It does indeed look good, but I question the placing of John Campbell and Jon Stewart alongside the likes of Chomsky, Snowden, Hager, and Mihi Forbes.
I still can’t forget Campbell’s gleeful endorsement, night after night, of the National Party’s dirty tricks campaign against David Benson-Pope, and I can’t forget, or forgive, Stewart’s smarmy “Team Civilization” speech after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Not at all. I am on record here and on other fora criticising him for his thuggish behaviour in parliament—particularly his yelling out “Send him HOME!” whenever the subject of Ahmed Zaoui came up.
But the National Party and its media accomplices, like Campbell, didn’t attack Benson-Pope on those grounds. Instead they recycled wild accusations about him abusing school children, which were nothing more than a National Party dirty tricks campaign. None of the charges had any validity, but that didn’t stop the ridicule and the traducing of him In parliament and in the media. National MPs bawled “Pervert!” and “Child molester!” when he got up to speak, and perhaps the most sickening sight of all was when Judith Collins, of all people, stood in parliament, smirking at him and holding a tennis ball.
Campbell thought it was all great sport, and didn’t relent in the slightest even after Benson-Pope was reduced to tears under the National Party-led vilification.
Another article that shames our country and shows how far we have fallen since the advent of neoliberalism in the 1980s and our further lurch to being an extremely unequal society after 9 years of Key’s regime.
The richest 1 per cent of Kiwis have bagged 28 per cent — $42 billion — of the wealth created in a single year.
Meanwhile, the poorest 1.4 million people (30 per cent of the population), got barely 1 per cent — $1.5b — of all the wealth created in 2017.
The research also showed a mere 10 per cent of New Zealanders own more than half the nation’s wealth and the inequality gap had widened significantly in the past year.
It would be great to think that senior members of our government sat down and read the Oxfam report mentioned in this article. Then looked a the policies they have put forward to deal with issues of poverty in New Zealand. Then ripped them and listened to the suggestions made made by Rachael Le Mesurier.
Oxfam NZ executive director Rachael Le Mesurier said.
“People of the poorest population tend not to vote.
“Extreme inequality also fractures our society creating ‘us and them’, the haves and the have nots. This is not okay. “Fundamentally it’s trapping millions of people in poverty globally.”
“Governments can tackle extreme inequality here and globally by ensuring the wealthy and multinationals pay their fair share of tax by cracking down on tax avoidance — then using that money to make our country and the global economy a fairer place.
“To end the global inequality crisis, we must build an economy for ordinary working people, not the very few rich and powerful.”
Her suggestions….
tax the rich
tax multinationals
use tax to make the country a fairer place
I would add – remove all the laws in the country that enshrine neoliberalism and enact new laws that create a socialist state.
“Socialism is the Big Lie of the twentieth century. While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery.”
I can’t help but suspect that the Telegraph article’s attempt to draw a line from Corbyn to the Khmer Rouge somehow suggests that its description of Venezuelan conditions and challenges might not be entirely impartial.
It may not be. But it’s hard to fault the observation of what is happening in Venezuela. Whatever the lens.
“Tearful Venezuelans had gone weeks without basic food items like milk, flour and toilet paper. It’s a sad but common part of daily life today in crisis-ridden Venezuela, a country that has the world’s largest proven reserves of oil. Colombian officials estimate that about 100,000 Venezuelans crossed the border. ” http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/20/news/economy/venezuela-world-worst-economy/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom
Edit: http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/26/venezuelas-problems-are-political-not-economic/
“Venezuelans go without basic goods like toilet paper and nourishing food; and the government appears helpless to deal with murder, robbery, assault, and corruption. Vigilantism is replacing formal policing. People die in pools of their own blood in filthy hospitals for lack of prescriptions and care. To save energy and ease the strain on the budget, government employees are required to show up for work only two days a week.”
“ismo — which is nothing more nor less than authoritarianism — has ruined Venezuela, as authoritarianism usually does. With unchecked political power, dictators are free to engage in any dumb idea they choose without a reckoning. For those who think Deng’s China or Pinochet’s Chile are examples to the contrary, note well that neither saw any economic thriving until they embraced a market economy, and only an economic illiterate or a moral idiot would encourage other countries to try their path with all the human rights abuses and instability that come with dictatorship. Chile mercifully passed into democracy with a push from the Reagan administration and its economy does well, while the Chinese Communist Party’s dictatorship breeds corruption and mismanagement; its economic model is obviously shaky, if not terminal. The comparison between Chile and Venezuela is also quite telling.”
I’m suggesting that you’ll post any old shit as long as you agree with its narrative, and that you’ll ignore patiently quantified data models if you disagree with where they point.
I don’t know why things are bad in Venezuela. I know a few years ago there was an attempted coup that focused on the now disfunctional oil companies, but maybe the leadership is corrupt. Maybe it’s a mixture, maybe one begat the other, maybe the shortages are the result of trade issue “encouraged” by the US – FFS Cuba put up with embargoes and crop burnings for decades, who knows what the CIA is up to.
But I am pretty sure that any relationship between someone like you (who will uncritically link to articles that compare Corbyn to Lenin) and the truth is at best purely coincidental – and quite frankly would be a statistical aberration.
You literally posted just the link. There was no accompanying criticism. So yes, you posted the link uncritically.
Corbyn’s policies […link…]) are symptomatic of the wider problems with socialist ideology.
In that case you share some of the “wider problems” of capitalism exemplified by the Belgian Congo and the Brazilian slave trade. 🙄
Love the way you keep linking to obviously deranged commenters. Corbyn is obviously just waiting to declare himself comrade generalissimo for life, according to your links. Good luck with that narrative, don’t let reality hit you in the arse on the way out.
Oh, so you present one guy’s reckons as evidence. He has an academic background, and he is also a right winger – a “liberal”, published on a website that claims to be “the leading organization opening the hearts and minds of 14–26 year-olds to the values of the free market, individual freedom, and strong personal character.”
The post you link to has little evidence, just claims, like this about socialism:
delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery.
eg?
Because, what I am seeing from the inequalities inherent in capitalism, is a great life for the few, and plenty of misery for large numbers of people.
He argues that capitalism is based on human behaviours, which are ignored by socialism:
The failure of socialism in countries around the world can be traced to one critical defect: it is a system that ignores incentives.
In a capitalist economy, incentives are of the utmost importance. Market prices, the profit-and-loss system of accounting, and private property rights provide an efficient, interrelated system of incentives to guide and direct economic behavior. Capitalism is based on the theory that incentives matter!
Ah but collaboration is a fundamental characteristic of human behaviours within society – without it there would be no society or development.
From the final link
“Rolling blackouts are causing infant deaths in hospitals where backup generators have ceased to function; the country is on pace to hit 700 percent inflation; outside of active war zones, the murder rate in Caracas is the highest in the world.”
How does that rate on your misery monitor?
The Russians were hoodwinked by Hitler, and found they had a common enemy. Aside from that, any association between the Soviet Union and freedom is purely accidental.
“so it was an accident that those pesky russians beat your boy hitler.”
I didn’t say it was accident. I said they became an ally with Britain out of mutual distaste for Hitler. Meanwhile, you have yet to come even close to condemning the totalitarianism, and acknowledging the ultimate failure, of the Soviet regime.
Your boy hitler was a totalitarian, and you have not condemned him yet.
“Meanwhile, you have yet to come even close to condemning the totalitarianism, and acknowledging the ultimate failure, of the Soviet regime.”
That comment means either your very dumb, or have not read anything I’ve ever said. Seriously the leninist project put back socialism back by 100 years, I think most here agree with that assertion, except unreconstructed marxist leninists.
Do you understand political economy? Or are you going to keep proving your ignorance?
But you have walked down a pathway and got lost. The Russians were hoodwinked by Hitler, who then invaded. And you still haven’t condemned soviet totalitarianism.
The lack of comprehension on your part hornet, makes me think you went to a private school. Your a purist, indeed a right royal marxist leninist in your modus operandi .
Oh well if you can’t work out where I stand from previous posts. I leave you to your hard right puffery. I’ll remind you, your boy hitler was a capitalist, .
“The lack of comprehension…”
…was on your part, and you inadequate knowledge of history. It was principally because Hitler hoodwinked Stalin that the USSR joined the allies. Until then, the Soviets were allies of Germany.
I’m accommodating for those who wish to learn:
“The invasion of Russia by Nazi Germany in 1941 shattered their formerly expedient pact and sent the USSR into the arms of the West.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ussr/
“I’ll remind you, your boy hitler was a capitalist”
Hitler was an evil dictator. And his politics were confused. If you can point to any reputable sources for your claim, I’d be interested to read more.
In the meantime, try finding capitalism out of this:
“The term “National Socialism” arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of “socialism”, as an alternative to both international socialism and free market capitalism. Nazism rejected the Marxist concept of class conflict, opposed cosmopolitan internationalism and sought to convince all parts of the new German society to subordinate their personal interests to the “common good” and accept political interests as the main priority of economic organization.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism
Hoodwinked, you implication that one man, hitler, was nazi germany , is quite frankly wrong.
The major corporations helped keep capitalism in place within all the fascist countries of Europe. Ever heard of IBM, ever drank Fanta? Just a couple, let alone all the car and other manufacturer companies. Ever heard of a guy call Albert Speer, he was a capitalist and in charge of war production.
Your right, they rejected free market capitalism, but not corporate or centralised capitalism. You should really read up on how capitalism works sunshine, you seem ill informed.
You could read up about Singapore, or Pinochet’s Chile to get a feel how it works. Saudi Arabia is another truly brutal capitalist country. Franco’s Spain was capitalist.
Do you even understand what your saying by capitalist, because it would appear you don’t – especially your warped ideas about how a fascist economy works. Italy was capitalist as well.
“, you implication that one man, hitler, was nazi germany , is quite frankly wrong”
I implied no such thing. But it was Hitler who made the decision to invade Russia. You seem to be moving as far away from the core point as possible to avoid admitting you were wrong.
Socialism was the only thing that saved capitalism – for a short time. It failed because capitalism still didn’t work even with the socialism bringing up the living standard of the many.
100% Draco,
Socialism was around way before capitalism in our history and was stable until they introduced a form of soft capitalism, so some took advantage of others , as capitalism can only survive if others are displaced and left to suffer and carry the burden of those who gain.l
No it’s not. It’s a piece of modelling based upon what happened in the real world and shows that we’re going down the same route as all previous civilisations.
Meanwhile, all those billions were, and are, only in poverty because of capitalism. Because of the capitalists taking control of their resources and denying them to the people.
And neoliberal capitalism is doing such a great job for our country.
You should look at the same of the stats for New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s.
Maybe the 1% like yourself couldn’t access Ferraris, but the rest of us were employed, secure and had access to free education and healthcare.
Most likely because we lived in a world in which our mum (the UK) bought all our produce, or told our sisters and brothers to buy our produce. By the mid 1980’s that world had long ceased to exist.
No, that wasn’t it. It was because the wealth got out to the general populace and the rich were well taxed.
As with all countries we’ve never needed trade to utilise our own resources for our own benefit. IMO, trade has actually kept us back as we focussed upon producing more of the same cheap shit (Primary produce) rather than developing our own economy to provide what we needed.
Our present economy is a massive waste of improving productivity and efficiency.
No it isn’t. Our present economy is employing more people than ever before, producing more trade than ever before, and delivering a standard of living higher than ever before.
“The ultimate rwnj rebuttal- it’s not as bad as them… ”
No, I didn’t say that. My claims have been about global poverty. But I repeat what I said earlier. Our present economy is employing more people than ever before, producing more trade than ever before, and delivering a standard of living higher than ever before.
“Thank the left, thank the Christians and Socialist who agreed we can do better. And did.”
There are many things socialists have done better. Destroyed economies. Slaughtered dissenters (including, btw, Christians). Starved citizens.
“Can a moral case be made for taking the rightful property of one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? I think not. That’s why socialism is evil. It uses evil means (coercion) to achieve what are seen as good ends (helping people). We might also note that an act that is inherently evil does not become moral simply because there’s a majority consensus.” http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/04/socialism.html
Stuart socialism failed (and continues to fail) because at its core it is an unworkable system. Capitalism is imperfect, but it is self correcting. Socialism is imperfect, and then countries run out of money.
I really wonder what impels you to flaunt your ignorance in this manner on a serious political site.
Socialism in the modern context is never fully implemented. The regimes that purported to do so fell very far short of the ideal, but they operated for 60 or 70 years nevertheless – as long as any modern capitalist state has done without a depression. They were riddled with corruption. They claimed in fact to be communist, but were totalitarian and despotic. An uncorrupted communist society would have chosen democratic processes to suppress corruption.
In NZ in the last three decades we have seen extremes of capitalism that have destroyed the basis of our economy. We are no longer a farming society, but a real estate speculating one. In spite of overwhelming public sentiment, governments continue to sell land offshore and propose to sign the frankly lousy TPP. Capitalism has no mechanisms to correct these failures – we are obliged to fall back on older civil means of punishing corrupted politicians.
The more common and more successful Fabian socialism which operated in NZ was a raging success. It inspired Popper to write The Open Society And Its Enemies. You are merely one of its enemies.
“Socialism in the modern context is never fully implemented.“
That’s an age old excuse, that you seem to believe excuses it’s abject failure.
“The more common and more successful Fabian socialism which operated in NZ was a raging success. “
No, it wasn’t. It was only viable when supported by guaranteed market access for our produce. It was an unsustainable dream, lived in a bubble.
“In NZ in the last three decades we have seen extremes of capitalism that have destroyed the basis of our economy. “
That is the height of ignorance. I can only assume you know nothing ng of the countries growth in exports, market diversification and employment.
Socialism is the only form of society that succeeds. You might long for a society with entrenched systemic poverty like India has under capitalism, but no representative democracy can aspire to such a backward state. Our people must prosper – not just those advantaged by inherited or stolen wealth.
“It was an unsustainable dream” Poppycock – it only became unsustainable when the political leaders of the time betrayed the populace and looted the public estate to enrich themselves instead of tooling up for the change in circumstances.
“I can only assume you know nothing”
Yes, fall back on insults you empty bag of wind.
Over the last three decades NZ has lost capacity in most of our productive industries, with the possible exception of dairy, which relies on unsustainable access to fresh water and to cheap foreign labour. In the meantime the capital value of such farms has risen so much that interest costs absorb much of any profit deriving from increased production.
We don’t build cars any more, or process most of our fish. Gangs of underpaid foreign workers have displaced local pickers and pruners. Post-earthquake construction has been conducted principally by foreign workers instead of upskilling locals, all of which over the long term represents a significant loss of capacity.
If someone had deliberately set out to ruin a prosperous country they wouldn’t have done a thing different – and your mythical capitalist self-correction is nowhere in evidence.
If someone had deliberately set out to ruin a prosperous country they wouldn’t have done a thing different – and your mythical capitalist self-correction is nowhere in evidence.
From what I can make out a few did purposefully set out to ruin a prosperous country. It’s far easier to get poor people to work to make a rich person richer than a well educated person who’s financially independent.
Yes, I think the exploited foreign workers prove that – no degree of local poverty is sufficient to make some local bosses as profitable as they desire.
Abstract
While it may be possible to mitigate poverty through social transfers, it is not possible to eradicate the processes that create poverty under capitalism. Eight such processes are discussed: i) the creation of the pre-conditions; ii) petty commodity production and trade; iii) technological change and unemployment; iv) (petty) commodification; v) harmful commodities and waste; vi) pauperising crises ; vii) climate-change-related pauperisation; and viii) the un-required and/or incapacitated and/or dependent human body under capitalism. Ways to regulate these processes and to protect against their impacts are discussed.
“Socialism is the only form of society that succeeds”
“To anyone not blinded to reality by their ideology, it is no secret that socialism, because of its inherent and essential nature, is, and must always be, an abject and disastrous failure. The failure of socialism and social engineering by “the best and brightest” of left-wing liberalism is once again being proven, the latest evidence coming from communist China, Canada, Britain, France, and Australia.”
RWNJ ignores all evidence, as presented by real research by the likes of Piketty and others, that shows that capitalism is the problem and not socialism. It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.
It is since then and the implementation that we’ve seen an increase in poverty across the Western world.
None of which you support with any evidence whatsoever.
“It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.”
Really? Socialism in the Western World? So how many people did the USSR slaughter? China?
You don’t have an argument Hornet, beyond bleating “Socialism baaaad”. You don’t even know what socialism is, you confuse it with communism and totalitarianism.
If you want further instruction from me you’ll have to pay for it.
Why would I read your sources – they’ve misled you to the point of fatal ignorance. I worked with soviet crews, saw first hand what was wrong with their system. But backward far-right nutbars always think they know better.
No moron – real experience trumps the maunderings of biased fools like yourself.
I have seen the truth of the soviet failure first hand and your callow reckons aren’t worth the pixels they’re written in.
Now, run along and play with your fellow ‘true believers’ – your view of socialism is a belief system, not a rational conclusion. It is hide-bound ignoramuses like yourself that led Karl Popper to his discovery of falsifiability.
That’s an age old excuse, that you seem to believe excuses it’s abject failure.
Communism is control of the means of production by the workers through a democratic system. None of the so-called communist countries meet that minimum requirement.
It’s not to excuse the abject failure of those systems. It’s to point out that the failure was down to the top down hierarchy. Exactly the same way that capitalism fails.
No, it wasn’t. It was only viable when supported by guaranteed market access for our produce.
Which logically means that capitalism must also fail without such guaranteed access to international markets. Guarantees that cannot be made and are, in fact, not coming. Even our FTAs aren’t guaranteeing that access as China’s threats to our exports prove.
The only sustainable means is to live within our means, within the resources available in NZ and to minimise international trade.
“None of the so-called communist countries meet that minimum requirement.”
There is no pure ‘capitalist’ nation either. Yet I’m not the one making excuses.
“Which logically means that capitalism must also fail without such guaranteed access to international markets.”
International trade is at the very heart of capitalism, making your comment a nonsense. A bit like saying ‘socialism must also fail without a central planning authority”.
“The only sustainable means is to live within our means, within the resources available in NZ and to minimise international trade.”
Tried, and failed. International trade has liberated billions of people from poverty, and opened nations and its peoples up to a vast choice of goods and services. If you want to live in the sort of environment your describe, I invite you to do so. North Korea springs to mind.
“It was your logic. We may have been somewhat socialist after WWII but we were still a capitalist economy dependent upon trade.”
But you said this “It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.”
So which was it? Capitalist or socialist?
“Which must also apply to capitalism.”
There is no ‘guaranteed market access’ any more.
After WWII it was what was always called a mixed economy. It failed because of capitalism.
There is no ‘guaranteed market access’ any more.
That’s what the FTAs that we’ve signed and the WTO is for you moron. And they still don’t guarantee access to any market as every country can choose to not honour those agreements.
Not according to the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO.
In the world and in NZ. That’s actually the whole point of the pricing mechanism – to limit access to resources. Poor people simply cannot afford them.
