nat, but since there were viable centrist alternatives they chose those alternatives, but without those viable alternatives would have split 50/50 Lab/Nat and did so in 2020.
On the left, add up the "lefter than Labour", Labour, and "amenable centrists". In 2002 that came to 10% "ltL", 41.26% Lab, 6.5% "ac", for a total left vote share of 58%. In 2020, call it 8% "ltL" plus 49% Labour plus 0% "ac" for a total left vote share of 57%.
So in overall big picture left vs right terms, 2020 looks pretty similar to 2002 but without the fragmentation on the left.
But Andre, the concentration at the end of the campaign on the Green's Wealth Tax actually won them more votes. Makes you think doesn't it?
Maybe there is a sea-change in progress, Eric Watson has been jailed in England for being an arsehole and hiding assets so that he didn't have to pay Owen Glenn for deceiving him on a dodgy deal. The times they are a-changing and arseholery is having it's day of reckoning.
Poor Eric. An Etonian arsehole would have been believed when he claimed poverty or Alzheimers.
These bloody colonials come from the wrong side of the sheet and don't rate for any ameliorating circumstances – like Eton etc. – the defrauding is just too harrowing.
ha ha ha Gabby. Love ya humour!
Somebody should put in a members bill to change the law in NZ to make that an offence here too.
I'm thinking Hosking….(feel free to add names)
Hotchin
First time ever I read Hoskings after the election after a headline which included the word landslide….
Interesting how bias works. He focussed on Chole's win. Then rabbited on about how did Tamati and Helen White manage to lose in a Labour Landside……..
Seems possible Hoskings prefers the Greens over Labour.
Ps the one and only time I will read him. He's a tosser.
That scumbag being imprisoned is an occasion for joy, like the equally good news that that filthy water polluter Nick Smith has been fired by the voters of Nelson. The high-minded and decent Adrian, who clearly shares this writer's euphoria, writes that this means "arseholery is having it's [sic] day of reckoning."
Really? In the United Kingdom, exactly what kind of person is running the Conservative Party and the Labour Party? Who are the people running the police and the judiciary?
Sadly, one lowlife shyster getting a small percentage of his just desserts does not mean that "arseholery" is in any danger.
Yeah Dr. Custard pissed me off because he smarmily pretended to be so reasonable and so green, when he was neither. But he was able to fool a lot of people.
At least you know where you are with Crusher (and A-hole Eric Watson).
He was jailed for contempt of court. I assume, though I could be wrong, that he defied a court order to account for his assets.
For anyone vaguely interested in the US preznit election on a state by state basis, but not interested enough to go looking, here's a brief look at the state of current polling averages (reminder, 270 Electoral College votes are needed to win):
Biden is ahead by more than 5% in every state Clinton won (232 EC votes), plus Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16), Wisconsin (10) and Nebraska 2nd district (1). These add up to 279 EC votes. That's enough more than 270 to survive a few faithless electors, but those three states are slow to count early and mail-in votes so are unlikely to declare a winner on election night. If it comes down to slow counts in those three states, expect mayhem.
Biden is also ahead by 2 to 3%ish in Arizona (11), North Carolina (15) and Florida (29). These states have good systems for counting early and mail-in votes so there's a good chance they will declare winners election night unless the margin is extremely close. Florida plus one other (plus Clinton states) is enough to go over 270. A clear election night victory for Biden in these states will likely deflate Il Douche's inevitable lies he lost because of cheating, so the likelihood of serious mayhem would go down.
Polling averages are within 1.5%ish in Ohio (18), Iowa (6), Georgia (16), Maine 2nd district (1), so call them true toss-ups.
If polling companies have waay over-corrected from their 2016 errors, then Texas (38 EC votes, 3.6% lean to Deranged Dotard) and Alaska (3 EC votes, 6% lean) are within Biden's reach.
https://www.270towin.com/2020-polls-biden-trump/ (pie charts of state polling averages)
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/ (good "snake chart" showing their state by state forecast)
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ (for the pessimists that prefer to look at somewhat Repug-biased polling averages)
There's going to be the inevitable cries of "but the 2016 polls were useless". Pollsters learn and adapt, and will have put a lot of effort into figuring out what they did poorly last time and made changes. Polling errors this time around are just as likely to be against Biden as for him.
This time around the polling averages are remarkably stable over time, with much fewer undecideds and no highly visible third parties. That contrasts with volatile polls in 2016, and Stein and that other guy also pulling variable support. The attempted smear campaigns against Biden are falling flat, rather than gaining traction like the ones against Hillary.
edit: if you find your way to RCPs 2020 vs 2016 comparison, check the full 2016 timeline before you panic:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html
Right now is equivalent to Hillary’s high point and Tinyfingers Twittertwat’s low point, between the pussygrabbing tape release, and Comey announcing the re-opening of the e-mails investigation.
