Fiftieth anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley
Los Angeles, California, 22 November 1963
On the morning of November 22nd, a Friday, it became clear the gap between living and dying was closing. Realizing that Aldous [Huxley] might not survive the day, Laura [Huxley’s wife] sent a telegram to his son, Matthew, urging him to come at once. At ten in the morning, an almost inaudible Aldous asked for paper and scribbled “If I go” and then some directions about his will. It was his first admission that he might die …
Around noon he asked for a pad of paper and scribbled
LSD-try it
intermuscular
100mm
In a letter circulated to Aldous’s friends, Laura Huxley described what followed: ‘You know very well the uneasiness in the medical mind about this drug. But no ‘authority’, not even an army of authorities, could have stopped me then. I went into Aldous’s room with the vial of LSD and prepared a syringe. The doctor asked me if I wanted him to give the shot- maybe because he saw that my hands were trembling. His asking me that made me conscious of my hands, and I said, ‘No, I must do this.’
An hour later she gave Huxley a second 100mm. Then she began to talk, bending close to his ear, whispering, ‘light and free you let go, darling; forward and up. You are going forward and up; you are going toward the light. Willingly and consciously you are going, willingly and consciously, and you are doing this beautifully — you are going toward the light — you are going toward a greater love … You are going toward Maria’s [Huxley’s first wife, who had died many years earlier] love with my love. You are going toward a greater love than you have ever known. You are going toward the best, the greatest love, and it is easy, it is so easy, and you are doing it so beautifully.’
All struggle ceased. The breathing became slower and slower and slower until, ‘like a piece of music just finishing so gently in sempre piu piano, dolcamente,’ at twenty past five in the afternoon, Aldous Huxley died.
I’m guessing the death of JFK 50 years ago simply slipped your mind?
A guy who had connived in the assassination of the South Vietnam prime minister (an American vassal) just twenty days earlier, and was actively conspiring to assassinate the Cuban president (who refused to be a vassal) was himself the victim of an assassin’s bullet.
The biter bit, pure and simple. You can throw all that Camelot hogwash where it belongs—in the same bin as the fulsome tributes for Reagan, Thatcher, Pinochet, Mao and Pol Pot.
Ok, that’s cool. At least I now know there is more to you than just a cut and paste blogger and, I also suspect you research and write for the Herald and TV 3.
C.S. Lewis died fifty years ago today: Friday 22 November 1963
CS Lewis’s literary legacy: ‘dodgy and unpleasant’ or ‘exceptionally good’?
by SAM LEITH, The Guardian, 19 November 2013
“Aslan is on the move.” That phrase, three decades after I first read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, still has the power to tickle the hairs on my neck. It testifies to the enduring power of CS Lewis’s recasting of the Christian myth that I’m far from alone. If this were all there were to him, it would still be pretty remarkable that, 50 years after his death, this tweedy old Oxford don should occupy such an exalted place in our cultural life.
All this week on Radio 4, Simon Russell Beale has been reading The Screwtape Letters – Lewis’s perceptive inquiry into temptation cast as a series of witty letters between a demon and his apprentice. This Friday, his reputation will be crowned with a plaque in his honour, between John Betjeman and William Blake, in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
The tribute might have pleased him, but it’s an odd one: as a poet, Lewis is usually regarded as pretty useless. “He hated all poets because he was a failed poet,” says his biographer AN Wilson. “He hated TS Eliot. He hated Louis MacNeice. There’s a very bad ‘poem’ by Lewis about reading The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, and it just shows how stupid he was about modern poetry.”
Lewis has much more than poetry to offer, though. Almost too much: his posthumous reputation is disconcertingly various. As well as a children’s writer, he was novelist, memoirist, essayist, critic, broadcaster and apologist. But the two Lewises that command the biggest followings….
Nope. Copyright is, depending upon where in the world you are, death +50/70 years. Apparently the governments of the world are concerned that anyone the author leaves behind won’t be able to live on their own work.
The really big problem with it is that corporations don’t die and yet corporations now own a lot, if not most, of the copyrights.
Morrissey….Thankyou for that review of CS Lewis and his writings…i always enjoyed his children’s books and I was a great fan of his popular Christian theology in my teens…….which after doing Comparative Religion at Univeristy i havent read since….however, interesting and understandable that he is still as popular as ever
…for me now , looking back he remains a very important twentieth century existentialist Christian thinker ….who was wrestling with deep personal, moral and religious issues from the perspective of his time and place….and trying to frame them for the ordinary person …he deserves respect for this. Like Graham Greene, also a man of his time, he was an agonised modernist but a deeply moral and religious man
…in some ways they are a yardstick from which to view the values inhering in our present society….materialist, social persona and media driven, technologically determined… and more often than not frivolous and amoral.
The Narnia Code : The Seven Heavens .
“…he loved hiding things.He loved the idea that people learnt more by discovering things themselves, especially hidden things. A lot of the meaning of God, is after all, hidden”.
About the general connection between Christianity and politics, our position is more delicate. Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster. On the other hand we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything-even to social justice.
The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice.
The Gospel, while true, is worthless if it fails the test of social justice (loving thy neighbour). Of course, this is Lewis writing as a devil so it can be hard to parse the meaning.
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table
David Hume could out-consume
Schopenhauer and Hegel
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as sloshed as Schlegel
There’s nothing Nietzche couldn’t teach ya
‘Bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
Hobbes was fond of his dram
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart
“I drink, therefore I am”
Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker
But a bugger when he’s pissed
! Scurrilous allegations indeed, although, as Sam Hunt pronounced, “I like to drink, it let’s me think, of other people and other places”; thank the Lord for moderation and harm-minimization approaches. Dreadful stuff in excess, the ultimate solvent, with the potential to dissolve everything one has! yet, not as quickly as gambling.
Hits of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, brought to you by Rugby, Racing and Beer “ing up under the strain”. 😀
I always thought that Lewis was either, being the devils advocate or attempting to be satirical.
In the tradition of one of my other favourite writers, Swift!
He was, of course, a supporter of English style hierarchy on the lines of the “good King” and a, supposedly, benevolent aristocracy. The sort of noblesse oblige we saw from people like Wilberforce.
phillip u
I would say we are being ‘listened’ to here.. Just listen to the awkward replies of Oz to Indonesia about the spying on the President. They are apparently the most important ally and friend that Oz has in the South Pacific. If Oz is not spying on us they think they have already got us connected to enough milking machines. The USA of course has run a practice invasion incursion in Timaru and they would want to assess how that went down.
http://snoopman.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/exercise-southern-katipo-2013-a-comic-book-war-game-script/
Notwithstanding the boy’s comic book scenario, the coalition of ‘defence’ forces will attempt to overcome a small militia of “bad people” located in a small rural township called Cave, which is Northwest of Timaru, according to The Timaru Herald‘s report of October 15. There is also “Waimate Taliban” in Waimate, a town south of Timaru that is to be suppressed, according to a November 7 report in the Oamaru Mail….
The C-130’s, along with two Boeing C17 Globemasters, will provide troop mobility and airlift “hardware”. Because C130 Hercules can be equipped with surveillance gathering technology, Exercise Southern Katipo seems to be a means to extend the web of the StratCom’s surveillance reach. StratCom’s base at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska integrates into an entire global network the strike capability of the nine regional combatant commands, including U.S. Pacific Command (or PACOM). Based in Oahu, Hawaii, PACOM not only oversees the Pacific. Its watch includes China, India and the rest of South East Asia.
Dr Strangeadmire or: How the Media Learned to Stop Investigating and Admire the Empire
It is also curious that this joint military exercise between nine other countries has received hardly any media coverage, despite the fact that it is the largest ever multi-force exercise in New Zealand, with over 2500 soldiers, sailors and airmen, 20 aircraft including 10 helicopters, three ships and five NZ civil agencies….
…documentaries that critique why exactly the world is still at war 95 years after the end of ‘the war to end all wars’, such as the documentary Why We Fight, by Eugene Jarecki. Kempster helpfully explained to the Oamaru Mail on November 7 that the military exercise is “a bit like a treasure hunt, they go from place to place getting information and intelligence.”
Commander Kempster, who sounded more like an interim political governor puppet appointed by George W. Bush’s regime, added positively, “The people of Mainlandia have welcomed us as liberators. We’ve been treated to some great southern hospitality.”
Russel Norman is asking questions. I think it’s time the rest of us started asking questions.
Some points to ponder:
The meteoric rise to power of one, John Key. The unprecedented demonising of one, Helen Clark, aided and abetted by a compliant MSM. Interesting in the light of Snowden’s latest revelations.
Amy Adams was a fool to even attempt to play the game of “information management” with Cunliffe. Good on him for calling her behaviour out.
Cunliffe and the Labour Parliamentary team seem to on the ascendant inside and outside the Chamber.
It a great feeling after a few barren years.
LOl John key busted in one of his petty little slf serving acts of bullshit:
Last month Key said he preferred no increase. “If it was my vote, it would be no pay increases, but I don’t get that vote.”
However, last night his office released his submission on the process, which showed he lobbied for pay increases at around the rate of inflation, making no mention of his preference for no increase.
If anyone was ever in any doubt about the Herald online’s editorial outlook then take a look at the sneaky trick they pulled this morning with their article on MP’s payrises. For some reason they’ve chosen a photo of David Cunliffe to accompany the article and emphasis in the article on the payrise the Leader of The Opposition can expect. Never mind that it’s less than what the PM will get and exactly the same as Cabinet Ministers are getting. A deliberate and cynical attempt to link an unpopular issue with Opposition Leader? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11160982
alwyn
I didn’t realise that you don’t have access to any information gathering devices of your own so are forced to come here to get us to do it for you. Look things up yourself, don’t try to pose devil’s advocate questions to show yourself a smartrse.
I did try Greywarbler. I did try my very hardest but I couldn’t find the information anywhere that Fairfax owned the Herald.
That’s why I asked. You tell me to look for myself but I’m obviously not as smart as you are. Please tell me I can find that Fairfax owns the Herald? Just the Google query will do.
Please, pretty please.
CV. The original comment to you was just a mild joke. Greywarbler is obviously getting a bit up-tight though isn’t he?.
alwyn
I have a lot of lemons at present. Thinking we should make some lemon pickle with the crop. Maybe I should stop sucking them and lighten up. And I hate smart arses particularly when I fall into that trap myself. Well can’t be perfect all the time.
I thought that was absolutely atrocious. And not so subtle. I wouldn’t even use the herald for toilet paper. They should be honest and change their name to The National Party’s Herald. Please lean to the right when you read this rag.
We no longer get the print edition of the Herald in the South Island so I don’t know if the same article/photo combo appeared in that as well as the online edition?
May I ask why you read the Herald or any newspaper if you hold that opinion. I just do not understand why anyone would give their up their precious commodity of time if the newspaper is not even fit for toilet paper. Why bother!
However, my point in responding
1. Is that the newspaper format is negative reporting – car accident on SH1 will be read but an article on cars driving safety on SH1 will send the reader to sleep. If you want to fill yourselves with negative thoughts go read a newspaper. After all, the journalist writing is just somebody with the skills sets to write a 500/1000 word piece that is readable – that’s their skills set nothing more nothing less. Whenever I meet a journalist I don’t think this individual know the answer to all or any question but do acknowledge that their career is about using words to write – so what?.
2. Reading a daily newspaper will accumulative a lots of hours over the month – so privately add the hours & think what else could I do with those hours. If you have a lifestyle without a huge demand on you time then buy and read the daily newspaper with extras on the weekend.
3. A newspaper format is about print advertising (i.e. Harvey Norman etc) with stories to link the pages. The newspaper price is a nominal fee so that the newspapers have a vehicle for their advertising business in conjunction with the comments in point 1 & 2 above.
That piece is worth reading to get a really good understanding of how Brownlee thinks and goes about things.
For a start he was “angry”.
Further on he says this …. ” I’ve bent over backwards, mindful of court instruction,…” which is the most telling of all. He is saying that if it weren’t for courts having told him off and telling him that he has done things plain wrong on several occasions, then he would simply do what he has always done – namely, bully his way through no matter the consequences and no matter the views of others.
Gerry “Sgt Schulz” Brownlee made slow enough going of it with a toadying tory mayor, so now there is a Labour friendly one he seems to have reread his exceptional powers manual and is getting all frisky.
No, no, no said the right certainly not, when questions were raised about the dictatorial powers granted the minister under the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act and subsequent 2011 Act.
“Dotcom says. “All these friends I have that did well in their lives, they want to go out, they want to get drunk, they want to see some pretty girls, they want to spend and they want to impress … in New Zealand you just don’t have the opportunity to do that.””
