Tracey Watkins gives her view, that the row between the two camps is just is not about politics. She is of the view that the dispute is all about the perceived performance of the two leaders rather than any major political difference.
The Labour caucus row is about performance, rather than policy.
While David Cunliffe has become the poster boy for the Labour Left, there are no obvious policy differences between him and leader David Shearer.
They both agree on big-ticket policies like the retirement age, capital gains tax, and monetary policy.
TRACEY WATKINS
In my view Watkins is wrong, performance is based on politics, one has got something to say, and one hasn’t.
Watkins left out one major policy difference between the two.
And it is the defining issue of our age.
David Cunliffe is the only parliamentary political leader to take Climate Change seriously. And he is being punished for it.
Even the Greens have given up talking about climate change, on the grounds that it will make them appear too radical and cost them seats. Also so as not to embarrass their future coalition partner, the current leadership of which, seem dead set on Ignoring Climate Change altogether.
This is a worldwide crisis but internationally most mainstream politicians have chosen if the can to put it in the too hard basket. Shearer is one of those. His deliberate ignoring of this issue is painful to witness. Instead he is moved to punish Cunliffe who openly faces the issue his honest appraisal of the threat is a spur to the opposition parties and the leader of the Labour Party opposition top make a stand..
I hope that David Cunliffe is not intimidated by the events of yesterday and continues to speak up on this and other issues.
People are not all about to vote for the left wing of the Labour party. Labour like National likes not having to lean on other parties for a mandate. So it seems entirely predictable in Feb next year that the party will back Shearer. Most people who might switch to Labour aren’t going to just throw their neo-liberal memes off as quickly as you hope. It takes time for people to change.
And good on Cunliffe for boosting his leaders standing, giving him a victory, and providing kiwis with a opportunity of putting meat on the bone so to speak.
What a load of old right wing rubbish. Shearer is a gonner as you will see. the fool cant string 2 sentences together unless he’s had a week to practice.
1. You make speeches with tacit but heavily coded inferences that if they made you the leader, you would introduce kick-butt policies that the incumbent is too gutless/politically unsound/incompetent to contemplate – carefully omitting specifics.
2. You tickle up edginess among the many anxious party supporters who are panicking at what they perceive is a lack of progress in the party’s profile and poll fortunes.
3. You agree to a live TV interview on the morning of the party’s annual conference debate about the rules for electing the leader at which you conspicuously avoid expressing support for the leader.
4. You do nothing to dispel the inference that dissatisfaction with the leadership, and an appetite for your ascendancy, is a big factor in the conference making sweeping constitutional changes about the leader’s election which appear to put a banana skin under the current leader’s foot.
5. You spend the conference wearing a smile that could power the California grid.
Smiling is now a crime!!! Is this schoolgirl gossip the best one of our senior political journo’s can come up with? This isn’t evidence; it’s inference and speculation fed to her by Mallard. (Direct and in person I’m led to understand.)
And who is Shane Jones, stepper-in on other people’s portfolios to talk about whares and huhu grubs and team players? When is he going to be disciplined for his comments on fisheries and reserves…
I guess with the gleeful dissing of Cunliffe means he’ll be back on the front bench in the reshuffle.
Yes, smiling is a fucking crime now. You’re not allowed to look happy or you’re plotting to overthrow the leadership.
You must remain determinedly po-faced throughout a great historic moment for Labour, modernising the party in the most significant set of constitutional changes in thirty years.
Dirty rotten little coupmakers. You can always tell them by the weird upturn of their mouths and the flash of white teeth that tells you they are planning espionage.
So Labour’s serial leaker strikes again. Details of what happened in yesterday’s Caucus meeting have been leaked to the Herald and the spin is obviously anti Cunliffe.
So Cunliffe’s freedom of Speech is removed by David Shearer “The Somali War Lord” really I would have thought under the bill of rights that a person any person had a right to ohh I dunno free speech’ wonder what the UN would think about it?
Well, is it not totally reasonable to get Trevett to reveal who it is she is quoting when she says an mp cescribed the dressing down as “sobering”. I mean that take is in quote marks, which means it isn’t ‘off the record’, no?
And on Edward’s piece, I agree that seeking mp’s intention on a future secret ballot is (constitutional matters aside) utter bullshit. That thing called democracy, you know, where mp’s are bound by the democratic will of their members – means it’s impossible for any democractically minded mp to say. That was, quite rightly in my opinion, Sue Moroney’s response when asked by the media which way she would vote in Feb.
edit: Besides all that, I think it’s time to focus on the hand within the (to be discarded by and by) glove puppet from here on in.
Who is lying here ? From MS’s NZ Herald link
“He later said he was not able to comment because caucus had decided that only Mr Shearer would speak on the matter.”
So how did the NZH hear about the goings on in caucus ? Either Shearer is the deep throat or someone is acting without following instructions. Do as I say not as I do !!!! Agreed with you Karol. I bet there will be no investigation done as to the source of the leak, and approp. action taken.
For an egalitarian party there appears to be “princeps civitatis”
Not sure who is the under performer of the following: Labour, National or the NZ cricket team. From what I have seen it is not NZC 🙁
Anyone else notice Joky Hen’s choice of shirt at his “Heads of state conference”. Was he trying to convince us all that his quip about shirt colour was just, you know, “weird.” Or was he wearing that shocking pink shirt so that he would stand out amongst the throng? Perhaps his family told him to wear it. Just wondering
An interesting and measured contribution from Greg Presland on RNZ a few minutes ago. Cunliffe’s LEC is considering a formal complaint about the treatment of Cunliffe over the last few days. Not so much the demotion (there was an acceptance that the leader has the right to pick his team), but the underhanded leaks and the public dissing from the likes of Hipkins, which, on the face of it, were more damaging to the party than Cunliffe’s cheesy grin could possibly do.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 6.1
I heard some guy just about in tears going in to bat for Cunliffe then immediately after Brent Edwards saying that this guy was actually one of Cunliffes smear merchants in the run up to the disastrous coup.