We're booked for the Democratic Party night with the Dems in Auckland.
Another night of happy screaming to come 😊
Enjoy Ad, these moments in life are to be savoured. (forgive the pun)
Hehehehehe 🙂 You will have such a good night Ad. I've taken the day off work to enjoy the take down of trump.
Thanks for the info Andre.
C'mon Harrison! Take him out!
I too like the 538 snake. Was interested in the lack of quality polls for Texas showing. Unlikely to flip I guess but it's the big haul of electoral votes.
If like me you live in central Auckland you can entertain yourself by going to the Domain and hopping from side to side, so you're crossing between New Zealand's most right-wing electorate and Aotearoa's most left-wing electorate.
Opportunities for domestic tourism here, maybe a drinks cart on the boundary, serving gin and tonics on the Epsom side or carrot juice on the other.
It would never have occurred to me that that might be entertaining.
On second thought, I still don't see the attraction.
You are too wedded to USA politics Andre to understand the nature of our small political joys and fancies.
Sounds like ground zero for the impending school zone war, as Old Boys lawyer up to protect their proprty investments.
I'd expect the G&T and the carrot juice to be similarly expensive.
on a related note, is chloe ,now hoskings local m.p.?
Fairly sure he is in ACT territory ? During lockdown Hoskings was praising MP David Seymour because of his assistance getting his daughter back to Australia to continue studies.
Surely us lefties can still drink G and T.!!!!!!!
According to David S there are two vegetarians in ACT! Strike me down with a feather.
Leaf, rather.
Yup, the mascot and the office hamster.
Which one is gonna go Rabbit of Caerbannog on them when the going gets tough?
Love it!! Lol Could be a fund raiser.
Teleport please that sounds like a hoot.
"Apparently, Collins’ concession speech was gracious and tearful, although I couldn’t really hear it because a drunk Leftie was hurling Samoan swear words at the screen. My wife promptly told me to stop swearing and sent me in the kitchen to make some tea."
Dave Armstrong
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/123137492/election-2020-a-bit-of-swearing-but-no-sausage-rolls-were-thrown
Wouldn't the american election be so much more interesting if it were bernie up there slugging it out with trump..?..(sigh..!)…instead we have biden campaigning on the fact he isn't trump…it's all seriously underwhelming…
You aren't allowed to say that, because it shows: you don't understand the concept of 'electability', you are at best a useful idiot and at worst a closet Trump supporter, and (worst of all) you are denying 'agency' to all the Democratic primary voters who voted for Biden after having their agency denied by being told to vote for Biden. Even such a simple statement of Biden's self-evident uselessness and inadequacy for the horrendous task he will be faced with, is impermissible. Let's hope he wins though.
I found a good quote that has relevance here.
Yeah..nah…eh..?..to yr either/or..u CD b overthinking it…I was bemoaning on an intellectual/entertainment level…as bernie wd eviscerate the orange carbuncle..and I see you playing that 'electability' card…it's looking a bit tired/frayed around the edges..eh..?..that electability-card…as this election is clearly about trump vs the other person…and bernie would have been much more effective in that role than biden..and is yr playing of that tired piece of cardboard/anti-bernie trope an indicator that you could be some sort of neoliberal-incrementalism apologist..?
Something that is apparent to many Americans now, that may not have been during the primaries, is that simple competence in the skills needed for government actually do matter. And that those skills will be desperately needed from the moment the new prez sits down to work, after 4 (or 8) years of the tangerine toddler trashing everything he could get his bleached-white microscale creepy raccoon-paws on.
Biden demonstrably has those skills, in spades. Sanders' unblemished record of zero accomplishments of significance to show from his decades in government strongly suggests he does not possess those skills in governing.
You must be ignoring his record in his state..where he receives wide support…and this in a state that is resolutely republican…what his long record there shows is that he works for all people…and for the good of the whole community he served…it's one of the anomalies of the american political world…that widespread support for a self-avowing democratic socialist in a deeply conservative state….any claims bernie has no record of success ..are falsehoods…his actual record proves just the opposite…and as an aside..I know there are many in labour who are neoliberal-incrementalists..and they really need to realise that bankrupt ideology is past its' use by date…continuing that/those policies will doom us all to environmental self-destruction….it is the time for bold action….not a continuing of what came before…
Trending blue for 30 plus years ain't a resolutely republican state.
/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Vermont
Point taken..I should have said 'his long-term/widespread support from resolute Republicans in his home state' etc..etc..
