I've kinda got an issue with their just brushing aside and minimising population growth as a contributing issue.
Like many other things, that's an area where New Zealand's only significant contribution can come from leading by example. We could choose to say we reject the idea of continual growth (including population growth) and choose to find ways to make steady state and circular economics work.
We could choose to reject the hand-wringing and bedwetting about the fact that the native birth rate is below replacement. And embrace the idea that that gives us more opportunity to welcome some from parts of the world that will get hammered by the changes coming.
Explicitly embracing the idea of below-replacement birth rates and falling populations could set a highly visible example to the rest of the world. In a similar way to our nuclear-free stance.
It's the kind of change that can only happen by shifting general social attitudes.
One way to help shift general social attitudes with respect to populations is pieces like the one wags linked start talking about the good aspects of lower populations and fewer kids per family, rather than just brushing the issue aside.
Yet leaders are significantly products of their formative environments.
AOC was late teens/early twenties going through the GFC, watching the flaws of lightly regulated free-market rapaciousness while the social environment around her was filled with disgust at their "leaders" inadequate response. Would she have become the leader she is now if the environment around hadn't had the senseof there being a better way?
Similarly Greta Thunberg is coming of age at a time when the general social environment is demanding climate change action. Yet there have been high profile serious people having a damn good go at leading on this topic for decades and getting very little traction.
Leadership is a synergy of the leader's personal qualities and the environment they are in.
and where was the social environment that determined that growth come what may was desirable?….the demand for that was promoted by a narrow section of society that captured the 'leadership'. The synergy argument dosnt hold water when that fact is examined
Growth is clearly and self-evidently desirable when your environment is one where the best strategy for the success of your own group is to overwhelm the"other" by sheer force of numbers, and there's also significant vacant or underused territory your group can expand into to grab more resource to support the expansion of your group.
Both those factors have been true for the vast majority of people for the vast majority of human history. But they stopped being true sometime in the last few generations. That's a helluva lot of cultural inertia and memory to try to turn around.
Going from survival of the fitest to we are all one is most likely beyond what evolution made us . But there is hope i guess. I see glimmers of hope in the younger generations .
We have been able to benefit from how: oil based products, pesticides, water management, the improvement of medicine and more that have allowed the pop. to increase to 7.7b.
What is the cost of these ? and for how long can this continue for
IMO to manage what we are facing a large portion of the solution is our pop. and what is the viable carrying capacity of the earth with changes that need to be implemented ASAP, but that is only one persons observations 🤔
But Gaia may have a natural solution with the visit of the 4 horseman
I was looking at the stuff website and a strange woman started to talk so I tracked down which image appeared to be live and when I found it I couldn't get an image or stop the sound. Strange.
(Everything's up to date in Kansas [insert chosen location here] city, They've gone about as far as they can go. What next!)
I saw a Newshub update on this but when I went to their website it wasn't there. Happened once before too – slack editing, or evidence that TV3 liaison is somewhat haphazard.
"Brazilian beetles, first released in 2011, haven’t wasted any time getting stuck into the swathes of tradescantia (Tradescantia fluminensis) that are infesting gardens, reserves and conservation land. Three beetle species have been released − a leaf beetle (Neolema ogloblini), a stem beetle (Lema basicostata), and a tip beetle (Neolema abbreviata) − which were selected to attack different parts of the plant." https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications/newsletters/biological-control-of-weeds/issue-84/tradescantia-be-gone
Traditionally known as wandering jew, the Newshub reporter called it wandering willy. Not the first media reporter I've seen do this, so I suspect some moron, or group of morons, decided that the traditional name is disrespectful to jews so deemed it politically incorrect. The basic idea behind this type of thinking is that media consumers are morons, so any other moron or group of morons can get away with telling them what to do.
Anyway, gardeners have tried various methods of eliminating the plant, and I can verify from many years of personal experience on different properties that success is only achieved where infestations are fairly small and localised, and even then it takes diligence and time. Just a single broken piece an inch long will grow roots and become an inch long. If it lies exposed on the ground through summer, even continuous sun-baking will not dry it out. It is resilient, will bide it's time, and root when the rains come.
The Newshub report showed that large swathes of the plant have been consumed by the beetles, so the control design seems effective. That's taken eight years though, so it ain't fast. No adverse effects reported, so I hope the govt decides on general release soon.
I recall it in the '60s as being called "Wandering Willie" then too, never really saw it spelled out in full so whether with a Kwiw accent it was also "jew" or "dew" is another one of the things people are finding to fret over whereas, as always, there are much bigger issues that need the focus.
My father was chatting with our Jewish next door neighbour over the back fence one weekend afternoon, and idly pointed to the mass of green weed that had colonised our compost heap, the fence and progressing onward over everything it could reach.
Dad was saying how "he was going to get stuck in and eradicate this wandering …" and our neighbour smiled and said "yeah we call it Wandering Christian actually :-)"
Hey Red, your comment box now has these new smiley options available at a click. I've just seen my lapse in proof-reading, so must apologise to all for this:
"Just a single broken piece an inch long will grow roots and become an inch long." I thought I was writing "become a new plant". However my subconscious decided to replace it with a re-run of what I had typed a few moments earlier.
This is a new type of senior moment! Unless other elderly commentators can prove earlier versions of same, I will claim inventor's rights…
Calm down! I only ever knew it as wandering wiĺlie as a kid in the 50s. We thought it was hilarious because it was our dad's name. Maybe it's a regional thing.
Oh, how interesting. Thanks Jan – and also Rapunzel – for corroboration that it did indeed predate the pc era. I can park the grumpy old man syndrome for a while.
Good thinking. I recall as a kid in the fifties when almost all suburban families had a chicken run out back. No supermarkets in Aotearoa till the seventies.
My ex-partner installed one three years ago. Built herself a multi-level shelter at one end with laying straw in roosts & trapdoors above for easy extraction of eggs, has four hens. Observing them on visits reminded me that hen-pecking is a form of bullying. Given that all birds are residual dinosaurs, one wonders if T Rex also did hen-pecking. That would have been awesome to watch.
You must have lived South of the Bombay Hills. Apparently the first supermarkets were in Auckland as early as 1957. There was one with a large car park no less in 1958. Ah civilization had reached our shores.
I grew up in Napier in the 1950's. I can only remember one of the neighbours who had chickens at that time. They were fairly common for people who lived on rather bigger bits of land out in Greenmeadows, Taradale and Clive though.
Maybe regional variations applied then, which we didn't know about. My childhood was in New Plymouth, then college in Wanganui, didn't arrive in Auckland till early '68. I didn't know about that one in Devonport. Students never went to such remote places – poor people still packed buses & trains then (cars were not an option for students).
I had chickens in my Napier state house in 1957, as on Napier's main Emerson Street at 'Woolworths' they sold 'day old' chicks every august, – that we would fatten them up for Xmas dinner.
Yes cleangreen, my Dad had chickens, Rhode Island Reds and Black Orpingtons. In 1951 Mum used to buy 24 day old chicks, twice a year from her cousin who had a hatchery. They used to come by train from Hamilton to Te Kuiiti. The worst part of the trip was the 26 miles of rough metal road to Benneydale in Dad's T Ford!! The good old days,
We don't all live in the bush (I wish). Management varies and varied solutions are useful.
NZ originally had vast numbers of birds that browsed at various trophic levels of the forest. Now Moa are extinct, and the people trying to make things 'like they were' – what time-point was ideal? Can we bring the Moa back with genetics labs, PR and capital?
Obviously, we want functional ecology. Conservation is a lofty but confused goal. Whereever invasives can be turned to human use their control becomes a lot easier (but eradication nigh on impossible).
No more pesticides, no excuses. The impending loss of insects will cost us everything. It is as urgent an issue as climate change.
Auckland council use(d?) early season rust fungi (from Tradescantia) to spray on Tradescantia and reduce its rampancy (to varying extent) in the region. A new bio-control is obviously welcome it's efficacy remains to be seen.
Animals perform a number of ecosystem functions and when these are understood and managed correctly, they might (gladly) do a lot of work for you while creating animal products e.g. weeding, tilling, fertilising, insect control, turn unpalatable materials to palatable materials.
Our Farmers understand the pulses of seasons, and how this ties in with production. As their ecological understanding grows (some are exemplars in their field) biodiversity will become synonymous with production where many more seasonal pulses can be used to obtain yields. Slowly, balance might be restored as trees (and all they bring) repopulate the landscape.
In urban areas, we can create habitat for bugs. And of course stop using insecticides.
If you have chickens and Tradescantia/Oxalis, well, you know what to do.
I'm not going to recommend this piece by Jane Bowron to read except if you are interested to find how many mixed metaphors can be jumbled together to say very little in a column. Here's an example.
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern dropped the controversial policy like a hot spud and pledged that while she's at the helm that dog will never hunt again.
Result. Peters' fan base is deliriously happy that he's finally manned up to show who calls the shots; Simon Bridges has lost any bit of skin he has left in the game; and St Jacinda looks like a cynical politician unable to stick to her guns and exact core Labour Party policy."
The writer, Jane Bowron, takes four opening paragraphs to start even before the topic of the headline is introduced. It's fluff, an opinion piece written to fill a space. I wonderd when reading it if she's actually spoofing bad writing. She succeeded if that was her aim.
There’s a lot of talk about reform and leadership at the United Nations’ podium and a lot of working against it in the UN corridors. And it’s not simply sabotage – member states have always guarded against the system being hijacked by others. What will it take for the UN to change, given that its very structure cements a status quo as a means of ensuring neutrality? To discuss this, Oksana is joined by Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and former administrator of the UN Development Program. This interview took place at the Horasis Global Meeting in Cascais, Portugal.
It has always seemed to me that examining the words of Helen Clark to discern signs of intelligence is a waste of time. But I've got an open mind. If you found any evidence of such, I'd consider the potential merit of it…
Let's put it this way, HC's views, whether you regard them as intellectual or not, are informed by an accumulated experience several orders of magnitude greater than all of us regulars here put together
Edit: If you really thirst for intellectual, can I recommend this guy?
