To me, this isn’t a good look from a /state/ broadcaster. Predicting how much coverage Ardens pregnancy will get while actual politics gets ignored? RNZ, and every other ‘news’ agency, decides that. And that title, urgh.
An admission that someone on kiwiblog expects sexist white knights to cry wolf whenever the opposition interacts with the PM just because shes pregnant? She decided she can be PM and pregnant at the same time, and good for her, but she still has to be PM and the opposition shouldn’t be afraid to do their jobs. Frankly, anyone who blows up over normal politics because “how could you treat a pregnant lady like that” is siding /with/ the “she shouldn’t be PM and pregnant crowd”, the hypocracy of which would only help the right.
Since when have the Gnats done their jobs? They’re great at making noise but have rat-all to boast of for all their years in power. The legitimacy of a complaining opposition rests upon a determination to do better that was not in evidence under Key and English.
We are in a historic time that (some) don’t want any changes but a change is coming Anon so get over it.
So please do what we had to do nine years ago, when we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad, and was speculating on the NZ Dollar and our own economy and we accepted that.
So you now need to realise that we are now about to have a youngest first pregnant leader woman PM, and a Maori PM male (Winston Peters) for six weeks during the birth of the first family’s baby also.
I don’t care about identity politics, when is the government going to actually follow through on some election promises? And why is /state media/ coming out and saying it’ll ignore real politics to report more on fluff???
“the state media” is not saying anything. It’s an OP by Brigitte Morten.
If you read to the end of the article, you will see this:
Brigitte Morten was a senior ministerial adviser for the previous National-led government. Prior to that she was an adviser and campaign director for the Australia’s Liberal Party.
So, it could just as easily be claimed that Brigette is giving the Nats some warning about where be dragons, and pointing them to how they should proceed to counter the Ardern-led government.
Then it would be nice if they published it with an editorial note that they won’t actually be doing this. To let the accusation stand, especially given that it would be status quo for media in New Zealand…
…As someone who wants to see the government I voted for do something substantial? Like on homelessness, poverty, climate change, or abortion law reform?
In a way any vote in the elections is kind of a vote for the government – even a ‘losing’ vote. (Though to be clear, I party voted Labour after Arden promised abortion law reform.)
Fair enough. I just find it very ambiguous language when people colloquially say that they voted for a particular Government as if it were based on an (single) outcome at one given time. Yet, in three years’ time people will still stick to the tribal & partisan lines proclaiming that they did or did not vote for the incumbent Government. After the Election on 23rd September last year it was anybody’s guess what the new Government would look like and how it would enact on election promises and core (party) policies. One could argue that we vote for a given Government and political outcome over a period of one election cycle (and longer) by proxy by I find this such an extrapolation that it is next to meaningless. Quite possibly I am not enough of a dedicated ‘team player’ or loyal ‘team supporter’ to feel a strong affiliation and association with a given political clique. The one possible downside is that I don’t get to ‘celebrate’ and rejoice in so-called victories but neither do I get too wound up about the inevitable defeats and setbacks. Big picture vs. small picture stuff IMO.
You expected all that by Jan 2018? We will only need one year govts based on your expectations that all promises are done within 3 months ( given the shut down period where no laws can be changed)
Hmmm been in a few months including a shut down for Christmas… what woukd you have had them do by now given Parliament shut down about a mo th ago so no Bills or Laws can be pushed through?
First year of free tertiary education available this year. Glossy brochures with this years course info and a blurb about the first year free via NMIT already delivered… awesomesauce, lets do this, thanking you new government. Salisbury School is to remain open, EPIC GOODNESS RIGHT THERE, loving this coalition, thank you VERY MUCH.
Baby news is still fresh as, public are interested, any mainstream media will milk it for airplay/views etc, thats a given. Opinions every where, click bait abound, advertising revenue up up up.
Tomorrow on the AM show… will mark richardson be there, Jacinda too? Entertainment for the masses, stand by for the headlines.
“first family’s baby also”.
Do you really feel the need to adopt this dreadful US approach?
“First Family” may, almost, be justified in the US where the person is the Head of State and kow-towed to in quite ridiculous manner but why do people in New Zealand want to adopt the practice?
“Key/English set the pace for ” this dreadful US approach” not me”.
Really? You can of course provide links to where they used the phrase “first family” to describe their families, or at least each others families?
No? Thought not.
By the way what does “loosing” mean when applied to an election?
I notice that you tend to use the word quite regularly in unusual circumstances.
Do you have any evidence at all that Key himself the term “First Family” or anything like it?
That is what you are claiming when you say “I didn’t think we needed it from Key and Max either, but we got it”.
I am not claiming, you will note, that Jacinda Ardern or her partner use the term. I am only suggesting that there is no need for cleangreen to introduce it.
We didnt need the notion of it alwyn. And some media treated Key and Max as celebrities something that bothered neither of them given Max’s milking of it. Bronagh did not and the media seemed to respect that. Compare with tge social media swirling around Peter Davis.
I disagree and think that although it is a big step for the JA-CG household, and possibly a minor ‘event’ for the coalition, it is nothing but a tiny ripple for the country as a whole.
I reckon the whole thing is ‘dramatized’ and taken way out of proportion with wild speculation and exaggerations abound but it gives the ‘pundits’ something to chew on 😉 Lately, we seem to have been experiencing a plethora of ‘historical events’ with ‘milestones’ at every step of the way 😉
“we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad”.
Who was the MP you have in mind?
I thought you might have meant John Key but he only lived overseas for 6 of the 47 years of his life before becoming PM.
That was less years away than either Geoffrey Palmer, before he was PM or Helen Clark, although hers were after her stint in the PMs seat.
It was very similar to the number Rob Muldoon was away.
Regardless of that it certainly wasn’t the case that he had “lived mostly abroad” was it?
It was, however vastly less than any of the early Labour Prime Ministers, Mickey Savage, Peter Fraser or Walter Nash who all spent about half their lives out of New Zealand. Did you have one of them in mind?
Not really, she said before the election that she wanted kids, and it’d be pretty naive to think a persons personal circumstances does’t affect their politics. But “being pregnant” isn’t a policy, and focusing on one policy area (if indeed that’s what’s going to happen) just because it personnally relates is a pretty selfish way to run a country.
I do also wonder if this will affect abortion law reform, as promised during election but as yet not since mentioned.
Lack of results? In 3 months. Get a grip. We had to wait months for the ordained job summit which would solve all unemployment problems from GFC but all we got was a cycle trail ( still not complete).
You really think so? I would imagine the last time you would focus on getting pregnant is during an election campaign. You joining the ti foil hat brigade BM? You laugh at far more plausible conspiracies than this like peeps accusing Key of using Max to project a certain image…
Thou shalt not have intercourse to risk pregnancy whilst holding any role of importance, especially if one has the power to grow a human life form inside of one self.
But, but… we only did it once…. well you should have thought about it to start with.
Shame on them for making love when they had been advised they could have difficulty conceiving.
New rule… no sex for all politicians, gender equality and all that, could be part of the ‘no surprises’ narrative.
FFS
Side note…. are tories annoyed because they aren’t getting any/enough sex? Could that be an underlying issue? Kinda feeling a bit sorry for the tories now. Yeah, nah LMAO
Aren’t top sporters banned from sex before major performances? Or perhaps they should hand out free condoms in Parliament as they do in the Olympic Village (and the Games don’t last as long either!).
The Prime Minister is going to be a mother. They will be one person.
The rest of the country including the entire political order is going to have to deal with that. People should just relax and presume it’s actually perfectly natural.
Yes, you may have to get a great deal more circumspect Rosemary.
Ad sounds like the Thai Government. He will no doubt soon be wanting to copy their laws about the Royal Family and apply them to our PM.
Don’t even dare to suggest that the “first family’s baby” as Cleangreen is labelling the child, may just be like any other infant.
Such an insult may open you up to 35 years inside. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/09/man-jailed-for-35-years-in-thailand-for-insulting-monarchy-on-facebook
I believe that was the case with the late King.
Friends who are familiar with the situation there, which I am not, are not at all sure whether this is the case with the current incumbent.
Not terribly relevant I suppose. I think the New Zealand public would be very loathe to have such rules in place.
In my opinion you’re one of the most readable and considered commentators here…
You are correct that Ad took the comments you made about PM baby in a way that you clearly were not meaning in that comment…
Ads comments are , at best, inconsistent…
Clearly , the offspring of a careerist public servant, nor the parents, will need to concern about the ‘harships’ faced by many parents and family’s…the media will feadt on it of course…
This govt will achieve little of nothing significant…that’s already clear…
It’s perfectly natural that people get distracted by babies? It’s perfectly natural that people will hypocritically expect others to take it easy on the Prime Minister because she’s pregnant? Yeah, I’d agree with that.
You did note who that opinion piece was written by? She was an advisor to the Nats and obviously lost her job in October last year. She’s been advising the Key government and the Liberals in Australia, y’know Abbott, Bishop, and Dutton types.
She’s still advising the Nats here via the media on how to attack. I wonder if it’s paid work…
As state broadcaster it should be providing space for diverse views. It is clearly labelled as an opinion piece, and the appropriate disclaimer has been made. It also publishes opinion pieces by the likes of left winger Stephanie Rodgers. That IS the role of a state broadcaster.
It enables democratic public debate of and between different views.
It is not being presented as News, which does require more balance.
* Brigitte Morten was a senior ministerial adviser for the previous National-led government. Prior to that she was an adviser and campaign director for the Australia’s Liberal Party.
Do you think anyone is going to read that and not recognise the blatant political bias of the author? It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.
It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.
You think so?
I have my doubts; the very recent saga around Open Parachute here on TS, which resulted in a (brief) ban, proved and again confirmed, to me, that many (most?) people don’t properly (or at all?) read disclaimers and ‘fine-print’ and mostly utilise fast thinking to form judgements and make decisions.
