To the ignorant, or just the plain obtrusive the record snow dumps experienced in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are taken as evidence that global warming is not happening.
The opposite is the case.
At higher latitudes where the temperature does manage to drop below freezing, greater evaporation caused by global warming and the resulting higher humidity condenses, releasing greater precipitation of all types.
This is a warning. What should be taken away, about these record snow falls, is how quickly they melt away. And how little time they stay on the ground. ‘Record snowfalls, overnight turn into record snowmelts.
In April, hefty Northern Hemisphere snow cover ranked 9th highest on record (dating back to 1967), but then turned scant, plummeting to third lowest on record during May. Half of the existing snow melted away……
…..“This is likely one of the most rapid shifts in near opposite extremes on record, if not the largest from April to May,”
The snow extent shrunk from 12.4 million square miles to 6.2 million square miles in a month’s time. By June, just 2.3 million square miles of snow remained in the Northern Hemisphere (a decline of 63 percent from May), third lowest on record.
“In recent years it hasn’t seemed that unusual to have average or even above average winter snow extent rapidly diminish to below average values come spring,”
Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover is in the midst of long-term free fall, similar to its relative, summer Arctic sea ice extent.
David Robinson of Rutgers University Global Snow Lab.
The same pattern is being seen in more temperate parts of the globe. Unprecedented droughts are followed by shock flood events.
Action against climate change must become a major election issue in this country come 2014. Any politician who refuses to advocate the taking of the strongest actions possible against climate change is guilty of criminal negligence and cowardice. Any politician who advocates for doing nothing, for the good of the economy, for jobs, for growth, or any other excuse, is guilty of treachery against humanity.
Leave it up to the next generation to whip up some sort of sci fi whiz bang solution. Eh muzza.
This is a deliberate diversion.
As you have admitted in a previous thread muzza. Your so called support for geo-engineering is just another scam from a long list used by apologists who make excuses for doing nothing about cutting CO2 emissions. You probably think you are being cleveer than all the other run of the mill apologists and fossil fuel industry shills who argue for doing nothing about climate change, by dressing it up in this nonsense.
You are not sincere. If you were you would provide some links or suggestions to back up your case. As far as I can tell your whole argument is based on kicking the can further down the road.
ie Do nothing.
:How different is your position to that of the host of climate change ignorers, apologists and deniers?
P.S. muzza you give your self away with your last sentence. Casting doubt on the data.
Sir Peter Gluckman the chief scientist advising the Prime Minister, has written on the government website that New Zealand’s greatest contribution to the fight against climate change will be by setting an example.
This is true. New Zealand has set examples for the world on votes for women on public housing, on social welfare, on nuclear free, on anit-apartheid, even on negatives like neo-liberalism.
New Zealand can be a world leader in fighting climate change. No other industrialised country is as well poised to set that example. Already 70% of our electricity is supplied by renewables.
It is our responsibility to do whatever we can, to show the world what can be done if there is the political will to do so.
Here in beautiful and fortunate New Zealand It is our duty.
There is no more important global political issue that we could give a lead on.
I completely agree that NZ should be the ‘threat of the good example’. Seems to me that NZ is favourably configured to do it. And being percieved as a ‘white, European and english speaking’ nation, means that the example wouldn’t be ignored and possibly means that negative actions on the part of the rest of the english speaking world to keep us ‘in line’ would be much less liable to occur…or at least much less liable to occur in a way that would garner any support from the actor’s domestic populace.
If we are to do it we need to move on from the belief that government’s main job is balancing the books, to a return to political leadership in real economy nation building.
We are talking about a need to implement tens of billions in innovative infrastructure over the next decade but frankly, when you look at the example of how long and tortuous Aucklands $2.9B city rail link has taken to come to pass (sardonic laugh, its not going to physically come to pass for another 10 years at least) I think that while it could happen, it will not. Better to focus on small scale, local community projects rather than anything which needs to go through Wellington.
BTW as 2020 rolls around I think we will find that the estimated cost of the rail link will skyrocket and the project will stall again.
It needn’t cost that much at all. In fact in one area, public transport, it will cost considerably less than the $10 billion already earmarked for more motorway construction to cope with current congestion caused by lack of decent public transport. (The current plan for more motorways includes the incredibly expensive and environmentally damaging insane plan for a tunnel or second crossing over the Waitemata.)
As Auckland mayoral hopeful John Minto has pithily pointed out, more motorways will only get you to the traffic jam quicker.
I’m not saying that the money is not there, it definitely is. I’m saying that this agenda is unlikely to get its hands on that money in a timely manner, whether its by taking it from other budgets, cancelling other projects, or whatever.
The one possibility I see is if the Greens form a coalition government with Labour, where the Greens are equal size and equal partners. However you do not have much faith in them to do the right thing either.
….Seems to me that NZ is favourably configured to do it. And being percieved as a ‘white, European and english speaking’ nation, means that the example wouldn’t be ignored….
Could be a game changer.
Bill
This is true Bill. New Zealand is also “configured to do it”, in one more important way.
New Zealand is geopolitically situated next door to the biggest per-capita CO2 emitting country and coal exporter in the world. Which is also one of the hardest hit by climate change. If New Zealand took such measures it would set off a political earthquake in Australia.
From America:
In the West; “Drought-fueled wildfires again rage out of control in California and New Mexico.”
In the East; An unprecedented heatwave, from Memphis, to Washington, from New York, to Boston.
New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, for example, broke a daily high temperature record on Thursday, with a high of 100°F. The heat index, which is a measure how the temperature feels to the humid body, has reached the dangerous range of 105 to 115°F in some spots. Heat is the No. 1 weather-related cause of death in the U.S. in an average year.
Making the heat even more dangerous is that many areas affected have not been getting overnight relief. In New York’s Central Park, the overnight low on Wednesday night into Thursday morning was 79°F, tying a record for the highest such temperature for the date. Record-high low temperatures were also set in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Washington, D.C. may challenge a record for the longest number of consecutive hours with air temperatures above 80°F.
The National Weather Service issued heat warnings and advisories for nearly two-dozen states on Thursday, with a smaller number to be affected on Friday in the densely populated Mid-Atlantic and Northeast……
……In recent years there have been numerous instances of strong and long-duration high pressure areas that have led to extreme weather events, including the Russian heat wave of 2010. According to NOAA, scientists are scheduled to meet at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in September to explore whether such “monster ridges” of high pressure are becoming more frequent or more intense as the atmosphere warms in response to manmade greenhouse gas emissions.
Of course the monster ridge of high pressure that most comes to mind for us here in the Southern Hemisphere, is the one that caused the recent heatwave in Australia.
Many Australians seeing what is happening in the continental US in the Northern Summer, will be wondering and worrying. “Will it be our turn again, in our coming summer?”
“And if not this summer the one after?”
If New Zealand gave a lead this would be wildly celebrated and embraced by many concerned Australians who would demand that similiar measures against climate change be taken there.
Where on earth did you get that I support geo-engineering from? I abhor the fact that its going on, been going on for about 100 years, been seriously hard core change in the last 50 years, and IMO is a major contributor to climate change.
But just keep focussing on one small component Jenny, I’m sure that will help.
The world is going to keep buying oil, polluting, raping, destroying the life supporting systems of this planet, those in charge will ensure it, that is not in doubt!
Unfortunately the so called science, and the control over the propaganda, had got people all looking in the wrong direction, or not looking at all, because its all too hard.
The so called solutions, are already in play, you just have no idea what to look for. Don’t worry about it though, you will get what you ask for, but you won’t like the solution, neither will future generations.
My suggestion, go and do some reading, understand that science has wrecked earths protective layer, and so called science is now back peddling to correct the damage. Science is also taking over control of food, water, and air, and the science, is backed by the controllers of the financial system. I appreciate its too bloody difficult for people to accept, but that’s just the way it is, and the sooner enough people connect the links, the sooner we can get on with applying the appropriate strategy.
Your energy would be helpful, Jenny, if it was aimed in the right directions!
Jenny, you have passion, which really comes through in your posts, and I for one certainly appreciate it.
The existing political system, is not going to lead the way, which is why I believe its spent energy wishing that it will. The climate change situation, is not going to be changed anytime soon, because the information being made available, is either lies, spin for some other description, of BS. Also the narrow band of focus on c02, is nonsense, there is more to the discussion that this, however, as long as the interference of science, via geo-engineering, and any/all influences on the climate, are tabled for discussion, then we are all making decisions, taking actions based on falsehoods, and incomplete information sets!
Better to just get on with what can be done at a local level to create change, such as getting away from the dependencies of the so called grid, be it energy, monetary and so on.
Keep the focus on things which you can change, that is a lesson I also need to practice a little more , myself.
And a good evening to you to muzza.
What I still get from your posts, is your wish that we all do nothing, (or as close to nothing as possible).
