How many more elections under MMP? It has major flaws IMO that often lead to confusion rather than giving voters clarity and assurance and a real ‘choice’.
The agreements and ‘deals’ are flying Left, Right and Centre. They are not legally binding in any way or they would pervert the intended function and process of democratic elections; coalition deals can only be made afterwards, not beforehand, but they also don’t have legal status AFAIK.
We now have MOUs, coat tailing, overhang, waka jumping, strategic electorate deals, tea gate, etc., and least of all, the dual ballot. It’s a mess!
According to Sir Geoffrey Palmer:
… MPs spend far too much time in their electorates instead of scrutinising the Executive – no doubt, because they’re focused more on campaigning and popularity than the public good.
We would be better off with a truly proportional single vote system with a fixed number of MPs and a truly proportional minimum threshold for a seat (e.g. 0.83% for 120 MPs).
At the same time we need stronger local and grassroots government instead of centralised power and top-down hierarchy.
Whatever structures and institutions are in place, our society should not be managed like a (traditional) corporate business but more like a family, iwi or clan; people’s wellbeing in the short, medium, and long term should come before financial health & wealth and not the other way round.
As long as the economy, surpluses, and tax (cuts) dominate the political conversations, especially with upcoming elections, we’ll have a long way to go …
The real difficulty of MMP in my opinion is that it drags un-elected people into Parliament. Thereby betraying the one Person one Vote system.
It also confuses even intelligent everyday citizens who simply have not got time to pore over hundreds of biographies of would be candidates.
In First past the Post elections there is ultimate simplicity. Each candidate is either elected or fails to be elected. So if you want the Wealthy to be supported, you vote National, If you want the Constructive Technical Party (Labour) to rule you would vote accordingly.
It is interesting that the Nationals have absolutely no interest in the Environment. They positively encourage their wealthy members to pollute every river in our Nation. The Green Party tries to resist that, but with so few members they get rubbished.
First past the Post draws together like minded voters. Anything else is a schnozzle.
Exactly, Draco. Also, I look at the party list, and when I vote for a list I am electing those on it. It is called reading, OT. Try getting literate. Nobody in Parliament is ‘unelected’ as you wrongly put it.
What if he/she is illiterate? Or partially so.
What if he/she isn’t as gorgeous as you?
Snot Rock Soince – disenfranchoise NOW!
This is still a left wing site, yes? It’s that Broad Church left wing site – or so I’ve been told. One that doesn’t require the intellect of a Hillary Stace, or indeed a Lynne Prentice, OR the compassion of ……. take your pick
….. maybe not. The daylight visible whilst spending time up one’s own arse springs to mind, as well as various other platitudes – like we don’t know how lucky we are.
To that poster and contributor: GET LITERATE NOW!!!!! GET LITERATE NOW !!!!!
ya vol herr commandant!
Perhaps the deep and meaningful @ Weka would care to comment if you’re not too busy trying to understand underlying meaningfulness. I’ve got a set of crystals that might be able to assist.
!!!!!!! BAN !!!!! we do not allow people to call into question anyone who / READ THE !!!!!!!!!!!! (small print) / etc.
Rubbish. (Anyone as gorgeous as me is in a terrible condition.)
But I am tired of FFP simpletons claiming that MMP list members are ‘unelected’ because they did not stand in an FFP electorate vote. That is a nonsensical – a lot of the losing runner-ups in big FFP electorates are far superior to the donkeys that win FFP in a safe seat.
Your ‘daylight vision’ sentence has now given me an idea of where your own head might be, Once was.
Instead of opting for a hybrid system to replace FPP it would have been more courageous (politically speaking) to have adopted a truly proportional single vote system – no, I am not saying it is perfect.
Just consider for a moment how much (air)time and energy goes into the ‘idiosyncrasies’ of MMP and how much it pulls our focus away from much more important issues (and policies as somebody (?) pointed out somewhere here on TS).
I don’t have time to argue for or against FPP so I just provide a link(s) for your perusal:
OK so we want a change of Govt. So what does Labour do? It lies and obfuscates to shut down another Left party— Mana.
On RNZ this morning I heard Kelvin Davis coming across trying to be smart, but just being smarmy .I heard Andrew Little being disingenuous , if not deliberately lying, about the agreement between Mana/Maori. They know damned well the agreement only goes to 23/9, just like their MOU with the Greens( who, incidentally, Labour have been trying to shaft for years).
When is Labour going to grow up and fight the real fight against the real enemy of the Left?
I know the answer…. they won’t because they are still bogged down in their neolib /1984 mistaken policies.
We all pay tax Alan it’s called GST (except those who are in business or some scheme that they can wangle their way out of it.)
And being in paid work and taxed doesn’t mean they are better than someone working but not being paid and not paying wag tax, they are called volunteers. Or they may be working at something that harms fellow citizens, and pay tax on their earnings, or some of them. Or they might want more work so they can pay more tax, but the government has organised the economy and laws so that they can’t get guaranteed adequate working hours every week.
Or they may be people so damaged by life that they can’t work much but can do work if they can get help with it, and then there are parents and caregivers who look after others but don’t get paid for it. Then there are the real bludgers who don’t do anything like useful work and manage their tax to minimal, some around the lower middle class, and some big earners floating around doing very little that is useful to society but cleverly creaming of millions of dollars from their schemes.
So keep your one liners to yourself. You will just tire your brain out needlessly, telling us the rote learning of street yokels.
you are implying that I am disdainful of people not in paid employment,that is not the case.
My point is that referring to the “middle” as middle piddles etc. does your cause no good whatsoever – but suit yourself
1. What Marty said .
2. Yes, “the people who work and pay tax” are being “trickled” upon by those who can afford to avoid tax.
3. The people being hurt the most by this callous incompetence are as always, the poor.
Then there’s all the people who do unpaid work that is essential to the running of society – caring for people in their homes, voluntary organisations that provide support to those in need, etc. And such people still get taxed on their incomes, whether underpaid employment or state benefits.
John Waters is someone I respect: but what
the HELL was he doing on this horror show?
It’s pretty desperate when Piers Morgan is the smartest and most honest person in the room. The pathetic reiteration of DNC campaign lies starts with the woman guest at the 3:48 mark….
Anti republican, dismissive of Trump, atheist, supporter of equality, advocate for minorities and he doesn’t mind getting dirty for a cause.
What could Bill Maher possibly have done to be called less honest than Morgan on a left leaning website?
Did he say something that offended you in 1987? lol
Could I suggest you replace your open-mouthed viewing with some serious READING?
Great show, admirable left winger.
Well, if the word “left winger” has recently changed its meaning to “rabid supporter of U.S. terror and Israel’s right to exterminate the Palestinians”, you’re correct. In the real world, however, your statement is risible.
The only nonsense is predictably yours.
You are, yet again, my befuddled friend, way out of your depth. Again, I urge you to do some READING. Serious reading, that is.
I unfollowed TDB on twitter today, on the basis of – if I stop to throw stones (unpick the arguments) at every dog that barks, I’ll never get to my destination – got a lot of other things I need to do this week.
Who knew the real reason Paul got banned from TS? i.e content and viewpoints/arguments against fake news and for way forward for the left, and not process or breaching TS policy guide.
I stopped reading TDB and Chris Trotter a couple of years ago, and I haven’t read anything by Bryce Edwards for some months. Life is too short to read crap by ill-informed blokes who claim to represent the working class, but are really just white, middle-class, middle-aged men who feel threatened by anybody who isn’t the same as them.
Actual left wing people who I follow on twitter sometimes refer to stuff these guys have written and I know I made the right choice.
I stopped reading TDB and Chris Trotter a couple of years ago, and I haven’t read anything by Bryce Edwards for some months. Life is too short to read crap by ill-informed blokes who claim to represent the working class, but are really just white, middle-class, middle-aged men who feel threatened by anybody who isn’t the same as them.
Actual left wing people who I follow on twitter sometimes refer to (and mock) the stuff these guys have written and I know I made the right choice.