And the link you provide is pure ideology disconnected from reality. But that’s capitalism to a ‘T’. It sounds good but it’s not what it brings about. What it brings about is poverty and deprivation for the majority while a few get rich. Hence 8 people now having the same wealth as the poorest ~4b and it keeps getting worse. Of course, even the ideological rant that you linked to never once mentioned ownership which is what’s causing all that poverty and deprivation..
“After WWII it was what was always called a mixed economy. It failed because of capitalism.”
But that isn’t what you said. Here is what you said:
“It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.”
The height of socialism is most certainly not a ‘mixed economy’. You have directly contradicted yourself.
“That’s what the FTAs that we’ve signed and the WTO is for you moron. And they still don’t guarantee access to any market as every country can choose to not honour those agreements.”
So you agree, there is guaranteed access.
“http://nzccss.org.nz/work/poverty/facts-about-poverty/fact-7-economic-growth-alone-does-not-solve-poverty/ https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/19/poverty-increasing-in-developed-countries-ilo.html http://www.wired.co.uk/article/global-poverty-oxfam-world-economic-forum”
Your have misrepresented your own sources. For example the Oxfam report is primarily about inequality. I quote from that report:
“While the number of people living in extreme poverty halved between 1990 and 2010, Oxfam argued that had inequality not increased during that period an extra 200 million people would have escaped extreme poverty.”
Your own cite states that the “number of people living in extreme poverty halved between 1990 and 2010.” That is a spectacularly successful outcome of capitalism.
“In the world and in NZ. That’s actually the whole point of the pricing mechanism – to limit access to resources. Poor people simply cannot afford them.”
Nonsense. Walk into a Warehouse. Or a Bunnings. The ‘poor’ in NZ can afford far more than my parents ever could.
We need to set up our society so that people can’t afford to own a huge amount of wealth. Maximum income with good capital taxes would easily achieve it.
Do you think it is morally acceptable that Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) has $100 billion in the bank while his minimum wage workers need food stamps to get by?
No, I want a society that doesn’t have rich people in it. Where everyone has access to the necessities of life and the resources necessary for them to be creative.
NZ is already unbelievably rich the problem is a few greedy arseholes hoarding all the resources for themselves. That’s Capitalism: making money off money, clipping tickets, screwing markets, insider trading, regulatory capture. In the endgame it creates a massive slave class — already modelled by the USA (prisoners), China (factory workers), and the Middle East (Indian labourers).
A few people start off poor and become rich. This isn’t great advertising as 1) for them to become rich they’ve made others poorer and 2) there’s so very few of them compared to the 7 billion people in the world.
…so by your logic, NZ as country should not aspire to become wealthy as it will make other countries poorer, and that is so morally inconceivable that we should not hold out any hope for Jacinda’s child’s generation.
Socialism, the university of life you never graduate from.
People shouldn’t be allowed to become rich as that makes others poorer. In fact, capitalism requires poverty.
And NZ is already a rich country – we have many resources per capita. Those resources are our means. Fairly distributed and used would mean that no one would be living in poverty.
Thing is, they are our means. Exporting them makes us poorer. The same applies to other countries and so us importing resources is making other countries poorer. In fact, we can see that over the last couple of centuries as resources have been exported out of poor countries to rich countries. The rich countries became much better off while the poor countries are still poor and that was most definitely at the expense of the poor countries.
The sandflys are using a dum ass trick like they did with wearing a black beany and the think they are invisible lol.
I will sue there assessor for hundreds of thousands for the way they breach my human rights and the rights of all my children. And I’m going to sue for loss off the potential earnings of ECO MAORI from the Internet this could be millions. The sandflys can carry on underestimate Me I will make my move when the time is right. I see we came from ASIA I have a lot of respect for Asian one just has to learn there cultures to understand why they do things and how they think. Ana to kai
The sandflys can not get it out of there dum ass neo liberals brains that Im not a dum ass savage Im a intelligent human and Im going to win in the end I can see there plays all the time they are desperate Mobile fuel station on Sunset road Rotorua thats a play to counter ECO MAORI statement that crime is dropping .Ana to kai
Here the link to the back my story origins of Maori.
Anyone who has been treating mainstream reporting on Syria with a degree of skepticism might, or will find this long detailed piece by Eva Bartlett of interest. In it she rather methodically and meticulously deconstructs attacks made on her journalistic integrity by, among others – Snopes, The Guardian, Ch 4 news and La Presse.
Oram says that Martin Luther King predicted the current moral decline of the US, based in extensive inequalities.
Oram refers to a quote attributed to Martin Luther King shortly before he was assasinated:
“We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know that we will win. But I’ve come to believe we’re integrating into a burning house.”
“I’m afraid that America may be losing what moral vision she may have had. And I’m afraid that even as we integrate, we are walking into a place that does not understand that this nation needs to be deeply concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Until we commit ourselves to ensuring that the underclass is given justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tears at the soul of this nation.”
Oram sees Trump as someone who has cleverly exploited this decline and the related fractures in US society, politics and economy.
Oram also refers to the protests against Trump this weekend, and is optimistic a new, better US is on the rise.
How so? You’re saying by “classed as equal” that there would be economic equity, yes? But the woman is still dominated by the man and the black or brown skinned person by the white skinned person. (Off the back of cultural and/or historical reasons etc)
And pretty soon that all bleeds back into economic arrangements and….square one all over again.
So okay, your saying if issues of class and gender and race have been resolved, then there will be no ongoing issues of inequality pertaining to gender and race. Sure.
No.
At least I would assume Ed refers to class as being the divisions that allow degrees of access to ‘power’.
Within that frame, it can be reasonably argued that both race and gender are subsets of class inequality.
most people would take Ed’s comment to be about socioeconomic class though, esp as it was a response to the comment with MLK’s quote. I guess he can come back and clarify.
The USA is not one nation, it’s a federation and it’s cracking at the seams. Washington DC is now totally corrupted and it would be best for the States to disunite from this dysfunctional system.
Denigrating the basic comfort to be found between people and communities which society needs to keep cohesive and for all to prosper as a “weakness”, all while tearing up and deliberately breaking the social bonds between individuals, families and whole communities and the very support structures that they need to keep life itself together.
“Climate change is the nuclear moment our our generation”. Quote PM Jacinda Ardern.
We must use less truck freight transport on roads and switch to using rail to lower the carbon emissions and arrest the risk of climate change accelerating.
Today’s major report on RNZ ‘Nine to noon report’ is again warning us all that coastal erosion is becoming a clear hazard now.
22/1/2018.
Monday 22 January 2018 Previous episodes
On today’s show
[long cut and paste deleted. Please quote pieces to support your comment, not long tracts. People can click through to read the whole thing.
Also, if I have to spend time trying to figure out which are your words and which are the quotes, I’m more likely atm to just delete. Please come up with a system that makes it clear what are your words and what are the quotes. You can use the tags, or you can use characters. e.g.
Now isn’t that interesting – actually its much less than I would have thought in some areas.
46 km of railway – have alternative plans drawn up & activate closer to the time. 43000 houses – about 4% of the housing stock – how many are permanent dwellings as opposed to holiday homes – what is the built quality – how many can be shifted and are worth shifting? Are there clusters in some areas – that could be shifted at once.
Looks like we need to designate some land for “new” suburbs in some areas – and have a “shift it Saturday” – where south D takes it’s houses & migrates up onto a hill. At $10000 a house we are looking at $430m spread over a number of years . And houses at risk, not moveable & not yet flooding could be used as a reserve rental stock.
The airports – can swift public transport mean another nearby airport could be used? We have a lot of airports & this might be a good occasion to rethink about fewer & fast trains to areas around the airport.
Jacinda Ardern is basically PM for as long she wants and is Labours answer to John Key.
Every time theres some news they may want buried (like why the first 100 days has been a bit slow or trying to hide the extra payments to tribes) they can trot a pic of Clarke taking the kid to preschool or if someone criticises Jacinda then you can bet the media will jump all over it as bullying.
2020 election well you have preschool, 2023 you’ve got starting primary school etc etc
So how is Jacinda like John well first off educationally speaking neither are what you would call academics in that John has a BCom from Canterbury and Jacinda has a BCS from Waikato
Both went overseas, both did quite well in their respective fields and both are very media savvy as well as both having the ability to say nothing but still making their respective supporters believe they walk on water (absolutely have a conversation about that)
Both are probably more intelligent than their respective critics and opposition give them credit for and both mangle the language (poverdy anyone?)
Being that Jacinda is the PM for as long as she wants (and i do mean she, most certainly not anyone else) I just hope that she does a good a job as John Key did
I do of course admit that I am biased therefore I may be completely wrong about all this
Absolutely, can you show me how to search past comments, becasue all I get is two pages of PR’s post, they cover time since his return. Not the one that got him banned.
Edit: Because puckish has no recollection of being banned. Also my point I might add.
thanks. I find it easier to use google by site advanced search. Put the full TS URL in the ‘site or domain’ field, and whatever key words you can think of. You’ll still have to scroll through but you can narrow it down by dates too. It’s better than the internal search engine.
A cynical soul aren’t you? Have you forgotten John Key’s use of his son and daughter with their various publicity episodes, particularly Max and his gay slur to a cyclist. And his clutching of Richie at every opportunity. And his bad taste radio episodes. Well the occasional photo of a little Gayford- Ardern I think would be mild in comparison. I can’t imagine them doing anything stupid with their baby as far as publicity goes.
Sure its not a perfect comparison but wouldn’t you agree theres some similarities between the two and I do hope the media give their kid a chance to be a kid
mate, anything that gets more interesting political discussion and less people bitching at each other the better. Better for those already here, and better at attracting others to comment.
(lol, I feel I need to put a caveat in now, given your history, but I’m not quite sure what it is).
It’s early days for Jacinda, but there seems to be some intention of keeping promises – something no-one could accuse Key of.
It will of course take a long time to build NZ out of the hole neo-liberalism and naked corruption have dropped us into.
In the meantime though, perhaps you should contain your criticism to items where the government is erring. If Jacinda keeps her promises and repairs some of the wreckage the last government wrought then there is nothing wrong with positive press – it’s only when the positive press is used to cover up failures and corruption, which is all it did under Key, that it becomes odious.
“It’s early days for Jacinda, but there seems to be some intention of keeping promises – something no-one could accuse Key of.”
Labour pre-election pledged to re-enter Pike River mine and thats now a firm maybe plus depending on how you want to see it the whole TPP thing is a back track also and its been less than 100 days
You’re right, maybe they will keep their child away from the media (hopefully they will) but considering the media coverage I doubt the media will respect their wishes
“I do hope the media give their kid a chance to be a kid.”
Jacinda and Clarke were interviewed on this very point this morning and it was pretty clear that they have this well in mind – sorry won’t try to find the video in the plethora of interviews etc. Think it was the TVNZ Breakfast interview with Tame.
Both Jacinda and Clarke are well versed/qualified in media management and IMHO their announcement on Friday was timed to coincide with the end of the holiday period and the back to work for the government and the impending end of the first 100 day period.
The Labour Caucus (and many of their families) convened for a two day retreat near Martinborough yesterday where they are currently reviewing the first 100 days, what still needs to be done in the next 10 days, and drawing up the next 100 day plans. The PM is expected to give a news conference/stand-up this afternoon on the next steps in their planning etc. In other words, IMHO they announced the baby news on Friday, have given 48 hours or so for Babymania, and now the PM’s focus etc will be back to government business.
Tomorrow Tues morning it is back to Wellington for the first Cabinet meeting with Winston etc. – so back to BAU.
An interesting aside to the above (again I cannot give a link as it is lost somewhere in the plethora of interviews etc I have ‘indulged in’ over the last 48 hours and it would take hours to find) is that:
Drumroll ….
Ardern mentioned in passing in an interview (yesterday Sunday I think) that Winston Peters has actually been/still is formally Acting PM for the two or so days of the Labour Caucus Retreat in the Wairarapa.
A test run and/or a middle finger salute to the naysayers who are predicting Armageddon when Peters takes over as Acting PM in June?
“A test run and/or a middle finger salute to the naysayers who are predicting Armageddon when Peters takes over as Acting PM in June?”
Could well be but I don’t think most (imho anyway) people have a problem with Winston being PM temporarily as i think most would probably say that was a big part of the negotiations but if, no matter how unlikely, Winston is still the leader at the next election then things would get very interesting
Do you remember how Labour were going to ban foreigners buying New Zealand houses, and that the ban would be in place by Christmas?
Became they would introduce a bill and it wouldn’t affect all foreigners but you can’t expect too much can you? https://www.odt.co.nz/news/election-2017/labour-would-ban-foreign-property-purchases
As she said ‘Labour would ban sales of existing houses to non-resident, foreign buyers “by Christmas”‘.
Jacinda Ardern is basically PM for as long she wants and is Labours answer to John Key.[sic]
An interesting thesis that, based on your other comments in this thread, seems to refer to the respective popularity of said leaders and the rather huge and unique privilege this offers.
I’d argue that the persona of Key and Ardern is developed/developing by an interplay of inner and outer forces & influences. Ardern is or will be Labour’s “answer to John Key” because that’s what the general public believes and thus has come to expect/demand. The MSM, pundits, the Opposition, the NZ Labour Party & Caucus, the coalition-Government, etcetera, will all contribute to this collective projection.
When Key became leader of the National Party in 2006 and PM 2 years later his persona was not identical to the one when he bailed out in 2016.
Ms Ardern’s persona is also not static & fixed and time will tell how it will develop but suffice to say her personal trajectory may be very different from Mr Key’s – I certainly hope so …
IMO John Key cultivated & milked his popularity like a Fonterra for mostly personal ‘profit’; the National Party (and a few ‘hangers on’) benefitted by riding on his coattail and hanging in his slipstream – it was good (for them) while it lasted. So far, I cannot see this happening with Jacinda Ardern – being in power can do ‘funny things’ to people – but I could not possibly comment on why I doubt that it will happen in the foreseeable future …
The problem is that it isn’t a mistake.
He almost always uses “loosing”.
I’ve 1questioned him on what it is supposed to mean but no explanation is ever forthcoming.
Naah I got over that pretty quickly (plus it wasn’t going to change anything anyway) and as I say “Jacinda Ardern is basically PM for as long she wants and is Labours answer to John Key.” so its not like I think National will be back in power any time soon
All she has to do is cross over into National territory as John Key did so successfully and she’ll be remembered as being as, if not more, popular than John Key
All she has to do is cross over into National territory as John Key did so successfully and she’ll be remembered as being as, if not more, popular than John Key
Ardern getting more than one term still hangs on the economy staying together and voters not feeling like they’re going backwards., this baby stuff is just icing.
Also some people like icing, some like a tiny bit of icing, some don’t like icing at all and just prefer the cake.
Does it though, Jacinda is very popular so even if the economy tanks, Labour can lay the blame at Nationals feet and because Jacinda is popular she’ll be believed by enough voters (as was John Key) and Labour will get another term
Although if, for whatever reason, Winnie is the leader at the next election it’ll be a complete bloodbath and National will be back in
But most likely Labour will be in power for easily two terms, maybe three
Does it though, Jacinda is very popular so even if the economy tanks, Labour can lay the blame at Nationals feet and because Jacinda is popular she’ll be believed by enough voters (as was John Key) and Labour will get another term
You think people are that stupid and shallow?
Btw you can’t compare Key to Ardern, Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession.
Its less stupid and shallow (and remember these are the pretty much the same arguments the left used against John Key) and more that Jacinda is an excellent communicator and that people warm to her and want to believe her which sounds a lot like John Key
John Key managed to sound both confident and switched on while still being “one of the blokes” and it worked really well for him and Jacinda is managing to do what works really well for her so i think she’ll be able to sell it to NZ especially since she’ll be given the kudos of keeping labour together (though those kudos should probably go to Little)
“Btw you can’t compare Key to Ardern, Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession.”
The circumstances are slightly different but I’d make no difference, if you swapped Key for Ardern the results would still be the same and that is they’d both win, helped by third term-itis sure but they’d still win
The suggestion that the left loathed Key because he was popular is profoundly misleading.
“pretty much the same arguments the left used against John Key”
Nope.
The left loathed Key because he was a liar and a demagogue – his popularity, like Trump’s, was essentially a tool to mislead people.
Now, you may wheel out Pike River and pine trees and a number of other instances of broken promises – but frankly, not yet. These matters have yet to be determined, and it remains to be seen whether they will actually fail.
The public may even forgive some of these issues or ones like them if the government is candid about its reasons for abandoning any of them – but should that occur it would be in stark contrast to the almost compulsive lying and misdirection that characterized the Key Kleptocracy. That vile piece of scum never gave a straight answer about anything. Or is that something you “can’t recall”?
I can tell you now Keys clowning and schtick would have bombed if National hadn’t successfully rebuilt the economy and he wasn’t such a powerhouse on the world political stage.
People would have been “What’s he doing clowning around? do your job, Man”.
Key was a PM first and the goofy funny guy second, Ardern needs to be a PM first and a mother second, if she’s going to be anywhere near as successful as Key.
It’s going to be a big ask, and the voter will tire pretty quickly of Ardern if they don’t think her mind’s on the job.
When Key was in the spotlight a lot over the GCSB and Ian Fletcher, and then the Jason Edes episodes, was he just clowning and being a “goofy funny guy”?
Oh, and told the BBC that water quality scientists were like lawyers – will fabricate results on demand. Sort of a precursor to Trump’s cabinet choices
It’s pretty telling that when pressed BM can’t even name one thing Key, who in his words was “such a powerhouse on the world stage”, did on that stage.
Ardern has already done more than Key ever did by forcing Australia to back down on tertiary fees for Kiwis and insisting on Kiwi houses for Kiwis.
Key was the master at swanning around in his dressing gown at diplomatic events, and of course he was known worldwide for harassing female service staff. That’s about it.
This constant fatuous rubbish about Key’s economic acumen is really rather pitiful. Did wages grow vis-à-vis comparable OECD countries? Nope. Did our debt decrease? Nope. Did our credit rating improve? Nope – it fell twice.
It’s fair to say that the Key ‘economic miracle’ is no more substantial than that of previous self-styled thaumaturgists. The Nobel will not be going to NZ economists any time soon.
“Btw you can’t compare Key to Ardern, Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession.”
—
Key did come in a the start of a global recession, but after 9 years of savings and net govt debt at record lows, English had a great starting point which he commented on at the time.
BM: Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession
???!!! NZ now has record external debt and the Briefings to Incoming Ministers were a litany of disasters. But in 2008 Cullen had left the accounts in very good shape, as you well know.
BM: If the economy bombs, it will be on Labours head.
Bullshit unless you want to blame Key for the GFC and recession of 2008/9 as well. National presided over a fake economy so I would find it hard to blame Labour for the Nats dirty tricks of the last 9 years. Fiddling with stats and cooking the books and hiding OIA requests. What a pack of bankers they were.
“Kneel down time!”
The Patriots bore their way to another Super Bowl appearance
AFC Playoff, Sunday 21 Jan. 2018 (Boston time)
The New England Patriots hold a four-point lead over the Jacksonvile Jaguars. There’s still more than one and a half minutes of “playing” time on the clock. In any real sport, that would be more than enough time for a lot more action.
Not in the NFL, however, where time-wasting is the main strategy of every team. The Patriots have the ball, which in this sport means guaranteed possession for four plays. Therefore it’s pointless to hope for anything unexpected or spontaneous to happen.
