“David [Farrar] has said he was using me as an example of where the system isn’t working. What it feels like to me is being strung up to make a point. He’s opened me up to his commenters. People who read Kiwiblog are, for the most part, not sympathetic to beneficiaries.
The comments are unsurprising. At least most of them are not attacking me personally (so far) but the problem is – they’re missing the point. They’re saying “Oh, this one’s different. She’s actually sick. Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”
They think I represent a minority. They congratulate me on my honesty and my attempts to work. It sickens me to the core. I don’t need them to thank me for telling the truth. For trying to get on with my life and do what little I can to get by and get well.
And the truth is, I’m not a minority. People who are on benefits who shouldn’t be are the minority. The neural pathway to “dole bludger” is burned deep and they just can’t see past it. It doesn’t help that every which way you turn the government are doing their best to reinforce it.”
It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.
Much easier to swallow the govt lines, read slater, penguin post and feel smug n superior whilst writing off your fellow kiwis who are victims of an uncaring govt.
Nact want people to believe an issue they have made worse is not their problem, like housing, environment etc etc then off to the polls sheeple.
Despite not having a goal of 0% employment, national and supporters rail on those without jobs to get the jobs that are there…. Bill English believes full employment is a hoax, apparently.
Of course – minimising the number of employees maximises corporate profits. And if you really need employees try and get rid of the NZ ones and employ ones in China for $2/hr instead.
The trouble for you is that capital doesn’t tend towards the lowest cost countries in terms of labour and the countries that do gain foreign investment generally see higher increases in wages as a result.
and the countries that do gain foreign investment generally see higher increases in wages as a result.
That’s why American corporations are abandoning Chinese coastal manufacturing areas and shifting into the undeveloped inland provinces, or leaving China altogether and taking their factories and employment to cheaper places like Vietnam.
Hey that’s interesting, China seems to be provoking some military and economic tensions with Vietnam, that’s a coincidence isn’t it.
It’s what Fisher & Paykel did laying off NZ staff and moving manufacturing to Mexico and the Philippines (?). They didn’t move the factories for improved scenery or better quality anyways.
If capital really did go to the lowest (not lower) cost countries then African nations would be getting all the foreign investment. Africa actually suffers from a lack of foreign investment and even arch-anti capitalists like Zanu-PF are crying out for it.
Well if you ignore all the other factors that corporates also consider like energy infrastructure, political stability, logistics, security situation, population literacy etc. you might have a point.
I agree. There are multiple reasons why an organisation or individual might invest in another country. Cost of labour is but one of them and not usually the most important by a long way.
This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.
How can labour rates increase? Labour rates increasing mandates falling profitability and shareholders and institutional investors alike do not like that.
Wage arbitrage in the form of exporting well paid western jobs to lower cost developing countries has been going on for 30 years. Yes Chinese worker pay has increased in that time, at the expense of western workers whose pay increases have flatlined while western employment has dropped precipitously.
I don’t know why you would support such an economic regime but apparently you do.
Wage rates rising does not imply falling profitability. That is the wrongheaded thinking of neo-Marxism. Profitability can be increased in numerous ways without having low labour rates.
Removing one employee in a team of five and redistributing the workload to the remaining 4 people adds about $50K to the corporate bottom line instantly.
It’s an absolutely certain way to increase shareholder returns, straight away no ifs or buts.
Not necessarily. Imagine you have 4 staff and you want to increase production. It might be beneficial to give everyone a 20 percent pay increase if they produce the same level of output as 5 workers if they increase their productivity levels.
“This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.”
Removing one employee in a team of five and redistributing the workload to the remaining 4 people adds about $50K to the corporate bottom line instantly.
That’s a simplistic way of looking at it that embeds many assumptions.
For example, you’re assuming those other 4 workers can in fact do the same job to the same standard as the 5th person that was let go. If they in fact cannot do the same job to the same standard, while you may be saving $50k in costs, you may not make up for it in profit. You may even end up losing proportionally more profit from that 5th employee going.
Also, this does not consider long-term implications. If you have 5 people and 1 person is off work sick, you’re not nearly as impacted as when you have 4 people and 1 person is off work sick. Once again, this could disproportionately affect profit compared to continue to employ 5 people.
I realise that managers probably do not take this things into account nearly as much as they should, or just gloss over it and imagine everything is fine. But that doesn’t mean these aren’t things that should be considered and are quite possible outcomes of reducing headcount.
Africa actually suffers from a lack of foreign investment…
Actually, Africa has so much foreign investment already that it’s losing at least 10% of what it produces to rich foreigners (Piketty et al, Capitalism in the 21st Century). It is, quite simply, what’s keeping Africa poor.
Africa receives very little of the world’s total FDI.
[citation needed]
I did, after all, provide a citation that shows that the majority of capital in Africa is foreign owned. Of course, a lot of that ownership goes back a couple of centuries so it could be that Africa doesn’t get much FDI today while still being majority owned by foreigners.
That’s what happens when your product design goes from being known to last forever, to being known to be mostly rubbish after 5-6 years of use. And too often within 5-6 weeks of having been bought and used at home.
“It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.”
tc, please don’t fall into the lie that most people that vote on the right support the bene-crushing/bashing meme. I’m not just being pedantic here, this is an important political point. People across the whole political spectrum are capable of compassion. If we start saying that all righties hate benes we serve the agenda of nasty fucks like Farrar, Bennett etc.
It’s vital that we don’t lump all conservatives into the neoliberal hard right. There have always been people who vote on the right for economic reasons but are socially liberal. Best we not lose sight of them.
I agree. The labour party did a great job bashing beneficiaries in its last terms as government. I also find that those of the blue collar persuasion, whoever they vote for, can be some of the most bigotted people out there. At least they say it, the white collar bigots learn to say in public the right stuff and leave the revelation of their bigotry to the private dinners.
Compassion is not about ideology but implementation of ideology can negatively impact the gifting of compassion, imo.
“Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”” and that is precisely what makes this tactic, and it is a deliberate tactic, by national and anyone else toting this “argument”, so insidious.
If it is someone rorting the system they are
“the tip of the iceberg”, if someone is not rorting the system they are “a minority”.
The lackof consistency between the two conclusions exposes it for what it is, but those wielding it as an ‘argument” seem oblivious to how it exposes their own duplicity.
I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time. It seems to me that this is not good enough for many left wing people. If you don’t agree with a leftist view completely then it is almost worse than if to completely disagree with it. No wonder the left is prone to splintering in to smaller and smaller groups.
I presume that among the “extremely sympathetic” comments you included the ones which (a) tried to diagnose her condition based on one blog post, ignoring her own statements about her diagnosis and (b) made wild assumptions about her skills, work experience, and lifestyle, all of which could have been corrected by simply reading her other posts.
ETA: and don’t forget the “extremely sympathetic” commenter who declared that having debilitating stomach bugs is “fashionable”.
The only really objectionable comments was by someone called Kea and a number of other commentators were taking him/her to task for the views expressed. A left wing commentator even made reference to the fact the comments were very supportive
“I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time”
I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.
Absence of outright bene-bashing abuse doesn’t mean that the politics are fair or reasonable. It’s interesting to see someone like Farrar attempting to say, oh actually yes some beneficiaries are having a hard time and WINZ aren’t doing their job properly. Interesting because it’s possible he’s had some kind of realisation about his politics, and interesting because he still doesn’t get how his politics put so many ill and disabled people at risk.
This is why I dislike leftist thinking in NZ. Fair and balanced to you basically means other people have to broadly agree with your position. In essence the left in NZ is the Fox news of political discussion.
And yet I just disagreed with your assessment of the comments at Kiwiblog and gave my reasons why, and all you can do in response is say that I don’t tolerate disagreement. Irony much?
remember he doesn’t read his own posts and most of what other people write. I suspect he skim reads quickly to enable him to share his entirely neutral and logical viewpoint with us all.
I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.
“I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.”
Nah, you first. Try responding to what I raised and then I’ll reply to that.
“I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.”
You gave no examples of how most comments are prejudicial to people with disabilities. I can only assume that you dislike the fact that someone who doesn’t agree that people on a benefit for a disability should never have to be subject to ongoing checks because that was what most of the commentators were stating – Some people should and some people shouldn’t.
No, I don’t believe that at all. Why would you assume that? Not making baseless assumptions about my politics are you?
If you are genuinely interested we can look at the range of prejudices. You don’t have to agree of course, but it helps to understand what the basics are.
On what basis do you make the claim that a number of commentators were showing their prejudices of disabled people via their comments then? I’d be interested in getting your perspective on this.
I saw a few comments where they blamed the WINZ workers, which reminds me of the bad apples always turning up in the police. As long as we can blame a minority of the workers, we don’t have to look at the problems inherent in the system. This type of approach is a continuation of right wing punishment of beneficiaries, not any real realisation.
The Archdruid John Michael Greer has done just that
On the off chance that any Republican Satanists are reading these lines, though, I’d like to offer a helpful suggestion. The long charade of pretending to be Christian conservatives has no doubt been great fun, and it’s certainly succeeded in getting Satanic ideas widely accepted all through those parts of American society that might have been expected to resist them most forcefully. Only one of the seven deadly sins has gotten by without extravagant praise from so-called Christian conservatives in recent years—it’s hard to glorify an economic system that depends on avarice, gluttony, envy and sloth, and a foreign policy defined by pride and wrath, in any other way—and no doubt they’ll find a way to fit lust in there somewhere one of these days, and finish collecting the whole set.
Strangely last night I watched an interview by Paul Henry with Dr Smith. Lots of friendly banter but then surprisingly the questions were sharper and searching. Dr Smith’s usual bluster was kept in check and challenged. eg the lower cost of building materials is only $3,000. Irrelevant.
When Paul is on form he is an excellent interviewer even with his best mate Nick. Pity really.
About 14 minutes in: http://www.tv3.co.nz/THE-PAUL-HENRY-SHOW-Monday-May-19-2014/tabid/3692/articleID/99915/MCat/3901/Default.aspx
Paul hammered home the point about National not knowing or wanting to know about facts of foreign ownership. ($11million to find out if Charter Schools might work but zilch for house ownership Data.)
Interesting to see Paul actually hold Nick Smith’s feet to the fire.
It was probably said out of fear of National losing, but I thought it was significant that Henry said housing was National’s Achilles heel. I think he’s right.
Yeah but Pauline Henrietta was no doubt motivated by the fact that Smith is a really unattractive individual……..”Hey, the 80s want their hair back…..” sort of vile bullshit.
The Nasty Old Queen just loves ‘attractive’ , even if completely vacuous. Like he sees himself really. Sooooo attractive…….sooooo clever. Sooooo entiltled indeed bound to talk any nasty shit. What a mouthy bag ! Sideshow, sweet. Worthy of any modicum of respect ? No !
The Property Investors Federation says of the OECD report, which said our houses were way over-valued, “no no no it is not the houses which are over-valued, it is the rents which are too low”.
Crazy Act Party Pill people. You couldn’t make this shit up …….
vto – that was the one concern, when I heard this report, about housing being over-valued and rents too low. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that part of the reason why the accommodation supplement was extended to all private housing in the first place, when the ratio of the value of housing to actual rental price became imbalanced, and the Government tried to fix it?
For once you have a partial point gosman. This is the only problem with money being created by a government rather than by the rothschilds, who currently create it.
Governments are by nature waaayyyy too political and subject to such pressures that the money-creating could be used for ulterior purposes.
