Open Mike 23/01/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 23rd, 2019 - 161 comments
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161 comments on “Open Mike 23/01/2019”

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  1. swordfish 1
    23 January 2019 at 7:13 am

    How Red was my Valley

    Maps of the 2017 Party-Vote
    (admittedly somewhat low-tech … but still …)

    https://sub-zero-politics.blogspot.com/2019/01/how-red-was-my-valley.html

    • rata 1.1
      23 January 2019 at 10:29 am

      If the cannabis law goes through it might be
      how green and blue is my valley 🙂

      • Dennis Frank 1.1.1
        23 January 2019 at 11:00 am

        Entrepreneurs will indeed diversify! “One thing we can be certain of: the referendum will pass comfortably. That’s because the government is organising and running it, and will not propose a question that would fail. Politically it needs at least 65% support, and ideally even more. On current polling that would stack the odds against a fully commercial market and perhaps more in favour of non-profit Cannabis Social Clubs, run along the lines of liquor licensing trusts with profits returned to the community, and who re-sell cannabis products grown and made by licensed producers.”

        Opinion there from one of them. “Chris Fowlie is the CEO of Zeacann Limited, a medicinal cannabis producer; co-founder of the New Zealand Medical Cannabis Council; president of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws NZ Inc; co-founder of The Hempstore Aotearoa; co-host of Marijuana Media on 95bFM; and court-recognised expert witness for cannabis.” https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/01/22/cannabis-predictions-and-crystal-ball-gazing/

    • Rosie 1.2
      23 January 2019 at 11:30 am

      Thank you swordfish.

      That was an interesting gander.

      Totally not suprised about Ohairu being light fawn – such a tough seat full of old skool conservatives and red necks of a blue persuasion. It’s an anti progressive area. We were lucky we scraped through.

      But Rongotai – you rock.

      • greywarshark 1.2.1
        23 January 2019 at 11:38 am

        Oh Rosie so good to see you. Going to be a regular are you, eh eh?

        • Rosie 1.2.1.1
          23 January 2019 at 12:08 pm

          Ha ha ha. Grey – I got frightened off last time I tried to come back. Instead of finding some good craic I found a seething pit of misogynists defending Brett Kavanagh – It was hideous. I felt things had changed with the nature of dialogue in these parts.

          Stay well Grey 🙂

          • greywarshark 1.2.1.1.1
            23 January 2019 at 12:18 pm

            We have our bad days Rosie. The sun usually shines through after a while and we have some good thinkers with background to support their ideas and theories which are usually either helpful for understanding, or helpful and positive.

            • Rosie 1.2.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2019 at 12:49 pm

              Eeek. Grey, those bad days you speak of, when I have visited and not commented have really been rather dire. Hanging out with misogynists is something I’d rather not do – I can see your point, there are good thinkers too, but yeah, a bit too much of the yucky stuff going on for my tastes.

              • greywarshark …
                23 January 2019 at 1:25 pm

                The trouble is Rosie it’s a bit of a polluted stream. Trying to put in some fresh water that is not tainted with BS is a bit of a task. But people like you and Veutoviper are needed, not just because you are women for some sort of balance, but because you are thinking people and interested in NZrs and the world, and can articulate your thoughts in a way that others can respond to.

                I think there is an important kaupapa here that allows people to be drawn in, to put their ideas down and see them printed out where they will be taken seriously enough to be read and replied to. A political discourse that is fairly immediate and more continuous than is possible through newspaper and magazine letters, and is not as open and easy through other platforms. Radio talkback can come up with some good stuff, but it is not captured in print and it is hard to build a decent discussion and there is no archived information that can be personally referred to or built onto.

                And reasoned discussion that is open to the public easily is rare in NZ.
                And any sort of sensible, searching political discussion is rare in NZ. That is why it is important for people to not just push off in disgust as I have attempted to do a few times. Take a breather by all means you past commenters but please lets keep the stream going,; okay never pure, never quite to your satisfaction but join in the swim when the water isn’t too murky, that is my plea.

