The past, James?
Key’s still an MP, isn’t he?
Or has he been spirited away, along with any memory of his parcle-tongued reign?
I suppose what you’re hoping, James, is that we’ll give English a clean “bill” of health and forget that he’s been polluted by Key’s behaviour for 6 years, trained by the same people Key was and complicit in the disgraceful things Key did, and that he’ll still have Key whispering in his ear now. But no, James, we’re not so easily bamboozled, especially by someone as shallow and obvious as you.
That’s a bit rich James – that’s all that National has done since it came into Government – it was all Labour’s fault until it was just ad nauseum listening to it. You are pathetic.
I asked, Pete, whether you’d commented on Key’s “performance” during his interview while overseas; you know, the one where he denied the parlous state of New Zealand’s environment and the views of Mike Joy. It was, by many accounts, a cringe-worthy interview and certainly the interviewer expressed his disbelief at the then Prime Minister’s slippery tongue. I wondered if you’d written a post on that, hoping to read your thoughts on that issue, given that you have commented on the present Prime Minister’s foreign visit here on a blog that has readers who like to think more deeply about such things. So, Pete, did you?
Key made many trips overseas and had quite a few interviews. I’ve criticised him for puerile behaviour. But you are diverting into history (with a lot of vagueness). Sharpen up.
The subject here was how English presented himself on his trip over the last week or so. Reports have generally been favourable. Do you disagree with them?
The polls show that.
National back up Labour down.
English just has to not fuck up.
Not likely.
Labour Greens need to get non voters out and unseat Dunne.
To stand any chance.
Poor Labour held prisoner by it’s own neo liberal economic ideology, unable to mount any kind of meaningful attacks or counter punches to National, who only have to hold their boat steady to probably win, yes even with English at the helm.
Watching Labour slowly drown in a pool of it’s own discredited ideology is really depressing stuff.
Adrian, if you’re so saddened by what you see as Labour’s depressing fate, how about you:
1) Get involved in the party and promote your vision of its problems and possible solutions – help rescue it from what you see as its slow demise, and/or
2) Stop stirring against the party that you claim some association with/ loyalty to (enough to be depressed on its behalf).
Sadly, I strongly suspect you won’t do either of these. (With friends like you, who needs enemies?)
BTW, you (and others) tend to throw the term “neoliberal” around pretty loosely. Labour isn’t big on transfer of assets from the public to private sector, and that’s a cornerstone of neoliberalism. Just saying…
Red blooded, fair comments, I will answer both as best I can.
I had been involved in the party ( long ago) but was left very disillusioned and gutted by the core ideology that was being pushed at the time.
1. I thought about becoming involved more directly again last election when Anna Lorck set up her office next door to my shop. However after becoming aware of her completely out of touch policies around seasonal labour (amongst other things) there was no way I could get behind her. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503459&objectid=11720136
…and sure as hell not Nash in Napier.
So that door was closed.
although that being said, I am still very active politically, just not through normal party structures.
2. ‘Stirring’ although I would use the word critiquing, the party is I feel my, and every labour supporters obligation and responsibility to critique the direction of the party should they feel it is being led astray.
I am a very loyal friend, so I have been told.
Labour since Douglas is responsible for major asset sales in New Zealand, and until it fully rejects that laissez faire centrist ideology, then that is what Labour will perceived to be, and to some extent stand for.
Labour have never apologized for selling our assets.
The reason I am so hard on Labour, is that they are so far removed from real working families now, that they, without the slightest hint of embarrassment suggested $5-600,000 homes in AKL as being ‘affordable’.
But I also believe that in the core of the Labour Party, is the structure that represents our only real hope of breaking the chains of neo liberalism, and working together as a country back toward a more equal, fair and caring society for all…but that will only happen, in my view, under a left Socialist Democratic Labour.
But unfortunately that is nothing like our Labour Party today.
From their own website,
Fixing the Housing Crisis…
‘They are too focused on looking after those at the top rather than families in the middle.’
Not ‘looking after’ working families..no just the middle class,
yes that’s Labour in their own words on their own site!
Adrian, the current Labour party is not the same Labour government of the 1980’s. And aren’t you being rather skewered with cherry picking Labour’s website by misquoting there?
We are all neo-liberal in that we live in a neo-liberal system and do neo-liberal things. Certainly some more than others, like choosing the cheapest power or phone company for instance. I think we need to look at the neo-liberal aspects of our lives and try and change them. Then there could be real change.
Leftie, Well I wouldn’t say I prefer National to remain in power, however I am in the same camp as Slavoj Zizek, I believe neo liberalism, and especially center left neo liberalism to be a political disease, and radical action needs to be taken to avert disaster… I will leave Zizek to explain better than I…..
I know this is a quite unpopular position, and I am fully prepared to debate my own stance on it and could be persuaded otherwise, if arguments to the contrary offered another way to turn Labour back to a Socialist Democratic Left platform…still, as I have also said, Labour was radically changed ideologically by an internal revolution in 1984, and I believe that consequently an internal revolution within the party will be needed to remove the ‘new labour neoliberal’ ideology from the party.
BTW as to your comment that I…”skewered with cherry picking Labour’s website by misquoting”
I have done nothing of the sort, my quote was taken directly from the official Labour site. This was their wording, and as I am sure you well know, wording, and word placement in politics is very very important, so don’t come at me with that rubbish.
Adrian, pretty sure that’s what you said on TDB when you were asked if you wanted National to stay in power. And as for “They are too focused on looking after those at the top rather than families in the middle.” Sounds like Labour were talking about National. Best you put up a citation, so your quote can be read in context.
BTW, has National ever apologized for selling off our assets, past and present? Will John Key apologize for what he has done?
As Andrew Little said “I don’t see how I can be personally held responsible for the actions of predecessors.”
“Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: thank you.
We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.
Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come.
We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.
Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent.
Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.
For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.
Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.
Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed.
The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.
Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.”
Read the rest of President Trump’s great, great speech here:
He basically criticised every politician sharing the stage with him for their betrayal of America’s working class.
‘Today’s ceremony however, has very special meaning, because today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, DC. And giving it back to you, the people.
For too long, have reaped the rewards of government while people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered period, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It be longs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country.’
‘Today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.’
You have every right to be skeptical, Paul. If Andrew Little gave the same speech I’d be critical too. But if just for a moment you can imagine Donald Trump, President of the USA, delivering on his promises, wouldn’t that make America great again?
I vote fot that. Would actually be a considerable improvement IMHO
And yes thats my genuine opinion. The moderation here sucks! . Often used to win the argument rather than foster dialogue
Um, because authors put a lot of energy, thought, and effort in writing threads and somebody may come only with perfectly legitimate on-topic criticism that doesn’t fall within the moderation rules but still get moderated because in the author’s eyes his or her work is being unfairly attacked.
Or if you want the short version some authors can get rather touchy about people saying bad things about what they’ve written. Especially if they’ve put a lot of work into it.
Can you please provide three examples that demonstrate what you are suggesting? That’s links to specific moderation, plus an explanation from you of which bit you think is the moderator objecting to someone saying bad things about what they’ve written. Thanks.
Moderation on TS isn’t to foster dialogue (that’s up to the authors and commenters). It’s to prevent the worst of the trolling and derailments from wrecking the place and putting people off esp authors (and to protect the site from legal issues).
And speaking of Colonel Viper where is my BFF? I thought his latest ban would be over by now. Surely he’d be in here or over on the other thread celebrating President Trump’s inauguration.
HDCAFriendlyTroll
History will be the judge on that.
Even best intentions will not be able to restore the jobs in any country as robotics will have the greatest impact since the industrial revolution.
He will be faced with a choice between finding a peaceful way of transition that includes education, income and poverty, health and elder care, institutionalized racism, civil rights, personal responsibility … shall I go on? Or using force, at home or abroad. As the nature of work and income is about to change in very profound ways neither Trump nor any other leader will escape the fact that new ways of society structures need to be found.
With the speech Trump gave and the absolute alignment with the military (its called having a buck each way), my prediction at this stage is not as rosy as yours. History has shown that it is the lazy mans walk and what more – talk – that always has mapped the future (may I stretch at this junction “man as “men”) and aggression, stand over tactics, oppression are hailed as virtues. And to make it really scary, using “above all god” in the parting sentence is concerning. There are parallels to a speech some 80 odd years ago.
So again, the jury is out and history will tell.
The bad news.
1. The beating of war drums with China.
2. His focus on a law and order society.
Chris Hedges describes the speech as exhibiting the feeling of a crisis cult. It highlighted the worst aspects of American exceptionalism and imperialism.
He says the promises won’t be delivered and then the state will be used against the vulnerable.
Yeah…….it is what he said. He also sought to paint patriotism and prejudice mutually exclusive. Is that the predominant lesson of history ? Don’t think so.
It seems that Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her.
