Radiolive has tweeted “A prominent New Zealander’s due back in court today on 12 charges of indecent assault – the case is subject to heavy suppression orders”
The clues that a further hearing was scheduled for today in a certain District Court were there in the various media reports on previous hearings, including the urgent Auckland HC hearing of the appeal against the lifting of name suppression.
First – this media report on the Feb 18 DC hearing indicates that the next hearing was probably scheduled for today in what it says re remand on bail:
Several of the media reports of the urgent HC appeal hearing also suggested that the extension of name suppression was granted until the trial commences – eg this one:
So it will be interesting to see what today brings. However, as discussed here, today may just turn out to be a short hearing to extend the remand period ….
I am waiting for the sky to fall on my head as I too agree with her and I never thought I would say that! My only quibble is that more wasn’t made of the cross party unity amongst female mp’s on this issue. We could do with much more of that.
Sweetie Pie Judith! Though let’s remember her catty remark last year about Metiria Turei’s ugly” jacket. Now she wants to defend all females from comments about appearance.
Oh, I don’t for a moment think she has reformed but at least she had a moment of sisterhood. Tomorrow, or even today, it will be the Crusher we know and dislike. 😉
And so it starts. The ‘nice’ Judith Collins takes that first step to leading the National Party. The photo, the hands, the slightly messy hair, more casually dressed than usual. It’s all about winning hearts and minds.
It’s an interesting one with chess to be sure. Very difficult to tease out the effects of inate ability vs cultural expectations and so forth. However, the broad brush strokes are very clear.
Only one woman currently makes it onto the ‘mens’ list. Yifan Hou at #59. Meanwhile, the only woman to ever seriously compete at the highest levels (and qualify for a World Championship for example) is Judit Polgar – who along with her two sisters Susan and Sofia were essentially part of an educational experiment by their father who trained them at home from a very young age. Even so, the highest Judit ever made it on the overall rankings was 8th.
The stuff article, and the global reactions to Short’s statements are highly sensationalised. The media’s play has been to fan the flames of controversy by making it seem Short is sexist, whereas his position would likely best be summarized by this quote:
“One is not better than the other, we just have different skills. It would be wonderful to see more girls playing chess, and at a higher level, but rather than fretting about inequality, perhaps we should just gracefully accept it as a fact.”
We have no issue differentiating between the masculine and feminine on the physical plane. Pointing out a physically strong woman is no argument against the fact that men are typically stronger and are genetically predispossed to be so. Somehow when discussing the field of chess, where the general trends are almost as stark, it’s sexist to point out that men seem to have an advantage.
I feel the issue boils down to our society’s perception of intelligence as falling on a linear spectrum. I’m ‘more intellegent’ than him, and she’s ‘more intelligent’ than me. This is heavily reinforced throughout our childhood by our education system (and exam scoring in particular). Chess has been heavily associated with intelligence for yonks (even to the extent which intellegence is improved in games like ‘The Sims’ by playing Chess). So the by pointing out that, generally speaking, men seem better suited to chess than women, there is also perception of a sexist implication that men are more ‘intelligent’ (whatever it is that means). Intelligence is of course much broader than analytical ability, but we’re still labouring under that narrow view in many ways.
By devolving into an argument about sexism, we cut ourselves off from examining what’s really happening, and the insights that we can have about our own thought patterns and those of the opposite gender simply by sitting down and playing a game of chess with them.
I was impressed by Judit Polgar. Thank you for the link. Just goes to show that women can be as good as men.
I think the real question is not so much about their intelligence, but more about the mystery of why so few women take up the great sport of Chess as a serious endeavour, challenge or hobby.
Here is some info about Judit from your link:
‘Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is the strongest female chess player in history.[1] In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the youngest to have done so, breaking the record previously held by former World Champion Bobby Fischer. She is the only woman to qualify for a World Championship tournament, having done so in 2005. She is the first, and to date, only woman to have surpassed the 2700 Elo rating barrier, reaching a career peak rating of 2735 and peak world ranking of #8, both achieved in 2005. She was the number 1 rated woman in the world from 1989 (when she was 12 years old) up until the March 2015 rating list, when she was overtaken by Chinese player Hou Yifan.
She has won or shared first in the chess tournaments of Hastings 1993, Madrid 1994, León 1996, U.S. Open 1998, Hoogeveen 1999, Siegman 1999, Japfa 2000, and the Najdorf Memorial 2000.
Polgár is the only woman to have won a game from a reigning world number one player, and has defeated eleven current or former world champions in either rapid or classical chess: Magnus Carlsen, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Vasily Smyslov, Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Khalifman, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.‘ Wow! That IS impressive!
Polgar certainly is amazing and testament to the fact that men and women share the same potential. Though I would say the fact that she remained the #1 rated woman for so long is a testament to quite how unusual she is. If you take a look here: http://ratings.fide.com/top_files.phtml?id=700070
You can see that Polgar retained the #1 spot until March 2015 despite playing very little chess since late 2011. Infact, if you scroll down a little, you can see that she stopped playing large numbers of games soon after breaking into the overall top 10 in 2003. It’s taken 12 years since that point for another woman to surpass her on the list.
As for why fewer women play chess, I think on one level the answer is fairly straightforward: fewer women are interested in playing chess. Just as fewer women are interested in mathematics and other endevours requiring that ‘churning analytical frame of mind’ if you will. It’s a frame of mind that is especially well honed and enjoyed amongst individuals in the autism spectrum (such as myself), due to having less focus on other perspectives. Males fall within the autism spectrum 4.3x more often than females, and this is part of the reason there are far more males in these fields, even as the women within the fields may be just as capable.
Of course, one also cannot understate the impact of the expectations we continue to place upon young girls continues to play a part in the paths they decide to take in life (young boys too, who are much more likely to be sheparded in that direction if they show promise).
Lastly, there’s a much more nebulous idea that I’ll put forward anyhow. Males seem much more hardwired for the instinct to compete with one another – the urge to dominate other males and all that. This acts both as a tremendously powerful motivator, and method of improvement. After all, word ‘compete’ comes from the latin ‘competere’ which means ‘together strive’. I feel, though am happy to be corrected on this, that typically women require a different motivational force in order to channel the total concentration required day after day, year after year in order to reach the top.
Judit Polgar shows that men and women have the same potential in chess, but ultimately it’s just far less likely to be unlocked with women, for a wide variety of factors.
Typed out a big reply that unfortunately didn’t end up being posted when I clicked submit, so I’ve lost it!
My basic position was that the likes of Judit Polgar show that men and women have the same potential when it comes to chess. However, a variety of factors make that potential less likely to be unlocked:
-There’s the link between chess/maths/analytical logical frame of mind and autism – which is 4.3x more prevalent in males than females.
-There’s the ever present weight of expectation on our young boys (who are encouraged when they show aptitude in these areas) and young girls (who typically are not).
-There’s the male instinct towards competing with other males for dominance, which, when channeled towards chess is an intensely powerful motivator, and tool for improvement in a field where virtually the only way to improve is to play people better than you over and over and hence lose again and again. One feels males are typically more bloody minded about overcoming those who have beaten them without losing motivation and moving on to something else. Females are just as capable of taking the requisite pounding, but probably typically require different motivation, hence making the required comittment to chess to reach the top statistically less likely.
Actually BOTH your long excellent replies are showing up!
Thanks for your detailed response. It was a pleasure to read, learn and agree with your points. Top marks! Looking forward to see more of your views on various topics. Cheers!
Speaking purely for myself, I don’t think that women cannot play chess and play it well should that be their thing, rather that, there are other things in life attracting their attention.
People are either drawn to chess or not. I am in the not category. However, it doesn’t surprise me to hear that some chess players are misogynists. Perhaps the two men concerned have discovered that the women of the world aren’t all that interested in Grand Masters of Chess and them in particular and putting all women down because some of us haven’t been suitably worshipful!