However, this is pretty much the only problem. A solution could be found – something like making changes to such a system very onerous, similar to changing a constitution for example.
The result however would be that all of that interest that we all pay every single day of every single year of every single decade – interest that gets paid to a tiny 0.1% select few people would instead be retained in our economic system. The benefit is off the planet.
NZ govt projected to pay $6billion over the next 12 months. That is more than Key’s lot got in asset sales.
Farm debt at $50billion must pay around a further $4-5billion per year.
Household debt – don’t know, but I betcha it is a scary number.
All of that money – out the door it goes every year, paid to the select 0.1% who only print the money anyway. It is the world’s biggest rort. The problem you highlight is teency in comparison and easily solved.
..(as i said..the figure for both is about $8.4 billion..)
..so..what to do about that..?
of course..we could claw a chunk of that back by following key/nationals’ lead..(but flipping it..)
..by partially-nationalising the banksters..for starts..
..we the people take a 51% share of those banks/insurance companies/supermarket-chains etc..(and of course the ‘sin’-industries..the booze-pushers..the gambling industry..
..partially-nationalise the lot of them..!
..then of course..51% of the billions they send offshore every year..
The reason being that he has asserted stuff many many times and been challenged to front up.
His argument tends to be not that the burden of proof is on the person making the assertion, but that the reader do his research for his since it’s “common knowledge”. And if you don’t do the research for him, you’re lazy.
Balance Of Payments, pg. 30: In the red by 8,765 (millions), or 4.1% of GDP.
For profits leaving New Zealand, I suspect you’ll have to dig around treasury excel sheets.
I could only find the 8.3 billion referenced by CAFCA here
By the way Zanu-PF has a very similar policy to you in relation to this 51% owenership. They call it indigenisation and the policy has led to the collapse of foreign investment in Zimbabwe and a serious lack of capital.
and here’s something for you. It is called a link supporting my point.
My question is how can government create money for productive investments if the people living in the country don’t trust the government to not abuse that ability?
My answer is above. Didn’t you read it? Put in place measures similar to those which prohibit changes to very fundamental aspects of a nations structures, such as is with constitutional changes in many many countries.
Do you think there would be no solution?
And, what of the benefits I mentioned? Or do you just ignore that?
Not very specific answer that. It would be like me stating I would make capitalism work better by putting in place measures which prohibit changes to the etc etc.
It is entirely specific. Take structures currently in place to safeguard various constitutions around the world and apply to them to government issue of money. You are clearly unfamiliar with those structures and I aint wasting my time educating you.
Now, your turn – your answer to the benefits that would arise. Unless you have no answer that is …..
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
If you mean basic constitutional structures I think you will find they work best when they have very broad set of rules to work with and don’t work very well if they attempt to regulate specific detail. Managing an economy at a micro level (which would be required under the sort of plan you are suggesting) would be far too complex for a broad set of rules and the rules would become cumbersome and restrictive if they were more detailed. In short it would be a recipe for the slow strangulation of the economy in my mind.
Funny how you implicitly trust the Rothschilds, the BIS and the Fed to monopolise the money supply, especially when all they do is feed it to their investment banker mates and big corporations.
My question to you is how many of the following were due to hard core left governments?
14th century
14th century banking crisis (the crash of the Peruzzi and the Bardi family Compagnia dei Bardi in 1345).
17th century
Tulip mania (1637)
18th century
South Sea Bubble (1720) (UK)
Mississippi Company (1720) (France)
Crisis of 1763 - started in Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of Leendert Pieter de Neufville, spread to Germany and Scandinavia
Crisis of 1772 - started in London and Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of the bankers Neal, James, Fordyce and Down.
Panic of 1785 - United States
Panic of 1792 - United States
Panic of 1796-1797 - Britain and United States
19th century
Danish state bankruptcy of 1813
Post-Napoleonic depression (post 1815)
Panic of 1819, a U.S. recession with bank failures; culmination of U.S.'s first boom-to-bust economic cycle
Panic of 1825, a pervasive British recession in which many banks failed, nearly including the Bank of England
Panic of 1837, a U.S. recession with bank failures, followed by a 5-year depression
Panic of 1847, started as a collapse of British financial markets associated with the end of the 1840s railway industry boom
Panic of 1857, a U.S. recession with bank failures
Panic of 1866, was an international financial downturn that accompanied the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company in London
Long Depression (1873–1896)
Panic of 1873, a US recession with bank failures, followed by a four-year depression
Panic of 1884
Panic of 1890
Panic of 1893, a US recession with bank failures
Australian banking crisis of 1893
Panic of 1896
20th century
Panic of 1901, a U.S. economic recession that started a fight for financial control of the Northern Pacific Railway
Panic of 1907, a U.S. economic recession with bank failures
Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Great Depression (1929–1939) the worst depression of modern history
OPEC oil price shock (1973)
Secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 in the UK
Japanese asset price bubble (1986–2003)
Bank stock crisis (Israel 1983)
Black Monday (1987)
Savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s in the U.S.
1991 India economic crisis
Finnish banking crisis (1990s)
Swedish banking crisis (1990s)
1994 economic crisis in Mexico
Late-2000s Financial Crisis or the Late-2000s recession, including:
2000s energy crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
United States housing bubble and United States housing market correction
2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis
2008–2010 Irish banking crisis
Russian financial crisis of 2008–2009
Automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010
European sovereign debt crisis
Millions in today’s money were sunk into tulips, especially the one’s with pretty patterns and colour variations on the flowers.
Shame they didn’t realise at the time they were investing in plant virus’.
All of these crisis did not lead to the collapse of the economic system and actually go to show how Capitalism works by correcting massive market distortions (in other words you can’t beat the market over the long term). This is against the multiple collapses of alternative economic systems such as the failure of Soviet Communism and African Socialism not too mention the on going failures in countries like North Korea.
Capitalism CAUSES “massive market distortions” not “corrects” them.
And as we saw in 2008-2009 the STATE and TAXPAYERS had to save the bloody system and bail out the banksters to the tune of tens of trillions world wide.
Please pay attention Gossie. Economic attacks by the western power elite have been very effective in bringing down governments previously, but you have noted that the Chinese, the Russians and the South Americans have all learnt their lessons from that very well.
The taxpayer didn’t have to bail out the banks. They could have taken the approach for other crises. It would have caused a lot more social harm admittedly but the system would have bounced back as it has always done. This is unlike Socialist alternatives that seem to disappear completely once they face a massive crisis.
Can you post links to the referendums showing where taxpayers made the collective decision to bail out the banks?
If the system wasnt going to collapse anyway, as you suggest, how could “a lot more social harm” have happened, cos that would be a failure of the system.
Social harm is not idicative of a complete collapse just as social good as a result of boom times is not necessary suggestive that the system is on a sustainable path.
Lloyd Blankfein and fellow bankster CEO compatriots were all sudden socialists when they received tens of millions of bonuses from the tax payer’s pocket.
Technically the vast majority of the bailout was in the form of loans or guarrantees but I will grant you replying of State handouts for survival is a tad hypocritical for the banks.
Nope. The USSR wasn’t communist – it was state capitalist. Top down hierarchies always fall down because they always become too top heavy due to wealth accumulation by the few and then the use of oppression to maintain that disparity.
In the markets where you bought things like food? Or perhaps it was in the competitive system where they determined what planes were built?
The real big one though was the fact that it was the people at the top that were deciding what was available and who were deciding what the nations resources were used for and not the people via a democratic system. Just the same as we have in the capitalist countries.
It is the top down hierarchy that truly defines capitalism.
That isn’t a the sort if market that a capitalist system would use. The free setting of prices by the market is the critical component of capitalism. You have admitted that the Soviet Union didn’t have that. Ipso facto it was not capitalist.
yes but but but
– 1848 – all those rabbly poor revolting all over the place, ewww
– 1916 – nasty idealist Spartacist poor people
– 1917 – more of those wretched disaffected hijacking Russian ships
– all those rotten leftie wars of liberation in the entire 20th century in China and Russia and Africa and South East Asia
Dammit those lefties ain’t wollen-condom-wearing rope-haired tie-died hold-hands-around-the-Pentagon-to-levitate-it peaceniks either.
According to Jamie Whyte and Roger Douglas, all of them, and any economic failure missing since Adam bit the apple, were caused by Marxist intervention in the market. John Key, as a pragmatic centrist, only blames the Marxist left for 50% of those.
Gosman, we know you are Dumb, you have no need to offer up even more proof, the US Government has presided over the ‘production’ of trillions of dollars in the past 7 years and if any society were to as you put it ‘lose faith’ in the currency and start producing other currencies with which to facilitate trading it would have occurred in the ‘land of the free’…
Surly, it would depend upon why the people have lost faith in the government as you would need to address that. Corruption, making decisions against the will of the people etc etc.
Goedemorgen, standardistas. Some observations from my hols. Firstly, the majority of Scots want independence, but the majority won’t actually vote for it. Economics will beat emotion, unless Braveheart’s on the telly the night before the vote.
Secondly, the Tories are claiming credit for the end of a recession they prolonged. The ‘conservative recovery’ is the meme they’re pushing. Look for our Tories to copy that line.
Thirdly, UKIP, the leadership of the premier league, and Jeremy Clarkson are all rotten to the core, but they reflect the values of little Britain. That is, they reflect fear, ignorance and bigotry.
re:UKIP, they’ll stroll through the European elections, which nobody cares about, but they’ll also bugger up the conservatives in the council elections held the same day, which David Cameron does care about.
Lastly, it’s 22 degrees at 9.40 in the evening here in den Haag. Hit 27 this arvo. It’s only May, that shouldn’t be happening. Further to the east, Bosnia is being destroyed by unprecedented flooding. Strange days, indeed. It’s almost like the climate’s changing.
As way of comparison how is the French economy going considering they didn’t take the cuts to government expenditure approach that the Coalitionm government in the UK took?
In some ways I hoped she would step down entirely. My family’s experience of her as representative of the Labour party’s bene bashing in their last go at ghovernment revealled her to be very akin to the Nats that so many despise.
Under her guidance the Ministry sent letters to my family outlining new measures for evaluating one of our members and getting him into the workforce. That’s how they put it. he is physically and mentally disabled by cerebral palsy. Apparently Ruth’s minions came up with a possible cure cos they wanted to re-do his assessment every year… and remove help to what was previously called shltered workshops.
My family member had worked once in mainstream employment, in ZIP industries. Was very good on hispart of the assembly line, looked after his machine and knew it inside out BUT was too slow. Apart from the bullying and being pushed down stairs by able bodied co-workers, with no action taken by management following complaints, he was first to go when ZIP hit trouble. He was unemployed for years, slipped into depression until getting work at Killmarnock enterprises. The work there gave him somewhere to go, gave him a sense of community and contributing. His benefit went to Killmarnock and he received about $25 per week cash. There was a place for this kind of “employment.”
They used to do the poppies each year, but then it went to China… China was cheaper than a sheltered workshop…. ask yourselves something about how that is possible.
So I am only sorry that Ruth is not retiring altogether.
They used to do the poppies each year, but then it went to China… China was cheaper than a sheltered workshop…. ask yourselves something about how that is possible.
Because the financial system is delusional as it fails to take into account actual physical costs.
New Zealand Property Investors Federation executive officer Andrew King said the report would prompt landlords to raise rents. “Rents are actually undervalued and should be higher.”
