The official term for piracy is now “taking control”
Israeli Navy boards Gaza-bound ship ‘Estelle’
by YAAKOV LAPPIN, The Jerusalem Post 10/20/2012 18:16
Navy seizes Swedish ship carrying 30 pro-Palestinian activists after it refused to change course, tows it to Ashdod. PHOTO: COURTESY IDF
The Navy took control of a Swedish ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists towards Gaza on Saturday, and towed the vessel to Ashdod instead.
The activists refused all Israeli requests to divert their course, and had declared that their intention was to violate Israel’s naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. ….
Ah, yes. But of course, there are always two sides (at least) to a story. I aw the Al Jazeera version on my TV this morning, as in the video here, aor with the print report here.
“The Estelle is now under attack – I have just had a message from them by phone,” Victoria Strand, a Stockholm-based spokeswoman for the Ship to Gaza Sweden campaign told the AFP news agency on Saturday.
According to Dror Feiler, another spokesperson, the SV Estelle, whose passengers included five parliamentarians from Europe and a former Canadian politician, was boarded at around 08:15 GMT.
“Five or six military vessels surrounded the Estelle. Soldiers wearing masks are now trying to board the ship. The attack took place on international water: N31 26 E33 45,” Feiler said. The Israeli military confirmed that the ship was boarded.
Thanks for that, karol. I posted a brief and polite response on the Jerusalem Post comments section. I wrote: “‘Taking control’—the new term for piracy.”
Instead of being immediately published, as no doubt all the racist and bloody-minded anti-Palestinian posts were, my comments were “put into moderation”.
No wonder their comment section is so overwhelmingly pro-government. And no wonder the Jerusalem Post is dismissed by thinking people as Israel’s Pravda.
Israel, politically, has long enjoyed the full backing of the United States. (I have no argument with the Israeli people as a whole). To his credit, Obama has been distancing the brutally minded Netanyahu in more recent times, especially on that man’s pressing desire to attack Iran. (It is Israel that possesses the nuclear weapons, not Iran). Now we should really worry with Romney looking a possibility for President. The Israeli government will welcome him with glee. With Romney the world would become, generally, in greater danger (not to mention the rich becoming richer and yet more powerful). This would be likely worse than the rule of George Bush. Yes, yet again, we have to bewail the short memories of human kind!
Thanks for this Morrissey, It must be terribly disappointing and possibly very frightening for the those aboard the Estelle, but when it comes to enforcing the siege on Gaza Israel is no longer all powerful.
While the sea going route to the territory of Gaza is still blocked by Israel and it’s allies.
Less widely reported in the Western media is their weakness in enforcing the siege on land. What has not been reported in the Western median media is that the internationall convoy movement has had much more success breaking the siege of Gaza by the overland route through Egypt and across the Sinai Desert.
Before the fall of Mubarak International aid convoys of trucks filled with medical and other aid were stopped by the Egyptian police and army at the border and turned back. If they refused to turn back they were beaten and arrested by by Mubarak’s riot police who enforced the siege on the territory at the border between Egypt and Gaza in agreement with and on behalf of Israel.
Despite this they persisted.
In one dramatic encounter in 2009 after being attacked by Egyptian riot police the international convoyers fought back and captured numbers of police and even one senior officer who they agreed to release if the police released all the arrested convoy members.
Unable to be moved on by the Egyptian authorities the convoyers through sheer persistence and determination and with the support of the Egyptian people forced the Mubarak regime to back down and let the International Aid convoy enter Gaza.
After this defeat for the Mubarak authorities Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit tried to play down this defeat in the Arab media describing the international aid convoys as “farcical” and said Egyptian authorities would no longer allow such solidarity convoys.[16]
Leading up to, and since the Arab Spring, despite continuing resistance from Egyptian authorities particularly within the army and the police who still hold loyalties to the old regime, several more land convoys have been able to break through the siege and successfully enter Gaza through the northen Egyptian border.
In defying the internationally illegal siege, New Zealand’s own Kia Ora Gaza headed by team captain Roger Fowler have since participated in two successful international overland convoys, one in 2011 in open defiance of Mubarak’s ban and one since his overthrow.
As in the overthrow of the apartheid regime in South Africa, through their courageous and defiant actions New Zealanders can also claim some small part in the overthrow of the oppressive Mubarak regime.
Though the land seige hasn’t been broken, the international convoy movement’s efforts have seriously weakened the enforcement of the siege at the Egyptian border allowing more and more people and goods to get through into Gaza across the Sinai.
Internationally renowned scholar Noam Chomsky is the latest person to defy the siege and enter Gaza through northern Egypt. In 2010 Chomsky was prevented from entering Gaza through the Israeli controlled border. Chomsky is due to defiantly deliver an address today at Gaza university his topic will be the significance of the Arab Spring.
No doubt like every other successful breach of the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza a media cone of silence will descend.
However a full report will be carried on the Kia Ora Gaza website when it comes to hand.
Thanks for this Morrissey, It must be terribly disappointing and possibly very frightening for the those aboard the Estelle, but when it comes to enforcing the siege on Gaza Israel is no longer all powerful.
While the sea going route to the territory of Gaza is still blocked by Israel and it’s allies.
Less widely reported in the Western media is their weakness in enforcing the siege on land. What has not been reported in the Western median media is that the internationall convoy movement has had much more success breaking the siege of Gaza by the overland route through Egypt and across the Sinai Desert.
Before the fall of Mubarak International aid convoys of trucks filled with medical and other aid were stopped by the Egyptian police and army at the border and turned back. If they refused to turn back they were beaten and arrested by by Mubarak’s riot police who enforced the siege on the territory at the border between Egypt and Gaza in agreement with and on behalf of Israel.
Despite this they persisted.
In one dramatic encounter in 2009 after being attacked by Egyptian riot police the international convoyers fought back and captured numbers of police and even one senior officer who they agreed to release if the police released all the arrested convoy members.
Unable to be moved on by the Egyptian authorities the convoyers through sheer persistence and determination and with the support of the Egyptian people forced the Mubarak regime to back down and let the International Aid convoy enter Gaza.
After this defeat for the Mubarak authorities Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit tried to play down this defeat in the Arab media describing the international aid convoys as “farcical” and said Egyptian authorities would no longer allow such solidarity convoys.[16]
Leading up to, and since the Arab Spring, despite continuing resistance from Egyptian authorities particularly within the army and the police who still hold loyalties to the old regime, several more land convoys have been able to break through the siege and successfully enter Gaza through the northen Egyptian border.
In defying the internationally illegal siege, New Zealand’s own Kia Ora Gaza headed by team captain Roger Fowler have since participated in two successful international overland convoys, one in 2011 in open defiance of Mubarak’s ban and one since his overthrow.
As in the overthrow of the apartheid regime in South Africa, through their courageous and defiant actions New Zealanders can also claim some small part in the overthrow of the oppressive Mubarak regime.
Though the land seige hasn’t been broken, the international convoy movement’s efforts have seriously weakened the enforcement of the siege at the Egyptian border allowing more and more people and goods to get through into Gaza across the Sinai.
Internationally renowned scholar Noam Chomsky is the latest person to defy the siege and enter Gaza through northern Egypt. In 2010 Chomsky was prevented from entering Gaza through the Israeli controlled border. Chomsky is due to defiantly deliver an address today at Gaza university his topic will be the significance of the Arab Spring.
No doubt like every other successful breach of the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza a media cone of silence will descend.
However a full report will be carried on the Kia Ora Gaza website when it comes to hand.
Well, well, well – will the opposition be able to level the “nanny-state” at this administration at last. There are clubs up and down the country that have as one of their door raffle prizes “An annual membership” which will be worth a lot more than this $500 limit.
Key is going to get an avalanche of correspondence on this one and watch him try to get it dropped immediately … his mates in golf clubs will be livid.
Now thats a shame as it just puts the kibosh an a great week end. Yes there’s some big prizes but everyone has the same chance. Unlike Pokies where the machine has the best chance, and will break up families. Yep thats the Anti Nanny state at work, break up the family, get more Pokies out there. Don’t allow the fishing comps to continue, they are against the Anti Nanny State.
I found myself totally in agreement with him. Rachel has a low key but direct approach to interviewing that IMHO produces much more information than otherwise.
I am just watching her discuss with a panel including Kennedy Graham and Federated Farmers William Rawlston discussing carbon credits. She effectively showed how shallow Fed Farmer’s rationale for opposing Farming being part of our system. Their rationale is if we make it more expensive for farmers production will flood overseas to countries with less carbon efficient farming techniques. There is no analysis of how much more expensive, or the relative cost of production in different countries compared to her, just a bald statement that if they have to pay a modest ETS price all farms will shut down.