Yankistanis have a mortal dread of the Socialism and would vote against a socialist if the opponent ran on a platform of beating a child to death in the main street of every town beofore lunch.
They have a mortal dread of the Socialism that benefits the poors.
The USDA has released a projection that net U.S. farm income will reach $102.7 billion this year. This would be a 23% increase from net farm income in 2019 and is the result of record farm subsidy payments that were meant to offset losses from COVID-19 and global trade disputes. Farm subsidies in 2020 are expected to total $37.2 billion, a 66% increase from 2019. The question now is if these payments will continue in 2021 if the commodity market does not fully recover from its current state.
https://www.leadertelegram.com/country-today/markets/market-columns/farm-income-to-rise-subsidies-beneficial/article_5a0e4d87-7b80-5ea8-b002-03273ff3ae3d.html
More than a third of U.S. farm income in 2019 will come from the U.S. government in the form of the trade-war bailout, crop-insurance payouts and other federal assistance.
[…]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects farm income to be $88 billion. Of that, $19.5 billion will come from direct farm-payment programs and another projected $10.5 billion will come from crop-insurance indemnities. Farmers help pay for federal crop insurance, but the premiums are more than 60% subsidized.
https://www.startribune.com/more-than-a-third-of-u-s-farm-income-in-2019-will-come-from-the-government/564525932/
Yankistanis … ROFL !!!
Wouldn't be wonderful if NZ politics has shifted in tone. Could Jacinda's unending kindness and courtesy rub off on other MPs? Is it possible that the people are sick of the aggressive bullying of leaders like Brownlee and Collins? Could cross party cooperation become a standard reality?
And within that new tone still get the job done and even get militant grumpy farmers to further develop positive repairs to our country.
Brilliant idea – NZ has no appetite to elect an extreme left or right government. So perhaps for starters Dr Reti could be given a health portfolio in formation of some grand coalition…
🙂
Dr Reti needs to survive the Specials first.
And Labour has a 2020 intake replete with doctors and epidemiologists who are better than Reti
Reti chose the wrong team, and for that choice will shortly return to prescribing Neurofen.
But Ad what do you think about the principle of inviting someone from the Opposition to have an input into a Government proposition? Climate Change for example?
Heard or read someone mentioning the 'grumpy vote' so perhaps that is going to be a regular block which needs to be considered.
About Dr Reti, I wasn’t enthused about him after hearing the tenor of his ideas.
I have had Shane Reti help me first hand . He was very proactive and he has a nice manner. It would be great if someone bringing valuable knowledge into Parliament was utilised for these skills. I really do not think his "politic " leanings would get in the way. I believe he just likes to help more than anything.
If they had unique skills that were not within the existing caucus … maybe.
I can't see the point of a Minister for Climate Change. It just Balkanises the whole issue rather than making it a whole-of-government requirement. Also they already have a Commission for it, and a functioning legislative regime for carbon.
Ministers need to focus on actual climate change consequences, such as rural fire and the insurance and planning issues, or transport and fuel issues, electricity and heat plant issues, water supply and reticulation issues, or home insulation and materials issues.
Generally if it's about everything it achieves nothing. As with poverty measures, Ministers need accountability frameworks that are Specific Measurable Accurate Rational and Timebound.
That’s not the SMART acronym I know!?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
I think Jacinda may be looking for an opportunity for Tracey Martin in some Government role, she rated her.
Tracey is awesome, she was always in the wrong party.
That happens in the working groups.
During the Leaders Debates it just seemed that Jacinda's positivity contrasted so sharply with the harshness of Judiths attempt to appear strong/tough, just might be the future. Of course journalists want/need for MPs to be tough/aggressive so there is something to write about. Maybe a matter of personal perspective but remembering how the Greens developed a reputation for parliamentary courtesy?
Janet We are talking about politics here, not just who has a nice manner when it suits him to be helpful to a patient. You refer to his 'politic' leanings, and believe he wants to help. I am interested in why he wants to get into politics and not stick with the very important medical profession, where he can help more people personally than in politics. It is people with ambition to drive policy in certain ways that enter politics and I wonder in which direction he would like to go?
"Reti could be given a health portfolio in formation of some grand coalition…"
???????
Maybe REti could set up the border agency or build quarantine centres outside of Auckland, that many arm chair critics pontificated about since March…..
Dr Ayesha Verrall would outshine Dr Shane. Her review of contract tracing in NZ early in the pandemic, has likely saved lives, certainly lock down times…
But Chris H found REti constructive to work with, so it might be good to invite him to be involved.
