“..could you please detail/specify for us what you would do in your first one hundred days as prime minister..
..to address the open sores of poverty and inequality…
..what will you do for the poorest..?
Reply
David Parker 2.1
19 October 2014 at 2:44 pm
Issues that I believe we urgently need to address include affordable housing. We’d kick off with building more homes, and enforcing a healthy homes warrant of fitness.
We need to lift incomes. By the time of the next election, I want people when they hear “Labour” to think higher wages. Wages lifted immediately for the lower paid via minimum wage. Wage increases for others via better labour laws and a strongr economy investing in productive jobs rather than speculation.
Incomes for the poorest families need the likes of the Best Start package. Shamefully, the Nats equivalent deliberately excludes kids in beneficiary’s homes..”
you will note that the question is only addressed in the final couple of lines..
..where the best start for newborns is mentioned..but that is it..eh..?
..but it is the final line that has been doing my head in..
..seeing as parker was part of the labour govt that ‘excluded’ the poorest families from ‘working for (some) families’…him accusing national of ‘exclusion’ is beyond fucken black-irony..
..but wait..there’s more..!..parker is on record as attempting to blame the 2011 policy of including the poorest families in ‘w.f.(s).f.by 2018..(!)..(seven yrs/two elections after 2011)..
..as a major reason for labour losing that election..
..(and therefor reason to ditch that ‘future’-promise..)
..so 2014 didn’t even have that..all parker/labour 2014 offered to do for the poorest families was s.f.a…
..(which left us with once again..the beyond black-irony situation of the far-right conservative party..with their first 20 grand tax free policy..
..actually offering more to those most in need..than the labour party..
..which i repeat…was offering s.f.a…
..it is clear from parkers’ non-answer to my straightforward question..that his answer to my question should have been short and sharp:..
“..’we will do s.f.a for the poorest families’….because that is what his answer actually said..”
No he didn’t, he wrote
Address include affordable housing.
Build more homes.
Healthy homes warrant of fitness.
Wages lifted immediately for the lower paid via minimum wage.
Wage increases for others via better labour laws and a stronger economy investing in productive jobs rather than speculation.
Best Start package.
Thanks for spending the time to decipher phil’s dribble. I looked at it, thought he might possibly be saying something interesting this time, but couldn’t be bothered trying to read his mess.
Turns out it was the usual mis-representation of reality (and English) that phil specialises in.
personally, I routinely skip anything by pu unless subsequent comments catch my eye in the scroll-down.
And even then I still skip his intial unintelligible diatribes and simply flip through the tit-for-tats afterwards. Sometimes The Al1en can be quite funny, and pu is often Cartman-esque in his indestructible ego 🙂
I’ve found that once it gets over a couple of hundred comments, I have to skip much of a thread. Filtering out the whackos and known tory-lying-swine (unless I feel like a joust) tends to reduce the larger threads’ content into a couple of interesting discussions between about a dozen commenters.
see, that sort of shit is too garbled to bother reading. The first sentence was at least in context, but the change bit was just random. So I stopeed reading.
Much of it is the visual composition, but there’s also a strong indication that what actually gets written is only a portion of the content that he reads off the backs of his eyelids. There might be a well-developed link between not bothering to read his deliberately uncommunicative scrawl (A) and a general aversion to change (Z), but he never bothered to link A to Z. The result feels a bit like trying to read heiroglyphs that have been eroded and fractured over time.
And it’s not like sitting down and focusing intently on the content has revealed any great insight to be cherished, so I tend to think “why bother?”. I put as much effort into understanding his comments as he puts into making them understandable.
I had already suspected that your desire for obscurity from other’s eyes is merely a dramatic overcompensation for (what you believe to be) your brilliance.
I don’t reply half as much as I could, which considering the amount of rubbish posted already is probably a good thing. The fact that Philip’s opinions rants and musings are mostly ignored and not debated is telling, proving just because you shout the loudest doesn’t mean you’re being heard.
And believing the quality over quantity rule I self moderate. I don’t always get it right, but sometimes seeing the worst has merit, like so you know the good stuff when/if it comes.
So never say never and write pu off, ’cause just like living in nat NZ, there’s always hope even in the darkest places.
Maybe I should have written the comments ‘don’t find wide acceptance and consensus’ instead of ignored seeing it’s what I meant.
And Sir Spamalot (Can’t strikethrough the text) Sir Quornalot doesn’t really debate, it’s more smear and resist alternative views at all cost, and yes, there’s plenty of that.
Looks like a classic case of saving a town by wiping big chunks of it out.
Anyways, the War Nerd says that the USA was not serious about stopping ISIS until a couple of weeks ago. Before that the USA was simply waiting for Kobani to fall. But the YPG fighters proved very effective.
That looks like the Kurds got rid of ISIL and only after that did O’Bomber decide to unleash the bombs. What we see in those pictures are the Kurdish defenders being bombed. The whole intervention there is just sick. The bombings and strafings in open desert are largely ineffective, but bombing the only force that has stood up to ISIL will do some real damage. Sucks to be socialists and progressive on women’s issues when the US and A is intent on imposing freedom for women, doesn’t it?
Medical Officer of Health Canterbury on Nat Rad this morning. New upper levels for nitrates in ground water in Selwyn District are too close to maximum safe levels for drinking water. Nitrates, from intensification of dairying, take a long time to accumulate and to reduce. Intensification has been rapid and will continue to be rapid.
It is our tragedy as a society that those he seeks to warn understand only money.
Just had my nitrate levels back from the first aquifer monitoring bore. They were so low that ECAN did a second test – which confirmed the very low reading.
@ grumpy 10.06 am
Are your nitrate levels relevant to the previous comment? If so it’s nice to hear.
What is your situation, have you been doing riparian planting? What is your situation, high up river or down the bottom? If you aren’t in the area of the comment where are you, and why is it good to hear for you?
News this morning that a submarine has been spotted in Swedish waters.A hazy image of a sub and speculation it is Soviet and a rerun of the Cold War is imminent.The Dutch have confirmed they have a sub operating in the area.The Mainstream media have become so tedious that its an ordeal to listen or read it these days.
I was playing around with a different system for providing graphics system last night. It is probably just the image caching ‘refilling’ after I switched it back.
Looks like they are there for me now. Try Ctrl + Refresh or Ctrl + F5 on that page to force a reload of everything.
The solution for Labour?
“The country is in desperate need of a counter narrative that shifts the terms of debate. A government budget should be understood not just in terms of bookkeeping but also of demand management, national cohesion and productivity growth. Jobs and wages should not be seen simply as a matter of people being “worth” (or not) what they get, but of better utilising human potential and of providing decent and dignified livelihoods. Ways have to be found to generate economic growth based on rising productivity rather than the continuous blowing of asset bubbles.”
Linked nearby to that Guardian article is another closely related one:
As Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England, noted in a speech last week, real wages (wages adjusted for inflation) have fallen by around 10% from their pre-recession peak. This represents a fall in living standards that is unprecedented since the middle of the 19th century.
Or maybe it’s not the oligarchies fault as such. Maybe there is not so much a big conspiracy to cut living standards – as much as the simple reality that regardless of how many dollars they print, there are not the resources to redeem them. So maybe the rich are doing us all a favour by hoarding useless money that would only cause more harm if all of us ordinary people tried to spend it.
That maybe the work most ordinary people do simply isn’t worth that much anymore, that either automation does it better or the total marginal utility of what we are doing is either zero or negative.
That maybe falling living standards are simply a symptom of the fact that we have exceeded the capacity of the planet to carry us.
I see the sense in what you are saying and there is an element of truth to it: the deliberate rationing of scarce resources where the 0.1% have no effective limits but the bottom 80% are highly constrained.
Having said that however, a power elite acting to keep the class of commoners just slightly above the point of subsistence/starvation is not a new or novel tactic of social control.
That maybe the work most ordinary people do simply isn’t worth that much anymore, that either automation does it better or the total marginal utility of what we are doing is either zero or negative.
so automation does a job better and faster than workers can do, fine. However, that economic value is still be created – and instead of it going to help run society as a whole, it is being concentrated in the hands of a very few owners.
But what it does highlight is that there is no possibility of asking the 80% to live within the means of the planet – while the other 20% consume far more.
And I think we are on much the same wavelength with automation and tech. I see enormous potential for low-energy, bio-mimicry tech to completely re-shape the economic world.
For instance the PC I’m typing this on is an Intel i5 Quad Core NUC that has heaps of processing power – yet only draws about 2-3W most of the time. (Yeah the screen is the biggest power hog at about 20W). Technology does not always have to be a problem; it takes the shapes we want it to have.
The old energy-hungry industrial systems will soon die out – and either humans rapidly transform their energy and resource consumption along with the social systems that distribute their capital , or we will start heading even more steeply down Greer’s Long Descent.
It’s an enormous challenge. Greer thinks it’s unlikely we will meet it and it’s hard to argue with him. It’s a pattern we’ve repeated unthinkingly so many times in our past.
Yet this time might be different; if only because so many of us can see it coming. That’s the crucial link in the chain – we have to stop discounting our future against our present consumption.
Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to compel anyone who thinks of standing for public office, public service, or even C-level corporate jobs to go on a very long tramp. Six months of facing reality in the wilderness (or as near as we get it these days) might just trigger a change in values.
Inequality has not been good for the planet’s resources, it has involved greater depletion.
Characterising inequality as effectively rationing the world’s resources (as CV does) is false, because goods and services are not priced to reflect their true cost because of the economic system of exploitation.
If labour was priced properly, widgets would be made to last longer. Notice how planned obsolescence really picked up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, just as jobs and capital moved to cheaper locations offshore?
And there’s more tangential links; if people had more time, energy and money, they would eat less processed food. Processed food strains the environment, and increases demand on the health system.
Another example could be the extremely cheap air travel around Europe.
The Spirit Level had something to say about greater equality engendering more care for the environment, and less focus on status and consumption.
Characterising inequality as effectively rationing the world’s resources (as CV does) is false, because goods and services are not priced to reflect their true cost because of the economic system of exploitation.
Do you mean exploitation of labour – or resources? In the next para you talk about labour, but the problem is that in planet of 7.5b people and automation – labour has become almost worthless.
While resources are finite and increasingly scarce, money is really nothing more than a claim on future resources. Paying people more really does not solve that problem at all.
The Spirit Level had something to say about greater equality engendering more care for the environment, and less focus on status and consumption.
Which is an excellent point – but how many people have considered that equality may means all of us much more constrained lives than we in the rich countries are accustomed to?
You overstate automation. Labour is not ‘almost worthless’. If it was, why would Western manufacturers set up factories offshore? Wouldn’t it be easier to produce good at home, without the geopolitical risk of offshoring?