[your comments should come through now.] – Bill
I notice your canard re what he said being “left wing” is no longer up Paul. How come ? You deferring to Archie CV Bunker are you ?…….editing, leaving it to ACVB to deliver the “tremendous” left wing news are you ?
No I was editing my words.
Trump is making a faux appeal to working class interests and it will work because there is no real left wing option in the US.
Therersa May – warning corporations about shirking their tax-paying responsibilities (another rightee stealing lines from the left, while promoting so-called “free trade” and “globalisation”. In this NY Times article, it talks about NZ as being one of the countries the UK is aiming to make free trade deals.
Her defense of free trade was slightly jarring coming after Britain’s decision to quit the largest free-trade grouping on earth, the European Union, judging that control over immigration and complete sovereignty mattered more.
She also spoke at a time when free-trade deals are increasingly unpopular, particularly among the people she was accusing the crowd in Davos of ignoring, and with President-elect Donald J. Trump talking of protectionism and criticizing free-trade pacts.
But with big multinational banks and companies already announcing that they will reduce their staffing in London because of the vote to leave the European Union, known as Brexit, Mrs. May was eager to reassure them that Britain would emerge bigger and better from the divorce.
…
Britain wants to negotiate trade deals with “old friends” and “new allies,” she said, adding that tentative discussions have begun with Australia, India and New Zealand, and that China, Brazil and the Persian Gulf states have expressed interest in striking trade deals.
Britain is especially keen to do a deal with Washington, and Mr. Trump has said he is eager to start. But until Britain formally leaves the European Union, deemed unlikely before March 2019, it can only discuss such deals, not sign them.
Hmmm… isn’t Trump talking out against any trade deals that don’t strongly benefit the US? A trade deal between the US and UK that strongly benefits both, and previously overlooked middle and low income people? I’ll be interested to see how that goes down.
“Strongly benefit” are your words. What Trump has said is that America will no longer act where there is no benefit and that they recognise the right of other nations to act in that nation’s best interest.
It seems that Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her
Was expecting to see a bit of a drop (just a small one) in the last poll (Roy Morgan – but yeah) for national post keys departure.
But very happy to see a small rise for English and national and a drop to labour. A good way to start an election year. Will be interesting to track the rest of the polls coming up.
It was also a negligible change for Labour, down 1.5, but now people are insisting that Labour+Greens matter a combined drop of 3.5% must be a bit worrying for those who thought the MoU was a game changer, and those who thought Key’s self demotion was a game changer.
Labour’s start to the year has been very disappointing. Picking a fight with Peters and pledging a bill to circumvent workplace safety that one had previously lobbied for is an odd stance.
Little’s delay in announcing he wouldn’t stand in Rongotai was also odd, he should have dealt with that immediately King announced she was standing down, he knew it was coming. Instead of putting it to bed last year he has put his indecision on show at a time he needed to be making a strong start to the year.
Relying on Mt Albert to kick off their campaign proper is very risky. Labour (and Greens) cannot make it look like a cosy campaign jack up, unless they are seen to compete seriously it could easily backfire.
Ardern standing looks a bit like rearranging the deck chairs. It would have been better to have new talent on show, someone like Deborah Russell would have looked much better.
Little conceded that polls were bad – “I have to lead a party that starts from 2014 at a 25 per cent vote, polling at the moment at late 20s, 30 per cent sort of mark. So we have a lot of work to do, and I don’t underestimate that.”
That hard work should have been evident from January 1 in election year. Labour need to be careful they don’t sleep walk to an election nightmare.
They didnt think!
“Conventional wisdom” is that MMP parties have to declare who they are with before the election. Its crap but has become a “fact” . Its because they believe the public are too dumb to understand MMP. Winston has never bought into this doctrine and he gets along ok.
Before that he was rejected by the voters of Tauranga.
He hasn’t been in any governing arrangement since 2005-2008, so his success rate hasn’t been great, despite media talking him up as ‘king maker’ at every opportunity – I saw this again somewhere today.
John key running away after National’s whopping defeat in the Mt. Roskill by election, and with a general election just around the corner, sent out signals that he thinks National isn’t going to win. John key did say if National lost he would quit politics.
Good post. Labour ought to win the election given how popular they are. Opinion polls show we are heading in the wrong direction. English cannot debate and is a loser. Yeah Right.
Fisiani. National lost the flag referendum, the Northland and Roskill by elections, and failed badly in the local elections, all in a row, so much for that “popularity” and “opinion polling.”
Also interesting to note that most of the polling was done before English made his comment about many Kiwis cringing at Waitangi.
Next time the Nats will be further ahead.
Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will soon be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her ..
‘Bob Jones can now descend back down into the abyss whence he came.
This isn’t surprising. Jones is a corpse compelled by witchcraft to say the most obviously racist thing in any given situation. The only joy he can extract from this mortal plane comes when he’s raining blows on those he believes are beneath him, be they beggars, flight attendants, reporter Rob Vaughn, or victims of indecent assault who he believes have themselves to blame for making the “silly” mistake of walking in a park.
“If I’m a rich old white man. Everyone else should be a rich old white man,” he whines with each rattling breath. “And if they’re not, they’re lazy or criminals or even Māoris.”
Now now Paulsky, breath, the alternate view is that jones just believes the purpose of government is to protect liberty and property rights and equal oppportunity and let people get on and be responsible for their lives, in contrast to nanny state from cradle to grave and assume every necessity for life is and entitlement Now I agree sir bob may have expressed his opinion in a provocative way but no need for your support of hate speeach, agism and bigotry against elderly white folk
A couple of years ago, Jones had a piece in the Herald’ bitterly complaining about how NZ has now become the biggest “nanny state” in the world, probably one of the few things that I could find to agree with him.
Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will soon be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her.
It is interesting that ex PM had an army of protectors around him at all times, weird for a little country like NZ, when you compare the PM’s of, say the UK and Australia, where they’re ability to mix with general without the need for “men in dark glasses”, it really does say a lot about the divisiveness of the man, that is if you can call him a “man”.
Neoliberals Know The Price Of Everything And The Value Of Nothing
My father likes to say that some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The same could be said of the neoliberals of the world, who–in case you missed my previous piece–are now transcendent in most policy circles across the world.
To review, the neoliberal agenda is one of deregulation, unfettered trade, fiscal austerity (with the attendant reduction in social programs), privatization and tax reduction. Fundamental to the neoliberal ideology is that government regulation and planning of economic activity are inherently flawed and cannot bring about the desired ends of efficiency, prosperity and social harmony.
Instead, price is the great and sufficient transmitter of information across the economy and across society at large. Price is the best barometer for all decisions. Hence, the emphasis on privatizing almost everything in society including education and health care.
Neoliberals believe that voting with your money is at least, if not more important, than voting in elections in a free society. The freer the market, the more choices consumers will have, and the more competitive the market, the better the quality will be.
There are several problems, of course, with the price mechanism. First, it only takes into account costs which are directly borne by the provider of a product or service. So-called externalities such as pollution and climate change are not tallied in the price. In order for those costs to be included, say, by the imposition of a carbon tax, the government would have to intervene, something not consistent with neoliberal ideas.
Second, such a monomaniacal focus on price alone pre-empts a broader view of social goals, reducing them merely to price signals. But not every social good can be reduced to a price signal in a nominally “free” market.
“The Finance and Expenditure Committee has considered Petition 2011/101 of Penelope Mary Bright and 13 others, requesting
That the House conduct an urgent inquiry into why New Zealand Auditor-General Lyn Provost did not disclose that she was a shareholder in Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd at the time she declined to conduct an urgent investigation into the failure of the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand to carry out “due diligence” on the increased risk of money-laundering arising from the New Zealand International Convention Centre (Bill) 2013.
We have no matters to bring to the attention of the House. ”
Time for the House to include the proven ‘anti-corruption campaigner?
That’s pretty disgusting. It has been know for a long time that if you want to launder money you go to Sky City. There’s some roulette type game that you can bet your money on black and red and only if it goes to one number on the board you lose. That way you can bet your money, have a huge chance of winning and then ask for your winnings in a cheque. That way if IRD, social welfare or anyone else asks where you got your house/Mercedes etc when you earn zero income you say ‘I won it at Sky City and here is my cheque to prove it.
Now that Trump has shown that just spewing out a firehose of bullshit can be a successful electoral technique, we need to more on guard than ever. Unfortunately, when processing a lie, the mind first admits the possibility that it might be true – and then many minds never take the next step of rejecting it.
I went on the Auckland women’s march. RNZ says over 1000 attended – I’d say a few thousand – was quite a big, peaceful and good humoured march.
There was no real police presence. I think we were meant to walk on the footpath. But people just started walking in the road – and that’s how it proceeded.
I didn’t realise there was also an anti-Trump march planned for 1pm at Aotea Square, Auckland. I had left by then. TV1 on the two planned marches
And it says:
One American man told 1 NEWS he had turned up and out to march in Auckland “for equality, against greed and power”.