You have continually tried to divert us to through various strategies.
Individual actions, which is your latest diversion, will never be enough, and have never been enough.
When climate change global warming was first raised as an issue in the ’90s the authorities and the media tried to whip up a moral panic putting all responsibility for it back onto the individual.
This involved a lot of guilt tripping of the general population.
We were told;
“You are the problem.”
“Humanity are breeding to much” ”
“You are consuming/earning to much”.
“Humans are greedy”,
“You are useless”
“Humanity is powerless”.
All of these specious original arguments can be and have been disproved.
But all this guilt tripping and doom and gloom by the ‘experts’ and the media serves a purpose, instilling a feeling of despondency and helplessness that nothing can be done, and ultimately resignation and general acceptance of BAU, to enable the institutional polluters to keep on freely polluting as much as they want.
Yes, individual lifestyle changes will play a role. But alone will not be a game changer.
As we have learnt more about the problem, (and the solutions.)
It has become clear that individual and/or small scale changes in lifestyle, consumption, etc., in the face of massive institutional and industry pollution would be so insignificant as to make little difference to the outcome of climate change. Most people at some level realise this.
Ok, just to clarify – I’m not trying to divert anything, nor do I have a strategy.
The strategy which is in play, as you point out, by TPTB, is to keep the global populace confused to the point where they just, tune out. Its the same strategy employed on almost any topic you can name, peddled through the MSM channels.
My only contention is, that until all aspects of the discussion about co called , climate change, are in the public domain, best as they can be, and the trust between the populace and the so called, rulers is being rebuilt (and I don’t see where that will come from), then it is very much down to individuals, to take responsibility.
Individuals who do this, will in turn influence positively, their families, friends, streets, suburbs, communities, towns, cities, states, nations, continents …..etc
See how that might work?
I’m not suggesting that it be an everyone for themselves, the opposite is in fact what I am about, however it must start with the individual, and propagate outwards from there.
..tho’ our mainstream media seems still unable/unwilling to join these (pulsating) dots..(?)
..so far..the legislative-successes/’wins’ here in new zealand for crosby on behalf of his ‘dark side’ paymasters..in getting key to do his/their will…include:..
1)..no plain packacging for tobacco..
2)..no price moves on cheap-booze aimed at getting teenagers hooked..
3)..and opening up the country to wholesale fracking…
..but i am sure there is so much more..
..and the civilian did a piss-take on people saying key is our worst prime minister ever..(in the sense of how much he is fucking over this country/people..)
..comparing him to other ‘worst’..prime ministers..
..but to my mind..after rethinking those other ‘worst’ prime ministers..
..key is still head and shoulders above those lesser-lights..
..and i mean..i haven’t even gone near him knowing the implications from global-warming..and doing nothing about it..eh..?..
..and this is what key will be really cursed for..from a historical perspective/the future..
..that he knew..and did/said nothing..just bowed to the behests of all those corporates fucking over the nation/world/people..
..just that one example of his screaming neglect of his duties/responsibilities..and the outcomes all will suffer..
..will pretty much guarantee key top-dog status in any future hall of nz prime minister-infamy..
The link you provide links to articles in the Guardian and Independent on the subject and yet again shows how the British people appear to have more informative information sources available to them than we ever do here.
I thought the Independent article was worth providing a link to in case it was of interest to others:
CRASS BOOBY ALERT!
France’s most ridiculous poseur is posing again
Recently, with Slavoj Žižek’s foolish attempt to take on the vastly superior Noam Chomsky, third-rate pseudo-intellectuals have been in the news again. With the death of Christopher Hitchens, and the relative inactivity of P.J. O’Rourke and Martin Amis, stylish frauds had not been so prominent lately. But it looks like they’re unfortunately coming back into fashion, if this Financial Times article is anything to go by. Yes, friends, prepare for the unwelcome re-emergence of Bernard-Henri Lévy. While he has been irrefutably exposed as a fraud and a plagiarist of Dershowitzian proportions, it seems that news has not yet reached the editors of the Financial Times—otherwise they surely would not have commissioned such a shameless piece of PR puffery as the following embarrassment. Surely they have more integrity than that. Surely?
I have selected only the most outstandingly pretentious and ridiculous bits of this travesty of an article. Read the whole thing if you can bear it. As I prepared this for the reading pleasure of my fellow Standardistas, I encountered something even more sinister and worrying than if BHL and his late mentor Christopher Hitchens had appeared in your living room with Martin Amis, drunkenly looking for prostitutes: it appears that the Financial Times has software that can detect if you are cutting and pasting its articles.
I urge readers to look at the highlighted message from the FT that I have placed at the end of this item….
Bernard-Henri Lévy: ‘I don’t care much about my image’
by JOHN McDERMOTT, Financial Times, June 14, 2003
France’s philosopher dandy and most public of public intellectuals talks about saving Europe, toppling tyrants and his new ‘rendezvous with the question of art’
Bernard-Henri Lévy, philosopher, film-maker, action man, saviour of Libya, scourge of pithiness, peripatetic paramour and shirt-button revisionist, is afraid of paintings. “They look at me more than I look at them,” he tells me one warm June evening on the botanical terrace of Paris’s Hotel Raphael. “I live under their shadow, their glory, their light and their spell.” I know the feeling. A few hours with France’s most public of public intellectuals can feel like staring at a work of art. But what is it trying to say? […. ]
His last venture saw him drop into Benghazi, meet the rebels and call his “buddy” Nicolas Sarkozy to request intervention. An art exhibition seems a dull choice.
“Why did I choose? Did I choose?” he asks, moulding and sculpting the question. I wait, keen not to peer too intently at his bespoke get-up of dark suit and white shirt. His right hand flits from crotch, to silver hair, to a partially exposed chest, the brown of thwacked leather. When a thought is located, perhaps near the nipple, the fingers emerge. “It was an old, old, old dream,” he says, gesticulating. [….]
Few people doubt his smarts or his bravery. […] He has been an unremitting supporter of military action against totalitarian regimes in Bosnia, Darfur, Libya and, most recently, Syria. This is no flâneur.
Nevertheless, Lévy has been criticised for vanity and a lack of rigour. There is the dandyism, the playboy lifestyle and the third wife [….] And then there is the charge that his work is just not very good. In a review of American Vertigo (2006) in the New York Times Book Review, Garrison Keillor wrote for many when he said it was a “sort of book” that had the “grandiosity of a college sophomore”, and that it was “short on facts” but “long on conclusions”. [….]
Perry Anderson, the British historian, has written that Lévy is a “crass booby” and a “grotesque” indictment of the French intellectual. Even his allies suggest that he puts style before substance [….]
Christopher Hitchens, the late journalist and author, defended his friend against “nativist bloviation” from the likes of Keillor [….]
So does Lévy still think of himself as a philosopher? A sigh and a sniff later: “A philosopher? I do philosophy? I read philosophy. I spend time with philosophy. Am I a philosopher? I don’t know.” [….] Lévy speaks excellent English but the vowels are all French, giving his voice a bouncy stochastic sound. ….
Why is it important to have fully qualified early childhood teachers for development of 3 year olds? We aren’t wanting baby geniuses, but children who have a rich opportunity of experiences and be well socialised and are happy, safe and well-cared for. The people interacting with them do need some training and then should have a fully trained person organising and providing oversight. The number of 80% fully trained teachers was given this morning as a goal. I think this is upper class PC nonsense.
Not sure what your getting at. Are you saying that the education of a pre-schooler is less important than that of a 13 year old? The 13 year old will have tertiary trained teachers for every subject. Shouldn’t the pre-schooler also be entitled to tertiary trained teachers?
No. I think it’s getting out of hand when we say that every three year old should be in school, and it probably says alot about what is going on in our society that this is considered normal. I agree with Rt, there is a probably a class issue here too. And also an economics issue too.
Its about having children turned over to the state, to be handled by those who have been brain rinsed through the tertiary system to become, so called experts. These so called experts, where the learning they get are developed by who knows what abroad, then targeted at the minds of children you need simply to be doing the most fun things that a child can get.
Instead, they have psych treatment being metered out in PC mad environments, run by numpties who are trying to turn a profit.
Don’t believe it, get down your local early childhood care center, and look at the pointless shit they are doing with the kids…seriously go see what the tertiary education these people are getting, is doing to children, its a disgrace!
muzza
Well I didn’t know that, was operating on ‘common sense’ which sometimes is rational and practical. I think the powers that be can only be encouraged to help parents with their duties to their kids and give the kids socialisation and people skills by turning Early Childcare into Education and making it into something scientific. Otherwise its farmboy all over – Why should I help you bring up your kids stuff.
