The opposition and other progressive forces in the country must maintain a sustained attack against the bias in the media.
Target the main puppets and always question their impartiality.
When being interviewed live make these accusations.
Control the corporate media, don’t let it control you.
It will never accept a progressive victory in the elections unless the opposition exists on its terms.
Follow the SNP and break your dependence on the corporate media.
Need to remain cautious, of course…could be just the usual cock-ups…long-time Labour Party activists, members, even former candidates being told their application to vote has been rejected.
But, read through the above stories – along with the Twitter accounts of both Owen Jones and JeremyCorbyn4Leader over the last 24 hours – and you’ll get the distinct impression that it’s specifically the known Corbyn supporters who are being rejected.
A lot of those being purged are young members who are the future of the party.
It just shows what the old guard of a dying party will do to hang on to their privileges and control. They’ll keep it out of office, they’ll trash every principle it once stood for, they’ll destroy its future, but God damn it, they’ll keep their expense accounts!
If that proves to be the case then it’s an extraordinary scandal.
Corbyn’s been packing out 1000+ venues throughout the UK for weeks (2000 at Newcastle a night or so back). They’ve had to move rallies to larger auditoria and set up overspill rooms. It’s a “democratic explosion unprecedented in British Political history”, as The Guardian’s Seumus Milne puts it.
He’s 32 points ahead of his nearest rival in the latest Leadership poll and 7 points ahead among the voting public. And he’s probably personally responsible for inspiring more than 100,000 new members / sign-ups.
The notion that this is all the product of some sort of nefarious Trade Union manipulation or Militant Tendency ‘Entryism’ is hilarious. What’s more it was the Blairite David Miliband who advocated this whole ‘3 Pound sign-up’ inclusiveness campaign to widen Party participation a few years ago and Tony Blair was reportedly highly enthusiastic (he welcomed it as “something I should have done myself”)……Right up, of course, until it all backfired a few weeks ago.
But the Entryism accusation does give New Labour establishment Grandees – its College of Cardinals – a motive to try and turn this election if they want to (doomed as such attempts may be).
It’s a real concern, though, that UK Labour announced a couple of weeks ago that it will: (1) continue to purge / reject voters even after they’ve voted in the leadership election – ie right up to the moment the results are ready to be declared (a decision that shocked the British Electoral Reform group whose commercial arm is overseeing the vote) (2) provide no details of the final vote (numbers/breakdowns) publicly. They will simply announce the winner.
Ample opportunity, perhaps, for A Very British Coup.
Even Le Pen in France has had to save the Party and break with Daddy who keeps rising like a zombie to utter something notable in the negative racist style he favours.
It all seems very very familiar.
Party apparatchiks actively working against the clear wishes of the people it purports to represent whilst distorting information, ignoring the public voice & openly manipulating the process of the candidacy selection. The name Henry A Wallace springs to mind.
Have often wondered what the US [& the world] might have overcome had the peoples’ choice won the 1944 nomination for President.
We all understand how private schemes and public dreams are different beasts in the political machinations of an election. We all know history is written by the winners. But one truth exists regardless of poll results, all societies get faced with diverging pathways now and again. 1944 America had its choice made for it. 21st Century Britain now faces a similar situation. Once again it seems the will of the people is powerless against the influence of the powerful.
Back in 1944, the World War was ongoing. It consumed whatever resources it demanded and devoured people as easily as oil and steel. Externally, the USA was seen as a cohesive strong society with a proud and longstanding belief in freedom for all the world.
Internally, the USA was in nothing short of social turmoil as the people were steadily and progressively forging their will for equality and stating clearly how the increasingly invasive influence of big business was destroying the country’s ability to deliver Lady liberty’s promises.
In the build up to the 1944 Convention Henry Wallace was Vice President. An intelligent experienced administrator with many years of public service under his belt. He was an editor, a mathmatecian, he meditated. He was a practicing statistician and had a degree in animal husbandry. A man from the land who who laid the groundwork for hybrid crop development. He was the Secretary of Agriculture and Wallace chaired the Economic Defense Board, the Supply Priorities and Allocation Board, and the Board of Economic Warfare as a member of President Roosevelt’s secret “war cabinet”. He was President of the Senate, and would lead several diplomatic missions to Latin America and Asia and the Soviet Union.
Truman sold socks. Yes that is a bit harsh but what had he actually done to equal the experience and the ability of Wallace? Truman had been a Senator of no real accomplishments for ten years and prior to his rise to the senate had spent time as a Presiding Judge on a County Court. He was not a lawyer. His biggest achievement prior to winning the ’44 nomination for Vice President was as head of the Truman Committee which was formed to expose waste fraud and corruption in wartime contracts. (the irony is palpable when one considers the unfettered growth in such activity once he was ceded the Presidency in 1945) Basically he was a small businessman, who was co-opted into public office with zero hands on experience of the complex issues facing a post-war world.