A bigger factor than automation (so far, anyway) in wages and wealth concentration was the huge expansion in the worker pool caused by globalisation and lack of labour protection.
As an automation engineer I’m probably more conscious of the impact of technology than most. Since 1980 technology has more than tripled labour productivity in most industries. When was the last time you saw a typing pool?
So far most of the jobs we have automated out of existence have been the repetitive or low-skilled tasks. But that is all about to change. The next wave will replace more than 98% of all jobs as we currently know them. Within a generation.
And yes the vast expansion of the exploitable labour pool globally has been important too. But we ain’t seen nothing yet.
An economy which does not need workers, where vast profits and surplus are available only to a few. (For a little while).
Of course this model is already failing now, with Wal Mart and McDonalds in the US complaining that people are becoming too poor to buy their products.
Will it be an economy predicated on making and selling Maseratis and diamond encrusted iPhone cases?
Corporates are by their nature able to operate at a global scope, while democratic accountability (limited as it is) remains constrained to the nation state.
The NZLP could elect a cross between Karl Marx and Jesus Christ for a leader – and it would make no difference to the real challenges facing ordinary New Zealanders because all the big problems of the world are global in nature.
Yet ironically enough John Key’s govt. can slide along happily looking after the interests of the globalised corporates, and probably gets more done for that reason.
So why are there no equivalent networks on the left? Where are our intellectual and social connections outside of this very small country?
Or did we somehow allow the Tories to define the boundaries of left-wing politics to be confined to the nation-state? While they themselves covertly took full advantage of the wealth, prestige and influence of a globalised, corporatised world?
Maybe living outside of NZ for a short while has changed my perspective somewhat.
There needs to be an honest discussion about the future of work, and the impact of automation on many jobs (although I don’t think it will wipe out more than 98% of all jobs as we currently know them).
But it’s your claim that wealth inequality (of which automation is one driver) may be beneficial because it helps to save the world’s resources that I find highly dubious.
@Red Logix Formes 8.52pm
Actually if people can have a different mindset on acquiring things, they would have an easier life, with more satisfaction, and a feeling of more freedom. Buying less would leave more to pay off their house, still have quality appliances, and not work so hard.
Work constrains people and their are many working for a psychopathic managerial type. If you don’t need money desperately because you have over-reached yourself, you know that you can maintain yourself if you finally have to confront someone who is riding you in an unreasonable way.
It would be good if people could realise how to cut their aspirations a little. And then they could support some project, organisation that puts back into society some of what has gone missing.
And you can spend time with your children, who are riches to their family as are gold and precious stones from mining. People haven’t had to slave in a physical sense to have their children to form their family, yet the children are much more complex and wonderful than any wealth from the ground. Time, thought and loving words given and received at the appropriate time can result in happy children with the parental role modelling giving their own mind strength to handle the uncertain futures of the human being. This is bigger by far to achieve, than most outcomes from formal work.
‘While resources are finite and increasingly scarce, money is really nothing more than a claim on future resources. Paying people more really does not solve that problem at all.’
This is an over simplification, and perhaps I haven’t explained my point clearly. The example I used in my first comment involved the link between planned obsolescence, inequality, and globalisation.
It’s not about simply paying people more.
With greater labour protection, higher wages, less wealth concentration/inequality, we would use resources more sparingly. For one thing, planned obsolescence would make less sense financially.
Resulting health and social benefits would allow people to be a little more creative and resourceful, and find ways to enjoy their lives while consuming less.
I think we are saying much the same thing – but I suspect few people have truly grasped the magnitude of the changes in resource consumption that are coming down the track at us.
We really have only two choices – a dramatic adaptation of our entire social and economic structure to harness science and technology to optimise and adapt the best we can to a very different world; or the usual descent into another Dark Age.
The former is within our knowledge and ability to achieve. But our delusions and vanities make the latter a far more likely outcome.
CBS NewsOctober 20, 2014, 7:00 AM
U.S. veteran joins ground war against ISIS
The Kurds are out-gunned and out-manned, but Williams discovered that one of the fighters who has joined their ranks is an American volunteer.
“I figured if I came over here more Americans and other people from other countries would come here,” Jeremy Woodard, a security guard from Meridian, Mississippi, told Williams.
Woodard served with the U.S. military until 2012, having seen tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
A month ago, after he was angered by news reports about atrocities committed by ISIS, he paid his own way to Turkey and was smuggled into the war zone.
“I can’t really understand them, but sign language is everything,” he said of working with his new comrades. Woodard told CBS News he’s been involved in several battles against ISIS, including one close to Syria’s border with Iraq that he said raged for 24 hours.
“I’ve killed two, in my first battle in Jezaa, and that’s it so far,” he told Williams. “Hopefully my numbers will go up. I never thought I’d be over in Syria killing people, but they’ve killed innocent people.”………………Woodard told us he’s not the only American fighting with the Kurdish militia members against ISIS in Syria. He said he knows of two others, and has heard there may be several more.
Hamilton
Thursday 30 October, Midday
Garden Place
Funeral : Death of the Common Good: Pensioner Housing
The number of pensioner houses in Hamilton is significantly lower than the majority of regional councils. At a time when the number of pensioners are expected to rapidly rise for the next thirty years, we might have expected local government to be investing in a significant increase in pensioner housing.
This is NOT the case in Hamilton.
Hamilton is governed by one of the most right wing councils in New Zealand. So far right that it would make Whyte and Seymour seem like communists. Hamilton can show the rest of New Zealand where local government can end up if the right’s “hidden agenda” is allowed to progress. Why Hamilton should be blessed with such an obnoxious bunch on Council is a mystery.
Two years ago the sale of pensioner houses began. About 50 were sold in a firesale, raising about 3.5 million dollars. The majority on the open market, but the council likes to refer to their sale of a dozen of these houses (also sold at firesale rates) to Habitat for Humanity/Crosslight trust. The justification was that maintenance was urgently required on all the housing stock, and the proceeds would be used to upgrade the rest of the housing stock.
This was a lie.
The money has been left idle in a bank account, now tagged as the base for the mayor’s (Julie Hardaker) “legacy fund” so that she can be remembered for beautifying the Waikato River as it meanders through Hamilton.
None of this money has been spent on maintenance on pensioner housing.
But wait. There’s MORE. The current council plans are much worse
Hamilton City Council are planning to sell their entire stock of pensioner housing 🙁
The City Council say this is a Government responsibility. Government say that pensioner housing is a regional responsibility. Pensioners requiring housing are in the middle, with an increasing number of them facing the prospect of living in the backs of cars and under canvas presumably.
The City Council will say that this is not true. They will be selling them to wonderful social service organisations who will be able to do a better job. (They will say little about the whole purpose of this is to fund Julie Hardaker’s legacy fund of beautifying the Waikato River)
But let us analyse the sale. The sale of Hamilton’s 344 pensioner houses will be another firesale
The exact amount that these will be sold for is unknown. The units have a book value of about $70000 each (on average) (Seems to me that this figure is substantially lower than current real estate market values, and is little more, or possibly less than land value)
Council discussion papers refer to an approximate “discounted” rate of $43000 each. (on average) But rumours are that a deal has already been worked out between closed doors (presumably while PR spin is being worked out) and the 344 units will be sold for a as a gift at $30000 each (on average)
These proposals are outrageous. And absolute fiscal irresponsibility
How many New Zealanders are aware that a major City in out country could be so heartless?
And who will be the recipients of this gift? The recipients should be named and shamed. The Catholic organisation St Vincent de Paul; Habitat for Humanity
Of course they are interested. It’s a gift. But if these organisations had any sort of heart they would use their money to build additional required pensioner houses. If they use their money to purchase this stock, the chances of anybody extending pensioner housing schemes in Hamilton are almost zero. The Council will not do it. Who will?
These proposals are outrageous. A moral outrage
And a few questions:
Question 1
Is there any connection between Hamilton Councillor O’Leary working with St Vincent de Paul, and back room deals being worked out with St Vincent de Paul? Is this a conflict of interest?
Question 2
How does Councillor King get off going off overseas being a nice guy building a house for Habitat for Humanity, while at home he willingly gets rid of 344 homes for the humanity of Waikato citizens?
Question 3
If the majority of these pensioner houses were actually gifted to Council, have the Council studied all the trust deeds of these gifts?
Question 4
How can Hamilton City Council claim that the St Vincent de Paul Society and Habitat for Humanity are all about those organisations being a “better landlord”? They are in this game solely because they have been gifted a major investment opportunity.
Question 5
How can the Hamilton City Council consider improvements to the city design and landscaping of the Waikato River (Julie Hardaker’s legacy project) be of greater value than the ownership of 344 pensioner units for Hamilton?
Question 6
Why are surrounding councils such as Waipa, gearing up to provide more pensioner housing, while Hamilton is going out of such a responsibility for it’s citizens?
Question 7
Have the Hamilton City Council studied all the proposals that other councils have considered in their areas, to maintain Pensioner housing? I understand that Christchurch is studying alternatives, that do not involve simply getting rid of them all.
Question 8
How are Hamilton City Council going to PR this sale to the public? The left are against the sale because it is a moral outrage. Many on the right are against the sale because it is fiscally irresponsible. Who will be the winners? Julie Hardaker will be able to finance her “legacy” Waikato River landscape propsals. The far far right will be happy, simply because they are loons.
Question 9
For Hamilton ratepayers. Submissions on this topic are required by Council by the end of the month. It’s important that these are received. Even though the sale has already been unofficially been approved behind closed doors, and will be announced before Christmas. Will you please make a submission?
Question 10
For Waikato residents. WIll you be able to attend the Funeral : Death of the Common Good: Pensioner Housing at Hamilton Garden Place on Thursday 30 October?
Silly question boldsirbrian, you do understand when people go down a certain economic path they limit their options? Especially, within the realms of liberalism. Liberalism, has many faults, but the worst in my perspective – is when it is the dominant ideology – it can’t but act in an ideological manner. Orwell when he wrote 1984, was not just criticizing communism – he wrote it as a warning of liberalism as well.
In an attempt to understand what is good or bad in your perspective, (and regardless of academic discussions concerning liberalism and communism), what do you think about proposals of any New Zealand regional government to sell off all their pensioner housing stock?
““The Internet Party failed to deliver meaningful change in New Zealand at the last election because of the media spin by our opponents,” Dotcom says.
“They have successfully turned me into a villain, a German Nazi, a horrible employer, a political hacker, a practitioner of prohibited digital voodoo magic and nothing short of a monster. I would hate that guy too if I didn’t know that it wasn’t true.”…
“When you have the US Government, the NZ Government, all Hollywood studios and all major record labels fighting against you, you don’t have a lot of friends, especially in the media,” Dotcom says.
