First we learn the reality of American-style feedlots for cattle in New Zealand. Now Rachel Stewart says there is a an even darker side to Kiwi farming.
Just maybe we can get some momentum to end animal cruelty in New Zealand as people realise the repugnant practices that produce animals for consumption by humans.
We need to end factory farming. Clean Green NZ is a cruel joke.
Hard to believe that passes local water quality laws. How do they get the effluent redistributed in spring, evenly across the fields? Must have impressive pond filtration and solid storage to last the winter. Is that on an inland marine clay soil? Not sure how else they would stop leaching. Workers would risk death by drug overdose during stormy weather. But as always, don’t panic, go organic!
The feed lots really disturbed myself and my girls. When we first saw it on the TV, we thought it was a story from overseas. But nope it’s here, and it’s all about making as much $$$$$$$$$ as possible.
I wonder if David Parker and Damo are still ‘flatting’ together in Welly when Parliament sits? If so they have much to discuss and sort out, because feed lots is not the type of NZ we are proud of or want to be a part of.
Yep Damien needs to get his priorities right – he isn’t a farmers advocate he is a bloody minister. Time he started caring about the environment or his legacy will be shit imo.
Trotter loses plot, re-invents ACT: “the zeitgeist – the “spirit of the times”. If ever there was a moment for someone to lift up the banner of freedom – it is now. Combine the defence of free markets with the defence of free speech and Act – proudly rebranded as “The Freedom League” – might once again aspire to Prebble’s electoral success.” http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/
“The Social Contract”, Rousseau, in 1762: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” So will invoking antique liberationist philosophy currently work politically? In a culture where everyone believes they actually are free spirits?
Trotter may have got more milage from using Orwell as the basis for reminding us of the threat from the left. At least there’s a substantial political tradition there from the most recent century past. He’d get more traction for ACT if he tossed free love into the mix with free speech & free markets, pushing the nostalgia button for many political players still alive. And how about free money as well? That’d rope in lots more!!
“He’d get more traction for ACT if he tossed free love into the mix with free speech & free markets, pushing the nostalgia button for many political players still alive. And how about free money as well? ”
Suggest you reread Trotter’s piece if thats what you took from it
Trotter forgets the time he lead the outcry when Harawira was blocked from speaking at Auckland Law School in may 2011 by a ‘breach of the peace’ from campus Young nats……
The benefits of biodiversity and heritage strains of crops, illustrated yet again for the umpteenth time. A variety of corn in Mexico that has a legume-like ability to fix its own nitrogen. Combine this trait with the benefits of other more commercial strains and there’s a big potential for reduced fertilizer use, with flow-on benefits for better water quality from reduced run-off and reduced GHG emissions.
I find this all arse about face. Heritage breeds generally discarded for the industrial production. Have to pollute to grow. Find heritage breed that reduces pollution – oh let’s genetically modify to get that trait. No thought apart from commercial imo. The thinking that fucked us up will not save us.
Better off doing this type of thing
“Three hundred years ago, when early American colonists took a look at the food gardens in Native American villages, they often saw a unique companion planting plan – sweetcorn, climbing beans and pumpkins or squash being grown together in the same plot.” https://www.growveg.com.au/guides/companion-planting-three-sisters-garden-plans/
I kinda take the view that the entire spectrum of techniques have something to contribute, but there is no one silver bullet magic answer.
I agree that corporate industrial farming has become an out-of-control Frankenstein’s monster. But let’s not lose sight of the way corporate industrial farming is good at maximising output given the various input price signals and constraints. Where we’ve fallen down is failing to impose appropriate price signals and constraints on things like energy use, pollution, animal welfare, border controls etc etc. One of the good and bad results of this state of affairs is that food is now awesomely cheap by historical standards, but it also makes it very hard for those that want to do things in a heritage way to actually make a living at it.
Is it cheap compared to yesteryear? If we grow and eat seasonally, locally and communally then it seems that would be very cost effective. But im in the country not the city so my view may be jaundiced.
A quick search didn’t show up a good illustrative article that’s NZ specific, but I’m pretty sure I have seen stuff indicating NZ trends are similar to the US. The sites I regularly visit also occasionally feature pieces about how meagre the financial returns are from small scale labour intensive farming.
Yeah, there’s significant differences city to country on this. Not least that many country people derive a lot of pleasure from producing food, almost to the extent that income from it is just a bonus. Whereas city folk the pleasure is generally just around eating, with a small part of the population getting something out of feeling virtuous from paying extra for organic and/or ethical.
I worry that with the ongoing worldwide drift from rural to urban and simple population increase pressures it’s going to be ever harder to preserve the few small pockets of heritage we still have. Especially since many of the areas with significant heritage resources overlap a lot with population growth pressure and overlap with where climate change is going to hit hardest.
Yes good points. I know a lot of seed savers and the heritage seeds are treasured. Going to be useful I think. Not sure about keeping them up in that seed vault in Norway though.
Seeds are useful, but the value in the heritage is the whole ecosystem involved which might be lost with a focus on just the seeds. For example, there’s no guarantee just the seeds will carry the symbiotic micro-organisms that do the actual nitrogen fixing.
Robert G
Keep the seeds viable and fresh and you keep coming up with stuff to remind us what we could all be doing if we stopped tapping. Keep coming with info on – The Riverton Chronicle.
Here in Riverton we are operating a heritage vegetable seed saving network that “employs” growers across the region (and beyond) to keep the lines fresh. Our heritage fruit net is even more grounded, preserving the remnant orchards, grafting from them and creating new heritage orchards cared for by the communities from which the scions came, and providing grafted trees to individuals (about 5 000 so far) to plant at home. Keep it fresh and alive and involve people in the process; those things “belong” to all of us and spreading responsibility and stock is the best insurance against loss, Imo.
Likewise ‘economic efficiency’. Of course it’s usually good to do things ‘efficiently’, though often that’s confused with cost savings achieved through cutting pay. Labour-saving technology like information technology has not enabled reductions in working hours, because the greater the competition between organisations, the more likely it is to mean that we just have to do more in the same working day. A microwave oven may save you time at home, allowing you to do other things as you wish, but in a fast-food restaurant it just means each worker has to produce more meals in a given time. We have always to ask: efficient for whom? Does it give us more time, or just speed up the treadmill? And as the case of the disposable plastic spoon reminds us, what is ‘cost-effective’ in money terms can be an absurdly wasteful and polluting use of resources. In the public sector, much cost cutting in the name of ‘efficiency’ merely reduces service quality and distracts services from their core purposes, so that schools teach to the test and hospitals reduce patient care and send patients home too early so as to free up beds. It encourages vacuous nonsense from management about ‘leveraging our skillsets to meet the challenge of competition going forward’, and suchlike, eroding professionals’ commitments to doing what is best for clients, patients and students, and other workers’ desire to do their job well. It can produce stress, disaffection and burn-out in workers – too busy to care for themselves and family or to have time for friends. We have to weigh all these things up in the different spheres of economic life and limit and regulate competition accordingly.
Yet, in addition to that still rather instrumental view of our environment, we should not forget its beauty and richness. Being able to appreciate and enjoy it is an important part of well-being, and we should not apologise for these values simply because they don’t fit with a narrow economic perspective. As Ruskin said, ‘there is no wealth but life’.
Destroying the environment as we have been is going to cost us far more than the apparent savings that industrial farming brought about.
Turnbull is in trouble; he survived a confidence vote yesterday by only 7 votes, but more resignations and defections keep the pressure on. Dutton might force his way in as PM for a short while, but it won’t last.
And of Turnbull resigns Parliament as many have suggested it will likely force an election:
Threatening an early election appears to be the only card Turnbull has left to keep his caucus in line. Good times for Bill Shorten who can confidently tell his caucus to work hard, keep smiling and let the Libs gift them Government.
You got it. But the threat will only have a short life-span, it seems. Dutton established sufficient support to try again soon. It hinges on how many of the seven who are most likely to switch to him see advantage in doing so prior to an election, rather than waiting.
The PM can call an early election to stymie the plot, but would he do so with current polling making him a dead-cert loser?? And likely to get rolled in the aftermath, so a double loser. So as a ploy, not very effective. Which is why Oz political commentators call him dead man walking.