An even better (and less contentious!) example is the blogpost by swordfish that featured in OM yesterday, which shows, among other things, that many professional and intelligent people do the exact same thing with all the (negative) consequences. You would think that anything that David Farrar writes would be scrupulously scrutinised and critically examined before accepting it as true & correct information that’s fit for general consumption and further dissemination, wouldn’t you? The analysis by swordfish shows it is almost the exact opposite!
Jesus you trolls sound such a lot of losers – scraping the bottom of the barrel of ideas on how to criticise this new Government. Never heard such drivel in my life. Start the day on a better note please for the sake of the sanity of the readers of this site. Just grow up all of you.
“I’ve been doing this for so many years,” said the Northbrook resident. “And though women have seen a lot of progress, it has started to erode. But people are waking up.”
A lot of people; more than a quarter of a million.
Organizers about 11:30 a.m. said the city informed them they’ve exceeded last year’s crowd of 250,000.
“I have just been informed that we are as big as last year,” said organizer Ann Scholhamer, over the cheering crowd and the whir of a helicopter overhead. “And people are still coming.”
Many thanks to all the Lady’s in the USA and around the world for protesting for their equal rights and protest against trump.
In my view tax cut is a form of cheating to get a economic stimulus taking money from the 99% and giving to the 1%. It’s a bigger challenge to stimulat a economy to benefit the 99% who trump has ignored. Ka kite ano
Without “tenure review” we would have retained thousands of acres of public land. Instead of paying to give it away. To runholders who have made up to 3000 times anything the have paid. On selling it too wealthy Yanks.
The ending of funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Programme in this budget failure will affect 9 million children. This was an Orrin Hatch/Kennedy initiative with strong bipartisan support.
That is going to be big on the list of this Women’s March.
As well as the spectacular attacks on the funding of reproductive health.
Wow, where could this massive march be? CA, NY? Nope North Carolina, Asheville. Lots more of us decent Americans than those Racist, Hate Driven trump/republicans. Put that in your pipe and enjoy it! pic.twitter.com/zw9tdZzkvj— Allen Marshall (@AllenCMarshall) January 20, 2018
She talks about intersections of sexual abuse with racism and poverty. Viola begins with a quote from Malcolm X. She does draw on US constitutional and individual rights values, but transforms them into values for collective action.
And she says that no one or nothing can be great without a cost. We need to be prepared to pay the price, and not take a weak comfortable position.
I didn’t so much hear her “drawing on” the US Constitution or individual rights so much as sledgehammering the US constitution and the so-called founding fathers by slating Jim Crow and the 13th Amendment straight on back to where they came from.
What I admire about our Australian cousins is that they stick up for their rights. There unions are strong and wages are higher than ours. They are not to shy to push for their rights in my view any way. Ka kite ano
Now that Treasury officials have confirmed that child poverty reductions were over-estimated, can we expect to see Labour increase their families package?
Should have just zipped it sweetie every time she saw a cream cake. Amused by her desire to get back to Electorate la la la la and her BIG National Party in Wellington.
Its great that she has the income to be able to afford the $20,000 plus fees for the job.
Reminds me years ago a very non-P.C. doctor telling me “You never saw a fat person in Belsen did you” when I was grizzling about my increasing weight. Then he said “It’s what going in here that is the problem” pointing to his open mouth. Another time he told me to “get a pair of runners and get off your ass” when I complained about being tired and lacking in energy.
Honestly this was happening back in the 1980’s when doctors were advising patients what to do with their weight or lack of energy woes.
I keep my weight off as I can’t afford to have this bypass surgery – just like heaps of other people have to. It won’t make me admire her for her initiative and discipline in having the job done as Dr Edward Elder said in the Herald. What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?
You are a dumb ass, you don’t know what you’re talking about so please keep your opinions to yourself
So sharing time…my wife had this same procedure roughly a year ago and it cost us 21 grand (could have gone overseas but if something went wrong…) with a bit of a discount for taking part in a questionaire
This was the best thing for my wife while for some its relatively easy to lose weight (I lost 16 kilos last year by mainly changing my diet to a predominately vegetarian diet) but in her case the steroids she was on in her early 20s (due to cervical cancer that came back) plus her having PCOS and that the genetics from her family are on the shorter, stockier side means that when it comes to gaining weight and losing weight she certainly got the worst of it
Most who get this operation don’t do it lightly and it is a big deal because for a lot of people it does mean you have to admit that you can’t do it yourself, that you do need help and for some it can have a serious effect
You have to get used to just not being able to have certain things any longer (no fizzy drink, ever) or complete changes in the things you want to eat or losing the joy in eating certain foods and having to remember to eat and drink because you no longer feel hungry or thirsty
Having to be careful how much you eat and drink because just a bite or two more and you’re in the toilet throwing it all back up, having to deal with well-meaning friends and family that don’t get that you just can’t eat much, not being able to fully take part in celebrations (or at least thinking you can’t)
Depressed because you’ve spent 21 grand on an operation for something that everyone says is easy…
There is no need to call me a dumb ass – I have close family who have PCOS- two in fact and I am very familiar with it, neither of them has become obese, they have made dietry changes and do the gym regularly – one of my family had a scan done and both ovaries were smothered in multi cysts. There are vitamin supplements which help and yes, there is a tendancy for weight gain but both have kept their weight down to a respectable degree. A good example Jamie Oliver’s wife has PCOS and has kept her weight down.
Steroid use I do admit can cause weight gain because of increased appetite, a lot of medications can cause weight gain gain and for that I understand your wife’s predicament – I just feel that surgery is a quick fix as other avenues may not have not been explored in lots of cases. Lucky for those who can afford it as I am sure our hospital system wouldn’t allow people willy nilly to have this surgery done at the tax payer’s expense.
I was talking to Ed however your type of ignorance is not needed either, all it does is help strengthen the argument that all you need to do is a bit of exercise, eat some vitamins, eat a little better and hey presto the weights gone
As I’m sure you might be aware (sarcasm) everyone is different so your experiences are yours, mine is mine and having lived with my wife for 14 years and seeing how the exercise hasn’t worked, hearing the abuse shes gotten (’cause you know people, men and women, love to shout “encouragement”) holding her when shes cried, supported her when shes down, tried to convince I still love and desire her even when her own brains telling herself how weak and disgusting she is I can’t really be bothered with the type of person that dismiss a legitimate medical procedure simply because they think its somehow not putting in the work
“What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?”
The discipline to admit you can’t do it, the discipline to have accept you need help even though everyone (all experts of course) tells you its easy to lose weight, the discipline to realize that you’re having surgery and you’ll never be the same again
The discipline to realize that you’ll lose weight but that you won’t accept you did anything to “deserve” the weight loss because you didn’t work for it, that theirs a lot of ignorant people that will think its cheating
The discipline to understand that from now and until the day you die you have to remember to eat and drink because you don’t feel hungry or thirsty
The guilt you go through when you consider what else you could spend 20 odd grand on
So yeah I was talking to Ed but you’re a dumb ass as well
No he isn’t, it works for some but not so it is not a panacea amd its the kind of attitude that makes people feel worse about themselves and their decision because “all they have to do is this and they’ll lose weight” which basically you’re not really trying to lose weight and are just lazy
She will be advocating for this to be on the public list as a medical procedure, right? So poor people can get access to this life threatening thing that can only be resolved surgically?
Bariatric surgery is funded by most DHBs if the patient meets certain specified criteria, as she had her surgery in private I don’t see how your comment is particularly relevant though ?
The funny (but not really funny) thing is because of the healthy eating and exercise my wife did to try to shift the weight meant that she wasn’t eligible for funding because she is so healthy
Cholesterol, blood pressure basically everything was good so we had to fund it ourselves
That’s twuly twuly gorgeous darling.
You do wealise that if he ever saw some of your contwibutions on TS, He’d pwobably think you a pwise pwatt.
You should stick to music appreciation.
[This kind of pointless snarky and homo-phobic shite isn’t appreciated. Don’t do it again.] – Bill
Virtue-signalling is a social media construct used by right wing people when denigrating the socially responsible left for defending minorities, women, the environment, or when they are just being plain old polite to those who might be struggling in life.
Bill English riskily used it as a pejorative in the media at some point last year, no doubt egged on by those poisonous rich kids at the Young Nats who were confident that everyone was saying it. Look where it got him!
I got to thinking that right wing people virtue-signal as well but it’s not around social consciousness, but rather their own personal success, and individual responsibility. “I’m so good I had a barbecue with my family”, for instance, and “why can’t everyone be as successful as me, it’s easy if you just try!”
Quite clearly, right wing virtue-signallers are sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously communicating with one another their superiority over those less fortunate than themselves. They are congratulating each other on what a fine life the’ve made for themselves.
This is virtue-signalling for the right and fellow RWNJs lap this stuff up, of course.
“A body formed to influence legislation on a particular issue.”
Since the NZ Initiative probably have zero influence over the current Government, they probably don’t meet the definition of one. And I doubt they would take credit for having negative influence, ie Govt does the total opposite of what they want….
Sorry, I thought my irony would would have been obvious. I took their denial of being a lobby group as an admission that they won’t be doing much influencing going forward.
I believe the UK has crossed the Rubicon on Brexit. The Chunnel (AKA Euro Tunnel) lacked symbolic power to establish and maintain a meaningful politico-economic let alone socio-cultural connection with the rest of Europe. Isolation in the name of sovereignty and self-rule is the game that’s still in the hearts & minds of many subjects of the ‘British Empire’.
I honestly don’t know. To me, Brexit feels like the political equivalent of a sink hole that everybody is trying to avoid but that’s getting bigger all the time and will end up swallowing everybody, metaphorically speaking. Just before that critical moment we may see some sudden and possibly unexpected actions, political throes, but I reckon till then it’ll be cautious & timid manoeuvring around the edges from a relatively ‘safe’ distance.