The average rent, he said, was $350 a week – at least $40 below what it should be – and tenants should expect increases soon.
“We’re trying to get them used to the idea . . . and hopefully they’ll be a bit more planned and prepared for those rent increases when they do come.”
Yep, unbelievable. A sign of where their head space is at ….. loops ..
In Christchurch I hear people say how great it is the returns you can get from rentals. Great great, yeah good money blah bah blah ….
What these fools don’t appreciate is that this money is being made by duress effectively. It is being made by taking advantage of people’s troubles and bad times. People are not willingly paying these new high rents because they have more money and feel like an upgrade, they are paying them because they have no choice. They are being taken advantage of. It isn’t even the free market as there is no willing buyer and willing seller. It is a simple rort, taking advantage of people when they are down.
These foolish landlords seem to have forgotten this.
I predict that when the rental market turns (which it will) there will be no mercy shown to the greedy landlords. They will be chopped down and shown no mercy.
Christchurch, post-earthquakes…… a true exercise in the more extreme aspects of human nature …
I wonder who lives in the three home sin Ilam and fendalton and Bryndwer that Gerry doesn’t live in? And at what rental?
This is way beyond ignorance and a joke.
And never forget, it’s not communisim, socialism, community mindedness or marxism that reeks havoc every decade or so on our economies, it’s the much vaunted profit motive system. Who can make the most money wins.
I didn’t know that Brownlee had three houses in that area but I did know that he lived in a 5-star hotel for at least a year or more after the quakes ( at our expense of course ).
Government spies did not supply information that led to the death of a New Zealander in a drone strike, Prime Minister John Key says.
But the Government Communications Security Bureau did provide intelligence that was used on other targets, specifically in Afghanistan, he confirmed.
But later in the article we get this:
Key said the GCSB had no prior knowledge of the attack.
Responding to Scahill’s comments, he said: “Certainly, in the way that I interpreted them, they are completely wrong.”
Scahill also said he had seen “dozens of top secret documents” the United States provided to the GCSB which indicated New Zealand was fully briefed on the drone-strike programme.
Key did not directly answer whether this was the case.
“What would be useful would be if he provided the evidence he’s talking about,” he said.
Key also confirmed that the foreign agency supplied intelligence to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan. He wouldn’t detail other countries where this had occurred.
“They supply that information. They, from time to time, build up information about particular people of interest.
“And they have supplied that information fully with the knowledge that those people would be pursued … but there is nothing unusual about that.”
Key has again refused to rule out if more Kiwis were killed in a wave of drone strikes in Yemen.
“What information I might or might not know, what information I’m prepared to divulge are completely different issues,” he said.
Asked why it was in the interest of national security to keep any deaths secret, Key replied: “Because I deem it to be that.”
Key would not say whether he believed Jones’ death was justified.
So that’s all totally clear then?
My bold. But then, all of his smoke and mirrors could be just as significant/telling.
To clarify, an entity that attacks targets, including civilians, is engaging in terrorism. Gordon Campbell spells it out:
He [Key] did however confirm that GCSB-supplied information had not been used to target the New Zealand citizen Daryl Jones, killed by a drone strike in Yemen last November. (How Key could be so sure when he claimed not to know the purposes for which ISAF uses the data that we supply, was left unclear.)
[…]
New Zealanders now know they have been complicit in an assassination-by-drone programme that is known to have killed scores of innocent people, time and again, in countries with which we are not at war. We do not know the criteria for targeting or the degree of care that the US operators are using to identify their targets and to avoid “collateral” killings.
To clarify, an entity that attacks targets, including civilians, is engaging in terrorism
Raining death out of the sky with no warning, on your village, on your wedding party, sounds like terrorism to me.
And of course, hitting unarmed civvies who cannot strike back in any way shape or form is not “war” it is a massacre – according to an Israeli Jewish commentator critical of Israel’s use of drone strikes.
Labour and Greens have pulled their support for a law change which cracks down on migrant exploitation because of their concern about significant new powers including warrantless searches of migrants’ homes.
The Opposition parties initially supported the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) but now believe that it will will fail to help migrant workers because the punitive sanctions and lack of protection for abused employees will mean they are too afraid to report abuse.
The Stuff.co budget poll is still alive, this time found in the Taranaki Daily Times, up from the 600 odd respondents last time i looked, 1353 have now cast a vote,
The 3 categories for voting to ”like” Bills budget now total 44.6%,
The 2 categories that hoick a big one giving the Budget the thumbs down, 55.5%,
Peter Jackson is said to be considering a new ‘blockbuster’ titled ”Nightmare on Wing-nut street”…
One for Rosie from wellingtons Dominion/Post, the Capital and Coast DHP has gone into panic mode over a 5% blow-out in its budget,(no wonder your last hospital visit was a nightmare),
Having dragged its deficit down from 67 odd million dollars to some 9 million dollars i have to wonder just who is the ”gate-keeper” when it comes to who will be denied services from Capital and Coast DHP, it wouldn’t be the Radiologists contracted to supply services in the DHB’s region would it,
Staff employed by Capital Coast have been told to consider taking a holiday to ensure the budget blowout is contained…
Great news for Wellington that the Hilton will build a 5 star hotel and a 2500 people convention centre. Great news for NZ that a second and third internet fibre cable are about to be confirmed. Further signs of the brighter and brighter future that can be maintained only if we vote for Three More Years
great news that homes are the most unaffordable in the world
great news that more rivers are being shat in
great news that government debt has been increased five-fold
great news that New Zealanders will be paying $1,500 per every single person this year ($30 per week, almost $5 today) by way of interest on government debt
but yeah moron, great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to stay in
Gee. That would be a bit tough for that lovely Auckland SkyCity Convention Centre Gambling Den that the nice Mr Key organised. Be awful if Wellington trumped Auckland. Any chance of the Nat dirty tricks brigade sabotaging the Wellington plan?
As far as I know, it would still take until the end of the universe to decrypt a 128 bit encryption algorithm. IMO, this would tend to indicate that the spy agencies aren’t really interested in what the bad guys are saying but they are most interested in what the general populace are saying. It is, after all, the general populace that is a threat to the status quo.
As far as I know, it would still take until the end of the universe to decrypt a 128 bit encryption algorithm.
They’ve already thought of that. Which is why every commercially available encryption method has been deliberately weakened by the NSA through agreement with corporate software developers.
For example, most encryption algorithms require a random number generator to produce secure keys. “One of the oldest tricks in the book is to modify the random number generator so it outputs only a tiny subset of all the random numbers it normally should,” says Kuhn – a bit like subtly weighing a die to roll 6 more often than it should.
This change would mean the software can only produce a much smaller list of secret keys than it should, though the number of keys is still too vast for you to notice the change without looking closely. If you know about the vulnerability, however, you can attempt to crack encrypted messages using only the smaller list of keys. That makes it more feasible to use brute force to crack the encryption – all you need is enough computing power, which of course the NSA and GCHQ have in abundance.
Like I wrote yesterday about trigger words, have a laugh at the spies expense.
When I call my ma back in Blighty, I nearly always start the conversation with how’s al quaeda, bin laden and the atomic bomb plan going? Knowing that two sets of spooks half a world away will then tune in for the hour or so listening to tales of me mum’s lumbago and her diabetic dog 😆
Your cheerleading gives us much amusement Fisiani. The capitalist model is a boom and bust cycle. A brighter future looks rosie one month, then a share market crash the next.
Yours is a big what if, or more likely to be if only.
Way back when i used to enjoy cricket – we’d often set up a social game, pick teams, keep scores and have a beer afterwards. Sadly greed has fouled the game and the gallant defense of the castle by the knight is just a big illusion.
I still love cricket, though not the t20 no skill, swing and hope version.
A shame the game is in the mire. I hark back to the days when all you had to worry about were uncouth Australians dominating the game.
Cairns, the legend, not any more. Guess he’ll be offering to pay back the libel damages he won in London the other year.
it’s just not cricket – makes professional wrestling look sincere – all the cricket stats are buggered – might as well use win/loss from professional boxing or maybe win/place from horsey racing – just meaningless rubbish imo.
but whenever a grassy meadow or flat beach is there and a stick/bat and a ball – well, we will once again enjoy the game.
It’s a right old mess. I suggest we ban all nations from playing the game except England and Scotland.
Melt down a deep fried mars bar in batter, stick it in a tupperware bowl and England can always look forward to a 50/50 chance of winning a trophy again.
I suspect TV3 will be sending over a contingent of ‘reporters’ to cover the ‘historic’ event. Shame they can’t save the cash and spend it on new programming. I mean, seriously, Rambo, it was only on Ch 4 a month or two back.
At least they won’t have to cough for more trips to SA now Mandela has finally passed on.
Of course it’s electioneering at it’s most obvious, the question is whether it’s really such a big deal to the NZ public that our PM is summoned to Washington.
I’m guessing a selfie with Kevin Spacey would carry more kudos.
On National radio the leading news is “John key says he WILL NOT be discussing drone strikes”on his please explain summons to White House. “Yip”, he said, “we won’t be bringing up drone strikes” Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing.
If key is stupid enough to think that we are stupid enough to believe that discussing drone strikes is not the reason for this sudden summons then he is stupider than I thought. Obama has obviously heard key’s various explanations of what he might know, what he thinks he doesn’t know, what he is sure he doesn’t know, yes,I did know that. No, I did not know that. But I am sure if it did happen I know it would be legal. And so on. Spinning.spinning, spinning.
The alarming thing about Key’s National radio piece discussing Obama and drone strikes is that Key said he was “mostly” (or word of same meaning) happy with the legality of the drone strikes.
Now that should mean that there are some drone strikes that he acknowledges are extra-legal and wrong, and about which he should be unhappy.
FFS, if there is one death or injury from an illegal or wrong drone strike (IMO they’re all wrong) as Key himself sees it, then he should be concerned, even talking to Obama, and the media should have been picking him up on this use of language.
…and Rhino is keeping a low profile these days …must be busy ….used to enjoy his diatribes ( he is best in a pincer attack)…he has a great facility with language…like our Phil..lol
Cerebral and obscure, a winning combination in my book.
I had an old original xbox game of Rogue trooper to give him, but I thought I’d lost it.
It appears not only do I have still have the game in the wardrobe of doom, but an old ex rental xbox console I bought of united video when they flipped them off and a couple of controllers.
Works on any TV with red/yellow/white inputs, even old stylee through the aerial.
All he has to do is mail me at al1en.org and I’ll post it off. It’s not doing anyone any favours in the cupboard, and even if he has a play and gives it away, it’s all good.
Just checked it and all the wires and connectors are there, two controllers (though one looks iffy) and all in a neat carry case.
Has the Rogue trooper game, Halo 1 and 2, Area 51, Shadow ops:Red mercury and Hello Kitty.
All except Hello Kitty are on my newer, old xbox360, so if you see Rogue, tell him. 😉
……..And we haven’t had a sing song in a while fender.
I have an earworm and the feeling and energy in the song somehow reminds me of Judith Collins, her self advancing actions and how it’s all going to implode one day and she “will just reap that fuck up”. While the lyrics don’t refer literally to what we see unfolding, the whole big train wreck that is the National coalition government, there is a sense of impending calamity in the song which feels to me like what the Government will sooner or later come to face. So Jude is there in the song and so is the Government, to my ears at least.
Yep, freeview channel 22; Nathan Guy 20/5/2014: “Knocking on doors in Waikanae at the weekend everybody told me this is a great budget”. Unless he only knocked on National party members doors I don’t believe him..