One of the commentators yells gleefully: “Kneel down time!”
Both teams stand up from the last scrimmage and start shaking hands with more than 15 seconds still on the clock. The coaches, holding clipboards full of color-coded instructions, are jubilant. The crowd, instructed constantly to “Make Some Noise”, seems happy.
Morrie I’m no expert but some would have it that in the distant past a sarker team, on managing to goal a ball score in the start of the first period, may have as it were parked a bus, not to put too fine a point to it, across their goal to the immeasurable chagrin of their opponents. There is an obscure rumour, no names no pack drill, that a knvish lout of a sarker baller may once have feigned injury in order to prevent the opposition from progressing advantageously gamewise. Can any of this be true? What portents might it hold for the advancement of our cause onwards to the broad sunlight uplands of victory?
Passing plays stop the clock, running plays do not (unless the ball career runs out of bounds). The team with possession has 45 seconds from the whistle to start a play or they are penalised. Therefore, with less than 45 seconds of game time time remaining, the team with possession keeps the clock running by ‘taking the knee’ where the QB takes the snap, starting a running play, then kneels down to end it and keep the clock running. With less than 45 seconds of game time remaining there is no point starting a new play so the game is effectively over.
I know all that, Kevin. What you’ve written backs up what I wrote—that the game is built around stoppages. There is a multiplicity of methods to stop the game, as I pointed out.
Same goes for basketball, volleyball and baseball. The Americans are very good at ruining games.
This is a weird case of poisoning that is still a mystery. You have to wonder why there has not been a thorough police investigation to check it is “accidental” – being that nobody has found any food or reason for the poisoning around, it apparently happened within minutes and paralysed 3 people, and the children were not harmed.
Botulism was a red herring thrown into the story. It was not a likely cause – though present in NZ it is relatively rare here – an anaerobic bacteria sometimes found in mud at the bottom of pools. The more probable culprit is a widely used poison, which the reporters did not want to guess at for political reasons.
1080 was mentioned in the actual audio recordings of both of these reports on RNZ National this morning – as having been tested for as a possibility but not as a confirmed cause – but not mentioned in the written reports on the website. So you need to listen to the recordings:
AND just as I was typing the above the RNZ National 2pm News also did an item on 1080 in relation to the case and the details of recent 1080 drops in the area:
Agreed that the earlier stories did not mention 1080 – that is why it stood out to me this morning. However, there is also the aspect that presumably if 1080 or similar is involved then the case for ACC compensation is strengthened as opposed to a ‘medical’ condition such as botulism. The family’s $$$ situation is understandably of prime concern now.
Interesting if food poisoning is not covered by ACC. I would have thought that it was an accident, as opposed to disease that arises for other reasons. But possibly ACC is turning it down because the cause is unknown.
I can’t see it being a man-made poison myself. Poisons like 1080 and others have been widespread for a long time, and so has pig and deer hunting all over the country. We would have seen this sort of thing before, not out of the blue like this.
By the way I have seen evidence that pigs do feed on poison baits, but they eat anything so I guess that’s not surprising.
I tend to agree. What’s interesting me now though is if they don’t know the cause how are they tying it to the eating of the meat? And the point about the family and media having been told it was botulism is valid. Got to feel for the family. Dealing with the health system can be very hard when the illness is unknown.
The meat would be the only common and new possible vector preceeding the infection/poisoning.
So all the veges they had would have either been eaten from the same source days before, or not everyone had the swede, sort of thing.
That is, of course, assuming that the worst case didn’t happen: that they presented, everyone fixated on botulism and so never more than cursorily(?) considered other sources. Which would suck.
That makes sense but I was wondering why they were assuming food poisoning as opposed to other pathologies. So yes, they can narrow down the food that might be responsible, but if they don’t have an actual pathogen, then why assume it was food?
e.g., virus, external toxin (pesticide) etc. One would hope they did work through all that, but I’ve seen too many episodes of House 😉
My main point here is why do media releases about botulism in the absence of a positive test? Better to say “we don’t know”, as much as people don’t like doing that.
probably because they still think it’s the most likely cause, regardless of the test.
I doubt they’d be trying to prevent a panic or something so coming up with a false reason for the public – pretty solidly seems to be a one-off.
To flip from House to CSI, apparently some juries now tend to think the prosecution is incompetent if DNA tests weren’t done, even if the accused’s presence at the scene isn’t debated. Similarly, the botulism test might clinically (depending on circumstances) be regarded as the complete proof of confirmation (minimal false positive results) but with a low disproof (very high false negative rate). Not very sensitive, but highly specific.
Also, we don’t know if other likely causes were tested for and those tests more reliably excluded the other factors – or the pattern of illness doesn’t match the vectors those conditions are transmitted by.
Well, we don’t know the specifics of the case to that detail, but things like:
proximity to the meal,
lack of traces of likely poisons in the home (e.g. fly spray or bora bomb – something to disrupt nerves),
the incidence limited to one household rather than a cluster of neighbouring homes,
different people with different times spent in the home coming down in the same manner (if it was dodgy wallpaper like the old Victorian arsenic green then people who spent all day in the home for a while would have come down before people in and out for school or work),
not everyone ate the salmon mousse made from tinned salmon,
and so on would all point to the the specific food as the most likely source.
Could be a bit of chinese whispers if somewhere in the chain between diagnostician and report, a phrase like ‘symptoms are consistent with botulism’ became just ‘botulism’.
I could see that happening. Also sometimes doctors like to say something even if it’s not quite right, than say nothing, because they feel pressured to be the person that will do the saving (or at least the knowing).
Pigs will eat the possum carcasses and ingest 1080, which will accumulate and may kill the pig. If the pig was still mobile when it was “harvested” you’d need to eat a lot of the pig to be at risk.
“If a hunter shot a 60 kg feral pig that was in the latent period following ingestion of 3 kg of 1080 bait (at a rate of 1152 mg 1080/kg), and based on the unlikely assumption that half the ingested poison has become evenly distributed through the carcass, that hunter would need to eat 36.1 kg in one sitting before being at risk.”
So unlikely that this was caused by someone shooting a pig that had ingested 1080. Finding a carcass that had died from 1080, that could be another story.
“If a hunter shot a 60 kg feral pig that was in the latent period following ingestion of 3 kg of 1080 bait (at a rate of 1152 mg 1080/kg), and based on the unlikely assumption that half the ingested poison has become evenly distributed through the carcass, that hunter would need to eat 36.1 kg in one sitting before being at risk.”
This sounds a particularly dubious example, in part because wild pig behavior would not typically involve stopping at 3kgs of bait. The pig would eat all the bait available.
1080 toxicity is put between 0.5mg/kg and 10mg/kg.
The assumption that half the poison is not absorbed or available is arbitrary.
Given the variation in assigning toxicity, the figure of 36.1kg is unprofessional nonsense.
It is reasonable to assume that if secondary toxicity is sufficient to kill pigs or dogs that consume possums, that humans would be at risk if they joined that food chain. It is not necessarily safe to consume considerably less than potentially lethal doses – negative effects may commence at substantially lower levels.
Ingestion of cooked meat from 1080-poisoned animals is not thought to constitute a human health hazard due to the low concentration of toxicant present in muscle tissue, and degradation of fluoroacetate at cooking temperatures. (Temple & Edwards 1984) Poisoned carcasses are a significant risk to dogs due to their susceptibility and feeding habits. (Gooneratne et al. 1995)
Temple WA & Edwards IR (1984) Toxic ducks – 1080 residues in game birds : An exercise in applied toxicology. Vet. Hum. Toxicol. 27(1) : 20-21
Thanks for that – I’ve found a variety of sources, some of which are less sanguine about degradation – though offal as a primary location for most oral poisons makes sense.
Temple & Edwards notwithstanding, I won’t be queuing to try 1080 killed pork.
It’s only more probable if it was anywhere near the hunting zone at around the same time as the hunting occurred.
It seems this is not the case.
It could be anything – hell the pig might have eaten funny mushrooms, some random poison a nearby farmer had sly-dropped without telling anyone, or there was some random thing in the pig that we might not even see again.
The botulism test might also have a pretty high false negative rate, or maybe whatever the pig had was similar to botulism but different enough to not show up.
I don’t know. But I know enough to know that there’s still some things we don’t know about poisons and viruses and what’s in our forests.
I was thinking mushrooms, or weeds like hemlock or tutu (don’t know if the toxins pass on to people who eat the meat), and also farmers poisoning on the sly.
My 2 cents – in my own burg immigrants are only too willing to buy wild meat from dodgy as fuck sources so I reckon the victims didn’t ask too many questions when they purchased the meat from locals who IMO, would’ve known damn well not to eat it themselves.
makes sense. Do you think the Waikato family illness is related to the dog ones, or just that it’s another example of the problems with wild boar when not enough caution is taken?
Could be related to go slow but I lean towards downright disregard for food safety by the sellers of entire, un-refrigerated animals with only the gastrointestinal tract removed, and the ignorance of buyers who don’t understand just how dangerous meat from dubious sources can be.
Cost. Those tests are contracted out and have become very expensive. Last tropical suite I had to do was $400. Botulism is rare in NZ – though more common in other countries. Testing every local poisoning event for it would be foolish. Given that no cause has been identified however there is still some spadework to be done.
Draco, your research indicates that a better than current diagnostic test was in small-scale assessment a couple of years ago.
It might still be being looked at, or that study you pointed to might not match larger scale trials, or there might not be a lab in NZ certified for it, or it might even have been used in this case.
And sometimes “viral infection of unknown type” is the best we can do (if that), even if the patient is at death’s door and every conceivable test is done. Mate of mine was within hours of dying, but fortunately recovered. The best guess was a virus similar to meningitis, but all the tests came back negative. Probably just some virus that most people never have a problem with but clocked off in his case for some reason.
Not to mention the workload for labs. They’re already understaffed.
My mate the nurse reckons every year the ICU he works in sees patients admitted in dire need of support with some dying, yet nobody has a clue about what exactly ails or kills them.
Aye friends daughter was in hospital a couple of months ago along with four others who had no previous contact with each other.
All had severe vomiting and stomach pain and were placed on drips.
The best they could be told it was likely a virus and for about 50% of the people who have those symptoms they have no idea what the virus is or what to test for as the virus is likely unknown.
The world would be so much better if everything were changed to your approval, eh.
How many people would we need in order to provide a full range of screening and diagnostic tests for every person who contacts primary or secondary healthcare services, or “should” we just restrict it to hospital admissions?
Come on any attempt to break up the left is the order of the day by the rwnj’s Morrissey – you must have must have missed the “rwnj news letter” that arrived just after the election.
Fool, I’m sure you have read nothing of Glenn Greenwald, so here’s an introduction for you. I highly commend it to other, more serious, people by the way…
I too wondered about the origins and source of that pig.
Had some South Asian gentlemen wanting to buy some goat carcasses once. Took a lot of discussion to get them to understand that they weren’t fit for consumption (they weren’t even fit for dog tucker, they were headed for the gut hole) and that it was illegal for me to sell meat to people on health grounds.
Ooops, that was meant to be a reply to Stuart Munro at 12.1
This, from the woman who reckoned Arabs hated Jews more than they loved their own children.
//
In 1958, then-foreign minister Golda Meir raised the possibility of preventing handicapped and sick Polish Jews from immigrating to Israel, a recently discovered Foreign Ministry document has revealed.
“A proposal was raised in the coordination committee to inform the Polish government that we want to institute selection in aliyah, because we cannot continue accepting sick and handicapped people. Please give your opinion as to whether this can be explained to the Poles without hurting immigration,” read the document, written by Meir to Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Katriel Katz.
The letter, marked “top secret” and written in April 1958, shortly after Meir became foreign minister, was uncovered by Prof. Szymon Rudnicki, a Polish historian at the University of Warsaw.
In recent years, Rudnicki has been researching documents shedding light on Israeli-Polish relations between 1945 and 1967.
The document had not been known to exist before this time, and scholars of the mass immigration from Poland to Israel that took place from 1956 to 1958 were unaware of Israel’s intent to impose a selection process on Jews leaving Poland – survivors of the Holocaust and its death camps.
Another shining example, of there being no left wing in Israeli politics. Mind you, quite a few plonkers on the left pre 1945 were fans of letting the disabled die.
That was not road rage I was just pissing the sandflys off looks like the sandflys got a direct line to the Rock radio. I know you 2 are up to something Thane and Duncan. Ana to kai
The sandfly haven’t got anything better than to harass me I have nothing to hide I advertise who I am ECO MAORI ON MY OLD TRUCK would you do that If you were guilty of the crimes they have told the whole world that I have done no. I could just hop on a plane and go to Australia no i’m staying to look after my whano .I am going to make the justice system treat brown people with the same respect as europeens .I had at least 4 of these muppets interfering with my trip Home from Tauranga to Rotorua .I could see the smoke coming out there ears they don’t like It when I check ALL THERE MOVES .
Go pick on someone who deserves your attention I can smell the muppets a mile away .I don’t mention all the plays the muppets make in a day but I see them all fools .
Ana to kai
The Silencing Science Tracker is a joint initiative of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. It tracks government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research, education or discussion, or the publication or use of scientific information, since the November 2016 election
Thank you for those links but none of that answered my quite clear & specific questions.
Which particular “cancer levels are so high in this country” and caused by aerial spraying of those herbicides? Are you expressing a personal belief and/or opinion or do you have verifiable facts to support your comment @ 20? I’m not fussed either way but just like to know where you’re coming from.
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The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...
My house is currently supplied electricity by Meridian. As soon as I can change I will because Meridian spilled water to hike electricity prices. They got consumers to spend an extra $80 million on power unnecessarily. Clever them. The Electricity Authority has called their behaviour an “undesirable trading situation”, or ...
When Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became the Labour Party leader shortly before the 2017 general election, she promised to lead a government of transformation. After nearly three years occupying the Treasury benches, health professionals working in public hospitals have been keenly waiting for transformational progress, including in the capacity and quality ...
Last night, One News ran a follow-up story to its Colmar Brunton poll results on the cannabis referendum, headed here as Government accuses big American anti-cannabis group of interfering in NZ politics.In truth it wasn't just the government: Justice minister Andrew Little, National's Shane Reti and the Greens' Chloe Swarbrick ...
When the government refused to put cameras on fishing boats to ensure fishers obeyed the law, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash claimed that coalition partner NZ First (which has received large donations from the fishing industry) was not responsible for the decision. He has repeated that claim repeatedly since then. But ...
Heroic Evasions: Labour needs to be unequivocal in its communications with the electorate. Either it has a plan to prevent their fellow New Zealanders from falling off the economic cliff, or it doesn’t. Either it has a fiscal policy equal to the task of funding that plan, or it hasn’t. ...
Prof John Potter*Elimination has been an effective strategy for New Zealand in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic virus (SARS-CoV-2). Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not manageable by the influenza playbook; its longer incubation period makes tracing ...
This is a re-post from Weather Underground by Bob HensonAbove: This rainbow appears unusually low in the sky because it has formed early in the afternoon, rather than toward sunset. For a rainbow to form, water droplets must be present in the air in front of an observer ...
On Monday, Todd Muller gave an important speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, He spoke firmly about his belief in the need for foreign investment, for the public sector to partner with the private sector rather than boss it around and, crucially, demanded the government deliver a clear strategy ...
Todd Muller's first act on become party leader was to appoint an all-white front bench. This understandably raised eyebrows, so he is now apparently reconsidering caucus and list rankings. Which is obviously necessary, but there's still the underlying problem: National doesn't have a lot of Māori MP's. And the reason ...
Meridian energy has been caught manipulating the electricity market for fun and profit: Meridian Energy pushed up power prices by unnecessary spilling water from its south dams in December that could have been used for generation, the Electricity Authority has ruled in a preliminary decision. The authority said the ...
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...
Hearing the Prime Minister castigate the Warehouse for laying off 1,000 workers after receiving $52 million in wage subsidies reminds me of the fabled frog who agreed to carry a scorpion across a river. The scorpion stings the frog halfway across, dooming both to drown. The frog cries “Why on ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael BakerCompared with other OECD countries NZ is a stand-out success story by ending community transmission of COVID-19. While there have been some well-publicised recent deficiencies (eg, quarantine organisation), there has still been no evidence of community transmission for many weeks. Nevertheless, ...
It’s June 30th, marked as Asteroid Day by many people of an astronomical bent around the globe. On this date in 1908, early in the morning in a remote part of central Siberia, the sky fell in. Well, not literally. What happened is a substantially-sized lump of cosmic detritus ...
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...
Don Franks Poverty, inequality – really – aren’t politicians paid to sort that stuff ? Why can’t they just get it together and come up with something fair and sensible? A cold rainy 2020 morning, a headline showed promise. “Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee an income of $325 a ...
A guest repost by Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) staff attorney Augusta Wilson. Fundraising is not the objective of this article but readers may wish to know that CSLDF is currently conducting a summer fundraiser to support defense of research scientists and research integrity from anti-science interference by politicians and industrial interests. The COVID-19 pandemic ...
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...
The US state of Mississippi has finally voted to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. Good. Its appalling that it was put there in the first place, but even more appalling that it took so long to remove it. Its basicly as if a German Länder still had ...
No one could have predicted when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was passed by Parliament last November that the referendum required to bring the legislation into force would be held against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic. Since then, the mounting tally of casualties around the world ...
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...
Back at the beginning of April, when we had much else on our minds, I wrote this post urging some caution in interpreting the results of the latest Horizon poll, conducted in February, on voting intentions in this year's cannabis referendum, which was paid for by Helius Therapeutics.I wrote that ...
Over the weekend the Greens made their first election policy announcement, and promised transformational change: a more progressive tax system, with new rates applying to incomes of $100,000 and $150,000; a new wealth tax on net wealth over $1 million; and a guaranteed minimum income to eliminate poverty. Its bold, ...
Story of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Global Warming Is Melting Our Sense of Time Satellite image of smoke from active fires burning near the ...
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...
The latest opinion poll forecasts a landslide win by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party, but when taken alongside other polling, it illustrates New Zealand politics remains volatile and the contest is still very open. According to the Colmar Brunton poll published by TVNZ last night, Labour would easily romp back ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 21 through Sat, June 27, 2020Editor's ChoiceFacebook creates fact-checking exemption for climate deniers Facebook is "aiding and abetting the spread of climate misinformation,” said Robert Brulle, an ...
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...
Minister of Health - David ClarkIf you follow politics at all in New Zealand, David Clark is likely a name you’re a bit familiar with. The current Minister of Health is perhaps the most disliked Member of Parliament at the moment, which amongst very stiff competition is really saying something. ...
SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). Judging by the tweets, which is probably a bad idea, over lockdown, all of New Zealand found itself in front of The Chase every night at 5pm. It is a brilliant fomat: hardly anyone wins any money ...
SATURDAY JUNE 27Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art (Sky Arts, Sky 017, 8.00pm). There was graffiti before Banksy, but perhaps his pungent political messages hit home a bit harder. Anyways, a doco about his influence on street art featuring a bunch of cool people.SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, ...