Someone is or should be taking me to task for my comment at 6 121. I needed a full stop somewhere. I like the government helping parents to have play centres available and properly run, ie safe and fun environments with other kids all being cared for, so no bullies or biting etc. which can occur with littlies believe me.
I don’t believe in the direction that ECE seems to be taking. Early childhood education with experts teaching these kids – what? I would expect – Making music, singing, doing a bit of dancing, reading to them, recognising pictures and names of animals, people, children and things, then having play time, have a bit of food and quiet time, more play and make messes finger painting, bits of stuff out of clay, colouring things, then getting cleaned up and quiet time with a story or a rest. That’s the pattern I would expect and which is appropriate for the early age, even up to five which would just have more of the word recognition and music.
North ho
“Not sure what your getting at. Are you saying that the education of a pre-schooler is less important than that of a 13 year old”
Yes. They don’t need all teachers with a professional degree, or with more training than the police get (six months I think).. They need trained teachers in social skills and psychological understanding of young ones and the value of play, and healthy routine and good relationships between the children.
Little children need to be watched while they play and have a safe and interesting environment to do so. 13 year old children are having to learn the complex things that they need to know as a young adult, including stuff that they aren’t taught but have to pick up by observation or inference, that there are things we don’t know about yet, once knew and have forgotten, know but don’t act on this knowledge.
I think you may have a limited understanding of the learning children do ages 1-5. As the Jesuits used to say, ” give me a child to 7, and I will give you the man.”
Those early years are critical, therefore the better trained the educators are, the better.
Northguynz
You want the children to be bent from early on, in the direction you have chosen for your class identification you mean?
This is about Jesuit education beliefs. There is no reason why children being encouraged to play and have experience opportunities as I have suggested would not learn appropriately for their age in the way suggested by the quote.
Jesuit education strives to give learners ongoing development of their imagination, feelings, conscience and intellect, and to encourage and help them recognize new experiences as opportunities to further growth. Learners see service to others as more self-fulfilling than personal success or prosperity.
The point is that knowing where to direct that play can set the child up well for school, or not. Suggesting that the role of early childhood educators is simply to babysit and watch the kids play is actually quite a significant disservice.
McFlock
You go off on a tangent – I didn’t say “the role of early childhood educators is simply to babysit and watch the kids play” at all. Neither do I think that. What I think is that there is no need for university trained educators, but definitely some training to encourage the young ones in their stimulating development. And that is all I am saying about that.
Housing in christchurch. Has anyone heard talk about providing modular housing, quick to put up, strong and well designed for its location, and done in volume?
This of course requires planning and decision making by experienced and people-oriented practical planners, architects and authorities all working together. Private interests could have some concern but the main thrust should come through the local body. I know there has been a fuss about slowness by the planning dept and being over-stretched but once two or three designs and their utility and suitability, (with eaves etc.) of the housing had been decided, there would be just a quick check on the land, and the suitability of the placement of the house, say regarding the sun and light access to the living area etc. – easy peasy.
So has anyone heard about the imminent building of modular houses assisted by NZ Housing and Christchurch City Council?
In case you also missed this as I did, next week a conference is being held in NZ (venue unknown – Sky City?) hosted by Palantir Technologies and Wynmark for “the cream of New Zealand’s intelligence community”.
Palantir Technologies won the awe of the United States’ intelligence community when it developed tools for large-scale data-mining, earning itself acclaim as “the War on Terror’s Secret Weapon”.
It set up shop in Wellington last year, advertising for an “embedded analyst” who was needed “to support our Palantir Government client base”.
Its presence in New Zealand emerged as our intelligence community found calls for greater openness and oversight coincided with world-wide alarm over the scale of surveillance.
The Prime Minister has already refused to answer questions about whether the company works for our intelligence agencies. John Key is known to have met with billionaire owner Peter Thiel but denied speaking about intelligence issues.
While Mr Key’s refusals for details on Palantir were repeated yesterday, the Herald discovered a recent NZ Defence Force publication stating: “Palantir intelligence software is in use with a number of our domestic and foreign partners.”
Palantir Technologies NZ is one of two “platinum” sponsors for next week’s gathering of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. The institute’s 2011 accounts show it collected $27,500 in sponsorship.
A spokesman for the institute said it aimed to be a “positive influence” on the intelligence community by providing “support, advice and opportunities” to ” improve intelligence practice in and for New Zealand”.
He said the sponsorship from Palantir, and other private companies, was in line with the way other non-profit and volunteer bodies operated. “In our context ‘intelligence’ is best defined as an organisation’s ability to analyse and understand its information and act on that understanding.”
The programme for the conference includes a presentation on mining large sets of data. It has retired senior FBI assistant director Louis Grever speaking on tools used for “detecting the whispers of behavioural intention from the mass of public source information”. Other talks include behavioural analysis and cyber-crime.
The conference’s other platinum sponsor Wynyard Group – a competitor to Palantir – has also developed powerful data-mining tools for intelligence and law enforcement bodies
Anne
Now that’s the sort of happiness that ece should be promoting!! I like that wee song. And they were only mock toy soldiers. So cute. So colourful. Those nice old-fashioned uniforms where you dressed up smartly and got called cherry-pickers. “The Cherry Pickers – 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own) (from an incident during the Peninsular …” google.
You know, it looks to me like Palantir is part of a US-based global conglomerate which creates and maintains the constant fear of instability and terrorism then sells its so-called state of the art anti-terrorist technology to stupid govts. – like the Key govt. – who fall hook, line and sinker for it.
I agree, Anne. IIRC. it was Russel Norman who first raised Palantir in Question Time some months ago but I cannot remember exactly when. Key was extremely shifty in his response to Norman’s questions – particularly in regard to his relationship with their CEO whose name I cannot remember but who was mentioned in yesterday’s Herald article.
And another David Fisher article in the Herald that I missed yesterday on the Skycity dirty deal.
“A State sector financial whiz hired to check SkyCity’s sums attacked the basis underpinning the “independent” report used by the Government to justify the convention centre deal.
The existence of memos attacking the foundation of the deal was discovered by the Herald after an analysis of the document release by the Government this week.
The memos were not included in the release and officials said last night they had been excluded from the large amount of information considered for release.
…
Labour Deputy Leader Grant Robertson said withholding release of the memos was “bizarre”. A spokesman for Mr Joyce said the memos contained commercially sensitive information and would have to be considered separately for release. He said the memos were part of KordaMentha’s considerations.”
this process of self-inflicted failure is one of the standard ways that civilizations write their own obituaries. In his formulation, societies thrive so long as the creative minority that leads them can keep on coming up with new responses to the challenges the world throws their way—a process that normally requires the regular replacement of the society’s leadership from below, so that new leaders with new ideas can rise to the top.
When that process of replacement breaks down, and the few people who still rise into the ruling class from lower down the pyramid are selected for their willingness to go along with the status quo rather than for their commitment to new ideas that work, what was once a creative minority degenerates into a dominant minority, which rules by coercion because it can no longer inspire by example. You can tell that this has happened to your society when every crisis gets met with the same stereotyped set of responses, even when those responses clearly don’t work.
Funnily enough, some thoughts on the markers of our demise crossed my mind yesterday evening. The extraordinary jail sentences being handed down for such crimes as stealing bottles of water during riots (several years or whatever in the UK); kids being banged up for the content of fb posts (US and UK). The fear of the elite is kind of palpable. And I got to thinking it might stem from the recognition (concious or otherwise) that they can’t rectify the economy that delivers their privileges to them. That and a recogniton that AGW is way beyond them and is guaranteed to put an end to their systems of empowerment one way or the other.
in his formulation, societies thrive so long as the creative minority that leads them can keep on coming up with new responses to the challenges the world throws their way—a process that normally requires the regular replacement of the society’s leadership from below, so that new leaders with new ideas can rise to the top.
Get the money, it’s the season,
Fa la la la la la la la la.
SCROOGE: Words to live by, Cratchit!
CRATCHIT: For you, maybe. Can’t you just wish someone merry Christmas, for the pure joy of doing it?
SCROOGE: Why? What’s the percentage in that? Let me show you how to make Christmas work for you!
Agreed Bill. Things are running out of control and the rich can’t pull it back into their grasp. Their economic solutions don’t work and everyone is starting to wake up to that fact.
Labour, a party of the workers and the underprivileged has been captured by careerists and neoliberal ideologues who have no allegiance to its ideals – first the Blessed Brides of Our Lord Roger – Douglas (spit) himself, Goff, King, Cosgrove, Mallard, and then those yuppie careerist shits like Hipkins and Robertson.
Actually, the very word “underprivileged” is nonsensical. No-one is “Underprivileged” because privilege itself is a crime. That incompetent aresewipe Shearer wants to use the poorest – beneficiaries – as scapegoats to frighten the working poor and the precariat.
