trump has just declared he stands with the saudi’s on the Khashoggi assassination.
I guess the USA is making too much money from the war in Yemen to worry about the saudi’s lying over murdering journalists.
Despite US intelligence reportedly linking the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, the US would continue to have a “steadfast” relationship with the kingdom.
True but the saudi’s are not the only ones who can supply oil.
Re trumps Khashoggi decision, he was in a position to possibly put a halt to the war in Yemen, and he chose to sell weapons to the saudi’s to keep the war going instead. I’m really fucked off about it.
The US is a net energy exporter. The US Saudi relationship is a strategic one. Firstly to protect Israel and secondly as it’s an enemy of Iran. Was the enabler of the Iraq conflicts.
People fought wars prior to oil. Your comment could be replaced by anything exploitable.
The US has placed sanctions on people proven to be involved.
Jacinda or Winston have sanctioned nobody.
Saudi vs Yemen is a religous war that like Israel vs Palistinians has involved tit for tat events progressing into the dominate power applying complete oppression. The US was involved due to Yemens strong Al Qaeda links and attacks on shipping. They are now removing its enabling support to Saudi Arabias actions in Yemen.
“The United States became a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 and natural gas in 2017. In 2017, the United States was a net exporter of coal, coal coke, petroleum products, natural gas, and biomass, but a net importer of crude oil. Net electricity trade with Mexico and Canada was relatively minimal.”
Once you count Trumps anti Russian gas exports to the EU which have just been signed, not accounted for in your link they become overal net exporters.
What the actual fuck does Russian exports to the EU have to do with your claim “The US is a net energy exporter”? And it doesn’t matter if the US is a net exporter of some types of energy, it’s dependence on importing crude oil makes it a net energy importer. Your statement “The US is a net energy exporter” was categorically wrong.
Re Al Qaeda in Yemen, crikey the USA+Saudi’s have been paying them money to leave, not fighting them, instead cashing them up and even recruiting them.
” Again and again over the past two years, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States has claimed it won decisive victories that drove al Qaeda militants from their strongholds across Yemen and shattered their ability to attack the West.
Here’s what the victors did not disclose: many of their conquests came without firing a shot.
That’s because the Saudi/USA coalition cut secret deals with al Qaeda fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself.”
Yep he is an orange phlegm-cough. He shows his morals are non-existent – sad state of affairs.
“In the extraordinary statement issued on Tuesday – which begins with the words “The world is a very dangerous place!” – Trump quotes Saudi officials as describing Khashoggi as an “enemy of the state”. ”
As a staunch member of the Muslim Brotherhood, supporter of Osama Bin Laden with many Personel meetings and advocate for creating a global Islamic state. Yes.
You haven’t explained how Trump was in any way responsible for the murder or why you think he should be held to account for the murder. The only thing he can realistically do is punish those proven to be responsible. He has done that with sanctions.
djward…. “If you read Wiki you will see what I said is true.”
LMFAO !!!!!!!!!! ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dude, anyone with an email addy can change wiki content. JS
And which wiki page are you referring to djward, that we need to read?
It wasn’t just a murder, it was a pre-planned execution. Right down to a forensic expert who taught the clean up crew how to remove all traces of dna. Khasoggi was dismembered, then placed into suitcases and disposed of. It was brutal, especially for a person of the muslim faith, but they knew that, tis why thy did it that way.
Thou shalt not speak out in the media about the saudi’s or you’ll be next.
But it sure was well planned, even down to the person who left the embassy dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes, neglected to put on his shoes, which was the giveaway on the CCTV.
The saudi’s lied about it, denied it ever happened, then hello, the story from the saudi’s kept changing.
The CIA report ….”blindingly obvious” that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing.
And trump feel’s their trust worthy enough to sell weapons to? Wow.
trump could have turned away from the saudi’s using Khashoggi (who is a dual US citizen) as an ‘excuse’, leading to hopefully the demise of the war in Yemen. But noooooo. What a fuckwit.
With all remaining large powers except the EU accelerrating their retreat from diplomatic norms that respect human rights, this statement is the official signpost to hell.
Yep and Khashoggi was a US citizen too. So Trump takes the money over his own citizens. Well not really surprising for a right winger. (and increasingly these days a left wing government).
The US had nothing to do with the events.
Trump and the US have no responsibility to the events.
While its appears obvious the Prince was involved, evidential links are scant.
As the murder victim had US citizenship the US can bring the offenders to the US for trial. However they can’t get their hands on them for that to happen.
Behind the scenes Trump has confronted this issue. He has said he has asked the Saudi leadership, and directly the Prince if the Prince ordered the killing on at least 5 occasions. The Saudi leadership deny the involvement of the Prince.
While obviously bullshit what is Trump to do?
Invade Saudi Arabia to get the Prince?
Killing millions, and causing a global economic crash.
Did I say they were involved in this one ? My point is the us is a murderous state so they are hardly going to get to all upset when their friends do a bit of killing.
It’s not Trumps arm sales.
It’s private companies doing the trade.
He needs the House (Dems) and Senate (Reps) to act to restrict the economic activity of private Buisiness.
If he just waved a wand saying you can’t do Buisiness then he truly would be a dictator. Plus he could be sued by the manufacturer.
The Senate drives sanctions on North Korea, Iran, Russia. Not the President. It is the Senate that oversees arm sales.
Many of these contracts are Obama era deals. He openly traded with this mysoginistic dictatorship as well. This ‘high profile’ murder is just one of hundreds of political killings over decades. The rational for attacking Trump is no different for Obamas actions.
The US is far from Saudi Arabias only weaponry provider.
“SITUATIONS IN WHICH AUTHORITIES MAY BE EXERCISED
SEC. 202. (a) Any authority granted to the President by section
203 may be exercised to deal with any unusual and extraordinary
threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the
United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of
the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with
respect to such threat.
(b) The authorities granted to the President by section 203 may
only be exercised to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat
with respect to which a national emergency has been declared for purposes
of this title and may not be exercised for any other purpose.
Any exercise of such authorities to deal with any new threat shall be
based on a new declaration of national emergency which must be with
respect to such threat.
GRANT OF AUTHORITIES
SEC. 203. (a) (1) At the times and to the extent specified in section
202, the President may, under such regulations as he may prescribe,
by means of instructions, licenses, or otherwise—
(A) investigate, regulate, or prohibit—
(i) any transactions in foreign exchange,
(ii) transfers of credit or payments between, by, through,
or to any banking institution, to the extent that such transfers
or payments involve any interest of any foreign country or
a national thereof,
(iii) the importing or exporting of currency or securities;
and
(B) investigate, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void,
prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use,
transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation
of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with
respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any
foreign country or a national thereof has any interest;
by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction
of the United States.
Basically, the pres declares something to be an emergency, then declares the related sanctions.
MSB owns Javanka, so of course the orange turd is going to roll over and let him do WTF he wants to.
One of the people MBS told about the discussion with Kushner was UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, according to a source who talks frequently to confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers. MBS bragged to the Emirati crown prince and others that Kushner was “in his pocket,” the source told The Intercept.
Is anyone feeling that climate change is really impacting on our lives fully now with massive rainfall amounts all over the country now and is flooding us all, and snow and hail is arriving in summer??????
Good article is here to illustrate that climate change is real and now present, so where is Jacinda Ardern on this demise of our planet now” after she was ‘preaching to us
“climate change is our generation’s ‘nuclear moment”!!!!!!!’
“So why is she not reducing truck freight for more less carbon emission transport such as rail which emits 5 to 8 times less carbon emissions than trucks per km of tonne carried each km??????.
Regional rail is not being increased under her “transformative” Government and sadly her government is one third into it’s “first term” so they had better get moving else they will be out in 2020.
“our chances of surviving global warming are slim indeed. And yet, if we put our faith in science, then Christine Rose’s bitter-sweet resignation; her “ecological grief” at the inevitable demise of so many living things”
Nope. Haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
So you propose building Rail to everybody’s front door?
You should advocate for EV trucking. Rail is useful for large quantity, long distance enterprise but generally its geographically handicapped. Inevitably a truck is needed to deliver to the door.
Make it a EV truck and you will need something else to complian about.
New Zealand was built using rail and most towns and cities have some connection to it and depended on it. What country has it going to front doors? Are you actually serious?
EV trucks? lol seriously? You know diesel engines are irreplaceable right in terms of power output?
Rubish.
EV can easily match the output of diesel plus it has a huge advantage in power at no speed. In short runs from Rail hubs and the near instant charging of Ali ion batteries its presently viable.
Secondly you don’t know that trucks have up to 32 tyres now as tyres are made from very nasty monomers/ polymers and toxic chemicals like 1.3.butadiene and styrene, all are cancer causing that the EU is now banning fro use in cities and populated areas because of the toxic poisons Tyre dust is causing to humans.
Go away we don’t need your rubbish, we have covered this stuff before so don’t waste our time here.
Electric vehicles emit no NO2 but do produce small particle pollution from the wear on brake discs and tyres and by throwing up dust from roads. A recent European commission research paper found that about half of all particulate matter comes from these sources.
Abstract
Traffic related sources are a significant contributor of particulate matter, particularly in urban environments and
major cities. Traffic related particles can be distinguished into: exhaust traffic related particles, which are emitted
as a result of incomplete fuel combustion and lubricant volatilization during the combustion procedure, and nonexhaust
traffic related particles, which are either generated from non-exhaust traffic related sources such as brake,
tyre, clutch and road surface wear or already exist in the environment as deposited material and become
resuspended due to traffic induced turbulence. It is estimated that exhaust and non-exhaust sources contribute
almost equally to total traffic-related PM10 emissions. However, as exhaust emissions control become stricter,
relative contributions of non-exhaust sources to traffic related emissions will increasingly become more significant.
The aim of the present literature review study is to present the state-of-the-art of the different aspects regarding
particulate emissions resulting from non-exhaust sources and particularly from brake and tyre wear. For this
reason several different literature sources such as peer reviewed papers, research project reports, technical
publications, as well as licentiate and doctoral theses were examined and the most significant findings in terms of
importance, physicochemical characteristics, EFs and possible adverse health effects are discussed.
Since you want cars and trucks banned your solution is returning to the horse and cart?
You miss the point.
EV vehicles reduce pollution significantly from what we presently have. People are not going to give up Moter vehicles. Next you will be complaining about push bikes with rubber tyres and brakes.
The solution is not eradication and the reformation of society to suit your irrational idealism of paradise.
It’s identifying pollution and finding engineering solutions that eliminate or neutralise those pollutants.
Anybody would think I’ve got no green credentials based on the bullcrap I’m getting. I’ve done more in my life and achieved more in that regard to anybody on this site.
Nope, nothing can match the power generated by burning fossil fuels that’s why diesel engines have been used in heavy transport for more than 100 years. Having thousands of electric vehicles ferrying stuff around is also completely unsustainable.
Absolute rubbish.
Electric motors can deliver any power you design it to deliver.
That’s not the reason it’s used at all.
Extremely large mining machines are electric powered. Not diesel.
Compared to electricity diesel is more expensive. It’s cheaper to generate electricity in high efficiency multi stage generators with diesel for EV use than in inefficient in vehicle engines by a factor of nearly 3:1.
Mankind advanced so fast the EV vehicles couldn’t keep up with ICE vehicle developement. ICE vehicles are not tied to infastructure like EV is. EV was handicapped by battery developement stalling with lead acid batteries.
Once the invention of Lithuim ion and graphine occured ICE vehicles in mainstream use will inevitably become redundant technology.
Ali ion batteries, a secondary invention to Lithuim ion batteries have a theoretical storage by mass limit 250% greater than the Lithuim theoretical limit. This is due to Lithuim having 1 free electron vs Aluminium having 3 per atom.
Profound change is going to occur in the near future.
“Electric motors can deliver any power you design it to deliver.”
No, the example you’ve given is mining trucks which travel at slow speeds and stop and start, more suitable for batteries. Electric is unfeasible for long haul and higher speeds – the core of the entire industry. Hence why electric truck and trailer units don’t seem to exist? Electric trucking will probably only fill niche roles like rubbish collection, mining, where they work.
New electric trucks are about 3 times more expensive to buy than standard trucks, so that rules them out for a lot of businesses. But I take your point that running costs are cheaper.
Lithium is a very limited resource, no idea how much production can be scaled up so we can replace our car and trucking fleet.
Wrong. The giant diggers etc are electric, cable connected.
EV is feasible today for long haul and high speed.
EV can easily outperform ICE for speed, and acceleration, and torque.
Ali ion batteries, not Lithuim. Aluminium is abundant.
They can fully charge from flat in less than a minute. Faster than filling up with fuel.
One Verizon tested 750,000 full charges, full discharges in just over a second to charge and a second to discharge.
Presently it’s Lithuim but Aluminium batteries will surpass due to characteristics.
Well you’ve thrown up a large digger and trucks running off coke cans as the only examples to back up your claims. An electrified trucking industry is just around the corner lol.
This sounds like the Mainfreight vision of the transport industry, which will end up looking rather like the good old NZR with the road limits. Only this will be the most efficient and profitable for the carrier.
There might be an intermediate hybrid step, but battery and motor tech might leapfrog that.
Evidently Mainfreight is very close to not buying any more pure diesel trucks, at least for the depot – customer part of the business
My partner works in the transport industry, and his firm is looking to replace the fleet with EV over the next few years. There are trucks on the road in Europe with good range and tare. The lack of infrastructure here for refuelling means that the first vehicles they will import will have to be hybrids.
Molly – if you look at my link above – you will see that for short haul trucks they are already here.