Bomber does come from a working class background. I guess he now has achieved middle class status through education. So, I still tend to see him as having a bit of a working class perspective.
Oh dear. There’s some much faction fighting going on. Us vs them in various ways.
And I also looked at a post there at TDB about “identity politics” and class. By a guy who the bio says he’s a postgrad sociologist and researcher. Been there done that – well partly sociology. I know about the theories he’s citing. And I could produce an argument to counter his post, but it’d take me a more time than I have right now.
Basically though, I am a bit confused about his use of (definition of?) “identity politics”. He rubbishes it while still seeing capitalism as patriarchal.
Many people use the term “identity politics” to refer to any feminist, anti-misogynist, anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchy comments/posts/articles.
So I started the day confused about how the term “identity politics” is used.
I got distracted from the main topic (populism) by the way “identity politics” was being used. One of the panel described Trump’s politics as IP because of the way he divides people into “us” (one identity) and “them” (another identity): i.e. the left behind (us) and Muslims (them).
Other panelists talked about how economics and IP are interconnected.
I decided “identity politics” has become a useless term, like PC, that means whatever a person (or their political position) wants it to mean.
It’s how it’s used, which clearly means different things to different people. So saying it is what it says it is…. adds nothing to the discussion.
Language is only as good as the way it is used. Language is the result of a process where people in a society agree on the meaning of a word or term. these meanings change over time in relation to the way tehy are used.
I don’t like the term Identity politics, because it is used in ways that aren’t the sum total of the 2 words. I prefer to talk about social and economic justice.
Some people seem to assume “identity politics” is separate from social class issues. In fact they are intertwined – as defined by wikipedia:
Examples include social organizations based on age, social class, culture, dialect, disability, education, ethnicity, language, nationality, gender identity, generation, occupation, profession, race, religion, sexual orientation, settlement, urban and rural habitation, and veteran status.
In political debates it’s often used mainly to refer to and attack politics of race, gender and sexuality, And it is often used in oppositon to class politics.
But as the wikipedia page goes on to say:
Formally, it may even be found in Karl Marx’s earliest statements about a class becoming conscious of itself and developing a class identity.
i.e. in order to organise politically as a class, workers need to become conscious of their shared identity and exploitation as workers.
I have always found this style of particular trashing meme rather amusing, albeit rather tiresome.
We get it every few years from different groups. It typically happens when some group doesn’t like things being aired that they would prefer never got mentioned (because it would interfere with their wee games).
Over the last 9.5 years, we’d have had similar sustained attempts at denigrating TS about once every 1-2 years. Never works in terms of the site surviving or readership or anything else. We provide a relatively open source of debate which has a pretty active policy of tossing out pirates trying to board it to control the debate. Doesn’t matter if it is right trolls, left trolls, journalists, MPs, party whips, people who picked up bans, blogs that don’t like the site, ardent feminists, ardent dickheads, ardent anything or whatever. It is always pretty damn stupid and usually done by people who fail to understand the basic precept of this site. We agree to disagree, but are also willing to damn well argue about it.
I suspect that the underlying rationale for such attempts is something like they can drive away funders (because why else would they always try to push it into the public sphere?). What they don’t seem to understand is that over the last decade, the site has moved from not needing any money to run, to needing money, and in a determined effort – back to not needing any money to run. It makes it really hard to do anything about. So do our policies about moderating and protecting the privacy or authors and commenters.
The site currently requires about $200 per month which we get from donations and some time from people willing to be authors, moderators, or techs. The latter is usually me. The site is scaleable to at least 4 times the traffic from the last elections. And people are always free to comment here provided they follow our rules about bad behaviour.
Personally, I am looking forward getting over this last year’s project and back to the less time and attention consuming maintenance. That will give me more time for the site again.
Agreed Weka-Bryce Edwards never fails to attack the Left in his articles.
He is dangerous because he purports to be balanced and simply reporting the weeks’ political comings and goings when in fact he sticks it up the Left every time.
The PLA number is those who are full time in uniform, whereas the US DoD is nniform full time, uniform, part-time and civilians. If you added the civilians and reservists to the PLA, it would be bigger.
It is a petty point that does not outweigh the rest of what Garibaldi quoted.
If it really balanced things up, I would be grateful. I think he is quibbling disingenuously.
How to make bad law? Fail to recognise practice, fail to appreciate need, hear only senile voices speaking to their peculiar issues.
Grey power does not want kids to cycle on pavements. Kids do though, and parnt want them to stay on the pavement. And the earlier, and more experience kids get cycling the more they appriciate others needs. So its insane that grey power is against kids cycling.
But its worse. Ask any cyclist trapped at a red light, undected and now illegally cannot cycle on pavement, and so banned from using the utility of their cycle. And all because a few olds might have an accident?
Take the one way road, cant cycle up the wrong way, cant cycle on the pavement! Cycles effectively banned.
In any accident involving bikes and cars, cyclists come off worse, much like any pedestrian does. So why are we so down on cyclists? Where is their voice? nAtional radio think the only voice for cyclists is someone who cant teach kids to cycle on
pavements in their day job.Thats how lousy laws are.
Cyclists are pedestrians and have the same rights to cycle on pedestrian pavements alongside such wheeled vehicles, as motorized wheelchairs, mopeds deliverying mail, scateboarders, etc. They all use the pavements on wheels and Grey power accidents are not a crisis. Because people naturally do not want to engage with oldies because they are so boring and talk nonsense, kids need to learn this early.
Routinely cyclists ride on pavements, its illegal but its safer than sharing roads with trunks.
A cyclist is not on foot, and therefore cannot possibly be a pedestrian. Don’t mangle our language. (Directed at aerobubble: Cyclists are not motorists, but that does not make them pedestrians.)
I was walking along the Wellington waterfront a year ago and was passed from behind by a cyclist who went by within a meter until I heard the wind of his passing. I don’t have a rear vision mirror as a pedestrian. If I had moved to the right by one step he would have hit me. At his speed and the reaction times needed it could not have been otherwise.
As a former teacher, I once did an experiment with a class of year nine students to test their reaction times and the brakes on their bikes. They thought they were quick enough and safe with what they did, riding on footpaths as cars pulled unseen out of high fenced driveways. I had that day seen a boy ride into the side of a car doing just that.
Integrity would suggest the Grey council answer some simple questions. Like where are cyclist to go, its not illehal to ride a bike. As for the smear that Cyclists aren’t trustworthy because they cycle past people who have poor hearing, really, is that supposed to be an objection, are we banning joggers to?
Cyclist use feet power. Cyclists are pedestrians, then comeput just as badly when hit by cars and trucks. They are no different than other wheeled pedestrians, skakeboards, rollerskates, and joggers are fast too.
How utterly innane, Cyclist are not pedestrians because they are not road vehicles, listen to yourself a moment, your ignoring the fact that carless citizens use bikes and roads are dangerous places for them, and liberty beats out death anyday. Cyclists will continue to use pedestrian walkways.
But lets play a bit. Why do olds get free transit after 9. To keep them off the footpaths so employees can cycle to work, kids cycle to school out ofrush hour traffic. Ratepayers fund footpaths and free buses for olds. Olds aren’t using the footpaths as much during rushhour, they wait for free buses. So cyclists who are unfamiliar to non japenese who allow cyclists to use footpaths, should not be funding free old age bus trips. Its about sharing not banning. Most people are in school, at work during time olds are using footpaths, you lazy thinking senile old bats. It has nothing to do with accidents with old people and bikes, its to do with the age problem of old people with too much time on their hand and too senile to give a crap.
And then there is the reality, there is going to be no doubt when accidents do happen that stupid cyclists dont understand how utterly senile deaf old people are tt they ever thought they could cycle anywhere near them. And good on them, senile and stupid people meet. No doubt some old cyclist banned from using his car and whose Grey power, oldie council, have forgotten has rights to movement too. Olds hurting rights of other oldies.
