Well, I will admit to being perplexed and a little disappointed.
The Standard is my ‘go to’ site for a bit of invigorating ‘left-wing’ discussion to lift my day – less so now that we have a left-leaning coalition, but essential back in the days of the nasty Nats. On occasion, I also contribute.
I don’t agree with everything said on The Standard, but nor should I. There is a healthy range of opinions that enriches any discussion. Different points of view are expressed, but all generally within the framework of making our society a better place.
So I don’t understand a moderator espousing the cause of the most obviously anti-democratic poster on here, and only an irregular one at that.
A long time poster got banned – and while I agree with the rule of not disputing with a moderator, moderators should exercise their power to ban with caution and understanding.
I’ve chosen my words with care; if this results in a ban because I have been critical of a moderator, so be it.
Yes, and it appears to be deliberate and calculated to cause flamewars rather than debates every single time. That is why they just got a permanent ban from me.
I must confess that I am somewhat racist. I am totally bigoted against the race of narcissistic trolls.
They act like Donald Trump, always trying to make the debate and storylines to all be about them. While they tend to bring some liveliness to debates, it tends to wear thin remarkably rapidly as they keep reprising the same old storyline over and over again, regardless of topic.
Why oh why do the people with such empathy deficiencies about the role of others not take the career opportunities that are designed for them. The arts could always need more starving actors and other kinds of self-tortured artists.
More evidence of Duncan Garner contradicting Duncan Garner.
The logical denouement of the problems articulated by the incoherent frontman for TV3 is that the country has been left to rack and ruin by 9 ghastly years of Key.
But Garner cannot make that leap for either ideological or commercial reasons, so really comes to contradictory conclusions.
Some of the statistics in this article are really quite scary.
It is as if we are being colonised for a second time.
This reminds me of a book I read about 5 years ago, entitled the Land Grabbers by Fred Pearce.
We have lost control of our money to Australian banks and foreign owned finance.
We are now losing our land. With the loss of land, New Zealand loses its capacity to control its own destiny.
John Key’s government betrayed the people of this land and sold our sovereignty.
Here are excerpts from the article.
“The wave of Chinese dairy investment money into New Zealand since 2014 has brought opportunities, but also suspicion in some circles.
Increasing Chinese influence in the dairy sector is viewed as “soft power” imperialism by “red capitalists”, according to Canterbury University academic Anne-Marie Brady.
China is the biggest foreign investor in dairying, and New Zealand now supplies more than half of all dairy products imported into China.
More than 24 per cent of China’s foreign milk supply, 52 per cent of cheese imports and 87 per cent of butter imports come from clean, green New Zealand.
Recent Chinese investment has included Agria’s 50.2 per cent stake in rural services firm PGG Wrightson, funding of Synlait, and investment in dairy processing by Yili in South Canterbury, and Yashili in the Waikato, Bright Dairy, and China Animal Husbandry, to name a few.
Chinese-backed firms have recently set up new packaging operations in Christchurch, with plans for more in Auckland.”
I’ve got two books on China’s influences in NZ by Rob Asher (never heard of this guy before) and on Australia by Clive Hamilton which has caused a bit of a stink of late here in Oz.
Here’s the name of the Australian book by Clive Hamilton, Silent Invasion China’s Influence in Australia.
Has a very interesting preface in why he has written the book. When it was shown on the telly it shocked a lot of people including me at the time and still does which why I’m concern about the the influence of China and their lack for a international rules base order.
Which is only going to bring us trouble in more ways than one as my dad has seen already firsthand in the tourism industry in the South Island.
Ron Asher
Into the Jaws of the Dragon.
“China Inc., the business arm of China’s repressive dictatorship, is trying to take over the world by grabbing key sectors of various countries’ economies as part of its strategic plan for global control of the world’s resources.
China chose New Zealand as the first Western country with which to have a Free Trade agreement, which is more about colonising and dominating New Zealand’s economy than about free trade. The same thing happened in Australia with its Free Trade agreement with China in 2016. The governments of both countries have bent over backwards to accommodate the interests of China Inc. – often at the expense of the prospects and interests of ordinary Australians and New Zealanders.
The donations to political parties by Chinese business interests, often acting on behalf of China’s government, and the post-retirement financial rewards by Chinese companies to politicians who oblige China during their term of office are corrupting our democracy and public life.”
That’s the book, it’s has some very interesting chapters which are of interest to me and no doubt to a lot of other people here as well.
Clive Hamilton’s book is very similar, but from an Australian perspective and from I can remember from the book review in the Oz Newspaper that Clive had some skin in the game as well.
I’ll get the title to Clive’s book if someone doesn’t beat me to it, once I’ve finished fencing.
Does anyone know if those papers written by that scholar from Canterbury University who buglar about a mth are public? As would like to have a read of them.
Cheers for that, i caught up with the NZ media news when her paper made the news, a few other websites I visit and it got a fair old run in the Oz newspaper before and after the break in to her house IRT to her paper.
Another nail in coffin of the Guardian as a reputable source of news.
Jonathan Freedland is one of the worst propagandists at the Guardian. If you want to understand why and how this newspaper has slipped so badly since 2010, you just need to read the rubbish he propagates.
In this disingenuous piece he launches at Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. He probably doesn’t like Waters because the musician has also been a strong advocate against the brutal Israel occupation of Gaza. Hunt high and low for Freedland denounce Israel. You won’t.
And Freedland dodges the fact that Robert Fisk, a journalist of far more repute, experience and independence than the Guardian opinion writer, has e is no evidence of chemical weapons in Douma. Robert Fisk, who actually travelled to Damascus and investigated the story rather than sit behind a desk in London and write garbage.
@Ed +1 The Guardian is the Trojan Horse embedded in the ‘Left’, disseminating distrust and purposely disrupting any real Progressive Left project that appears…The Guardian is the guardian of establishment power nothing more or less.
Video – so some will want to avoid. Apple are a company with some bad practices, especially around repair and warranty. Here they are on their own official website offering the consumer a pile of crap – extended warranties. Extended warranties are effectively a con in NZ. You are covered, under the consumer guarantees act.
As for the video – Louis Rossmann makes a fine argument about apple repairs, and just quietly, demolishes right libertarian arguments around the right to repair as well. 15 min length.
It doesn’t help that he obviously doesn’t know what counterfeiting is. It’s not taking a device, changing the name on it and then selling it as something else. It’s building a device that does the same job, looks the same and selling it under the same name. Even reverse engineering a device, building one that looks the same, does the same job but selling it under a different name wouldn’t be counterfeiting.
He does get round to describing it properly but it’s pretty much in passing and the wrong idea is fully developed.
Absolutely shocking the council are selling her house over $34k. They could just put on a lean rather than a forced sale. They are despicable and spiteful bullies.
Apparently she has been hospitalised and may have cancer.
Also those lefties than love to champion rights for the mentally ill, seem to have a lot less sympathy for someone who ‘may’ be mentally ill.
I’m not saying Penny is wrong (because I have zero faith in the Auckland council’s ability to clearly show where all the rates money has gone on a more individualised basis, aka it should all be public record who all their contractors and service providers and so forth are and what they get paid). I’m suggesting that spending a significant amount of your life on this issue is either equivalent to being mental ill or a martyr to transparency and maybe a bit of both, in Penny’s case.
Good luck to Penny. Hope someone at council has some sort compassion (unlikely though) and stops the forced sale and that her health is ok.
Maybe the council’s private lawyers who have benefited hundreds of thousands of rate payer money over this, could pay her rates bill as it is a fraction of what they gained out of how they ‘advised’ the council how to approach the issues and benefited so much financially by their own advice on how to pursue it.
“They could just put on a lien rather than a forced sale. ”
Bright has been offered the same deferred payment option as other ratepayers, many times, and refused. She will walk away from this sale with a million dollars. Spare your sympathy.
I don’t think deferred payment option is the same as a lien. Auckland council would have saved a fortune in lawyers and not being putting a women (who many or may not have some ‘mental’ issues out onto the street).
Mr Town CEO of Auckland Council chose to waste over $100,000 to Simpson Grierson in legal fees to defend comments about her, rather than $10,000 and an apology – maybe he should stump up the $34k as a donation.
Mr Town seems to have plenty of money from the rate payers to spare.
And it’s not the only one they have done this too, apparently Charlotte Hareta Marsh lost her Manurewa home in a court-ordered sale because she was paying it to Tahoe instead…
As the council pay for Westfield mall development and Billionaire boat races, I’m thinking that there seems to be plenty of money to burn at Auckland council and to take someones house over a small dept particularly abhorrent.
Just goes to show that you don’t really ‘own’ anything. The reality is the council or government has the power to take it off you and sell it. Sure there is a process, but the power is there.
The Council can just take the money too from your bank account. Had someone I know have a bank overdraft just arbitrarily put with interest, to recover a measly rates sum. They didn’t consent to it, but apparently the council can make the bank just pay over the money, and if you don’t have it, the bank ‘gives’ you an overdraft with interest. It’s unbelievable.
“…Absolutely shocking the council are selling her house over $34k. They could just put on a lean rather than a forced sale. They are despicable and spiteful bullies…”
Penny Bright is an eccentric who chose to challenge the law of the land in a campaign that would have made Don Quixote proud. Her agenda was inchoate and her message a muddled liquorice allsorts of various conspiracy theories.
By being so openly and publicly defiant about not paying her rates – SOMETHING EVERY OTHER RATEPAYER IN THE CITY HAS TO DO – she forced the authorities hand.
She left the council no wiggle room, no room for compromise, no room for any sort of compassion that wouldn’t have signaled that paying rates was a purely optional exercise if you kicked up a big enough fuss.
This is the end game that she was always going to lose going up against the de jure and de facto state in this way. She has no one but herself to blame for her current situation.
In spite of being such an ‘eccentric’ she also has managed to beat council lawyers 21 out of 22 times on trespass cases. What does that say about the council’s lawyers knowledge of the law!