Dotcom is no leftie but seems a bit of a rebel compared to your average filthy rich bastard, and it was hilarious seeing him with a megaphone next to Bomber Bradbury on Queen St and giving the PM stick in person, not many of us get to do that.
Should he be more publicly grateful that being an NZ citizen is so far keeping him out of the FBI’s clutches? Yes, and I hope he survives the extradition hearing and puts heavy slipper into the Key gang’s re-election chances.
a rebel, or self serving? Sure he has stood up, thank goodness cos sadly we need people with money to stand up cos the rest of us cant afford to, but its still to further his own business and personal goals? It’s not altruistic as perhaps, Jane Kelsey’s stand might be.
Dotcom’s right to say that night life in Auckland doesn’t hold up to the standards set in LA, NYC, etc. Or even Melbourne for goodness sakes. Because it doesn’t.
Starting up a new political party, it’s not a smart comment to put into print, however.
Because it’s not the “night life” which makes NZ a great place to live and bring up children.
Quickly something must be done to solve this blight upon NZ and another failing of our neo liberal paradigm.
Labour will fix this problem by introducing a new agency, KIWICLUB, to act as a single provider of partying for NZ households. We believe that we have the skills and the ability to make KIWICLUB the best partying hangout the the average Kiwi and expat IT workers can experience anywhere.
Auckland night life doesn’t even hold up to the standard of Courtenay Place. Lots of little incoherent clusters (ponsonby, k road, lower queen st, viaduct, parnell, around vector, kingsland) of which only Ponsonby and the Viaduct have much going on
And worse, you can’t really stagger between them (hmmm that’s been done before in the distant past I wager), which is a major benefit of the Wellington layout.
Wellington needs night life because, unlike the rest of the country, the weather is horrendous and there are no decent beaches.
North of Upper Hutt, the rest of us are to busy enjoying the outdoors to worry about “nightlife”. 🙂 laughing.
The best place to stagger from Pub to pub used to be Westport.
Apart from the problem of not knowing the right knock and tripping over the railway lines on the way home.
In defense of Auckland, I think there are now almost as many watering holes, and licensed restaurants, around Viaduct Harbour alone than there is in Wellington central.
You could probably manage to visit all the pubs in Westport without too much trouble, at least in the last 50 years. I hate to think what it would have been like in the late nineteenth century though.
It was a student thing in my days at Vic to have an eight ounce beer in each of the Wellington pubs, all in one day. If my memory serves me correctly there were 44 of them. I thought about trying it but I don’t think I would ever have succeeded.
I knew people who did though.
Should he be more publicly grateful that being an NZ citizen
I don’t think this is correct.
I am sure Dotcom only has permanent residency, and would be surprised if any minister on their watch would sign off his citizenship. A Dotcom citizenship application will go upstairs because no immigration official is going to embarrass their minister.
Reportedly, Dotcom received permanent residency on 29 Nov 2010. He can apply for citizenship after five years (after 29 Nov 2015). The application takes about four months to process and there is the standard need to meet the ‘good character’ requirement.
I don’t blame him for being somewhat disillusioned with NZ, after he had a home invasion by the NZ police and the NZ government supporting the US vendetta against him for doing much the same things as Google, Microsoft and facebook.
Let’s not go into defensive mode. Dotcom has been doing a lot for NZ and has put the RW into a spin. He can make some stringent judgments if he wants to, and we should listen and accept there may be something lacking here.
Pleased to see that NZ is still not quite regarded as the playground for the wealthy.
If Dotcom really wanted to give back to the NZers who have supported him he’d be looking at decreasing the wealth gap and supporting those in NZ struggling to survive – better use of his time than moaning about lack of super-rich play facilities.
Publisher Paul Little was reticent about whether he believed the book would leave people feeling more or less sympathetic towards Dotcom as he fights extradition to the United States on copyright charges.
But he hoped it would have a wide and international audience.
KDC just did NZ a big favour there. He basically told the rich knob international community that NZ is a boring place to live 🙂
The do us all a favour you disgusting wealthy parasite and fuck off.
Please leave Dotcom. As you have discovered we are not a playground for the rich and do not want to be. We despise the wealthy and the corporate greed you represent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enough … Speak for yourself. The rich are not to be despised, what is needed is for them to pay their dues and respect their workers and all the people that have had a hand in providing things they have made their wealth out of. Apparently much of the problem with the filthy rich is that they are not investing in actual things, just following their busy lives in tax havens fiddling with the baubles of power.
And when they “pay their dues and respect their workers and all the people that have had a hand in providing things they have made their wealth out of” we will respect them.
what is needed is for them to pay their dues and respect their workers and all the people that have had a hand in providing things they have made their wealth out of.
And once they do then they won’t be rich and thus it will never happen until we make them.
We cannot afford the rich and we need to stop pretending that we can.
..as tonto said to the lone ranger in a moment of peril..when surrounded by other (hostile) native americans..
..’what do you mean ‘we’..?..white-man..?’..
..i don’t ‘despise’ the wealthy..
..they just need to stump up a bit more..eh..?
..’cos everything has got out of whack..
..(i do ‘despise’ the bankers..tho’..and their ilk in various fields..the slave-wage payers@ mcdonalds/warehouse etc..those total leech/exploitation business-models..the vivisectors..them too..)
..as the new/improved pope said:..tie the corrupt ones to a rock..and throw them in the sea..
..like most other social groups..i have met some rich people who were arrogant arseholes..
..that i looked at like they were specimans in a laboratory..
..and know others who were/are fine upstanding human beings..
DotCom has stood up against Key and, thanks to him, some pretty dubious arse licking has come to light. He has been more interesting than the Russian mafia and Hollywood types the country is generally sold off to. He can stay. I don’t mind his complaining about the nightlife. The usual billionaire complains about taxation rates or industrial law, and the government bends us over backwards for them. Overall, having DotCom here has been a plus for us.
Is Queenstown better off a now it’s a ski resort for rich Australians?
Is Auckland better off with a mega casino?
Are we all better off with Sunday trading?
Are we better off with mass car imports?
Are we better off with super motorways and endless carparks?
Are we better off with international franchises of everything and huge concrete shopping dungeons?
Are we better off with gated communities and million dollar mansions, while there isn’t enough state housing?
If DotCom wants more rampant commercialism he just needs to stick around longer. It will come.
Passed into Law under urgency this week Slippery’s National Government will now give it’self the ability to ‘review’ all State House tenancies openly trumpeting the intention to kick out 3-4000 of the States tenants,
Showing His tendency to not only be a hypocrite,(who doesn’t remember Nick Smith’s refusal at one point to move from a Ministerial home citing the disruption to ‘His’ children’s education), the Minister goes on to prove His and the Cabinet’s stupidity by pointing out the law change is necessary because a fishing boat skipper in His electorate is occupying a State House while earning 100 grand a year,
No Law change and mass disruption of all of the States tenants lives was or is necessary to fix such an anomaly, and i think most here would tend to agree that the purpose and intent of State Housing is not to house those earning 100 grand+ yearly,
The hint, the clue if you will, for a Minster and a Government without any, clues that is, resides within the terms of the rental of the States housing stock, this simply being 25% of the tenants income up to a set market rent,
The only change necessary in the terms surrounding the rental of the States housing stock are the removal of the words ”up to a set market rent” which would simply leave the terms of renting a State House as 25% OF INCOME full stop,
My opinion is that this National Government have made the changes in Legislation not to free up what it says are 1000’s of houses for more deserving tenants, of which there are 10’s of 1000’s, that’s simply an excuse, the smoke and mirrors surrounding the Governments intention to sell to it’s mates 1000’s more of the States housing stock which will be accomplished with a surrounding trail of lies that the houses are too big, too small,or in the ‘wrong place’…
Have you a clue PR, even just a tiny one, a comment of substance outlining a debatable position formed through knowledge with perhaps the provision of the odd link which expounds upon you point of view,
If you havn’t, a lucid debatable point to make that is, your continual appearence here at the Standard i would suggest applies to you an epithet the use of which we commenter’s are subtly persauded not to use,
In other words you are a waste of f**king space and the air in here will be far less toxic if you shut the f**k up and F**k off…
Sure ok, theres a limited amount of stock and theres a large amount of people who need it. If someone is in a situation where they don’t need the home ie single person living in a 2-3 bedroom then that single person should be moved into a single person accomadation and a small family can move into the 2-3 bedroom house
Or if someone can afford market rent or a mortgage then they should be moved on so someone else that can’t afford market rent can go into the house
Now someone might say in that case we need more housing stock and that may be thats a seperate issue
Ok, your point about mismatching where a single person is living in a 2-3 bedroom house/flat, do you have the slightest clue about the number of single people who fit the ‘extreme need’ category after an application to HousingNZ versus the number of 1 bedroom housing units HousingNZ possesses,
Consider the above equation while also ‘thinking’ about the number of 1 bedroom housing units the Government (of any hue), has constructed in the past 30 years,(while you muse over that consider also successive governments have the use of census data , economic data, along with health statistics),
And now i pose to you the simple question, what 1 bedroom accommodation do you propose the ‘extreme need’ single person occupants of more than 1 bedroom HousingNZ homes ‘move into’…
Don’t play f**king head games with me you infantile little wing-nut, i ask you a specific question,
How do you move tenants from ‘mis-matched’ homes in terms of the number of bedrooms available v the number of bedrooms needed when it is obvious to even the brainless that the State neither possesses or intends to build accommodation that matches current needs…
‘It’ is an issue you raised in your comment above, when you have provided me with the answer to the obvious questions i put to you surrounding this part of the points you raise in your comment above we can move on to your education vis a vis the 800 million dollar subsidy the taxpayer forks out to HousingNZ every year and the need for a ‘new model’ for HousingNZ where the housing of people with high earnings would be a welcome relief to the taxpayer…
remember Rogue doesnt live near poor people so they really only exist as a myth in his head. The state housing sell down will ensure the poor people are not mixing with the well to do… out of sight = able to denigrate and dehumanise.
When Puckish Rogue, at comment 9.4 above, made a comment that Dotcom leaving would mean he would take most of the Labour Party’s funding with him Te Reo Putake immediately demanded to know whether he had and evidence for that or whether it was merely a “brain fart”.
Am I allowed to ask whether you have any evidence for talking about where Rogue lives or is you contribution merely an example of what TRP labels a “brain fart”?
Steady on, old chap, I didn’t demand anything. PR slandering Dotcom and the NZLP by falsely claiming a financial link between them is, however, a lot more serious than tracey’s suggestion that PR has indicated that he lives among the rich. I’m sure PR can see state houses from his backyard. Or on Google Earth. Or just in his head.
I am merely noting the fact that when anyone on the right, including myself, makes a statement there is usually a raucous demand for evidence of the statement.
When someone on the left makes a claim, particularly about a person on the right, there is no evidence required.
I take it from your comment, that you now have a request into the GCSB for some evidence, that in fact your statements must be interpreted, if given with no references, as being things about which you don’t actually know anything?
can you post your evidence that whenever “anyone on the right” makes a statement there is usually a “raucus” demand for evidence?
When someone claims someone else doesnt live near poor people and both those people are anonymous you ask for evidence. When someone claims that Dotcom has donated to the labour party you don’t.
You are right though Alwyn, those on the right are oppressed and misunderstood and poorly treated.
If he said the sky were blue or grass was green I’d want a second opinion and (preferably signed, sworn and witnessed) third-party verifiable evidence..
She is destroying the lives of the children of this country with her approach to her job. And therefore as far as I am concerned she is fair game and any criticism of her is fine by me.
Impoliteness pales against Bullying and Moral Corruption. A fair and hard to miss target on whatever count. Save the tears and clutch the pearls for the countless number of babies locked into poverty by the attitudes and actions of the callous lump.
you can care about the babies without sinking to their level to do it. Not supporting appearance politics is not synonymous with not caring about the babies
Or people who have many houses ensuring that those with none have difficulty getting one. Or people who got their university educations for free ensuring that those without one have to pay for theirs with loads of debt. Or people who had access to masses of cheap resources and oil burning right through it at maximum rate while telling those today who don’t, not to. Etc.