Yes the problem in NZ for long haul trucks is that they would need massive batteries (and reducing their carrying capacity) to have sufficient range to be viable. Living in a semi-rural area I face the same problem with a car, and I find the optimum solution at the moment is a hybrid. An EV is planned for town use with the hybrid for the necessary task of a 200 km drive every 2 – 3 weeks. A Leaf, with a range of around 240 km, is just not practical. (No fast charger where I have to drive to). 🙁
You mean just like a normal spring, Marlborough has been having November snowfalls and frosts since before time began. They are even called ” A Doctor Muller frost ” after the holder and chronicler of a big sheep station in the 1800s, incidently he was the husband of Mary Ann Muller the great international suffragist writer and phampleteer.
Nothing new here.
Ships. Small for Auckland Whangarei, or Gisbourne Napier. Larger for N Island, S Island.
And keep employment, taxes and profit in New Zealand, by requiring New Zealand flag.
Cinny the Americans traditionally learn geography when they invade a country. Now that the cowardly bastards are doing it by drones the general population miss out on their geography lesson.
“Pacific Freedom Forum chair Monica Miller says the situation is “appalling” and a “slap in the face” to journalists. “China is trying to exercise what it is allowed to do back in its own backyard here in our part of the world, where we have open and free media,” she says. “It seems as if we are going back to the colonial days and we have China trying to muscle the press.”
“Pita Ligaiula, a journalist with the Pacific Island News Association based in Fiji, said Chinese influence was among the big issues affecting the region – and it was important to be able to inform the public about its intentions.”
Money talks. Pacific islands are keen to listen to it. China says, you can, on our terms. Pacific islands say okay then, let’s do this. Pacific media have marginal relevance. Pacific governments will take the money on offer, tell their media they can comment from their margins all they like, they don’t need to be present at meetings. Neocolonialism. Offending the powers that be is never a good idea…
Jacinda now read what your previous Ministers actually promised the Gisborne People when in 2016 you was in opposition.
In 2016 Labour/NZ First promised to fix Gisborne rail.
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2535803-135/three-parties-say-fix-rail.
Quote;
“Leaders of two political parties — including the Government’s coalition partner — along with Labour’s shadow transport minister will be in Gisborne next week to speak about the benefits to East Coast Maori of reopening the Gisborne to Wairoa railway line.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox and Labour Party transport spokeswoman Sue Moroney will address a rail forum to discuss progress towards the repair and reopening of the Gisborne-Wairoa section of the line.
Forum co-organiser Ken Crispin said supporters are encouraged by positive statements from KiwiRail’s annual meeting last week.
“It was reported that freight carried by rail in this last financial year represented a reduced heavy vehicle impact of 1.1 million road trips, with a reduced fuel input of 77 million litres. This has to be good for the economy as well as for the environment”, he said.
Rail Action Group chairwoman Mary Manuel said the action group was furthering the campaign to reopen the line “on behalf of our iwi and the generations to come”.
The forum will be on Monday at Te Tini o Porou Conference Centre, Kaiti from 9am to 5pm.”
ECONOMIC growth on the East Coast is being constrained by its poor infrastructure and lack of strategy from central Government, say members of Labour’s environment and infrastructure caucus committee.
The committee was in Gisborne yesterday for meetings with Eastland Port, Gisborne District Council’s regional transport committee, Wi Pere Trust and LeaderBrand.
“We are hearing from people that the region is being forgotten by the government, left out and issues not being addressed,” said Labour transport spokesperson Sue Moroney.
“Transport is a major issue in Tairawhiti, and it is going to become an even greater issue, because of a ‘good problem’, an increase in export opportunity.
“The volume of logs is expected to double, but there are concerns about how this volume of freight will impact on the way people live, and maintenance costs for roads.”
She reiterated Labour’s support for reinstating the rail line saying although they have not announced their new transport policy it was their policy at the last election and she sees “no reason to change that”.
“In fact the business case for it is building. The overwhelming view is supporting a long-term vision of what regional economic development could take place if there is the infrastructure to support it.
“If you were able to work anywhere and continue to do what you love doing, why wouldn’t you choose Gisborne.”
In line with this Labour would help businesses add value to products.
Again in the Gisborne Herald in August 2016 again both Labour and Green Party again also promised to re-instate Gisborne rail.
Quote – “Ms Moroney added that a policy was needed that ensured rail, road and sea were all used when fit-for-purpose and reinstating the Gisborne line was a “no-brainer”.
“NZ is pretty damn perfect for rail, yet other countries use rail to much better effect than we do. We move a lot of big stuff, often.”
However, the National Government was “ideologically opposed” to rail and their “complete and utter bias” towards road haulage in particular defied facts, information and practicalities.
She encouraged Gisborne’s vociferous rail lobby to “keep fighting” for rail.
“I just want to congratulate you on a fantastic campaign that is run here from Gisborne and Napier about getting that important railway re-established again. Keep fighting that fight, I know sometimes it seems like no one is listening but it is clear what the problem is — you simply have the wrong government in place to make it a reality.
“It’s going to feel like banging your head against a brick wall but it’s incredibly important that people don’t lose sight.”
Ms Moroney said it was not an issue that should be left to local government; it was a central government issue.
Labour’s last election manifesto had included the reinstatement of the line, and there was no reason why that would change.
So now Jacinda; – in Gisborne and HB we are waiting for your Government to honour your promises made to re-instate the Gisborne to Napier rail service now please. You are looking after other pacific counties “infrastructure, so now we want you to look after our county too please.
We have the Government plans for placing the rail systems in areas that are secure from coastal flooding, and they were set up by Julius Vogel in 1880.
So they knew then it was foolish if we would be placing roads and rail near any beach areas, and we need to plan for this so you are right again 100%
The roads are to close to beaches now and will suffer badly too.
Interesting.
Are you aware that sea rise is measured.
Are you aware that measured sea rise is very small.
In theory it could be very large wiping out cities like Napier, parts of South Auckland.
Are you aware that tectonic plate movement causes rises and drops in altitude faster than the measured change by a profound amount. Generally not noticed until large earthquakes. Julia’s Vogels generation witnessed the Wellington event.
The risk of global warming sea level rise is real but the world won’t end even if the worst case occured. Surprisingly it will continue to orbit the sun.
The sea didn’t exist once, it was all frozen.
Not long ago the sea was 100m lower than today.
Life was also just as prolific when temperatures were hotter, CO2 was higher, the day was shorter, and had a significantly more dense atmosphere.
73,000 years ago earths temperature dropped dramatically. The average sea temperature dropped by 2 degrees for 1,000 years. The result of a super volcano.
All the animals alive today including us are descendants of those events.
Climate change needs to be taken seriously, with realism.
Paranoia needs good medication.
Unfortunately we New Zealanders have no idea that we need clean air – and clean water.
Simon Bridges is a thorough devotee of Pollution. As a Minister he banned visual protest against the Oil Industry and laid severe legal punishments on any persons who tried to bring attention to the critical dangers of Oil.
Kiwis simply do not know that Oil, processed as Diesel and Petroleum is highly Carcinogenic. Your Truck and your Car is causing deadly cancer – night and day.
Simon Bridges does not tell you that. Labour does – and gets trolled for it endlessly by National and their ignorant caucus and Corporate idiots. As such, National is a prime purveyor of Pollution.
In the meantime, our Farmers whether Corporate or Family, are permitted to shunt millions of tons of Cow Shit and Lamb Shit into all our Rivers And streams. Simon Bridges pretends not to know this.
National 24 hrs a day, willingly Pollutes our water. You have to wonder why people don’t just rub the National noses into their own Shit.
It looks like Hagar [sic] and Stephenson are about to be shown up for the serial, brazen bullshitters that they really are.
Really? When has either Hager or Stephenson been proved wrong on any of their investigations into the activities of the New Zealand “Defence” Forces in Afghanistan?
And the NZ “Defence” Force is an organization that is credible is it? Then why has that coward Lt. Gen. Tim Keating refused to front up to Paula Penfold?
Hager will be right. Every historical work contains errors, plus things that might be errors. In the latter case, there is not enough evidence to be certain either way.
All that matters is whether these errors are peripheral/incidental, or central enough to undermine the main thesis.
If you don’t know this you are a fool. If you do know it, but are pretending not to, you’re a propagandist.
I understand that the majority of the so-called “errors” quoted by the Defence Force revolve around the one relatively minor mistake that Hager and Stephenson admitted to a long time ago. I refer to the incorrect coordinates in the book re-the position of the village that was invaded. In other words, they inadvertently placed it on a small hill not far from the actual hill. It transpired the error was caused by a faulty translation.
If that’s all the DF can come up with, I don’t fancy their chances of success. Unless of course the hearing turns out to be an establishment whitewash, which is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.
My understanding is that NZDF have video evidence recorded from the helicopters of all three raids. They sounds very confident that it backs their version of events.
Also they seem very certain about the number of shots fired by NZDF personnel. There will be documentation on this as every round is tracked and every time a weapon is discharged it is recorded.
Whilst I wouldn’t expect people to just take the word of the NZDF I would hope that they wouldn’t undermine the findings of the enquiry before it is even conducted. That is a very Trump thing to do.
In the mid to late 1960s, I spent four and a bit years working for the old AKTV2 as an audio technician. I’m not saying it has happened in this instance (we will never know) but I know how simple it is to edit a video in such a way as to present a different picture of an event than actually occurred. They did it to me once at a party. The result was hilarious if rather embarrassing.
Given today’s advanced technical knowledge I doubt anyone would be able to detect if such a scenario existed, with the exception of those who were there. And that is where the bulk of Stephenson’s and Hager’s information came from – soldiers who were physically there and saw what happened.
I have also worked on a Defence Force base as a civilian, and whilst I had no quarrel with the rank and file who were generally a good bunch of people, I would not have always said the same about some of the D.F. brass.
Yes video can be edited. This is not video owned or controlled by the NZDF. It is US military video. It would also not be the only evidence I would rely on. As I said simple things like rounds expended is closely tracked. There will be actual documentation from the day that will record how many rounds were issued and how many were returned. The NZDF have literally thousands of pieces of evidence. I am not saying they will all be relevant but they will build a picture.
There is a reason why eye witness testimony is considered one of the weakest forms of evidence. It is distorted over time. Especially when the witnessing happened in a high stress situation such as combat. I am not dismissing the eye witness testimony as it is an important part of building the picture. It is not however the most defining or most robust form of evidence. All evidence needs to be weighed and considered.
This is what the enquiry should do. The way that Morrisey has been attacking the validity of the enquiry before it has even started is what concerns me. I am pretty sure that is what Sam C is referring to with his comment about accusations of Palmer being a corrupt puppet.
Modern litigation and distraction used successfully by tobacco and climate change deniers. You distract the entire argument around some semantic or little point rather than the overwhelming evidence against the guilty party.
We take him seriously because the powerful are so desperate to smear him.
You don’t take him seriously because you want to keep your authoritarian fantasies intact.
As Morrissey says, read his books. Randomly check his sources – and he provides them all at the back of his books. If you have the chance to listen to him in person, watch how carefully he chooses his words, and how he refuses to exaggerate, even when the interviewer is persistent in prompting.
Then perhaps you will get some idea of why people take him seriously.
I have been to a couple of functions where he was the guest speaker. He is strictly fair in his presentations. If a particular matter does not necessarily equate to any wrong doing on the part of whichever part of the establishment he is talking about (in this case the Defence Force) he will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the audience recognises as much.
Gabby’s referring to the payout from the police; come on guys, sharpen up 🙂
Her teasing of Chris T also (all Righties automatically respect people with money) is elegantly done also. I’m with Gabby.
Super-sized “mega homes” are to be banned in central London as Westminster City Council draws up new plans to ensure “real people” can buy properties.
The council, which oversees some of London’s most expensive postcodes including Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, said it will restrict new builds over 150 square meters (1,615 sq ft), in order to preserve homes for “real people” instead of oligarchs and members of the global elite.
Westminster council argued that 150 square meters is “generous”, as it is 50 per cent larger than the average family home in the area.”
Pity NZ did not implement something similar in the unitary plan. Yeah, nah, that’s right unitary plan was for the super rich to shaft the rest of Auckland with the woke lefties braying approval because they couldn’t join the dots and still thing ‘trickle down’ is a thing too.
Cinny asked a question yesterday, in regards to the abortion, women lying about being on the pill issue, along the lines of, go on prove it. So thank you Cinny. Your statement is far better than the victim blaming and minimise approach of others.
Others were equally dismissive of the argument, or that lying about being on the pill is a crime.
I suggest people read this. With both eyes please.
“We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive her of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing her to an increased risk of becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent,” the justices wrote.
Now you just need to demonstrate that getting pregnant is substantively the same as being made pregnant without consent.
“We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive him of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing him to an increased risk of her becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent,” the justices wrote.
No. It says the same thing. The gender has changed. The judges comment has not changed.
You are implying a law only applies to men, women are exempt. Theres a word for people that think like that.
Women are free to abuse men. Which is current policy in pretty much every legal domain.
Not that you care McFlock but this subject is actually ultimately about children.
The more consential conception is the better the outcomes for children. Outcomes for planed, consential pregnancies are far better than outcomes for unwanted children.
I’m explicitly stating that there is a fundamental difference between making someone else get pregnant and making yourself get pregnant.
That difference might be enough to make your claims about “abuse” legally arguable. Please provide a link to a case where a woman has been convicted of sexual assault for getting pregnant.
You never will have such a case. Prosecutions for any female on male sex crime is vertualy non existent. Police laugh at males who make historic sex abuse cliams with female offenders. Police also arrest males who make this particular sex abuse cliam of non consential conception because domestic violence at relationship breakdown is common. So is male suicide. This was first highlighted in the midwife initiated teenage father study decades ago. The slaughter of our boys continues.
Women don’t even get prosecuted for having sex with drunk males when they want to get pregnant without the males consent.
As you are aware men get sent to prison for having sex with drunk females. Despite thousands of events the investigation rate is 0%.