It was on Morning report. And in order not to offend you, will re post in order to make it easier for you to read.
Oh, that’s who that was.
I heard a man in an interview on National Radio this morning strongly in support of Cunliffe. This man sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
Immediately after the article, Brent Edwards presented a piece which included reference to the previous interviewee being one of Cunliffes smear merchants in the run up to the disastrous coup.
How is the Labour Party membership supposed to give feedback to their local Labour MP on what has happened when we are all being kept in the dark? And DC and in fact the whole of caucus has been gagged?
Looks like the NZLP has opted for a Singapore Style Democracy. Lee Kuan Yew would be proud.
I gave my feedback about the process directly to Shearer (well, his PA) through the ‘contact us’ message option on the Labour Party website. Felt good, it did… I must send the same to my local MP – Grant Robertson – that will feel good too, I reckon.
R0b, the link you put above seems to loop directly back to the comment above that, where LP states I am on a ban, which was news to me. Generally I don’t lower the tone to “pointless abuse”, it serves no purpse, but my comments do attract some, which is water off a ducks back really.
I would accept that sometimes I a flippant with words, but “pointless abuse” is something I won’t lower myself to.
Would be good to understand where the “ban” originates from, and who issued it.
Sick of crappy search results? I just discovered Duck Duck Go which means search results are not personalised. (Yes….I do sound like an ad don’t I? The last few months have been searching hell for me dispite using ixquick, etc and Google results are so bad that I can’t find what I’m looking for sometimes unless I type the site directly into the search bar – how is that possible? Google is crap, that’s how.)
Thanks, will check it out. Google just goes from bad to worse. At the moment it returns multiple hits from the same site all in a row (sometimes taking up nearly all of the page). Can I turn that off somehow? And their new menu system means many more clicks to get what I want 🙄
Are the results different to the ones you get on google if you turn off their advertising, disable cookies and block tracking using tools provided by google? I don’t know, I’ll give it a try.
Result: yes they are. A far broader understanding of any particular search than offered on google, even with all the winkies turned off.
I think I might give that a go. Usually what I had to do on google was to search something then immediately click to page ten to find the interesting stuff.
Israel-Palestine – what is the U.S. national interest?
Posted November 20, 2012
By RALPH NADER
Israeli elections are coming up in January so it is Palestinian hunting season again. Israeli cynics call it a time “for mowing the grass.”
Out comes the well-worn playbook by Israel’s militaristic government that has worked to silence Israeli politicians and citizens who want a two-state solution. This is an opportunity to use and test advanced weaponry from the U.S., compliments of U.S. taxpayers, and squelch ongoing peace efforts, small and large, by Palestinians, Israelis and international peace advocates.
The playbook’s first chapter is provocation to upset a tense but workable truce with Hamas, the elected government of Gaza. Hamas was encouraged at its creation years ago by both Israeli and U.S. backers to counter the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Bit of a blowback there.
Israeli government leaders are expert provocateurs when they wish to seize land, water or prisoners and upset any movement toward a peace that would create a viable Palestinian state back to the 1967 borders, which includes East Jerusalem. When Israel came into being in 1948, it soon broke a UN truce and doubled its territory by taking the large area known as the Negev desert, whose refugees ended up in the Gaza Strip. Now 1.6 million encircled and impoverished humans, blockaded and under siege by Israel, try to survive in an open-air prison little more than twice the size of the District of Columbia.
and to Britain France et al, when sitting on the Security Council of the UN an abstention is tacit agreement with the veto threat that provoked each and every abstention
In the UN, toast always falls butter side up for some
UNSC have further protracted their dithering by announcing the issue is to be discussed again in another meeting tomorrow. At this rate Gaza will be empty of living people before they decide to tell the truth. Like East Timor, Like Cambodia, Like Rwanda, genocide is a business and business keeps their gravytrain rolling. Maybe if the UNSC moved the meeting to Gaza, or to TelAviv, they would show a little urgency, a little humanity.
The Four Horsemen of the Economic Apocalypse
was watching Max Keiser on RT; he is one funny dude, anyway, there is an indie film about the above topic and Max was interviewing Ross Ashcroft of renegadeeconomist.com about the film;
-rapacious financial system
-escalating organised violence
-environmental resource degradation
-poverty of the billions (there are those pesky “billions” of people again)
Root cause-Neoclassical Economics
Time, to change cognitive maps
helpful antidote to rampant capitalism-The Co-operative (with a little peer-to-peer crowd funding)
support Debt Jubilee initiatives
(re sovereign debt; Max reported on how an Argentinian naval ship is being held by a hedge fund) 🙂
“this is not a love song…this is not a love song…may the road rise with you…may the road rise with you
I could be wrong…I could be right..Anger is an energy…Anger is an energy” Public Image Public Image
The search lags. It runs sphinxsearch on a cron job about 3 or 4 times per hour to pick up the delta’s. Now I have more headroom on the CPU I should look at increasing it again.
That may be what you are seeing. I’ll tag it for checking.
NZ population growth stalls, as more young skilled take up residence in Australia, and start growing the next generation of Kiwis. Offspring will either be so Australianized and won’t be connected to NZ, or worse will get criminal records and be sent packing back to NZ. So essentially Key’s and NZ policy is to grow Australian success stories, and take the also-rans back. Imaginative hey.