Yes millsy, that is even more true if Slippery’s National government intend as i suggest to flick off the houses they force the current tenants from on the basis that they are unsuitable or unwanted,
Those tenants who cannot afford the higher rents of course will be forced either out onto the streets or into substandard accommodation for which they will be charged a premium for, there will be no savings to the tax-payer as WINZ will find it’self as is the case with the recently highlighting of the rack-renting of 300 vulnerable tenants in an Auckland ‘holiday park’, propping up the profits of the rack-renters via special needs grants and the like to the tenants,
The intentions of this abysmal National Government are then exposed when connected to the recent moves to restrict ‘first’ home buyers from entering the housing market, we can see that the intentions far from those stated are to keep the demand for rental housing as high as possible while fostering the buying of investment properties by those who have equity…
Anardarko and the State
Facebook ,the source of a few wasted moments ,turned up an interesting debate yesterday.
Oil &Offshore drilling , It’s been my bread & butter for 33 years . I also know a bit about deepwater , I’ve been working there for 15 years.
I met /talked and shed tears with the senior ToolPusher on the Deepwater Horizon,the rig that exploded killing 13 people who share my life issues .
The forum , amongst Rigworkers of Aotearoa , was generally negative towards “the tree huggers” and pro drilling & more importantly the first genuine attempt to delve into the vast area of the unexplored Zealandia geology.
The consensus was that the public perception is tending negative to anti and that we as a nation should be approaching this new era with Norwegian style management of Offshore drilling.
The biggest difference between Norway’s management of Oil & Gas resources and New Zealand’s is that Norway retained 100% State ownership [ Statoil] on its large & easy accessible fields in the 1980′ and has allowed foreign & Norwegian corporations to participate by buying into Blocks for big $$ & only to a maximum of 49% . NZ had a similar regime with Petrocorp which developed the Waihapa,kaimiro etc and owned 50 % of Maui.
The biggest act of thievery in NZ history was the “sale” of Petrocorp in 1987 &88 by Roger Douglas & Prebble et al [ Goff, ,King ….?] for less than 10% of its value based on proven reserves. Since then NZ has been too far & too expensive to explore and under the regime that exists now ,the best New Zealanders can do out of the development of “our” resources is ~15% of the gross production . Small change compared to the huge pile of $petrodollars$ Norway has accumulated .
I sympathise with most of the sentiments of those brave but foolhardy people out in Tasman protesting against Anardarko .
I don’t necessarily hold their view on Anardarko [ who are not unique in their way of doing business, its endemic across the whole of the oil business], who are working with our laws[ even if they may have been changed so that greenies can’t stop them drilling] .
Most importantly I detest our current government who haven’t got a clue about Oil exploration , fracking, shale , onshore , offshore or deepwater but can smell money and all they want is to grab some more for them & a small bunch of extremely greedy scum share the trough with.
They do not give a damn about you, me , our kids & moko’s .
If they did they’d be have hired plenty of experts to vet the proposed well engineering & safety case for which they would need to spend the kind of money on compliance checking[people, Jobs spot checks , policing] that the Australians are now with Nopsema after the Montara disaster in the Timor sea .
The knee jerk reaction to Pike River , setting up High Impact Units for mining & Oil & gas are woefully underfunded, understaffed and need I say it staffed by foreigners .
All the information , well engineering contingencies , Safety case etc should be available to the public so that we have very little cause to be concerned instead of keeping everything secret .
A great summary of the issues Brokenback.
“Since then NZ has been too far & too expensive to explore…”
Of course this would change in the future as demand/scarcity would make it much more viable. But by then we will have minimal ownership to really capitalize.
Thanks for this brokenback. I have a cousin who has worked on oil rigs since leaving the family farm in otorahonga when he was 18. I appreciate your insight and will do a little reading myself on Norway’s “way”. Wont be following their cue on whaling tho 😉
Colin Craig has repeatedly denied his Christian fundamentalist position by replying to the question with, “I am not a church goer.”
Well that would be so as most fundamentalist-born-again Christians do no not go to “church” but meet in halls and homes. Surely Colin would not mislead us? As is his right, Colin can worship how and where he likes but surely he should answer the question honestly?
I understand he is a Baptist and they do attend church – so what is he saying? He doesn’t attend a church but then he expresses the worst kind of prejudices of the church? He’s either in or out isn’t he.Is he apprehensive that he won’t accepted by the mainstream voter?
The halls and homes type religions. I know someone who is a Christadelphian. Like the Brethren they meet at a hall and there is no priest as such but a council of men. (There are many examples of misogyny in their cult) Also like Brethren they don;’t vote or get “involved in the matters of the physical world”. The children have to marry others of their faith and the pursuit of wealth and display of it is encouraged. It is an incredibly freaky cult and one that makes me worry for my friend who used to be a well adjusted and creative person before she married into the cult.
In terms of religious/cult groups getting involved in politics I think it’s best when you know what they represent. In that respect, we know what Crazy Colin is about and he can be challenged openly. Unlike the Exclusive Brethren who hid behind nutty pamphlets in the 2005 election campaign.
He was raised Baptist but could have taken his own route since. Being upfront is unusual in politicians and a few public figures who have brandished their christianity have fallen quite sharply from grace over the years.
If he can’t be totally open about his religiosity what does that say? I find it hard to reconcile a guy who ends staff meetings with a prayer with someone who is middle of the road religious.
Actually I think Craig’s social conservatism is what I would focus on. It’s all there in plain sight.
I’ve been to work events/meetings with Tangata Whenua who do a prayer at the beginning and end. It’s fairly standard for people working a lot in certain kinds of environments. I wouldn’t read very much into it.
outside of meetings in state situations or maori specific, in over 30 years in the workforce I have never attended, nor know anyone who has attended, a workplace meeting which ends in prayer.
And Onslow College in the Ohariu electorate has closed the doors on it’s Community Ed after 30 successful and popular years of provision. Not a word from Dunne on the matter.
Are Labour planning to reintroduce funding for night classes should they be elected next year?
Facebook boss Sheryl Sandberg on male CEO’s fear of women:
“The next time you hear a little girl called ‘bossy’, go up to the person who did it – and it may be the little girl’s parents – have a big smile on your face and say ‘Your little girl is not bossy, she has executive leadership skills’,”
While people’s eyes are on the North Island, the new electorate seat and National wanting to gift a parliamentary seat to Crazy Craig, the Labour Party and the Cunliffe leadership should also stay focused on retaining and growing support in the South Island.
Prediction Number 1:
A previously strong South Island electorate will be lost by Labour to National at next year’s General Election, no thanks to an increasingly unpopular and ineffectual incumbent and thanks to a far better and more likeable opposing candidate.
“Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse, a Dunedin-based list MP who has twice previously stood in Dunedin North said he was committed to standing in the 2014 election but no final decision had yet been made on where.” http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/282486/dunedin-north-extended-north
You heard it first here: Woodhouse will decide to stand in Dunedin South.
That’s my prediction too. Woodhouse’s family roots are in Dunedin South anyways. Also, I know that early blue money has been flowing into Dunedin South.
2011 Nat candidate and carpet bagger Joanne Hayes, from the Manawatu, took the Labour electorate majority down to 4175 in 2011 and helped National win the party vote in Dunedin South in a shock result. Labour’s 4,700 2008 party vote majority went down to about -1,800 in 2011. A huge slide.
Joanne’s a solid candidate and I reckon she will stand in the North Island next year maybe closer to home.
he was born here in south dunedin, poor boy big famly mum was a popular nurse, & all his siblings are really successful people. interesting ake ake ake. for eg, i wont vote curran, but would vote for a labour rep if we had a decent one.
Medical tourism – many going to Thailand I heard. Are NZs going to be threatened by these bugs from people trying to get round the system by going elsewhere.? Someone was saying how good the medial service is there. It might look good but the bugs can’t be seen. Information though is that many people treat themselves with antibiotics like we use aspirin. (And that can be dangerous too.)
There is an increase in numbers of negative events in NZ hospitals and they are under funding stress, which I bet isn’t keeping up with inflation, not like MPs rises. .07% rise at one hospital for a staff member.
This is from RT’s link above and I think we should be aware of this. Mr Pool had caught a pan-resistant superbug, known as Klebsiella pneumoniae with Oxa 48 resistance, while in hospital in either Vietnam or India.
These types of superbugs produce an enzyme that destroys the strongest, “last-resort” type of antibiotics, known as carbapenems, and tend to be resistant to all other categories of antibiotics.
Essentially, if you get infected, there is little hope of survival….
On an average day, 20 patients are in isolation with super-bacterias ESBL and MRSA. In these cases, the patient has a single room with their own toilet, and staff wear gowns and gloves for all contact. Items that leave the room are decontaminated.
ta gw, your hands appear more efficient at typing than my paw (just been collecting the seeds from deadheads, gratefully, and distributing them around the section) More free stuff…like the Poppies. 😉
While Titford was claiming victimisation from Maori, the truth was actually the opposite – a long history of abuse and victimisation of others, and selfish corruption.
The former wife of Northland farmer Allan Titford said her husband told her soon after they married that he sank his own fishing boat to collect an insurance payout.
In an interview with Radio New Zealand she said that after 22 years of torment it was the fact her children started harming themselves that made her seek help from Women’s Refuge.
Her children could not understand why she wouldn’t leave Titford and used to encourage her to do so, she said.
“I finally said to them he’d told me he’d kill my mum and dad and then, if they died, he’d go to their funeral and he’d find us there and get us,” Cochrane said.
[…]
She said she didn’t tell anyone about her torment because Titford threatened to kill her parents if she did.
“It was always ‘if you tell anyone I’ll kill you or I’ll kill your parents’ and it took ages before I even told my own kids the reason why I wouldn’t leave,” Cochrane said.
Not long after she left Titford her mother died and the next day Titford drove through Hikurangi looking for them, she said.
Her children spotted him and were so terrified they jumped into a shop to hide from him.
The family went into hiding with the help of Women’s Refuge until Titford was charged and bailed on the condition he stay south of Hamilton.
Thank goodness for Women’s Refuges. They need on-going support and funding.
“Thank goodness for Women’s Refuges. They need on-going support and funding.”
I’m all for Labour’s plan for gender balance, if women MPs support this, because so far not a lot has been done a lot to safeguard women who leave abusive partners.
How are people finding the site speed this morning. It has been slower than I’d have liked this week because the file server was having problems providing the files to the web servers. So I upgraded that last night.
Looks like we now have the required expansion abilities that I will need for an election year…
JMG has a very interesting article up – well worth a read.
All of the abstract conceptions of classical Roman culture thus came to cluster around the civil religion of the Empire, a narrative that defined the cosmos in terms of a benevolent despot’s transformation of primal chaos into a well-ordered community of hierarchically ranked powers. Jove’s role in the cosmos, the Emperor’s role in the community, the father’s role in the family, reason’s role in the individual—all these mirrored one another, and provided the core narrative around which all the cultural achievements of classical society assembled themselves. The difficulty, of course, was that in crucial ways, the cosmos refused to behave according to the model, and the failure of the model cast everything else into confusion. In the same way, the abstract conceptions of contemporary industrial culture have become dependent on the civil religion of progress, and are at least as vulnerable to the spreading failure of that secular faith to deal with a world in which progress is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
Or employment opportunities dictating where those feet go, from the article: “Fewer New Zealanders are leaving for Australia as that country’s job market cools down….”
Winston Peters good on Radionz this morning. His usual well spoken self making points about Kiwi Rail and they were good ones. He is good value despite pop-up quirks that are off putting.
Yes – he was brilliant. Quinn I think (I hope) realises his spin doctoring hasn’t/ won’g ekshly cut it – although don’t be surprised if they try it on.
One point Winnie made that interested me (hopefully some1 can verify it) is that SINCE the wobble introduction, the ship has actually carried less freight across the ditch than it would have had they left the fooking thing alone!
Boozie Boy Allan aye …… experts in ALLLLLLL ‘enterprises’, and masters of none.
Ah… So good to Mr spin-genius claiming with a shit-eating grin that it’s not his fault and he has nothing to apologise for if people ‘imagine’ that he was referring to anyone in particular when he said “Apology demanded from Australia by a bloke who looks like a 1970s Pilipino [sic] porn star”. This after a bunch of racist tweets about Indonesian leaders.
Classic narcissist, never wrong. Except when it becomes front page news in Indonesia, then it’s:
“Apologies to my Indonesian friends – frustrated by media-driven divisions – Twitter is indeed no place for diplomacy.”
Classic narcissist, ‘it’s not my fault, I’m the victim here’.
That video of Mark Textor thinking he’s being clever but actually looking like an idiotic arsehole by trying to lawyer-talk his way out of it will be around forever. This little piece of schadenfreude has made my day.
What an absolute hoot ! From NZ Herald – the madly pompous patronising old ego-fool Tea Party phallus Bill O’Reilly on Fux News – lashing Kiwi blogger Paul Casserly:
Interestingly, scroll down to the top of the smaller Fux News video in the article and what do we see ? Somethng about visiting Whale Oil in NZ for the best news.