I’m not interested in prosecuting women.
That’s a fear in your mind (don’t know why).
I asked about what is a human rights violation. The crown provides multiple opt out options for unwanted pregnancy for women. Men have no options even when technically sex abuse victims.
The IRD makes 15 year old boys pay child support. Was it legal to have sex with them?
The crown provides multiple opt out options for unwanted pregnancy for women. Men have no options even when technically sex abuse victims.
“Technically” show me where, in NZ law, that is the case. With links.
Legalise the male pill!
Please link to the male pill that you believe is illegal in NZ even though it has been thoroughly tested and is completely safe and almost 100% effective.
That having been said, yes, there is an issue in recognising and prosecuting sexual assault against males. I’m just not sure that your hypothetical case of women lying about being on the pill would count. It might, if one squinted a bit when interpreting the words “nature or quality”. But I’ve argued your corner for you more than you have.
That example is a four year old story from Canada, JS, but fair enough it is an example.
As I said before one can get pregnant on the pill, doesn’t make them a liar.
Does anyone warn the teens that drunk sex is awkward and not satisfying. Breathe in the boozy breath mhmmm I want that beer coated tongue in my mouth, why isn’t your cock working, whoops, sorry I just passed out for a bit, ewwww don’t spew up there, ffs that’s my wardrobe not a urinal.
Re the male pill, honestly am not sure I could trust a man to take it regularly.
Being pregnant and giving birth is no picnic, neither is an abortion or a miscarriage, leaving those decisions up to a man’s reliability on taking a pill…. yeah nah.
But in saying that, why do men so easily trust a women when she say’s she’s on the pill? Maybe because either way there is no possibility the man will get pregnant, so no worries mate, it’s all on her.
A word of advice, djward, you come across as a woman hater, might not be your intention, but the subjects you raise, sheez.
Either that or you are flat out trolling. Maybe it’s both.
I do read kb, have never commented there, the language, abuse, name calling, bullying is freaking vile as. As well the moderation is pathetic. But I noticed you are a regular visitor. JS.
Should migrants who might have worked overseas for significant periods of time qualify for NZ super when they also have overseas super or private pensions that they are entitled too?
Likewise people born overseas who somehow live the high life but appear to have no income generated here to justify that lifestyle but also qualify for super having not worked in NZ much, or paid taxes here only a fraction of their life.
It does not seem fair that Kiwis who live and work in NZ most of their lives get less than those who live in other countries and thus can get 2 pensions or just never lived here at all most of their lives and somehow get a pension and free health care and rest home care that NZ taxpayers pay for .
I don’t think the pension should be means tested but if you were born overseas and have contributed little in your working life into NZ you should not qualify for a NZ pension at all nor free health care nor free rest home care.
Private insurance should be paying for those who are born overseas or who spend most of their working life out of NZ apart from refugees. so that it is fairer to people who choose to live here on often lower wages who then somehow are expected to pay for the world’s wealthy retirees who apparently come just come here and get residency after 11 days or through marrying someone after a few weeks after meeting them online.
Yes bwaghorn that is a start. And I’m not against people who can support themselves and have the morality to retire here. But there needs to be more protection to Kiwis who live and work here not to support the world’s (often wealthy) retirees and a plan if they renege on paying for their own care and how they need to guarantee their care up front before being allowed to come here in case something goes wrong once they come here and NZ taxpayers end up having to support them.
Look at then estimated costs of retirement or aged care…
Rest home care costs at least $1000 p/w
Plus surgical care, hip replacements, heart surgery, eye surgery, lets say $10k per year which I think is around the cost of private cover for elderly people.
Prescriptions $40 p/w
Free travel with Gold card $40 p/w
Winter payment $450 – $750
Pension $24k per annum single or $15,600 if you are in a rest home.
It seem very strange looking at the costs just to keep one retired person here in NZ that we are allowing so many migrants to come here to retire who can then “lose’ their money somehow or even keep it, and NZ ends up paying significant amounts for their care and even a pension somehow.
Then there are the recent migrant prison criminals at $100,000 per annum aka Czech Smuggler.
We are paying for this by government borrowing and assets sell offs or decreased services or low wages for teachers or doctors else where.
NZ has to get it’s shit in order, because our government policy is making a mockery of the future of NZ in the next decade when there will be so many liabilities that our government should have prevented NOW by policy that is fair and makes sense.
business environment
Local processing of soft plastic starts
From Nine To Noon, 9:38 am today
9.05 mins
The soft plastic recycling scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, has been operating since 2015 and now covers about 70 percent of the country.
Photo: Facebook / Love NZ Soft Plastics Recycling
For the first time, soft plastic collected for recycling is being processed in New Zealand, and turned into fence posts and ducting for cables.
Earlier this year, soft plastic such as bread bags, chip packets and confectionery wrappers was being stockpiled here, as the Australian plant which had been contracted to recycle it, refused to take any more.
Lyn Mayes from the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, says there are now local processors. She says the packaging industry is trying to find alternatives to plastic.
Hey wood deteriorates too. Certainly as a short term measure to deal with a present problem plastic fence posts would be appropriate especially for town use where they would give a nice clean grey or white appearance for a good many years.
Wood biodegrades. Plastic breaks down to enter the food chain. It would be a shame to remove plastics from the ocean only to redistribute them over land.
Just a wee touch of imagination, they’ll do just fine. Or is it all simply more green washing where Australia forced our hand to participate?
Ducting is typically used beneath floors and above ceilings. These are places out of sunlight in which plastics might last indefinitely. A suitable product. There are many underground applications for which such materials might be suited. It is lightweight, waterproof, insulative and persistent.
I can’t wait until we turn our back on plastic and go back to the old ways of doing stuff. Recycling plastic is like asking for ice cubes for your martini on the titanic imo.
Those two pieces are pretty light on my biggest objection to plastic bags (and plastics in general) – the littering and harm to wildlife aspects. It really hit home for me watching a sea turtle munching a jellyfish, then start in on a plastic grocery bag floating past. And seeing exposed coral covered so thick in bags and other plastic caught on it that you could barely see it was coral underneath.
But yeah, the extra resource usage to make paper packaging complicates the issue quite a bit. In the end though, the paper vs plastic argument obscures the bigger problem – why so fkn much packaging to begin with?
Totally agree
As for the use of paper bags – like my two (reused many times) plastic bags I carry in my hessian carry bag, I have several paper bags for reuse as well.
My butcher understands my objection to plastic trays and bags, and is happy for me to reuse the tinfoil containers with lids which I bring to carry my purchases home.
“Health Canada considers that sufficient evidence relating to human health has been presented to justify the conclusion that bisphenol A is harmful to human life and should be added to Schedule 1 of [the Canadian Environmental Protection Act],” the federal government reported in the Canada Gazette.
I trust Canadian authorities more than corporate US companies.
Thats what bugs me, plastic bags are useful, very useful. I won’t go into all the uses a plastic bag has because there are many and I’m sure others have their own uses for them.
So Countdown does the virtue signalling thing and stops using plastic bags (which is a pain in the butt) but yet still has has so much plastic packaging that can’t really be used for anything, especially around fruit and vegetables. I mean why not look at using biodegradable bags instead
Well the science was already done on “bio-degradable bags” and say that the remains of the bags when they shed into little pieces then get digested by other forms of life in our food chain and poison our food through the transfer of the BPA components in the plastic remains, so we get poisoned this way sadly so they say don’t rely on bio-degradable plastic bags.
Huh gay pride don’t have as many kids as everyday people do so they don’t really have a personal drive of making a future for their children, and getting them socialised and mixing and enjoying with the community. For the gays It’s more like being a flock of male peacocks admiring each other, and the same with females who also want to enjoy the colour and drama of the male feathers. But it isn’t aimed at children.
And Diwali can have their own day, and Chinese can have their New Year Dragon and fireworks. That just shows how multi-ethnic and open we are, and it is all beautiful and colourful. And Maori have Matariki; we have to be able to celebrate things we hold as important. But the stylish young things who are up with the play and so sophisticated are looking at creating events for visitors and overseas tourists and not focussed on the citizens – we’re still out there you know.
We love our Santa Parades and the people who don’t like Christmas being celebrated and commercialised are nit pickers and full of cold pious budgetary efficiency. And those who object to Christmas having Christian background can just enjoy the enjoyment of others, the colour, the costumes, the decorations, the bands, the fun which is Christmas for most children and the major group of adults.
“It strikes me with great clarity that if you look at the problems in isolation they each seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.”
As NRT notes, a less intensive mode of farming still appears to be profitable. Of my farming acquaintances, most that have tried intensive and not-so-intensive seem to have settled on the not-so-intensive model. It seems more resilient, and the up-and-down swings in the returns aren’t as dramatic. To be sure, a good year doesn’t peak quite as high, but then a bad year doesn’t bite nearly as hard, and over the long term the average return seems a bit better. With a lot less stress, although probably not any less work.
Not only is there less effluent being discharged and polluting waterways and damaging soils but a return to a more natural grazing cycle can have substantial benefits wrt carbon sequestration as well as increased animal health.
“The Potential of Restorative Grazing to Mitigate Global Warming by Increasing Carbon Capture on Grasslands”
Summary: This white paper reviews the literature on soil organic carbon losses and potential gains through regenerative management. It finds that most literature is limited to areas considered in “agriculture” and that rangelands may be largely under represented both in terms of of losses and drawdown potential. It argues that with regenerative rangeland practices, such as Holistic Planned Grazing, the total capture of atmospheric carbon may be much higher than previously considered. An upward estimate of 88 to 210 gigatons (billions of tons) of carbon (88-210 GtC) representing a total drawdown of 25 to 60 tons per hectare on 3500 million hectares of grasslands worldwide is postulated as achievable through proper rangeland/grassland management. This represents a CO2 reduction equivalency of 41 to 99 ppm, enough to return us to the 350 ppm level mandated by the Paris Climate Accords.
Itzkan, Seth. 2014. Upside Drawdown – The Potential of Restorative Grazing to Mitigate Global Warming by Increasing Carbon Capture on Grasslands. Draft for comment v0.9.5. Somerville, Massachusetts: Planet-TECH Associates.
Bill, you rubbished me when I stated soil carbon could make a significant difference, and then LPrent joined in for a good ol’ group kicking in which you both laughed at me and called me all kinds of stupid and ill informed.
I’m a supporter of the idea that the soil is the best repository for carbon that’s presently drifting about the atmosphere. There are clever combinations of plants and methods that can do this very quickly, with the farmers doing the biz – they can become, I reckon, the New Heroes who Save the Planet, but whether they do or not, is yet to be seen. Progress to date has been glacial, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It could. In my view.
Even small percentage increases in soil carbon worldwide can dramatically reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Entering this conversation is the practice of Holistic Planned Grazing (HPG), in which livestock are herded in a fashion that replicates the beneficial grazing, trampling, dunging, and nutrient recycling dynamics with which wild herding ruminants coevolved with perennial grassland plants and carbon-rich soils (Savory & Butterfield, 1999). Decades of anecdotal evidence and recent studies suggest this practice has great promise, both for ecological functioning, including plant growth and hydrology, and for increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) (Dagget, 2005; Earl & Jones, 1996; Gill, 2009; Howell, 2009; Norton, 1998; Stinner, Stinner, & Martsolf, 1997; Teague et al., 2011; K. T. Weber & Gokhale, 2011). For example, Teague (2011) showed that land managed under a restorative grazing regimen (multi-paddock with ecological goals) had a far higher SOC value than land on a similar site managed with traditional (heavy continuous) grazing. When factoring across all soil profile depths measured, this added carbon equated to a 30 t C/ha. Additionally, Weber (2011) showed that land under a restorative grazing regimen (simulated Holistic Planned Grazing, SHGP), had significantly improved water holding capacity, measured as percent volumetric-water content, %VWC, when compared with traditionally grazed lands. Hydrological functioning is correlated with soil carbon (Feger & Hawtree, 2013; Franzluebbers, 2002).
Farmers don’t put fertilisers on with the intent of loosing money. What a stupid thing to say. This guy is clearly still running with concepts of what’s happening from 20 years ago. Time for Mike Joy to at least learn what he is talking about.
DJ Ward – your commenting manner is … unsophisticated, in a not-very-admirable way – just sayin’
Mike Joy, otoh, expresses himself with clarity and honesty. He’s very well researched and dedicated to his topic. Let’s have a look at what he says:
“The problems faced by New Zealand’s environment, particularly freshwaters and soils are wicked, complex and intertwined. After struggling with these issues for a half a lifetime, it strikes me with great clarity that if you look at each in isolation they seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution that addresses them all, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Take, for example, a subset of the many environmental issues facing New Zealand, such as bacterial and pathogen contamination of water and soil, excess nutrients in waters, excess sediment in waterways, freshwater habitat loss, groundwater contaminated with pesticides and nutrients, and the huge loss of the mauri of waterways. Any of these issues appear impossibly hard and/or expensive if evaluated in isolation for costs, or for the difficulty or value of resolution.
But if there was one action available that substantially addressed all of the issues listed above, then the decision would be simple – take that action. When multiple gains can be made for the cost of a single action, and the combined gains far outweigh the single cost of that one action, the next move is obvious. When it comes to the freshwater crisis, a single solution does exist – simply, reducing farming intensity: less cows.”
A few years back I had a plumbing issue and the contractors cleaned up after themselves with a bulldozer blade. They left me with podzol looking soil, white chalk and clay. Two years later that strip is topsoil again, through the use of cover crops and mulch.
The large April storm revealed heart rot fungi in a big tree here which then had to come down. The mulch and cuttings of this tree have become surrounds for many more trees and garden beds, and mulch to support them.
The privet the council has failed to kill for decades is my bitch. I kill this stuff by chainsaw then hand. This becomes fuel wood, landscaping materials, poles, mulch, compost and hugelkultur. All manner of trees get planted on the privets graves.