So we get the harder to deal with returning, who have been brought up Australian, who if they are successful, turn around their lives, get a degree with government loans, start a business even, who will jump back over the ditch at the first opportunity. Only the worst or the worst, stopped from ever returning, will pile up here, those with criminal records, with poor educational acheivements, etc.
But worse! The new kiwis citizens who know nothing of their homeland, will be educated to support the Australian economy needs, not the NZ, taught Australia history, skilled to build a deepening and wide economic base, and our kids in NZ will continue to be plagued by education politics.
here is one TPP article full of those pesky fact thingys that you won’t see in the local papers
“participants in the negotiations had to sign a memorandum of understanding which forbids them from releasing any “negotiating documents until four years after a deal is done or abandoned.”
Oops! Hey Lynn, (or another mod) I seem to have approved a ‘comment’ that wasn’t actually a comment that’s now come up on the comments sidebar. Don’t know what to do with it now. Meaning…don’t want to touch in case all sort of wierd and (not so) wonderful stuff starts to happen. Bloody phobia!
these links to topical articles on allied blogs are really helpful; we are not alone
anyway,
Herald
-health delivery delays
-insurance companies are gonna just love the predictive / actuarial potential of these telomere tests
-many Islamic activist groups in Syria do not support the “official” opposition grouping supported by the West
-another truck and trailer falls over
-Tolkein family interests place a line in the sand over inappropriate commercialisation
-wow, there sure is a demand for easy access sex at Hunters Corner
(used to be an excellent Indian restaurant on the road leaving Papatoetoe towards the eastern suburbs, and when one is a single man (or not, as I learn of all the married local Harley club guys hitting the knock-shops as soon as they are away out of town) ya just wanna stick ya dick in something sometimes)
On the back of bad publicity concerning the mistreatment of animals comes more bad news for the makers of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey movie just days out from its premiere at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington…
So tell me if I have read the postings wrongly.
The majority of posters here now hate Shearer and would rather see John Key win in 2014 than have the Quisling Shearer bring in a National- lite coalition government for 3 years?
If this premise is correct then the sole focus should be on kneecapping Shearer either before or after the election.
If Shearer loses in 2014 then he would be gone.
If Shearer wins in 2014 then he will stay.
If you cannot kneecap Shearer before election 2014 then you have to work to ensure that he loses.
Will we see embittered Leftists not simply transferring their vote to Green or Mana but strategically biting the bullet and voting National for once only.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I don’t dislike Shearer, I just dislike how unelectable and incompetent he is.
Will we see embittered Leftists not simply transferring their vote to Green or Mana but strategically biting the bullet and voting National for once only.
WTF? You been smoking crack? Are you asking if lefties would rather vote for a party that would pull Labour into the direction that they think Labour should be heading in, or, vote for National?
Ask google about MMP
How about some focus now on the BIG issues folks? 🙂
Like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations which will be starting here in Auckland on 3 December 2012 – 12 December 2012?
What are Labour stalwarts doing on THIS issue?
Hopefully THOUSANDS of you will want the opportunity to show your opposition to the ‘pro-investor’ /’anti-public majority’ Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement?
(What sort of ‘partnership’ – excludes the public?
Why is the TPPA so ‘top secret’?)
Here you go!
SIGN ON HERE FOLKS TO SHOW YOUR OPPOSITION TO THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT! (TPPA)
MY COMMENT:
What’s good for big business it not usually good for the public majority.
The neo-liberal reforms have proven that FREE TRADE = PRIVATISATION.
Arguably the root cause of corruption is privatisation – how is it decided who gets the contracts?
Where’s the corruption-risk assessment of ‘Free Trade Agreements’ such as the TPPA?
(Haven’t been provided with any reply from MFAT on that question…… first asked it back in 2010 – at the last round of TPPA negotiations held in NZ).
Where is is the ‘cost-benefit analysis’ which proves that the private provision of public services is a more ‘cost-effective’ use of tax-payer and ratepayer monies, compared with when those services used to be provided ‘in-house’ at central and local government level?
How much public monies could be saved by CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS (especially private consultants)?
I been wondering how many journalism and /or politics students and faculty read and write here.
There sure are some clever writers and analysts.stream of consciousnes teccnique may be effective and adopted by those possessing consciousness
The link to Gavin Ellis demonstrated his scholarship in propaganda; he would have adopted technique through study and would know about the sinful nature of man and hedonistic versus ethical decisions.
I have a small gardening job for the owner of my rental caravan tomorow. See, man writes about gardening and it happens, like The Death of God.
The local paper reported on the large number of local people living in caravans or inadequate housing.
Very compassionate of them. The editor is also a shill for the real estate industry.
Yet, in the letters to the editor they publish some very critical analyses of salient issues like the NZIER
proposal to increase the New Zealand population to 11M and the implications for the environment and resource use versus foreign export earnings.
the experience of “bipolarity” is both un-nerving and predictable but it can get a person in a lotta trouble until they understand it. (reading Lord of The Rings compulsively in the loo during apprenticeship and going to the gym before and after work on the big motorbike vroom vroom)
This “civics” proposal is interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civics
and this entry is interesting
yet I challenge the critics employment of the Aristotle assertion and the three freedoms.
recur the telos back into the sphere and maybe we will see a “kingdom on earth” or do we await our young people ending up in institutions, jail or dead.
Capitalist economic-rationalisation propaganda takes care of “freedom of choice” “freedom of action” and “freedom to” suffer.
May be Confuscianism with a little Taoist leaning to the side while squeaking some decentralization through in a successful Left-bloc government.
