Renegade Inc: Rentier Britain: all the rent goes to the 1%
There are three fundamental issues that lie at the heart of our current economic malaise: the first is unearned income and wealth from land rent ( plus property speculation for capital Gain), second the creation of money by privately owned banks, and the third is rent-seeking that is used to juice profits out of intellectual property through copyright and patents (TPPA). But the political class, supported by lobbying, continues to avoid addressing these issues (Current Labour Government does not impose a CGT). So monopolies grow larger and larger, and as they do, more and more people are excluded from the economy ( Our young couples can’t afford to buy homes but must rent for life). To really address the root causes, why don’t we start by calling out the rentier economy as a structural issue that no progressive society can actually afford?
I think the yellow vest protests in France have been more sustained, with far more violence from the authorities, ..people have been blinded and killed by the police and the protests have been going since last November
"Bridges is one bad poll away from oblivion and he will not win the keys to Premier House by earnest attention to detail and well written speeches. He needs to slay a dragon. Through the heart. With a wooden stake. "
I read this earlier, today, thinking what a badly written piece of opinion. The reference to our incumbent PM was a cheap throwaway and the reference to Winston Peters’ handmaidens was, well, a joke considering who occupies seats on his side of the House.
However, referring to Bridge's earnest attention to detail and well written speeches. I have heard him make three speeches in public forums and I would not have characterised them as well- written. I have heard him in the House and he does not come anywhere nearing slaying Winston with his rhetoric. Quite the reverse.
The real dragon sits on his side of the House, tail flicking amidst the desolation……
The article says this. "It is a huge gamble but it also would define Bridges as a leader of courage, honour and integrity. It makes an effective contrast with the incumbent whose power is buttressed by Golriz Ghahraman on her left and Shane Jones on her right."
Now, that means that in Mr Grant's opinion our present Prime Minister does not possess 'courage, honour and integrity' because he says that Bridges would be defined on this way (by doing what Grant says he should) which is in contrast to the PM.
Now that's cheap political writing, with nothing to back it up except somehow to argue that a person of courage, inregrity and honour would not be connected in a coalition with a Green or NZ First politician.
There is nothing to back up those assertions excpt a cheap shot at Peters saying he had only done three things in his political career, and then even wrote them down.
This is political opinion, based on poor analysis. It's just tribal crap that I'd expect from a party hack in a bar-room debate after several Speights.
It kind of ironic I think that the same "Mr Grant" – although everyone deserves a second chance insists on "reading between the lines" and giving his version of the conduct of others.I read and re-read this story and while no doubt it is all "pretty legal" it gave me the sense that he was commenting on more than is his jurisdiction and obligation to perform a service, I wouldn't mind betting he couldn't lie straight in bead but feels free to be judge and jury on a lot of other people and even moreso "Stuff" pays him for his "opinion" I have decided that Stuff can stuff its Sunday rag.
Actually, strike minnows. Bridges is a salmon, earnestly trying to swim upstream far enough to briefly spawn a government, but frankly even if he gets there he'll be politically dead shortly after.
Simon is not the kind that slays dragons, much less a wily old wyrm like Winston. If he had been, non-performers like Nick & Gerry (and Paula) would be long gone. Simon is a seat-warmer waiting for someone else to solve his problems, which makes him a natural leader for the current Gnats, but as relevant to winning anything as Jack Falstaff. As Gandalf said ‘in this neighborhood heroes are scarce, or simply lot to be found. “
Damien Grant is a "columnist" – presumably to separate his contribution, suitable for a partisan blog, from an article by a "reporter", giving facts from some event or speech, or a "journalist" who provides evidence or logical argument for statements put forward. To say that a politician "one bad poll away from oblivion" has the power to slay another politician by a decision to further isolate his party is laughable. We are having mid-term speculation based on nothing however we have predictable discussions as to whether small parties will disappear – again based on little evidence. Unfortunately it is easy to click on a headline before realising who it was written by . . .
The National Party zoologist Steven Joyce would never use a wooden stake to slay a dragon through the heart. Instead, he’d use a rubber dildo and poke it in the eye.
Lessons from legalising weed: don't make it too hard to become a legal seller, and don't tax it too much, and be serious about ensuring sellers actually are legal. If you don't, then it's too easy and tempting for illegal sellers to just carry on.
Yes, Anne, Granny has had quite the field day with that article and the one I'll link to, which was at the top of their website writ large for several hours with an accompanying photo dragged no doubt out of their collection of less than pleasant pics of the PM. I noted that none of the other news outlets had this headline anywhere on their sites – not even Newshub! No names attributed to the articles, of course. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12251488
Speaking to fellow broadcaster Sky News Australia host Peta Credlin, commentator Gemma Tognini said of the Kiwi PM: "It's very, very cute for her to come to another country and morally posturise the way she has been.
Good grief. In other words, "don't you come over here and shame us about the ways that we treat people here!"
That is what this rightist dislike of "virtue signalling" is -the bully does not like being called for what he or she is doing.
My wife and I are on a month long trip to Europe. Talked cricket with a Banglideshi waiter in a restaurant in a quiet part of Venice far away from San Marco. He was able to watch the final, which was more than we were able to do, being en route between cities at the time.
But, and here's the point, he also made reference to the March massacre and how lucky we are as country to have such a wonderful prime minister who showed such compassion and feeling (his words)
The article he links to is interesting too, although not quite as harsh in its evaluation of the Greens.
Oh well, C'est la vie. I don't think they will be missed form Parliament, particularly when one looks at the spectacular stuff-up Shaw managed in his overseeing of Statistics in the Census.
The Greens won't make it past 5% if Martyn Bradbury has anything to do with it, sure. Fortunately, he won't have anything to do with it.
This bit from the Stuff article is far more significant than Bradbury's sour grapes:
The Greens are more worried about external threats: the negative Facebook posts that spread dubious claims during the Australian election campaign. There's every chance Topham Guerin, the Kiwi firm behind much of the Liberals' successful digital campaign will return to home soil in 2020.
Pretty much, although "dubious claims" is a euphemism for "outright lies." Those guys will make Dirty Politics look like the amateur hour it was.
You do realize kiwis have a far stronger history of voting governments out than in correct? Although I still think Labour and NZFirst can go it with the Greens, it would be better if the Greens stayed in don't you think? Unless the electorates are so stupid as to believe rainbows on the Internet will gift the Greens a spot on government.
This “spectacular stuff-up Shaw managed in his overseeing of Statistics in the Census” was not shouting that Census data had been hacked by a black ops team working for a bunch of dirty politicians, was it? That would indeed be a sackable offence.
Wasn't very impressed much when the female co-leader did that interview about some policy, but didn't have the stats to back it up, but the stats male co-leader did for his, along with her being clobbered about it by the previous guy ( who i guess didn't go back to OZ, anyway )
Whatever else, they need to sort out those kind of stuff ups.
I agree that especially in the coms department all three coalition parties individually as well as collectively in the coalition Government could do heaps better. However, I also think that the media love to whip any molehill into a giant stuff up of epic proportions. We also tend to forget that things here in NZ are perhaps not nearly as bad as in other countries where bigly stuff ups are the norm such as Oz, Gr-Br, and US-A. I don’t know about you, but I prefer the NZ stuff ups to war mongers looking for a fight.
I like different. I like how MMP is slowly growing up. I like how NZ (not just Jacinda Ardern) is carving out a niche in the world of geo-politics. I know that there’s a shed load of things to change here and despite the many stuff ups and snail’s pace of change in many areas progress is being made. I like that too.
Last night Country Calendar on TV was about some entrepreneurial people near Nelson who have developed a business around processing various types of nuts. We got to see bags full, thousands of nuts. Good to see, they've done very well.
It came to mind this afternoon when I got in a car that had Magic Radio on (or whatever they call themselves.) Sean Plunket was on and in the few minutes I heard him I had considerably more exposure to nutty than I'd had in half an hour the night before.
That Country Calendar was about Uncle Joe's in Blenheim. Sort of near Nelson- just over the hill 110 km away! Also manufacture flour, oil and spreads made from nuts and seeds. The shells even make a garden mulch which deters snails!