However, it doesn’t surprise me to hear that some chess players are misogynists. Perhaps the two men concerned have discovered that the women of the world aren’t all that interested in Grand Masters of Chess and them in particular and putting all women down because some of us haven’t been suitably worshipful!
I guess the “misogynist” word is quite fashionable to throw around nowadays. Has it replaced the sharing and discussion of insights into the differences between men and women? And your assumption of heteronormative desires is both blatant and disgusting.
I don’t think there’s any need for that CR. As I pointed out earlier, a quick skim read of the article, without knowing the context, would lead to the conclusion that he and other top players are misogynistic.
I’m more inclined to blame The Telegraph for writing such sensationalised rubbish, and Stuff for reprinting it than Hateatea. Though perhaps a degree of admonishment for leaping to conclusions is appropriate.
I may have leapt to a conclusion that was unjustified but I also had some personal experience of highly competitive chess players and gamers to base my comment on. If I have done these two individuals an injustice I freely apologise.
Not satisfied with their attempts to annouce their racism towards anyone remotely “asian looking” with the “Fresh off the Boat” series, TV2 have a new show to cover all the angles: “Black-ish”.
This follows closely on the heels of a new word they like to blurt out in news reports…
“… police seen shooting A BLACK MAN after he runs away from…”
It’s like they almost jizz themselves with relief. I would like to offer a new name for all news reports, reality TV, gardening shows, soaps, cartoons, infomercials… anything else on TV, really.
“WHITE-ISH”
(because who can tell them apart? Oh they’re Taiwanese? From here to there they look Cambodian…)
This is the same principle that enables rich overseas investors buy up property here. The relative prices of land in Auckland compared to other cities they can invest in.
A dodgy US businessman now has most of the priceless NZ newspaper archives, and his business has gone bung. the best thing would be for the government to fund scanning and making all of these open access (with a CC-BY licence) so we can share, research and profit from them.
Fairfax obviously had no clue about the value of these objects, and are obviously not competent to deal with them.
“But today, as he unveils a memorial to the mindless destruction of a century ago, Tony Abbott is quietly drawing a veil across the genocide being committed by his own government in Western Australia through the enforced closure of remote Aboriginal communities…
…When John Howard introduced the hated Northern Territory Intervention Plan back in 2007, he earned the universal animosity of Indigenous people the world over as “a racist bastard imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back”
Tony Abbott’s backing of Western Australia’s Closure of Remote Communities in 2015 is exactly the same, and deserves exactly the same response – “Tony Abbott is a racist bastard imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back”
White Australian governments happily dumped Aboriginals into the outback, out of sight and out of mind – until they realised that they had inadvertently given them rights to millions of acres of land beneath which sat vast deposits of billion dollar minerals and oils.
I am always totally amazed and saddened by the total lack of Aboriginals on the streets of the three cities I have mainly visited, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Once, several years ago when in Melbourne I saw a small group outside the Anglican Cathedral – they were totally out of their minds, bodies and whatever else due to what they had been partaking of – it certainly wasn’t to my thinking, alcohol. They cut a sad sight and were quite agitated. People simply walked around and totally ignored them. On another occasion when staying on the outskirts of Darwin – my partner and I walked to a local shopping centre to purchase something for tea and came across a group by a bus stop. They too were high on something and were crawling around on all fours, probably because they couldn’t stand up. As we walked past, we said ‘Hi’ to them. They looked at us as if we were aliens – probably waiting for us to verbally abuse them! They were totally gobsmacked and said ‘Hello’ back to us before we continued on our way. We were travelling on the Ghan the next day and had a stopover in Alice Springs, where there were several groups plying their wares to us touristy types. I purchased a small painting from one group which sits on a sideboard in our lounge.
@ Jilly Bee: As am I. However having once been an Australian (at a time when one didn’t even need a passport to go there, I was heartened by the increase in numbers I saw in Sydney and Melbourne.
In the late 60’s the only contact I had was babysitting kids during the school holidays when they were ‘treated’ to a holiday in the big smoke by a Swedish Professor from Monash Uni.
Other than that, “Bloody Aboes’ were confined to living it rough in the park and totally absent from the streets.
Recently in Sydney, then Redneckville QLD, it was interesting to see certain racial mixes (Oz Aboriginee/Philipino kids, amongst other things). And I have relatives that are Oz Aboriginee/NZ Maori mix- and they are stunningly beautiful.
Over the past 50 years, there has been a real ‘browning’ of the citizenry – which can only bee a good thing – except for the fact that there’s still a core that do there best to fight against it.
I had a ceremonial ‘burning’ of my Australian passport in the late 70s.
WASHINGTON — As world leaders converge here for their semiannual trek to the capital of what is still the world’s most powerful economy, concern is rising in many quarters that the United States is retreating from global economic leadership just when it is needed most.
The spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have filled Washington with motorcades and traffic jams and loaded the schedules of President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew. But they have also highlighted what some in Washington and around the world see as a United States government so bitterly divided that it is on the verge of ceding the global economic stage it built at the end of World War II and has largely directed ever since.
The US’s drive to enrich the already rich over the last 40 years is destroying the economy and our society with it.
Have I missed something due to my habit of having ‘technology free days’ (whilst I analyse my portfolio and interact with human beings directly?) …….. Anyone know what has happened to Phil Ure?
The options are endless really
– he’s in a pot induced coma
– he got the dog to do the steering on his 50cc moto-sickle whilst on a trek to protest
– he outraged TS people so much he has been banned for weeks or permanently
If its the latter, I haven’t seen him pop up on the alternative hard left-wing kinsprissy thereist sites like TDB.
Hopefully he’s OK – I just happened to notice the absence lately
Isn’t twitter limited to 140 characters, or is that some other site?
Phil wouldn’t get more than two words in at that rate, by the time he put in all the padding characters he seemed to use.
He has a quick comment and points to his whoar blog – which I haven’t looked at to date. Takes up much less than 140 characters – hope it works for him.
National’s housing crisis is causing even further damage with the second consecutive quarter of deflation a genuine concern the Reserve Bank can do little about, as it focusses on Auckland house prices, says Labour’s Finance spokesperson Grant Robertson.
Interesting because the last time I looked two consecutive quarters of decreasing GDP were a recession. A decrease in GDP would normally be concomitant with a period of deflation so we can assume the only reason why we’re not in a technical recession is because of house price inflation.
I suppose that the next thing we”l hear from the RWNJs is that our ‘rock star economy’ is twerking – otherwise known as rock bottom.
“If businesses struggle to sell overseas and their products prices are dropping at home, the economy will get into real trouble.
When are these imbeciles going to realise that we can’t actually export ourselves to wealth?
Take our milk exports. Due to our success there other countries have been increasing production. This is especially true in the US but China and Europe have been doing so as well. That means that there will be no demand for our milk products. Even if we get a FTA with the US we aren’t going to be exporting agricultural products there.
This will happen to everything we make and to every country. It is this reality that capitalism fails to take into account.
Your definition of a recession is correct.
However a decline in GDP is not the same thing as a decline in prices.
GDP is currently increasing quite happily, even though the price level may be declining.
However a decline in GDP is not the same thing as a decline in prices.
And I didn’t say that they were did I? Now go read what I actually said because the implication is that we have increasing GDP while the economy looks to be in a recessionary state.
Liar No. 46 Julia Gillard: “I have got a lot of respect for people who whistle-blow, ummm….” http://thestandard.org.nz/ope-mike-08022015/#comment-965394
Liar No. 45 Zara Potts: “Sir Bob Geldof has assembled the best of modern musicians for this year’s record, including Ed Sheeran and One Direction.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11112014/#comment-924196
More liars HERE….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09102014/#comment-907232
Inflation now just 0.1%. That’s right 0.1%. Prices in general are not rising. Sell your overpriced Auckland house and buy four houses. Buy in Masterton, Otaki, Aotea and Churton Park. Be a landlord.