Kennedy Graham had the perfect response. He said shocks have happened in the past and how some countries, notably the Social Democratic countries, are reducing emissions. In NZ they are growing. He talked about the need for behavioral modification change.
He also talked about how countries could be world leaders, fast followers, apathetic spectator or willful obstructionists. He thought NZ was somewhere in the middle. I believe he meant that NZ is between apathetic spectators and willful obstructionists.
Micky and what would you suggest we do about our 0.2% contribution, which won’t put further pressure on our major export industry, followed by higher consumer prices, which will hit those who are already struggling most?
Climate change isn’t the issue. NZ will do very well out of climate change, thank you very much. Liquid fossil fuel depletion is.
Its when diesel goes up to $4/L – $5/L which is the problem. Without massive socio-economic restructuring NOW, our transportation, farming and industrial systems grind to a halt and unstoppable pressure comes on to convert coal to diesel and go deep sea drilling.
No, tallow isn’t viable simply because raising that many cows isn’t viable. Electricity, on the other hand, is – except for the exporting, for that we’ll be using sail.
Um Muzza you are making the exact mistake Federated Farmers made.
The rationale you present is that if farmers have to pay for greenhouse gas emissions they will immediately become unprofitable and will have to flood overseas and defoliate large parts of the Amazon so they can set up farms under a more benign administration.
Whereas it seems to me that farming in NZ is extremely profitable and all that we will be doing is reducing private profit slightly.
And yes we only contribute .2% of the world’s GHGs. But we comprise only .06% of the world’s population.
Of course we should do our bit. If we do not then why should anyone in the world do “their bit”?
Of course we should do our bit. If we do not then why should anyone in the world do “their bit”?
Except they’re not going to do that are they, and if NZ does or does not is hardly an influence!
And the mistakes being made are by people swallowing copius loads of BS on all sides!
@ CV – Yeah about that liquid fossel fuel depletion – Making sure NZ loses access to its own oil/gas reserves, certainly assists in ensuring that NZ continues to be at the mercy of those who control those resources globally!
We need to restructure the dependancies, but thats not on the cards currently is it!
So you think that we should do nothing to save our planet from environmental ruin because we are only doing a bit of damage (albeit at the rate of three times as much as the rest of the people on the planet) and besides some others are not doing their share either?
So you think that we should do nothing to save our planet from environmental ruin because we are only doing a bit of damage (albeit at the rate of three times as much as the rest of the people on the planet) and besides some others are not doing their share either?
Many times I have repeated a stance on the pollution/destruction which is wrecking this planet, so ill say it again.
Absolutely it needs to stop, only it won’t, not under current systems/conditions that control all aspects of our lives, it should become very clear by now that TPTB are not especially interested, for the time being!
Especially as all those other farmers in the social democratic countries overseas are doing their bit, it’s a disgrace that our farmers are being let off.
Of course, focussing just on farmers is bullshit. As it is, only two more generations of farmers (max) will have access to large quantities of fert and the diesel needed to spread it with. One way or another, NZ farming is going back to its low intensity roots.
What I want to see is for more city dwellers to give up their personal transport. And to quit buying stuff which has to be made and shipped from 10,000 km away.
For all of these things to happen without major unpleasant disruption we need to seriously restructure our entire economy and economic infrastructure NOW.
Change our export industry to one that’s less damaging. Of course, we have to do that anyway as we have to cut down the number of farms so that we can clean up our rivers and lakes and bring NZ back to having a pristine environment.
You can stream parts of The Nation here
They usually have most of the show up in segments on saturday or sunday – Hone was on this week talking asset shares.
Bernard Hickey is onto the UK Starbucks’ tax evasion story today, and asks if we should be getting onto such evasions in NZ.
Google, for example, made losses for tax purposes in New Zealand in the last two years, despite advertising industry estimates that last year it made revenues from NZ of more than $100 million. Last year it paid just $109,000 in tax in NZ.
Perhaps it’s time NZ consumers and taxpayers targeted companies such as Google and Facebook that don’t pay their fair share of tax globally.
Meanwhile, speaking of Facebook and business, Dotcom shows he’s not really aligned with the left, but with making money out of social networking.
Hopefully no one mistook Dotcom to be “aligned with the Left”. We just need him to help hold crony politicians to account, whether they are Left, Centre or Right.
A really good colunn from Matt McCarten today about the destruction of our local communities by shopping corporations like the Warehouse. It reminded me how much has changed in the 20-odd years I’ve lived where I do. I particularly miss the little gardening shop in my local shopping centre. A mine of local and more general gardening information, and quite a social spot. It shut down about ten years ago, and since that time, other than the chain-shops, cheap import outlets, and the op-shops, very few retailers have survived. There are always a few empty shops at any given time. Businesses regularly start up, but sadly you know it’s probably not going to be long until the closing down sale, and it seldom is.
Recently, I started making more effort to buy from old-fashioned grocery, butchery, and fruit and vege shops rather than the ubiquitous supermarket. I have to admit the first thing I noticed was how much dearer pretty much everything was, and I wondered if I could afford to shop according to my conscience. Not without cutting back, anyway.
The problem is this very viscious circle in which, due to a variety of community-destructive practices, supermarkets, the Warehouse etc. are significantly cheaper, and out-compete and drive out community enterprises. At the same time wages are down and unemployment is up, many people are struggling, and those cheaper prices are an essential part of making ends meet. And the big chains employ fewer people the the old community shopping centres did, at reduced wages, in worse conditions………….. and so it continues.
In the closest main center to me, you simply cannot buy any hardware materials within any reasonable walking distance of the city center. And there was, until very recently, only one greengrocer’s…located in a suburb about an hour’s walk away. Things moved forward with the establishment of a single non-supermarket outlet for vegetables within walking of the city center.
And to think that in the township I live there used to a butcher, a baker, a post office, a general store…all gone bar the dairy. Thankfully, at least the dairy owner is committed to serving the locals and sourcing stock accordingly – as opposed to stocking the vastly overpriced tatt from the usual dairy store suppliers.
Lower priced peripheral land being exploitable due to a car culture won’t last forever!
As American suburb dwellers are being forced to discover. With no footpaths in many suburbs, no where to go even if there were, $5/gallon gasoline is going to be a real shock for them. (Even though I think we basically pay that in NZ now, the US has been sheltered from the true price of fossil fuels due to theirs being the oil reserve currency of the world).
Only observational : But it is here !!!
Ater the property bubble of the 2003-7 we experienced perhaps even a 10% rebalancing. Over the last 6 months + there has been a marked increase in properties (excluding mono plastered properties) Just review local Auckland property presses and the lack of properties with stated selling prices – Tender & Auctions dominate the means of addressing pricing. Banks have returned to past practices plenty of cheap money flowing into NZ reflecting in extremely low rates of NZ just above 5%. http://www.interest.co.nz/borrowing http://www.3news.co.nz/Housing-bust-could-be-looming/tabid/421/articleID/260837/Default.aspx
I have seen properties selling 20% above expectations Valuations/vendor and estate agents. I know Key struggles to remember what he voted on 2 months ago http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841405
Yet here we are 5 years on and forgetting what happened last time. We worry about selling a few $ of SOE assets yet here we are indirectly selling so much more of NZ offshore, only here it is disguised in bank loans. Should the market collapse NZ equity is lost as the banks have 1st claims on any sales obtained and then able to repay their backers. And if times get really tough “To Big to Fail” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_big_to_fail
Labour’s Shane Jones and the Greens Gareth Hughes are on Q&A discussing New Zealand’s approach to declaring parts of the Ross Sea off limits for commercial fishing.
Murray McCully was invited to attend but said that he was too busy. His Government is in the unusual position where its proposal is less protective than the United States position.
The Government should not be too concerned, Jones is doing a good line of trotting out their lines and defending their position. Apparently the science is settled and reducing the number of tooth fish by about half is somehow “sustainable fishing”.
As Mike Smith said recently Jones needs to work out if he is a Labour Party MP or a sea lord MP.
October 21st 2015 is the day, the greatest
day in the History of Earth, no day on
earth will be happier for all the earth’s humans.
You see October 21 2015 is the day that (according
to the movie back to the future 2) we finally get
HOVERBOARDS!!!
Sure, here on October 21 2012, some physics
professors,such as Michio Kaku might say, “We
aren’t that advanced yet and we won’t have
Hoverboards by 2015”
Well I say “Not with that attitude”
I believe in Marty, Doc and Jennifer, I believe
the date October 21 2015 was picked for a
reason, I believe that on every corner of the
planet, we will have Hoverboards, some
might even have pitbulls, and the future
will be here.
We won’t have flying cars, or clothes that
dry themselves, or any other gadget like
that, but we will have HOVERBOARDS!