Truman was barely on the radar as a candidate until a few weeks before the Convention began. The stories of what happened at the ’44 Convention are varied but there are few who would dispute the final vote was a sham fuelled by career promises and crony deals. Overnight, after a dubious adjournment, the delegates supporting Wallace were effectively locked out. As is the way with politics, big business won out and Truman was elected as running mate for Roosevelt. A year later Truman dropped the first atomic bombs before going on to oversee the biggest growth in peacetime arms manufacture the world had ever seen.
Henry Wallace spoke freely with anyone and had a huge public following but once he delivered the ‘Century of the Common Man’ speech his big plans for a better world were quickly becoming thorns in the paw of big business. His comprehensive real world grasp of the post-war challenges was head and shoulders above any other candidates. His policies were plans for the very world that the War was supposedly being fought for. No wonder that some inside (& outside) his party became dedicated to derailing his nomination.
Wallace campaigned on better health care, better social services, fair pay for fair work, free education, progressive tax systems. He spoke passionately on peace as a means to progress, he saw opportunities for better race relations and most importantly wanted the US to lead a downscaling of the industrial military machine that had been borne in the battles raging across the globe. Wallace was an obvious threat. Is it any wonder he is a minor footnote rarely referred to in US politics.
Things are not much different today, in fact many arguments could be put forward to say things are far worse.
The post war world was a gold rush in waiting and claim jumpers were ready to fight for every scrap of power they could claw at. The social policies of Wallace were anathema to the avarice we now witness as the status quo. He believed in the potential of people, the rights of workers, the rights of minorities, the rights of all peoples of the world to have the opportunity to live in peace. Your basic left wing nutbar some would say. I hazard a guess that Corbyn would agree, it all seems very very familiar.
Thanks freedom. I suppose you have seen the comments I put up on Hiroshima Day. I found a detailed and apparently authoritative story in The Atlantic I think about the methods used to decide about dropping the two nuclear bombs. And whether their terror balanced fairly against some more war dead over months of face-saving negotiation as the USA held onto the bombs as a last resort.
With Truman out of his depth and people like Byrnes running around doing god knows what behind the scenes, it is little surprise that cool heads like Secretary of War Stimson resigned only weeks after the bombs were dropped. Then again, he was seventy three. But I am not so sure he would have left so quickly had Wallace been in the oval office instead of Truman.
As the information you pointed to shows, history does suggest there were many in the administration who were beginning to see a post war world of atomic threats as a very destabilising apparatus for global peace to be built upon. There were certainly some experienced bodies in the administration who appear to have become very uncomfortable with the direction their caretaker President was taking. These views were largely based on simple and sparse knowledge of the device’s existence, without even seeing the weapon in operation. It is not unreasonable to assume that after the Trinity Test the cacophony of protest behind closed doors was much louder than the historians can prove. We can only daydream about alternative decisions in the days that followed.
As far as the decision to drop, well, no matter what details emerge, what battle plans are uncovered, what meetings are declassified, I will forever hold the opinion that inviting the nations of the world to send representatives to further test firing of the weapons would have immediately achieved the desired peace. If peace was what the powerful desired.
2. Congress Is Sick of the Secrecy Around the TPP
And Senator Sherrod Brown is blocking a key Obama nominee to show it.
““The Administration would rather sacrifice a nominee for a key post than improve transparency of the largest trade agreement ever negotiated,” Brown said in a statement. “This deal could affect more the 40 percent of our global economy, but even seasoned policy advisors with the requisite security clearance can’t review text without being accompanied by a Member of Congress. It shouldn’t be easier for multinational corporations to get their hands on trade text than for public servants looking out for American workers and American manufacturers.”
Refinery and their boss strikes black gold then turns pipe off for the workers down below. Left to scrap over the occasional drop ‘a 0.5 per cent pay rise’.
This article by Mike Treen on Nationals legalisation of zero hours contracts is pretty much a must read
I believe that the government is vulnerable on this issue. Whatever the initial intention of Woodhouse and his advisers it is clear that what has come back from Cabinet is so watered down as to be less than useless. They law is a danger to workers and will legitimise practises that they government had promised to end.
Considering that this is a National government I don’t suppose we should be surprised by the attacks on the workers. What we should be is angry.
You do know that Key and NZ would be well to the left of centre from the USA political perspective. I also find it cute that some in NZ think the USA and multinationals spend their days trying to subvert NZ for their own evil needs.
