I know TRP thinks the Guardian is the font of all knowledge from the UK, but the anti-Brexit partisanship of the liberal urban elites is reaching a fever pitch of hysteria.
Chief amongst these neolib Blairite apologists is Polly Toynbee, who wrote a most amazing column today that recklessly calls for an elite coup against the Brexit referendum result.
Let’s make no mistake – she is calling for a coup. She wants the Westminster political class – mostly members of the Oxbridge elite like her – to walk away from the manifesto promises they were elected on the ensure that the UK does not leave the E.U.
Toynbee is an old woman (72) and a noted turncoat from the days of the SDP split (which guaranteed Thatcher’s majority for a decade) but even for a spiteful old woman this call for a palace coup and elite seizure of power is extraordinary.
Whatever you think of the economic and social consequences of Brexit, it will amount to the most crushing defeat of the hegemony of the Oxbridge leadership class in a century – a breaking that the UK badly needs, since that class’s leadership has been calamitous for the fortunes of that country.
In a sense, Toynbee is right – Brexit will define the British political struggle for a generation or more – and her class will be sidelined from that struggle, and she loathes that idea more than anything else.
It’s not Polly Toynbee’s fault that Corbyn has had no leadership to offer for the last couple of years because he’s on the same side as May on this issue. That lack of leadership is reflected in the polls – Labour should have been giving the Tories a hiding the last couple of years, but are about equal with them in the polls, which reflects its performance being as woeful as the Tories’.
Whatever you think of the economic and social consequences of Brexit, it will amount to the most crushing defeat of the hegemony of the Oxbridge leadership class in a century…
I can never follow this concept that a country being plunged into economic disaster and misery is a good thing because misery will make people rise up against their political masters. Go out and try to sell that one to voters, if you dare.
“Corbyn has had no leadership to offer for the last couple of years”
I hear this a bit – Corbyn lacks leadership.What does leadership look like under these circumstances? Is ‘leadership’ just shorthand for calling for a 2nd referendum in the hope of stopping Brexit?
In a way I hope he would do this – rather than insist he can negotiate a better deal than May, which seems rather unlikely given Europe’s determination to make it difficult. I think it would probably increase his appeal to the electorate. There is a lot to dislike about the EU – especially the insistence on austerity at its deprived margins. But maybe Corbyn should back-burner those concerns for now because it is essential to kill the Tories.
Let me re-phrase that. The EU has made it difficult for May to cherry-pick the bits the Tories want – such as no freedom of movement for people but with unrestricted access to markets for goods and services.
Corbyn’s teams sole mission is to make sure Brexit is owned 100% by the Tories, keep the spotlight on them and simultaneously try and keep their own equally split party out of the headlines – especially important for a Corbyn led Labour because the left-policing liberal elites like Toynbee and the Labour “centrists” (who basically want a continuation of Thatcherism with diversity quotas) hate Corbyn even more than they do Brexit. Just look at how the self-styled “independent group” has switched the media circus back to Labour, and given the Oxbridge class another chance to write another round of wildly imtemperate attack pieces and to smear Corbyn. It isn’t like he isn’t constantly smeared by the Murdoch papers as well.. oh wait…
The thing to remember about the polls is Labour was miles behind in 2017 until the rules around fair reporting kicked in and then they almost won, so given the hysterical tone of the establishment media opposition to Corbyn plus the redtops I reckon level pegging is a bit of a miracle.
Secondly, if you haven’t noticed the UK is currently in an existential crisis, a crisis a century in the making and a crisis entirely the making of an utterly decadent class structure that hasn’t changed since the 1870s. Brexit won’t plunge the UK into “…into economic disaster and misery…” – the underlying economic crisis that put in train Brexit has been brewing for forty years and has been exacerbated by the squandering of North Sea oil wealth and a failure (at the behest of finance) to deal with the consequences of an over-inflated currency on the competitiveness of British industry.
Britain is facing a very bleak future with or without Brexit unless something fundamental changes. Even without Brexit it is an over-populated island with exhausted natural resources, facing an existential identity crisis, and an economy entirely reliant on a narrow, London based, bloated and corrupt financial sector and ruled over by a decadent elite comprising a recklessly irresponsible ruling elite propped up by a smug, out of touch and complacent (neo) liberal middle class.
Such old school socialist thinking. The UK is much more than a London based financial sector. There are in fact huge amounts of innovative and creative businesses that have sprung up over the past 30 to 40 years.
Evidently respect for age and experience is not a feature of this world you live in,
Quite a few people here indulge in this ageist bashing as if they never plan on being old themselves. And even then as an identity group it’s an especially daft one at best.
Well said Anne – I too belong in that age group and found that description quite hurtful. At 73 I don’t think of myself as old and ready to be written off on that basis
I now tend to think of people as being of undefined gender, race, culture and an age as this means no offence can be taken. There are many ways this can be translated into speech, such as, “so you are a Grey Power member of mixed age?” or “ah.. the man of mixed race?” or “Oh sorry, I’m meaning the entity of mixed age, random culture and unidentified gender.”
Unfortunately you, like I, are in the same age bracket as Michael Cullen.
Now there is a spiteful and bitter old man. He still hasn’t got over the fact that New Zealand dumped him and his ilk because there was a far better option available.
He is still taking digs at John Key, in spite of all the kind things the Key Government did for him.
Cullen is the best finance minister NZ has had since the Savage administration, admittedly a mighty low bar.
The Key government on the other hand was morally and intellectually bankrupt – the hordes of foreigners they brought in were the only way their backward, irresponsible and frequently corrupt policies could be faked up as GDP growth.
The biggest failing of the coalition to date is not throwing the crooks in jail. SCF, Christchurch, a number of irrigation schemes and financial improprieties in respect of the soft loans to Mediaworks would have had those responsible locked up in most countries with any pretense to a rule of law.
i hear the chinese government tents to kill high ranking officers that are caught double dipping, or defrauding the government, or for any other corruption if it finds it needy.
wonder if someone like the double dipper would have been left to ‘reorganise’ their affairs after being caught defrauding the government for personal gain?
The pattern I saw when I was in China suggests that someone like Bill would have been imprisoned for a couple of years, and taught a trade like hairdressing or floristry, and told – “don’t let us catch you screwing up again”.
The Korean prosecution service enjoys the power to imprison former politicians while it completes its investigations, which was found necessary to prevent them running around ‘tidying up’ after investigations begin. They also routinely select politicians to audit on the basis of anomalous growth of net wealth. It is safe to say that under Korean justice, a thoroughly corrupt operator like Key would be spending the next two decades minimum, in durance vile.
Of course most of the Key administration’s crimes have not been properly investigated. But SCF stands out, the misappropriation of the assets of one of the wealthiest and most astute self-made businesspeople in the South Island, without a whiff of legal process. Hubbard’s only error was in reposing any trust in the likes of Key and English, who stripped him of his wealth and did him to death as cynically as Stalin did to the kulaks.
You follow politics to some degree Gosman – you know damned well which of the Gnats are as crooked as dogs’ hind legs. Key’s insider trading in railway shares alone would’ve sufficed to have him in prison in the US.
I doubt it – but I believe that there is a very unhealthy convention, of not going after the crooks in previous governments, which is part of the reason we have such high levels of entrenched systemic corruption.
The China Investment Bank is another example – created to provide sinecures for the likes of Jenny Shipley, it will never return value on a par with its start up costs to NZ unless it is run by qualified and experienced financial managers instead of politicised primary teachers.
“admittedly a mighty low bar”.
Indeed yes. I’m sure you will excuse my laughter at the thought that Walter Nash is your examplar of a great Finance Minister?
On the other hand he was certainly better than Michael.
But then anyone would have been better that Michael.
Let us just say that Walter was better than 3 or 4 of those since 1935.
Certainly he was better than Muldoon, Peters and Cullen. Perhaps there is another one.
No, let us not say “anyone would’ve been better than Michael”.
There’s no room for lies that fatuous.
And before you have go at Nash, you’d do well to recall that he managed a housing scheme that dwarfs anything a New Zealand government has run since, without creating problems on the finance end.
Cullen was and remains infinitely better than the much lauded but frankly fucking hopeless Bill English for example. If you read MSM descriptions of English you’d’ve thought he was the fucking messiah – but outside our goldfish bowl no-one ever heard of him and no-one wanted a bar of him, which is why he had to shoot through to Oz to get a job with Nathans after he finally destroyed his political career.