The landlord, a self-employed man supporting his family comparitively comfortably, understood that people are aware of economic and climate implications yet they continue to walk into events.
“Conditioned” was his word.
AA is not for every one pointy one; long way round
Consider work, shopping, adrenaline consider new memories consider forgiveness
Great to hear of people digging up their lawn and planting veges. I have done it at few dwellings over recent years.I worked in the produce department of the local supermarket that came out the most expensive in recent nationwide survey; anecdotal support for how they screw the growers on price for access and then mark-up %%%%% sometimes.
Pak N Save are also local, have very friendly staff and often have fresh brocoli and other vegetables at reasonable prices.
An increasing amount of authorities are advising us of how much is determined;
freedom within determinism was how the issue of free-will has been considered;
plenty of nested
hierarchies
within
Evolutionary Biology (big thanks to Hamilton,Cosmides and Toomey)
A Little lightness ,away from the daily worries .
Who will be the man of the year? My choice a toss up,between Bernie Monk and Dr Lance O’Sullivan. . Woman of the year Helen Kelly . hands down !
A Little lightness ,away from the daily worries .
Who will be the man of the year? My choice a toss up,between Bernie Monk and Dr Lance O’Sullivan. . Woman of the year Helen Kelly . hands down !
“Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news”…
The NZLP is now a tertiary party not the sole opposition. So, pull your heads in. 30 years almost of neo liberalism is way too many. Jobs Jolt? Middle class WFF but not for bennies?
As a late 50s guy my partner tells me I am out of touch with where modern kiwis are at, heh, where is that though? Flat Screen Frenzy? Precarious minimum wage jobs you are meant to be grateful for?
I still do not trust most dudes in suits, which ever one it is, end of.
cool.
how ruthless are the beverage companies. Went for a carbonated soft-drink after the lawns
Seven tall fridges, some double, in the superette and not a drink that did not have sugar or caffeine in it
if sugar-free, they had caffeine. very few sugar-free options.ruthless
Has anyone seen the story on, ‘no right turn’ concerning John Banks, apparantley he has a
shareholding in Talent2 through a trust, he is also associate minister of education, (sorry
can’t link it),this is the same crowd responsible for novapay.
I’ve said for awhile that selling Telecom is the perfect example of the dead weight loss of profit. Well, The Greens went and put the real figures on it.:
Dividends lost due to sale in 2011$millions: 16826
So, if private business is so efficient and provides what the community needs without intervention then WTF are we paying Telecom another billion or so to put in place the network that they should have put in place with the ~$17b in dividends that they took from us?
C’mon DtB you know why we’re gifting them another billion, why pay for it yourself when you can get the taxpayer to pay for you to increase your profits.
The Greens need to pretty that data table up and get it out there.
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In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
By RNZ Pacific The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai’i suffering its third coronavirus death. In the past day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia. ...
We needed a reasonable period of time to allow the recent surging wave of highly geared first home buyers to get financially comfortable. We didn’t get it, writes David Hargreaves of interest.co.nz.You know, I was really beginning to think (as well as hope) that we might just get away with it.By ‘it’ ...
Being stuck inside all day might be wearing you and your kids down, but there’s never been a better time to encourage them to pick up their musical instrument and get stuck into writing songs. Mike Chunn from Play It Strange explains how. Mums and dads and households with teenage children. ...
Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence.I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, five of New Zealand’s best writers chronicle the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Fiona Farrell.There’s a sign sticky-taped to the bakery window. Closed Until Further Notice. Stay Safe NZ and Be Kind. We will get through this!We all know where the words ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes.It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes.And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...
On Friday night, the government quietly laid down some lockdown rules via a legal order under the Health Act. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains what it means for all of us (including David Clark). As the first week of level four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was ...
The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
Open mike 21/11/2012 
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Tracey Watkins gives her view, that the row between the two camps is just is not about politics. She is of the view that the dispute is all about the perceived performance of the two leaders rather than any major political difference.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7976341/Power-of-old-guard-part-of-leadership-tussle
In my view Watkins is wrong, performance is based on politics, one has got something to say, and one hasn’t.
Watkins left out one major policy difference between the two.
And it is the defining issue of our age.
David Cunliffe is the only parliamentary political leader to take Climate Change seriously. And he is being punished for it.
Even the Greens have given up talking about climate change, on the grounds that it will make them appear too radical and cost them seats. Also so as not to embarrass their future coalition partner, the current leadership of which, seem dead set on Ignoring Climate Change altogether.
This is a worldwide crisis but internationally most mainstream politicians have chosen if the can to put it in the too hard basket. Shearer is one of those. His deliberate ignoring of this issue is painful to witness. Instead he is moved to punish Cunliffe who openly faces the issue his honest appraisal of the threat is a spur to the opposition parties and the leader of the Labour Party opposition top make a stand..
I hope that David Cunliffe is not intimidated by the events of yesterday and continues to speak up on this and other issues.
People are not all about to vote for the left wing of the Labour party. Labour like National likes not having to lean on other parties for a mandate. So it seems entirely predictable in Feb next year that the party will back Shearer. Most people who might switch to Labour aren’t going to just throw their neo-liberal memes off as quickly as you hope. It takes time for people to change.
And good on Cunliffe for boosting his leaders standing, giving him a victory, and providing kiwis with a opportunity of putting meat on the bone so to speak.
What a load of old right wing rubbish. Shearer is a gonner as you will see. the fool cant string 2 sentences together unless he’s had a week to practice.
Amused too by Jane Clifton’s >whack job in the Listener:
Smiling is now a crime!!! Is this schoolgirl gossip the best one of our senior political journo’s can come up with? This isn’t evidence; it’s inference and speculation fed to her by Mallard. (Direct and in person I’m led to understand.)