Indeed. One cannot deny the extent of her operational experience. It's the learning therefrom that is in question. I'm curious to see if she has any helpful analysis of the problem, but not enough to overcome the distaste based on prior experience of her (non-)contributions. If she actually produced a solution to the problem there's a very real danger of folks dropping dead from astonishment…
Nifty presentation, which I managed to endure due to exercise of willpower to overcome dislike of maths. Incorporating physics into the design was clever, and lack of real-world application acknowledged, but it ended with a teaser: the pi-implied circle, invisible in the presentation, would only be revealed to viewers who choose to watch the next thrilling installment of maths-by-graphic. Not me.
Engineering math was my stumbling block too; I could follow it as long as I could map it onto something physical. But the point where it became totally abstract I struggled. Fourier transforms yes, Laplace transforms no.
3Blue1Brown does a brilliant job of breaking this barrier down with visuals and modern interpretations that I only wish was around 40 years earlier .
Mathematicians are the princes of the modern world, and despite my limitations I always wished to be fully admitted to their ranks. Ah well we all have our failed dreams.
I take your point despite never viewing mathematicians with respect. I always discounted them due to their propensity for abstractions being even worse than that of physicists (hard to believe). But I ought to acknowledge that maths is used to validate and empower physics, and certainly forms the basis of computing. I wonder if our service provider (LPrent) will volunteer a personal take on this interface between imaginal and real.
A mathematician is having problems with a leaky sink, so he calls a plumber. The plumber comes over and quickly fixes the sink. The professor is happy until he gets the bill. He tells the plumber, "This is outrageous! You charge more for an hour than I make in a whole day!"
The plumber tells him, "You know, we are always looking for more plumbers. You could become a plumber and triple your salary. Just make sure you say you only made it to 6th grade, they don't like educated people."
The professor takes him up on the offer and becomes a plumber. His salary triples and he doesn't have to work nearly as hard. But after a few years, a law gets passed that all licensed plumbers must have at least an 8th grade education…Not wanting to admit he lied on his application, he signs up for night classes.
On the first day of night School they all attend math class. The teacher wants to gauge the class so he asks the former mathematician, "What is the formula for the area of a circle?"
He walks up to the board and realizes he has forgotten the formula. So he begins to attempt to derive the formula, filling the board with complicated mathematics. He ends up figuring out it is negative pi times radius squared, but he knows that's incorrect, so he starts over, but again he comes up with the same equation.
After staring at the board for a minute he hears one of the plumbers in the class behind him whisper, "Switch the limits on the integral, dummy!"
Mathematics is a part of physics. Physics is an experimental science, a part of natural science. Mathematics is the part of physics where experiments are cheap.
Good grief Dennis Frank, you obviously never knew Helen Clark. She is extremely intelligent – way ahead of the vast majority of people. However what she did try to do with varying success was to speak publicly in a manner those of average intelligence would better understand. It was not a case of dropping to their level, but rather to get her points across. I fear you mistook her intentions to be that of a person of average intelligence.
I met Helen Clark on many occasions, and I'm with you. I didn't share her politics, but there was no doubting her sharp intellect. There was a certain derangement about her from some on the right, which we saw again with the lefts attitude towards John Key, but IMHO Clark was amongst the most competent of PM's this county has seen.
But having it and using it are two different things, eh? I tend to judge on the basis of performance – don't you? Why not take a look at the interview RL posted and report back here if she proposes a solution to the UN problem that seems viable?
I know you ain't no leftist, so that puts you in a credible position to evaluate her performance objectively. If she merely circles around the problem, discussing dimension of it without advancing the situation one iota, I trust you'll be honest enough to report that back to us too.
Hi Dennis. My comments were specifically about her time as PM. I also have no time for the UN. IMHO it is a largely corrupt and essentially useless organisation that has lost it's way entirely. So no sorry, I won't be listening to the interview.
Despite your heroic efforts to peddle this false equivalence, Clark was not given to outrageous manifestations of dishonesty like Key's "I don't recall".
Clark burnt herself on efforts like the anti-smacking bill, Key destroyed his reputation by insider trading and self serving actions like constraining the brightline to two years so his own investments would make the cut.
Like Trump he was and is a self-serving piece of shite with no business pretending to act for a democratic polity. Morally crippled rightwingers look on him with envy rather than contempt, but this defeats their arguments with the Left before they even begin.
Look I understand you have this deep abiding need to lie your worthless ass off to defend the thoroughly unsavoury reputation of the worst PM NZ has ever seen, but my objections to this lying self-serving ineffectual ambulant cesspool of corruption are entirely rational.
So don't be accusing me of KDS – that's not a thing – unless it applies to scoundrels like yourself, for whom, judging by your comments, lying and stealing are public virtues.
He’s not dead yet – the convention on eulogies does not apply.
Despite claims to the contrary, she was a woman of substance and integrity, but one possible fault (which I tend to share with her), she did not suffer fools gladly. And woe betide anyone who played silly buggers with her. Very early on in her parliamentary career, I decided to play the devil's advocate at a meeting. No prizes for guessing who came off second best by a long shot. 🙁
I've often hoped to meet her again one day and ask her if she remembered that incident.
“And woe betide anyone who played silly buggers with her”
At the risk of blowing my cover totally I can retell this tale about HC.
In 2001 I was working with a good friend in the Beehive on a technical contract relating to the building power system. The only time we were allowed to do full black start testing was after midnight on a Sunday evening. Most of the work was located in the basement, but we also had reason to access the '10th floor' where much of the HVAC equipment is located. The only way to get there is by lift to the 9th floor and then stairs up.
My mate is a madman I should add.
So there we are sometime late at night, the lift doors open on the foyer of the 9th floor and there is HC striding with he back to us, paperwork under one arm, from one office to another and as we step out my friend bursts into his best Muldoon imitation (which is very damn good) and says "Heh, heh, heh …. so that's the little girlie that got the job".
HC freezes to a halt, pauses ominously just long enough for my bowels to turn to water, swivels malevolently on her heels and imperiously announces "Fucking uppity tradesmen. Use the back entrance!" And with a wicked grin vanishes into her office.
What a cool story! Your friend sounds like a rare breed. McPhail's version of Muldoon was okay, but he couldn't ever seem to reproduce the genuine menace element of the Muldoon style. You know, the bit that always had his cabinet cowering like underdogs.
And who would have thought she actually had a sense of humour! All them smiley interviews didn't hint at it. Just showed her as well-trained.
To give her credit for street cred, her pulling the academic put-down of the working class in your story was convincing. Spinning on a dime to deliver that line demonstrates true expertise. Gutsy giving the fingers to politically correct supporters while exhibiting classic intelligentsia elitism. Only two observers, nobody would ever believe them, so she could reveal her true self in that moment. That's real authenticity!
Helen and a great sense of humour Dennis. But for some reason she rarely showed it in public. I can only assume someone advised her to stick with the serious persona – perhaps because as a woman any show of humour would lead to ridicule of her further down the track. Just guessing mind you.
I would have liked her more if she had, Anne. And ridicule damages only if you let it – an adept operator can usually turn it to advantage. Lange was exemplary in that respect and I valued him for being a refreshing new style of kiwi politician. Too bad he proved inept in the exercise of power.
Now the new leader of Ukraine is reminding us how potent humour can be in politics. The sooner we get that element back into our political mix, the better. Mind you, the necessity is considerably more dire in the USA…
Hi Anne. Apart form the times I met her, there was one event that enhanced my view of Helen Clark enormously. It was an interview she gave in 2002 with John Campbell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dET78Z5b5s). It was a dirty piece of journalism by Campbell, and Clark handled herself with considerable professionalism. I have never rated Campbell since, and never will.
With a little chill down my neck, I agree with John Roughan (!) that the Prime Minister is wasting her massive political capital by not using it, and delivering a timid government:
Yeah, likewise. "If last Wednesday she had announced a capital gains tax limited to investment property, excluding farms, business, shares, all productive investment, it would have been greeted with relief."
That's hitting the nail on the head. He goes on to make the point that this group of professional investors are largely responsible for making homes unaffordable to young kiwi home-buyers. So hitting the guilty would be popular.
Yes, but. Excessive immigration produced by National and Labour govts is even more responsible for creating the real-estate bubble. Maintenance of that trend by the coalition has merely stabilised the bubble. Collapsing the bubble to provide equity for young kiwi families is deemed too hard by the coalition: they are being held to ransome by older generations playing the market. Investors win again.
Inflows of capital are the problem, not of people. And no govt will fix housing being treated as an investment asset class without tackling the economic settings that enable it.
Fair point. I spent so many years in Ak watching immigrant Chinese inflate the bubble I'm probably biased. Just because I profited from their input enough to get wealthy doesn't mean I stopped feeling disgusted by the trend. Empathy with those made into losers by govt policy seems to come naturally, then there's the deliberate repudiation of intergenerational equity on top of that, so unprincipled as to fill me with intense contempt for whichever govt is currently doing it. Currently, a govt I've been supporting…
Or not. Depends how neoliberal they want to be seen as. Most of the expert analysis on the gfc, since the gfc, asserts that the regulations implemented were intended to create public impressions – not to change the way the market operates. Sham regulation has been a thing since Clinton.
As well as dealing with the stuff of government like drought, Christchurch rebuild, Kaikoura rebuild, Pike River, and Wellington earthquake, he also had a crack at changing the flag.
So far under this government:
– Poverty is the same
– Wealth disparity is the same
– Homelessness is the same
– Environmental damage is the same
– Tax levels are the same
It's about time Ardern did something more ethan emote well.
But in the main your points cannot be denied. And Robertson has a vision I think of following in Douglas', Cullen's footsteps – Sir Grant Robertson awarded to him for holding off the simple citizens of Nz massing to attack the citadel of wealth and power.