NZ MoH web site defers and links to the CDC on many pagesof the web site, and takes direct inputs from the CDC when making decisions on multiple levels
Nz and USA only two countries which currently allow direct consumer marketing by pharmaceutical companies
As two examples of how NZ is the USA. There are more that involve the CDC, FDA & MoH which as a doctor you must surely be aware of
You’re being deliberately misleading or extremely ignorant
You can’t dispute the examples which showed up the stupidity of your “usa isnt nz” comment, so once again you come back with a facile imbicilic comment
butbutbut the MoH website taking direct inputs from the CDC when making decisions on multiple levels (or whatever the fuck BH was trying to say) is totally relevant to drug companies offering inducements to doctors who prescribe their drugs.
The funny thing is that all of the recent incidents in my opinion demonstrate that the police have the tools to deal with these incidents with the equipment they have.
Thus far they have aprehended all suspects with no injury to any officers or the public and without (so far) any of the suspects being killed either.
The US police would love this sort of a positive outcome. Of course they armed all their police long ago and we can see how that turned out.
I certainly have no love for the law but from from what I’ve heard about the incident here in Whanganui this was attempted murder.
Seems the offenders fired at arms length but missed because they were so pissed and stoned and when the cops legged it ditching their high-vis gear and headed off into a paddock Dolphy* and co spent considerable time staggering around in the dark trying to hunt them down.
(nice enough kid but never had a chance, unwanted, uneducated, dreadful family violence, institutionalised at fourteen etc etc..)*
Yeah but at the same time we don’t want it to turn out like the US, where some cops level lethal weapons at anyone poor or brown they pull over for minor traffic infractions.
Well folks, on a lighter note, I have just prepared a cheese/tomato tart ready for dinner this evening, I had just sat back, logged in to see the comments for the day and the darned phone goes, I thought typical – well would you believe it, it was a young woman asking for me by name, when confirmed, she then went on to say “this is a phone call from John Key ” – I interrupted her and said “I can’t stand the bastard” and hung up on her – my partner is chuckling away here – oh boy did it feel good – I am still chuckling away myself – the poor girl is probably still getting over it – it would be interesting to see how many of these cold callers are getting a tirade of abuse from people. Have a good weekend.
One “northshoredoc” asserts, without bothering to back up his assertion with any evidence, the following….
Key and NZ would be well to the left of centre from the USA political perspective.
On what basis does he/she make such a claim? I see that our friend Blue Horseshoe has already pointed out that northshoredoc is stupid, so I’ll resist hurling any further epithets at the poor fellow.
I am willing, furthermore, to allow northshoredoc the opportunity to redeem himself by explaining why he made such a remarkable, evidence-free statement.
If you can’t figure out how NZ even under the current government is well to the left politically of the Democrats I would suggest you concentrate on your job as a second rate stenographer.
NZ even under the current government is well to the left politically of the Democrats
You did not say that. You said: “well to the left of centre from the USA political perspective.” Key and his cronies may be “to the left” of the people that have been prosecuting illegal wars in the Middle East and Africa, jailing whistle-blowers and murdering and terrorizing political dissenters. But they are NOT “to the left” of mainstream political thought in the United States or New Zealand. The political establishment is far to the right of the general public in America, just as it is in New Zealand and Australia and the United Kingdom and Canada.
The two main political parties, which have a stranglehold on political institutions, are notoriously corrupt and do not represent the public’s views in any meaningful sense.
Your confused comments indicate that you have little or no understanding of the depth and complexity of political debate in the United States. Are you aware of how popular Bernie Sanders is? Have you even heard of him? Or Ralph Nader? Or Noam Chomsky? Or Elizabeth Warren?
I would suggest you concentrate on your job as a second rate stenographer.
Geezus mate, the US Democrats would be considered a war-mongering crony corporate right wing party of state sponsored terrorism and torture in most developed countries in the world.
Let’s invite Hilary to give us a speech shall we? It’ll only cost us US$275,000.
Meanwhile let’s not forget that it was Clinton who eviscerated social welfare for poor families and their children, and passed NAFTA which gutted the US blue collar working class and American industry.
“Geezus mate, the US Democrats would be considered a war-mongering crony corporate right wing party of state sponsored terrorism and torture in most developed countries in the world.”
Most people in the United States want a fully funded public health care system, and they do not want the poor to be punished for being poor. That’s been shown in poll after poll after poll.
You are conflating the stance of the political class, which serves the private medical lobby and the armaments lobby, with the views of the population, which it ignores. You can recycle the deranged rhetoric of the extreme right all you like, but that doesn’t change the facts of the matter.
The US websites I have been looking at are commenting how over the last 30 years both Democrat and Republican parties have moved so far to the right that Reagan and Nixon would these days be considered too left wing to be presidential material. So I guess Key must be “left wing” somewhere between Reagan and Nixon in his politics.