Labour isn’t dead yet – there’s talent in the back benches such as Louisa Wall and David Clark showing that it can still be a real progressive party. They’re in the back benches because the ABC club sees their potential success a “distraction” from their cause – which is nothing more than a meal ticket at Bellamy’s.
Suport them; they’re the soul of the party. Shearer is a traitor. He and his cronies must go.
Bah, getting an error message, so here’s the addendum:
There are plenty of apologists for “realistic” Labour that lets Whalecum dictate its policy but they and Shearer’s careerist clique are really enablers of privilege. They’re the enemy too.
Pretty much my feelings about Labour, apart from your kindness to Helen Clark by way of omission. I think there are progressive people in Labour, but I also think the social democratic program is a dead end. I don’t think capitalism can be managed to be friendlier for any length of time. Hence when these people start to work this out, they either shift towards more radical solutions or settle for the parliamentary meal ticket.
Labour needs a radical wing to reform within it. A group of people daring enough to suggest drastic (lol) measures like full employment policies, a universal minimum income, boosting of the co-op and non-profit sector, and non-debt based money issuance.
Vince Siemer will present himself for imprisonment today, Saturday 20 July at Mt Eden prison, (although he hasn’t broken any law, and Chief Justice Sian Elias agrees that he shouldn’t be jailed.)
(Chief Justice Sian Elias – dissenting minority view):
“Conclusions
[86] For the reasons given, I would allow the appeal. I consider that the inherent power to make orders of the kind made by Winkelmann J was excluded by s 138 of the Criminal Justice Act. I would have quashed the sentence on that basis. Since that is a minority view, it has been necessary to explain why I differ from the majority in their reasons, which are dispositive of the appeal. I am of the view that a non-party to proceedings in which an order is made against the world may raise error of law in the making of the order as a defence in contempt proceedings based on its breach. On this ground I would have allowed the appeal and quashed the sentence.”
Vince Siemer has been sentenced to 6 weeks jail for ‘contempt of Court’ for publishing
Chief High Court Judge Winkelmann’s suppressed decision that the Urewera defendants were
not entitled to trial by jury, and the public were not allowed to know this:
How is this for gob-smacking judicial HYPOCRISY from none other than Chief High Court Judge Winkelmann herself?
“The expectation is we give detailed reasons for everything. One of the major ways we are accountable is through justifying our actions and we justify our actions through reasons and we are accountable for them.
“Anyone can see exactly how we reached that view, why we reached that view and they are free to criticise us and, in fact, criticism of those reasons is good.”
SO HOW COME VINCE SIEMER IS GOING TO JAIL CHIEF HIGH COURT JUDGE WINKELMANN?
BECAUSE HE PUBLISHED YOUR SUPPRESSED DECISION!
This will be the FOURTH time that Vince Siemer has been jailed, although he has not broken any law.
How is it LAWFUL for NZ Judges to just ‘make it up’ and exercise ‘judicial discretion’ and ‘inherent power’, which is not itself based upon the ‘Rule of Law’?
Do YOU want to ‘stand up and be counted’ against effectively ‘out of control’ NZ Judges?
If NZ Judges can get away with unjustly imprisoning Vince Siemer – WHO IS NEXT?
How to ensure genuine ‘transparency and accountability’ in NZ Courts?
Legislate for a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
Ensure that ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them.
Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
In my considered opinion, these three steps would help transform the NZ Judiciary.
In New Zealand, ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ – why aren’t these three steps already enshrined in NZ domestic legislation?
Back in the day………New Zealand 1984. Funny AND sad.
Came upon this while half watching replay of Wednesday’s rubbishy TV3 “The Vote” with my whangae nephew, just returned home from many years in Oz.
His query “Who’s that ?” when the now rather more tolerable caricature Bob Jones popped up led to uncle relating the politics of the day, which led to the link below.
I don’t think Muldoon had any choice but to call a snap election in 1984. National had 47 seats, Labour 43 and Social Credit 2. With Waring threatening to cross the floor and the Speaker, in those days, unable to vote, he was facing a hung parliament where he couldn’t command confidence and supply. It was poor form to have a few scotches before going to the media, but the decision was entirely reasonable in his position.
I live in Bangkok for several months each year. I have no opinion about climate change.
But the rain here in Thailand drops billions of cubic meters of water into four river systems up north each year. Mainly after August and Thailand has a problem,
Bangkok is flat and the dirty and mighty Chao Phraya river basin which collects it all does not easily empty into the Gulf of Thailand. It floods here every year.
I went to New Orleans, after that terrible hurricane Katrina thing and the city smelled of rotten wood.
If the water does rise too much, so many major cities are under threat, including London and New York, and all the cities built on river flows to the sea
And in Bangkok,yes the Bangkok Post will say today
The Prime Minister assures the Natrion and the Bangkok people there will be no flooding this year. We have cured the corruption inherent in this nation, the rice is safe and not rotten, my brother the criminal Thaksin does not run this country from abroad, we do not have extra judicial killings in this country, my cabinet Ministers are not inept fools
Not a helluva lot. Sovereignty ceded to Key’s mates and Skoi Siddie, a few electronic treats and trinkets that are either too expensive to operate due to corporate monopoly, OR completely useless because of any lack of investment and some sort of new digital divide – engineered by -you guessed it ….
The good thing is that there’ll be these Mussolini type ‘oik-ons’ screaming “wasn’t me, wasn’t me” whilst the rest of humanity repeats history at its most BASE, and its most sophisticated.
Not sure I loik John Key’s chances in the overall scheme of things.
Neither do I see ShonKey Python accorded a fine part in history when it’s written.
But Jesus he’s here and if anythng they’re going harder, more brazenly than they did beforehand. As if according to plan.
History has recorded lotsa people as nought but “gloating celebrity” in the reflexive persona and overall disappointments. However, while there is an end in sight, the tenet of selfishness has been engraved on the national psyche by dint of what the hell I don’t know. But it has and it’s scar remains on the social body indeed it will last beyond tenure.
This is the worry: I’m told Bill Andersen used to say “Before you go up, you gotta go down”.
“Jesus Bill………..how much further we gotta go down ?”
‘Bullshit’ Bridges strikes again: ‘Mr Bridges said the Government’s approved code of practice for the sector, which was implemented in December, would make a difference once it had time to “bed in”.'(stuff.co.nz). 28 deaths since January 2008 with six in as many months – so the average kill rate is no doubt accelerating faster than the rate of increase in corporate profits.
I see John Palino – Auckland Mayoralty candidate [right wing] is wanting to cut workers/staff at Auckland City to cut rates. I have a family member who has worked at Auckland City since the set up when the staff at the amalgamated units were slashed to cut costs. This family member usually works 60 hours a week plus weekend work on a regular basis. I suppose the staff will be slashed and consultants will be hired at astronomical rates – *sigh* http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/214983/mayoral-candidate-pledges-to-cut-rates
I note also that Palino is constantly referred to as a “centre-right candidate.” I can’t see much that is centrist or moderate in what this shallow restaurant fixer has said so far.
Pete 13.1
20 July 2013 at 9:42 pm
I don’t think Muldoon had any choice but to call a snap election in 1984. National had 47 seats, Labour 43 and Social Credit 2. With Waring threatening to cross the floor and the Speaker, in those days, unable to vote, he was facing a hung parliament where he couldn’t command confidence and supply. It was poor form to have a few scotches before going to the media, but the decision was entirely reasonable in his position.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
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My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
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A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
As the globe bakes arctic sea ice extent plummets in lockstep with record Northern snow melt.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/07/18/snow-and-arctic-ice-extent-plummet-suddenly-as-globe-bakes/
To the ignorant, or just the plain obtrusive the record snow dumps experienced in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are taken as evidence that global warming is not happening.
The opposite is the case.
At higher latitudes where the temperature does manage to drop below freezing, greater evaporation caused by global warming and the resulting higher humidity condenses, releasing greater precipitation of all types.
This is a warning. What should be taken away, about these record snow falls, is how quickly they melt away. And how little time they stay on the ground. ‘Record snowfalls, overnight turn into record snowmelts.
The same pattern is being seen in more temperate parts of the globe. Unprecedented droughts are followed by shock flood events.
The danger is real the results are catastrophic.
There are no excuses.
Action against climate change must become a major election issue in this country come 2014. Any politician who refuses to advocate the taking of the strongest actions possible against climate change is guilty of criminal negligence and cowardice. Any politician who advocates for doing nothing, for the good of the economy, for jobs, for growth, or any other excuse, is guilty of treachery against humanity.
Hows the geo-engineering reading coming along , Jenny?
Or , like the Arab Spring, are you happy to remain looking a bit silly, by only covering a small part of any subject matter, and ignoring others!
*plummet suddenly* – Yeah, sure it did, sniff sniff, oh more BS, from the washpost , no less!