“Ms Bright, a former boilermaker turned “anti-corruption whistle blower”, is unschooled in the intricacies of law, but won 21 of the 22 trespass cases brought against her by the former Auckland City Council.”
George Galloway’s most recent contribution to the debate about Salisbury.
Starts at 10:00.
If you want a definitive debunking of the government/ media conspiracy theories and lies about spies, here is George at his best.
Yes Wayne of course
.
And Robert Fisk has no credibility.
And Craig Murray has no credibility.
And Patrick Cockburn has no credibility.
And Jon Pilger has no credibility.
And Jon Stephenson has no credibility.
And Nicky Hager has no credibility.
There is a method to your arguments.
You shoot the messenger.
And ignore the message.
On some of the people he is merely a bit out of date. They may have been credible sources at some point in the past but may no longer be.
Nicky Hager is an example. He wrote one excellent book, Seeds of Distrust. Unfortunately that was in 2002 and since then he has descended into fantasy.
It’s more a matter of whether they continue to use genuine sources. If Fisk uses his extensive local experience to find sources and reports what they say he’s pretty reliable, if he doesn’t do that he’s gone out on a limb and may be deceived.
In regards Fisk, I hadn’t read him in a while. The Douma article was actually pretty good, and clear on what his assumptions were and the conditions of his interviews.
But it wasn’t nearly so categorical as some people here said – he expressed little if any judgement one way or the other. He simply reported what he’d been told, by whom, as well as the absence of any doctor who’d been on duty at the time. Maybe they were testifying. Maybe the guy he spoke to was a doctor.
But the lack of critical thinking by commenters who can obviously read the matrix as it streams past is the real problem, by and large.
That was my impression too – I’ve read quite a bit of his stuff over the years, and it was fairly good. It doesn’t exempt him from the standards of his profession though. The BBC continues to produce witnesses to a gas attack in Douma. Al Jazeera seems undecided, they’re reporting what they’ve been able to find, which isn’t terribly much.
In a fact-free vacuum no-one can discredit any-one, which is why fake news is so insidious: it undermines trust in authority and erodes taking personal and collective responsibility.
When facts speak for themselves a two-year old can discredit the best & brightest. It is not about messenger, it is about the message and that stands on its own merit (or not).
Won’t happen for the next 30 years at least.
The only prospect of a referendum is if there is a Labour/Green Govt (no NZF).
And the referendum would then fail. No National voters would vote for it, in part because Labour opposed and campaigned against the flag referendum. And quite a few Labour voters would also be against it.
Seems a bit petty there, the flag referendum was opposed because it was a cart-before-the-horse, faux change. I think many national voters would be pleased to see a move to a republic then we would have a real justification for a flag change.
he New Zealand public are generally in favour of the retention of the monarchy, with polls showing it to have between 50 and 70% support.[30] Polls indicate that many New Zealanders see the monarchy as being of little day-to-day relevance; a One News Colmar Brunton poll in 2002 found that 58% of the population believed the monarchy has little or no relevance to their lives.[31] National Business Review poll in 2004 found 57% of respondents believed New Zealand would become a republic “in the future”.
It’s pretty much inevitable but it seems we have to wait for old folks who are stuck in the past to die off first.
Do you really think things will change, even in 30 years?
The main problem I would expect to be the manner of choosing a Head of State.
The MPs are going to want to be able to choose the HoS, in the same way that a GG is chosen. That way means that Parliament will remain the dominant force.
The Public will, I think, want to be able to elect the person in the HoS role. That will mean that the President, or whatever the role is caused, will have a moral claim to be above Parliament. They will be the only person in the Country to have been elected by all the people. I don’t think the Parliament will ever accept that.
That will mean that the President, or whatever the role is caused, will have a moral claim to be above Parliament.
Unless someone has a better Māori word for it I’d go for Te Rangatira.
And, yeah, I’d probably go for an position elected by the populace. In fact, being Green, I’d probably go for co-leaders.
Just have to be clear that they’re not a dictator position and can only give a general direction to parliament and not commands. They’d have to sign law into legislature (as the GG does now) but they’d have the power to refuse if it goes too far against the platform that they were elected on.
I don’t mind old Chuck as he has been quite vocal on a number of green issues such as climate change, the use of chemicals in the agriculture and horticulture sectors, general environmental issues etc and almost all of estates have gone 100% green/ organic which in turn has provided some cracking produce which I’ve tasted over the last co of years.
Yanis Varoufakis on tax cuts by Trump and how every time Republicans reorganise tax they transfer wealth from the have-nots to the haves. BAU. Since the post war era the proportion of wealth going to the workers is at the worst level.
The last test appears to have been Punggye-ri’s limit, or beyond, and there’s evidence that the mountain is collapsing into the voids created by the tests. China isn’t happy about the situation.
Just suspending tests at this stage, but it’s something.
My main concern is if they do in fact denuclearise NK, who get’s the weapons it already has? Will they be dismantled and destroyed? Or given to China?
Mr CIA himself mike pompeo will be enjoying the weight this will add to his campaign for secretary of state.
Am such a skeptic, it’s like hmmm what else is going down, it’s a hell of a distraction, while more info is uncovered about dodgy agent orange and his election campaign. Let’s not forget Stormy.
Yep. Legalising marijuana would massively boost the Northland economy while creating a huge need for R&D into it. Another reason to build a public university in Kaitaia.
In regard to legalised marijuana, lower incarceration rates, free up police time for other tthings, help the soil as weed is a nitrogen fixer and it can be grown organically.
Quite labour intensive too.
What is the down side?
Apart, of course, from the lobbying from the pharmaceutical, alcohol and forestry industries.
Corporates will profit while institutional racism shuts out folk who pioneered the cultivation of marijuana in NZ.
A white man’s industry: $710,000 for a license
Horton is proud to live in Portland, he says, for it is the first US city to vote to dedicate a portion of its recreational cannabis tax revenue towards investment into “communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition”.
Beyond investing in businesses and training, the fund will also partly finance the expungement of cannabis convictions.
Such policies, reparative in ambition and nature, recognize that the current playing field was historically set up to be inequitable. Cannabis culture may be open in ethos, but so far, with few exceptions, the industry has proven itself glacier white.
Horton and fellow advocates offer three reasons for this.
One, most states have barred anyone with a criminal record from entering the industry. The US is home to an estimated 70 million Americans with criminal records, and a disproportionate number of those are men of color (according to a Pew Research Center study in 2013, black men were six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men).
No one gets locked up for possession anymore, even growing a few plants rates no more than community service or similar.
If you are a dealer though…then jail is more likely.
Hemp is a wonderful plant, as you point out, lots of beneficial uses.
There is a potential downside…some communities do have problems with addiction. The tax generated from legal sales could be in part used to help address those areas of concern.
True about incarceration, however there are a lot of ‘negative’ experiences for some when it comes to police and marijuana.
From fleeing police in a vehicle to unreasonable searches and questioning.
Research shows that when a country has a healthy middle class – and low or at least moderate levels of economic inequality – addiction rates are lowest among the middle class and at least half of them (excepting tobacco) end by age 30, even without treatment. However, when unemployment, tenuous employment and inequality are high and the middle class shrinks, more people are at high risk. And their odds for early-life recovery decline.
Eradicate the poverty and you get rid of the addiction.
Of course, you also get rid of the capitalists ability to exploit everybody else. Which is why rich people prefer to give to charity, despite it obviously not working. than pay taxes. Makes them feel better as well and not like the total scum that they are.
“weed is a nitrogen fixer” gsays
can you elaborate or show some source? I thought legumes were nitrogen fixers which weed is not….. but happy to to become enlightened in this matter
Hi xanthe, I may have gone off half cocked there in regards to fixing nitrogen.
It is something I recall from a couple of decades ago when I was getting clued up on the demon weed.
I will go and look at the references and get back to you.
Rod Oram systematically dismantles the economic and environmental claims New Zealand’s gas sector makes as it doubles down on on its promises that it can help cut carbon emissions.
All indications are that oil and gas in NZ doesn’t have an economic leg to stand on. Makes one wonder just what’s making it profitable at the moment.
“After Jacinda’s historic announcement that brought an end to new offshore oil and gas exploration, we’ve been hearing a lot from the industry about how the sky is about to fall in.
Fun fact: it isn’t. But just in case you find yourself having a heated debate with someone around the dinner table, some debate points to help”….
Yes I have also had a number of those lately – meaning over the last week or so.
I have also had comments submitted come up but as finals without editing time. And others that once submitted just disappeared into the ether with no indication as to why. Re the latter – sorry, with one exception where I did not find out as to why until many hours later.
On big ones I often draft offline in a word doc and then cut in, but even then I often change my mind and/or do some last minute editing – spelling, grammar, format etc
Like you I learnt years ago of the pitfalls of ad hoc drafting of emails etc. LOL.
I have a personal policy of not responding to emails etc that raise my BP for hours or days until the anger etc dies down and objectivity returns – and/or cold hard white anger replaces red hot reactive anger. And sometimes to allow time to take advice,
Indeed, I do take sections & paragraphs or just sentences from unsent ‘material’ and morph these into writings that I actually do share with others. Sometimes the time gap is considerable.
The best thing to do is to grab paper and pen and vent your spleen. You might end up with a few holes in the paper but better there than anywhere else. Then toddle off to the supermarket (or somewhere) and when you return, screw up the offending document and chuck it in the bin.
That way you can be sure no-one will ever read it. 🙂
A show not for the people who say it can’t be done, but are actually doing it.
This is all about the labour movement in the USA. Good reflections for us over here.
25 Minutes long. Oh and whole presented by the Awesome journalist Laura Flanders!
Tracey that’s a really good point re the police being paid to train. Armed forces as well are paid to be trained.
Could the answer really be as simple as free training for all nurses, doctors, and teachers? Far out I’d be down with my taxes being used for that. Free tertiary education please, we are off to a good start, gives hope for the next generation.
Nurses should be paid more for sure, am not sure if they have any ‘extras’ in their pay structure but they definitely should have, they see so much trauma and save so many lives.