So to the world’s scientist’s, to the Geeks,
to the engineers, to the brainiest people
on earth, stop worrying about creating
what you have been creating, it is now, October
21 2012, you have three more years, three
more years, till you give the people of earth,
the greatest invention in HISTORY.
Kabbalah seems to be more exclusive than that, and tied to the Khazars who are possibily impersonating being “Jewish”.
Whatever it is thats going on, it gets played out in hollywood, on, and off the screens on a regular basis. The history of abuse, murder, and the overt in your face numerology, and paganistic symbolism in movies/tv, not to mention the satanic overtones which have become so blatant in the pop music industry of late!
Im still hopeful, maybe not like the movie, but maybe in 40 years time, some multi billion dollar theme park will create that controlled indoor environment.
Section 156A replaced (Minister may merge schools)
Replace section 156A with:
“156AMinister may merge schools
“(1)Subject to sections 156B and 157, the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, merge 1 or more State schools (merging schools) that are not integrated schools with another State school (the continuing school) that is not an integrated school, if the Minister is satisfied that—
“(a)each board of a school concerned has made reasonable efforts to consult the parents of students (other than adult students) enrolled full-time at the school about the proposed merger; and
“(b)the consultation that has taken place has been adequate in all the circumstances; and
“(c)the creation of a single school by the proposed merger is appropriate in the circumstances.
supports the uptake of early childhood education by allowing a national student number to be allocated to children who are identified as being likely to benefit from attending an early childhood service, but who are unlikely to attend such a service;
The next time Monsieur Matthew Hooton gets on radio, he should be asked how deep Natz MPs will be reaching into their wallets and handbags to fund the next election.
“… the National Party has started to realise that potential donors and its traditional donors are not committing to its donor fund for its fighting fund … as it builds up towards the 2014 election.
“National party MPs have been requested by the party apparatus to contribute $30,000 over the next year – to contribute to the fighting fund for 2014. (Labour at its worst was – its MPs were asked to contribute around $5000.)
“These people [ie Natz] are running scared and that information is from the inside.”
But to continue with it as Banks and certain others did, a decade later, when Ellis and his legal team (with overwhelming public support), were pushing to have his named cleared, well frankly that defies political commonsense. Its a behaviour that just doesn’t add up; unless of course one factors in the possibility that there had been other powerful stakeholders with interests and agenda’s of their own in judicial mix….which, readers, is not that uncommon in New Zealand; a remarkably small group of people have held far to much power for far to long, and they’ve all been intent on selfishly protecting their thrones.
In cases of wrongful conviction in New Zealand there are always dangerous undercurrents hidden from sight. People and events that are concealed and protected from the public’s steely glare. We believe that in the Peter Ellis miscarriage of justice case, perhaps more than any of its contemporaries, this “protection racket” may be behind Mr Ellis’s inability to obtain justice. Post trial and Ellis’s release from prison (starting with the ‘Eichelbaum Report‘) the events, the officials attitudes, the politicking and the governments actions have never quite stacked up (at least in the minds of the intelligent Kiwi’s we’ve spoken with); the question is why?
And still these same people are wrecking lives, and still the apathy of Kiwis allows it to continue. Yet more excellent work from the LF Team, on “No Corruption NZ”
UHT milk tastes foul, I don’t blame the kids for not drinking it. Fonterra should maybe have done a bit of market research to see whether what they are offering is going to be palatable to those receiving the milk.
C73 you continue to prove new research showing right wingers have simplistic answers for complex problems while claiming at the same time to be better educated and more intelligent than the the rest of us.
Selfishness is all your up to nothing more!
Then stop complaining about what they eat (or lack of) if they were in such a bad way as Labour likes to crow about then drinking some UHT milk wouldn’t be such a hardship
You might have a point if none of the kids drank the milk.
As it is, it would seem at least some are hungry enough to drink milk that they don’t like.
Weak tory effort to pretend that if some are not in hardship, none are in hardship springs to mind. By your logic if someone quits a job, nobody is unemployed and really looking for a job.
Boo hoo if the milk they don’t pay for isn’t what they like. Its free, its good for them so maybe they should be a little more greatful
This is one of the problems of the left, a company gives out free milk (yes its good publicity but its still free milk) but some kids don’t like the taste because its not what they’re used to (now if it tasted like an energy drink…) so its blame the company
To paraphrase Bob Jones: If $50 dollar notes fell from the sky you lefties would complain it wasn’t $100 dollar notes
Hey chris73, I thought you liked the idea that the ‘customer was always right’ and that it was important to take feedback into account to ‘continuously improve the service that one provides’.
Good private sector values, you know. Try using them sometime.
Well, from my perspective is that an ill-suited corporate marketing ploy is being operated in place of any government efforts in the area. And that tories like you are arguing that a high dropout rate in this imperfect pilot scheme is evidence that there is no problem that the government should be addressing.
Of course, if you weren’t such a blinkered arsehole you’d know that the success of any scheme involves providing the good or service in a manner that is appropriate to the audience, not just in the manner that’s convenient for the supplier.
Don’t worry Chris73, some children are so hungry they really appreciate this horrible tasting milk, so please don’t scorn this initiative and perhaps stop it.If you had read further down the article you would have found this information and not needed to post such a sarcastic comment.
Several schools, although having seen numbers level off, consider the programme a massive success.
At Manaia View School at least 90 per cent of the children have milk every day.
“I’ve got lots of kids who ask for more as a reward,” said Ian Bird, the teacher in charge of milk.
At Kaitaia Primary School milk was reaching those most in need.
“We are decile 1C for a good reason.
“We have a number of families who struggle financially, and with the cost of fresh food and milk they just can’t afford it,” principal Brendon Morrissey said.
Chris73, please notice the sentence “We are decile 1C for a good reason.”
I knew a simple minded, cynical, wanna- play- Nact -mindset would pick this badly written, misleading, dogwhistle article up and try to present it’s headline and first part as ‘evidence’ that children are not hungry. Shame on you. Try and aim for higher morals Chris and a more becoming point of view. Perhaps the journalist who wrote this could think a little more too, rather than ‘muddy the waters and end up writing what I have heard are “coloured” articles. In this case, it was coloured navy blue and faded yellow.
I’m picking the whole thing is ‘a have’ that will not incidentally benefit Fontera on the publicity front. Y’know, roll out a system that is deliberately set up to fall over so that in the future, when somebody raises the issue of milk in schools, the finger can be pointed at the ungrateful ingrates who refused to drink the milk those nice guys at Fontera provided ‘last time we tried that’.
Meantime, why not Fontera’s best approximaton of real milk alongside the necessary refrigeration (which would cost sweet f.a. in the scheme of things) and whatever flavourings that might have been necessary in order that the kids considered it palatable or potable?
“I am beginning to wonder if kids are so used to sugar that they don’t want to drink milk anymore,” said principal Barbara Bronlund.
Or it could be just that milk is just really horrible to drink.
… putting recycling programmes in place for the packaging, which has also unexpectedly proved a problem.
No, it didn’t “unexpectedly proved a problem” it’s that the numbskulls putting the scheme in place didn’t think about the natural results of supplying more rubbish to the schools. Now, if we still had milk in glass bottles the recycling wouldn’t be such a problem.
When Josh Fattal and I finally came before the Revolutionary Court in Iran, we had a lawyer present, but weren’t allowed to speak to him. In California, an inmate facing the worst punishment our penal system has to offer short of death can’t even have a lawyer in the room. He can’t gather or present evidence in his defense. He can’t call witnesses. Much of the evidence—anything provided by informants—is confidential and thus impossible to refute.
2 good items in todays Sunday Star Times.
one says that kweewees diamond has lost its shine and the other is a large leader on the govt CEO pay.
it says that the justifications for the sums being payed to these presumed titans and would be captains of industry are just piffle.
what more can one say.
its our money and National is just handing it out to their mates for no good reason.
time to reign them in.
bring it up at the next Labour Party meeting you attend and dont let go.
Interesting that 3 News included this story in it’s 6pm bulletin tonight. And Dunne at the end acting all surprised..?!
New research reveals tax dodgers are ripping off the country at up to 150 times the rate of welfare fraudsters, but are being jailed much less often.
So why are our courts showing more tolerance to tax evaders? One is not giving what you should; the other is taking what you shouldn’t.
They also had a report on the anti-austerity demo in London this weekend. But why use a report from US TV and not one from the UK? Or even Al Jazeera?
Nurses, cleaners, librarians and ambulance drivers were among those who joined the march and a rally in London’s central Hyde Park, in one of the biggest anti-austerity protests this year. Organisers estimated that 150,000 people took part.
Marches also took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Glasgow, Scotland. Police said the London march had passed peacefully and they expected to report a low number of arrests in a bulletin later.
Trade union leaders are trying to use the rally to pile more pressure on Cameron, telling protesters the government’s economic plan has failed and only prolonged Britain’s recession.