Leave it up to the next generation to whip up some sort of sci fi whiz bang solution. Eh muzza.
This is a deliberate diversion.
As you have admitted in a previous thread muzza. Your so called support for geo-engineering is just another scam from a long list used by apologists who make excuses for doing nothing about cutting CO2 emissions. You probably think you are being cleveer than all the other run of the mill apologists and fossil fuel industry shills who argue for doing nothing about climate change, by dressing it up in this nonsense.
You are not sincere. If you were you would provide some links or suggestions to back up your case. As far as I can tell your whole argument is based on kicking the can further down the road.
ie Do nothing.
:How different is your position to that of the host of climate change ignorers, apologists and deniers?
P.S. muzza you give your self away with your last sentence. Casting doubt on the data.
No country is cutting CO2 emissions. None. That alone should tell you where the world will be in 50 years.
This informs me that NZ needs to be the first.
Sir Peter Gluckman the chief scientist advising the Prime Minister, has written on the government website that New Zealand’s greatest contribution to the fight against climate change will be by setting an example.
This is true. New Zealand has set examples for the world on votes for women on public housing, on social welfare, on nuclear free, on anit-apartheid, even on negatives like neo-liberalism.
New Zealand can be a world leader in fighting climate change. No other industrialised country is as well poised to set that example. Already 70% of our electricity is supplied by renewables.
It is our responsibility to do whatever we can, to show the world what can be done if there is the political will to do so.
Here in beautiful and fortunate New Zealand It is our duty.
There is no more important global political issue that we could give a lead on.
I completely agree that NZ should be the ‘threat of the good example’. Seems to me that NZ is favourably configured to do it. And being percieved as a ‘white, European and english speaking’ nation, means that the example wouldn’t be ignored and possibly means that negative actions on the part of the rest of the english speaking world to keep us ‘in line’ would be much less liable to occur…or at least much less liable to occur in a way that would garner any support from the actor’s domestic populace.
Could be a game changer.
If we are to do it we need to move on from the belief that government’s main job is balancing the books, to a return to political leadership in real economy nation building.
We are talking about a need to implement tens of billions in innovative infrastructure over the next decade but frankly, when you look at the example of how long and tortuous Aucklands $2.9B city rail link has taken to come to pass (sardonic laugh, its not going to physically come to pass for another 10 years at least) I think that while it could happen, it will not. Better to focus on small scale, local community projects rather than anything which needs to go through Wellington.
BTW as 2020 rolls around I think we will find that the estimated cost of the rail link will skyrocket and the project will stall again.
It needn’t cost that much at all. In fact in one area, public transport, it will cost considerably less than the $10 billion already earmarked for more motorway construction to cope with current congestion caused by lack of decent public transport. (The current plan for more motorways includes the incredibly expensive and environmentally damaging insane plan for a tunnel or second crossing over the Waitemata.)
As Auckland mayoral hopeful John Minto has pithily pointed out, more motorways will only get you to the traffic jam quicker.
I’m not saying that the money is not there, it definitely is. I’m saying that this agenda is unlikely to get its hands on that money in a timely manner, whether its by taking it from other budgets, cancelling other projects, or whatever.
The one possibility I see is if the Greens form a coalition government with Labour, where the Greens are equal size and equal partners. However you do not have much faith in them to do the right thing either.
This is true Bill. New Zealand is also “configured to do it”, in one more important way.
New Zealand is geopolitically situated next door to the biggest per-capita CO2 emitting country and coal exporter in the world. Which is also one of the hardest hit by climate change. If New Zealand took such measures it would set off a political earthquake in Australia.
From America:
In the West; “Drought-fueled wildfires again rage out of control in California and New Mexico.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/03/us-usa-wildfires-newmexico-idUSBRE9500DU20130603
http://www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/wildlandfire/latest-news-map
In the East; An unprecedented heatwave, from Memphis, to Washington, from New York, to Boston.
Of course the monster ridge of high pressure that most comes to mind for us here in the Southern Hemisphere, is the one that caused the recent heatwave in Australia.
Many Australians seeing what is happening in the continental US in the Northern Summer, will be wondering and worrying. “Will it be our turn again, in our coming summer?”
“And if not this summer the one after?”
If New Zealand gave a lead this would be wildly celebrated and embraced by many concerned Australians who would demand that similiar measures against climate change be taken there.
This would truely be a game changer.
No, Jenny, its not a diversion.
Where on earth did you get that I support geo-engineering from? I abhor the fact that its going on, been going on for about 100 years, been seriously hard core change in the last 50 years, and IMO is a major contributor to climate change.
But just keep focussing on one small component Jenny, I’m sure that will help.
The world is going to keep buying oil, polluting, raping, destroying the life supporting systems of this planet, those in charge will ensure it, that is not in doubt!
Unfortunately the so called science, and the control over the propaganda, had got people all looking in the wrong direction, or not looking at all, because its all too hard.
The so called solutions, are already in play, you just have no idea what to look for. Don’t worry about it though, you will get what you ask for, but you won’t like the solution, neither will future generations.
My suggestion, go and do some reading, understand that science has wrecked earths protective layer, and so called science is now back peddling to correct the damage. Science is also taking over control of food, water, and air, and the science, is backed by the controllers of the financial system. I appreciate its too bloody difficult for people to accept, but that’s just the way it is, and the sooner enough people connect the links, the sooner we can get on with applying the appropriate strategy.
Your energy would be helpful, Jenny, if it was aimed in the right directions!
And where in your opinion, muzza, so you think that should be?
Jenny, you have passion, which really comes through in your posts, and I for one certainly appreciate it.
The existing political system, is not going to lead the way, which is why I believe its spent energy wishing that it will. The climate change situation, is not going to be changed anytime soon, because the information being made available, is either lies, spin for some other description, of BS. Also the narrow band of focus on c02, is nonsense, there is more to the discussion that this, however, as long as the interference of science, via geo-engineering, and any/all influences on the climate, are tabled for discussion, then we are all making decisions, taking actions based on falsehoods, and incomplete information sets!
Better to just get on with what can be done at a local level to create change, such as getting away from the dependencies of the so called grid, be it energy, monetary and so on.
Keep the focus on things which you can change, that is a lesson I also need to practice a little more , myself.
Have a good evening.
And a good evening to you to muzza.
What I still get from your posts, is your wish that we all do nothing, (or as close to nothing as possible).
You have continually tried to divert us to through various strategies.
Individual actions, which is your latest diversion, will never be enough, and have never been enough.
When climate change global warming was first raised as an issue in the ’90s the authorities and the media tried to whip up a moral panic putting all responsibility for it back onto the individual.
This involved a lot of guilt tripping of the general population.
We were told;
“You are the problem.”
“Humanity are breeding to much” ”
“You are consuming/earning to much”.
“Humans are greedy”,
“You are useless”
“Humanity is powerless”.
All of these specious original arguments can be and have been disproved.
But all this guilt tripping and doom and gloom by the ‘experts’ and the media serves a purpose, instilling a feeling of despondency and helplessness that nothing can be done, and ultimately resignation and general acceptance of BAU, to enable the institutional polluters to keep on freely polluting as much as they want.
Yes, individual lifestyle changes will play a role. But alone will not be a game changer.
As we have learnt more about the problem, (and the solutions.)
It has become clear that individual and/or small scale changes in lifestyle, consumption, etc., in the face of massive institutional and industry pollution would be so insignificant as to make little difference to the outcome of climate change. Most people at some level realise this.
As to what we can do and can change…..
This too has become clearer.
Good evening Jenny,
Ok, just to clarify – I’m not trying to divert anything, nor do I have a strategy.
The strategy which is in play, as you point out, by TPTB, is to keep the global populace confused to the point where they just, tune out. Its the same strategy employed on almost any topic you can name, peddled through the MSM channels.
My only contention is, that until all aspects of the discussion about co called , climate change, are in the public domain, best as they can be, and the trust between the populace and the so called, rulers is being rebuilt (and I don’t see where that will come from), then it is very much down to individuals, to take responsibility.
Individuals who do this, will in turn influence positively, their families, friends, streets, suburbs, communities, towns, cities, states, nations, continents …..etc
See how that might work?
I’m not suggesting that it be an everyone for themselves, the opposite is in fact what I am about, however it must start with the individual, and propagate outwards from there.
Have a good week,
the lynton crosby(from crosby-textor)/john key/david cameron scandal continues to unfold apace..
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=lynton+crosby
..tho’ our mainstream media seems still unable/unwilling to join these (pulsating) dots..(?)
..so far..the legislative-successes/’wins’ here in new zealand for crosby on behalf of his ‘dark side’ paymasters..in getting key to do his/their will…include:..
1)..no plain packacging for tobacco..
2)..no price moves on cheap-booze aimed at getting teenagers hooked..