The problems are the solutions. And often they’re f’n simple. But turning round agriculture isn’t simple. The farmers here are still convinced the world will go into starvation mode if they wean themselves off urea. Meanwhile the waterways are full of excess. But they all go on and on about their sparing use of these products, how they’ve ‘changed’.
Regenerative agriculture is absolutely the way to go. Mind your step for the vegans though.
Not read that book either. I’m gonna start asking if you’ve read the hardcore textbooks i have soon to restore my ‘well read’ ego. Just read a brief synopsis it looks good. I’ve thought the notion of human supremacy a bit far fetched in light of our overall actions; though we do have potential…
Just trawling permie stuff and came across a very good clip on swales. Due to the paucity of clear and concise information I’ll share it here for you, your clients, farmers, the planet…
Don’t get down about the farmers changing WtB. We don’t believe in a flat earth any more do we? So they will catch on one day. Trouble is nobody gets old and dies now. Ninety is the new 75, so it takes longer for the churn of young people who can change to get to the top. I don’t think we have time to plod along and wait for the old to pass. And so many of all ages are wedded to the idea that having ideas is a mental disease – look at all the plonkers and noxious weeds we get here. A little bit of bare screen and up pops another stinking bindweed.
Yeah. It’s that frustration that change is too slow rearing it’s head again. Must soldier on. Lumping farmers all together is a bit rough as well. Sorry Folks.
Dairy farmers are largely responsible for cheese. So really, they’re almost Gods.
The fact it is possible to still make significant change and mitigation to, well, mitigate… it drives me a bit nuts.
And the onus is not simply on agriculture. We all need to be on board together.
Section owners can sequester carbon, save money, get exercise, reduce health bills, reduce food bills, reduce food miles, reduce landscaping costs and petroleum use, provide bbq fuel, meet neighbors, get fresh air, smell the roses…
Just by gardening with permaculture principles. They can do a course, buy books, phone a friend or youtube how to get there. The benefits listed are significant. These also include mitigating climate related stress.
It would help tremendously. We could restore concept’s like wartime’s Victory Gardens. War on Climate Change Victory Gardens, for all!
The more sustainable systems within the environment, the more resilience we will have, the more chance we all get.
Preaching to the converted a bit – always with the awareness other readers read our conversations.
We need a dedicate,d well “baited” post that’s put up first thing in the day on a day when there are lots of readers. Then we’d get some great discussions and perhaps turn the blog in a positive, practical, shared-experience direction. There are a number of posters here with lively, useful, creative and inspirational ideas on this topic. Can we do that? Yes, we can!
I’ve thought about this, but don’t want to be seen to be trying to dominate the board or indulging in repetitive bashing over heads which turns folks away. A few of us working on solutions and positive news of people implementing ideas could work however, as variety of thoughts and styles really helps communicate ideas anyway. I’m more than willing to pitch in.
Yep. I’m in.
It’s a highly politicised topic, I don’t think The Standard would mind us steering more conversation to this area. I’m sure they’ll chime in if they do mind.
Let’s try one and see how it goes. Perhaps tomorrow, on Open Mike we could put the idea up, gather supporters, attract the attention of a mod and set the day. Whaddayareckon?
Or, maybe an author could simply post this quote from Mike Joy 🙂
“The problems faced by New Zealand’s environment, particularly freshwaters and soils are wicked, complex and intertwined. After struggling with these issues for a half a lifetime, it strikes me with great clarity that if you look at each in isolation they seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution that addresses them all, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Take, for example, a subset of the many environmental issues facing New Zealand, such as bacterial and pathogen contamination of water and soil, excess nutrients in waters, excess sediment in waterways, freshwater habitat loss, groundwater contaminated with pesticides and nutrients, and the huge loss of the mauri of waterways. Any of these issues appear impossibly hard and/or expensive if evaluated in isolation for costs, or for the difficulty or value of resolution.
But if there was one action available that substantially addressed all of the issues listed above, then the decision would be simple – take that action. When multiple gains can be made for the cost of a single action, and the combined gains far outweigh the single cost of that one action, the next move is obvious. When it comes to the freshwater crisis, a single solution does exist – simply, reducing farming intensity: less cows.”
Yes. Gathering helpers/support is a great first step. Possibly form a core group on the topic and see if the Standard might let us write regular articles. We might concentrate on mitigation and solutions rather than climate change itself – the very nature of our posts would spell that out anyway. It might set a better tone than ‘more climate browbeating’ as the audience is relatively receptive.
I guess put the idea, or the idea to develop the idea, out there; and see who is interested and what ideas spring forth in the discussion.
On climate browbeating, the debate is over on climate changes existence. Deniers are trolls, professional or Trumped up.
Should we be engaging them anymore? I guess those in positions of power need to be challenged; but the mindless troll wants us to engage them, not ideas for solutions.
I met Mike Joy was a meet and greet for him when Generation Zero brought him to UoA. Went to the lecture and thoroughly enjoyed it. Learned a bit about stream make-up I didn’t know, the existence (loss) of significant interstitial spaces (from siltation) between the rocks. That stuff bothered me.
The interstitial spaces were how, back in the day when living in the bush, a small creek I camped beside had an astounding abundance of life. That which I could see was merely the surface. And those layers of rocks beneath the surface, coated in biofilm, were a large part of the systems food chain where nutrient loads were captured and converted up the food chain, rather than overwhelming and filling the gaps with crud.
I reckon, don’t mention “climate change” at all – take it as a given and bypass the naysayers. The techno-solution folk as well, could do as we are proposing and raise a post to keep our “earthy” topic clear of junk 🙂 There have, of course, been plenty of very good posts by a range of authors here before, all hail those people, but we, I think, are yearning for something a bit more organic, less confrontational, more collective and …fun? I am, anyway.
Yes. For me the important part is to be more solutions oriented. And I do appreciate the efforts of all, whether I like the approach or not. I feed into confrontational stuff too easily, but it’s not good for my, or anyone’s, mental health.
Fun! Don’t you know we ARE ALL DOOMED!
Working on a comedy project last night with a mate. We were in tears.
“Pandas are wife beaters. That’s why they’re not breeding. Give them a bamboo buffet, running water, ambient music, candles, and years to figure it out. Whadda ya get?
I want to achieve something here not just say why dont they…..?
I wrote to shane jones and stuart nash – got confirmation email but feel they will never get back to me. Tried to discuss small is beautiful but everyone else was too busy,
but if we had a regular thread that contained an archive and we could put up useful stuff to build a data base – not quite sure how to do it however.
‘but if we had a regular thread that contained an archive and we could put up useful stuff to build a data base”
I’m not sure how to do it either, but I’m sure some folks here do.
Absolutely we need more poetry.
You can be the first to view this wee gem. I’m biased…
This is Westmere.
The ladies are out walking their goat
With a hint of patchouli and strong smell of dope
There’s a man in a dress eating salmon on toast
This is Westmere
A once was an actor with pot belly gut
Working on ads for community stuff
But never a nod cos he’s too cool for us
This is Westmere
The kids from the state houses scream with delight
As chickens tear past them in panic and fright
The rich kids look on through windows sealed tight
This is Westmere
Trophy wives training in makeup and perms
Jogging cos fatties get kicked to the kerb
It’s all about looks and they do look superb
This is Westmere
A crazy hotch potch of classes and race
A magical marvelous mystery place
But gentrification moves at some pace
This was Westmere.
Great idea, Robert, WTB. Open Mike and Daily Review throw up some terrific discussions but dedicated posts definitely work better for engagement. There’s always the guest post option and we are always looking for new authors.
There are serious time/work/life demands that impact on the regular authors’ ability to post, so TS does often rely on OM to cover issues that really deserve a post of their own. Anything you guys can come up with that enhances the way the site operates would be most welcome.
Hi te reo putake
Thanks for responding to our discussion (of last night).
I get the demand-on-authors thing and wonder if the idea that follows might alleviate that pressure. It seems (to me) that we don’t need an authored intro or topic for what we propose; we’re just looking for one step up from Open Mike, which invites comment on everything under the sun, to a thread where “the way forward” can be discussed, within parameters such as doable suggestions, successful examples, contributions from readers who support the concept (of the thread), new “takes” on the future etc. There’s no need to set a topic or change the look of the thread; we’ll know where we can go to talk in this way about these things. I have a suggestion: put up, at your or other authors discretion, a “standard” post, titled “How to get there” – it’s also the title of a wonderful Michael Leunig poem/cartoon, and illustrate the post with that very image to make it immediately recognisable and set the tone for discussions that might/will follow. Here’s the link to Leunig’s poem. I’m certain he won’t mind us using it; I’ve met him and he’s delightful 🙂
Hi te reo putake
Thanks for responding to our discussion (of last night).
I get the demand-on-authors thing and wonder if the idea that follows might alleviate that pressure. It seems (to me) that we don’t need an authored intro or topic for what we propose; we’re just looking for one step up from Open Mike, which invites comment on everything under the sun, to a thread where “the way forward” can be discussed, within parameters such as doable suggestions, successful examples, contributions from readers who support the concept (of the thread), new “takes” on the future etc. There’s no need to set a topic or change the look of the thread; we’ll know where we can go to talk in this way about these things. I have a suggestion: put up, at your or other authors discretion, a “standard” post, titled “How to get there” – it’s also the title of a wonderful Michael Leunig poem/cartoon, and illustrate the post with that very image to make it immediately recognisable and set the tone for discussions that might/will follow. Here’s the link to Leunig’s poem. I’m certain he won’t mind us using it; I’ve met him and he’s delightful 🙂
HOW TO GET THERE
Go to the end of the path until you get to the gate.
Go through the gate and head straight out towards the horizon.
Keep going towards the horizon.
Sit down and have a rest every now and again,
But keep on going, just keep on with it.
Keep on going as far as you can.
That’s how you get there.
As far as moderation is concerned, I suspect those taking part will manage their own, given the tenor of the thread and its intention; could be wrong, of course, but a trial will soon test that.
Whaddayareckon?
I’ll post this on today’s (Thursday’s) Open Mike, in case this thread has been lost into the mists of time or you are off-duty 🙂
All criticisms, suggestions welcomed, naturally.
Robert
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
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Wtf, money over murder.
trump has just declared he stands with the saudi’s on the Khashoggi assassination.
I guess the USA is making too much money from the war in Yemen to worry about the saudi’s lying over murdering journalists.
Despite US intelligence reportedly linking the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, the US would continue to have a “steadfast” relationship with the kingdom.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/trump-steadfast-partnership-saudi-arabia-181120174403336.html
Without oil, the military industrial complex collapses.
True but the saudi’s are not the only ones who can supply oil.
Re trumps Khashoggi decision, he was in a position to possibly put a halt to the war in Yemen, and he chose to sell weapons to the saudi’s to keep the war going instead. I’m really fucked off about it.
The US is a net energy exporter. The US Saudi relationship is a strategic one. Firstly to protect Israel and secondly as it’s an enemy of Iran. Was the enabler of the Iraq conflicts.
People fought wars prior to oil. Your comment could be replaced by anything exploitable.
The US has placed sanctions on people proven to be involved.
Jacinda or Winston have sanctioned nobody.
Saudi vs Yemen is a religous war that like Israel vs Palistinians has involved tit for tat events progressing into the dominate power applying complete oppression. The US was involved due to Yemens strong Al Qaeda links and attacks on shipping. They are now removing its enabling support to Saudi Arabias actions in Yemen.
The us has placed sanctions on the poor muppets the Saudi prince has thrown under the bus.
Well it’s actually based on the evidence gathered by Turkey. Confirmed by Saudi investigations. So you are probably correct about the Prince.
But not for long.
True and totally immoral.
net energy importer still, as of last year. And then there’s the fact that what’s holding it back is the importation of crude oil. I wonder where it gets that from?
USDoE thinks you’re four years early in declaring mission accomplished.
“The United States became a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 and natural gas in 2017. In 2017, the United States was a net exporter of coal, coal coke, petroleum products, natural gas, and biomass, but a net importer of crude oil. Net electricity trade with Mexico and Canada was relatively minimal.”
Once you count Trumps anti Russian gas exports to the EU which have just been signed, not accounted for in your link they become overal net exporters.
What the actual fuck does Russian exports to the EU have to do with your claim “The US is a net energy exporter”? And it doesn’t matter if the US is a net exporter of some types of energy, it’s dependence on importing crude oil makes it a net energy importer. Your statement “The US is a net energy exporter” was categorically wrong.
Far out.
Saudi’s keep breaking the cease fire.
Re Al Qaeda in Yemen, crikey the USA+Saudi’s have been paying them money to leave, not fighting them, instead cashing them up and even recruiting them.
” Again and again over the past two years, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States has claimed it won decisive victories that drove al Qaeda militants from their strongholds across Yemen and shattered their ability to attack the West.
Here’s what the victors did not disclose: many of their conquests came without firing a shot.
That’s because the Saudi/USA coalition cut secret deals with al Qaeda fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself.”
Yep he is an orange phlegm-cough. He shows his morals are non-existent – sad state of affairs.
“In the extraordinary statement issued on Tuesday – which begins with the words “The world is a very dangerous place!” – Trump quotes Saudi officials as describing Khashoggi as an “enemy of the state”. ”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/20/trump-saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-crown-prince
As a staunch member of the Muslim Brotherhood, supporter of Osama Bin Laden with many Personel meetings and advocate for creating a global Islamic state. Yes.
Your opinions are worthless – I’m not interested in them at all.
You haven’t explained how Trump was in any way responsible for the murder or why you think he should be held to account for the murder. The only thing he can realistically do is punish those proven to be responsible. He has done that with sanctions.
Or how you justify our governments inaction.
Diagnosis TDS.
Keep up the MSM propaganda line Marty.