Funny, that is almost word for word what Matthew Hooton said on N2N today, until he lost it that is, and went on an emotionally based rant about Hager. He must be in quite a dilemma. In order to hysterically deride Hager he had to provide a great defence for Key and his lying government.
Funny to see a PR guy falling lock and stock barrel for his own person “hot button” and making himself seem foolish.
That was very “entertaining”. Kathryn Ryan desperately trying to shut him up and Mike Williams unable to get a word in. KR resorted in the end to pointing out “there’s no difference between Nicky Hager and right-wing PR commentators like yourself” which caused him to pause long enough for KR to sign the show off and kill his mike. Just as well otherwise he’d still be there ranting…
Log prices falling .milk prices falling, dollar staying up which will slow tourism the future s not to bright if people put on there glasses and see through the sun shining out of keys arse .
Although more trees, less cows and jets in the air might not be a bad thing.
FBI forensics specialists gave consistently incorrect testimony to juries pre-2000
Including in the trials of 32 people sentenced to death.
Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence Project, which are assisting the government with the country’s largest post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence.
The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death. Of those, 14 have been executed or died in prison
One of the drawbacks of an adversarial judicial system with prosecutors and judges who are elected or look forward to political careers.
The one that’s really dodgy is actually fingerprint analysis. Pretends to be scientific and often uses the magic of computers, but still needs a proper series of evaluations even after 100 years.
As with fingerprints, not enough research has been done to quantify the probability of error in ballistics matching. So it’s impossible to say with certainty that the marks made on bullets as they are fired are truly unique to an individual gun.
And I’m pretty sure that with modern manufacturing being ever more precise and thus less difference between the same parts on different guns it’s getting even more difficult to say if a bullet came from one gun or another.
until he lost it that is, and went on an emotionally based rant about Hager. He must be in quite a dilemma. In order to hysterically deride Hager he had to provide a great defence for Key and his lying government. he couldn’t be stopped he wound himself up more and more and even Kathryn Ryan almost laughed at him.
Funny to see a PR guy falling lock and stock barrel for his own person “hot button” and making himself seem foolish.
The funniest thing was him attacking Hager as not being a journalist, attacked the media for reporting things he ethically thought they shouldn’t, and attacked the media for deliberately framing things in a particular way. He was frothing so much he lost perspective and couldn’t see the irony of what he was saying, given his job and role.
i am always fascinated that he is described as PR company owner and right wing commentator but not former Nat Party strategist. Him not correcting it is almost, what’s the word? Unethial 😉
You say you didnt hear it until about 3pm and yet you parroted almost his exact words at 14.2
Matthew’s archilles heel is Hager. Hager exposed him as a duplicitous, lacking ethics, self serving person in Hollowmen. He seems to hate him with a passion (which we heard today). Reason goes out the window and ranting take sover, and the volume rises.
extreme
“furthest from the centre or a given point.”
right wing
” the rightist division of a group”
activist
“Someone who’s actively involved in a protest or a political or social cause can be called an activist.”
So, Hoots ranted about Hager being an extreme left wing activist, yet his views on complete lack of government intervention and having worked for the Nats make him an extremist in that party and by being ACT extreme right in NZ, make him, by the definition, an extreme right wing activist.
The BIGGEST difference is that Hager publishes his views, Hoots works clandestinely, for pay, to achieve his ends, until flushed out by Hager
“Groser also said NZ was on target to meet its Kyoto Protocol commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% below 1990 levels by 2020.
However, gross emissions in 2013 were 21.3% higher than 1990 and net emissions were 42.4% higher.”
Grosser must be amazing if he’s going to cut emmisions 27% in 5 years,still if the nats have turned us into a failed economy by then we might get close.
Crikey. An important read:
An Andrew Geddis post on the rights we give up in the case for war in “Lest We Forget.” Freedom of Speech. Rights to disagree. Conscription. And of course a different perspective on the standard belief that all those brave boys went off willingly to fight and die in WW1. (From the sidebar on TS thanks.) http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/lest-we-forget
Amidst all the commemorations, and all the tearful invocations of the 18,000 young men who did not “grow old, as we grow old”, it is as well to remember that it is not in the monarchical tradition to ask the King’s (or the Queen’s) subjects if they want to – let alone whether they should! – go to war. It remains a matter for the “Executive” exclusively.
This is as true today, as a much smaller force of New Zealand soldiers prepares to depart for the Middle East, as it was in 1914 when thousands of volunteers embarked for their fateful rendezvous with terror, disfigurement and death on the sheer slopes of Gallipoli.
And after that first bout of enthusiasm for war there wasn’t that many volunteers either.
ianmac, I discovered a book stashed away in a forgotten spot by my father, after his death. It was an anti-war treatise written in the 1920s, with many horrific photos of WW1 death pits, gallows victims in Austria (they hung conchies, had 11,000 gallows it said), of soldiers whose faces had been blown apart but still alive, terrible stuff. I was quite young when I found this, maybe 9 or 10, and I couldn’t read the words because they were mostly not in English. Later I identified them as German but with French, Dutch and English translations. Dad did not go to war (WW2), health reasons apparently, but I still wonder why he had that book and where it came from.
Just had a look at it – by Ernst Friedrich, called Krieg dem kriege! War against war. Plainly anti-capitalist – possibly underground press as it would be regarded as utter treason, especially in the light of that Andrew Geddis article on how legal freedoms were curtailed in WW1. Found a link to pictures, it’s been republished. war against war
It pretty clear the Auckland Council are a bunch of idiotic muppets, they don’t even bother selling off our assets, they just give them away!
All run through the council resource consents department – no matter how bad the development the answer if always YES, just give us FEEs and we will grant ANYTHING.
Ring a ding, Auckland council CEO and councillors – your resource consents department is out of control and your Ports of Auckland are out of Control!
Are you too lazy to do anything? The ports of Auckland board are giving you, and the rest of Auckland, and Maori and indeed the country the finger.
“An Open Letter to Wicked Campers from Women’s Refuge
Dear Wicked Campers,
Women’s Refuge supports 20,000 women and children affected by domestic violence every year. On behalf of our volunteers and workers and the women and children who use our services we respectfully ask you to reconsider the wording you have on your vans. The hateful slogans and ‘jokes’ we have seen denigrate and humiliate human beings, normalising violence towards women and inflicting on-going harm to victims. Misogyny masquerading as humour is still misogyny! We are concerned for instance that you consider a ‘joke’ about drowning your wife to be amusing? This is just one of many objectionable slogans and images that we see plastered across your campers as they travel the roads of this country. We ask you, in this open letter, to take a different tack in future – perhaps even to think about peaceful and respectful slogans. Please rethink the slogans on your vehicles and think about adding something to society rather than taking it away. As a suggestion, how about ‘wicked campers apologises for dangerous slogans, forgive us.’
Dr Ang Jury
Chief Executive”
I agree completely. In our various necks of the woods we see heaps of these and yep, the slogans and “jokes” are sickening often, rude and bigoted nearly always, and cringeworthy 100%. It doesn’t pay to be with someone more sensitive when one of these turds drives so close that you cant help but read them
Any folks here who are in Dunedin and have an interest in Irish/working class/left history might be interested in a couple of talks I’m giving on campus about the 1916 Rebellion in Ireland and its aftermath.
The talks are at 5pm, tomorrow (Tuesday), April 21 and 5pm, the following Tuesday (April 28) and are in Room 4, upstairs in the Clubs and Societies building at 84 Albany Street.