Fair comment Glenn. But, as the Professor picked up, the political parties are not representative of public opinion. Poor old northshoredoc confused the brutal policies of the political establishment with “the USA political perspective”.
American people are much more serious and moral than the small elite that has control of the levers of power.
This is interesting as well. A fierce advertising effort has been launched by Saudi Arabia to convince U.S. lawmakers to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran, and they’ve recruited a cadre of former Senators to carry it out.
“I’m a big fan of tasers.”
Jim Mora’s light chat show is actually getting WORSE. The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 21 August 2015
Jim Mora, Andrew “Dire” Clay, Neil Miller
Incredibly, this dog of a program somehow continues to decline in quality. But then what else can we expect with guests of this calibre?
First discussion for the day: Should the police be armed or not? Miller opined that New Zealand is an “out-lier” on this issue, but that nothing will change until not only policemen, but members of the public start getting shot.
Of course, members of the public are getting shot—by the police. Sadly, however, neither Jim Mora nor Andrew “Dire” Clay had the presence of mind to remind him of this.
Miller then announced how much of a fan he is of police using tasers. Clay, who often refers to himself as a “liberal”, endorsed Miller’s view, burbling: “I’m a big fan of tasers.”
To introduce some informed comment on to the program, the producers had arranged for Mora to cross to Deakin University Associate Professor in Criminology Dr Darren Palmer, who quickly and eloquently showed that neither Clay nor Miller had a clue what they were talking about. Politely but devastatingly, he showed that every single point that they had made was fallacious.
Neil Miller had nothing at all to offer by way of counter-argument. However, once he had departed, Miller said: “Very cynical comments from an academic, I must say.”
It would be interesting to see if Clay and Miller maintained their enthusiastic pro-taser stance if either—or preferably both—of them were to be set upon and perhaps paralyzed by a gang of licensed thugs in police uniforms.
Neither of them has any discernible talent, as far as I can see. Clay has made some astonishingly ignorant comments on his many appearances on this chat show—-on one memorable occasion he expressed anguish at finding out “that the Khmer Rouge was SUPPORTED by the United States for political reasons! It just does my head in!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-28032013/#comment-611053
That revelation of horrifying government cynicism has not stopped him from going to Afghanistan to “support our troops”, which is really, of course, supporting our government’s decision to send them there. His anti-war comments have ceased since his government-sponsored trip.
Thanks for that Gabby. Now I am totally embarrassed. I am a more abject human being than any of my critics here has rated me in the past, and Neil Miller is a far better human being than I have been portraying him to be.
I thought I heard him say “cynical”, but there you are—-another Breen mis-step.
What’s even more impressive is that Mr Miller made that generous comment after Dr Palmer had shown him to be utterly ignorant and out of his depth.
Well done, Neil Miller—and thanks for correcting my horrible misconstrual, Gabby.
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Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
The opposition and other progressive forces in the country must maintain a sustained attack against the bias in the media.
Target the main puppets and always question their impartiality.
When being interviewed live make these accusations.
Control the corporate media, don’t let it control you.
It will never accept a progressive victory in the elections unless the opposition exists on its terms.
Follow the SNP and break your dependence on the corporate media.
Is there a purge of Corbyn supporters currently underway in the UK Labour leadership election ?
The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-leadership-longtime-supporters-of-party-claim-they-have-been-barred-from-voting-in-purge-10464046.html
The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/20/labour-leadership-election-rejected-supporters-express-their-anger
Need to remain cautious, of course…could be just the usual cock-ups…long-time Labour Party activists, members, even former candidates being told their application to vote has been rejected.
But, read through the above stories – along with the Twitter accounts of both Owen Jones and JeremyCorbyn4Leader over the last 24 hours – and you’ll get the distinct impression that it’s specifically the known Corbyn supporters who are being rejected.
Snap, I was just about to post this:
https://opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/michael-chessum/great-labour-purge-is-underway
The author of this article is less equivocal.
A lot of those being purged are young members who are the future of the party.
It just shows what the old guard of a dying party will do to hang on to their privileges and control. They’ll keep it out of office, they’ll trash every principle it once stood for, they’ll destroy its future, but God damn it, they’ll keep their expense accounts!
If that proves to be the case then it’s an extraordinary scandal.
Corbyn’s been packing out 1000+ venues throughout the UK for weeks (2000 at Newcastle a night or so back). They’ve had to move rallies to larger auditoria and set up overspill rooms. It’s a “democratic explosion unprecedented in British Political history”, as The Guardian’s Seumus Milne puts it.
He’s 32 points ahead of his nearest rival in the latest Leadership poll and 7 points ahead among the voting public. And he’s probably personally responsible for inspiring more than 100,000 new members / sign-ups.