Green MP Julie Anne Genter, investigative journalist Nicky Hager and climate change activist Aaron Packard will be speaking at the Love Trumps Hate event in Wellington.
Speakers from the trans community, the union movement, the Mexican community, the Palestine solidarity movement, the feminist movement and the climate justice movement will be appearing at the Aotearoa Against Trump event in Auckland.
Just back from the Dunedin Women’s Rally (one of more than 650 events throughout the world linked to the March on Washington). While it was sparked by the dreadfulness of Trump’s views and actions towards women, the focus was very much on lifting up and affirming women’s worth and power here in Aotearoa and supporting others in their struggles internationally. I hope other rallies were equally uplifting and strengthening.
The NZ demonstrations were organised by some US women living in NZ.
We need a whole big, broad movement – for a fairer, more sustainable, and collaborative society, where everyone has a living income and access to affordable health care, education, etc.
[don’t tell lies about my views or comments. You are the one in that thread who said, and I quote, “Obviously the march is against Trump’s *inauguration*, not Trump himself.”. You obviously missed the point of the moderation, which is to reduce the amount of time moderators have to spend on these kinds of derailments. You are now banned from the Pike River thread, and this is also a warning to not misrepresent my views or comments or risk a site wide ban. – weka]
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All Out Of Kindness: At her post-Cabinet media conference on Monday, the Prime Minister demonstrated conclusively that she could be cruel as well as kind. Those revealed to have breached the self-isolation protocols felt the full force of Jacinda Ardern’s displeasure – and the nation lapped it up.JACINDA ARDERN KNOWS ...
Session Thirty-Seven… our last full session in the Dreamland. So the Fae Queen was after a rematch. To the extent that she was literally willing to destroy her own forest in order to replenish her forces. I imagine one of her advisers pointed out that “destroying something in ...
Today the shabby little train of denial ran out of smoke. Payment, apology in Dirty Politics case — Newsroom Crushing defeat for Dirty Politics PR man with apology to defamed academics — The Spinoff Here’s the apology wording, below. It’s ruined only by the clearly bullshit implication that there was ...
It’s always tempting to reach for the easiest “answers” to make sense of an uncertain world. It’s a tendency that has been there for a long time, but in the time of COVID, a lot of it seems to be on steroids.Desperate people do desperate things. In ...
Why New Research? Skeptical Science exists for the purpose of improving public capacity for critical thinking about anthropogenic climate change. Effective critical analysis requires a basis of information, and for our purpose the wellsprings of fundamental understanding are found in peer-reviewed academic literature, our best grasp of how Earth's climate operates and ...
This column will be calling it out. There’s so much folx need to educate ourselves about and DO BETTER. From cis privilege to white privilege, whether it’s how to decolonise, how to handle the pronoun illiterates, this column will be an inclusive space, for ALL GENDERS and ALL IDENTITIES. It ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh, Colombia, 26 February 2021 The recent decision taken in California to place men and women in the same wings of prisons as a response to the violence meted out to trans prisoners is a nascent issue in Colombia, but sooner or later it will get here. ...
About 10 years ago there was a proliferation of home wares promoting ‘Keep calm and carry on’. This adage came from World War 2 posters produced by the British Government in an effort to boost the morale of its citizens. Typically printed as white lettering on a red background you ...
Having spent most of the pandemic alternately calling for mass-death by relaxing lockdowns "for the economy", and for those who breach lockdowns to face harsher and harsher punishments, the National Party has finally made a useful contribution by calling for people told to self-isolate to be paid directly: The ...
Tim Dare, University of AucklandAir New Zealand is to trial digital “vaccine passports” on trans-Tasman routes in April. A media release says: “The goal is to enable customers to seamlessly manage their digital travel documentation throughout their travel experience.” And it’s easy to see why. Airlines want people back ...
The Ombudsman is supposed to be our core watchdog on administrative decision-making. Their central job is to review decisions by public agencies to ensure they are fair and reasonable and followed a proper process. So its more than a little embarrassing that they've been called to account by the courts ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Samantha Harrington For many, people life moved online in 2020. From preschool to dissertation defenses, first dates to weddings, video calls brought us together. To entertain ourselves, we streamed concerts and movies, played video games, and scrolled social media. Demand for internet ...
Nick Wilson, University of Otago; Caroline Shaw, University of Otago; Jude Ball, University of Otago; Michael Baker, University of Otago; Simon Hales, University of Otago, and Tim Chambers, University of OtagoThe Climate Change Commission’s recent draft report and recommendations has helped to kick-start an extremely important process. But, as ...
The Government has made a litany of mistakes over Covid, and we have been more than willing to forgive Labour these missteps and give them some leeway. Branko Marcetic says that when members of the public also make mistakes, we should be focusing on designing a wider system that insulates ...
Naïve optimism has been blinding everyone from Ashley Bloomfield to Case M. Josh Van Veen argues we need to be more aware of our biases in dealing with Covid – but especially the authorities. In the United States, naive optimism was at the heart of the Trump Administration’s failed ...
Cecile Meier walks us through some of the costs of a border system that has neither been able to safely scale up to meet need, nor able to find any reasonable way of prioritising entry into those scarce MIQ spaces. When Zane Gillbee hugged his family goodbye in South Africa ...
Technology lists, what’s this thing called “Deep Tech”, and thinking beyond the tech. Top “x” lists of technology developments, breakthroughs and trends aren’t hard to find. But how useful are they? MIT’s “Breakthrough Technologies” This time every year MIT’s Technology Review magazine produces a “10 breakthrough technologies” list. This ...
Having watched and read about the Conference of the Paranoid, Angry and just plain Crazy (CPAC), including the Orange Merkin’s return to the political centre stage, I am more convinced then ever that if US conservatism, and indeed the US itself, is to find its way back to some semblance ...
Back in 2019, following media revelations that bullying was widespread within the police, the Independent Police Conduct Authority announced that it would be investigating the issue. Today, they reported back, and found the police to be a completely toxic organisation: An independent report into police culture has described a ...
Dr Ben Gray*New Zealand has begun to roll out its Covid-19 vaccination programme, starting with those working at the border, including in the Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) facilities. There have been calls for prioritising other groups such as those in South Auckland [1] and meat industry workers ...
The Climate Change Commission’s recommendations span the breadth of the economy. They are required to come up with sector-by-sector climate budgets consistent with getting New Zealand with net zero emissions under the Zero Carbon Act. The sector-by-sector budgets rest on underlying models. The models build predictions about what will happen ...
Revolution From Below: The original “Long March” was, of course, undertaken by Mao Zedong and what was left of his communist military forces. They did not, however, head off for the nearest school or university, government office or medical clinic. Their goal was not to infiltrate the institutions of capitalism, but ...
There are some genre authors who like to demonstrate their edgy, iconoclastic credentials by sticking the boot into J.R.R. Tolkien. Michael Moorcock springs to mind, with the much-beaten dead horse that is the Epic Pooh essay. Each to their own, I suppose, though seeing as Epic Pooh really boils ...
John SchwartzElizabeth Kolbert lives her stories. In the course of reporting her new book, “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” she got hit by a leaping carp near Ottawa, Illinois (“It felt like someone had slammed me in the shin with a Wiffle-ball bat”) and visited ...
New Zealand has an excellent Emissions Trading Scheme covering everything except agriculture – a non-trivial exclusion, but we can come back to that later. The ETS has a cap. Net emissions from the covered sector cannot exceed the cap. So any other regulations that affect sectors covered by the cap ...
Michael SchulsonDays before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, at a time when some Americans were animated by the false conviction that former President Donald J. Trump had actually won the November election, a man in Colorado began texting warnings to his family. The coming days, he wrote, would ...
Last year, Beef and Lamb New Zealand produced a bought-and-paid-for report claiming that their industry was already carbon neutral, so didn't need to do anything to reduce emissions. The report was full of obviously dodgy accounting - basicly, it didn't bother to follow international carbon accounting rules, because they would ...
Last year, the government chickened out on clean rivers, setting "water standards" that failed to properly control poisonous nitrates. So who was to blame? MPI: The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) opposed introducing a tough bottom line for nitrogen levels in rivers over concerns the economic impact would outweigh ...
Robert Greenberg, University of AucklandThe world was excited by the news last week that NASA’s Perseverance rover had successfully landed in a Martian crater. The rover will now set about collecting samples from what scientists say was an ancient lake fed by a river. The name of this exotic ...
Faith In The Essentials: Fenced-in, almost literally, by motorways. Located, seemingly permanently, at the bottom of politicians’ priority-lists. Heaped with praise for their cultural vibrancy, but not rewarded for it by the presence of white pupils in their public schools, South Aucklanders (like people of colour everywhere) provide their paler ...
Image credit:POLITICAL BLOG I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL ...