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone!This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A massive dust storm formed over the Sahara Desert last week and invaded the Caribbean over the June 20-21 weekend, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution and low visibility to the islands. The dust is accompanied by a large amount ...
Will the Covid Crisis lead to a dramatic redirection for New Zealand and the World? A hinge in history occurs where the past and present are connected but they point in different directions. Big hinges are rare but crucial in the development of humankind. Not in Narrow Seas identifies six. ...
RNZ reports that Refining NZ is considering shutting down Marsden Point and effectively turning itself into a fuel distribution service. The problem they're immediately trying to address is that running a refinery is expensive, and it is cheaper just to import processed fuel. But there's a longer-term problem too: climate ...
We all know that the COVID-19 virus is a terrible infectious disease that has already caused untold misery and numerous deaths around the world. Nearly half a million people have already died, and those are just the cases we know about.But how bad could things actually get exactly?Today, the NZ ...
This essay by Alex Hochuli examines the global phenomena of BLM protests . He is a freelance writer and research consultant based in São Paulo, Brazil. He is the co-host of the global politics podcast, Aufhebunga Bunga, and co-author of the forthcoming Politics at the End of the End of History (Zero ...
Are You Still Here? Just like his colleague, Phil Twyford – of KiwiBuild fame – David Clark juts out his chin and shamelessly apportions blame to everybody but himself. Even worse, he has turned viciously on Ashley Bloomfield, the nearest approximation to a competent, decent, humble and accountable public servant ...
. . 20 June The bad news: Aotearoa New Zealand has two new cases of covid-19. The good news: the two cases were picked up at an Auckland quarantine facility. The terrifying news: had the story of the two women leaving quarantine without testing not broken four days ...
Willing Victims: What would all those Americans in MAGA hats be left with if they abandoned Trump? Just the sick feeling of having been cheated. Just the knowledge that the man in the White House is nothing more than a shape-shifting New York grifter; and that they have always been ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Like an earthquake rumbling down the San Andreas Fault, Jeff Gibbs’ and Michael Moore’s controversial film “Planet of the Humans” tore a rift through the environmental movement, a rift its leaders would not yearn for in an election year. After activists have spent ...
There have been a number of articles written about the voting in the final statges of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill, during which National MPs voted alongside the Green Party to force a change that would prevent the removal of sentenced prisoners from the Electoral Roll. You can ...
Last night should have been a cause for muted celebration in Parliament. The Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Bill’s final passage through the House partially erases a stain on New Zealand’s democratic system. It’s a drum I’ve been beatingfor thepast decade, but denying all sentenced prisoners the right to vote is a ...
Jordan WilliamsIt’s pretty obvious to all and sundry that the Taxpayers Union, run by Jordan Williams, isn’t really a union at all. Instead it’s a small lobby group for privileged white folk, namely the old fools behind the scenes of the corrupt and largely defunct Act Party.With an incorrectly attributed ...
Last year, I highlighted a secrecy problem with the government's Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The Bill would establish a new class of public entity, "special purpose vehicles", to hide debt from local government balance sheets fund infrastructure such as roads and sewers in "high-growth" councils. The SPVs would collect ...
Both the leader of the opposition Todd Muller and University of Auckland Professor Des Gorman have gone on the record as saying they suspect Covid-19 is spreading in the community in New Zealand once again. Let me explain why I don’t agree with them. As best I can tell there ...
By Geoffrey Miller A former MP and Associate Minister of Defence says that New Zealand’s Covid-19 border and quarantine issues illustrate why a new dedicated national security agency is needed. Heather Roy, a former deputy leader of the Act Party who held the associate defence portfolio from 2008-10, told the ...
Annual fishing report It's been about a year since we swapped out the Research News deckhand. It seems longer— particularly the past 4 months— and not because of this particular work. Over the course of the year somewhere in the neighborhood of 17,500 articles have been caught in our net, ...
This article on Feminist Current by Meghan Murphy looks at the Karen/Becky meme and argues it has officially gone too far The male centered progressive left has successfully made woman-hating trendy. Today, yet another “Karen” video went viral online. This time, it seems a woman flipped off a male driver, ...
Over the past few weeks, there's been a lot of attention on the question of why American police are so violent, and so often murder people. There are a pile of reasons for this, including the racist roots of their entire policing system, but part of the answer seems to ...
Last year, the government promised that it would strengthen whistleblower protections. Today, they finally released the bill. There's one major change: "[a] discloser is entitled to protection for a protected disclosure made to an appropriate authority at any time" - an "appropriate authority" being public sector heads, officers of Parliament, ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First MP and Minister for Defence and Veteran’s Affairs Ron Mark has confirmed his bid for the Wairarapa seat.“The Coalition Government has done a lot of good work throughout the Wairarapa, but many constituents have told ...
New Zealand First is pleased to release the names of its next tranche of candidates for the 2020 election. We’re proud to announce these hardworking New Zealanders that have put their hand up to fight for a commonsense and resilient future.Jamie Arbuckle – Kaikoura Mark Arneil – Christchurch Central Jackie ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence A massive joint effort between New Zealand Government agencies, employers, and the Vanuatu Government is underway to repatriate over 1000 Vanuatu nationals stranded in New Zealand, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development Reprioritised funding of $40 million from the Provincial Growth Fund will support up to 1000 regional apprenticeships, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. The Regional Apprenticeship Initiative is part of the wider Apprenticeship Boost announced by Education Minister Chris Hipkins ...
The Green Party welcomes the ACC’s announcement to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but emphasises the need to go further, and faster to truly meet the climate change challenge. ...
Farmers are rejoicing after Labour agreed to an amendment pushed by New Zealand First in the firearms bill that will allow the use of restricted guns for pest control. Concessions on gun control mean farmers will be able to apply for a licence to use restricted firearms for pest control. ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
From today new legislation takes effect to both restore the right to legal representation at the start of a Care of Children (CoCA) dispute in the Family Court, and allow parties to those proceedings to access legal aid where eligible. During a visit to the Family Court in Auckland today, ...
Home-based early childhood education (ECE) subsidised by the government will transition to a fully qualified workforce by 2025 to ensure better and more consistent quality, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “Quality early learning helps provide children with a strong foundation for their future,” Chris Hipkins said. From 1 January ...
The new Criminal Cases Review Commission | Te Kāhui Tātari Ture (CCRC) has started work and can now independently investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “Even though we have appeal rights and safeguards against unsafe convictions, from time to time our justice system does get things wrong. The design of the ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou Ki a koutou Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, ngā mana whenua o te rohe nei, tēnā koutou Ko Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa ki ngā take o te Ao (NZIIA), Ko te Rōpū Tohu Tono ...
The Government’s increase to paid parental leave kicks in today with another 4 weeks taking New Zealand up to a full 6 months (26 weeks, up from 22 weeks) leave for new parents, and the maximum weekly payment will increase by $20pw, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. ...
A new package of infrastructure investments will help kick-start the post-COVID rebuild by creating more than 20,000 jobs and unlocking more than $5 billion of projects up and down New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones today outlined how the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong. “New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive ...
More jobs and more family time with newborns are the centrepiece of a suite of Government initiatives coming into effect today. July 1 is a milestone day for the Government as a host of key policies take effect, demonstrating the critical areas where progress has been made. “The Coalition Government ...
Environment Minister David Parker has today “called in” Auckland’s application to the Waikato Regional Council to take an extra 200 million litres of water a day from the lower reaches of the Waikato River for Auckland drinking water and other municipal uses. The call-in means the application has been referred ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker announced today that New Zealand’s hosting of APEC in 2021 will go ahead using virtual digital platforms. Mr Peters said the global disruption caused by COVID-19, including resultant border restrictions, had been the major factor in the ...
The start of construction on a new link road between Matakana Road and State Highway 1 will create jobs and support the significant population growth expected in the Warkworth area, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Mayor Phil Goff announced today. Transport Minister Phil Twyford said construction of the Matakana Link ...
The Government is prioritising its latest investment in PPE for frontline health workers, including staff at managed isolation and quarantine facilities, Health Minister David Clark says. “With no community transmission of COVID-19 our response now has a firm focus on keeping our border safe and secure. “We must ensure that ...
The Parihaka Papakāinga Trust in Taranaki will receive up to $14 million for a new visitor centre and other improvements at the historic settlement that will boost the local economy and provide much-needed jobs, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little have ...
Protections for workers who are employees of one employer but working under the direction of another business or organisation have come into force, closing a gap in legislation that made the personal grievance process inaccessible for some workers, says Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “This Government is working hard to ...
A range of improvements are already underway to address issues identified in the rapid review of the Managed Isolation and Quarantine system released today, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. The review was commissioned just over a week ago to identify and understand current and emerging risks to ensure the end-to-end ...
The important brown kiwi habitat around Whakatāne will receive added protection through an Iwi-led predator free project announced by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. “The Government is investing nearly $5 million into Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa’s environmental projects with $2.5 ...
An extra 4,000 tonnes of offcuts and scraps of untreated wood per year will soon be able to be recycled into useful products such as horticultural and garden mulch, playground safety surfacing and animal bedding as a result of a $660,000 investment from the Waste Minimisation Fund, Associate Environment Minister ...
The Governor-General has referred Scott Watson’s convictions for murder back to the Court of Appeal, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Mr Watson was convicted in 1999 of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. His appeal to the Court of Appeal in 2000 was unsuccessful, as was his ...
A new five-year funding agreement for the Reserve Bank will mean it can boost its work to protect New Zealanders’ finances, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. “New Zealand has a strong and stable financial system. Financial stability is an area that we are not prepared to cut corners for, particularly ...
A law change has been introduced to make it easier for forgotten funds in institutional accounts to be returned more easily to their rightful owners. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash has introduced an amendment to the Unclaimed Money Act 1971. It will update the rules controlling forgotten sums of money held ...
The Government is delivering on election commitments and a key recommendation of He Ara Oranga: Report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction with the establishment of a permanent independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. Legislation enabling the establishment of the fully ...
A Bill to replace New Zealand’s Privacy Act passed its third reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Andrew Little has announced. “The protections in the Privacy Bill are vitally important. The key purpose of the reforms is to promote and protect people’s privacy and give them confidence that their personal ...
Extra support is being provided to tourism businesses operating on public conservation land announced Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage today. The Government is providing $25m worth of support to tourism operators impacted by COVID-19, with a decision to waive most Department of Conservation tourism related concession ...
The controversial MP says his former party put a target on the minister’s back, but Melissa Lee insists there was no concerted campaign.The MP who exited the National Party in a tailspin attack on former leader Simon Bridges has publicly apologised to Clare Curran for his role in the treatment ...
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News The State Services Minister says the government will do everything it can to track down who is responsible for a massive privacy breach relating to New Zealand’s active covid cases, and is not ruling out pursuing criminal charges. An investigation has been ...
The National editorial Hundreds walked the Sir John Guise drive on Thursday calling for justice for the brutal death of 19-year-old mother-of-two – Jenelyn Kennedy last week. Jenelyn’s battered lifeless body was taken into the Port Moresby General Hospital last Tuesday by four men (one believed to be the father ...
*Watch the full video in the player below*In the first 48 hours of life, blood from newborn New Zealand babies is taken and tested. Most parents will never hear back. For others, it’s life-changing, and life-saving. Frank Film investigates. Performed 48 hours after birth, it’s a medical procedure ...
Latest from the Beehive Shane Jones, the Minister of Munificence, in a joint statement with fellow Northlander and Deputy PM Winston Peters, wrapped up a week of handout investment announcements with news of more millions for the people of his patch in the Far North. This time it was a ...
By Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby A passionate plea by men, women and children has echoed around the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby – that it is time to turn the corner on addressing gender-based violence in the country. Gatherings, a peaceful march and a vigil were staged ...
Former Race Relations Commissioner Gregory Fortuin has called out National MP Hamish Walker for his racist comments towards people of colour. This follows Walker's press release objecting to people from Pakistan, India and Korea potentially being quarantined ...
Khruangbin have established their live reputation with spacious instrumentals, but the band’s third album, Mordechai, features prominent vocals and disco-funk jams. Andrew Drever interviews the Texas-based trio upon its release.While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage in the US, the situation has actually been a blessing in disguise for Khruangbin ...
The State Services Minister says the government will do everything it can to track down who is responsible for a massive privacy breach relating to New Zealand's active Covid cases, and is not ruling out pursuing criminal charges. ...
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 one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
With the collapse of Bauer NZ resulting in Australian magazines flooding our shelves, Wendyl Nissen looks back at her battle to get homegrown content given the star billing it deserved.Thanks to some hard-fought battles 30 years ago, New Zealand women have been enjoying their own version of Woman’s Day and ...
Extending the franchise to prisoners is the latest in a series of contentious electoral reforms enacted by this government, but history suggests the ‘convention’ for consensual election reform is more imagined than real.The Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Act, passed last week and corrected this week, extends the franchise ...
Since publication of Newsroom’s extensive investigation into serious issues at Oranga Tamariki, our inbox has been flooded with stories from more current and former employees. In less than 48 hours after Newsroom’s in-depth inquiry into the children's ministry was published we received a high volume of correspondence from current and former ...
“She’d come into town on the bus. The photographer, so her mother had told her, was famous”: a short story by Wellington writer Elspeth Sandys. It was to be a present for her father who was dying. A photograph of her in her first ball gown. When she reached for ...
Those who can’t afford to travel will “attend” the terror sentencing via video link, the Immigration Minister says. David Williams reports The Immigration Minister is demanding officials give urgent help to overseas victims of the Christchurch terror attack and their families. Yesterday, High Court Justice Cameron Mander announced the terrorist, ...
Controversy over Wellington's Shelly Bay has ensnared iwi, the council and politicians for years. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager uses official documents to lay out the roles of money, power and wheels-within-wheels on this most contentious of developments. Any time I am asked whether we have corruption in New Zealand, I ...
Is the answer to saving New Zealand's professional sports teams creating super-franchises? The Extra Time podcast asks sports leaders. Professional sport is slowly emerging from the grip of the pandemic but its financial future is far from certain. Covid-19 highlighted a weakness in the structure of professional sport in New ...
Before Covid-19, it’d take a long flight and half a grand to see Hamilton in the flesh. Now, the biggest musical of the past two decades is available to watch on Disney+. Sam Brooks takes stock of this extraordinary move. Right now, Broadway is a sleeping dragon. New York theatres ...
Sacked cabinet minister Clare Curran speaks for the first time about the brutal end to her political career – and what she calls the toxicity and bullying that marked her years in parliament. By Donna Chisholm.Of all the humiliations – often self-inflicted – that Clare Curran endured during her 12-year ...
On 03 July Children’s Commissioner was given additional responsibility by the Minister of Justice which extended its role as the independent monitor of the conditions and treatment of children and young people in secure detention centres. The Children’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, ARC Future Fellow, UNSW The term “heatwave” is no stranger to Australians. Defined as when conditions are excessively hot for at least three days in a row, these extreme temperature events have always punctuated our climate. With many of us ...
Pacific Media Watch A senior Indonesian government official and a New Zealand journalism professor have clashed over differing perspectives on access for journalists and media to the West Papua region. Speaking on a webinar organised by the Jubi newspaper in Jayapura, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ director of the European affairs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Mintzes, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney To beat the coronavirus pandemic, countries need to collaborate. We need the best possible science to develop vaccines and drugs, and to test, track and contain the virus. If we’ve learned anything ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Let’s turn back the hands of time. Before extinction knocked dinosaurs off their pillar, before the “Great Dying” extinction wiped out 95% of all organisms – we had the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Williams, Researcher at the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine (VELiM), University of Sydney Last week, outgoing chief medical officer Brendan Murphy announced all returned travellers would be tested for COVID-19 before and after quarantine. Some were surprised ...
A new package to help foreign nationals stuck in New Zealand due to Covid-19 is inadequate and needs to be supplemented with the emergency benefit, say Community Law Centres O Aotearoa (CLCA) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC). The assistance ...
With Shortland Street’s 7,000th episode screening tonight, Tara Ward salutes the soap for keeping calm and carrying on through level three lockdown. It’s been one heck of a week on Shortland Street. Leanne lost her winning $8 million Lotto ticket, Louis slipped over in a pile of vomit, and Desi tried ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Clift, Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate, University of Melbourne In recent days, the prime ministers of the UK and Australia each declared they are working toward providing safe haven visas for Hong Kong residents. In the US, lawmakers passed a bill ...
How two multi-millionaires, two pandemic futurists, Air NZ’s former boss, a dairy executive on a break, a retired anaesthetist (and a few others) nearly saved NZ. ...
A commitment from Labour to protect productive farmland from blanket afforestation if re-elected is a step in the right direction, Federated Farmers Meat & Wool Chairperson William Beetham says. "We’re really pleased there is now ...
Tomorrow, 4 July, will see protests in at least nine centres around New Zealand against Israeli plans to steal more Palestinian land (Details are at the end of this media release) “Virtually the entire international community is standing together ...
Pacific Media Watch Australia’s ABC has revealed the Australian Federal Police (AFP) recommendation regarding the Afghan Files investigative journalism report is for the Commonwealth DPP to consider charging journalist Dan Oakes for his role in the leak. The revelation has prompted a renewed call by the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom ...
While we’re growing in confidence that we are in the enviable position of basically eliminating Covid-19, our trading nation at the bottom of the world is also in the unenviable position of locking off our economy to the world. “No is not an answer ...
Netflix’s new adaptations of The Baby-Sitters Club makes long-time fan Tara Ward fall in love with the series all over again. When I was 12 years old, my class had to write a letter to a famous person. Some of my classmates wrote to an All Black, Tom Cruise or ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning the scale and value of the Government’s $230m screen industry recovery package. Union spokesperson Jordan Williams says: “The official justification for this ‘recovery package’ is the impact of COVID-19 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Former Ambassador and Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland Chinese activity in Papua New Guinea was not the only factor behind Australia’s Pacific “Step-Up”. As a former high commissioner to PNG, I know it ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk A Papuan church leader and advocate for social justice has penned an open letter to the Indonesian government calling for justice and an end to racism to enable a genuine self-determination process for the Melanesian region. “The problem of Papua has become increasingly complex and severe ...
Latest from the Beehive – Nine press releases (when we checked this morning) had flowed from the Beehive since we last reported. Eight of them brayed about the money Ministers have been spending and (as they prefer to put it) investing. The sole exception came from Environment Minister David ...
CEAC pre-election review of National Party ‘climate change policy’, is lacking in substance without any clear policy, that will leave voters with no idea of what National Party plans for saving our climate, and glancing at their ‘Transport plans’, ...
Film crews can get exemptions to enter New Zealand, so why not the families and supporters of terror victims, David Williams asks. OPINION: If the public needs a sign last year’s terrorist attack has slipped off the Government’s radar, this is it. A sentencing date has been set for the ...
A new poem by Michaela Keeble.Only the ocean only the oceanturns me overlike this only the oceanturns meon like this only the oceangives warning: what will changeand when so it doesn’t comeacrosslike violence white capsdrift inon the rising tide i feel likeopening my legs i don’t wantto do anything elsetoday i don’t wantto goto work i want to lie downwith ...