One industry modeling that you can come up with that someone thinks Wahine gets paid more than men get a grip what about all the other organizations that pay Wahine less than men .
I say a gun register is needed to trace the guns back to the owners not all licensed gun owners are responsible citizens + the police will know how many and what type of guns are in Aotearoa. That Christchurch fool was not a gangster was he.
You know what I seen on the weekend a big flash million dollar playground in Cambridge full of children playing. A carpark bigger than the playgrounds in Fairysprings or Maraenui .
We are currently constructing our bathing facilities the systems will be powered by Te Ra and Ahi
Wildlife Seagulls its about survival a tame small dog could quite easily be a birds lunch birds are quite awesome hunters.
These businesses having losses because of the city rail link in Auckland during construction. Do business pay more when times are good No.
That was a funny but a mistake from the greens.
Thats is a great leak the polling shows national is not craling out of that hole .
I think that the undercover sandflys in Aotearoa have long strings connected to the White House.
Michael Eco Maori is correct in the reasons why I chose to blog to 3 tv because every story you screen is a attack on the government.
Ka pai to Greenpeace for the Abigail Smith and co for protesting and climbing a building we only have one environment we don't have a multiverse like some would like us to believe te oil barons muppets.
Its is sad that the police are pushing te tangata whenua protesters in Auckland off their whenua thats the way they use the courts in Aotearoa to hit tangata whenua on the head with the court system Eco Maori tryed to use the courts system to defend himself but the sandflys interfere in my attempt to get JUSTICE muppets are shit scared to face Eco Maori in COURT. They are trying to control me but every time they try they just give Eco Maori more mana.
Eco Maori tau toko his Whanau in Te Wairoa in there quest to BAN PEE FROM Wairoa I have heaps of Whanau in Te Wairoa I want the SHIT BANNED FROM Te taiwhiti East Coast to Banned from Aotearoa to.
Te Wahine should have a choice of abortion if they need it there are many reasons why they would want a abortion I don't think it should be a crime to have a abortion .
The resource management act needs to be replaced with one that doesn't place such huge cost on building a whare . Its's bloody ridiculous the charges from council to build a whare $20.000 just to get consent to build a driveway onto your property . These huge changes for resorce concent to build a whare are pushing tangata whenua out of owning there own whare is that what some designed it to do like the huge cost to servaying tangata whenua whenua in the old days Maori had to sell there whenua to pay the cost of the servaying.
Eco Maori says Aotearoa needs to respect China .
Great game of Netball awesome win.
Ka Pai to Indonesia for considering closings the Island that Kamodo Dragons live on to save there habitat. Ka kite ano
Dr Kim Handley, University of AucklandJust how do cyanobacteria live in their natural habitat, and how do they coexist with other bacteria and microbial life forms? And what difference will knowledge on this bacteria have on maintaining New Zealand’s water quality? One of the consequences of declining water quality ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Global temperatures could exceed crucial 1.5 C target in the next five years In this aerial view ...
Three months on, and looking at the state of the world - 13 million cases, 560,000 dead, and both rising - it is clear that New Zealand's lockdown saved lives. But it didn't just save us from the pandemic and prevent future deaths - it also significantly reduced our background ...
Yesterday the Greens released their second big election policy - on energy. The short version is "more solar, less coal". They'd stick solar panels and batteries in every state house, and network them together to form a virtual power plant. They'd use grants to fund rooftop solar installations just as ...
National has a problem. And it’s time they said it out loud. It can’t be dismissed as a one-off anymore or excused because ‘everyone does it’. No, it cuts deeper than that. National has an ethics problem. Especially when it comes to privacy and using ordinary people as pawns in ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 5 through Sat, July 11, 2020Editor's ChoiceThink Covid-19 Disrupted the Food Chain? Wait and See What Climate Change Will DoThe pandemic has revealed deep flaws in the ...
The Council of Disobedient Women There is a regular segment in the Speak Up For Women podcasts called “Absolutely Blasted Mad Moment of the Week”. Each podcast the speaker and the host discuss a recent event that is the most insane thing they have seen in the gender critical space ...
Todd Muller - Dishonest National Party leaderIt seems that dishonest Todd Muller is, like many right-wing politicians, entirely morally bankrupt. I mean just look at the National Party’s leaking omni-shambles over the last week or so. They’ve imploded in a spectacular display of backfiring dirty politics, the likes of which ...
MONDAY JULY 13Bodyguard (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). It's the final; if you haven't seen this already on Netflix, get ready, the ending is batshit.Unforgotten (Vibe, Sky 006, 8.30pm). I wonder if Sanjeev Bhasksar's character has got rid of that damn backpack in the third season of this cold case drama? Although, come ...
TUESDAY JULY 14Yorkshire Airport (Prime, 7.30pm). Bloomin’ ’eck, behind the scenes at Leeds Bradford Airport. Apparently, there is plenty of “northern charm”, although reaction in the UK ranged from “brilliant” to “patronising”. It is narrated by Hugh Dennis, whose middle name might be “Arch”.WEDNESDAY JULY 15Queen: Live at Wembley (Prime, ...
Simon Bridges must be the unluckiest person in New Zealand politics. When he was elected as leader of the National party, he also became Leader of the Opposition – a position, he was entitled to assume, that would require him to “oppose”. But the government he set out to oppose ...
This is a re-post from The Guardian by Damian Carrington Spreading rock dust on farmland could suck billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air every year, according to the first detailed global analysis of the technique. The chemical reactions that degrade the rock particles lock the greenhouse gas into ...
Check out Speak Up For Women’s new podcasts: Episode 3 In this episode Speak Up For Women spokeswoman Ani O’Brien (@aniobrien) is joined by Beth Johnson (@beth_nosnhoj) to discuss the proposal from Statistics NZ to change standard data collection policy to “gender by default” rather than sex. They discuss why the ...
During a recent public consultation on the future of Archives New Zealand, a key report was suppressed. The Ombudsman has ruled that the refusal was unjustified. Sadly, the consultation was over by the time of the the decision has been made. However, the law on the use of the ...
National MP - Michael WoodhouseUnbelievable! Michelle Boag also sent National’s Michael Woodhouse confidential emails about COVD-19 patients, and he continued to publicly attack the Government over these very same breaches of privacy.This is the biggest political self-own since the Act Party’s David Garrett admitted in Parliament that he used a ...
Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...
Back in April, I wrote about trials in Iran of a fixed-dose combination of two existing anti-viral drugs used to treat hepatitis C – sofosbuvir and daclatasvir – that could point to an effective treatment for Covid-19 symptoms.At the time, data from those trials was not available outside the hospitals ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerThe pandemic-related lockdown is possibly the most dramatic public health intervention in NZ history. It helped achieve the elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 virus in NZ. But it was also associated with 548 fewer total ...
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...
As the debate over assisted dying rages in the run-up to the referendum at the election on September 19, a persistent problem continues to dog the discussions. That is to say, a prominent spokesperson for a particular group takes a strong public stand in opposition without acknowledging that they don’t ...
No Other Suspects? The mainstream news media was willing to print and broadcast harsh Opposition criticism of the Government, even though they knew that the source of the leaked information was a National Party MP. Even though, by pushing the story up towards the top of every news bulletin they were ...
Sacrificial Lamb: If the stories about Mr Taogaga and the unauthorised release of confidential medical data had been deliberately orchestrated by Labour’s political opponents, their deflection of the news media’s attention away from the Prime Minister’s address to the Labour Party Congress could hardly have been more successful.THE LABOUR PARTY ...
The East is Rent: The consequences of unleashing the young against the old; of elevating ideological rigor above reasoned debate; and of setting the present against the past; was a decade of unprecedented social stress and tension, interspersed with explosions of murderous mob violence and tragic material destruction. More than ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa-New Zealand could go from helping Jacinda Ardern run the country, to being turfed out of Parliament altogether in ten weeks. And that could see the end of Labour in government. Without them, Labour would likely have to do what no party has done since the ...
Remember the government's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill? Remember how it was rammed through Parliament, with a four-day submission period and a select committee process that was a democratic fraud? At the time, the government gave the impression that there was an urgent need for this legislation, that a ...