                It is very affirming to know that people are thinking and trying to find a pathway to follow to the future, it stops me getting depressed and I think many others also. Where there is a lively, intelligent discussion there is hope!

                • Rosie …
                  23 January 2019 at 2:11 pm

                  Thank you for your comments and for making some points – I hadn’t thought about. I certianly agree with you on this point you make:

                  “reasoned discussion that is open to the public easily is rare in NZ.”

                  I guess for me, in the past i just ignored some off the more off commenters on here, and generally there would be a pile on anyway that I stayed out of most times, but what I experienced a few weeks ago, put me in an unsafe space, as a woman. I felt vulnerable and re traumatised by these misogynists.

                  It was compouned by regular TS commenters then having a petty argument about the fiidly points of the Brett Kavanagh case, who had avoided my whole point entirely. Initially I had responded to some one who had started off the Open Mike thread with “Oh, blah blah blah, bad Herlad newspaper, there’s far more important things than the Brett Kavanagh story”

                  For any person reading that, who has been affected by rape and sexual assault it would have felt like someone had minimised the reality of what they had been through. It was selfish and thoughtless thing for that person to say.

                  I pointed this out and it turned into an open forum for MRA’s and gendered violence deniers. It was really horrific. It never would have happened on this site previously without just one person, me, to argue against. It was like a verbal assault but the most vile people imaginable to me.

                  I am quite tough and I do get into scrapes in real life with jerks like that but I don’t feel I should have to be defending the abused in what used to be a safe place. I just thought “well f*ck this you know. I’m not coming back”

                  And Grey don’t feel despondant as there are some wonderful things happening in our country and around the world. Really good advancements and achievements, from thinking to doing. The young people are fantastic. It sounds corny but our future is their thinking, now. Leaders are getting younger and solving the problems that the generations above them caused for them. If you want to feel hopeful, talk to a young person with a vision. We even managed to get some into Parliament! So that is progress 🙂

                  Finally back to a point you made earlier, about the lack of reasoned discourse in NZ. I’ve found it really quite refreshing looking at what other countries are talking about. Just one example might be a site called Bella Caledonia: A left wing Scottish prespective on world and local affairs from an Indepedence veiwpoint.

                  Kia Ora Grey.

                  • greywarshark …
                    23 January 2019 at 3:13 pm

                    Sorry to hear that Rosie. I feel that if you can’t educate them, and they resist any points of view, you shouldn’t argue or attempt to reason or explain with such a group of men. They will find justification in the most unlikely places.

                    Yesterday there were amazing arguments about whether it was okay for a young man to stand in front of some Omaha Indian people who wanted to walk up some steps to make some protest or announcement. The number who argued about rights when it was a matter of lack of courtesy to someone different and older than himself, and a lack of respect for the other, was amazing. I felt bad about that response and its vehemence. So I realise that was peanuts to what you felt.

                    I think there is nothing you can do except to make a statement about how we should treat each other, and how taking advantage of others can affect them badly lifelong. Also the point should be made that you would never think of treating anyone in a bad way and expect that respect should be a two-way thing. After that you should withdraw to preserve your own peace and stability, hopefully more in sorrow than in anger. But that sort of discord makes you aware that behind apparently trustworthy and honest faces, there can be traces of something deeply unpleasant, more than just the light and dark side that we all have controlled by the brain in one of its functions.

                    • Rosie …
                      23 January 2019 at 4:05 pm

                      Thank you Grey – and yes, people can find justification in the most unlikely places. Well said. Take care.

      • veutoviper 1.2.2
        23 January 2019 at 11:46 am

        Great to see you.

        Of course Rongotai rocks! I live there, LOL. Come back Rosie. We Rongotains miss you.

        • Rosie 1.2.2.1
          23 January 2019 at 12:12 pm

          And you too, super Rongotai trooper! Hope you are well.

          Please see reply to Grewarshark above, as to my absence.

          I did come back for a sniff around and found sword fishs’ interesting graph and info. That was the kind of analysis I used to enjoy, and it was good to see he was still contributing.