In the first talk I’ll be looking at the lead-up to the Rising, in particular the arrival in Irish society of the working class as an organised industrial/political force with the formation especially of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, founded by James Larkin and later led by James Connolly, the development of its newspaper (the widely-read Irish Worker, edited by Sean O’Casey) and of the workers’ militia (the Irish Citizen Army, led by Connolly, Michael Mallin and Countess Markievicz; the formation of the first republican paramilitary organisation, Na Fianna Eireann, founded by Countess Markievicz; the revitalisation of the Irish Republican Brotherhood by young militants like Sean MacDiarmada and the return of the veteran Tom Clarke; the formation of a republican women’s movement (Inghinidhe na hEireann), founded by Maud Gonne; and the Irishwomen’s Suffrage League.
I’ll look at the 1913 Dublin Lockout and the Home Rule Crisis and the different responses within Irish nationalism to World War 1.
If there’s much interest in these talks, I’ll look at organising the showing of two very famous documentaries, among the first feature-length documentaries ever made: Mise Eire (I am Ireland) and Saoirse (Freedom).
Mise Eire was made in 1959 and features a lot of newsreel footage from the late 1800s up to the immediate after of the 1916 Rising.
Saoirse was made in 1961 and takes the story through the reorganisation of the independence movement in 1917, its sweeping victory in Ireland in the Westminster election of 1918, the establishment of an independent Irish parliament in January 1919, the declaration of independence and the war with the British state as the British ruling class refused to recognise the will of the Irish people and attempted to suppress Dail Eireann.
I usually take part in the Campbell Live votes via text messages. I didn’t partake in the vote on whether Martin Crowe should receive a knighthood, simply because I don’t agree with titular honours, though I firmly feel that Martin should be honoured in some way for his wonderful contribution to N Z cricket. Order of N Z would be OK with me.
I understand and agree with your view, but I voted YES because that seemed the most appropriate answer for the two choices given.
The government has given these titles to a large number of shady characters and crooks over the years! I bet Key is looking forward to get one too asap!
Attention iprent: I have noticed that in the last few days, when I try to click on ‘reply’ from my email feed, I am unable to do so, because I get this message:
Gone
The requested resource
/open-mike-20042015/
is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address. Please remove all references to this resource.
I am not sure what his contribution outside his job has been? Many many people are outstanding in their chosen professions, for far less remuneration than our sportspeople. So over and above that? I am sorry he is dying, but writing about his experience also ought not qualify for the highest of honours. IMO.
Ports of Auckland has been ordered to pay $40,000 for deliberately breaking the law by employing contractors during industrial action at the port.
The Employment Relations Authority ruled that Ports of Auckland Ltd (POAL) broke the law in February and March when they employed an engineer from overseas at a cost of $10,000 a week to do the work of striking Maritime Union members.
It also illegally used local contractors to carry out engineering work.
At the time union members were on strike and locked out in their battle to stop management contracting out their jobs.
In a decision released yesterday, authority member Anna Fitzgibbon said the port had made “calculated decisions” to break the law.
The ANZAC Bullshit continues with everybody trying to out do others with exhibits. Southland has got the prize so far as shown on TV1 news tonight. A genuine exhibit of a Gallipoli dunny c/w with feces in it
I am sure the poor guys who were there would not like their personal habits dysentery or otherwise exhibited.
That is bloody disgusting and an insult to the guys who fought there.
TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
Halfway up a historic tower in York, we are neither up nor down. At the top you will have views of a city steeped in antiquity, made and remade by Romans, Normans, Vikings, Tescos. Below, you will find a retired minister happy to tell you all about this most astonishing ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does breathing contribute to CO2 ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
No one knows what it's likeTo be the bad manTo be the sad manBehind blue eyesNo one knows what it's likeTo be hatedTo be fatedTo telling only liesHave you ever wondered what life must be like for Mike Hosking? Seeing things in black and white through blue tinted specs? In ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – According to the respected Pew Research Centre, “In seven of eight [European] countries surveyed, the most trusted news outlet asked about is the public news organization in each country”. For example, “in Sweden, an overwhelming majority (90%) say they trust the public broadcaster SVT”. ...
David Farrar writes – Kata MacNamara reports: Details of Tony Blakely’s involvement in the New Zealand Government’s response to the pandemic raise serious questions about the work of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry over which he presides. It has long been clear that Blakely, a ...
Chris Trotter writes – Are you a Brahmin or a Merchant? Or, are you merely one of those whose lives are profoundly influenced by the decisions of Brahmins and Merchants? Those are the questions that are currently shaping the politics of New Zealand and the entire West. ...
RNZ reports – It’s supposed to be a haven of healing and spiritual awakening but residents of the Kawai Purapura community say they’ve been hurt and deceived. It’s the successor to the former Centrepoint commune, and has been on the bush block opposite Albany shopping centre since 2008. It ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. Usually we have a video chat to go with this wrap, but were unable to do one this week. We’ll be back next week.Several reports ...
The Transport Minister has set a hard 'fiscal envelope' of $6.54 billion for transport capital spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy is settling into a state of suspended animation as the Government’s funding freezes and job cuts chill confidence and combine with stubbornly high interest rates to ...
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land of Israel, and to (b)the subjugation of Palestinians by the Israeli state. By contrast, the term “anti-Semitism” means bigotry and racism directed at Jewish people, ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Because hurricanes are one of the big-ticket weather disasters that humanity has to face, climate misinformers spend a lot of effort muddying the waters on whether climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. With the official start to the hurricane ...
Yesterday the Mayor released what he calls his “plan to save public transport” which is part of his final proposal for the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP). This comes following consultation on the draft version that occurred in March which showed, once again, that people want more done on transport, especially ...
And it's a pleasure that I have knownAnd it's a treasure that I have gainedAotearoa’s coalition government is fragile. It’s held together by the obsequious sycophancy of Christopher Luxon, who willingly contorts his party into the fringe positions of his junior coalition partners and is unwilling to contradict them. The ...
The Select Committee hearing submissions on the fast-track consenting legislation is starting to become a beat-up of regional councils. The inflexibility and slow workings of the Councils were prominent in two submissions yesterday. One, from the Coromandel Marine Farmers Association, simply said that the Waikato Regional Council’s planning decisions were ...
Back in April, the High Court surprised everyone by ruling that Ministers are above the law, at least as far as the Waitangi Tribunal is concerned. The reason for this ruling was "comity" - the idea that the different branches of government shouldn't interfere with each other's functions. Which makes ...
Buzz from the BeehiveTolling was mentioned when Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the government was re-introducing the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) programme, with 15 “crucial” projects to support economic growth and regional development across New Zealand. All RoNS would be four-laned, grade-separated highways, and all funding, financing, and ...
or the past 14 years, ever since the Spanish government cheated on an autonomy deal, Catalonia has reliably given pro-independence parties a majority of seats in their regional parliament. But now that seems to be over. Catalans went to the polls yesterday, and stripped the Catalan parties of their majority. ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ report: Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said the Electoral Commission should make sure the system ran smoothly and “taking away the right of thousands of people to vote” was not the answer. “Thousands of people enroled and voted on the day. If ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
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Radiolive has tweeted “A prominent New Zealander’s due back in court today on 12 charges of indecent assault – the case is subject to heavy suppression orders”
Are they hoping everyone looses interest as they rack up copious costs in all this legal muscle to keep a name from the public disclosed.
The clues that a further hearing was scheduled for today in a certain District Court were there in the various media reports on previous hearings, including the urgent Auckland HC hearing of the appeal against the lifting of name suppression.