This really like witch dunking.
And who is Shane Jones, stepper-in on other people’s portfolios to talk about whares and huhu grubs and team players? When is he going to be disciplined for his comments on fisheries and reserves…
I guess with the gleeful dissing of Cunliffe means he’ll be back on the front bench in the reshuffle.
Shane Jones – no electorate, just a list MP. Wonder just who actually listens to him (outside the press gallery).
you spend the conference wearing a smile
Was Jane Clifton at the conference, or is she doing another analysis based merely on photos from the event?
pillow talk
Yes, smiling is a fucking crime now. You’re not allowed to look happy or you’re plotting to overthrow the leadership.
You must remain determinedly po-faced throughout a great historic moment for Labour, modernising the party in the most significant set of constitutional changes in thirty years.
Dirty rotten little coupmakers. You can always tell them by the weird upturn of their mouths and the flash of white teeth that tells you they are planning espionage.
Clearly all these should be spelled out in a new little red book.
Of course smiling is only a crime if you throw in a wave as well.
“Of course smiling is only a crime if you throw in a wave as well.”
And it comes from a mean spirited class war general undertaking the theft of NZ and the rebirth of slavery for the poor.
So Labour’s serial leaker strikes again. Details of what happened in yesterday’s Caucus meeting have been leaked to the Herald and the spin is obviously anti Cunliffe.
When is the party going to deal with this person?
And why did the leader insist on MPs telling him who they were going to vote for in February when it is a secret vote and they are obliged to consult with their LECs before they make up their mind?
So Cunliffe’s freedom of Speech is removed by David Shearer “The Somali War Lord” really I would have thought under the bill of rights that a person any person had a right to ohh I dunno free speech’ wonder what the UN would think about it?
David Shearer “The Somali War Lord”
You know your freedom of speech? Think first, otherwise you might seem a bit … irrational.
Fuck sake.
Well, is it not totally reasonable to get Trevett to reveal who it is she is quoting when she says an mp cescribed the dressing down as “sobering”. I mean that take is in quote marks, which means it isn’t ‘off the record’, no?
And on Edward’s piece, I agree that seeking mp’s intention on a future secret ballot is (constitutional matters aside) utter bullshit. That thing called democracy, you know, where mp’s are bound by the democratic will of their members – means it’s impossible for any democractically minded mp to say. That was, quite rightly in my opinion, Sue Moroney’s response when asked by the media which way she would vote in Feb.
edit: Besides all that, I think it’s time to focus on the hand within the (to be discarded by and by) glove puppet from here on in.
So it’s OK for someone in the caucus to talk to the press about what happened, as long as they do it anonymously, and in support of Shearer.
What a bunch of hypocrits!
Give them enough rope…
Who is lying here ? From MS’s NZ Herald link
“He later said he was not able to comment because caucus had decided that only Mr Shearer would speak on the matter.”
So how did the NZH hear about the goings on in caucus ? Either Shearer is the deep throat or someone is acting without following instructions. Do as I say not as I do !!!! Agreed with you Karol. I bet there will be no investigation done as to the source of the leak, and approp. action taken.
For an egalitarian party there appears to be “princeps civitatis”
Not sure who is the under performer of the following: Labour, National or the NZ cricket team. From what I have seen it is not NZC 🙁
NRT has it right as usual.
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/an-act-of-self-mutilation.html
Shearer’s performance on TV1 last night was a shocker. Mumbling, complacent, vindictive…
‘Trust me, and we’ll sleepwalk to victory. Save your energy for the internal scrapping.’
Not good enough, guys.
Anyone else notice Joky Hen’s choice of shirt at his “Heads of state conference”. Was he trying to convince us all that his quip about shirt colour was just, you know, “weird.” Or was he wearing that shocking pink shirt so that he would stand out amongst the throng? Perhaps his family told him to wear it. Just wondering
I think it’s a subtle hint that he’s considering running for the leadership of the Labour Party in February.
I think he’s trying to undo his fuckups that have made him an international laughing stock.
Next he will wear an “I love the brainy Beckham” shirt.
An interesting and measured contribution from Greg Presland on RNZ a few minutes ago. Cunliffe’s LEC is considering a formal complaint about the treatment of Cunliffe over the last few days. Not so much the demotion (there was an acceptance that the leader has the right to pick his team), but the underhanded leaks and the public dissing from the likes of Hipkins, which, on the face of it, were more damaging to the party than Cunliffe’s cheesy grin could possibly do.
..thereby ensuring that this plays in the news for at least as long as it takes to consider that complaint. What a complete fucking idiot.
Oh, thats who that was.
I heard some guy just about in tears going in to bat for Cunliffe then immediately after Brent Edwards saying that this guy was actually one of Cunliffes smear merchants in the run up to the disastrous coup.
Yeah? Where did you hear that? It would also help if your sentence made grammatical sense.
It was on Morning report. And in order not to offend you, will re post in order to make it easier for you to read.
Oh, that’s who that was.
I heard a man in an interview on National Radio this morning strongly in support of Cunliffe. This man sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
Immediately after the article, Brent Edwards presented a piece which included reference to the previous interviewee being one of Cunliffes smear merchants in the run up to the disastrous coup.
Don’t let it get to you weka, nothing from KK makes sense.
How many of Shearer’s troops are list MP’s and not answerable to LEC’s.?
Include all the ones with majorities of 3000 or less.
All the ones that will be unemployed in 2014 if they don’t get their shit together smartish.
How is the Labour Party membership supposed to give feedback to their local Labour MP on what has happened when we are all being kept in the dark? And DC and in fact the whole of caucus has been gagged?