          • veutoviper 1.2.2.1.1
            23 January 2019 at 12:20 pm

            Swordfish is only an intermittent these days unfortunately, Last time a month or so ago, I did my best to encourage more frequency!

            I thought I had done the same when you came for your ‘sniff around’ because I was thrilled to see you and then you disappeared again; but I was also thinking at that time of disappearing myself.

            TS certainly goes through changes from time to time!

            • Rosie 1.2.2.1.1.1
              23 January 2019 at 12:47 pm

              Kind words veutoviper 🙂

              It’s probably a good thing that the site goes through changes with commenters, but there are voices I miss. I have noticed there are less women, which I find disappointing. I can imagine there are good reasons for that.

              Are you on any social/political faceblba pages? I occasionally get involved with some discussions on that platform, but not often.

              • veutoviper …
                23 January 2019 at 2:27 pm

                I don’t have a Twitter account which means I can read lots without having to befriend the owner of the accounts I read (LOL). I do have a (ghost) Facebook page but in my real name so will not disclose that here. If there is a Facebook political site you are on, we could perhaps meet up there and then use Facebook Messenger/chat for private chat?

                • Rosie …
                  23 January 2019 at 3:08 pm

                  Ha.

                  There’s just few faceblab sites that I follow, but I have zero political friends on faceblab, with the exception of one person actually, come to think of it. I find it hard to find people willing to discuss politics and social issues that are just ordinary people.

                  Not suggesting that you are any old ordinary person 🙂

                  Please feel free to send me a facebook message to pacific rosie.

                  I also have a petition you may or may not be interested in!

    • ropata 1.3
      23 January 2019 at 12:52 pm

      Pretty clear that the Nat vote is based on the urban upper class and farmers – class divisions are highlighted with the strong red preferences in working class suburbs, and deep blue in wealthy areas. Good to see some of the lighter blue areas that could flip to red in the next election.

      But the left should take nothing for granted – NZF support has collapsed and the Greens could implode at any minute.

    • McFlock 1.4
      23 January 2019 at 1:03 pm

      interesting.

      Probably a more useful visual than simply colouring the map, as population density varies so much.

    • Sabine 1.5
      23 January 2019 at 6:13 pm

      what a nifty little map.
      thanks for that.

  2. ScottGN 2
    23 January 2019 at 7:22 am

    I wonder if we’ll find out who the MP that sent the ‘you deserve to die’ text to JLR is? Or will they be quietly shuffled off stage? It’s hard to imagine a parliamentary career surviving such an unpleasant incident.

    • Blazer 2.1
      23 January 2019 at 7:34 am

      common knowledge Scott,or is this your idea of humour.

      • ScottGN 2.1.1
        23 January 2019 at 7:59 am

        Humour? No. National is trying hard to sweep this one under the carpet.

        • Cinny 2.1.1.1
          23 January 2019 at 10:22 am

          Ask the google Scott, it is common knowledge.

          Same party, female, southern NZ. And that’s all I’ll say about that on here.

          • ScottGN 2.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2019 at 10:39 am

            I know who the MP is alleged to be Cinny. What I don’t know yet is how National is going to deal with the situation. A potential crime has allegedly been committed that’s punishable with up to 3 years jail time.

            • Cinny 2.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2019 at 11:17 am

              The party comes first with the nat’s and they will bury any and everything that could damage their brand.

              People have never been a priority, neither is accountability.

              I’d like to see action taken by the police, the way I see it is a person in a position of responsibility/public office sent such a vile text it near on caused a suicide.

              If that is the way a person treats their exlover one can only imagine how they would treat strangers/voters. Freaking disgusting behaviour no matter which party a person supports,

              • ScottGN …
                23 January 2019 at 11:20 am

                So we should hold National to account for their hypocrisy. Why isn’t this happening? After all they they were very keen for Ardern to act in respect of Meka Whaitiri before any facts of that matter had been established.

                • Cinny …
                  23 January 2019 at 11:46 am

                  Absolutely, and if neither the party, the media or the police hold the person to account, then that too needs to be discussed.