Unfund free buses for olds if they continue to ban pedestrians using the footpath with their bikes, oh, but posties use mopeds, olds use motorised wheel chairs, yet kids aren’t to be trusted. No, its senility that is untrusted.
I’m moderately surprised that primary-school kids aren’t permitted to ride on the footpath.
That having been said, we’re still talking about a voluntary decision to cycle vs that fact that some people have to walk because they can’t drive or cycle, and they’re the ones being put at risk.
Maybe kids shouldn’t cycle unsupervised until they’re old enough to deal with obstacles and hazards, like cars or pedestrians? And if they’re supervised, they should be on the road.
The original premise was that “cyclists” should be allowed to ride on the footpath. If it’s revised down to “kids” (primary-school age, presumably) should be allowed to ride on the footpath, it’s less ridiculous.
There are many, many kids I would trust. But there are a certain number I would not trust with a wheel barrow, let alone a bicycle.
If we are going to do it properly, we do what I remember from Cologne 1979: footpath clearly demarcated into pedestrian and cyclist areas. That worked.
But NZ can never do what overseas countries do. I remember when Hamilton tried to introduce a parking system that I had seen work perfectly in Cambridge, UK. Hamilton gave up because it was ‘too difficult’ for our parkers.. Go figure.
In Vino
That thing about NZ never being able to replicate a successful system successfully is what I have noticed.
and JanM
That’s exactly the same difficulty I notice as I go round. I don’t want little kids on the road, but I don’t want older kids and adult men shooting past me at speed. And I find that family cyclists have a god complex, and will shoot down private lanes as throughways without a thought. Get on two wheels and the world is yours.
When I am on the footpath I don’t want to be as alert as if I was walking on the road. You need to be able to relax pm the footpath, that’s why we have them so you won’t be run into by machine, crazy children, excited dogs, scooting cats, scooting Mums. A fall for an older person can mean permanent disablement for the last of their years, you just don’t heal like a young person does.
Good gracious me – there are two major groups who are vulnerable in our society; the young and the elderly. Both deserve consideration. Some of your language around the elderly practically amounts to abuse – they are as entitled to safety as the children. While I agree that riding a bike on the road is very risky, so is being a pedestrian sharing a footpath with cyclists – especially the young and inexperienced. The faster cycle lanes can be placed everywhere the better – and that’s where all cyclists should go. Until then – a little civility and consideration would go a long way. If you’re really lucky you’ll get to be an ‘oldie’ yourself some day – then you can look back on this sort of language and feel a bit ashamed maybe
Abuse. Banning people who cannot us a oneway road, as they cant cycle on the pavement and risk fine accident goin against traffic! Sorry until you can understand outright banning is undemocratic and the real abuse since the stats are firmly against the harm your side suggests. People do not invite accidents, joggers dont, skateboards dont, posties on mopeds, all us the footpath, any increased harm is in the minds of fools. abuse yeah, stupidity should be called out.
Simple. Pedestrians, under their own power, forced to take side roads, invariable steep, would be a huge impediment to their using cycles. So, yeah its a rights issue, which would then justify asking the question, why ban something outright. Which in Japan they dont. Nobody has yet said why we need to ban cycles, that should tell you something about how bad the laws are. Kids dont learn good behaviour, people ignore the law, cyclists get held up at red lights that never change as they dont detect them. You dont see car drivers getting out and pushing their bikes over the line to behave legally because its a stupid law. Cyclists are no different to any personally power person. Ban moped, ban motorized wheelchairs, dont fund free public transport, all the arguments you will hear to justify no banning apply equally to cyclists. Sure, helmets and bike bells, sure thin typed racing bikes that need a minimum speed as they are unstable at low speed, sure keep them to the roads, but a mountain bike can stop on a ledge, it aint a threat. Any jogger, walker, can be unstable and knock a oldie over, any kid with a ball. Thats not a good enough reason to so restrict cyclists that it makes cyclying unusable. A kid died when run over by a truck on the way to school. Trucks cant see cyclists.
Burble on aerobubble
You really ranted a crock here. Think again about your mangey right of way even though its safer than sharing roads with trunks, and drunks, and funks.
Not one apology to kids for banning them from footpaths, like old people dont know when kid cycle to school, when workers are cycling to work. A kid was run over by a truck on the way to school. iTs shameful that kids aren’t learning early how to interact with pedestrians, and suffer a life of abuse from old people who think them a threat. Get a brain, oh wait, its senility the real problem.
aerobubble
Your abuse underlines the difficulties that we face when proper facilities that are needed by citizens aren’t provided. But $millions can be put into cycleways intended to appeal to tourism and the recreational rider.
Your attitude aerobubble is worrying, it sounds as if you have such a head of steam, that if I was involved in some sort of collision with a child, you would attack me in anger, perhaps give me a kinghit.
I think you had better restrain yourself, and write down your problem and a practical solution, like making a separated way along a certain bit of footpath that schoolkids use. That would be a positive start and you could campaign for more using your concern and your anger to fuel it. I am sure many people would support you but don’t give me your nastiness. I am only stating what you are stating from a different angle of concern. Leave me alone, stop attacking me on this subject.
Clearly you are incapable of accepting the greater harm, that pedestrians on or off cycles are seroiusly harmed when hit by road vehicles. Whereas a few bruises from a contrived one off accident where kids learn early by being allowed to rideon the pavement, does not cary much merit. And the fact that you’d admit you seeing an accident, involve said behaviour and not merit it worthy to phone police, indicates your a troll.
I was walking to school with my daughter and she got hit from behind by a young boy on a bike. He was riding with his older brother in tandem and his brother didn’t leave him enough room for them both to get around us and the younger one didn’t think to use his brakes and stop until he had room.
Primary age kids should only ride on the pavement if they are under arms length control of an adult.
Hmmmm… what we could do with the millions being wasted on this case on lawyers to ‘help’ poor multimillion dollar US corporations who love to stash their money away in tax havens, while our poor go hungry paying for all this overseas corporate welfare….
And there is that waiver that the NZ government were tricked into signing about if he is found not guilty about costs……
Kinda makes the yokel business agreements with Peter Thiel pale in comparison.
Agree Save NZ, and it’s crazy that this case is being dragged on, at NZ tax payer expense, like it is. National don’t care, they are not the ones having to fork out the money for this favour for their American mates.
Totally agree, the Mana party was talking about this after the last election.
If memory servers me rightly, via adds on trademe and seek. In Auckland alone, the Electoral Commission has gone through at least 2 complete replacements of management (returns officer) since the last election.
The EC should have listened. Interesting info there Adam.
“Speaking with many in my community, the poor fear debt collectors or state agencies using their enrolment details to hunt them down, and many of our domestic violence survivors don’t want their abusers using the electoral roll to find them.
Why can’t the Electoral Commission offer an easy box ticking process for those enrolling to not appear on the published roll to ease the fears of the poor and the abused?”
Cinny and I were discussing this very subject not that long ago. It is a pain for most to go through the process of trying to get on the unpublished roll, one can see why people wouldn’t even bother. There are a number of points that the EC need to get off their butts to do, and do it now, and this is one of them. Make it easy for voters, not harder.
Glen Innes former state house tenant Niki Rauti is challenging her eviction on the basis that the agency trying to evict her is not actually her landlord.
Photo / Greg Bowker
By Simon Collins
A Glen Innes tenant battling against eviction from her former state house has put a surprising argument to the Tenancy Tribunal – that the agency purporting to evict her isn’t actually her landlord.
Tenant Niki Rauti, 62, and her advocate, perennial campaigner Penny Bright, have also discovered that the 2700 former Housing NZ homes that were supposed to have been transferred last year to an entity jointly owned by the Government and Auckland Council have actually gone to another entity that is still almost 100 per cent owned by the Government.
A third entity, Tāmaki Housing Association Limited Partnership, has been set up to manage the houses, but will seek bids next month from other social housing agencies to take over managing the houses from early next year.