A weak leader, but is Dutton any better? I doubt it. If I were Turnbull, I’d be in liaison with all the likely contenders other than Dutton right now, offering them a deal in which I’d rebuild in collaboration with them and offer resignation in advance while they sort out amongst themselves who ought to fight Dutton to take over.
Under that scenario, Turnbull gets to prove he can be a real centrist leader, go out from a position of strength having developed a credible alternative to Dutton & Shorten – if he gets them back close to parity with Labour in the polls.
What was the margin of Tumbulls victory over Abbott back in 2016 ?
10 votes. His recent margin is 13 votes.
In Aussie politics its all about the numbers , you either have more than your opponent or you dont. End of story.
All this waffle about another challenge …. it could happen but they dont really have time and who would that challenger be, its not going to be Dutton again.
No it wasnt, it was 13 votes.( what you mean was if ‘7 voters change sides’)
However Turnbull only won the vote against Abbott a few years back by 10 votes.
His margin has never been great but its plenty in the scheme of things.
remember in NZ Brash supposedly won the leadership against English by ONE vote.
If old Mal is rolled, he does the honourable thing resigned from the House of Representatives which would he has more morals and ethics than the current lot or the nuclear option, but I somehow don’t think Mal is that type of person.
Shorten is not popular with public either and that’s even at the grassroots level of the Australian Labour Party as well. As he is seen as numbers man that rolled Rudd and later Gillard.
Albo has the popular vote among the grassroots and the greater voting public, but hasn’t got the Party vote and head office support which is a damm shame as Albo is a true battler from the working class.
Mal and Albo come solo parent homes both working class backgrounds, but they both took different paths later in life.
I don’t think Julie wants the job, as for Mal and the Mad Monk they come from to totally different spheres within the Lib’s and that’s the problem.
Mal is a true a Lib probably more Social Liberal who would rather give someone a leg up, open minded forward thinking and science/ technology evidence base than the right wing bible bashed based conservatives like the Mad Monk.
There is a lot of old money in both NSW and Vic compared to the other states and would there some religious stuff as aka the Catholics in Vic and Protestants of NSW etc thrown in just to keep everyone on their toes.
Manafort guilty on 8 counts, mistrial on the remaining 10 counts. So the prosecution can try him again on those 10 counts. Plus Manafort’s got another trial coming up in DC. The guilty finding on those 8 counts with that backdrop has to really up the pressure on him, so we may yet see him flip.
Also in Trump’s bad news week is that Christopher Steele, author of the Trump dossier had a defamation claim against him from three Russian oligarchs thrown out
Yep – this is part of colonisation. The fact that more police are coming on just fills me with foreboding cos we know they racially profile.
The great kauri are dying, the rivers are sick, the land is degraded and abused – these plus the prison pop and all the other negative stats from longevity to employment that affect Māori are SYMPTOMS – of what? The continued colonisation of Māori. The continued othering and disrespect. The continued desecration of mana. Be warned kiwiland.
Thanks marty. When I saw Anzac on the news last night it really struck a chord with me, very powerful what he said. Opened the door to reality for viewers I hope. Speaking as a pakeha I think we have to do what we can to help – and that doesn’t mean telling Māori what to do.
As I think has been talked about on here previously that might involve discussing and changing things based from korero on the marae. Officials going to the marae for help and solutions to fix this, not the other way round.
The great kauri are dying, the rivers are sick, the land is degraded and abused – these plus the prison pop and all the other negative stats from longevity to employment that affect Māori are SYMPTOMS – of what? The continued colonisation of Māori. The continued othering and disrespect. The continued desecration of mana.
It is all the inevitable result of capitalism and the All against All society that it produces.
Colonisation cant be attributed for say so many Maoris in prison. The vast majority are law abiding and I have been told by maori who have one of their whanau in a gang, that they just think they are a fool.
Yes , huge amounts of land were lost from colonization policies, so not so much remains. With Maori and jails its the other way around. Very small proportion are involved in criminal activity.
One of the big issues Mueller’s investigation has lifted the lid on is just how soft the US has become on white-collar crime, helped along by getting distracted to focus on “terrorism”. Routine inability to keep things in perspective, or calculated strategy by white-collar crims, and the pollies and judges they buy?
Really hard to comprehend, this. I often worked with Greg during his first few years in the TVNZ newsroom, found him invariably in good humour & developed an easy rapport with him right from the start. So very sad for his family.
There must be a deep back-story to this – wonder if it will ever come out. He became adept at presenting with both flair & goodwill to the audience. Huge loss for TVNZ.
Yes, Cinny, enough of that myself in the distant past to wonder if he’d been carrying an affliction from childhood. The macho stance was widely used as repression in my generation but Greg being that much younger I can but guess how much it applied to him.
Bobby McFerrin hams up here about problems he has faced I think and tells us how to keep on top. You can be dressed for success, get it and still not feel right. I think Robin Williams is in this vid too. Don’t Worry Be Happy
Yes Cindy, we are very good at hiding it until something or someone tiggers it off again and it’s then a race back down the rabbit hole just little bit further than last time until we turn around and pop back out of the rabbit or we pass the LD.
LD is a Military term for Line of Departure when one is about to commit than attack or counter attack on a enemy position or also known as the point of no return. I only got as far as the FUP (Form Up Point) which is just the before the LD where you do your final checks before you get ready to cross the LD. My FSGT cross his LD and the NT Police nick me before I completed my final checks before I cross the LD.
Sorry for using Military terminology it’s the only way I can describe it to someone and actually I one step further in that I use the Military planning formula called the Military Appreciation Process or MAP which scared my treatment team and when I was down at the clinic last year my partner ( now my wife) mentioned to the staff at meeting which became a light bulb moment for staff at why we are so good at it than civilians.
Indeed @ Cinny and to all the comments below. He was/is a good bugger.
Alison Mau (though she doesn’t claim to be ‘best buddies’ on Stuffed) has summed things up well.
( In my view: Decent, Humble, Intelligent, Social, Spiritual, and not at all Egotistical). Something didn’t feel quite right leaving Te Puke last Saturday
“This, to my mind, is what lies at the heart of Megan V’s original tweet. The assumption that young girls are “in their prime” and therefore free to be pursued and used by adult men who require control in a relationship in order to feel comfortable in it.
Evidence that the trend is substantial lies in the various independent initiatives emerging. Classic niche marketing: when the niche becomes evident, entrepreneurs compete to fill the vacuum. LibDems spot the trend & wonder if they really are dead in the water (or do they flog the dead horse yet again to see if it will leap up & run).
None of which would matter under FPP, if it weren’t for the fact that both major parties are sick nigh unto death themselves!
Fletcher Building in red, posts $190m loss, no dividend for shareholders
(maybe they should also add no company taxes for taxpayers in NZ)
Apparently that is mostly due to their unusually low tender that John Key was involved with to Sky City for the conference centre that has been a balls up for taxpayers from the word go. from wiki
Proposed convention centre[edit]
In May 2013, the Government came to a deal with SkyCity to build a convention centre worth $402 million in exchange for gambling concessions. The concessions would allow SkyCity to install an extra 230 poker machines, 40 gambling tables, as well as a further 12 gaming tables that could be substituted for automated table game player stations (but not poker machines). SkyCity would also receive an extension to their casino licence, from its expiry in 2021 until 2048. In exchange, SkyCity would be required to meet the full costs of the convention centre project.[13]
Describing the benefit for New Zealand, Economic Development Minister, Steven Joyce said the convention centre would add an estimated $90 million a year to the local economy, create 1,000 jobs during construction and 800 jobs once the centre is running.[13]
Cost overruns[edit]
In 2015 it was announced that the anticipated cost of the convention centre had increased by $70 to $130 million, to a total maximum of $530 million. Prime Minister John Key said he was considering making up the shortfall by giving SkyCity public tax money to finish the project – as it would be an “eyesore” if the extra funding was not made available.[14] Two days later on 12 February, following criticism in the media and in Parliament, the Prime Minister described the use of taxpayer funds as the “least preferred option”.[15] Subsequently, on 15 February, it was announced that instead of seeking funding from the government for project over-runs, SkyCity would instead be allowed to build a convention centre which was slightly smaller, so that total costs would remain about $400 million
better than it looks, as revenue is up slightly to $9.5 bill and cash is around $660 mill.