Lethal hypocrisy at its most loathsome:
Israel’s manipulation of humanitarian aid
by Ramona Wadi, Middle East Monitor, Thursday, 21 November 2013
As Israel’s heavily publicised humanitarian mission in the Philippines commenced, the IDF has been constantly updating its achievements in the ravaged land through a twitter account which briefly utilised the hashtag #IDFWithoutBorders, until activists exploited the irony implied within the chosen vocabulary, relating the implied lack of confines to Israel’s unbridled usurpation of Palestinian land and expanding territorial borders.
Social media has been inundated with examples of gratitude and assimilation which competently portray the propaganda campaign. A baby named Israel by ‘the thankful mum’, children photographed while holding the Israeli flag; and the teaching of the Hebrew language to students emphasise an expected compliance, as opposed to collaboration, in return for its involvement in the Philippines. IDF officials have been emphasising their selective implementation of humanitarian work, clearly eliminating its atrocious human rights violations against Palestinians from the equation: “Saving lives is not only a motto but a way of life”. “Medicine is a bridge between people.” For a passive observer, the rhetoric, combined with photography depicting the IDF contingent as actively involved in internationalism would undoubtedly influence public opinion with regard to the application of humanitarian aid.
However, any merit of Israel’s venture in the Philippines must be questioned in light of its manipulation of internationalism, international law violations and the blockade on Gaza – issues which are conveniently relegated to the periphery while promoting the colonising power’s alleged ‘moral army’. The exhibited propaganda dictates a restricted perception of the Israeli army in an attempt to disassociate the same entity from its human rights violations against the Palestinian population.
….. No – it won’t change anything till 2014, or perhaps 2017
When it duzzz, stuffed-pig squealing will be deafening.
Ohhh ahhhh booo hooo, they stole my property from the thiefs!
The bloody cheek of those hard left economic illiterates! Those poor ‘job-creators! How on Earth are they going to vest in “schools, hospitals @ roads” now! It’s sebbatajjj aye Chris!
naah not really, worst case is that Labour will buy back the shares at the price they were sold (don’t want to scare off too many foriegn investors) so I get my money back + the dividends so I come out ahead
Not in my mail box today. I see John Key is trying to soften the impact of the no vote, and maybe also hope the idea that the result is a foregone conclusion will stop people voting..
For a Friday afternoon, my brain is dead and I see Cunliffe making a fish-based pun on Collin’s chances floundering and that he calls her a fish in the middle of it. Am I now part of the problem if I can’t find the sexism that is so apparently inherent to I/S?
As an addendum, I think the point raised in the comments below explaining “old trout” is appropriate and clarifies a lot of it to me but I find it difficult to get angry over a line like that when the Nats are so willing to brand anyone who doesn’t agree with them as an “extremist” “fundamentalist” “terrorist”
I gather Cunliffe was invited to submit a post in reply to one by Judith Collins that appeared some weeks ago. The original is said to be tongue in cheek, so I guess Cunliffe replied in kind. Searched The Ruminator but can’t locate the Collins post.
Oh, so Collins can get off her high horse – dog whistling re the sexist term used by many KB & WO devotees to attempt to disparage Cunliffe. Her followers’ term is very sexist.
[lprent: I thought I knew that silly smug snideness with no actual content or apparent intelligence. You are still banned under another name. And I see that you since still haven’t written anything of value confining yourself instead to flame starters. So an auto-spam is called for.
I allow you to carry on reading the site despite being tempted to test the new exclusion tool. ]
Honestly, some of the stuff he comes out with, you seriously WTF at.
The thought of that tool bag being with kilometers of the levers of power is fucking terrifying and to be honest the fact the such a complete fuck knuckle can even get in a position to become prime minister is a sad indictment on our political system.
Cunliffe didn’t talk about fancying Liz Hurley. Or make a joke about Maori and cannibals. Or call Hillary President Clinton. Or post a photo of himself with the Queen on Twitter. Or say the Roast busters should just “grow up”.
As I read on Kiwi Blog maybe all the National guys should address the labour and green female mps as old trouts or maybe even bush pigs until the next election.
Darien Fenton and Carol Beaumont look like a couple of tough old razor backs I’m sure they wouldn’t be too fussed with the Male National Mps taking the piss out of the way they look
I’m sure all the left women would find it rather amusing.
Collins deserved it for this: “David Cunliffe – no one would argue that Cunners (the more affectionate term for him) is anything but intelligent – least of all himself.”
Not such a numpty not to have figured out that a nice little bit of wedge politics on a Friday arvo might help him get back some of those male voters who apparently shifted over to National in the wake of the so called man ban issue that surfaced at the Labour Party Conference. The bigger the fuss the better it is for Cunliffe. The only surprise was that Judith Collins walked in to it so readily.
Farrar at Kiwiblog bawls out Cunliffe for inferring Collins is an old tr–t. How about a Standard author bawl out Collins for inferring Cunliffe is a c–t.
Where did she do that? Cunny is the synonym not cunners. I’ve seen lefties quite happily use the nickname t in a friendly way . I’d accept it’s mainly used by righties just like lefties have silly juvenile nicknames for key that they use cos they think ‘it’s oh so clever’
‘Open Letter’ – request for NZ Serious Fraud Office to conduct an urgent inquiry into alleged bribery and corruption, involving Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Sky City Auckland.
Lisa Prager and myself, (Penny Bright), hereby formally request the NZ Serious Fraud Office (SFO), to conduct an urgent inquiry into alleged bribery and corruption, involving Auckland Mayor Len Brown, and Sky City Auckland.
For your further information, I am registered to attend the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (including workshops) on 26 -28 November 2013.
The Labour Party’s finance spokesman David Cunliffe has apologised to the National Party’s Judith Collins after saying humans would probably die out if she were the last woman on earth.
Invited onto Paul Henry’s radio show, David Cunliffe was asked if he had ever thought about who he would mate with if he and his fellow mps were the last people left on earth, and this was his response.
“I have thought that if Judith Collins was the last woman on earth, the species would probably become extinct.”
Cunliffe was just saying that he wouldn’t have sex with a woman just for the sake of it. Unlike the NAct scum, he would need to respect, love, and have common ground with any sexual partner. I don’t see why he apologised really. The toxic gnome should have apologised for asking such a stupid question.
Cunliffe was being polite and very restrained. There are many other more descriptive nouns and adjectives that her own current and former colleagues would have used that she would be really familiar with 🙂
You’re a nutter Piss73. Give the missus a serious seeing to when she got home late with the Maccers dinner and no dipping sauce didya ? You being too bone idle or unartful to peel some spuds while ya waited, as you related yesterday or the day before ? Walked home for that matter while you drove to and from work in the Grandly asprayshinul Vitara angling at the stylish Maori Land Bruiser VX, as you also related yesterday or the day before ?
Ake ake ake……obviously don’t know or care to know about the zoo of Judge Judy’s current colleagues but certainly there are many former colleagues in Auckland who always saw her as a self promoting baggage and a not too gifted one at that.
Yes he could mention how nice it is when she exits the room.., or he could tell the penguins that he’s found someone capable of reversing rising temperatures just by making eye contact..
ShonKey Python on TV tonight – “I don’t comment on security matters.”
Where the fuck is the fiduciary in this ? “I don’t comment…….”. When it’s probable that a foreign power has been spying on Kiwis, and the jerk knows it.
Where the fuck is the fiduciary here ?
Is this simpering Hawaii ponce a traitor or is he a traitor ?
I’ve been surfing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers
made good content as you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever
before.
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
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In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
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Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
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Fiftieth anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley
Los Angeles, California, 22 November 1963
On the morning of November 22nd, a Friday, it became clear the gap between living and dying was closing. Realizing that Aldous [Huxley] might not survive the day, Laura [Huxley’s wife] sent a telegram to his son, Matthew, urging him to come at once. At ten in the morning, an almost inaudible Aldous asked for paper and scribbled “If I go” and then some directions about his will. It was his first admission that he might die …
Around noon he asked for a pad of paper and scribbled
LSD-try it
intermuscular
100mm
In a letter circulated to Aldous’s friends, Laura Huxley described what followed: ‘You know very well the uneasiness in the medical mind about this drug. But no ‘authority’, not even an army of authorities, could have stopped me then. I went into Aldous’s room with the vial of LSD and prepared a syringe. The doctor asked me if I wanted him to give the shot- maybe because he saw that my hands were trembling. His asking me that made me conscious of my hands, and I said, ‘No, I must do this.’
An hour later she gave Huxley a second 100mm. Then she began to talk, bending close to his ear, whispering, ‘light and free you let go, darling; forward and up. You are going forward and up; you are going toward the light. Willingly and consciously you are going, willingly and consciously, and you are doing this beautifully — you are going toward the light — you are going toward a greater love … You are going toward Maria’s [Huxley’s first wife, who had died many years earlier] love with my love. You are going toward a greater love than you have ever known. You are going toward the best, the greatest love, and it is easy, it is so easy, and you are doing it so beautifully.’
All struggle ceased. The breathing became slower and slower and slower until, ‘like a piece of music just finishing so gently in sempre piu piano, dolcamente,’ at twenty past five in the afternoon, Aldous Huxley died.
http://thedreamatists.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/aldous-huxley-takes-lsd-on-deathbed/
some deaths are intensely beautiful..
like the wilt of a rose..
…wow what a fantastic way to go into the next realm
Thanks Morrissey that was very touching and hopeful for the rest of us.
I’m guessing the death of JFK 50 years ago simply slipped your mind ?
I’m guessing the death of JFK 50 years ago simply slipped your mind?
A guy who had connived in the assassination of the South Vietnam prime minister (an American vassal) just twenty days earlier, and was actively conspiring to assassinate the Cuban president (who refused to be a vassal) was himself the victim of an assassin’s bullet.
The biter bit, pure and simple. You can throw all that Camelot hogwash where it belongs—in the same bin as the fulsome tributes for Reagan, Thatcher, Pinochet, Mao and Pol Pot.
I prefer to focus on people who actually enhanced human life—like great writers, who really could write. Unlike some Pulitzer Prize winners….
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2478/did-john-f-kennedy-really-write-profiles-in-courage
Ok, that’s cool. At least I now know there is more to you than just a cut and paste blogger and, I also suspect you research and write for the Herald and TV 3.
C.S. Lewis died fifty years ago today: Friday 22 November 1963
CS Lewis’s literary legacy: ‘dodgy and unpleasant’ or ‘exceptionally good’?
by SAM LEITH, The Guardian, 19 November 2013
“Aslan is on the move.” That phrase, three decades after I first read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, still has the power to tickle the hairs on my neck. It testifies to the enduring power of CS Lewis’s recasting of the Christian myth that I’m far from alone. If this were all there were to him, it would still be pretty remarkable that, 50 years after his death, this tweedy old Oxford don should occupy such an exalted place in our cultural life.
All this week on Radio 4, Simon Russell Beale has been reading The Screwtape Letters – Lewis’s perceptive inquiry into temptation cast as a series of witty letters between a demon and his apprentice. This Friday, his reputation will be crowned with a plaque in his honour, between John Betjeman and William Blake, in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
The tribute might have pleased him, but it’s an odd one: as a poet, Lewis is usually regarded as pretty useless. “He hated all poets because he was a failed poet,” says his biographer AN Wilson. “He hated TS Eliot. He hated Louis MacNeice. There’s a very bad ‘poem’ by Lewis about reading The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, and it just shows how stupid he was about modern poetry.”
Lewis has much more than poetry to offer, though. Almost too much: his posthumous reputation is disconcertingly various. As well as a children’s writer, he was novelist, memoirist, essayist, critic, broadcaster and apologist. But the two Lewises that command the biggest followings….
Read more….
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/19/cs-lewis-literary-legacy
does this mean copyright lapses today?
Nope. Copyright is, depending upon where in the world you are, death +50/70 years. Apparently the governments of the world are concerned that anyone the author leaves behind won’t be able to live on their own work.
The really big problem with it is that corporations don’t die and yet corporations now own a lot, if not most, of the copyrights.
Morrissey….Thankyou for that review of CS Lewis and his writings…i always enjoyed his children’s books and I was a great fan of his popular Christian theology in my teens…….which after doing Comparative Religion at Univeristy i havent read since….however, interesting and understandable that he is still as popular as ever
…for me now , looking back he remains a very important twentieth century existentialist Christian thinker ….who was wrestling with deep personal, moral and religious issues from the perspective of his time and place….and trying to frame them for the ordinary person …he deserves respect for this. Like Graham Greene, also a man of his time, he was an agonised modernist but a deeply moral and religious man
…in some ways they are a yardstick from which to view the values inhering in our present society….materialist, social persona and media driven, technologically determined… and more often than not frivolous and amoral.