By next year the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company, the joint venture owned 59 per cent by the Government and 41 per cent by Auckland Council, will no longer predominantly either own or manage the properties.
Bright told the Tenancy Tribunal today that the complex structure looked like “a massive smoke and mirrors exercise” – with real consequences for Aucklanders.
“The 41 per cent shareholding of Auckland Council seems to have completely evaporated into nothing,” she said.
………
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-election.
mickysavage
We are so important surely that you could extract yourself from something boring and tedious by saying that the show can’t go on here without you – sorry folks have to duck off and keep TS on the road. For all our ups and downs we have shown more stability and lasting power and usefulness than most nz political parties.
All you have is one line mindless slogans so sure if that turns you on or makes you feel better. Truth is if you go over your recent comments they are mostly just negative one line dismissals. You make no attempt to hear any voice except your own or those that you agree with. You disrespect other commenters with your content and style – reminds me of Paul but you seem worse to me. I wonder if you’ll even read all that or just knee-jerk back.
What rubbish. Actually Marty, if anything your rant describes you. And if memory serves, you have been accused of that by others on here, some time back. You have to get a grip with the fact that not everyone is willing to, or wants to support National’s Maori party, that do not speak for, or represent all Maori. A lot of people want to change the government, there are those that feel that the Maori party do not want that. “A vote for the Maori party is a vote for National” still holds relevance today, as it did back in 2014. No one is stopping you or anyone else from supporting the Maori party, that props up National, but we are entitled to our opinions on this, like you are, without getting personal and/or abusive.
Yep they will all learn – the musings of politically motivated spinners are irrelevant and obnoxious. Go and sit with English Little in the thick seats.
Your bigotry is showing – it isnt ALL Māori fault that some or one hurt you you know. It is wrong that you suffered and continue to suffer. It is the person or people that have responsibility not the whole ethnic group.
You are grasping at straws by concocting that story Marty. I thought that you were better than that. Don’t let your desperation re the Maori party get the better of you.
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The Prime Minister says he's really comfortable with us not knowing the reoffending rate for his boot camp programme.They asked him for it at yesterday’s press conference, and he said, nah, not telling, have to respect people's privacy.Okay I'll bite. Let's say they release this information to us:The rate of ...
Warning 1: There is a Nazi theme at the end of this article related to the disabled community. Warning 2: This article could be boring!One day, last year, I excitedly opened up a Substack post that was about how to fight back, and the answer at the end was disappointing ...
This may be rhetorical but here goes: did any of you invest in the $Libra memecoin endorsed and backed by Argentine president and darling of the global Right Javier Milei (who admitted to being paid a fee for his promotion of the token)? You know, the one that soared above ...
Last week various of the great and good of New Zealand economics and public policy trooped off to Hamilton (of all places) for the annual Waikato Economics Forum, one of the successful marketing drives of university’s Vice-Chancellor. My interest was in the speeches delivered by the Minister of Finance and ...
The Prime Minister says the Government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached. The government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects, including $11m spent to improve popular visitor sites and further $19m towards biodiversity efforts. A New Zealand-born ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler “But what about when the sun doesn't shine?!” Ah yes, the energy debate’s equivalent of “The Earth is flat!” Every time someone mentions solar or wind power, some self-proclaimed energy expert emerges from the woodwork to drop this supposedly devastating truth bomb: ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Housing supply in Australia will be a key battleground in the election campaign. With home ownership more and more out of reach for young and not so young Australians, red tape and low productivity are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Korolev, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UNSW Sydney The United States and Russia agreed to work on a plan to end the war in Ukraine at high-level talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Ukrainian and European representatives were pointedly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University BaLL LunLa/Shutterstock Sleep is the holy grail for new parents. So no wonder many tired parents are looking for something to help their babies sleep. A TikTok trend claims ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ranjana Gupta, Senior Lecturer, Accounting Department, Auckland University of Technology Jirsak/Shutterstock The profit made on every breakfast bowl of weet-bix is tax exempt, giving Sanitarium Health Food Company, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an advantage over other breakfast food companies. ...
A closer look at some of the homegrown talent currently commanding television screens around the globe. The new season of The White Lotus hit our screens this week, and with it a familiar face in New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly. To secure a role in one of the world’s most ...
"This is a crisis of the Government’s own making and the unit is another sign of desperation," said PSA acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Perugia, Senior Lecturer, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University Australia’s housing crisis has created a push for fast-tracked construction. Federal, state and territory governments have set a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years. Increasing housing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ash Watson, Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock When we’re uncomfortable we say the “vibe is off”. When we’re having a good time we’re “vibing”. To assess the mood we do a “vibe check”. And when the atmosphere in ...
What’s up with the man from Epsom? The leader of the Act Party has been in plenty of headlines in the last two weeks, ranging from a controversial letter to police on behalf of constituent Philip Polkinghorne (written before David Seymour was a minister) to an attempt to drive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Stephenson, Deputy Director, Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Australian National University Newly published research has found clear evidence that openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer+ (LGBTIQ+) Australian politicians were disproportionately targeted with personal abuse on social media at the ...
Gilmore Girls, Schitt’s Creek, even The Vampire Diaries – they’re all set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. So what is it like to actually know your neighbours? My favourite television shows are set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. Characters attend town meetings where they debate local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yanyan Hong, PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, University of Adelaide IMDB On the surface, Ne Zha 2: The Sea’s Fury (2025), the sequel to the 2019 Chinese blockbuster Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child, is a high-octane, action-packed and ...
Wellington travellers say their buses are so hot they’re often forced to get off early and walk. Shanti Mathias explores the impact of non-functioning air conditioning on public transport. When Bella, a young professional living in Wellington, thinks about taking the bus, her first thought is “Ugh”. The bus might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Kroen, Research Fellow Planning and Transport, RMIT University The cleanup is underway in northern Queensland following the latest flooding catastrophe to hit the state. More than 7,000 insurance claims have already been lodged, most of them for inundated homes and other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subha Parida, Lecturer in Property, University of South Australia Carl Oberg/Shutterstock Houses and fire do not mix. The firestorm which hit Los Angeles in January destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings and forced 130,000 people to evacuate. The 2019–20 Australian megafires destroyed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal. The commission found physical productivity – the total number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pascale Lubbe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Molecular Ecology, University of Otago Royal spoonbills are among several new species that have crossed the Tasman and naturalised in New Zealand. JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA When people arrived on the shores of Aotearoa ...
Stats NZ’s head is stepping down over the agency’s failure to safeguard census data, and more officials may soon be in the firing line, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘absolutely unacceptable’ failure Stats NZ chief ...
Health NZ is under greater government scrutiny, with the new health minister setting up a unit he says will "drive greater accountability and performance". ...
Manurewa Marae acknowledges should have done better at handling completed census forms, following an inquiry into steps government agencies took to protect data. ...
Police failed to protect people from protesters at a high-profile rally and made unlawful arrests at another, the Independent Police Conduct Authority says. ...
Comment: Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are making it easier for people to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum without having to handle digital wallets or private keys. These allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency through their regular brokerage accounts.This has opened the door for billions of dollars ...
Two long-awaited reports into alleged personal data misuse, centred on census collection and Covid-19 vaccination efforts at Manurewa Marae, were released yesterday. Here’s what you need to know.“Very sobering reading” was how public service commissioner Sir Brian Roche described his organisation’s long-awaited report into the alleged misuse of census ...
Backbench MPs reached new levels of patsy questions in an extraordinarily dull question time on Tuesday. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. “MPs ask questions to explore key issues ...
The New Zealand Government says the Cook Islands must share more information about the deals it has signed with China, following the release of an ‘action plan’ in the face of protests in the Pacific nation’s capital.The Cook Islands government has also revealed plans to spend $3 million on a ...
How many more elections under MMP? It has major flaws IMO that often lead to confusion rather than giving voters clarity and assurance and a real ‘choice’.