“They either own the media (like in the US) or control the media with their significant advertising spending. Their passion to destroy me and everything I do, because of a copyright disagreement, is almost as fanatical as some of the religious extremism I see on TV.”
imo…Monopoly Corporate Capitalism from USA in action….expect more of this if the TPPA is signed
I suggest Mr Dotcom didn’t help his own cause and reputation:
1 Villian. Has criminal convictions relating to money laundering and fraud.
2 [deleted] Is of German heritage, admits to owning a copy of Mein Kamf (Also apparently owns a fair amount of Nazi memorabilia.)
3 Bad Employer. Plenty of ex employees who testified to him making them working long hours and not paying wages as promised. Not many ex employees stating how wonderful he was. (maybe Liala Haree??)
4 Political hacker. Admits to hacking credit record of ex German PM whom he didn’t like.
5 Prohibited Digital Voodoo Magic. not sure about the voodoo magic but operating a file sharing website where copyrighted software was being distributed left/right & centre probably counts as prohibited digital….
6 Nothing short of a monster. Probably ok with this one however with his ex wife having to sneak away from in the middle of a night on a golf cart does have similarities to Jack (of bean stalk fame) fleeing the giant…..so maybe if the shoe fits…..
[lprent: Bye Jimmie. You are banned permanently for making a unsubstantiated defamatory assertion of fact. I really can’t be bothered educating fools who make this site liable.
If you hadn’t then you would have been getting a long ban anyway because you didn’t link to anything to back your other assertions of fact. Try Whaleoil. He appears to like spending time in the dock.
I don’t, especially for a pissant dickhead like you. ]
he owns stuff by churchill too does that make him a pompous englishman?
17% of the Act party mps have criminal convictions for deceit and fraud… so they are the most criminally inhabited party we have. national gifted them a seat.
he didnt breach copyright, users of his website did
@Tracey 1.09
Good to bring that forward and remind us about ACT. A busy little Party screwing everybody else and yet treading water itself under the NACT party.
+100 anker…..agreed David Cunliffe was a ” hit job” as well!…infact like Dotcom DC should reply , now that he is out of it all….David Cunliffe should detail and itemise all the hits on him! ( maybe with some research and journalist help)..it must have been very bruising, even although he was very strong!….and like others who have been through trauma it is cathartic to write it all down
…it would be good to see it published also ….such “hit jobs” should be made accountable and sheeted back home to the perpetrators for all to see
(…I can think of a book titled ‘Hit Jobs’…in fact if written by a research journalist i can think of several chapters…Dotcom, Cunliffe, Hagar, and going back a bit …Helen Clark …..etc etc
Kim Dot Com could be in serious trouble. The next few months will determine if he remains in New Zealand or is deported to the United States. The justice system will have the final say.
It’s good to read his own admission of the Internet-Mana failure, although he not always offers the correct reasons. He could and should have invested his money more wisely. The choice of Miss Harre turned out to be a serious mistake.
Western countries are increasingly ignoring Israel and demanding justice for the Palestinians and recognising the State of Palestine…Two eminent Jews discuss why the need for justice now
“Why have Western countries only now decided to vote to recognize the state of Palestine? What will be the outcome? Will a legitimate Palestinian state bring peace to the region? Is an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan a dead end?”
CrossTalking with Norman Finkelstein and Amir Oren.
The seppos are basically under Zionist control on these issues. It’s great to see other countries standing up to Zionist atrocities, but support from Washington allows Israel to carry on.
Don’t you love when you’re on your morning read, and someone writes something which not only runs alongside what you have been thinking, but expands and develops that idea brilliantly.
I’ve been thinking about music, and the woeful state it is in for ages. All the best music is underground, and hard to find – whilst Mainstream music is quite shallow and lacks any message.
You too can take part in the Labour’s independent review if you like:
JUST RECEIVED BY EMAIL:
Dear Clem
Today we are pleased to announce the names of the four reviewers who will lead Labour’s independent review.
Bryan Gould is Convenor of the review. He is joined by Hon Margaret Wilson, Stacey Morrison and Brian Corban. You can find out more about them by clicking HERE
Hon Pete Hodgson and Gaylene Nepia are working as lead consultants in the production of the first report on the 2014 campaign, with similar arrangements for the other reports.
The work of the whole initiative will be supported by a team of expert advisers. This will include successful senior campaigners from progressive parties overseas and specialists in qualitative and quantitative analysis.
The review is an opportunity for Labour to take a long hard look at ourselves. We need to learn and apply lessons from the election and ensure that we can be an effective opposition and prepare for government in 2017.
The review allows us to set a course to reconnect with the majority who want to see a fairer society and a more productive, sustainable economy. We need to be the alternative government ready to take office in 2017.
The review team will be responsible for the production of three reports. The first one is on the 2014 general election campaign (completed by December 7), the second on the longer-term perspective, and the final one on the governance and operations implications for the Party (both completed by the end of February 2015).
Submissions are open from today. Members, non-members and groups are all welcome to submit. The Terms of Reference can be found HERE
There will also be the opportunity for Labour members to submit in person to the review at face-to-face meetings in each hub. Details of these meetings will be provided as soon as they are available from the review team.
Thank you to so many people who have already offered to participate in this important review.
Clem…10.23 am..you posted this..I am so pleased you did…however you’d think that by 7.30 pm some would show a bit of interest..by posting a couple of comments.Yesterday in open mic I mentioned that I had heard Bryan Gould on the talk back radio talking of this and asked if anyone else had too?
Not a dicky bird.
I am beginning to wonder if the people in here are quite happy to tell everyone what’s wrong with Labour but none too many are prepared to to put their money where their mouth is and get involved. Perhaps some people have got too cosy in opposition and their twitter accounts & latte labour.
@ Ecosse Maidy…all they need to do is get a researcher/student to trawl through the all comments on this blog and other blogs eg Daily Blog
….and they will have a very good random selection as to why many different people thought Labour failed !!! …and was failing even six months before the Election!
….i think people are very tired of repeating themselves!
…and btw …this Review is a bit late isnt it?!…in the meantime David Cunliffe (the popular membership choice) has been forced to take the blame and not only resign but also promise never to seek re-election ( smells!)
…no wonder people are cynical about the Labour Party!…i wouldnt mind betting they are also cynical about the review!
Actually I did listen to the brilliant Brian Gould. I am sure many others from here would have too, but may not necessarily write a reply.
In my opinion, the Neo liberal minded destructive caucus members are a drain on the Labour party as they seem to be the disloyal dodgy secret leakers that have sullied this great social justice party. It is time for the membership to seek greater powers and kick these bastards out. They are free to join ACT, NZF, National, the Cons or just go away and live quietly and happily somewhere on their very fat political pensions and baubles.
My efforts will be going towards Mana. What Labour comes up with in a review is of little direct interest. I don’t have a twitter account and I don’t drink lattés. I have been in opposition all my life. It’s not cosy.
He was asked: “When you die, what will you say to God?”
He apparently replied: “Well you can be certain of one thing. I will treat him as an equal.”
Possibly apocryphal, but quite a line.
– Brought in the first national health insurance.
– Recognised China (during the Vietnam War no less!)
– Let the arts flourish
– Abolished university fees
(Among other things)
To me, this guy deserves a post of his own – with a comparison to Norman Kirk.
Sure as heck one of those guys for whom it was better to flame out after making massive positive change, than to hang around after defeat.
That certainly counts as a great statement.
It comes into the same category as Churchill’s view on the same subject really.
“I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”
They would both have been polite to God. What they would have said to each other doesn’t really bear thinking about.
Important part of the narrative 40 years ago–Gough Whitlam and Queenie’s rep John ‘Cur’.
Along with Big Norm in NZ, Allende in Chile, French nuclear testing, etc. All set against the wiretapping, assassinating, election fixing CIA backdrop.
Murdoch’s interference in politics is so very wrong, so blatantly unfair and shows such contempt for democracy just because he is rich and owns news media. He should be hauled into courts in Australia, ( possibly UK and other countries around the world) for his corrupt ways and put into jail for the rest of his remaining few years. What a scum.
this is remarkable .. how Nigeria has defeated Ebola using proper hydration and very basic electrolytes, nothing more … common sense with intelligence … panic can cease.
And I think I am quite amazed it was even published !
rawshark yeshe 2.20
And the heros of Nigeria now dead – from ebola. http://www.channel4.com/news/ebola-nigeria-world-health-organisation-patrick-sawyer Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh is the doctor credited with helping prevent the disease spreading much more widely at the early stages.
She and her colleagues quickly identified a victim who came to Nigeria as having Ebola and placed him in quarantine…..
Dr Adadevoh, whose great-grandfather was a founder of the modern Nigeria, died on 19 August, having herself contracted the disease.
From the bbc more detail. And the other health workers who died are recognised – so that is nice – it is easy to be fixated on one hero,
The sick man demanded to be allowed to leave and tore out the drips and splashed health workers with him.
Dr Adadevoh and four other health workers died from the virus. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29682325
I opened the Bob Jones piece from NZHerald today hours ago then left it because I couldn’t be bothered reading his dribble. When I returned to my laptop I noticed the poll about Labour leader preference. It had 50-150 responses and had Al on 30% and GR leading on 34%. I thought I would refresh to see what the results were now, and it came back with 0-50 responses and a completely different response (DP equal lead with AL).
What’s going on with the Herald polls? Is someone gaming them? That is very dodgy.
Colonial Rawshark
A good interview, you come across well Colonial, with sensible discussion casting some light and the interviewer was sharp but interested in getting info.
Thanks for your support Standardistas. I’ve learnt much from each of you over time and hope to synthesise more of your ideas and put them out there in public forums as opportunities come up. The interviewers were pretty sharp and challenging, it was good times.
I was reading about Leonard Bernstein. His story is great but his death and burial had some points to note. Construction workers commemorating a musician in NZ – would that happen?
On the day of his funeral procession through the streets of Manhattan, construction workers removed their hats and waved, yelling “Goodbye, Lenny.”[41]
Bernstein is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, next to his wife and with a copy of Mahler’s Fifth lying across his heart.[42]
The draft of his memoir, Blue Ink, having only existed in electronic form in a password-protected document that still remains unopened to this day, has become a poster-child in the probate community for the need of increased awareness of digital assets during the estate planning process. [43] Wikipedia
Could be that techies here should think about this matter of death and digital records assets etc.