First – this media report on the Feb 18 DC hearing indicates that the next hearing was probably scheduled for today in what it says re remand on bail:
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/prominent-new-zealander-name-suppression-extended-vy-170285
Several of the media reports of the urgent HC appeal hearing also suggested that the extension of name suppression was granted until the trial commences – eg this one:
Sorry for the full Google link – a shorter one I found did not work.
https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCsQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nzherald.co.nz%2Fnz%2Fnews%2Farticle.cfm%3Fc_id%3D1%26objectid%3D11424208&ei=Ry80VbHfG5Lq8AWoroAQ&usg=AFQjCNG9RpB1073VRwrJ4a7umke997T4-w
So it will be interesting to see what today brings. However, as discussed here, today may just turn out to be a short hearing to extend the remand period ….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17042015/#comment-1001295
Oops – forgot this link re name suppression being granted only until commencement of trial. From the Police News no less.
https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEoQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpolicenews.nz%2Fcrimenews%2Fprominent-new-zealander-charged-with-indecent-assault-granted-interim-name-suppression%2F&ei=Ry80VbHfG5Lq8AWoroAQ&usg=AFQjCNFaPNWh4fpxSb2CMkTeofmRO-fPCw
It’s possible that today is the call over date. The actual trial may still be a couple of months away.
Will the subject of the suppression order be re-visited at today’s hearing?
I believe that may also be suppressed!
If the suppression is suppressed then it is gloves-off surely..
Isn’t this the first time ‘indecent assault’ and the number of charges have been mentioned in the open ? Interesting they have tweeted those details.
I think those details have already been published.
Well I suppose it had to happen one day.
I’m in agreement with Judith Collins !
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11434890
I am waiting for the sky to fall on my head as I too agree with her and I never thought I would say that! My only quibble is that more wasn’t made of the cross party unity amongst female mp’s on this issue. We could do with much more of that.
Sweetie Pie Judith! Though let’s remember her catty remark last year about Metiria Turei’s ugly” jacket. Now she wants to defend all females from comments about appearance.
Oh, I don’t for a moment think she has reformed but at least she had a moment of sisterhood. Tomorrow, or even today, it will be the Crusher we know and dislike. 😉
She is building a constituency but for what. THAT is the question, imo.
And so it starts. The ‘nice’ Judith Collins takes that first step to leading the National Party. The photo, the hands, the slightly messy hair, more casually dressed than usual. It’s all about winning hearts and minds.
Yes. The hearts and minds of the Tory ‘ladies’ she hopes will cheer-lead for her at the upcoming Nat. leadership contest.
Paula won’t be happy.
I am keen to read what Judith Collins ( or any of you ) will have to say about the following comment in the news today:
“Chess grandmaster Nigel Short has angered female players by claiming they are not “hard-wired” for the game.
When Nigel Short, one of UK’s greatest ever chess players, challenged Garry Kasparov for the world title in 1993 the pair met as bitter rivals.
But it appears the British grandmaster has finally found common ground with his Russian opponent – they both believe women are not suited to the game.
Short, who lost to Kasparov in the championships, has claimed men and women should just accept they are “hard-wired very differently”.
Speaking in the magazine New in Chess about the lack of women playing the game, Short said the sexes were just different.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/67879887/grandmaster-nigel-short-girls-dont-have-the-brains-to-play-chess
It’s an interesting one with chess to be sure. Very difficult to tease out the effects of inate ability vs cultural expectations and so forth. However, the broad brush strokes are very clear.
Take a look at the current top 100 rankings:
http://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=men
http://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=women
Only one woman currently makes it onto the ‘mens’ list. Yifan Hou at #59. Meanwhile, the only woman to ever seriously compete at the highest levels (and qualify for a World Championship for example) is Judit Polgar – who along with her two sisters Susan and Sofia were essentially part of an educational experiment by their father who trained them at home from a very young age. Even so, the highest Judit ever made it on the overall rankings was 8th.
More on Judit Polgar here, if you’re interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r
The stuff article, and the global reactions to Short’s statements are highly sensationalised. The media’s play has been to fan the flames of controversy by making it seem Short is sexist, whereas his position would likely best be summarized by this quote:
“One is not better than the other, we just have different skills. It would be wonderful to see more girls playing chess, and at a higher level, but rather than fretting about inequality, perhaps we should just gracefully accept it as a fact.”
We have no issue differentiating between the masculine and feminine on the physical plane. Pointing out a physically strong woman is no argument against the fact that men are typically stronger and are genetically predispossed to be so. Somehow when discussing the field of chess, where the general trends are almost as stark, it’s sexist to point out that men seem to have an advantage.
I feel the issue boils down to our society’s perception of intelligence as falling on a linear spectrum. I’m ‘more intellegent’ than him, and she’s ‘more intelligent’ than me. This is heavily reinforced throughout our childhood by our education system (and exam scoring in particular). Chess has been heavily associated with intelligence for yonks (even to the extent which intellegence is improved in games like ‘The Sims’ by playing Chess). So the by pointing out that, generally speaking, men seem better suited to chess than women, there is also perception of a sexist implication that men are more ‘intelligent’ (whatever it is that means). Intelligence is of course much broader than analytical ability, but we’re still labouring under that narrow view in many ways.
By devolving into an argument about sexism, we cut ourselves off from examining what’s really happening, and the insights that we can have about our own thought patterns and those of the opposite gender simply by sitting down and playing a game of chess with them.
Women can be just as good as men just let them have an I-phone that they can use in the Toilet. Worked for guys
@Alethios : Thanks for your detailed response.
I was impressed by Judit Polgar. Thank you for the link. Just goes to show that women can be as good as men.
I think the real question is not so much about their intelligence, but more about the mystery of why so few women take up the great sport of Chess as a serious endeavour, challenge or hobby.
Here is some info about Judit from your link:
‘Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is the strongest female chess player in history.[1] In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the youngest to have done so, breaking the record previously held by former World Champion Bobby Fischer. She is the only woman to qualify for a World Championship tournament, having done so in 2005. She is the first, and to date, only woman to have surpassed the 2700 Elo rating barrier, reaching a career peak rating of 2735 and peak world ranking of #8, both achieved in 2005. She was the number 1 rated woman in the world from 1989 (when she was 12 years old) up until the March 2015 rating list, when she was overtaken by Chinese player Hou Yifan.
She has won or shared first in the chess tournaments of Hastings 1993, Madrid 1994, León 1996, U.S. Open 1998, Hoogeveen 1999, Siegman 1999, Japfa 2000, and the Najdorf Memorial 2000.
Polgár is the only woman to have won a game from a reigning world number one player, and has defeated eleven current or former world champions in either rapid or classical chess: Magnus Carlsen, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Vasily Smyslov, Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Khalifman, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.‘ Wow! That IS impressive!
Polgar certainly is amazing and testament to the fact that men and women share the same potential. Though I would say the fact that she remained the #1 rated woman for so long is a testament to quite how unusual she is. If you take a look here:
http://ratings.fide.com/top_files.phtml?id=700070
You can see that Polgar retained the #1 spot until March 2015 despite playing very little chess since late 2011. Infact, if you scroll down a little, you can see that she stopped playing large numbers of games soon after breaking into the overall top 10 in 2003. It’s taken 12 years since that point for another woman to surpass her on the list.
As for why fewer women play chess, I think on one level the answer is fairly straightforward: fewer women are interested in playing chess. Just as fewer women are interested in mathematics and other endevours requiring that ‘churning analytical frame of mind’ if you will. It’s a frame of mind that is especially well honed and enjoyed amongst individuals in the autism spectrum (such as myself), due to having less focus on other perspectives. Males fall within the autism spectrum 4.3x more often than females, and this is part of the reason there are far more males in these fields, even as the women within the fields may be just as capable.
Of course, one also cannot understate the impact of the expectations we continue to place upon young girls continues to play a part in the paths they decide to take in life (young boys too, who are much more likely to be sheparded in that direction if they show promise).