The agreements and ‘deals’ are flying Left, Right and Centre. They are not legally binding in any way or they would pervert the intended function and process of democratic elections; coalition deals can only be made afterwards, not beforehand, but they also don’t have legal status AFAIK.
We now have MOUs, coat tailing, overhang, waka jumping, strategic electorate deals, tea gate, etc., and least of all, the dual ballot. It’s a mess!
According to Sir Geoffrey Palmer:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11802883
We would be better off with a truly proportional single vote system with a fixed number of MPs and a truly proportional minimum threshold for a seat (e.g. 0.83% for 120 MPs).
At the same time we need stronger local and grassroots government instead of centralised power and top-down hierarchy.
Whatever structures and institutions are in place, our society should not be managed like a (traditional) corporate business but more like a family, iwi or clan; people’s wellbeing in the short, medium, and long term should come before financial health & wealth and not the other way round.
As long as the economy, surpluses, and tax (cuts) dominate the political conversations, especially with upcoming elections, we’ll have a long way to go …
Hi Incognito
The real difficulty of MMP in my opinion is that it drags un-elected people into Parliament. Thereby betraying the one Person one Vote system.
It also confuses even intelligent everyday citizens who simply have not got time to pore over hundreds of biographies of would be candidates.
In First past the Post elections there is ultimate simplicity. Each candidate is either elected or fails to be elected. So if you want the Wealthy to be supported, you vote National, If you want the Constructive Technical Party (Labour) to rule you would vote accordingly.
It is interesting that the Nationals have absolutely no interest in the Environment. They positively encourage their wealthy members to pollute every river in our Nation. The Green Party tries to resist that, but with so few members they get rubbished.
First past the Post draws together like minded voters. Anything else is a schnozzle.
What a load of bollocks.
If everything you said was true then there wouldn’t have been such a groundswell to change out of the obviously failed system.
MMP may not be perfect but it’s a damn sight better than FPP.
Exactly, Draco. Also, I look at the party list, and when I vote for a list I am electing those on it. It is called reading, OT. Try getting literate. Nobody in Parliament is ‘unelected’ as you wrongly put it.
Observer Tokeroa is literate, and he is talking about coat tailing, which National refused to get rid of. In a sense OT is right.
For coat-tailing, fair enough. Otherwise, no.
That was what he was talking about In Vino.
Sorry. Leftie – ‘he’ makes no mention of coat-tailing. Re-read – ‘he’ wants FPP only, and appears to be totally against MMP party list vote system.
Didn’t think he had to explicitly state the words coat tailing. It’s certainly the impression I got when I read his post.
What if he/she is illiterate? Or partially so.
What if he/she isn’t as gorgeous as you?
Snot Rock Soince – disenfranchoise NOW!
This is still a left wing site, yes? It’s that Broad Church left wing site – or so I’ve been told. One that doesn’t require the intellect of a Hillary Stace, or indeed a Lynne Prentice, OR the compassion of ……. take your pick
….. maybe not. The daylight visible whilst spending time up one’s own arse springs to mind, as well as various other platitudes – like we don’t know how lucky we are.
To that poster and contributor: GET LITERATE NOW!!!!! GET LITERATE NOW !!!!!
ya vol herr commandant!
Perhaps the deep and meaningful @ Weka would care to comment if you’re not too busy trying to understand underlying meaningfulness. I’ve got a set of crystals that might be able to assist.
!!!!!!! BAN !!!!! we do not allow people to call into question anyone who / READ THE !!!!!!!!!!!! (small print) / etc.
+ 1.36 yottaplex
‘Jawohl’, thank you. I can only speculate on where your head is.
ROFL Once was and others etc!
Rubbish. (Anyone as gorgeous as me is in a terrible condition.)
But I am tired of FFP simpletons claiming that MMP list members are ‘unelected’ because they did not stand in an FFP electorate vote. That is a nonsensical – a lot of the losing runner-ups in big FFP electorates are far superior to the donkeys that win FFP in a safe seat.
Your ‘daylight vision’ sentence has now given me an idea of where your own head might be, Once was.
“Anyone as gorgeous as me is in a terrible condition.”
Lol
Thank you for your reply.
Instead of opting for a hybrid system to replace FPP it would have been more courageous (politically speaking) to have adopted a truly proportional single vote system – no, I am not saying it is perfect.
Just consider for a moment how much (air)time and energy goes into the ‘idiosyncrasies’ of MMP and how much it pulls our focus away from much more important issues (and policies as somebody (?) pointed out somewhere here on TS).
I don’t have time to argue for or against FPP so I just provide a link(s) for your perusal:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting#Benefits
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting#Criticisms
Repressed history: New Zealand’s role in the Pacific slave trade and slavery’s curious relationship with the first international rugby match played here: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2017/02/snatching-and-killing.html
NZ hosted centuries of slavery before Pakeha arrived if Edward Tregear is a reliable source.
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TreRace-t1-body-d9-d2.html
OK so we want a change of Govt. So what does Labour do? It lies and obfuscates to shut down another Left party— Mana.
On RNZ this morning I heard Kelvin Davis coming across trying to be smart, but just being smarmy .I heard Andrew Little being disingenuous , if not deliberately lying, about the agreement between Mana/Maori. They know damned well the agreement only goes to 23/9, just like their MOU with the Greens( who, incidentally, Labour have been trying to shaft for years).
When is Labour going to grow up and fight the real fight against the real enemy of the Left?
I know the answer…. they won’t because they are still bogged down in their neolib /1984 mistaken policies.
I wonder if the Maori Party want a change of Government?
Cinny, no, I don’t get the impression that the Maori party want a change of government.
Does Labour? (Sarc.)
Yes, of course Labour wants to change the government.
Yes and they won’t change – why? They like being smarmy bullshitters – why? The middle piddles like it.
The middle piddles? Is that where all the trickling down from the elites gathers and pools?
Ha yes could be muddle puddles too
what, the people who work and pay tax you mean?
A lot of people do that Alan – personally I think tax is okay to pay for the collective benefits reaped in society, don’t you?
We all pay tax Alan it’s called GST (except those who are in business or some scheme that they can wangle their way out of it.)
And being in paid work and taxed doesn’t mean they are better than someone working but not being paid and not paying wag tax, they are called volunteers. Or they may be working at something that harms fellow citizens, and pay tax on their earnings, or some of them. Or they might want more work so they can pay more tax, but the government has organised the economy and laws so that they can’t get guaranteed adequate working hours every week.
Or they may be people so damaged by life that they can’t work much but can do work if they can get help with it, and then there are parents and caregivers who look after others but don’t get paid for it. Then there are the real bludgers who don’t do anything like useful work and manage their tax to minimal, some around the lower middle class, and some big earners floating around doing very little that is useful to society but cleverly creaming of millions of dollars from their schemes.
So keep your one liners to yourself. You will just tire your brain out needlessly, telling us the rote learning of street yokels.
you are implying that I am disdainful of people not in paid employment,that is not the case.
My point is that referring to the “middle” as middle piddles etc. does your cause no good whatsoever – but suit yourself
thanks for your concern
1. What Marty said .
2. Yes, “the people who work and pay tax” are being “trickled” upon by those who can afford to avoid tax.
3. The people being hurt the most by this callous incompetence are as always, the poor.
Then there’s all the people who do unpaid work that is essential to the running of society – caring for people in their homes, voluntary organisations that provide support to those in need, etc. And such people still get taxed on their incomes, whether underpaid employment or state benefits.
I heard Hone playing the race card. Sooner’s better than later I guess.
Gabby
Good of you to join in, were you singing the same tune?
“When is Labour going to grow up and fight the real fight against the real enemy of the Left?”
National and their support clowns, Act, Dunne and the Maori party.
Spot on Peter Swift.
That’s politics, Garibaldi. Haven’t the Maori party been just as scathing?
John Waters is someone I respect: but what
the HELL was he doing on this horror show?