Its cause TV3 aim towards younger viewership. Older people lean towards the UK, younger people towards the USA.
In the end there is little difference. UK & USA are both imperialistic forces which shape our current form of liberal democratic capitalism. Ignoring that Fox News comedy channel, BBC and USA news are not that much different.
Al Jazeera and RT are worth a watch.
“Hey chris73, I thought you liked the idea that the ‘customer was always right’ and that it was important to take feedback into account to ‘continuously improve the service that one provides’.
Good private sector values, you know. Try using them sometime.”
I don’t think the customer is always right (I’ve spent a few years in customer service) I think the customer is generally a greedy, grasping moron.
But that aside a customer is defined as:
A customer (also known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product, or idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier for a monetary or other valuable consideration.
So unless the kids or schools are paying (I don’t think the free publicity counts) for the milk they ain’t customers.
If Fonterra was using “Good private sector values” they’d be charging the schools but they’re not
“If Fonterra was using “Good private sector values” they’d be charging the schools but they’re not”
Just shows your simple mind. See, what they did was identify a need that the government refuses to acknowledge. They use the “oh look, we’re being nice to the kiddies” to make its consumers feel better about being reamed by a near-monopoly.
Such a shame their programme is a bit off the mark. What’s the humanitarian equivalent of “greenwashing”, I wonder?
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In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Over the past fortnight, thousands of people have come to the Ihumātao land protest in South Auckland. On 23 July police prepared to evict a few dozen people who had maintained the encampment at Ihumātao for the past three years. As hundreds of supporters arrived the ...
The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
Findings from the 2018 New Zealand Consumer Survey have been released and the results are in; 48 per cent of respondents consider their purchases based on how ethically employees are treated. ...
The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Rioting broke out in Manokwari, West Papua, today as local people – mostly university students – protested against racial abuse of Papuan students in East Java, reports TheJakarta Post. The protesters blocked a number of major streets in the city this morning, cutting down ...
By Ben Bilua in Suva Multimedia skills and innovation are key to adapting to the changing media landscape, said US academic Professor Debora Wenger as newsmakers around the world continue to grapple with challenges arising from the transformation of technology and social media. Speaking to journalists at a regional ...
The new RBNZ seems to crave the limelight and be known for advocacy of new causes, and that has not impressed macroeconomics professor Robert MacCulloch. ...
The prime minister won't meet with Ihumātao protesters before Thursday - the deadline given by the group to stop them marching to her Auckland electorate office. ...
Cabinet ministers will discuss possible law changes to what mail can be received and sent by prisoners, after the accused Christchurch gunman was able to send mail to supporters. ...
The Catholic and Anglican churches are still considering quashing legal agreements that may prevent abuse survivors from giving evidence to the inquiry investigating historical abuse in care. ...
The new joint from the team behind one of Wellington’s favourite craft beer bars is dedicated to minimal-intervention, organic wine – and more exciting things are coming to the heritage building it’s housed in.Before the Cadbury factory opened in Dunedin in 1930, New Zealanders ate Cadbury chocolate made in England. ...
Alex Casey chats to Bree Tomasel about hosting Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, farting in the ZM studio and going viral on the regular. The most important thing you need to know about Bree Tomasel is not the fact that she peed her pants during Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, but the glee ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsAnalysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – The election race is on. The nominations process for local government positions has now closed, and the political campaign is officially underway. But does the public care? Will many of us even vote for any of the various mayoral or council ...
At Eden Park on Saturday night, the Wallabies were on the receiving end of a ruthless players’ revenge, writes Scotty StevensonThe rain came. It always seems to at Eden Park, just as the Wallabies warm up on the pitch, dreaming of ending a drought. It came from the west, the ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Michael Fallow (Stuff): Your council – what’s its job description? Dileepa Fonseka and ...
Protesters occupying land at Ihumātao will begin a four-hour hikoi to Mt Albert on Thursday to present a petition calling on the Prime Minister to visit the land. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Walvisch, Lecturer, Monash University This morning an Extinction Rebellion protester was arrested after hanging from a rope over the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane, blocking all lanes to peak hour traffic. And earlier this month in Brisbane, more than 70 climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Jobson, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Monash University Many of us enjoy writing in a diary, reading autobiographies or nostalgically reflecting with others about past times. Why is remembering our past so important? Are there downsides? And what can we do ...
Roll Red Roll is a brutal, painfully illuminating documentary on the Steubenville High School rape case, a shocking crime that made headlines worldwide. Emily Writes reviews. This review discusses rape and sexual violenceAugust 11, 2012: two teenage boys rape an unconscious teenage girl as two of their peers watch and ...
By RNZ Pacific Tuvalu’s Prime Minister has condemned the Australian Prime Minister’s conduct at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum, calling Scott Morrison’s attitude “unfortunate” and “neo-colonial,” and questioning Australia’s future in the 18-member body. In an interview with RNZ on Sunday, Enele Sopoaga also threatened to pull Tuvaluan labour from ...
The second hui of the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki takes place in Hamilton today. Newsroom, in partnership with Radio Waatea, are broadcasting it live from 1pm. ...
Prolific, award-winning Palmerston North poet Paula Harris somehow manages to be stroppy and properly vulnerable all at once. Here, she writes about her first slam competition – and why she cried all the way home. I am old enough to have given birth to most of the people here.Sure, there’s a ...
High speed rail links between cities could play a massive role in revitalising regional New Zealand, says a visiting transport infrastructure expert. Professor Andrew McNaughton spoke to Alex Braae. Imagine commuting from Hamilton to Auckland, and it only taking an hour to get there. It’s a vision of how the right ...
On the good days, riding a bike is the best. But in Auckland there aren’t nearly enough of those days, and unless decision makers take urgent action, that’s not going to change.This piece originally appeared on Bike AucklandMy first bike crash in central Auckland happened on Symonds Street. I was ...
It's not since 1989 that a mayoralty campaign in the southern city has been so unpredictable - a record 14 candidates have put their names forward. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Hon Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney On the morning of the last Monday in April, 2019, federal election officials opened the doors of more than 500 pre-poll voting centres around Australia, and waited for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Veronica Alfano, Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University Memorising poetry was once common in classrooms. But it has, for the most part, gone out of style. There are good reasons for this. Memorisation can clash with creativity and analytical thought. Rote learning can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darren Paul Fisher, Head of Directing, Department of Film, Screen and Creative Media, Bond University What do J.J. Abrams, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shonda Rhimes, David Lynch, Aaron Sorkin, Donald Glover, Jenji Kohan, Jordan Peele, Tina Fey, and Joss Whedon have in common? They ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mayors launch bids to return in Auckland and Wellington, Hamilton’s skyline could change significantly, and support for cannabis legalisation plummets in poll.Two incumbent mayors have launched their re-election campaigns over the weekend, with a bigger fight on their hands than ...
MediaWorks has been lobbying the Government to turn TVNZ 1 into a non-commercial channel to help stem its own financial bleeding. Frustrated, and getting nowhere, it’s decided to change tack. ...