As I said before, the pro-Brexit side (ie Farage, Johnson, etc) would have preferred a no vote, because they can just carry on moaning and groaning about the EU. Now they have voted yes, and they have no idea what the fuck to do, and are prbably waiting for someone to say, ‘lets not worry about this’.
At 37 years of age, Roger Federer makes it to the top 16 in the Australian Open.
Looking not as liquid as usual – but then neither is Djokovich or Nadal – who knows whether he can better his outstanding 2017 year, or indeed whether this is his final year of greatness.
At 37, 11 times world champion Kelly Slater’s carcass isn’t quite as robust as it once was but prior to a season ending foot injury, he was cleaning up competitors 25 years his junior.
He may or may not compete in the 2018 WTC but for us older than yourself types, Slater is a joy to watch.
Meanwhile, in other more important news.
The Government’s much vaunted claim of planting a billion trees over 10 years dropped immediately after the election by 50%.
Now even that greatly reduce number has dropped by a further 90%.
Instead of the 100 million per year that was touted before the election it is now down to a hoped for 5 million in the next year.
No money, no land, nobody wanting forests, no seedlings and nobody to do the work.
Why am I not surprised? Any one willing to bet that there will be a reduction in the number of trees planted this year compared to last?
Alternatively I suppose that Shane and his cohort will start counting all the weed wilding pines that are infesting so much DOC and other uncultivated land these days as being part of their work.
I doubt that Shane choosing this time to admit the problems is entirely coincidental. The old story of dumping bad news on a Friday just before a Holiday Weekend.
Let the story out while the journalists are distracted.
I took you to mean that Shane was letting it out now while the Press was all distracted by Jacinda’s “more important” news .
That would mean little attention would be taken of anything he said.
Obviously that was not what your comment meant.
Now I am curious what you did mean. What is the “important news” you had in mind.
I had nothing in mind with “more important news” and I was only quoting from your comment @ 17 hence the quotation marks 😉
Personally, I struggle to reconcile the idea of betting on important news or issues as, to me, it seems to lessen the importance and lower it to a simplistic little game with only two possible outcomes with money as the ultimate reward.
I do realise that I probably take this way too seriously and that it might not be an issue to you or others. In other words, it is no big deal 😉
Wait for the facts as they are now being planned in meetings around the country.
For instance Regional meetings with Iwi’s are on board here and articles in our East Coast Press Gisborne Herald & Wairoa Star, and HB Today have covered this forestry planting issue already now but details are ‘ongoing’ with iwi groups, so hold back on your suppositions.
” hold back on your suppositions.”
My suppositions? I am merely quoting what Shane Jones said.
Do you mean that he was lying or simply that he has no idea what is going on.
What we are told is that talks are ongoing with iwis so we need them to be finished to fruition.
Shane is inside all the issues of getting a deal with iwi land use rules firstly I understand so in the local press he said that ongoing talks with iwis through the Waitangi tribunal has been described as the place and we all know that process needs to be given time to be completed.
you are using Pakeha logic in what is the Maori domain Alwyn.
Be careful here.
have some sensitivity please and let it all run it’s course.
“High Country selloff scandal laid bare”
See the bloody mess the previous governments have made of land use over on the latest selloff of our high country farmland, so Maori are pretty cautious now about any changes in land use that is where we are at now.
Unfortunately, 5 million trees will dampen the anticipated offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions and the vast employment opportunities that were hoped to be gained from the scheme.
However, voters will accept it will take time to ramp up before disillusionment starts to set in.
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.
I’m not sowing the seeds of mistrust. Merely highlighting the disappointment in the small number of trees (compared to what was initially touted) and how that will dampen expected outcomes.
And while supporters may be accepting and confident at this stage, if expectations aren’t met within a reasonable time frame, there will be some disillusionment.
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.
I won’t be disappointed at that at all because the Government does not create jobs as such. Therefore, it was laughable when National (also) made these (similar) ridiculous promises and John Key said:
We are going to fulfil our target of creating 170,000 jobs we talked about some years ago
With respect, you seem to view and frame these issues in a way that will guarantee disillusionment and disappointment IMHO. It reminds me of yesterday’s comment by swordfish about David Farrar first seeding the expectation in people’s minds that a new Government must enjoy an 11% bounce in the first post-election poll, which inevitably and unavoidably leads to an emotional reaction such as disillusionment and disappointment when this expectation never materialises because it was based on a false premise in the first place.
I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage, merely pointing out the lost opportunity of them not doing so.
In fact, going off their announced minimum wage increase (which extends out to 2021) Labour have shown they have no plan for the minimum wage to hit parity with the living wage. Hence, my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.
O.k. I admit that I’m confused; OT1H you say that you “never seeded an expectation” but OTOH you write “my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.”!? Aren’t you contradicting yourself?
Hmmm, you state that you never seeded an expectation yet @ 17.3.2.1 you wrote:
And the disappointment will be the lost opportunity to help address inequality and poverty if they fail to pay a living wage.
And @ 17.3 you wrote:
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.[my bold]
To me, that reads like an expectation …
Up to your comment @ 17.3.2.1.1.1 you were referring to the (new) Government but then you start referring to Labour!?
But, as you clarified, you never expected Labour to pay the living wage so you were never going to be disappointed.
This only leaves only one question: whose expectation and disappointment are you talking about if not your own? And why are you so concerned? [technically, these are two questions]
No. You need to read a sentence through to the end. I said I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage – not I never seeded an expectation full stop.
And while I don’t personally believe Labour will hold true to their claimed support of the living wage, I still hold a glimmer of hope I may be wrong. Hence, I’m also susceptible to disappointment.
Nevertheless, as stated above, Labour are a party that claim to support the living wage, therefore (in giving that support) seeded an expectation that will no doubt, if not met, will disappoint more than just me.
Additionally, by lifting wages to a living wage and providing secure decent jobs, Labour can achieve some vital (and long overdue) benefits for workers through this scheme. Helping improve inequality and poverty, while also helping to stimulate smaller struggling regions.
And those that understand this are more likely to be the ones who will be disappointed if Labour waste this opportunity.
I did read your sentences through to the end. In fact, I literally quoted two of your sentences in full, i.e. including the full stops!
The coalition agreement commits to a minimum wage of $20 per hour in 2021 and the current Living Wage is $20.20 an hour. I have not seen any claims from the Government that they would pay the LW for those new tree planting jobs but feel free to throw me a link 😉
You may be correct that Labour may have seeded these kinds of expectations with some such as yourself but comments like yours will only fuel these expectations, which, I fully admit, is not the same as seeding but amounts to feeding and is equally ‘harmful’ in public discourse and like scaremongering IMO.
At this point in time it is pure speculation whether any expectations will be met or dashed and how disappointed some people might be. You have no idea, nobody does, the least of all how others might feel and react.
The best we can do is to argue for a LW across the board ASAP and playing the expectation-disappointment card is tantamount to emotional blackmail and a very poor & weak argument and negotiating tool.
Yet you continue to incorrectly claim I stated I never seeded an expectation.
People shouldn’t be silence from expressing their expectations and disappointment, they should be encouraged. Political parties require the feedback. Widening the perspective while allowing them to better understand, thus possibility appease concerns, improving their ability to bring the public along with them.
I never claimed Labour has committed to paying the living wage to employees on this scheme. I said Labour are a party that support the living wage. And to be fair, have done some work towards that end.
Nevertheless, at this stage they’ve only committed to the minimum wage for this scheme after Jones touted work for the dole.
However, that has yet to be finalised. Thus, this is the time to hold them to that support of the living wage. And we can help in doing that by speaking out publicly. Highlighting the opportunity that can potentially be gained or wasted and the benefits or disappointment related to that.
It’s not blackmail, it’s just highlighting the expected pros and cons of their decision.
As for the timing, best to apply pressure before the final decision is made.
It’s not often Governments offer to create employment and spend a billion dollars on a scheme, thus we should all be pushing to ensure it bests serves everyone and not just cronies and the elite.
I agree wholeheartedly with you that the Government has the power to set the scene & example by creating an employment scheme that pays the Living Wage and has other provisions for the employees that go above & beyond the (bare) minimum.
Pointing out pros & cons, perceived and real, is fine in discourse or negotiation; emotional blackmail – not just any blackmail – on the other hand, is a very weak and even risky bargaining chip and should be avoided IMHO. Stick to facts and proper (risk) modelling and people may even agree to disagree and respectfully accept the eventual outcome, any outcome, without getting ‘grief-stricken’ with disappointment about stuff that never was …
Apparently there will be disappointment when the new government fail to do more than they explicitly promised to do, in whatever policy area (TPP and tree numbers also come to mind).
Just another example of how the nats have it easy – nobody expected them to actually do what they promised, let alone exceed their manifesto commitments.
I don’t highlight real or anticipated disappointment as a means of emotional blackmail.
Voter disappointment is a vital factor that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to the pros and cons of policy crafting and political decision making.
Labour’s history of disappointing supporters has not only damaged their own support base (with supporters defecting to the Greens, Mana and NZF) overtime it has damaged the left overall.
I’ve come across a fair number that no longer vote due to Labour’s past betrayal. Perceiving voting makes no, to little difference.
Labour do themselves no favours in this area. Touting headlines such as their support of the living wage, their belief in full employment, a ban on foreign property investors etc, which, when one scratches the surface, quickly discovers Labour fails to actually fully deliver on.
The realisation of which, leads to voter disappointment.
If I recall correctly, your “50%” drop was actually repeating exactly what was announced initially – the “100billion” trees includes the 500million currently planned.