I have been disabled for 27 years and always been left without “quality support and having a valued life in the community,” as Tish rightly suggests.
It seems that we disabled are considered not worth saving or caring about any more over the last thirty years.
I was severely chemically expose in 1992 and have suffered from brain injuries, nervous system damage, and immune system dysfunction ever since. It is now far harder to stay alive.
These injuries all occurred after exposure at my workplace and since after a seven year Workers Compensation claim no-one has ever been blamed, so I have fallen right through the social safety net.
The most insulting part was when I reached the retirement age (65) my disability payment funding support was cut out and I was thrown straight onto the lower payment system on the general pension, so now I cannot get good disability treatments because no funding is available for them on the pension for the disabled.
You're sounding like the chairman now – you're a member of the party aren't you? If so you don't know the results your party have achieved? They've just done a year in office haven't they?
Two context-absent, graph-absent, analysis-absent propaganda lists. Awesome.
None of their policies have been shown to alleviate the previous government's issues of poverty, homelessness, environmental damage, economic productivity, or wealth disparity.
Don't worry if they existed, the Salvation Army would have picked them up.
Time this government was held to account from all sides.
When you look through those propaganda lists, keep in mind that none of those things would have happened without a change of government.
The question is, why do all their policy efforts look like they're hamstrung by a bunch of provincial conservatives and corrupt influence-peddlers? Well, we do know the answer to that question, don't we? If you want a left-wing agenda implemented, vote for left-wing parties, not right-wing ones or corrupt populists. A left-wing agenda necessitates a left-wing majority and right now there isn't one.
Here (the following below) is how Max Rashbrooke sums it up:
In short, today's announcement is likely to load pressure onto the debate about public debt, and push the government into a pretty sub- optimal position. We can also now understand the intensity of the opposition to a capital gains tax, or indeed any tax increase. Opposition parties now no longer need fight every single one of the government's plans – because to the extent that those plans rely on revenue that a capital gains tax would have raised, they have all just been shut down in one go.
Government accounting methods are largely based on forecasting. Thus, the added revenue stream from a CGT would improve the economic outlook, meaning the Government would be able to increase the capital and operating allowances in the next Budget.
Regards the terrible bombing massacre in Sri Lanka, the 'will to power' indeed often seeks to disposses innocence in one way or another, as i saw recently intimated in a relatively rarified clarity of reason headline relating to English perspective lately; but as we recently demonstrated we also know here in NZ, and of which there is no better day than Easter Sunday as symbolism of, the 'will to power' is also an instrument to the creation of innocence, depending on choice in how it is used.
I think information is helpful for discussion Pat.
Creative destruction: Will technology create or kill jobs? 22 Apr, 2019 5:00am
New Zealanders are being asked to share their views on whether technological changes will cost jobs or create them as the Government looks to formulate a policy on the future of work. The Productivity Commission has published an issues paper which explores the possible impacts of new technology on the labour market. It has been tasked with producing a full report by March 2020.
"While technological change brings significant overall benefits, it also creates frictions and costs for particular groups in society," the issues paper notes.
"Sustained economic growth requires innovation, and innovation cannot be decoupled from creative destruction. "This 'replacement of the old' involves the devaluation of prior investments in machinery and skills, leaving the owners of older equipment and workers who used it worse off. For some, these costs can be severe."
However on the positive side the paper acknowledges significant job creation due to new technology.
For example, since 1999, the number of jobs classified as 'Computer systems design and related services' has increased from 8700 to 32,600, it notes.
Bare facts background here. Who are doing these jobs – have NZs had every chance to train and move into them. And why have jobs not expanded in the trades in a parallel way? Isn't this a very unbalanced society, full of dreams, visions for the future, and limited connection with their own vulnerable humanity and even less of that of others?
yes GWS…I would have copied and pasted some of the relevant information but with the changes i havnt yet worked out how to….however my point is why is this work being redone?..didnt Labour have a Future of Work working party only a couple of years ago?…do they think our attention spans are so short?…when are they going to come to some conclussions and make decisions?….this is getting a little absurd
Any way that you can persuade James Shaw to follow your prescription? He seems to think the only reason he is in Government is to give him an opportunity to skive off overseas while ignoring the complete shambles that is the Census.
"Mr Twyford's defence is that promises made by Jacinda Ardern as Labour leader are completely different from promises made by Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister."
other than keeping those precious Uni Students happy
This is a false meme from the right wing. The fees free policy encourages all tertiary education both academic and vocational. It encourages young people into post secondary training who were most likely to forego that training due to cost other class barriers.
"This is a false meme from the right wing" really !!! tell that to those students at ECE/Primary/Secondary that are in need of assistance, that there is inadequate funding. Try asking about students/parents regarding RTL or dyslexia, support for those with learning needs, Leaky school buildings that there is no funding to remediate, inadequate remuneration, etc That thanks to shortfalls will struggle to be able to benefit from tertiary education funding and extra funding for accomodation.
I would suggest, Muttonbird, try talking to teachers and find out how in need the sector is.
Up late last night watching how-to renovation videos on Youtube, and came across this new series by Grand Designs – The Street.
How did Grand Designs: The Street come about?
'I went to The Netherlands on a trip with a bunch of leaders of local councils and politicians in 2010 to look at a large self-build town there, Almere, built on reclaimed land near Amsterdam. The Dutch have always stolen a march on us in terms of housing initiatives. Now, Almere is full of self-built homes, but nine years ago it was already advancing, and I got so excited I had to go and see Channel 4, simply to say ‘it’s amazing what’s happening there, let’s film it’. It was a sort of self-build heaven.
Meanwhile, a small local authority at Bicester, Cherwell District Council, had also been bitten by the Almere bug. In fact, they wanted to replicate Almere and facilitate Britain's first self-build and custom-build site on a grand scale. They were negotiating with the MOD to buy an old military site as they wanted to see what it would be like if they invited the general public to build their own homes. It’s this experiment that we’ve been following for the last 5 years. In the process, we’ve witnessed the first 10 pioneering households build a street of very different homes. But it’s just the start. Ultimately there will be thousands of homes, some social housing, some custom-build as well as self-build. I believe it’s a model that could be copied by local authorities up and down the land.'
A better solution – I think – then selling off crown or local government land to developers to provide housing. Another not mentioned benefit is that you end up with a long-term community, made up of a variety of people from all walks of life, instead of what we have now in many areas – segregation by economics.
Her thesis is that Syria was a differently formatted WW, and the constellations have shifted post US defeat(or failure to gain a victory…regime change)
Counting in the Ukrainian presidential election is indicating a rout: comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is currently at 73%, incumbent Poroshenko is at less than 25%.
Life imitates art: "Zelensky starred in the long-running satirical drama Servant of the People in which his character accidentally becomes Ukraine's president."
"He plays a teacher who is elected after his expletive-laden rant about corruption goes viral on social media. He ran under a political party with the same name as his show."
The traditional path to political success in democracies is to be all things to all people. He could signal that he will be that traditionalist by continually recycling the name of his show/party, for instance by ending all his speeches with "your servant, Volodymyr".
Equally, he ought to sign off on his emails to his patron, the oligarch, "your servant, Volodymyr". When he issues a polite request to the Ukrainian media, same sign-off. That way everyone ends up on the same page and all can acknowledge that he is indeed a classic democratic politician.
Humour is the best strategy when conducting foreign relations, as the ongoing UN dysfunction continues to prove. So his relations with Russia will improve immensely as soon as he suggests to Putin that they team up in the Vlad & Volod Show, a weekly current affairs review which will feature laughter as the best medicine.
Putin needs to loosen up more, and presenting as more human than Russians knew he could be would be a clever move for him. Entertaining the populace of both countries simultaneously would be tremendously therapeutic. Even more vodka could get sold.
Latest update: "Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Petro Poroshenko have gained 73.17 percent and 24.5 percent of the vote, respectively, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has said after it processed 90.1 percent of the voting protocols. Zelenskiy is leading in all regions, except Lviv region."
Are all the people who are convinced that Trump only made it to the Presidency going to start in on the story that Zelensky only got the votes reported here because the Russians rigged the result?
Clearly it must all be due to Putin's machinations.
Collusion? Depends on the angle you view it from, eh? View it from the left, you may be able to discern puppet strings…
"Zelensky, whose only previous political role was playing the president in a TV show, trounced incumbent Petro Poroshenko by taking 73 percent of the vote, according to partial official results. Poroshenko garnered just 24 percent, losing to the 41-year-old comedian and actor across the country, with 42 percent of ballots counted."
"Exit polls showed Zelensky took 87 percent of the vote in eastern Ukraine and defeated Poroshenko even in the west, where the incumbent traditionally enjoyed strong support. Poroshenko, 53, said the results were clear and enough reason to "call my opponent and congratulate him". "I will leave office but I want to firmly stress — I will not quit politics," Poroshenko said in a speech at his campaign headquarters… "We realise that the Kremlin might be enjoying the election result," he said."
"The outgoing leader came to power after a 2014 pro-Western uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime, triggering Moscow's annexation of Crimea. His supporters credited him with rebuilding the army and securing an Orthodox Church independent of Russia. But many feel the country's ruling elite have forgotten the promises of the revolution."
"The comic shunned traditional campaign rallies and instead performed comedy gigs and used social media to appeal to voters." Way to go, dude! Don't bore voters to death at those old robotic rallies, entertain them instead. Politics as fun! Enchant those voters!
My idea of European clowns is often they are politically savvy. Also they understand people's norms and how to tickle their humour, so understands people. This man could do a very good job compared to someone who has just sold himself for a whim or campaign money and is taking on a task above his level of competence. USA!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Hopkins#Personal_life – Katie Hopkins bounces off walls from one job to another. There is money to be made in the UK from being foul apparently – and our forebears came here with such high-flown notions in their head. Every advancement for the people had to be fought long and hard for – now they come here to gobble up what we managed to create.