Because of the writeoffs they had to go back to their banks who then screwed them for $150 mill ‘to refinance’ their borrowing.
They still paid $85 mill in tax, according the financial report – as you would expect as they are ‘still rolling in it’ on a cash basis
All good then when the banks get $150 mill for refinancing while the tax payers only get 85 mill (if you are correct) and the shareholders get nothing? sarcasm.
Fletchers has been destroying shareholder wealth since Hugh ran it and it was split up.
So many Sirs have been involved Trotter,Deans,Norris …none of them could run a bath.
Some of their acquisitions beggar belief…lame dupe overpayers.
New board appointments the usual shuffle of the old boy network pack.(includes women)
It was a whole slew of banks , At 30 June 2018 the Group had a $925 million syndicated
revolving credit facility on an unsecured, negative pledge and
borrowing covenant basis, with ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited,
MUFG Bank Limited, Bank of New Zealand, Commonwealth Bank
of Australia, Citibank N.A., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Limited, Bank of China (New Zealand) Limited,
China Construction Bank (New Zealand) Limited and Westpac New
Zealand Limited.
Knew ANZ would be in there somehow:) surprise surprise… JK just pops up everywhere when smaller folks and the public and even the corps lose money and banks make a killing.
So does anyone know when did the extra gambling concessions come in for Skycity? Because the deal was agreed in 2013 and my guess is the gambling concessions were near instant, while 5 years later, in 2018 and we still don’t have the convention centre and even when built we don’t get that extra large convention centre that was promised.
Meanwhile sounds like they already have the extra gambling and no doubt the government will bend over backwards to extend it to 2048, even though we are never going to get that extra large convention centre that the whole deal was based on but instead a smaller cheaper one, that is too small for the large conferences. Not that I believe in the conference centre anyway as most of the time they are just corporate welfare jobs.
Sounds like the F-ing bottle water fiasco, the corporate gets free water rights straight away but doesn’t even have to provide the unspecified paltry jobs going to anybody until they get full water capacity…
And it sounds like the deal is now bringing down Fletchers profits too and their shareholders some of whom might be Kiwisaver’s, aka the poorest working class people in NZ and of course Fletchers is one of the biggest snowflakes whining they can’t get any staff cheap enough or why should they bother to train anybody or take a long term view on labour and plan for their contracts.
Im just worried that as part of deal Key and Joyce did, that the ratepayers/taxpayers will have to cover some of the shortfall.
The chips may not be down till the place opens and like a magic act the curtain is pulled back to reveal all.
Then they can queue up and collect their million dollar handouts from WINZ (maybe should be WInzC work, income NZ Corporates) and of course unlike the WINZ loans they don’t have to pay it back when they get on their feet…
Also racist to discriminate so NZ taxpayers via the government should have to give freely to anybody asking for a handout so maybe
WINC (work, income, new Corporates, ) and since they are expecting avalanche of them with our TPPA and our new infrastructure agency, maybe (work, income, new Corporates, welcome in New capitalists)…
One point I’ve come to understand over the years is that it’s impossible to negotiate a ‘market wage’ if you don’t what the market is actually paying and the majority of people actually don’t know, don’t have the connections to find out and don’t know where else to look.
In the seventies everyone discussed each others income freely – or at least they did in my workplaces. Think that changed during the eighties with the onset of neoliberalism & the privacy laws brought in to make it hard for pay info to become public knowledge.
There’s been a corporate strategy of privatisation for much longer, actually. The radical notion that capitalism could flourish by identifying individuals as unique emerged as a re-boot strategy in the aftermath of WWII. It fostered consumerism within the USA in the fifties, then produced individualism as a cultic trend in the sixties, which morphed via hedonism in the seventies into the globalising of neoliberalism in the eighties. All of the above specifically designed to oppose the rampant collectivism of the earlier decades of the 20th century, and the class-consciousness it had produced.
So whereas opposition to privatisation has been primarily based on ideology & economic policy grounds, there’s a deeper cultural trend driving it, of which privacy laws are a symptom – designed to operate like blinkers on a farm-horse, to force everyone into mental silos so common interests can be defeated.
On that point I have to totally agree DtB. It’s become common for employment contracts to actually forbid employees from discussing wages with each other.
For all the Trump fanbois and fangirls that are trying to minimise, deflect and distract by whining about the Dems and Clinton and what else isn’t being covered over in the post specifically about the Cohen and Manafort news, here’s a piece that includes some of the other big news of today in US politics.
The turd tornado’s very first supporter in the House, Duncan Hunter of San Diego, has just been indicted for misappropriating a quarter-mil in campaign funds, thereby putting a completely safe Repug seat in play.
Don of the Deadbrains’ own administration says their new EPA initiative will cause around 1400 premature deaths every year from pollution.
Yet another of the scaly orange swampking’s odious creatures, Larry Kudlow, has been busted for links to white supremacists.
Looking forward to Morrissey’s take on the dreadful Greg Newbold and his grim outbursts on Mora’s Panel.
Even more interesting was Mora’s attempts to stop Joe Bennett ‘s efforts to challenge Newbold’s repulsive views.
I’m on the case, Ed. I heard Newbold—can anyone believe he’s a PROFESSOR?—and was amazed at how incoherent he was. He’s just not up to it.
A transcript will be up tomorrow some time. In the meantime, here’s a snatch of Professor Newbold’s learned conversation….
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Bloody rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Absolute bloody rubbish, the bloody lot. If you strengthen whanau ties with Maori all you’re doing is strengthening gang affiliations.
….Awkward pause….
JIM MORA: You could say the same about Pakeha offenders.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JIM MORA: Is there research about interventions?
PROFESSOR [believe it or not] GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s Canadian ones….
REBEKAH WHITE: So we haven’t researched Integrated Centre Management in New Zealand?
Good morning Newshub I keep a sharp eye on all my offspring for signs of depression
Mike I all ways talk to them and support them with love and care.
I bet that’s people are trying to blame Eco Maori for all the emotion’s being release at the Justice reforming summit you should have seen it coming Blame me for a unjust system that you and your tipuna imposed on us for 200 year’s .
What I will say to te emotional tangata whenua is don’t rock the government’s Waka to much because the main cause of the prison population increase was national if you throw to much emotions around national will use it as a weapon to try and sink the Labour Waka so be cool we don’t need a repeat of 2008 and the last 9 year’s of money transference to the wealthy.
Phil Colins Mama is awsome song his music is cool Musician Sports people and all the people who make our films doco ex these people are the people who change the Papatuanuku culture to a less divided world do not accept raciest unhumane people views and back equality.
Ka kite ano Try losing your mother at 9
Good evening Newshub There are a lot of ruff tangaroa in Australia and a storm going down in America this is the problem with the democratic systems both country’s and NZ go so far with policy’s to mitigate climate change they get voted out and the neo liberals capitalist throw those policy’s out there cots and start to burn OUR environment
we will never beat climate change unless all the left voters stand up and keep the neo capitalist out of power.
The air traffic control tower in Wellington will become a land mark for Wellington and Aotearoa Its a awsome building .
The new Britsh weather satellite is a tool that will help forecast the weather more accurately ka pai .
Ka kite ano P.S the sandflys are still swarming I ignore them they are nothing compared to Eco Maori
The Crowd Goes Wild Mulls and Makere thats cool that the Black Ferns will play the opening game for the All Blacks test thats good for wahine mana .
I see te Ngati pakeha maori is out is he interviewing people in his jandles lol
Ka kite ano P.S I’m quite good at applying te rubber —- on some people
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As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and a lineup of incredibly successful New Zealand women as they confront their imposter syndrome once and for all. First published 20 October, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
With criticism from National piling on over the property market, the prime minister has detailed when the government will make housing announcements. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco Rizzi, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia Some Australians could be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine within weeks. Amid the continued spread of the virus and emergence of highly contagious variants, the federal government has accelerated the start of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Lecturer, General Dentist & PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Baby teeth, or milk teeth, act like lighthouses to guide the adult ones to their correct destination. A baby tooth will become wobbly and fall out because the adult tooth ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Simon Coley, co-founder of All Good and Karma Drinks.Bananas are one of the ...