Looks like the NZLP has opted for a Singapore Style Democracy. Lee Kuan Yew would be proud.
I gave my feedback about the process directly to Shearer (well, his PA) through the ‘contact us’ message option on the Labour Party website. Felt good, it did… I must send the same to my local MP – Grant Robertson – that will feel good too, I reckon.
Well surely after the first 20000 messages telling them they are morons maybe the message will get thru that they have royally screwed the pooch.
[deleted]
[lprent: You have a current ban for a pointless abuse comment. Doubling it for posting comments while banned. Puts you up to 2 weeks. ]
[RL: Sorry my mistake for approving it. I hadn’t spotted the ban.]
…care to suggest something better as an alternative to our current parliamentary system then?
I had no idea I was on a ban, or that I had been banned,
Would it be too much to ask which comment lead to this situation?
Ive been falsely banned on here once before, so excuse me if I don;t have much faith in where this has originated from!
[I wasn’t involved, but see here. I’ll let this through so you can see the link. r0b]
R0b, the link you put above seems to loop directly back to the comment above that, where LP states I am on a ban, which was news to me. Generally I don’t lower the tone to “pointless abuse”, it serves no purpse, but my comments do attract some, which is water off a ducks back really.
I would accept that sometimes I a flippant with words, but “pointless abuse” is something I won’t lower myself to.
Would be good to understand where the “ban” originates from, and who issued it.
here.
The “NO COMMENT” membership drive starts this Saturday.
It’s so refreshing that all that leadership nonsense is now behind us.
In completely unrelated news, can I commend the below documentary to readers?
!!
Sick of crappy search results? I just discovered Duck Duck Go which means search results are not personalised. (Yes….I do sound like an ad don’t I? The last few months have been searching hell for me dispite using ixquick, etc and Google results are so bad that I can’t find what I’m looking for sometimes unless I type the site directly into the search bar – how is that possible? Google is crap, that’s how.)
http://dontbubble.us/
Site above shows you WHY you can’t find what you are looking for anymore, then suggests Duck Duck Go as a search engine.
I only just found it, so hope it works. After previously having good search results this has turned into a surprisingly time consuming issue. *argh*
Thanks, will check it out. Google just goes from bad to worse. At the moment it returns multiple hits from the same site all in a row (sometimes taking up nearly all of the page). Can I turn that off somehow? And their new menu system means many more clicks to get what I want 🙄
dontbubble.us is a really good visual explanation of what is wrong with current search engines.
Are the results different to the ones you get on google if you turn off their advertising, disable cookies and block tracking using tools provided by google? I don’t know, I’ll give it a try.
Result: yes they are. A far broader understanding of any particular search than offered on google, even with all the winkies turned off.
I think I might give that a go. Usually what I had to do on google was to search something then immediately click to page ten to find the interesting stuff.
Small group of Israelis pretending to be scared…
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1353421901.html
Israel-Palestine – what is the U.S. national interest?
Posted November 20, 2012
By RALPH NADER
Israeli elections are coming up in January so it is Palestinian hunting season again. Israeli cynics call it a time “for mowing the grass.”
Out comes the well-worn playbook by Israel’s militaristic government that has worked to silence Israeli politicians and citizens who want a two-state solution. This is an opportunity to use and test advanced weaponry from the U.S., compliments of U.S. taxpayers, and squelch ongoing peace efforts, small and large, by Palestinians, Israelis and international peace advocates.
The playbook’s first chapter is provocation to upset a tense but workable truce with Hamas, the elected government of Gaza. Hamas was encouraged at its creation years ago by both Israeli and U.S. backers to counter the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Bit of a blowback there.
Israeli government leaders are expert provocateurs when they wish to seize land, water or prisoners and upset any movement toward a peace that would create a viable Palestinian state back to the 1967 borders, which includes East Jerusalem. When Israel came into being in 1948, it soon broke a UN truce and doubled its territory by taking the large area known as the Negev desert, whose refugees ended up in the Gaza Strip. Now 1.6 million encircled and impoverished humans, blockaded and under siege by Israel, try to survive in an open-air prison little more than twice the size of the District of Columbia.
Read more….
http://nader.org/2012/11/20/israel-palestine-what-is-the-u-s-national-interest/
a handy reference list of the US veotes that co-incidentally allowed Israel to further dominate an oppressed people and continue to generate billions in weapons technology
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/UN/usvetoes.html
and to Britain France et al, when sitting on the Security Council of the UN an abstention is tacit agreement with the veto threat that provoked each and every abstention
In the UN, toast always falls butter side up for some
RT: US have blocked a UNSC statement condemning Israel’s violence (wasn’t rocket science)
UNSC have further protracted their dithering by announcing the issue is to be discussed again in another meeting tomorrow. At this rate Gaza will be empty of living people before they decide to tell the truth. Like East Timor, Like Cambodia, Like Rwanda, genocide is a business and business keeps their gravytrain rolling. Maybe if the UNSC moved the meeting to Gaza, or to TelAviv, they would show a little urgency, a little humanity.
Israel has the right to defend its citizens when under attack.
Palestine has the right to defend its territory when under occupation.
So what next?