Mention has been made of Redline blog. I’m surprised some folks haven’t heard of it because, although we’re very small fish compared to the major right-wing and left-wing blogs, we have been getting about 8,000 hits a month in recent months.
Whether we are ‘old’ – or what that even means – folks can judge for themselves. But here’s some recent stuff:
another very busy week at the blog as we’ve been sticking up pieces about workers’ struggles here and abroad.
Actually, one more lastly, which is some stuff to do with Labour. People here might be interested in our analysis of the Labour Party as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Our major feature on Labour is here (it’s pamphlet-length long): http://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/the-truth-about-labour-a-bosses-party/
Thanks for popping by Phil, good to hear a bit more about Redline. That factory takeover story looks very interesting indeed. Democratic socialism in action…
As for Labour being a capitalist party…well its been that way well before Rogernomics.
Yes, indeed, Labour was a capitalist party well before Rogernomics, a point made in the examination of its history by Daphna Whitmore and myself.
Indeed, by 1935, the radicalism of the early Labour leaders was well gone. The biggest capitalist in the country, Ernest Davis supported them – and Labur had him knighted.
Semple has become a boss.
Also, I think quite a few people would be shocked to see how racist (anti-Chinese) a lot of these early Labour heroes were.
i see the defence force is happy to lie or look duplicitous for the PM
” Tim Keating says “We dropped the ball” not informing PM about Obama meeting….”
He has announced his resignation, right? Key will sack him, right?
its clever, it contains distraction, cos according to us press reports, even without obamas attendance it was to discuss ISIS, but keating makes it all about protocol stopping them knowing in advance about obamas attendance. see what they did there, smoke and mirrors.
and so it goes. sigh. Crosby Textor takes us to war while Jason Ede is rewarded and Simon Lizard Lusk sees his candidates offer their maiden speeches. omfg. how wrong this is.
I won’t make a habit of advertising our stuff here, but here’s some basic stuff on capitalism on Redline and also on Key’s economic policy, and a couple of pieces on the end of the idea of ‘the leisure society’ (thanks capitalism) and pensions/retirement age stuff.
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...
Why do so many people mistrust the police? Because they pull shit like this:The police are flouting the rules on breath testing, carrying out tests in people's homes to catch them out sometimes up to two hours after they were ...
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...
The Herald reports that the housing shortage / bubble has hit a new level:New Zealand is short of 130,000 homes, the tally having risen lately by 30,000, two economists say. Jarrod Kerr and Jeremy Couchman, Kiwibank economists said: "This time ...
Milk producer Fonterra is one of New Zealand's biggest coal-users, using it to power all its South Island (and a few of its North Island) dairy factories. They'd previously "committed" to not building any new coal boilers after 2030. Now, ...
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...
Yesterday the government released its discussion document on action on agricultural emissions. As sadly usual, it proposed enormous subsidies for farm emissions, including for nitrogen-based fertiliser. This is a huge mistake. In addition to being one of the chief drivers ...
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act (this replaced their previous plans to hold a secret consultation with handpicked people). 285 people submitted on ...
Always Playing Catch-Up: Throughout the 1970s, the purchasing power of the ordinary worker’s pay packet – the only meaningful measure of his or her wealth – was being eaten away every passing year by seemingly inexorable rises in the cost-of-living. ...
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...
Agriculture is our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 48% of the total. It follows that meeting any credible emissions reduction target requires cutting agricultural emissions, most likely by having fewer cows. But National thinks people shouldn't be ...
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
To express concern about foreign ownership and control in New Zealand is often to invite accusations of xenophobia and economic illiteracy. It is worthwhile, therefore, to rehearse the grounds for that concern, and to explore the various forms it can ...
It must be a day ending in Y because the Guardian - remember when it used to be a good paper1 - is running another spurious story about Corbyn's leadership being threatened over anti-Semitism.The headline the Guardian runs is: "MPs tell ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 23 through Sat, June 29, 2019 Editor's Pick When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, has reacted with disbelief that the Government’s latest climate proposal includes an option for dairy to voluntarily deal with their emissions over the next six years. ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and ...
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling You’ve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon – a feat that still boggles the mind given ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane.Channel HoppingStupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
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The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35)Fucking ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Griebsch, Specialist and Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection ...
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on ...
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...
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 contentForeign Affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The new, ...
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, CSIRO The role Australia played in relaying the first television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the Moon 50 years ago this July features in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow, Griffith University In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Lecturer (Management), Victoria University of Wellington We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...
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Our government and leaders are (still) divided on the question of compulsory te reo Māori. Who’s for it, who’s against it, and who’s flip flopping around in the middle?Under article two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the government pledges to ...
When teenagers today are being called upon to solve the problems of tomorrow, why aren’t they given the right to participate in democracy? Fourteen-year-old Oli Morphew makes the case for lowering the voting age. If you’re going to deprive someone of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University Australia’s relations with China will be further complicated by the news that Australian citizen Yang Hengjun is set to be charged with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Kyne, Senior Research Fellow in conservation biology, Charles Darwin University More than 28,000 species around the world are threatened, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Centre For Applied Philosophy & Public Ethics (CAPPE), Charles Sturt University Two Australian universities, University of Technology Sydney and Curtin University, are conducting internal reviews of ...
Open mike 21/10/2014 
Open mike is your post.
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...3 hours ago
This week, in the wake of National's opposition to even talking about reducing agricultural emissions and Simon Bridges' refusal to recognise that there is a climate emergency, I've been saying that National is unfit to govern. And it looks like ...5 hours ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...8 hours ago
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...1 day ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...2 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...2 days ago
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On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...3 days ago
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Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...2 weeks ago
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A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...3 days ago
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I posted this in the wrong Open Mike yesterday – so note that David Parker dropped back in to his Q&A post for some final comments at 40.1
i asked parker this:
“..could you please detail/specify for us what you would do in your first one hundred days as prime minister..
..to address the open sores of poverty and inequality…
..what will you do for the poorest..?
Reply
David Parker 2.1
19 October 2014 at 2:44 pm
Issues that I believe we urgently need to address include affordable housing. We’d kick off with building more homes, and enforcing a healthy homes warrant of fitness.
We need to lift incomes. By the time of the next election, I want people when they hear “Labour” to think higher wages. Wages lifted immediately for the lower paid via minimum wage. Wage increases for others via better labour laws and a strongr economy investing in productive jobs rather than speculation.
Incomes for the poorest families need the likes of the Best Start package. Shamefully, the Nats equivalent deliberately excludes kids in beneficiary’s homes..”
you will note that the question is only addressed in the final couple of lines..
..where the best start for newborns is mentioned..but that is it..eh..?
..but it is the final line that has been doing my head in..
..seeing as parker was part of the labour govt that ‘excluded’ the poorest families from ‘working for (some) families’…him accusing national of ‘exclusion’ is beyond fucken black-irony..
..but wait..there’s more..!..parker is on record as attempting to blame the 2011 policy of including the poorest families in ‘w.f.(s).f.by 2018..(!)..(seven yrs/two elections after 2011)..
..as a major reason for labour losing that election..
..(and therefor reason to ditch that ‘future’-promise..)
..so 2014 didn’t even have that..all parker/labour 2014 offered to do for the poorest families was s.f.a…
..(which left us with once again..the beyond black-irony situation of the far-right conservative party..with their first 20 grand tax free policy..
..actually offering more to those most in need..than the labour party..
..which i repeat…was offering s.f.a…
..it is clear from parkers’ non-answer to my straightforward question..that his answer to my question should have been short and sharp:..
..’we will do s.f.a for the poorest families’..
..because that is what his answer actually said..
“..’we will do s.f.a for the poorest families’….because that is what his answer actually said..”
No he didn’t, he wrote
Address include affordable housing.
Build more homes.
Healthy homes warrant of fitness.
Wages lifted immediately for the lower paid via minimum wage.
Wage increases for others via better labour laws and a stronger economy investing in productive jobs rather than speculation.
Best Start package.
Thanks for spending the time to decipher phil’s dribble. I looked at it, thought he might possibly be saying something interesting this time, but couldn’t be bothered trying to read his mess.
Turns out it was the usual mis-representation of reality (and English) that phil specialises in.
+1 to the first paragraph (didn’t look closely enough to know about the second).
ad homs is pretty much all you’ve ever got there..eh lanth…?
..slim-pickings in the abilities-bag..there..eh..?
and i/doncha love those people who have clearly read..
..and yet claim to have ‘not read’..
..yr fooling nobody..eh?
..not even yrslf really..eh..?
personally, I routinely skip anything by pu unless subsequent comments catch my eye in the scroll-down.
And even then I still skip his intial unintelligible diatribes and simply flip through the tit-for-tats afterwards. Sometimes The Al1en can be quite funny, and pu is often Cartman-esque in his indestructible ego 🙂
Problem with that is reading so many comments out of context. Lately it means scrolling through most of some threads, esp OM.
I’ve found that once it gets over a couple of hundred comments, I have to skip much of a thread. Filtering out the whackos and known tory-lying-swine (unless I feel like a joust) tends to reduce the larger threads’ content into a couple of interesting discussions between about a dozen commenters.
tits for tats???
sorry? Half my brain is at work at the moment, so I might have missed a subtlety or jargon.
so..flocky..
..the removal of capital letters..throws you into a total tail-spin..eh..?
..have you always had difficulties/issues with change..?
..u do know that language evolves..eh..?..
..(remember how until recently most here wrote in blocks of words..?..like bricks..?..doesn’t that look strange now..eh..?)
..scary..!..i know..but..y’know..!..don’t be too scared there..flocky.
..nothing really to be scared of..eh..?…
..(and you left yr ‘sniff!’ of disdain out of yr comment..where wd u like me to insert it..?..)
see, that sort of shit is too garbled to bother reading. The first sentence was at least in context, but the change bit was just random. So I stopeed reading.
Much of it is the visual composition, but there’s also a strong indication that what actually gets written is only a portion of the content that he reads off the backs of his eyelids. There might be a well-developed link between not bothering to read his deliberately uncommunicative scrawl (A) and a general aversion to change (Z), but he never bothered to link A to Z. The result feels a bit like trying to read heiroglyphs that have been eroded and fractured over time.
And it’s not like sitting down and focusing intently on the content has revealed any great insight to be cherished, so I tend to think “why bother?”. I put as much effort into understanding his comments as he puts into making them understandable.
a very ‘literal person r u there..?..flocky..?
..a tad ‘rigid’ in yr ways..?
..over-neat lawns..?..that kinda thing..?
..this is what people who know wd say of you..?
lol. Indeed, guffaw (but metaphorically so, because I’m at the office).
I think I can safely say “no” to that description, especially anyone who’s seen my hovel.