The notion that this is all the product of some sort of nefarious Trade Union manipulation or Militant Tendency ‘Entryism’ is hilarious. What’s more it was the Blairite David Miliband who advocated this whole ‘3 Pound sign-up’ inclusiveness campaign to widen Party participation a few years ago and Tony Blair was reportedly highly enthusiastic (he welcomed it as “something I should have done myself”)……Right up, of course, until it all backfired a few weeks ago.
But the Entryism accusation does give New Labour establishment Grandees – its College of Cardinals – a motive to try and turn this election if they want to (doomed as such attempts may be).
It’s a real concern, though, that UK Labour announced a couple of weeks ago that it will:
(1) continue to purge / reject voters even after they’ve voted in the leadership election – ie right up to the moment the results are ready to be declared (a decision that shocked the British Electoral Reform group whose commercial arm is overseeing the vote)
(2) provide no details of the final vote (numbers/breakdowns) publicly. They will simply announce the winner.
Ample opportunity, perhaps, for A Very British Coup.
Even Le Pen in France has had to save the Party and break with Daddy who keeps rising like a zombie to utter something notable in the negative racist style he favours.
It all seems very very familiar.
Party apparatchiks actively working against the clear wishes of the people it purports to represent whilst distorting information, ignoring the public voice & openly manipulating the process of the candidacy selection. The name Henry A Wallace springs to mind.
Have often wondered what the US [& the world] might have overcome had the peoples’ choice won the 1944 nomination for President.
We all understand how private schemes and public dreams are different beasts in the political machinations of an election. We all know history is written by the winners. But one truth exists regardless of poll results, all societies get faced with diverging pathways now and again. 1944 America had its choice made for it. 21st Century Britain now faces a similar situation. Once again it seems the will of the people is powerless against the influence of the powerful.
Back in 1944, the World War was ongoing. It consumed whatever resources it demanded and devoured people as easily as oil and steel. Externally, the USA was seen as a cohesive strong society with a proud and longstanding belief in freedom for all the world.
Internally, the USA was in nothing short of social turmoil as the people were steadily and progressively forging their will for equality and stating clearly how the increasingly invasive influence of big business was destroying the country’s ability to deliver Lady liberty’s promises.
In the build up to the 1944 Convention Henry Wallace was Vice President. An intelligent experienced administrator with many years of public service under his belt. He was an editor, a mathmatecian, he meditated. He was a practicing statistician and had a degree in animal husbandry. A man from the land who who laid the groundwork for hybrid crop development. He was the Secretary of Agriculture and Wallace chaired the Economic Defense Board, the Supply Priorities and Allocation Board, and the Board of Economic Warfare as a member of President Roosevelt’s secret “war cabinet”. He was President of the Senate, and would lead several diplomatic missions to Latin America and Asia and the Soviet Union.
Truman sold socks. Yes that is a bit harsh but what had he actually done to equal the experience and the ability of Wallace? Truman had been a Senator of no real accomplishments for ten years and prior to his rise to the senate had spent time as a Presiding Judge on a County Court. He was not a lawyer. His biggest achievement prior to winning the ’44 nomination for Vice President was as head of the Truman Committee which was formed to expose waste fraud and corruption in wartime contracts. (the irony is palpable when one considers the unfettered growth in such activity once he was ceded the Presidency in 1945) Basically he was a small businessman, who was co-opted into public office with zero hands on experience of the complex issues facing a post-war world.
Truman was barely on the radar as a candidate until a few weeks before the Convention began. The stories of what happened at the ’44 Convention are varied but there are few who would dispute the final vote was a sham fuelled by career promises and crony deals. Overnight, after a dubious adjournment, the delegates supporting Wallace were effectively locked out. As is the way with politics, big business won out and Truman was elected as running mate for Roosevelt. A year later Truman dropped the first atomic bombs before going on to oversee the biggest growth in peacetime arms manufacture the world had ever seen.
Henry Wallace spoke freely with anyone and had a huge public following but once he delivered the ‘Century of the Common Man’ speech his big plans for a better world were quickly becoming thorns in the paw of big business. His comprehensive real world grasp of the post-war challenges was head and shoulders above any other candidates. His policies were plans for the very world that the War was supposedly being fought for. No wonder that some inside (& outside) his party became dedicated to derailing his nomination.
Wallace campaigned on better health care, better social services, fair pay for fair work, free education, progressive tax systems. He spoke passionately on peace as a means to progress, he saw opportunities for better race relations and most importantly wanted the US to lead a downscaling of the industrial military machine that had been borne in the battles raging across the globe. Wallace was an obvious threat. Is it any wonder he is a minor footnote rarely referred to in US politics.
Things are not much different today, in fact many arguments could be put forward to say things are far worse.