The Four Horsemen of the Economic Apocalypse
was watching Max Keiser on RT; he is one funny dude, anyway, there is an indie film about the above topic and Max was interviewing Ross Ashcroft of renegadeeconomist.com about the film;
-rapacious financial system
-escalating organised violence
-environmental resource degradation
-poverty of the billions (there are those pesky “billions” of people again)
Root cause-Neoclassical Economics
Time, to change cognitive maps
helpful antidote to rampant capitalism-The Co-operative (with a little peer-to-peer crowd funding)
support Debt Jubilee initiatives
(re sovereign debt; Max reported on how an Argentinian naval ship is being held by a hedge fund) 🙂
this is not the correct link, but I gotta go pay the rent
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/bill-buckler-presents-four-horsemen-financial-apocalypse
“this is not a love song…this is not a love song…may the road rise with you…may the road rise with you
I could be wrong…I could be right..Anger is an energy…Anger is an energy” Public Image Public Image
The search and links seems to be breaking on the
/leadership-meeting-the-outcome/ atricle.
400+ comments wow 🙂
The search lags. It runs sphinxsearch on a cron job about 3 or 4 times per hour to pick up the delta’s. Now I have more headroom on the CPU I should look at increasing it again.
That may be what you are seeing. I’ll tag it for checking.
quote from NZ Herald , John Key
“I’ve never lied about Kim Dotcom and I don’t lie about anything”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10848948
Excellent – to deny is to lose.
He is on the ropes folks, get stuck in now
I seem to recall that he lied about how many rail shares he owned.
And what his opinion was on 1981.
oh wait, he just forgot… [tui]
NZ population growth stalls, as more young skilled take up residence in Australia, and start growing the next generation of Kiwis. Offspring will either be so Australianized and won’t be connected to NZ, or worse will get criminal records and be sent packing back to NZ. So essentially Key’s and NZ policy is to grow Australian success stories, and take the also-rans back. Imaginative hey.
So we get the harder to deal with returning, who have been brought up Australian, who if they are successful, turn around their lives, get a degree with government loans, start a business even, who will jump back over the ditch at the first opportunity. Only the worst or the worst, stopped from ever returning, will pile up here, those with criminal records, with poor educational acheivements, etc.
But worse! The new kiwis citizens who know nothing of their homeland, will be educated to support the Australian economy needs, not the NZ, taught Australia history, skilled to build a deepening and wide economic base, and our kids in NZ will continue to be plagued by education politics.
Interesting choice of words by the PM when questioned about Dotcom last night:
“If he’s miraculously going to find some person who he reckons whispered in my ear something, well, OK, prove the person and put them up.
“But I’ll tell you now, what difference would it make whether I’d heard about the guy six months earlier? Absolutely none.”
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Dotcom-contractors-contacted-PMs-office/tabid/1607/articleID/277455/Default.aspx#ixzz2CnkBknT9
lies upon lies upon lies beginning to leak out…
here is one TPP article full of those pesky fact thingys that you won’t see in the local papers
“participants in the negotiations had to sign a memorandum of understanding which forbids them from releasing any “negotiating documents until four years after a deal is done or abandoned.”
http://www.nationofchange.org/trans-pacific-partnership-what-corporate-governance-looks-1353428537
Oops! Hey Lynn, (or another mod) I seem to have approved a ‘comment’ that wasn’t actually a comment that’s now come up on the comments sidebar. Don’t know what to do with it now. Meaning…don’t want to touch in case all sort of wierd and (not so) wonderful stuff starts to happen. Bloody phobia!
We’ll keep an eye out for it…..
these links to topical articles on allied blogs are really helpful; we are not alone
anyway,
Herald
-health delivery delays
-insurance companies are gonna just love the predictive / actuarial potential of these telomere tests
-many Islamic activist groups in Syria do not support the “official” opposition grouping supported by the West
-another truck and trailer falls over
-Tolkein family interests place a line in the sand over inappropriate commercialisation
-wow, there sure is a demand for easy access sex at Hunters Corner
(used to be an excellent Indian restaurant on the road leaving Papatoetoe towards the eastern suburbs, and when one is a single man (or not, as I learn of all the married local Harley club guys hitting the knock-shops as soon as they are away out of town) ya just wanna stick ya dick in something sometimes)
Jackson must be spewing
On the back of bad publicity concerning the mistreatment of animals comes more bad news for the makers of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey movie just days out from its premiere at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington…
splatter
So tell me if I have read the postings wrongly.
The majority of posters here now hate Shearer and would rather see John Key win in 2014 than have the Quisling Shearer bring in a National- lite coalition government for 3 years?
If this premise is correct then the sole focus should be on kneecapping Shearer either before or after the election.
If Shearer loses in 2014 then he would be gone.
If Shearer wins in 2014 then he will stay.
If you cannot kneecap Shearer before election 2014 then you have to work to ensure that he loses.
Will we see embittered Leftists not simply transferring their vote to Green or Mana but strategically biting the bullet and voting National for once only.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I don’t dislike Shearer, I just dislike how unelectable and incompetent he is.
Will we see embittered Leftists not simply transferring their vote to Green or Mana but strategically biting the bullet and voting National for once only.
WTF? You been smoking crack? Are you asking if lefties would rather vote for a party that would pull Labour into the direction that they think Labour should be heading in, or, vote for National?
Ask google about MMP
great link yesterday (all my troubles seem to fade away) fatty; kiwipolitico is an interesting blog
More bad news, many of our estuaries are approaching environmental collapse.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/sage-advice-for-saving-our-estuaries.html
How about some focus now on the BIG issues folks? 🙂
Like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations which will be starting here in Auckland on 3 December 2012 – 12 December 2012?
What are Labour stalwarts doing on THIS issue?
Hopefully THOUSANDS of you will want the opportunity to show your opposition to the ‘pro-investor’ /’anti-public majority’ Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement?
(What sort of ‘partnership’ – excludes the public?
Why is the TPPA so ‘top secret’?)
Here you go!