And in her haste to return to work to tell more lies Judith forgot to change out of her dressing gown..
Wealthy Waikanae, the same place he parked his stupid promo trailer over the mobility park. He must be too scared to leave the safe confines of the immediate area.
I bet he won’t be knocking on doors in Kena Kena.
Lol moment though, the last time I was out on the Kapiti Coast it looked like someone had thrown something squishy and wet at the huge photo of himself on the outside of his electorate office. It had been scrubbed off but had left a stain all over his goofy face. I guess he inspired some strong feelings in someone or some people……
The report on his trial states that after entering the plea that he was not guilty, Banks was given permission to leave the dock and sit behind his counsel in the courtroom.
I have no particular problem with that procedure if it is the norm, except to query whether consideration of his status was the reason for the permission or is this a common practice that is applied to other less worthy and common defendants too?
I have never been at a criminal trial where the defendant sits near their council and not in the dock. I am NOT saying it doesn’t happen, just that over the years I have witnessed over 50 and never seen it, unless they were representing themselves.
The publicity surrounding Key’s visit to Washington will benefit him a great deal. It seems three more years of him as Prime Minister are unavoidable because unless a miracle happens National appears to be winning hands down.
John key is not going to win next time around !…..and nor is Len Brown!
From Martyn Bradbury;
“Dear Len Brown – Auckland must not privatise any more of its public spaces…When Len Brown and Cameron Brewer are shoulder to shoulder on any issue, you know the slimy has met the politically expedient…..
Do y’all know that Backbenchers is back on, on Prime TV at 10.30 pm on Wednesday’s?
It’s past my bedtime, I have no way of recording it and Prime don’t do “video on demand” but I am viewing it later at a friends house who has a recording. He was the pub during filming last week and said Peter Dunne had a bit of a crack at People’s Power Ohariu. I hope it that bit was filmed! Lol, Dunne – will you be done for come 20th September?
Wallace certainly isn’t Kim Hill but Backbenches is not “shit TV” IMO. I like it, caught it last week and have to admit Trevor Mallard (shock horror) impressed (he seemed more human), as did Jan Logie.
‘More than $12m over two years is being transferred to five charter schools (which currently teach a total of just 367 children) and $1.145m into Public-Private Partnerships.
Great news that more houses and consents for houses are being built than ever before. Building costs reduced and RMA changes to allow people to extend their homes will be an election aim. Great news that rivers are cleaner now than they were last year. Great news that debt is finally under control and will never be unending as projected in 2008. Great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to spend the night in and spend thousands in Wellington retail. Great news that Wellington retail will be more profitable and pay higher wages.
The design of the hotel door lock on the other hand is pretty damn stupid. Handy for government spooks and others who want easy egress to wherever they want in a hotel, a visiting dignitary’s or journalist’s room, etc.
US charges 5 Chinese military offices with cybercrimes…China counters will allegations that US has back-doored thousands of Chinese websites and taken over more than 1M Chinese computers using botnet techniques.
Yes Anne. Wondered about that. The questions were very specific. The answers were denials and a degree of defensiveness. It may be a setting for followup questions which might cause Judith distress. Having committed herself in the House, what happens next (tomorrow?) could be very interesting.
Antarctica is shedding 160 billion tonnes a year of ice into the ocean, twice the amount of a few years ago, according to new satellite observations. The ice loss is adding to the rising sea levels driven by climate change and even east Antarctica is now losing ice.
Watching TV3 news just now you can see why the Nats have put in so much effort to destroy Cunliffe before the election campaign. One on one Cunliffe is going to rip Key a new one.
I look forward to watching QT after Campbell Live. Cunliffe is growing in leaps and bounds it seems to me. He had a pretty good stoush with Mary Wilson on Checkpoint tonight.
Incredible John Campbell! He has assembled all the details including the lies Key told regarding Ian Fletcher, the relationship with the hugely powerful USA Intelligence. Wow!
This an exceptional production and watch out for the denials from Key and the dirty tricks brigade who will set out to discredit Campbell.
A must must watch show!
Not up online yet!
This has to be the best social network I have seen in quite some time. It’s highly relevant, incredibly useful, has a well designed website and is free to use. It is also mobile – download the iOS or Android app for your phone.
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 24 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
have you yet found the new show from/by daily show alumni john oliver..?
..it’s rather good..
..this link has three clips..
..and that should be enough to get you hooked..
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-interview-politics-comedy-hbo
and this is one of those videos you think everyone should/needs to..see..
..it’s all about solar-roadways…
..and the technology to do this is here now..
..we could start dong this here in nz..soon..
..it is seriously..brilliant..!
..in so may ways..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/solar-freakin-roadways-el_b_5352544.html
http://www.writehanded.org/blog/2014/05/18/the-one-beneficiary-who-is-different-no/
“David [Farrar] has said he was using me as an example of where the system isn’t working. What it feels like to me is being strung up to make a point. He’s opened me up to his commenters. People who read Kiwiblog are, for the most part, not sympathetic to beneficiaries.
The comments are unsurprising. At least most of them are not attacking me personally (so far) but the problem is – they’re missing the point. They’re saying “Oh, this one’s different. She’s actually sick. Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”
They think I represent a minority. They congratulate me on my honesty and my attempts to work. It sickens me to the core. I don’t need them to thank me for telling the truth. For trying to get on with my life and do what little I can to get by and get well.
And the truth is, I’m not a minority. People who are on benefits who shouldn’t be are the minority. The neural pathway to “dole bludger” is burned deep and they just can’t see past it. It doesn’t help that every which way you turn the government are doing their best to reinforce it.”
It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.
Much easier to swallow the govt lines, read slater, penguin post and feel smug n superior whilst writing off your fellow kiwis who are victims of an uncaring govt.
Nact want people to believe an issue they have made worse is not their problem, like housing, environment etc etc then off to the polls sheeple.
Despite not having a goal of 0% employment, national and supporters rail on those without jobs to get the jobs that are there…. Bill English believes full employment is a hoax, apparently.
Maybe the left has an unspoken goal of 0% employment. The right tends towards a lot higher.
Of course – minimising the number of employees maximises corporate profits. And if you really need employees try and get rid of the NZ ones and employ ones in China for $2/hr instead.
The trouble for you is that capital doesn’t tend towards the lowest cost countries in terms of labour and the countries that do gain foreign investment generally see higher increases in wages as a result.
That’s why American corporations are abandoning Chinese coastal manufacturing areas and shifting into the undeveloped inland provinces, or leaving China altogether and taking their factories and employment to cheaper places like Vietnam.
Hey that’s interesting, China seems to be provoking some military and economic tensions with Vietnam, that’s a coincidence isn’t it.
You get an eye roll for that one.
It’s what Fisher & Paykel did laying off NZ staff and moving manufacturing to Mexico and the Philippines (?). They didn’t move the factories for improved scenery or better quality anyways.
If capital really did go to the lowest (not lower) cost countries then African nations would be getting all the foreign investment. Africa actually suffers from a lack of foreign investment and even arch-anti capitalists like Zanu-PF are crying out for it.
Well if you ignore all the other factors that corporates also consider like energy infrastructure, political stability, logistics, security situation, population literacy etc. you might have a point.
As for Zanu-PF: they’re irrelevant.
I agree. There are multiple reasons why an organisation or individual might invest in another country. Cost of labour is but one of them and not usually the most important by a long way.
This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.
How can labour rates increase? Labour rates increasing mandates falling profitability and shareholders and institutional investors alike do not like that.
Wage arbitrage in the form of exporting well paid western jobs to lower cost developing countries has been going on for 30 years. Yes Chinese worker pay has increased in that time, at the expense of western workers whose pay increases have flatlined while western employment has dropped precipitously.
I don’t know why you would support such an economic regime but apparently you do.
Wage rates rising does not imply falling profitability. That is the wrongheaded thinking of neo-Marxism. Profitability can be increased in numerous ways without having low labour rates.
Sorry what commercial world are you on?
Removing one employee in a team of five and redistributing the workload to the remaining 4 people adds about $50K to the corporate bottom line instantly.
It’s an absolutely certain way to increase shareholder returns, straight away no ifs or buts.
Not necessarily. Imagine you have 4 staff and you want to increase production. It might be beneficial to give everyone a 20 percent pay increase if they produce the same level of output as 5 workers if they increase their productivity levels.
“This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.”
It did wonders for Ireland…
That’s a simplistic way of looking at it that embeds many assumptions.
For example, you’re assuming those other 4 workers can in fact do the same job to the same standard as the 5th person that was let go. If they in fact cannot do the same job to the same standard, while you may be saving $50k in costs, you may not make up for it in profit. You may even end up losing proportionally more profit from that 5th employee going.
Also, this does not consider long-term implications. If you have 5 people and 1 person is off work sick, you’re not nearly as impacted as when you have 4 people and 1 person is off work sick. Once again, this could disproportionately affect profit compared to continue to employ 5 people.
I realise that managers probably do not take this things into account nearly as much as they should, or just gloss over it and imagine everything is fine. But that doesn’t mean these aren’t things that should be considered and are quite possible outcomes of reducing headcount.
Actually, Africa has so much foreign investment already that it’s losing at least 10% of what it produces to rich foreigners (Piketty et al, Capitalism in the 21st Century). It is, quite simply, what’s keeping Africa poor.
Africa was predicted as the new India/China years ago. Finally taking hold.
Africa receives very little of the world’s total FDI. It is one of the reasons most (sensible) countries are desperate to attract it.
Maybe – need to wait and see what the Chinese commodity demand slump does first. The US is increasing it’s military strength on the continent too.
[citation needed]
I did, after all, provide a citation that shows that the majority of capital in Africa is foreign owned. Of course, a lot of that ownership goes back a couple of centuries so it could be that Africa doesn’t get much FDI today while still being majority owned by foreigners.
Well that’s a bit more specific. Had no idea what you were on about.
In Fisher & Paykel’s case, I think it was do that or die. They were and still are being destroyed by competition.
That’s what happens when your product design goes from being known to last forever, to being known to be mostly rubbish after 5-6 years of use. And too often within 5-6 weeks of having been bought and used at home.
Maybe one day you will write something that relates to what the people above were discussing.
“It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.”
tc, please don’t fall into the lie that most people that vote on the right support the bene-crushing/bashing meme. I’m not just being pedantic here, this is an important political point. People across the whole political spectrum are capable of compassion. If we start saying that all righties hate benes we serve the agenda of nasty fucks like Farrar, Bennett etc.
It’s vital that we don’t lump all conservatives into the neoliberal hard right. There have always been people who vote on the right for economic reasons but are socially liberal. Best we not lose sight of them.
I agree. The labour party did a great job bashing beneficiaries in its last terms as government. I also find that those of the blue collar persuasion, whoever they vote for, can be some of the most bigotted people out there. At least they say it, the white collar bigots learn to say in public the right stuff and leave the revelation of their bigotry to the private dinners.
Compassion is not about ideology but implementation of ideology can negatively impact the gifting of compassion, imo.
@..tracey..
..the ‘i’m alright jack!’ blue-collar labour voter is a creature ugly in its’ wholesale uncaring…
“Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”” and that is precisely what makes this tactic, and it is a deliberate tactic, by national and anyone else toting this “argument”, so insidious.
If it is someone rorting the system they are
“the tip of the iceberg”, if someone is not rorting the system they are “a minority”.