We know that London in the UK has fatbergs in its sewers, is Katie Hopkins something that got washed up onto the street after one of the blockages that can be about 3.5m high? They require daily work as they emerge under the city. Or perhaps noxious gases have affected her memory – our noses are very sensitive and closely situated to the brain. There must be some explanation for the poor quality journalism and the media's acceptance of this attacking, harrowing method of soapboxing, but without the soap.
Perhaps it is that she has some big health issues – borderline healthy – and she takes it out on her unfortunate prey.
Winston Peters again in the gun and I’d have to agree that this government is being held back by him and his party.
When you have the entire country ready for some sort of CGT and Nat MPs wanting to return to Maori seats yet Peters is the fly in the ointment you have to wonder what kind of damage he is now doing to the country.
Besides which, the difference between paying income tax at ones marginal rate based on a bright line test of 10 years, and a CGT at 15% is basically nil. (I’m aware the current test is 5 years, but am leaving some room to extend)
Robertson said it was “unlikely” to be a further extension of the bright-line test as they've taken a CGT off the table and the bright-line test represents a form of that.
Not me – the TWG showed the biggest capital freeloaders were Ag,Forestry, & Fishing. The Gnats cannot in any case be trusted to do what they promise – Key campaigned on fixing housing – he fixed it so kiwis couldn't buy it anymore.
If the Gnats rolled out a fully costed set of economic policies that actually addressed declining outcomes, productivity and sustainability, which is well beyond them – they still could not be trusted to implement them.
A chapter of accidents. He had some hospital care and was sent home in a taxi although his parnter would have picked him up. He didn't arrive home. Then she phoned the hospital but they had nothing to tell her, and not knowing where he was she phoned the police. Some time after the hospital advised that he had been admitted after a fall, and she could come and get him after treatment. Then she found he had a gash across his forehead and was in intensive care.
The taxi should be instructed to take a patient to his or her home not drop them off at the shops. The instructions from the hospital should be quite clear. Better still phone the family.
The supershitty is too busy being grand to listen to the wants of ratepayers and the holes round ornamental trees should have been filled in as they say has been requested for a long time. When you think of the constant conniptions by Health and Safety on small business and private people, the authorities are playing us for suckers, local and national government.
"But hey hold on, the Statistics Department concludes: “Inflation was low in the March 2019 quarter because of falls in the prices of petrol and international airfares.” Right. So, apparently, the people struggling to pay for their smokes at the supermarket can take comfort from the fact that the price of getting to the Amalfi Coast for their winter holidays just got cheaper. So, maybe we’re not measuring the price fluctuations in any basket of goods that’s relevant to most New Zealanders. By the way, the cost of non–tradeable goods and services rose by 3% in the past year. So much for inflation being low to non-existent. In the real world, prices are going up."
Cheers . Im having problems with being unable to right comments some times due to the cursor being in the name section and not being able to get ot to shift to the comment box .
I’m afraid I won’t be of much help to you, but hopefully somebody else might shed some light upon this.
I assume you use a mobile phone.
I never use a mobile phone and always type on a keyboard and in Word first. Thanks to this, many a stupid comment of mine got deleted before it even made it into the TS comment box …
It also avoids the strain on eyes, neck, and fingers using a device that’s euphemistically called a smart-phone
That happens to me on the computer where I select all in the name box, cut and paste it into where I want it to be. Then put my name back in the right place. Then I haven't lost the bits of comment that have got into the name box while I have merrily been typing away. I admire you people who are doing it all from a phone. Marvels.
The iwi owners of Shelly Bay argue Sir Peter Jackson has long lost the right to have any say over what happens at the Wellington site…
… But to Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST) trustee Neville Baker, the whole argument missed one crucial point – the land in question belonged to iwi and it was up to them to do with it what they wanted.
Taranaki Whānui – of which PNBST is part of – settled its Treaty of Waitangi case with the Crown in 2009 and, almost to the day of settlement, used money it got to buy the Shelly Bay land.
Baker said the land was bought because it was historically used by iwi and "we felt we should buy it back".
Baker, on Monday, said Jackson then gave up his rights to influence what happened there.
"The point really is, we have the right to develop what we own and it is no-one else's decision."
I agree Jackson should but out. It's just sad that the Trust appears wedded to capitalism and has partnered with Cassel's "The Wellington Company"… kind of ironic.
It's a shame that Jackson and Maori cannot come to a mutually satisfactory conclusion. Opportunities for suitable Maori to have apprenticeships with him. People need to see him as having something to offer instead of going all sour because he didn't play their game.
No-one else in NZ could have done the job with LOR and we now have another string to our bow, big film making and model making. With so many people willing to spit on entrepreneurs it isn't surprising that we languish in a jobless low wage environment – you don't kick a possible employer in the teeth because you want more money, you keep talking and thinking. He is here, and could be worked with to build up an apprenticeship, get some ongoing advantages.
They don't come often – cunning minds work at how to get opportunities, not march in the streets complaining. But the leaders of the march might as well have said 'Let them eat grass' – nothing could have been the outcome.
MOSCOW — Jewish officials say an arson fire was set at the largest yeshiva in Russia as the faithful were gathered there for a Passover meal.
No one was reported injured in the Friday fire at the Torat Chaim school in an eastern Moscow suburb.
Olga Esaulova, a spokeswoman for Moscow's chief rabbi, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the fire was set in a storage area for kosher meat and that swastikas were drawn at the yeshiva's entrance.
Yet Volodymyr Zelensky will be the first Jewish president of Ukraine (and the second Jewish head of a European nation) and Poland's resurrected their oldbeat the Jew ritual, too. Funny old world, eh.
Born in Napier and educated at Wellington's Victoria University, Peach was a Kiwi teacher killed by a British policemen during an anti-fascist protest in 1979. April 23 marks the 40th anniversary of his death. He was just 33 years old.
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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, ...
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” ...
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/112123654/climate-change-a-reply-to-the-five-most-common-comments-from-readers
Busting bullshit memes for dummies.
I've kinda got an issue with their just brushing aside and minimising population growth as a contributing issue.
Like many other things, that's an area where New Zealand's only significant contribution can come from leading by example. We could choose to say we reject the idea of continual growth (including population growth) and choose to find ways to make steady state and circular economics work.
We could choose to reject the hand-wringing and bedwetting about the fact that the native birth rate is below replacement. And embrace the idea that that gives us more opportunity to welcome some from parts of the world that will get hammered by the changes coming.
Explicitly embracing the idea of below-replacement birth rates and falling populations could set a highly visible example to the rest of the world. In a similar way to our nuclear-free stance.
We could be leading by example as you say…except none in the positions to implement it have either the ability or the desire to accomplish it
It's the kind of change that can only happen by shifting general social attitudes.
One way to help shift general social attitudes with respect to populations is pieces like the one wags linked start talking about the good aspects of lower populations and fewer kids per family, rather than just brushing the issue aside.
Not necessarily…it can be accomplished that way if you are unconcerned about the length of time it will take to achieve….and then theres leadership
Yet leaders are significantly products of their formative environments.
AOC was late teens/early twenties going through the GFC, watching the flaws of lightly regulated free-market rapaciousness while the social environment around her was filled with disgust at their "leaders" inadequate response. Would she have become the leader she is now if the environment around hadn't had the senseof there being a better way?
Similarly Greta Thunberg is coming of age at a time when the general social environment is demanding climate change action. Yet there have been high profile serious people having a damn good go at leading on this topic for decades and getting very little traction.
Leadership is a synergy of the leader's personal qualities and the environment they are in.
and where was the social environment that determined that growth come what may was desirable?….the demand for that was promoted by a narrow section of society that captured the 'leadership'. The synergy argument dosnt hold water when that fact is examined
Growth is clearly and self-evidently desirable when your environment is one where the best strategy for the success of your own group is to overwhelm the"other" by sheer force of numbers, and there's also significant vacant or underused territory your group can expand into to grab more resource to support the expansion of your group.
Both those factors have been true for the vast majority of people for the vast majority of human history. But they stopped being true sometime in the last few generations. That's a helluva lot of cultural inertia and memory to try to turn around.
again , it was only ever true for a segment of society….the dissenters were always disregarded….synergy be buggered
Going from survival of the fitest to we are all one is most likely beyond what evolution made us . But there is hope i guess. I see glimmers of hope in the younger generations .
We have been able to benefit from how: oil based products, pesticides, water management, the improvement of medicine and more that have allowed the pop. to increase to 7.7b.
What is the cost of these ? and for how long can this continue for
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12224127
IMO to manage what we are facing a large portion of the solution is our pop. and what is the viable carrying capacity of the earth with changes that need to be implemented ASAP, but that is only one persons observations 🤔
But Gaia may have a natural solution with the visit of the 4 horseman
I was looking at the stuff website and a strange woman started to talk so I tracked down which image appeared to be live and when I found it I couldn't get an image or stop the sound. Strange.
(Everything's up to date in Kansas [insert chosen location here] city, They've gone about as far as they can go. What next!)
I saw a Newshub update on this but when I went to their website it wasn't there. Happened once before too – slack editing, or evidence that TV3 liaison is somewhat haphazard.
"Brazilian beetles, first released in 2011, haven’t wasted any time getting stuck into the swathes of tradescantia (Tradescantia fluminensis) that are infesting gardens, reserves and conservation land. Three beetle species have been released − a leaf beetle (Neolema ogloblini), a stem beetle (Lema basicostata), and a tip beetle (Neolema abbreviata) − which were selected to attack different parts of the plant." https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications/newsletters/biological-control-of-weeds/issue-84/tradescantia-be-gone
Traditionally known as wandering jew, the Newshub reporter called it wandering willy. Not the first media reporter I've seen do this, so I suspect some moron, or group of morons, decided that the traditional name is disrespectful to jews so deemed it politically incorrect. The basic idea behind this type of thinking is that media consumers are morons, so any other moron or group of morons can get away with telling them what to do.