Lastly, there’s a much more nebulous idea that I’ll put forward anyhow. Males seem much more hardwired for the instinct to compete with one another – the urge to dominate other males and all that. This acts both as a tremendously powerful motivator, and method of improvement. After all, word ‘compete’ comes from the latin ‘competere’ which means ‘together strive’. I feel, though am happy to be corrected on this, that typically women require a different motivational force in order to channel the total concentration required day after day, year after year in order to reach the top.
Judit Polgar shows that men and women have the same potential in chess, but ultimately it’s just far less likely to be unlocked with women, for a wide variety of factors.
Typed out a big reply that unfortunately didn’t end up being posted when I clicked submit, so I’ve lost it!
My basic position was that the likes of Judit Polgar show that men and women have the same potential when it comes to chess. However, a variety of factors make that potential less likely to be unlocked:
-There’s the link between chess/maths/analytical logical frame of mind and autism – which is 4.3x more prevalent in males than females.
-There’s the ever present weight of expectation on our young boys (who are encouraged when they show aptitude in these areas) and young girls (who typically are not).
-There’s the male instinct towards competing with other males for dominance, which, when channeled towards chess is an intensely powerful motivator, and tool for improvement in a field where virtually the only way to improve is to play people better than you over and over and hence lose again and again. One feels males are typically more bloody minded about overcoming those who have beaten them without losing motivation and moving on to something else. Females are just as capable of taking the requisite pounding, but probably typically require different motivation, hence making the required comittment to chess to reach the top statistically less likely.
@Alethios:
Actually BOTH your long excellent replies are showing up!
Thanks for your detailed response. It was a pleasure to read, learn and agree with your points. Top marks! Looking forward to see more of your views on various topics. Cheers!
Cheers 🙂
I actually have a little blog in which I talk about a range of topics if you’re interested:
http://www.alethios.net
Will do my best to post here more often however. Have been reading TS since circa 2009, so it’s probably about time.
Speaking purely for myself, I don’t think that women cannot play chess and play it well should that be their thing, rather that, there are other things in life attracting their attention.
People are either drawn to chess or not. I am in the not category. However, it doesn’t surprise me to hear that some chess players are misogynists. Perhaps the two men concerned have discovered that the women of the world aren’t all that interested in Grand Masters of Chess and them in particular and putting all women down because some of us haven’t been suitably worshipful!
I guess the “misogynist” word is quite fashionable to throw around nowadays. Has it replaced the sharing and discussion of insights into the differences between men and women? And your assumption of heteronormative desires is both blatant and disgusting.
I don’t think there’s any need for that CR. As I pointed out earlier, a quick skim read of the article, without knowing the context, would lead to the conclusion that he and other top players are misogynistic.
I’m more inclined to blame The Telegraph for writing such sensationalised rubbish, and Stuff for reprinting it than Hateatea. Though perhaps a degree of admonishment for leaping to conclusions is appropriate.
I may have leapt to a conclusion that was unjustified but I also had some personal experience of highly competitive chess players and gamers to base my comment on. If I have done these two individuals an injustice I freely apologise.
Not satisfied with their attempts to annouce their racism towards anyone remotely “asian looking” with the “Fresh off the Boat” series, TV2 have a new show to cover all the angles: “Black-ish”.
This follows closely on the heels of a new word they like to blurt out in news reports…
“… police seen shooting A BLACK MAN after he runs away from…”
It’s like they almost jizz themselves with relief. I would like to offer a new name for all news reports, reality TV, gardening shows, soaps, cartoons, infomercials… anything else on TV, really.
“WHITE-ISH”
(because who can tell them apart? Oh they’re Taiwanese? From here to there they look Cambodian…)
Latest on the TPP ..
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-sharks-move-in-lobbyists-pushing-forward-on-tpp-agreements
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/latest-tpp-leak-shows-systemic-threat-to-software-freedom
This is the inevitable result of allowing Auckland’s housing inflation to run rampant;
“Aucklanders taking advantage of capital gain on properties and settling in cheaper regions.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/residential-property/news/article.cfm?c_id=76&objectid=11435225
And for those who think this is a good thing… think again.
This is the same principle that enables rich overseas investors buy up property here. The relative prices of land in Auckland compared to other cities they can invest in.
A dodgy US businessman now has most of the priceless NZ newspaper archives, and his business has gone bung. the best thing would be for the government to fund scanning and making all of these open access (with a CC-BY licence) so we can share, research and profit from them.
Fairfax obviously had no clue about the value of these objects, and are obviously not competent to deal with them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11432690
Grrr. Arrgh.
This irks me.
Dodgy prick and his scam.
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/john-rogers-owns-more-photos-than-anyone-anywhere/Content?oid=2478356&showFullText=true
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/memorabilia-probe-turns-spotlight-arkansas-archivist-article-1.2020119
http://www.minnpost.com/media/2015/04/strange-saga-john-rogers-man-who-bought-star-tribunes-vintage-photo-archive
Good article by Hone
http://mananews.co.nz/wp/?p=4541
We will fight back and help our brothers and sisters over the ditch – they are not forgotten!!!
I am always totally amazed and saddened by the total lack of Aboriginals on the streets of the three cities I have mainly visited, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Once, several years ago when in Melbourne I saw a small group outside the Anglican Cathedral – they were totally out of their minds, bodies and whatever else due to what they had been partaking of – it certainly wasn’t to my thinking, alcohol. They cut a sad sight and were quite agitated. People simply walked around and totally ignored them. On another occasion when staying on the outskirts of Darwin – my partner and I walked to a local shopping centre to purchase something for tea and came across a group by a bus stop. They too were high on something and were crawling around on all fours, probably because they couldn’t stand up. As we walked past, we said ‘Hi’ to them. They looked at us as if we were aliens – probably waiting for us to verbally abuse them! They were totally gobsmacked and said ‘Hello’ back to us before we continued on our way. We were travelling on the Ghan the next day and had a stopover in Alice Springs, where there were several groups plying their wares to us touristy types. I purchased a small painting from one group which sits on a sideboard in our lounge.
@ Jilly Bee: As am I. However having once been an Australian (at a time when one didn’t even need a passport to go there, I was heartened by the increase in numbers I saw in Sydney and Melbourne.
In the late 60’s the only contact I had was babysitting kids during the school holidays when they were ‘treated’ to a holiday in the big smoke by a Swedish Professor from Monash Uni.
Other than that, “Bloody Aboes’ were confined to living it rough in the park and totally absent from the streets.
Recently in Sydney, then Redneckville QLD, it was interesting to see certain racial mixes (Oz Aboriginee/Philipino kids, amongst other things). And I have relatives that are Oz Aboriginee/NZ Maori mix- and they are stunningly beautiful.
Over the past 50 years, there has been a real ‘browning’ of the citizenry – which can only bee a good thing – except for the fact that there’s still a core that do there best to fight against it.
I had a ceremonial ‘burning’ of my Australian passport in the late 70s.
Start here:
The US’s drive to enrich the already rich over the last 40 years is destroying the economy and our society with it.
Have I missed something due to my habit of having ‘technology free days’ (whilst I analyse my portfolio and interact with human beings directly?) …….. Anyone know what has happened to Phil Ure?
The options are endless really
– he’s in a pot induced coma
– he got the dog to do the steering on his 50cc moto-sickle whilst on a trek to protest
– he outraged TS people so much he has been banned for weeks or permanently
If its the latter, I haven’t seen him pop up on the alternative hard left-wing kinsprissy thereist sites like TDB.
Hopefully he’s OK – I just happened to notice the absence lately
He’s taken to Twitter. I haven’t bothered to follow up on his blog – I find his style a difficult read.