Absolutely agree nurses should be earning more and while we are at it the general health/hospital system should additionally get back to being more palliative focused. Health is not a business.
Thanks for bringing that up Tracey.
There was a rowdy mob in the square here in palmy this morning, garnering support for their pay round.
Nurses are underpaid.
They deserve pay parity with the police, if not more.
Their workplace is becoming more and more dangerous- drugs, alcohol, and the general fuck-wittery of the public nowadays.
The immediate protection or response for them if endangered is a security guard.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not dissing the security folk, but generally they are poorly paid (well below living wage), undertrained, and asked to respond to delicate or violent situations where drugs, mental ill health etc are involved.
C’mon Labour, release the purse strings and give the DHB the go ahead to agree to the nurses requests.
“C’mon Labour, release the purse strings and give the DHB the go ahead to agree to the nurses requests.”
Then next will be the requests from teachers, firemen, civil servants, police etc…
I don’t disagree with what you have written above gsays.
Labour has to now write the cheques and having already committed to their and their support partners election promises the cupboard is bare. Unless they disregard their commitment to debt levels, no new taxes this term (other than excise taxes) etc.
The gut bacteria of the estimated 145,000 surfers in NZ could be a great water quality indicator.
.
Last summer, researchers at England’s University of Exeter Medical School partnered with environmental group Surfers Against Sewage in a novel, and slightly nasty, study of surfer’s gut bacteria. According to the researchers, surfers swallow ten times more seawater than swimmers. By sampling their gut bacteria they can test if surfers are more susceptible to carrying bacteria that pollute seawater, indicating the presence of coastal pollution. The recently published findings show the United Kingdom’s surfers tested were three times more likely to carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria than their non-surfing
The following lists for New Zealand are available on the Russian Federation’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance website which lists approved premises.
Beef
Beef offal
Farmed game meat (see ‘Wild game meat’)
Finished beef products
Finished food products
Finished horse meat products
Finished mutton products
Finished pork products
Finished poultry meat products
Fish
Fodder: feeds for non-productive animals
Goat meat
Horse meat
Horse by-products
Meat (consolidated list of beef, beef offal, goat, horse meat, horse by-products, offal of small ruminants, mutton, ovine and caprine offals, stand-alone stores, wild game meat)
I am not suggesting we keep intensifying.
I am suggesting we get off our dependence on China economically and the USA militarily.
And it is important to be independent of China and the USA.
We can trade in a different way.
We could change what we produce.
Currently we trade almost exclusively, our intensified farming industry products for their extraction industry products so do tell, wtf are we going to trade?
That proves it.
Your hatred of Russia has meant you cannot look at the history of Russia with any form of reason.
I recommend you read Stalingrad by Antony Beevor to improve your grasp of the country’s history.
Many many British and Europeans ( including Churchill) know their debt of gratitude to Russia for WW2.
I guess that when 25 million die against the Nazis, they’re “Russians”. When they occupy half of Europe for 50-odd years or develop a new type of chemical weapons, they’re “Soviets”.
Sorry, but Ed is right this time. USSR sacrificed and lost more in WW2 than we in the West could dream of. 80% of Hitler’s Germany’s war effort went to the east. We heroically beat 20% and still romantically claim all the credit. As Ed says, Russia lost 25 million, or close. Go learn some history and check out how few millions we (the British and USA) lost against the Germans. Peanuts. In the less than perfect world of realpolitik, the USSR fully earned the hegemony it gained over territory after WW2.
Stop dumb rantings. Stalin was as bad as Hitler in many ways, but he beat him because we failed to fully commit, sat back and let him slog it out with Germany. Plausible excuses abound, but look at the casualty figures if you want to argue seriously.
You may have a rosy picture of how things once were but the country I grew up in was a violent, drunken, racist mono-cultured shit hole where a woman’s place was in the home, Māori were still being forced off their land to make way for white New Zealand, Pacific people were drafted as factory fodder, having a mental illness could well result in extended detention in a place like Lake Alice and reliable transport with a safe set of tyres was on the nice to have list.
Well, we have Joe90’s tyres but is it correlation or causation? It’s possible that, even without trade with lower waged countries, the price would have come down (relatively) as productivity increased. It’s difficult to say one way or the other on such limited data.
Then again, wages have, at best, stagnated since the 1980s open trade reforms with a serious decrease in GDP going to wages. A decrease in GDP going to wages means that all waged people are worse off in real monetary terms.
But take another look at that first clause:
Even though the LIS has fallen overall in the measured sector of the New Zealand economy
And look at this, from the summary linked to above:
The LIS has recently been the focus of considerable international concern that growth in real wages has fallen behind growth in labour productivity. When this occurs, the LIS falls as the share of national income going to labour decreases and capital receives a bigger slice.
That is to say: even though workers are more “productive”, their income hasn’t increased in proportion to their productivity.
They’re working harder, but not getting paid more in return for it.
The issue is simple: Although increased exports support U.S. jobs, increased imports cost U.S. jobs. Thus, it is trade balances—the net of exports and imports—that determine the number of jobs created or displaced by trade agreements. Rather than reducing our too-high trade deficit, past trade agreements have actually been followed by larger U.S. trade deficits.
The same could be said of NZ as our trade deficits have increased. In fact, economics predicts that wages in well paid economies will decrease when in competition with economies with low pay (Econ202) because of the shift to imports.
Of course, economists tend to say that that’s all good because the closure of some inefficient production will be replaced by other jobs but all we’ve really seen is an increase in low paid jobs which has, inevitably, resulted in an increase in poverty:
hree decades of massive economic change and restructuring since the mid-1980s have left many people worse off a generation later. The proportion of the population with low incomes increased sharply in the mid-1990s before it began to drop over the latter half of that decade. Despite a continuing slow drop, in 2004 the proportion of the population with low incomes was still substantially higher than in 1984. In 2004 the Working for Families financial assistance package aimed at low- and middle income earners was introduced and led to a reduction in poverty to 17% of the population compared with 22% in 2004. After a rise in poverty again during the global recession (2008-2011) in 2016 the poverty rate was 15%, still above the 1984 level (9%) and means that there remain around 682,500 people in poverty including some 220,000 children (See MSD Household incomes report July 2017, the total population of NZ in June 2016 was 4.55 million).
A few people are better off since the 1980s but a greater percentage are going backwards. Which of course brings us to The Spirit Level and how inequality damages society. Which brings up how the rich always destroy society.
“In sum, the results of our experiments, discussed in Section 6, indicate that either one of the two features apparent in historical societal collapses – over-exploitation of natural resources and strong economic stratification – can independently result in a complete collapse. Given economic stratification, collapse is very difficult to avoid and requires major policy changes, including major reductions in inequality and population growth rates. Even in the absence of economic stratification, collapse can still occur if depletion per capita is too high. However, collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion.”
‘Mr Peters made the comments in London at the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.
Mr Peters has also been in Brussels this week and insists the Europeans he’s met have no concerns about his views.
A Russian trade deal was not on the government’s agenda, but could be one day if Russia came to its senses, Mr Peters said.
Even North Korea could be an option, he said.
“EU first and other countries, but we hope in the long-term, we’ve got a free trade deal with North Korea – but not at the moment.”
There would be no progress towards a deal any time soon given the suspected nerve agent attack in Syria and its ally Russia blocking a bid for an independent investigation, Mr Peters said.
“It’s rather axiomatic – if you’re engaged or assisting a party … involved in a chemical weapon attack, then all such progress must stop right there.”‘
I am more worried that Ardern is only getting 37% support as preferred PM. In 2016, it was a shock when Key polled that low, after about a million years in power
Ardern is PM. Usually that means a boost – even people who don’t instinctively support the PM’s party will often give them support in preferred PM. But Ardern – in spite of being quite lovely and pregnant and actually shown herself to be actually really quite good at representing New Zealand and being PM – is stuck on 37%.
… skirted around this rather worrying point. I think it needs to be acknowledged.
First: We’ve had 14 Prime Ministers since regular polling commenced in 1969: and Ardern is already out-rating 10 of her 13 immediate predecessors. Only Muldoon, Clark and Key were more popular (and with Muldoon, this was only in the relatively brief period when he reached his apex … he was rarely above early 30s most of the time).
.
Second: Ardern did, in fact, receive a boost on becoming PM
Colmar Brunton
Ardern Preferred PM
Late Sep 31%
2017 Election Early Dec 37% Mid Feb 41% Early April 37%
Most new PMs enjoy a boost in the first few months and then fall back in the PM ratings
.
Third: for example:
Lange surged to 36% 3 months after the 1984 Election … then fluctuated around the mid 30s … before falling to the late 20s after 10 months in Office.
Bolger peaked in the late 20s just a month or two after the 1990 Election … then fell heavily to the mid teens by the 7 month mark … and was down below 10% by late 91, a year after assuming Office.
Shipley rose to the mid 30s a few months after toppling Bolger as PM … but by the 10 month mark had fallen back to the early 20s
.
Fourth: Ardern (37%) is actually mildly more popular than Clark (35%) was at the same point into her First Term.
Taking the Colmar Bruntons and comparing the Preferred PM Polls based on time elapsed since the respective Elections:
……………… Post 99 Election …………………………. Post 17 Election
1 month ………. No Polls ………………………………….. No Polls ….
2 months ……… No Poll ………………………………… Ardern 37 / English 28
3 months … Clark 43 / Shipley 16 ……………………. No Poll ……
4 months … Clark 48 / Shipley 15 ……………………. No Poll ……
5 months … Clark 46 / Shipley 15 ……………………. Ardern 41 / English 20
6 months … Clark 41 / Shipley 17 ……………………. No Poll ……
7 months … Clark 35 / Shipley 18 ……………………. Ardern 37 / English 10
Clark certainly surged to a higher apex … but subsequently fell more steeply than Ardern (at least at this stage) has.
.