BTW interesting that that arsehole Woodhouse held the Health Portfolio up until he was caught out receiving patient information…………..Then Dr Shane who was lowly ranked was given the port folio. WTF National?
Professor – that’s an insightful comment – care to elaborate?
He could maybe contribute by way of the select committee process couldn't he. Next election he could campaign on behalf of Labour. For Starters. Perhaps.
It is important to have strong informed voices on the opposition benches to ask questions about policy that is the best way for our parliamentary democracy to work.
Niceness does seem to whip the Hammish Prozzes and Horeskins of the world into frenzies of rage. There's something broken in their brains.
Dr Komment says it is probably an incipient tumour in their brains, the signs of advancing dementia, or a slow aneurysm. Whatever I don't think they pass their medical and are not fit for purpose.
I've been looking at quotes – have some good ones to throw into the mix FTTT. Here's a goodie to sit under a thread about National.
Has anyone read the range of connections Labour might have with the Greens? They might even create a new form because there is no rule to be followed.
Andrew Geddis:
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/what-sort-of-relationship-might-labour-and-the-greens-agree-on
When your opponent creates your ads for you and all ya gotta do is say "what he said".
There should be a vast number of red caps distributed that have MALE on them where MAGA is – it will stand for Make Americans Love Everybody.
or perhaps – Make Americans Life Easier |
Could change MAGA to –
Make Americans Good Again | Make Americans Go Away |
Says it all.
Ooooh, Gameshow Goering won't be happy. The debate commission changed the rules, so now the other dude's mic is off for the first two minutes of answering a question. The $750 Man also doesn't like the topics. I wonder if that combo will be enough to make the Great White Shart flounce and do his own thing.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/19/politics/presidential-debate/index.html
I think he'll front. tRump can’t resist an audience and it's his last nation wide chance to fling poo at Biden in prime-time.
He’ll throw a poomerang.
Reckon he'll get someone else to take his covid test for him so he can breathe his greeblies on Biden?
The Biden campaign.. you tested negative…yeah, right..
He's not wearing a cap though! Seeing him in the brilliant unreality of the image I started to hallucinate.
At first I thought he was holding a skull (but it looks like a hamburger), and I thought of 'Alas poor Yorick I knew him well.' Then I thought of a modern Colossus of Roads. He really is a mythical figure – A legend in his own time. I wonder when that will end, will I last long enough to see the train crash?
Rhodes not Roads isn't it?
Yes I was just echoing His Great Stupidness of muddling everything. And he isn't a patch on the real Colossus which was a wonder of the world. Trump just gets the world wondering…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Rhodes
I wonder how the dissection of the election loss is going in the National caucus. At least they have a doctor there to assist.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/428767/judith-collins-speaks-after-national-party-caucus-meeting-onwards-and-upwards
How many trees wither and small woodland creatures die every time Judith smiles. I could feel the chills through the computer screen.
Fudging the failure of neolib economics and freemarket shittery for decades, government has pulled most of us down the ladder so as to allow room for the fast-movers who are charitable to political parties the room to bypass the ordinary guys.
Now with all the immigration and false bonhomie about our great economy Auckland is stretched to the limit, can't find big enough jeans to fit around its bulging body. Has to limit freedoms to choose schools, is forced to bring in socialist-style planning to all the freedom loving hopeful-socially mobile residents in Auckland. And also to the immigrants working hard to fill gaps with their keen, unswerving determination to make a buck and a good life for themselves. Auckland has grown beyond the resources available to the central or local government – the leaders of the freemarket revolution have stuffed up big time resulting in citizens being worse off on average than if caution had prevailed, and smaller steps taken as needed by our economy.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428745/big-increase-in-enrolment-zones-for-auckland-schools
"Due to large-scale growth in Auckland we need a co-ordinated and accelerated approach to optimising the Auckland school network," the documents said.
"Without the implementation or amendment of enrolment schemes in line with the Auckland growth plan, the demand and need for additional classrooms in Auckland would increase significantly; and the overall cost in additional property provision could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
This is one reason that we need more taxes: to pay for this boon to the government's apparent financial success, this surge of immigrants and businesses to Auckland, the hub of NZ behind which the rest of the country is just a Sancho Panza. But no governments have ever wanted to turn up and do their Don Quixote charge, no they contract that out. It is the sleazy modern way to not be fully physically engaged with your work, and its results, from go to whoa with full payoff.
Given that our Auckland population surge hasn't resulted in any great increase in GDP per head Auckland is simply a drain on the rest of the country. Don't know what it's like now but for decades it was pretty much an internal economy – production & consumption about equal. maybe we need a specific tax for Auckland so they pay for their own population rather than burdening the rest of the country. Plus some serious measures to move business rather more nationwide
An optimum result out of the upcoming US elections is that the Republican Party is so dissatisfied that it splits.