                  It’s up to all of us who care to initiate such conversation topics with others, least that’s how I see it.

            • veutoviper 2.1.1.1.1.2
              23 January 2019 at 11:33 am

              With regard to “A potential crime has been committed”, JLR’s facebook post and media reports are that this text is now being investigated by NZ Police and is out of the hands of both JLR and National.

              However, it remains to be seen whether NZ Police will decide to prosecute etc. Personally, on NZ Police’s form in usually not taking such political related issues further, I personally am not holding my breath that we will see anything other than “we have investigated and do not deem it appropriate to take the matter further”, insignificant evidence etc etc .

  3. Dennis Frank 3
    23 January 2019 at 7:43 am

    “Bridges has begun the year with a small reshuffle of his shadow cabinet”: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@politics/2019/01/22/409336/bridges-begins-year-with-a-reshuffle

    Looks like one of his advisors alerted him a while back to the `pale stale male’ meme trending on social media, and it’s been percolating away in the back of his mind ever since. So he’s made Nick Smith the spokesperson for Crown-Maori relations.

    If the brilliance of this master-stroke is not immediately apparent, think about it. It reassures those in the Nat hinterland that colonialism is not yet dead. It reassures his Chinese overlords that the upstart natives will be kept in check. It shows his gratitude that his Chinese caucus colleagues are still refraining from pointing out that the Treaty gives Maori a permanent privileged status. It must be galling that the colonial aristocracy have been joined by the Maori aristocracy in solidarity, but the asian influx can compete via wealth-accumulation as consolation for being unable to gain parity in law.

    You’d think it would have been sensible to give Shane Reti that job – someone who can see both sides and has proven competent. But being sensible would send the wrong signal. Reti now has the tertiary education, skills and employment portfolio. If he’s an ideas man, an excellent basis on which to build a political career.

  4. Dennis Frank 4
    23 January 2019 at 7:53 am

    “Turkey is planning to launch an international investigation into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and will take further steps in coming days, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says.” https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/380690/turkey-calls-for-international-investigation-into-khashoggi-murder

    “Cavusoglu said in a speech that some Western countries were trying to cover up Mr Khashoggi’s murder”. C’mon dude, point the finger! Which ones? “There are Western countries trying to cover this case up. I know the reasons.” “We know and see what sorts of deals are made. We see how those who spoke of freedom of press are now covering this up after seeing money.”

    “Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said Mr Khashoggi’s killing was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership”. So does Cavusoglu mean “the US, its closest ally, whose Senate has voted for a resolution blaming the prince for the murder”?? Trump, then, resisting the Senate? Or does he mean Britain & Europe?

  5. Dennis Frank 5
    23 January 2019 at 8:06 am

    Governance is trending towards unfashionable in the anglo-saxon world, observes Gordon Campbell on the PM’s visit to Downing St: “New Zealand is useful only insofar as we can contribute to the illusion that Number 10 is open for something that looks like business as usual. It isn’t, of course. On both sides of the Atlantic, the practices of normal government are in virtual shutdown.”

    He’s also warning us of an imminent structural adjustment to global trade. “In 2019 though, a new and different kind of fuel price Godzilla is coming over the horizon, and it is likely to boost the prices of everything going in and out of the country.” http://werewolf.co.nz/2019/01/gordon-campbell-on-why-shipping-is-new-zealands-big-new-trade-problem/

    The “Marpol Treaty is a set of UN-mandated regulations (devised by the International Maritime Organisation) that among other things, is aimed at cracking down on the pollution emitted by ships, and the crucial bits are in Annex VI. As Bloomberg News recently reported, the global shipping fleets currently consume about 3.8 million barrels a day of fuel oil — in the main, this is heavy, lower-value stuff from a refining process that contains about 1 to 3.5 percent sulphur. That content level is about to change: from January 2020, new rules from the International Maritime Organization will limit sulphur-dioxide emissions from ships. All else equal, a ship would need to burn fuel with only 0.5 percent sulphur content or less to comply.”