Fifth: Key was always going to be an outlier. Freak of Nature. He remains the most popular PM since regular polling began (in terms of both his peak and average in the Preferred PM) … although (if memory serves me right) Clark may have outperformed him in both the UMR and Reid Research leadership measures.
Winning the 2008 Election boosted his Preferred PM score from 40% to 51% and he remained on 50-51 for most of the next 12 months, not declining until early 2010.
Bear in mind, though, that he’d been Party Leader a lot longer than Arden had going into the Election.
To answer more fully / less glibly … mainly, I think, Key’s Pull factor, though the Goff / Shearer / Cunliffe / Little Push factor clearly played an ancillary role.
The 2011 New Zealand Election Survey highlighted just how crucial valence issues were to National’s electoral dominance. And positive feelings about Key’s leadership was by far the most important factor in anchoring non-partisan ‘swing’- voters to the Nats (followed by perceptions of National’s economic competence).
Key’s UMR favourability and Reid Research performance ratings fell heavily during his second term … yet he clearly remained most Preferred PM by a very wide margin and the 2014 NZES suggests he retained a high ‘likeability’ factor.
Voters began to increasingly see him as dishonest and out of touch … but those negatives were entirely eclipsed by a significant majority continuing to judge him highly capable and competent.
And it’s not as if the four successive Labour leaders were widely disliked or deemed incompetent. Goff / Shearer / Cunliffe / Little all enjoyed net positive ratings in the UMR and Reid Research measures during their first year as Oppo Leader. But, against Key, they all struggled to get much above 10% as Preferred PM. Cunliffe was really the only one who (ultimately) became pretty widely disliked.
Still, none had Ardern’s je ne sais quo … though Goff and Cunliffe could be formidable debaters when they put their mind to it.
Thanks heaps and I’ll (have to) adjust my simplistic thinking 😉
I will do a bit of research on those “valence issues” you mentioned as that sounds mighty interesting & important to me.
I like to think that all successive Labour Leaders (and hopefuls) were (and still are) highly capable people with very good skillsets but none had the ‘complete package’ to sway the polls & voters. Obviously, being a formidable debater in politics is essential but not sufficient.
Labour Leaders also had to deal with ‘riots in the ranks’, which was amplified & distorted in/by MSM and other more subversive outlets …
Key was also the first to employ a consultancy and others to push hot buttons and use advertising/marketing/psychology in a concerted campaign to create a false front
Excellent analysis. Key was a highly competent and likeable PM, hence his popularity being so high for so long. Ardern too is popular, but she came into her position after a series of poor performing Labour leaders, and a three term government. Time will tell just how long she can maintain her, and Labour’s, current level of support.
Yes John Key was likeable with the golf, BBQ and beer swilling crowd. He developed his persona on what he considered a reflection of the Kiwi “bloke” and “sheila” with a huge dollop of corporate grey. A sad reflection on the gullibility and greed of a certain percentage of the NZ electorate at the time. His competency, apart from being a dab hand at the power golf swing was to know when to hold and when to fold. Then he became a quitter. In another time in history he would be the snake oil salesman with a few gambling tricks and a penchant for playing the silver tongued devil. John Key putting it bluntly is a fake leader and his legacy is the “Blighted Future” the one promise he lived up to.
Jacinda Ardern is the real deal and that will be celebrated in the fullness of time.
any thoughts on why Key walked when he did?….was it simply a case of he wasnt confident of winning the 2017 election and that didnt fit with his self image?
Pat, in a game of poker Key is the one you would watch. His whole career prior to politics was putting it simply about placing large sums of money in the right place for the right people at the right time. He knew the odds of winning the 2017 election were not good when considering the electoral cycle and the vagaries of MMP. So he folded.
I can’t claim any special insider knowledge on this, Pat. Your guess is as good as mine.
Three possibilities:
(1) Self-perceived ‘Winner’ didn’t want to risk losing traditionally difficult fourth Election (point made by you and Kat). More than possible … although note that Key didn’t bail out mid-way through his second term despite the Oppo Bloc (such as it was) very regularly out-polling the Govt throughout 2012-2013, above all in the immediate few months following Cunliffe toppling Shearer. The Nats’ chances were looking pretty precarious for a while there. But Key didn’t fold.
(2) Risk of a whacking great skeleton in his closet being exposed to the harsh, unforgiving glare of public scrutiny (a few unsubstantiated rumours floating about / some tacit speculation on an impending scandal in the media).
(3) (related to (1)) … Wasn’t prepared to continue the game once all the fun went out of it. Key liked to be liked by an adoring public … and unfortunately for him his UMR favourability and Reid Research performance ratings fell heavily during his second term … and even more so during his third term. He ended up a polariser in the Muldoon mould. An enormous net positive leadership rating of + 71 in 2009, for instance, plunged to single figures during his final term. The fun disappeared.
Kristy Johnston has another article about the Family Carers issue in the Herald entitled “Advice to Government on ‘discriminatory’ Family Care Policy to remain secret”
Sorry, not able to provide link from this phone.
Gratitude and respect to the journalist for her continued attention to this issue.
If some here think I am less than enamoured with our new ‘progressive’ government this article may go some way to explaining part of the reason why.
Thanks Sacha for posting the link. (Another six sleeps and I’ll have access to a Young Person who can teach me how to make this smart (?) phone do that.)
With all indicators pointing to extremely poor management of Health over the past couple of decades it confounds me that our elected decision makers continue to be so dependant on advice and guidance from Ministry bureaucrats.
Did anyone notice how our major newspapers have been captured for advertising today, Saturday. In the South Island anyway, we had the Nelson Mail Press and Dominion all with black front pages and large white lettering about some TV thing that is on. That was the news that was.
That is all!
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
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. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
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 ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
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 ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
Well, I will admit to being perplexed and a little disappointed.
The Standard is my ‘go to’ site for a bit of invigorating ‘left-wing’ discussion to lift my day – less so now that we have a left-leaning coalition, but essential back in the days of the nasty Nats. On occasion, I also contribute.
I don’t agree with everything said on The Standard, but nor should I. There is a healthy range of opinions that enriches any discussion. Different points of view are expressed, but all generally within the framework of making our society a better place.
So I don’t understand a moderator espousing the cause of the most obviously anti-democratic poster on here, and only an irregular one at that.
A long time poster got banned – and while I agree with the rule of not disputing with a moderator, moderators should exercise their power to ban with caution and understanding.
I’ve chosen my words with care; if this results in a ban because I have been critical of a moderator, so be it.
It must be said that Wei’s trolling is some of the finest seen on this site for many a year.
Yes, and it appears to be deliberate and calculated to cause flamewars rather than debates every single time. That is why they just got a permanent ban from me.
I must confess that I am somewhat racist. I am totally bigoted against the race of narcissistic trolls.
They act like Donald Trump, always trying to make the debate and storylines to all be about them. While they tend to bring some liveliness to debates, it tends to wear thin remarkably rapidly as they keep reprising the same old storyline over and over again, regardless of topic.
Why oh why do the people with such empathy deficiencies about the role of others not take the career opportunities that are designed for them. The arts could always need more starving actors and other kinds of self-tortured artists.
Thank you
A long time poster got banned…
Was that Paul?
Paul has risen…
Please elaborate for the rest us mere mortals, my friend.
More evidence of Duncan Garner contradicting Duncan Garner.
The logical denouement of the problems articulated by the incoherent frontman for TV3 is that the country has been left to rack and ruin by 9 ghastly years of Key.
But Garner cannot make that leap for either ideological or commercial reasons, so really comes to contradictory conclusions.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/103287025/garner-we-should-look-at-our-own-states-of-emergency-before-pointing-fingers-overseas
Some of the statistics in this article are really quite scary.
It is as if we are being colonised for a second time.
This reminds me of a book I read about 5 years ago, entitled the Land Grabbers by Fred Pearce.
http://www.beacon.org/The-Land-Grabbers-P887.aspx
We have lost control of our money to Australian banks and foreign owned finance.
We are now losing our land. With the loss of land, New Zealand loses its capacity to control its own destiny.
John Key’s government betrayed the people of this land and sold our sovereignty.
Here are excerpts from the article.
“The wave of Chinese dairy investment money into New Zealand since 2014 has brought opportunities, but also suspicion in some circles.
Increasing Chinese influence in the dairy sector is viewed as “soft power” imperialism by “red capitalists”, according to Canterbury University academic Anne-Marie Brady.
China is the biggest foreign investor in dairying, and New Zealand now supplies more than half of all dairy products imported into China.
More than 24 per cent of China’s foreign milk supply, 52 per cent of cheese imports and 87 per cent of butter imports come from clean, green New Zealand.
Recent Chinese investment has included Agria’s 50.2 per cent stake in rural services firm PGG Wrightson, funding of Synlait, and investment in dairy processing by Yili in South Canterbury, and Yashili in the Waikato, Bright Dairy, and China Animal Husbandry, to name a few.
Chinese-backed firms have recently set up new packaging operations in Christchurch, with plans for more in Auckland.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/102033028/chinese-investment-in-nz-dairy-likely-to-slow
We should be very wary of Chinese influence!
http://liberties.aljazeera.com/en/programme/freedom-expression/china-spies-lies-and-blackmail
“When you sup with the devil, be sure to use a long spoon.”
Might be too late ?
I’ve got two books on China’s influences in NZ by Rob Asher (never heard of this guy before) and on Australia by Clive Hamilton which has caused a bit of a stink of late here in Oz.
Both books are the too read list.
Thank you
I’ll look them up
Here’s the name of the Australian book by Clive Hamilton, Silent Invasion China’s Influence in Australia.
Has a very interesting preface in why he has written the book. When it was shown on the telly it shocked a lot of people including me at the time and still does which why I’m concern about the the influence of China and their lack for a international rules base order.
Which is only going to bring us trouble in more ways than one as my dad has seen already firsthand in the tourism industry in the South Island.
Ron Asher
Into the Jaws of the Dragon.