The lackof consistency between the two conclusions exposes it for what it is, but those wielding it as an ‘argument” seem oblivious to how it exposes their own duplicity.
I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time. It seems to me that this is not good enough for many left wing people. If you don’t agree with a leftist view completely then it is almost worse than if to completely disagree with it. No wonder the left is prone to splintering in to smaller and smaller groups.
I presume that among the “extremely sympathetic” comments you included the ones which (a) tried to diagnose her condition based on one blog post, ignoring her own statements about her diagnosis and (b) made wild assumptions about her skills, work experience, and lifestyle, all of which could have been corrected by simply reading her other posts.
ETA: and don’t forget the “extremely sympathetic” commenter who declared that having debilitating stomach bugs is “fashionable”.
Did you also think it was “extremely sympathetic” when Paula Bennett brushed off Sarah’s complaints by basically saying “well when people deal with WINZ they’re too crazy to know what’s really going on”?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/10001705/Bennett-No-changes-at-Work-and-Income
The only really objectionable comments was by someone called Kea and a number of other commentators were taking him/her to task for the views expressed. A left wing commentator even made reference to the fact the comments were very supportive
only objectionable to you.
FIFY
“I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time”
I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.
Absence of outright bene-bashing abuse doesn’t mean that the politics are fair or reasonable. It’s interesting to see someone like Farrar attempting to say, oh actually yes some beneficiaries are having a hard time and WINZ aren’t doing their job properly. Interesting because it’s possible he’s had some kind of realisation about his politics, and interesting because he still doesn’t get how his politics put so many ill and disabled people at risk.
This is why I dislike leftist thinking in NZ. Fair and balanced to you basically means other people have to broadly agree with your position. In essence the left in NZ is the Fox news of political discussion.
And yet I just disagreed with your assessment of the comments at Kiwiblog and gave my reasons why, and all you can do in response is say that I don’t tolerate disagreement. Irony much?
“Irony much?”
Real men wear wrinkled clothes with pride
remember he doesn’t read his own posts and most of what other people write. I suspect he skim reads quickly to enable him to share his entirely neutral and logical viewpoint with us all.
I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.
Fundamentally Offensive
“I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.”
Nah, you first. Try responding to what I raised and then I’ll reply to that.
Let’s take what you stated then
“I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.”
You gave no examples of how most comments are prejudicial to people with disabilities. I can only assume that you dislike the fact that someone who doesn’t agree that people on a benefit for a disability should never have to be subject to ongoing checks because that was what most of the commentators were stating – Some people should and some people shouldn’t.
No, I don’t believe that at all. Why would you assume that? Not making baseless assumptions about my politics are you?
If you are genuinely interested we can look at the range of prejudices. You don’t have to agree of course, but it helps to understand what the basics are.
He assumed that because you didn’t explain yourself.
On what basis do you make the claim that a number of commentators were showing their prejudices of disabled people via their comments then? I’d be interested in getting your perspective on this.
He did take to the time to label you “other” at the start.
“Leftist Thinking”, seriously, what the fuck is that?
Thinking that derives from (generally speaking) higher IQ (Hodson & Busseri 2012) and and smaller amygdala (Kanai et al 2011).
no no gossy..kiwiblog is ‘the fox news of nz political discussion’…
I saw a few comments where they blamed the WINZ workers, which reminds me of the bad apples always turning up in the police. As long as we can blame a minority of the workers, we don’t have to look at the problems inherent in the system. This type of approach is a continuation of right wing punishment of beneficiaries, not any real realisation.
“..5 Ways the Poor Are More Ethical Than the Rich..
Many wealthy Americans believe that dysfunctional behavior causes poverty.
Their own success – they would insist – derives from good character and a strict work ethic.
But they would be missing some of the facts.
Ample evidence exists to show a correlation between wealth and unethical behavior –
and between wealth and a lack of empathy for others –
-and between wealth and unproductiveness..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-ways-poor-are-more-ethical-rich
Jesus had this covered better a couple of millenia ago.
shame so many of his followers are the problem..eh..?
..and clearly don’t listen to him..
..yoo-hoo..!..bill english..!
..english even had his religious-boss..the pope..coming out just before the budget..and ordering him/catholics to end inequality..
..english just ignored that order from his spiritual-master…in his budget..
..his temporal-masters must strike more fear into him..
..eh..?
..all hail the banksters..!
..’bring me not yr poor..yr huddled-messes!’ preaches english…
..in/from his church of the holy ayn rand..
They aren’t really His followers, for starters.
you try telling them that…
The Archdruid John Michael Greer has done just that
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/a-christmas-speculation.html
@ viper..
..bill english needs a copy of that…
cunnliffe is kicking arse on tvone breakfast..
..(it’s getting kinda interesting how it is their housing policy that could well win the election for them..
..the package elucidated by cunnliffe this morn is both tidy and rational..
..especially compared to keys’:..’move right along..!..
..there is nothing to see here..!’..)
Strangely last night I watched an interview by Paul Henry with Dr Smith. Lots of friendly banter but then surprisingly the questions were sharper and searching. Dr Smith’s usual bluster was kept in check and challenged. eg the lower cost of building materials is only $3,000. Irrelevant.
When Paul is on form he is an excellent interviewer even with his best mate Nick. Pity really.
About 14 minutes in:
http://www.tv3.co.nz/THE-PAUL-HENRY-SHOW-Monday-May-19-2014/tabid/3692/articleID/99915/MCat/3901/Default.aspx
what that interview shows is that they have absolutely no idea..
..and they don’t want to change anything..
.(this is how they want it..them’s that’s got..just get ever more..)
..henrys’ warning to smith that housing is an achilles-heel for national in the election..
..was on the money..
Paul hammered home the point about National not knowing or wanting to know about facts of foreign ownership. ($11million to find out if Charter Schools might work but zilch for house ownership Data.)
and just on charter schools..for a mo’..
..a chain of six of them have just gone down the gurgler in britain..
..and just before exams..
..the ‘brave-experiment’..
..eh..?..
Good link ianmac.
Interesting to see Paul actually hold Nick Smith’s feet to the fire.
It was probably said out of fear of National losing, but I thought it was significant that Henry said housing was National’s Achilles heel. I think he’s right.
Yeah but Pauline Henrietta was no doubt motivated by the fact that Smith is a really unattractive individual……..”Hey, the 80s want their hair back…..” sort of vile bullshit.
The Nasty Old Queen just loves ‘attractive’ , even if completely vacuous. Like he sees himself really. Sooooo attractive…….sooooo clever. Sooooo entiltled indeed bound to talk any nasty shit. What a mouthy bag ! Sideshow, sweet. Worthy of any modicum of respect ? No !
I have a couple of questions for Draco.
It is relation to his oft repeated theory on how government should use the control of money to manage the economy.
How would this work in a situation where people have lost faith in the government’s creation of money and use other forms of currency instead?
How could you implement your proposal in such a place?
is this you musing on yr (dreamed of) libertarian island-nation..?
..you’d show them..!..eh..?
..there’ll be no ‘welfare’ there..eh..?
..you’re funny..!
..libertarians in general are pretty ‘funny’..
They are indeed very funny phil ure….. check this out for another hoot…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/10062393/Overvalued-houses-could-force-rents-up
The Property Investors Federation says of the OECD report, which said our houses were way over-valued, “no no no it is not the houses which are over-valued, it is the rents which are too low”.
Crazy Act Party Pill people. You couldn’t make this shit up …….
vto – that was the one concern, when I heard this report, about housing being over-valued and rents too low. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that part of the reason why the accommodation supplement was extended to all private housing in the first place, when the ratio of the value of housing to actual rental price became imbalanced, and the Government tried to fix it?
For once you have a partial point gosman. This is the only problem with money being created by a government rather than by the rothschilds, who currently create it.
Governments are by nature waaayyyy too political and subject to such pressures that the money-creating could be used for ulterior purposes.
However, this is pretty much the only problem. A solution could be found – something like making changes to such a system very onerous, similar to changing a constitution for example.
The result however would be that all of that interest that we all pay every single day of every single year of every single decade – interest that gets paid to a tiny 0.1% select few people would instead be retained in our economic system. The benefit is off the planet.
NZ govt projected to pay $6billion over the next 12 months. That is more than Key’s lot got in asset sales.
Farm debt at $50billion must pay around a further $4-5billion per year.
Household debt – don’t know, but I betcha it is a scary number.
All of that money – out the door it goes every year, paid to the select 0.1% who only print the money anyway. It is the world’s biggest rort. The problem you highlight is teency in comparison and easily solved.
a figure/comparison i find interesting..
..is that the amount of money sucked out of the nz economy in repatriated profits..
..each and every year..
..just about equals our annual deficit..
..go figure..!
..eh..?
Link please?
this is the comment i made back in jan..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/commentwhoar-political-thought-for-the-day/
..if you wanna prove me wrong..do yr own research…
..(if it helps…the figure for both is around $8.4 billion..)
..so..once you have proven to yrslf i am correct..
..yr next thoughts on this deficit/extracted-profits mirroring..?
..what to do about that..?
..eh..?
You make the claim and then expect me to validate it for you. Not too familar with the concept of burden of proof are you?
I guess he’s familiar with the futility of spending time running around after you though.
and you’re the one calling me a liar..
..i’ve given you the amount..and the two examples..
..you prove me a liar..!
..and good luck with that..!
..it’s quite a simple theorem..really..eh..?
Where have I called you a liar?
I simply don’t have any data to make a call on whether you are telling the truth or not.
f.f.s..!
google deficit..!
..google repatriated-profits..!
..join the fucken dots..!
..(as i said..the figure for both is about $8.4 billion..)
..so..what to do about that..?
of course..we could claw a chunk of that back by following key/nationals’ lead..(but flipping it..)
..by partially-nationalising the banksters..for starts..
..we the people take a 51% share of those banks/insurance companies/supermarket-chains etc..(and of course the ‘sin’-industries..the booze-pushers..the gambling industry..
..partially-nationalise the lot of them..!
..then of course..51% of the billions they send offshore every year..
..would stay here with us..
..there’s half the problem solved..
Why do you have a problem providing a link to this if it is so simple to do?
Weirdly I’m with Gosman on this.
The reason being that he has asserted stuff many many times and been challenged to front up.
His argument tends to be not that the burden of proof is on the person making the assertion, but that the reader do his research for his since it’s “common knowledge”. And if you don’t do the research for him, you’re lazy.
Balance Of Payments, pg. 30: In the red by 8,765 (millions), or 4.1% of GDP.
For profits leaving New Zealand, I suspect you’ll have to dig around treasury excel sheets.
I could only find the 8.3 billion referenced by CAFCA here
By the way Zanu-PF has a very similar policy to you in relation to this 51% owenership. They call it indigenisation and the policy has led to the collapse of foreign investment in Zimbabwe and a serious lack of capital.
and here’s something for you. It is called a link supporting my point.
http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/zimsit_economy-chokes-zanu-pf/
you are srylands aren’t you gosman.
srylands always referenced Zim
but whatever anyway .. you both make as much sense. 0 + 0 is still 0
My question is how can government create money for productive investments if the people living in the country don’t trust the government to not abuse that ability?
My answer is above. Didn’t you read it? Put in place measures similar to those which prohibit changes to very fundamental aspects of a nations structures, such as is with constitutional changes in many many countries.
Do you think there would be no solution?