The Narnia Code : The Seven Heavens .
“…he loved hiding things.He loved the idea that people learnt more by discovering things themselves, especially hidden things. A lot of the meaning of God, is after all, hidden”.
I love his books, but Lewis had a rather questionable social conscience. In Screwtape Lewis depicts social justice as a deception useful to Hell’s minions:
The Gospel, while true, is worthless if it fails the test of social justice (loving thy neighbour). Of course, this is Lewis writing as a devil so it can be hard to parse the meaning.
I have his books, among others…
Der Antichrist
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table
David Hume could out-consume
Schopenhauer and Hegel
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as sloshed as Schlegel
There’s nothing Nietzche couldn’t teach ya
‘Bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
Hobbes was fond of his dram
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart
“I drink, therefore I am”
Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker
But a bugger when he’s pissed
Read more: Monty Python – Bruce’s Philosophers Song Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Prof. Frederick Dagg of the University of Taihape, The Meaning of Life
“we don’t know how bloody lucky we are” Trev.
! Scurrilous allegations indeed, although, as Sam Hunt pronounced, “I like to drink, it let’s me think, of other people and other places”; thank the Lord for moderation and harm-minimization approaches. Dreadful stuff in excess, the ultimate solvent, with the potential to dissolve everything one has! yet, not as quickly as gambling.
Hits of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, brought to you by Rugby, Racing and Beer “ing up under the strain”. 😀
Are you saying that Nietzsche = Screwtape ?! haha interesting concept
I always thought that Lewis was either, being the devils advocate or attempting to be satirical.
In the tradition of one of my other favourite writers, Swift!
He was, of course, a supporter of English style hierarchy on the lines of the “good King” and a, supposedly, benevolent aristocracy. The sort of noblesse oblige we saw from people like Wilberforce.
I agree KJT
given the revelations in britain..about american spooks spooking/data-harvesting all over the british people..
..with the connivance of the british prime minister..
..and the other revelations about america spying on its’ ‘five-eyes’ spooking partners..
..we need to know if the american spooks have been spooking/data-harvesting all over new zealanders..?
..how long has this been going on..?
..and who approved/allowed it..?
..key..or clark..?
..phillip ure..
phillip u
I would say we are being ‘listened’ to here.. Just listen to the awkward replies of Oz to Indonesia about the spying on the President. They are apparently the most important ally and friend that Oz has in the South Pacific. If Oz is not spying on us they think they have already got us connected to enough milking machines. The USA of course has run a practice invasion incursion in Timaru and they would want to assess how that went down.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/9384664/Troops-liberate-Mainlandia
Hundreds of soldiers stormed the port of Timaru and captured the local airport on Saturday -[9 November?] but they were welcomed as liberators.
(It is due to carry on for three weeks.)
http://snoopman.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/exercise-southern-katipo-2013-a-comic-book-war-game-script/
Notwithstanding the boy’s comic book scenario, the coalition of ‘defence’ forces will attempt to overcome a small militia of “bad people” located in a small rural township called Cave, which is Northwest of Timaru, according to The Timaru Herald‘s report of October 15. There is also “Waimate Taliban” in Waimate, a town south of Timaru that is to be suppressed, according to a November 7 report in the Oamaru Mail….
The C-130’s, along with two Boeing C17 Globemasters, will provide troop mobility and airlift “hardware”. Because C130 Hercules can be equipped with surveillance gathering technology, Exercise Southern Katipo seems to be a means to extend the web of the StratCom’s surveillance reach. StratCom’s base at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska integrates into an entire global network the strike capability of the nine regional combatant commands, including U.S. Pacific Command (or PACOM). Based in Oahu, Hawaii, PACOM not only oversees the Pacific. Its watch includes China, India and the rest of South East Asia.
Dr Strangeadmire or: How the Media Learned to Stop Investigating and Admire the Empire
It is also curious that this joint military exercise between nine other countries has received hardly any media coverage, despite the fact that it is the largest ever multi-force exercise in New Zealand, with over 2500 soldiers, sailors and airmen, 20 aircraft including 10 helicopters, three ships and five NZ civil agencies….
…documentaries that critique why exactly the world is still at war 95 years after the end of ‘the war to end all wars’, such as the documentary Why We Fight, by Eugene Jarecki. Kempster helpfully explained to the Oamaru Mail on November 7 that the military exercise is “a bit like a treasure hunt, they go from place to place getting information and intelligence.”
Commander Kempster, who sounded more like an interim political governor puppet appointed by George W. Bush’s regime, added positively, “The people of Mainlandia have welcomed us as liberators. We’ve been treated to some great southern hospitality.”
With that troop level copyright violations in South Canterbury must be extreme. (ref Kim Dotcom 72 police 1 helicopter)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/228489/new-claims-over-british-us-spying
Russel Norman is asking questions. I think it’s time the rest of us started asking questions.
Some points to ponder:
The meteoric rise to power of one, John Key. The unprecedented demonising of one, Helen Clark, aided and abetted by a compliant MSM. Interesting in the light of Snowden’s latest revelations.
Amy Adams was a fool to even attempt to play the game of “information management” with Cunliffe. Good on him for calling her behaviour out.
Cunliffe and the Labour Parliamentary team seem to on the ascendant inside and outside the Chamber.
It a great feeling after a few barren years.
LOl John key busted in one of his petty little slf serving acts of bullshit:
Last month Key said he preferred no increase. “If it was my vote, it would be no pay increases, but I don’t get that vote.”
However, last night his office released his submission on the process, which showed he lobbied for pay increases at around the rate of inflation, making no mention of his preference for no increase.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/9429896/Politicians-pay-rises-and-more-on-way
petty – tick
little – tick
self serving – tick
Lolz, another instance of Slippery the Prime Minister showing He an the Truth are in no way even distant relatives,
‘Blip’s List’ grows ever longer by the day…
did the article connect the lie or was that left to you bookie?
The italics is a direct quote from the article.
thanks, I did go and read it cos I realised i was being lazy.
If anyone was ever in any doubt about the Herald online’s editorial outlook then take a look at the sneaky trick they pulled this morning with their article on MP’s payrises. For some reason they’ve chosen a photo of David Cunliffe to accompany the article and emphasis in the article on the payrise the Leader of The Opposition can expect. Never mind that it’s less than what the PM will get and exactly the same as Cabinet Ministers are getting. A deliberate and cynical attempt to link an unpopular issue with Opposition Leader?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11160982
Yeah, that sounds like the Fairfax Editors hard at work.
I didn’t realise that Fairfax now owned the Herald. When did they take over?
alwyn
I didn’t realise that you don’t have access to any information gathering devices of your own so are forced to come here to get us to do it for you. Look things up yourself, don’t try to pose devil’s advocate questions to show yourself a smartrse.
alwayn happens to be right. It’s APN that owns the NZHerald. This has been general knowledge for some time.
I suggested that alwyn look for himself DTB. Too many RW put statements that should be checked first.
I did try Greywarbler. I did try my very hardest but I couldn’t find the information anywhere that Fairfax owned the Herald.
That’s why I asked. You tell me to look for myself but I’m obviously not as smart as you are. Please tell me I can find that Fairfax owns the Herald? Just the Google query will do.
Please, pretty please.
CV. The original comment to you was just a mild joke. Greywarbler is obviously getting a bit up-tight though isn’t he?.
Ha. You were right mate. APN. Clumsiness on my part.
alwyn
I have a lot of lemons at present. Thinking we should make some lemon pickle with the crop. Maybe I should stop sucking them and lighten up. And I hate smart arses particularly when I fall into that trap myself. Well can’t be perfect all the time.
mmm, lemon ice-cream.
To some extent just having his photo there is valuable exposure. It positions him as a real alternative.
ScottGN
I thought that was absolutely atrocious. And not so subtle. I wouldn’t even use the herald for toilet paper. They should be honest and change their name to The National Party’s Herald. Please lean to the right when you read this rag.
Mind you the NZ Herald supported the smashing of the waterfront strike so at least they are being consistent.
We no longer get the print edition of the Herald in the South Island so I don’t know if the same article/photo combo appeared in that as well as the online edition?
May I ask why you read the Herald or any newspaper if you hold that opinion. I just do not understand why anyone would give their up their precious commodity of time if the newspaper is not even fit for toilet paper. Why bother!
However, my point in responding
1. Is that the newspaper format is negative reporting – car accident on SH1 will be read but an article on cars driving safety on SH1 will send the reader to sleep. If you want to fill yourselves with negative thoughts go read a newspaper. After all, the journalist writing is just somebody with the skills sets to write a 500/1000 word piece that is readable – that’s their skills set nothing more nothing less. Whenever I meet a journalist I don’t think this individual know the answer to all or any question but do acknowledge that their career is about using words to write – so what?.
2. Reading a daily newspaper will accumulative a lots of hours over the month – so privately add the hours & think what else could I do with those hours. If you have a lifestyle without a huge demand on you time then buy and read the daily newspaper with extras on the weekend.
3. A newspaper format is about print advertising (i.e. Harvey Norman etc) with stories to link the pages. The newspaper price is a nominal fee so that the newspapers have a vehicle for their advertising business in conjunction with the comments in point 1 & 2 above.
And it was inevitable it would have happened, Gerry Brownlee is threatening to seize control of the council:
Minister berates council
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/9429893/Minister-berates-council
This country is slowly sliding into a dictatorship.
wow – that seat that got dedicated to him must have really hit the mark
(and im being serious here – i reckon basher brownlee is petty enough )
That piece is worth reading to get a really good understanding of how Brownlee thinks and goes about things.
For a start he was “angry”.
Further on he says this …. ” I’ve bent over backwards, mindful of court instruction,…” which is the most telling of all. He is saying that if it weren’t for courts having told him off and telling him that he has done things plain wrong on several occasions, then he would simply do what he has always done – namely, bully his way through no matter the consequences and no matter the views of others.
What an arsehole and self-admitted bully.
Most revealing for the rest of NZ to see.
Gerry “Sgt Schulz” Brownlee made slow enough going of it with a toadying tory mayor, so now there is a Labour friendly one he seems to have reread his exceptional powers manual and is getting all frisky.
No, no, no said the right certainly not, when questions were raised about the dictatorial powers granted the minister under the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act and subsequent 2011 Act.
Brownlee upset at a bungle??? Isnt he the Minister for Bungling?
and of course Wilkinson reisgned over Pike River, not Brownlee who schmoozed at the opening…
“Dotcom says. “All these friends I have that did well in their lives, they want to go out, they want to get drunk, they want to see some pretty girls, they want to spend and they want to impress … in New Zealand you just don’t have the opportunity to do that.””
What a knob.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/30004589/dotcom-slams-mediocre-nz-in-book
…wonder why he chose NZ then… if we arent impressed enough by him.
Dotcom is no leftie but seems a bit of a rebel compared to your average filthy rich bastard, and it was hilarious seeing him with a megaphone next to Bomber Bradbury on Queen St and giving the PM stick in person, not many of us get to do that.
Should he be more publicly grateful that being an NZ citizen is so far keeping him out of the FBI’s clutches? Yes, and I hope he survives the extradition hearing and puts heavy slipper into the Key gang’s re-election chances.
a rebel, or self serving? Sure he has stood up, thank goodness cos sadly we need people with money to stand up cos the rest of us cant afford to, but its still to further his own business and personal goals? It’s not altruistic as perhaps, Jane Kelsey’s stand might be.
I find his altruism questionable and think he is a self-promoting wanker.
He is, but I like him.
At least he is contributing something. For whatever reason.
Unlike the millionaire Russian gangsters, crooks and money launderers we have also allowed to become residents.
Dotcom’s right to say that night life in Auckland doesn’t hold up to the standards set in LA, NYC, etc. Or even Melbourne for goodness sakes. Because it doesn’t.
Starting up a new political party, it’s not a smart comment to put into print, however.
Because it’s not the “night life” which makes NZ a great place to live and bring up children.
Quickly something must be done to solve this blight upon NZ and another failing of our neo liberal paradigm.
Labour will fix this problem by introducing a new agency, KIWICLUB, to act as a single provider of partying for NZ households. We believe that we have the skills and the ability to make KIWICLUB the best partying hangout the the average Kiwi and expat IT workers can experience anywhere.
Ho ho, very droll!
I’ll get my coat….