English never met a single Treasury target and they had nothing but praise for him; Cullen invariably outperformed their predictions – and they hated him for it – he repeatedly proved their incompetence. The only pity is that he didn’t sack most of them, it’s the most overstaffed and least productive outfit in the civil service – and that includes the farcically inept Immigration service.
What a bunch of old farts. Whining and demanding Extreme Respect just because you are old. Old people who care about the world and other people can’t afford to be PC. And can’t demand to be regarded as saint-like and above approach. I hate smarmy saints; give them a few transgressions so that real aware humans can integrate with them and understand each other and the complex world that it always has been.
Sanctuary often goes OTT. It’s not fair Sanctuary to call Toynbee spiteful and old; either would convey an aspect to be considered. It seems when you get old the essence of meanness and selfishness in you concentrates, or you wake up from Rip Van Winkle state, start, and gather yourself for a foray into things. By the way I turned 77 this month. So i know something about the world and being old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biUvH1XcVmg
With that group of ‘old farts’ no-one should afford some respect to them as they are always running down all those who they don’t see eye to eye with, and they don’t show respect for others either.
Many of us are old farts only in patches. My thought is that we had all last century with things getting better for us and ignored warnings that should have prompted us to do some thinking about our own and society’s directions.
In this century we can’t sit back in our comfy chairs and and behave like little lords and ladies, and let the world go by. We’ve had a hand in making this present debacle, and anyone ‘old’ who isn’t concerned about doing some hard yakka from time to time and putting up with some language that’s off-side, aren’t responding to the call to duty. Goodwill to the young and the planet that birthed us demands it.
I agree we are all guilty of not paying attention to the warnings of scientists and people out in the field. Being precious about getting old is just a distraction. We have not been good guardians. That is a hard sad truth. We need to work at what we personally can do to turn things around. Cheers Greywarshark.
Thanks to the commenters who pointed out that there was no need for the gender based sentence. I’d like to think we’re all capable of formulating our criticisms in a way that is respectful, thoughtful and nuanced. A big ask, sometimes, I know, but we should aim higher than other, lesser blogs, I reckon.
And, Sanctuary, the Grauniad is No3 on my list of go to media outlets, behind the Morning Star and Private Eye. However, the Guardian is far easier to link to than the other two, so it’s the one I use most often as a resource for posting here.
I agree with the fact that the Grauniad is easier to download. Similarly, my first blog visit each morning is now PG’s – because he is an early riser as are some of his commenters. So, by the time I am surfacing , PG has usually already posted about the news stories of the day and it saves me searching! I then go and read his links rather than his abridged versions and the comments.
Since a certain departure, TS tends to get off to slower (more civilised?) starts these days like myself. LOL.
“Departure“? Sounds like landlord spin. Wouldn’t ‘permanent eviction‘ be more accurate?
I understand that permanent ban was welcomed by some who still seem to find it a source of amusement (LOL) – not so keen on post-facto ridicule myself.
While not a cheerleader for Ed’s ‘style’, some of the links they posted were useful to me. I personally found their presence on The Standard less irritating than (say) James, or Bewildered, or Shadrach, or BM, or Alwyn, or Naki man, or infused, or Tuppence Shrewsbury, whose ‘contributions’ to yesterday’s ‘Tax Working Group Proposals’ post ‘helped’ to dampen down ‘echos’.
“It’s simply too much. North Americans consume 638 per cent more meat than the planet can handle, with livestock responsible for about 8 per cent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions owing to burping cows, manure management, and other factors. The world as a whole is at nearly triple its meat carrying capacity according the EAT-Lancet report that outlines the planetary health plate diet.”
Well, she’s just giving us a quick flick with her long tail. I fear it won’t be enough for some places, but others might get a bit of a bollocking if a deep low forms to the east of us. 🙂
if the ‘farmers’ aka those that specialise in resource extraction forget the drought by tomorrow they will be reminded next week that todays piddle was not enough.
I think Labour will propose to bring in a watered down version of the recommendation, most likely the rate payable will be 15% to 20% maximum or inflation indexed. Just a political reality as they will need NZF on board with this one.
Grey is referring to the middle classes who aspire to be like the ‘rich pricks’, so they support tax policies that only advantage the ‘rich pricks’, even when it doesn’t benefit them directly.
This is akin to non-wealthy people buying expensive lotto tickets even though the chances of winning anything is less than miniscule, and even if they do happen to win they realise that doesn’t bring them happiness either.
‘Middle class’ numbers have been shrinking after 2008 if you haven’t noticed?
Now the lower class is much larger now and the remainder “middle class” are now rich as part of the 10% and we are all part of the remainder 90% who are poorer then we were 10 yrs ago.
Labour needs to make the argument about the reduction in income tax for the lower and middle class that can come about as a result of this. How they’ll now be able to afford indexing tax bands for inflation. Make it a tax cut argument rather than a higher tax nightmare
Anything but confronting the skiing and would-be-skiing middle class will put the kiss on the death of Labour. But they can off-lay this onto NZ First this time.
Confrontation of the parasite, subservient class born of freemarket/ rule of the jungle 84 will be hard to avoid to restore a fair society.
Duncan Garner has come out all guns blazing in full support . I know wtf.
This is a slam dunk James old boy .
hooton has know credibility in this country.
Yeah hollow man hooton knows lol what a tosspot James try hard. Hooton is a nothing that nobodies listen to – he’s an egg. A hollow plastic pretend chocolate egg.
how many properties and business investment does Hooton have to be frothing at the mouth at a recommendation that has yet to pass to law?
Still talking up that boy with the sausage sizzler? the one with multiple ownership of properties and the likes?
Does it occur to you that many people in this country don’t own multiple investments and thus are fairly nonplussed that the rich and the very rich have to pay tax on income derived from investment and the likes just like a kid has to pay taxes on his / her paper run?
oh, you own a large property you said, you might be eligible? Bummer dude.
As for Jacinda Ardern being a one term Prime Minister for wanting to levy taxes aimed squarely at her income and investment class, your No Mates Party needs a quick overhaul, cause the current lot is useless, vile, unattractive, unlikable, sexist, dumb and uninspired and has an approval of some 6 % as ‘preferred PM’.
I would say that you just get used to the idea that when you sell your property (and if you only own a ‘family home’ you might even find you are exempt) that you might have to pay a Capital Gain Tax on the profits and find something else to whine about.
oh i get it, you are a temporarily embarrassed millionaire in the making and this tax would not apply to you at all today but maybe in a gazillion years when you are all grown up and rich, and then you would of course not want to pay that tax. I get it. Its future proofing with you. 🙂
Hooton nails it. The capital gains tax is dead on arrival.
People who think “the kiwi way of life” involves owning multiple investment properties will certainly do their damnedest to ensure it is, but they won’t necessarily succeed.
The great majority of voters don’t have investments to pay tax on. The government can pitch this to that great majority on the basis that the wealthy who’ve been avoiding taxes will have to pay some, while the people who work for a living will get an income tax cut. The only thing that will make that an uphill struggle is lying propaganda from Simon and co, and the fact that Winston First is beholden to its donors.
It will have an effect. A damper on the idea that NZ is wiiiiiide open to every money-making schemer, and hopefully we will soon lose our supremacy as being the easiest country in the world to start a business. We have enough of the shams and scams and buying a house as a way of turning promises into real estate. Money is just promises in token or written form, it may not even be good for starting fires.
Hooten is such a fount of knowledge!! sarc..
Hysterical screamer would be closer to the truth. He really screams when losing it. Kathryn Ryan has been known to tell him to tone it down when he lost the plot.
The govt will come out with something minor – maybe just extend the brightline test on property sales to 10 or 20 years and leave the sale of businesses alone for now. It will look all balanced and reasonable.
The key is to move the public discourse in the right direction. Overcoming the initial inertia is the big challenge, but once it’s moving then it’s easier to eventually get somewhere near where you need to be. Overton windows are like gummed-up ranchsliders – it takes sh*tloads of CRC and pushing at the start.
So you’ll keep James, you’ll keep.
The ridiculous comments from Simon Bridges, which has seen him lampooned about what actually constitutes “the Kiwi way of life”, will have the Gnats fuming. Instead of talking about a CGT, his hamfistedness has got people talking about how out of touch he is.
He is a complete embarrassment to them – long may it last.