And, what of the benefits I mentioned? Or do you just ignore that?
Not very specific answer that. It would be like me stating I would make capitalism work better by putting in place measures which prohibit changes to the etc etc.
It is entirely specific. Take structures currently in place to safeguard various constitutions around the world and apply to them to government issue of money. You are clearly unfamiliar with those structures and I aint wasting my time educating you.
Now, your turn – your answer to the benefits that would arise. Unless you have no answer that is …..
A brief list of these structures would be helpful. Then how they would be applied to the issuing of money would be useful to understand.
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
Tro1l
Out
Well actually it would be useful to all of us following the thread if you did so – this is a public forum after all
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
talk about empty-headed ….
If you mean basic constitutional structures I think you will find they work best when they have very broad set of rules to work with and don’t work very well if they attempt to regulate specific detail. Managing an economy at a micro level (which would be required under the sort of plan you are suggesting) would be far too complex for a broad set of rules and the rules would become cumbersome and restrictive if they were more detailed. In short it would be a recipe for the slow strangulation of the economy in my mind.
Funny how you implicitly trust the Rothschilds, the BIS and the Fed to monopolise the money supply, especially when all they do is feed it to their investment banker mates and big corporations.
The creation of money really only needs one rule:
The amount created must be equaled by the amount destroyed.
Of course, we don’t get close to that under the present system where the private banks create far more money than they destroy.
My question to you is how many of the following were due to hard core left governments?
14th century
14th century banking crisis (the crash of the Peruzzi and the Bardi family Compagnia dei Bardi in 1345).
17th century
Tulip mania (1637)
18th century
South Sea Bubble (1720) (UK)
Mississippi Company (1720) (France)
Crisis of 1763 - started in Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of Leendert Pieter de Neufville, spread to Germany and Scandinavia
Crisis of 1772 - started in London and Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of the bankers Neal, James, Fordyce and Down.
Panic of 1785 - United States
Panic of 1792 - United States
Panic of 1796-1797 - Britain and United States
19th century
Danish state bankruptcy of 1813
Post-Napoleonic depression (post 1815)
Panic of 1819, a U.S. recession with bank failures; culmination of U.S.'s first boom-to-bust economic cycle
Panic of 1825, a pervasive British recession in which many banks failed, nearly including the Bank of England
Panic of 1837, a U.S. recession with bank failures, followed by a 5-year depression
Panic of 1847, started as a collapse of British financial markets associated with the end of the 1840s railway industry boom
Panic of 1857, a U.S. recession with bank failures
Panic of 1866, was an international financial downturn that accompanied the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company in London
Long Depression (1873–1896)
Panic of 1873, a US recession with bank failures, followed by a four-year depression
Panic of 1884
Panic of 1890
Panic of 1893, a US recession with bank failures
Australian banking crisis of 1893
Panic of 1896
20th century
Panic of 1901, a U.S. economic recession that started a fight for financial control of the Northern Pacific Railway
Panic of 1907, a U.S. economic recession with bank failures
Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Great Depression (1929–1939) the worst depression of modern history
OPEC oil price shock (1973)
Secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 in the UK
Japanese asset price bubble (1986–2003)
Bank stock crisis (Israel 1983)
Black Monday (1987)
Savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s in the U.S.
1991 India economic crisis
Finnish banking crisis (1990s)
Swedish banking crisis (1990s)
1994 economic crisis in Mexico
1997 Asian financial crisis
1998 Russian financial crisis
Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002)
21st century
Late-2000s Financial Crisis or the Late-2000s recession, including:
2000s energy crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
United States housing bubble and United States housing market correction
2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis
2008–2010 Irish banking crisis
Russian financial crisis of 2008–2009
Automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010
European sovereign debt crisis
Tulip Mania was a Trotskyite plot to disable the emergent Dutch capitalist system. Any fule kno that.
People thought a buck could be made speculating on an asset bubble, and they piled into the market. That makes them market capitalists, mate.
Millions in today’s money were sunk into tulips, especially the one’s with pretty patterns and colour variations on the flowers.
Shame they didn’t realise at the time they were investing in plant virus’.
Good to see your copy/paste is working tracey.
All of these crisis did not lead to the collapse of the economic system and actually go to show how Capitalism works by correcting massive market distortions (in other words you can’t beat the market over the long term). This is against the multiple collapses of alternative economic systems such as the failure of Soviet Communism and African Socialism not too mention the on going failures in countries like North Korea.
Capitalism CAUSES “massive market distortions” not “corrects” them.
And as we saw in 2008-2009 the STATE and TAXPAYERS had to save the bloody system and bail out the banksters to the tune of tens of trillions world wide.
Please pay attention Gossie. Economic attacks by the western power elite have been very effective in bringing down governments previously, but you have noted that the Chinese, the Russians and the South Americans have all learnt their lessons from that very well.
The taxpayer didn’t have to bail out the banks. They could have taken the approach for other crises. It would have caused a lot more social harm admittedly but the system would have bounced back as it has always done. This is unlike Socialist alternatives that seem to disappear completely once they face a massive crisis.
Can you post links to the referendums showing where taxpayers made the collective decision to bail out the banks?
If the system wasnt going to collapse anyway, as you suggest, how could “a lot more social harm” have happened, cos that would be a failure of the system.
Social harm is not idicative of a complete collapse just as social good as a result of boom times is not necessary suggestive that the system is on a sustainable path.
Lloyd Blankfein and fellow bankster CEO compatriots were all sudden socialists when they received tens of millions of bonuses from the tax payer’s pocket.
Technically the vast majority of the bailout was in the form of loans or guarrantees but I will grant you replying of State handouts for survival is a tad hypocritical for the banks.
Well I too would like a 0% loan of a few hundred million dollars
where did you see that they were 0% interest loans. My understanding is that they had interest assoicated with them.
you are an idiot. The economic systems didnt collapse in 2007/2008 because taxpayers had to bail out banks. That’s not capitalism working.
communism didnt collapse the soviet union economic system gosman. People demanded democracy and got an oligarchy instead.
Communism failed. That was what led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and allowed the Oligarchs to take over.
Nope. The USSR wasn’t communist – it was state capitalist. Top down hierarchies always fall down because they always become too top heavy due to wealth accumulation by the few and then the use of oppression to maintain that disparity.
Where was the market mechanism if it was capitalist Draco?
/facepalm
In the markets where you bought things like food? Or perhaps it was in the competitive system where they determined what planes were built?
The real big one though was the fact that it was the people at the top that were deciding what was available and who were deciding what the nations resources were used for and not the people via a democratic system. Just the same as we have in the capitalist countries.
It is the top down hierarchy that truly defines capitalism.
That isn’t a the sort if market that a capitalist system would use. The free setting of prices by the market is the critical component of capitalism. You have admitted that the Soviet Union didn’t have that. Ipso facto it was not capitalist.
It is the top down hierarchy that truly defines capitalism.
And I didn’t say anything about the free setting of prices.
🙄
yes but but but
– 1848 – all those rabbly poor revolting all over the place, ewww
– 1916 – nasty idealist Spartacist poor people
– 1917 – more of those wretched disaffected hijacking Russian ships
– all those rotten leftie wars of liberation in the entire 20th century in China and Russia and Africa and South East Asia
Dammit those lefties ain’t wollen-condom-wearing rope-haired tie-died hold-hands-around-the-Pentagon-to-levitate-it peaceniks either.
According to Jamie Whyte and Roger Douglas, all of them, and any economic failure missing since Adam bit the apple, were caused by Marxist intervention in the market. John Key, as a pragmatic centrist, only blames the Marxist left for 50% of those.
Your view I think supported by the successful operation of Temasek, NZSuper Guardians, and many other big state pension fund managers.
Gosman, we know you are Dumb, you have no need to offer up even more proof, the US Government has presided over the ‘production’ of trillions of dollars in the past 7 years and if any society were to as you put it ‘lose faith’ in the currency and start producing other currencies with which to facilitate trading it would have occurred in the ‘land of the free’…
Surly, it would depend upon why the people have lost faith in the government as you would need to address that. Corruption, making decisions against the will of the people etc etc.
Goedemorgen, standardistas. Some observations from my hols. Firstly, the majority of Scots want independence, but the majority won’t actually vote for it. Economics will beat emotion, unless Braveheart’s on the telly the night before the vote.
Secondly, the Tories are claiming credit for the end of a recession they prolonged. The ‘conservative recovery’ is the meme they’re pushing. Look for our Tories to copy that line.
Thirdly, UKIP, the leadership of the premier league, and Jeremy Clarkson are all rotten to the core, but they reflect the values of little Britain. That is, they reflect fear, ignorance and bigotry.
re:UKIP, they’ll stroll through the European elections, which nobody cares about, but they’ll also bugger up the conservatives in the council elections held the same day, which David Cameron does care about.
Lastly, it’s 22 degrees at 9.40 in the evening here in den Haag. Hit 27 this arvo. It’s only May, that shouldn’t be happening. Further to the east, Bosnia is being destroyed by unprecedented flooding. Strange days, indeed. It’s almost like the climate’s changing.
Great time to be in Scotland – presuming you won’t be able to extend it to the COmmonwealth Games and the whole Glasgow insanity?
I reckon we are only a really good Enoch Powell-esque speech away here from a UKIP -type surge in NZFirst.
Hope you get to Berlin – truly amazing.
As way of comparison how is the French economy going considering they didn’t take the cuts to government expenditure approach that the Coalitionm government in the UK took?
Ruth Dyson not seeking a Labour list placement. She’ll stand only for her electorate.
In some ways I hoped she would step down entirely. My family’s experience of her as representative of the Labour party’s bene bashing in their last go at ghovernment revealled her to be very akin to the Nats that so many despise.
Under her guidance the Ministry sent letters to my family outlining new measures for evaluating one of our members and getting him into the workforce. That’s how they put it. he is physically and mentally disabled by cerebral palsy. Apparently Ruth’s minions came up with a possible cure cos they wanted to re-do his assessment every year… and remove help to what was previously called shltered workshops.
My family member had worked once in mainstream employment, in ZIP industries. Was very good on hispart of the assembly line, looked after his machine and knew it inside out BUT was too slow. Apart from the bullying and being pushed down stairs by able bodied co-workers, with no action taken by management following complaints, he was first to go when ZIP hit trouble. He was unemployed for years, slipped into depression until getting work at Killmarnock enterprises. The work there gave him somewhere to go, gave him a sense of community and contributing. His benefit went to Killmarnock and he received about $25 per week cash. There was a place for this kind of “employment.”
They used to do the poppies each year, but then it went to China… China was cheaper than a sheltered workshop…. ask yourselves something about how that is possible.
So I am only sorry that Ruth is not retiring altogether.
i wish she wd just go…and take a few more of those uncaring/unreconstructed-neo-lib bastards from that clark-govt..
..with her..
..those who are stalling/blocking the ongoing rejuvenation/re-newing of labour…
(hint:..rhymes with ‘fuck off!’…)
Because the financial system is delusional as it fails to take into account actual physical costs.
Arrogant prick. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/10062393/Overvalued-houses-could-force-rents-up
New Zealand Property Investors Federation executive officer Andrew King said the report would prompt landlords to raise rents. “Rents are actually undervalued and should be higher.”
The average rent, he said, was $350 a week – at least $40 below what it should be – and tenants should expect increases soon.
“We’re trying to get them used to the idea . . . and hopefully they’ll be a bit more planned and prepared for those rent increases when they do come.”