It’s pretty desperate when Piers Morgan is the smartest and most honest person in the room. The pathetic reiteration of DNC campaign lies starts with the woman guest at the 3:48 mark….
Anti republican, dismissive of Trump, atheist, supporter of equality, advocate for minorities and he doesn’t mind getting dirty for a cause.
What could Bill Maher possibly have done to be called less honest than Morgan on a left leaning website?
Did he say something that offended you in 1987? lol
You need to listen to the nonsense that Maher and that confused woman were spouting.
I did, watched it all, like I do regularly. Great show, admirable left winger.
The only nonsense is predictably yours.
I did, watched it all,
???? Really? Your comments indicate otherwise.
like I do regularly.
Could I suggest you replace your open-mouthed viewing with some serious READING?
Great show, admirable left winger.
Well, if the word “left winger” has recently changed its meaning to “rabid supporter of U.S. terror and Israel’s right to exterminate the Palestinians”, you’re correct. In the real world, however, your statement is risible.
The only nonsense is predictably yours.
You are, yet again, my befuddled friend, way out of your depth. Again, I urge you to do some READING. Serious reading, that is.
Is there a library nearby?
I unfollowed TDB on twitter today, on the basis of – if I stop to throw stones (unpick the arguments) at every dog that barks, I’ll never get to my destination – got a lot of other things I need to do this week.
Who knew the real reason Paul got banned from TS? i.e content and viewpoints/arguments against fake news and for way forward for the left, and not process or breaching TS policy guide.
Lots of lies being told about the standard at the moment, and Bryce Edwards is putting them out into the Msm. Looks like macho politics to me.
I stopped reading TDB and Chris Trotter a couple of years ago, and I haven’t read anything by Bryce Edwards for some months. Life is too short to read crap by ill-informed blokes who claim to represent the working class, but are really just white, middle-class, middle-aged men who feel threatened by anybody who isn’t the same as them.
Actual left wing people who I follow on twitter sometimes refer to stuff these guys have written and I know I made the right choice.
I stopped reading TDB and Chris Trotter a couple of years ago, and I haven’t read anything by Bryce Edwards for some months. Life is too short to read crap by ill-informed blokes who claim to represent the working class, but are really just white, middle-class, middle-aged men who feel threatened by anybody who isn’t the same as them.
Actual left wing people who I follow on twitter sometimes refer to (and mock) the stuff these guys have written and I know I made the right choice.
Bomber does come from a working class background. I guess he now has achieved middle class status through education. So, I still tend to see him as having a bit of a working class perspective.
Oh dear. There’s some much faction fighting going on. Us vs them in various ways.
And I also looked at a post there at TDB about “identity politics” and class. By a guy who the bio says he’s a postgrad sociologist and researcher. Been there done that – well partly sociology. I know about the theories he’s citing. And I could produce an argument to counter his post, but it’d take me a more time than I have right now.
Basically though, I am a bit confused about his use of (definition of?) “identity politics”. He rubbishes it while still seeing capitalism as patriarchal.
Many people use the term “identity politics” to refer to any feminist, anti-misogynist, anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchy comments/posts/articles.
So I started the day confused about how the term “identity politics” is used.
Then I watched Al Jazerra’s latest up front ep.
I got distracted from the main topic (populism) by the way “identity politics” was being used. One of the panel described Trump’s politics as IP because of the way he divides people into “us” (one identity) and “them” (another identity): i.e. the left behind (us) and Muslims (them).
Other panelists talked about how economics and IP are interconnected.
I decided “identity politics” has become a useless term, like PC, that means whatever a person (or their political position) wants it to mean.
Or just possibly “identity politics” means exactly what it says!
It’s how it’s used, which clearly means different things to different people. So saying it is what it says it is…. adds nothing to the discussion.
Language is only as good as the way it is used. Language is the result of a process where people in a society agree on the meaning of a word or term. these meanings change over time in relation to the way tehy are used.
I don’t like the term Identity politics, because it is used in ways that aren’t the sum total of the 2 words. I prefer to talk about social and economic justice.
Some people seem to assume “identity politics” is separate from social class issues. In fact they are intertwined – as defined by wikipedia:
In political debates it’s often used mainly to refer to and attack politics of race, gender and sexuality, And it is often used in oppositon to class politics.
But as the wikipedia page goes on to say:
i.e. in order to organise politically as a class, workers need to become conscious of their shared identity and exploitation as workers.
Bryce Edwards is putting them out into the Msm. Looks like macho politics to me.
Perhaps its payback because some TS commenters (including me) have over the years pulled his epistles to pieces – usually deservedly so.
I have always found this style of particular trashing meme rather amusing, albeit rather tiresome.
We get it every few years from different groups. It typically happens when some group doesn’t like things being aired that they would prefer never got mentioned (because it would interfere with their wee games).
Over the last 9.5 years, we’d have had similar sustained attempts at denigrating TS about once every 1-2 years. Never works in terms of the site surviving or readership or anything else. We provide a relatively open source of debate which has a pretty active policy of tossing out pirates trying to board it to control the debate. Doesn’t matter if it is right trolls, left trolls, journalists, MPs, party whips, people who picked up bans, blogs that don’t like the site, ardent feminists, ardent dickheads, ardent anything or whatever. It is always pretty damn stupid and usually done by people who fail to understand the basic precept of this site. We agree to disagree, but are also willing to damn well argue about it.
I suspect that the underlying rationale for such attempts is something like they can drive away funders (because why else would they always try to push it into the public sphere?). What they don’t seem to understand is that over the last decade, the site has moved from not needing any money to run, to needing money, and in a determined effort – back to not needing any money to run. It makes it really hard to do anything about. So do our policies about moderating and protecting the privacy or authors and commenters.
The site currently requires about $200 per month which we get from donations and some time from people willing to be authors, moderators, or techs. The latter is usually me. The site is scaleable to at least 4 times the traffic from the last elections. And people are always free to comment here provided they follow our rules about bad behaviour.
Personally, I am looking forward getting over this last year’s project and back to the less time and attention consuming maintenance. That will give me more time for the site again.
Agreed Weka-Bryce Edwards never fails to attack the Left in his articles.
He is dangerous because he purports to be balanced and simply reporting the weeks’ political comings and goings when in fact he sticks it up the Left every time.
This is how god blesses the USA.
The Worlds biggest employers…….
1. US Dept of Defense( sorry that should really be Attack) —- 3,200,000
2. Peoples LIB. Army ( China) ———————————————2,300,000
3. Walmart ———————————————————————-2,100,000
4. Mc Donalds —————————————————————–1,900,000
The PLA number is those who are full time in uniform, whereas the US DoD is nniform full time, uniform, part-time and civilians. If you added the civilians and reservists to the PLA, it would be bigger.
Wow! How terrifying. Given that the USA is many years ahead in high-tech hardware, but Righties like Wayne prefer to mention only what suits them.
Hey he was just filling out the stats with what he does know. Everybody knows something In Vino and even if it is not pleasant to read we should.
It is a petty point that does not outweigh the rest of what Garibaldi quoted.
If it really balanced things up, I would be grateful. I think he is quibbling disingenuously.
How to make bad law? Fail to recognise practice, fail to appreciate need, hear only senile voices speaking to their peculiar issues.
Grey power does not want kids to cycle on pavements. Kids do though, and parnt want them to stay on the pavement. And the earlier, and more experience kids get cycling the more they appriciate others needs. So its insane that grey power is against kids cycling.
But its worse. Ask any cyclist trapped at a red light, undected and now illegally cannot cycle on pavement, and so banned from using the utility of their cycle. And all because a few olds might have an accident?
Take the one way road, cant cycle up the wrong way, cant cycle on the pavement! Cycles effectively banned.
In any accident involving bikes and cars, cyclists come off worse, much like any pedestrian does. So why are we so down on cyclists? Where is their voice? nAtional radio think the only voice for cyclists is someone who cant teach kids to cycle on
pavements in their day job.Thats how lousy laws are.