If you read Wiki you will see what I said is true.
That doesn’t justify the murder.
djward…. “If you read Wiki you will see what I said is true.”
LMFAO !!!!!!!!!! ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dude, anyone with an email addy can change wiki content. JS
And which wiki page are you referring to djward, that we need to read?
It wasn’t just a murder, it was a pre-planned execution. Right down to a forensic expert who taught the clean up crew how to remove all traces of dna. Khasoggi was dismembered, then placed into suitcases and disposed of. It was brutal, especially for a person of the muslim faith, but they knew that, tis why thy did it that way.
Thou shalt not speak out in the media about the saudi’s or you’ll be next.
But it sure was well planned, even down to the person who left the embassy dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes, neglected to put on his shoes, which was the giveaway on the CCTV.
The saudi’s lied about it, denied it ever happened, then hello, the story from the saudi’s kept changing.
The CIA report ….”blindingly obvious” that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing.
And trump feel’s their trust worthy enough to sell weapons to? Wow.
trump could have turned away from the saudi’s using Khashoggi (who is a dual US citizen) as an ‘excuse’, leading to hopefully the demise of the war in Yemen. But noooooo. What a fuckwit.
Did you read.
The Saudis said.
Not Trump.
Nobody how much you hate them should be mocked for a comment that is not theirs. Especially when its not undeniable and has supporting facts.
The victims Wiki page.
I’m perfectly aware of the events just as much as you are. But thanks for your recap.
How exactly do you suggest Trump exercises his powers as a dictator to stop this war. Oh wait, the senate.
The saudi’s said what djward, so many comments am not sure which one you are referring to.
With all remaining large powers except the EU accelerrating their retreat from diplomatic norms that respect human rights, this statement is the official signpost to hell.
Yep and Khashoggi was a US citizen too. So Trump takes the money over his own citizens. Well not really surprising for a right winger. (and increasingly these days a left wing government).
Hardly surprising the Usa is always offing people .
The US had nothing to do with the events.
Trump and the US have no responsibility to the events.
While its appears obvious the Prince was involved, evidential links are scant.
As the murder victim had US citizenship the US can bring the offenders to the US for trial. However they can’t get their hands on them for that to happen.
Behind the scenes Trump has confronted this issue. He has said he has asked the Saudi leadership, and directly the Prince if the Prince ordered the killing on at least 5 occasions. The Saudi leadership deny the involvement of the Prince.
While obviously bullshit what is Trump to do?
Invade Saudi Arabia to get the Prince?
Killing millions, and causing a global economic crash.
Did I say they were involved in this one ? My point is the us is a murderous state so they are hardly going to get to all upset when their friends do a bit of killing.
I don’t think the French care, or Germans, or Russians.
So why put responsibility only on Trump.
$110 billion $US in arms sales – money or morals?
Mind you, didn’t NZ hand over the French killers for the sake of selling sheep brains to the EU?
It’s not Trumps arm sales.
It’s private companies doing the trade.
He needs the House (Dems) and Senate (Reps) to act to restrict the economic activity of private Buisiness.
If he just waved a wand saying you can’t do Buisiness then he truly would be a dictator. Plus he could be sued by the manufacturer.
The Senate drives sanctions on North Korea, Iran, Russia. Not the President. It is the Senate that oversees arm sales.
Many of these contracts are Obama era deals. He openly traded with this mysoginistic dictatorship as well. This ‘high profile’ murder is just one of hundreds of political killings over decades. The rational for attacking Trump is no different for Obamas actions.
The US is far from Saudi Arabias only weaponry provider.
Come off it dud4, it’s private companies running the government.
I do like how you pull bullshit out of your arse. It makes me research new and interesting things.
For example, International Emergency Economic Powers Act:
Basically, the pres declares something to be an emergency, then declares the related sanctions.
Watchoo talkin bout dud4?
Are the germans still selling arms to the saddies?
Residency surely dud4.
MSB owns Javanka, so of course the orange turd is going to roll over and let him do WTF he wants to.
One of the people MBS told about the discussion with Kushner was UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, according to a source who talks frequently to confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers. MBS bragged to the Emirati crown prince and others that Kushner was “in his pocket,” the source told The Intercept.
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jared-kushner-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudis-using-pompeos-plan-shield-leadership-khashoggi-fallout-says-source-1684431379
Good links Joe, thanks for that.
Is anyone really noticed that “climate change” is now upon us now????
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108716716/wintry-conditions-set-to-continue-as-heavy-snow-and-rain-forecast-for-south-island
Is anyone feeling that climate change is really impacting on our lives fully now with massive rainfall amounts all over the country now and is flooding us all, and snow and hail is arriving in summer??????
Good article is here to illustrate that climate change is real and now present, so where is Jacinda Ardern on this demise of our planet now” after she was ‘preaching to us
“climate change is our generation’s ‘nuclear moment”!!!!!!!’
“So why is she not reducing truck freight for more less carbon emission transport such as rail which emits 5 to 8 times less carbon emissions than trucks per km of tonne carried each km??????.
Regional rail is not being increased under her “transformative” Government and sadly her government is one third into it’s “first term” so they had better get moving else they will be out in 2020.
Chris Trotter on TDB remarked on https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/11/20/making-it-through/ what Christine Rose was quoted correctly saying what is now present’;
“our chances of surviving global warming are slim indeed. And yet, if we put our faith in science, then Christine Rose’s bitter-sweet resignation; her “ecological grief” at the inevitable demise of so many living things”
Nope. Haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
So you propose building Rail to everybody’s front door?
You should advocate for EV trucking. Rail is useful for large quantity, long distance enterprise but generally its geographically handicapped. Inevitably a truck is needed to deliver to the door.
Make it a EV truck and you will need something else to complian about.
New Zealand was built using rail and most towns and cities have some connection to it and depended on it. What country has it going to front doors? Are you actually serious?
EV trucks? lol seriously? You know diesel engines are irreplaceable right in terms of power output?
Rubish.
EV can easily match the output of diesel plus it has a huge advantage in power at no speed. In short runs from Rail hubs and the near instant charging of Ali ion batteries its presently viable.
DJ WARD
You are so such an ignorant rant aren’t you?
Who said rail to every door?
Secondly you don’t know that trucks have up to 32 tyres now as tyres are made from very nasty monomers/ polymers and toxic chemicals like 1.3.butadiene and styrene, all are cancer causing that the EU is now banning fro use in cities and populated areas because of the toxic poisons Tyre dust is causing to humans.
Go away we don’t need your rubbish, we have covered this stuff before so don’t waste our time here.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/04/fewer-cars-not-electric-cars-beat-air-pollution-says-top-uk-adviser-prof-frank-kelly
Electric vehicles emit no NO2 but do produce small particle pollution from the wear on brake discs and tyres and by throwing up dust from roads. A recent European commission research paper found that about half of all particulate matter comes from these sources.
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC89231/jrc89231-online%20final%20version%202.pdf
Abstract
Traffic related sources are a significant contributor of particulate matter, particularly in urban environments and
major cities. Traffic related particles can be distinguished into: exhaust traffic related particles, which are emitted
as a result of incomplete fuel combustion and lubricant volatilization during the combustion procedure, and nonexhaust
traffic related particles, which are either generated from non-exhaust traffic related sources such as brake,
tyre, clutch and road surface wear or already exist in the environment as deposited material and become
resuspended due to traffic induced turbulence. It is estimated that exhaust and non-exhaust sources contribute
almost equally to total traffic-related PM10 emissions. However, as exhaust emissions control become stricter,
relative contributions of non-exhaust sources to traffic related emissions will increasingly become more significant.
The aim of the present literature review study is to present the state-of-the-art of the different aspects regarding
particulate emissions resulting from non-exhaust sources and particularly from brake and tyre wear. For this
reason several different literature sources such as peer reviewed papers, research project reports, technical
publications, as well as licentiate and doctoral theses were examined and the most significant findings in terms of
importance, physicochemical characteristics, EFs and possible adverse health effects are discussed.
DJ ward
Just remember that rail has ‘steel wheels’ not any of those toxic black ‘plastic’ tyres that are poisoning our human health and environment.
Since you want cars and trucks banned your solution is returning to the horse and cart?
You miss the point.
EV vehicles reduce pollution significantly from what we presently have. People are not going to give up Moter vehicles. Next you will be complaining about push bikes with rubber tyres and brakes.
The solution is not eradication and the reformation of society to suit your irrational idealism of paradise.
It’s identifying pollution and finding engineering solutions that eliminate or neutralise those pollutants.
Anybody would think I’ve got no green credentials based on the bullcrap I’m getting. I’ve done more in my life and achieved more in that regard to anybody on this site.
Nope, nothing can match the power generated by burning fossil fuels that’s why diesel engines have been used in heavy transport for more than 100 years. Having thousands of electric vehicles ferrying stuff around is also completely unsustainable.
Absolute rubbish.
Electric motors can deliver any power you design it to deliver.
That’s not the reason it’s used at all.
Extremely large mining machines are electric powered. Not diesel.
Compared to electricity diesel is more expensive. It’s cheaper to generate electricity in high efficiency multi stage generators with diesel for EV use than in inefficient in vehicle engines by a factor of nearly 3:1.
Mankind advanced so fast the EV vehicles couldn’t keep up with ICE vehicle developement. ICE vehicles are not tied to infastructure like EV is. EV was handicapped by battery developement stalling with lead acid batteries.
Once the invention of Lithuim ion and graphine occured ICE vehicles in mainstream use will inevitably become redundant technology.
Ali ion batteries, a secondary invention to Lithuim ion batteries have a theoretical storage by mass limit 250% greater than the Lithuim theoretical limit. This is due to Lithuim having 1 free electron vs Aluminium having 3 per atom.
Profound change is going to occur in the near future.
Some very large nuclear subs are propelled by electric motors. Not diesel.
“Electric motors can deliver any power you design it to deliver.”
No, the example you’ve given is mining trucks which travel at slow speeds and stop and start, more suitable for batteries. Electric is unfeasible for long haul and higher speeds – the core of the entire industry. Hence why electric truck and trailer units don’t seem to exist? Electric trucking will probably only fill niche roles like rubbish collection, mining, where they work.
New electric trucks are about 3 times more expensive to buy than standard trucks, so that rules them out for a lot of businesses. But I take your point that running costs are cheaper.
Lithium is a very limited resource, no idea how much production can be scaled up so we can replace our car and trucking fleet.
Wrong. The giant diggers etc are electric, cable connected.
EV is feasible today for long haul and high speed.
EV can easily outperform ICE for speed, and acceleration, and torque.
Ali ion batteries, not Lithuim. Aluminium is abundant.
They can fully charge from flat in less than a minute. Faster than filling up with fuel.
One Verizon tested 750,000 full charges, full discharges in just over a second to charge and a second to discharge.
Presently it’s Lithuim but Aluminium batteries will surpass due to characteristics.
Well you’ve thrown up a large digger and trucks running off coke cans as the only examples to back up your claims. An electrified trucking industry is just around the corner lol.
This sounds like the Mainfreight vision of the transport industry, which will end up looking rather like the good old NZR with the road limits. Only this will be the most efficient and profitable for the carrier.
There might be an intermediate hybrid step, but battery and motor tech might leapfrog that.
Evidently Mainfreight is very close to not buying any more pure diesel trucks, at least for the depot – customer part of the business
http://etrucks.co.nz/
My partner works in the transport industry, and his firm is looking to replace the fleet with EV over the next few years. There are trucks on the road in Europe with good range and tare. The lack of infrastructure here for refuelling means that the first vehicles they will import will have to be hybrids.
Molly – if you look at my link above – you will see that for short haul trucks they are already here.
Yes the problem in NZ for long haul trucks is that they would need massive batteries (and reducing their carrying capacity) to have sufficient range to be viable. Living in a semi-rural area I face the same problem with a car, and I find the optimum solution at the moment is a hybrid. An EV is planned for town use with the hybrid for the necessary task of a 200 km drive every 2 – 3 weeks. A Leaf, with a range of around 240 km, is just not practical. (No fast charger where I have to drive to). 🙁
You mean just like a normal spring, Marlborough has been having November snowfalls and frosts since before time began. They are even called ” A Doctor Muller frost ” after the holder and chronicler of a big sheep station in the 1800s, incidently he was the husband of Mary Ann Muller the great international suffragist writer and phampleteer.
Nothing new here.
Shipping. 34 times less.
Barges – is that the idea? Or won’t they stand up to the high seas.
Ships. Small for Auckland Whangarei, or Gisbourne Napier. Larger for N Island, S Island.
And keep employment, taxes and profit in New Zealand, by requiring New Zealand flag.
Why are you surprised Cinny? Trump gonna Trump on everything, the topic is irrelevant. Money, power and himself, full stop.
Money power and himself…… I’m going to add hypocrisy to that list.
Sad thing is the average American know’s little or nada about what is going on Yemen.
Cinny the Americans traditionally learn geography when they invade a country. Now that the cowardly bastards are doing it by drones the general population miss out on their geography lesson.
Unreals.
“The leader of a media watchdog is urging Pacific leaders to “speak out” over Chinese attacks on the press. At the APEC summit in Papua New Guinea, only journalists from China’s state-run agencies were allowed to attend Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Pacific leaders.” https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/11/china-dragging-pacific-back-to-colonial-days-expert.html
“Pacific Freedom Forum chair Monica Miller says the situation is “appalling” and a “slap in the face” to journalists. “China is trying to exercise what it is allowed to do back in its own backyard here in our part of the world, where we have open and free media,” she says. “It seems as if we are going back to the colonial days and we have China trying to muscle the press.”
“Pita Ligaiula, a journalist with the Pacific Island News Association based in Fiji, said Chinese influence was among the big issues affecting the region – and it was important to be able to inform the public about its intentions.”