Talking about the Kiwi way of life, Amy Adams was interviewed by Guyon Espiner on Morning Report and became quite put out when he raised the fact that she was listed in the 2018 Register of Pecuniary Interests for all MPs as owning eight properties. She responded that is was now only six properties …
Re the annual Parliamentary Register of Pecuniary Interests, I have provided some information on this and links to the current 2018 and previous Registers at comment 9 under the “In defense of taxing the family home” post.
I won’t attempt to link to that comment as such links don’t work currently. (Latter is not a complaint.)
Thank you VV for this and the list of pecuniary interests.
Excellent to hear that Guyon E has already used this line of questioning to address Gnat MPs who are attempting to critique the tax proposal without disclosing that they have related personal interests.
Good goveranace practice is to declare all pecuniary interest before entering into discussion from the position of the privilege of your position – in this case as a representative of the people.
Breaking News…
Simon Bridges lays compliant to Police, in his statement he describes being ‘assaulted’ by a ‘Big hairy chested man’. Witnesses said the perpetrator laughingly pulled on Bridges hair, the alleged assault took place at a local Golf Club BBQ fundraiser.
More details to follow…
Genesis 27:11
Verse Concepts
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
It was important to differentiate because there was a bit of skullduggery going on: In Genesis, Esau returned to his twin brother Jacob, famished from the fields. … In Genesis 27:1–40, Jacob uses deception, motivated by his mother Rebecca, to lay claim to his blind father Isaac’s blessing that was inherently due to the firstborn, Esau.
So JK could claim about being pretty smooth and playing with hair, that – they did it first!
China isn’t being mean to us (at the moment) – that’s just National propaganda.
The thing to remember about China is that everyone’s job is on the line, all the time. That means all underlings have to uphold the absolute letter of the law – any minor screw-up they let through will probably cost them their job. So NZers can’t do the “she’ll be right” thing and get away with it.
When China wants to screw with us, the stop buying our milk (in their usual quantities).
“Geopolitics is now a game best played with financial and commercial weapons. The new geoeconomic game may be more efficient and subtle than past geopolitical competitions, but it is no less ruthless and destructive.”
“Virgin Group founder Richard Branson announced last week he is organising a fundraising concert in Colombia on Friday featuring stars such as former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel to raise “US$100 million” for “those millions that need it the most.”
But Roger Waters said Branson had been fooled by a US “shtick.”
“I have friends in Caracas right now, there is so far no civil war, no mayhem, no murder, no apparent dictatorship, no mass imprisonment of opposition, no suppression of the press,” said Waters in a post liked 12,000 times.
“None of that is going on even though that is the narrative that is being sold to the rest of us.”
after losing the last election the corrupt national Govt left the NZ economy in a weak and vulnerable condition …
“Our national debt has topped half a trillion dollars and is still rising,”
” The latest Reserve Bank figures (for the year to April 30) show household debt has topped $250b, driven by rising property prices and an increase in consumer borrowing.
That’s an increase of more than 60 per cent in 10 years.”
And although John Key personally made a million dollars per year out of the housing bubble / crisis … the cost has been workers unable to buy homes and live in a city like Auckland.
Many farmers got burned by the Nats bubble economics ….
“Rural debt appears to have topped $60 billion ”
“Banks tell dairy farmers: it’s time to pay it back ” ….
So piss weak is our economy after 9 years of national mismanagement …. that a 3% rise in interest rates would stall the economy …. and a 5% rise would crash it.
If the banks called in their farm overdrafts …. they could crash the rural economy, shortly followed by the entire economy
If the ‘foot and mouth” disease entered NZ our economy would crash … thanks to nationals cowenomics, which besides poisoning our fresh water with cow piss, shit and farm chemicals … has left our economy so weak a animal disease could bring it down.
And If either the Chinese or the Aussies told us to get fucked ………. they could crash our economy.
%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%
NZ just about wets itself every-time we have a credit rating review … such is the weakness of our economy.
Now imagine what would happen if the usa declared NZ a “national security threat” , such as Obama did to Venezuela in 2015
“The United States declared Venezuela a national security threat” …..”U.S. President Barack Obama signed and issued the executive order,”..”Declaring any country a threat to national security is the first step in starting a U.S. sanctions program. The same process has been followed with countries such as Iran and Syria, U.S. officials said. ” ….. and to which I’d add Vietnam Libya, Yugoslavia, Cuba, China and all the other countries the usa has attacked in modern history.
Being declared a “national security threat” by the usa would probably result in a D- credit rating and 25%+ interest rates for NZ borrowers ….
What would 20% or higher interest rates on mortgages and farm debt do to the Nz economy ???
Think about that the next time Gooseman or Warmonger Mapp blame socialism for all of Venezuela ills…..
Or ask them …. What would happen to our eonomy …..if the usa was always supporting coups in our country ….and declared NZ a hostile state ?…..
Ummm…. why was Venezuela dependent on the US to the extent that if the US President classifies them a security threat the whole economy implodes? That is not exactly a glowing endorsement of 20 years of Bolivarian Socialism is it? They couldn’t ensure the Venezuelan economy would be able to ride out a mere threat from the US. How pathetic and powerless the Chavista regime is not being able to manage that.
The point being you don’t really understand the economic prblems of Venezuela. You just parrot the regimes excuses. Tell me how the US causes hyper-inflation in Venezuela just by declaring it a security threat?
Gooseman ….I’m not going to answer your crap….. until you answer me and explain why NZ s economy would be trashed if we got the Venezuela treatment from the usa.
Ie our economy would shit itself and die if the usa was always supporting coups in our country ….and declared NZ a hostile state …..
Despite your refusal to answer …honest people know New Zealand would be a bsket case if the USA gave us anything like the same treatment…..
Here’s a second question for you to fail at …..
Can you produce any capatilist or market economy / country that delivered an equal or greater improvement for its people, in the same or shorter period of time …. than Libya achieved by using socialisim. ???????? can ya gosboy ?
Libya, in 1951 was officially the poorest country in the world, …….when its corrupt king and British Petroleum were ousted it was still one of the poorest nations in Africa and the world ….
in a little over a generation , using socialisim and Prior to the US-led bombing campaign in 2011, Libya had the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy in all of Africa.
infant mortality rates have decreased from 105 per 1000 live births in 1970, to 18 in 2005. Mortality rates amongst children under five have seen a similar shift, with 24 per 1000 live births in 2005.
A high rate of trachoma formerly left 10 percent or more of the population blinded or with critically impaired vision, but by the late 1970s the disease appeared to have been brought under control.
Public works ( socialisim ) had solved the previous problem of a country beset with cholera and unsafe water problems ….. They built the largest underground network of pipes and aqueducts in the world. It consists of more than 1300 wells, most more than 500 m deep, and supplies 6,500,000 m of freshwater per day to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirt and elsewhere….. before being destroyed by usa / nato democracy bombs only 3 percent of Libyian were without access to safe water …. … which is probaly better than NZ after Nationals trashing of our water
Before socialisim only 25% of Libyans were literate. Prior to the usa and Nato destroying the country the figure was up to 87% .In a relative short period of time, Libya achieved universal access for primary education, with 98% gross enrollment for secondary, and 46% for tertiary education.The pupil teacher ratio in Libyas primary schools was of the order of 17 (1983 UNESCO data), 74% of school children graduating from primary school were enrolled in secondary school (1983 UNESCO data)
in 1969, few women went to university. Today, more than half of Libyas university students are women. One of the first laws passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law.
Public Health Care in Libya prior to NATO s Humanitarian Interventionwas the best in Africa. Health care is [was] available to all citizens free of charge by the public sector.
The facts and statistics showed a country which went from one of the poorest nations in its continent into the richest nation….it also gained the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy.
As Gooseman will come up empty again …..We’ll give him a third question
Does he agree with Nelson Mandela about the usa ….. “Mandela …..” If you look at those mattersm, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities upon the world, it is the USA. They don’t care for human beings .” ,……” No country can claim to be the policeman of the world and no state can dictate to another what it should do ”
“it is no secret that Venezuela, unlike Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, is targeted for regime change by the US precisely because of Venezuela’s leadership in resisting US hegemony and the imposition of the neoliberal model in Latin America. And of course, Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, attracting more unwanted attention from Washington.”
….”American sanctions are contributing to the issues facing Venezuela is all the more egregious considering that the sanctions violate international law, contravening both UN Resolution 2625, which forbids “the use of economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another state” and the charter of the Organization of American States, which bars the “use of coercive measures of an economic or political character.” As usual (e.g., FAIR.org, 9/19/13, 12/8/17), US media do not deem American violations of international law newsworthy.”