Twitter….. mmmmm….. a medium better suited to him I think. Oh well then …. Goodbye Phil Ure. Twitter – the name says it all as far as it affects me
Isn’t twitter limited to 140 characters, or is that some other site?
Phil wouldn’t get more than two words in at that rate, by the time he put in all the padding characters he seemed to use.
He has a quick comment and points to his whoar blog – which I haven’t looked at to date. Takes up much less than 140 characters – hope it works for him.
Another economic headache from housing crisis – Robertson
Interesting because the last time I looked two consecutive quarters of decreasing GDP were a recession. A decrease in GDP would normally be concomitant with a period of deflation so we can assume the only reason why we’re not in a technical recession is because of house price inflation.
I suppose that the next thing we”l hear from the RWNJs is that our ‘rock star economy’ is twerking – otherwise known as rock bottom.
When are these imbeciles going to realise that we can’t actually export ourselves to wealth?
Take our milk exports. Due to our success there other countries have been increasing production. This is especially true in the US but China and Europe have been doing so as well. That means that there will be no demand for our milk products. Even if we get a FTA with the US we aren’t going to be exporting agricultural products there.
This will happen to everything we make and to every country. It is this reality that capitalism fails to take into account.
Your definition of a recession is correct.
However a decline in GDP is not the same thing as a decline in prices.
GDP is currently increasing quite happily, even though the price level may be declining.
And I didn’t say that they were did I? Now go read what I actually said because the implication is that we have increasing GDP while the economy looks to be in a recessionary state.
Liars of Our Time
No. 49: JAY CARNEY
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“He is not a human rights activist. He is not a dissident.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—White House press secretary JAY CARNEY pushes the Obama regime line on the subject of dissident Edward Snowden, July 17, 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC9wE2OLZUk
Liar No. 48 Jim Mora: “Fantastic! I’ll have a listen to the full version [of Tony Doe’s new song] after The Panel.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/ope-mike-08022015/#comment-978969
Liar No.47 Simon Mercep: “Coming up in a few minutes, The Panel. …. Whoever they are, quality broadcasting will ensue.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18022015/#comment-970927
Liar No. 46 Julia Gillard: “I have got a lot of respect for people who whistle-blow, ummm….” http://thestandard.org.nz/ope-mike-08022015/#comment-965394
Liar No. 45 Zara Potts: “Sir Bob Geldof has assembled the best of modern musicians for this year’s record, including Ed Sheeran and One Direction.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11112014/#comment-924196
More liars HERE….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09102014/#comment-907232
Beware Aucklanders who care about the harbour .. ignoring Council again …
Fletcher Cranes on Bledisloe Wharf this morning with huts for workers:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11435529
Inflation now just 0.1%. That’s right 0.1%. Prices in general are not rising. Sell your overpriced Auckland house and buy four houses. Buy in Masterton, Otaki, Aotea and Churton Park. Be a landlord.
The Minister of Finance’s Budget figures are out by a full decimal place (in only one year) and you are celebrating ?
Please do not drive or operate heavy machinery of any sort and I implore you to seek medical assistance immediately.
Huh? what are you talking about.
😯 whoosh 😯
It wasnt in the PR release… so fisiani is clueless
Don’t be a landlord. Sell your million dollar house in Auckland and buy somewhere else in NZ and have $500,000 in the bank.
Funny, that is almost word for word what Matthew Hooton said on N2N today, until he lost it that is, and went on an emotionally based rant about Hager. He must be in quite a dilemma. In order to hysterically deride Hager he had to provide a great defence for Key and his lying government.
Funny to see a PR guy falling lock and stock barrel for his own person “hot button” and making himself seem foolish.
That was very “entertaining”. Kathryn Ryan desperately trying to shut him up and Mike Williams unable to get a word in. KR resorted in the end to pointing out “there’s no difference between Nicky Hager and right-wing PR commentators like yourself” which caused him to pause long enough for KR to sign the show off and kill his mike. Just as well otherwise he’d still be there ranting…
Did you note the press release mentioned up a bit that said that we actually have deflation?
Log prices falling .milk prices falling, dollar staying up which will slow tourism the future s not to bright if people put on there glasses and see through the sun shining out of keys arse .
Although more trees, less cows and jets in the air might not be a bad thing.
FBI forensics specialists gave consistently incorrect testimony to juries pre-2000
Including in the trials of 32 people sentenced to death.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-19/american-justice-fbi-lab-overstated-95-forensic-hair-matches-including-32-death-sent
One of the drawbacks of an adversarial judicial system with prosecutors and judges who are elected or look forward to political careers.
The one that’s really dodgy is actually fingerprint analysis. Pretends to be scientific and often uses the magic of computers, but still needs a proper series of evaluations even after 100 years.
The same can be said of forensic ballistics:
And I’m pretty sure that with modern manufacturing being ever more precise and thus less difference between the same parts on different guns it’s getting even more difficult to say if a bullet came from one gun or another.
Just listened to Mike Williams and Matthew Hooton. Williams is not winning hearts and minds for Labour and Hooton as always came up triumphant.
Yep, and Hooton also said the govt are arrogant and out of touch.
I think he was projecting. I hope Williams didnt get any of Hoots froth on him…
That must be the reason they are languishing at a mere 49%.
Yep slightly less than half.
Opposition parties also slightly less than half.
“Hooton as always came up triumphant.”
until he lost it that is, and went on an emotionally based rant about Hager. He must be in quite a dilemma. In order to hysterically deride Hager he had to provide a great defence for Key and his lying government. he couldn’t be stopped he wound himself up more and more and even Kathryn Ryan almost laughed at him.
Funny to see a PR guy falling lock and stock barrel for his own person “hot button” and making himself seem foolish.
The funniest thing was him attacking Hager as not being a journalist, attacked the media for reporting things he ethically thought they shouldn’t, and attacked the media for deliberately framing things in a particular way. He was frothing so much he lost perspective and couldn’t see the irony of what he was saying, given his job and role.
i am always fascinated that he is described as PR company owner and right wing commentator but not former Nat Party strategist. Him not correcting it is almost, what’s the word? Unethial 😉
You say you didnt hear it until about 3pm and yet you parroted almost his exact words at 14.2
Matthew seemed to have lost his alcohol persona today. Wonder why?
Matthew’s archilles heel is Hager. Hager exposed him as a duplicitous, lacking ethics, self serving person in Hollowmen. He seems to hate him with a passion (which we heard today). Reason goes out the window and ranting take sover, and the volume rises.
extreme
“furthest from the centre or a given point.”
right wing
” the rightist division of a group”
activist
“Someone who’s actively involved in a protest or a political or social cause can be called an activist.”
So, Hoots ranted about Hager being an extreme left wing activist, yet his views on complete lack of government intervention and having worked for the Nats make him an extremist in that party and by being ACT extreme right in NZ, make him, by the definition, an extreme right wing activist.
The BIGGEST difference is that Hager publishes his views, Hoots works clandestinely, for pay, to achieve his ends, until flushed out by Hager
Fis … “triumphant”?You really are running out of bait. I’d like to say nice try but even I wouldn’t bite at that-that was weak even for you mate.
http://agrihq.co.nz/article/falling-forests-miss-gas-level-targets?p=7
“Groser also said NZ was on target to meet its Kyoto Protocol commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% below 1990 levels by 2020.
However, gross emissions in 2013 were 21.3% higher than 1990 and net emissions were 42.4% higher.”
Grosser must be amazing if he’s going to cut emmisions 27% in 5 years,still if the nats have turned us into a failed economy by then we might get close.
Crikey. An important read:
An Andrew Geddis post on the rights we give up in the case for war in “Lest We Forget.” Freedom of Speech. Rights to disagree. Conscription. And of course a different perspective on the standard belief that all those brave boys went off willingly to fight and die in WW1. (From the sidebar on TS thanks.)