Money talks. Pacific islands are keen to listen to it. China says, you can, on our terms. Pacific islands say okay then, let’s do this. Pacific media have marginal relevance. Pacific governments will take the money on offer, tell their media they can comment from their margins all they like, they don’t need to be present at meetings. Neocolonialism. Offending the powers that be is never a good idea…
Jacinda now read what your previous Ministers actually promised the Gisborne People when in 2016 you was in opposition.
In 2016 Labour/NZ First promised to fix Gisborne rail.
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2535803-135/three-parties-say-fix-rail.
Quote;
“Leaders of two political parties — including the Government’s coalition partner — along with Labour’s shadow transport minister will be in Gisborne next week to speak about the benefits to East Coast Maori of reopening the Gisborne to Wairoa railway line.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox and Labour Party transport spokeswoman Sue Moroney will address a rail forum to discuss progress towards the repair and reopening of the Gisborne-Wairoa section of the line.
Forum co-organiser Ken Crispin said supporters are encouraged by positive statements from KiwiRail’s annual meeting last week.
“It was reported that freight carried by rail in this last financial year represented a reduced heavy vehicle impact of 1.1 million road trips, with a reduced fuel input of 77 million litres. This has to be good for the economy as well as for the environment”, he said.
Rail Action Group chairwoman Mary Manuel said the action group was furthering the campaign to reopen the line “on behalf of our iwi and the generations to come”.
The forum will be on Monday at Te Tini o Porou Conference Centre, Kaiti from 9am to 5pm.”
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/business/2454149-135/labour-vows-to-improve-regions-government
ECONOMIC growth on the East Coast is being constrained by its poor infrastructure and lack of strategy from central Government, say members of Labour’s environment and infrastructure caucus committee.
The committee was in Gisborne yesterday for meetings with Eastland Port, Gisborne District Council’s regional transport committee, Wi Pere Trust and LeaderBrand.
“We are hearing from people that the region is being forgotten by the government, left out and issues not being addressed,” said Labour transport spokesperson Sue Moroney.
“Transport is a major issue in Tairawhiti, and it is going to become an even greater issue, because of a ‘good problem’, an increase in export opportunity.
“The volume of logs is expected to double, but there are concerns about how this volume of freight will impact on the way people live, and maintenance costs for roads.”
She reiterated Labour’s support for reinstating the rail line saying although they have not announced their new transport policy it was their policy at the last election and she sees “no reason to change that”.
“In fact the business case for it is building. The overwhelming view is supporting a long-term vision of what regional economic development could take place if there is the infrastructure to support it.
“If you were able to work anywhere and continue to do what you love doing, why wouldn’t you choose Gisborne.”
In line with this Labour would help businesses add value to products.
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2437884-135/labour-greens-united-on-rail
Again in the Gisborne Herald in August 2016 again both Labour and Green Party again also promised to re-instate Gisborne rail.
Quote – “Ms Moroney added that a policy was needed that ensured rail, road and sea were all used when fit-for-purpose and reinstating the Gisborne line was a “no-brainer”.
“NZ is pretty damn perfect for rail, yet other countries use rail to much better effect than we do. We move a lot of big stuff, often.”
However, the National Government was “ideologically opposed” to rail and their “complete and utter bias” towards road haulage in particular defied facts, information and practicalities.
She encouraged Gisborne’s vociferous rail lobby to “keep fighting” for rail.
“I just want to congratulate you on a fantastic campaign that is run here from Gisborne and Napier about getting that important railway re-established again. Keep fighting that fight, I know sometimes it seems like no one is listening but it is clear what the problem is — you simply have the wrong government in place to make it a reality.
“It’s going to feel like banging your head against a brick wall but it’s incredibly important that people don’t lose sight.”
Ms Moroney said it was not an issue that should be left to local government; it was a central government issue.
Labour’s last election manifesto had included the reinstatement of the line, and there was no reason why that would change.
So now Jacinda; – in Gisborne and HB we are waiting for your Government to honour your promises made to re-instate the Gisborne to Napier rail service now please. You are looking after other pacific counties “infrastructure, so now we want you to look after our county too please.
Get away from the coast cleany, it’s a goneburger. It’s going under. Trains don’t work under water. Head for the hills cleany.
Gabby,
We have the Government plans for placing the rail systems in areas that are secure from coastal flooding, and they were set up by Julius Vogel in 1880.
So they knew then it was foolish if we would be placing roads and rail near any beach areas, and we need to plan for this so you are right again 100%
The roads are to close to beaches now and will suffer badly too.
Interesting.
Are you aware that sea rise is measured.
Are you aware that measured sea rise is very small.
In theory it could be very large wiping out cities like Napier, parts of South Auckland.
Are you aware that tectonic plate movement causes rises and drops in altitude faster than the measured change by a profound amount. Generally not noticed until large earthquakes. Julia’s Vogels generation witnessed the Wellington event.
The risk of global warming sea level rise is real but the world won’t end even if the worst case occured. Surprisingly it will continue to orbit the sun.
The sea didn’t exist once, it was all frozen.
Not long ago the sea was 100m lower than today.
Life was also just as prolific when temperatures were hotter, CO2 was higher, the day was shorter, and had a significantly more dense atmosphere.
73,000 years ago earths temperature dropped dramatically. The average sea temperature dropped by 2 degrees for 1,000 years. The result of a super volcano.
All the animals alive today including us are descendants of those events.
Climate change needs to be taken seriously, with realism.
Paranoia needs good medication.
Clean Air – Clean Water
Unfortunately we New Zealanders have no idea that we need clean air – and clean water.
Simon Bridges is a thorough devotee of Pollution. As a Minister he banned visual protest against the Oil Industry and laid severe legal punishments on any persons who tried to bring attention to the critical dangers of Oil.
Kiwis simply do not know that Oil, processed as Diesel and Petroleum is highly Carcinogenic. Your Truck and your Car is causing deadly cancer – night and day.
Simon Bridges does not tell you that. Labour does – and gets trolled for it endlessly by National and their ignorant caucus and Corporate idiots. As such, National is a prime purveyor of Pollution.
In the meantime, our Farmers whether Corporate or Family, are permitted to shunt millions of tons of Cow Shit and Lamb Shit into all our Rivers And streams. Simon Bridges pretends not to know this.
National 24 hrs a day, willingly Pollutes our water. You have to wonder why people don’t just rub the National noses into their own Shit.
National’s disgusting water policy….
https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/f/i/z/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1lfi0o.png/1504501119377.jpg
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12163270
It looks like Hagar and Stephenson are about to be shown up for the serial, brazen bullshitters that they really are.
It looks like Hagar [sic] and Stephenson are about to be shown up for the serial, brazen bullshitters that they really are.
Really? When has either Hager or Stephenson been proved wrong on any of their investigations into the activities of the New Zealand “Defence” Forces in Afghanistan?
And the NZ “Defence” Force is an organization that is credible is it? Then why has that coward Lt. Gen. Tim Keating refused to front up to Paula Penfold?
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-disturbing-story-behind-willie.html
Looks like they’re about to be proved wrong. 105 times.
As I suspected, you’re not serious.
Didn’t you read the link? I am serious. Hager even admits in the article that “some of them are probably true” in ref the 105 errors.
Hardly the work of a credible investigative journalist. What will you say when Palmer and Arnold dispel Hager’s theories? That they’re in on it too?
Palmer? Geoffrey Palmer?
If you believe a word that old lapdog says then you are even more of a fool than you appear so far.
Hager will be right. Every historical work contains errors, plus things that might be errors. In the latter case, there is not enough evidence to be certain either way.
All that matters is whether these errors are peripheral/incidental, or central enough to undermine the main thesis.
If you don’t know this you are a fool. If you do know it, but are pretending not to, you’re a propagandist.
I understand that the majority of the so-called “errors” quoted by the Defence Force revolve around the one relatively minor mistake that Hager and Stephenson admitted to a long time ago. I refer to the incorrect coordinates in the book re-the position of the village that was invaded. In other words, they inadvertently placed it on a small hill not far from the actual hill. It transpired the error was caused by a faulty translation.
If that’s all the DF can come up with, I don’t fancy their chances of success. Unless of course the hearing turns out to be an establishment whitewash, which is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.
Seeing one of the two people at the “hearing” is Geoffrey Palmer, that creature of Alvaro Uribe, an establishment whitewash is guaranteed.
https://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/2/as_turkey_freezes_israel_ties_critics
https://www.insightturkey.com/commentary/torpedoing-the-law-how-the-palmer-report-justified-israels-naval-blockade-of-gaza
My understanding is that NZDF have video evidence recorded from the helicopters of all three raids. They sounds very confident that it backs their version of events.
Also they seem very certain about the number of shots fired by NZDF personnel. There will be documentation on this as every round is tracked and every time a weapon is discharged it is recorded.
Whilst I wouldn’t expect people to just take the word of the NZDF I would hope that they wouldn’t undermine the findings of the enquiry before it is even conducted. That is a very Trump thing to do.
In the mid to late 1960s, I spent four and a bit years working for the old AKTV2 as an audio technician. I’m not saying it has happened in this instance (we will never know) but I know how simple it is to edit a video in such a way as to present a different picture of an event than actually occurred. They did it to me once at a party. The result was hilarious if rather embarrassing.
Given today’s advanced technical knowledge I doubt anyone would be able to detect if such a scenario existed, with the exception of those who were there. And that is where the bulk of Stephenson’s and Hager’s information came from – soldiers who were physically there and saw what happened.
I have also worked on a Defence Force base as a civilian, and whilst I had no quarrel with the rank and file who were generally a good bunch of people, I would not have always said the same about some of the D.F. brass.
Aha – they’ve doctored the video! This in spite of you not having seen it Anne. Of course they have!
And Palmer is a corrupt puppet of the Establishment! Of course he is!
And, and and…
I’m having trouble keeping up.
Liar. Never said a word against Palmer in my life. If you represent the “Establishment” then God help New Zealand.
Yeah.Sam C appeals to have an intelligence issue. He is a bit short of it.
Thick as a plank in my expert troll sniffing opinion.
Yes video can be edited. This is not video owned or controlled by the NZDF. It is US military video. It would also not be the only evidence I would rely on. As I said simple things like rounds expended is closely tracked. There will be actual documentation from the day that will record how many rounds were issued and how many were returned. The NZDF have literally thousands of pieces of evidence. I am not saying they will all be relevant but they will build a picture.
There is a reason why eye witness testimony is considered one of the weakest forms of evidence. It is distorted over time. Especially when the witnessing happened in a high stress situation such as combat. I am not dismissing the eye witness testimony as it is an important part of building the picture. It is not however the most defining or most robust form of evidence. All evidence needs to be weighed and considered.
This is what the enquiry should do. The way that Morrisey has been attacking the validity of the enquiry before it has even started is what concerns me. I am pretty sure that is what Sam C is referring to with his comment about accusations of Palmer being a corrupt puppet.
Modern litigation and distraction used successfully by tobacco and climate change deniers. You distract the entire argument around some semantic or little point rather than the overwhelming evidence against the guilty party.
Always found it a bit odd that people take Nicky Hager seriously.
????
You should read his books. At least one of them, anyway.
What credentials do you have to make such a criticism of Nicky Hager?
Well they raided his home so someone took him seriously and we paid for the cops balls up another one of many over the years
It wasn’t a “balls up”, it was systematic harassment and intimidation. They were perfectly aware it was illegal, but they went on with it anyway.
Morrisey
Chris cant read that’s why he wants to be in “politics” as they preach ‘fiction’
We take him seriously because the powerful are so desperate to smear him.
You don’t take him seriously because you want to keep your authoritarian fantasies intact.
As Morrissey says, read his books. Randomly check his sources – and he provides them all at the back of his books. If you have the chance to listen to him in person, watch how carefully he chooses his words, and how he refuses to exaggerate, even when the interviewer is persistent in prompting.
Then perhaps you will get some idea of why people take him seriously.
Yes, I can vouch for that.
I have been to a couple of functions where he was the guest speaker. He is strictly fair in his presentations. If a particular matter does not necessarily equate to any wrong doing on the part of whichever part of the establishment he is talking about (in this case the Defence Force) he will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the audience recognises as much.
He’s got a bit of money christy. Surely you take that seriously.
Odd statement
Why would how much money someone has make their views any more relevant?
You worship the wealthy don’t you christy?
I have no idea
Ask me when I have some
Not true Gabby. Nicky lives on the barest of income. His tastes are very simple in his home-built house.
True that is ianmac.
Nicky lives very ”frugal’.
Gabby’s referring to the payout from the police; come on guys, sharpen up 🙂
Her teasing of Chris T also (all Righties automatically respect people with money) is elegantly done also. I’m with Gabby.
Gabby is a breath of fresh air even though I have copped one or two of her witty barbs.
I take him more seriously that the establishment fear him so much that they have to make illegal cases agains him and steal his computers.
Searching questions after Hager apology
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104682529/searching-questions-after-hager-apology
You think a lot of odd things too, Chris T, so perhaps you are in a regular confused state.
Yes to that greywarshark. 100% Chris T is always confused like all his mates in National Party are.
Are the kids alive and well sammie?
8
/sarc
Free Speech continues to come under grave attack in Britain
https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-ihra-definition-of-anti-semitism.html
“The end of London’s ‘mega mansions’
Super-sized “mega homes” are to be banned in central London as Westminster City Council draws up new plans to ensure “real people” can buy properties.
The council, which oversees some of London’s most expensive postcodes including Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, said it will restrict new builds over 150 square meters (1,615 sq ft), in order to preserve homes for “real people” instead of oligarchs and members of the global elite.
Westminster council argued that 150 square meters is “generous”, as it is 50 per cent larger than the average family home in the area.”
https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/35651/?ref=nzhhome
Pity NZ did not implement something similar in the unitary plan. Yeah, nah, that’s right unitary plan was for the super rich to shaft the rest of Auckland with the woke lefties braying approval because they couldn’t join the dots and still thing ‘trickle down’ is a thing too.