Basically the usa is like a mafia gangster nation ….. their negotiations are ‘ do what we say and wan’t…. or we will kill you and make your children suffer ‘.
Yes PB. Occasionally the door opens enough to see that the whole thing is founded on conflicting economic interests. That my ‘getting ahead’ may be dependent on you staying put, or going backwards. Then the door gets slammed and we witter on about being ‘Kiwis’, as if we were all the same.
When you look at the substance of those bills it’s even worse. The 7 bills of Bernie were mostly real important stuff like naming post offices etc. None of this frivolous shit like setting up the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau like Warren did.
During his 25 years in Congress, Sanders introduced 324 bills, three of which became law. This includes a bill in a Republican Congress naming a post office in Vermont and two more while Democrats had control (one naming another Vermont post office and another increasing veterans’ disability compensation). Clinton, for the record, also passed three bills in eight years.
But the sparse number of bills isn’t surprising. Volden and Vanderbilt University’s Alan Wiseman assess the legislative effectiveness of House members by comparing their records to a benchmark. According to this analysis, Sanders has either met or exceeded expectations during his tenure in the House
We wrote an article today about this loss of our water by global bottling companies now invading our country and now taking much of our best water sources now and damaging our health and properties as they truck freight the product through our poorer areas to our export ports now. These foreign bottling companies are now seen as ‘environmental thugs’ wrecking our communities lives and health.
‘A new water tax is needed for foreign water bottling companies currently paying no water tax while they are causing harm to our public health and environment.‘
Press release – Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre Incorporated. 22nd February 2019.
The environmental impacts of business activities of water bottling in NZ are currently not being considered by “The Tax Working Party” group, as to the environmental impacts these foreign overseas companies are causing to our residential communities health and wellbeing now; – consider the cost and harm they are causing us now by only using truck freight transport;
We are supporting placing a new water tax on those foreign overseas companies taking our best water around our country today as they are choosing to exclusively use only road truck freight which has a large carbon footprint and impact on residential health from noise, vibration and air pollution.
Facts;
• The transporting of that water by trucks to production plants and for export is harming our roads as more trucks are gridlocking the roads causing accidents and road damage.
• But the elephant in the room is the harm the extra truck transport going through our cities and causing noise, vibration and air pollution is now adversely affecting the health and wellbeing of many residential areas around the country and councils claim now have no funds to mitigate the adverse effects of these trucks carrying water for export through their residential zones to export.
• The “Tax Working Party” should be a proposing an ‘environmental harm’ cost as part of a tax on the “user pays” principal, to pay for mitigation on those transport effects to our citizens.
Since these water export companies are now choosing to use only the roads to move millions of litres of water and causing damage both to our residential environment, and impacting large costs to us paying for road repairs on the roads they are using we must place a tax on the cost of transport of that ‘so called free water’ then it is only fair these foreign companies are required to pay tax to mitigate for their damages they are causing in their business.
We think this is a fairer system to give local councils and NZTA the funding to repair the roads and repair the water infrastructure also.
All NZ citizens should be not paying tax for a for a ‘natural recourse’ if they are not using it for financial gain, so only commercial water users should pay a tax and NZ business should only pay a limited tax far less then foreign companies as they are not citizens.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel would never have a government without political horse-trading. Governments form when parties win enough seats in the Knesset and cobble together enough partners to form a ruling, majority coalition.
But one trade is raising eyebrows and even alarm, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being seen as brokering a marriage of convenience between an extremist right-wing party, Otzma Yehudit, and a more moderate right-wing party, Jewish Home.
Otzma Yehudit, which means “Jewish power,” is the spiritual godchild of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Kach party, which was banned from the Knesset under a Basic Law outlawing incitement to violence and later exiled entirely in Israel. Kahane was the American immigrant founder of the militant Jewish Defense League, who before his assassination in 1990 promoted the immediate annexation of disputed territories and the expulsion of Arabs from the West Bank.
To lighten the mood
IMO a little gem I was previously unaware of, and thought it is worth sharing …
Just wondering if any out there were aware of this song ?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gKmmaZrJpc
Do like the influence of Brian Jones, even when he is playing the recorder (IMO Greatest song with a recorder) in Ruby Tuesday.
Note to ones self-Take time to look up early works of gifted musician, especially those with R&B DNA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5We4f9bTNvI
Half of freedom is damage to yourself and others — witness my 70s childhood. Our surrounds suffered so we could learn and laugh. Wouldn’t be without that dangerous freedom the religious swop for safety.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
I know TRP thinks the Guardian is the font of all knowledge from the UK, but the anti-Brexit partisanship of the liberal urban elites is reaching a fever pitch of hysteria.
Chief amongst these neolib Blairite apologists is Polly Toynbee, who wrote a most amazing column today that recklessly calls for an elite coup against the Brexit referendum result.
Let’s make no mistake – she is calling for a coup. She wants the Westminster political class – mostly members of the Oxbridge elite like her – to walk away from the manifesto promises they were elected on the ensure that the UK does not leave the E.U.
Toynbee is an old woman (72) and a noted turncoat from the days of the SDP split (which guaranteed Thatcher’s majority for a decade) but even for a spiteful old woman this call for a palace coup and elite seizure of power is extraordinary.
Whatever you think of the economic and social consequences of Brexit, it will amount to the most crushing defeat of the hegemony of the Oxbridge leadership class in a century – a breaking that the UK badly needs, since that class’s leadership has been calamitous for the fortunes of that country.
In a sense, Toynbee is right – Brexit will define the British political struggle for a generation or more – and her class will be sidelined from that struggle, and she loathes that idea more than anything else.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/21/brexit-two-party-system-mps-independent-group
T’ponies aren’t going back down t’mines no matter how long you hold your breath sanky.
It’s not Polly Toynbee’s fault that Corbyn has had no leadership to offer for the last couple of years because he’s on the same side as May on this issue. That lack of leadership is reflected in the polls – Labour should have been giving the Tories a hiding the last couple of years, but are about equal with them in the polls, which reflects its performance being as woeful as the Tories’.
Whatever you think of the economic and social consequences of Brexit, it will amount to the most crushing defeat of the hegemony of the Oxbridge leadership class in a century…
I can never follow this concept that a country being plunged into economic disaster and misery is a good thing because misery will make people rise up against their political masters. Go out and try to sell that one to voters, if you dare.
“Corbyn has had no leadership to offer for the last couple of years”
I hear this a bit – Corbyn lacks leadership.What does leadership look like under these circumstances? Is ‘leadership’ just shorthand for calling for a 2nd referendum in the hope of stopping Brexit?
In a way I hope he would do this – rather than insist he can negotiate a better deal than May, which seems rather unlikely given Europe’s determination to make it difficult. I think it would probably increase his appeal to the electorate. There is a lot to dislike about the EU – especially the insistence on austerity at its deprived margins. But maybe Corbyn should back-burner those concerns for now because it is essential to kill the Tories.
too late for a referendum to be organised.
The options are to crash out, take whatever the EU offered on the hope it’s still on the table, or cancel Brexit.
You missed the delay for a bit longer. That is probably the most likely one at this stage.
Fair call.
But like taking the offer, delay is contingent on EU agreement, which might put constraints on that option.
So still a pool of shit no matter what the UK pollies choose.
Yes, it’s great fun watching all sides turn themselves in to pretzels trying to square the Brexit circle.
How has the EU made it difficult for the UK?
Let me re-phrase that. The EU has made it difficult for May to cherry-pick the bits the Tories want – such as no freedom of movement for people but with unrestricted access to markets for goods and services.
Corbyn’s teams sole mission is to make sure Brexit is owned 100% by the Tories, keep the spotlight on them and simultaneously try and keep their own equally split party out of the headlines – especially important for a Corbyn led Labour because the left-policing liberal elites like Toynbee and the Labour “centrists” (who basically want a continuation of Thatcherism with diversity quotas) hate Corbyn even more than they do Brexit. Just look at how the self-styled “independent group” has switched the media circus back to Labour, and given the Oxbridge class another chance to write another round of wildly imtemperate attack pieces and to smear Corbyn. It isn’t like he isn’t constantly smeared by the Murdoch papers as well.. oh wait…
The thing to remember about the polls is Labour was miles behind in 2017 until the rules around fair reporting kicked in and then they almost won, so given the hysterical tone of the establishment media opposition to Corbyn plus the redtops I reckon level pegging is a bit of a miracle.