Auckland night life doesn’t even hold up to the standard of Courtenay Place. Lots of little incoherent clusters (ponsonby, k road, lower queen st, viaduct, parnell, around vector, kingsland) of which only Ponsonby and the Viaduct have much going on
And worse, you can’t really stagger between them (hmmm that’s been done before in the distant past I wager), which is a major benefit of the Wellington layout.
Wellington needs night life because, unlike the rest of the country, the weather is horrendous and there are no decent beaches.
North of Upper Hutt, the rest of us are to busy enjoying the outdoors to worry about “nightlife”. 🙂 laughing.
The best place to stagger from Pub to pub used to be Westport.
Apart from the problem of not knowing the right knock and tripping over the railway lines on the way home.
In defense of Auckland, I think there are now almost as many watering holes, and licensed restaurants, around Viaduct Harbour alone than there is in Wellington central.
You could probably manage to visit all the pubs in Westport without too much trouble, at least in the last 50 years. I hate to think what it would have been like in the late nineteenth century though.
It was a student thing in my days at Vic to have an eight ounce beer in each of the Wellington pubs, all in one day. If my memory serves me correctly there were 44 of them. I thought about trying it but I don’t think I would ever have succeeded.
I knew people who did though.
I don’t think this is correct.
I am sure Dotcom only has permanent residency, and would be surprised if any minister on their watch would sign off his citizenship. A Dotcom citizenship application will go upstairs because no immigration official is going to embarrass their minister.
Reportedly, Dotcom received permanent residency on 29 Nov 2010. He can apply for citizenship after five years (after 29 Nov 2015). The application takes about four months to process and there is the standard need to meet the ‘good character’ requirement.
I don’t blame him for being somewhat disillusioned with NZ, after he had a home invasion by the NZ police and the NZ government supporting the US vendetta against him for doing much the same things as Google, Microsoft and facebook.
Commercial reasons I suspect: analogous to Hotblack Desiato spending a year dead for tax purposes.
http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Hotblack_Desiato
😎 not paid to look after your body
Let’s not go into defensive mode. Dotcom has been doing a lot for NZ and has put the RW into a spin. He can make some stringent judgments if he wants to, and we should listen and accept there may be something lacking here.
One persons lack is anothers attribute.
Must know he’s going to get kicked out the door, otherwise what a fucking idiot.
Pleased to see that NZ is still not quite regarded as the playground for the wealthy.
If Dotcom really wanted to give back to the NZers who have supported him he’d be looking at decreasing the wealth gap and supporting those in NZ struggling to survive – better use of his time than moaning about lack of super-rich play facilities.
^Good post
Heh +1
he could buy a superyacht and party on that?
Or open his own club?
If he left he’d take most of Labours funding and half their publicity 🙂
Do you have any evidence that Dotcom has ever given money to Labour, PR? Or was that just another brain fart?
pretty sure there is only evidence he gave to Banks
“What a knob.”
For once I completely agree with you TC.
Publisher Paul Little was reticent about whether he believed the book would leave people feeling more or less sympathetic towards Dotcom as he fights extradition to the United States on copyright charges.
But he hoped it would have a wide and international audience.
KDC just did NZ a big favour there. He basically told the rich knob international community that NZ is a boring place to live 🙂
Maybe he said it to piss off the Minister of Tourism who just happens to be….
nice observation there Ennui
Here’s me thinking that Dotcom was a decent bloke….
Anyway, he has heaps of money, there is nothing stopping him from opening his own nightclub…
The do us all a favour you disgusting wealthy parasite and fuck off.
Please leave Dotcom. As you have discovered we are not a playground for the rich and do not want to be. We despise the wealthy and the corporate greed you represent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enough … Speak for yourself. The rich are not to be despised, what is needed is for them to pay their dues and respect their workers and all the people that have had a hand in providing things they have made their wealth out of. Apparently much of the problem with the filthy rich is that they are not investing in actual things, just following their busy lives in tax havens fiddling with the baubles of power.
And when they “pay their dues and respect their workers and all the people that have had a hand in providing things they have made their wealth out of” we will respect them.
Until that day they are despicable people.
I’m with Enough is Enough.
And once they do then they won’t be rich and thus it will never happen until we make them.
We cannot afford the rich and we need to stop pretending that we can.
@ enough..
..as tonto said to the lone ranger in a moment of peril..when surrounded by other (hostile) native americans..
..’what do you mean ‘we’..?..white-man..?’..
..i don’t ‘despise’ the wealthy..
..they just need to stump up a bit more..eh..?
..’cos everything has got out of whack..
..(i do ‘despise’ the bankers..tho’..and their ilk in various fields..the slave-wage payers@ mcdonalds/warehouse etc..those total leech/exploitation business-models..the vivisectors..them too..)
..as the new/improved pope said:..tie the corrupt ones to a rock..and throw them in the sea..
..like most other social groups..i have met some rich people who were arrogant arseholes..
..that i looked at like they were specimans in a laboratory..
..and know others who were/are fine upstanding human beings..
..who use their wealth as a tool to do good..
..it’s a crazy mixed up world..there..enough..
..phillip ure..
DotCom has stood up against Key and, thanks to him, some pretty dubious arse licking has come to light. He has been more interesting than the Russian mafia and Hollywood types the country is generally sold off to. He can stay. I don’t mind his complaining about the nightlife. The usual billionaire complains about taxation rates or industrial law, and the government bends us over backwards for them. Overall, having DotCom here has been a plus for us.
Is Queenstown better off a now it’s a ski resort for rich Australians?
Is Auckland better off with a mega casino?
Are we all better off with Sunday trading?
Are we better off with mass car imports?
Are we better off with super motorways and endless carparks?
Are we better off with international franchises of everything and huge concrete shopping dungeons?
Are we better off with gated communities and million dollar mansions, while there isn’t enough state housing?
If DotCom wants more rampant commercialism he just needs to stick around longer. It will come.
Passed into Law under urgency this week Slippery’s National Government will now give it’self the ability to ‘review’ all State House tenancies openly trumpeting the intention to kick out 3-4000 of the States tenants,
Showing His tendency to not only be a hypocrite,(who doesn’t remember Nick Smith’s refusal at one point to move from a Ministerial home citing the disruption to ‘His’ children’s education), the Minister goes on to prove His and the Cabinet’s stupidity by pointing out the law change is necessary because a fishing boat skipper in His electorate is occupying a State House while earning 100 grand a year,
No Law change and mass disruption of all of the States tenants lives was or is necessary to fix such an anomaly, and i think most here would tend to agree that the purpose and intent of State Housing is not to house those earning 100 grand+ yearly,
The hint, the clue if you will, for a Minster and a Government without any, clues that is, resides within the terms of the rental of the States housing stock, this simply being 25% of the tenants income up to a set market rent,
The only change necessary in the terms surrounding the rental of the States housing stock are the removal of the words ”up to a set market rent” which would simply leave the terms of renting a State House as 25% OF INCOME full stop,
My opinion is that this National Government have made the changes in Legislation not to free up what it says are 1000’s of houses for more deserving tenants, of which there are 10’s of 1000’s, that’s simply an excuse, the smoke and mirrors surrounding the Governments intention to sell to it’s mates 1000’s more of the States housing stock which will be accomplished with a surrounding trail of lies that the houses are too big, too small,or in the ‘wrong place’…
Its about time the state housing policy was looked at
Have you a clue PR, even just a tiny one, a comment of substance outlining a debatable position formed through knowledge with perhaps the provision of the odd link which expounds upon you point of view,
If you havn’t, a lucid debatable point to make that is, your continual appearence here at the Standard i would suggest applies to you an epithet the use of which we commenter’s are subtly persauded not to use,
In other words you are a waste of f**king space and the air in here will be far less toxic if you shut the f**k up and F**k off…
Sure ok, theres a limited amount of stock and theres a large amount of people who need it. If someone is in a situation where they don’t need the home ie single person living in a 2-3 bedroom then that single person should be moved into a single person accomadation and a small family can move into the 2-3 bedroom house
Or if someone can afford market rent or a mortgage then they should be moved on so someone else that can’t afford market rent can go into the house
Now someone might say in that case we need more housing stock and that may be thats a seperate issue
Ok, your point about mismatching where a single person is living in a 2-3 bedroom house/flat, do you have the slightest clue about the number of single people who fit the ‘extreme need’ category after an application to HousingNZ versus the number of 1 bedroom housing units HousingNZ possesses,
Consider the above equation while also ‘thinking’ about the number of 1 bedroom housing units the Government (of any hue), has constructed in the past 30 years,(while you muse over that consider also successive governments have the use of census data , economic data, along with health statistics),
And now i pose to you the simple question, what 1 bedroom accommodation do you propose the ‘extreme need’ single person occupants of more than 1 bedroom HousingNZ homes ‘move into’…
I agree these questions and others (people who can afford to rent or pay a mortgage) need to be asked and answered
Thats why a shake up is needed
Don’t play f**king head games with me you infantile little wing-nut, i ask you a specific question,
How do you move tenants from ‘mis-matched’ homes in terms of the number of bedrooms available v the number of bedrooms needed when it is obvious to even the brainless that the State neither possesses or intends to build accommodation that matches current needs…
As I said previously thats a seperate issue
‘It’ is an issue you raised in your comment above, when you have provided me with the answer to the obvious questions i put to you surrounding this part of the points you raise in your comment above we can move on to your education vis a vis the 800 million dollar subsidy the taxpayer forks out to HousingNZ every year and the need for a ‘new model’ for HousingNZ where the housing of people with high earnings would be a welcome relief to the taxpayer…
remember Rogue doesnt live near poor people so they really only exist as a myth in his head. The state housing sell down will ensure the poor people are not mixing with the well to do… out of sight = able to denigrate and dehumanise.
When Puckish Rogue, at comment 9.4 above, made a comment that Dotcom leaving would mean he would take most of the Labour Party’s funding with him Te Reo Putake immediately demanded to know whether he had and evidence for that or whether it was merely a “brain fart”.
Am I allowed to ask whether you have any evidence for talking about where Rogue lives or is you contribution merely an example of what TRP labels a “brain fart”?
Steady on, old chap, I didn’t demand anything. PR slandering Dotcom and the NZLP by falsely claiming a financial link between them is, however, a lot more serious than tracey’s suggestion that PR has indicated that he lives among the rich. I’m sure PR can see state houses from his backyard. Or on Google Earth. Or just in his head.
let’s see…
me making a comment about PR’s living circumstances versus suggesting a prominent political party has received funding from Dotcom?
Yup I can see why you would need evidence from me alwyn. I have a request into the GCSB to confirm
I am merely noting the fact that when anyone on the right, including myself, makes a statement there is usually a raucous demand for evidence of the statement.
When someone on the left makes a claim, particularly about a person on the right, there is no evidence required.
I take it from your comment, that you now have a request into the GCSB for some evidence, that in fact your statements must be interpreted, if given with no references, as being things about which you don’t actually know anything?
can you post your evidence that whenever “anyone on the right” makes a statement there is usually a “raucus” demand for evidence?
When someone claims someone else doesnt live near poor people and both those people are anonymous you ask for evidence. When someone claims that Dotcom has donated to the labour party you don’t.
You are right though Alwyn, those on the right are oppressed and misunderstood and poorly treated.
l yawn
Puckish rogue is a lying evil little shit.
If he said the sky were blue or grass was green I’d want a second opinion and (preferably signed, sworn and witnessed) third-party verifiable evidence..
Yep, and be very wary if he offers to sell you some clay…
Some very good points there, bad. Hypocrite Smith is another of the Nat nasties.
and Ms bennett meantime is scurrying around focused on saving her political skin…
her slogan ought to be “let them eat cake”
Her thought surrounding the mouthing of the ‘slogan’ tho would have to be ”if only i had not scoffed it all myself”…
Really? You focus on her weight?
F off wing-nut…
Where was any mention of weight?
It says: “if only I had not scoffed it all myself”…
That could be followed with: And I still need to find room for Colin Craig
agree, leave her weight out of it.
She is destroying the lives of the children of this country with her approach to her job. And therefore as far as I am concerned she is fair game and any criticism of her is fine by me.
Much the same as blubber boy
April ’14 BM. That’s when KDC opens the dam on ShonKey Python misleading (lying to) Parliament about when he first became aware of KDC’s existence.
Her hear Enough is Enough !
Impoliteness pales against Bullying and Moral Corruption. A fair and hard to miss target on whatever count. Save the tears and clutch the pearls for the countless number of babies locked into poverty by the attitudes and actions of the callous lump.
you can care about the babies without sinking to their level to do it. Not supporting appearance politics is not synonymous with not caring about the babies
There is, however, the irony in people who are obviously “well fed” enacting policies which ensure children, are not!