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/lest-we-forget
And this from Trotter:
And after that first bout of enthusiasm for war there wasn’t that many volunteers either.
ianmac, I discovered a book stashed away in a forgotten spot by my father, after his death. It was an anti-war treatise written in the 1920s, with many horrific photos of WW1 death pits, gallows victims in Austria (they hung conchies, had 11,000 gallows it said), of soldiers whose faces had been blown apart but still alive, terrible stuff. I was quite young when I found this, maybe 9 or 10, and I couldn’t read the words because they were mostly not in English. Later I identified them as German but with French, Dutch and English translations. Dad did not go to war (WW2), health reasons apparently, but I still wonder why he had that book and where it came from.
Just had a look at it – by Ernst Friedrich, called Krieg dem kriege! War against war. Plainly anti-capitalist – possibly underground press as it would be regarded as utter treason, especially in the light of that Andrew Geddis article on how legal freedoms were curtailed in WW1. Found a link to pictures, it’s been republished.
war against war
It pretty clear the Auckland Council are a bunch of idiotic muppets, they don’t even bother selling off our assets, they just give them away!
All run through the council resource consents department – no matter how bad the development the answer if always YES, just give us FEEs and we will grant ANYTHING.
Ring a ding, Auckland council CEO and councillors – your resource consents department is out of control and your Ports of Auckland are out of Control!
Are you too lazy to do anything? The ports of Auckland board are giving you, and the rest of Auckland, and Maori and indeed the country the finger.
The harbour is public ownership.
STOP STEALING OUR HARBOUR
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11435607
Good letter
“An Open Letter to Wicked Campers from Women’s Refuge
Dear Wicked Campers,
Women’s Refuge supports 20,000 women and children affected by domestic violence every year. On behalf of our volunteers and workers and the women and children who use our services we respectfully ask you to reconsider the wording you have on your vans. The hateful slogans and ‘jokes’ we have seen denigrate and humiliate human beings, normalising violence towards women and inflicting on-going harm to victims. Misogyny masquerading as humour is still misogyny! We are concerned for instance that you consider a ‘joke’ about drowning your wife to be amusing? This is just one of many objectionable slogans and images that we see plastered across your campers as they travel the roads of this country. We ask you, in this open letter, to take a different tack in future – perhaps even to think about peaceful and respectful slogans. Please rethink the slogans on your vehicles and think about adding something to society rather than taking it away. As a suggestion, how about ‘wicked campers apologises for dangerous slogans, forgive us.’
Dr Ang Jury
Chief Executive”
Good. It’s about time some campaigning was done on this. I’ve seen a few things on Twitter but it needs a major push.
I agree completely. In our various necks of the woods we see heaps of these and yep, the slogans and “jokes” are sickening often, rude and bigoted nearly always, and cringeworthy 100%. It doesn’t pay to be with someone more sensitive when one of these turds drives so close that you cant help but read them
Full ups to Womens Refuge
Any folks here who are in Dunedin and have an interest in Irish/working class/left history might be interested in a couple of talks I’m giving on campus about the 1916 Rebellion in Ireland and its aftermath.
The talks are at 5pm, tomorrow (Tuesday), April 21 and 5pm, the following Tuesday (April 28) and are in Room 4, upstairs in the Clubs and Societies building at 84 Albany Street.
In the first talk I’ll be looking at the lead-up to the Rising, in particular the arrival in Irish society of the working class as an organised industrial/political force with the formation especially of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, founded by James Larkin and later led by James Connolly, the development of its newspaper (the widely-read Irish Worker, edited by Sean O’Casey) and of the workers’ militia (the Irish Citizen Army, led by Connolly, Michael Mallin and Countess Markievicz; the formation of the first republican paramilitary organisation, Na Fianna Eireann, founded by Countess Markievicz; the revitalisation of the Irish Republican Brotherhood by young militants like Sean MacDiarmada and the return of the veteran Tom Clarke; the formation of a republican women’s movement (Inghinidhe na hEireann), founded by Maud Gonne; and the Irishwomen’s Suffrage League.
I’ll look at the 1913 Dublin Lockout and the Home Rule Crisis and the different responses within Irish nationalism to World War 1.
Bigi linn (all welcome).
For poster, see: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/dunedin-talks-on-the-1916-rebellion-in-ireland/
Phil
Thanks Philip. Shame I live in Auckland …
If there’s much interest in these talks, I’ll look at organising the showing of two very famous documentaries, among the first feature-length documentaries ever made: Mise Eire (I am Ireland) and Saoirse (Freedom).
Mise Eire was made in 1959 and features a lot of newsreel footage from the late 1800s up to the immediate after of the 1916 Rising.
Saoirse was made in 1961 and takes the story through the reorganisation of the independence movement in 1917, its sweeping victory in Ireland in the Westminster election of 1918, the establishment of an independent Irish parliament in January 1919, the declaration of independence and the war with the British state as the British ruling class refused to recognise the will of the Irish people and attempted to suppress Dail Eireann.
Phil
Don’t forget to watch Campbell Live today, 7 pm, TV3.
Some of the topics are : (from Twitter)
* See where your money from Lunchbox Day has gone!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC_9VOFUEAASMnR.jpg:large
* Imagine being told you’d have to boil your drinking water for the next decade. Tonight, the invention that may save the town with no water.
* Poll: Should Martin Crowe receive a knighthood? http://bit.ly/1F4U8uY
You can vote now at the link above or you can wait and vote during the show.
Also, (from ad during news)
* How to solve water purifying problem
* What happened to the donations to Vanuatu for the Pam cyclone
I usually take part in the Campbell Live votes via text messages. I didn’t partake in the vote on whether Martin Crowe should receive a knighthood, simply because I don’t agree with titular honours, though I firmly feel that Martin should be honoured in some way for his wonderful contribution to N Z cricket. Order of N Z would be OK with me.
72% said YES, 29% said No.
I understand and agree with your view, but I voted YES because that seemed the most appropriate answer for the two choices given.
The government has given these titles to a large number of shady characters and crooks over the years! I bet Key is looking forward to get one too asap!
Martin Crowe is certainly not one of those types!
@ iprent :
Attention iprent: I have noticed that in the last few days, when I try to click on ‘reply’ from my email feed, I am unable to do so, because I get this message:
Gone
The requested resource
/open-mike-20042015/
is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address. Please remove all references to this resource.
Ok, I will check what the email feed does. I closed a feed loophole a week or so ago to stop some attacks.
I am not sure what his contribution outside his job has been? Many many people are outstanding in their chosen professions, for far less remuneration than our sportspeople. So over and above that? I am sorry he is dying, but writing about his experience also ought not qualify for the highest of honours. IMO.
Ports of Auckland has been ordered to pay $40,000 for deliberately breaking the law by employing contractors during industrial action at the port.
The Employment Relations Authority ruled that Ports of Auckland Ltd (POAL) broke the law in February and March when they employed an engineer from overseas at a cost of $10,000 a week to do the work of striking Maritime Union members.
It also illegally used local contractors to carry out engineering work.
At the time union members were on strike and locked out in their battle to stop management contracting out their jobs.
In a decision released yesterday, authority member Anna Fitzgibbon said the port had made “calculated decisions” to break the law.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10853815
Ding a ling, sound familiar with stealing our harbour?
The ANZAC Bullshit continues with everybody trying to out do others with exhibits. Southland has got the prize so far as shown on TV1 news tonight. A genuine exhibit of a Gallipoli dunny c/w with feces in it
I am sure the poor guys who were there would not like their personal habits dysentery or otherwise exhibited.
That is bloody disgusting and an insult to the guys who fought there.
That’s bizarre.