    This pollution-reduction of 50-90% is terrific news for Greens globally! It implements the principle of true-cost accounting, and seems the first major step in international law that signals a global trajectory beyond neoliberalism. It tilts the economic balance back towards regional economies, and resilience.

    • WeTheBleeple 5.1
      23 January 2019 at 8:47 am

      This, alongside of increasing storms making shipping harder to insure, means countries need to start putting local manufacturing back in place.

      It just wont be WORTH it to ship nonsense around the globe anymore. Yesterday I observed the garden ties a friend got me were imported from Spain. We don’t need Spain to make material strips WTF are we useless?

      When it comes to looking after ourselves. Can we?

      We used to make all manner of things. As a lad off to church in Te Aroha it was not uncommon for me to sit in church and dream sinfully of the factory full of girls making bras down the road (Bendon).

      But that factories gone.

      We can’t even can food without needing several countries involved.

      Now we’ve got useless Kardashian c**** selling us bras. Global economy – global shutdown of local independence is what it is. Pro american corporate everything.

      Wait for the climate change derivatives. AAA rated insurance bundles. Buy now to save the planet.

      • SaveNZ 5.1.1
        23 January 2019 at 9:58 am

        Britain can be bought to a halt by a truck driver strike in a few days when food and resources are curbed. In a strike there is chaos, the supermarkets and petrol stations are empty within 3 days.

        Who needs military when you rely on about 5 third parties for the basics of life, and seem to have no contingency plans for disasters, strikes or soft power approaches and your country bought to their knees by old fashioned methods like a siege.

        NZ as a food and commodities producer like wood/steel seems to has lost our way. So busy putting up speculative houses which 40% (or more) of people can’t even afford on their incomes for the world’s middle classes to get residency here as a Ponzi that the government is scared to stop.

        Still the mantra is, build more of these speculative houses. Wonder how many of the 1000 Kiwibuild houses that are supposed to be built shortly are for the state houses and the poor? Then deduct off the state houses that were demolished to create the new houses to work out the final tally of increased state housing.

        Normally don’t bother watching the MSM news but saw an article about housing the other day. Nice (sarcasm) to see they are still beating the same drums about the causes of housing un affordability. One commentator said we needed to make land more available (a common right wing approach) and the other that tax treatment was the answer.

        Nobody mentioned the effect of the third highest immigration in the world per capita in NZ for the past decade or our low wages. Then the media people fail to understand why nobody trusts them anymore or tunes in with that tripe and propaganda being fed out to the masses, which the masses don’t actually consume anymore.

        Weird how inspite of the Natz ideas of putting unitary plan zoning in place and throwing out democracy and basic planning measures the land prices in creased and that the last decade of increased taxes on property have actually also increased the shortages in particular of rental properties as landlords bail out and with hundreds of thousands of new residents also competing who often have $40k and more up their sleeve to outcompete those who are in debt in NZ.

        It’s a further irony that the houses are being built that increase the cost of food and petrol taxes but are just or even more unaffordable than the existing houses and we are bringing in more unemployed (aka the unemployed Chinese workers holed up with no work after paying third parties $40k to get them work in NZ) and low cost people who need to be housed in competition to make the houses which are generally more unaffordable than before!

        Where is the diversification strategy. Like the UK and their ‘favourite industries to support, like finance and nuclear’ they are left out in the cold when they realise that those industries are gone in a flash and industries that used to prop up Britain are non existent anymore after going out of business with the government uninterested in helping new fledging businesses or even most British based ones.

        If there was a world shortage would NZ own many of our resources anymore (after our current records of giving them away virtually for free like water and sand), and would we be like the UK that failed to diversify and was in the pockets of Thatcherism for decades and after screwing up socially with their bad decisions are now about to lose their Ponzi businesses like finance and global headquarters bases for global business with Brexit uncertainty.

        • WeTheBleeple 5.1.1.1
          23 January 2019 at 10:28 am

          Yep.