Tackling topics such as rugby and body image, Stuff’s latest podcast shines a much-needed light on Aotearoa’s complex relationship with masculinity, writes Trevor McKewen, author of the book Real Men Wear Black.I wasn’t sure what to think when two episodes of the new local podcast He’ll Be Right landed in ...
The Rainforest Alliance reveals that 68%* of Kiwis say the COVID-19 pandemic has made them more conscious about environmental and social sustainability issues. Seventy two percent* state that they have been trying to make more sustainable purchasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin University The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has raised concerns that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it. His concerns ...
ANALYSIS:By Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path Two weeks after the storming of the US Capitol by the followers of his predecessor, in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Lecturer, Creative Writing & English Literature, University of Southern Queensland Described as “the world’s greatest storyteller”, Roald Dahl is frequently ranked as the best children’s author of all time by teachers, authors and librarians. However, the new film adaptation of ...
Peak housing body, Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA) welcomes the updated Public Housing Plan announced today by Minister Woods, and the commitment by this Government to fix New Zealand’s housing crisis. The 8,000 additional homes are a significant ...
Having recently walked much of the South Island stretch of Te Araroa, Kirsten O’Regan reflects on the magnificent landscapes and interesting characters she encountered along the way.On our 36th day of walking, we climb through the fire-blackened hills above Ohau, stopping to examine heat-disfigured trail markers. Fresh green shoots have ...
Miss Torta in central Auckland is putting the spotlight on a snack that’s commonplace in Mexico, but until now relatively unknown in New Zealand.You’ve heard of a torta, but what is it, exactly? Well, depending on the cuisine it can mean a flatbread, cake, tart, sweet pie, savoury pie or ...
Two of three ministerial statements from the Beehive have been released in the name of the PM over the past two days. The more important, insofar as it involves political action that will affect the wellbeing of significant numbers of Kiwis, was the release of the government’s Public Housing Plan ...
Jacinda Ardern has reminded Labour MPs "ongoing vigilance" will be required in 2021 to avoid another Covid outbreak, admitting she held her breath over the summer break. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Pinged $65 for overstaying 10 minutes in a parking block? Put away your hard-earned cash and read this first.Hopefully, by now, I’ve already established myself at The Spinoff as the resident tightarse, determined to avoid all unfair and unnecessary punishments (see: oversize baggage charges). Today, I’m focusing my attention on ...
Nuclear weapons states and their allies risk reputational ruin if they flout a new UN Treaty, Carolina Panico argues The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will come into force this month, on January 22, 2021, turning nuclear weapons into illegal objects. It is an achievement that ...
How does one turn into a rabid extremist over the description of a children’s bike? Emily Writes looks at Facebook comments so you don’t have to.You’ve been there, I know it. You’re scrolling along, trying to avoid QAnon conspiracy theories and Trump apocalypse memes when a story catches your eye. ...
Joe Biden is now the President of the United States and many people across America and throughout the world will consequently be breathing more easily. But while the erratic, unpredictable and irresponsible years of the Trump Presidency may be over, ...
Tough border testing for New Zealand honey imports to Japan is re-igniting the conversation about the use of the weed killer glypohsate in New Zealand. ...
The Taxpayers Union should be aware of the law and of the history of ACC. The ACC is a legal system introduced in 1974 to replace the common law right of accident victims to sue for damages for personal injury sustained as a result of negligence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Terrorism, political extremism, Donald Trump, social media and the phenomenon of “cancel culture” are confronting journalists with a range of agonising free-speech dilemmas to which there are no easy answers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney You’ve just come from your monthly GP appointment with a new script for your ongoing medical condition. But your local pharmacy is out of stock of your usual medicine. Your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna D’Alessandro, Professor & ARC Future Fellow, University of Sydney On Wednesday this week, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was measured at at 415 parts per million (ppm). The level is the highest in human history, and is growing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It might be summer in New Zealand but we’re in for some wild weather this week with forecasts of heavy wind and rain, and a plunge in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University Last week, the McIver’s Ladies Baths in Sydney came under fire for their (since removed) policy stating “only transgender women who’ve undergone a gender reassignment surgery are allowed entry”. The policy was ...
There are good grounds for optimism after the guardrails of American democracy held firm through to Joe Biden's inauguration today as President, writes Stephen Hoadley Pessimism abounds about the perilous condition of American democracy. Commentators and headline writers proffer memes such as ‘broken and divided nation’, ‘the threat from within’. ...
*This article was originally appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Donald Trump will forever be remembered as the president who was impeached twice - and for his rhetoric that struck a chord so deep in America that it will take years to dissipate. Donald Trump leaves Washington with the lowest approval ...
A new plan shows how and where the Government will build 8,000 new state housing places it funded in Budget 2020, Marc Daalder reports Jacinda Ardern has kicked off the political year with a major announcement, promising hundreds of new state housing places in regional centres across the country. With ...
This is the full transcript of President Joe Biden's speech after being sworn in at his inauguration this morning in Washington DC Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, and my distinguished guests, my fellow Americans, this is America's day. This ...
Analysis: President Donald Trump has left the White House, and his deputy chief of staff confirms he is withdrawing his candidacy to lead the OECD. New Zealander Christopher Liddell withdrew his nomination to be Secretary-General of the powerful 37-member OECD and was one of the last members of the Trump Administration to depart ...
Kate Wills is facing stage four cancer with the same fierce approach she takes into her ocean swimming - never say can't. Even on the mornings Kate Wills feels wretched from her fortnightly chemotherapy treatment, she drags herself up at 5am and goes swimming. “I have to. It’s my job – to ...
Some costs associated with meetings speak for themselves, others are less conspicuous. Victoria University of Wellington's Val Hooper lays those costs out, making suggestions on where we can rein them in. Meetings – when last did we count the costs? And so it’s back to work and one of the ...
Andrew Paul Wood assesses the best-selling picture book by Grahame Sydney It's no great secret the commercially very successful Grahame Sydney has a long-standing beef that his work doesn’t receive more critical and institutional approval. I sympathise about the lack of critical attention, but I can understand why. The Discourse™ ...
This story was produced in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and Columbia Journalism Investigations. It was originally published by Public Integrity, Mother Jones, The Arizona Republic and Orlando Sentinel. It is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the ...
Analysis: It has been easy to ignore anyone daring to criticise or even question any aspect of the government’s Covid-19 response. Their voices have rarely been heard, and when they have been raised they have been quickly and decisively howled down by the favoured coterie of academics. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US presidential inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated through Wednesday and Thursday. The inauguration ceremony begins at 5.15am Thursday, NZ time, and Joe Biden takes the oath of office around 6am. 7.25am: And what about Trump?In the early hours of this morning, NZ ...
In 10 x 100, we survey a group of 100 people via Stickybeak and ask them 10 questions. Last month we quizzed Wellingtonians. Today, we ask NZ drivers how they’ve found a holiday period without international tourists, and what they get up to while they’re on the road.Across Aotearoa roads ...
Emmanuel Macron's anti-separatist policies have garnered backlash from the international Muslim community. Now, a global coalition has complained to the UN. ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they go on an odyssey of women’s rage, and find out how we can channel our anger into good. First published September 15, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by ...
By Lorraine Ecarma in Cebu City The University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) will continue to stand against any threats to human rights, chancellor Clement Camposano has declared in response to the termination of a long-standing accord preventing military incursion on campus. In a Facebook post, Camposano said the academic ...
ANALYSIS:By Jennifer S. Hunt, Australian National University Every four years on January 20, the US exercises a key tenant of democratic government: the peaceful transfer of power. This year, the scene looks a bit different. If the last US presidential inauguration in 2017 debuted the phrase “alternative facts”, the ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby In spite of Papua New Guinea’s mandatory mask-wearing requirement under the National Pandemic Act 2020, many public servants attending a dedication service in Port Moresby have failed to wear one. They were issued masks before entering the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex but took ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University How do scabs form? — Talila, aged 8 Great question, Talila! Our skin has many different jobs. One is to act as a barrier, protecting us from harmful things in the ...
US President Donald Trump is pardoning former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who is accused of fraud in a case involving funds for the border wall. ...
Joel Little with Lorde, Dera Meelan with Church & AP, Josh Fountain with Maala and Randa and Benee – producers make good songs great. Now a new fund from NZ on Air is putting the focus on them.Six months ago it looked like the music industry was on the brink ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denise Buiten, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice and Sociology, University of Notre Dame Australia On average, one child is killed by a parent almost every fortnight in Australia. Last week, three children — Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 — were ...