3)..and opening up the country to wholesale fracking…
..but i am sure there is so much more..
..and the civilian did a piss-take on people saying key is our worst prime minister ever..(in the sense of how much he is fucking over this country/people..)
..comparing him to other ‘worst’..prime ministers..
..but to my mind..after rethinking those other ‘worst’ prime ministers..
..key is still head and shoulders above those lesser-lights..
..and i mean..i haven’t even gone near him knowing the implications from global-warming..and doing nothing about it..eh..?..
..and this is what key will be really cursed for..from a historical perspective/the future..
..that he knew..and did/said nothing..just bowed to the behests of all those corporates fucking over the nation/world/people..
..just that one example of his screaming neglect of his duties/responsibilities..and the outcomes all will suffer..
..will pretty much guarantee key top-dog status in any future hall of nz prime minister-infamy..
..and key likes being ‘top-dog’..eh..?
..phillip ure..
+1 Phillip Ure,
Really helpful information to know, thank you.
The link you provide links to articles in the Guardian and Independent on the subject and yet again shows how the British people appear to have more informative information sources available to them than we ever do here.
I thought the Independent article was worth providing a link to in case it was of interest to others:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/now-cameron-aide-lynton-crosbys-links-to-fracking-industry-are-explored-8708331.html
I sincerely wish that we had better media sources available to ordinary folk here who vote (or don’t) and get their ‘information’ via newspapers.
chrs..and re access to quality media..that is why i started doing what i do..
..after living in countries with access to good information/analysis/commentary you realise just how poorly we have always been served..
..and cliche as truism is that an educated populace makes educated/better choices..(that is the hope anyway..)
..and most days i find 40-60 examples of that quality-media..
..so it is out there..
..and much much easier to access now..
..and i wish more people would start doing what i do..
..different voices/perspectives/choices can only add to that general narrative..(that is the theory/hope anyway..)
..and this latest crosby/cameron/key thing..to me..
..couldn’t pull just how bad things are clearer into focus..
..the stench of corruption is almost overpowering..
..this govt is the handmaiden of almost all that is so wrong..
..tobacco – booze – gambling – fracking – drilling – mining – setting up/legitimising a surveillance-state..
..the list goes on and on..
..phillip ure..
@Phillip Ure,
Thoroughly agree and will keep an eye out for your comments!
Thanks for spreading helpful information
Regards,
blue leopard
A trifecta !
Trifecta ?
http://www.spankyourbank.com.au/who-owns-how-much-of-our-banks#.Uejyyyu3xkI.facebook
In case there is still people who think the NZ banks, are Oz banks!
CRASS BOOBY ALERT!
France’s most ridiculous poseur is posing again
Recently, with Slavoj Žižek’s foolish attempt to take on the vastly superior Noam Chomsky, third-rate pseudo-intellectuals have been in the news again. With the death of Christopher Hitchens, and the relative inactivity of P.J. O’Rourke and Martin Amis, stylish frauds had not been so prominent lately. But it looks like they’re unfortunately coming back into fashion, if this Financial Times article is anything to go by. Yes, friends, prepare for the unwelcome re-emergence of Bernard-Henri Lévy. While he has been irrefutably exposed as a fraud and a plagiarist of Dershowitzian proportions, it seems that news has not yet reached the editors of the Financial Times—otherwise they surely would not have commissioned such a shameless piece of PR puffery as the following embarrassment. Surely they have more integrity than that. Surely?
I have selected only the most outstandingly pretentious and ridiculous bits of this travesty of an article. Read the whole thing if you can bear it. As I prepared this for the reading pleasure of my fellow Standardistas, I encountered something even more sinister and worrying than if BHL and his late mentor Christopher Hitchens had appeared in your living room with Martin Amis, drunkenly looking for prostitutes: it appears that the Financial Times has software that can detect if you are cutting and pasting its articles.
I urge readers to look at the highlighted message from the FT that I have placed at the end of this item….
Bernard-Henri Lévy: ‘I don’t care much about my image’
by JOHN McDERMOTT, Financial Times, June 14, 2003
France’s philosopher dandy and most public of public intellectuals talks about saving Europe, toppling tyrants and his new ‘rendezvous with the question of art’
Bernard-Henri Lévy, philosopher, film-maker, action man, saviour of Libya, scourge of pithiness, peripatetic paramour and shirt-button revisionist, is afraid of paintings. “They look at me more than I look at them,” he tells me one warm June evening on the botanical terrace of Paris’s Hotel Raphael. “I live under their shadow, their glory, their light and their spell.” I know the feeling. A few hours with France’s most public of public intellectuals can feel like staring at a work of art. But what is it trying to say? […. ]
His last venture saw him drop into Benghazi, meet the rebels and call his “buddy” Nicolas Sarkozy to request intervention. An art exhibition seems a dull choice.
“Why did I choose? Did I choose?” he asks, moulding and sculpting the question. I wait, keen not to peer too intently at his bespoke get-up of dark suit and white shirt. His right hand flits from crotch, to silver hair, to a partially exposed chest, the brown of thwacked leather. When a thought is located, perhaps near the nipple, the fingers emerge. “It was an old, old, old dream,” he says, gesticulating. [….]
Few people doubt his smarts or his bravery. […] He has been an unremitting supporter of military action against totalitarian regimes in Bosnia, Darfur, Libya and, most recently, Syria. This is no flâneur.
Nevertheless, Lévy has been criticised for vanity and a lack of rigour. There is the dandyism, the playboy lifestyle and the third wife [….] And then there is the charge that his work is just not very good. In a review of American Vertigo (2006) in the New York Times Book Review, Garrison Keillor wrote for many when he said it was a “sort of book” that had the “grandiosity of a college sophomore”, and that it was “short on facts” but “long on conclusions”. [….]
Perry Anderson, the British historian, has written that Lévy is a “crass booby” and a “grotesque” indictment of the French intellectual. Even his allies suggest that he puts style before substance [….]
Christopher Hitchens, the late journalist and author, defended his friend against “nativist bloviation” from the likes of Keillor [….]
So does Lévy still think of himself as a philosopher? A sigh and a sniff later: “A philosopher? I do philosophy? I read philosophy. I spend time with philosophy. Am I a philosopher? I don’t know.” [….] Lévy speaks excellent English but the vowels are all French, giving his voice a bouncy stochastic sound. ….
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/080ad66c-d2ee-11e2-aac2-00144feab7de.html#axzz2ZSyHyVCQ
————————————
I stopped cutting and pasting this egregiously bad character study when I got this sinister message….
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/080ad66c-d2ee-11e2-aac2-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2ZT1tjVpJ
Why is it important to have fully qualified early childhood teachers for development of 3 year olds? We aren’t wanting baby geniuses, but children who have a rich opportunity of experiences and be well socialised and are happy, safe and well-cared for. The people interacting with them do need some training and then should have a fully trained person organising and providing oversight. The number of 80% fully trained teachers was given this morning as a goal. I think this is upper class PC nonsense.
Not sure what your getting at. Are you saying that the education of a pre-schooler is less important than that of a 13 year old? The 13 year old will have tertiary trained teachers for every subject. Shouldn’t the pre-schooler also be entitled to tertiary trained teachers?
No. I think it’s getting out of hand when we say that every three year old should be in school, and it probably says alot about what is going on in our society that this is considered normal. I agree with Rt, there is a probably a class issue here too. And also an economics issue too.
Its about having children turned over to the state, to be handled by those who have been brain rinsed through the tertiary system to become, so called experts. These so called experts, where the learning they get are developed by who knows what abroad, then targeted at the minds of children you need simply to be doing the most fun things that a child can get.
Instead, they have psych treatment being metered out in PC mad environments, run by numpties who are trying to turn a profit.
Don’t believe it, get down your local early childhood care center, and look at the pointless shit they are doing with the kids…seriously go see what the tertiary education these people are getting, is doing to children, its a disgrace!
muzza
Well I didn’t know that, was operating on ‘common sense’ which sometimes is rational and practical. I think the powers that be can only be encouraged to help parents with their duties to their kids and give the kids socialisation and people skills by turning Early Childcare into Education and making it into something scientific. Otherwise its farmboy all over – Why should I help you bring up your kids stuff.
Someone is or should be taking me to task for my comment at 6 121. I needed a full stop somewhere. I like the government helping parents to have play centres available and properly run, ie safe and fun environments with other kids all being cared for, so no bullies or biting etc. which can occur with littlies believe me.
I don’t believe in the direction that ECE seems to be taking. Early childhood education with experts teaching these kids – what? I would expect – Making music, singing, doing a bit of dancing, reading to them, recognising pictures and names of animals, people, children and things, then having play time, have a bit of food and quiet time, more play and make messes finger painting, bits of stuff out of clay, colouring things, then getting cleaned up and quiet time with a story or a rest. That’s the pattern I would expect and which is appropriate for the early age, even up to five which would just have more of the word recognition and music.