Cinny asked a question yesterday, in regards to the abortion, women lying about being on the pill issue, along the lines of, go on prove it. So thank you Cinny. Your statement is far better than the victim blaming and minimise approach of others.
Others were equally dismissive of the argument, or that lying about being on the pill is a crime.
I suggest people read this. With both eyes please.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-put-holes-condoms-sex-girlfriend-loses-appeal-article-1.1714830
lol
Now you just need to demonstrate that getting pregnant is substantively the same as being made pregnant without consent.
“We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive him of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing him to an increased risk of her becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent,” the justices wrote.
There fixed it for you.
Ah. So if you rewrite the judges’ decision to suit your position, it says what you want it to say.
No. It says the same thing. The gender has changed. The judges comment has not changed.
You are implying a law only applies to men, women are exempt. Theres a word for people that think like that.
Women are free to abuse men. Which is current policy in pretty much every legal domain.
Not that you care McFlock but this subject is actually ultimately about children.
The more consential conception is the better the outcomes for children. Outcomes for planed, consential pregnancies are far better than outcomes for unwanted children.
No, I’m implying nothing.
I’m explicitly stating that there is a fundamental difference between making someone else get pregnant and making yourself get pregnant.
That difference might be enough to make your claims about “abuse” legally arguable. Please provide a link to a case where a woman has been convicted of sexual assault for getting pregnant.
You never will have such a case. Prosecutions for any female on male sex crime is vertualy non existent. Police laugh at males who make historic sex abuse cliams with female offenders. Police also arrest males who make this particular sex abuse cliam of non consential conception because domestic violence at relationship breakdown is common. So is male suicide. This was first highlighted in the midwife initiated teenage father study decades ago. The slaughter of our boys continues.
Women don’t even get prosecuted for having sex with drunk males when they want to get pregnant without the males consent.
As you are aware men get sent to prison for having sex with drunk females. Despite thousands of events the investigation rate is 0%.
I’m not interested in prosecuting women.
That’s a fear in your mind (don’t know why).
I asked about what is a human rights violation. The crown provides multiple opt out options for unwanted pregnancy for women. Men have no options even when technically sex abuse victims.
The IRD makes 15 year old boys pay child support. Was it legal to have sex with them?
Legalise the male pill!
FFS [pun intended]. Tie a knot in it or give it an ice-bath. You know, it’s mind over …. never mind.
So take it up with the Human rights Commissioner.
“Technically” show me where, in NZ law, that is the case. With links.
Please link to the male pill that you believe is illegal in NZ even though it has been thoroughly tested and is completely safe and almost 100% effective.
That having been said, yes, there is an issue in recognising and prosecuting sexual assault against males. I’m just not sure that your hypothetical case of women lying about being on the pill would count. It might, if one squinted a bit when interpreting the words “nature or quality”. But I’ve argued your corner for you more than you have.
That example is a four year old story from Canada, JS, but fair enough it is an example.
As I said before one can get pregnant on the pill, doesn’t make them a liar.
Does anyone warn the teens that drunk sex is awkward and not satisfying. Breathe in the boozy breath mhmmm I want that beer coated tongue in my mouth, why isn’t your cock working, whoops, sorry I just passed out for a bit, ewwww don’t spew up there, ffs that’s my wardrobe not a urinal.
Re the male pill, honestly am not sure I could trust a man to take it regularly.
Being pregnant and giving birth is no picnic, neither is an abortion or a miscarriage, leaving those decisions up to a man’s reliability on taking a pill…. yeah nah.
But in saying that, why do men so easily trust a women when she say’s she’s on the pill? Maybe because either way there is no possibility the man will get pregnant, so no worries mate, it’s all on her.
A word of advice, djward, you come across as a woman hater, might not be your intention, but the subjects you raise, sheez.
Either that or you are flat out trolling. Maybe it’s both.
I do read kb, have never commented there, the language, abuse, name calling, bullying is freaking vile as. As well the moderation is pathetic. But I noticed you are a regular visitor. JS.
Should migrants who might have worked overseas for significant periods of time qualify for NZ super when they also have overseas super or private pensions that they are entitled too?
Likewise people born overseas who somehow live the high life but appear to have no income generated here to justify that lifestyle but also qualify for super having not worked in NZ much, or paid taxes here only a fraction of their life.
It does not seem fair that Kiwis who live and work in NZ most of their lives get less than those who live in other countries and thus can get 2 pensions or just never lived here at all most of their lives and somehow get a pension and free health care and rest home care that NZ taxpayers pay for .
I don’t think the pension should be means tested but if you were born overseas and have contributed little in your working life into NZ you should not qualify for a NZ pension at all nor free health care nor free rest home care.
Private insurance should be paying for those who are born overseas or who spend most of their working life out of NZ apart from refugees. so that it is fairer to people who choose to live here on often lower wages who then somehow are expected to pay for the world’s wealthy retirees who apparently come just come here and get residency after 11 days or through marrying someone after a few weeks after meeting them online.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/indepth/commercial/britannia-financial-services-pension-transfer-UK/
Maybe part of the residency application should include the handling over of their pension to nz super
Yes bwaghorn that is a start. And I’m not against people who can support themselves and have the morality to retire here. But there needs to be more protection to Kiwis who live and work here not to support the world’s (often wealthy) retirees and a plan if they renege on paying for their own care and how they need to guarantee their care up front before being allowed to come here in case something goes wrong once they come here and NZ taxpayers end up having to support them.
Look at then estimated costs of retirement or aged care…
Rest home care costs at least $1000 p/w
Plus surgical care, hip replacements, heart surgery, eye surgery, lets say $10k per year which I think is around the cost of private cover for elderly people.
Prescriptions $40 p/w
Free travel with Gold card $40 p/w
Winter payment $450 – $750
Pension $24k per annum single or $15,600 if you are in a rest home.
It seem very strange looking at the costs just to keep one retired person here in NZ that we are allowing so many migrants to come here to retire who can then “lose’ their money somehow or even keep it, and NZ ends up paying significant amounts for their care and even a pension somehow.
Then there are the recent migrant prison criminals at $100,000 per annum aka Czech Smuggler.
We are paying for this by government borrowing and assets sell offs or decreased services or low wages for teachers or doctors else where.
NZ has to get it’s shit in order, because our government policy is making a mockery of the future of NZ in the next decade when there will be so many liabilities that our government should have prevented NOW by policy that is fair and makes sense.
Good news on how we are trying to deal with plastics (soft type).
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018672146/local-processing-of-soft-plastic-starts
business environment
Local processing of soft plastic starts
From Nine To Noon, 9:38 am today
9.05 mins
The soft plastic recycling scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, has been operating since 2015 and now covers about 70 percent of the country.
Photo: Facebook / Love NZ Soft Plastics Recycling
For the first time, soft plastic collected for recycling is being processed in New Zealand, and turned into fence posts and ducting for cables.
Earlier this year, soft plastic such as bread bags, chip packets and confectionery wrappers was being stockpiled here, as the Australian plant which had been contracted to recycle it, refused to take any more.
Lyn Mayes from the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, says there are now local processors. She says the packaging industry is trying to find alternatives to plastic.
That is good news. With viable products this type of industry might reach a point where it’s feasible to start ‘tapping’ the Pacific gyre.
I’m dubious of any plastics left out in the sun however, like fence posts.
What we need now is someone imaginative to come up with things they can make.
Engineers – to your stations!
Hey wood deteriorates too. Certainly as a short term measure to deal with a present problem plastic fence posts would be appropriate especially for town use where they would give a nice clean grey or white appearance for a good many years.
Wood biodegrades. Plastic breaks down to enter the food chain. It would be a shame to remove plastics from the ocean only to redistribute them over land.
Just a wee touch of imagination, they’ll do just fine. Or is it all simply more green washing where Australia forced our hand to participate?
Ducting is typically used beneath floors and above ceilings. These are places out of sunlight in which plastics might last indefinitely. A suitable product. There are many underground applications for which such materials might be suited. It is lightweight, waterproof, insulative and persistent.
Plastic –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvh5NJpVhpY
Jeremy Irons voices a mockumentary on the journey of a plastic bag to its home in the sea.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw
I can’t wait until we turn our back on plastic and go back to the old ways of doing stuff. Recycling plastic is like asking for ice cubes for your martini on the titanic imo.
Yep, what was wrong with paper bags! I now don’t use any bag at all – I carry items out of the supermarket in my arms in protest.
I hang my bags off my ears. Use what you’ve got I say.
Been thinking about paper v plastic bags, so I asked google.
http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/paper-plastic1.htm
Those two pieces are pretty light on my biggest objection to plastic bags (and plastics in general) – the littering and harm to wildlife aspects. It really hit home for me watching a sea turtle munching a jellyfish, then start in on a plastic grocery bag floating past. And seeing exposed coral covered so thick in bags and other plastic caught on it that you could barely see it was coral underneath.
But yeah, the extra resource usage to make paper packaging complicates the issue quite a bit. In the end though, the paper vs plastic argument obscures the bigger problem – why so fkn much packaging to begin with?
Totally agree
As for the use of paper bags – like my two (reused many times) plastic bags I carry in my hessian carry bag, I have several paper bags for reuse as well.
My butcher understands my objection to plastic trays and bags, and is happy for me to reuse the tinfoil containers with lids which I bring to carry my purchases home.
Yep Martymars, 100%
I was astonished yesterday when someone turned up with a plastic bubble of six muffins from Pac’n’save what a overuse of plastic that was.
Why cant they place them in a paper bag?????
Pac ‘n’ save need to get real here too!!!!!!
We also have all our liquids in plastic now and even most medicines too!!!
Haven’t the medical or the helpless NZ Health Department heard of the dangers of keeping food stuffs inside plastics???? BPA hazards; -look that up
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bpa-declared-toxic-by-canada-1.873250
In August, Statistics Canada reported that measurable levels of BPA were found in the urine of 91 per cent of Canadians aged six to 79.
“Health Canada considers that sufficient evidence relating to human health has been presented to justify the conclusion that bisphenol A is harmful to human life and should be added to Schedule 1 of [the Canadian Environmental Protection Act],” the federal government reported in the Canada Gazette.
I trust Canadian authorities more than corporate US companies.
Thats what bugs me, plastic bags are useful, very useful. I won’t go into all the uses a plastic bag has because there are many and I’m sure others have their own uses for them.
So Countdown does the virtue signalling thing and stops using plastic bags (which is a pain in the butt) but yet still has has so much plastic packaging that can’t really be used for anything, especially around fruit and vegetables. I mean why not look at using biodegradable bags instead
My kiwifruit and bananas tomatoes and potatoes have their own baggage, so guess how they get to my home.
Pucky;
Well the science was already done on “bio-degradable bags” and say that the remains of the bags when they shed into little pieces then get digested by other forms of life in our food chain and poison our food through the transfer of the BPA components in the plastic remains, so we get poisoned this way sadly so they say don’t rely on bio-degradable plastic bags.
A plastic bag doesn’t have many uses – it holds stuff – a wide variety of stuff and that is it. Other uses are just contrived.
Don’t buy their packaged food wherever possible.
Use farmers markets and fruit and vegetable shops.
Take your own bags.
ATEED who is a COO funded by RATEPAYERS is a scrooge.
Auckland Santa Parade funding drops in favour of Pride Parade, Diwali
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/11/auckland-santa-parade-funding-drops-in-favour-of-pride-parade-diwali.html
Huh gay pride don’t have as many kids as everyday people do so they don’t really have a personal drive of making a future for their children, and getting them socialised and mixing and enjoying with the community. For the gays It’s more like being a flock of male peacocks admiring each other, and the same with females who also want to enjoy the colour and drama of the male feathers. But it isn’t aimed at children.
And Diwali can have their own day, and Chinese can have their New Year Dragon and fireworks. That just shows how multi-ethnic and open we are, and it is all beautiful and colourful. And Maori have Matariki; we have to be able to celebrate things we hold as important. But the stylish young things who are up with the play and so sophisticated are looking at creating events for visitors and overseas tourists and not focussed on the citizens – we’re still out there you know.
We love our Santa Parades and the people who don’t like Christmas being celebrated and commercialised are nit pickers and full of cold pious budgetary efficiency. And those who object to Christmas having Christian background can just enjoy the enjoyment of others, the colour, the costumes, the decorations, the bands, the fun which is Christmas for most children and the major group of adults.
A good suggestion from Tim Hazledine – use Kiwibank to rein in the extreme profits extracted by the four main commercial banks:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018671704/tim-hazledine-time-to-give-kiwibank-teeth
Mike Joy has a simple solution to a complex problem aided by Norightturn.
Could it be that simple??? Reckon yes!
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/11/we-need-fewer-cows.html
“It strikes me with great clarity that if you look at the problems in isolation they each seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.”
https://www.bwb.co.nz/books/mountains-sea
Solving New Zealand’s Freshwater Crisis
Mike Joy (ed)
As NRT notes, a less intensive mode of farming still appears to be profitable. Of my farming acquaintances, most that have tried intensive and not-so-intensive seem to have settled on the not-so-intensive model. It seems more resilient, and the up-and-down swings in the returns aren’t as dramatic. To be sure, a good year doesn’t peak quite as high, but then a bad year doesn’t bite nearly as hard, and over the long term the average return seems a bit better. With a lot less stress, although probably not any less work.
Not only is there less effluent being discharged and polluting waterways and damaging soils but a return to a more natural grazing cycle can have substantial benefits wrt carbon sequestration as well as increased animal health.
Thank you.
Bill, you rubbished me when I stated soil carbon could make a significant difference, and then LPrent joined in for a good ol’ group kicking in which you both laughed at me and called me all kinds of stupid and ill informed.