Open mike 21/10/2012 
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...16 hours ago
Last week, Australia sabotaged the Pacific Forum by opposing action on climate change. Their Deputy Prime Minister followed that up by saying that Pacific Peoples could always pick Australian fruit - just as they had done in the era of blackbirding. And now, that arrogant, tone-deaf approach has drawn a ...16 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...2 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...2 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...3 days ago
4 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...4 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...5 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...6 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...6 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...6 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...6 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...6 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 6 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...7 days ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...1 week ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...1 week ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...2 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...2 weeks ago
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...2 weeks ago
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...2 weeks ago
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...3 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...11 hours ago
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...1 hour ago
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...1 hour ago
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...1 hour ago
Anna Rawhiti-Connell has no desire to see any further degradation of the news media in New Zealand, but something has to change. ...1 hour ago
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...1 hour ago
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...1 hour ago
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...2 hours ago
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...2 hours ago
China is looming large over Hong Kong, and residents know they must fight back now. ...2 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Rioting broke out in Manokwari, West Papua, today as local people – mostly university students – protested against racial abuse of Papuan students in East Java, reports The Jakarta Post. The protesters blocked a number of major streets in the city this morning, cutting down ...7 hours ago
By Ben Bilua in Suva Multimedia skills and innovation are key to adapting to the changing media landscape, said US academic Professor Debora Wenger as newsmakers around the world continue to grapple with challenges arising from the transformation of technology and social media. Speaking to journalists at a regional ...9 hours ago
The new RBNZ seems to crave the limelight and be known for advocacy of new causes, and that has not impressed macroeconomics professor Robert MacCulloch. ...9 hours ago
Pharmac’s model and budget is under intense scrutiny, as the Government prepares to announce its interim cancer action plan. ...10 hours ago
The prime minister won't meet with Ihumātao protesters before Thursday - the deadline given by the group to stop them marching to her Auckland electorate office. ...11 hours ago
After alleged Christchurch terrorist wrote to a supporter, Jacinda Ardern says our laws may need an update for the digital age. ...11 hours ago
The Commerce Commission's first market study will wade into the complex fuel market - here's what you need to know. ...13 hours ago
The new joint from the team behind one of Wellington’s favourite craft beer bars is dedicated to minimal-intervention, organic wine – and more exciting things are coming to the heritage building it’s housed in.Before the Cadbury factory opened in Dunedin in 1930, New Zealanders ate Cadbury chocolate made in England. ...13 hours ago
A new five-year strategy comes with a new prison population reduction target from the minister. ...14 hours ago
Alex Casey chats to Bree Tomasel about hosting Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, farting in the ZM studio and going viral on the regular. The most important thing you need to know about Bree Tomasel is not the fact that she peed her pants during Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, but the glee ...15 hours ago
The way things are going, Germany may soon be 'the sick man of Europe' again. ...15 hours ago
15 hours ago
At Eden Park on Saturday night, the Wallabies were on the receiving end of a ruthless players’ revenge, writes Scotty StevensonThe rain came. It always seems to at Eden Park, just as the Wallabies warm up on the pitch, dreaming of ending a drought. It came from the west, the ...15 hours ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Walvisch, Lecturer, Monash University This morning an Extinction Rebellion protester was arrested after hanging from a rope over the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane, blocking all lanes to peak hour traffic. And earlier this month in Brisbane, more than 70 climate ...16 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Jobson, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Monash University Many of us enjoy writing in a diary, reading autobiographies or nostalgically reflecting with others about past times. Why is remembering our past so important? Are there downsides? And what can we do ...16 hours ago
Roll Red Roll is a brutal, painfully illuminating documentary on the Steubenville High School rape case, a shocking crime that made headlines worldwide. Emily Writes reviews. This review discusses rape and sexual violenceAugust 11, 2012: two teenage boys rape an unconscious teenage girl as two of their peers watch and ...16 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific Tuvalu’s Prime Minister has condemned the Australian Prime Minister’s conduct at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum, calling Scott Morrison’s attitude “unfortunate” and “neo-colonial,” and questioning Australia’s future in the 18-member body. In an interview with RNZ on Sunday, Enele Sopoaga also threatened to pull Tuvaluan labour from ...17 hours ago
New Zealand's economy is not headed for recession, ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley says. ...18 hours ago
The second hui of the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki takes place in Hamilton today. Newsroom, in partnership with Radio Waatea, are broadcasting it live from 1pm. ...18 hours ago
We continue our series on bookstores around New Zealand as Wilma van den Bosch explains how she opened Petronella's in Lake Tekapo. ...18 hours ago
Prolific, award-winning Palmerston North poet Paula Harris somehow manages to be stroppy and properly vulnerable all at once. Here, she writes about her first slam competition – and why she cried all the way home. I am old enough to have given birth to most of the people here.Sure, there’s a ...19 hours ago
The country's wood processors say the international log price war and protected overseas economies are crippling the New Zealand trade. ...19 hours ago
On the good days, riding a bike is the best. But in Auckland there aren’t nearly enough of those days, and unless decision makers take urgent action, that’s not going to change.This piece originally appeared on Bike AucklandMy first bike crash in central Auckland happened on Symonds Street. I was ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Hon Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney On the morning of the last Monday in April, 2019, federal election officials opened the doors of more than 500 pre-poll voting centres around Australia, and waited for ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Hart, Senior Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Last week, federal health minister Greg Hunt announced that more than 60,000 Australians will be asked about their mental health and well-being as part of the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study. The mental ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Veronica Alfano, Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University Memorising poetry was once common in classrooms. But it has, for the most part, gone out of style. There are good reasons for this. Memorisation can clash with creativity and analytical thought. Rote learning can ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darren Paul Fisher, Head of Directing, Department of Film, Screen and Creative Media, Bond University What do J.J. Abrams, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shonda Rhimes, David Lynch, Aaron Sorkin, Donald Glover, Jenji Kohan, Jordan Peele, Tina Fey, and Joss Whedon have in common? They ...23 hours ago
The inverted yield curve is to economists what Voldemort was to Harry Potter - the dark lord whose name should never be mentioned. ...23 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mayors launch bids to return in Auckland and Wellington, Hamilton’s skyline could change significantly, and support for cannabis legalisation plummets in poll.Two incumbent mayors have launched their re-election campaigns over the weekend, with a bigger fight on their hands than ...24 hours ago
MediaWorks has been lobbying the Government to turn TVNZ 1 into a non-commercial channel to help stem its own financial bleeding. Frustrated, and getting nowhere, it’s decided to change tack. ...1 day ago
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=288598
The official term for piracy is now “taking control”
Israeli Navy boards Gaza-bound ship ‘Estelle’
by YAAKOV LAPPIN, The Jerusalem Post 10/20/2012 18:16
Navy seizes Swedish ship carrying 30 pro-Palestinian activists after it refused to change course, tows it to Ashdod. PHOTO: COURTESY IDF
The Navy took control of a Swedish ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists towards Gaza on Saturday, and towed the vessel to Ashdod instead.
The activists refused all Israeli requests to divert their course, and had declared that their intention was to violate Israel’s naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. ….
Read more from Israel’s Pravda by clicking here….
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=288598
Ah, yes. But of course, there are always two sides (at least) to a story. I aw the Al Jazeera version on my TV this morning, as in the video here, aor with the print report here.
Thanks for that, karol. I posted a brief and polite response on the Jerusalem Post comments section. I wrote: “‘Taking control’—the new term for piracy.”
Instead of being immediately published, as no doubt all the racist and bloody-minded anti-Palestinian posts were, my comments were “put into moderation”.
No wonder their comment section is so overwhelmingly pro-government. And no wonder the Jerusalem Post is dismissed by thinking people as Israel’s Pravda.
Democracy in Israel has long long since gone. And a lot of Israeli’s are very unhappy about it.
Israel, politically, has long enjoyed the full backing of the United States. (I have no argument with the Israeli people as a whole). To his credit, Obama has been distancing the brutally minded Netanyahu in more recent times, especially on that man’s pressing desire to attack Iran. (It is Israel that possesses the nuclear weapons, not Iran). Now we should really worry with Romney looking a possibility for President. The Israeli government will welcome him with glee. With Romney the world would become, generally, in greater danger (not to mention the rich becoming richer and yet more powerful). This would be likely worse than the rule of George Bush. Yes, yet again, we have to bewail the short memories of human kind!
Interesting .that many Jewish people world wide now refer to Jews who live in Isareal as Israelies.
Thanks for this Morrissey, It must be terribly disappointing and possibly very frightening for the those aboard the Estelle, but when it comes to enforcing the siege on Gaza Israel is no longer all powerful.
While the sea going route to the territory of Gaza is still blocked by Israel and it’s allies.
Less widely reported in the Western media is their weakness in enforcing the siege on land. What has not been reported in the Western median media is that the internationall convoy movement has had much more success breaking the siege of Gaza by the overland route through Egypt and across the Sinai Desert.
Before the fall of Mubarak International aid convoys of trucks filled with medical and other aid were stopped by the Egyptian police and army at the border and turned back. If they refused to turn back they were beaten and arrested by by Mubarak’s riot police who enforced the siege on the territory at the border between Egypt and Gaza in agreement with and on behalf of Israel.
Despite this they persisted.
In one dramatic encounter in 2009 after being attacked by Egyptian riot police the international convoyers fought back and captured numbers of police and even one senior officer who they agreed to release if the police released all the arrested convoy members.
Unable to be moved on by the Egyptian authorities the convoyers through sheer persistence and determination and with the support of the Egyptian people forced the Mubarak regime to back down and let the International Aid convoy enter Gaza.
After this defeat for the Mubarak authorities Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit tried to play down this defeat in the Arab media describing the international aid convoys as “farcical” and said Egyptian authorities would no longer allow such solidarity convoys.[16]
Leading up to, and since the Arab Spring, despite continuing resistance from Egyptian authorities particularly within the army and the police who still hold loyalties to the old regime, several more land convoys have been able to break through the siege and successfully enter Gaza through the northen Egyptian border.
In defying the internationally illegal siege, New Zealand’s own Kia Ora Gaza headed by team captain Roger Fowler have since participated in two successful international overland convoys, one in 2011 in open defiance of Mubarak’s ban and one since his overthrow.
As in the overthrow of the apartheid regime in South Africa, through their courageous and defiant actions New Zealanders can also claim some small part in the overthrow of the oppressive Mubarak regime.