That starts with commentary with key strategists going: Burn this party down and start again .
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/10/19/stuart-stevens-collapse-of-republican-party-sot-vpx-lead.cnn
Maybe National could re-think and start to divorce into a United Party and a Reform Party again. Or even a Country Party. I mean it hasn't hurt Australia really has it?
It's a nice fantasy, but it ain't gonna happen.
The Repugs have always been an uneasy coalition of groups that detest each other only slightly less than they detest Democrats. The Democratic party is exactly the same. FPP almost necessarily forces politics into that kind of two-party configuration.
The best we can hope for is the Repug internecine warfare is prolonged to the maximum and leaves deep scars so the recovery time is measured in generations rather than election cycles.
Here, though, National could easily do it and make it work out just fine for them. MMP, y'know.
Commentators are suggesting that, just as Bill English lead the National Party to a disastrous election in 2002, the Party bounced back to nearly win the next one. In their combined analysis they appear to forget that Brash, in his first year as party leader, delivered his infamous Orewa speech and ran the Iwi/Kiwi campaign and Rob's mob flocked back. Will it take a similar, singular issue again?
1975 – Dancing Cossacks (Labour's superannuation scheme)
2005 – Iwi/Kiwi
2023 – ???
The victim’s ordeal included having his naked body burned with a blow torch, threats of castration, cigarettes stubbed out on his eyelids and beatings…
Liam Hourigan and Henry Enoka Kea were sentenced at the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday for their parts in the kidnapping and torture that only ended when the man rolled out of a moving car.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300137099/torture-case-compared-to-tarantino-film-script
That is horrible. Who would think in NZ. 90% sure that family difficulties would be behind the violent attitudes. We need to have a better NZ that comes about from families having the help and advice they need. How to get them to adopt it – start off with young parents and workshops on what they need to know, tied into a family benefit payment that keeps them involved. Help them over their problems while enabling them to stand tall, be proud, and help to keep them away from the hard drugs, and of course legalise cannabis and treat problems as medical or minor criminal.
Australians are peculiar about NZ? Irrational? NZ has control of its Covid-19 and so entering Melbourne was a risk to NZ not to them. This NZ traveller says that there is anger about them coming though she had checked to ensure that she was following protocols. It does pay to be aware that our countries are different, just united by a common language, and fairly close geographically.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/300136849/transtasman-bubble-woman-sets-the-record-straight-amid-controversy-over-new-zealanders-entering-melbourne
Storm in a beer-glass. Interesting that their local tipples include Victoria Bitter, Melbourne Bitter so they like a bite, though they also have Carlton Draught. The Premier was kind to the breweries after they suffered a big drop in sales at the beginning of the pandemic. Though not to Kiwis. So if you want to protest you could go past theirs and choose a friendly NZ beer.
Israel young people thinking about things.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/300129664/tens-of-thousands-protest-israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu
Tens of thousands of Israelis calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign demonstrated across the country Saturday evening, saying he is unfit to rule while on trial for corruption charges and accusing him of mismanaging the nation’s coronavirus crisis.
Protesters gathered at hundreds of locations across the country due to a nationwide lockdown that has barred them from protesting at the usual site outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem. The current lockdown regulations allow people only to gather within one kilometre of their home.
Subtle but savage.
"Fauci, 79, is one of the most respected scientists in the United States and has served under Republican and Democratic presidents. He has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984."
But hey, what would he know?
Someone who knows…….SFA
"People are tired of Covid," Trump said. "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.
"Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths," Trump said.
!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/428746/trump-labels-virus-chief-a-disaster
Apropos the comments about Mike Hosking earlier.
Hosking on September 21 2020:
"It’s been of late a tight run race (Auckland Central) and this time will be no different.The second and much more interesting bit is that Chloe Swarbrick won’t win it."
Hosking this morning after I accidentally bumped into him on radio. On John Key: "One of the great political leaders of the age."
Hosking will be like a pig in muck. There won't have to be muck, he will create it and he will be so happy with three more years for swilling.
Really would be great to see the relevance of Hosking …or Mrs Hosk……Hawkesby disappear in ever decreasing circles. Surely must be now?
Sealord. Imports Covid infected Workers.
"Paulin said he had no regrets about bringing the workers to New Zealand."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428777/imported-cases-of-covid-19-confirmed-at-christchurch-isolation-facility
"Paulin said any additional costs such as healthcare or longer stays would be looked after by the fishing companies."
Well…I would fucking hope so….