North ho
“Not sure what your getting at. Are you saying that the education of a pre-schooler is less important than that of a 13 year old”
Yes. They don’t need all teachers with a professional degree, or with more training than the police get (six months I think).. They need trained teachers in social skills and psychological understanding of young ones and the value of play, and healthy routine and good relationships between the children.
Little children need to be watched while they play and have a safe and interesting environment to do so. 13 year old children are having to learn the complex things that they need to know as a young adult, including stuff that they aren’t taught but have to pick up by observation or inference, that there are things we don’t know about yet, once knew and have forgotten, know but don’t act on this knowledge.
I don’t even have kids, and I know that ECE do a hell of a lot more than that. Those years are essentialy for basic social development.
I think you may have a limited understanding of the learning children do ages 1-5. As the Jesuits used to say, ” give me a child to 7, and I will give you the man.”
Those early years are critical, therefore the better trained the educators are, the better.
Northguynz
You want the children to be bent from early on, in the direction you have chosen for your class identification you mean?
This is about Jesuit education beliefs. There is no reason why children being encouraged to play and have experience opportunities as I have suggested would not learn appropriately for their age in the way suggested by the quote.
http://www.gonzaga.edu/about/mission/Jesuit-Education.asp
well, that went off on a tangent quickly…
The point is that knowing where to direct that play can set the child up well for school, or not. Suggesting that the role of early childhood educators is simply to babysit and watch the kids play is actually quite a significant disservice.
McFlock
You go off on a tangent – I didn’t say “the role of early childhood educators is simply to babysit and watch the kids play” at all. Neither do I think that. What I think is that there is no need for university trained educators, but definitely some training to encourage the young ones in their stimulating development. And that is all I am saying about that.
Housing in christchurch. Has anyone heard talk about providing modular housing, quick to put up, strong and well designed for its location, and done in volume?
This of course requires planning and decision making by experienced and people-oriented practical planners, architects and authorities all working together. Private interests could have some concern but the main thrust should come through the local body. I know there has been a fuss about slowness by the planning dept and being over-stretched but once two or three designs and their utility and suitability, (with eaves etc.) of the housing had been decided, there would be just a quick check on the land, and the suitability of the placement of the house, say regarding the sun and light access to the living area etc. – easy peasy.
So has anyone heard about the imminent building of modular houses assisted by NZ Housing and Christchurch City Council?
In case you also missed this as I did, next week a conference is being held in NZ (venue unknown – Sky City?) hosted by Palantir Technologies and Wynmark for “the cream of New Zealand’s intelligence community”.
Palantir Technologies won the awe of the United States’ intelligence community when it developed tools for large-scale data-mining, earning itself acclaim as “the War on Terror’s Secret Weapon”.
It set up shop in Wellington last year, advertising for an “embedded analyst” who was needed “to support our Palantir Government client base”.
Its presence in New Zealand emerged as our intelligence community found calls for greater openness and oversight coincided with world-wide alarm over the scale of surveillance.
The Prime Minister has already refused to answer questions about whether the company works for our intelligence agencies. John Key is known to have met with billionaire owner Peter Thiel but denied speaking about intelligence issues.
While Mr Key’s refusals for details on Palantir were repeated yesterday, the Herald discovered a recent NZ Defence Force publication stating: “Palantir intelligence software is in use with a number of our domestic and foreign partners.”
Palantir Technologies NZ is one of two “platinum” sponsors for next week’s gathering of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. The institute’s 2011 accounts show it collected $27,500 in sponsorship.
A spokesman for the institute said it aimed to be a “positive influence” on the intelligence community by providing “support, advice and opportunities” to ” improve intelligence practice in and for New Zealand”.
He said the sponsorship from Palantir, and other private companies, was in line with the way other non-profit and volunteer bodies operated. “In our context ‘intelligence’ is best defined as an organisation’s ability to analyse and understand its information and act on that understanding.”
The programme for the conference includes a presentation on mining large sets of data. It has retired senior FBI assistant director Louis Grever speaking on tools used for “detecting the whispers of behavioural intention from the mass of public source information”. Other talks include behavioural analysis and cyber-crime.
The conference’s other platinum sponsor Wynyard Group – a competitor to Palantir – has also developed powerful data-mining tools for intelligence and law enforcement bodies
…..
Read more here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10899920
It sounds a bit like technological version of a religious cult.
http://www.palantir.com/govcon-anz/
Welcome to the secret society of the surveillance-military industrial complex.
Be happy or else..
Note the soldiers in the background.
Anne
Now that’s the sort of happiness that ece should be promoting!! I like that wee song. And they were only mock toy soldiers. So cute. So colourful. Those nice old-fashioned uniforms where you dressed up smartly and got called cherry-pickers. “The Cherry Pickers – 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own) (from an incident during the Peninsular …” google.
Oh dear, it’s just like Darlene Zschech and her happy-clappy prosperity mob doing the devil dodge.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/palantirtech/
You know, it looks to me like Palantir is part of a US-based global conglomerate which creates and maintains the constant fear of instability and terrorism then sells its so-called state of the art anti-terrorist technology to stupid govts. – like the Key govt. – who fall hook, line and sinker for it.
I agree, Anne. IIRC. it was Russel Norman who first raised Palantir in Question Time some months ago but I cannot remember exactly when. Key was extremely shifty in his response to Norman’s questions – particularly in regard to his relationship with their CEO whose name I cannot remember but who was mentioned in yesterday’s Herald article.
And another David Fisher article in the Herald that I missed yesterday on the Skycity dirty deal.
“A State sector financial whiz hired to check SkyCity’s sums attacked the basis underpinning the “independent” report used by the Government to justify the convention centre deal.
The existence of memos attacking the foundation of the deal was discovered by the Herald after an analysis of the document release by the Government this week.
The memos were not included in the release and officials said last night they had been excluded from the large amount of information considered for release.
…
Labour Deputy Leader Grant Robertson said withholding release of the memos was “bizarre”. A spokesman for Mr Joyce said the memos contained commercially sensitive information and would have to be considered separately for release. He said the memos were part of KordaMentha’s considerations.”
The full article is here
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=10900001
John Michael Greer describes Labour perfectly
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2013/07/held-hostage-by-progress.html
Funnily enough, some thoughts on the markers of our demise crossed my mind yesterday evening. The extraordinary jail sentences being handed down for such crimes as stealing bottles of water during riots (several years or whatever in the UK); kids being banged up for the content of fb posts (US and UK). The fear of the elite is kind of palpable. And I got to thinking it might stem from the recognition (concious or otherwise) that they can’t rectify the economy that delivers their privileges to them. That and a recogniton that AGW is way beyond them and is guaranteed to put an end to their systems of empowerment one way or the other.
I believe that elite fear of widespread social unrest is also the driver behind domestic mass surveillance “capture it all” initiatives.
CV
Never mind, just forget that and listen to Stan Freberg on Green Christmas
http://www.wepsite.de/Freberg,%20GREEN%20CHRI$TMA$.htm
Get the money, it’s the season,
Fa la la la la la la la la.
SCROOGE: Words to live by, Cratchit!
CRATCHIT: For you, maybe. Can’t you just wish someone merry Christmas, for the pure joy of doing it?
SCROOGE: Why? What’s the percentage in that? Let me show you how to make Christmas work for you!
Agreed Bill. Things are running out of control and the rich can’t pull it back into their grasp. Their economic solutions don’t work and everyone is starting to wake up to that fact.
Which is why overseas, the power elite have been setting up a para-military police and surveillance state.
The double standard allows convicted criminals to be returned to their own state,and destroying their credibility viz a viz Snowden.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cia-chief-wanted-in-italy-for-rendition-on-his-way-back-to-us-8721235.html
of course US war criminals are prevented by US legislation such as the ‘Hague Invasion Act’
from being tried internationally.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Protection_Act
Labour, a party of the workers and the underprivileged has been captured by careerists and neoliberal ideologues who have no allegiance to its ideals – first the Blessed Brides of Our Lord Roger – Douglas (spit) himself, Goff, King, Cosgrove, Mallard, and then those yuppie careerist shits like Hipkins and Robertson.
Actually, the very word “underprivileged” is nonsensical. No-one is “Underprivileged” because privilege itself is a crime. That incompetent aresewipe Shearer wants to use the poorest – beneficiaries – as scapegoats to frighten the working poor and the precariat.
Labour isn’t dead yet – there’s talent in the back benches such as Louisa Wall and David Clark showing that it can still be a real progressive party. They’re in the back benches because the ABC club sees their potential success a “distraction” from their cause – which is nothing more than a meal ticket at Bellamy’s.
Suport them; they’re the soul of the party. Shearer is a traitor. He and his cronies must go.