Secondly, if you haven’t noticed the UK is currently in an existential crisis, a crisis a century in the making and a crisis entirely the making of an utterly decadent class structure that hasn’t changed since the 1870s. Brexit won’t plunge the UK into “…into economic disaster and misery…” – the underlying economic crisis that put in train Brexit has been brewing for forty years and has been exacerbated by the squandering of North Sea oil wealth and a failure (at the behest of finance) to deal with the consequences of an over-inflated currency on the competitiveness of British industry.
Britain is facing a very bleak future with or without Brexit unless something fundamental changes. Even without Brexit it is an over-populated island with exhausted natural resources, facing an existential identity crisis, and an economy entirely reliant on a narrow, London based, bloated and corrupt financial sector and ruled over by a decadent elite comprising a recklessly irresponsible ruling elite propped up by a smug, out of touch and complacent (neo) liberal middle class.
Such old school socialist thinking. The UK is much more than a London based financial sector. There are in fact huge amounts of innovative and creative businesses that have sprung up over the past 30 to 40 years.
Having been brought up on Carlyle’s difficult-to-survive sentences I really must drape my head in salute to your last over-stuffed magnificence.
Lovely writing Sanc….and I 90% agree
It strikes me as pandora’s box stuff via myopic unaccountability.
A mistake of ideological shadows for the prudence of yesteryears.
but even for a spiteful old woman
Evidently respect for age and experience is not a feature of this world you live in,
Quite a few people here indulge in this ageist bashing as if they never plan on being old themselves. And even then as an identity group it’s an especially daft one at best.
Sanctuary, I’m in my 70s and I’m far from old in thought or deed. Nor am I spiteful and never have been.
Please be more careful with your phrasing eh?
Well said Anne – I too belong in that age group and found that description quite hurtful. At 73 I don’t think of myself as old and ready to be written off on that basis
In my late 70s methinks that this Middle age is OK. That kid Simon is spiteful though and he is only 40ish.
Yes, let’s all police the identity politics. Much easier than dealing with fact or the Brexit crisis.
It’s got nothing to do with identity politics dick, it’s basic manners.
I now tend to think of people as being of undefined gender, race, culture and an age as this means no offence can be taken. There are many ways this can be translated into speech, such as, “so you are a Grey Power member of mixed age?” or “ah.. the man of mixed race?” or “Oh sorry, I’m meaning the entity of mixed age, random culture and unidentified gender.”
Unfortunately you, like I, are in the same age bracket as Michael Cullen.
Now there is a spiteful and bitter old man. He still hasn’t got over the fact that New Zealand dumped him and his ilk because there was a far better option available.
He is still taking digs at John Key, in spite of all the kind things the Key Government did for him.
What nonsense you talk.
Cullen is the best finance minister NZ has had since the Savage administration, admittedly a mighty low bar.
The Key government on the other hand was morally and intellectually bankrupt – the hordes of foreigners they brought in were the only way their backward, irresponsible and frequently corrupt policies could be faked up as GDP growth.
The biggest failing of the coalition to date is not throwing the crooks in jail. SCF, Christchurch, a number of irrigation schemes and financial improprieties in respect of the soft loans to Mediaworks would have had those responsible locked up in most countries with any pretense to a rule of law.
Really??? Can you give me the names of these countries where the members of the last government would have been locked up by now?
i hear the chinese government tents to kill high ranking officers that are caught double dipping, or defrauding the government, or for any other corruption if it finds it needy.
wonder if someone like the double dipper would have been left to ‘reorganise’ their affairs after being caught defrauding the government for personal gain?
The Chinese government doesn’t change ruling parties very much in case you missed it. 😉🤣
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_China
yes dear.
The pattern I saw when I was in China suggests that someone like Bill would have been imprisoned for a couple of years, and taught a trade like hairdressing or floristry, and told – “don’t let us catch you screwing up again”.
The Korean prosecution service enjoys the power to imprison former politicians while it completes its investigations, which was found necessary to prevent them running around ‘tidying up’ after investigations begin. They also routinely select politicians to audit on the basis of anomalous growth of net wealth. It is safe to say that under Korean justice, a thoroughly corrupt operator like Key would be spending the next two decades minimum, in durance vile.
Of course most of the Key administration’s crimes have not been properly investigated. But SCF stands out, the misappropriation of the assets of one of the wealthiest and most astute self-made businesspeople in the South Island, without a whiff of legal process. Hubbard’s only error was in reposing any trust in the likes of Key and English, who stripped him of his wealth and did him to death as cynically as Stalin did to the kulaks.
You follow politics to some degree Gosman – you know damned well which of the Gnats are as crooked as dogs’ hind legs. Key’s insider trading in railway shares alone would’ve sufficed to have him in prison in the US.
Why isn’t the current government pursuing him then? Are they just as corrupt?
I doubt it – but I believe that there is a very unhealthy convention, of not going after the crooks in previous governments, which is part of the reason we have such high levels of entrenched systemic corruption.
The China Investment Bank is another example – created to provide sinecures for the likes of Jenny Shipley, it will never return value on a par with its start up costs to NZ unless it is run by qualified and experienced financial managers instead of politicised primary teachers.
“admittedly a mighty low bar”.
Indeed yes. I’m sure you will excuse my laughter at the thought that Walter Nash is your examplar of a great Finance Minister?
On the other hand he was certainly better than Michael.
But then anyone would have been better that Michael.
Let us just say that Walter was better than 3 or 4 of those since 1935.
Certainly he was better than Muldoon, Peters and Cullen. Perhaps there is another one.
No, let us not say “anyone would’ve been better than Michael”.
There’s no room for lies that fatuous.
And before you have go at Nash, you’d do well to recall that he managed a housing scheme that dwarfs anything a New Zealand government has run since, without creating problems on the finance end.
Cullen was and remains infinitely better than the much lauded but frankly fucking hopeless Bill English for example. If you read MSM descriptions of English you’d’ve thought he was the fucking messiah – but outside our goldfish bowl no-one ever heard of him and no-one wanted a bar of him, which is why he had to shoot through to Oz to get a job with Nathans after he finally destroyed his political career.
English never met a single Treasury target and they had nothing but praise for him; Cullen invariably outperformed their predictions – and they hated him for it – he repeatedly proved their incompetence. The only pity is that he didn’t sack most of them, it’s the most overstaffed and least productive outfit in the civil service – and that includes the farcically inept Immigration service.
‘Spiteful and bitter’ ? Satisfied to the point of ‘self’.
What a bunch of old farts. Whining and demanding Extreme Respect just because you are old. Old people who care about the world and other people can’t afford to be PC. And can’t demand to be regarded as saint-like and above approach. I hate smarmy saints; give them a few transgressions so that real aware humans can integrate with them and understand each other and the complex world that it always has been.
Sanctuary often goes OTT. It’s not fair Sanctuary to call Toynbee spiteful and old; either would convey an aspect to be considered. It seems when you get old the essence of meanness and selfishness in you concentrates, or you wake up from Rip Van Winkle state, start, and gather yourself for a foray into things. By the way I turned 77 this month. So i know something about the world and being old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biUvH1XcVmg
greywarshark,
With that group of ‘old farts’ no-one should afford some respect to them as they are always running down all those who they don’t see eye to eye with, and they don’t show respect for others either.
Many of us are old farts only in patches. My thought is that we had all last century with things getting better for us and ignored warnings that should have prompted us to do some thinking about our own and society’s directions.
In this century we can’t sit back in our comfy chairs and and behave like little lords and ladies, and let the world go by. We’ve had a hand in making this present debacle, and anyone ‘old’ who isn’t concerned about doing some hard yakka from time to time and putting up with some language that’s off-side, aren’t responding to the call to duty. Goodwill to the young and the planet that birthed us demands it.
1000%
Thanks patricia. I appreciate your opinion, so when you don’t agree or want to add something to things I say, please pass the thought on.
I agree we are all guilty of not paying attention to the warnings of scientists and people out in the field. Being precious about getting old is just a distraction. We have not been good guardians. That is a hard sad truth. We need to work at what we personally can do to turn things around. Cheers Greywarshark.
Jeez, try being pale, male, stale. Then you become fair game for discrimination, with no argument allowed.
Yebbit you’re not Polly Toynbee are you. Or ARE you?