Or people who have many houses ensuring that those with none have difficulty getting one. Or people who got their university educations for free ensuring that those without one have to pay for theirs with loads of debt. Or people who had access to masses of cheap resources and oil burning right through it at maximum rate while telling those today who don’t, not to. Etc.
The only winners I see from this policy are private landlords who will end up charging higher and higher rents to a vast pool of vulnerable tenants.
Yes millsy, that is even more true if Slippery’s National government intend as i suggest to flick off the houses they force the current tenants from on the basis that they are unsuitable or unwanted,
Those tenants who cannot afford the higher rents of course will be forced either out onto the streets or into substandard accommodation for which they will be charged a premium for, there will be no savings to the tax-payer as WINZ will find it’self as is the case with the recently highlighting of the rack-renting of 300 vulnerable tenants in an Auckland ‘holiday park’, propping up the profits of the rack-renters via special needs grants and the like to the tenants,
The intentions of this abysmal National Government are then exposed when connected to the recent moves to restrict ‘first’ home buyers from entering the housing market, we can see that the intentions far from those stated are to keep the demand for rental housing as high as possible while fostering the buying of investment properties by those who have equity…
Anardarko and the State
Facebook ,the source of a few wasted moments ,turned up an interesting debate yesterday.
Oil &Offshore drilling , It’s been my bread & butter for 33 years . I also know a bit about deepwater , I’ve been working there for 15 years.
I met /talked and shed tears with the senior ToolPusher on the Deepwater Horizon,the rig that exploded killing 13 people who share my life issues .
The forum , amongst Rigworkers of Aotearoa , was generally negative towards “the tree huggers” and pro drilling & more importantly the first genuine attempt to delve into the vast area of the unexplored Zealandia geology.
The consensus was that the public perception is tending negative to anti and that we as a nation should be approaching this new era with Norwegian style management of Offshore drilling.
The biggest difference between Norway’s management of Oil & Gas resources and New Zealand’s is that Norway retained 100% State ownership [ Statoil] on its large & easy accessible fields in the 1980′ and has allowed foreign & Norwegian corporations to participate by buying into Blocks for big $$ & only to a maximum of 49% . NZ had a similar regime with Petrocorp which developed the Waihapa,kaimiro etc and owned 50 % of Maui.
The biggest act of thievery in NZ history was the “sale” of Petrocorp in 1987 &88 by Roger Douglas & Prebble et al [ Goff, ,King ….?] for less than 10% of its value based on proven reserves. Since then NZ has been too far & too expensive to explore and under the regime that exists now ,the best New Zealanders can do out of the development of “our” resources is ~15% of the gross production . Small change compared to the huge pile of $petrodollars$ Norway has accumulated .
I sympathise with most of the sentiments of those brave but foolhardy people out in Tasman protesting against Anardarko .
I don’t necessarily hold their view on Anardarko [ who are not unique in their way of doing business, its endemic across the whole of the oil business], who are working with our laws[ even if they may have been changed so that greenies can’t stop them drilling] .
Most importantly I detest our current government who haven’t got a clue about Oil exploration , fracking, shale , onshore , offshore or deepwater but can smell money and all they want is to grab some more for them & a small bunch of extremely greedy scum share the trough with.
They do not give a damn about you, me , our kids & moko’s .
If they did they’d be have hired plenty of experts to vet the proposed well engineering & safety case for which they would need to spend the kind of money on compliance checking[people, Jobs spot checks , policing] that the Australians are now with Nopsema after the Montara disaster in the Timor sea .
The knee jerk reaction to Pike River , setting up High Impact Units for mining & Oil & gas are woefully underfunded, understaffed and need I say it staffed by foreigners .
All the information , well engineering contingencies , Safety case etc should be available to the public so that we have very little cause to be concerned instead of keeping everything secret .
A great summary of the issues Brokenback.
“Since then NZ has been too far & too expensive to explore…”
Of course this would change in the future as demand/scarcity would make it much more viable. But by then we will have minimal ownership to really capitalize.
Thanks for your contribution.
Thanks for this brokenback. I have a cousin who has worked on oil rigs since leaving the family farm in otorahonga when he was 18. I appreciate your insight and will do a little reading myself on Norway’s “way”. Wont be following their cue on whaling tho 😉
Norway’s “way” was set up by an Iraqi immigrant to Norway who knew about the dangers of oil to a democracy.
Canada has fallen into the trap, ignoring the advice of their own very prominent old time economist, Peter Lougheed.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/09/17/Radical-Peter-Lougheed/
And if you haven’t already, definitely listen to Nikiforuk speak on the topic, and especially on the phenomenon of petrostates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjl3kgduA3I
Colin Craig has repeatedly denied his Christian fundamentalist position by replying to the question with, “I am not a church goer.”
Well that would be so as most fundamentalist-born-again Christians do no not go to “church” but meet in halls and homes. Surely Colin would not mislead us? As is his right, Colin can worship how and where he likes but surely he should answer the question honestly?
I understand he is a Baptist and they do attend church – so what is he saying? He doesn’t attend a church but then he expresses the worst kind of prejudices of the church? He’s either in or out isn’t he.Is he apprehensive that he won’t accepted by the mainstream voter?
The halls and homes type religions. I know someone who is a Christadelphian. Like the Brethren they meet at a hall and there is no priest as such but a council of men. (There are many examples of misogyny in their cult) Also like Brethren they don;’t vote or get “involved in the matters of the physical world”. The children have to marry others of their faith and the pursuit of wealth and display of it is encouraged. It is an incredibly freaky cult and one that makes me worry for my friend who used to be a well adjusted and creative person before she married into the cult.
In terms of religious/cult groups getting involved in politics I think it’s best when you know what they represent. In that respect, we know what Crazy Colin is about and he can be challenged openly. Unlike the Exclusive Brethren who hid behind nutty pamphlets in the 2005 election campaign.
He was raised Baptist but could have taken his own route since. Being upfront is unusual in politicians and a few public figures who have brandished their christianity have fallen quite sharply from grace over the years.
If he can’t be totally open about his religiosity what does that say? I find it hard to reconcile a guy who ends staff meetings with a prayer with someone who is middle of the road religious.
Actually I think Craig’s social conservatism is what I would focus on. It’s all there in plain sight.
I’ve been to work events/meetings with Tangata Whenua who do a prayer at the beginning and end. It’s fairly standard for people working a lot in certain kinds of environments. I wouldn’t read very much into it.
outside of meetings in state situations or maori specific, in over 30 years in the workforce I have never attended, nor know anyone who has attended, a workplace meeting which ends in prayer.
Had it happen in last few months at a regular meeting – and not by a Christian fundamentalist.
I studied with Christadelphians : Elpis Israel is their expositional text, and if you can struggle through that, you are in the ‘club’.
Rangitoto College has had to cancel Community Ed for next year.
Perhaps whoever the MP is can campaign for a reintroduction of funds.
will it teach them to invest in the stockmarket? If not, it must go
And Onslow College in the Ohariu electorate has closed the doors on it’s Community Ed after 30 successful and popular years of provision. Not a word from Dunne on the matter.
Are Labour planning to reintroduce funding for night classes should they be elected next year?
So short sighted, this government. Happy to keep people from achieving in anything. They’re looking for drones – and that’s all.
A good question for Labour.
Facebook boss Sheryl Sandberg on male CEO’s fear of women:
“The next time you hear a little girl called ‘bossy’, go up to the person who did it – and it may be the little girl’s parents – have a big smile on your face and say ‘Your little girl is not bossy, she has executive leadership skills’,”
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/business-it/sheryl-sandbergs-passionate-plea-for-women-to-assert-themselves-20131121-hv3ox.html
Good series of tweets from Marama Davidson:
Privilege of Speech
On discussion about freedom of speech:
“Freedom of Speech” used to maintain oppression:
While people’s eyes are on the North Island, the new electorate seat and National wanting to gift a parliamentary seat to Crazy Craig, the Labour Party and the Cunliffe leadership should also stay focused on retaining and growing support in the South Island.
Prediction Number 1:
A previously strong South Island electorate will be lost by Labour to National at next year’s General Election, no thanks to an increasingly unpopular and ineffectual incumbent and thanks to a far better and more likeable opposing candidate.
“Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse, a Dunedin-based list MP who has twice previously stood in Dunedin North said he was committed to standing in the 2014 election but no final decision had yet been made on where.”
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/282486/dunedin-north-extended-north
You heard it first here: Woodhouse will decide to stand in Dunedin South.
Wake up, Labour.
+1
That’s my prediction too. Woodhouse’s family roots are in Dunedin South anyways. Also, I know that early blue money has been flowing into Dunedin South.
2011 Nat candidate and carpet bagger Joanne Hayes, from the Manawatu, took the Labour electorate majority down to 4175 in 2011 and helped National win the party vote in Dunedin South in a shock result. Labour’s 4,700 2008 party vote majority went down to about -1,800 in 2011. A huge slide.
Joanne’s a solid candidate and I reckon she will stand in the North Island next year maybe closer to home.
he was born here in south dunedin, poor boy big famly mum was a popular nurse, & all his siblings are really successful people. interesting ake ake ake. for eg, i wont vote curran, but would vote for a labour rep if we had a decent one.
‘Superbugs’ Plague Last Days.
Medical tourism – many going to Thailand I heard. Are NZs going to be threatened by these bugs from people trying to get round the system by going elsewhere.? Someone was saying how good the medial service is there. It might look good but the bugs can’t be seen. Information though is that many people treat themselves with antibiotics like we use aspirin. (And that can be dangerous too.)
There is an increase in numbers of negative events in NZ hospitals and they are under funding stress, which I bet isn’t keeping up with inflation, not like MPs rises. .07% rise at one hospital for a staff member.
This is from RT’s link above and I think we should be aware of this.
Mr Pool had caught a pan-resistant superbug, known as Klebsiella pneumoniae with Oxa 48 resistance, while in hospital in either Vietnam or India.
These types of superbugs produce an enzyme that destroys the strongest, “last-resort” type of antibiotics, known as carbapenems, and tend to be resistant to all other categories of antibiotics.
Essentially, if you get infected, there is little hope of survival….
On an average day, 20 patients are in isolation with super-bacterias ESBL and MRSA. In these cases, the patient has a single room with their own toilet, and staff wear gowns and gloves for all contact. Items that leave the room are decontaminated.
We’re entering the post-antibiotic age.
Only your immune system is now smart enough to deal with these bugs. Despite being quite compromised, Mr Pool’s apparently was. For a time at least.
ta gw, your hands appear more efficient at typing than my paw (just been collecting the seeds from deadheads, gratefully, and distributing them around the section) More free stuff…like the Poppies. 😉
While Titford was claiming victimisation from Maori, the truth was actually the opposite – a long history of abuse and victimisation of others, and selfish corruption.
RNZ interview with wife Susan Cochrane.
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20131122-0718-ex-wife_says_titford_scuttled_boat_to_claim_insurance-048.mp3
Stuff report on the interview:
Thank goodness for Women’s Refuges. They need on-going support and funding.
“Thank goodness for Women’s Refuges. They need on-going support and funding.”
I’m all for Labour’s plan for gender balance, if women MPs support this, because so far not a lot has been done a lot to safeguard women who leave abusive partners.
How are people finding the site speed this morning. It has been slower than I’d have liked this week because the file server was having problems providing the files to the web servers. So I upgraded that last night.
Looks like we now have the required expansion abilities that I will need for an election year…
I had experienced sluggish performance the last few days, but it’s going well today, very agile.
I think it was slowish when I was preparing my post this morning. Seems fine reading it since then.
The morning rush…
JMG has a very interesting article up – well worth a read.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2013/11/toward-green-future-part-three.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9431208/Migration-booms-as-Aussie-departures-drop
– People voting with their feet it seems
Or employment opportunities dictating where those feet go, from the article: “Fewer New Zealanders are leaving for Australia as that country’s job market cools down….”
Winston Peters good on Radionz this morning. His usual well spoken self making points about Kiwi Rail and they were good ones. He is good value despite pop-up quirks that are off putting.
I’d love to see him as Speaker.
He’d be awesome!
mentored by none other than Sir Rob 😉
Yes – he was brilliant. Quinn I think (I hope) realises his spin doctoring hasn’t/ won’g ekshly cut it – although don’t be surprised if they try it on.
One point Winnie made that interested me (hopefully some1 can verify it) is that SINCE the wobble introduction, the ship has actually carried less freight across the ditch than it would have had they left the fooking thing alone!