This commendable and realistic decision again underlines that it is the police, not government, who are largely responsible for the reduction in cannabis prosecutions over the past 15 years, writes Russell Brown.The news that New Zealand police have discontinued the annual Helicopter Recovery Operation, which has, each summer for more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Professor and Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington We will not be able to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us until the world’s population is mostly immune through vaccination ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated throughout Wednesday and Thursday, NZ time. Reach me at catherine@thespinoff.co.nz.4.00pm: What will Trump be doing tomorrow?It’s pretty well known by now that outgoing president Donald Trump intends to throw out the rulebook when it comes to ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling out Mayor Phil Goff for his undignified comment that the claim made by Councillor Greg Sayers asking why Auckland Council is funding yoga classes is “bullshit.” Yesterday, Councillor Greg Sayers penned ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At 4am Thursday AEDT, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be inaugurated as president and vice president of the United States, replacing Donald Trump and Mike Pence. What follows is ...
*This article was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission. New Zealanders flocked to beaches and lakes this summer, but it wasn't enough to fill the gap left by international tourists in other regions. The tourism industry is struggling to fill a $6 billion hole left by international tourists ...
Summer reissue: Chef Monique Fiso joins us for a chat about Hiakai – her acclaimed Wellington restaurant, and the title of her stunning new book.First published November 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn ...
A new trough was brought to our attention this morning, although ethnicity will limit the numbers of eligible applicants. If you are non-Maori, it looks like you shouldn’t bother getting into the queue – but who knows?We learned of the trough from the Scoop website, where the Kapiti ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Britta Denise Hardesty, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, CSIRO Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing costs economies up to US$50 billion globally each year, and makes up to one-fifth of the global catch. It’s a huge problem not only for the ...
Police stopping major cannabis eradication operations has given the green light to drug dealers and gangs to expand operations, make more profit, and continue to wreak havoc on the most vulnerable in our society, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. ...
Varieties of merino wool footwear are emerging faster than Netflix series about British aristocracy. Michael Andrew takes a look at the rise of the shoe that almost everyone – including his 95-year-old grandma – is wearing.Some might say it all started with Allbirds. After all, to the average consumer, it ...
A new report from New Zealand’s Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) highlights the realities and challenges disabled people faced during the COVID-19 emergency. The report, Making Disability Rights Real in a Pandemic, Te Whakatinana i ngā Tika ...
The Maritime Union is questioning the reasons provided for ongoing delays at the Ports of Auckland. Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says there is a need for an honest conversation about what has gone wrong at the ...
As New Zealand faces a dire shortage of veterinarians, a petition has been launched urging the Government to reclassify veterinarians as critical workers so we can Get Vets into NZ. “New Zealand desperately needs veterinarians from overseas to counter ...
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Animal cruelty – a storm is coming
First we learn the reality of American-style feedlots for cattle in New Zealand. Now Rachel Stewart says there is a an even darker side to Kiwi farming.
Just maybe we can get some momentum to end animal cruelty in New Zealand as people realise the repugnant practices that produce animals for consumption by humans.
We need to end factory farming. Clean Green NZ is a cruel joke.
Hard to believe that passes local water quality laws. How do they get the effluent redistributed in spring, evenly across the fields? Must have impressive pond filtration and solid storage to last the winter. Is that on an inland marine clay soil? Not sure how else they would stop leaching. Workers would risk death by drug overdose during stormy weather. But as always, don’t panic, go organic!
Thanks grey for sharing this.
I have long been dismayed at the lack of shelter afforded to cattle.
Such a basic requirement and yet it seems cattle with shelter are an anomoly rather than the norm as I remember growing up.
This feedlot method is another black mark on the industry.
The only way it can be justified is through an accounting lens.
The feed lots really disturbed myself and my girls. When we first saw it on the TV, we thought it was a story from overseas. But nope it’s here, and it’s all about making as much $$$$$$$$$ as possible.
I wonder if David Parker and Damo are still ‘flatting’ together in Welly when Parliament sits? If so they have much to discuss and sort out, because feed lots is not the type of NZ we are proud of or want to be a part of.
Yep Damien needs to get his priorities right – he isn’t a farmers advocate he is a bloody minister. Time he started caring about the environment or his legacy will be shit imo.
Deer culled on Molesworth Station with 1080, DOC refused the offer of professional hunters to cull with weapons ?
Really Ngungukai? Where did you hear that please?
It’s not the nation doing this – it’s the capitalists with the government supporting them.
It’s an important distinction because it proves the lack of democracy.
Please to read this:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/364611/julie-anne-genter-gives-birth-to-son
Congrats to the parents.
Wooo hoooooo, well done Mum 🙂
Some very good news to start the day with.
Awesome news – so happy for them – well done to everyone!!!
Great news! Big congratulations!
Another very lucky little baby who will have the best of parents. Congratulations Julie Anne Genter and her partner.
Congratulations.
Trotter loses plot, re-invents ACT: “the zeitgeist – the “spirit of the times”. If ever there was a moment for someone to lift up the banner of freedom – it is now. Combine the defence of free markets with the defence of free speech and Act – proudly rebranded as “The Freedom League” – might once again aspire to Prebble’s electoral success.”
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/
“The Social Contract”, Rousseau, in 1762: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” So will invoking antique liberationist philosophy currently work politically? In a culture where everyone believes they actually are free spirits?
Trotter may have got more milage from using Orwell as the basis for reminding us of the threat from the left. At least there’s a substantial political tradition there from the most recent century past. He’d get more traction for ACT if he tossed free love into the mix with free speech & free markets, pushing the nostalgia button for many political players still alive. And how about free money as well? That’d rope in lots more!!
I didn’t know people still read Trotter’s words.
Well he used to be a guest speaker at ACTs Wellington salon…
“He’d get more traction for ACT if he tossed free love into the mix with free speech & free markets, pushing the nostalgia button for many political players still alive. And how about free money as well? ”
Suggest you reread Trotter’s piece if thats what you took from it
Trotter forgets the time he lead the outcry when Harawira was blocked from speaking at Auckland Law School in may 2011 by a ‘breach of the peace’ from campus Young nats……
what do you mean he didnt say a word at all.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2011/
How bizarre!
Act’s Populist Soufflé Unlikely To Rise Twice.
Big shoutout to Julie Ann Genter and her new baby.
Congratulations!
And welcome to New Zealand little one.
12yr/old Kiwi is fighting for the trademark “Slime Princess”. GiveALittle link in article.
Nickelodeon objects.
I remember many Slime episodes of What Now?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12110802
The benefits of biodiversity and heritage strains of crops, illustrated yet again for the umpteenth time. A variety of corn in Mexico that has a legume-like ability to fix its own nitrogen. Combine this trait with the benefits of other more commercial strains and there’s a big potential for reduced fertilizer use, with flow-on benefits for better water quality from reduced run-off and reduced GHG emissions.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/corn-future-hundreds-years-old-and-makes-its-own-mucus-180969972/
Why not keep breeding the heritage breeds?
I find this all arse about face. Heritage breeds generally discarded for the industrial production. Have to pollute to grow. Find heritage breed that reduces pollution – oh let’s genetically modify to get that trait. No thought apart from commercial imo. The thinking that fucked us up will not save us.
Better off doing this type of thing
“Three hundred years ago, when early American colonists took a look at the food gardens in Native American villages, they often saw a unique companion planting plan – sweetcorn, climbing beans and pumpkins or squash being grown together in the same plot.”
https://www.growveg.com.au/guides/companion-planting-three-sisters-garden-plans/
I kinda take the view that the entire spectrum of techniques have something to contribute, but there is no one silver bullet magic answer.
I agree that corporate industrial farming has become an out-of-control Frankenstein’s monster. But let’s not lose sight of the way corporate industrial farming is good at maximising output given the various input price signals and constraints. Where we’ve fallen down is failing to impose appropriate price signals and constraints on things like energy use, pollution, animal welfare, border controls etc etc. One of the good and bad results of this state of affairs is that food is now awesomely cheap by historical standards, but it also makes it very hard for those that want to do things in a heritage way to actually make a living at it.