Since the pandemic began, the UK government has restricted protests in an effort to contain the plague. But of course, they're plotting to make these restrictions permanent: Concern over the government’s limitation of the right to protest during lockdown continues to mount after it emerged that the home secretary, ...
Completed reads for February: The Dream of Scipio, by CiceroThe Dragon Masters, by Jack Vance The Dream of Scipio is Pearman’s translation. A very quiet month in the reading department… but a truly excellent one in the writing department. Better yet, this was not merely short stories, but solid ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (Colombia, 18 February 2020) Two soldiers, Jhony Andrés Castillo Ospino and Jesús Alberto Muñoz Segovia, fell into the hands of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN; National Liberation Army). Their capture produced the usual reactions that they had been kidnapped when in fact they were prisoners ...
As much of the world is still implementing lockdowns, including New Zealand, it is a good time to see how Sweden has fared. After being demonised for a year for having relatively moderate restrictions the Swedish death toll is rather much in line with other years. Sweden followed the standard ...
Under The Influence Of The "Governance" Kool-Aid: The furore surrounding Mayor Andy Foster's "review" of the Wellington City Council's "governance" is but the latest example of the quite conscious delegitimization, and sinister re-framing, of spirited political opposition and debate as irresponsible, immature and “dysfunctional”. It shows how very far from ...
Hello there everybody. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come on his blog today and speak my mind about stuff. The government has a lot to answer for. I was sitting there last week as Auckland came out of it’s latest lockdown and I knew the government was making ...
There are times when tikanga needs to be broken for tikanga to survive.I recently gave a presentation on Māori economic history based on my Not in Narrow Seas. Its most important message was that Māori proved to be a very adaptable people continually evolving as new opportunities arose. The European ...
Some of you may remember our blog post "A conundrum: our continued presence on Facebook" in which we detailed our misgivings about and decision to stick with Facebook for the time being. So these latest developments - reposted from the Cranky Uncle homepage - might come as a bit of surprise! ...
Image credit:Quick Data Lessons: Data Dredging Oh dear – another scientific paper claiming evidence of toxic effects from fluoridation. But a critical look at the paper shows evidence of p-hacking, data dredging and motivated reasoning to derive their conclusions. And it was published in a journal shown to be ...
The Green Party is calling for a more coordinated approach to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout so that those more vulnerable to the virus are unequivocally prioritised first. ...
The Government’s reported reform of Working for Families must put an end to the discriminatory tax credits that keep some kids in poverty, the Green Party said today. ...
The Green Party are calling on the Government to assess how the COVID-19 leave support scheme can be better improved, distributed and enforced so that workers can properly take leave when self-isolating. ...
We know that when our rural communities do well, all of New Zealand benefits. Labour is committed to supporting our regions so that, together, we can achieve even more. Here are just some of the ways we’re backing rural communities. ...
Government data today shows that the wealthiest New Zealanders aren’t paying their fair share of tax, whilst everyone else chips in, Green Party spokesperson on Finance Julie Anne Genter said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the change in the Reserve Bank’s remit to consider the impacts on housing when making financial decisions, but housing affordability shouldn’t be left to the Reserve Bank, Green Party Co-leader and Housing spokesperson Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the passing of the Local Electorate Act Māori Wards Amendment Bill which ensures Māori have a say on local issues across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
New UMR research reveals that 69 percent of New Zealanders agree that the government should increase the amount if income support paid to those on low incomes or not in paid work. ...
The Green Party are celebrating the Labour Government bringing forward the timeline to ban conversion therapy, and will push to ensure any draft bill properly protects all of our Rainbow communities. ...
A newly established advisory group will ensure New Zealand’s COVID-19 response continues to learn and adapt with a focus on continual improvement, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “Throughout our response to the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19 we have been committed to continual improvement, and independent advice has been ...
Candidates working towards becoming part of a specialist rapid emergency response team are being put through their paces at an intensive 13 day training course, attended by Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan. “The Emergency Management Assistance Team (EMAT) is a squad of specially trained emergency managers who can go ...
The Government is fulfilling its pre-election commitment to allow more support to seafarers visiting New Zealand, Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. The Maritime Transport Act will be amended through the Regulatory Systems (Transport) Amendment Bill to allow maritime levies to be used to provide support services ...
The Government has guaranteed that every New Zealander will have access to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, after securing an additional 8.5 million doses, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The Government has signed an advance purchase agreement for 8.5 million additional doses, enough to vaccinate 4.25 million people. The vaccines are ...
“This International Women’s Day I acknowledge the women who have been crucial in our COVID-19 recovery – our scientists, healthcare professionals, and essential workers – and everyone who is working every day to help women and girls achieve their potential in Aotearoa New Zealand,” says Minister for Women Jan Tinetti ...
An additional $950,000 investment has been made to support New Zealand’s hosting of the 8th World Conference of the International Working Group on Women in Sport (IWG) in Auckland in 2022. The funding comes from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package and is for Women in Sport Aotearoa, Ngā Wāhine ...
Today marks Children’s Day / Te Rā o Ngā Tamariki and the Minister for Children, Kelvin Davis is asking all New Zealanders to think about their responsibility to support the lives of the tamariki in their communities and to make this a special day for celebrating them. Children’s Day / ...
Health Minister Andrew Little welcomes the Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission’s assessment that transformation of New Zealand’s approach to mental health and addiction is underway. “This is an important step in the Government’s work to provide better and equitable mental health and wellbeing outcomes for all people in New ...
The Government’s Consumer Travel Reimbursement Scheme has helped return over $352 million of refunds and credits to New Zealanders who had overseas travel cancelled due to COVID-19, Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says. “Working with the travel sector, we are helping New Zealanders retrieve the money owed to them by ...
An additional 88,000 students in 322 schools and kura across the country have started the school year with a regular lunch on the menu, thanks to the Government’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches programme. They join 42,000 students already receiving weekday lunches under the scheme, which launched last ...
New Zealand’s economic recovery has again been reflected in the Government’s books, which are in better shape than expected. The Crown accounts for the seven months to the end of January 2021 were better than forecast in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). The operating balance before gains ...
More than half of New Zealand’s estimated 12,000 border workforce have now received their first vaccinations, as a third batch of vaccines arrive in the country, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. As of midnight Tuesday, a total of 9,431 people had received their first doses. More than 70 percent ...
The Government is significantly increasing its investment in restoring Central Otago’s waterways while at the same time delivering jobs to the region hard-hit by the economic impact of Covid-19, says Land Information Minister, Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor says two new community projects under the Jobs for Nature funding programme will ...
The Government has confirmed details of COVID-19 support for business and workers following the increased alert levels due to a resurgence of the virus over the weekend. Following two new community cases of COVID-19, Auckland moved to Alert Level 3 and the rest of New Zealand moved to Alert Level ...
The Government remains committed to hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2022 should a decision be made by World Rugby this weekend to postpone this year’s tournament. World Rugby is recommending the event be postponed until next year due to COVID-19, with a final decision to ...
Community and social service support providers have again swung into action to help people and families affected by the current COVID-19 alert levels. “The Government recognises that in many instances social service, community, iwi and Whānau Ora organisations are best placed to provide vital support to the communities impacted by ...
The Government is following through on an election promise to conduct an independent review into PHARMAC, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Andrew Little announced today. The Review will focus on two areas: How well PHARMAC performs against its current objectives and whether and how its performance against these ...
Some of the country’s most forward-thinking early-career conservationists are among recipients of a new scholarship aimed at supporting a new generation of biodiversity champions, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. The Department of Conservation (DOC) has awarded one-year postgraduate research scholarships of $15,000 to ten Masters students in the natural ...
I acknowledge our whānau overseas, joining us from Te Whenua Moemoeā, and I wish to pay respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today. I am very pleased to be part of the conversation on Indigenous business, and part ...
Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced today that main benefits will increase by 3.1 percent on 1 April, in line with the rise in the average wage. The Government announced changes to the annual adjustment of main benefits in Budget 2019, indexing main benefit increases to the average ...
A Deed of Settlement has been signed between Ngāti Maru and the Crown settling the iwi’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The Ngāti Maru rohe is centred on the inland Waitara River valley, east to the Whanganui River and its ...
With a suite of Government income support packages available, Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni is encouraging people, and businesses, connected to the recent Auckland COVID-19 cases to check the Work and Income website if they’ve been impacted by the need to self-isolate. “If you are required to ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed her condolences at the passing of long-serving former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. “Our thoughts are with Lady Veronica Somare and family, Prime Minister James Marape and the people of Papua New Guinea during this time of great ...
E te tī, e te tā Tēnei te mihi maioha ki a koutou Ki te whenua e takoto nei Ki te rangi e tū iho nei Ki a tātou e tau nei Tēnā tātou. It’s great to be with you today, along with some of the ministerial housing team; Hon Peeni Henare, the ...
The Government is backing a new project to use drone technology to transform our understanding and protection of the Māui dolphin, Aotearoa’s most endangered dolphin. “The project is just one part of the Government’s plan to save the Māui dolphin. We are committed to protecting this treasure,” Oceans and Fisheries ...