Attack journalist - Tova O'BrienWe all know that much of the mainstream media in New Zealand is terribly biased. They are in effect another branch of the National Party, and can often be even more prejudiced than their right wing bosses.In fact many right wing politicians moonlight as journalists and ...
Former National Party President - Michelle BoagAfter the complete botch job Hamish Walker made of leaking the private details of COVID-19 patients to the mainstream media last week, the best-case scenario for Todd Muller and the National Party would be if the news cycle went quiet about their involvement.But unfortunately ...
One of the challenges of working on illegal wildlife markets, is you don’t really have scope to talk about your research into illegal wildlife markets. There is some stuff though that willbe coming out on Asiatic black bears in China, and before Covid19, I was delving more into rhinos. Which ...
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...
Michelle Boag - Former National Party PresidentWhen Todd Muller decided not to discipline Hamish Walker for his horribly racist press release last week, you had to wonder if his lack of proper leadership had something to do with a shared belief system? After all, the whiteness of the blue “team” ...
On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhat was the climate and sea level like at times ...
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters The massive dust storm that formed over the Sahara Desert in mid-June invaded the southeastern U.S. June 25-28, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution, low visibility, and colorful sunsets. The air pollution event over parts of Texas and the Gulf ...
In 1987, as a British Labour MP, I was elected to the Shadow Cabinet by my colleagues and was asked by the party leader to direct Labour’s campaign in the general election of that year. The election was to take place at the height of Mrs Thatcher’s dominance and we ...
National MP Nicola WillisHousing, which I would argue is a fundamental human right, has long been a problem in New Zealand. Not only do we have some of the most overpriced houses in the entire world, much of the housing stock is substandard and therefore affects not just people’s health ...
If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...
Associate Professor Sara WaltonAt the heart of the discussion on opening up our borders is the dichotomy of health and the economy – both of which are actually intertwined, like many things with our economy, as this epidemic has shown.If we think about our country as a system, ...
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Josh Gabbatiss This year will see the largest ever drop globally in both investment and consumer spending on energy as the coronavirus pandemic hits every major sector, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The crisis is accelerating the shutdown of older fossil-fuelled ...
A short opinion piece – Friday 26th June 2020 Whilst our Government has treated many financial victims of the current Covid-19 virus with appropriate generosity, the same cannot be said for those of the two earlier “epidemics” in NZ. The “Covid-84” virus (also called “Rogernomics”) spread systemic greed, with the ...
Everyone deserves a a decent life. We know this is possible with a fairer approach to income support and tax Read the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Poverty Action Plan here ...
After a long break, the government is back inserting secrecy clauses in legislation. This time its the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3), which in its clause allowing Ministers to exempt purchasers of farm land from the usual rules also allows them to exempt an exemption from the publication requirement: ...
Over the past two years the government has repeatedly delayed a scheme to put cameras on boats to monitor Mew Zealand's pervasively criminal fishing industry. But it turns out that the industry actually wants cameras: Three of the country's biggest seafood companies have broken ranks with the rest of the ...
Louise Delany (public health lawyer)Health and emergency laws have played a critical role in this country’s successful elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog details key aspects of the legislation and comments on issues around testing, payments by incoming travellers for quarantine costs, and mask use. ...
I like Andrew Curry’s succinct and insightful futures blog The Next Wave. His most recent post is about social change. In particular, the decadal-long periods usually required for changes in values. He highlights a 2016 paper by Inglehart and Norris, who examined whether economic insecurity or a “cultural backlash” ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Stop making sense: why it's time to get emotional about climate changeThe science has been settled to the highest degree, so now ...
MONDAY JULY 6Washington (History, Sky 073, 7.30pm). The brilliant Doris Kearns Goodwin is the executive producer of this six-part series about America's first president. It combines interviews with live action and is narrated by Jeff Daniels. It's engaging, said Salon.TUESDAY JULY 7The ABC Murders (Prime, 8.30pm). Sarah Phelps has done incredible things with ...
I think we can all agree that the mainstream media in New Zealand has a very different set of rules for the right wing compared to the left. While Labour and Green Party politicians don’t seem to be able to fart without it becoming a sackable offence, National and Act ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 28 through Sat, July 4, 2020Editor's Choice'2040': A funny, entertaining, upbeat climate documentaryA timely Australian documentary takes a 'solutions' approach, with the filmmaker inspired by visions of ...
Racist National MP Hamish WalkerEven before Todd Muller's coup ousted Simon Bridges by a single vote, it was patently obvious that the National Party promotes and stands for white privilege. In fact they’ve always worked to ensure the discriminatory status quo in New Zealand doesn’t change.So it’s no surprise that ...
Dave HeatleyZero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an attractive situation, at least compared to much of the world. The situation could be robust and enduring – or it might be fragile, just one border incursion away from a “second ...
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...
I wrote earlier in the week about the Scientology front organisations Drug Free World and Drug Free Ambassadors and their quite prominent role in anti-cannabis reform "coalition" assembled by Family First and a newloca branch of the American prohibitionist organisation SAM.It turns out Family First aren't the only ones helping ...
Nik GreenMuch of the public debate about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on the extent to which government regulations have restricted personal and business activity.Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government Here in New Zealand, the question of when to change Alert Levels dominated the ...
James Higham, University of OtagoUnprecedented border closures and the domestic lockdown have paralysed New Zealand’s $40.9 billion a year tourism industry. In the process, the vulnerability of the sector to external shocks and the tenuous nature of tourism employment have been exposed. While New Zealand’s handling of the pandemic ...
Raising The Bar: Would that the Prime Minister and her colleagues would listen as intently to what the people – as opposed to the power elites – are saying as the Greens. Were they so disposed, the popular clamour for a transformational post-Covid reset would be loud in their ears. ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzDo you think the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown will slow or ...
A bit like a letter home. I have now been full-time at the University of Melbourne since 2019. Before that, I was 20 years at the University of Otago, Wellington. Indeed, I set up this very Public Health Expert Blog with Nick Wilson ten years ago. Now I am your ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections House Democrats have released a comprehensive report showing how – if they control the White House and both the Senate and the House of Representatives – they might move forward on climate change. Their “Climate Crisis Action Plan,” released June 30 by the ...
A ballot for three Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill (David Carter) Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate Visual Recording) Amendment Bill (Louisa wall) Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill (Judith ...
Not Ready: Todd Muller’s lack-lustre and self-contradictory performances offer conclusive proof that a political leader cannot be managed into competence. National’s new boss has Janet Wilson handling his media and Matthew Hooton writing his speeches. Both are highly professional political and public relations specialists, and Muller is lucky to have ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund is providing up to $19.5 million to boost innovative primary sector businesses and create training and job opportunities for Northland locals through the construction of an innovation and enterprise park at Ngawha, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones ...
The Green Party is today unveiling part one of its plan for a fossil-fuel free Aotearoa, including an immediate ban on new industrial coal boilers. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First leader Winston Peters today scoffed at suggestions that a team of six political operatives have been dispatched to New Zealand to assist his campaign. ‘As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘there they go again.’ ‘The clickbait journos can’t ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce Jenny Marcroft as the party’s election 2020 candidate for the Auckland Central electorate. Jenny spent years working in Auckland Central, having spent a vast proportion of her broadcasting career there. She says she, "knows the place and knows the people." Ms Marcroft says ...
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
The Crown will provide a loan to Hawke’s Bay Airport to ensure it can trade through COVID-19 economic impacts, support the region’s recovery and protect up to 200 jobs. The Crown has a 50 percent shareholding in Hawke’s Bay Airport Limited (HBAL), with Napier City Council holding 26 percent and ...
Four celebrated Māori and Pasifika events will receive up to $100,000 each in funding from the new Creative and Cultural Events Incubator fund, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. The four events that were successful in the inaugural funding round are: Kia Mau Festival, Wellington Māoriland Film Festival, Otaki ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio is pleased to announce the inaugural launch of Kiribati Language Week as part of the 2020 Pacific language Weeks programme. “I am so pleased that this year we are able to provide resourcing support to the Kiribati community in Aotearoa which will ...