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages round the world, New Zealanders are re-discovering food production is the fundamental engine of the economy. And farming is not a sunset industry. Instead of being rubbished by lobby groups for so-called “dirty dairying”, the country’s core export industry has the chance to transform itself ...
The world-famous best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman (Bloomsbury, $34)This is the one that kicks off with the essay about the Tongan ...
The New Zealand Down syndrome community is urging the Government to ignore the recommendations in the recent Health and Disability Sector Review. “New Zealand has made terrific progress to enhance the quality of life for people with Down syndrome and other disabilities ...
The Covid Plan B group says New Zealand can minimise the economic consequences of Covid-19 if it opens its borders following the rest of the world. The group, which has critiqued the Government's lockdown response since March, has today added its ...
Auckland will soon be receiving an additional 75 million litres of water per day from the Waikato River as an interim measure to help ease the worst water shortage in 25 years. A Ngāti Whātua historian says this sharing of resources between Tāmaki Makaurau and Waikato goes back a very ...
Athletes from the Papua New Guinea’s national team joined the peaceful “cry for justice” march in the nation’s capital of Port Moresby. Video: EMTV NewsBy EMTV News Many wore black yesterday in rallies against gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea in a day chosen to remember the young mother ...
The government will remain "cautious" when it comes to the border as despite calls for a pragmatic strategy for reopening, new Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. ...
A new report measuring New Zealanders’ financial wellbeing highlights how key sectors of our population are feeling stressed over money, and how Covid-19 has made that worse.Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can help. After all, it’s what puts food on the table, a roof over our heads, and ...
The Tahr Foundation is asking the Conservation Authority to represent all New Zealanders and their recreational pursuits in National Parks, including the tens of thousands of hunters who flock to them every year. The Foundation’s plea is in response to ...
Councils can now borrow money equivalent to 300% of annual revenue, and the Public Service Association says this will allow them to maintain operational expenditure, invest in important community services and proceed with long-overdue infrastructure ...
Dunedin's mayor says conversations about managed isolation and quarantine can be held in a mature fashion without "getting into an unhelpful conversation about where our citizens might be returning from". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, PhD candidate in Astrophysics, Swinburne University of Technology What does the Sun’s core look like? Sophie, aged 8, Perth What does the Sun’s core look like? This is a fantastic question Sophie, and one we will need ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Spencer Zifcak, Allan Myers Chair of Law/Professor of Law, Australian Catholic University After a lengthy delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the legal case that constitutes the most significant threat to freedom of expression in this country will soon play out in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Williamson, Professor of Microbiology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity A cornerstone of containing the COVID-19 pandemic is widespread testing to identify cases and prevent new outbreaks emerging. This strategy is known as “test, trace and isolate”. The standard ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Research Fellow (Food Policy and Law), George Institute for Global Health As you read this, health officials are busy finalising the government’s review of the health star rating system on packaged foods. One of the issues the review is looking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Briggs, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney As the global renewables transition accelerates, the future for coal regions has become a big worry. This raises an important question: can renewables create the right jobs in the right ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Barnes, Research Associate, Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney The government’s recently proposed restructure of university fees would see students pay 113% more for many humanities subjects. The package is not a case of “humanities vs STEM (science, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ross Guest, Professor of Economics and National Senior Teaching Fellow, Griffith University The Australian government is planning to spend A$190 billion to support the economy in response to COVID-19, according to the latest Parliamentary Budget Office estimate. The total impact of COVID-19 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW For all the things we don’t know about COVID-19 one thing is certain: our economic recovery will depend on boosting productivity. Everyone from the Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe to Prime Minister Scott Morrison ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosslyn Almond, Literature Lecturer, Australian Catholic University The Baby-Sitters Club, the popular series by Ann M. Martin, defined my childhood. I collected the books until I was 11. I played it in the school yard (I was Dawn because I had long ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Pickles, Professor of History at the University of Canterbury, University of Canterbury The family of pioneering New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard kept an important secret – one that possibly explains a lot about her life, her beliefs and her motivation. 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 one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Open Mike 22/01/2018 
Racist National MP Hamish WalkerEven before Todd Muller's coup ousted Simon Bridges by a single vote, it was patently obvious that the National Party promotes and stands for white privilege. In fact they’ve always worked to ensure the discriminatory status quo in New Zealand doesn’t change.So it’s no surprise that ...10 hours ago
Dave Heatley Zero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an attractive situation, at least compared to much of the world. The situation could be robust and enduring – or it might be fragile, just one border incursion away from a “second ...16 hours ago
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...1 day ago
I wrote earlier in the week about the Scientology front organisations Drug Free World and Drug Free Ambassadors and their quite prominent role in anti-cannabis reform "coalition" assembled by Family First and a newloca branch of the American prohibitionist organisation SAM.It turns out Family First aren't the only ones helping ...1 day ago
Three years ago the ABC used leaked information to expose war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan. Since then the chief of Australia's special forces has admitted that his troops committed war crimes. But guess who the Australian government is prosecuting? Police have referred allegations against an ABC journalist relating ...2 days ago
2 days ago
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...3 days ago
75 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects The response of stratospheric water vapor to climate change driven by different forcing agents (open access) Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades Variability of soil freeze depth ...3 days ago
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...3 days ago
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...4 days ago
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...5 days ago
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...5 days ago
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...5 days ago
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...6 days ago
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...6 days ago
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...1 week ago
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone! This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...1 week ago
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...1 day ago
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...2 days ago
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...3 days ago
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...2 days ago
The controversial MP says his former party put a target on the minister’s back, but Melissa Lee insists there was no concerted campaign.The MP who exited the National Party in a tailspin attack on former leader Simon Bridges has publicly apologised to Clare Curran for his role in the treatment ...5 hours ago
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News The State Services Minister says the government will do everything it can to track down who is responsible for a massive privacy breach relating to New Zealand’s active covid cases, and is not ruling out pursuing criminal charges. An investigation has been ...8 hours ago
...8 hours ago
Covid-19 will dominate campaigning ahead of September's election and Labour's congress this weekend is no exception. ...9 hours ago
*Watch the full video in the player below* In the first 48 hours of life, blood from newborn New Zealand babies is taken and tested. Most parents will never hear back. For others, it’s life-changing, and life-saving. Frank Film investigates. Performed 48 hours after birth, it’s a medical procedure ...13 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive Shane Jones, the Minister of Munificence, in a joint statement with fellow Northlander and Deputy PM Winston Peters, wrapped up a week of handout investment announcements with news of more millions for the people of his patch in the Far North. This time it was a ...13 hours ago
Since publication of Newsroom’s extensive investigation into serious issues at Oranga Tamariki, our inbox has been flooded with stories from more current and former employees. In less than 48 hours after Newsroom’s in-depth inquiry into the children's ministry was published we received a high volume of correspondence from current and former ...18 hours ago
“She’d come into town on the bus. The photographer, so her mother had told her, was famous”: a short story by Wellington writer Elspeth Sandys. It was to be a present for her father who was dying. A photograph of her in her first ball gown. When she reached for ...18 hours ago
Those who can’t afford to travel will “attend” the terror sentencing via video link, the Immigration Minister says. David Williams reports The Immigration Minister is demanding officials give urgent help to overseas victims of the Christchurch terror attack and their families. Yesterday, High Court Justice Cameron Mander announced the terrorist, ...19 hours ago
Controversy over Wellington's Shelly Bay has ensnared iwi, the council and politicians for years. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager uses official documents to lay out the roles of money, power and wheels-within-wheels on this most contentious of developments. Any time I am asked whether we have corruption in New Zealand, I ...19 hours ago
Is the answer to saving New Zealand's professional sports teams creating super-franchises? The Extra Time podcast asks sports leaders. Professional sport is slowly emerging from the grip of the pandemic but its financial future is far from certain. Covid-19 highlighted a weakness in the structure of professional sport in New ...19 hours ago
How two multi-millionaires, two pandemic futurists, Air NZ’s former boss, a dairy executive on a break, a retired anaesthetist (and a few others) nearly saved NZ. ...1 day ago
Latest from the Beehive – Nine press releases (when we checked this morning) had flowed from the Beehive since we last reported. Eight of them brayed about the money Ministers have been spending and (as they prefer to put it) investing. The sole exception came from Environment Minister David ...2 days ago
Film crews can get exemptions to enter New Zealand, so why not the families and supporters of terror victims, David Williams asks. OPINION: If the public needs a sign last year’s terrorist attack has slipped off the Government’s radar, this is it. A sentencing date has been set for the ...2 days ago
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages round the world, New Zealanders are re-discovering food production is the fundamental engine of the economy. And farming is not a sunset industry. Instead of being rubbished by lobby groups for so-called “dirty dairying”, the country’s core export industry has the chance to transform itself ...2 days ago
Kathmandu shares surge after retailer reports online sales rose 78 percent in the last six weeks and it was profitable despite Covid-19 hit ...2 days ago
Just had a quick squizz through a blog on the sidebar I hadn’t noticed before.
exhALANt. Looks good.
Thanks for the heads up. Does look interesting – bookmarked.
It does indeed look good, but I question the placing of John Campbell and Jon Stewart alongside the likes of Chomsky, Snowden, Hager, and Mihi Forbes.
I still can’t forget Campbell’s gleeful endorsement, night after night, of the National Party’s dirty tricks campaign against David Benson-Pope, and I can’t forget, or forgive, Stewart’s smarmy “Team Civilization” speech after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Bensonpope made quite an impression on you I take it.
Not at all. I am on record here and on other fora criticising him for his thuggish behaviour in parliament—particularly his yelling out “Send him HOME!” whenever the subject of Ahmed Zaoui came up.
But the National Party and its media accomplices, like Campbell, didn’t attack Benson-Pope on those grounds. Instead they recycled wild accusations about him abusing school children, which were nothing more than a National Party dirty tricks campaign. None of the charges had any validity, but that didn’t stop the ridicule and the traducing of him In parliament and in the media. National MPs bawled “Pervert!” and “Child molester!” when he got up to speak, and perhaps the most sickening sight of all was when Judith Collins, of all people, stood in parliament, smirking at him and holding a tennis ball.
Campbell thought it was all great sport, and didn’t relent in the slightest even after Benson-Pope was reduced to tears under the National Party-led vilification.
Oxfam report – Huge wealth gap in New Zealand where richest 1% own 30% of wealth
Another article that shames our country and shows how far we have fallen since the advent of neoliberalism in the 1980s and our further lurch to being an extremely unequal society after 9 years of Key’s regime.
It would be great to think that senior members of our government sat down and read the Oxfam report mentioned in this article. Then looked a the policies they have put forward to deal with issues of poverty in New Zealand. Then ripped them and listened to the suggestions made made by Rachael Le Mesurier.
Oxfam NZ executive director Rachael Le Mesurier said.
Her suggestions….
tax the rich
tax multinationals
use tax to make the country a fairer place
I would add – remove all the laws in the country that enshrine neoliberalism and enact new laws that create a socialist state.
“Socialism is the Big Lie of the twentieth century. While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery.”
https://fee.org/articles/why-socialism-failed/
Yes, because having guaranteed housing, healthcare and employment is hell on Earth.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/01/venezuela-collapsing-socialist-induced-chaos-yet-remains-corbynista/
Venezuela destroyed by capitalism not socialism.
Pay attention.
Hmmm.
I can’t help but suspect that the Telegraph article’s attempt to draw a line from Corbyn to the Khmer Rouge somehow suggests that its description of Venezuelan conditions and challenges might not be entirely impartial.
It may not be. But it’s hard to fault the observation of what is happening in Venezuela. Whatever the lens.
“Tearful Venezuelans had gone weeks without basic food items like milk, flour and toilet paper. It’s a sad but common part of daily life today in crisis-ridden Venezuela, a country that has the world’s largest proven reserves of oil. Colombian officials estimate that about 100,000 Venezuelans crossed the border. ”
http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/20/news/economy/venezuela-world-worst-economy/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom
I don’t doubt you’d find that difficult. After all, confirmation bias is a wonderful thing.
Are you suggesting all is well in Venezuela?
Edit: http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/26/venezuelas-problems-are-political-not-economic/
“Venezuelans go without basic goods like toilet paper and nourishing food; and the government appears helpless to deal with murder, robbery, assault, and corruption. Vigilantism is replacing formal policing. People die in pools of their own blood in filthy hospitals for lack of prescriptions and care. To save energy and ease the strain on the budget, government employees are required to show up for work only two days a week.”
“ismo — which is nothing more nor less than authoritarianism — has ruined Venezuela, as authoritarianism usually does. With unchecked political power, dictators are free to engage in any dumb idea they choose without a reckoning. For those who think Deng’s China or Pinochet’s Chile are examples to the contrary, note well that neither saw any economic thriving until they embraced a market economy, and only an economic illiterate or a moral idiot would encourage other countries to try their path with all the human rights abuses and instability that come with dictatorship. Chile mercifully passed into democracy with a push from the Reagan administration and its economy does well, while the Chinese Communist Party’s dictatorship breeds corruption and mismanagement; its economic model is obviously shaky, if not terminal. The comparison between Chile and Venezuela is also quite telling.”
Not at all.
I’m suggesting that you’ll post any old shit as long as you agree with its narrative, and that you’ll ignore patiently quantified data models if you disagree with where they point.
I don’t know why things are bad in Venezuela. I know a few years ago there was an attempted coup that focused on the now disfunctional oil companies, but maybe the leadership is corrupt. Maybe it’s a mixture, maybe one begat the other, maybe the shortages are the result of trade issue “encouraged” by the US – FFS Cuba put up with embargoes and crop burnings for decades, who knows what the CIA is up to.
But I am pretty sure that any relationship between someone like you (who will uncritically link to articles that compare Corbyn to Lenin) and the truth is at best purely coincidental – and quite frankly would be a statistical aberration.
The link between Corbin and Lenin was not posted ‘uncritically,. Corbyn’s policies (https://www.google.co.nz/amp/www.independent.co.uk/voices/corbyn-labour-mc-donnel-brexit-dangerous-for-the-uk-a7859501.html%3famp) are symptomatic of the wider problems with socialist ideology. But clearly you missed that.
As to your inability to understand the cause of Venezuela’s collapse, this quite is free:
“Why is it that reporters keep scratching their heads about Venezuela’s descent into extreme poverty and chaos? The cause is simple. Socialism. End it and you will end the misery.”
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/what-caused-venezuelas-collapse-is-no-mystery-except-to-economically-illiterate-journalists/
You literally posted just the link. There was no accompanying criticism. So yes, you posted the link uncritically.
In that case you share some of the “wider problems” of capitalism exemplified by the Belgian Congo and the Brazilian slave trade. 🙄
Love the way you keep linking to obviously deranged commenters. Corbyn is obviously just waiting to declare himself comrade generalissimo for life, according to your links. Good luck with that narrative, don’t let reality hit you in the arse on the way out.
Oh, so you present one guy’s reckons as evidence. He has an academic background, and he is also a right winger – a “liberal”, published on a website that claims to be “the leading organization opening the hearts and minds of 14–26 year-olds to the values of the free market, individual freedom, and strong personal character.”
The post you link to has little evidence, just claims, like this about socialism:
eg?
Because, what I am seeing from the inequalities inherent in capitalism, is a great life for the few, and plenty of misery for large numbers of people.
He argues that capitalism is based on human behaviours, which are ignored by socialism:
Ah but collaboration is a fundamental characteristic of human behaviours within society – without it there would be no society or development.
Thanks for your propaganda for the few.
Or rich people to bludge off of society.
“eg?”
Soviet Russia is probably the best example. Poverty, misery and tyranny aplenty. For other material on socialisms failures:
https://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2014/02/25/5-ways-socialism-destroys-societies-n1800086
https://mises.org/library/greece-illustrates-150-years-socialist-failure-europe
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-06-06/socialism-is-devastating-venezuela-and-americans-dont-seem-to-notice
From the final link
“Rolling blackouts are causing infant deaths in hospitals where backup generators have ceased to function; the country is on pace to hit 700 percent inflation; outside of active war zones, the murder rate in Caracas is the highest in the world.”
How does that rate on your misery monitor?
“Because, what I am seeing from the inequalities inherent in capitalism, is a great life for the few, and plenty of misery for large numbers of people.”
No.
https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578665-nearly-1-billion-people-have-been-taken-out-extreme-poverty-20-years-world-should-aim
https://mises.org/library/data-clear-free-markets-reduce-poverty
https://www.cato.org/blog/capitalism-global-trade-reduction-poverty-inequality
Capitalism and socialism are both imperfect systems; it just so happens that capitalism can work, socialism rarely does.
You seem to have mixed up ‘Socialism’ with ‘Communism’.
No. Not at all.
Funny, don’t you like your freedom Hornet?
Those bloody Russians beat up the Germans in WW2 – what were they thinking ah?
The Russians were hoodwinked by Hitler, and found they had a common enemy. Aside from that, any association between the Soviet Union and freedom is purely accidental.
Odd view of history, so it was an accident that those pesky russians beat your boy hitler.
“Odd view of history”
That Hitler hoodwinked Stalin?
“so it was an accident that those pesky russians beat your boy hitler.”
I didn’t say it was accident. I said they became an ally with Britain out of mutual distaste for Hitler. Meanwhile, you have yet to come even close to condemning the totalitarianism, and acknowledging the ultimate failure, of the Soviet regime.
Your boy hitler was a totalitarian, and you have not condemned him yet.
“Meanwhile, you have yet to come even close to condemning the totalitarianism, and acknowledging the ultimate failure, of the Soviet regime.”
That comment means either your very dumb, or have not read anything I’ve ever said. Seriously the leninist project put back socialism back by 100 years, I think most here agree with that assertion, except unreconstructed marxist leninists.
Do you understand political economy? Or are you going to keep proving your ignorance?
I despise Hitler, and what he stood for.
But you have walked down a pathway and got lost. The Russians were hoodwinked by Hitler, who then invaded. And you still haven’t condemned soviet totalitarianism.
The lack of comprehension on your part hornet, makes me think you went to a private school. Your a purist, indeed a right royal marxist leninist in your modus operandi .
Oh well if you can’t work out where I stand from previous posts. I leave you to your hard right puffery. I’ll remind you, your boy hitler was a capitalist, .
“The lack of comprehension…”
…was on your part, and you inadequate knowledge of history. It was principally because Hitler hoodwinked Stalin that the USSR joined the allies. Until then, the Soviets were allies of Germany.
I’m accommodating for those who wish to learn:
“The invasion of Russia by Nazi Germany in 1941 shattered their formerly expedient pact and sent the USSR into the arms of the West.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ussr/
“I’ll remind you, your boy hitler was a capitalist”
Hitler was an evil dictator. And his politics were confused. If you can point to any reputable sources for your claim, I’d be interested to read more.
In the meantime, try finding capitalism out of this:
“The term “National Socialism” arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of “socialism”, as an alternative to both international socialism and free market capitalism. Nazism rejected the Marxist concept of class conflict, opposed cosmopolitan internationalism and sought to convince all parts of the new German society to subordinate their personal interests to the “common good” and accept political interests as the main priority of economic organization.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism
Hoodwinked, you implication that one man, hitler, was nazi germany , is quite frankly wrong.