I do like polished shoes, but that is merely because I like shiny things. And you, phil, are most certainly not shiny.
i’m so ‘shiny’ u’d need shades..
(and ‘well done there!’ for getting thru that comment..!..)
I had already suspected that your desire for obscurity from other’s eyes is merely a dramatic overcompensation for (what you believe to be) your brilliance.
@ flocky..
..have you been talking to my therapist..?
..and/but hardly..”..your desire for obscurity from other’s eyes..”
..very soon i’m kicking off a daily vid-blog news-bulletin..
..where i intend to indiscriminately rip the shit out of all concerned..
..it’s time to get fucken angry..
..and my persona will be decidedly ‘grumpy’…
..(and i’ll try to limit the subtitles/written word..in consideration of those such as you..)
@ flocky..
“..’Cartman-esque’..?..moi..?
..i’m not one in these environs who demands others…
..’respect my authority!’…
.am i..?
Oui. Vous.
Don’t confuse a catchphrase with character.
philip ure ..lol…you are really a mad person who tries to drive people trying to be sane…MAD!
Lanthanide, Weka and McFlock 😆
I don’t reply half as much as I could, which considering the amount of rubbish posted already is probably a good thing. The fact that Philip’s opinions rants and musings are mostly ignored and not debated is telling, proving just because you shout the loudest doesn’t mean you’re being heard.
And believing the quality over quantity rule I self moderate. I don’t always get it right, but sometimes seeing the worst has merit, like so you know the good stuff when/if it comes.
So never say never and write pu off, ’cause just like living in nat NZ, there’s always hope even in the darkest places.
I don’t think his comments are mostly ignored/not debated, which is why OM in particular is strewn with his conversations with other people.
Maybe I should have written the comments ‘don’t find wide acceptance and consensus’ instead of ignored seeing it’s what I meant.
And Sir Spamalot (Can’t strikethrough the text) Sir Quornalot doesn’t really debate, it’s more smear and resist alternative views at all cost, and yes, there’s plenty of that.
ah, ok, so more like people engage, they’re mostly just disagreeing with him?
If they don’t skim past first.
Obama Agonistes and the rush to nihilism.
http://www.syrianperspective.com/2014/10/eyeless-in-kobane-obama-agonistes-and-the-rush-to-nihilism.html
Eruption Spells Gently Impending Doom For A Hawaiian Suburb
http://space.io9.com/this-eruption-spells-slowly-impending-doom-for-hawaiian-1647902487
Tangata whenua regard Pu’u ‘O’o as a guest to be welcomed.
Airstrikes finish off #ISIS @ #Kobane
https://twitter.com/ArmedResearch/status/523485410862059520/photo/1
Looks like a classic case of saving a town by wiping big chunks of it out.
Anyways, the War Nerd says that the USA was not serious about stopping ISIS until a couple of weeks ago. Before that the USA was simply waiting for Kobani to fall. But the YPG fighters proved very effective.
http://pando.com/2014/10/16/the-war-nerd-nobody-could-have-predicted-islamic-states-retreat-from-kobane-except-me/
That looks like the Kurds got rid of ISIL and only after that did O’Bomber decide to unleash the bombs. What we see in those pictures are the Kurdish defenders being bombed. The whole intervention there is just sick. The bombings and strafings in open desert are largely ineffective, but bombing the only force that has stood up to ISIL will do some real damage. Sucks to be socialists and progressive on women’s issues when the US and A is intent on imposing freedom for women, doesn’t it?
Medical Officer of Health Canterbury on Nat Rad this morning. New upper levels for nitrates in ground water in Selwyn District are too close to maximum safe levels for drinking water. Nitrates, from intensification of dairying, take a long time to accumulate and to reduce. Intensification has been rapid and will continue to be rapid.
It is our tragedy as a society that those he seeks to warn understand only money.
Just had my nitrate levels back from the first aquifer monitoring bore. They were so low that ECAN did a second test – which confirmed the very low reading.
@ grumpy 10.06 am
Are your nitrate levels relevant to the previous comment? If so it’s nice to hear.
What is your situation, have you been doing riparian planting? What is your situation, high up river or down the bottom? If you aren’t in the area of the comment where are you, and why is it good to hear for you?
this is john olivers’ latest offering..
..and it had me laughing far too hard for so early in the morn..
http://www.alternet.org/video/video-john-olivers-brilliant-hilarious-solution-no-cameras-supreme-court-rule
I have tears running down my face – Thanks philip ure for the link that was truly the funnest thing I have seen in a long time.
News this morning that a submarine has been spotted in Swedish waters.A hazy image of a sub and speculation it is Soviet and a rerun of the Cold War is imminent.The Dutch have confirmed they have a sub operating in the area.The Mainstream media have become so tedious that its an ordeal to listen or read it these days.
Must justify NATO bases crowding around Russian borders…must pretend to be surprised when Russia finds this prospect disagreeable.
Andrew Little choosing his cat as his running mate was a stroke of genius.
The leadership is in the bag.
🙂
Yep, leading by a whisker:
http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2014/10/top-tweets-about-andrew-little-and-his-cat-buddy.html
The purrfect strategy…….
Obviously you aren’t a cat person. Cats choose you rather than the other way around. I suspect that you are just a dog… person
cats are haughty and dismissive, dont need anyone… labour party deputy?!?
cats are evil/sadistic killing-machines…
..they should only be permitted enclosed where they live..(electronic-collar/barriers/walls..?..)
..and must be taken indoors at nite..
..the odds are far too weighted against the birds..
..and i wd rather have..the birds..
Good point.
Being under the ownership of two cats , I’m quite surprised I forgot about that.
Hi lprent just noticed the links to the graphs in your post about The Standard’s analytics seem to be broken. (For me anyway).
I was playing around with a different system for providing graphics system last night. It is probably just the image caching ‘refilling’ after I switched it back.
Looks like they are there for me now. Try Ctrl + Refresh or Ctrl + F5 on that page to force a reload of everything.
Cheers!
This sounds familiar. How many times have we heard that National is a good economic manager and Labour is rubbish? From the Guardian:
“Why did Britain’s political class buy into the Tories’ economic fairytale?”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/19/britain-political-class-tories-economic-fairytale
The solution for Labour?
“The country is in desperate need of a counter narrative that shifts the terms of debate. A government budget should be understood not just in terms of bookkeeping but also of demand management, national cohesion and productivity growth. Jobs and wages should not be seen simply as a matter of people being “worth” (or not) what they get, but of better utilising human potential and of providing decent and dignified livelihoods. Ways have to be found to generate economic growth based on rising productivity rather than the continuous blowing of asset bubbles.”
Linked nearby to that Guardian article is another closely related one:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/18/economy-bleak-british-workers-technology
This is where the oligarchic elite are sending ‘western civilisation’ back to.
Or maybe it’s not the oligarchies fault as such. Maybe there is not so much a big conspiracy to cut living standards – as much as the simple reality that regardless of how many dollars they print, there are not the resources to redeem them. So maybe the rich are doing us all a favour by hoarding useless money that would only cause more harm if all of us ordinary people tried to spend it.
That maybe the work most ordinary people do simply isn’t worth that much anymore, that either automation does it better or the total marginal utility of what we are doing is either zero or negative.
That maybe falling living standards are simply a symptom of the fact that we have exceeded the capacity of the planet to carry us.
I see the sense in what you are saying and there is an element of truth to it: the deliberate rationing of scarce resources where the 0.1% have no effective limits but the bottom 80% are highly constrained.
Having said that however, a power elite acting to keep the class of commoners just slightly above the point of subsistence/starvation is not a new or novel tactic of social control.
so automation does a job better and faster than workers can do, fine. However, that economic value is still be created – and instead of it going to help run society as a whole, it is being concentrated in the hands of a very few owners.
Sorry it does seem a bleak assessment.
But what it does highlight is that there is no possibility of asking the 80% to live within the means of the planet – while the other 20% consume far more.
And I think we are on much the same wavelength with automation and tech. I see enormous potential for low-energy, bio-mimicry tech to completely re-shape the economic world.
For instance the PC I’m typing this on is an Intel i5 Quad Core NUC that has heaps of processing power – yet only draws about 2-3W most of the time. (Yeah the screen is the biggest power hog at about 20W). Technology does not always have to be a problem; it takes the shapes we want it to have.
The old energy-hungry industrial systems will soon die out – and either humans rapidly transform their energy and resource consumption along with the social systems that distribute their capital , or we will start heading even more steeply down Greer’s Long Descent.
It’s an enormous challenge. Greer thinks it’s unlikely we will meet it and it’s hard to argue with him. It’s a pattern we’ve repeated unthinkingly so many times in our past.
Yet this time might be different; if only because so many of us can see it coming. That’s the crucial link in the chain – we have to stop discounting our future against our present consumption.
Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to compel anyone who thinks of standing for public office, public service, or even C-level corporate jobs to go on a very long tramp. Six months of facing reality in the wilderness (or as near as we get it these days) might just trigger a change in values.
Inequality has not been good for the planet’s resources, it has involved greater depletion.
Characterising inequality as effectively rationing the world’s resources (as CV does) is false, because goods and services are not priced to reflect their true cost because of the economic system of exploitation.
If labour was priced properly, widgets would be made to last longer. Notice how planned obsolescence really picked up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, just as jobs and capital moved to cheaper locations offshore?
And there’s more tangential links; if people had more time, energy and money, they would eat less processed food. Processed food strains the environment, and increases demand on the health system.
Another example could be the extremely cheap air travel around Europe.
The Spirit Level had something to say about greater equality engendering more care for the environment, and less focus on status and consumption.
Characterising inequality as effectively rationing the world’s resources (as CV does) is false, because goods and services are not priced to reflect their true cost because of the economic system of exploitation.
Do you mean exploitation of labour – or resources? In the next para you talk about labour, but the problem is that in planet of 7.5b people and automation – labour has become almost worthless.
While resources are finite and increasingly scarce, money is really nothing more than a claim on future resources. Paying people more really does not solve that problem at all.
The Spirit Level had something to say about greater equality engendering more care for the environment, and less focus on status and consumption.
Which is an excellent point – but how many people have considered that equality may means all of us much more constrained lives than we in the rich countries are accustomed to?
You overstate automation. Labour is not ‘almost worthless’. If it was, why would Western manufacturers set up factories offshore? Wouldn’t it be easier to produce good at home, without the geopolitical risk of offshoring?
A bigger factor than automation (so far, anyway) in wages and wealth concentration was the huge expansion in the worker pool caused by globalisation and lack of labour protection.