Wildlife institutions affected by a loss of visitor revenue during the COVID-19 lockdown are set to receive government support with nearly $15 million of funding available announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. “Eco-sanctuaries, zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, and wildlife rescue, hospital and rehabilitation facilities provide crucial support for the recovery ...
The Government is expanding and accelerating frontline mental health and wellbeing services at tertiary education institutes (TEI) to help students manage ongoing stresses related to COVID-19. “The lockdown has been hugely disruptive for students. Many of them have had to relocate and move to online learning, isolating them from their ...
The Minister of Police says a major operation against the Mongrel Mob in Waikato will make a big dent in drug harm and violent offending linked to organised crime networks. “Senior leadership of the Waikato Mongrel Mob has been taken out as a result of Operation Kingsville, which resulted in ...
The Government is extending the border exception criteria to enable some offshore victims and support people of the Christchurch mosque attacks to attend the sentencing of the accused beginning on 24 August2020, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “We want to support our valued Muslim brothers and sisters who were directly ...
A project to support volunteer efforts to look after streams and rivers is getting a boost thanks to support from DOC’s Community Conservation Fund announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “The government is backing efforts to look after waterways with $199,400 for the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust from ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter today announced that funding for the COVID-19 Community Fund for women and girls will be doubled, as the first successful funding applications for the initial $1million were revealed. “Women and girls across the country have suffered because of the effects of COVID-19, and I ...
The Government’s books were better than forecast with a higher GST take as the economy got moving again after lockdown, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Crown Accounts for the 11 months to the end of May indicate the year end results for tax revenue will be stronger than forecast. ...
A plan to revitalise New Zealand’s strong wool sector and set it on a new, more sustainable and profitable path was unveiled today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The newly-released report - Vision and Action for New Zealand’s Wool Sector - was developed by the Wool Industry Project Action Group ...
Community efforts to create a Predator Free Whangārei will receive a $6 million boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The new funding, through Government company Predator Free 2050 Ltd, will create around 12 jobs while enabling the complete removal of possums over ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced that the New Zealand Government is reviewing the settings of its relationship with Hong Kong. “China’s decision to pass a new national security law for Hong Kong has fundamentally changed the environment for international engagement there,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand remains deeply ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced details of a multimillion-dollar investment in Whangārei for infrastructure projects that will help it recover from the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200 jobs are expected to be created through the $26 million investment from the Government’s rejuvenation package ...
Following a second incident in which a person escaped from a managed isolation facility, security is being enhanced, including more police presence onsite, Minister Megan Woods said. “The actions of some individuals who choose to break the very clear rules to stay within the facilities means that more resourcing is ...
Waste reduction and recycling programmes in Kaipara are set to get a boost with Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announcing a $361,447 grant from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) Sustainable Kaipara. “The new funding will allow Sustainable Kaipara to partner with local schools, kura, community ...
The Government will support the Southland economy in the wake of multinational mining company Rio Tinto’s decision to follow through with its long signalled closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. “This day has unfortunately been on the cards for some time now, but nevertheless the final decision is a ...
New tools being developed to help boost Aotearoa’s Predator Free 2050 effort were unveiled today by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. A new rat poison, a camera with predator recognition software to detect and report predators, a new predator lure and a ...
The Coalition Government has approved the purchase of a fleet of Bushmaster vehicles to replace the New Zealand Army’s armoured Pinzgauers, Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced today. The new fleet of 43 Australian-designed and built Bushmaster NZ5.5 will provide better protection for personnel and improved carrying capacity. “The age ...
The Government’s three prevention frameworks to reduce family violence in Aotearoa were launched this week by Associate Minister for Social Development Poto Williams. The frameworks were developed in partnership with communities around New Zealand, and build on the work the Government has already begun with its new family violence prevention ...
The Government is pleased to confirm funding for improvements to radiology and surgical services at Hawke's Bay DHB, Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. "The Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson and former Health Minister Dr David Clark approved funding for Hawke's Bay DHB’s redevelopment of their radiology facilities ...
• New funding for four beds at Napier’s Springhill Residential Addiction Centre • A new managed withdrawal home and community service, and peer support before and after residential care at Tairāwhiti DHB • A co-ordinated network of withdrawal management services throughout the South Island • Peer support in Rotorua and ...
Introduction, seafarers and POAL Good morning everyone, I am delighted to be online with you all today. Before I begin, I have to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disrupted the maritime sector on an unprecedented scale. The work of seafarers and the maritime industry is keeping many economies around the world ...
A $13 million investment from Government will create jobs and improve the resilience of the rail connection between Christchurch and the West Coast, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones and Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau say. The funding comes from the tagged contingency set aside in Budget 2020 for infrastructure projects ...
The Government is investing $761 million to assist local government upgrade under-pressure water services across the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The announcement was made at the site of the water bore that was found to be the source of the fatal ...
Recognised Seasonal Employers and migrant seasonal workers stranded in New Zealand will be able to continue working and supporting themselves with more flexible hours and roles, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The time-limited visa changes are: Stranded RSE workers will be able to work part-time (a minimum of 15 hours ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
People from immigrant backgrounds often struggle to find work in New Zealand, despite their qualifications. So why is the Office of Ethnic Communities looking for people to do its work for free, asks former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.Last week, the Office of Ethnic Communities announced on Facebook that ...
New Zealanders can’t get enough of The Chase, so why can’t we have our own version? And what would a homegrown version of the quiz show look like anyway? If The Chase were a pandemic, we’d all have herd immunity by now. The British TV quiz show has never been ...
In less than a week, Auckland Council will vote on an emergency budget that looks set to deliver severe cuts to facilities and services across the city. And still pleas for a commitment on shovel ready projects go unheeded by government, writes councillor Desley Simpson.As a country we can feel ...
The gunman of the Christchurch mosque attacks has chosen to represent himself at his sentencing next month. In March, Brenton Tarrant made a late guilty plea to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one under the Terrorism Suppression Act. He is due to be sentenced on 24 ...
A road freight industry representative says a new announcement that negotiations will be extended - again - is further confirmation that something is not right with the project An announcement that a new cash payout will extend negotiations and 'winter works' even further than first thought is being heralded as a sign ...
By Hamish Cardwell, RNZ News Grey Power is enraged by what it says is the “stupid and dangerous” behaviour of people fleeing managed isolation facilities, and says they need the book thrown at them. A person broke a window and absconded from an Auckland hotel on Friday, the fourth such ...
Crowd entertainment at sports games is a hard task, but please let’s stick to T-shirt cannons and on-field japes instead of watching strangers smooch, eh?Funny kiss cam footage is a key element of any viral fail video compilation. A “she’s my sister” sign pulled out of a pocket as the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Clarke, Director, Monash Drone Discovery Platform, and Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Monash University This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jess Marsh, Research fellow at the Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Lintermans, Associate professor, University of Canberra This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Matisoo-Smith, Professor of Biological Anthropology, University of Otago How did the Polynesian peoples come to live on the far-flung islands of the Pacific? The question has intrigued researchers for centuries. Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl brought the topic to public attention when ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Phillips, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University New research on disadvantage in Australia has found the gap between rich and poor is very wide in Sydney, while much of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Peters, Associate Professor of Wildlife Health and Pathology, Charles Sturt University This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wee Tiong Seah, Associate Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Melbourne On Sunday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced government school students in prep to Year 10 in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will learn from home for term three. The remote ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phillippa Carnemolla, Senior Research Fellow, School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney The stated purpose of the Morrison government’s HomeBuilder program is to stimulate the economy and create construction jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research shows home improvements could ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Davidson, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, UNSW Suddenly, the idea of a “job guarantee” is back in vogue. Lawyer, academic, land rights activist and founder of the Cape York Institute Noel Pearson has come out of it favour of it, University of Newcastle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ann Kayis-Kumar, Senior Lecturer and Tax Clinic Director, School of Taxation & Business Law, UNSW For some people tax time will result in no tax paid this year, and if past years are anything to go by, about 50 of them will ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland From the 11th century onwards, the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat enjoyed a popularity in the medieval West attained perhaps by no other legend. It was available ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Investors still betting massive money-printing, despite growing fears of second wave lock-downs in America, India and Brazil, and as Australian cases spike ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Self-inflicted story puts National on the defensive, another escape attempt from managed isolation, and a series of party events ahead of election.There’s a convention in journalism called Betteridge’s law of headlines. Basically what it means is that headlines that end in ...