So now the additional lie (and yes, I think you are deliberately and knowingly trying to misrepresent reality) is that every program must immediately start at its nominal average level and sustain it over the ten year duration, rather than starting slow to establish systems and then operating at above-average levels when everything is working.
Yeah, obviously this Government is not going to last the full 3-year term, maybe just 40+6 weeks 😉
The prodigious boy-wonder genius National’s Economic and Regional Development spokesman Simon Bridges quickly (!) calculated that “it would take 200 years to plant a billion trees at 5 million per year.” I believe he’s managed to do this without any help from Treasury, which should increase our confidence in his figures because there was a growing perception that he could not count to ten 😉
Apple will pay about $NZ52bn in tax on the roughly $344bn cash pile it holds outside the US following recent changes to American tax rules.
Last year, the New Zealand Herald reported the tech giant had paid no local tax here in the last decade, despite selling $NZ4.2bn of products in that time.
Surely, you’re not suggesting, not even for a minute, that there was zero profit on $4.2 billion worth of sales revenue, are you?
Of course, they paid taxes but they did pay the bulk of that overseas, i.e. in Oz, then Ireland followed by the US as far as I know but I am no expert and it is very complex and obviously not transparent to the average nominal TS commenter.
Maybe, maybe not, but I’m much more concerned about spreading of mis- and disinformation in a manner that seems similar to David Farrar’s ways of planting false memes under the cover of plausible deniability – just wait for the defensive arguments to appear, often in an aggressive tone because the best defence is attack.
Please don’t insult our and your own intelligence. You comment in this thread without having a clue and without making any attempt to educate yourself!? And surely, you don’t really believe that the profit margin on Apple devices is very small and that their costs (what costs?) to an overseas mother company are very high? The mind boggles if Apple were indeed not making any (!) profit on local sales worth $4.2 billion, don’t you think?
It did not take much digging to find useful information (and there are more useful recent pieces):
The accounts also show apparent income tax payments of $34 million – but a close reading shows this sum was actually sent abroad to the Australian Tax Office, an arrangement that has been in place since at least 2007.
Had Apple reported the same healthy profit margin in New Zealand as it did for its operations globally it would have paid $356m in taxes over the period. [my emphasis]
The seven stations time series of data is the one that Jim did his original thesis on in the late ’70’s early ’80’s. At that time Jim and I used to travel to and from work in Wellington on the train together, he lived close by, and we enjoyed many a discussion on Global warming and the results of his research at that time.
While maximum temps get the headlines they are in fact not the dominant factor in the final average. Night time temperatures are included, and these are the ones that show the consistent increase over time. This factor is a significant indicator for the evidence of Global warming being caused by increasing GHGs. Were it not for the fact that the earth is enveloped in an atmosphere containing GHG’s all the heat from the sun would be radiated into space during nighttime and the temperature of the Earth would be around -18 C. Increasing minimum temperatures (ie Night time Temperatures) are a direct result of increasing GHG’s.
It was an absolute pleasure to travel with Jim. The 45 min journey always passed quickly. I was then on The Naval Staff in Def HQ, and Jim was in the Met Office in Karori. As always Jim had his own weather station at his home in Silverstream where we both lived, and he would write a weekly weather column for the local paper “The Leader”.
Economic development minister David Parker congratulated Rocket Lab on the successful launch, and said New Zealand was well positioned to support further development of the space industry.
“Our natural advantage of clear skies and seas, and relatively low levels of air traffic make us an attractive location for space activity.” Parker said.
Parker visited Mission Control to watch the countdown on Saturday, and pledged further support for the space industry.
“The Government is particularly interested in advancing areas where New Zealand has existing strengths in space-based data applied to agri-technology, hazard management, oceanography and meteorology,” he said.
We have a few trolls here who like to bring up the situation in Venezuela using the chaos there to show what NZ will be like if we continue with Labour/Green policy.
Honduras, which has a dictatorial US backed regime is also in violent chaos. Guess it’s not socialism after all…
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
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Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
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Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
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The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
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Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
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The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
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A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
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Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
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Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, 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 ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
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Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/348533/did-the-pm-just-win-the-next-election
To me, this isn’t a good look from a /state/ broadcaster. Predicting how much coverage Ardens pregnancy will get while actual politics gets ignored? RNZ, and every other ‘news’ agency, decides that. And that title, urgh.
Ardern’s baby is the new axis around which much of government business will turn.
She’s made children her central policy plank already. This just doubles down on it.
This baby will be a total political gift.
An admission.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/Uo5F45A17MboGqke/www.kiwiblog.co.nz
An admission that someone on kiwiblog expects sexist white knights to cry wolf whenever the opposition interacts with the PM just because shes pregnant? She decided she can be PM and pregnant at the same time, and good for her, but she still has to be PM and the opposition shouldn’t be afraid to do their jobs. Frankly, anyone who blows up over normal politics because “how could you treat a pregnant lady like that” is siding /with/ the “she shouldn’t be PM and pregnant crowd”, the hypocracy of which would only help the right.
Since when have the Gnats done their jobs? They’re great at making noise but have rat-all to boast of for all their years in power. The legitimacy of a complaining opposition rests upon a determination to do better that was not in evidence under Key and English.
Like people laid off Nikki Kaye when she returned from her breast cancer issue?
I like that Ad,100%
We are in a historic time that (some) don’t want any changes but a change is coming Anon so get over it.
So please do what we had to do nine years ago, when we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad, and was speculating on the NZ Dollar and our own economy and we accepted that.
So you now need to realise that we are now about to have a youngest first pregnant leader woman PM, and a Maori PM male (Winston Peters) for six weeks during the birth of the first family’s baby also.
This set of events is a historic milestone.
I don’t care about identity politics, when is the government going to actually follow through on some election promises? And why is /state media/ coming out and saying it’ll ignore real politics to report more on fluff???
“the state media” is not saying anything. It’s an OP by Brigitte Morten.
If you read to the end of the article, you will see this:
So, it could just as easily be claimed that Brigette is giving the Nats some warning about where be dragons, and pointing them to how they should proceed to counter the Ardern-led government.
Then it would be nice if they published it with an editorial note that they won’t actually be doing this. To let the accusation stand, especially given that it would be status quo for media in New Zealand…
Anon wake up.
This government has “followed up on its election promises”.
This government has set out its achievements over its first 100 days pretty clearly.
I’ve already posted on it.
You just need to relax a little, accept that a baby is coming, and that it will be the baby of the Prime Minister, and it’s a total political gift.
Urgh no, I don’t accept that style of politics at all.
Finally found this from November: https://thestandard.org.nz/progress-from-the-labour-led-government/
As far as I can see a bit of tinkering, nothing substantial – but it’s several months old and could use an update.
Oh!! You just “Outed” yourself big time!!
…As someone who wants to see the government I voted for do something substantial? Like on homelessness, poverty, climate change, or abortion law reform?
The government you voted for. Yeah right.
The government you think hasn’t followed through on election promises when the actual list of what it did in its first 100 days is extensive.
Hmmm…
If we have to put up with trolls can’t we be allocated some better ones.
I ticked two boxes; there are three parties making up the coalition so which one(s) did I/did I not vote for??
In a way any vote in the elections is kind of a vote for the government – even a ‘losing’ vote. (Though to be clear, I party voted Labour after Arden promised abortion law reform.)
Fair enough. I just find it very ambiguous language when people colloquially say that they voted for a particular Government as if it were based on an (single) outcome at one given time. Yet, in three years’ time people will still stick to the tribal & partisan lines proclaiming that they did or did not vote for the incumbent Government. After the Election on 23rd September last year it was anybody’s guess what the new Government would look like and how it would enact on election promises and core (party) policies. One could argue that we vote for a given Government and political outcome over a period of one election cycle (and longer) by proxy by I find this such an extrapolation that it is next to meaningless. Quite possibly I am not enough of a dedicated ‘team player’ or loyal ‘team supporter’ to feel a strong affiliation and association with a given political clique. The one possible downside is that I don’t get to ‘celebrate’ and rejoice in so-called victories but neither do I get too wound up about the inevitable defeats and setbacks. Big picture vs. small picture stuff IMO.
So they’ve ended homelessness, poverty, climate change, and reformed abortion law, or are on track to do so? Because that would be news to me.
You expected all that by Jan 2018? We will only need one year govts based on your expectations that all promises are done within 3 months ( given the shut down period where no laws can be changed)
Hmmm been in a few months including a shut down for Christmas… what woukd you have had them do by now given Parliament shut down about a mo th ago so no Bills or Laws can be pushed through?
Everything apparently. 🙄
First year of free tertiary education available this year. Glossy brochures with this years course info and a blurb about the first year free via NMIT already delivered… awesomesauce, lets do this, thanking you new government. Salisbury School is to remain open, EPIC GOODNESS RIGHT THERE, loving this coalition, thank you VERY MUCH.
Baby news is still fresh as, public are interested, any mainstream media will milk it for airplay/views etc, thats a given. Opinions every where, click bait abound, advertising revenue up up up.
Tomorrow on the AM show… will mark richardson be there, Jacinda too? Entertainment for the masses, stand by for the headlines.
Parliament is currently in recess.
paula is having tummy surgery.
“first family’s baby also”.
Do you really feel the need to adopt this dreadful US approach?
“First Family” may, almost, be justified in the US where the person is the Head of State and kow-towed to in quite ridiculous manner but why do people in New Zealand want to adopt the practice?
alwyn; – Still hurting from loosing the election are you?
your friends – Key/English set the pace for ” this dreadful US approach” not me.
Try these lies and deceitful actions for the dreadful scandals carried out in your ‘ preferred Government’s’ time.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11948852
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/01/21/the-continued-media-lynching-of-metiria/
“Key/English set the pace for ” this dreadful US approach” not me”.
Really? You can of course provide links to where they used the phrase “first family” to describe their families, or at least each others families?
No? Thought not.