As an automation engineer I’m probably more conscious of the impact of technology than most. Since 1980 technology has more than tripled labour productivity in most industries. When was the last time you saw a typing pool?
So far most of the jobs we have automated out of existence have been the repetitive or low-skilled tasks. But that is all about to change. The next wave will replace more than 98% of all jobs as we currently know them. Within a generation.
And yes the vast expansion of the exploitable labour pool globally has been important too. But we ain’t seen nothing yet.
An economy which does not need workers, where vast profits and surplus are available only to a few. (For a little while).
Of course this model is already failing now, with Wal Mart and McDonalds in the US complaining that people are becoming too poor to buy their products.
Will it be an economy predicated on making and selling Maseratis and diamond encrusted iPhone cases?
Corporates are by their nature able to operate at a global scope, while democratic accountability (limited as it is) remains constrained to the nation state.
The NZLP could elect a cross between Karl Marx and Jesus Christ for a leader – and it would make no difference to the real challenges facing ordinary New Zealanders because all the big problems of the world are global in nature.
Yet ironically enough John Key’s govt. can slide along happily looking after the interests of the globalised corporates, and probably gets more done for that reason.
Tory economic infrastructure and scope of social networks is stunning.
So why are there no equivalent networks on the left? Where are our intellectual and social connections outside of this very small country?
Or did we somehow allow the Tories to define the boundaries of left-wing politics to be confined to the nation-state? While they themselves covertly took full advantage of the wealth, prestige and influence of a globalised, corporatised world?
Maybe living outside of NZ for a short while has changed my perspective somewhat.
There needs to be an honest discussion about the future of work, and the impact of automation on many jobs (although I don’t think it will wipe out more than 98% of all jobs as we currently know them).
But it’s your claim that wealth inequality (of which automation is one driver) may be beneficial because it helps to save the world’s resources that I find highly dubious.
@Red Logix Formes 8.52pm
Actually if people can have a different mindset on acquiring things, they would have an easier life, with more satisfaction, and a feeling of more freedom. Buying less would leave more to pay off their house, still have quality appliances, and not work so hard.
Work constrains people and their are many working for a psychopathic managerial type. If you don’t need money desperately because you have over-reached yourself, you know that you can maintain yourself if you finally have to confront someone who is riding you in an unreasonable way.
It would be good if people could realise how to cut their aspirations a little. And then they could support some project, organisation that puts back into society some of what has gone missing.
And you can spend time with your children, who are riches to their family as are gold and precious stones from mining. People haven’t had to slave in a physical sense to have their children to form their family, yet the children are much more complex and wonderful than any wealth from the ground. Time, thought and loving words given and received at the appropriate time can result in happy children with the parental role modelling giving their own mind strength to handle the uncertain futures of the human being. This is bigger by far to achieve, than most outcomes from formal work.
Thank you gw. That approaches the issue from the other side – and is a strategy always of considerable merit.
‘While resources are finite and increasingly scarce, money is really nothing more than a claim on future resources. Paying people more really does not solve that problem at all.’
This is an over simplification, and perhaps I haven’t explained my point clearly. The example I used in my first comment involved the link between planned obsolescence, inequality, and globalisation.
It’s not about simply paying people more.
With greater labour protection, higher wages, less wealth concentration/inequality, we would use resources more sparingly. For one thing, planned obsolescence would make less sense financially.
Resulting health and social benefits would allow people to be a little more creative and resourceful, and find ways to enjoy their lives while consuming less.
I think we are saying much the same thing – but I suspect few people have truly grasped the magnitude of the changes in resource consumption that are coming down the track at us.
We really have only two choices – a dramatic adaptation of our entire social and economic structure to harness science and technology to optimise and adapt the best we can to a very different world; or the usual descent into another Dark Age.
The former is within our knowledge and ability to achieve. But our delusions and vanities make the latter a far more likely outcome.
The solution. Nah. Too big and complicated for a soundbite.
Fyi,
http://kurdishquestion.com/kurdistan/west-kurdistan/what-s-happening-in-kobane.html
CBS NewsOctober 20, 2014, 7:00 AM
U.S. veteran joins ground war against ISIS
The Kurds are out-gunned and out-manned, but Williams discovered that one of the fighters who has joined their ranks is an American volunteer.
“I figured if I came over here more Americans and other people from other countries would come here,” Jeremy Woodard, a security guard from Meridian, Mississippi, told Williams.
Woodard served with the U.S. military until 2012, having seen tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
A month ago, after he was angered by news reports about atrocities committed by ISIS, he paid his own way to Turkey and was smuggled into the war zone.
“I can’t really understand them, but sign language is everything,” he said of working with his new comrades. Woodard told CBS News he’s been involved in several battles against ISIS, including one close to Syria’s border with Iraq that he said raged for 24 hours.
“I’ve killed two, in my first battle in Jezaa, and that’s it so far,” he told Williams. “Hopefully my numbers will go up. I never thought I’d be over in Syria killing people, but they’ve killed innocent people.”………………Woodard told us he’s not the only American fighting with the Kurdish militia members against ISIS in Syria. He said he knows of two others, and has heard there may be several more.
And a US veteran interviewd here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29689832
Would anyone else like to be one of Amy Adams’ sisters?
Good job if you can get to be.
Please could you post the link for this. I saw it yesterday morning and was unable to find the article again later in the day.
ANNOUNCEMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hamilton
Thursday 30 October, Midday
Garden Place
Funeral : Death of the Common Good: Pensioner Housing
The number of pensioner houses in Hamilton is significantly lower than the majority of regional councils. At a time when the number of pensioners are expected to rapidly rise for the next thirty years, we might have expected local government to be investing in a significant increase in pensioner housing.
This is NOT the case in Hamilton.
Hamilton is governed by one of the most right wing councils in New Zealand. So far right that it would make Whyte and Seymour seem like communists. Hamilton can show the rest of New Zealand where local government can end up if the right’s “hidden agenda” is allowed to progress. Why Hamilton should be blessed with such an obnoxious bunch on Council is a mystery.
Two years ago the sale of pensioner houses began. About 50 were sold in a firesale, raising about 3.5 million dollars. The majority on the open market, but the council likes to refer to their sale of a dozen of these houses (also sold at firesale rates) to Habitat for Humanity/Crosslight trust. The justification was that maintenance was urgently required on all the housing stock, and the proceeds would be used to upgrade the rest of the housing stock.
This was a lie.
The money has been left idle in a bank account, now tagged as the base for the mayor’s (Julie Hardaker) “legacy fund” so that she can be remembered for beautifying the Waikato River as it meanders through Hamilton.
None of this money has been spent on maintenance on pensioner housing.
But wait. There’s MORE. The current council plans are much worse
Hamilton City Council are planning to sell their entire stock of pensioner housing 🙁
The City Council say this is a Government responsibility. Government say that pensioner housing is a regional responsibility. Pensioners requiring housing are in the middle, with an increasing number of them facing the prospect of living in the backs of cars and under canvas presumably.
The City Council will say that this is not true. They will be selling them to wonderful social service organisations who will be able to do a better job. (They will say little about the whole purpose of this is to fund Julie Hardaker’s legacy fund of beautifying the Waikato River)
But let us analyse the sale. The sale of Hamilton’s 344 pensioner houses will be another firesale
The exact amount that these will be sold for is unknown. The units have a book value of about $70000 each (on average) (Seems to me that this figure is substantially lower than current real estate market values, and is little more, or possibly less than land value)
Council discussion papers refer to an approximate “discounted” rate of $43000 each. (on average) But rumours are that a deal has already been worked out between closed doors (presumably while PR spin is being worked out) and the 344 units will be sold for a as a gift at $30000 each (on average)
These proposals are outrageous. And absolute fiscal irresponsibility
How many New Zealanders are aware that a major City in out country could be so heartless?
And who will be the recipients of this gift? The recipients should be named and shamed. The Catholic organisation St Vincent de Paul; Habitat for Humanity
Of course they are interested. It’s a gift. But if these organisations had any sort of heart they would use their money to build additional required pensioner houses. If they use their money to purchase this stock, the chances of anybody extending pensioner housing schemes in Hamilton are almost zero. The Council will not do it. Who will?
These proposals are outrageous. A moral outrage
And a few questions:
Question 1
Is there any connection between Hamilton Councillor O’Leary working with St Vincent de Paul, and back room deals being worked out with St Vincent de Paul? Is this a conflict of interest?
Question 2
How does Councillor King get off going off overseas being a nice guy building a house for Habitat for Humanity, while at home he willingly gets rid of 344 homes for the humanity of Waikato citizens?
Question 3
If the majority of these pensioner houses were actually gifted to Council, have the Council studied all the trust deeds of these gifts?
Question 4
How can Hamilton City Council claim that the St Vincent de Paul Society and Habitat for Humanity are all about those organisations being a “better landlord”? They are in this game solely because they have been gifted a major investment opportunity.
Question 5
How can the Hamilton City Council consider improvements to the city design and landscaping of the Waikato River (Julie Hardaker’s legacy project) be of greater value than the ownership of 344 pensioner units for Hamilton?
Question 6
Why are surrounding councils such as Waipa, gearing up to provide more pensioner housing, while Hamilton is going out of such a responsibility for it’s citizens?
Question 7
Have the Hamilton City Council studied all the proposals that other councils have considered in their areas, to maintain Pensioner housing? I understand that Christchurch is studying alternatives, that do not involve simply getting rid of them all.
Question 8
How are Hamilton City Council going to PR this sale to the public? The left are against the sale because it is a moral outrage. Many on the right are against the sale because it is fiscally irresponsible. Who will be the winners? Julie Hardaker will be able to finance her “legacy” Waikato River landscape propsals. The far far right will be happy, simply because they are loons.
Question 9
For Hamilton ratepayers. Submissions on this topic are required by Council by the end of the month. It’s important that these are received. Even though the sale has already been unofficially been approved behind closed doors, and will be announced before Christmas. Will you please make a submission?
Question 10
For Waikato residents. WIll you be able to attend the Funeral : Death of the Common Good: Pensioner Housing at Hamilton Garden Place on Thursday 30 October?
Silly question boldsirbrian, you do understand when people go down a certain economic path they limit their options? Especially, within the realms of liberalism. Liberalism, has many faults, but the worst in my perspective – is when it is the dominant ideology – it can’t but act in an ideological manner. Orwell when he wrote 1984, was not just criticizing communism – he wrote it as a warning of liberalism as well.
.
@ adam (11.1)
In an attempt to understand what is good or bad in your perspective, (and regardless of academic discussions concerning liberalism and communism), what do you think about proposals of any New Zealand regional government to sell off all their pensioner housing stock?