“China Inc., the business arm of China’s repressive dictatorship, is trying to take over the world by grabbing key sectors of various countries’ economies as part of its strategic plan for global control of the world’s resources.
China chose New Zealand as the first Western country with which to have a Free Trade agreement, which is more about colonising and dominating New Zealand’s economy than about free trade. The same thing happened in Australia with its Free Trade agreement with China in 2016. The governments of both countries have bent over backwards to accommodate the interests of China Inc. – often at the expense of the prospects and interests of ordinary Australians and New Zealanders.
The donations to political parties by Chinese business interests, often acting on behalf of China’s government, and the post-retirement financial rewards by Chinese companies to politicians who oblige China during their term of office are corrupting our democracy and public life.”
http://trosspublishing.co.nz/publication/in-the-jaws-of-the-dragon
That’s the book, it’s has some very interesting chapters which are of interest to me and no doubt to a lot of other people here as well.
Clive Hamilton’s book is very similar, but from an Australian perspective and from I can remember from the book review in the Oz Newspaper that Clive had some skin in the game as well.
I’ll get the title to Clive’s book if someone doesn’t beat me to it, once I’ve finished fencing.
Does anyone know if those papers written by that scholar from Canterbury University who buglar about a mth are public? As would like to have a read of them.
The author you want, Exkiwiforces, is Anne-Marie Brady.
I think this is the link to her paper on Chinese influence in NZ (but may not be specifically to the Nat. Party)
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/for_website_magicweaponsanne-mariesbradyseptember2017.pdf
Also, a bit of background – from the Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11998271
Cheers for that, i caught up with the NZ media news when her paper made the news, a few other websites I visit and it got a fair old run in the Oz newspaper before and after the break in to her house IRT to her paper.
Another nail in coffin of the Guardian as a reputable source of news.
Jonathan Freedland is one of the worst propagandists at the Guardian. If you want to understand why and how this newspaper has slipped so badly since 2010, you just need to read the rubbish he propagates.
In this disingenuous piece he launches at Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. He probably doesn’t like Waters because the musician has also been a strong advocate against the brutal Israel occupation of Gaza. Hunt high and low for Freedland denounce Israel. You won’t.
And Freedland dodges the fact that Robert Fisk, a journalist of far more repute, experience and independence than the Guardian opinion writer, has e is no evidence of chemical weapons in Douma. Robert Fisk, who actually travelled to Damascus and investigated the story rather than sit behind a desk in London and write garbage.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/20/trump-us-syria-truth-tribal-robert-mueller-white-helmets-factse
https://off-guardian.org/2016/06/12/how-the-guardian-told-me-to-steer-clear-of-palestine/
@Ed +1 The Guardian is the Trojan Horse embedded in the ‘Left’, disseminating distrust and purposely disrupting any real Progressive Left project that appears…The Guardian is the guardian of establishment power nothing more or less.
Video – so some will want to avoid. Apple are a company with some bad practices, especially around repair and warranty. Here they are on their own official website offering the consumer a pile of crap – extended warranties. Extended warranties are effectively a con in NZ. You are covered, under the consumer guarantees act.
https://www.apple.com/nz/legal/statutory-warranty/
As for the video – Louis Rossmann makes a fine argument about apple repairs, and just quietly, demolishes right libertarian arguments around the right to repair as well. 15 min length.
Meh. I like apple products.
Just have additional cover for phone – lose or damage it and I get a new one.
Easy.
And there is the problem with consumer capitalism – just get a new one.
It doesn’t help that he obviously doesn’t know what counterfeiting is. It’s not taking a device, changing the name on it and then selling it as something else. It’s building a device that does the same job, looks the same and selling it under the same name. Even reverse engineering a device, building one that looks the same, does the same job but selling it under a different name wouldn’t be counterfeiting.
He does get round to describing it properly but it’s pretty much in passing and the wrong idea is fully developed.
Other than that he’s got several good points.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/355618/private-litigant-makes-hostile-bid-for-penny-bright-s-house
Graham McCready Makes a bid for Penny Brights house.
She better hope better offers come in.
pretty obvious it will go for more a s he is just an asshole – but hey it made the papers.
A pair of delusional attention seekers
Absolutely shocking the council are selling her house over $34k. They could just put on a lean rather than a forced sale. They are despicable and spiteful bullies.
Apparently she has been hospitalised and may have cancer.
Also those lefties than love to champion rights for the mentally ill, seem to have a lot less sympathy for someone who ‘may’ be mentally ill.
I’m not saying Penny is wrong (because I have zero faith in the Auckland council’s ability to clearly show where all the rates money has gone on a more individualised basis, aka it should all be public record who all their contractors and service providers and so forth are and what they get paid). I’m suggesting that spending a significant amount of your life on this issue is either equivalent to being mental ill or a martyr to transparency and maybe a bit of both, in Penny’s case.
Good luck to Penny. Hope someone at council has some sort compassion (unlikely though) and stops the forced sale and that her health is ok.
Maybe the council’s private lawyers who have benefited hundreds of thousands of rate payer money over this, could pay her rates bill as it is a fraction of what they gained out of how they ‘advised’ the council how to approach the issues and benefited so much financially by their own advice on how to pursue it.
Why did Penny not put aside her annual rate payments into say a savings account? This day was always going to come…
Surely her supporters can put together the $34k?
“They could just put on a lien rather than a forced sale. ”
Bright has been offered the same deferred payment option as other ratepayers, many times, and refused. She will walk away from this sale with a million dollars. Spare your sympathy.
yep – she is the author of her own misfortune in this and many other cases.
We should all still wish her the very best with her current health issues though.
I don’t think deferred payment option is the same as a lien. Auckland council would have saved a fortune in lawyers and not being putting a women (who many or may not have some ‘mental’ issues out onto the street).
Mr Town CEO of Auckland Council chose to waste over $100,000 to Simpson Grierson in legal fees to defend comments about her, rather than $10,000 and an apology – maybe he should stump up the $34k as a donation.
Mr Town seems to have plenty of money from the rate payers to spare.
And it’s not the only one they have done this too, apparently Charlotte Hareta Marsh lost her Manurewa home in a court-ordered sale because she was paying it to Tahoe instead…
As the council pay for Westfield mall development and Billionaire boat races, I’m thinking that there seems to be plenty of money to burn at Auckland council and to take someones house over a small dept particularly abhorrent.
Spare your sympathy
So, so bitter….
Why are you bitter, Sacha?
What is it that you perceive Penny Bright has done to you….that your comments contain such a personal emotive venom?….
Just goes to show that you don’t really ‘own’ anything. The reality is the council or government has the power to take it off you and sell it. Sure there is a process, but the power is there.
Penny had the power to stop it – she just had to pay what she legally had to.
Its called consequences.
The Council can just take the money too from your bank account. Had someone I know have a bank overdraft just arbitrarily put with interest, to recover a measly rates sum. They didn’t consent to it, but apparently the council can make the bank just pay over the money, and if you don’t have it, the bank ‘gives’ you an overdraft with interest. It’s unbelievable.
“…Absolutely shocking the council are selling her house over $34k. They could just put on a lean rather than a forced sale. They are despicable and spiteful bullies…”
Penny Bright is an eccentric who chose to challenge the law of the land in a campaign that would have made Don Quixote proud. Her agenda was inchoate and her message a muddled liquorice allsorts of various conspiracy theories.
By being so openly and publicly defiant about not paying her rates – SOMETHING EVERY OTHER RATEPAYER IN THE CITY HAS TO DO – she forced the authorities hand.
She left the council no wiggle room, no room for compromise, no room for any sort of compassion that wouldn’t have signaled that paying rates was a purely optional exercise if you kicked up a big enough fuss.
This is the end game that she was always going to lose going up against the de jure and de facto state in this way. She has no one but herself to blame for her current situation.
In spite of being such an ‘eccentric’ she also has managed to beat council lawyers 21 out of 22 times on trespass cases. What does that say about the council’s lawyers knowledge of the law!
“Ms Bright, a former boilermaker turned “anti-corruption whistle blower”, is unschooled in the intricacies of law, but won 21 of the 22 trespass cases brought against her by the former Auckland City Council.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=11521031
What’s your assessment of the slimeball who committed this housing rort, James?….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2711246/Bill-English-defends-taxpayer-cash-for-house
https://thestandard.org.nz/watch-bill-english-lying-through-his-teeth-on-housing/
I dont think he was a slime-ball.
I agree – the comparison is unfair to slime-balls
So you support politicians rorting the system like that. If English is not a slime-ball in your opinion, how come you’re so hostile to Penny?
‘Hostile’ offer my arse. McCready and Bright have worked together for years. Another underhand manoeuvre to avoid consequences.
George Galloway’s most recent contribution to the debate about Salisbury.
Starts at 10:00.
If you want a definitive debunking of the government/ media conspiracy theories and lies about spies, here is George at his best.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=76Zxu91UUFs
By definition George Galloway can’t discredit anyone. He has no credibility.. Even Corbyn’s Labour Party doesn’t buy into him.
Yes Wayne of course
.
And Robert Fisk has no credibility.
And Craig Murray has no credibility.
And Patrick Cockburn has no credibility.
And Jon Pilger has no credibility.
And Jon Stephenson has no credibility.
And Nicky Hager has no credibility.
There is a method to your arguments.
You shoot the messenger.
And ignore the message.
Ed’s lack of self awareness is magnificent to behold.
On some of the people he is merely a bit out of date. They may have been credible sources at some point in the past but may no longer be.
Nicky Hager is an example. He wrote one excellent book, Seeds of Distrust. Unfortunately that was in 2002 and since then he has descended into fantasy.
It’s more a matter of whether they continue to use genuine sources. If Fisk uses his extensive local experience to find sources and reports what they say he’s pretty reliable, if he doesn’t do that he’s gone out on a limb and may be deceived.
In regards Fisk, I hadn’t read him in a while. The Douma article was actually pretty good, and clear on what his assumptions were and the conditions of his interviews.