Major water reform has taken a step closer with the appointment of the inaugural board of the Taumata Arowai water services regulator, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. Former Director General of Health and respected public health specialist Dame Karen Poutasi will chair the inaugural board of Crown agency Taumata Arowai. “Dame ...
The newly completed Hibiscus Coast Bus Station will help people make better transport choices to help ease congestion and benefit the environment, Transport Minister Michael Wood and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said today. Michael Wood and Phil Goff officially opened the Hibiscus Coast Bus Station which sits just off the ...
New funding announced by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan today will provide work and help protect the unique values of Northland’s Te Ārai Nature Reserve for future generations. Te Ārai is culturally important to Te Aupōuri as the last resting place of the spirits before they depart to Te Rerenga Wairua. ...
Today the Government has taken a key step to support Pacific people to becoming Community Housing providers, says the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “This will be great news for Pacific communities with the decision to provide Pacific Financial Capability Grant funding and a tender process to ...
Conservation Minister Kiri Allan is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on a proposed marine mammal sanctuary to address the rapid decline of bottlenose dolphins in Te Pēwhairangi, the Bay of Islands. The proposal, developed jointly with Ngā Hapū o te Pēwhairangi, would protect all marine mammals of the ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges. Two of the appointees will take up their roles on 1 April, replacing sitting Judges who have reached retirement age. Kirsten Lummis, lawyer of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to ...
Government announces list of life-shortening conditions guaranteeing early KiwiSaver access The Government changed the KiwiSaver rules in 2019 so people with life-shortening congenital conditions can withdraw their savings early The four conditions guaranteed early access are – down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Huntington’s disease and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder An alternative ...
The Reserve Bank is now required to consider the impact on housing when making monetary and financial policy decisions, Grant Robertson announced today. Changes have been made to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee’s remit requiring it to take into account government policy relating to more sustainable house prices, while working ...
The Labour Government will invest $6 million for 70 additional adult cochlear implants this year to significantly reduce the historical waitlist, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Cochlear implants are life changing for kiwis who suffer from severe hearing loss. As well as improving an individual’s hearing, they open doors to ...
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill passed its third reading today and will become law, Minister of Local Government Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. “This is a significant step forward for Māori representation in local government. We know how important it is to have diversity around ...
The Government has added 1,000 more transitional housing places as promised under the Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan (HAP), launched one year ago. Minister of Housing Megan Woods says the milestone supports the Government’s priority to ensure every New Zealander has warm, dry, secure housing. “Transitional housing provides people ...
A second batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived safely yesterday at Auckland International Airport, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “This shipment contained about 76,000 doses, and follows our first shipment of 60,000 doses that arrived last week. We expect further shipments of vaccine over the coming weeks,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni has today announced $18 million to support creative spaces. Creative spaces are places in the community where people with mental health needs, disabled people, and those looking for social connection, are welcomed and supported to practice and participate in the arts ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little today welcomed Moriori to Parliament to witness the first reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. “This bill is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from all the parties involved. “I am delighted to reach this significant milestone today,” Andrew ...
22,400 fewer children experiencing material hardship 45,400 fewer children in low income households on after-housing costs measure After-housing costs target achieved a year ahead of schedule Government action has seen child poverty reduce against all nine official measures compared to the baseline year, Prime Minister and Minister for Child Poverty ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harry Hobbs, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Last year, the Victorian government announced it would establish a Truth and Justice process to “recognise historic wrongs and address ongoing injustices for Aboriginal Victorians”. Since then, the government has worked in partnership with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin T. Jones, Lecturer in History, CQUniversity Australia The most explosive element of the Sussexes highly anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey was the claim that someone within the royal household had “concerns” over how dark-skinned the couple’s son Archie might be. While ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s not entirely surprising that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has quit her weekly Newstalk ZB interview with Mike Hosking. After all, it was a tough ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne Review: Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Milani, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, Western Sydney University Pope Francis’s historic trip to Iraq, including visits to the war-torn north, has been deeply significant. It is one that needs to be seen in the context of peace rather than politics. ...
Women journalists, feminists, activists, and human rights defenders around the world are facing virtual harassment. In this series, global civil society alliance CIVICUS highlights the gendered nature of virtual harassment through the stories of women working to defend our democratic freedoms. Today’s testimony on International Women’s Day is published here ...
The dog park is so much more than an open space to let pups off the lead. It’s a place where deep human connections are made. When The Spinoff’s general manager Mark Kelliher and his partner Sarah Van Uden moved to Auckland’s Te Atatū Peninsula they knew almost no one else ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Bauman, Assistant Professor, School of Psychology, Bond University Imagine you’re in the middle of watching a riveting episode of your favourite TV show. You decide the situation calls for popcorn, so you get up and head to the kitchen. But when ...
A new survey has found 21% of New Zealanders are ‘unlikely’ to get a Covid-19 vaccination, and nearly one in four are still unsure.A year after the arrival of the coronavirus to our shores, a new survey suggests officials may still have to contend with vaccine hesitancy ahead of the ...
Peak housing body, Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA) is celebrating Habitat for Humanity’s partnership with Government under the Progressive Home Ownership (PHO) programme which will see them build 33 new homes across New Zealand in the next 18 months. ...
Maybe she’s just not that into you? Sam Brooks dives into Kate Hawkesby’s fixation on the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.What do you call it when someone devotes several thousand words over multiple years to writing about the life of a stranger who doesn’t know they exist? Being a columnist, ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) has released correspondence to the Minister of Police that shows she has the power to reduce the backlog of firearms licence applications under the Arms Amendment Act. In December 2020 there was a backlog ...
Having taken care of International Women’s Day with Beehive announcements early yesterday and children the previous day, the government refocused on Covid-19 and the wellbeing of all of us. It has established an advisory group to help keep Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins on top of his game – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University If we survive this economic crisis (and it is looking increasingly like we will, although the end of JobKeeper at the end of the month will be a setback) it ...
The National Party caucus is meeting today to discuss the findings of a review that investigated its crushing defeat in last year's election, but MPs remain tight-lipped about the report's contents. ...
New Zealand households will be encouraged this month to play an online game to help reduce confusion about what should be going in our recycling bins. The aim of the game is to start a national conversation about how we can all do better for the environment ...
The regulatory body that investigates complaints about our TV and radio programmes has today made it clear that the use of te reo Māori is not a breach of any broadcasting standard.Since June last year, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has received 27 complaints about the use of te reo Māori ...
New Zealand has had a handful of double internationals, athletes who’ve represented the country in two different sports. For a few years in the 1950s, Jane Tehira represented New Zealand in three.Watch more episodes of Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends here.When Jane Tehira watches her great-grandchildren play sport, she sees ...
Rocket Lab launches of satellites honing US military targeting capabilities have been criticised by the Peace Foundation, which is calling on the PM to step in.Peace groups are calling on the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to stop the launch of a controversial US military satellite that is scheduled for lift-off ...
Rebuilding our economy as we emerge from a global pandemic is a hot topic right now. Business leaders are calling for more engagement with government. The World Economic Forum is calling for a “great reset” to a more inclusive and greener ...
Here’s a conundrum for New Zealand: pastoral farming last year produced more than 40% of the country’s export income, but the Climate Change Commission is calling for a 15% fall in the national headcount of sheep and dairy and beef cattle by 2030 and another 5% by 2035. Even ...
The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has drawn a line under complaints about the use of te reo Māori in broadcasts. The BSA said it had received 27 enquiries about the language’s use since June last year – five times as many in the same ...
Louise Drummond has a message for teachers who are upset that a handful of lesser-known Dr Seuss books are going out of print: get a grip.Most of the time, I’m very proud to be a primary school teacher in New Zealand. We work hard, we love our students, and ...
As thousands of retail workers head into bargaining periods with major employers all over New Zealand to negotiate better wages and conditions, FIRST Union is kicking off a campaign to make the three biggest issues facing workers a central part of ...
The debate over opening New Zealand during Covid-19 is picking up. A year on, tempers and patience are fraying and the government so far displays no indications of longer-term planning. Two states in the US have recorded contrasting experiences and results. New York’s Democrat governor, Andrew Cuomo, shut down the ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the bulk purchase of additional Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines has simplified New Zealand's path to achieving herd immunity by the end of the year. ...
Is nothing sacred? Apparently not. Sam Brooks explains the ‘Wavy Moa Burger’ flavoured Pringle.The video game promotional tie-in is nothing new. Since Pac-Man was eating ghosts, video game developers have found ways to make their players eat food that has their branding plastered all over it. There have been Dragon ...