The post war world was a gold rush in waiting and claim jumpers were ready to fight for every scrap of power they could claw at. The social policies of Wallace were anathema to the avarice we now witness as the status quo. He believed in the potential of people, the rights of workers, the rights of minorities, the rights of all peoples of the world to have the opportunity to live in peace. Your basic left wing nutbar some would say. I hazard a guess that Corbyn would agree, it all seems very very familiar.
oops: “……. had the peoples’ choice won the 1944 nomination for Vice President.”
an inconvenient phone call made me miss the edit -sorry
Thanks freedom. I suppose you have seen the comments I put up on Hiroshima Day. I found a detailed and apparently authoritative story in The Atlantic I think about the methods used to decide about dropping the two nuclear bombs. And whether their terror balanced fairly against some more war dead over months of face-saving negotiation as the USA held onto the bombs as a last resort.
With Truman out of his depth and people like Byrnes running around doing god knows what behind the scenes, it is little surprise that cool heads like Secretary of War Stimson resigned only weeks after the bombs were dropped. Then again, he was seventy three. But I am not so sure he would have left so quickly had Wallace been in the oval office instead of Truman.
As the information you pointed to shows, history does suggest there were many in the administration who were beginning to see a post war world of atomic threats as a very destabilising apparatus for global peace to be built upon. There were certainly some experienced bodies in the administration who appear to have become very uncomfortable with the direction their caretaker President was taking. These views were largely based on simple and sparse knowledge of the device’s existence, without even seeing the weapon in operation. It is not unreasonable to assume that after the Trinity Test the cacophony of protest behind closed doors was much louder than the historians can prove. We can only daydream about alternative decisions in the days that followed.
As far as the decision to drop, well, no matter what details emerge, what battle plans are uncovered, what meetings are declassified, I will forever hold the opinion that inviting the nations of the world to send representatives to further test firing of the weapons would have immediately achieved the desired peace. If peace was what the powerful desired.
QFT
Oliver Stones Untold History of the U.S. tells the story of Wallace very well.
thanks freedom,
ive learnt something today,
well written.
Some recent articles on TPPA
1. “NAFTA countries reignite negotiations over TPP auto-parts dispute
Negotiators for Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are meeting in Washington to try to break a deadlock over autos – one of the biggest stumbling blocks to a massive Pacific Rim trade pact between 12 countries.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/nafta-countries-meeting-in-washington-over-tpp-auto-parts-dispute/article26029777/
2. Congress Is Sick of the Secrecy Around the TPP
And Senator Sherrod Brown is blocking a key Obama nominee to show it.
““The Administration would rather sacrifice a nominee for a key post than improve transparency of the largest trade agreement ever negotiated,” Brown said in a statement. “This deal could affect more the 40 percent of our global economy, but even seasoned policy advisors with the requisite security clearance can’t review text without being accompanied by a Member of Congress. It shouldn’t be easier for multinational corporations to get their hands on trade text than for public servants looking out for American workers and American manufacturers.”
http://www.thenation.com/article/congress-is-sick-of-the-secrecy-around-tpp/
3. Even Climate Change denier is convinced !!!!
Lord Christopher Monckton: TPP is Anti-Democracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk20WiYgp_4
4, http://www.bilaterals.org/ for news from several TPPA countries
Refinery and their boss strikes black gold then turns pipe off for the workers down below. Left to scrap over the occasional drop ‘a 0.5 per cent pay rise’.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/71289199/refining-nz-posts-strong-half-year-profit-of-652m-pays-dividend
Video from Wikileaks on TPP published 18 Aug 2015.
Includes Pilger and many other speakers.
+1
This article by Mike Treen on Nationals legalisation of zero hours contracts is pretty much a must read
Considering that this is a National government I don’t suppose we should be surprised by the attacks on the workers. What we should be is angry.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YQZ2UeOTO3I
John Oliver ‘- marketing to doctors
USA isn’t NZ.
Not yet, but if we give John Key enugh time and a TPP to back him then it may not be long until we are.
You do know that Key and NZ would be well to the left of centre from the USA political perspective. I also find it cute that some in NZ think the USA and multinationals spend their days trying to subvert NZ for their own evil needs.
Stupid response
NZ MoH web site defers and links to the CDC on many pagesof the web site, and takes direct inputs from the CDC when making decisions on multiple levels
Nz and USA only two countries which currently allow direct consumer marketing by pharmaceutical companies
As two examples of how NZ is the USA. There are more that involve the CDC, FDA & MoH which as a doctor you must surely be aware of
You’re being deliberately misleading or extremely ignorant
I quite agree that your response is stupid.
You can’t dispute the examples which showed up the stupidity of your “usa isnt nz” comment, so once again you come back with a facile imbicilic comment
If those examples had in fact exposed any stupidity you’d have a point.
butbutbut the MoH website taking direct inputs from the CDC when making decisions on multiple levels (or whatever the fuck BH was trying to say) is totally relevant to drug companies offering inducements to doctors who prescribe their drugs.