How authoritarian rule is applied to Hong Kong may make New Zealanders question whether closer interactions with China are necessarily desirable, writes Catherine Churchman Get ready for some in-your-face political repression, New Zealand. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has just extended its draconian rules on free speech and freedom ...
Using technology remotely to care for patients can go way beyond Zoom calls or basic telehealth measures. Professor Simon Malpas explains how tech can start to even out inequity in healthcare. Imagine you live in Ahipara, Northland. You also have early stage heart failure. It’s a 90-minute drive to your ...
Stephen Hoadley on how Donald Trump has moved the US from its decades-old role of international leadership, and why it might not be easy for a President Biden to restore that mantle. US elections and the resulting presidencies can be geopolitical turning points, whether reflecting them or causing them. Successive ...
The ACT party held its campaign launch in Auckland on Sunday and unveiled new policies, with a new team it hopes will bring a return to the days when it was more than a one man band. Mark Jennings reports. If the number of people paying to attend a political ...
Nicky Pellegrino and Stacy Gregg continue their podcast interview series with popular New Zealand writers. This week: Amy McDaid, the author of Fake Baby. Auckland’s Amy McDaid is an exciting new talent on our literary scene. Her debut novel, Fake Baby, strikes an elegant balance between dark comedy and compassion. ...
Is it finally time for Pacific rugby to come in from the cold in a new Super Rugby competition? Jim Kayes says it's time to believe. In Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, the two lead characters wait on a country road, by a tree, for Godot’s arrival. He never ...
A broken foot threatened to derail sailor Alex Maloney's second Olympic campaign. But she's back on track, with a little help from her brother and his America's Cup team-mates. From now on, Alex Maloney will always seek a second opinion. Without it, the Rio Olympics sailing silver medallist saw her ...
With an election now less than 10 weeks away, the National Party is confronting the very real prospect of a crushing defeat, writes Pattrick Smellie for BusinessDesk.Only two things can now save Todd Muller and the National Party from the growing likelihood of a crushing defeat at the September 19 ...
It’s long past time we officially recognised the Māori new year on Māori land, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira.In May, Jacinda Ardern said more public holidays for Kiwis to experience Aotearoa New Zealand is among a number of things the government is “actively considering” to encourage domestic tourism.With many small businesses ...
The Kiwi nurse working in conflict zones, helping war-wounded, and improving hospital systems was forced to do a major pivot when Covid-19 hit Afghanistan. Gail Corbett tells Laura Walters about living her life in some of the world’s most dangerous places, and what keeps her going back. Gail Corbett was ...
This is a story about a Chinese shipwreck, the Māori guardians of the bones, and the documentary maker who' has upset two cultures with his efforts to tell the tale. Is a shipwreck with the bones of 499 Chinese miners a sacred gravesite or a part of history that should be ...
From RNZ Mediawatch New Zealand children use a lot less Kiwi media than they used to. New research shows its Netflix, YouTube and TikTok engaging their eyeballs big time these days. If our kids screen out our local media, what does the future hold for them? The news media seized ...
The Tahr Foundation has released a short video that shows just what Himalayan tahr mean to Kiwis and why so many people are fighting so hard to maintain them in New Zealand. The video is a powerful reminder of the extent that tahr are now woven into ...
Introduction Thank you very much. Elections in New Zealand – like everywhere - are a very special tradition, because they are driven by you. They’re an opportunity to change your future. If you think about it, the Government doesn’t do much. It ...
“This election and Covid-19 present New Zealanders with an opportunity to change their future and create a fair, modern employment insurance scheme,” says ACT’s Employment Spokesperson, and third-ranked candidate, Nicole McKee. “Covid-19 has ...
“A new approach to mental health and addiction will reduce bureaucracy, improve patient choice, and empower New Zealanders,” says ACT’s Deputy Leader and Health Spokesperson Brooke van Velden. “Each year, the government spends about $2 billion ...
"Working people have signaled their commitment to do more to address the most pressing issue of our time; climate change. The energy policies that the Green Party have launched today provide a meaningful contribution to addressing climate change," ...
Climate justice organisation 350 Aotearoa welcomes the Greens' plan to transform Aotearoa’s energy system and set Aotearoa on course towards a fossil-fuel free future in which workers are supported into new jobs, and communities have the power ...
The Old Guard, new to Netflix, is a resounding success because it doesn’t focus on what makes these heroes great, it focuses on what makes them human, writes Sam Brooks.The climax of Netflix’s new movie The Old Guard shouldn’t be anything new, but it feels exhilarating. The titular old guard, ...
A new Green Party announcement heralds a fast-exit out of fossil fuels through a massive state housing solar panel installation programme, a ban on new coal boilers, and the shifting of a target for renewable energy Solar panels and batteries would be installed in 30,000 State homes to create a "virtual power plant" if ...
As yet more male-led festival lineups are announced, Shaquille Wasasala, aka halfqueen, writes an open letter to the industry.To those whose career it is booking talent for music festivals, punters, and people who listen to music.As a DJ and artist who exists at many intersections that directly inform my lens ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Dunedin writer Victor Billot pens topical verse every Sunday. This week: disgraced MP Hamish Walker.Showing promise The MP for Clutha-Southland did, it is true, post on Facebook that he had been door knocking in Mataura when he hadn’t. He lied. The MP for Clutha-Southland did, it is ...
It’s one of the most commonly used weedkillers in the world, but pressure to phase out use of the herbicide glyphosate could force us to come up with alternatives quickly. Listen to the full episode of Two Cents Worth below. Subscribe to Two Cents' Worth for free on Apple ...
The Covid-19 crisis has exposed gaps in the funding of early education that we should be bold in responding to, writes Sue Cherrington of Victoria University of Wellington Early childhood education has been in the media a great deal over recent weeks, initially with positive but increasingly with negative news reports. ...
It’s an economic theory that advocates tout as a solution to governments’ debt crises, but critics warn is a recipe for hyperinflation. Either way, modern monetary theory is getting a lot more attention in the era of Covid-19.Two big economic ideas have captured the popular imagination during the Covid-19 pandemic: ...
For one hour a week the supermarket lights are dimmed and the music stops. And it’s a kind of triumph, writes Michelle Langstone.I thought there’d been a power cut. The lights were out at the entrance, so you arrived into a kind of gloom. There was no music, and no ...
It’s no secret that New Zealand’s Covid-19 response was one of the world’s most effective. But to get an idea of how eagerly parts of our economy have rebounded post lockdown, take a look at our electricity demand data.Despite an impending wave of unemployment and looming fiscal challenges down the ...
In the second in the Spnioff’s Last on the list series, Dave King explains what inspired him to stand for the Act Party in Manurewa. At 20th spot on the list, if David Seymour’s party can win around 16% of the party vote, King is parliament bound.It wasn’t that long ...
Basketball is growing massively in popularity around the country, led by thousands of youngsters picking up the game every day. To The Line looks at what it’s like for New Zealand high school kids with hoop dreams.If there’s been a narrative rumbling away in the sports pages, it’s that of ...
Unbelievable. A first-rank world leader picks a needless fight with blameless allies, thus imperiling their unity. But that’s General de Gaulle for you.Impressive work, even by his standards. In 1967, Canada was to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge (their Gallipoli – except that they ...
From RNZ Saturday Morning Described by a Guardian reviewer as “superb hate-reading”, writer and columnist Anand Giridharadas‘s latest book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World investigates the hypocrisy of billionaire “do-gooders”. He questions how and why we have become reliant on the philanthropy of the super-rich ...
The Professional Hunting Guides Association is welcoming the High Court decision on DoC’s controversial tahr campaign. The High Court in Wellington was asked on Wednesday by the Tahr Foundation for a judicial review of DoC’s plan to kill thousands ...
With the 2020 general election nearly three months away, a new campaign is asking voters to vote in line with the future. Vote Climate 2020 aims to highlight the opportunity to build momentum behind climate change, ensuring climate justice is a key election ...