It looks increasingly likely the New Zealand woman accused of being an Islamic State terrorist will end up back here with her two children, as negotiations about their fate continue. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Phillimore, Executive Director, John Curtin Institute of Public Policy, Curtin University Last March, Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan donned an AC/DC t-shirt to pay tribute to Bon Scott, the late lead singer of the legendary band. He joined some 150,000 fans ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University It’s not a new thing for people to try to mislead you when it comes to science. But in the age of COVID-19 — when we’re being bombarded with even more information than usual, when ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenni Downes, Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia (Monash Sustainable Development Institute), Monash University To start dealing with Australia’s mounting plastic crisis, the federal government last week launched its first National Plastics Plan. The plan will fight plastic on various fronts, such as banning ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judith Mair, Associate Professor, The University of Queensland Brisbane is in pole position to win the rights to stage the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032, after being named as the preferred candidate city last month. The excitement is building, but the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Knight, Honorary Research Professor, The University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. Arthur Morrison’s detective Martin Hewitt first appeared in The Strand magazine in March 1894. It was four ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for March 9. Auckland is now at alert level two, NZ at level one. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz Help us keep you informed on the stories that matter. Click here to learn how you can support The Spinoff from as little as $1.7.50am: ‘Year ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government goes big on the Pfizer vaccine, tens of thousands of tonnes of toxic Tiwai waste revealed, and National party election review to be delivered.The government has bought enough Pfizer vaccines to cover the entire country, in a significant update ...
A new poll released by the Helen Clark Foundation shows that cannabis legalisation or decriminalisation is favoured by a majority of supporters of the Labour, National, Green, and Act Parties. (Figures for other parties were too small to report accurately.) ...
A person who helped alert police about a threat to attack two Christchurch mosques had previously met the man who was arrested and recognised him online. ...
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11785966
Poor Audrey. Having trouble letting go.
Bill English had a good international trip by most accounts. He represented New Zealand well as Prime Minister.
Didn’t appear on any foreign television shows saying puerile things then?
Did you comment on Key’s idiotic interview at the time, Pete?
Gee you live in the past. Move on man.
You will still be blaming Key when English wins the election.
The past, James?
Key’s still an MP, isn’t he?
Or has he been spirited away, along with any memory of his parcle-tongued reign?
I suppose what you’re hoping, James, is that we’ll give English a clean “bill” of health and forget that he’s been polluted by Key’s behaviour for 6 years, trained by the same people Key was and complicit in the disgraceful things Key did, and that he’ll still have Key whispering in his ear now. But no, James, we’re not so easily bamboozled, especially by someone as shallow and obvious as you.
“Gee you live in the past. Move on man.”
Good advice. Will English et al finally stop blaming Clark for all NZ’s ills?
Good point.
When will National stop blaming Labour?
They’ve been in power for 8 years and still we hear it was Labour’s fault.
A Labour government puts NZ back a decade so National will take full responsibility in 2018.
That’s a bit rich James – that’s all that National has done since it came into Government – it was all Labour’s fault until it was just ad nauseum listening to it. You are pathetic.
I’ve criticised Key a number of times in the past, but I don’t know what relevance that has now. How much have you criticised Turei and Shaw?
From what I’ve seen English represented New Zealand well in Europe, especially for a rooky PM. Did you see it differently?
I asked, Pete, whether you’d commented on Key’s “performance” during his interview while overseas; you know, the one where he denied the parlous state of New Zealand’s environment and the views of Mike Joy. It was, by many accounts, a cringe-worthy interview and certainly the interviewer expressed his disbelief at the then Prime Minister’s slippery tongue. I wondered if you’d written a post on that, hoping to read your thoughts on that issue, given that you have commented on the present Prime Minister’s foreign visit here on a blog that has readers who like to think more deeply about such things. So, Pete, did you?
Key made many trips overseas and had quite a few interviews. I’ve criticised him for puerile behaviour. But you are diverting into history (with a lot of vagueness). Sharpen up.
The subject here was how English presented himself on his trip over the last week or so. Reports have generally been favourable. Do you disagree with them?
“The subject here was…”
Thanks, Pete. Gotta go now.
Thanks for your attempted hit and run, shows that you haven’t changed much.
Have you Pete?
Successful hit, Pete, but no running, mate. I had a forest garden workshop to run and fixing up your nonsense before it began was pretty simple.
The polls show that.
National back up Labour down.
English just has to not fuck up.
Not likely.
Labour Greens need to get non voters out and unseat Dunne.
To stand any chance.
Unless those non voters vote for national. And some of them will.
And some of them won’t.
But when you are sooooo far behind you need the ratio to be waaaay in the lefts favour. And stats say they won’t be.
You forget Mt. Roskill and that’s just wishful thinking on your part.
Poor Labour held prisoner by it’s own neo liberal economic ideology, unable to mount any kind of meaningful attacks or counter punches to National, who only have to hold their boat steady to probably win, yes even with English at the helm.
Watching Labour slowly drown in a pool of it’s own discredited ideology is really depressing stuff.
Adrian, if you’re so saddened by what you see as Labour’s depressing fate, how about you:
1) Get involved in the party and promote your vision of its problems and possible solutions – help rescue it from what you see as its slow demise, and/or
2) Stop stirring against the party that you claim some association with/ loyalty to (enough to be depressed on its behalf).
Sadly, I strongly suspect you won’t do either of these. (With friends like you, who needs enemies?)
BTW, you (and others) tend to throw the term “neoliberal” around pretty loosely. Labour isn’t big on transfer of assets from the public to private sector, and that’s a cornerstone of neoliberalism. Just saying…
Red blooded, fair comments, I will answer both as best I can.
I had been involved in the party ( long ago) but was left very disillusioned and gutted by the core ideology that was being pushed at the time.
1. I thought about becoming involved more directly again last election when Anna Lorck set up her office next door to my shop. However after becoming aware of her completely out of touch policies around seasonal labour (amongst other things) there was no way I could get behind her.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503459&objectid=11720136
…and sure as hell not Nash in Napier.
So that door was closed.
although that being said, I am still very active politically, just not through normal party structures.
2. ‘Stirring’ although I would use the word critiquing, the party is I feel my, and every labour supporters obligation and responsibility to critique the direction of the party should they feel it is being led astray.
I am a very loyal friend, so I have been told.
Labour since Douglas is responsible for major asset sales in New Zealand, and until it fully rejects that laissez faire centrist ideology, then that is what Labour will perceived to be, and to some extent stand for.
Labour have never apologized for selling our assets.
The reason I am so hard on Labour, is that they are so far removed from real working families now, that they, without the slightest hint of embarrassment suggested $5-600,000 homes in AKL as being ‘affordable’.
But I also believe that in the core of the Labour Party, is the structure that represents our only real hope of breaking the chains of neo liberalism, and working together as a country back toward a more equal, fair and caring society for all…but that will only happen, in my view, under a left Socialist Democratic Labour.
But unfortunately that is nothing like our Labour Party today.
From their own website,
Fixing the Housing Crisis…
‘They are too focused on looking after those at the top rather than families in the middle.’
Not ‘looking after’ working families..no just the middle class,
yes that’s Labour in their own words on their own site!
Adrian, the current Labour party is not the same Labour government of the 1980’s. And aren’t you being rather skewered with cherry picking Labour’s website by misquoting there?
+100 Red-Blooded.
We are all neo-liberal in that we live in a neo-liberal system and do neo-liberal things. Certainly some more than others, like choosing the cheapest power or phone company for instance. I think we need to look at the neo-liberal aspects of our lives and try and change them. Then there could be real change.
that’s an interesting take TFG. Leaving aside those who have little choice, how many people opposed to neoliberalism live that out in their lives?
Choosing the best customer service or best price does not make someone a neoliberal. Just makes you different from a doormat.
Adrian. If memory serves, didn’t you say on TBD, sometime back, that you preferred the National government to remain in power?
Leftie, Well I wouldn’t say I prefer National to remain in power, however I am in the same camp as Slavoj Zizek, I believe neo liberalism, and especially center left neo liberalism to be a political disease, and radical action needs to be taken to avert disaster… I will leave Zizek to explain better than I…..
I know this is a quite unpopular position, and I am fully prepared to debate my own stance on it and could be persuaded otherwise, if arguments to the contrary offered another way to turn Labour back to a Socialist Democratic Left platform…still, as I have also said, Labour was radically changed ideologically by an internal revolution in 1984, and I believe that consequently an internal revolution within the party will be needed to remove the ‘new labour neoliberal’ ideology from the party.
BTW as to your comment that I…”skewered with cherry picking Labour’s website by misquoting”
I have done nothing of the sort, my quote was taken directly from the official Labour site. This was their wording, and as I am sure you well know, wording, and word placement in politics is very very important, so don’t come at me with that rubbish.
Adrian, pretty sure that’s what you said on TDB when you were asked if you wanted National to stay in power. And as for “They are too focused on looking after those at the top rather than families in the middle.” Sounds like Labour were talking about National. Best you put up a citation, so your quote can be read in context.
BTW, has National ever apologized for selling off our assets, past and present? Will John Key apologize for what he has done?