Anyway, gardeners have tried various methods of eliminating the plant, and I can verify from many years of personal experience on different properties that success is only achieved where infestations are fairly small and localised, and even then it takes diligence and time. Just a single broken piece an inch long will grow roots and become an inch long. If it lies exposed on the ground through summer, even continuous sun-baking will not dry it out. It is resilient, will bide it's time, and root when the rains come.
The Newshub report showed that large swathes of the plant have been consumed by the beetles, so the control design seems effective. That's taken eight years though, so it ain't fast. No adverse effects reported, so I hope the govt decides on general release soon.
Update: Looks like Newshub got around to posting it late last night: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/04/kiwi-teenagers-take-experimental-biological-weed-buster-to-the-world.html
I recall it in the '60s as being called "Wandering Willie" then too, never really saw it spelled out in full so whether with a Kwiw accent it was also "jew" or "dew" is another one of the things people are finding to fret over whereas, as always, there are much bigger issues that need the focus.
My father was chatting with our Jewish next door neighbour over the back fence one weekend afternoon, and idly pointed to the mass of green weed that had colonised our compost heap, the fence and progressing onward over everything it could reach.
Dad was saying how "he was going to get stuck in and eradicate this wandering …" and our neighbour smiled and said "yeah we call it Wandering Christian actually :-)"
Hey Red, your comment box now has these new smiley options available at a click. I've just seen my lapse in proof-reading, so must apologise to all for this:
"Just a single broken piece an inch long will grow roots and become an inch long." I thought I was writing "become a new plant". However my subconscious decided to replace it with a re-run of what I had typed a few moments earlier.
This is a new type of senior moment! Unless other elderly commentators can prove earlier versions of same, I will claim inventor's rights…
Calm down! I only ever knew it as wandering wiĺlie as a kid in the 50s. We thought it was hilarious because it was our dad's name. Maybe it's a regional thing.
Oh, how interesting. Thanks Jan – and also Rapunzel – for corroboration that it did indeed predate the pc era. I can park the grumpy old man syndrome for a while.
So many unobservant observers out there.
Tradescantia, oxalis…. run chickens on the 'problem'. Watch the problem converted to eggs and meat.
To be thorough – add the biocontrol which will now actively seek out any remainder.
Also, taking early occurring rust fungi from either plant and spreading it around on 'healthy' patches of weed to weaken it considerably.
Great idea for weed eradication – chickens – wonderful weeders – and you get eggs – yeah!
Good thinking. I recall as a kid in the fifties when almost all suburban families had a chicken run out back. No supermarkets in Aotearoa till the seventies.
My ex-partner installed one three years ago. Built herself a multi-level shelter at one end with laying straw in roosts & trapdoors above for easy extraction of eggs, has four hens. Observing them on visits reminded me that hen-pecking is a form of bullying. Given that all birds are residual dinosaurs, one wonders if T Rex also did hen-pecking. That would have been awesome to watch.
You must have lived South of the Bombay Hills. Apparently the first supermarkets were in Auckland as early as 1957. There was one with a large car park no less in 1958. Ah civilization had reached our shores.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/grocery-shopping-canned-food
I grew up in Napier in the 1950's. I can only remember one of the neighbours who had chickens at that time. They were fairly common for people who lived on rather bigger bits of land out in Greenmeadows, Taradale and Clive though.
Maybe regional variations applied then, which we didn't know about. My childhood was in New Plymouth, then college in Wanganui, didn't arrive in Auckland till early '68. I didn't know about that one in Devonport. Students never went to such remote places – poor people still packed buses & trains then (cars were not an option for students).
Alwwn,
I had chickens in my Napier state house in 1957, as on Napier's main Emerson Street at 'Woolworths' they sold 'day old' chicks every august, – that we would fatten them up for Xmas dinner.
Yes cleangreen, my Dad had chickens, Rhode Island Reds and Black Orpingtons. In 1951 Mum used to buy 24 day old chicks, twice a year from her cousin who had a hatchery. They used to come by train from Hamilton to Te Kuiiti. The worst part of the trip was the 26 miles of rough metal road to Benneydale in Dad's T Ford!! The good old days,
I had relatives in Napier in the fifties, and spent many a school holiday there. They had chooks. This was in Thackeray Street.
That'll save our forests bleepy.
We don't all live in the bush (I wish). Management varies and varied solutions are useful.
NZ originally had vast numbers of birds that browsed at various trophic levels of the forest. Now Moa are extinct, and the people trying to make things 'like they were' – what time-point was ideal? Can we bring the Moa back with genetics labs, PR and capital?
Obviously, we want functional ecology. Conservation is a lofty but confused goal. Whereever invasives can be turned to human use their control becomes a lot easier (but eradication nigh on impossible).
No more pesticides, no excuses. The impending loss of insects will cost us everything. It is as urgent an issue as climate change.
Auckland council use(d?) early season rust fungi (from Tradescantia) to spray on Tradescantia and reduce its rampancy (to varying extent) in the region. A new bio-control is obviously welcome it's efficacy remains to be seen.
Animals perform a number of ecosystem functions and when these are understood and managed correctly, they might (gladly) do a lot of work for you while creating animal products e.g. weeding, tilling, fertilising, insect control, turn unpalatable materials to palatable materials.
Our Farmers understand the pulses of seasons, and how this ties in with production. As their ecological understanding grows (some are exemplars in their field) biodiversity will become synonymous with production where many more seasonal pulses can be used to obtain yields. Slowly, balance might be restored as trees (and all they bring) repopulate the landscape.
In urban areas, we can create habitat for bugs. And of course stop using insecticides.
If you have chickens and Tradescantia/Oxalis, well, you know what to do.
Guinea Pigs like it as well.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/112157454/you-need-popularity-to-become-a-leader-but-it-can-be-bad-for-leadership
I'm not going to recommend this piece by Jane Bowron to read except if you are interested to find how many mixed metaphors can be jumbled together to say very little in a column. Here's an example.
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern dropped the controversial policy like a hot spud and pledged that while she's at the helm that dog will never hunt again.
Result. Peters' fan base is deliriously happy that he's finally manned up to show who calls the shots; Simon Bridges has lost any bit of skin he has left in the game; and St Jacinda looks like a cynical politician unable to stick to her guns and exact core Labour Party policy."
The writer, Jane Bowron, takes four opening paragraphs to start even before the topic of the headline is introduced. It's fluff, an opinion piece written to fill a space. I wonderd when reading it if she's actually spoofing bad writing. She succeeded if that was her aim.
"If we can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
Agree, terrible article wish I'd never read it…but I did and it raised a question in my mind
Did the MSM ever see any negatives in the 'popularity" of Teflon John? Not that I recall.
An interesting interview with Helen Clark.
https://soundcloud.com/rttv/worlds-apart-neutered-for-neutrality-helen-clark-former-prime-minister-of-new-zealand
It has always seemed to me that examining the words of Helen Clark to discern signs of intelligence is a waste of time. But I've got an open mind. If you found any evidence of such, I'd consider the potential merit of it…
Let's put it this way, HC's views, whether you regard them as intellectual or not, are informed by an accumulated experience several orders of magnitude greater than all of us regulars here put together
Edit: If you really thirst for intellectual, can I recommend this guy?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw
Indeed. One cannot deny the extent of her operational experience. It's the learning therefrom that is in question. I'm curious to see if she has any helpful analysis of the problem, but not enough to overcome the distaste based on prior experience of her (non-)contributions. If she actually produced a solution to the problem there's a very real danger of folks dropping dead from astonishment…
“prior experience of [his/]her (non-)contributions”
People do look at all of us for that.
They've as much chance of making any sense of her after they've dropped dead, not because of her limitations but because of their own.
That is quite some site.
Nifty presentation, which I managed to endure due to exercise of willpower to overcome dislike of maths. Incorporating physics into the design was clever, and lack of real-world application acknowledged, but it ended with a teaser: the pi-implied circle, invisible in the presentation, would only be revealed to viewers who choose to watch the next thrilling installment of maths-by-graphic. Not me.
Engineering math was my stumbling block too; I could follow it as long as I could map it onto something physical. But the point where it became totally abstract I struggled. Fourier transforms yes, Laplace transforms no.
3Blue1Brown does a brilliant job of breaking this barrier down with visuals and modern interpretations that I only wish was around 40 years earlier .
Mathematicians are the princes of the modern world, and despite my limitations I always wished to be fully admitted to their ranks. Ah well we all have our failed dreams.
I take your point despite never viewing mathematicians with respect. I always discounted them due to their propensity for abstractions being even worse than that of physicists (hard to believe). But I ought to acknowledge that maths is used to validate and empower physics, and certainly forms the basis of computing. I wonder if our service provider (LPrent) will volunteer a personal take on this interface between imaginal and real.
A mathematician is having problems with a leaky sink, so he calls a plumber. The plumber comes over and quickly fixes the sink. The professor is happy until he gets the bill. He tells the plumber, "This is outrageous! You charge more for an hour than I make in a whole day!"
The plumber tells him, "You know, we are always looking for more plumbers. You could become a plumber and triple your salary. Just make sure you say you only made it to 6th grade, they don't like educated people."
The professor takes him up on the offer and becomes a plumber. His salary triples and he doesn't have to work nearly as hard. But after a few years, a law gets passed that all licensed plumbers must have at least an 8th grade education…Not wanting to admit he lied on his application, he signs up for night classes.
On the first day of night School they all attend math class. The teacher wants to gauge the class so he asks the former mathematician, "What is the formula for the area of a circle?"
He walks up to the board and realizes he has forgotten the formula. So he begins to attempt to derive the formula, filling the board with complicated mathematics. He ends up figuring out it is negative pi times radius squared, but he knows that's incorrect, so he starts over, but again he comes up with the same equation.
After staring at the board for a minute he hears one of the plumbers in the class behind him whisper, "Switch the limits on the integral, dummy!"