Though the land seige hasn’t been broken, the international convoy movement’s efforts have seriously weakened the enforcement of the siege at the Egyptian border allowing more and more people and goods to get through into Gaza across the Sinai.
Internationally renowned scholar Noam Chomsky is the latest person to defy the siege and enter Gaza through northern Egypt. In 2010 Chomsky was prevented from entering Gaza through the Israeli controlled border. Chomsky is due to defiantly deliver an address today at Gaza university his topic will be the significance of the Arab Spring.
No doubt like every other successful breach of the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza a media cone of silence will descend.
However a full report will be carried on the Kia Ora Gaza website when it comes to hand.
Thanks for this Morrissey, It must be terribly disappointing and possibly very frightening for the those aboard the Estelle, but when it comes to enforcing the siege on Gaza Israel is no longer all powerful.
While the sea going route to the territory of Gaza is still blocked by Israel and it’s allies.
Less widely reported in the Western media is their weakness in enforcing the siege on land. What has not been reported in the Western median media is that the internationall convoy movement has had much more success breaking the siege of Gaza by the overland route through Egypt and across the Sinai Desert.
Before the fall of Mubarak International aid convoys of trucks filled with medical and other aid were stopped by the Egyptian police and army at the border and turned back. If they refused to turn back they were beaten and arrested by by Mubarak’s riot police who enforced the siege on the territory at the border between Egypt and Gaza in agreement with and on behalf of Israel.
Despite this they persisted.
In one dramatic encounter in 2009 after being attacked by Egyptian riot police the international convoyers fought back and captured numbers of police and even one senior officer who they agreed to release if the police released all the arrested convoy members.
Unable to be moved on by the Egyptian authorities the convoyers through sheer persistence and determination and with the support of the Egyptian people forced the Mubarak regime to back down and let the International Aid convoy enter Gaza.
After this defeat for the Mubarak authorities Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit tried to play down this defeat in the Arab media describing the international aid convoys as “farcical” and said Egyptian authorities would no longer allow such solidarity convoys.[16]
Leading up to, and since the Arab Spring, despite continuing resistance from Egyptian authorities particularly within the army and the police who still hold loyalties to the old regime, several more land convoys have been able to break through the siege and successfully enter Gaza through the northen Egyptian border.
In defying the internationally illegal siege, New Zealand’s own Kia Ora Gaza headed by team captain Roger Fowler have since participated in two successful international overland convoys, one in 2011 in open defiance of Mubarak’s ban and one since his overthrow.
As in the overthrow of the apartheid regime in South Africa, through their courageous and defiant actions New Zealanders can also claim some small part in the overthrow of the oppressive Mubarak regime.
Though the land seige hasn’t been broken, the international convoy movement’s efforts have seriously weakened the enforcement of the siege at the Egyptian border allowing more and more people and goods to get through into Gaza across the Sinai.
Internationally renowned scholar Noam Chomsky is the latest person to defy the siege and enter Gaza through northern Egypt. In 2010 Chomsky was prevented from entering Gaza through the Israeli controlled border. Chomsky is due to defiantly deliver an address today at Gaza university his topic will be the significance of the Arab Spring.
No doubt like every other successful breach of the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza a media cone of silence will descend.
However a full report will be carried on the Kia Ora Gaza website when it comes to hand.
http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/us-academic-noam-chomsky-visits-gaza-for-conference/
Oh, why am I not surprised? 🙁
Well, well, well – will the opposition be able to level the “nanny-state” at this administration at last. There are clubs up and down the country that have as one of their door raffle prizes “An annual membership” which will be worth a lot more than this $500 limit.
Key is going to get an avalanche of correspondence on this one and watch him try to get it dropped immediately … his mates in golf clubs will be livid.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841884
And aren’t the hunting lobby United Future’s constituency?
Now thats a shame as it just puts the kibosh an a great week end. Yes there’s some big prizes but everyone has the same chance. Unlike Pokies where the machine has the best chance, and will break up families. Yep thats the Anti Nanny state at work, break up the family, get more Pokies out there. Don’t allow the fishing comps to continue, they are against the Anti Nanny State.
Where is there any evidence of involvement from the government in this? Just seems like a department enforcing laws already on the books.
Owners of pokie machines complained. Government Department protecting the interests of pokie machine owners. Corporate Fascism.
The Wynne “Sensible” Gray Award for Pretentious Writing
Entry No. 1: JACK TAME
Jack Tame: Slow down that war
It was as quiet and calm as a cliche. Somewhere distant a train click-clacked in steady rhythm. Birds hopped between leafy old trees. ….
Read more, if you can bear it, here…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10841827
Brian Edwards yesterday posted praising the interview ability of Rachel Smalley on TV3’s the Nation.
I found myself totally in agreement with him. Rachel has a low key but direct approach to interviewing that IMHO produces much more information than otherwise.
I am just watching her discuss with a panel including Kennedy Graham and Federated Farmers William Rawlston discussing carbon credits. She effectively showed how shallow Fed Farmer’s rationale for opposing Farming being part of our system. Their rationale is if we make it more expensive for farmers production will flood overseas to countries with less carbon efficient farming techniques. There is no analysis of how much more expensive, or the relative cost of production in different countries compared to her, just a bald statement that if they have to pay a modest ETS price all farms will shut down.
Kennedy Graham had the perfect response. He said shocks have happened in the past and how some countries, notably the Social Democratic countries, are reducing emissions. In NZ they are growing. He talked about the need for behavioral modification change.
He also talked about how countries could be world leaders, fast followers, apathetic spectator or willful obstructionists. He thought NZ was somewhere in the middle. I believe he meant that NZ is between apathetic spectators and willful obstructionists.
Absolutely right, John key and his bunch or traitors are ruining this country.
Why can’t we have an ETS for our farmers when all those other countries have got one in place.
Why can’t we have a government who is actually prepared to do something about climate change when all those other countries have one.
Exactly.
There’ll come a time in the near future when key and his gang will be put on trial for their crimes against NZ and the environment.
Micky and what would you suggest we do about our 0.2% contribution, which won’t put further pressure on our major export industry, followed by higher consumer prices, which will hit those who are already struggling most?
Climate change isn’t the issue. NZ will do very well out of climate change, thank you very much. Liquid fossil fuel depletion is.
Its when diesel goes up to $4/L – $5/L which is the problem. Without massive socio-economic restructuring NOW, our transportation, farming and industrial systems grind to a halt and unstoppable pressure comes on to convert coal to diesel and go deep sea drilling.
We should be thinking about alternatives now.
http://www.esrla.com/pdf/tallow.pdf
No, tallow isn’t viable simply because raising that many cows isn’t viable. Electricity, on the other hand, is – except for the exporting, for that we’ll be using sail.
Um Muzza you are making the exact mistake Federated Farmers made.
The rationale you present is that if farmers have to pay for greenhouse gas emissions they will immediately become unprofitable and will have to flood overseas and defoliate large parts of the Amazon so they can set up farms under a more benign administration.
Whereas it seems to me that farming in NZ is extremely profitable and all that we will be doing is reducing private profit slightly.
And yes we only contribute .2% of the world’s GHGs. But we comprise only .06% of the world’s population.
Of course we should do our bit. If we do not then why should anyone in the world do “their bit”?
Except they’re not going to do that are they, and if NZ does or does not is hardly an influence!
And the mistakes being made are by people swallowing copius loads of BS on all sides!
@ CV – Yeah about that liquid fossel fuel depletion – Making sure NZ loses access to its own oil/gas reserves, certainly assists in ensuring that NZ continues to be at the mercy of those who control those resources globally!
We need to restructure the dependancies, but thats not on the cards currently is it!
So you think that we should do nothing to save our planet from environmental ruin because we are only doing a bit of damage (albeit at the rate of three times as much as the rest of the people on the planet) and besides some others are not doing their share either?
You go girl.
When the greens and labour get back into power we’ll show the filthy farmers and Key and his mates how to lead the world in clean green living.
Many times I have repeated a stance on the pollution/destruction which is wrecking this planet, so ill say it again.
Absolutely it needs to stop, only it won’t, not under current systems/conditions that control all aspects of our lives, it should become very clear by now that TPTB are not especially interested, for the time being!
Especially as all those other farmers in the social democratic countries overseas are doing their bit, it’s a disgrace that our farmers are being let off.
Of course, focussing just on farmers is bullshit. As it is, only two more generations of farmers (max) will have access to large quantities of fert and the diesel needed to spread it with. One way or another, NZ farming is going back to its low intensity roots.
What I want to see is for more city dwellers to give up their personal transport. And to quit buying stuff which has to be made and shipped from 10,000 km away.
For all of these things to happen without major unpleasant disruption we need to seriously restructure our entire economy and economic infrastructure NOW.