But it wasn’t nearly so categorical as some people here said – he expressed little if any judgement one way or the other. He simply reported what he’d been told, by whom, as well as the absence of any doctor who’d been on duty at the time. Maybe they were testifying. Maybe the guy he spoke to was a doctor.
But the lack of critical thinking by commenters who can obviously read the matrix as it streams past is the real problem, by and large.
That was my impression too – I’ve read quite a bit of his stuff over the years, and it was fairly good. It doesn’t exempt him from the standards of his profession though. The BBC continues to produce witnesses to a gas attack in Douma. Al Jazeera seems undecided, they’re reporting what they’ve been able to find, which isn’t terribly much.
This is really funny because the other day you posted a lot of reputable MSM journalist that you stated had no credibility and were to be ignored.
You do know – that just because “Ed” agrees with them or not is not the deciding factor if they are credible or not.
In a fact-free vacuum no-one can discredit any-one, which is why fake news is so insidious: it undermines trust in authority and erodes taking personal and collective responsibility.
When facts speak for themselves a two-year old can discredit the best & brightest. It is not about messenger, it is about the message and that stands on its own merit (or not).
And Galloway’s message is irrefutable.
I don’t buy into the vast majority of your arguments Wayne so your credibility is?
( clue – In the eye of the beholder)
Robert Fisk has been to Damascus and is an independent, experienced and highly respected journalist.
Why should I take your opinion above his?
Don’t go, Natalie. Don’t go.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/04/20/surprising-development-alan-dershowitz-acknowledges-portman-as-a-research-assistant-for-his-plagiarized-hoax-the-case-for-israel/
Despite the country’s success at the commonwealth games I could see this move as strengthening the NZ republic argument.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/355653/prince-charles-to-be-next-commonwealth-head
Won’t happen for the next 30 years at least.
The only prospect of a referendum is if there is a Labour/Green Govt (no NZF).
And the referendum would then fail. No National voters would vote for it, in part because Labour opposed and campaigned against the flag referendum. And quite a few Labour voters would also be against it.
“No National voters would vote for it, in part because Labour opposed and campaigned against the flag referendum. ”
Except the young ones who are not so petty and tribal.
Seems a bit petty there, the flag referendum was opposed because it was a cart-before-the-horse, faux change. I think many national voters would be pleased to see a move to a republic then we would have a real justification for a flag change.
Probably.
Upset that they got called on their stupidity?
There’s no point in changing the flag until we become a republic.
ATM, probably right but I think that there’s more support for becoming a republic than you want to believe:
It’s pretty much inevitable but it seems we have to wait for old folks who are stuck in the past to die off first.
Do you really think things will change, even in 30 years?
The main problem I would expect to be the manner of choosing a Head of State.
The MPs are going to want to be able to choose the HoS, in the same way that a GG is chosen. That way means that Parliament will remain the dominant force.
The Public will, I think, want to be able to elect the person in the HoS role. That will mean that the President, or whatever the role is caused, will have a moral claim to be above Parliament. They will be the only person in the Country to have been elected by all the people. I don’t think the Parliament will ever accept that.
Unless someone has a better Māori word for it I’d go for Te Rangatira.
And, yeah, I’d probably go for an position elected by the populace. In fact, being Green, I’d probably go for co-leaders.
Just have to be clear that they’re not a dictator position and can only give a general direction to parliament and not commands. They’d have to sign law into legislature (as the GG does now) but they’d have the power to refuse if it goes too far against the platform that they were elected on.
must have been more than a few nat voter slap keys tacky snot rag of a flag down , i doubt all nats are moon royalists either
I don’t mind old Chuck as he has been quite vocal on a number of green issues such as climate change, the use of chemicals in the agriculture and horticulture sectors, general environmental issues etc and almost all of estates have gone 100% green/ organic which in turn has provided some cracking produce which I’ve tasted over the last co of years.
Why? Is Prince Charles worse than his vacuous older son or his shepherd-killing younger son?
They’re all unelected sponges haha
But I meant that there are people attached to the concept of the queen as sovereign of the commonwealth, not the prince
Or his racist father.
Yanis Varoufakis on tax cuts by Trump and how every time Republicans reorganise tax they transfer wealth from the have-nots to the haves. BAU. Since the post war era the proportion of wealth going to the workers is at the worst level.
I have just heard on 11am news that north Korea are ceasing weapon testing and shutting down a facility.
Wil the US president get any/much credit for this deal?
He did in the news I just heard.
He might try but China told DPRK to cease and desist last October.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2117340/chinese-scientists-warn-north-korea-about-disaster-threat-nuclear
The last test appears to have been Punggye-ri’s limit, or beyond, and there’s evidence that the mountain is collapsing into the voids created by the tests. China isn’t happy about the situation.
Dang, that’s a start, crikey, it’s almost unbelievable.
Will be listening carefully to the language used, it’s all about the wording sometimes.
North Korea suspends nuclear and missile tests
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has announced that his country will suspend nuclear and missile tests immediately, according to state media.
Just suspending tests at this stage, but it’s something.
My main concern is if they do in fact denuclearise NK, who get’s the weapons it already has? Will they be dismantled and destroyed? Or given to China?
Mr CIA himself mike pompeo will be enjoying the weight this will add to his campaign for secretary of state.
Am such a skeptic, it’s like hmmm what else is going down, it’s a hell of a distraction, while more info is uncovered about dodgy agent orange and his election campaign. Let’s not forget Stormy.
Cannabis grows well here and I’d love to see a thriving industry. Medical cannabis is finding more and more applications.
https://smallcaps.com.au/botanix-new-study-cbd-based-atopic-dermatitis-treatment/
https://smallcaps.com.au/mgc-pharma-medical-cannabis-facility-malta-tops-up-cash/
Yep. Legalising marijuana would massively boost the Northland economy while creating a huge need for R&D into it. Another reason to build a public university in Kaitaia.
Would be a good location for a third Medical School too.
In regard to legalised marijuana, lower incarceration rates, free up police time for other tthings, help the soil as weed is a nitrogen fixer and it can be grown organically.
Quite labour intensive too.
What is the down side?
Apart, of course, from the lobbying from the pharmaceutical, alcohol and forestry industries.
Corporates will profit while institutional racism shuts out folk who pioneered the cultivation of marijuana in NZ.
A white man’s industry: $710,000 for a license
Horton is proud to live in Portland, he says, for it is the first US city to vote to dedicate a portion of its recreational cannabis tax revenue towards investment into “communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition”.
Beyond investing in businesses and training, the fund will also partly finance the expungement of cannabis convictions.
Such policies, reparative in ambition and nature, recognize that the current playing field was historically set up to be inequitable. Cannabis culture may be open in ethos, but so far, with few exceptions, the industry has proven itself glacier white.
Horton and fellow advocates offer three reasons for this.
One, most states have barred anyone with a criminal record from entering the industry. The US is home to an estimated 70 million Americans with criminal records, and a disproportionate number of those are men of color (according to a Pew Research Center study in 2013, black men were six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men).
http://www.complex.com/life/2017/04/what-its-like-being-black-in-the-marijuana-business
True Joe, but we don’t have to go down the US route.
What you have pointed out, the big corporations taking over, is the main reason I would prefer decriminalisation as opposed to legalisation.
“lower incarceration rates”
No one gets locked up for possession anymore, even growing a few plants rates no more than community service or similar.
If you are a dealer though…then jail is more likely.
Hemp is a wonderful plant, as you point out, lots of beneficial uses.
There is a potential downside…some communities do have problems with addiction. The tax generated from legal sales could be in part used to help address those areas of concern.
True about incarceration, however there are a lot of ‘negative’ experiences for some when it comes to police and marijuana.
From fleeing police in a vehicle to unreasonable searches and questioning.
Addiction is a problem caused by poverty.
Eradicate the poverty and you get rid of the addiction.
Of course, you also get rid of the capitalists ability to exploit everybody else. Which is why rich people prefer to give to charity, despite it obviously not working. than pay taxes. Makes them feel better as well and not like the total scum that they are.
” lower incarceration rates, free up police time for other things”. Agreed – such as doing something serious about those abhorrent meth labs!
“weed is a nitrogen fixer” gsays
can you elaborate or show some source? I thought legumes were nitrogen fixers which weed is not….. but happy to to become enlightened in this matter
Weed is an up taker, not a fixer.
Hi xanthe, I may have gone off half cocked there in regards to fixing nitrogen.
It is something I recall from a couple of decades ago when I was getting clued up on the demon weed.
I will go and look at the references and get back to you.
All gassed up: shedding light on the gas sector’s claims
All indications are that oil and gas in NZ doesn’t have an economic leg to stand on. Makes one wonder just what’s making it profitable at the moment.
Profitability comes about as:
Only half of gas currently produced in NZ is actually “used” !
Remainder is converted to Methanol by Canadian Co, (Methex), at a cut rate … under a deal, as it’s surplus!
Also NZ LPG is double the price of Fracked gas from US …
Go figure …
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018641028/business-commentator-rod-oram
NZ has any amount of “Bridging”
“After Jacinda’s historic announcement that brought an end to new offshore oil and gas exploration, we’ve been hearing a lot from the industry about how the sky is about to fall in.
Fun fact: it isn’t. But just in case you find yourself having a heated debate with someone around the dinner table, some debate points to help”….
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/blog/busting-the-oil-and-gas-industrys-alternative/blog/61404/
Request Timeout
Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.
Apache/2.4.33 (Ubuntu) Server at thestandard.org.nz Port 443
Yes I have also had a number of those lately – meaning over the last week or so.
I have also had comments submitted come up but as finals without editing time. And others that once submitted just disappeared into the ether with no indication as to why. Re the latter – sorry, with one exception where I did not find out as to why until many hours later.
I highly recommend doing as much editing (and spell checking) off-line. Years of e-mailing and making many avoidable mistakes have taught me this.
On big ones I often draft offline in a word doc and then cut in, but even then I often change my mind and/or do some last minute editing – spelling, grammar, format etc
Like you I learnt years ago of the pitfalls of ad hoc drafting of emails etc. LOL.