PS. I cribbed this from some forum ages back 🙂
Mathematics is a part of physics. Physics is an experimental science, a part of natural science. Mathematics is the part of physics where experiments are cheap.
Vladimir Arnold.
Good grief Dennis Frank, you obviously never knew Helen Clark. She is extremely intelligent – way ahead of the vast majority of people. However what she did try to do with varying success was to speak publicly in a manner those of average intelligence would better understand. It was not a case of dropping to their level, but rather to get her points across. I fear you mistook her intentions to be that of a person of average intelligence.
Anne I agree with your take on Helen Clark as she was the real true caring PM we ever had since Michael Joseph Savage..
Not even Norm Kirk?
I met Helen Clark on many occasions, and I'm with you. I didn't share her politics, but there was no doubting her sharp intellect. There was a certain derangement about her from some on the right, which we saw again with the lefts attitude towards John Key, but IMHO Clark was amongst the most competent of PM's this county has seen.
But having it and using it are two different things, eh? I tend to judge on the basis of performance – don't you? Why not take a look at the interview RL posted and report back here if she proposes a solution to the UN problem that seems viable?
I know you ain't no leftist, so that puts you in a credible position to evaluate her performance objectively. If she merely circles around the problem, discussing dimension of it without advancing the situation one iota, I trust you'll be honest enough to report that back to us too.
Hi Dennis. My comments were specifically about her time as PM. I also have no time for the UN. IMHO it is a largely corrupt and essentially useless organisation that has lost it's way entirely. So no sorry, I won't be listening to the interview.
Very different things.
Key was not an honest man. Most people are annoyed by liars.
There it is … KDS in evidence again.
Despite your heroic efforts to peddle this false equivalence, Clark was not given to outrageous manifestations of dishonesty like Key's "I don't recall".
Clark burnt herself on efforts like the anti-smacking bill, Key destroyed his reputation by insider trading and self serving actions like constraining the brightline to two years so his own investments would make the cut.
Like Trump he was and is a self-serving piece of shite with no business pretending to act for a democratic polity. Morally crippled rightwingers look on him with envy rather than contempt, but this defeats their arguments with the Left before they even begin.
You have one of the worst cases of KDS I have seen. In fact I’d say it’s incurable. I’d argue the toss, but you’re beyond rational debate.
Look I understand you have this deep abiding need to lie your worthless ass off to defend the thoroughly unsavoury reputation of the worst PM NZ has ever seen, but my objections to this lying self-serving ineffectual ambulant cesspool of corruption are entirely rational.
So don't be accusing me of KDS – that's not a thing – unless it applies to scoundrels like yourself, for whom, judging by your comments, lying and stealing are public virtues.
He’s not dead yet – the convention on eulogies does not apply.
Yep, you've got it bad.
The only thing I've got bad is a troll who won't stop apologizing for the worthless son of a bitch.
Come up with some facts to dispute my characterization Shadrach – if you've got anything better to offer than your usual ersatz wildebeests.
Liars make me MAD shatrack.
They don't help your spelling either.
Despite claims to the contrary, she was a woman of substance and integrity, but one possible fault (which I tend to share with her), she did not suffer fools gladly. And woe betide anyone who played silly buggers with her. Very early on in her parliamentary career, I decided to play the devil's advocate at a meeting. No prizes for guessing who came off second best by a long shot. 🙁
I've often hoped to meet her again one day and ask her if she remembered that incident.
“And woe betide anyone who played silly buggers with her”
At the risk of blowing my cover totally I can retell this tale about HC.
In 2001 I was working with a good friend in the Beehive on a technical contract relating to the building power system. The only time we were allowed to do full black start testing was after midnight on a Sunday evening. Most of the work was located in the basement, but we also had reason to access the '10th floor' where much of the HVAC equipment is located. The only way to get there is by lift to the 9th floor and then stairs up.
My mate is a madman I should add.
So there we are sometime late at night, the lift doors open on the foyer of the 9th floor and there is HC striding with he back to us, paperwork under one arm, from one office to another and as we step out my friend bursts into his best Muldoon imitation (which is very damn good) and says "Heh, heh, heh …. so that's the little girlie that got the job".
HC freezes to a halt, pauses ominously just long enough for my bowels to turn to water, swivels malevolently on her heels and imperiously announces "Fucking uppity tradesmen. Use the back entrance!" And with a wicked grin vanishes into her office.
What a cool story! Your friend sounds like a rare breed. McPhail's version of Muldoon was okay, but he couldn't ever seem to reproduce the genuine menace element of the Muldoon style. You know, the bit that always had his cabinet cowering like underdogs.
And who would have thought she actually had a sense of humour! All them smiley interviews didn't hint at it. Just showed her as well-trained.
To give her credit for street cred, her pulling the academic put-down of the working class in your story was convincing. Spinning on a dime to deliver that line demonstrates true expertise. Gutsy giving the fingers to politically correct supporters while exhibiting classic intelligentsia elitism. Only two observers, nobody would ever believe them, so she could reveal her true self in that moment. That's real authenticity!
Helen and a great sense of humour Dennis. But for some reason she rarely showed it in public. I can only assume someone advised her to stick with the serious persona – perhaps because as a woman any show of humour would lead to ridicule of her further down the track. Just guessing mind you.
I would have liked her more if she had, Anne. And ridicule damages only if you let it – an adept operator can usually turn it to advantage. Lange was exemplary in that respect and I valued him for being a refreshing new style of kiwi politician. Too bad he proved inept in the exercise of power.
Now the new leader of Ukraine is reminding us how potent humour can be in politics. The sooner we get that element back into our political mix, the better. Mind you, the necessity is considerably more dire in the USA…
Hi Anne. Apart form the times I met her, there was one event that enhanced my view of Helen Clark enormously. It was an interview she gave in 2002 with John Campbell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dET78Z5b5s). It was a dirty piece of journalism by Campbell, and Clark handled herself with considerable professionalism. I have never rated Campbell since, and never will.
That's down to your examining skills franko, more praxis needed.
But he's praxis to the maxis as it is.
Don't I gnosis.
🙂
Nah, I know that folks will oblige me by gleefully reporting any genuine pearls of wisdom. So far, zilch, so commentators are busy proving me right…
Crikey!
RT
IKR?!
How did that link get past the dragons and the shark infested moat that protect The Standard
McFlock and the gang will be having conniptions
I think they'll be fine.
But what they don't know won't hurt them.
With a little chill down my neck, I agree with John Roughan (!) that the Prime Minister is wasting her massive political capital by not using it, and delivering a timid government:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12223853
Yeah, likewise. "If last Wednesday she had announced a capital gains tax limited to investment property, excluding farms, business, shares, all productive investment, it would have been greeted with relief."
That's hitting the nail on the head. He goes on to make the point that this group of professional investors are largely responsible for making homes unaffordable to young kiwi home-buyers. So hitting the guilty would be popular.
Yes, but. Excessive immigration produced by National and Labour govts is even more responsible for creating the real-estate bubble. Maintenance of that trend by the coalition has merely stabilised the bubble. Collapsing the bubble to provide equity for young kiwi families is deemed too hard by the coalition: they are being held to ransome by older generations playing the market. Investors win again.
Inflows of capital are the problem, not of people. And no govt will fix housing being treated as an investment asset class without tackling the economic settings that enable it.
Fair point. I spent so many years in Ak watching immigrant Chinese inflate the bubble I'm probably biased. Just because I profited from their input enough to get wealthy doesn't mean I stopped feeling disgusted by the trend. Empathy with those made into losers by govt policy seems to come naturally, then there's the deliberate repudiation of intergenerational equity on top of that, so unprincipled as to fill me with intense contempt for whichever govt is currently doing it. Currently, a govt I've been supporting…
The visible Chinese buyers were just fronting the capital flows from China, same as the Americans, Australians and Brits were doing.
Contempt for the people who made you rich franko? You're a peach aren't you.
You really believe the govt did it?? What part of market forces don't you get?
Govts regulate markets.
Or not. Depends how neoliberal they want to be seen as. Most of the expert analysis on the gfc, since the gfc, asserts that the regulations implemented were intended to create public impressions – not to change the way the market operates. Sham regulation has been a thing since Clinton.
I guess its possible shes saving it to spend on far more pressing things like cc .
if her interview yesterday is any indication it wont be used on that either
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018691820/the-search-for-a-political-solution-to-climate-change
Thank you for the link. I swear Noelle McCarthy’s accent is getting less understandable with time.
I remember saying similar about John Key.
As well as dealing with the stuff of government like drought, Christchurch rebuild, Kaikoura rebuild, Pike River, and Wellington earthquake, he also had a crack at changing the flag.
So far under this government:
– Poverty is the same
– Wealth disparity is the same
– Homelessness is the same
– Environmental damage is the same
– Tax levels are the same
It's about time Ardern did something more ethan emote well.
Key “dealing with” Pike River? pffft
Resulted in the most comprehensive industrial safety legislation ever in this country.
Let’s ask the Pike families who they credit for that, shall we.
Go right ahead.
The Christchurch rebuild hasn't been good either.
There have been small changes though Ad.
But in the main your points cannot be denied. And Robertson has a vision I think of following in Douglas', Cullen's footsteps – Sir Grant Robertson awarded to him for holding off the simple citizens of Nz massing to attack the citadel of wealth and power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_BK-kuQ-Fo
I have a hunch your paygrade is beyond this: the incremental raising of minimum wage to living wage is lifting the income of some wage slaves.
Any evidence for this?
Union for example?
You're coming down with a case of the IRekons
Just my experience.
Last two performances reviews (roughly annually), I have gone up $1 an hour at each.
The first one, the poor manager said "because the minimum wage is going up, your wage is going up".
Silly bugger didn't try and say it was linked to performance.
To be fair I am in hospitality, so not far away from the minimum wage.
Nice baiting though Ad.
I struggle to point to anything else I would shout from the rooftops about this regime.
Me too.