The major corporations helped keep capitalism in place within all the fascist countries of Europe. Ever heard of IBM, ever drank Fanta? Just a couple, let alone all the car and other manufacturer companies. Ever heard of a guy call Albert Speer, he was a capitalist and in charge of war production.
Your right, they rejected free market capitalism, but not corporate or centralised capitalism. You should really read up on how capitalism works sunshine, you seem ill informed.
You could read up about Singapore, or Pinochet’s Chile to get a feel how it works. Saudi Arabia is another truly brutal capitalist country. Franco’s Spain was capitalist.
Do you even understand what your saying by capitalist, because it would appear you don’t – especially your warped ideas about how a fascist economy works. Italy was capitalist as well.
“, you implication that one man, hitler, was nazi germany , is quite frankly wrong”
I implied no such thing. But it was Hitler who made the decision to invade Russia. You seem to be moving as far away from the core point as possible to avoid admitting you were wrong.
Socialism was the only thing that saved capitalism – for a short time. It failed because capitalism still didn’t work even with the socialism bringing up the living standard of the many.
Throughout history capitalist systems have destroyed the society that they arose in. As they are destroying our society now as it brings about the 6th Extinction Event and all so that a few greedy schmucks can have ever more.
Tell me, how well will you be doing once you and your children are dead?
Because that is what capitalism is bringing about.
100% Draco,
Socialism was around way before capitalism in our history and was stable until they introduced a form of soft capitalism, so some took advantage of others , as capitalism can only survive if others are displaced and left to suffer and carry the burden of those who gain.l
Your NASA link is a piece of pure speculation. It talks about the ‘prospect’ that something ‘could’ happen.
Meanwhile, capitalism lifts billions out of poverty.
Read this…http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/greenpolitics/developingworld/12106587/Capitalism-not-Oxfam-is-defeating-poverty.html…love the picture of the maasai warrior with the cellphone!)
No it’s not. It’s a piece of modelling based upon what happened in the real world and shows that we’re going down the same route as all previous civilisations.
Meanwhile, all those billions were, and are, only in poverty because of capitalism. Because of the capitalists taking control of their resources and denying them to the people.
“No it’s not. It’s a piece of modelling …
So, yes it is.
“Meanwhile, all those billions were, and are, only in poverty because of capitalism. ”
Cite?
No, it’s not speculation. It’s a projection based upon observed reality.
A projection. Which is speculation.
Like this ‘projection’ http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/child-poverty-reductions-likely-to-be-less-than-treasury-first-projected/.
Your comment was “Throughout history capitalist systems have destroyed…”
Not ‘are speculated’ to cause, or ‘are projected to cause’.
It’s difficult to argue methodology with an idiot. Good luck, dtb
It’s difficult to argue at all if one agrees with stifling debate, eh McFlock.
Keep going with that fantasy. Your only positive contribution to society might be as a currently-untapped energy source.
And neoliberal capitalism is doing such a great job for our country.
You should look at the same of the stats for New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s.
Maybe the 1% like yourself couldn’t access Ferraris, but the rest of us were employed, secure and had access to free education and healthcare.
Most likely because we lived in a world in which our mum (the UK) bought all our produce, or told our sisters and brothers to buy our produce. By the mid 1980’s that world had long ceased to exist.
No, that wasn’t it. It was because the wealth got out to the general populace and the rich were well taxed.
As with all countries we’ve never needed trade to utilise our own resources for our own benefit. IMO, trade has actually kept us back as we focussed upon producing more of the same cheap shit (Primary produce) rather than developing our own economy to provide what we needed.
Our present economy is a massive waste of improving productivity and efficiency.
No it isn’t. Our present economy is employing more people than ever before, producing more trade than ever before, and delivering a standard of living higher than ever before.
Meanwhile we have higher poverty than ever before.
Not globally, we don’t.
The ultimate rwnj rebuttal- it’s not as bad as them… (which I’m going to guess is somthing racist – because that seems to be normal with your ilk)
And why is that, well not because of rwnj like you Hornet. Thank the left, thank the Christians and Socialist who agreed we can do better. And did.
“The ultimate rwnj rebuttal- it’s not as bad as them… ”
No, I didn’t say that. My claims have been about global poverty. But I repeat what I said earlier. Our present economy is employing more people than ever before, producing more trade than ever before, and delivering a standard of living higher than ever before.
“Thank the left, thank the Christians and Socialist who agreed we can do better. And did.”
There are many things socialists have done better. Destroyed economies. Slaughtered dissenters (including, btw, Christians). Starved citizens.
“Can a moral case be made for taking the rightful property of one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? I think not. That’s why socialism is evil. It uses evil means (coercion) to achieve what are seen as good ends (helping people). We might also note that an act that is inherently evil does not become moral simply because there’s a majority consensus.”
http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/04/socialism.html
If all you read is far right loony publications like that, the only logical response – is move away from the elephant, your standing to close.
Adam you can shoot the messenger,or you can respond to the points I made.
You are wasting your time with this poster. He and James are just aggravating pests.
Where socialism failed it died of corruption, not elitist bullshit about envy. Capitalism is failing for the same reason.
Stuart socialism failed (and continues to fail) because at its core it is an unworkable system. Capitalism is imperfect, but it is self correcting. Socialism is imperfect, and then countries run out of money.
I really wonder what impels you to flaunt your ignorance in this manner on a serious political site.
Socialism in the modern context is never fully implemented. The regimes that purported to do so fell very far short of the ideal, but they operated for 60 or 70 years nevertheless – as long as any modern capitalist state has done without a depression. They were riddled with corruption. They claimed in fact to be communist, but were totalitarian and despotic. An uncorrupted communist society would have chosen democratic processes to suppress corruption.
In NZ in the last three decades we have seen extremes of capitalism that have destroyed the basis of our economy. We are no longer a farming society, but a real estate speculating one. In spite of overwhelming public sentiment, governments continue to sell land offshore and propose to sign the frankly lousy TPP. Capitalism has no mechanisms to correct these failures – we are obliged to fall back on older civil means of punishing corrupted politicians.
The more common and more successful Fabian socialism which operated in NZ was a raging success. It inspired Popper to write The Open Society And Its Enemies. You are merely one of its enemies.
“Socialism in the modern context is never fully implemented.“
That’s an age old excuse, that you seem to believe excuses it’s abject failure.
“The more common and more successful Fabian socialism which operated in NZ was a raging success. “
No, it wasn’t. It was only viable when supported by guaranteed market access for our produce. It was an unsustainable dream, lived in a bubble.
“In NZ in the last three decades we have seen extremes of capitalism that have destroyed the basis of our economy. “
That is the height of ignorance. I can only assume you know nothing ng of the countries growth in exports, market diversification and employment.
Socialism is the only form of society that succeeds. You might long for a society with entrenched systemic poverty like India has under capitalism, but no representative democracy can aspire to such a backward state. Our people must prosper – not just those advantaged by inherited or stolen wealth.
“It was an unsustainable dream” Poppycock – it only became unsustainable when the political leaders of the time betrayed the populace and looted the public estate to enrich themselves instead of tooling up for the change in circumstances.
“I can only assume you know nothing”
Yes, fall back on insults you empty bag of wind.
Over the last three decades NZ has lost capacity in most of our productive industries, with the possible exception of dairy, which relies on unsustainable access to fresh water and to cheap foreign labour. In the meantime the capital value of such farms has risen so much that interest costs absorb much of any profit deriving from increased production.
We don’t build cars any more, or process most of our fish. Gangs of underpaid foreign workers have displaced local pickers and pruners. Post-earthquake construction has been conducted principally by foreign workers instead of upskilling locals, all of which over the long term represents a significant loss of capacity.
If someone had deliberately set out to ruin a prosperous country they wouldn’t have done a thing different – and your mythical capitalist self-correction is nowhere in evidence.
If someone had deliberately set out to ruin a prosperous country they wouldn’t have done a thing different – and your mythical capitalist self-correction is nowhere in evidence.
From what I can make out a few did purposefully set out to ruin a prosperous country. It’s far easier to get poor people to work to make a rich person richer than a well educated person who’s financially independent.
Capitalism requires poverty.
Yes, I think the exploited foreign workers prove that – no degree of local poverty is sufficient to make some local bosses as profitable as they desire.
Some discussion here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4418024
Poverty and Capitalism
“Socialism is the only form of society that succeeds”
“To anyone not blinded to reality by their ideology, it is no secret that socialism, because of its inherent and essential nature, is, and must always be, an abject and disastrous failure. The failure of socialism and social engineering by “the best and brightest” of left-wing liberalism is once again being proven, the latest evidence coming from communist China, Canada, Britain, France, and Australia.”
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/gov_philosophy/socialism_still_a_failure.htm
So, are you happy with the way socialism is working here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Laos), or here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Cuba), or here (https://panampost.com/trino-marquez/2013/07/18/venezuela-the-failure-of-socialism/) or here (https://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/01/greek-disaster-is-all-about-socialism.html) or any number of other references.
But your defence of the indefensible is at least humorous.
RWNJ ignores all evidence, as presented by real research by the likes of Piketty and others, that shows that capitalism is the problem and not socialism. It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.
It is since then and the implementation that we’ve seen an increase in poverty across the Western world.
None of which you support with any evidence whatsoever.
“It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.”
Really? Socialism in the Western World? So how many people did the USSR slaughter? China?
Perhaps you should address your own blindness before embarrassing yourself in front of others Hornet.
Your antics are not amusing and your arguments are not informed.
Run along and play with your fellow travelers – you’re not up to arguing here.
Translation – “Stuart can’t follow the argument so throws toys from cot”.
You don’t have an argument Hornet, beyond bleating “Socialism baaaad”. You don’t even know what socialism is, you confuse it with communism and totalitarianism.
If you want further instruction from me you’ll have to pay for it.
“You don’t have an argument Hornet…”
Read the numerous references I have provided. You are in a heightened state of denial.
Why would I read your sources – they’ve misled you to the point of fatal ignorance. I worked with soviet crews, saw first hand what was wrong with their system. But backward far-right nutbars always think they know better.
“Why would I read your sources…”
That statement sums you up. Ignorance is bliss eh?
No moron – real experience trumps the maunderings of biased fools like yourself.
I have seen the truth of the soviet failure first hand and your callow reckons aren’t worth the pixels they’re written in.
Now, run along and play with your fellow ‘true believers’ – your view of socialism is a belief system, not a rational conclusion. It is hide-bound ignoramuses like yourself that led Karl Popper to his discovery of falsifiability.
Communism is control of the means of production by the workers through a democratic system. None of the so-called communist countries meet that minimum requirement.
It’s not to excuse the abject failure of those systems. It’s to point out that the failure was down to the top down hierarchy. Exactly the same way that capitalism fails.
Which logically means that capitalism must also fail without such guaranteed access to international markets. Guarantees that cannot be made and are, in fact, not coming. Even our FTAs aren’t guaranteeing that access as China’s threats to our exports prove.
The only sustainable means is to live within our means, within the resources available in NZ and to minimise international trade.
“None of the so-called communist countries meet that minimum requirement.”
There is no pure ‘capitalist’ nation either. Yet I’m not the one making excuses.
“Which logically means that capitalism must also fail without such guaranteed access to international markets.”
International trade is at the very heart of capitalism, making your comment a nonsense. A bit like saying ‘socialism must also fail without a central planning authority”.
“The only sustainable means is to live within our means, within the resources available in NZ and to minimise international trade.”
Tried, and failed. International trade has liberated billions of people from poverty, and opened nations and its peoples up to a vast choice of goods and services. If you want to live in the sort of environment your describe, I invite you to do so. North Korea springs to mind.
Yes you are or, to probably be more precise, you’re ignoring all the evidence that shows that capitalism is a failure.
It was your logic. We may have been somewhat socialist after WWII but we were still a capitalist economy dependent upon trade. You said:
Which must also apply to capitalism.
Socialism doesn’t have central planning. That said, we do need coordination and cooperation.
Not really. All developed economies developed locally before allowing international competition. And even then they seriously regulate access.
No it hasn’t. It’s induced ever more poverty.
Most of which most people can’t actually access. Which is the very definition of poverty.
And I suggest you try Somalia for what you have in mind. That, at least, is an accurate representation of the end result of capitalism.
“Yes you are or”
Cite the post.
“It was your logic. We may have been somewhat socialist after WWII but we were still a capitalist economy dependent upon trade.”
But you said this “It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.”
So which was it? Capitalist or socialist?
“Which must also apply to capitalism.”
There is no ‘guaranteed market access’ any more.
“No it hasn’t. It’s induced ever more poverty.”
Not according to the IMF (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2001/12/banniste.htm), the World Bank (http://blogs.worldbank.org/trade/evidence-that-trade-does-reduce-poverty-but-only-if-the-conditions-are-right) and the WTO (https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/worldbankandwto15_e.pdf).
“Most of which most people can’t actually access. Which is the very definition of poverty.”
In NZ? Are you serious?
“And I suggest you try Somalia for what you have in mind. That, at least, is an accurate representation of the end result of capitalism.”
Try some reading https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/capitalism-misunderstood-ideal-one-somalia-law-john-minehan/.
After WWII it was what was always called a mixed economy. It failed because of capitalism.
That’s what the FTAs that we’ve signed and the WTO is for you moron. And they still don’t guarantee access to any market as every country can choose to not honour those agreements.
http://nzccss.org.nz/work/poverty/facts-about-poverty/fact-7-economic-growth-alone-does-not-solve-poverty/
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/19/poverty-increasing-in-developed-countries-ilo.html
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/global-poverty-oxfam-world-economic-forum
In the world and in NZ. That’s actually the whole point of the pricing mechanism – to limit access to resources. Poor people simply cannot afford them.
And the link you provide is pure ideology disconnected from reality. But that’s capitalism to a ‘T’. It sounds good but it’s not what it brings about. What it brings about is poverty and deprivation for the majority while a few get rich. Hence 8 people now having the same wealth as the poorest ~4b and it keeps getting worse. Of course, even the ideological rant that you linked to never once mentioned ownership which is what’s causing all that poverty and deprivation..
“After WWII it was what was always called a mixed economy. It failed because of capitalism.”
But that isn’t what you said. Here is what you said:
“It was the height of socialism in the Western world after WWII where we also had the highest standard of living improvement.”
“…we were still a capitalist economy dependent upon trade.”
The height of socialism is most certainly not a ‘mixed economy’. You have directly contradicted yourself.
“That’s what the FTAs that we’ve signed and the WTO is for you moron. And they still don’t guarantee access to any market as every country can choose to not honour those agreements.”
So you agree, there is guaranteed access.
“http://nzccss.org.nz/work/poverty/facts-about-poverty/fact-7-economic-growth-alone-does-not-solve-poverty/
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/19/poverty-increasing-in-developed-countries-ilo.html
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/global-poverty-oxfam-world-economic-forum”
Your have misrepresented your own sources. For example the Oxfam report is primarily about inequality. I quote from that report:
“While the number of people living in extreme poverty halved between 1990 and 2010, Oxfam argued that had inequality not increased during that period an extra 200 million people would have escaped extreme poverty.”
Your own cite states that the “number of people living in extreme poverty halved between 1990 and 2010.” That is a spectacularly successful outcome of capitalism.
“In the world and in NZ. That’s actually the whole point of the pricing mechanism – to limit access to resources. Poor people simply cannot afford them.”
Nonsense. Walk into a Warehouse. Or a Bunnings. The ‘poor’ in NZ can afford far more than my parents ever could.
Your source is weak.
We need to set up our society so that people can’t afford to own a huge amount of wealth. Maximum income with good capital taxes would easily achieve it.
We cannot afford the rich.
You want a society that aspires to be poor?
Do you think it is morally acceptable that Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) has $100 billion in the bank while his minimum wage workers need food stamps to get by?
If you are morally concerned about how much money Jeff Bezos has, stop buying stuff off Amazon, after all he’s not forcing you to use his service.
But he is getting massive government subsidies in the form of food stamps.
If a business cannot afford to keep it’s employees in good health then that business should collapse. And that’s pure neo-liberal ideology.
No, I want a society that doesn’t have rich people in it. Where everyone has access to the necessities of life and the resources necessary for them to be creative.
Neither of which is happening under capitalism.
NZ is already unbelievably rich the problem is a few greedy arseholes hoarding all the resources for themselves. That’s Capitalism: making money off money, clipping tickets, screwing markets, insider trading, regulatory capture. In the endgame it creates a massive slave class — already modelled by the USA (prisoners), China (factory workers), and the Middle East (Indian labourers).
+111
BTW, all the poor people out there never aspired to be poor – the rich made them that way so that they could be rich.
how about a society that changes how it quantifies ‘success’
There are plenty of examples to quantify success, but society is not necessarily the main driver.
https://blog.adioma.com/how-much-sweat-it-takes-from-zero-to-billionaire-infographic/
A few people start off poor and become rich. This isn’t great advertising as 1) for them to become rich they’ve made others poorer and 2) there’s so very few of them compared to the 7 billion people in the world.
…so by your logic, NZ as country should not aspire to become wealthy as it will make other countries poorer, and that is so morally inconceivable that we should not hold out any hope for Jacinda’s child’s generation.
Socialism, the university of life you never graduate from.
No.
People shouldn’t be allowed to become rich as that makes others poorer. In fact, capitalism requires poverty.
And NZ is already a rich country – we have many resources per capita. Those resources are our means. Fairly distributed and used would mean that no one would be living in poverty.
Thing is, they are our means. Exporting them makes us poorer. The same applies to other countries and so us importing resources is making other countries poorer. In fact, we can see that over the last couple of centuries as resources have been exported out of poor countries to rich countries. The rich countries became much better off while the poor countries are still poor and that was most definitely at the expense of the poor countries.
indeed there are plenty of ways, unfortunately the only one we appear to use is the accumulation of wealth which involves numerous negative impacts
LOL…..CC.
Good one Draco.
So, what your really saying is that the bottom 30% were each over $1000 better off under National?
No.
The bottom 30% became worse off under National.
Only the rich become better off under National as National transfers wealth from the bottom to the top.
Keep defending the plutocrats.
Not defending anyone. I think it’s marvellous that the bottom 30% are better off by 2-5% than they were the year before. This should be celebrated
But the study just pointed out that the bottom 30%’s wealth increased by an average of $1070 in 2017 Draco. You can’t argue that.
The sandflys are using a dum ass trick like they did with wearing a black beany and the think they are invisible lol.
I will sue there assessor for hundreds of thousands for the way they breach my human rights and the rights of all my children. And I’m going to sue for loss off the potential earnings of ECO MAORI from the Internet this could be millions. The sandflys can carry on underestimate Me I will make my move when the time is right. I see we came from ASIA I have a lot of respect for Asian one just has to learn there cultures to understand why they do things and how they think. Ana to kai
Maori origins Asia Ka pai
The sandflys can not get it out of there dum ass neo liberals brains that Im not a dum ass savage Im a intelligent human and Im going to win in the end I can see there plays all the time they are desperate Mobile fuel station on Sunset road Rotorua thats a play to counter ECO MAORI statement that crime is dropping .Ana to kai
Here the link to the back my story origins of Maori.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/100629585/dna-who-were-the-first-humans-to-reach-aotearoa Ka kite ano
Anyone who has been treating mainstream reporting on Syria with a degree of skepticism might, or will find this long detailed piece by Eva Bartlett of interest. In it she rather methodically and meticulously deconstructs attacks made on her journalistic integrity by, among others – Snopes, The Guardian, Ch 4 news and La Presse.