I got so pissed off I banned myself for months.
Apologise.
I’m a supporter of the idea that the soil is the best repository for carbon that’s presently drifting about the atmosphere. There are clever combinations of plants and methods that can do this very quickly, with the farmers doing the biz – they can become, I reckon, the New Heroes who Save the Planet, but whether they do or not, is yet to be seen. Progress to date has been glacial, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It could. In my view.
A more expansive explanation of the research and science behind the above abstract is given here:
http://www.planet-tech.com/upsidedrawdown
eg.
Farmers don’t put fertilisers on with the intent of loosing money. What a stupid thing to say. This guy is clearly still running with concepts of what’s happening from 20 years ago. Time for Mike Joy to at least learn what he is talking about.
DJ Ward – your commenting manner is … unsophisticated, in a not-very-admirable way – just sayin’
Mike Joy, otoh, expresses himself with clarity and honesty. He’s very well researched and dedicated to his topic. Let’s have a look at what he says:
“The problems faced by New Zealand’s environment, particularly freshwaters and soils are wicked, complex and intertwined. After struggling with these issues for a half a lifetime, it strikes me with great clarity that if you look at each in isolation they seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution that addresses them all, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Take, for example, a subset of the many environmental issues facing New Zealand, such as bacterial and pathogen contamination of water and soil, excess nutrients in waters, excess sediment in waterways, freshwater habitat loss, groundwater contaminated with pesticides and nutrients, and the huge loss of the mauri of waterways. Any of these issues appear impossibly hard and/or expensive if evaluated in isolation for costs, or for the difficulty or value of resolution.
But if there was one action available that substantially addressed all of the issues listed above, then the decision would be simple – take that action. When multiple gains can be made for the cost of a single action, and the combined gains far outweigh the single cost of that one action, the next move is obvious. When it comes to the freshwater crisis, a single solution does exist – simply, reducing farming intensity: less cows.”
Yes I made a mistake in my comment. I responded to the repost comment. Not Mike Joys comment.
” It also looks to be profitable for farmers, because they don’t have to waste money on fertiliser to support overstocking.”
Which is clearly irrational.
I however don’t agree with Mike Joys comment for a number of reasons. As pointed out.
A few years back I had a plumbing issue and the contractors cleaned up after themselves with a bulldozer blade. They left me with podzol looking soil, white chalk and clay. Two years later that strip is topsoil again, through the use of cover crops and mulch.
The large April storm revealed heart rot fungi in a big tree here which then had to come down. The mulch and cuttings of this tree have become surrounds for many more trees and garden beds, and mulch to support them.
The privet the council has failed to kill for decades is my bitch. I kill this stuff by chainsaw then hand. This becomes fuel wood, landscaping materials, poles, mulch, compost and hugelkultur. All manner of trees get planted on the privets graves.
The problems are the solutions. And often they’re f’n simple. But turning round agriculture isn’t simple. The farmers here are still convinced the world will go into starvation mode if they wean themselves off urea. Meanwhile the waterways are full of excess. But they all go on and on about their sparing use of these products, how they’ve ‘changed’.
Regenerative agriculture is absolutely the way to go. Mind your step for the vegans though.
And so, WTB, have you read Daniel Quinn’s “Ishmael”?
🙂
Not read that book either. I’m gonna start asking if you’ve read the hardcore textbooks i have soon to restore my ‘well read’ ego. Just read a brief synopsis it looks good. I’ve thought the notion of human supremacy a bit far fetched in light of our overall actions; though we do have potential…
Just trawling permie stuff and came across a very good clip on swales. Due to the paucity of clear and concise information I’ll share it here for you, your clients, farmers, the planet…
A simple explanation of the net.
https://www.facebook.com/bbctwo/videos/2037397152946067
That’s the sort of material that got me to university. Been obsessed with fungi for 40 years. Just get me started, I dare ya! 😉
Me too. Must be connected by some mysterious subterranean filamentous net…
And don’t ya just hate fungicides !!!
If ever there was a product that screams “stupid humans”, it’s fungicides!
Trichoderma is my fungicide 😀
Those turncoats!
Don’t get down about the farmers changing WtB. We don’t believe in a flat earth any more do we? So they will catch on one day. Trouble is nobody gets old and dies now. Ninety is the new 75, so it takes longer for the churn of young people who can change to get to the top. I don’t think we have time to plod along and wait for the old to pass. And so many of all ages are wedded to the idea that having ideas is a mental disease – look at all the plonkers and noxious weeds we get here. A little bit of bare screen and up pops another stinking bindweed.
Yeah. It’s that frustration that change is too slow rearing it’s head again. Must soldier on. Lumping farmers all together is a bit rough as well. Sorry Folks.
Dairy farmers are largely responsible for cheese. So really, they’re almost Gods.
The fact it is possible to still make significant change and mitigation to, well, mitigate… it drives me a bit nuts.
And the onus is not simply on agriculture. We all need to be on board together.
Section owners can sequester carbon, save money, get exercise, reduce health bills, reduce food bills, reduce food miles, reduce landscaping costs and petroleum use, provide bbq fuel, meet neighbors, get fresh air, smell the roses…
Just by gardening with permaculture principles. They can do a course, buy books, phone a friend or youtube how to get there. The benefits listed are significant. These also include mitigating climate related stress.
It would help tremendously. We could restore concept’s like wartime’s Victory Gardens. War on Climate Change Victory Gardens, for all!
The more sustainable systems within the environment, the more resilience we will have, the more chance we all get.
Preaching to the converted a bit – always with the awareness other readers read our conversations.
We need a dedicate,d well “baited” post that’s put up first thing in the day on a day when there are lots of readers. Then we’d get some great discussions and perhaps turn the blog in a positive, practical, shared-experience direction. There are a number of posters here with lively, useful, creative and inspirational ideas on this topic. Can we do that? Yes, we can!
I’ve thought about this, but don’t want to be seen to be trying to dominate the board or indulging in repetitive bashing over heads which turns folks away. A few of us working on solutions and positive news of people implementing ideas could work however, as variety of thoughts and styles really helps communicate ideas anyway. I’m more than willing to pitch in.
Yep. I’m in.
It’s a highly politicised topic, I don’t think The Standard would mind us steering more conversation to this area. I’m sure they’ll chime in if they do mind.
Let’s try one and see how it goes. Perhaps tomorrow, on Open Mike we could put the idea up, gather supporters, attract the attention of a mod and set the day. Whaddayareckon?
Or, maybe an author could simply post this quote from Mike Joy 🙂
“The problems faced by New Zealand’s environment, particularly freshwaters and soils are wicked, complex and intertwined. After struggling with these issues for a half a lifetime, it strikes me with great clarity that if you look at each in isolation they seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution that addresses them all, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Take, for example, a subset of the many environmental issues facing New Zealand, such as bacterial and pathogen contamination of water and soil, excess nutrients in waters, excess sediment in waterways, freshwater habitat loss, groundwater contaminated with pesticides and nutrients, and the huge loss of the mauri of waterways. Any of these issues appear impossibly hard and/or expensive if evaluated in isolation for costs, or for the difficulty or value of resolution.
But if there was one action available that substantially addressed all of the issues listed above, then the decision would be simple – take that action. When multiple gains can be made for the cost of a single action, and the combined gains far outweigh the single cost of that one action, the next move is obvious. When it comes to the freshwater crisis, a single solution does exist – simply, reducing farming intensity: less cows.”
Yes. Gathering helpers/support is a great first step. Possibly form a core group on the topic and see if the Standard might let us write regular articles. We might concentrate on mitigation and solutions rather than climate change itself – the very nature of our posts would spell that out anyway. It might set a better tone than ‘more climate browbeating’ as the audience is relatively receptive.
I guess put the idea, or the idea to develop the idea, out there; and see who is interested and what ideas spring forth in the discussion.
On climate browbeating, the debate is over on climate changes existence. Deniers are trolls, professional or Trumped up.
Should we be engaging them anymore? I guess those in positions of power need to be challenged; but the mindless troll wants us to engage them, not ideas for solutions.
I met Mike Joy was a meet and greet for him when Generation Zero brought him to UoA. Went to the lecture and thoroughly enjoyed it. Learned a bit about stream make-up I didn’t know, the existence (loss) of significant interstitial spaces (from siltation) between the rocks. That stuff bothered me.
The interstitial spaces were how, back in the day when living in the bush, a small creek I camped beside had an astounding abundance of life. That which I could see was merely the surface. And those layers of rocks beneath the surface, coated in biofilm, were a large part of the systems food chain where nutrient loads were captured and converted up the food chain, rather than overwhelming and filling the gaps with crud.
I reckon, don’t mention “climate change” at all – take it as a given and bypass the naysayers. The techno-solution folk as well, could do as we are proposing and raise a post to keep our “earthy” topic clear of junk 🙂 There have, of course, been plenty of very good posts by a range of authors here before, all hail those people, but we, I think, are yearning for something a bit more organic, less confrontational, more collective and …fun? I am, anyway.
Yes. For me the important part is to be more solutions oriented. And I do appreciate the efforts of all, whether I like the approach or not. I feed into confrontational stuff too easily, but it’s not good for my, or anyone’s, mental health.
Fun! Don’t you know we ARE ALL DOOMED!
Working on a comedy project last night with a mate. We were in tears.
“Pandas are wife beaters. That’s why they’re not breeding. Give them a bamboo buffet, running water, ambient music, candles, and years to figure it out. Whadda ya get?
Two black eyes, no babies.”
I want to achieve something here not just say why dont they…..?
I wrote to shane jones and stuart nash – got confirmation email but feel they will never get back to me. Tried to discuss small is beautiful but everyone else was too busy,
but if we had a regular thread that contained an archive and we could put up useful stuff to build a data base – not quite sure how to do it however.
Something along the lines of Dark Mountain (only not dark 🙂
There have to be poems.
‘but if we had a regular thread that contained an archive and we could put up useful stuff to build a data base”
I’m not sure how to do it either, but I’m sure some folks here do.
Absolutely we need more poetry.
You can be the first to view this wee gem. I’m biased…
This is Westmere.
The ladies are out walking their goat
With a hint of patchouli and strong smell of dope
There’s a man in a dress eating salmon on toast
This is Westmere
A once was an actor with pot belly gut
Working on ads for community stuff
But never a nod cos he’s too cool for us
This is Westmere
The kids from the state houses scream with delight
As chickens tear past them in panic and fright
The rich kids look on through windows sealed tight
This is Westmere
Trophy wives training in makeup and perms
Jogging cos fatties get kicked to the kerb
It’s all about looks and they do look superb
This is Westmere
A crazy hotch potch of classes and race
A magical marvelous mystery place
But gentrification moves at some pace
This was Westmere.
Is “Westmere” your own work,WTB?
If so, congratulations; it’s very good indeed.
Great idea, Robert, WTB. Open Mike and Daily Review throw up some terrific discussions but dedicated posts definitely work better for engagement. There’s always the guest post option and we are always looking for new authors.
There are serious time/work/life demands that impact on the regular authors’ ability to post, so TS does often rely on OM to cover issues that really deserve a post of their own. Anything you guys can come up with that enhances the way the site operates would be most welcome.
Hi te reo putake
Thanks for responding to our discussion (of last night).
I get the demand-on-authors thing and wonder if the idea that follows might alleviate that pressure. It seems (to me) that we don’t need an authored intro or topic for what we propose; we’re just looking for one step up from Open Mike, which invites comment on everything under the sun, to a thread where “the way forward” can be discussed, within parameters such as doable suggestions, successful examples, contributions from readers who support the concept (of the thread), new “takes” on the future etc. There’s no need to set a topic or change the look of the thread; we’ll know where we can go to talk in this way about these things. I have a suggestion: put up, at your or other authors discretion, a “standard” post, titled “How to get there” – it’s also the title of a wonderful Michael Leunig poem/cartoon, and illustrate the post with that very image to make it immediately recognisable and set the tone for discussions that might/will follow. Here’s the link to Leunig’s poem. I’m certain he won’t mind us using it; I’ve met him and he’s delightful 🙂
Hi te reo putake
Thanks for responding to our discussion (of last night).
I get the demand-on-authors thing and wonder if the idea that follows might alleviate that pressure. It seems (to me) that we don’t need an authored intro or topic for what we propose; we’re just looking for one step up from Open Mike, which invites comment on everything under the sun, to a thread where “the way forward” can be discussed, within parameters such as doable suggestions, successful examples, contributions from readers who support the concept (of the thread), new “takes” on the future etc. There’s no need to set a topic or change the look of the thread; we’ll know where we can go to talk in this way about these things. I have a suggestion: put up, at your or other authors discretion, a “standard” post, titled “How to get there” – it’s also the title of a wonderful Michael Leunig poem/cartoon, and illustrate the post with that very image to make it immediately recognisable and set the tone for discussions that might/will follow. Here’s the link to Leunig’s poem. I’m certain he won’t mind us using it; I’ve met him and he’s delightful 🙂
http://develop.curlyflat.net.au/images/galleries/cartoons/how-to-get-there.jpg
HOW TO GET THERE
Go to the end of the path until you get to the gate.
Go through the gate and head straight out towards the horizon.
Keep going towards the horizon.
Sit down and have a rest every now and again,
But keep on going, just keep on with it.
Keep on going as far as you can.
That’s how you get there.
As far as moderation is concerned, I suspect those taking part will manage their own, given the tenor of the thread and its intention; could be wrong, of course, but a trial will soon test that.
Whaddayareckon?
I’ll post this on today’s (Thursday’s) Open Mike, in case this thread has been lost into the mists of time or you are off-duty 🙂
All criticisms, suggestions welcomed, naturally.
Robert
Utter morons declare their admiration for Seal Team 6
The disturbing enforcement of praise for those murderers starts at about the 2:00 mark…