Cyclists are pedestrians and have the same rights to cycle on pedestrian pavements alongside such wheeled vehicles, as motorized wheelchairs, mopeds deliverying mail, scateboarders, etc. They all use the pavements on wheels and Grey power accidents are not a crisis. Because people naturally do not want to engage with oldies because they are so boring and talk nonsense, kids need to learn this early.
Routinely cyclists ride on pavements, its illegal but its safer than sharing roads with trunks.
Not for pedestrians, especially the elderly. Which is why Age Concern have an issue with cycling on the footpath.
you’ve never really explained why pedestrians should take on the risks of your recreation choice.
A cyclist is not on foot, and therefore cannot possibly be a pedestrian. Don’t mangle our language. (Directed at aerobubble: Cyclists are not motorists, but that does not make them pedestrians.)
I was walking along the Wellington waterfront a year ago and was passed from behind by a cyclist who went by within a meter until I heard the wind of his passing. I don’t have a rear vision mirror as a pedestrian. If I had moved to the right by one step he would have hit me. At his speed and the reaction times needed it could not have been otherwise.
As a former teacher, I once did an experiment with a class of year nine students to test their reaction times and the brakes on their bikes. They thought they were quick enough and safe with what they did, riding on footpaths as cars pulled unseen out of high fenced driveways. I had that day seen a boy ride into the side of a car doing just that.
I set up a similar situation as an experiment.
None passed.
Integrity would suggest the Grey council answer some simple questions. Like where are cyclist to go, its not illehal to ride a bike. As for the smear that Cyclists aren’t trustworthy because they cycle past people who have poor hearing, really, is that supposed to be an objection, are we banning joggers to?
Cyclist use feet power. Cyclists are pedestrians, then comeput just as badly when hit by cars and trucks. They are no different than other wheeled pedestrians, skakeboards, rollerskates, and joggers are fast too.
How utterly innane, Cyclist are not pedestrians because they are not road vehicles, listen to yourself a moment, your ignoring the fact that carless citizens use bikes and roads are dangerous places for them, and liberty beats out death anyday. Cyclists will continue to use pedestrian walkways.
But lets play a bit. Why do olds get free transit after 9. To keep them off the footpaths so employees can cycle to work, kids cycle to school out ofrush hour traffic. Ratepayers fund footpaths and free buses for olds. Olds aren’t using the footpaths as much during rushhour, they wait for free buses. So cyclists who are unfamiliar to non japenese who allow cyclists to use footpaths, should not be funding free old age bus trips. Its about sharing not banning. Most people are in school, at work during time olds are using footpaths, you lazy thinking senile old bats. It has nothing to do with accidents with old people and bikes, its to do with the age problem of old people with too much time on their hand and too senile to give a crap.
And then there is the reality, there is going to be no doubt when accidents do happen that stupid cyclists dont understand how utterly senile deaf old people are tt they ever thought they could cycle anywhere near them. And good on them, senile and stupid people meet. No doubt some old cyclist banned from using his car and whose Grey power, oldie council, have forgotten has rights to movement too. Olds hurting rights of other oldies.
Unfund free buses for olds if they continue to ban pedestrians using the footpath with their bikes, oh, but posties use mopeds, olds use motorised wheel chairs, yet kids aren’t to be trusted. No, its senility that is untrusted.
I don’t know what drugs you’re on, but I want some.
Sorry, I missed the bit where you explained why I, as an actual pedestrian, need to absorb some of the risks that come from your choice of vehicle.
Oh, and according to the Land Transport (Road User) rule 2004:
So yes, bicycles are vehicles, and pedestrians can be on a wheeled thingamagig that’s not a vehicle.
And all because a few olds might have an accident?
Er, yes – because a few olds might “have an accident,” ie be struck and injured by cyclists. On what planet isn’t that a good reason?
On the planet where kids might get struck by cars and trucks if they are on the road.
I’m moderately surprised that primary-school kids aren’t permitted to ride on the footpath.
That having been said, we’re still talking about a voluntary decision to cycle vs that fact that some people have to walk because they can’t drive or cycle, and they’re the ones being put at risk.
Maybe kids shouldn’t cycle unsupervised until they’re old enough to deal with obstacles and hazards, like cars or pedestrians? And if they’re supervised, they should be on the road.
The original premise was that “cyclists” should be allowed to ride on the footpath. If it’s revised down to “kids” (primary-school age, presumably) should be allowed to ride on the footpath, it’s less ridiculous.
There are many, many kids I would trust. But there are a certain number I would not trust with a wheel barrow, let alone a bicycle.
If we are going to do it properly, we do what I remember from Cologne 1979: footpath clearly demarcated into pedestrian and cyclist areas. That worked.
But NZ can never do what overseas countries do. I remember when Hamilton tried to introduce a parking system that I had seen work perfectly in Cambridge, UK. Hamilton gave up because it was ‘too difficult’ for our parkers.. Go figure.
In Vino
That thing about NZ never being able to replicate a successful system successfully is what I have noticed.
and JanM
That’s exactly the same difficulty I notice as I go round. I don’t want little kids on the road, but I don’t want older kids and adult men shooting past me at speed. And I find that family cyclists have a god complex, and will shoot down private lanes as throughways without a thought. Get on two wheels and the world is yours.
When I am on the footpath I don’t want to be as alert as if I was walking on the road. You need to be able to relax pm the footpath, that’s why we have them so you won’t be run into by machine, crazy children, excited dogs, scooting cats, scooting Mums. A fall for an older person can mean permanent disablement for the last of their years, you just don’t heal like a young person does.
Good gracious me – there are two major groups who are vulnerable in our society; the young and the elderly. Both deserve consideration. Some of your language around the elderly practically amounts to abuse – they are as entitled to safety as the children. While I agree that riding a bike on the road is very risky, so is being a pedestrian sharing a footpath with cyclists – especially the young and inexperienced. The faster cycle lanes can be placed everywhere the better – and that’s where all cyclists should go. Until then – a little civility and consideration would go a long way. If you’re really lucky you’ll get to be an ‘oldie’ yourself some day – then you can look back on this sort of language and feel a bit ashamed maybe
Abuse. Banning people who cannot us a oneway road, as they cant cycle on the pavement and risk fine accident goin against traffic! Sorry until you can understand outright banning is undemocratic and the real abuse since the stats are firmly against the harm your side suggests. People do not invite accidents, joggers dont, skateboards dont, posties on mopeds, all us the footpath, any increased harm is in the minds of fools. abuse yeah, stupidity should be called out.
Hang on, are you now arguing that one-way streets are violations of human rights?
Why can’t a cyclist use the same route as every car driver who is also barred from going the wrong way up the same road?
Simple. Pedestrians, under their own power, forced to take side roads, invariable steep, would be a huge impediment to their using cycles. So, yeah its a rights issue, which would then justify asking the question, why ban something outright. Which in Japan they dont. Nobody has yet said why we need to ban cycles, that should tell you something about how bad the laws are. Kids dont learn good behaviour, people ignore the law, cyclists get held up at red lights that never change as they dont detect them. You dont see car drivers getting out and pushing their bikes over the line to behave legally because its a stupid law. Cyclists are no different to any personally power person. Ban moped, ban motorized wheelchairs, dont fund free public transport, all the arguments you will hear to justify no banning apply equally to cyclists. Sure, helmets and bike bells, sure thin typed racing bikes that need a minimum speed as they are unstable at low speed, sure keep them to the roads, but a mountain bike can stop on a ledge, it aint a threat. Any jogger, walker, can be unstable and knock a oldie over, any kid with a ball. Thats not a good enough reason to so restrict cyclists that it makes cyclying unusable. A kid died when run over by a truck on the way to school. Trucks cant see cyclists.
Burble on aerobubble
You really ranted a crock here. Think again about your mangey right of way even though its safer than sharing roads with trunks, and drunks, and funks.