As Andrew Little said “I don’t see how I can be personally held responsible for the actions of predecessors.”
<a href="http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/08/30/waatea-5th-estate-labour-vs-nz-first-the-fight-for-maori-votes/
That particularly shameful interview was on BBC’s HardTalk programme….
That con man is cringeworthy.
Poor Pete also having trouble letting go. WTF does one do when le raison d’etre has fucked off ? Oh that’s right, redeploy the ‘suckshin’. Tasty !
Trump, greatest President since Reagan!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/20/president-trump-takes-office-vowing-to-restore-prosperity-fight-for-country.html
Congratulations, Mr President!
How can Trump be the greatest president since Reagun? he just got sworn in and hasn’t actually done anything, HDCAFriendlyTroll.
BTW, Was Reagun a great president?
maybe they should give him a nobel prize in the hope he achieves something.
Lol
“Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: thank you.
We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.
Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come.
We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.
Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent.
Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.
For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.
Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.
Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed.
The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.
Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.”
Read the rest of President Trump’s great, great speech here:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/20/full-text-president-donald-trumps-inauguration-speech.html
He basically criticised every politician sharing the stage with him for their betrayal of America’s working class.
‘Today’s ceremony however, has very special meaning, because today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, DC. And giving it back to you, the people.
For too long, have reaped the rewards of government while people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered period, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It be longs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country.’
‘Today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.’
Do you believe he means those things and will work for them?
No.
But there are many desperate people in America who will.
And desperate people turn to demagogues.
You have every right to be skeptical, Paul. If Andrew Little gave the same speech I’d be critical too. But if just for a moment you can imagine Donald Trump, President of the USA, delivering on his promises, wouldn’t that make America great again?
When do people like Trump ever deliver on promises? Was America ever, really great?
Call it Left, call it Right. What it amounts to is a massive shift in power. It’d be like as if Colonel Viper got made moderator-in-chief.
I agree – a significant change in power.
” Colonel Viper got made moderator-in-chief.”
I vote fot that. Would actually be a considerable improvement IMHO
And yes thats my genuine opinion. The moderation here sucks! . Often used to win the argument rather than foster dialogue
Authors shouldn’t be able to moderate their own posts. Too much skin in the game.
“Authors shouldn’t be able to moderate their own posts. Too much skin in the game.”
The moderation you’ve been objecting to today was not done by the post’s author. Nor was your own moderation today.
Only if you take conflicts of interest seriously, unlike some politicians..
How is moderating one’s own post inherently a conflict of interest?
You are right. Sorry, paying too much attention to distant politicians.
Um, because authors put a lot of energy, thought, and effort in writing threads and somebody may come only with perfectly legitimate on-topic criticism that doesn’t fall within the moderation rules but still get moderated because in the author’s eyes his or her work is being unfairly attacked.
Or if you want the short version some authors can get rather touchy about people saying bad things about what they’ve written. Especially if they’ve put a lot of work into it.
Can you please provide three examples that demonstrate what you are suggesting? That’s links to specific moderation, plus an explanation from you of which bit you think is the moderator objecting to someone saying bad things about what they’ve written. Thanks.
Nope because I haven’t been keeping tabs. But now that you’ve asked, I will.
please drop it in a comment in front of me in Open Mike.
Moderation on TS isn’t to foster dialogue (that’s up to the authors and commenters). It’s to prevent the worst of the trolling and derailments from wrecking the place and putting people off esp authors (and to protect the site from legal issues).
Were that it was so!
And speaking of Colonel Viper where is my BFF? I thought his latest ban would be over by now. Surely he’d be in here or over on the other thread celebrating President Trump’s inauguration.
Banned for four weeks. The first of many this year I predict.
Anti-worker anarchists like Trump and CV will fail in the short and long term.
Especially CV who has no redeeming points whatsoever.
Whatever with a Goldman Sachs cabinet the Vampire capitalists are in charge.
No chance of any change.
All talk and no trousers.
HDCAFriendlyTroll
History will be the judge on that.
Even best intentions will not be able to restore the jobs in any country as robotics will have the greatest impact since the industrial revolution.
He will be faced with a choice between finding a peaceful way of transition that includes education, income and poverty, health and elder care, institutionalized racism, civil rights, personal responsibility … shall I go on? Or using force, at home or abroad. As the nature of work and income is about to change in very profound ways neither Trump nor any other leader will escape the fact that new ways of society structures need to be found.
With the speech Trump gave and the absolute alignment with the military (its called having a buck each way), my prediction at this stage is not as rosy as yours. History has shown that it is the lazy mans walk and what more – talk – that always has mapped the future (may I stretch at this junction “man as “men”) and aggression, stand over tactics, oppression are hailed as virtues. And to make it really scary, using “above all god” in the parting sentence is concerning. There are parallels to a speech some 80 odd years ago.
So again, the jury is out and history will tell.
What could possibly go wrong when you’ve got god on your side and a gun in your hand?
The bad news.
1. The beating of war drums with China.
2. His focus on a law and order society.
Chris Hedges describes the speech as exhibiting the feeling of a crisis cult. It highlighted the worst aspects of American exceptionalism and imperialism.
He says the promises won’t be delivered and then the state will be used against the vulnerable.
Yeah…….it is what he said. He also sought to paint patriotism and prejudice mutually exclusive. Is that the predominant lesson of history ? Don’t think so.
It seems that Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her.
[your comments should come through now.] – Bill
Kaikoura needs to immediately erect a large sign at the town’s perimeter saying, “Sod off, you nauseating hypocrite!”
I notice your canard re what he said being “left wing” is no longer up Paul. How come ? You deferring to Archie CV Bunker are you ?…….editing, leaving it to ACVB to deliver the “tremendous” left wing news are you ?
No I was editing my words.
Trump is making a faux appeal to working class interests and it will work because there is no real left wing option in the US.
I see where you’re coming from Paul…….you told The Standard’s self-perceived royalty Archie CV Bunker that ? The “faux” bit I mean.
Archie Bunker?
Don’t get you?
A bigoted big-mouth idiot from an old US comedy series.
Was he a US take on Alf Garnett (Til Death Do Us Part)?
Yes
Yup. I think the US version was called “All in the Family”, or something similar.
The future Independent MP for Mt Albert Penny Bright explaining to Auckland Mayor and Councillors how the private procurement model breeds corruption.
🙂
Therersa May – warning corporations about shirking their tax-paying responsibilities (another rightee stealing lines from the left, while promoting so-called “free trade” and “globalisation”. In this NY Times article, it talks about NZ as being one of the countries the UK is aiming to make free trade deals.
Hmmm… isn’t Trump talking out against any trade deals that don’t strongly benefit the US? A trade deal between the US and UK that strongly benefits both, and previously overlooked middle and low income people? I’ll be interested to see how that goes down.
“Strongly benefit” are your words. What Trump has said is that America will no longer act where there is no benefit and that they recognise the right of other nations to act in that nation’s best interest.
American has always acted for it’s own benefit. It’s just they have done so, so badly that, looking back, it seems as if they haven’t.
It seems that Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her
Was expecting to see a bit of a drop (just a small one) in the last poll (Roy Morgan – but yeah) for national post keys departure.
But very happy to see a small rise for English and national and a drop to labour. A good way to start an election year. Will be interesting to track the rest of the polls coming up.
It was a negligible change for National.
It was also a negligible change for Labour, down 1.5, but now people are insisting that Labour+Greens matter a combined drop of 3.5% must be a bit worrying for those who thought the MoU was a game changer, and those who thought Key’s self demotion was a game changer.
Labour’s start to the year has been very disappointing. Picking a fight with Peters and pledging a bill to circumvent workplace safety that one had previously lobbied for is an odd stance.
Little’s delay in announcing he wouldn’t stand in Rongotai was also odd, he should have dealt with that immediately King announced she was standing down, he knew it was coming. Instead of putting it to bed last year he has put his indecision on show at a time he needed to be making a strong start to the year.
Relying on Mt Albert to kick off their campaign proper is very risky. Labour (and Greens) cannot make it look like a cosy campaign jack up, unless they are seen to compete seriously it could easily backfire.
Ardern standing looks a bit like rearranging the deck chairs. It would have been better to have new talent on show, someone like Deborah Russell would have looked much better.
Little conceded that polls were bad – “I have to lead a party that starts from 2014 at a 25 per cent vote, polling at the moment at late 20s, 30 per cent sort of mark. So we have a lot of work to do, and I don’t underestimate that.”
That hard work should have been evident from January 1 in election year. Labour need to be careful they don’t sleep walk to an election nightmare.
Serious question: why would anyone think that the MoU was a game changer?
Who was it going to gain votes from?
Not NZ First voters, because the Greens are only really after the youth vote and think that baby boomers have a lot to answer for.
Not National voters because they all think the Greens are even further left than the most extreme Labour MP.