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/a-personal-reply-to-the-fact-challenged-smears-of-terrorist-whitewashing-channel-4-snopes-and-la-presse/
An interesting article by Rod Oram on Newsroom – kind of a letter from the US where he has been travelling. it’s about the decline (and hopefully reinvention of the US).
Oram says that Martin Luther King predicted the current moral decline of the US, based in extensive inequalities.
Oram refers to a quote attributed to Martin Luther King shortly before he was assasinated:
Oram sees Trump as someone who has cleverly exploited this decline and the related fractures in US society, politics and economy.
Oram also refers to the protests against Trump this weekend, and is optimistic a new, better US is on the rise.
That quote of King’s is spot on.
It is class that trumps everything.
Class doesn’t “trump” everything, but it’s a crucial component of any rounded analysis…just as gender or race are.
Any of those three, if separated out and held aloft as the fundamental basis for analysis, leads to partial and skewed understandings.
If we were all classed as equal wouldn’t gender and race become irrelevant?
How so? You’re saying by “classed as equal” that there would be economic equity, yes? But the woman is still dominated by the man and the black or brown skinned person by the white skinned person. (Off the back of cultural and/or historical reasons etc)
And pretty soon that all bleeds back into economic arrangements and….square one all over again.
“How so?”
In all aspects of life.
So okay, your saying if issues of class and gender and race have been resolved, then there will be no ongoing issues of inequality pertaining to gender and race. Sure.
No.
At least I would assume Ed refers to class as being the divisions that allow degrees of access to ‘power’.
Within that frame, it can be reasonably argued that both race and gender are subsets of class inequality.
most people would take Ed’s comment to be about socioeconomic class though, esp as it was a response to the comment with MLK’s quote. I guess he can come back and clarify.
The USA is not one nation, it’s a federation and it’s cracking at the seams. Washington DC is now totally corrupted and it would be best for the States to disunite from this dysfunctional system.
False Prophets vs Real Profits
#MAGA MuellerAin’tGoingAway
Heh. One of the government functions that will keep going through the shutdown is Mueller’s investigation into the Chump campaign.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/robert-mueller-government-shutdown_us_5a63c3b6e4b00228300361db?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
“Climate change is the nuclear moment our our generation”. Quote PM Jacinda Ardern.
We must use less truck freight transport on roads and switch to using rail to lower the carbon emissions and arrest the risk of climate change accelerating.
Today’s major report on RNZ ‘Nine to noon report’ is again warning us all that coastal erosion is becoming a clear hazard now.
22/1/2018.
Monday 22 January 2018 Previous episodes
On today’s show
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
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In this next article last year the outgoing ‘National government’ was quick to bury it’s head in the sand on this serious issue.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/96433693/coastal-erosion-report-urges-immediate-action
[deleted]
[long cut and paste deleted. Please quote pieces to support your comment, not long tracts. People can click through to read the whole thing.
Also, if I have to spend time trying to figure out which are your words and which are the quotes, I’m more likely atm to just delete. Please come up with a system that makes it clear what are your words and what are the quotes. You can use the tags, or you can use characters. e.g.
>>>
body of text
<<<
– weka]
Now isn’t that interesting – actually its much less than I would have thought in some areas.
46 km of railway – have alternative plans drawn up & activate closer to the time. 43000 houses – about 4% of the housing stock – how many are permanent dwellings as opposed to holiday homes – what is the built quality – how many can be shifted and are worth shifting? Are there clusters in some areas – that could be shifted at once.
Looks like we need to designate some land for “new” suburbs in some areas – and have a “shift it Saturday” – where south D takes it’s houses & migrates up onto a hill. At $10000 a house we are looking at $430m spread over a number of years . And houses at risk, not moveable & not yet flooding could be used as a reserve rental stock.
The airports – can swift public transport mean another nearby airport could be used? We have a lot of airports & this might be a good occasion to rethink about fewer & fast trains to areas around the airport.
Please do not paste the full text of articles.
moderation note to respond to, thanks.
So random musings from a right-winger time…
Jacinda Ardern is basically PM for as long she wants and is Labours answer to John Key.
Every time theres some news they may want buried (like why the first 100 days has been a bit slow or trying to hide the extra payments to tribes) they can trot a pic of Clarke taking the kid to preschool or if someone criticises Jacinda then you can bet the media will jump all over it as bullying.
2020 election well you have preschool, 2023 you’ve got starting primary school etc etc
So how is Jacinda like John well first off educationally speaking neither are what you would call academics in that John has a BCom from Canterbury and Jacinda has a BCS from Waikato
Both went overseas, both did quite well in their respective fields and both are very media savvy as well as both having the ability to say nothing but still making their respective supporters believe they walk on water (absolutely have a conversation about that)
Both are probably more intelligent than their respective critics and opposition give them credit for and both mangle the language (poverdy anyone?)
Being that Jacinda is the PM for as long as she wants (and i do mean she, most certainly not anyone else) I just hope that she does a good a job as John Key did
I do of course admit that I am biased therefore I may be completely wrong about all this
Says the little racist Puckish Rogue.
Like the poor me at the end, and the overly concern trolling – the new truly woeful Puckish Rogue.
Seems all you lies about a 4th term, have forced you like your mates, to make up new lies.
Sad man, just sad.
Um, what is racist about PR’s comment?
It’s a dig at him.
And a reminder of his past behaviour here. One should be reminded, when one sinks that low.
You going to post a link to this or just keep running your mouth?
if you’re going to do that can you please link? Not a great fan of carrying over conflicts from past convos unless there is a good reason.
Absolutely, can you show me how to search past comments, becasue all I get is two pages of PR’s post, they cover time since his return. Not the one that got him banned.
Edit: Because puckish has no recollection of being banned. Also my point I might add.
thanks. I find it easier to use google by site advanced search. Put the full TS URL in the ‘site or domain’ field, and whatever key words you can think of. You’ll still have to scroll through but you can narrow it down by dates too. It’s better than the internal search engine.
https://www.google.co.nz/advanced_search
Thanks not having much fun, really, really not having much fun. But been mildly enjoyable reading some old posts.
Will keep plodding on – got a new phrase I hope will help – “banned until 1 month after the election”
I suspect the thread you’re flailing for is here – started with links pointed to by Bill in modmode. Six month ban.
Unless you’ve got a better one.
Big, BIG, thank you McFlock.
Yes, that the one.
A cynical soul aren’t you? Have you forgotten John Key’s use of his son and daughter with their various publicity episodes, particularly Max and his gay slur to a cyclist. And his clutching of Richie at every opportunity. And his bad taste radio episodes. Well the occasional photo of a little Gayford- Ardern I think would be mild in comparison. I can’t imagine them doing anything stupid with their baby as far as publicity goes.
Sure its not a perfect comparison but wouldn’t you agree theres some similarities between the two and I do hope the media give their kid a chance to be a kid
Hey PR, thank-you for raising the standard of RW comment here a couple of notches, much appreciated.
Well thank you very much, its unexpected but a compliment is always nice to recieve
You laid out your argument well, and there was minimal taunting.
Its damn hard to taunt when your team loses 🙂
lol. Well the righties had a go at it here for a few months since spring, but I hope they take your lead now 🙂
i think we all can agree I shouldn’t take the lead in anything
very self deprecating PR, you surprise me. How about we settle on you setting a good example?
edit, you realise you’ve set the bar now.
Hey if it helps make the site more welcoming to posters i’ll give it a go
mate, anything that gets more interesting political discussion and less people bitching at each other the better. Better for those already here, and better at attracting others to comment.
(lol, I feel I need to put a caveat in now, given your history, but I’m not quite sure what it is).
As Rocky Balboa so eloquently put it:
ha ha.
It’s early days for Jacinda, but there seems to be some intention of keeping promises – something no-one could accuse Key of.
It will of course take a long time to build NZ out of the hole neo-liberalism and naked corruption have dropped us into.
In the meantime though, perhaps you should contain your criticism to items where the government is erring. If Jacinda keeps her promises and repairs some of the wreckage the last government wrought then there is nothing wrong with positive press – it’s only when the positive press is used to cover up failures and corruption, which is all it did under Key, that it becomes odious.
“It’s early days for Jacinda, but there seems to be some intention of keeping promises – something no-one could accuse Key of.”
Labour pre-election pledged to re-enter Pike River mine and thats now a firm maybe plus depending on how you want to see it the whole TPP thing is a back track also and its been less than 100 days
You’re right, maybe they will keep their child away from the media (hopefully they will) but considering the media coverage I doubt the media will respect their wishes
“I do hope the media give their kid a chance to be a kid.”
Jacinda and Clarke were interviewed on this very point this morning and it was pretty clear that they have this well in mind – sorry won’t try to find the video in the plethora of interviews etc. Think it was the TVNZ Breakfast interview with Tame.
Both Jacinda and Clarke are well versed/qualified in media management and IMHO their announcement on Friday was timed to coincide with the end of the holiday period and the back to work for the government and the impending end of the first 100 day period.
The Labour Caucus (and many of their families) convened for a two day retreat near Martinborough yesterday where they are currently reviewing the first 100 days, what still needs to be done in the next 10 days, and drawing up the next 100 day plans. The PM is expected to give a news conference/stand-up this afternoon on the next steps in their planning etc. In other words, IMHO they announced the baby news on Friday, have given 48 hours or so for Babymania, and now the PM’s focus etc will be back to government business.
Tomorrow Tues morning it is back to Wellington for the first Cabinet meeting with Winston etc. – so back to BAU.
An interesting aside to the above (again I cannot give a link as it is lost somewhere in the plethora of interviews etc I have ‘indulged in’ over the last 48 hours and it would take hours to find) is that:
Drumroll ….
Ardern mentioned in passing in an interview (yesterday Sunday I think) that Winston Peters has actually been/still is formally Acting PM for the two or so days of the Labour Caucus Retreat in the Wairarapa.
A test run and/or a middle finger salute to the naysayers who are predicting Armageddon when Peters takes over as Acting PM in June?
“A test run and/or a middle finger salute to the naysayers who are predicting Armageddon when Peters takes over as Acting PM in June?”
Could well be but I don’t think most (imho anyway) people have a problem with Winston being PM temporarily as i think most would probably say that was a big part of the negotiations but if, no matter how unlikely, Winston is still the leader at the next election then things would get very interesting
Do you remember how Labour were going to ban foreigners buying New Zealand houses, and that the ban would be in place by Christmas?
Became they would introduce a bill and it wouldn’t affect all foreigners but you can’t expect too much can you?
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/election-2017/labour-would-ban-foreign-property-purchases
As she said ‘Labour would ban sales of existing houses to non-resident, foreign buyers “by Christmas”‘.
Dear Puckish Rogue,
I don’t believe that the Labour Government can be blamed because you think a hundred days has been somehow slowed down.
“(like why the first 100 days has been a bit slow)”
I’d blame the idleness of holidays boring you, or longer summer days, the heat, the cricket, whatever.
But not the government. Even nanny state cannot alter time- Maui and his brothers could, but not the government……
http://eng.mataurangamaori.tki.org.nz/Support-materials/Te-Reo-Maori/Maori-Myths-Legends-and-Contemporary-Stories/How-Maui-slowed-the-sun
My mistake, I meant ticking off the first hundred days achievements
Also the Disney movie Moana would have been a lot more interesting had they used a few more of Mauis backstory
An interesting thesis that, based on your other comments in this thread, seems to refer to the respective popularity of said leaders and the rather huge and unique privilege this offers.
I’d argue that the persona of Key and Ardern is developed/developing by an interplay of inner and outer forces & influences. Ardern is or will be Labour’s “answer to John Key” because that’s what the general public believes and thus has come to expect/demand. The MSM, pundits, the Opposition, the NZ Labour Party & Caucus, the coalition-Government, etcetera, will all contribute to this collective projection.
When Key became leader of the National Party in 2006 and PM 2 years later his persona was not identical to the one when he bailed out in 2016.
Ms Ardern’s persona is also not static & fixed and time will tell how it will develop but suffice to say her personal trajectory may be very different from Mr Key’s – I certainly hope so …
IMO John Key cultivated & milked his popularity like a Fonterra for mostly personal ‘profit’; the National Party (and a few ‘hangers on’) benefitted by riding on his coattail and hanging in his slipstream – it was good (for them) while it lasted. So far, I cannot see this happening with Jacinda Ardern – being in power can do ‘funny things’ to people – but I could not possibly comment on why I doubt that it will happen in the foreseeable future …
Tut tut tut, PR,
Ouch!!!!
You are really hurting at loosing the “greedy mantle of the scroundlous defunct National Government” aren’t you; -, poor thing.
At least Jacinda will get real about climate change not like your hollow lot ignoring the problem.
You are rambling you silly old fool, define “loosing”.
[Loosing is what happens to commenters who try to start flame wars on TS – weka]
Oh look another troll, desperate for attention, going for the spelling mistake.
Does it feel so good?
The problem is that it isn’t a mistake.
He almost always uses “loosing”.
I’ve 1questioned him on what it is supposed to mean but no explanation is ever forthcoming.
SCREAMING —
The word is “losing” not “loosing”.
VV AKA The Spelling Pedant
Naah I got over that pretty quickly (plus it wasn’t going to change anything anyway) and as I say “Jacinda Ardern is basically PM for as long she wants and is Labours answer to John Key.” so its not like I think National will be back in power any time soon
All she has to do is cross over into National territory as John Key did so successfully and she’ll be remembered as being as, if not more, popular than John Key
All she has to do is cross over into National territory as John Key did so successfully and she’ll be remembered as being as, if not more, popular than John Key
Ardern getting more than one term still hangs on the economy staying together and voters not feeling like they’re going backwards., this baby stuff is just icing.
Also some people like icing, some like a tiny bit of icing, some don’t like icing at all and just prefer the cake.
Does it though, Jacinda is very popular so even if the economy tanks, Labour can lay the blame at Nationals feet and because Jacinda is popular she’ll be believed by enough voters (as was John Key) and Labour will get another term
Although if, for whatever reason, Winnie is the leader at the next election it’ll be a complete bloodbath and National will be back in
But most likely Labour will be in power for easily two terms, maybe three
Does it though, Jacinda is very popular so even if the economy tanks, Labour can lay the blame at Nationals feet and because Jacinda is popular she’ll be believed by enough voters (as was John Key) and Labour will get another term
You think people are that stupid and shallow?
Btw you can’t compare Key to Ardern, Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession.
If the economy bombs, it will be on Labours head.
Its less stupid and shallow (and remember these are the pretty much the same arguments the left used against John Key) and more that Jacinda is an excellent communicator and that people warm to her and want to believe her which sounds a lot like John Key
John Key managed to sound both confident and switched on while still being “one of the blokes” and it worked really well for him and Jacinda is managing to do what works really well for her so i think she’ll be able to sell it to NZ especially since she’ll be given the kudos of keeping labour together (though those kudos should probably go to Little)
“Btw you can’t compare Key to Ardern, Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession.”
The circumstances are slightly different but I’d make no difference, if you swapped Key for Ardern the results would still be the same and that is they’d both win, helped by third term-itis sure but they’d still win
Your determination to establish this false equivalence is nothing if not heroic.
Shouldn’t you be touting the innumerable virtues of the Gnat ‘government in waiting’ instead?
Well ok what part of what i wrote do you disagree with?
The bit where i say Jacinda is an excellent communicator, where I say she can sell it or that if the circumstances were swapped she’d still win?
The suggestion that the left loathed Key because he was popular is profoundly misleading.
“pretty much the same arguments the left used against John Key”
Nope.
The left loathed Key because he was a liar and a demagogue – his popularity, like Trump’s, was essentially a tool to mislead people.
Now, you may wheel out Pike River and pine trees and a number of other instances of broken promises – but frankly, not yet. These matters have yet to be determined, and it remains to be seen whether they will actually fail.
The public may even forgive some of these issues or ones like them if the government is candid about its reasons for abandoning any of them – but should that occur it would be in stark contrast to the almost compulsive lying and misdirection that characterized the Key Kleptocracy. That vile piece of scum never gave a straight answer about anything. Or is that something you “can’t recall”?
I can tell you now Keys clowning and schtick would have bombed if National hadn’t successfully rebuilt the economy and he wasn’t such a powerhouse on the world political stage.
People would have been “What’s he doing clowning around? do your job, Man”.
Key was a PM first and the goofy funny guy second, Ardern needs to be a PM first and a mother second, if she’s going to be anywhere near as successful as Key.
It’s going to be a big ask, and the voter will tire pretty quickly of Ardern if they don’t think her mind’s on the job.
Agree
When Key was in the spotlight a lot over the GCSB and Ian Fletcher, and then the Jason Edes episodes, was he just clowning and being a “goofy funny guy”?
I think you’ve completely missed the point I was making.
….and he wasn’t such a powerhouse on the world political stage.
Apart from photo opportunities what did this “powerhouse” of yours actually achieve on the world stage?
People would have been “What’s he doing clowning around? do your job, Man”.
Many of us were doing exactly that.
Key was a PM first and the goofy funny guy second,
Depended on what hat he was wearing at the time. And the blokey goofball schtick came very easily to him.
Apart from photo opportunities what did this “powerhouse” of yours actually achieve on the world stage?
Hmm, shame to see an obviously intelligent person blinded by their political prejudices.
You could learn a thing or two from Ad.
Letterman top ten. World shaking.
Oh, and told the BBC that water quality scientists were like lawyers – will fabricate results on demand. Sort of a precursor to Trump’s cabinet choices
Obviously some sort of left-wing reality disconnect.
I was never a great fan of Clark, but like John Key she was an excellent political operator.
What did JK achieve on the world stage?
Free trade deal with a major power?
Going into larger roles on the world stage within 6 months of leaving office?
No the alternate reality you are speaking of is Planet Key. I saw Key very clearly from the moment he came on the scene for what he is.
Sad guys, really sad.
I note you’re not actually saying what Key did to be a powerhouse on the world stage… just saying how sad it is people don’t agree with you.
What a pointless exercise that would be, those left-wing blinkers have blinded you.
It’s pretty telling that when pressed BM can’t even name one thing Key, who in his words was “such a powerhouse on the world stage”, did on that stage.
Ardern has already done more than Key ever did by forcing Australia to back down on tertiary fees for Kiwis and insisting on Kiwi houses for Kiwis.
Key was the master at swanning around in his dressing gown at diplomatic events, and of course he was known worldwide for harassing female service staff. That’s about it.
I mean, he played golf with Obama, but did that lead to any major foreign policy advances?
Snuggled closer to the yanks, but pissed off the Chinese talking about NK. The TPP fizzled. Fucked up the KDC extradition.
Foreign policy-wise, if he was a “powerhouse” he wasn’t connected to the grid or any functional machinery. No real achievements in his wikipedia page.
Shit, maybe playing golf with Obama is what BM means by “such a powerhouse on the world stage”?