Not one apology to kids for banning them from footpaths, like old people dont know when kid cycle to school, when workers are cycling to work. A kid was run over by a truck on the way to school. iTs shameful that kids aren’t learning early how to interact with pedestrians, and suffer a life of abuse from old people who think them a threat. Get a brain, oh wait, its senility the real problem.
aerobubble
Your abuse underlines the difficulties that we face when proper facilities that are needed by citizens aren’t provided. But $millions can be put into cycleways intended to appeal to tourism and the recreational rider.
Your attitude aerobubble is worrying, it sounds as if you have such a head of steam, that if I was involved in some sort of collision with a child, you would attack me in anger, perhaps give me a kinghit.
I think you had better restrain yourself, and write down your problem and a practical solution, like making a separated way along a certain bit of footpath that schoolkids use. That would be a positive start and you could campaign for more using your concern and your anger to fuel it. I am sure many people would support you but don’t give me your nastiness. I am only stating what you are stating from a different angle of concern. Leave me alone, stop attacking me on this subject.
Clearly you are incapable of accepting the greater harm, that pedestrians on or off cycles are seroiusly harmed when hit by road vehicles. Whereas a few bruises from a contrived one off accident where kids learn early by being allowed to rideon the pavement, does not cary much merit. And the fact that you’d admit you seeing an accident, involve said behaviour and not merit it worthy to phone police, indicates your a troll.
I was walking to school with my daughter and she got hit from behind by a young boy on a bike. He was riding with his older brother in tandem and his brother didn’t leave him enough room for them both to get around us and the younger one didn’t think to use his brakes and stop until he had room.
Primary age kids should only ride on the pavement if they are under arms length control of an adult.
Turn’s out Dotcom is not guilty of copywrite infringement. surprise surprise.
But NZ Government still want to waste money fighting to extradite him….
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/02/20/breaking-media-statement-from-dotcom-legal-team/?utm_content=buffer0fbde&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Hmmmm… what we could do with the millions being wasted on this case on lawyers to ‘help’ poor multimillion dollar US corporations who love to stash their money away in tax havens, while our poor go hungry paying for all this overseas corporate welfare….
And there is that waiver that the NZ government were tricked into signing about if he is found not guilty about costs……
Kinda makes the yokel business agreements with Peter Thiel pale in comparison.
Agree Save NZ, and it’s crazy that this case is being dragged on, at NZ tax payer expense, like it is. National don’t care, they are not the ones having to fork out the money for this favour for their American mates.
“Willie Jackson: The health of our democracy is at risk with the Electoral Commission failing voters”
<a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/89580371/willie-jackson-the-health-of-our-democracy-is-at-risk
Totally agree, the Mana party was talking about this after the last election.
If memory servers me rightly, via adds on trademe and seek. In Auckland alone, the Electoral Commission has gone through at least 2 complete replacements of management (returns officer) since the last election.
The rest of the country is in a bad way as well.
The EC should have listened. Interesting info there Adam.
“Speaking with many in my community, the poor fear debt collectors or state agencies using their enrolment details to hunt them down, and many of our domestic violence survivors don’t want their abusers using the electoral roll to find them.
Why can’t the Electoral Commission offer an easy box ticking process for those enrolling to not appear on the published roll to ease the fears of the poor and the abused?”
Cinny and I were discussing this very subject not that long ago. It is a pain for most to go through the process of trying to get on the unpublished roll, one can see why people wouldn’t even bother. There are a number of points that the EC need to get off their butts to do, and do it now, and this is one of them. Make it easy for voters, not harder.
TALK IS CHEAP – ACTIVISTS GET THINGS DONE!
Fighting to STOP NIKI’S EVICTION!
Fighting to STOP THE PRIVATISATION of STATE HOUSING!
Well done Niki.
Well done Lisa Gibson.
Well done all of us who are actively supporting Niki and her brave stand!
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11804705
Glen Innes former state house tenant Niki Rauti is challenging her eviction on the basis that the agency trying to evict her is not actually her landlord.
Photo / Greg Bowker
By Simon Collins
A Glen Innes tenant battling against eviction from her former state house has put a surprising argument to the Tenancy Tribunal – that the agency purporting to evict her isn’t actually her landlord.
Tenant Niki Rauti, 62, and her advocate, perennial campaigner Penny Bright, have also discovered that the 2700 former Housing NZ homes that were supposed to have been transferred last year to an entity jointly owned by the Government and Auckland Council have actually gone to another entity that is still almost 100 per cent owned by the Government.
A third entity, Tāmaki Housing Association Limited Partnership, has been set up to manage the houses, but will seek bids next month from other social housing agencies to take over managing the houses from early next year.
By next year the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company, the joint venture owned 59 per cent by the Government and 41 per cent by Auckland Council, will no longer predominantly either own or manage the properties.
Bright told the Tenancy Tribunal today that the complex structure looked like “a massive smoke and mirrors exercise” – with real consequences for Aucklanders.
“The 41 per cent shareholding of Auckland Council seems to have completely evaporated into nothing,” she said.
………
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-election.
Well done Penny and to all that have got involved!! And you beat me to it. I was just about to post that article on here.
Very interesting an enterprising. Looking forward to the tribunal adjudicator’s decision.
Great news. Surely they have to reapply with the correct documentation as it is a legal decision. They can’t ‘fudge’ it!
Apologies i got stuck in meetings and could not put up daily review in time …
mickysavage
We are so important surely that you could extract yourself from something boring and tedious by saying that the show can’t go on here without you – sorry folks have to duck off and keep TS on the road. For all our ups and downs we have shown more stability and lasting power and usefulness than most nz political parties.
Hmmm… wonder what this is about?
Twitter exchange between Hooton and Jodi Ihaka (ex journo now “spin doctor for the red team” according to her twitter profile.
Ends with this from Ihaka:
Labour intends to go to war against the Maori party?
That’s politics, BM.
Stupid ego driven politics from labour
Can say the same about the Maori party, Marty.
All you have is one line mindless slogans so sure if that turns you on or makes you feel better. Truth is if you go over your recent comments they are mostly just negative one line dismissals. You make no attempt to hear any voice except your own or those that you agree with. You disrespect other commenters with your content and style – reminds me of Paul but you seem worse to me. I wonder if you’ll even read all that or just knee-jerk back.
What rubbish. Actually Marty, if anything your rant describes you. And if memory serves, you have been accused of that by others on here, some time back. You have to get a grip with the fact that not everyone is willing to, or wants to support National’s Maori party, that do not speak for, or represent all Maori. A lot of people want to change the government, there are those that feel that the Maori party do not want that. “A vote for the Maori party is a vote for National” still holds relevance today, as it did back in 2014. No one is stopping you or anyone else from supporting the Maori party, that props up National, but we are entitled to our opinions on this, like you are, without getting personal and/or abusive.
At least it was more than 1line – onya
Lol hypocrite much Marty? And I haven’t been making one liners, and you know that.
You’ll love this.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/324976/maori-party-'not-kaupapa-maori'-andrew-little
Yep they will all learn – the musings of politically motivated spinners are irrelevant and obnoxious. Go and sit with English Little in the thick seats.
You can’t force those that want to change the government to support National’s Maori party.
Hmmm… interesting. I’m curious too Carolyn_nth.
follow the money would be my guess, if tuku and his type are around
Your bigotry is showing – it isnt ALL Māori fault that some or one hurt you you know. It is wrong that you suffered and continue to suffer. It is the person or people that have responsibility not the whole ethnic group.
You are grasping at straws by concocting that story Marty. I thought that you were better than that. Don’t let your desperation re the Maori party get the better of you.
Tuku Morgan is ex NZ First.
Winston Peters said Tuku Morgan and his brother in law Tau Henare were “greedy” and had been “disloyal to the people who had put them there.”
See link for newspaper clipping ” Peter’s “sorry” about coalition 14-9-98
<a href="https://fmacskasy2.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/peters-sorry-about-coalition-nzpa-14-september-1998.jpg