I thought that was HAARP. Oh well.
Greg O’Connor again calling for all police to be armed with firearms.
I wonder if he has shares in Glock…
The funny thing is that all of the recent incidents in my opinion demonstrate that the police have the tools to deal with these incidents with the equipment they have.
Thus far they have aprehended all suspects with no injury to any officers or the public and without (so far) any of the suspects being killed either.
The US police would love this sort of a positive outcome. Of course they armed all their police long ago and we can see how that turned out.
pretty much.
I certainly have no love for the law but from from what I’ve heard about the incident here in Whanganui this was attempted murder.
Seems the offenders fired at arms length but missed because they were so pissed and stoned and when the cops legged it ditching their high-vis gear and headed off into a paddock Dolphy* and co spent considerable time staggering around in the dark trying to hunt them down.
(nice enough kid but never had a chance, unwanted, uneducated, dreadful family violence, institutionalised at fourteen etc etc..)*
Yeah but at the same time we don’t want it to turn out like the US, where some cops level lethal weapons at anyone poor or brown they pull over for minor traffic infractions.
The dark side of low milk prices – heavily pregnant cows being sent off to the meat works – http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/71202444/Culling-of-dairy-cattle-increases-as-farmers-look-to-maximise-milk-profit-in-hard-season
So, the price of veal will be going down?
I am considering becoming a vegetarian.
News like this stengthens my resolve.
Well folks, on a lighter note, I have just prepared a cheese/tomato tart ready for dinner this evening, I had just sat back, logged in to see the comments for the day and the darned phone goes, I thought typical – well would you believe it, it was a young woman asking for me by name, when confirmed, she then went on to say “this is a phone call from John Key ” – I interrupted her and said “I can’t stand the bastard” and hung up on her – my partner is chuckling away here – oh boy did it feel good – I am still chuckling away myself – the poor girl is probably still getting over it – it would be interesting to see how many of these cold callers are getting a tirade of abuse from people. Have a good weekend.
Sweet as Barbara , thanks
One “northshoredoc” asserts, without bothering to back up his assertion with any evidence, the following….
On what basis does he/she make such a claim? I see that our friend Blue Horseshoe has already pointed out that northshoredoc is stupid, so I’ll resist hurling any further epithets at the poor fellow.
I am willing, furthermore, to allow northshoredoc the opportunity to redeem himself by explaining why he made such a remarkable, evidence-free statement.
Away you go, northshoredoc. The floor is yours….
Go away Morrissey.
If you can’t figure out how NZ even under the current government is well to the left politically of the Democrats I would suggest you concentrate on your job as a second rate stenographer.
Go away Morrissey.
?!!!???!?!?!?!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLezV_FmX38
NZ even under the current government is well to the left politically of the Democrats
You did not say that. You said: “well to the left of centre from the USA political perspective.” Key and his cronies may be “to the left” of the people that have been prosecuting illegal wars in the Middle East and Africa, jailing whistle-blowers and murdering and terrorizing political dissenters. But they are NOT “to the left” of mainstream political thought in the United States or New Zealand. The political establishment is far to the right of the general public in America, just as it is in New Zealand and Australia and the United Kingdom and Canada.
The two main political parties, which have a stranglehold on political institutions, are notoriously corrupt and do not represent the public’s views in any meaningful sense.
Your confused comments indicate that you have little or no understanding of the depth and complexity of political debate in the United States. Are you aware of how popular Bernie Sanders is? Have you even heard of him? Or Ralph Nader? Or Noam Chomsky? Or Elizabeth Warren?
I would suggest you concentrate on your job as a second rate stenographer.
Oooohhh, now THAT hurts.
“Go away Morrissey.
?!!!???!?!?!?!?”
Your sock puppetry has been well outed in the past as has your putain de poulet.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17032014/#comment-787979
Ouch! A palpable hit, sir!
Touché!
Geezus mate, the US Democrats would be considered a war-mongering crony corporate right wing party of state sponsored terrorism and torture in most developed countries in the world.
Let’s invite Hilary to give us a speech shall we? It’ll only cost us US$275,000.
Meanwhile let’s not forget that it was Clinton who eviscerated social welfare for poor families and their children, and passed NAFTA which gutted the US blue collar working class and American industry.
“Geezus mate, the US Democrats would be considered a war-mongering crony corporate right wing party of state sponsored terrorism and torture in most developed countries in the world.”
Yes my point exactly.
I can confirm that I’d vote NZ National Party ahead of US Democratic Party any day of the week…heaven forbid those are the choices given to us.
The US political establishment would consider our healthcare, education and social welfare system a step away from communism.