“ACT will target the gangs by hitting them where it hurts – their pockets,” according to ACT Leader David Seymour and Firearms Spokesperson Nicole McKee. “New Zealanders deserve to be safe and secure, but violent gangs are a scourge on our ...
Waffles don’t need to be sweet – these cheese and onion numbers make an excellent savoury breakfast with an egg, or an equally tasty dinner with leftover mince.It’s easy to default to sweet breakfasts without thinking. At least that’s the case in our household, as porridge or bircher muesli is ...
The government is revitalising the wool sector, splashing out on freshwater restoration projects, relieving student stress and showing kindness to Muslims by extending the border exception criteria. It is also increasing its support (in announcements from two separate Green Party Ministers) for women and for wildlife institutions. And it is ...
Open mike 22/07/2019 
Dr Kim Handley, University of Auckland Just how do cyanobacteria live in their natural habitat, and how do they coexist with other bacteria and microbial life forms? And what difference will knowledge on this bacteria have on maintaining New Zealand’s water quality? One of the consequences of declining water quality ...2 hours ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Global temperatures could exceed crucial 1.5 C target in the next five years In this aerial view ...2 hours ago
Three months on, and looking at the state of the world - 13 million cases, 560,000 dead, and both rising - it is clear that New Zealand's lockdown saved lives. But it didn't just save us from the pandemic and prevent future deaths - it also significantly reduced our background ...2 hours ago
National has a problem. And it’s time they said it out loud. It can’t be dismissed as a one-off anymore or excused because ‘everyone does it’. No, it cuts deeper than that. National has an ethics problem. Especially when it comes to privacy and using ordinary people as pawns in ...21 hours ago
The Council of Disobedient Women There is a regular segment in the Speak Up For Women podcasts called “Absolutely Blasted Mad Moment of the Week”. Each podcast the speaker and the host discuss a recent event that is the most insane thing they have seen in the gender critical space ...2 days ago
Todd Muller - Dishonest National Party leaderIt seems that dishonest Todd Muller is, like many right-wing politicians, entirely morally bankrupt. I mean just look at the National Party’s leaking omni-shambles over the last week or so. They’ve imploded in a spectacular display of backfiring dirty politics, the likes of which ...2 days ago
MONDAY JULY 13Bodyguard (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). It's the final; if you haven't seen this already on Netflix, get ready, the ending is batshit.Unforgotten (Vibe, Sky 006, 8.30pm). I wonder if Sanjeev Bhasksar's character has got rid of that damn backpack in the third season of this cold case drama? Although, come ...2 days ago
Simon Bridges must be the unluckiest person in New Zealand politics. When he was elected as leader of the National party, he also became Leader of the Opposition – a position, he was entitled to assume, that would require him to “oppose”. But the government he set out to oppose ...2 days ago
Check out Speak Up For Women’s new podcasts: Episode 3 In this episode Speak Up For Women spokeswoman Ani O’Brien (@aniobrien) is joined by Beth Johnson (@beth_nosnhoj) to discuss the proposal from Statistics NZ to change standard data collection policy to “gender by default” rather than sex. They discuss why the ...3 days ago
Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...3 days ago
Today’s content Tiwai Point to close Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Government subsidising practically everything plays hardball with Rio Tinto (paywalled) Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Sudden closure of aluminium smelter worst outcome for jobs, consumers and the environment Brian Fallow (Herald): Tiwai closure sad news – and an opportunity for the environment (paywalled) Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Rio ...3 days ago
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...3 days ago
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...5 days ago
...7 days ago
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund is providing up to $19.5 million to boost innovative primary sector businesses and create training and job opportunities for Northland locals through the construction of an innovation and enterprise park at Ngawha, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones ...2 hours ago
The Green Party is today unveiling part one of its plan for a fossil-fuel free Aotearoa, including an immediate ban on new industrial coal boilers. ...1 day ago
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...1 week ago
The Crown will provide a loan to Hawke’s Bay Airport to ensure it can trade through COVID-19 economic impacts, support the region’s recovery and protect up to 200 jobs. The Crown has a 50 percent shareholding in Hawke’s Bay Airport Limited (HBAL), with Napier City Council holding 26 percent and ...2 hours ago
People from immigrant backgrounds often struggle to find work in New Zealand, despite their qualifications. So why is the Office of Ethnic Communities looking for people to do its work for free, asks former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.Last week, the Office of Ethnic Communities announced on Facebook that ...9 mins ago
Health Minister Chris Hipkins is giving an update on the government's Covid-19 response. ...18 mins ago
The gunman of the Christchurch mosque attacks has chosen to represent himself at his sentencing next month. In March, Brenton Tarrant made a late guilty plea to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one under the Terrorism Suppression Act. He is due to be sentenced on 24 ...2 hours ago
A road freight industry representative says a new announcement that negotiations will be extended - again - is further confirmation that something is not right with the project An announcement that a new cash payout will extend negotiations and 'winter works' even further than first thought is being heralded as a sign ...3 hours ago
NorthTec is very disappointed with the comments made by TEU representative Jill Jones in her press release “New Challenges for NorthTec”. ...3 hours ago
By Hamish Cardwell, RNZ News Grey Power is enraged by what it says is the “stupid and dangerous” behaviour of people fleeing managed isolation facilities, and says they need the book thrown at them. A person broke a window and absconded from an Auckland hotel on Friday, the fourth such ...3 hours ago
Investors still betting massive money-printing, despite growing fears of second wave lock-downs in America, India and Brazil, and as Australian cases spike ...6 hours ago
A coalition commitment to tackle bottled water exports falls by the wayside. ...7 hours ago
How authoritarian rule is applied to Hong Kong may make New Zealanders question whether closer interactions with China are necessarily desirable, writes Catherine Churchman Get ready for some in-your-face political repression, New Zealand. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has just extended its draconian rules on free speech and freedom ...8 hours ago
Using technology remotely to care for patients can go way beyond Zoom calls or basic telehealth measures. Professor Simon Malpas explains how tech can start to even out inequity in healthcare. Imagine you live in Ahipara, Northland. You also have early stage heart failure. It’s a 90-minute drive to your ...8 hours ago
Stephen Hoadley on how Donald Trump has moved the US from its decades-old role of international leadership, and why it might not be easy for a President Biden to restore that mantle. US elections and the resulting presidencies can be geopolitical turning points, whether reflecting them or causing them. Successive ...8 hours ago
The ACT party held its campaign launch in Auckland on Sunday and unveiled new policies, with a new team it hopes will bring a return to the days when it was more than a one man band. Mark Jennings reports. If the number of people paying to attend a political ...8 hours ago
Nicky Pellegrino and Stacy Gregg continue their podcast interview series with popular New Zealand writers. This week: Amy McDaid, the author of Fake Baby. Auckland’s Amy McDaid is an exciting new talent on our literary scene. Her debut novel, Fake Baby, strikes an elegant balance between dark comedy and compassion. ...8 hours ago
Is it finally time for Pacific rugby to come in from the cold in a new Super Rugby competition? Jim Kayes says it's time to believe. In Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, the two lead characters wait on a country road, by a tree, for Godot’s arrival. He never ...8 hours ago
A broken foot threatened to derail sailor Alex Maloney's second Olympic campaign. But she's back on track, with a little help from her brother and his America's Cup team-mates. From now on, Alex Maloney will always seek a second opinion. Without it, the Rio Olympics sailing silver medallist saw her ...8 hours ago
The Govt reviews its relationship with Hong Kong (and quietly re-adjusts on China), while pro-CCP leaders praise the new law. ...8 hours ago
Migrants protested in Auckland and Wellington - and NZ First launched into the first major event of its Northland 'do-or-die' campaign ...8 hours ago
The Kiwi nurse working in conflict zones, helping war-wounded, and improving hospital systems was forced to do a major pivot when Covid-19 hit Afghanistan. Gail Corbett tells Laura Walters about living her life in some of the world’s most dangerous places, and what keeps her going back. Gail Corbett was ...8 hours ago
This is a story about a Chinese shipwreck, the Māori guardians of the bones, and the documentary maker who' has upset two cultures with his efforts to tell the tale. Is a shipwreck with the bones of 499 Chinese miners a sacred gravesite or a part of history that should be ...8 hours ago
A new Green Party announcement heralds a fast-exit out of fossil fuels through a massive state housing solar panel installation programme, a ban on new coal boilers, and the shifting of a target for renewable energy Solar panels and batteries would be installed in 30,000 State homes to create a "virtual power plant" if ...1 day ago
Dunedin writer Victor Billot pens topical verse every Sunday. This week: disgraced MP Hamish Walker. Showing promise The MP for Clutha-Southland did, it is true, post on Facebook that he had been door knocking in Mataura when he hadn’t. He lied. The MP for Clutha-Southland did, it is ...1 day ago
It’s one of the most commonly used weedkillers in the world, but pressure to phase out use of the herbicide glyphosate could force us to come up with alternatives quickly. Listen to the full episode of Two Cents Worth below. Subscribe to Two Cents' Worth for free on Apple ...1 day ago
The Covid-19 crisis has exposed gaps in the funding of early education that we should be bold in responding to, writes Sue Cherrington of Victoria University of Wellington Early childhood education has been in the media a great deal over recent weeks, initially with positive but increasingly with negative news reports. ...1 day ago
Unbelievable. A first-rank world leader picks a needless fight with blameless allies, thus imperiling their unity. But that’s General de Gaulle for you. Impressive work, even by his standards. In 1967, Canada was to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge (their Gallipoli – except that they ...2 days ago
The government is revitalising the wool sector, splashing out on freshwater restoration projects, relieving student stress and showing kindness to Muslims by extending the border exception criteria. It is also increasing its support (in announcements from two separate Green Party Ministers) for women and for wildlife institutions. And it is ...2 days ago
Well done the Netball girls, that is all I have to say.