By the way what does “loosing” mean when applied to an election?
I notice that you tend to use the word quite regularly in unusual circumstances.
I agree we dont need it. But then I didnt think we needed it from Key and Max either, but we got it. For 9 years.
Do you have any evidence at all that Key himself the term “First Family” or anything like it?
That is what you are claiming when you say “I didn’t think we needed it from Key and Max either, but we got it”.
I am not claiming, you will note, that Jacinda Ardern or her partner use the term. I am only suggesting that there is no need for cleangreen to introduce it.
We didnt need the notion of it alwyn. And some media treated Key and Max as celebrities something that bothered neither of them given Max’s milking of it. Bronagh did not and the media seemed to respect that. Compare with tge social media swirling around Peter Davis.
times infinity
I disagree and think that although it is a big step for the JA-CG household, and possibly a minor ‘event’ for the coalition, it is nothing but a tiny ripple for the country as a whole.
I reckon the whole thing is ‘dramatized’ and taken way out of proportion with wild speculation and exaggerations abound but it gives the ‘pundits’ something to chew on 😉 Lately, we seem to have been experiencing a plethora of ‘historical events’ with ‘milestones’ at every step of the way 😉
“we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad”.
Who was the MP you have in mind?
I thought you might have meant John Key but he only lived overseas for 6 of the 47 years of his life before becoming PM.
That was less years away than either Geoffrey Palmer, before he was PM or Helen Clark, although hers were after her stint in the PMs seat.
It was very similar to the number Rob Muldoon was away.
Regardless of that it certainly wasn’t the case that he had “lived mostly abroad” was it?
It was, however vastly less than any of the early Labour Prime Ministers, Mickey Savage, Peter Fraser or Walter Nash who all spent about half their lives out of New Zealand. Did you have one of them in mind?
“She’s made children her central policy plank already. This just doubles down on it.” So being pregnant is somehow the same as government policy?
Smells a bit whiffy doesn’t it, almost as if the whole thing has been set up.
Not really, she said before the election that she wanted kids, and it’d be pretty naive to think a persons personal circumstances does’t affect their politics. But “being pregnant” isn’t a policy, and focusing on one policy area (if indeed that’s what’s going to happen) just because it personnally relates is a pretty selfish way to run a country.
I do also wonder if this will affect abortion law reform, as promised during election but as yet not since mentioned.
I do also wonder if this will affect abortion law reform, as promised during election but as yet not since mentioned.
No mention will be made of that again, it’s bread and babies for the foreseeable future, as planned.
Great smoke screen to cover and distract away from all those broken promises and lack of results
Not sure how successful it will be though, from what I’ve read/heard it’s starting to reach peak baby already.
Lack of results? In 3 months. Get a grip. We had to wait months for the ordained job summit which would solve all unemployment problems from GFC but all we got was a cycle trail ( still not complete).
Do you want to change the nappy then?
Ha ha ha Macro,
These national trolls don’t do dirty work like changing nappies, other than exclusively engaging in “dirty politics”
Yeah! But you would think that with all the shit stirring they would be a dab hand at changing nappies.
That’s better BM, glad to see you have exposed yourself as a foolish conspiracy theorist!!
You really think so? I would imagine the last time you would focus on getting pregnant is during an election campaign. You joining the ti foil hat brigade BM? You laugh at far more plausible conspiracies than this like peeps accusing Key of using Max to project a certain image…
Thou shalt not have intercourse to risk pregnancy whilst holding any role of importance, especially if one has the power to grow a human life form inside of one self.
But, but… we only did it once…. well you should have thought about it to start with.
Shame on them for making love when they had been advised they could have difficulty conceiving.
New rule… no sex for all politicians, gender equality and all that, could be part of the ‘no surprises’ narrative.
FFS
Side note…. are tories annoyed because they aren’t getting any/enough sex? Could that be an underlying issue? Kinda feeling a bit sorry for the tories now. Yeah, nah LMAO
Aren’t top sporters banned from sex before major performances? Or perhaps they should hand out free condoms in Parliament as they do in the Olympic Village (and the Games don’t last as long either!).
The Prime Minister and the mother of the upcoming child are the same person.
Let me introduce you to the Doctrine of Transsubstantiation.
So Jacinda is the virgin Mary?? Not sure where you’re going with this.
The Prime Minister is going to be a mother. They will be one person.
The rest of the country including the entire political order is going to have to deal with that. People should just relax and presume it’s actually perfectly natural.
“People should just relax and presume it’s actually perfectly natural.
And yet, when I say just that…I’m “demeaning the PM.”
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-19-01-2018/#comment-1437804
Then, you disrespect me by calling me “doll” ….
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-19-01-2018/#comment-1437771
I’ll be keeping a closer eye on your comments Ad…
Yes, you may have to get a great deal more circumspect Rosemary.
Ad sounds like the Thai Government. He will no doubt soon be wanting to copy their laws about the Royal Family and apply them to our PM.
Don’t even dare to suggest that the “first family’s baby” as Cleangreen is labelling the child, may just be like any other infant.
Such an insult may open you up to 35 years inside.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/09/man-jailed-for-35-years-in-thailand-for-insulting-monarchy-on-facebook
Hyperbole made of straw 😉
Thai people are overwhelmingly supportive with such policy and practice…
That said, the link you posted to is about as uninformed on the matter as you appear to be…
I believe that was the case with the late King.
Friends who are familiar with the situation there, which I am not, are not at all sure whether this is the case with the current incumbent.
Not terribly relevant I suppose. I think the New Zealand public would be very loathe to have such rules in place.
Hi Rosemary,
In my opinion you’re one of the most readable and considered commentators here…
You are correct that Ad took the comments you made about PM baby in a way that you clearly were not meaning in that comment…
Ads comments are , at best, inconsistent…
Clearly , the offspring of a careerist public servant, nor the parents, will need to concern about the ‘harships’ faced by many parents and family’s…the media will feadt on it of course…
This govt will achieve little of nothing significant…that’s already clear…
I hope you will continue to post…
Have a good one…
This ^^^^
It’s perfectly natural that people get distracted by babies? It’s perfectly natural that people will hypocritically expect others to take it easy on the Prime Minister because she’s pregnant? Yeah, I’d agree with that.
“Doctrine of Transsubstantiation”.
As was so wonderfully spoofed by Tom Lehrer in The Vatican Rag?
“If it is, try playin’ it safer
Drink the wine and chew the wafer
Two, four, six, eight
Time to transubstantiate”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAzrN4VTfIM
You did note who that opinion piece was written by? She was an advisor to the Nats and obviously lost her job in October last year. She’s been advising the Key government and the Liberals in Australia, y’know Abbott, Bishop, and Dutton types.
She’s still advising the Nats here via the media on how to attack. I wonder if it’s paid work…
No I didn’t lol, but all the more reason for RNZ not to publish it uncritically perhaps?
Fair enough Anon. I assumed you had seen that note @1.3.
As state broadcaster it should be providing space for diverse views. It is clearly labelled as an opinion piece, and the appropriate disclaimer has been made. It also publishes opinion pieces by the likes of left winger Stephanie Rodgers. That IS the role of a state broadcaster.
It enables democratic public debate of and between different views.
It is not being presented as News, which does require more balance.
Agree.
Great intel Muttonbird 100%
Top marks there.
Anon @ 1
From your link:
Do you think anyone is going to read that and not recognise the blatant political bias of the author? It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.
You think so?
I have my doubts; the very recent saga around Open Parachute here on TS, which resulted in a (brief) ban, proved and again confirmed, to me, that many (most?) people don’t properly (or at all?) read disclaimers and ‘fine-print’ and mostly utilise fast thinking to form judgements and make decisions.
An even better (and less contentious!) example is the blogpost by swordfish that featured in OM yesterday, which shows, among other things, that many professional and intelligent people do the exact same thing with all the (negative) consequences. You would think that anything that David Farrar writes would be scrupulously scrutinised and critically examined before accepting it as true & correct information that’s fit for general consumption and further dissemination, wouldn’t you? The analysis by swordfish shows it is almost the exact opposite!
If you havent read Jaques Ellul on Formation of Mens Attitudes I think you will enjoy it.
In particular the use of academics and so called intelligent to spread propaganda
Never heard of so thank you for the tip! I’ll look forward to finding out more.
“It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.”
Agree this crap should be trashed….but how many actually recognise it as trash?
Folk should be automatically checking the creds of writers, checking the publication venue, and at all times be asking what is the agenda here????
Anon 1. Well, that article is a whole lot of “good luck with the new distraction of your pregnancy” written by a national supporter.
We could hardly expect better from them, and the positive coverage of the P.M’s pregnancy was extensive and worrying in their eyes.
A new attack line had to be found. So hints of baby brain, loss of self, personal questions.
But they are right in that her team will be even more supportive, and any slurs will be met by anger in the electorate and the house.
Let’s do this!! Even with errors from treasury.
100% Patricia,
Good call.
Funny that the same writers were silent for 9 years on Max Key’s role in shaping his fathers image and vice versa
Jesus you trolls sound such a lot of losers – scraping the bottom of the barrel of ideas on how to criticise this new Government. Never heard such drivel in my life. Start the day on a better note please for the sake of the sanity of the readers of this site. Just grow up all of you.
I assume, given the tumble weeds, you’re talking to me??
Agreed 100% Whispering Kate.
McConnell crying about the Democrat’s tactics while tens of thousands take to the streets.
tRump will be seething.
“I’ve been doing this for so many years,” said the Northbrook resident. “And though women have seen a lot of progress, it has started to erode. But people are waking up.”
A lot of people; more than a quarter of a million.
Organizers about 11:30 a.m. said the city informed them they’ve exceeded last year’s crowd of 250,000.
“I have just been informed that we are as big as last year,” said organizer Ann Scholhamer, over the cheering crowd and the whir of a helicopter overhead. “And people are still coming.”