Is it cheap compared to yesteryear? If we grow and eat seasonally, locally and communally then it seems that would be very cost effective. But im in the country not the city so my view may be jaundiced.
A quick google turned up this:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/02/389578089/your-grandparents-spent-more-of-their-money-on-food-than-you-do
A quick search didn’t show up a good illustrative article that’s NZ specific, but I’m pretty sure I have seen stuff indicating NZ trends are similar to the US. The sites I regularly visit also occasionally feature pieces about how meagre the financial returns are from small scale labour intensive farming.
Yeah, there’s significant differences city to country on this. Not least that many country people derive a lot of pleasure from producing food, almost to the extent that income from it is just a bonus. Whereas city folk the pleasure is generally just around eating, with a small part of the population getting something out of feeling virtuous from paying extra for organic and/or ethical.
I worry that with the ongoing worldwide drift from rural to urban and simple population increase pressures it’s going to be ever harder to preserve the few small pockets of heritage we still have. Especially since many of the areas with significant heritage resources overlap a lot with population growth pressure and overlap with where climate change is going to hit hardest.
Yes good points. I know a lot of seed savers and the heritage seeds are treasured. Going to be useful I think. Not sure about keeping them up in that seed vault in Norway though.
http://time.com/5177165/climate-change-threatens-norway-seed-vault/
Seeds are useful, but the value in the heritage is the whole ecosystem involved which might be lost with a focus on just the seeds. For example, there’s no guarantee just the seeds will carry the symbiotic micro-organisms that do the actual nitrogen fixing.
Yes lots to sort if we are going to get through the fast approaching/upon us now bottleneck
Robert G
Keep the seeds viable and fresh and you keep coming up with stuff to remind us what we could all be doing if we stopped tapping. Keep coming with info on – The Riverton Chronicle.
Here in Riverton we are operating a heritage vegetable seed saving network that “employs” growers across the region (and beyond) to keep the lines fresh. Our heritage fruit net is even more grounded, preserving the remnant orchards, grafting from them and creating new heritage orchards cared for by the communities from which the scions came, and providing grafted trees to individuals (about 5 000 so far) to plant at home. Keep it fresh and alive and involve people in the process; those things “belong” to all of us and spreading responsibility and stock is the best insurance against loss, Imo.
Broom and gorse, wild lupins too and naturalised clovers and vetches should solve that issue, Andre.
Quoting Why we can’t afford the rich:
Destroying the environment as we have been is going to cost us far more than the apparent savings that industrial farming brought about.
Turnbull is in trouble; he survived a confidence vote yesterday by only 7 votes, but more resignations and defections keep the pressure on. Dutton might force his way in as PM for a short while, but it won’t last.
And of Turnbull resigns Parliament as many have suggested it will likely force an election:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-22/malcolm-turnbull-leadership-crisis-deepens/10149440
Threatening an early election appears to be the only card Turnbull has left to keep his caucus in line. Good times for Bill Shorten who can confidently tell his caucus to work hard, keep smiling and let the Libs gift them Government.
You got it. But the threat will only have a short life-span, it seems. Dutton established sufficient support to try again soon. It hinges on how many of the seven who are most likely to switch to him see advantage in doing so prior to an election, rather than waiting.
The PM can call an early election to stymie the plot, but would he do so with current polling making him a dead-cert loser?? And likely to get rolled in the aftermath, so a double loser. So as a ploy, not very effective. Which is why Oz political commentators call him dead man walking.
A weak leader, but is Dutton any better? I doubt it. If I were Turnbull, I’d be in liaison with all the likely contenders other than Dutton right now, offering them a deal in which I’d rebuild in collaboration with them and offer resignation in advance while they sort out amongst themselves who ought to fight Dutton to take over.
Under that scenario, Turnbull gets to prove he can be a real centrist leader, go out from a position of strength having developed a credible alternative to Dutton & Shorten – if he gets them back close to parity with Labour in the polls.
What was the margin of Tumbulls victory over Abbott back in 2016 ?
10 votes. His recent margin is 13 votes.
In Aussie politics its all about the numbers , you either have more than your opponent or you dont. End of story.
All this waffle about another challenge …. it could happen but they dont really have time and who would that challenger be, its not going to be Dutton again.
I read recently that if an election were held now that Dutton would likely lose his seat (Fingers crossed for Turnbull going for the nuclear option)
Red what are Labor’s key policies?
‘confidence vote yesterday by only 7 votes”
No it wasnt, it was 13 votes.( what you mean was if ‘7 voters change sides’)
However Turnbull only won the vote against Abbott a few years back by 10 votes.
His margin has never been great but its plenty in the scheme of things.
remember in NZ Brash supposedly won the leadership against English by ONE vote.
And that was after Blinglish took National to their worst defeat ever.
If old Mal is rolled, he does the honourable thing resigned from the House of Representatives which would he has more morals and ethics than the current lot or the nuclear option, but I somehow don’t think Mal is that type of person.
Shorten is not popular with public either and that’s even at the grassroots level of the Australian Labour Party as well. As he is seen as numbers man that rolled Rudd and later Gillard.
Albo has the popular vote among the grassroots and the greater voting public, but hasn’t got the Party vote and head office support which is a damm shame as Albo is a true battler from the working class.
Mal and Albo come solo parent homes both working class backgrounds, but they both took different paths later in life.
Its mostly a NSW vs Victoria thing.
Constantly happens, if one state has the leader the other state wants it. or more correctly the the big donors based in those states.
Hawke ( Vic) v Keating (NSW)
Howard -NSW v Costello -Vic ( he quite in the end rather than challenge)
Rudd -Qld v Gillard -Vic That was an usual one which lead to yo yo
Turnbull NSW v Abbott NSW that too is unusual and is reason why unresolved.
Dutton is QLD so never had a chance – he was only interested in saving his seat at election time.
This is why Bishop isnt putting hand up , shes from WA
I don’t think Julie wants the job, as for Mal and the Mad Monk they come from to totally different spheres within the Lib’s and that’s the problem.
Mal is a true a Lib probably more Social Liberal who would rather give someone a leg up, open minded forward thinking and science/ technology evidence base than the right wing bible bashed based conservatives like the Mad Monk.
There is a lot of old money in both NSW and Vic compared to the other states and would there some religious stuff as aka the Catholics in Vic and Protestants of NSW etc thrown in just to keep everyone on their toes.
This covers it off with verve :
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/the-latest-leadership-spill-proves-one-thing-democracy-is-dead-in-australia/news-story/2626e417ac7df0fdde4778959e818353
It sure does RedLogix, just watching Mal on the telly atm and I’m starting to think that Mal might go the nuclear option?
Mudoch media vehicle says…”democracy is dead”…
As if it’s not a primary component of the ‘death squad’…
With the jury due on Manafort, flipping Cohen and getting him to court in the same week is orchestrated media mastery from Mullers team.
Well played, Sir.
Manafort is convicted.
Hmm, it seems Cohen’s plea deal might not include cooperation.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/21/politics/michael-cohen-plea-deal-talks/index.html
Manafort guilty on 8 counts, mistrial on the remaining 10 counts. So the prosecution can try him again on those 10 counts. Plus Manafort’s got another trial coming up in DC. The guilty finding on those 8 counts with that backdrop has to really up the pressure on him, so we may yet see him flip.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/21/politics/paul-manafort-trial-jury/index.html
Also in Trump’s bad news week is that Christopher Steele, author of the Trump dossier had a defamation claim against him from three Russian oligarchs thrown out
“If that is the case, let Māori speak for us,” he told the summit. “Our people need help right now.”
Anzac Wallace at the criminal justice summit. Enough said.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/08/government-wants-to-lower-m-ori-prison-stats-but-hasn-t-set-specific-target.html
Yep – this is part of colonisation. The fact that more police are coming on just fills me with foreboding cos we know they racially profile.
The great kauri are dying, the rivers are sick, the land is degraded and abused – these plus the prison pop and all the other negative stats from longevity to employment that affect Māori are SYMPTOMS – of what? The continued colonisation of Māori. The continued othering and disrespect. The continued desecration of mana. Be warned kiwiland.
Thanks marty. When I saw Anzac on the news last night it really struck a chord with me, very powerful what he said. Opened the door to reality for viewers I hope. Speaking as a pakeha I think we have to do what we can to help – and that doesn’t mean telling Māori what to do.