Good boy.
Renegade Inc: Rentier Britain: all the rent goes to the 1%
There are three fundamental issues that lie at the heart of our current economic malaise: the first is unearned income and wealth from land rent ( plus property speculation for capital Gain), second the creation of money by privately owned banks, and the third is rent-seeking that is used to juice profits out of intellectual property through copyright and patents (TPPA). But the political class, supported by lobbying, continues to avoid addressing these issues (Current Labour Government does not impose a CGT). So monopolies grow larger and larger, and as they do, more and more people are excluded from the economy ( Our young couples can’t afford to buy homes but must rent for life). To really address the root causes, why don’t we start by calling out the rentier economy as a structural issue that no progressive society can actually afford?
This applies to New Zealand : The F.I.R.E sector:
That was a good interview, johnm.
An interesting notion
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/114328666/without-helen-clarks-help-cannabis-reform-will-go-down-in-flames
Seems someone upset someone
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/22/just-chaos-bloodshed-hong-kong-district-hundreds-masked-men-assault-protesters-journalists-residents/?fbclid=IwAR30JP9vzb9m9US5v3JoxrowXaEphlUJ-Y2_9OTik_7bN2N9JuTvlooKj8k
China must be wondering whether they should have extended Britain's lease.
I think the yellow vest protests in France have been more sustained, with far more violence from the authorities, ..people have been blinded and killed by the police and the protests have been going since last November
Were/are the French authorities hiring thugs to bash people?
that little gem would be equally at home on the "Peters,Pence,Pompeo and the Rapture" post
Get Winston!
"Bridges is one bad poll away from oblivion and he will not win the keys to Premier House by earnest attention to detail and well written speeches. He needs to slay a dragon. Through the heart. With a wooden stake. "
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/114272849/winston-peters-has-been-a-malign-influence-on-nz-politics-its-time-simon-bridges-finished-him-off
I read this earlier, today, thinking what a badly written piece of opinion. The reference to our incumbent PM was a cheap throwaway and the reference to Winston Peters’ handmaidens was, well, a joke considering who occupies seats on his side of the House.
However, referring to Bridge's earnest attention to detail and well written speeches. I have heard him make three speeches in public forums and I would not have characterised them as well- written. I have heard him in the House and he does not come anywhere nearing slaying Winston with his rhetoric. Quite the reverse.
The real dragon sits on his side of the House, tail flicking amidst the desolation……
But it so much more fun to invent an Imminent Threat, isn't it? One that's on The Other Side, one you can demonise without splitting your own ranks.
It was a very poor piece of work, I agree.
The article says this. "It is a huge gamble but it also would define Bridges as a leader of courage, honour and integrity. It makes an effective contrast with the incumbent whose power is buttressed by Golriz Ghahraman on her left and Shane Jones on her right."
Now, that means that in Mr Grant's opinion our present Prime Minister does not possess 'courage, honour and integrity' because he says that Bridges would be defined on this way (by doing what Grant says he should) which is in contrast to the PM.
Now that's cheap political writing, with nothing to back it up except somehow to argue that a person of courage, inregrity and honour would not be connected in a coalition with a Green or NZ First politician.
There is nothing to back up those assertions excpt a cheap shot at Peters saying he had only done three things in his political career, and then even wrote them down.
This is political opinion, based on poor analysis. It's just tribal crap that I'd expect from a party hack in a bar-room debate after several Speights.
"tribal crap" indeed. But serving a purpose, or at least, paving a way…
It kind of ironic I think that the same "Mr Grant" – although everyone deserves a second chance insists on "reading between the lines" and giving his version of the conduct of others.I read and re-read this story and while no doubt it is all "pretty legal" it gave me the sense that he was commenting on more than is his jurisdiction and obligation to perform a service, I wouldn't mind betting he couldn't lie straight in bead but feels free to be judge and jury on a lot of other people and even moreso "Stuff" pays him for his "opinion" I have decided that Stuff can stuff its Sunday rag.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/114068043/auckland-furniture-chain-fired-staff-without-warning-or-written-confirmation-former-employees-claim
I wonder if he writes a few 'well-written' speeches himself for a fee.
lols
minnows don't kill sharks.
Actually, strike minnows. Bridges is a salmon, earnestly trying to swim upstream far enough to briefly spawn a government, but frankly even if he gets there he'll be politically dead shortly after.
Simon is not the kind that slays dragons, much less a wily old wyrm like Winston. If he had been, non-performers like Nick & Gerry (and Paula) would be long gone. Simon is a seat-warmer waiting for someone else to solve his problems, which makes him a natural leader for the current Gnats, but as relevant to winning anything as Jack Falstaff. As Gandalf said ‘in this neighborhood heroes are scarce, or simply lot to be found. “
"wyrm" – nice choice of word, Stuart; it's how we Southlanders pronounce it
Damien Grant is a "columnist" – presumably to separate his contribution, suitable for a partisan blog, from an article by a "reporter", giving facts from some event or speech, or a "journalist" who provides evidence or logical argument for statements put forward. To say that a politician "one bad poll away from oblivion" has the power to slay another politician by a decision to further isolate his party is laughable. We are having mid-term speculation based on nothing however we have predictable discussions as to whether small parties will disappear – again based on little evidence. Unfortunately it is easy to click on a headline before realising who it was written by . . .
Slaying a dragon with a wooden stake through the heart? Couldn't even get that right.
Winston's been counted out before, and by political opponents with more skills than 'no-Bridges'!
The National Party zoologist Steven Joyce would never use a wooden stake to slay a dragon through the heart. Instead, he’d use a rubber dildo and poke it in the eye.
Authored by Damien Grant… did you expect anything better?
French environment minister resigns over green issues
https://www.france24.com/en/20190716-lobster-champagne-french-minister-resigns-over-spending-scandal
Lessons from legalising weed: don't make it too hard to become a legal seller, and don't tax it too much, and be serious about ensuring sellers actually are legal. If you don't, then it's too easy and tempting for illegal sellers to just carry on.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/21/legal-marijuana-black-market-227414
A couple of jealous Aussie bitches bitching about Jacinda Ardern and being disingenuous with their interpretations:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12251514
Lol. That is some severe butt-hurt from the mad right-wing.
Perhaps the Aussies should work out how to stop being racists and producing mass murderers.
zouch
The woman's an idiot.