I have a personal policy of not responding to emails etc that raise my BP for hours or days until the anger etc dies down and objectivity returns – and/or cold hard white anger replaces red hot reactive anger. And sometimes to allow time to take advice,
Many a draft gathered dust and slowly died away in my Drafts folder 😉
I don’t think I’ve ever regretted not sending one of those highly-charged replies …
Exactly – or sometimes I turn unsent ones into new ones that are appropriate in different circumstances or for different people!
Indeed, I do take sections & paragraphs or just sentences from unsent ‘material’ and morph these into writings that I actually do share with others. Sometimes the time gap is considerable.
The best thing to do is to grab paper and pen and vent your spleen. You might end up with a few holes in the paper but better there than anywhere else. Then toddle off to the supermarket (or somewhere) and when you return, screw up the offending document and chuck it in the bin.
That way you can be sure no-one will ever read it. 🙂
Edit: Reply to Incognito at 15.1.1.1.1
Yup, that one works too but my recycle bin is already chocker with junk mail and empty bottles 😉
Note to myself: drink less [I’ll put it into the Drafts folder for now 😉 ]
A show not for the people who say it can’t be done, but are actually doing it.
This is all about the labour movement in the USA. Good reflections for us over here.
25 Minutes long. Oh and whole presented by the Awesome journalist Laura Flanders!
When will we give a shit about nurses? Their pay, their conditions, the work they do?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/103258992/woman-robbed-and-assaulted-near-christchurchs-hagley-park
Nurses have to pay to train. Police get paid. I will have more need of nurses in my lifetime than police…
Tracey that’s a really good point re the police being paid to train. Armed forces as well are paid to be trained.
Could the answer really be as simple as free training for all nurses, doctors, and teachers? Far out I’d be down with my taxes being used for that. Free tertiary education please, we are off to a good start, gives hope for the next generation.
Nurses should be paid more for sure, am not sure if they have any ‘extras’ in their pay structure but they definitely should have, they see so much trauma and save so many lives.
Absolutely agree nurses should be earning more and while we are at it the general health/hospital system should additionally get back to being more palliative focused. Health is not a business.
Thanks for bringing that up Tracey.
There was a rowdy mob in the square here in palmy this morning, garnering support for their pay round.
Nurses are underpaid.
They deserve pay parity with the police, if not more.
Their workplace is becoming more and more dangerous- drugs, alcohol, and the general fuck-wittery of the public nowadays.
The immediate protection or response for them if endangered is a security guard.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not dissing the security folk, but generally they are poorly paid (well below living wage), undertrained, and asked to respond to delicate or violent situations where drugs, mental ill health etc are involved.
C’mon Labour, release the purse strings and give the DHB the go ahead to agree to the nurses requests.
“C’mon Labour, release the purse strings and give the DHB the go ahead to agree to the nurses requests.”
Then next will be the requests from teachers, firemen, civil servants, police etc…
I don’t disagree with what you have written above gsays.
Labour has to now write the cheques and having already committed to their and their support partners election promises the cupboard is bare. Unless they disregard their commitment to debt levels, no new taxes this term (other than excise taxes) etc.
There is always plenty of money, it is a question of priorities.
South Canterbury finance for example.
Plus if the public servants you list get a pay rise, then that is good for the economy…..
The gut bacteria of the estimated 145,000 surfers in NZ could be a great water quality indicator.
.
Last summer, researchers at England’s University of Exeter Medical School partnered with environmental group Surfers Against Sewage in a novel, and slightly nasty, study of surfer’s gut bacteria. According to the researchers, surfers swallow ten times more seawater than swimmers. By sampling their gut bacteria they can test if surfers are more susceptible to carrying bacteria that pollute seawater, indicating the presence of coastal pollution. The recently published findings show the United Kingdom’s surfers tested were three times more likely to carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria than their non-surfing
https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/surfers-gut-checked-water-quality-study/17684
https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/river-quality/#/tb-national
Interesting that overall NZ’s water quality has improved over the past decade.
Hmm no juking the stats? Yeah…nah
Do you have any evidence of this said ‘juking’?
Good news.
‘Trade deal with Russia still future possibility – Peters’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/355660/trade-deal-with-russia-still-future-possibility-peters
Talleys will be delighted.
/
The following lists for New Zealand are available on the Russian Federation’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance website which lists approved premises.
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/news-and-resources/resources/registers-and-lists/country-listings-animal-products/country-listings-russian-federation/
Your point?
You’ve spent months berating folk who farm, or eat meat, yet more access for our major exports to Russia is Good news.
There’s a word for that, sport.
/
I am not suggesting we keep intensifying.
I am suggesting we get off our dependence on China economically and the USA militarily.
And it is important to be independent of China and the USA.
We can trade in a different way.
We could change what we produce.
Like this,
Currently we trade almost exclusively, our intensified farming industry products for their extraction industry products so do tell, wtf are we going to trade?
It’s not trade that is important.
It is about making connections in an ever more hostile world.
So, cuddling up to authoritarian Chinese thugs, bad, cuddling up to authoritarian Russian thugs, good?.
lol
Staying independent of big powerful countries is good.
We owe Russia a lot.
Your hatred of Russia is consuming you.
Oh do fuck off.
We owe nothing to a nation whose invasion and annexation of eastern Europe only went astray because of a falling out among criminals.
25 million Russians died in WW2
Without their sacrifice the 1000 year Reich would have been 70 years long and the Eastern European peoples slaves under their local Gauleiter.
Nah, 25 million Russians died in WW2 because Stalin’s shitty wee deal with the Reich went pear shaped.
That proves it.
Your hatred of Russia has meant you cannot look at the history of Russia with any form of reason.
I recommend you read Stalingrad by Antony Beevor to improve your grasp of the country’s history.
Many many British and Europeans ( including Churchill) know their debt of gratitude to Russia for WW2.
I guess that when 25 million die against the Nazis, they’re “Russians”. When they occupy half of Europe for 50-odd years or develop a new type of chemical weapons, they’re “Soviets”.
So the Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Romanians, Bulgarians etc. should be thankful that they were colonised by Russia?
That’s no better than the Bob Jones set saying that Aotearoa should be thankful that they were colonised by England.
Sorry, but Ed is right this time. USSR sacrificed and lost more in WW2 than we in the West could dream of. 80% of Hitler’s Germany’s war effort went to the east. We heroically beat 20% and still romantically claim all the credit. As Ed says, Russia lost 25 million, or close. Go learn some history and check out how few millions we (the British and USA) lost against the Germans. Peanuts. In the less than perfect world of realpolitik, the USSR fully earned the hegemony it gained over territory after WW2.
Stop dumb rantings. Stalin was as bad as Hitler in many ways, but he beat him because we failed to fully commit, sat back and let him slog it out with Germany. Plausible excuses abound, but look at the casualty figures if you want to argue seriously.
The obvious, solution would be that we don’t.
We’d actually be far better off if we simply produced everything that we need from our own resources.
There’s actually no evidence that ‘trade’ improves peoples lives. Lots to indicate the obverse.
Some of us once paid a weeks wages for a retread tyre, and twice that for a battery.
Yes some of us have more things.
But are we better off?
Mental health issues.
High levels of imprisonment.
Low wages.
High levels of debt.
A lack of community.
You may have a rosy picture of how things once were but the country I grew up in was a violent, drunken, racist mono-cultured shit hole where a woman’s place was in the home, Māori were still being forced off their land to make way for white New Zealand, Pacific people were drafted as factory fodder, having a mental illness could well result in extended detention in a place like Lake Alice and reliable transport with a safe set of tyres was on the nice to have list.
Those were the days eh … The Rosy Picture of NZ in the 80’s, (or most other years)
(sarc)
There’s actually no evidence that ‘trade’ improves peoples lives. Lots to indicate the obverse.
Citation needed
Well, we have Joe90’s tyres but is it correlation or causation? It’s possible that, even without trade with lower waged countries, the price would have come down (relatively) as productivity increased. It’s difficult to say one way or the other on such limited data.
Then again, wages have, at best, stagnated since the 1980s open trade reforms with a serious decrease in GDP going to wages. A decrease in GDP going to wages means that all waged people are worse off in real monetary terms.
This is most likely a direct result of competing with lower waged economies:
The same could be said of NZ as our trade deficits have increased. In fact, economics predicts that wages in well paid economies will decrease when in competition with economies with low pay (Econ202) because of the shift to imports.
Of course, economists tend to say that that’s all good because the closure of some inefficient production will be replaced by other jobs but all we’ve really seen is an increase in low paid jobs which has, inevitably, resulted in an increase in poverty:
A few people are better off since the 1980s but a greater percentage are going backwards. Which of course brings us to The Spirit Level and how inequality damages society. Which brings up how the rich always destroy society.
problem is as I see it is you and Joe are both right and both wrong….as you are measuring different things.
Either way neither model will prevent the ultimate concern albeit one more rapidly than the other.
Sadly where humans are involved there is no utopia only varying degrees of dystopia.
“In sum, the results of our experiments, discussed in Section 6, indicate that either one of the two features apparent in historical societal collapses – over-exploitation of natural resources and strong economic stratification – can independently result in a complete collapse. Given economic stratification, collapse is very difficult to avoid and requires major policy changes, including major reductions in inequality and population growth rates. Even in the absence of economic stratification, collapse can still occur if depletion per capita is too high. However, collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion.”
https://www.sesync.org/human-and-nature-dynamics-handy-modeling-inequality-and-use-of-resources-in-the-collapse-or
We don’t.
We become local and self sufficient.
You obviously didn’t look at the trailer.
‘Mr Peters made the comments in London at the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.
Mr Peters has also been in Brussels this week and insists the Europeans he’s met have no concerns about his views.
A Russian trade deal was not on the government’s agenda, but could be one day if Russia came to its senses, Mr Peters said.
Even North Korea could be an option, he said.