OUT OF WHAT ANDREW?
Yep, unbelievable. A sign of where their head space is at ….. loops ..
In Christchurch I hear people say how great it is the returns you can get from rentals. Great great, yeah good money blah bah blah ….
What these fools don’t appreciate is that this money is being made by duress effectively. It is being made by taking advantage of people’s troubles and bad times. People are not willingly paying these new high rents because they have more money and feel like an upgrade, they are paying them because they have no choice. They are being taken advantage of. It isn’t even the free market as there is no willing buyer and willing seller. It is a simple rort, taking advantage of people when they are down.
These foolish landlords seem to have forgotten this.
I predict that when the rental market turns (which it will) there will be no mercy shown to the greedy landlords. They will be chopped down and shown no mercy.
Christchurch, post-earthquakes…… a true exercise in the more extreme aspects of human nature …
I wonder who lives in the three home sin Ilam and fendalton and Bryndwer that Gerry doesn’t live in? And at what rental?
This is way beyond ignorance and a joke.
And never forget, it’s not communisim, socialism, community mindedness or marxism that reeks havoc every decade or so on our economies, it’s the much vaunted profit motive system. Who can make the most money wins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_economic_crises
“..I wonder who lives in the three home sin Ilam and fendalton and Bryndwer that Gerry doesn’t live in? And at what rental?..”
we should actually get to know this..
..to see if brownlee is profiteering off of that misery..
..(see how much his rents have gone up since the earthquakes/housing-shortage..
..and other mp’s who own rental properties in chch too..
..no matter from what party..)
I didn’t know that Brownlee had three houses in that area but I did know that he lived in a 5-star hotel for at least a year or more after the quakes ( at our expense of course ).
on his pecuniary interests he is listed as owning 4 hours in Ilam, Fendalton and Bryndwer. He has other property which is his holiday home elsewhere.
+100 vto
John Key being as clear as his garbled confusion and qualifications. What does he know about GCSB operastions in Afghanistan?
The Andrea Vance article begins:
But later in the article we get this:
So that’s all totally clear then?
My bold. But then, all of his smoke and mirrors could be just as significant/telling.
Trust me, I don’t know what I’m seeing”
“Key would not say whether he believed Jones’ death was justified.”
Didn’t Key say initially a few weeks back that the killing of Jones was justified?
Pretty simple really. Don’t go hang with terrorist groups.
Yes. Good advice for Key.
NB: powerful states can be terrorists.
To clarify, an entity that attacks targets, including civilians, is engaging in terrorism. Gordon Campbell spells it out:
Raining death out of the sky with no warning, on your village, on your wedding party, sounds like terrorism to me.
And of course, hitting unarmed civvies who cannot strike back in any way shape or form is not “war” it is a massacre – according to an Israeli Jewish commentator critical of Israel’s use of drone strikes.
Pretty simple really. Don’t be alleged to hang with terrorist groups.
fify
If you’d stopped at the first sentence you would have nicely summed up Key’s responses
NZ Herald headline writer needs to check the articles they are headlining.
This article has the headline: “Labour and Greens support law change”
The article begins:
jeesh, that’s sloppy as hell. Editors too busy writing opinion pieces?
The headline has now been amended.
but not before it was widely shared 🙂
little by little we can all help to expose the blatantly corrupt political bias of the NZ MSM.
If you are not pissing off your friends by now, you’re doing it wrong 🙂
Where is Peter George these days? I miss him. Just kidding.
He was banned for being a dick, or something. Unfortunately not a permanent ban.
Paula Bennett is installing him in a low decile school.
The Stuff.co budget poll is still alive, this time found in the Taranaki Daily Times, up from the 600 odd respondents last time i looked, 1353 have now cast a vote,
The 3 categories for voting to ”like” Bills budget now total 44.6%,
The 2 categories that hoick a big one giving the Budget the thumbs down, 55.5%,
Peter Jackson is said to be considering a new ‘blockbuster’ titled ”Nightmare on Wing-nut street”…
One for Rosie from wellingtons Dominion/Post, the Capital and Coast DHP has gone into panic mode over a 5% blow-out in its budget,(no wonder your last hospital visit was a nightmare),
Having dragged its deficit down from 67 odd million dollars to some 9 million dollars i have to wonder just who is the ”gate-keeper” when it comes to who will be denied services from Capital and Coast DHP, it wouldn’t be the Radiologists contracted to supply services in the DHB’s region would it,
Staff employed by Capital Coast have been told to consider taking a holiday to ensure the budget blowout is contained…
Yes, heard that on the news this morning bad12……………and thought of your radiologist………….
Shit, if only hospitals didnt have to provide services to ill people, they could be thriving surplus giving somethings.
Lol, don’t give them ideas Tracey.
Just cut more mental health services save money now and watch the suicides spike in a years time.
Great news for Wellington that the Hilton will build a 5 star hotel and a 2500 people convention centre. Great news for NZ that a second and third internet fibre cable are about to be confirmed. Further signs of the brighter and brighter future that can be maintained only if we vote for Three More Years
Is there room in that hotel or convention centre for a few homeless people?
Where do the cables go to? The Bahamas?
great news that homes are the most unaffordable in the world
great news that more rivers are being shat in
great news that government debt has been increased five-fold
great news that New Zealanders will be paying $1,500 per every single person this year ($30 per week, almost $5 today) by way of interest on government debt
but yeah moron, great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to stay in
fuck you’re onto it
Gee. That would be a bit tough for that lovely Auckland SkyCity Convention Centre Gambling Den that the nice Mr Key organised. Be awful if Wellington trumped Auckland. Any chance of the Nat dirty tricks brigade sabotaging the Wellington plan?
the nearer we get to the election..
..the more distasteful the idea of ‘three more years’ will seem..
..the we-haven’t-really-got-a-fucken-clue-what-to-do about housing..
..is just the latest example of what an ideas-free-zone key/national are…
..asset-stripping and bubble-building and benificiary-bashing –
is all these useless bastards know how to do..
This cable that will connect to Oregon via Hawaii?
Given that the US harvests the metadata of all communications that go to the US, and plants back doors into US IPs so it can access all metadata?
And that the US is now accessing all the full content of phone calls in some countires (eg the Bahamas) and is planning to do so for more countries?
So you can keep whining about it, or you can do something about it. Encrypted your and use ssl sites.
Or, don’t use international sites.
Your response to illegal surveillance is pretty much the same to your response to illegal extra-judicial killings.
Why are you so soft on crime?
surely the very people the agencies say they are after use encryption and ssl sites, so they will have powerful de-encryption stuff, won’t they?d
As far as I know, it would still take until the end of the universe to decrypt a 128 bit encryption algorithm. IMO, this would tend to indicate that the spy agencies aren’t really interested in what the bad guys are saying but they are most interested in what the general populace are saying. It is, after all, the general populace that is a threat to the status quo.
Note how it wasn’t all that long ago that a secure email service in the US shut down due to the new laws of the US.
interesting observation. ..
They’ve already thought of that. Which is why every commercially available encryption method has been deliberately weakened by the NSA through agreement with corporate software developers.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24165-how-nsa-weakens-encryption-to-access-internet-traffic.html#.U3rb0ulZo8E
/shrug
Commercial encryption isn’t the only type available.
@ infused..and if you do that..
..you will attract the interest/attention of the american-spooks..
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/11/anonymous-web-nsa-trail-janet-vertesi
Like I wrote yesterday about trigger words, have a laugh at the spies expense.
When I call my ma back in Blighty, I nearly always start the conversation with how’s al quaeda, bin laden and the atomic bomb plan going? Knowing that two sets of spooks half a world away will then tune in for the hour or so listening to tales of me mum’s lumbago and her diabetic dog 😆
What part did government policy or executive intervention did central government play in the proposed Wellington deal? If none, your point invalid.
Would you also point out the government policy or intervention in a proposal for a third internet cable. Same applies as above.
To save us all time, demonstrate how either of these deals would be negatively affected by a Labour government.
So that’s Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington all getting the ONE international convention centre NZ needed…
and queenstown
And a few years ago every major town needed a new stadium.
Civic leaders never were ones to read fashion.
MONORAIL!
oops, thats right.
🙄 fucktard
[lprent: Where is your point? Read the policy. ]
Your cheerleading gives us much amusement Fisiani. The capitalist model is a boom and bust cycle. A brighter future looks rosie one month, then a share market crash the next.
Yours is a big what if, or more likely to be if only.
Way back when i used to enjoy cricket – we’d often set up a social game, pick teams, keep scores and have a beer afterwards. Sadly greed has fouled the game and the gallant defense of the castle by the knight is just a big illusion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11258122
I still love cricket, though not the t20 no skill, swing and hope version.
A shame the game is in the mire. I hark back to the days when all you had to worry about were uncouth Australians dominating the game.
Cairns, the legend, not any more. Guess he’ll be offering to pay back the libel damages he won in London the other year.
it’s just not cricket – makes professional wrestling look sincere – all the cricket stats are buggered – might as well use win/loss from professional boxing or maybe win/place from horsey racing – just meaningless rubbish imo.
but whenever a grassy meadow or flat beach is there and a stick/bat and a ball – well, we will once again enjoy the game.
It so isn’t cricket, but you are correct, swatting a ball coming at your face at a rate of knots will never get old.
Sometimes the simple solutions work best. Cut the bookies off at the knees and ban sports betting on cricket.
Sports betting IS illegal in India.
True enough, but I think on-line gambling may be the real problem.
oh yes, and betting with foreign and black market bookies. I just meant that banning betting wont solve it and may have caused it…
It’s a right old mess. I suggest we ban all nations from playing the game except England and Scotland.
Melt down a deep fried mars bar in batter, stick it in a tupperware bowl and England can always look forward to a 50/50 chance of winning a trophy again.
Failing that, blame the Aussies for everything.
ENGLand who brought the game such cheats as dr w g grace?
The same England that brought us such good sports as I 🙂
ah the old adage
“methinks he doth protest too much”
Explains his choice to live in Dubai all those years. meet all the players half-way, as it were.
I noticed JK announcing he’s off to visit Obama soon.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/john-key-invited-white-house-5976272
I suspect TV3 will be sending over a contingent of ‘reporters’ to cover the ‘historic’ event. Shame they can’t save the cash and spend it on new programming. I mean, seriously, Rambo, it was only on Ch 4 a month or two back.
At least they won’t have to cough for more trips to SA now Mandela has finally passed on.
Interesting timing.
Not long before the election.
Problems over story about drone attacks.
he’s going to get migraines. Imagine the reading he will have to do if he is going to discuss TPP, international issues with Obama…
Of course it’s electioneering at it’s most obvious, the question is whether it’s really such a big deal to the NZ public that our PM is summoned to Washington.
I’m guessing a selfie with Kevin Spacey would carry more kudos.
On National radio the leading news is “John key says he WILL NOT be discussing drone strikes”on his please explain summons to White House. “Yip”, he said, “we won’t be bringing up drone strikes” Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing.
If key is stupid enough to think that we are stupid enough to believe that discussing drone strikes is not the reason for this sudden summons then he is stupider than I thought. Obama has obviously heard key’s various explanations of what he might know, what he thinks he doesn’t know, what he is sure he doesn’t know, yes,I did know that. No, I did not know that. But I am sure if it did happen I know it would be legal. And so on. Spinning.spinning, spinning.
All above IMO.
“Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing.”