Around 1 p.m. they adjusted it to 300,000 people.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-womens-march-draws-thousands-012018-story.html
Many thanks to all the Lady’s in the USA and around the world for protesting for their equal rights and protest against trump.
In my view tax cut is a form of cheating to get a economic stimulus taking money from the 99% and giving to the 1%. It’s a bigger challenge to stimulat a economy to benefit the 99% who trump has ignored. Ka kite ano
So true.
Surely a good target to add into DOC or similar care with added marine sanctuary as well ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11978790
Why would DOC sink $20 million they don’t have into buying a coastal farm?
The question is…
‘Why is DoC underfunded’..
Without “tenure review” we would have retained thousands of acres of public land. Instead of paying to give it away. To runholders who have made up to 3000 times anything the have paid. On selling it too wealthy Yanks.
What’s with the banner on the right of the page about National trying to revive the TPPA? Didn’t Labour already do that?
Twitter vid of women’s march in DC as government looks to be going to shut down
Wow. That’s a seriously big march.
The ending of funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Programme in this budget failure will affect 9 million children. This was an Orrin Hatch/Kennedy initiative with strong bipartisan support.
That is going to be big on the list of this Women’s March.
As well as the spectacular attacks on the funding of reproductive health.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/terrifying-reality-for-children-s-health-is-a-game-in-congress-1141382211734
A beautifully timed march if ever there was one.
Nationwide.
https://whyy.org/articles/thousands-take-parkway-second-philly-womens-march/
Thanks for the links.
And this speech by Viola Davis at the Women’s March is very powerful
She talks about intersections of sexual abuse with racism and poverty. Viola begins with a quote from Malcolm X. She does draw on US constitutional and individual rights values, but transforms them into values for collective action.
And she says that no one or nothing can be great without a cost. We need to be prepared to pay the price, and not take a weak comfortable position.
Thanks for this
heh
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUA_ppRW4AIxk6S.jpg
from https://www.instagram.com/p/BeLgdXzlqw4/
(scroll through)
That was quite exceptionally powerful.
Just me, or did it cut out before she’d quite finished speaking?
I didn’t so much hear her “drawing on” the US Constitution or individual rights so much as sledgehammering the US constitution and the so-called founding fathers by slating Jim Crow and the 13th Amendment straight on back to where they came from.
What I admire about our Australian cousins is that they stick up for their rights. There unions are strong and wages are higher than ours. They are not to shy to push for their rights in my view any way. Ka kite ano
Now that Treasury officials have confirmed that child poverty reductions were over-estimated, can we expect to see Labour increase their families package?
They have to fill Joyces 21 billion dollar hole first
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/100751197/former-deputy-pm-paula-bennett-undergoes-gastric-bypass-surgery
Good on her, its not an easy decision to make but it’ll help her out in the long run
It might achieve a sustainable weight loss and corresponding improvement of health & quality of life or it might not; it is not a magic bullet!
Should have just zipped it sweetie every time she saw a cream cake. Amused by her desire to get back to Electorate la la la la and her BIG National Party in Wellington.
Its great that she has the income to be able to afford the $20,000 plus fees for the job.
Reminds me years ago a very non-P.C. doctor telling me “You never saw a fat person in Belsen did you” when I was grizzling about my increasing weight. Then he said “It’s what going in here that is the problem” pointing to his open mouth. Another time he told me to “get a pair of runners and get off your ass” when I complained about being tired and lacking in energy.
Honestly this was happening back in the 1980’s when doctors were advising patients what to do with their weight or lack of energy woes.
I keep my weight off as I can’t afford to have this bypass surgery – just like heaps of other people have to. It won’t make me admire her for her initiative and discipline in having the job done as Dr Edward Elder said in the Herald. What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?
Eating a whole food plant based diet is a sure fire solution.
It may certainly help but it is not a sure fire solution.
There are no “sure fire solution[s]” to general or individual obesity.
You are a dumb ass, you don’t know what you’re talking about so please keep your opinions to yourself
So sharing time…my wife had this same procedure roughly a year ago and it cost us 21 grand (could have gone overseas but if something went wrong…) with a bit of a discount for taking part in a questionaire
This was the best thing for my wife while for some its relatively easy to lose weight (I lost 16 kilos last year by mainly changing my diet to a predominately vegetarian diet) but in her case the steroids she was on in her early 20s (due to cervical cancer that came back) plus her having PCOS and that the genetics from her family are on the shorter, stockier side means that when it comes to gaining weight and losing weight she certainly got the worst of it
Most who get this operation don’t do it lightly and it is a big deal because for a lot of people it does mean you have to admit that you can’t do it yourself, that you do need help and for some it can have a serious effect
You have to get used to just not being able to have certain things any longer (no fizzy drink, ever) or complete changes in the things you want to eat or losing the joy in eating certain foods and having to remember to eat and drink because you no longer feel hungry or thirsty
Having to be careful how much you eat and drink because just a bite or two more and you’re in the toilet throwing it all back up, having to deal with well-meaning friends and family that don’t get that you just can’t eat much, not being able to fully take part in celebrations (or at least thinking you can’t)
Depressed because you’ve spent 21 grand on an operation for something that everyone says is easy…
Its a big deal
Thanks Chris.
Hi weka,
I’ve sent you a message 😉
thanks! will have a look in the next day or so.
There is no need to call me a dumb ass – I have close family who have PCOS- two in fact and I am very familiar with it, neither of them has become obese, they have made dietry changes and do the gym regularly – one of my family had a scan done and both ovaries were smothered in multi cysts. There are vitamin supplements which help and yes, there is a tendancy for weight gain but both have kept their weight down to a respectable degree. A good example Jamie Oliver’s wife has PCOS and has kept her weight down.
Steroid use I do admit can cause weight gain because of increased appetite, a lot of medications can cause weight gain gain and for that I understand your wife’s predicament – I just feel that surgery is a quick fix as other avenues may not have not been explored in lots of cases. Lucky for those who can afford it as I am sure our hospital system wouldn’t allow people willy nilly to have this surgery done at the tax payer’s expense.
Pretty sure chris73 was responding to Ed at 10.2.1, not you W.Kate.
I was talking to Ed however your type of ignorance is not needed either, all it does is help strengthen the argument that all you need to do is a bit of exercise, eat some vitamins, eat a little better and hey presto the weights gone
As I’m sure you might be aware (sarcasm) everyone is different so your experiences are yours, mine is mine and having lived with my wife for 14 years and seeing how the exercise hasn’t worked, hearing the abuse shes gotten (’cause you know people, men and women, love to shout “encouragement”) holding her when shes cried, supported her when shes down, tried to convince I still love and desire her even when her own brains telling herself how weak and disgusting she is I can’t really be bothered with the type of person that dismiss a legitimate medical procedure simply because they think its somehow not putting in the work
“What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?”
The discipline to admit you can’t do it, the discipline to have accept you need help even though everyone (all experts of course) tells you its easy to lose weight, the discipline to realize that you’re having surgery and you’ll never be the same again
The discipline to realize that you’ll lose weight but that you won’t accept you did anything to “deserve” the weight loss because you didn’t work for it, that theirs a lot of ignorant people that will think its cheating
The discipline to understand that from now and until the day you die you have to remember to eat and drink because you don’t feel hungry or thirsty
The guilt you go through when you consider what else you could spend 20 odd grand on
So yeah I was talking to Ed but you’re a dumb ass as well
Ed you are correct once again re the plant based diet.
Thank you
No he isn’t, it works for some but not so it is not a panacea amd its the kind of attitude that makes people feel worse about themselves and their decision because “all they have to do is this and they’ll lose weight” which basically you’re not really trying to lose weight and are just lazy
Basically Eds being a sanctimonious, smug prick
She will be advocating for this to be on the public list as a medical procedure, right? So poor people can get access to this life threatening thing that can only be resolved surgically?
Bariatric surgery is funded by most DHBs if the patient meets certain specified criteria, as she had her surgery in private I don’t see how your comment is particularly relevant though ?
The funny (but not really funny) thing is because of the healthy eating and exercise my wife did to try to shift the weight meant that she wasn’t eligible for funding because she is so healthy
Cholesterol, blood pressure basically everything was good so we had to fund it ourselves
Whats with the “haters can hate” nonsense she spouts.
Look at some of the comments on here, cream cakes, wheres the discipline etc etc so I’d bet theres more on social media
Hell even just walking down the street it probably gets helpfully pointed out to her that shes overweight (because shes probably forgotten)
Nothing to do with politics, but a visual and auditory treat for those so inclined.
Just mesmerised my non-musically gifted eleven year old – who has delusions of waving his arms around conducting orchestras.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU0Ubs2KYUI
Very good, and I can create a political link if you like.
There is no need at all for grand gestures to produce perfect results. 🙂
🙂
… you can imagine the facial contortions going on at the moment while listening to music, in a mistaken idea that this is the skill needed…
All I could think of while enjoying looking at that beautifully expressive face was…’No Botox been near here…”
i have had the joy of seeing him live …..unforgettable..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IInG5nY_wrU
That’s twuly twuly gorgeous darling.
You do wealise that if he ever saw some of your contwibutions on TS, He’d pwobably think you a pwise pwatt.
You should stick to music appreciation.
[This kind of pointless snarky and homo-phobic shite isn’t appreciated. Don’t do it again.] – Bill
Ah another standard commenter who needs a hug – I’ll add you to the list.
That was Stunted mullet virtue-signalling right wing style.
Dear old muttonbird- don’t feel left out, you can have a hug too.
Possum, haven’t you heard my new theory?
Virtue-signalling is a social media construct used by right wing people when denigrating the socially responsible left for defending minorities, women, the environment, or when they are just being plain old polite to those who might be struggling in life.