@ adam
Do you like my favourite ideological description for the way forward – follow the idealistic pragmatist path?
Kim Dot com breaks post election media silence.
http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-breaks-post-election-media-silence-141004/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
+100 Clem…liked this bit by Dotcom:
““The Internet Party failed to deliver meaningful change in New Zealand at the last election because of the media spin by our opponents,” Dotcom says.
“They have successfully turned me into a villain, a German Nazi, a horrible employer, a political hacker, a practitioner of prohibited digital voodoo magic and nothing short of a monster. I would hate that guy too if I didn’t know that it wasn’t true.”…
“When you have the US Government, the NZ Government, all Hollywood studios and all major record labels fighting against you, you don’t have a lot of friends, especially in the media,” Dotcom says.
“They either own the media (like in the US) or control the media with their significant advertising spending. Their passion to destroy me and everything I do, because of a copyright disagreement, is almost as fanatical as some of the religious extremism I see on TV.”
imo…Monopoly Corporate Capitalism from USA in action….expect more of this if the TPPA is signed
I suggest Mr Dotcom didn’t help his own cause and reputation:
1 Villian. Has criminal convictions relating to money laundering and fraud.
2 [deleted] Is of German heritage, admits to owning a copy of Mein Kamf (Also apparently owns a fair amount of Nazi memorabilia.)
3 Bad Employer. Plenty of ex employees who testified to him making them working long hours and not paying wages as promised. Not many ex employees stating how wonderful he was. (maybe Liala Haree??)
4 Political hacker. Admits to hacking credit record of ex German PM whom he didn’t like.
5 Prohibited Digital Voodoo Magic. not sure about the voodoo magic but operating a file sharing website where copyrighted software was being distributed left/right & centre probably counts as prohibited digital….
6 Nothing short of a monster. Probably ok with this one however with his ex wife having to sneak away from in the middle of a night on a golf cart does have similarities to Jack (of bean stalk fame) fleeing the giant…..so maybe if the shoe fits…..
[lprent: Bye Jimmie. You are banned permanently for making a unsubstantiated defamatory assertion of fact. I really can’t be bothered educating fools who make this site liable.
If you hadn’t then you would have been getting a long ban anyway because you didn’t link to anything to back your other assertions of fact. Try Whaleoil. He appears to like spending time in the dock.
I don’t, especially for a pissant dickhead like you. ]
he owns stuff by churchill too does that make him a pompous englishman?
17% of the Act party mps have criminal convictions for deceit and fraud… so they are the most criminally inhabited party we have. national gifted them a seat.
he didnt breach copyright, users of his website did
You missed the bit about KDC being German. That misdemenour compounds the other to make him a monster.
😉
@Tracey 1.09
Good to bring that forward and remind us about ACT. A busy little Party screwing everybody else and yet treading water itself under the NACT party.
what a fevered wee mind ye have there..jimmie..
..have you thought of penning pot-boilers..?
..and a gold star for weaving jack and the beanstalk into yr harrowing-tales..
..that showed creative-courage..
..(and it’s laila harre..eh..?..)
dotcom was his whipping boy here before the election… nothings changed
That Dotcom is a “Nazi” is the dumbest claim I’ve heard from you for some time, Jimmie.
Good try on the hit job though.
Chooky @ 12.1 Same process, different content for DC
+100 anker…..agreed David Cunliffe was a ” hit job” as well!…infact like Dotcom DC should reply , now that he is out of it all….David Cunliffe should detail and itemise all the hits on him! ( maybe with some research and journalist help)..it must have been very bruising, even although he was very strong!….and like others who have been through trauma it is cathartic to write it all down
…it would be good to see it published also ….such “hit jobs” should be made accountable and sheeted back home to the perpetrators for all to see
(…I can think of a book titled ‘Hit Jobs’…in fact if written by a research journalist i can think of several chapters…Dotcom, Cunliffe, Hagar, and going back a bit …Helen Clark …..etc etc
Kim Dot Com could be in serious trouble. The next few months will determine if he remains in New Zealand or is deported to the United States. The justice system will have the final say.
It’s good to read his own admission of the Internet-Mana failure, although he not always offers the correct reasons. He could and should have invested his money more wisely. The choice of Miss Harre turned out to be a serious mistake.
“..The choice of Miss Harre turned out to be a serious mistake..”
achtung gets bullshit-comment-of-the-day for that one..
..no contest..!
The right wing know that they are damn lucky not to have Hone and Laila in Parliament now.
Labour probably thinks similarly.
and minto..and sykes…
..what we almost had..
..i dunno about you..but the grief in me is almost palpable..
..and isn’t easing much..
..i am going to start doing commentaries on q-time again..tomorrow..
..on a pale imitation of what might have been..
..and my mood is ugly…
Western countries are increasingly ignoring Israel and demanding justice for the Palestinians and recognising the State of Palestine…Two eminent Jews discuss why the need for justice now
“Why have Western countries only now decided to vote to recognize the state of Palestine? What will be the outcome? Will a legitimate Palestinian state bring peace to the region? Is an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan a dead end?”
CrossTalking with Norman Finkelstein and Amir Oren.
http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/197292-palestine-state-west-israel/
The seppos are basically under Zionist control on these issues. It’s great to see other countries standing up to Zionist atrocities, but support from Washington allows Israel to carry on.
Don’t you love when you’re on your morning read, and someone writes something which not only runs alongside what you have been thinking, but expands and develops that idea brilliantly.
I’ve been thinking about music, and the woeful state it is in for ages. All the best music is underground, and hard to find – whilst Mainstream music is quite shallow and lacks any message.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
http://raprehab.com/bet-awards-black-music-neutralized/
You too can take part in the Labour’s independent review if you like:
JUST RECEIVED BY EMAIL:
Dear Clem
Today we are pleased to announce the names of the four reviewers who will lead Labour’s independent review.
Bryan Gould is Convenor of the review. He is joined by Hon Margaret Wilson, Stacey Morrison and Brian Corban. You can find out more about them by clicking HERE
Hon Pete Hodgson and Gaylene Nepia are working as lead consultants in the production of the first report on the 2014 campaign, with similar arrangements for the other reports.
The work of the whole initiative will be supported by a team of expert advisers. This will include successful senior campaigners from progressive parties overseas and specialists in qualitative and quantitative analysis.
The review is an opportunity for Labour to take a long hard look at ourselves. We need to learn and apply lessons from the election and ensure that we can be an effective opposition and prepare for government in 2017.
The review allows us to set a course to reconnect with the majority who want to see a fairer society and a more productive, sustainable economy. We need to be the alternative government ready to take office in 2017.
The review team will be responsible for the production of three reports. The first one is on the 2014 general election campaign (completed by December 7), the second on the longer-term perspective, and the final one on the governance and operations implications for the Party (both completed by the end of February 2015).
Submissions are open from today. Members, non-members and groups are all welcome to submit. The Terms of Reference can be found
HERE
You can submit through the Labour website by clicking here or by emailing your submission to review@labour.org.nz.
There will also be the opportunity for Labour members to submit in person to the review at face-to-face meetings in each hub. Details of these meetings will be provided as soon as they are available from the review team.
Thank you to so many people who have already offered to participate in this important review.
In solidarity,
Moira Coatsworth
Labour Party President
Clem…10.23 am..you posted this..I am so pleased you did…however you’d think that by 7.30 pm some would show a bit of interest..by posting a couple of comments.Yesterday in open mic I mentioned that I had heard Bryan Gould on the talk back radio talking of this and asked if anyone else had too?
Not a dicky bird.
I am beginning to wonder if the people in here are quite happy to tell everyone what’s wrong with Labour but none too many are prepared to to put their money where their mouth is and get involved. Perhaps some people have got too cosy in opposition and their twitter accounts & latte labour.
@ Ecosse Maidy…all they need to do is get a researcher/student to trawl through the all comments on this blog and other blogs eg Daily Blog
….and they will have a very good random selection as to why many different people thought Labour failed !!! …and was failing even six months before the Election!
….i think people are very tired of repeating themselves!
…and btw …this Review is a bit late isnt it?!…in the meantime David Cunliffe (the popular membership choice) has been forced to take the blame and not only resign but also promise never to seek re-election ( smells!)
…no wonder people are cynical about the Labour Party!…i wouldnt mind betting they are also cynical about the review!
Thanks.
Actually I did listen to the brilliant Brian Gould. I am sure many others from here would have too, but may not necessarily write a reply.
In my opinion, the Neo liberal minded destructive caucus members are a drain on the Labour party as they seem to be the disloyal dodgy secret leakers that have sullied this great social justice party. It is time for the membership to seek greater powers and kick these bastards out. They are free to join ACT, NZF, National, the Cons or just go away and live quietly and happily somewhere on their very fat political pensions and baubles.
My efforts will be going towards Mana. What Labour comes up with in a review is of little direct interest. I don’t have a twitter account and I don’t drink lattés. I have been in opposition all my life. It’s not cosy.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/former-prime-minister-gough-whitlam-dead-at-98-20141021-1192t2.html
He was asked: “When you die, what will you say to God?”
He apparently replied: “Well you can be certain of one thing. I will treat him as an equal.”
Possibly apocryphal, but quite a line.
– Brought in the first national health insurance.
– Recognised China (during the Vietnam War no less!)
– Let the arts flourish
– Abolished university fees
(Among other things)
To me, this guy deserves a post of his own – with a comparison to Norman Kirk.
Sure as heck one of those guys for whom it was better to flame out after making massive positive change, than to hang around after defeat.
A well deserved rest.
That certainly counts as a great statement.
It comes into the same category as Churchill’s view on the same subject really.
“I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”
They would both have been polite to God. What they would have said to each other doesn’t really bear thinking about.
Important part of the narrative 40 years ago–Gough Whitlam and Queenie’s rep John ‘Cur’.
Along with Big Norm in NZ, Allende in Chile, French nuclear testing, etc. All set against the wiretapping, assassinating, election fixing CIA backdrop.
Agree totally, TM. Dirty politics was a lot less subtle in the early seventies.
not so. murdoch ordered his editors to “kill whitlam”…. not literally but politically. they played their part. fast forward 40+ years
I thought Murdoch backed Whitlam’s election, Tracey? He loathed the Liberals (but was also keen on the even more rightwing Country party).
he turned his editors on him ten months before the downfall
http://www.smh.com.au/national/murdoch-editors-told-to-kill-whitlam-in-1975-20140627-zson7.html
Ah, yes. Cheers for digging that up; another piece of the jigsaw falls into place.
its hard finding examples of media complicity of this type to harm right wing govts… notwithstanding the wailing of “the left do it too”
Murdoch’s interference in politics is so very wrong, so blatantly unfair and shows such contempt for democracy just because he is rich and owns news media. He should be hauled into courts in Australia, ( possibly UK and other countries around the world) for his corrupt ways and put into jail for the rest of his remaining few years. What a scum.