Boozie Boy Allan aye …… experts in ALLLLLLL ‘enterprises’, and masters of none.
One of the best PM’s we never had IMO.
But, as always, things happen, life gets away from you, bad choices are made, etc.
On this side of the Ditch, Mark Textor keeps lying and fking up.
He should be sacked by the Mad Monk.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/liberal-pollster-mark-textor-denies-offensive-tweets-referred-to-indonesian-leaders-20131121-2xxc2.html
I think Australia are about to get a whole lot of new Indonesian vistors
and maybe some Filipinos to boot.
Ah… So good to Mr spin-genius claiming with a shit-eating grin that it’s not his fault and he has nothing to apologise for if people ‘imagine’ that he was referring to anyone in particular when he said “Apology demanded from Australia by a bloke who looks like a 1970s Pilipino [sic] porn star”. This after a bunch of racist tweets about Indonesian leaders.
Classic narcissist, never wrong. Except when it becomes front page news in Indonesia, then it’s:
“Apologies to my Indonesian friends – frustrated by media-driven divisions – Twitter is indeed no place for diplomacy.”
Classic narcissist, ‘it’s not my fault, I’m the victim here’.
That video of Mark Textor thinking he’s being clever but actually looking like an idiotic arsehole by trying to lawyer-talk his way out of it will be around forever. This little piece of schadenfreude has made my day.
What an absolute hoot ! From NZ Herald – the madly pompous patronising old ego-fool Tea Party phallus Bill O’Reilly on Fux News – lashing Kiwi blogger Paul Casserly:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11161334
Interestingly, scroll down to the top of the smaller Fux News video in the article and what do we see ? Somethng about visiting Whale Oil in NZ for the best news.
Whale Fux Oil. Figures huh ?
Lethal hypocrisy at its most loathsome:
Israel’s manipulation of humanitarian aid
by Ramona Wadi, Middle East Monitor, Thursday, 21 November 2013
As Israel’s heavily publicised humanitarian mission in the Philippines commenced, the IDF has been constantly updating its achievements in the ravaged land through a twitter account which briefly utilised the hashtag #IDFWithoutBorders, until activists exploited the irony implied within the chosen vocabulary, relating the implied lack of confines to Israel’s unbridled usurpation of Palestinian land and expanding territorial borders.
Social media has been inundated with examples of gratitude and assimilation which competently portray the propaganda campaign. A baby named Israel by ‘the thankful mum’, children photographed while holding the Israeli flag; and the teaching of the Hebrew language to students emphasise an expected compliance, as opposed to collaboration, in return for its involvement in the Philippines. IDF officials have been emphasising their selective implementation of humanitarian work, clearly eliminating its atrocious human rights violations against Palestinians from the equation: “Saving lives is not only a motto but a way of life”. “Medicine is a bridge between people.” For a passive observer, the rhetoric, combined with photography depicting the IDF contingent as actively involved in internationalism would undoubtedly influence public opinion with regard to the application of humanitarian aid.
However, any merit of Israel’s venture in the Philippines must be questioned in light of its manipulation of internationalism, international law violations and the blockade on Gaza – issues which are conveniently relegated to the periphery while promoting the colonising power’s alleged ‘moral army’. The exhibited propaganda dictates a restricted perception of the Israeli army in an attempt to disassociate the same entity from its human rights violations against the Palestinian population.
– See more at: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/8427-in-defiance-of-internationalism-israels-manipulation-of-humanitarian-aid#sthash.mfxzVogG.dpuf
Papers came in the mail today. Voted! Simple question with a yes/no answer. Shouldn’t be any confusion. A big tick in the NO box.
and I’ve ticked yes although it doesn’t matter because it won’t change anything
….. No – it won’t change anything till 2014, or perhaps 2017
When it duzzz, stuffed-pig squealing will be deafening.
Ohhh ahhhh booo hooo, they stole my property from the thiefs!
The bloody cheek of those hard left economic illiterates! Those poor ‘job-creators! How on Earth are they going to vest in “schools, hospitals @ roads” now! It’s sebbatajjj aye Chris!
naah not really, worst case is that Labour will buy back the shares at the price they were sold (don’t want to scare off too many foriegn investors) so I get my money back + the dividends so I come out ahead
Its all good 🙂
Suppress the share price first then buy them back.
How society minded of you.
I apologize for not getting all scared and worried and looking at the positive side of the argument 🙂
Not in my mail box today. I see John Key is trying to soften the impact of the no vote, and maybe also hope the idea that the result is a foregone conclusion will stop people voting..
Go Figure 😎
http://ruminator.co.nz/david-cunliffe-thems-fighting-words/
There seems to be a bit of a flare up about this?
For a Friday afternoon, my brain is dead and I see Cunliffe making a fish-based pun on Collin’s chances floundering and that he calls her a fish in the middle of it. Am I now part of the problem if I can’t find the sexism that is so apparently inherent to I/S?
As an addendum, I think the point raised in the comments below explaining “old trout” is appropriate and clarifies a lot of it to me but I find it difficult to get angry over a line like that when the Nats are so willing to brand anyone who doesn’t agree with them as an “extremist” “fundamentalist” “terrorist”
Basically, though, I think there’s no need for ad hominems – stick to attacking Collins for her politics. There’s plenty of material there.
I gather Cunliffe was invited to submit a post in reply to one by Judith Collins that appeared some weeks ago. The original is said to be tongue in cheek, so I guess Cunliffe replied in kind. Searched The Ruminator but can’t locate the Collins post.
here
Collins said:
Oh, so Collins can get off her high horse – dog whistling re the sexist term used by many KB & WO devotees to attempt to disparage Cunliffe. Her followers’ term is very sexist.
Why is it sexist term?
“old trout” is most often used as a slang term for “silly old woman”.
I suspect an older association with women and fishy smells.
Are you saying cunners called her a c..t?
[lprent: I thought I knew that silly smug snideness with no actual content or apparent intelligence. You are still banned under another name. And I see that you since still haven’t written anything of value confining yourself instead to flame starters. So an auto-spam is called for.
I allow you to carry on reading the site despite being tempted to test the new exclusion tool. ]
Face it, Cunliffe is a complete fucking numpty with the political nous of Aaron Gilmore.
Labour basically gifted the election and probably the next two when they installed Cunners as leader.
lol
Not even john banks is as bad as gilmore was.
Honestly, some of the stuff he comes out with, you seriously WTF at.
The thought of that tool bag being with kilometers of the levers of power is fucking terrifying and to be honest the fact the such a complete fuck knuckle can even get in a position to become prime minister is a sad indictment on our political system.
Well, can I suggest that (just to be on the safe side) you emigrate as soon as possible?
🙄
Cunliffe didn’t talk about fancying Liz Hurley. Or make a joke about Maori and cannibals. Or call Hillary President Clinton. Or post a photo of himself with the Queen on Twitter. Or say the Roast busters should just “grow up”.
Watch out BM better check through your hats now to see which one you will be eating next November.
Couldn’t agree more BM. JK is an embarrassment all round.
“zip it sweetie” – & how they all laughed
As I read on Kiwi Blog maybe all the National guys should address the labour and green female mps as old trouts or maybe even bush pigs until the next election.
Darien Fenton and Carol Beaumont look like a couple of tough old razor backs I’m sure they wouldn’t be too fussed with the Male National Mps taking the piss out of the way they look
I’m sure all the left women would find it rather amusing.
And what about those large, ample bosomed bottle blondes on the other side. I’m sure they could take a joke against themselves.
Collins deserved it for this: “David Cunliffe – no one would argue that Cunners (the more affectionate term for him) is anything but intelligent – least of all himself.”
Note the reference to the silent ‘tea’.
[lprent: I see you found my troll trap 🙂 ]
Where?
here
Snap – I just said that above. Pot meet Kettle, Ms Collins.
No, Cunliffe should be above that. He should apologise and not repeat the sexist kind of slur.
Collins shows herself to be despicable.
“You need just enough of that sticky stuff
to hold the seams of your fine blue jeans”
Velcro Fly
Not such a numpty not to have figured out that a nice little bit of wedge politics on a Friday arvo might help him get back some of those male voters who apparently shifted over to National in the wake of the so called man ban issue that surfaced at the Labour Party Conference. The bigger the fuss the better it is for Cunliffe. The only surprise was that Judith Collins walked in to it so readily.
Farrar at Kiwiblog bawls out Cunliffe for inferring Collins is an old tr–t. How about a Standard author bawl out Collins for inferring Cunliffe is a c–t.
Tit for Tat! Ooops… not you Tat. 🙂
Where did she do that? Cunny is the synonym not cunners. I’ve seen lefties quite happily use the nickname t in a friendly way . I’d accept it’s mainly used by righties just like lefties have silly juvenile nicknames for key that they use cos they think ‘it’s oh so clever’
Sorta like “Captain Carrot” what ? The mind boggles.
More of a Mighty Melon, Silly Shallot, Putrefied Pumpkin etc etc…
You’ve never read terry Pratchett then I assume
Sure you’re not Diamond King of Tr0lls…
Anne…lol 😀
No. Leave the sewer to their recidivist nasties.
“Face it, Cunliffe is a complete fucking numpty with the political nous of Aaron Gilmore.”
Uh huh, coz Cunliffe totally comes out with the “Go get me your most expensive bottle of wine bitch, don’t you know who I am,” lines.
Oh wait, no that was Aaron Gilmore, the National MP that resigned in the house crying like a child.
FYI
‘Open Letter’ – request for NZ Serious Fraud Office to conduct an urgent inquiry into alleged bribery and corruption, involving Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Sky City Auckland.
Lisa Prager and myself, (Penny Bright), hereby formally request the NZ Serious Fraud Office (SFO), to conduct an urgent inquiry into alleged bribery and corruption, involving Auckland Mayor Len Brown, and Sky City Auckland.
…….
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/open-letter-request-for-nz-serious-fraud-office-to-conduct-an-urgent-inquiry-into-alleged-bribery-and-corruption-involving-auckland-mayor-len-brown-and-sky-city-auckland/
_____________________________________________________________________________
For your further information, I am registered to attend the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (including workshops) on 26 -28 November 2013.
http://www.apsac.com.au/2013conference/program.html
It should be a FASCINATING 3 days……
Penny Bright
The Labour Party’s finance spokesman David Cunliffe has apologised to the National Party’s Judith Collins after saying humans would probably die out if she were the last woman on earth.
Invited onto Paul Henry’s radio show, David Cunliffe was asked if he had ever thought about who he would mate with if he and his fellow mps were the last people left on earth, and this was his response.
“I have thought that if Judith Collins was the last woman on earth, the species would probably become extinct.”
– I think Cunliffe secretly fancies JC…
Cunliffe was just saying that he wouldn’t have sex with a woman just for the sake of it. Unlike the NAct scum, he would need to respect, love, and have common ground with any sexual partner. I don’t see why he apologised really. The toxic gnome should have apologised for asking such a stupid question.
Oh thats great spin 🙂
HAHAHA
Preciously false Collins is a laugh.
Cunliffe was being polite and very restrained. There are many other more descriptive nouns and adjectives that her own current and former colleagues would have used that she would be really familiar with 🙂
Although considering its Cunliffe he’ll probably say something nice about her to a different audience 🙂
You’re a nutter Piss73. Give the missus a serious seeing to when she got home late with the Maccers dinner and no dipping sauce didya ? You being too bone idle or unartful to peel some spuds while ya waited, as you related yesterday or the day before ? Walked home for that matter while you drove to and from work in the Grandly asprayshinul Vitara angling at the stylish Maori Land Bruiser VX, as you also related yesterday or the day before ?
Ake ake ake……obviously don’t know or care to know about the zoo of Judge Judy’s current colleagues but certainly there are many former colleagues in Auckland who always saw her as a self promoting baggage and a not too gifted one at that.
Drinking and message boards go together well, you should keep going 🙂
Yes he could mention how nice it is when she exits the room.., or he could tell the penguins that he’s found someone capable of reversing rising temperatures just by making eye contact..
Yes but Cunliffe’s colleagues say similar things about him but do it quite publicly
ShonKey Python on TV tonight – “I don’t comment on security matters.”
Where the fuck is the fiduciary in this ? “I don’t comment…….”. When it’s probable that a foreign power has been spying on Kiwis, and the jerk knows it.
Where the fuck is the fiduciary here ?
Is this simpering Hawaii ponce a traitor or is he a traitor ?
Judith Collins’ cabinet colleague, Michael Woodhouse, has proper respect for the ladies …
http://dunedinelection2008.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/giving-pragmatic-conservatism-a-bad-name/
(Ms Collins was not available for comment, ever)
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