Thanks to the commenters who pointed out that there was no need for the gender based sentence. I’d like to think we’re all capable of formulating our criticisms in a way that is respectful, thoughtful and nuanced. A big ask, sometimes, I know, but we should aim higher than other, lesser blogs, I reckon.
And, Sanctuary, the Grauniad is No3 on my list of go to media outlets, behind the Morning Star and Private Eye. However, the Guardian is far easier to link to than the other two, so it’s the one I use most often as a resource for posting here.
I agree with the fact that the Grauniad is easier to download. Similarly, my first blog visit each morning is now PG’s – because he is an early riser as are some of his commenters. So, by the time I am surfacing , PG has usually already posted about the news stories of the day and it saves me searching! I then go and read his links rather than his abridged versions and the comments.
Since a certain departure, TS tends to get off to slower (more civilised?) starts these days like myself. LOL.
“Departure“? Sounds like landlord spin. Wouldn’t ‘permanent eviction‘ be more accurate?
I understand that permanent ban was welcomed by some who still seem to find it a source of amusement (LOL) – not so keen on post-facto ridicule myself.
While not a cheerleader for Ed’s ‘style’, some of the links they posted were useful to me. I personally found their presence on The Standard less irritating than (say) James, or Bewildered, or Shadrach, or BM, or Alwyn, or Naki man, or infused, or Tuppence Shrewsbury, whose ‘contributions’ to yesterday’s ‘Tax Working Group Proposals’ post ‘helped’ to dampen down ‘echos’.
I like Bobby McFerrin. He sings ‘So your rent is late, The landlord says he’ll have to lift the gate. Don’t Worry Be Happy.’
“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is good advice, so thanks for that Grey.
As the hourglass runs out I’m tending to ‘worry’ even less about myself and more about others – an ‘advantage’ of age and ‘life perspective’.
Quack quack: https://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourlifeperspectivequiz/
Yes, TS saves my sanity knowing that there are other people thinking about others, reporting on what is being done to help, and doing what they can.
Never read her Pa, Arnold. What would he think?
Rain today. Farmers will forget they had a drought by tomorrow.
All entirely avoidable. Even flood proofing is possible.
Embrace change and save the farm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kM8G0zDoBo
Oma comin’ yo.
Well, she’s just giving us a quick flick with her long tail. I fear it won’t be enough for some places, but others might get a bit of a bollocking if a deep low forms to the east of us. 🙂
if the ‘farmers’ aka those that specialise in resource extraction forget the drought by tomorrow they will be reminded next week that todays piddle was not enough.
Thanks WTB, What we used to call mixed farming using natural rotations. Cheers.
WtB Very timely thinking thanks for link. See email.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12206085
Hooton nails it. The capital gains tax is dead on arrival.
As I’ve said many times before – I can’t wait for labour to campaign on it.
Jacinda will go down in history as a 1 term PM (and not a good one at that)
I think Labour will propose to bring in a watered down version of the recommendation, most likely the rate payable will be 15% to 20% maximum or inflation indexed. Just a political reality as they will need NZF on board with this one.
Still won’t appeal to the middle class.
Anything, other than a total rejection by Labour, will consign them to history.
Nothing appeals to the middle class who don’t think about the reality of the economy or politics and have $signs in their irises.
So the middle class are the “rich pricks” now, by your reckoning.
Grey is referring to the middle classes who aspire to be like the ‘rich pricks’, so they support tax policies that only advantage the ‘rich pricks’, even when it doesn’t benefit them directly.
This is akin to non-wealthy people buying expensive lotto tickets even though the chances of winning anything is less than miniscule, and even if they do happen to win they realise that doesn’t bring them happiness either.
Is that you reckon I said by your reckoning?
Roflcopter
‘Middle class’ numbers have been shrinking after 2008 if you haven’t noticed?
Now the lower class is much larger now and the remainder “middle class” are now rich as part of the 10% and we are all part of the remainder 90% who are poorer then we were 10 yrs ago.
Labour needs to make the argument about the reduction in income tax for the lower and middle class that can come about as a result of this. How they’ll now be able to afford indexing tax bands for inflation. Make it a tax cut argument rather than a higher tax nightmare
Anything but confronting the skiing and would-be-skiing middle class will put the kiss on the death of Labour. But they can off-lay this onto NZ First this time.
Confrontation of the parasite, subservient class born of freemarket/ rule of the jungle 84 will be hard to avoid to restore a fair society.
Duncan Garner has come out all guns blazing in full support . I know wtf.
This is a slam dunk James old boy .
hooton has know credibility in this country.
Rather than slobbering over Hooten’s partisan nonsense you could read Liam Dann and get an idea of what the government is most likely going to do?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12205998
Yeah hollow man hooton knows lol what a tosspot James try hard. Hooton is a nothing that nobodies listen to – he’s an egg. A hollow plastic pretend chocolate egg.
Hootie Blowhard dreads the tax he’d pay when he offloads Excretium. Not sure he needs to worry too much.
Lol – is that the name of his boat!
And not a Kinder one at all.
nice 🙂
They just need to reassure Slick that he won’t have to pay tax on selling the house he lives in, just the other ones.
how many properties and business investment does Hooton have to be frothing at the mouth at a recommendation that has yet to pass to law?
Still talking up that boy with the sausage sizzler? the one with multiple ownership of properties and the likes?
Does it occur to you that many people in this country don’t own multiple investments and thus are fairly nonplussed that the rich and the very rich have to pay tax on income derived from investment and the likes just like a kid has to pay taxes on his / her paper run?
oh, you own a large property you said, you might be eligible? Bummer dude.
As for Jacinda Ardern being a one term Prime Minister for wanting to levy taxes aimed squarely at her income and investment class, your No Mates Party needs a quick overhaul, cause the current lot is useless, vile, unattractive, unlikable, sexist, dumb and uninspired and has an approval of some 6 % as ‘preferred PM’.
I would say that you just get used to the idea that when you sell your property (and if you only own a ‘family home’ you might even find you are exempt) that you might have to pay a Capital Gain Tax on the profits and find something else to whine about.
oh i get it, you are a temporarily embarrassed millionaire in the making and this tax would not apply to you at all today but maybe in a gazillion years when you are all grown up and rich, and then you would of course not want to pay that tax. I get it. Its future proofing with you. 🙂
Hooton nails it. The capital gains tax is dead on arrival.
People who think “the kiwi way of life” involves owning multiple investment properties will certainly do their damnedest to ensure it is, but they won’t necessarily succeed.
The great majority of voters don’t have investments to pay tax on. The government can pitch this to that great majority on the basis that the wealthy who’ve been avoiding taxes will have to pay some, while the people who work for a living will get an income tax cut. The only thing that will make that an uphill struggle is lying propaganda from Simon and co, and the fact that Winston First is beholden to its donors.
For Hooton to be this excited suggests an aura of fear for himself and for his client base. Like Simon Over The Top?
It will have an effect. A damper on the idea that NZ is wiiiiiide open to every money-making schemer, and hopefully we will soon lose our supremacy as being the easiest country in the world to start a business. We have enough of the shams and scams and buying a house as a way of turning promises into real estate. Money is just promises in token or written form, it may not even be good for starting fires.
Where was Hooten when National extended CGT, with the bright line test.
Is it only a problem when Labour does it?
James, Jacinda will go down in history as a 1term PM and not a good one at that……
Ha ha ha ha ha. That is the level of response your comment deserves.
Hooten is such a fount of knowledge!! sarc..
Hysterical screamer would be closer to the truth. He really screams when losing it. Kathryn Ryan has been known to tell him to tone it down when he lost the plot.
The govt will come out with something minor – maybe just extend the brightline test on property sales to 10 or 20 years and leave the sale of businesses alone for now. It will look all balanced and reasonable.
The key is to move the public discourse in the right direction. Overcoming the initial inertia is the big challenge, but once it’s moving then it’s easier to eventually get somewhere near where you need to be. Overton windows are like gummed-up ranchsliders – it takes sh*tloads of CRC and pushing at the start.
So you’ll keep James, you’ll keep.
The ridiculous comments from Simon Bridges, which has seen him lampooned about what actually constitutes “the Kiwi way of life”, will have the Gnats fuming. Instead of talking about a CGT, his hamfistedness has got people talking about how out of touch he is.
He is a complete embarrassment to them – long may it last.