SIGN ON HERE FOLKS TO SHOW YOUR OPPOSITION TO THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT! (TPPA)
http://gpjanz.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/urgent-auckland-round-target-1-million-sign-ons-to-avaaz-petititon-to-stop-the-tpp/
MY COMMENT:
What’s good for big business it not usually good for the public majority.
The neo-liberal reforms have proven that FREE TRADE = PRIVATISATION.
Arguably the root cause of corruption is privatisation – how is it decided who gets the contracts?
Where’s the corruption-risk assessment of ‘Free Trade Agreements’ such as the TPPA?
(Haven’t been provided with any reply from MFAT on that question…… first asked it back in 2010 – at the last round of TPPA negotiations held in NZ).
Where is is the ‘cost-benefit analysis’ which proves that the private provision of public services is a more ‘cost-effective’ use of tax-payer and ratepayer monies, compared with when those services used to be provided ‘in-house’ at central and local government level?
How much public monies could be saved by CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS (especially private consultants)?
Where is the TRANSPARENCY?
Where is the ACCOUNTABILITY?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
In between lawns
I been wondering how many journalism and /or politics students and faculty read and write here.
There sure are some clever writers and analysts.stream of consciousnes teccnique may be effective and adopted by those possessing consciousness
The link to Gavin Ellis demonstrated his scholarship in propaganda; he would have adopted technique through study and would know about the sinful nature of man and hedonistic versus ethical decisions.
I have a small gardening job for the owner of my rental caravan tomorow. See, man writes about gardening and it happens, like The Death of God.
The local paper reported on the large number of local people living in caravans or inadequate housing.
Very compassionate of them. The editor is also a shill for the real estate industry.
Yet, in the letters to the editor they publish some very critical analyses of salient issues like the NZIER
proposal to increase the New Zealand population to 11M and the implications for the environment and resource use versus foreign export earnings.
the experience of “bipolarity” is both un-nerving and predictable but it can get a person in a lotta trouble until they understand it. (reading Lord of The Rings compulsively in the loo during apprenticeship and going to the gym before and after work on the big motorbike vroom vroom)
This “civics” proposal is interesting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civics
and this entry is interesting
yet I challenge the critics employment of the Aristotle assertion and the three freedoms.
recur the telos back into the sphere and maybe we will see a “kingdom on earth” or do we await our young people ending up in institutions, jail or dead.
Capitalist economic-rationalisation propaganda takes care of “freedom of choice” “freedom of action” and “freedom to” suffer.
May be Confuscianism with a little Taoist leaning to the side while squeaking some decentralization through in a successful Left-bloc government.
The landlord, a self-employed man supporting his family comparitively comfortably, understood that people are aware of economic and climate implications yet they continue to walk into events.
“Conditioned” was his word.
AA is not for every one pointy one; long way round
Consider work, shopping, adrenaline consider new memories consider forgiveness
Great to hear of people digging up their lawn and planting veges. I have done it at few dwellings over recent years.I worked in the produce department of the local supermarket that came out the most expensive in recent nationwide survey; anecdotal support for how they screw the growers on price for access and then mark-up %%%%% sometimes.
Pak N Save are also local, have very friendly staff and often have fresh brocoli and other vegetables at reasonable prices.
An increasing amount of authorities are advising us of how much is determined;
freedom within determinism was how the issue of free-will has been considered;
plenty of nested
hierarchies
within
Evolutionary Biology (big thanks to Hamilton,Cosmides and Toomey)
back to the grass
oops forgot, when I had to rewrite from memory what I had just written spontaneously,
Flockie, I think your thoughts are often exceptional
😉
A Little lightness ,away from the daily worries .
Who will be the man of the year? My choice a toss up,between Bernie Monk and Dr Lance O’Sullivan. . Woman of the year Helen Kelly . hands down !
A Little lightness ,away from the daily worries .
Who will be the man of the year? My choice a toss up,between Bernie Monk and Dr Lance O’Sullivan. . Woman of the year Helen Kelly . hands down !
ooh, I know, I know 🙂 (any union member should do)
Wonder how long has John Banks been involved with Talent2?
“Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news”…
The NZLP is now a tertiary party not the sole opposition. So, pull your heads in. 30 years almost of neo liberalism is way too many. Jobs Jolt? Middle class WFF but not for bennies?
As a late 50s guy my partner tells me I am out of touch with where modern kiwis are at, heh, where is that though? Flat Screen Frenzy? Precarious minimum wage jobs you are meant to be grateful for?
I still do not trust most dudes in suits, which ever one it is, end of.
http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/574603_10151532813403452_216392422_n.jpg
cool.
how ruthless are the beverage companies. Went for a carbonated soft-drink after the lawns
Seven tall fridges, some double, in the superette and not a drink that did not have sugar or caffeine in it
if sugar-free, they had caffeine. very few sugar-free options.ruthless
Has anyone seen the story on, ‘no right turn’ concerning John Banks, apparantley he has a
shareholding in Talent2 through a trust, he is also associate minister of education, (sorry
can’t link it),this is the same crowd responsible for novapay.
I’ve said for awhile that selling Telecom is the perfect example of the dead weight loss of profit. Well, The Greens went and put the real figures on it.:
Dividends lost due to sale in 2011$millions: 16826
So, if private business is so efficient and provides what the community needs without intervention then WTF are we paying Telecom another billion or so to put in place the network that they should have put in place with the ~$17b in dividends that they took from us?
C’mon DtB you know why we’re gifting them another billion, why pay for it yourself when you can get the taxpayer to pay for you to increase your profits.
The Greens need to pretty that data table up and get it out there.
Take from the cold bloody [hope they aren’t dead yet] hands of kiwis, and give to foreign owned corporations has been National policy for ages mate. 😉