As I think has been talked about on here previously that might involve discussing and changing things based from korero on the marae. Officials going to the marae for help and solutions to fix this, not the other way round.
Yes i agree with you and thanks for putting the comment up. I missed it last night (working).
The solutions are there – not sure if they will be palatable for our society.
It is all the inevitable result of capitalism and the All against All society that it produces.
Colonisation cant be attributed for say so many Maoris in prison. The vast majority are law abiding and I have been told by maori who have one of their whanau in a gang, that they just think they are a fool.
Yes , huge amounts of land were lost from colonization policies, so not so much remains. With Maori and jails its the other way around. Very small proportion are involved in criminal activity.
Wot you think they’re just bad do you?
The comparison is % of population compared to % of prison population btw.
One of the big issues Mueller’s investigation has lifted the lid on is just how soft the US has become on white-collar crime, helped along by getting distracted to focus on “terrorism”. Routine inability to keep things in perspective, or calculated strategy by white-collar crims, and the pollies and judges they buy?
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17757636/cohen-manafort-white-collar-crime
Sad news …… TVNZ news presenter and journalist Greg Boyed has died in Europe.
Much love to all of his family and friends.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12111311
That is really sad.On the outside he looked like he had everything.
Life is full of emptiness at times.
He was one of the best journos and current affairs hosts in NZ – strictly fair and balanced. It’s deeply sad.
Fuck that is so sad. Suicide is shit. Sending love to all involved.
Really hard to comprehend, this. I often worked with Greg during his first few years in the TVNZ newsroom, found him invariably in good humour & developed an easy rapport with him right from the start. So very sad for his family.
There must be a deep back-story to this – wonder if it will ever come out. He became adept at presenting with both flair & goodwill to the audience. Huge loss for TVNZ.
Dennis, often those struggling with depression hide it so very well as they don’t want to be a bother, or feel like they’ve let anyone down.
He was fantastic at his job and well respected.
Yes, Cinny, enough of that myself in the distant past to wonder if he’d been carrying an affliction from childhood. The macho stance was widely used as repression in my generation but Greg being that much younger I can but guess how much it applied to him.
Bobby McFerrin hams up here about problems he has faced I think and tells us how to keep on top. You can be dressed for success, get it and still not feel right. I think Robin Williams is in this vid too. Don’t Worry Be Happy
He is (Robin). That’s … stunning.
Yes Cindy, we are very good at hiding it until something or someone tiggers it off again and it’s then a race back down the rabbit hole just little bit further than last time until we turn around and pop back out of the rabbit or we pass the LD.
LD is a Military term for Line of Departure when one is about to commit than attack or counter attack on a enemy position or also known as the point of no return. I only got as far as the FUP (Form Up Point) which is just the before the LD where you do your final checks before you get ready to cross the LD. My FSGT cross his LD and the NT Police nick me before I completed my final checks before I cross the LD.
Sorry for using Military terminology it’s the only way I can describe it to someone and actually I one step further in that I use the Military planning formula called the Military Appreciation Process or MAP which scared my treatment team and when I was down at the clinic last year my partner ( now my wife) mentioned to the staff at meeting which became a light bulb moment for staff at why we are so good at it than civilians.
You explained that really well Exkiwiforces.
That is so sad. One of life’s good folk.
Indeed @ Cinny and to all the comments below. He was/is a good bugger.
Alison Mau (though she doesn’t claim to be ‘best buddies’ on Stuffed) has summed things up well.
( In my view: Decent, Humble, Intelligent, Social, Spiritual, and not at all Egotistical). Something didn’t feel quite right leaving Te Puke last Saturday
Great article – thanks Clementine
“This, to my mind, is what lies at the heart of Megan V’s original tweet. The assumption that young girls are “in their prime” and therefore free to be pursued and used by adult men who require control in a relationship in order to feel comfortable in it.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/love-sex/106462832/psa-to-girls-under-18
We are not unique,… Canadians even have Pukeko’s…
Moorhen team building a nest in Canada Water – YouTube
Video for canadian moorhen you tube▶ 1:20
They are both a member of the Rallidae family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorhen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_swamphen
http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/pukeko
Brainstorming a new centrist party is the latest fashion trend in UK politics: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/20/prospect-new-uk-party-grows-westminster-political-cracks-brexit
Evidence that the trend is substantial lies in the various independent initiatives emerging. Classic niche marketing: when the niche becomes evident, entrepreneurs compete to fill the vacuum. LibDems spot the trend & wonder if they really are dead in the water (or do they flog the dead horse yet again to see if it will leap up & run).
None of which would matter under FPP, if it weren’t for the fact that both major parties are sick nigh unto death themselves!
Fletcher Building in red, posts $190m loss, no dividend for shareholders
(maybe they should also add no company taxes for taxpayers in NZ)
Apparently that is mostly due to their unusually low tender that John Key was involved with to Sky City for the conference centre that has been a balls up for taxpayers from the word go. from wiki
Proposed convention centre[edit]
In May 2013, the Government came to a deal with SkyCity to build a convention centre worth $402 million in exchange for gambling concessions. The concessions would allow SkyCity to install an extra 230 poker machines, 40 gambling tables, as well as a further 12 gaming tables that could be substituted for automated table game player stations (but not poker machines). SkyCity would also receive an extension to their casino licence, from its expiry in 2021 until 2048. In exchange, SkyCity would be required to meet the full costs of the convention centre project.[13]
Describing the benefit for New Zealand, Economic Development Minister, Steven Joyce said the convention centre would add an estimated $90 million a year to the local economy, create 1,000 jobs during construction and 800 jobs once the centre is running.[13]
Cost overruns[edit]
In 2015 it was announced that the anticipated cost of the convention centre had increased by $70 to $130 million, to a total maximum of $530 million. Prime Minister John Key said he was considering making up the shortfall by giving SkyCity public tax money to finish the project – as it would be an “eyesore” if the extra funding was not made available.[14] Two days later on 12 February, following criticism in the media and in Parliament, the Prime Minister described the use of taxpayer funds as the “least preferred option”.[15] Subsequently, on 15 February, it was announced that instead of seeking funding from the government for project over-runs, SkyCity would instead be allowed to build a convention centre which was slightly smaller, so that total costs would remain about $400 million
better than it looks, as revenue is up slightly to $9.5 bill and cash is around $660 mill.
Because of the writeoffs they had to go back to their banks who then screwed them for $150 mill ‘to refinance’ their borrowing.
They still paid $85 mill in tax, according the financial report – as you would expect as they are ‘still rolling in it’ on a cash basis
All good then when the banks get $150 mill for refinancing while the tax payers only get 85 mill (if you are correct) and the shareholders get nothing? sarcasm.
Wonder if Fltecher’s refinanced through ANZ…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97996782/john-key-to-chair-anz-board
(if so, maybe they learn first hand about the moniker “smiling assassin”).
Fletchers has been destroying shareholder wealth since Hugh ran it and it was split up.
So many Sirs have been involved Trotter,Deans,Norris …none of them could run a bath.
Some of their acquisitions beggar belief…lame dupe overpayers.
New board appointments the usual shuffle of the old boy network pack.(includes women)
Fletchers have been subsidised by the NZ Taxpayer ever since Adam was a cowboy ?
It was a whole slew of banks ,
At 30 June 2018 the Group had a $925 million syndicated
revolving credit facility on an unsecured, negative pledge and
borrowing covenant basis, with ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited,
MUFG Bank Limited, Bank of New Zealand, Commonwealth Bank
of Australia, Citibank N.A., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Limited, Bank of China (New Zealand) Limited,
China Construction Bank (New Zealand) Limited and Westpac New
Zealand Limited.
MUFG is Japans largest Bank
Knew ANZ would be in there somehow:) surprise surprise… JK just pops up everywhere when smaller folks and the public and even the corps lose money and banks make a killing.
Back to the gambling concessions.
So does anyone know when did the extra gambling concessions come in for Skycity? Because the deal was agreed in 2013 and my guess is the gambling concessions were near instant, while 5 years later, in 2018 and we still don’t have the convention centre and even when built we don’t get that extra large convention centre that was promised.