Change our export industry to one that’s less damaging. Of course, we have to do that anyway as we have to cut down the number of farms so that we can clean up our rivers and lakes and bring NZ back to having a pristine environment.
Attempted to watch The Nation on TV3 this morning but they seem not to be broadcasting today. Neither are 4, 9 and 8. What gives?
I had to re-scan the channels to get them back (couple of times this week)
You can stream parts of The Nation here
They usually have most of the show up in segments on saturday or sunday – Hone was on this week talking asset shares.
Bernard Hickey is onto the UK Starbucks’ tax evasion story today, and asks if we should be getting onto such evasions in NZ.
Meanwhile, speaking of Facebook and business, Dotcom shows he’s not really aligned with the left, but with making money out of social networking.
Hickey is a damn good guy.
Hopefully no one mistook Dotcom to be “aligned with the Left”. We just need him to help hold crony politicians to account, whether they are Left, Centre or Right.
Well said CV, “Good Civilised” is party independent …..
The fact that he generously contributed to John Banks’s mayoral compaign should give people a litttle clue about his poltical views.
That should have been fairly obvious from the fact that he donated to Banks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841815
A really good colunn from Matt McCarten today about the destruction of our local communities by shopping corporations like the Warehouse. It reminded me how much has changed in the 20-odd years I’ve lived where I do. I particularly miss the little gardening shop in my local shopping centre. A mine of local and more general gardening information, and quite a social spot. It shut down about ten years ago, and since that time, other than the chain-shops, cheap import outlets, and the op-shops, very few retailers have survived. There are always a few empty shops at any given time. Businesses regularly start up, but sadly you know it’s probably not going to be long until the closing down sale, and it seldom is.
Recently, I started making more effort to buy from old-fashioned grocery, butchery, and fruit and vege shops rather than the ubiquitous supermarket. I have to admit the first thing I noticed was how much dearer pretty much everything was, and I wondered if I could afford to shop according to my conscience. Not without cutting back, anyway.
The problem is this very viscious circle in which, due to a variety of community-destructive practices, supermarkets, the Warehouse etc. are significantly cheaper, and out-compete and drive out community enterprises. At the same time wages are down and unemployment is up, many people are struggling, and those cheaper prices are an essential part of making ends meet. And the big chains employ fewer people the the old community shopping centres did, at reduced wages, in worse conditions………….. and so it continues.
In the closest main center to me, you simply cannot buy any hardware materials within any reasonable walking distance of the city center. And there was, until very recently, only one greengrocer’s…located in a suburb about an hour’s walk away. Things moved forward with the establishment of a single non-supermarket outlet for vegetables within walking of the city center.
And to think that in the township I live there used to a butcher, a baker, a post office, a general store…all gone bar the dairy. Thankfully, at least the dairy owner is committed to serving the locals and sourcing stock accordingly – as opposed to stocking the vastly overpriced tatt from the usual dairy store suppliers.
Lower priced peripheral land being exploitable due to a car culture won’t last forever!
As American suburb dwellers are being forced to discover. With no footpaths in many suburbs, no where to go even if there were, $5/gallon gasoline is going to be a real shock for them. (Even though I think we basically pay that in NZ now, the US has been sheltered from the true price of fossil fuels due to theirs being the oil reserve currency of the world).
Only observational : But it is here !!!
Ater the property bubble of the 2003-7 we experienced perhaps even a 10% rebalancing. Over the last 6 months + there has been a marked increase in properties (excluding mono plastered properties) Just review local Auckland property presses and the lack of properties with stated selling prices – Tender & Auctions dominate the means of addressing pricing. Banks have returned to past practices plenty of cheap money flowing into NZ reflecting in extremely low rates of NZ just above 5%.
http://www.interest.co.nz/borrowing
http://www.3news.co.nz/Housing-bust-could-be-looming/tabid/421/articleID/260837/Default.aspx
I have seen properties selling 20% above expectations Valuations/vendor and estate agents. I know Key struggles to remember what he voted on 2 months ago
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841405
Yet here we are 5 years on and forgetting what happened last time. We worry about selling a few $ of SOE assets yet here we are indirectly selling so much more of NZ offshore, only here it is disguised in bank loans. Should the market collapse NZ equity is lost as the banks have 1st claims on any sales obtained and then able to repay their backers. And if times get really tough “To Big to Fail”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_big_to_fail
When the property owning middle class feel richer again, as in the midst of a housing asset bubble, incumbents are returned to power.
Cullen used the same tactic.
Labour’s Shane Jones and the Greens Gareth Hughes are on Q&A discussing New Zealand’s approach to declaring parts of the Ross Sea off limits for commercial fishing.
Murray McCully was invited to attend but said that he was too busy. His Government is in the unusual position where its proposal is less protective than the United States position.
The Government should not be too concerned, Jones is doing a good line of trotting out their lines and defending their position. Apparently the science is settled and reducing the number of tooth fish by about half is somehow “sustainable fishing”.
As Mike Smith said recently Jones needs to work out if he is a Labour Party MP or a sea lord MP.
Perhaps he fancies himself as something of a spokeslord?
Three more years.
October 21st 2015 is the day, the greatest
day in the History of Earth, no day on
earth will be happier for all the earth’s humans.
You see October 21 2015 is the day that (according
to the movie back to the future 2) we finally get
HOVERBOARDS!!!
Sure, here on October 21 2012, some physics
professors,such as Michio Kaku might say, “We
aren’t that advanced yet and we won’t have
Hoverboards by 2015”
Well I say “Not with that attitude”
I believe in Marty, Doc and Jennifer, I believe
the date October 21 2015 was picked for a
reason, I believe that on every corner of the
planet, we will have Hoverboards, some
might even have pitbulls, and the future
will be here.
We won’t have flying cars, or clothes that
dry themselves, or any other gadget like
that, but we will have HOVERBOARDS!
So to the world’s scientist’s, to the Geeks,
to the engineers, to the brainiest people
on earth, stop worrying about creating
what you have been creating, it is now, October
21 2012, you have three more years, three
more years, till you give the people of earth,
the greatest invention in HISTORY.
HOVERBOARDS!
THREE MORE YEARS!!
THREE MORE YEARS!!
THREE MORE YEARS!!!
UNTIL…..
HOVERBOARDS!!!!
Theoretically possible today, some kind of Magno repeller board.
Scary power requirements, would have to enclose the magnetised floor space.
Probably cost upwards of $10million for a small hall space … But possible Bud 🙂
If they can do it with a commuter train they can do it with a “HoverBoard” M8
You should take up surfing instead bud !
Wouldn’t mind the hydrateable pizzas myself…
Again theoretically possible, might taste like styrofoam though 🙂
Two words: Power Supply
The day you can fit a couple of megawatts of generation onto a skateboard without vaporising the rider is the day you can have hoverboards.
Actually according to the worlds leading physics’s professor Michio Kaku that is incorrect, there are other ways.
The important part of the date is to do with the numbers: 21 2015 = 2 +1+2+0+1+5 = 11
Hollywood or the people behind it are seriously into numerology, among other things!
Hope you get that hoverboard sometime!
Kabbalah numerology and Jewish dominance of Hollywood!
Hi Jim,
Kabbalah seems to be more exclusive than that, and tied to the Khazars who are possibily impersonating being “Jewish”.
Whatever it is thats going on, it gets played out in hollywood, on, and off the screens on a regular basis. The history of abuse, murder, and the overt in your face numerology, and paganistic symbolism in movies/tv, not to mention the satanic overtones which have become so blatant in the pop music industry of late!
another capitalisation and distortion of Abrahamic Monotheism (not spoken to; spoke to themselves)
😯
🙂
Im still hopeful, maybe not like the movie, but maybe in 40 years time, some multi billion dollar theme park will create that controlled indoor environment.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/flexible-timetabling-cards-schools-5143830
Another bad case of the Derps from the Ministry of Education.
Why build more class rooms and hire more teachers when you can just run schools like factories instead?
AND add this from the education amendment bill
Section 156A replaced (Minister may merge schools)
Replace section 156A with:
“156AMinister may merge schools
“(1)Subject to sections 156B and 157, the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, merge 1 or more State schools (merging schools) that are not integrated schools with another State school (the continuing school) that is not an integrated school, if the Minister is satisfied that—
“(a)each board of a school concerned has made reasonable efforts to consult the parents of students (other than adult students) enrolled full-time at the school about the proposed merger; and
“(b)the consultation that has taken place has been adequate in all the circumstances; and
“(c)the creation of a single school by the proposed merger is appropriate in the circumstances.
AND this in a Cambell blog
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2012/10/17/gordon-campbell-on-secrecy-about-charter-schools-and-dotcom/
Oh, and each child under six will be assigned “a national student number.”