Bah, getting an error message, so here’s the addendum:
There are plenty of apologists for “realistic” Labour that lets Whalecum dictate its policy but they and Shearer’s careerist clique are really enablers of privilege. They’re the enemy too.
Pretty much my feelings about Labour, apart from your kindness to Helen Clark by way of omission. I think there are progressive people in Labour, but I also think the social democratic program is a dead end. I don’t think capitalism can be managed to be friendlier for any length of time. Hence when these people start to work this out, they either shift towards more radical solutions or settle for the parliamentary meal ticket.
Labour needs a radical wing to reform within it. A group of people daring enough to suggest drastic (lol) measures like full employment policies, a universal minimum income, boosting of the co-op and non-profit sector, and non-debt based money issuance.
SUPPORT VINCE SIEMER – SUPPORT THE ‘RULE OF LAW’!
Vince Siemer will present himself for imprisonment today, Saturday 20 July at Mt Eden prison, (although he hasn’t broken any law, and Chief Justice Sian Elias agrees that he shouldn’t be jailed.)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1307/S00143/judgment-vincent-ross-siemer-v-solicitor-general.htm
(Chief Justice Sian Elias – dissenting minority view):
“Conclusions
[86] For the reasons given, I would allow the appeal. I consider that the inherent power to make orders of the kind made by Winkelmann J was excluded by s 138 of the Criminal Justice Act. I would have quashed the sentence on that basis. Since that is a minority view, it has been necessary to explain why I differ from the majority in their reasons, which are dispositive of the appeal. I am of the view that a non-party to proceedings in which an order is made against the world may raise error of law in the making of the order as a defence in contempt proceedings based on its breach. On this ground I would have allowed the appeal and quashed the sentence.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Vince Siemer has been sentenced to 6 weeks jail for ‘contempt of Court’ for publishing
Chief High Court Judge Winkelmann’s suppressed decision that the Urewera defendants were
not entitled to trial by jury, and the public were not allowed to know this:
How is this for gob-smacking judicial HYPOCRISY from none other than Chief High Court Judge Winkelmann herself?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878372
“The expectation is we give detailed reasons for everything. One of the major ways we are accountable is through justifying our actions and we justify our actions through reasons and we are accountable for them.
“Anyone can see exactly how we reached that view, why we reached that view and they are free to criticise us and, in fact, criticism of those reasons is good.”
SO HOW COME VINCE SIEMER IS GOING TO JAIL CHIEF HIGH COURT JUDGE WINKELMANN?
BECAUSE HE PUBLISHED YOUR SUPPRESSED DECISION!
This will be the FOURTH time that Vince Siemer has been jailed, although he has not broken any law.
How is it LAWFUL for NZ Judges to just ‘make it up’ and exercise ‘judicial discretion’ and ‘inherent power’, which is not itself based upon the ‘Rule of Law’?
Do YOU want to ‘stand up and be counted’ against effectively ‘out of control’ NZ Judges?
If NZ Judges can get away with unjustly imprisoning Vince Siemer – WHO IS NEXT?
PROTEST:
WHEN: TODAY – Saturday 20 July 2013
TIME: 4pm
WHERE: Outside entrance to Mt Eden Prison
cnr of Normanby and Lauder Rds.
http://www.zoomin.co.nz/nz/auckland/mount+eden/lauder+road/-mt+eden+prison/
______________________________________________________________________________
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/?p=200
See why corrupt members of the New Zealand Judiciary want to close down ‘Whistleblower’ Vince Siemer!
http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz/
How to ensure genuine ‘transparency and accountability’ in NZ Courts?
Legislate for a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
Ensure that ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them.
Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
In my considered opinion, these three steps would help transform the NZ Judiciary.
In New Zealand, ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ – why aren’t these three steps already enshrined in NZ domestic legislation?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption/ anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
(For more information on the Vince Siemer case – http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/ )
‘One of NZ’s finest journalists’ is having a bad month:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900475
Checking things just isn’t Duncan’s forte, I suppose.
Back in the day………New Zealand 1984. Funny AND sad.
Came upon this while half watching replay of Wednesday’s rubbishy TV3 “The Vote” with my whangae nephew, just returned home from many years in Oz.
His query “Who’s that ?” when the now rather more tolerable caricature Bob Jones popped up led to uncle relating the politics of the day, which led to the link below.
http://drmatthewashton.com/2010/11/26/great-mistakes-in-politics-no8-robert-muldoon-decides-to-call-a-snap-election-while-drunk/
Words, numbers, and slices of time juxtapose interestingly what ?
Like then when Neph’ was 12 it WAS 1984 but NO and today it’s NOT 1984 but YES.
SAD ! What’s he gonna have to tell his grandkids ?
I don’t think Muldoon had any choice but to call a snap election in 1984. National had 47 seats, Labour 43 and Social Credit 2. With Waring threatening to cross the floor and the Speaker, in those days, unable to vote, he was facing a hung parliament where he couldn’t command confidence and supply. It was poor form to have a few scotches before going to the media, but the decision was entirely reasonable in his position.
About Climate and above reference
I live in Bangkok for several months each year. I have no opinion about climate change.
But the rain here in Thailand drops billions of cubic meters of water into four river systems up north each year. Mainly after August and Thailand has a problem,
Bangkok is flat and the dirty and mighty Chao Phraya river basin which collects it all does not easily empty into the Gulf of Thailand. It floods here every year.
I went to New Orleans, after that terrible hurricane Katrina thing and the city smelled of rotten wood.
If the water does rise too much, so many major cities are under threat, including London and New York, and all the cities built on river flows to the sea
And in Bangkok,yes the Bangkok Post will say today
The Prime Minister assures the Natrion and the Bangkok people there will be no flooding this year. We have cured the corruption inherent in this nation, the rice is safe and not rotten, my brother the criminal Thaksin does not run this country from abroad, we do not have extra judicial killings in this country, my cabinet Ministers are not inept fools
What’s he gonna have to tell his grandkids ?
Not a helluva lot. Sovereignty ceded to Key’s mates and Skoi Siddie, a few electronic treats and trinkets that are either too expensive to operate due to corporate monopoly, OR completely useless because of any lack of investment and some sort of new digital divide – engineered by -you guessed it ….
The good thing is that there’ll be these Mussolini type ‘oik-ons’ screaming “wasn’t me, wasn’t me” whilst the rest of humanity repeats history at its most BASE, and its most sophisticated.
Not sure I loik John Key’s chances in the overall scheme of things.
Neither do I see ShonKey Python accorded a fine part in history when it’s written.
But Jesus he’s here and if anythng they’re going harder, more brazenly than they did beforehand. As if according to plan.
History has recorded lotsa people as nought but “gloating celebrity” in the reflexive persona and overall disappointments. However, while there is an end in sight, the tenet of selfishness has been engraved on the national psyche by dint of what the hell I don’t know. But it has and it’s scar remains on the social body indeed it will last beyond tenure.
This is the worry: I’m told Bill Andersen used to say “Before you go up, you gotta go down”.
“Jesus Bill………..how much further we gotta go down ?”
The worst trade ever.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/07/nate-silver-to-espn-168811.html
no, more from the washpost
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/global-attitudes-reflect-shifting-us-china-power-balance-survey-concludes/2013/07/17/7f51a94c-eeed-11e2-bed3-b9b6fe264871_story.html
‘Bullshit’ Bridges strikes again: ‘Mr Bridges said the Government’s approved code of practice for the sector, which was implemented in December, would make a difference once it had time to “bed in”.'(stuff.co.nz). 28 deaths since January 2008 with six in as many months – so the average kill rate is no doubt accelerating faster than the rate of increase in corporate profits.
I see John Palino – Auckland Mayoralty candidate [right wing] is wanting to cut workers/staff at Auckland City to cut rates. I have a family member who has worked at Auckland City since the set up when the staff at the amalgamated units were slashed to cut costs. This family member usually works 60 hours a week plus weekend work on a regular basis. I suppose the staff will be slashed and consultants will be hired at astronomical rates – *sigh* http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/214983/mayoral-candidate-pledges-to-cut-rates
I note also that Palino is constantly referred to as a “centre-right candidate.” I can’t see much that is centrist or moderate in what this shallow restaurant fixer has said so far.
Morrissey
+1
Sounds like ACTion man to me.
Palino is a “Key” man.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10892317
Pete 13.1
20 July 2013 at 9:42 pm
I don’t think Muldoon had any choice but to call a snap election in 1984. National had 47 seats, Labour 43 and Social Credit 2. With Waring threatening to cross the floor and the Speaker, in those days, unable to vote, he was facing a hung parliament where he couldn’t command confidence and supply. It was poor form to have a few scotches before going to the media, but the decision was entirely reasonable in his position.
I entirely concur with Pete comment here