Bill English riskily used it as a pejorative in the media at some point last year, no doubt egged on by those poisonous rich kids at the Young Nats who were confident that everyone was saying it. Look where it got him!
I got to thinking that right wing people virtue-signal as well but it’s not around social consciousness, but rather their own personal success, and individual responsibility. “I’m so good I had a barbecue with my family”, for instance, and “why can’t everyone be as successful as me, it’s easy if you just try!”
Quite clearly, right wing virtue-signallers are sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously communicating with one another their superiority over those less fortunate than themselves. They are congratulating each other on what a fine life the’ve made for themselves.
This is virtue-signalling for the right and fellow RWNJs lap this stuff up, of course.
Gosh ! Sounds like you need two hugs and an early night.
No cuddles and a goodnight kiss??
A stunning performance. Thankyou Sm.
Who are New Zealand’s economic think tanks?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11964748
from the link…..”The NZ Initiative is not a lobby group,….”
Actually hurt my vocal chords laughing….
lol
Well, maybe not….
After consulting https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/lobby_group
“A body formed to influence legislation on a particular issue.”
Since the NZ Initiative probably have zero influence over the current Government, they probably don’t meet the definition of one. And I doubt they would take credit for having negative influence, ie Govt does the total opposite of what they want….
“…the current Government, ”
Who have not as yet done a hundred days…so their lobbying on the Previous Incumbents is still in effect.
You reckon they wont be visiting Labour or NZF Ministers?
Cue laughing
Sorry, I thought my irony would would have been obvious. I took their denial of being a lobby group as an admission that they won’t be doing much influencing going forward.
Lolololol
Speaking of lobbyists
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98896171/labour-chief-of-staff-neale-jones-takes-up-job-with-lobby-firm-hawker-britton
https://www.unwatch.org/farce-u-n-s-2018-membership-human-rights-council/
Yeah…
Prime Minister May has appointed a Minister of Loneliness …
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/world/europe/uk-britain-loneliness.html
… apparently 9 million UK citizens always feeling lonely….
…. one of which is the Prime Minister, trying to figure out how to make the Brexit Dog bark and not a soul in the world wanting to listen.
But still plenty of European countries encouraging the UK government to forget this deliberate-loneliness strategy and welcome them all back.
Such a lonely job being Conservative PM.
I believe the UK has crossed the Rubicon on Brexit. The Chunnel (AKA Euro Tunnel) lacked symbolic power to establish and maintain a meaningful politico-economic let alone socio-cultural connection with the rest of Europe. Isolation in the name of sovereignty and self-rule is the game that’s still in the hearts & minds of many subjects of the ‘British Empire’.
Do you think the Corbyn-led Labour Party will change its mind and come out clearly opposing Brexit, with a commitment to hold a further referendum?
I honestly don’t know. To me, Brexit feels like the political equivalent of a sink hole that everybody is trying to avoid but that’s getting bigger all the time and will end up swallowing everybody, metaphorically speaking. Just before that critical moment we may see some sudden and possibly unexpected actions, political throes, but I reckon till then it’ll be cautious & timid manoeuvring around the edges from a relatively ‘safe’ distance.
As I said before, the pro-Brexit side (ie Farage, Johnson, etc) would have preferred a no vote, because they can just carry on moaning and groaning about the EU. Now they have voted yes, and they have no idea what the fuck to do, and are prbably waiting for someone to say, ‘lets not worry about this’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEX56vZPZFE
At 37 years of age, Roger Federer makes it to the top 16 in the Australian Open.
Looking not as liquid as usual – but then neither is Djokovich or Nadal – who knows whether he can better his outstanding 2017 year, or indeed whether this is his final year of greatness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXLRU_IjjqI
For all us middle aged types, Federer remains a joy to watch.
At 37, 11 times world champion Kelly Slater’s carcass isn’t quite as robust as it once was but prior to a season ending foot injury, he was cleaning up competitors 25 years his junior.
He may or may not compete in the 2018 WTC but for us older than yourself types, Slater is a joy to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSlOKYUSVRo
Ocean energy…
Thanks, J90…
“Isolation in the name of sovereignty and self-rule is the game that’s still in the hearts & minds of many subjects of the ‘British Empire’.”
Yep Incognito, I know this is true.
I married an English lady 42 yrs ago and she is fiercely loyal and independent as she was then in 1976,
To be British is to be a breed of their own, and we are intertwined with them through our genealogy.
Meanwhile, in other more important news.
The Government’s much vaunted claim of planting a billion trees over 10 years dropped immediately after the election by 50%.
Now even that greatly reduce number has dropped by a further 90%.
Instead of the 100 million per year that was touted before the election it is now down to a hoped for 5 million in the next year.
No money, no land, nobody wanting forests, no seedlings and nobody to do the work.
Why am I not surprised? Any one willing to bet that there will be a reduction in the number of trees planted this year compared to last?
Alternatively I suppose that Shane and his cohort will start counting all the weed wilding pines that are infesting so much DOC and other uncultivated land these days as being part of their work.
Hmmm, betting on “more important news” 🤔
I doubt that Shane choosing this time to admit the problems is entirely coincidental. The old story of dumping bad news on a Friday just before a Holiday Weekend.
Let the story out while the journalists are distracted.
Hmmm, odd reply to my comment 🤔
Let’s agree to keep talking past each other, but in a nice respectful and kind manner 😉
I took you to mean that Shane was letting it out now while the Press was all distracted by Jacinda’s “more important” news .
That would mean little attention would be taken of anything he said.
Obviously that was not what your comment meant.
Now I am curious what you did mean. What is the “important news” you had in mind.
I had nothing in mind with “more important news” and I was only quoting from your comment @ 17 hence the quotation marks 😉
Personally, I struggle to reconcile the idea of betting on important news or issues as, to me, it seems to lessen the importance and lower it to a simplistic little game with only two possible outcomes with money as the ultimate reward.
I do realise that I probably take this way too seriously and that it might not be an issue to you or others. In other words, it is no big deal 😉
Thank you. Now I see what you meant.
Rubbish!!!! – is all that is worth saying.
Wait for the facts as they are now being planned in meetings around the country.
For instance Regional meetings with Iwi’s are on board here and articles in our East Coast Press Gisborne Herald & Wairoa Star, and HB Today have covered this forestry planting issue already now but details are ‘ongoing’ with iwi groups, so hold back on your suppositions.
” hold back on your suppositions.”
My suppositions? I am merely quoting what Shane Jones said.
Do you mean that he was lying or simply that he has no idea what is going on.
Alwyn,
What we are told is that talks are ongoing with iwis so we need them to be finished to fruition.
Shane is inside all the issues of getting a deal with iwi land use rules firstly I understand so in the local press he said that ongoing talks with iwis through the Waitangi tribunal has been described as the place and we all know that process needs to be given time to be completed.
you are using Pakeha logic in what is the Maori domain Alwyn.
Be careful here.
have some sensitivity please and let it all run it’s course.
“High Country selloff scandal laid bare”
See the bloody mess the previous governments have made of land use over on the latest selloff of our high country farmland, so Maori are pretty cautious now about any changes in land use that is where we are at now.
@ alwyn (17)
Unfortunately, 5 million trees will dampen the anticipated offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions and the vast employment opportunities that were hoped to be gained from the scheme.
However, voters will accept it will take time to ramp up before disillusionment starts to set in.
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.
The Chairman.
i see you still sowing the seeds of mistrust eh?
“voters will accept it will take time to ramp up before disillusionment starts to set in”
Like what we all endured during “nine tortuous years of national slash and sell off carpetbegging.”????
We on the East Coast are confident that the expansion of tree planting policy will still achieve a large increase of plantings.
You can believe what you want it wont change the plan.
The financial rewards to the government for increasing our carbon credits will pay for the project handsomely, while heling to caurb climate change..
I’m not sowing the seeds of mistrust. Merely highlighting the disappointment in the small number of trees (compared to what was initially touted) and how that will dampen expected outcomes.
And while supporters may be accepting and confident at this stage, if expectations aren’t met within a reasonable time frame, there will be some disillusionment.
I won’t be disappointed at that at all because the Government does not create jobs as such. Therefore, it was laughable when National (also) made these (similar) ridiculous promises and John Key said:
It’s a Government scheme that will create employment.
And the disappointment will be the lost opportunity to help address inequality and poverty if they fail to pay a living wage.
With respect, you seem to view and frame these issues in a way that will guarantee disillusionment and disappointment IMHO. It reminds me of yesterday’s comment by swordfish about David Farrar first seeding the expectation in people’s minds that a new Government must enjoy an 11% bounce in the first post-election poll, which inevitably and unavoidably leads to an emotional reaction such as disillusionment and disappointment when this expectation never materialises because it was based on a false premise in the first place.
I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage, merely pointing out the lost opportunity of them not doing so.
In fact, going off their announced minimum wage increase (which extends out to 2021) Labour have shown they have no plan for the minimum wage to hit parity with the living wage. Hence, my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.
O.k. I admit that I’m confused; OT1H you say that you “never seeded an expectation” but OTOH you write “my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.”!? Aren’t you contradicting yourself?
“You say that you “never seeded an expectation””
No. I said I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage. And therein lays your confusion.
Nevertheless, Labour are a party that claim to support the living wage, therefore largely seeded the expectation themselves.
Hmmm, you state that you never seeded an expectation yet @ 17.3.2.1 you wrote:
And @ 17.3 you wrote:
To me, that reads like an expectation …
Up to your comment @ 17.3.2.1.1.1 you were referring to the (new) Government but then you start referring to Labour!?
But, as you clarified, you never expected Labour to pay the living wage so you were never going to be disappointed.
This only leaves only one question: whose expectation and disappointment are you talking about if not your own? And why are you so concerned? [technically, these are two questions]
No. You need to read a sentence through to the end. I said I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage – not I never seeded an expectation full stop.