Most people in the United States want a fully funded public health care system, and they do not want the poor to be punished for being poor. That’s been shown in poll after poll after poll.
You are conflating the stance of the political class, which serves the private medical lobby and the armaments lobby, with the views of the population, which it ignores. You can recycle the deranged rhetoric of the extreme right all you like, but that doesn’t change the facts of the matter.
The US websites I have been looking at are commenting how over the last 30 years both Democrat and Republican parties have moved so far to the right that Reagan and Nixon would these days be considered too left wing to be presidential material. So I guess Key must be “left wing” somewhere between Reagan and Nixon in his politics.
Fair comment Glenn. But, as the Professor picked up, the political parties are not representative of public opinion. Poor old northshoredoc confused the brutal policies of the political establishment with “the USA political perspective”.
American people are much more serious and moral than the small elite that has control of the levers of power.
As are the people of the UK well to the left of Labour there.
Good point Paul. I note that the Labour Party’s Blairite establishment and its media parrots are working round the clock to smear Jeremy Corbyn.
Here’s an interesting fact. The second biggest shareholder in Rupert Murdoch’s parent company for Fox News is the nephew of the King of Saudi Arabia – http://bigthink.com/Resurgence/sharia-prince-owns-stake-in-fox-news-parent
This is interesting as well. A fierce advertising effort has been launched by Saudi Arabia to convince U.S. lawmakers to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran, and they’ve recruited a cadre of former Senators to carry it out.
A https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/08/20/wave-anti-iran-deal-tv-ads-organized-saudi-arabian-lobbyist/
“I’m a big fan of tasers.”
Jim Mora’s light chat show is actually getting WORSE.
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 21 August 2015
Jim Mora, Andrew “Dire” Clay, Neil Miller
Incredibly, this dog of a program somehow continues to decline in quality. But then what else can we expect with guests of this calibre?
First discussion for the day: Should the police be armed or not? Miller opined that New Zealand is an “out-lier” on this issue, but that nothing will change until not only policemen, but members of the public start getting shot.
Of course, members of the public are getting shot—by the police. Sadly, however, neither Jim Mora nor Andrew “Dire” Clay had the presence of mind to remind him of this.
Miller then announced how much of a fan he is of police using tasers. Clay, who often refers to himself as a “liberal”, endorsed Miller’s view, burbling: “I’m a big fan of tasers.”
To introduce some informed comment on to the program, the producers had arranged for Mora to cross to Deakin University Associate Professor in Criminology Dr Darren Palmer, who quickly and eloquently showed that neither Clay nor Miller had a clue what they were talking about. Politely but devastatingly, he showed that every single point that they had made was fallacious.
Neil Miller had nothing at all to offer by way of counter-argument. However, once he had departed, Miller said: “Very cynical comments from an academic, I must say.”
It would be interesting to see if Clay and Miller maintained their enthusiastic pro-taser stance if either—or preferably both—of them were to be set upon and perhaps paralyzed by a gang of licensed thugs in police uniforms.
Masochists can read more about Andrew “Dire” Clay HERE…..
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04122013/#comment-738941
Miller-watchers might like to peruse the following….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10082012/#comment-505179
Miller and Clay sound appalling.
Do you know what they have done in life to get a platform to espouse their repugnant views?
Neither of them has any discernible talent, as far as I can see. Clay has made some astonishingly ignorant comments on his many appearances on this chat show—-on one memorable occasion he expressed anguish at finding out “that the Khmer Rouge was SUPPORTED by the United States for political reasons! It just does my head in!”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-28032013/#comment-611053
That revelation of horrifying government cynicism has not stopped him from going to Afghanistan to “support our troops”, which is really, of course, supporting our government’s decision to send them there. His anti-war comments have ceased since his government-sponsored trip.
While Clay comes across as well intentioned but a bit dim, Miller is an altogether nastier case. I’ve written about him before….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02122013/#comment-737424
As the late great Bruce Jesson used to say, a lot of people go a long way by being pushy and self-centred. That’s certainly the case with Neil Miller.
To be fair, he said “Very SENSIBLE comments”
Thanks for that Gabby. Now I am totally embarrassed. I am a more abject human being than any of my critics here has rated me in the past, and Neil Miller is a far better human being than I have been portraying him to be.
I thought I heard him say “cynical”, but there you are—-another Breen mis-step.
What’s even more impressive is that Mr Miller made that generous comment after Dr Palmer had shown him to be utterly ignorant and out of his depth.
Well done, Neil Miller—and thanks for correcting my horrible misconstrual, Gabby.
This is front page news in the Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/21/new-zealand-conservationists-apologise-over-accidental-shooting-of-endangered-takahe
Didn’t seem to get much attention over here and it’s our endangered species.
It’s been in the news all bloody day.