Meanwhile sounds like they already have the extra gambling and no doubt the government will bend over backwards to extend it to 2048, even though we are never going to get that extra large convention centre that the whole deal was based on but instead a smaller cheaper one, that is too small for the large conferences. Not that I believe in the conference centre anyway as most of the time they are just corporate welfare jobs.
Sounds like the F-ing bottle water fiasco, the corporate gets free water rights straight away but doesn’t even have to provide the unspecified paltry jobs going to anybody until they get full water capacity…
And it sounds like the deal is now bringing down Fletchers profits too and their shareholders some of whom might be Kiwisaver’s, aka the poorest working class people in NZ and of course Fletchers is one of the biggest snowflakes whining they can’t get any staff cheap enough or why should they bother to train anybody or take a long term view on labour and plan for their contracts.
Part of John Key’s questionable legacy?
If we had the proper laws regarding corruption in place I think Key’s ‘legacy’ would have been significantly different.
Some piles of broken rock in a prison yard.
…and his so called “Rockstar Ecoomy” ?
Im just worried that as part of deal Key and Joyce did, that the ratepayers/taxpayers will have to cover some of the shortfall.
The chips may not be down till the place opens and like a magic act the curtain is pulled back to reveal all.
Can we send the corporate snowflakes asking for handouts to the budgeting advice…aka Fletchers and Sky City who can’t seem to budget very well.
http://mangerebudgeting.org.nz
https://www.salvationarmy.org.nz/centres/nz/auckland/auckland/
Then they can queue up and collect their million dollar handouts from WINZ (maybe should be WInzC work, income NZ Corporates) and of course unlike the WINZ loans they don’t have to pay it back when they get on their feet…
Also racist to discriminate so NZ taxpayers via the government should have to give freely to anybody asking for a handout so maybe
WINC (work, income, new Corporates, ) and since they are expecting avalanche of them with our TPPA and our new infrastructure agency, maybe (work, income, new Corporates, welcome in New capitalists)…
WINC WINC
😆
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/106472878/equal-pay-starts-with-equal-transparency
Actually not that bad of an idea
One point I’ve come to understand over the years is that it’s impossible to negotiate a ‘market wage’ if you don’t what the market is actually paying and the majority of people actually don’t know, don’t have the connections to find out and don’t know where else to look.
In the seventies everyone discussed each others income freely – or at least they did in my workplaces. Think that changed during the eighties with the onset of neoliberalism & the privacy laws brought in to make it hard for pay info to become public knowledge.
There’s been a corporate strategy of privatisation for much longer, actually. The radical notion that capitalism could flourish by identifying individuals as unique emerged as a re-boot strategy in the aftermath of WWII. It fostered consumerism within the USA in the fifties, then produced individualism as a cultic trend in the sixties, which morphed via hedonism in the seventies into the globalising of neoliberalism in the eighties. All of the above specifically designed to oppose the rampant collectivism of the earlier decades of the 20th century, and the class-consciousness it had produced.
So whereas opposition to privatisation has been primarily based on ideology & economic policy grounds, there’s a deeper cultural trend driving it, of which privacy laws are a symptom – designed to operate like blinkers on a farm-horse, to force everyone into mental silos so common interests can be defeated.
Theres always things people can all agree on
Yeah, like `grass is green’, `the sun rises in the east’. Perhaps a few others… 🙄
…almost feeling sorry for Michael Cheika on Saturday evening….
Philosophy 101 taught me that one can not be certain that grass is green…
…. and bananas change from green to yellow when they ripen.
Ah, but would you be willing to have award rates so that people can go into the negotiations with a good idea as to what the market rate is?
On that point I have to totally agree DtB. It’s become common for employment contracts to actually forbid employees from discussing wages with each other.
For all the Trump fanbois and fangirls that are trying to minimise, deflect and distract by whining about the Dems and Clinton and what else isn’t being covered over in the post specifically about the Cohen and Manafort news, here’s a piece that includes some of the other big news of today in US politics.
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17766146/michael-cohen-guilty-plea-paul-manafort-day-explained
tl;dr
The turd tornado’s very first supporter in the House, Duncan Hunter of San Diego, has just been indicted for misappropriating a quarter-mil in campaign funds, thereby putting a completely safe Repug seat in play.
Don of the Deadbrains’ own administration says their new EPA initiative will cause around 1400 premature deaths every year from pollution.
Yet another of the scaly orange swampking’s odious creatures, Larry Kudlow, has been busted for links to white supremacists.
Must admit when I first saw you use ‘Don of the deadbrains’ the other day, I thought you meant Brash.
I might have. It works just as well. Maybe even better.
R.I.P met him a couple times was a nice enough guy http://mobile.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.php?c_id=1&objectid=12111311
Looking forward to Morrissey’s take on the dreadful Greg Newbold and his grim outbursts on Mora’s Panel.
Even more interesting was Mora’s attempts to stop Joe Bennett ‘s efforts to challenge Newbold’s repulsive views.
I’m on the case, Ed. I heard Newbold—can anyone believe he’s a PROFESSOR?—and was amazed at how incoherent he was. He’s just not up to it.
A transcript will be up tomorrow some time. In the meantime, here’s a snatch of Professor Newbold’s learned conversation….
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Bloody rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Absolute bloody rubbish, the bloody lot. If you strengthen whanau ties with Maori all you’re doing is strengthening gang affiliations.
….Awkward pause….
JIM MORA: You could say the same about Pakeha offenders.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JIM MORA: Is there research about interventions?
PROFESSOR [believe it or not] GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s Canadian ones….
REBEKAH WHITE: So we haven’t researched Integrated Centre Management in New Zealand?
“PROFESSOR” [allegedly] GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…..
MORA: [delicately] It is interesting hearing a contrarian voice from outside the Summit, Greg….
I’m not a fan of Newbold, but having never been in jail, much less in maximum security, I have to defer somewhat to his superior knowledge.
When he said ‘build more prisons’ I took that to mean build better prisons….ones less inclined to be the testosterone soak pits described by Bennett.
I’m not a fan of Newbold, but having never been in jail, much less in maximum security, I have to defer somewhat to his superior knowledge.
Did he sound knowledgeable or well read today? Here’s a sample of his “superior knowledge” on display on national radio:
When he said ‘build more prisons’ I took that to mean build better prisons
No, he meant what he said: “Build more prisons.” He supported National’s cruel and insane idea to build that mega-prison in Te Awamutu.
Life in the moral quagmire: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/cartoons/2018/08/13/gary_varvel_gary_varvel_for_aug_13_2018.html
Good morning Newshub I keep a sharp eye on all my offspring for signs of depression
Mike I all ways talk to them and support them with love and care.
I bet that’s people are trying to blame Eco Maori for all the emotion’s being release at the Justice reforming summit you should have seen it coming Blame me for a unjust system that you and your tipuna imposed on us for 200 year’s .
What I will say to te emotional tangata whenua is don’t rock the government’s Waka to much because the main cause of the prison population increase was national if you throw to much emotions around national will use it as a weapon to try and sink the Labour Waka so be cool we don’t need a repeat of 2008 and the last 9 year’s of money transference to the wealthy.
Phil Colins Mama is awsome song his music is cool Musician Sports people and all the people who make our films doco ex these people are the people who change the Papatuanuku culture to a less divided world do not accept raciest unhumane people views and back equality.
Ka kite ano Try losing your mother at 9
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/combat-sports/106507115/joseph-parkers-fight-against-anthony-joshua-reportedly-sold-1475m-ppvs-in-uk
Good evening Newshub There are a lot of ruff tangaroa in Australia and a storm going down in America this is the problem with the democratic systems both country’s and NZ go so far with policy’s to mitigate climate change they get voted out and the neo liberals capitalist throw those policy’s out there cots and start to burn OUR environment
we will never beat climate change unless all the left voters stand up and keep the neo capitalist out of power.
The air traffic control tower in Wellington will become a land mark for Wellington and Aotearoa Its a awsome building .
The new Britsh weather satellite is a tool that will help forecast the weather more accurately ka pai .
Ka kite ano P.S the sandflys are still swarming I ignore them they are nothing compared to Eco Maori
The Crowd Goes Wild Mulls and Makere thats cool that the Black Ferns will play the opening game for the All Blacks test thats good for wahine mana .
I see te Ngati pakeha maori is out is he interviewing people in his jandles lol
Ka kite ano P.S I’m quite good at applying te rubber —- on some people