I have been disabled for 27 years and always been left without “quality support and having a valued life in the community,” as Tish rightly suggests.
It seems that we disabled are considered not worth saving or caring about any more over the last thirty years.
I was severely chemically expose in 1992 and have suffered from brain injuries, nervous system damage, and immune system dysfunction ever since. It is now far harder to stay alive.
These injuries all occurred after exposure at my workplace and since after a seven year Workers Compensation claim no-one has ever been blamed, so I have fallen right through the social safety net.
The most insulting part was when I reached the retirement age (65) my disability payment funding support was cut out and I was thrown straight onto the lower payment system on the general pension, so now I cannot get good disability treatments because no funding is available for them on the pension for the disabled.
Cleangreen, I am so sorry about all you have experienced.
I don't know what to say other than apologise to you.
Life must be incredibly tough for you.
Thanks ankerawshark.
Yes, it is tough but my time in the NZ army taught me to keep on fighting to stay alive.
I am very sorry about the Chill down the back of your neck. So strange how you trolls blame Jacinda for everything.
So childish. Probably because you suck off the Herald rubbish.
Point to their results.
You're sounding like the chairman now – you're a member of the party aren't you? If so you don't know the results your party have achieved? They've just done a year in office haven't they?
https://www.labour.org.nz/year_in_review_2018
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/91882/government-completes-its-100-day-plan-here-what-it-has-done
Two context-absent, graph-absent, analysis-absent propaganda lists. Awesome.
None of their policies have been shown to alleviate the previous government's issues of poverty, homelessness, environmental damage, economic productivity, or wealth disparity.
Don't worry if they existed, the Salvation Army would have picked them up.
Time this government was held to account from all sides.
Ardern and Robertson are coasting.
lol What did they say when you emailed them your concerns?
Wait.
Just wait.
When you look through those propaganda lists, keep in mind that none of those things would have happened without a change of government.
The question is, why do all their policy efforts look like they're hamstrung by a bunch of provincial conservatives and corrupt influence-peddlers? Well, we do know the answer to that question, don't we? If you want a left-wing agenda implemented, vote for left-wing parties, not right-wing ones or corrupt populists. A left-wing agenda necessitates a left-wing majority and right now there isn't one.
That's right, Marty. He has a valid point.
In fact, some things have exacerbated.
And the future isn't looking much better.
Here (the following below) is how Max Rashbrooke sums it up:
In short, today's announcement is likely to load pressure onto the debate about public debt, and push the government into a pretty sub- optimal position. We can also now understand the intensity of the opposition to a capital gains tax, or indeed any tax increase. Opposition parties now no longer need fight every single one of the government's plans – because to the extent that those plans rely on revenue that a capital gains tax would have raised, they have all just been shut down in one go.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/387291/capital-gains-tax-shutdown-threatens-govt-s-other-plans
In theory at least, any tax changes from the TWG were tax neutral, so I don't understand how a CGT could have funded more stuff than current settings.
Only tax neutral for the first five years. Then the tax revenue projections start to vastly outweigh the proposed tax cuts.
That's a long way into the future for a government – even if they got 9 years, they would barely see the start of that by the time it was implemented.
Carbon taxes and other options seem like a better bet.
Government accounting methods are largely based on forecasting. Thus, the added revenue stream from a CGT would improve the economic outlook, meaning the Government would be able to increase the capital and operating allowances in the next Budget.
Carbon taxes don't address tax free capital gains, thus the unfairness in our tax system.
Moreover, I would require far more detail to agree carbon taxes and other options are a better bet.
Regards the terrible bombing massacre in Sri Lanka, the 'will to power' indeed often seeks to disposses innocence in one way or another, as i saw recently intimated in a relatively rarified clarity of reason headline relating to English perspective lately; but as we recently demonstrated we also know here in NZ, and of which there is no better day than Easter Sunday as symbolism of, the 'will to power' is also an instrument to the creation of innocence, depending on choice in how it is used.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12223646
Good grief…Groundhog Day
I think information is helpful for discussion Pat.
Creative destruction: Will technology create or kill jobs? 22 Apr, 2019 5:00am
New Zealanders are being asked to share their views on whether technological changes will cost jobs or create them as the Government looks to formulate a policy on the future of work. The Productivity Commission has published an issues paper which explores the possible impacts of new technology on the labour market. It has been tasked with producing a full report by March 2020.
"While technological change brings significant overall benefits, it also creates frictions and costs for particular groups in society," the issues paper notes.
"Sustained economic growth requires innovation, and innovation cannot be decoupled from creative destruction. "This 'replacement of the old' involves the devaluation of prior investments in machinery and skills, leaving the owners of older equipment and workers who used it worse off. For some, these costs can be severe."
However on the positive side the paper acknowledges significant job creation due to new technology.
For example, since 1999, the number of jobs classified as 'Computer systems design and related services' has increased from 8700 to 32,600, it notes.
Bare facts background here. Who are doing these jobs – have NZs had every chance to train and move into them. And why have jobs not expanded in the trades in a parallel way? Isn't this a very unbalanced society, full of dreams, visions for the future, and limited connection with their own vulnerable humanity and even less of that of others?
yes GWS…I would have copied and pasted some of the relevant information but with the changes i havnt yet worked out how to….however my point is why is this work being redone?..didnt Labour have a Future of Work working party only a couple of years ago?…do they think our attention spans are so short?…when are they going to come to some conclussions and make decisions?….this is getting a little absurd
"Climate change is our generation's nuclear moment."
What are they doing about it?
Wringing their hands. And young people are sick of it.
+++++++++++++++++Yes Sasha
Labour’s Climate Change policies = all talk no do.
You mean the Green/Labor/NZFirst Government policies.
Plenty of talk from all of them so far.
I think its up to us Cleangreen
Boycott overseas travel, stop consuming in the extreme way we do , be happy doing it
Any way that you can persuade James Shaw to follow your prescription? He seems to think the only reason he is in Government is to give him an opportunity to skive off overseas while ignoring the complete shambles that is the Census.
James Shaw with Climate Change = Minister Robertson with tax reform.
Shaw has bigger things in mind than yours can cope with .
Frantically mouth rinsing, to get rid of the halitosis, although it doesn’t smell like uranium this time …
Labour needs to do what they promised to do.
"Mr Twyford's defence is that promises made by Jacinda Ardern as Labour leader are completely different from promises made by Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister."
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/02/jacinda-ardern-breaks-the-first-promise-she-made-as-labour-leader.html
Hopefully our Govt. will be able to keep a few important commitments to those in real need – other than keeping those precious Uni Students happy 🤫
This is a false meme from the right wing. The fees free policy encourages all tertiary education both academic and vocational. It encourages young people into post secondary training who were most likely to forego that training due to cost other class barriers.
"This is a false meme from the right wing" really !!! tell that to those students at ECE/Primary/Secondary that are in need of assistance, that there is inadequate funding. Try asking about students/parents regarding RTL or dyslexia, support for those with learning needs, Leaky school buildings that there is no funding to remediate, inadequate remuneration, etc That thanks to shortfalls will struggle to be able to benefit from tertiary education funding and extra funding for accomodation.
I would suggest, Muttonbird, try talking to teachers and find out how in need the sector is.
Up late last night watching how-to renovation videos on Youtube, and came across this new series by Grand Designs – The Street.
A better solution – I think – then selling off crown or local government land to developers to provide housing. Another not mentioned benefit is that you end up with a long-term community, made up of a variety of people from all walks of life, instead of what we have now in many areas – segregation by economics.
First episode currently on Youtube:
Grand Designs – The Street – Episode 1
Just letting you know Molly that i have copied and put in How to get here as this sounds interesting and may show us the way.
Pretty interesting
https://www.salon.com/2019/04/21/reporter-sharmine-narwani-on-the-secret-history-of-americas-defeat-in-syria/
A long read but a good one.
Her thesis is that Syria was a differently formatted WW, and the constellations have shifted post US defeat(or failure to gain a victory…regime change)
Yes, I've just read that. Sharmine Narwani is no slouch and certainly no government's patsy
I read an account she wrote of the Palestinian/Syrian relationship. Its a very complex relationship.
There's no two paragraph sound bite with Sharmine's articles. They're
very informative.
Like to read that
Here ya go
https://mideastshuffle.com/2014/11/17/stealing-palestine-who-dragged-palestinians-into-syrias-conflict/
Ta
Much appreciated
Counting in the Ukrainian presidential election is indicating a rout: comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is currently at 73%, incumbent Poroshenko is at less than 25%.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487
One can imagine the eyes of comedians all over the world lighting up as the possibilities of this trend occur to them…
Life imitates art: "Zelensky starred in the long-running satirical drama Servant of the People in which his character accidentally becomes Ukraine's president."
"He plays a teacher who is elected after his expletive-laden rant about corruption goes viral on social media. He ran under a political party with the same name as his show."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487
He talks of ending the war in the east with a massive infowar program, and also intends to re start the Minsk process.
Apparently the various embassies are scrambling, they don't know what to make of him .How much he's under Kolomoisky's thumb no one knows.
Pretty hard to avoid the influence of oligarchs in Ukraine.
The traditional path to political success in democracies is to be all things to all people. He could signal that he will be that traditionalist by continually recycling the name of his show/party, for instance by ending all his speeches with "your servant, Volodymyr".
Equally, he ought to sign off on his emails to his patron, the oligarch, "your servant, Volodymyr". When he issues a polite request to the Ukrainian media, same sign-off. That way everyone ends up on the same page and all can acknowledge that he is indeed a classic democratic politician.
Humour is the best strategy when conducting foreign relations, as the ongoing UN dysfunction continues to prove. So his relations with Russia will improve immensely as soon as he suggests to Putin that they team up in the Vlad & Volod Show, a weekly current affairs review which will feature laughter as the best medicine.
Putin needs to loosen up more, and presenting as more human than Russians knew he could be would be a clever move for him. Entertaining the populace of both countries simultaneously would be tremendously therapeutic. Even more vodka could get sold.