But I cant work out if it is a serious comment
Can anyone say if a national student number is in the bill?
yep found it
supports the uptake of early childhood education by allowing a national student number to be allocated to children who are identified as being likely to benefit from attending an early childhood service, but who are unlikely to attend such a service;
How are they gonna pull that one off?, other than retrospectively classifying them.
They’ll be “Testing” 2 year olds next.
Promoting elitism in 2-5 year olds, start them early M8!
I suspect it is to tie in with the children at risk data base.
Which already exists, it just needs appropriate interpretation.
These policies are so stupid is daunting, the people trying to force them on us are morons.
Abuse/Hiding of this data in the community will be the only result.
The next time Monsieur Matthew Hooton gets on radio, he should be asked how deep Natz MPs will be reaching into their wallets and handbags to fund the next election.
*Thanks to ‘fatty’ pointing out the link to Citizen A (/open-mike-20102012/comment-page-1/#comment-537069):
@ 25:48
“… the National Party has started to realise that potential donors and its traditional donors are not committing to its donor fund for its fighting fund … as it builds up towards the 2014 election.
“National party MPs have been requested by the party apparatus to contribute $30,000 over the next year – to contribute to the fighting fund for 2014. (Labour at its worst was – its MPs were asked to contribute around $5000.)
“These people [ie Natz] are running scared and that information is from the inside.”
I thought the parties with MPs ran a tithing system already so would this $30k be over and above that?
Christchurch, New Zealand; A City Possessed and the travesty that simply refuses to die
And still these same people are wrecking lives, and still the apathy of Kiwis allows it to continue. Yet more excellent work from the LF Team, on “No Corruption NZ”
Is it apathy, ignorance, information overload or a combination of all three?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7844135/Milk-giveaway-goes-sour-as-kids-drop-out
This is a shame
UHT milk tastes foul, I don’t blame the kids for not drinking it. Fonterra should maybe have done a bit of market research to see whether what they are offering is going to be palatable to those receiving the milk.
At various times I’ve had to drink UHT and powdered milk but then the cost came out of my own pocket.
C73 you continue to prove new research showing right wingers have simplistic answers for complex problems while claiming at the same time to be better educated and more intelligent than the the rest of us.
Selfishness is all your up to nothing more!
I see free milk being rejected because “it tastes different”, simple as that.
So the recipients of corporate marketing largesse can’t be choosers.
It’s such a shame that primary school kids don’t conform to your expectations, C73.
Then stop complaining about what they eat (or lack of) if they were in such a bad way as Labour likes to crow about then drinking some UHT milk wouldn’t be such a hardship
First world problem springs to mind
You might have a point if none of the kids drank the milk.
As it is, it would seem at least some are hungry enough to drink milk that they don’t like.
Weak tory effort to pretend that if some are not in hardship, none are in hardship springs to mind. By your logic if someone quits a job, nobody is unemployed and really looking for a job.
Boo hoo if the milk they don’t pay for isn’t what they like. Its free, its good for them so maybe they should be a little more greatful
This is one of the problems of the left, a company gives out free milk (yes its good publicity but its still free milk) but some kids don’t like the taste because its not what they’re used to (now if it tasted like an energy drink…) so its blame the company
To paraphrase Bob Jones: If $50 dollar notes fell from the sky you lefties would complain it wasn’t $100 dollar notes
Hey chris73, I thought you liked the idea that the ‘customer was always right’ and that it was important to take feedback into account to ‘continuously improve the service that one provides’.
Good private sector values, you know. Try using them sometime.
Well, from my perspective is that an ill-suited corporate marketing ploy is being operated in place of any government efforts in the area. And that tories like you are arguing that a high dropout rate in this imperfect pilot scheme is evidence that there is no problem that the government should be addressing.
Of course, if you weren’t such a blinkered arsehole you’d know that the success of any scheme involves providing the good or service in a manner that is appropriate to the audience, not just in the manner that’s convenient for the supplier.
Don’t worry Chris73, some children are so hungry they really appreciate this horrible tasting milk, so please don’t scorn this initiative and perhaps stop it.If you had read further down the article you would have found this information and not needed to post such a sarcastic comment.
Chris73, please notice the sentence “We are decile 1C for a good reason.”
I knew a simple minded, cynical, wanna- play- Nact -mindset would pick this badly written, misleading, dogwhistle article up and try to present it’s headline and first part as ‘evidence’ that children are not hungry. Shame on you. Try and aim for higher morals Chris and a more becoming point of view. Perhaps the journalist who wrote this could think a little more too, rather than ‘muddy the waters and end up writing what I have heard are “coloured” articles. In this case, it was coloured navy blue and faded yellow.
I’m picking the whole thing is ‘a have’ that will not incidentally benefit Fontera on the publicity front. Y’know, roll out a system that is deliberately set up to fall over so that in the future, when somebody raises the issue of milk in schools, the finger can be pointed at the ungrateful ingrates who refused to drink the milk those nice guys at Fontera provided ‘last time we tried that’.
Meantime, why not Fontera’s best approximaton of real milk alongside the necessary refrigeration (which would cost sweet f.a. in the scheme of things) and whatever flavourings that might have been necessary in order that the kids considered it palatable or potable?
Or it could be just that milk is just really horrible to drink.
No, it didn’t “unexpectedly proved a problem” it’s that the numbskulls putting the scheme in place didn’t think about the natural results of supplying more rubbish to the schools. Now, if we still had milk in glass bottles the recycling wouldn’t be such a problem.
A good alternative would be a segment of edam cheese, the only down side would be the sodium.
This’ll make ya laugh LPRent ….
The cursor in my edit windows stops working when I have Windows Media Center on watching TV.
Only happened to iexplore of course, Good old Windoze 🙂
Shane Bauer, one of three Americans who were detained in Iran in 2009, writes:
Solitary in Iran Nearly Broke Me.Then I Went Inside America’s Prisons.
When Josh Fattal and I finally came before the Revolutionary Court in Iran, we had a lawyer present, but weren’t allowed to speak to him. In California, an inmate facing the worst punishment our penal system has to offer short of death can’t even have a lawyer in the room. He can’t gather or present evidence in his defense. He can’t call witnesses. Much of the evidence—anything provided by informants—is confidential and thus impossible to refute.
That was a disturbing article to read. The sheer deprivation that US prisoners are forced to submit to are barbaric.
I followed US prisons for a year; Supermax etc; just freakin evil
You guys are going to love this. Britain and US use of forced renditions, secret prisons and torture over many decades.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/oct/19/torture-uk-britain-blood-government
This stuff did NOT just begin with 9/11.
Indeed.
http://www.historynet.com/the-history-of-torture%E2%80%94why-we-cant-give-it-up.htm/1
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/17/britain-destroyed-records-of-colonial-crimes/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/04/uk-allowed-interrogate-tortured-prisoners
2 good items in todays Sunday Star Times.
one says that kweewees diamond has lost its shine and the other is a large leader on the govt CEO pay.
it says that the justifications for the sums being payed to these presumed titans and would be captains of industry are just piffle.
what more can one say.
its our money and National is just handing it out to their mates for no good reason.
time to reign them in.
bring it up at the next Labour Party meeting you attend and dont let go.
Interesting that 3 News included this story in it’s 6pm bulletin tonight. And Dunne at the end acting all surprised..?!
They also had a report on the anti-austerity demo in London this weekend. But why use a report from US TV and not one from the UK? Or even Al Jazeera?
That’s what 3 News always does. Never do they air any reports from the UK, only the USA, for some strange reason!
Its cause TV3 aim towards younger viewership. Older people lean towards the UK, younger people towards the USA.
In the end there is little difference. UK & USA are both imperialistic forces which shape our current form of liberal democratic capitalism. Ignoring that Fox News comedy channel, BBC and USA news are not that much different.
Al Jazeera and RT are worth a watch.
“Hey chris73, I thought you liked the idea that the ‘customer was always right’ and that it was important to take feedback into account to ‘continuously improve the service that one provides’.
Good private sector values, you know. Try using them sometime.”
I don’t think the customer is always right (I’ve spent a few years in customer service) I think the customer is generally a greedy, grasping moron.
But that aside a customer is defined as:
A customer (also known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product, or idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier for a monetary or other valuable consideration.
So unless the kids or schools are paying (I don’t think the free publicity counts) for the milk they ain’t customers.
If Fonterra was using “Good private sector values” they’d be charging the schools but they’re not
“If Fonterra was using “Good private sector values” they’d be charging the schools but they’re not”
Just shows your simple mind. See, what they did was identify a need that the government refuses to acknowledge. They use the “oh look, we’re being nice to the kiddies” to make its consumers feel better about being reamed by a near-monopoly.
Such a shame their programme is a bit off the mark. What’s the humanitarian equivalent of “greenwashing”, I wonder?
The Fonterra/National Milkwash PR programme.