Talking about the Kiwi way of life, Amy Adams was interviewed by Guyon Espiner on Morning Report and became quite put out when he raised the fact that she was listed in the 2018 Register of Pecuniary Interests for all MPs as owning eight properties. She responded that is was now only six properties …
Audio here https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018683615/tax-proposals-an-attack-on-the-kiwi-way-of-life-national
Re the annual Parliamentary Register of Pecuniary Interests, I have provided some information on this and links to the current 2018 and previous Registers at comment 9 under the “In defense of taxing the family home” post.
I won’t attempt to link to that comment as such links don’t work currently. (Latter is not a complaint.)
Thank you VV for this and the list of pecuniary interests.
Excellent to hear that Guyon E has already used this line of questioning to address Gnat MPs who are attempting to critique the tax proposal without disclosing that they have related personal interests.
Good goveranace practice is to declare all pecuniary interest before entering into discussion from the position of the privilege of your position – in this case as a representative of the people.
Breaking News…
Simon Bridges lays compliant to Police, in his statement he describes being ‘assaulted’ by a ‘Big hairy chested man’. Witnesses said the perpetrator laughingly pulled on Bridges hair, the alleged assault took place at a local Golf Club BBQ fundraiser.
More details to follow…
Oh, in the footsteps of… “trumpets sound”… JK?
But Adrian, Key wasn’t very hairy.
Yeah nah, he just had a hair fetish.
This hairy man thing – it’s as deep as the Bible.
Genesis 27:11
Verse Concepts
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
It was important to differentiate because there was a bit of skullduggery going on:
In Genesis, Esau returned to his twin brother Jacob, famished from the fields. … In Genesis 27:1–40, Jacob uses deception, motivated by his mother Rebecca, to lay claim to his blind father Isaac’s blessing that was inherently due to the firstborn, Esau.
So JK could claim about being pretty smooth and playing with hair, that – they did it first!
I think you may mean not very visibly hairy…
Thread.
https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/status/1098646532075728896
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1098646532075728896.html
Bloody hell. Never use one word when 2000 will do, eh.
In case anyone thought China was just being mean to us…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-21/china-bans-coal-import-and-send-dollar-tumbling/10835136
China isn’t being mean to us (at the moment) – that’s just National propaganda.
The thing to remember about China is that everyone’s job is on the line, all the time. That means all underlings have to uphold the absolute letter of the law – any minor screw-up they let through will probably cost them their job. So NZers can’t do the “she’ll be right” thing and get away with it.
When China wants to screw with us, the stop buying our milk (in their usual quantities).
Lol. Is this a threat?
– Judith Collins
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/02/judith-collins-says-capital-gains-tax-will-make-simon-bridges-the-prime-minister.html
Of course “they” being Simon supporters wouldn’t vote for Jacinda anyway.
The higher you push them the further they have to fall eh judith.
“Geopolitics is now a game best played with financial and commercial weapons. The new geoeconomic game may be more efficient and subtle than past geopolitical competitions, but it is no less ruthless and destructive.”
– Juan C. Zarate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1He8uB7d2wE&feature=share
“Virgin Group founder Richard Branson announced last week he is organising a fundraising concert in Colombia on Friday featuring stars such as former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel to raise “US$100 million” for “those millions that need it the most.”
But Roger Waters said Branson had been fooled by a US “shtick.”
“I have friends in Caracas right now, there is so far no civil war, no mayhem, no murder, no apparent dictatorship, no mass imprisonment of opposition, no suppression of the press,” said Waters in a post liked 12,000 times.
“None of that is going on even though that is the narrative that is being sold to the rest of us.”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2019/02/20/pink-floyd-singer-hits-out-at-bransons-venezuela-aid-concert/?fbclid=IwAR2ui5nyZAkR_o0Uk2gJYJKBE-UXRftp1jwAnCxxiQGtEAFydBpHVAwYP7g
National and Venezuela ….
after losing the last election the corrupt national Govt left the NZ economy in a weak and vulnerable condition …
“Our national debt has topped half a trillion dollars and is still rising,”
” The latest Reserve Bank figures (for the year to April 30) show household debt has topped $250b, driven by rising property prices and an increase in consumer borrowing.
That’s an increase of more than 60 per cent in 10 years.”
And although John Key personally made a million dollars per year out of the housing bubble / crisis … the cost has been workers unable to buy homes and live in a city like Auckland.
Many farmers got burned by the Nats bubble economics ….
“Rural debt appears to have topped $60 billion ”
“Banks tell dairy farmers: it’s time to pay it back ” ….
So piss weak is our economy after 9 years of national mismanagement …. that a 3% rise in interest rates would stall the economy …. and a 5% rise would crash it.
If the banks called in their farm overdrafts …. they could crash the rural economy, shortly followed by the entire economy
If the ‘foot and mouth” disease entered NZ our economy would crash … thanks to nationals cowenomics, which besides poisoning our fresh water with cow piss, shit and farm chemicals … has left our economy so weak a animal disease could bring it down.
And If either the Chinese or the Aussies told us to get fucked ………. they could crash our economy.
%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%
NZ just about wets itself every-time we have a credit rating review … such is the weakness of our economy.
Now imagine what would happen if the usa declared NZ a “national security threat” , such as Obama did to Venezuela in 2015
“The United States declared Venezuela a national security threat” …..”U.S. President Barack Obama signed and issued the executive order,”..”Declaring any country a threat to national security is the first step in starting a U.S. sanctions program. The same process has been followed with countries such as Iran and Syria, U.S. officials said. ” ….. and to which I’d add Vietnam Libya, Yugoslavia, Cuba, China and all the other countries the usa has attacked in modern history.
Being declared a “national security threat” by the usa would probably result in a D- credit rating and 25%+ interest rates for NZ borrowers ….
What would 20% or higher interest rates on mortgages and farm debt do to the Nz economy ???
Think about that the next time Gooseman or Warmonger Mapp blame socialism for all of Venezuela ills…..
Or ask them …. What would happen to our eonomy …..if the usa was always supporting coups in our country ….and declared NZ a hostile state ?…..
Links which I have quoted from
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/89539071/rural-debt-appears-to-have-topped-60-billion
Nation of Debt: Half a trillion dollars and still rising https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11873204
Venezuela’s Public Debt: Total data was reported at 148.707 USD bn in Dec 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 171.999 USD bn for Dec 2015. ….. https://www.ceicdata.com/en/venezuela/public-debt/public-debt-total
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11986023
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-venezuela-idUSKBN0M51NS20150310
Ummm…. why was Venezuela dependent on the US to the extent that if the US President classifies them a security threat the whole economy implodes? That is not exactly a glowing endorsement of 20 years of Bolivarian Socialism is it? They couldn’t ensure the Venezuelan economy would be able to ride out a mere threat from the US. How pathetic and powerless the Chavista regime is not being able to manage that.
The point being you don’t really understand the economic prblems of Venezuela. You just parrot the regimes excuses. Tell me how the US causes hyper-inflation in Venezuela just by declaring it a security threat?
Gosman = parrot king.
Gooseman ….I’m not going to answer your crap….. until you answer me and explain why NZ s economy would be trashed if we got the Venezuela treatment from the usa.
Ie our economy would shit itself and die if the usa was always supporting coups in our country ….and declared NZ a hostile state …..
Despite your refusal to answer …honest people know New Zealand would be a bsket case if the USA gave us anything like the same treatment…..
Here’s a second question for you to fail at …..
Can you produce any capatilist or market economy / country that delivered an equal or greater improvement for its people, in the same or shorter period of time …. than Libya achieved by using socialisim. ???????? can ya gosboy ?
Libya, in 1951 was officially the poorest country in the world, …….when its corrupt king and British Petroleum were ousted it was still one of the poorest nations in Africa and the world ….
in a little over a generation , using socialisim and Prior to the US-led bombing campaign in 2011, Libya had the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy in all of Africa.
infant mortality rates have decreased from 105 per 1000 live births in 1970, to 18 in 2005. Mortality rates amongst children under five have seen a similar shift, with 24 per 1000 live births in 2005.
A high rate of trachoma formerly left 10 percent or more of the population blinded or with critically impaired vision, but by the late 1970s the disease appeared to have been brought under control.