Latest update: "Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Petro Poroshenko have gained 73.17 percent and 24.5 percent of the vote, respectively, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has said after it processed 90.1 percent of the voting protocols. Zelenskiy is leading in all regions, except Lviv region."
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/zelenskiy-leading-with-73-17-percent-followed-by-poroshenko-with-24-5-percent.html
Are all the people who are convinced that Trump only made it to the Presidency going to start in on the story that Zelensky only got the votes reported here because the Russians rigged the result?
Clearly it must all be due to Putin's machinations.
Collusion? Depends on the angle you view it from, eh? View it from the left, you may be able to discern puppet strings…
"Zelensky, whose only previous political role was playing the president in a TV show, trounced incumbent Petro Poroshenko by taking 73 percent of the vote, according to partial official results. Poroshenko garnered just 24 percent, losing to the 41-year-old comedian and actor across the country, with 42 percent of ballots counted."
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ukraine-comedian-volodymyr-zelensky-wins-presidency-in-landslide-2026466
"Exit polls showed Zelensky took 87 percent of the vote in eastern Ukraine and defeated Poroshenko even in the west, where the incumbent traditionally enjoyed strong support. Poroshenko, 53, said the results were clear and enough reason to "call my opponent and congratulate him". "I will leave office but I want to firmly stress — I will not quit politics," Poroshenko said in a speech at his campaign headquarters… "We realise that the Kremlin might be enjoying the election result," he said."
"The outgoing leader came to power after a 2014 pro-Western uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime, triggering Moscow's annexation of Crimea. His supporters credited him with rebuilding the army and securing an Orthodox Church independent of Russia. But many feel the country's ruling elite have forgotten the promises of the revolution."
"The comic shunned traditional campaign rallies and instead performed comedy gigs and used social media to appeal to voters." Way to go, dude! Don't bore voters to death at those old robotic rallies, entertain them instead. Politics as fun! Enchant those voters!
The Ukranians got sick and tired of the clowns running their country so they put in a real clown instead.
My idea of European clowns is often they are politically savvy. Also they understand people's norms and how to tickle their humour, so understands people. This man could do a very good job compared to someone who has just sold himself for a whim or campaign money and is taking on a task above his level of competence. USA!
Te radar for Governor General.
Ursula Carlson for the Attorney General.
Hadn't heard Urzila Carlson. She exaggerates how sweet we are in NZ! Acshually a bit like PM Jacinda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmxdXd71JE
Britain. How do they produce such filth?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12224324
The rise of the extreme right in Britain makes me think it's a once great nation on a steep decline.
Hopkins is living proof that racism and hate can take years off people’s lives.
Ugly person
Imagine if Piers Morgan and Hopkins had a child together.
Would definitely be a candidate for anti christ superstar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Hopkins#Personal_life – Katie Hopkins bounces off walls from one job to another. There is money to be made in the UK from being foul apparently – and our forebears came here with such high-flown notions in their head. Every advancement for the people had to be fought long and hard for – now they come here to gobble up what we managed to create.
We know that London in the UK has fatbergs in its sewers, is Katie Hopkins something that got washed up onto the street after one of the blockages that can be about 3.5m high? They require daily work as they emerge under the city. Or perhaps noxious gases have affected her memory – our noses are very sensitive and closely situated to the brain. There must be some explanation for the poor quality journalism and the media's acceptance of this attacking, harrowing method of soapboxing, but without the soap.
Perhaps it is that she has some big health issues – borderline healthy – and she takes it out on her unfortunate prey.
Probably the same way this country makes a whaleoil, a Henry or a Hoskins.
Of course D'Felon has to get in on the fuckwittery.
https://twitter.com/DineshDSouza/status/1120132146738364416
https://twitter.com/DineshDSouza/status/1119985677188390913
Disha Doucha must have inside knowledge on the perpetrators.
Well you won't find out reading The Standard.
Further signs the Nats are being dragged to the left (Labour also being dragged to the right for other reasons).
After NZ's most racist man, Don Brash, banned Nat MPs from standing in Maori seats, Jo Hayes considers 'going home'.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/112087438/national-mp-jo-hayes-keen-to-stand-in-mori-electorate
Winston Peters again in the gun and I’d have to agree that this government is being held back by him and his party.
When you have the entire country ready for some sort of CGT and Nat MPs wanting to return to Maori seats yet Peters is the fly in the ointment you have to wonder what kind of damage he is now doing to the country.
The sooner he fucks off the better.
Question:
Who here would party vote National if they campaigned for CGT on rental properties?
Given that Labour are now unable to do so…I would.
Not a chance, the rest of the damage is too high.
Besides which, the difference between paying income tax at ones marginal rate based on a bright line test of 10 years, and a CGT at 15% is basically nil. (I’m aware the current test is 5 years, but am leaving some room to extend)
I suggested the other day that JA could extend the bright line test to 25 years but Wayne told me she doesn't rule by decree.
I don't know for sure but I imagine Peters owes a great deal to Labour right now.
It would require legislative change, but will probably be part of the 2020 election policy suite.
Robertson said it was “unlikely” to be a further extension of the bright-line test as they've taken a CGT off the table and the bright-line test represents a form of that.
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/99226/finance-minister-grant-robertson-effectiveness-taxing-land-bankers-why-bright-line-test
CGT is just a tax, but a good political party really smokes.
Not me – the TWG showed the biggest capital freeloaders were Ag,Forestry, & Fishing. The Gnats cannot in any case be trusted to do what they promise – Key campaigned on fixing housing – he fixed it so kiwis couldn't buy it anymore.
If the Gnats rolled out a fully costed set of economic policies that actually addressed declining outcomes, productivity and sustainability, which is well beyond them – they still could not be trusted to implement them.
A man of 89 in Auckland falls because of a large gap in the pavement and dies. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12224015
A chapter of accidents. He had some hospital care and was sent home in a taxi although his parnter would have picked him up. He didn't arrive home. Then she phoned the hospital but they had nothing to tell her, and not knowing where he was she phoned the police. Some time after the hospital advised that he had been admitted after a fall, and she could come and get him after treatment. Then she found he had a gash across his forehead and was in intensive care.
The taxi should be instructed to take a patient to his or her home not drop them off at the shops. The instructions from the hospital should be quite clear. Better still phone the family.
The supershitty is too busy being grand to listen to the wants of ratepayers and the holes round ornamental trees should have been filled in as they say has been requested for a long time. When you think of the constant conniptions by Health and Safety on small business and private people, the authorities are playing us for suckers, local and national government.
"But hey hold on, the Statistics Department concludes: “Inflation was low in the March 2019 quarter because of falls in the prices of petrol and international airfares.” Right. So, apparently, the people struggling to pay for their smokes at the supermarket can take comfort from the fact that the price of getting to the Amalfi Coast for their winter holidays just got cheaper. So, maybe we’re not measuring the price fluctuations in any basket of goods that’s relevant to most New Zealanders. By the way, the cost of non–tradeable goods and services rose by 3% in the past year. So much for inflation being low to non-existent. In the real world, prices are going up."
http://werewolf.co.nz/2019/04/gordon-campbell-on-scrapping-the-capital-gains-tax/
Ah…theres that convenient CPI in operation again
How the fuck have i become waghorni.
That bloody cursor is still in the name bit ever time i go to comment
No sure, I think that’s why one of your comments ended up in moderation, briefly.
Cheers . Im having problems with being unable to right comments some times due to the cursor being in the name section and not being able to get ot to shift to the comment box .
I’m afraid I won’t be of much help to you, but hopefully somebody else might shed some light upon this.
I assume you use a mobile phone.
I never use a mobile phone and always type on a keyboard and in Word first. Thanks to this, many a stupid comment of mine got deleted before it even made it into the TS comment box …
It also avoids the strain on eyes, neck, and fingers using a device that’s euphemistically called a smart-phone
That happens to me on the computer where I select all in the name box, cut and paste it into where I want it to be. Then put my name back in the right place. Then I haven't lost the bits of comment that have got into the name box while I have merrily been typing away. I admire you people who are doing it all from a phone. Marvels.
Maybe a hyphen is the way to go,
like wag-horni
bit suspect but probably true 🤔
Hint for jackson – stfu
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/112188523/wellington-mayor-wont-take-legal-action-over-sir-peter-jacksons-shelly-bay-serve
I agree Jackson should but out. It's just sad that the Trust appears wedded to capitalism and has partnered with Cassel's "The Wellington Company"… kind of ironic.
It's a shame that Jackson and Maori cannot come to a mutually satisfactory conclusion. Opportunities for suitable Maori to have apprenticeships with him. People need to see him as having something to offer instead of going all sour because he didn't play their game.
No-one else in NZ could have done the job with LOR and we now have another string to our bow, big film making and model making. With so many people willing to spit on entrepreneurs it isn't surprising that we languish in a jobless low wage environment – you don't kick a possible employer in the teeth because you want more money, you keep talking and thinking. He is here, and could be worked with to build up an apprenticeship, get some ongoing advantages.
They don't come often – cunning minds work at how to get opportunities, not march in the streets complaining. But the leaders of the march might as well have said 'Let them eat grass' – nothing could have been the outcome.
But but… the Nazis are in Ukraine.
/
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/arson-disrupts-passover-meal-at-russia-s-largest-yeshiva-in-eastern-moscow-suburb-1.7142895
But but ..the Nazis are in Ukraine
You're bang on there Joe
Not often we agree
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/11/ultranationalism-in-ukraine-a-photo-essay
Yet Volodymyr Zelensky will be the first Jewish president of Ukraine (and the second Jewish head of a European nation) and Poland's resurrected their old beat the Jew ritual, too. Funny old world, eh.
Duuuh!
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/387548/airbnb-likely-cause-of-high-rents-in-queenstown-researcher
RIP Blair Peach. Not forgotten.
https://youtu.be/RfmVqE8wYIQ