It’s so shallow it just might be true…
This constant fatuous rubbish about Key’s economic acumen is really rather pitiful. Did wages grow vis-à-vis comparable OECD countries? Nope. Did our debt decrease? Nope. Did our credit rating improve? Nope – it fell twice.
It’s fair to say that the Key ‘economic miracle’ is no more substantial than that of previous self-styled thaumaturgists. The Nobel will not be going to NZ economists any time soon.
“Btw you can’t compare Key to Ardern, Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession.”
—
Key did come in a the start of a global recession, but after 9 years of savings and net govt debt at record lows, English had a great starting point which he commented on at the time.
BM: Ardern came to power with the economy in good shape, Key came in at the start of a global recession
???!!! NZ now has record external debt and the Briefings to Incoming Ministers were a litany of disasters. But in 2008 Cullen had left the accounts in very good shape, as you well know.
BM: If the economy bombs, it will be on Labours head.
Bullshit unless you want to blame Key for the GFC and recession of 2008/9 as well. National presided over a fake economy so I would find it hard to blame Labour for the Nats dirty tricks of the last 9 years. Fiddling with stats and cooking the books and hiding OIA requests. What a pack of bankers they were.
And as we all know, John Key took the cake.
“Kneel down time!”
The Patriots bore their way to another Super Bowl appearance
AFC Playoff, Sunday 21 Jan. 2018 (Boston time)
The New England Patriots hold a four-point lead over the Jacksonvile Jaguars. There’s still more than one and a half minutes of “playing” time on the clock. In any real sport, that would be more than enough time for a lot more action.
Not in the NFL, however, where time-wasting is the main strategy of every team. The Patriots have the ball, which in this sport means guaranteed possession for four plays. Therefore it’s pointless to hope for anything unexpected or spontaneous to happen.
One of the commentators yells gleefully: “Kneel down time!”
Both teams stand up from the last scrimmage and start shaking hands with more than 15 seconds still on the clock. The coaches, holding clipboards full of color-coded instructions, are jubilant. The crowd, instructed constantly to “Make Some Noise”, seems happy.
Morrissey, I enjoy your commentary, but talking about a game you obviously know nothing about makes you look like a twat.
Thanks for the concern, Kevin, but I’m afraid it’s much to late to stop me looking like a twat.
I am intrigued though: what gives you the impression that I “obviously know nothing” about American football?
Morrie I’m no expert but some would have it that in the distant past a sarker team, on managing to goal a ball score in the start of the first period, may have as it were parked a bus, not to put too fine a point to it, across their goal to the immeasurable chagrin of their opponents. There is an obscure rumour, no names no pack drill, that a knvish lout of a sarker baller may once have feigned injury in order to prevent the opposition from progressing advantageously gamewise. Can any of this be true? What portents might it hold for the advancement of our cause onwards to the broad sunlight uplands of victory?
You might not think you’re an expert, Gabby, but rest assured: you know a lot more about the game than, say, McFlock does.
Well, to make it as simple as possible;
Passing plays stop the clock, running plays do not (unless the ball career runs out of bounds). The team with possession has 45 seconds from the whistle to start a play or they are penalised. Therefore, with less than 45 seconds of game time time remaining, the team with possession keeps the clock running by ‘taking the knee’ where the QB takes the snap, starting a running play, then kneels down to end it and keep the clock running. With less than 45 seconds of game time remaining there is no point starting a new play so the game is effectively over.
Hope this makes sense!
I know all that, Kevin. What you’ve written backs up what I wrote—that the game is built around stoppages. There is a multiplicity of methods to stop the game, as I pointed out.
Same goes for basketball, volleyball and baseball. The Americans are very good at ruining games.
This is a weird case of poisoning that is still a mystery. You have to wonder why there has not been a thorough police investigation to check it is “accidental” – being that nobody has found any food or reason for the poisoning around, it apparently happened within minutes and paralysed 3 people, and the children were not harmed.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/348571/why-was-everybody-so-sure-it-was-botulism
Botulism was a red herring thrown into the story. It was not a likely cause – though present in NZ it is relatively rare here – an anaerobic bacteria sometimes found in mud at the bottom of pools. The more probable culprit is a widely used poison, which the reporters did not want to guess at for political reasons.
1080 was mentioned in the actual audio recordings of both of these reports on RNZ National this morning – as having been tested for as a possibility but not as a confirmed cause – but not mentioned in the written reports on the website. So you need to listen to the recordings:
5.30am News
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/348571/why-was-everybody-so-sure-it-was-botulism
and on Morning Report
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018628941/putaruru-family-fights-for-acc-after-mystery-illness
AND just as I was typing the above the RNZ National 2pm News also did an item on 1080 in relation to the case and the details of recent 1080 drops in the area:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018628975
Well that’s good – but the speculation about botulism was floated in November – and those stories didn’t mention 1080.
Agreed that the earlier stories did not mention 1080 – that is why it stood out to me this morning. However, there is also the aspect that presumably if 1080 or similar is involved then the case for ACC compensation is strengthened as opposed to a ‘medical’ condition such as botulism. The family’s $$$ situation is understandably of prime concern now.
Interesting if food poisoning is not covered by ACC. I would have thought that it was an accident, as opposed to disease that arises for other reasons. But possibly ACC is turning it down because the cause is unknown.
I’m very sure that getting a disease is an accident very nearly 100% of the time. Only the very mentally disturbed would get one deliberately.
If they don’t know the cause how are they tying the illness to the meat eating?
I can’t see it being a man-made poison myself. Poisons like 1080 and others have been widespread for a long time, and so has pig and deer hunting all over the country. We would have seen this sort of thing before, not out of the blue like this.
By the way I have seen evidence that pigs do feed on poison baits, but they eat anything so I guess that’s not surprising.
I tend to agree. What’s interesting me now though is if they don’t know the cause how are they tying it to the eating of the meat? And the point about the family and media having been told it was botulism is valid. Got to feel for the family. Dealing with the health system can be very hard when the illness is unknown.
The meat would be the only common and new possible vector preceeding the infection/poisoning.
So all the veges they had would have either been eaten from the same source days before, or not everyone had the swede, sort of thing.
That is, of course, assuming that the worst case didn’t happen: that they presented, everyone fixated on botulism and so never more than cursorily(?) considered other sources. Which would suck.
That makes sense but I was wondering why they were assuming food poisoning as opposed to other pathologies. So yes, they can narrow down the food that might be responsible, but if they don’t have an actual pathogen, then why assume it was food?
e.g., virus, external toxin (pesticide) etc. One would hope they did work through all that, but I’ve seen too many episodes of House 😉
My main point here is why do media releases about botulism in the absence of a positive test? Better to say “we don’t know”, as much as people don’t like doing that.
probably because they still think it’s the most likely cause, regardless of the test.
I doubt they’d be trying to prevent a panic or something so coming up with a false reason for the public – pretty solidly seems to be a one-off.
To flip from House to CSI, apparently some juries now tend to think the prosecution is incompetent if DNA tests weren’t done, even if the accused’s presence at the scene isn’t debated. Similarly, the botulism test might clinically (depending on circumstances) be regarded as the complete proof of confirmation (minimal false positive results) but with a low disproof (very high false negative rate). Not very sensitive, but highly specific.
Also, we don’t know if other likely causes were tested for and those tests more reliably excluded the other factors – or the pattern of illness doesn’t match the vectors those conditions are transmitted by.
Well, we don’t know the specifics of the case to that detail, but things like:
proximity to the meal,
lack of traces of likely poisons in the home (e.g. fly spray or bora bomb – something to disrupt nerves),
the incidence limited to one household rather than a cluster of neighbouring homes,
different people with different times spent in the home coming down in the same manner (if it was dodgy wallpaper like the old Victorian arsenic green then people who spent all day in the home for a while would have come down before people in and out for school or work),
not everyone ate the salmon mousse made from tinned salmon,
and so on would all point to the the specific food as the most likely source.
yes, but I think that just takes us back to wondering if they were that rigorous, and why name botulism in the absence of a positive test.
Could be a bit of chinese whispers if somewhere in the chain between diagnostician and report, a phrase like ‘symptoms are consistent with botulism’ became just ‘botulism’.
I could see that happening. Also sometimes doctors like to say something even if it’s not quite right, than say nothing, because they feel pressured to be the person that will do the saving (or at least the knowing).
True, both.
At least it seems to have been a one-off incident.
thankfully!
Pigs will eat the possum carcasses and ingest 1080, which will accumulate and may kill the pig. If the pig was still mobile when it was “harvested” you’d need to eat a lot of the pig to be at risk.
http://www.centralhighlands.qld.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IPA-1080-PA5.pdf 1080 is used to target pigs in Queensland.
“If a hunter shot a 60 kg feral pig that was in the latent period following ingestion of 3 kg of 1080 bait (at a rate of 1152 mg 1080/kg), and based on the unlikely assumption that half the ingested poison has become evenly distributed through the carcass, that hunter would need to eat 36.1 kg in one sitting before being at risk.”
So unlikely that this was caused by someone shooting a pig that had ingested 1080. Finding a carcass that had died from 1080, that could be another story.
“If a hunter shot a 60 kg feral pig that was in the latent period following ingestion of 3 kg of 1080 bait (at a rate of 1152 mg 1080/kg), and based on the unlikely assumption that half the ingested poison has become evenly distributed through the carcass, that hunter would need to eat 36.1 kg in one sitting before being at risk.”
This sounds a particularly dubious example, in part because wild pig behavior would not typically involve stopping at 3kgs of bait. The pig would eat all the bait available.
1080 toxicity is put between 0.5mg/kg and 10mg/kg.
The assumption that half the poison is not absorbed or available is arbitrary.
Given the variation in assigning toxicity, the figure of 36.1kg is unprofessional nonsense.
It is reasonable to assume that if secondary toxicity is sufficient to kill pigs or dogs that consume possums, that humans would be at risk if they joined that food chain. It is not necessarily safe to consume considerably less than potentially lethal doses – negative effects may commence at substantially lower levels.
Temple WA & Edwards IR (1984) Toxic ducks – 1080 residues in game birds : An exercise in applied toxicology. Vet. Hum. Toxicol. 27(1) : 20-21
http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/chemical/pim494.htm
Thanks for that – I’ve found a variety of sources, some of which are less sanguine about degradation – though offal as a primary location for most oral poisons makes sense.
Temple & Edwards notwithstanding, I won’t be queuing to try 1080 killed pork.
It’s only more probable if it was anywhere near the hunting zone at around the same time as the hunting occurred.
It seems this is not the case.
It could be anything – hell the pig might have eaten funny mushrooms, some random poison a nearby farmer had sly-dropped without telling anyone, or there was some random thing in the pig that we might not even see again.
The botulism test might also have a pretty high false negative rate, or maybe whatever the pig had was similar to botulism but different enough to not show up.
I don’t know. But I know enough to know that there’s still some things we don’t know about poisons and viruses and what’s in our forests.
I was thinking mushrooms, or weeds like hemlock or tutu (don’t know if the toxins pass on to people who eat the meat), and also farmers poisoning on the sly.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/71061348/okaihau-vet-works-on-cure-for-dog-illness-go-slow
that was a fascinating read.
My 2 cents – in my own burg immigrants are only too willing to buy wild meat from dodgy as fuck sources so I reckon the victims didn’t ask too many questions when they purchased the meat from locals who IMO, would’ve known damn well not to eat it themselves.
makes sense. Do you think the Waikato family illness is related to the dog ones, or just that it’s another example of the problems with wild boar when not enough caution is taken?
Could be related to go slow but I lean towards downright disregard for food safety by the sellers of entire, un-refrigerated animals with only the gastrointestinal tract removed, and the ignorance of buyers who don’t understand just how dangerous meat from dubious sources can be.
if I recall my Plato, hemlock progressively goes from the feet up. But I’m not sure Phaedo is still a current medical text 🙂
Why wasn’t there a complete set of blood-tests done at the time to determine the probable cause?
In this day and age doctors shouldn’t be guessing as to what’s wrong.
Cost. Those tests are contracted out and have become very expensive. Last tropical suite I had to do was $400. Botulism is rare in NZ – though more common in other countries. Testing every local poisoning event for it would be foolish. Given that no cause has been identified however there is still some spadework to be done.
Yes, I’m fully against the national health service using contracted parties to do the testing. They tend to be more expensive and less up to date.
Research indicates that there’s a reasonably cheap, quick blood test available.
Private model means no cost savings are passed on. They turn into ‘profits’ instead.
Draco, your research indicates that a better than current diagnostic test was in small-scale assessment a couple of years ago.
It might still be being looked at, or that study you pointed to might not match larger scale trials, or there might not be a lab in NZ certified for it, or it might even have been used in this case.
You might be drawing a long bow there
What Stuart said.
And sometimes “viral infection of unknown type” is the best we can do (if that), even if the patient is at death’s door and every conceivable test is done. Mate of mine was within hours of dying, but fortunately recovered. The best guess was a virus similar to meningitis, but all the tests came back negative. Probably just some virus that most people never have a problem with but clocked off in his case for some reason.
Not to mention the workload for labs. They’re already understaffed.
My mate the nurse reckons every year the ICU he works in sees patients admitted in dire need of support with some dying, yet nobody has a clue about what exactly ails or kills them.
Not even after the third diagnosis? Yeah, they never covered that in House…
We know a zillion times what we did 100 years ago, and in another hundred years they’ll think we were in the dark ages.
Aye friends daughter was in hospital a couple of months ago along with four others who had no previous contact with each other.
All had severe vomiting and stomach pain and were placed on drips.
The best they could be told it was likely a virus and for about 50% of the people who have those symptoms they have no idea what the virus is or what to test for as the virus is likely unknown.
Which simply should not happen.
Another case of cascading shoulds.
Yes. We should actually have enough medical staff employed to ensure that an adequate level of service is provided.
It’s not really expensive as we do have the people available both to do the training and to provide that service.
The world would be so much better if everything were changed to your approval, eh.
How many people would we need in order to provide a full range of screening and diagnostic tests for every person who contacts primary or secondary healthcare services, or “should” we just restrict it to hospital admissions?
A really interesting profile of Glenn Greenwald.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/glenn-greenwald-russia-investigation.html
It’s nothing more than a smear job by a Democratic Party loyalist. Why would you bother posting up such rubbish?
Come on any attempt to break up the left is the order of the day by the rwnj’s Morrissey – you must have must have missed the “rwnj news letter” that arrived just after the election.
Good fun!
With an added bonus of rarking up moonbats!
Fool, I’m sure you have read nothing of Glenn Greenwald, so here’s an introduction for you. I highly commend it to other, more serious, people by the way…
Just another smear attack on Greenwald.
I too wondered about the origins and source of that pig.
Had some South Asian gentlemen wanting to buy some goat carcasses once. Took a lot of discussion to get them to understand that they weren’t fit for consumption (they weren’t even fit for dog tucker, they were headed for the gut hole) and that it was illegal for me to sell meat to people on health grounds.
Ooops, that was meant to be a reply to Stuart Munro at 12.1
What was wrong with them?
They’d been dead for a bit long
Yeah, that’s not good.
This, from the woman who reckoned Arabs hated Jews more than they loved their own children.
//
In 1958, then-foreign minister Golda Meir raised the possibility of preventing handicapped and sick Polish Jews from immigrating to Israel, a recently discovered Foreign Ministry document has revealed.
“A proposal was raised in the coordination committee to inform the Polish government that we want to institute selection in aliyah, because we cannot continue accepting sick and handicapped people. Please give your opinion as to whether this can be explained to the Poles without hurting immigration,” read the document, written by Meir to Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Katriel Katz.
The letter, marked “top secret” and written in April 1958, shortly after Meir became foreign minister, was uncovered by Prof. Szymon Rudnicki, a Polish historian at the University of Warsaw.
In recent years, Rudnicki has been researching documents shedding light on Israeli-Polish relations between 1945 and 1967.
The document had not been known to exist before this time, and scholars of the mass immigration from Poland to Israel that took place from 1956 to 1958 were unaware of Israel’s intent to impose a selection process on Jews leaving Poland – survivors of the Holocaust and its death camps.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t-214CN5aZQJ:https://www.haaretz.com/golda-meir-told-poland-don-t-send-sick-or-disabled-jews-to-israel-1.2523+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Another shining example, of there being no left wing in Israeli politics. Mind you, quite a few plonkers on the left pre 1945 were fans of letting the disabled die.
Not uncommon across much of the world, although New Zealand took a few Poles after World War 2.
But immigration health discrimination is pretty common still.
Current health requirements for just a visa to get into Saudi Arabia specifically include Polio right now:
https://www.saudia.com/TRAVEL-INFORMATION/About-Saudi-Arabia/Hajj-and-Umrah/Health-Requirements
Current health requirements for getting into New Zealand:
New Zealand has a pretty interesting history of euthenasia prior to WW2 as well.
Ain’t saying it’s right, just make sure it’s seen in the context of comparable policies.
That was not road rage I was just pissing the sandflys off looks like the sandflys got a direct line to the Rock radio. I know you 2 are up to something Thane and Duncan. Ana to kai
The sandfly haven’t got anything better than to harass me I have nothing to hide I advertise who I am ECO MAORI ON MY OLD TRUCK would you do that If you were guilty of the crimes they have told the whole world that I have done no. I could just hop on a plane and go to Australia no i’m staying to look after my whano .I am going to make the justice system treat brown people with the same respect as europeens .I had at least 4 of these muppets interfering with my trip Home from Tauranga to Rotorua .I could see the smoke coming out there ears they don’t like It when I check ALL THERE MOVES .
Go pick on someone who deserves your attention I can smell the muppets a mile away .I don’t mention all the plays the muppets make in a day but I see them all fools .
Ana to kai
I only watch 1 News from TV NZ I know they are fair and just unlike the other channel
which is influenced by the $$$$$$$$$$ Ka pai
Farking hell 🙄
medic!
Zbigniew Brzezinski armed and bankrolled Osama bin Laden;
His daughter seems to be of similar moral stature…
Nobbling climate science, one agency at a time.
The Silencing Science Tracker is a joint initiative of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. It tracks government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research, education or discussion, or the publication or use of scientific information, since the November 2016 election
http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/resources/silencing-science-tracker/
This might be one reason why cancer levels are so high in this country
https://scontent.fakl2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/19264727_1361535870647855_2177768109012469917_o.jpg?oh=b3c9a7710c16d8557d5f72e4f809b28c&oe=5AF1DE98
Which “cancer levels are so high in this country”, presumably compared to other countries?
How are these possibly causatively connected to those particular practices?
Carcinogenic
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/widely-used-herbicide-linked-to-cancer/
Other countries have banned it
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/roundup-banned-netherlands-france-brazil-likely-soon-follow/
https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-09-30-five-countries-have-banned-glyphosate-in-the-wake-of-recent-lawsuits.html
Thank you for those links but none of that answered my quite clear & specific questions.
Which particular “cancer levels are so high in this country” and caused by aerial spraying of those herbicides? Are you expressing a personal belief and/or opinion or do you have verifiable facts to support your comment @ 20? I’m not fussed either way but just like to know where you’re coming from.