Clemgeopin -Murdoch’s name should never be said without the prefix Scum…. Scumurdoch should be the everyday usage. Probably applies to his kids too,
Sad news.
I wonder if I will live long enough to find out what really happened in 1975. There’s a dark mist that covers that particular sequence of events.
A colossus. Vale.
.
@ joe90
That’s interesting. Enigmatic. Is it a vanishing point of political accountability?
+100…grey…thought on a pin point
Thanks for that link, Te Reo Putake. Very informative. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Cheers!
Is someone going to post properly on the Speech from the Throne?
Slim pickings in there unless you build motorways, build houses, or need your ACC fees lowered.
apparently isis has had a meteoric rise. i wonder, wasnt the usa warned about them eighteen months ago? is that meteoric?
Same with ebola. No-one knew about it really, apart from a few deadly and puzzling outbreaks. And now. who’d have thunk it.
hmmmmm, ebola has been known for decades… it just hadnt reached the usa til now…
key says we need 1984 type law changes cos of meteoric rise of isis. i call bs on meteoric
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11345670
this is remarkable .. how Nigeria has defeated Ebola using proper hydration and very basic electrolytes, nothing more … common sense with intelligence … panic can cease.
And I think I am quite amazed it was even published !
rawshark yeshe 2.20
And the heros of Nigeria now dead – from ebola.
http://www.channel4.com/news/ebola-nigeria-world-health-organisation-patrick-sawyer
Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh is the doctor credited with helping prevent the disease spreading much more widely at the early stages.
She and her colleagues quickly identified a victim who came to Nigeria as having Ebola and placed him in quarantine…..
Dr Adadevoh, whose great-grandfather was a founder of the modern Nigeria, died on 19 August, having herself contracted the disease.
From the bbc more detail. And the other health workers who died are recognised – so that is nice – it is easy to be fixated on one hero,
The sick man demanded to be allowed to leave and tore out the drips and splashed health workers with him.
Dr Adadevoh and four other health workers died from the virus.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29682325
More like the intent to build motorways and the vague aspiration to build houses rather than the actual doing of it.
The ACC fees yes. Of course they had to raise them considerably first so that they could lower them sufficiently later (several times).
Weird…
I opened the Bob Jones piece from NZHerald today hours ago then left it because I couldn’t be bothered reading his dribble. When I returned to my laptop I noticed the poll about Labour leader preference. It had 50-150 responses and had Al on 30% and GR leading on 34%. I thought I would refresh to see what the results were now, and it came back with 0-50 responses and a completely different response (DP equal lead with AL).
What’s going on with the Herald polls? Is someone gaming them? That is very dodgy.
they havent decided who they want yet?
squirmy awaiting instructs from CrosbyTxtor .. 😀
chuckle…
gordon campbell and jane kelsey’s latest offerings ontpp well worth a read… at scoop.
here is kelsey’
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1410/S00175/latest-leak-of-tppa-intellectual-property-text-confirms-risk.htm
david fisher has an interesting article on the herald today about our spy agencies.
… wonder when his long awaited piece on dirty poitics is coming out
Labour Party factions and the leadership contest.
MP3 of Radio 1 interview I did with Olivier Jutel and Karl Williams, in Dunedin last Friday.
[audio src="http://www.r1.co.nz/podcasts/Olivier%20-%20Tat%20Loo.mp3" /]
That was wonderful! Well done! Such a relief to hear the issues spoken about frankly, in a public forum, free from the standard braying.
Thanks 🙂 These guys actually let me finish whole statements, which was amazing. Radio 1 are a real class act in this regard.
Listening to that, I felt quite jealous of you Dunedinites.
Colonial Rawshark
A good interview, you come across well Colonial, with sensible discussion casting some light and the interviewer was sharp but interested in getting info.
Cheers, GW. The main interviewer Olivier Jutel has completed a PhD on US politics and the Obama effect. Smart guy.
That was such a refreshingly good interview! I enjoyed it very much. Wish it had gone on for a little longer exploring more issues. Well done!
I think every Labour leadership contender, the caucus members and every Labour party member should listen to that interview.
Tell you what, I am going to send that link to each Labour MP to mull things over. Can you give me the link to the interview that I can email please?
Cheers!
Yeah I looked up at the clock and 15 minutes had passed in a flash…must have been enjoying myself!
Can you give me a suitable link to the interview that I can email to the caucus members please?
Thanks for your support Standardistas. I’ve learnt much from each of you over time and hope to synthesise more of your ideas and put them out there in public forums as opportunities come up. The interviewers were pretty sharp and challenging, it was good times.
I was reading about Leonard Bernstein. His story is great but his death and burial had some points to note. Construction workers commemorating a musician in NZ – would that happen?
On the day of his funeral procession through the streets of Manhattan, construction workers removed their hats and waved, yelling “Goodbye, Lenny.”[41]
Bernstein is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, next to his wife and with a copy of Mahler’s Fifth lying across his heart.[42]
The draft of his memoir, Blue Ink, having only existed in electronic form in a password-protected document that still remains unopened to this day, has become a poster-child in the probate community for the need of increased awareness of digital assets during the estate planning process. [43] Wikipedia
Could be that techies here should think about this matter of death and digital records assets etc.
Mention has been made of Redline blog. I’m surprised some folks haven’t heard of it because, although we’re very small fish compared to the major right-wing and left-wing blogs, we have been getting about 8,000 hits a month in recent months.
Whether we are ‘old’ – or what that even means – folks can judge for themselves. But here’s some recent stuff:
another very busy week at the blog as we’ve been sticking up pieces about workers’ struggles here and abroad.
The key articles in recent days about workers’ struggles are:
ANZ bank workers take action: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/anz-bank-workers-take-action/
A significant factory takeover in Buenos Aires points the way forward: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/factory-takeover-in-argentina-sees-discussions-on-workers-power-and-womens-liberation-the-russian-revolution/
There’s a really interesting article about the rise of China’s workers movement as the ‘communist’ rulers impose a particularly rapacious capitalism on the population: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/the-rise-of-chinas-workers-movement/
A German worker writes about his employer, Amazon; where he works, the employees are currently in struggle: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/amazon-the-global-digital-east-india-company-of-the-21st-century/
The latest global wealth statistics show inequality is widening: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/latest-global-wealth-statistics/
Almost wherever workers are in struggle, we find the police being called on us; what is the role of the cops in society? There’s a good piece by the Irish group Socialist Democracy, see here: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/the-cops-and-the-capitalist-state/
Ever feel like you are having to live to work, rather than merely working to live? No surprise, because while technology once held out the prospect of a leisure society, the reality is that in NZ (and some other OECD countries, like the US) we’re working more hours than at any time since the 40-hour week was won 100 or more years ago.
See Capitalism and the tyranny of time: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/capitalism-and-the-tyranny-of-time/
Whatever happened to the leisure society?: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/whatever-happened-to-the-leisure-society/
While the New Zealand elite are smug and self-flattering about getting a guest position on the United Nations Security Council for the next two years, the rest of us should be organising rather than celebrating, because it’s not good news for us.
See: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/nz-elite-win-seat-at-un-security-council-dont-celebrate-organise/
As to the United Nations itself, see: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/united-nations-friend-or-foe/
Also see how there’s a division of labour between the UN and the big powers; for instance, first the UN killed about a million Iraqis through its sanctions in the 1990s, then the US led a military invasion: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/sanctions-and-bombs-how-the-un-and-western-powers-committed-mass-murder-in-iraq-before-the-2003-invasion/
Lastly, we’ve stuck up the text of Urewera ‘terrorist’ frame-up victim Val Morse’s speech at the Wellington anti-prisons rally on October 18:
http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/prison-abolition-part-of-creating-a-just-equal-peaceful-society/
Actually, one more lastly, which is some stuff to do with Labour. People here might be interested in our analysis of the Labour Party as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Our major feature on Labour is here (it’s pamphlet-length long):
http://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/the-truth-about-labour-a-bosses-party/
Not much is written about the rather overlooked third Labour government (1972-75); we examine its record and conclude it rather paved the way for the fourth Labour government: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/anti-working-class-to-its-core-the-third-labour-government/
Phil
for Redline blog
Thanks for popping by Phil, good to hear a bit more about Redline. That factory takeover story looks very interesting indeed. Democratic socialism in action…
As for Labour being a capitalist party…well its been that way well before Rogernomics.
Yes, indeed, Labour was a capitalist party well before Rogernomics, a point made in the examination of its history by Daphna Whitmore and myself.
Indeed, by 1935, the radicalism of the early Labour leaders was well gone. The biggest capitalist in the country, Ernest Davis supported them – and Labur had him knighted.
Semple has become a boss.
Also, I think quite a few people would be shocked to see how racist (anti-Chinese) a lot of these early Labour heroes were.
Phil
i see the defence force is happy to lie or look duplicitous for the PM
” Tim Keating says “We dropped the ball” not informing PM about Obama meeting….”
He has announced his resignation, right? Key will sack him, right?
its clever, it contains distraction, cos according to us press reports, even without obamas attendance it was to discuss ISIS, but keating makes it all about protocol stopping them knowing in advance about obamas attendance. see what they did there, smoke and mirrors.
and so it goes. sigh. Crosby Textor takes us to war while Jason Ede is rewarded and Simon Lizard Lusk sees his candidates offer their maiden speeches. omfg. how wrong this is.
I won’t make a habit of advertising our stuff here, but here’s some basic stuff on capitalism on Redline and also on Key’s economic policy, and a couple of pieces on the end of the idea of ‘the leisure society’ (thanks capitalism) and pensions/retirement age stuff.
How capitalism works – and why it doesn’t: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/how-capitalism-works-%E2%80%93-and-doesn%E2%80%99t-work/
The Key-English government in the context of capital accumulation in New Zealand today: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/the-key-english-government-in-the-context-of-capital-accumulation-in-new-zealand-today/
Key’s ‘vision’: managing the malaise of New Zealand capitalism: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/keys-vision-managing-the-malaise-of-new-zealand-capitalism/
Whatever happened to the leisure society?: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/whatever-happened-to-the-leisure-society/
Pensions and the retirement age – the problem is capitalism, not an aging population: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/pensions-and-the-retirement-age-the-problem-is-capitalism-not-an-aging-population/
Low pay, longer hours and less social mobility – welcome to 21st century NZ capitalism: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/low-pay-longer-hours-and-less-social-mobility/
Phil