To quote Paul the alien, “How much can I learn from an ass?”
The alarming thing about Key’s National radio piece discussing Obama and drone strikes is that Key said he was “mostly” (or word of same meaning) happy with the legality of the drone strikes.
Now that should mean that there are some drone strikes that he acknowledges are extra-legal and wrong, and about which he should be unhappy.
FFS, if there is one death or injury from an illegal or wrong drone strike (IMO they’re all wrong) as Key himself sees it, then he should be concerned, even talking to Obama, and the media should have been picking him up on this use of language.
“.. Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing..”
heh..!…
As an aside, where is Queen Of Thorns these days?
yes Rosie ….i miss her and her quirky provocative upbraiding comments …she stirred the pot from her thrown…
She made me smile.
…me too
GREAT turn of phrase
“i miss her and her quirky provocative upbraiding comments”
ok, so now I’m seeing Pippi Longstocking.
And Rogue, I have a gift for him if he ever shows up again.
…and Rhino is keeping a low profile these days …must be busy ….used to enjoy his diatribes ( he is best in a pincer attack)…he has a great facility with language…like our Phil..lol
I approve of the red green lights in the avatart
I was fond of Roguey’s presence here – a gentle compassionate intelligent person he is.
Cerebral and obscure, a winning combination in my book.
I had an old original xbox game of Rogue trooper to give him, but I thought I’d lost it.
It appears not only do I have still have the game in the wardrobe of doom, but an old ex rental xbox console I bought of united video when they flipped them off and a couple of controllers.
Works on any TV with red/yellow/white inputs, even old stylee through the aerial.
Gunner’s still got your back, Rogue.
Excellent The AlIen! What a fabulous thought and a fabulous gift 😀
All he has to do is mail me at al1en.org and I’ll post it off. It’s not doing anyone any favours in the cupboard, and even if he has a play and gives it away, it’s all good.
Just checked it and all the wires and connectors are there, two controllers (though one looks iffy) and all in a neat carry case.
Has the Rogue trooper game, Halo 1 and 2, Area 51, Shadow ops:Red mercury and Hello Kitty.
All except Hello Kitty are on my newer, old xbox360, so if you see Rogue, tell him. 😉
Good question Rosie, haven’t seen her for quite some time 🙁 , and her last blog post was back in Feb. I hope she is ok.
……..And we haven’t had a sing song in a while fender.
I have an earworm and the feeling and energy in the song somehow reminds me of Judith Collins, her self advancing actions and how it’s all going to implode one day and she “will just reap that fuck up”. While the lyrics don’t refer literally to what we see unfolding, the whole big train wreck that is the National coalition government, there is a sense of impending calamity in the song which feels to me like what the Government will sooner or later come to face. So Jude is there in the song and so is the Government, to my ears at least.
Suckers to their own cause.
Chickens coming to roost an’ all…………
The Wolfgang Press: Sucker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brBqvdAnp6c
Can’t wait to see the back of her Rosie…
I see you on my tel-e-vision, corrupt politician
Collins is one evil woman
Oi! Oi! Oi! 😀
Tell-lies-vision ?
Yep, freeview channel 22; Nathan Guy 20/5/2014: “Knocking on doors in Waikanae at the weekend everybody told me this is a great budget”. Unless he only knocked on National party members doors I don’t believe him..
And in her haste to return to work to tell more lies Judith forgot to change out of her dressing gown..
Wealthy Waikanae, the same place he parked his stupid promo trailer over the mobility park. He must be too scared to leave the safe confines of the immediate area.
I bet he won’t be knocking on doors in Kena Kena.
Lol moment though, the last time I was out on the Kapiti Coast it looked like someone had thrown something squishy and wet at the huge photo of himself on the outside of his electorate office. It had been scrubbed off but had left a stain all over his goofy face. I guess he inspired some strong feelings in someone or some people……
Fear not, the sweary godmother watches over you all. But fuck I’ve needed a break from this politics malarkey.
Kia kaha QoT
Enjoy your break.
You have been missed.
I too have missed you.
Good to see you QoT 😀
Hope you are back permanently Queenie!
Hi. Hope thing’s are going well for you.
Yeah…….QoT !!!
Good. And keep up with the swears – some days it’s the only way to relieve the pain. A spell away from the poli’s can be healthy and restorative too 🙂
Hopefully see you back in action during the wild celebrations that will be occurring over the weekend of the 20th September. Take it easy.
You swear? Nah.. Besides which I’m sure that “sweary” isn’t a word. You must have meant “sweaty”
😈
[happiness]
JOHN BANK’S TRIAL QUESTION:
The report on his trial states that after entering the plea that he was not guilty, Banks was given permission to leave the dock and sit behind his counsel in the courtroom.
I have no particular problem with that procedure if it is the norm, except to query whether consideration of his status was the reason for the permission or is this a common practice that is applied to other less worthy and common defendants too?
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Kim-Dotcom-to-give-evidence-at-Banks-trial-today/tabid/423/articleID/344886/Default.aspx#ixzz32CjKCyqK
I have never been at a criminal trial where the defendant sits near their council and not in the dock. I am NOT saying it doesn’t happen, just that over the years I have witnessed over 50 and never seen it, unless they were representing themselves.
The publicity surrounding Key’s visit to Washington will benefit him a great deal. It seems three more years of him as Prime Minister are unavoidable because unless a miracle happens National appears to be winning hands down.
John key is not going to win next time around !…..and nor is Len Brown!
From Martyn Bradbury;
“Dear Len Brown – Auckland must not privatise any more of its public spaces…When Len Brown and Cameron Brewer are shoulder to shoulder on any issue, you know the slimy has met the politically expedient…..
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/20/dear-len-brown-auckland-must-not-privatise-any-more-of-its-public-spaces/
Do y’all know that Backbenchers is back on, on Prime TV at 10.30 pm on Wednesday’s?
It’s past my bedtime, I have no way of recording it and Prime don’t do “video on demand” but I am viewing it later at a friends house who has a recording. He was the pub during filming last week and said Peter Dunne had a bit of a crack at People’s Power Ohariu. I hope it that bit was filmed! Lol, Dunne – will you be done for come 20th September?
Backbenches is shit TV and not worth watching. Wallace Chapman is boring, hopeless, and useless.
Suit yourself Clean power. Maybe “The Block” is more your thing.
Yep, Paul Henry is more C_p’s idea of a political tv host.
Wallace certainly isn’t Kim Hill but Backbenches is not “shit TV” IMO. I like it, caught it last week and have to admit Trevor Mallard (shock horror) impressed (he seemed more human), as did Jan Logie.
You can view it online here: http://www.skygo.co.nz/product/641870.aspx
You need to create a “skygo” account (just an email signup, you don’t need to be a sky subscriber)
Excellent! Thank you felix, that is THE tip of the day, much appreciated 😀
http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/germ-agenda-sucks-money-out-public-education/5/190583
‘More than $12m over two years is being transferred to five charter schools (which currently teach a total of just 367 children) and $1.145m into Public-Private Partnerships.
That is $16348 per pupil per year!!!!!
This is user pays. They use and we pay.
My understanding is the usual rate is $7000 per pupil per year, so that is over twice the going rate for public schools.
Great news that more houses and consents for houses are being built than ever before. Building costs reduced and RMA changes to allow people to extend their homes will be an election aim. Great news that rivers are cleaner now than they were last year. Great news that debt is finally under control and will never be unending as projected in 2008. Great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to spend the night in and spend thousands in Wellington retail. Great news that Wellington retail will be more profitable and pay higher wages.
🙄
🙄
I hope they leave their bags in their rooms 🙂
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/02/dry-erase-marker-opens-all-hotel-room-doors/
🙄 Yep, truly a fucktard
Swopped the fizzy lemonade for champagne? You might be getting previous.
Minarch do you think breaking into hotel rooms is clever?
The device is pretty clever, yes.
The design of the hotel door lock on the other hand is pretty damn stupid. Handy for government spooks and others who want easy egress to wherever they want in a hotel, a visiting dignitary’s or journalist’s room, etc.
Never one to miss a pun
“Handy for government spooks and others who want easy egress to wherever they want in a hotel, a visiting dignitary’s or journalist’s room, etc.”
Key stone card cops
Edit: Can’t strike out ‘stone’ which ruins the whole thing really. 🙁
It’s the thought that counts Mr Al1en
Would have been spectacular CV
Im just minimizing my tax burden via my fence….
US charges 5 Chinese military offices with cybercrimes…China counters will allegations that US has back-doored thousands of Chinese websites and taken over more than 1M Chinese computers using botnet techniques.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-19/china-publishes-data-claiming-us-worlds-largest-cyber-attacker
So here’s my main point: let’s not move NZ elections online, OK?
Seems ironic that it is the USA that is complaining about cyber spying. NSA etc.
That hit me like an out of control brick too…
lol
Don’t be silly CV.
Like Draco said, it’s not that big a problem and hardly ever happens
but you can completely secure a system with, like, portals and [waves hands] stuff
So, has Labour got some fresh dirt on Collins? This question from Maryan Street to Judith Collins suggests they might have.
http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/33096
Yes Anne. Wondered about that. The questions were very specific. The answers were denials and a degree of defensiveness. It may be a setting for followup questions which might cause Judith distress. Having committed herself in the House, what happens next (tomorrow?) could be very interesting.
Doubling of Antarctic ice loss revealed by European satellite
It’s getting warmer and wetter.
Watching TV3 news just now you can see why the Nats have put in so much effort to destroy Cunliffe before the election campaign. One on one Cunliffe is going to rip Key a new one.
Cunliffe played Key at his own game beautifully in Question Time today and he won the last word. Proof positive Key has met his match.
I look forward to watching QT after Campbell Live. Cunliffe is growing in leaps and bounds it seems to me. He had a pretty good stoush with Mary Wilson on Checkpoint tonight.
john campbell is promising a new spooking-scandal..@ 7…
GCSB Fletcher, John Key. et al
Yep. I have the impression Campbell and co. have been working on this – quietly and even secretively- for some considerable time.
JC said earlier before the 6pm news that it was 3 years in the making……..
Gonna sure show how much of a liar Key is
TV3 is Live Streaming it online – they must think it’s very important.
Incredible John Campbell! He has assembled all the details including the lies Key told regarding Ian Fletcher, the relationship with the hugely powerful USA Intelligence. Wow!
This an exceptional production and watch out for the denials from Key and the dirty tricks brigade who will set out to discredit Campbell.
A must must watch show!
Not up online yet!
video now up
http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/CampbellLive.aspx
key has set up our spooks as a branch office of the american spooks…
..we have become a chattel-state of america..
..in all but name..
..key has made them our new overlords..
..and sold us out..
..i think it must be time to take back our country..
..throw key out..and then throw them out..
..let them become four-eyes..
You have been smoking far to much weed Philip.
Watch Campbell Live’s expose today on Key’s actions in 2011.
Then explain why phil’s statement is wrong.
which part have i got wrong..?
the way things stand at the moment..
..everytime we see a drone-kill on television..
..we can know that this killing is partly our work..
..i dunno about you..
..but i am not very comfortable with that…
..we are mercenary killers..
..killers for trade…
..killing innocent men women and children..
..that fucken sucks..!
.
+111
We’re an obedient outpost of the US surveillance and security empire. After Snowden, it’s not even a controversial assertion anymore.
+1
It’s Time To Meet Your Neighbours. Online.
Looks like it could be interesting.