And while I don’t personally believe Labour will hold true to their claimed support of the living wage, I still hold a glimmer of hope I may be wrong. Hence, I’m also susceptible to disappointment.
Nevertheless, as stated above, Labour are a party that claim to support the living wage, therefore (in giving that support) seeded an expectation that will no doubt, if not met, will disappoint more than just me.
Additionally, by lifting wages to a living wage and providing secure decent jobs, Labour can achieve some vital (and long overdue) benefits for workers through this scheme. Helping improve inequality and poverty, while also helping to stimulate smaller struggling regions.
And those that understand this are more likely to be the ones who will be disappointed if Labour waste this opportunity.
I did read your sentences through to the end. In fact, I literally quoted two of your sentences in full, i.e. including the full stops!
The coalition agreement commits to a minimum wage of $20 per hour in 2021 and the current Living Wage is $20.20 an hour. I have not seen any claims from the Government that they would pay the LW for those new tree planting jobs but feel free to throw me a link 😉
You may be correct that Labour may have seeded these kinds of expectations with some such as yourself but comments like yours will only fuel these expectations, which, I fully admit, is not the same as seeding but amounts to feeding and is equally ‘harmful’ in public discourse and like scaremongering IMO.
At this point in time it is pure speculation whether any expectations will be met or dashed and how disappointed some people might be. You have no idea, nobody does, the least of all how others might feel and react.
The best we can do is to argue for a LW across the board ASAP and playing the expectation-disappointment card is tantamount to emotional blackmail and a very poor & weak argument and negotiating tool.
“I did read your sentences through to the end”
Yet you continue to incorrectly claim I stated I never seeded an expectation.
People shouldn’t be silence from expressing their expectations and disappointment, they should be encouraged. Political parties require the feedback. Widening the perspective while allowing them to better understand, thus possibility appease concerns, improving their ability to bring the public along with them.
I never claimed Labour has committed to paying the living wage to employees on this scheme. I said Labour are a party that support the living wage. And to be fair, have done some work towards that end.
Nevertheless, at this stage they’ve only committed to the minimum wage for this scheme after Jones touted work for the dole.
However, that has yet to be finalised. Thus, this is the time to hold them to that support of the living wage. And we can help in doing that by speaking out publicly. Highlighting the opportunity that can potentially be gained or wasted and the benefits or disappointment related to that.
It’s not blackmail, it’s just highlighting the expected pros and cons of their decision.
As for the timing, best to apply pressure before the final decision is made.
It’s not often Governments offer to create employment and spend a billion dollars on a scheme, thus we should all be pushing to ensure it bests serves everyone and not just cronies and the elite.
I agree wholeheartedly with you that the Government has the power to set the scene & example by creating an employment scheme that pays the Living Wage and has other provisions for the employees that go above & beyond the (bare) minimum.
Pointing out pros & cons, perceived and real, is fine in discourse or negotiation; emotional blackmail – not just any blackmail – on the other hand, is a very weak and even risky bargaining chip and should be avoided IMHO. Stick to facts and proper (risk) modelling and people may even agree to disagree and respectfully accept the eventual outcome, any outcome, without getting ‘grief-stricken’ with disappointment about stuff that never was …
Apparently there will be disappointment when the new government fail to do more than they explicitly promised to do, in whatever policy area (TPP and tree numbers also come to mind).
Just another example of how the nats have it easy – nobody expected them to actually do what they promised, let alone exceed their manifesto commitments.
I don’t highlight real or anticipated disappointment as a means of emotional blackmail.
Voter disappointment is a vital factor that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to the pros and cons of policy crafting and political decision making.
Labour’s history of disappointing supporters has not only damaged their own support base (with supporters defecting to the Greens, Mana and NZF) overtime it has damaged the left overall.
I’ve come across a fair number that no longer vote due to Labour’s past betrayal. Perceiving voting makes no, to little difference.
Labour do themselves no favours in this area. Touting headlines such as their support of the living wage, their belief in full employment, a ban on foreign property investors etc, which, when one scratches the surface, quickly discovers Labour fails to actually fully deliver on.
The realisation of which, leads to voter disappointment.
If there are roadblocks in place, it is the belief that these things should be done by the private sector.
Let’s see.
If I recall correctly, your “50%” drop was actually repeating exactly what was announced initially – the “100billion” trees includes the 500million currently planned.
So now the additional lie (and yes, I think you are deliberately and knowingly trying to misrepresent reality) is that every program must immediately start at its nominal average level and sustain it over the ten year duration, rather than starting slow to establish systems and then operating at above-average levels when everything is working.
Exactly right!
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/10/revealed-shane-jones-minister-for-100-million-trees-1-billion-regional-fund.html dated 25 October 2017, i.e. the day after the coalition agreement, which means that according to some ‘bright lights’ (…) they should have already planted 273,973 trees! Thus, by the same token, the Government already failed to meet its promised targets after one day!! No wonder we never saw that 11% bounce on the polls 😉
I’m shocked that they didn’t plant the full billion new trees in the first 100 days. /sarc
Yeah, obviously this Government is not going to last the full 3-year term, maybe just 40+6 weeks 😉
The prodigious boy-wonder geniusNational’s Economic and Regional Development spokesman Simon Bridges quickly (!) calculated that “it would take 200 years to plant a billion trees at 5 million per year.” I believe he’s managed to do this without any help from Treasury, which should increase our confidence in his figures because there was a growing perception that he could not count to ten 😉http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/national-targets-government-over-failure-to-meet-tree-planting-target
Well, to be fair he’s used to National’s approach to project management – wildly over promise and under (if at all) deliver.
You’re right again and I apologise for being overly harsh on somebody who simply is following the only rulebook he knows.
Apple will pay about $NZ52bn in tax on the roughly $344bn cash pile it holds outside the US following recent changes to American tax rules.
Last year, the New Zealand Herald reported the tech giant had paid no local tax here in the last decade, despite selling $NZ4.2bn of products in that time.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/348400/apple-to-pay-us-tax-on-foreign-cash
you know tax is paid on profit not revenue right ?
So what’s the $344bn cash if not profit? Are they just holding it ready to pay their creditors?
Surely, you’re not suggesting, not even for a minute, that there was zero profit on $4.2 billion worth of sales revenue, are you?
Of course, they paid taxes but they did pay the bulk of that overseas, i.e. in Oz, then Ireland followed by the US as far as I know but I am no expert and it is very complex and obviously not transparent to the
averagenominal TS commenter.James defends corporate tax dodgers
Maybe, maybe not, but I’m much more concerned about spreading of mis- and disinformation in a manner that seems similar to David Farrar’s ways of planting false memes under the cover of plausible deniability – just wait for the defensive arguments to appear, often in an aggressive tone because the best defence is attack.
You say that as a fact with nothing to back it up.
I on the other hand can state facts like Ed supports boycotting the alzheimer’s society and Heart kids
I have no idea of the cost of the NZ Company. Im guessing that they make very little profit on the devices they sell.
The cost to them from ANOTHER (OVERSEAS) company is probably very high.
Please don’t insult our and your own intelligence. You comment in this thread without having a clue and without making any attempt to educate yourself!? And surely, you don’t really believe that the profit margin on Apple devices is very small and that their costs (what costs?) to an overseas mother company are very high? The mind boggles if Apple were indeed not making any (!) profit on local sales worth $4.2 billion, don’t you think?
It did not take much digging to find useful information (and there are more useful recent pieces):
By: Matt Nippert http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11820240
To provide some balance (for your perusal), a recent statement by Apple: https://www.apple.com/nz/newsroom/2017/11/the-facts-about-apple-tax-payments/
The upshot is that taxes are not paid in NZ but somewhere else and it all is perfectly legal.
New Zealand’s hottest January could be ultimate record-breaker
Rachel Stewart asks
[link fixed. I can’t see anything from Stewart in that article though – weka]
The seven stations time series of data is the one that Jim did his original thesis on in the late ’70’s early ’80’s. At that time Jim and I used to travel to and from work in Wellington on the train together, he lived close by, and we enjoyed many a discussion on Global warming and the results of his research at that time.
While maximum temps get the headlines they are in fact not the dominant factor in the final average. Night time temperatures are included, and these are the ones that show the consistent increase over time. This factor is a significant indicator for the evidence of Global warming being caused by increasing GHGs. Were it not for the fact that the earth is enveloped in an atmosphere containing GHG’s all the heat from the sun would be radiated into space during nighttime and the temperature of the Earth would be around -18 C. Increasing minimum temperatures (ie Night time Temperatures) are a direct result of increasing GHG’s.
Thank you. Most informative- you get the most interesting and intelligent posters on the Standard!
It was an absolute pleasure to travel with Jim. The 45 min journey always passed quickly. I was then on The Naval Staff in Def HQ, and Jim was in the Met Office in Karori. As always Jim had his own weather station at his home in Silverstream where we both lived, and he would write a weekly weather column for the local paper “The Leader”.
Outstanding achievement by rocket labs this afternoon.
https://mobile.twitter.com/rocketlab?lang=en
A great achievement, and the government gets it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/100757521/rocket-lab-launches-electron-test-rocket-from-mhia-peninsula-hawkes-bay
We have a few trolls here who like to bring up the situation in Venezuela using the chaos there to show what NZ will be like if we continue with Labour/Green policy.
Honduras, which has a dictatorial US backed regime is also in violent chaos. Guess it’s not socialism after all…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/348561/man-60-latest-killed-in-honduras-protests-ngo
So, she left protestors who were out in the cold to attend a warm, cosy, alt-right party,
She didn’t say shit, had drinks, and chatted with Mickey super serum Cernovich, Jimmy dildo boat O’Keefe and the rest of the gorilla mindset menz.
/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/chelsea-manning-goes-to-a-pro-trump-gala?