“EU first and other countries, but we hope in the long-term, we’ve got a free trade deal with North Korea – but not at the moment.”
There would be no progress towards a deal any time soon given the suspected nerve agent attack in Syria and its ally Russia blocking a bid for an independent investigation, Mr Peters said.
“It’s rather axiomatic – if you’re engaged or assisting a party … involved in a chemical weapon attack, then all such progress must stop right there.”‘
Is Ardern’s Preferred PM rating comparatively poor and cause for concern ?
In which I take issue with alwyn (from the Right) and lurgee (from the Left).
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
alwyn:
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18-04-2018/#comment-1475740
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lurgee:
https://thestandard.org.nz/pollwatch-colmar-brunton-16-4-18/#comment-1476602
And
https://thestandard.org.nz/pollwatch-colmar-brunton-16-4-18/#comment-1476996
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
My response would be something in the region of:
First: We’ve had 14 Prime Ministers since regular polling commenced in 1969: and Ardern is already out-rating 10 of her 13 immediate predecessors. Only Muldoon, Clark and Key were more popular (and with Muldoon, this was only in the relatively brief period when he reached his apex … he was rarely above early 30s most of the time).
.
Second: Ardern did, in fact, receive a boost on becoming PM
Colmar Brunton
Ardern Preferred PM
Late Sep 31%
2017 Election
Early Dec 37%
Mid Feb 41%
Early April 37%
Most new PMs enjoy a boost in the first few months and then fall back in the PM ratings
.
Third: for example:
Lange surged to 36% 3 months after the 1984 Election … then fluctuated around the mid 30s … before falling to the late 20s after 10 months in Office.
Bolger peaked in the late 20s just a month or two after the 1990 Election … then fell heavily to the mid teens by the 7 month mark … and was down below 10% by late 91, a year after assuming Office.
Shipley rose to the mid 30s a few months after toppling Bolger as PM … but by the 10 month mark had fallen back to the early 20s
.
Fourth: Ardern (37%) is actually mildly more popular than Clark (35%) was at the same point into her First Term.
Taking the Colmar Bruntons and comparing the Preferred PM Polls based on time elapsed since the respective Elections:
……………… Post 99 Election …………………………. Post 17 Election
1 month ………. No Polls ………………………………….. No Polls ….
2 months ……… No Poll ………………………………… Ardern 37 / English 28
3 months … Clark 43 / Shipley 16 ……………………. No Poll ……
4 months … Clark 48 / Shipley 15 ……………………. No Poll ……
5 months … Clark 46 / Shipley 15 ……………………. Ardern 41 / English 20
6 months … Clark 41 / Shipley 17 ……………………. No Poll ……
7 months … Clark 35 / Shipley 18 ……………………. Ardern 37 / English 10
Clark certainly surged to a higher apex … but subsequently fell more steeply than Ardern (at least at this stage) has.
.
Fifth: Key was always going to be an outlier. Freak of Nature. He remains the most popular PM since regular polling began (in terms of both his peak and average in the Preferred PM) … although (if memory serves me right) Clark may have outperformed him in both the UMR and Reid Research leadership measures.
Winning the 2008 Election boosted his Preferred PM score from 40% to 51% and he remained on 50-51 for most of the next 12 months, not declining until early 2010.
Bear in mind, though, that he’d been Party Leader a lot longer than Arden had going into the Election.
Well, that should settle it me thinks.
Regarding Key’s popularity, do you think this was partly helped (boosted) by the lack of any decent competition?
Why, yes I do.
To answer more fully / less glibly … mainly, I think, Key’s Pull factor, though the Goff / Shearer / Cunliffe / Little Push factor clearly played an ancillary role.
The 2011 New Zealand Election Survey highlighted just how crucial valence issues were to National’s electoral dominance. And positive feelings about Key’s leadership was by far the most important factor in anchoring non-partisan ‘swing’- voters to the Nats (followed by perceptions of National’s economic competence).
Key’s UMR favourability and Reid Research performance ratings fell heavily during his second term … yet he clearly remained most Preferred PM by a very wide margin and the 2014 NZES suggests he retained a high ‘likeability’ factor.
Voters began to increasingly see him as dishonest and out of touch … but those negatives were entirely eclipsed by a significant majority continuing to judge him highly capable and competent.
And it’s not as if the four successive Labour leaders were widely disliked or deemed incompetent. Goff / Shearer / Cunliffe / Little all enjoyed net positive ratings in the UMR and Reid Research measures during their first year as Oppo Leader. But, against Key, they all struggled to get much above 10% as Preferred PM. Cunliffe was really the only one who (ultimately) became pretty widely disliked.
Still, none had Ardern’s je ne sais quo … though Goff and Cunliffe could be formidable debaters when they put their mind to it.
Thanks heaps and I’ll (have to) adjust my simplistic thinking 😉
I will do a bit of research on those “valence issues” you mentioned as that sounds mighty interesting & important to me.
I like to think that all successive Labour Leaders (and hopefuls) were (and still are) highly capable people with very good skillsets but none had the ‘complete package’ to sway the polls & voters. Obviously, being a formidable debater in politics is essential but not sufficient.
Labour Leaders also had to deal with ‘riots in the ranks’, which was amplified & distorted in/by MSM and other more subversive outlets …
Minor correction: should of course be Bridges – not English – Fourth point, Seven month poll
Great analysis.
Key was also the first to employ a consultancy and others to push hot buttons and use advertising/marketing/psychology in a concerted campaign to create a false front
I am more worried about Bridges polling 10%
Excellent analysis. Key was a highly competent and likeable PM, hence his popularity being so high for so long. Ardern too is popular, but she came into her position after a series of poor performing Labour leaders, and a three term government. Time will tell just how long she can maintain her, and Labour’s, current level of support.
Yes John Key was likeable with the golf, BBQ and beer swilling crowd. He developed his persona on what he considered a reflection of the Kiwi “bloke” and “sheila” with a huge dollop of corporate grey. A sad reflection on the gullibility and greed of a certain percentage of the NZ electorate at the time. His competency, apart from being a dab hand at the power golf swing was to know when to hold and when to fold. Then he became a quitter. In another time in history he would be the snake oil salesman with a few gambling tricks and a penchant for playing the silver tongued devil. John Key putting it bluntly is a fake leader and his legacy is the “Blighted Future” the one promise he lived up to.
Jacinda Ardern is the real deal and that will be celebrated in the fullness of time.
“Jacinda Ardern is the real deal and that will be celebrated in the fullness of time.”
The issue being celebrated, history will be kind or not.
“Yes John Key was likeable with the golf, BBQ and beer swilling crowd. ”
Based on John Key’s sustained levels of popularity, that must be a HUGE crowd.
any thoughts on why Key walked when he did?….was it simply a case of he wasnt confident of winning the 2017 election and that didnt fit with his self image?
Pat, in a game of poker Key is the one you would watch. His whole career prior to politics was putting it simply about placing large sums of money in the right place for the right people at the right time. He knew the odds of winning the 2017 election were not good when considering the electoral cycle and the vagaries of MMP. So he folded.
maybe…am still wondering if there was something specific that caused the fold however…but as yet nothings surfaced
Something sinister perhaps? I am sure Nicky Hager and others could expound on that more.
I can’t claim any special insider knowledge on this, Pat. Your guess is as good as mine.
Three possibilities:
(1) Self-perceived ‘Winner’ didn’t want to risk losing traditionally difficult fourth Election (point made by you and Kat). More than possible … although note that Key didn’t bail out mid-way through his second term despite the Oppo Bloc (such as it was) very regularly out-polling the Govt throughout 2012-2013, above all in the immediate few months following Cunliffe toppling Shearer. The Nats’ chances were looking pretty precarious for a while there. But Key didn’t fold.
(2) Risk of a whacking great skeleton in his closet being exposed to the harsh, unforgiving glare of public scrutiny (a few unsubstantiated rumours floating about / some tacit speculation on an impending scandal in the media).
(3) (related to (1)) … Wasn’t prepared to continue the game once all the fun went out of it. Key liked to be liked by an adoring public … and unfortunately for him his UMR favourability and Reid Research performance ratings fell heavily during his second term … and even more so during his third term. He ended up a polariser in the Muldoon mould. An enormous net positive leadership rating of + 71 in 2009, for instance, plunged to single figures during his final term. The fun disappeared.
in light of no additional evidence i’d pick 3
Kristy Johnston has another article about the Family Carers issue in the Herald entitled “Advice to Government on ‘discriminatory’ Family Care Policy to remain secret”
Sorry, not able to provide link from this phone.
Gratitude and respect to the journalist for her continued attention to this issue.
If some here think I am less than enamoured with our new ‘progressive’ government this article may go some way to explaining part of the reason why.
SSDD
Health officials remain in driving seat as their advice to ministers is kept secret:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12036490
Thanks Sacha for posting the link. (Another six sleeps and I’ll have access to a Young Person who can teach me how to make this smart (?) phone do that.)
With all indicators pointing to extremely poor management of Health over the past couple of decades it confounds me that our elected decision makers continue to be so dependant on advice and guidance from Ministry bureaucrats.
We, the voters, are many…the bureaucrats are few.
Request Timeout
Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.
Apache/2.4.33 (Ubuntu) Server at thestandard.org.nz Port 443
Did anyone notice how our major newspapers have been captured for advertising today, Saturday. In the South Island anyway, we had the Nelson Mail Press and Dominion all with black front pages and large white lettering about some TV thing that is on. That was the news that was.
That is all!
Request Timeout
Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.
Apache/2.4.33 (Ubuntu) Server at thestandard.org.nz Port 443
What is going on here?
I would like to say that the server is probably missing me as I winged away from NZ again this morning.
However it is more likely that you just hit a random glitch in a Apache or php or wordfence process..
I hope the server does not have to much separation anxiety whilst you’re away.
Poor wee thing, you flying away all the time.
My apologies for not giving my own observations of this link. I seem to be limited to what I can post. See if this works.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180420-faking-it-for-assad/