Public works ( socialisim ) had solved the previous problem of a country beset with cholera and unsafe water problems ….. They built the largest underground network of pipes and aqueducts in the world. It consists of more than 1300 wells, most more than 500 m deep, and supplies 6,500,000 m of freshwater per day to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirt and elsewhere….. before being destroyed by usa / nato democracy bombs only 3 percent of Libyian were without access to safe water …. … which is probaly better than NZ after Nationals trashing of our water
Before socialisim only 25% of Libyans were literate. Prior to the usa and Nato destroying the country the figure was up to 87% .In a relative short period of time, Libya achieved universal access for primary education, with 98% gross enrollment for secondary, and 46% for tertiary education.The pupil teacher ratio in Libyas primary schools was of the order of 17 (1983 UNESCO data), 74% of school children graduating from primary school were enrolled in secondary school (1983 UNESCO data)
in 1969, few women went to university. Today, more than half of Libyas university students are women. One of the first laws passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law.
Public Health Care in Libya prior to NATO s Humanitarian Interventionwas the best in Africa. Health care is [was] available to all citizens free of charge by the public sector.
The facts and statistics showed a country which went from one of the poorest nations in its continent into the richest nation….it also gained the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy.
As Gooseman will come up empty again …..We’ll give him a third question
Does he agree with Nelson Mandela about the usa ….. “Mandela …..” If you look at those mattersm, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities upon the world, it is the USA. They don’t care for human beings .” ,……” No country can claim to be the policeman of the world and no state can dictate to another what it should do ”
Mandela versus gosman ….
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/21/us-media-erase-years-chavismos-gains
Thanks for the excellent link KJT … I suspect gosman like Mapp is a racist and lifting poor brown people out of poverty means nothing to him …
Your link lead to a good one about the us sanctions … https://fair.org/home/exonerating-the-empire-in-venezuela/
“it is no secret that Venezuela, unlike Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, is targeted for regime change by the US precisely because of Venezuela’s leadership in resisting US hegemony and the imposition of the neoliberal model in Latin America. And of course, Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, attracting more unwanted attention from Washington.”
….”American sanctions are contributing to the issues facing Venezuela is all the more egregious considering that the sanctions violate international law, contravening both UN Resolution 2625, which forbids “the use of economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another state” and the charter of the Organization of American States, which bars the “use of coercive measures of an economic or political character.” As usual (e.g., FAIR.org, 9/19/13, 12/8/17), US media do not deem American violations of international law newsworthy.”
Basically the usa is like a mafia gangster nation ….. their negotiations are ‘ do what we say and wan’t…. or we will kill you and make your children suffer ‘.
If we ever wondered who would support fairer taxes.. now we know!!!
Those who have assets are “against” CGT.
Those who would like better income to afford to buy an asset are “for” CGT
This is a wonderful discussion about what is fair. Bring it on.
Some straw arguments looking pretty hollow, Simon and Amy.
Yes PB. Occasionally the door opens enough to see that the whole thing is founded on conflicting economic interests. That my ‘getting ahead’ may be dependent on you staying put, or going backwards. Then the door gets slammed and we witter on about being ‘Kiwis’, as if we were all the same.
Not an awful lot to show for his 27 years.
https://twitter.com/TheSWPrincess/status/1098585937087483905
When you look at the substance of those bills it’s even worse. The 7 bills of Bernie were mostly real important stuff like naming post offices etc. None of this frivolous shit like setting up the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau like Warren did.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/24/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-was-roll-call-amendment-king-1995-2/
People tend to forget that over the past 30 years ago, the wealthiest of this country have had their taxes slashed by 50-60%.
Public services have suffered.
We wrote an article today about this loss of our water by global bottling companies now invading our country and now taking much of our best water sources now and damaging our health and properties as they truck freight the product through our poorer areas to our export ports now. These foreign bottling companies are now seen as ‘environmental thugs’ wrecking our communities lives and health.
‘A new water tax is needed for foreign water bottling companies currently paying no water tax while they are causing harm to our public health and environment.‘
Press release – Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre Incorporated. 22nd February 2019.
The environmental impacts of business activities of water bottling in NZ are currently not being considered by “The Tax Working Party” group, as to the environmental impacts these foreign overseas companies are causing to our residential communities health and wellbeing now; – consider the cost and harm they are causing us now by only using truck freight transport;
We are supporting placing a new water tax on those foreign overseas companies taking our best water around our country today as they are choosing to exclusively use only road truck freight which has a large carbon footprint and impact on residential health from noise, vibration and air pollution.
Facts;
• The transporting of that water by trucks to production plants and for export is harming our roads as more trucks are gridlocking the roads causing accidents and road damage.
• But the elephant in the room is the harm the extra truck transport going through our cities and causing noise, vibration and air pollution is now adversely affecting the health and wellbeing of many residential areas around the country and councils claim now have no funds to mitigate the adverse effects of these trucks carrying water for export through their residential zones to export.
• The “Tax Working Party” should be a proposing an ‘environmental harm’ cost as part of a tax on the “user pays” principal, to pay for mitigation on those transport effects to our citizens.
Since these water export companies are now choosing to use only the roads to move millions of litres of water and causing damage both to our residential environment, and impacting large costs to us paying for road repairs on the roads they are using we must place a tax on the cost of transport of that ‘so called free water’ then it is only fair these foreign companies are required to pay tax to mitigate for their damages they are causing in their business.
We think this is a fairer system to give local councils and NZTA the funding to repair the roads and repair the water infrastructure also.
All NZ citizens should be not paying tax for a for a ‘natural recourse’ if they are not using it for financial gain, so only commercial water users should pay a tax and NZ business should only pay a limited tax far less then foreign companies as they are not citizens.
Very good from Craig Foster
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/dear-scott-and-bill-we-ve-strayed-from-our-values-a-socceroo-s-plea-20190221-p50zbm.html
Kahanist Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Palestinians and wounded 125 while they prayed in a Hebron mosque.
But Hamas.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel would never have a government without political horse-trading. Governments form when parties win enough seats in the Knesset and cobble together enough partners to form a ruling, majority coalition.
But one trade is raising eyebrows and even alarm, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being seen as brokering a marriage of convenience between an extremist right-wing party, Otzma Yehudit, and a more moderate right-wing party, Jewish Home.
Otzma Yehudit, which means “Jewish power,” is the spiritual godchild of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Kach party, which was banned from the Knesset under a Basic Law outlawing incitement to violence and later exiled entirely in Israel. Kahane was the American immigrant founder of the militant Jewish Defense League, who before his assassination in 1990 promoted the immediate annexation of disputed territories and the expulsion of Arabs from the West Bank.
https://www.jta.org/2019/02/20/israel/netanyahu-brokered-a-deal-with-the-political-heirs-of-meir-kahane-heres-why-and-why-it-matters?
edit:
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/jewish-defense-league
To lighten the mood
IMO a little gem I was previously unaware of, and thought it is worth sharing …
Just wondering if any out there were aware of this song ??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gKmmaZrJpc
Off the Hook 1964
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMeNC1IPUnQ&feature=youtu.be
More from the same show
1967
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIn11dtBKc4
Do like the influence of Brian Jones, even when he is playing the recorder (IMO Greatest song with a recorder) in Ruby Tuesday.
Note to ones self-Take time to look up early works of gifted musician, especially those with R&B DNA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5We4f9bTNvI
Not to forget the other Mr Jones.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/david-bowies-10-greatest-davy-jones-era-tracks-31887/silly-boy-blue-37000/
rain,
glorious
beautiful
rain.
feeling very grateful tonight to be honest. finally some water.
Where, where?
Must watch!
Even the dogs love AOC 😂
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1098700066150334465?s=21
this is actually not funny.
the dog was not controlled, no one was getting the dog of her, and she is very very lucky that this was a nice dog.
Except she knows Charlie the dog and his owner.
still. A lot of good dogs get put down because they are not under control by their owners. Usually its because they injure a human.
its cute, and its not cute at the same time.
Half of freedom is damage to yourself and others — witness my 70s childhood. Our surrounds suffered so we could learn and laugh. Wouldn’t be without that dangerous freedom the religious swop for safety.
and its still the dog that would be put down if you would have been playing with an uncontrolled dog and got bitten.
i don’t care about damage to her, i care about the dog.
Except we believed in and believe in the fair go. As does AOC I think despite the undeclared war in US society. Dogs bite and we understand often.
It’s true I haven’t read much about Africa lately. I had a look to see if it was still there.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-22/the-worst-humanitarian-crises-youve-never-heard-of/10825046
In countries like Niger, crises like hunger and poverty are being largely under-reported in the global media, according to a new report from CARE.…