Has it done anything, other than signal that Labour doesn’t think it can win?
I think it was a terrible decision by labour – prob a better deal for the greens.
It will be a movement of votes between the two and more moderate voters moving away to nzf or nats
They didnt think!
“Conventional wisdom” is that MMP parties have to declare who they are with before the election. Its crap but has become a “fact” . Its because they believe the public are too dumb to understand MMP. Winston has never bought into this doctrine and he gets along ok.
“Winston has never bought into this doctrine and he gets along ok.”
Winston was out of parliament last term, I seem to recall…
It was the term before, 2008-2011.
Before that he was rejected by the voters of Tauranga.
He hasn’t been in any governing arrangement since 2005-2008, so his success rate hasn’t been great, despite media talking him up as ‘king maker’ at every opportunity – I saw this again somewhere today.
In 1998, Winston Peter’s apologized to Tauranga voters for forming a coalition government with the National party.
<a href="https://fmacskasy2.wordpress.com/1998/09/14/peters-sorry-about-coalition/
John key running away after National’s whopping defeat in the Mt. Roskill by election, and with a general election just around the corner, sent out signals that he thinks National isn’t going to win. John key did say if National lost he would quit politics.
Agreed.
Good post. Labour ought to win the election given how popular they are. Opinion polls show we are heading in the wrong direction. English cannot debate and is a loser. Yeah Right.
Fisiani. National lost the flag referendum, the Northland and Roskill by elections, and failed badly in the local elections, all in a row, so much for that “popularity” and “opinion polling.”
Also interesting to note that most of the polling was done before English made his comment about many Kiwis cringing at Waitangi.
Next time the Nats will be further ahead.
Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will soon be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her ..
Brilliant take down of Bob Jones.
‘Bob Jones can now descend back down into the abyss whence he came.
This isn’t surprising. Jones is a corpse compelled by witchcraft to say the most obviously racist thing in any given situation. The only joy he can extract from this mortal plane comes when he’s raining blows on those he believes are beneath him, be they beggars, flight attendants, reporter Rob Vaughn, or victims of indecent assault who he believes have themselves to blame for making the “silly” mistake of walking in a park.
“If I’m a rich old white man. Everyone else should be a rich old white man,” he whines with each rattling breath. “And if they’re not, they’re lazy or criminals or even Māoris.”
http://thespinoff.co.nz/society/18-01-2017/opinion-bob-jones-can-now-descend-back-down-into-the-abyss-from-whence-he-came/
Now now Paulsky, breath, the alternate view is that jones just believes the purpose of government is to protect liberty and property rights and equal oppportunity and let people get on and be responsible for their lives, in contrast to nanny state from cradle to grave and assume every necessity for life is and entitlement Now I agree sir bob may have expressed his opinion in a provocative way but no need for your support of hate speeach, agism and bigotry against elderly white folk
A couple of years ago, Jones had a piece in the Herald’ bitterly complaining about how NZ has now become the biggest “nanny state” in the world, probably one of the few things that I could find to agree with him.
Dame Paula Bennett of Waitakere, whose idea of job creation was permanent multiple security guards at WINZ offices, will soon be visiting Kaikoura to reassure shaken locals.
She may have to bring her new labour market program with her.
It is interesting that ex PM had an army of protectors around him at all times, weird for a little country like NZ, when you compare the PM’s of, say the UK and Australia, where they’re ability to mix with general without the need for “men in dark glasses”, it really does say a lot about the divisiveness of the man, that is if you can call him a “man”.
+1 NewsFlash.
Chilly morning. Extra blanket on the bed and new snow on the mountain.
What a stuffed up summer.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/88610721/mt-taranaki-gets-a-dusting-of-midsummer-snow
Testing
Neoliberals Know The Price Of Everything And The Value Of Nothing
My father likes to say that some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The same could be said of the neoliberals of the world, who–in case you missed my previous piece–are now transcendent in most policy circles across the world.
To review, the neoliberal agenda is one of deregulation, unfettered trade, fiscal austerity (with the attendant reduction in social programs), privatization and tax reduction. Fundamental to the neoliberal ideology is that government regulation and planning of economic activity are inherently flawed and cannot bring about the desired ends of efficiency, prosperity and social harmony.
Instead, price is the great and sufficient transmitter of information across the economy and across society at large. Price is the best barometer for all decisions. Hence, the emphasis on privatizing almost everything in society including education and health care.
Neoliberals believe that voting with your money is at least, if not more important, than voting in elections in a free society. The freer the market, the more choices consumers will have, and the more competitive the market, the better the quality will be.
There are several problems, of course, with the price mechanism. First, it only takes into account costs which are directly borne by the provider of a product or service. So-called externalities such as pollution and climate change are not tallied in the price. In order for those costs to be included, say, by the imposition of a carbon tax, the government would have to intervene, something not consistent with neoliberal ideas.
Second, such a monomaniacal focus on price alone pre-empts a broader view of social goals, reducing them merely to price signals. But not every social good can be reduced to a price signal in a nominally “free” market.
http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/16/neoliberals-know-the-price-of-everything-and-the-value-of-nothing/
How corrupt is New Zealand?
Seen this?
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/50DBSCH_SCR6208_1/2064c8e8f81a4…
“The Finance and Expenditure Committee has considered Petition 2011/101 of Penelope Mary Bright and 13 others, requesting
That the House conduct an urgent inquiry into why New Zealand Auditor-General Lyn Provost did not disclose that she was a shareholder in Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd at the time she declined to conduct an urgent investigation into the failure of the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand to carry out “due diligence” on the increased risk of money-laundering arising from the New Zealand International Convention Centre (Bill) 2013.
We have no matters to bring to the attention of the House. ”
Time for the House to include the proven ‘anti-corruption campaigner?
I think so.
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-election.
That’s pretty disgusting. It has been know for a long time that if you want to launder money you go to Sky City. There’s some roulette type game that you can bet your money on black and red and only if it goes to one number on the board you lose. That way you can bet your money, have a huge chance of winning and then ask for your winnings in a cheque. That way if IRD, social welfare or anyone else asks where you got your house/Mercedes etc when you earn zero income you say ‘I won it at Sky City and here is my cheque to prove it.
Now that Trump has shown that just spewing out a firehose of bullshit can be a successful electoral technique, we need to more on guard than ever. Unfortunately, when processing a lie, the mind first admits the possibility that it might be true – and then many minds never take the next step of rejecting it.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/donald-trump-lies-liar-effect-brain-214658
I went on the Auckland women’s march. RNZ says over 1000 attended – I’d say a few thousand – was quite a big, peaceful and good humoured march.
There was no real police presence. I think we were meant to walk on the footpath. But people just started walking in the road – and that’s how it proceeded.
I didn’t realise there was also an anti-Trump march planned for 1pm at Aotea Square, Auckland. I had left by then. TV1 on the two planned marches
And it says:
Just back from the Dunedin Women’s Rally (one of more than 650 events throughout the world linked to the March on Washington). While it was sparked by the dreadfulness of Trump’s views and actions towards women, the focus was very much on lifting up and affirming women’s worth and power here in Aotearoa and supporting others in their struggles internationally. I hope other rallies were equally uplifting and strengthening.
Good, but have you organised more? Or are you working together in the future?
The speakers did say this is just the beginning of action…. we need to be a movement!
Photo I posted on Twitter: signs + pussy hat
Not my signs or hats. Some US-ians, I think.
The NZ demonstrations were organised by some US women living in NZ.
We need a whole big, broad movement – for a fairer, more sustainable, and collaborative society, where everyone has a living income and access to affordable health care, education, etc.
Awesome
Great to hear that red-blooded. Thanks to you and Carolyn for the reports.
You mean like saying you’re against Donald Trump’s inauguration is not the same as saying you’re against Donald Trump.?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
who said that?
You did.
referring to:
[don’t tell lies about my views or comments. You are the one in that thread who said, and I quote, “Obviously the march is against Trump’s *inauguration*, not Trump himself.”. You obviously missed the point of the moderation, which is to reduce the amount of time moderators have to spend on these kinds of derailments. You are now banned from the Pike River thread, and this is also a warning to not misrepresent my views or comments or risk a site wide ban. – weka]
Speaking of crowds…
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/20/can_you_tell_the_difference_between_these_two_inauguration_photos.html
It appears that the outgoing government would rather be taken to court than tackle the cannabis debate.
Grey said the Ministry of Health’s claim that CBD was of the same property as the psychoactive constituent of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was incorrect.
“The Ministry of Health want CBD to be covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act, but they can’t get any experts that will say that it is,” Grey said.
Comments to that article were interesting..
‘The police need to be freed from chasing cannabis users so they can focus on the meth epidemic.’
‘Just legalize it now like they are around the world… Funny how it is “bad” for you, till a company gets involved’
Russell Brown wrote a post about that: http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/is-the-ministry-of-health-acting-outside/
Thanks for the link Sacha, much appreciated