Yes, Anne, Granny has had quite the field day with that article and the one I'll link to, which was at the top of their website writ large for several hours with an accompanying photo dragged no doubt out of their collection of less than pleasant pics of the PM. I noted that none of the other news outlets had this headline anywhere on their sites – not even Newshub! No names attributed to the articles, of course. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12251488
Speaking to fellow broadcaster Sky News Australia host Peta Credlin, commentator Gemma Tognini said of the Kiwi PM: "It's very, very cute for her to come to another country and morally posturise the way she has been.
Good grief. In other words, "don't you come over here and shame us about the ways that we treat people here!"
That is what this rightist dislike of "virtue signalling" is -the bully does not like being called for what he or she is doing.
Well someone's got to give Peda Cretin some moral guidance.
Horse – water – drink.
Robert could start a college for the depraved.
I loved the way the female anchor witch said at the end of the clip:
And don't forget how she got there in the first place. Did a deal with Winston Peters.
Potty mouth republicism in ascendancy. Making the U.S. great again. oxymoronic.
The right-wing are puerile, pathetic and desperate.
Some idiot was trying to sell these, but the listing has now been removed by Trade Me.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_LJNZlUcAAYSoG?format=jpg&name=small
My wife and I are on a month long trip to Europe. Talked cricket with a Banglideshi waiter in a restaurant in a quiet part of Venice far away from San Marco. He was able to watch the final, which was more than we were able to do, being en route between cities at the time.
But, and here's the point, he also made reference to the March massacre and how lucky we are as country to have such a wonderful prime minister who showed such compassion and feeling (his words)
Once again proud to be a NZer.
Ouch.
Martyn Bradbury has come to his senses. About the only thing I would disagree with him in this is that he thinks the Green Party have a 40% chance of surviving the next election. Not a hope, I would say.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/07/21/media-watch-stuff-asks-can-greens-break-5/
The article he links to is interesting too, although not quite as harsh in its evaluation of the Greens.
Oh well, C'est la vie. I don't think they will be missed form Parliament, particularly when one looks at the spectacular stuff-up Shaw managed in his overseeing of Statistics in the Census.
The Greens won't make it past 5% if Martyn Bradbury has anything to do with it, sure. Fortunately, he won't have anything to do with it.
This bit from the Stuff article is far more significant than Bradbury's sour grapes:
The Greens are more worried about external threats: the negative Facebook posts that spread dubious claims during the Australian election campaign. There's every chance Topham Guerin, the Kiwi firm behind much of the Liberals' successful digital campaign will return to home soil in 2020.
Pretty much, although "dubious claims" is a euphemism for "outright lies." Those guys will make Dirty Politics look like the amateur hour it was.
You've bid farewell to The Greens on the advice of Martyn Bradbury, Alwyn?
Your credibility took a further dive from it's subterranean "Metiria's a thief" level.
Any deeper and you'll qualify as one of Stuart's "wyrms".
You do realize kiwis have a far stronger history of voting governments out than in correct? Although I still think Labour and NZFirst can go it with the Greens, it would be better if the Greens stayed in don't you think? Unless the electorates are so stupid as to believe rainbows on the Internet will gift the Greens a spot on government.
This “spectacular stuff-up Shaw managed in his overseeing of Statistics in the Census” was not shouting that Census data had been hacked by a black ops team working for a bunch of dirty politicians, was it? That would indeed be a sackable offence.
AND wasn't the census organised while the Natz were in power?????
Please don’t ask such complicated questions; my tiny brain can’t process them. Alwyn will know the answer.
Sorry Icog. Will try to be better.
Wasn't very impressed much when the female co-leader did that interview about some policy, but didn't have the stats to back it up, but the stats male co-leader did for his, along with her being clobbered about it by the previous guy ( who i guess didn't go back to OZ, anyway )
Whatever else, they need to sort out those kind of stuff ups.
I agree that especially in the coms department all three coalition parties individually as well as collectively in the coalition Government could do heaps better. However, I also think that the media love to whip any molehill into a giant stuff up of epic proportions. We also tend to forget that things here in NZ are perhaps not nearly as bad as in other countries where bigly stuff ups are the norm such as Oz, Gr-Br, and US-A. I don’t know about you, but I prefer the NZ stuff ups to war mongers looking for a fight.
In part it is easier here to do things abit differently.
I like different. I like how MMP is slowly growing up. I like how NZ (not just Jacinda Ardern) is carving out a niche in the world of geo-politics. I know that there’s a shed load of things to change here and despite the many stuff ups and snail’s pace of change in many areas progress is being made. I like that too.
The census was a hospital pass from the incompetent National Party. But then you know that.
Last night Country Calendar on TV was about some entrepreneurial people near Nelson who have developed a business around processing various types of nuts. We got to see bags full, thousands of nuts. Good to see, they've done very well.
It came to mind this afternoon when I got in a car that had Magic Radio on (or whatever they call themselves.) Sean Plunket was on and in the few minutes I heard him I had considerably more exposure to nutty than I'd had in half an hour the night before.
Haven't heard the Plunker in a long time. Not long enough mind you.
That Country Calendar was about Uncle Joe's in Blenheim. Sort of near Nelson- just over the hill 110 km away! Also manufacture flour, oil and spreads made from nuts and seeds. The shells even make a garden mulch which deters snails!
What we need are more nutters like these!
Kia ora The Am Show.
Whats up boys the girls WON.
One industry modeling that you can come up with that someone thinks Wahine gets paid more than men get a grip what about all the other organizations that pay Wahine less than men .
I say a gun register is needed to trace the guns back to the owners not all licensed gun owners are responsible citizens + the police will know how many and what type of guns are in Aotearoa. That Christchurch fool was not a gangster was he.
You know what I seen on the weekend a big flash million dollar playground in Cambridge full of children playing. A carpark bigger than the playgrounds in Fairysprings or Maraenui .
We are currently constructing our bathing facilities the systems will be powered by Te Ra and Ahi
Wildlife Seagulls its about survival a tame small dog could quite easily be a birds lunch birds are quite awesome hunters.
Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
Kia ora Newshub.
These businesses having losses because of the city rail link in Auckland during construction. Do business pay more when times are good No.
That was a funny but a mistake from the greens.
Thats is a great leak the polling shows national is not craling out of that hole .
I think that the undercover sandflys in Aotearoa have long strings connected to the White House.
Michael Eco Maori is correct in the reasons why I chose to blog to 3 tv because every story you screen is a attack on the government.
Ka pai to Greenpeace for the Abigail Smith and co for protesting and climbing a building we only have one environment we don't have a multiverse like some would like us to believe te oil barons muppets.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its is sad that the police are pushing te tangata whenua protesters in Auckland off their whenua thats the way they use the courts in Aotearoa to hit tangata whenua on the head with the court system Eco Maori tryed to use the courts system to defend himself but the sandflys interfere in my attempt to get JUSTICE muppets are shit scared to face Eco Maori in COURT. They are trying to control me but every time they try they just give Eco Maori more mana.
Eco Maori tau toko his Whanau in Te Wairoa in there quest to BAN PEE FROM Wairoa I have heaps of Whanau in Te Wairoa I want the SHIT BANNED FROM Te taiwhiti East Coast to Banned from Aotearoa to.
Te Wahine should have a choice of abortion if they need it there are many reasons why they would want a abortion I don't think it should be a crime to have a abortion .
Ka kite ano.
My device is playing up WTF
Kia Ora The Am Show.
The resource management act needs to be replaced with one that doesn't place such huge cost on building a whare . Its's bloody ridiculous the charges from council to build a whare $20.000 just to get consent to build a driveway onto your property . These huge changes for resorce concent to build a whare are pushing tangata whenua out of owning there own whare is that what some designed it to do like the huge cost to servaying tangata whenua whenua in the old days Maori had to sell there whenua to pay the cost of the servaying.
Eco Maori says Aotearoa needs to respect China .
Great game of Netball awesome win.
Ka Pai to Indonesia for considering closings the Island that Kamodo Dragons live on to save there habitat. Ka kite ano
You know who this is for whanau
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
These Hawksbay sandflys don't know who they are FUCKING WITH they will soon learn