          A return to local manufacturing is not part of the global plan to make us bitches of the riches.

          But the rich are too stupid to see their grand schemes are as flimsy as their arguments for austerity.

          It’s entirely possible to have a global village scenario, AND local economies… We’re all hooked up via the internet but the status quo learned to use it to forge greater divides, to allow the rampant spread of hate and disinformation. Religious memes, class memes, fuck the plebs divide and conquer.

          Global tech and information sharing, and trade in materials not locally available… this is sensible. Everything we can do ourselves, we should bloody well do. Is it really worth it to buy cheap crap and enrich foreign sociopathic entities rather than our own people.

          There’s a reason tomatoes get picked in Australia, packed in South America and sold in NZ – so we all get used to the idea we’re so useless we can’t even can our own tomatoes – so we NEED the global economy, these corporate ticket clippers/subsidy scramblers embedded every step of the way.

          Criminally negligent companies being bailed out by governments rather than sanctioned/governed show they are not only onside with each other, they’re in bed together and they’re cheating on you.

          When the seas become uninsurable some common sense must prevail and local manufacture might return. More likely the eejits will try air freight tomatoes from aus to brasil to nz. Cos the economy!

          I can only suggest to buy local. To grow local. And where you might be in a position to do so, to make local stuff. This is not xenophobic nonsense, it it corporate-phobic common sense.

          I realise the housing market was a ponzi scheme (use one house as collateral for the next), but fail to see the current govt playing into that, rather, they’re trying to get us out of it.

          Some speculators might suffer, those money for nothing types, I’m not weeping for them personally.

          • OnceWasTim 5.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2019 at 12:49 pm

            And those tomatoes taste like water and are utterly overpriced. They also come in dainty little plastic containers – all so that a series of ticket clippers engaged in nothing more productive than exercising their egos can get an earn.
            (Very efficient and effective – NOT)

          • ropata 5.1.1.1.2
            23 January 2019 at 1:01 pm

            100% savenz:

            NZ as a food and commodities producer like wood/steel seems to has lost our way. So busy putting up speculative houses which 40% (or more) of people can’t even afford on their incomes for the world’s middle classes to get residency here as a Ponzi that the government is scared to stop.

            That is what I have been banging on about for years. Concern for the people of NZ is not fscken xenophobia. It’s hatred of injustice. I hate the idea of Kiwis coming last in a greedy scramble for profit, competing against half the world, rather than just building houses for people to live in.

          • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1.1.3
            23 January 2019 at 2:15 pm

            Criminally negligent companies being bailed out by governments rather than sanctioned/governed show they are not only onside with each other, they’re in bed together and they’re cheating on you.

            Corporatism.

          • patricia bremner 5.1.1.1.4
            23 January 2019 at 6:34 pm

            I suggest people start saving glass jars for bottling again. It tastes better anyway, doesn’t have the leached baddies or the additives.

        • greywarshark 5.1.1.2
          23 January 2019 at 11:20 am

          save nz has been thinking again. And deeply. Thanks for presenting us with what we should know and projecting into the likely future, another thing that should be going through our brains but isn’t. You can’t be right always, but what you do is transfixing us on the problems and you get through the trashy glamour life projected onto us.

        • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1.3
          23 January 2019 at 2:04 pm

          Britain can be bought to a halt

          Bought is to buy.

          The word you were looking for is brought which is to bring.

          NZ as a food and commodities producer like wood/steel seems to has lost our way.

          Back in the 19th century, under the influence of free-market economics, NZ decided that we specialised in producing food and selling it to Britain. This was based upon the idea of specialisation advanced by Adam Smith. Of course, Adam Smith was only talking about specialist jobs in a factory that made an entire product. He would have been horrified at the idea of a country specialising as a country has vast and diverse resources available to it and a lot of people most of whom aren’t going to be interested in doing the same thing as their neighbour.

          We seem to have held on to that delusional idea despite everyone;s insistence that everyone is different and has different skills and interests. National tends to be the loudest about these differences and that one size doesn’t fit all and they’re also the loudest about NZ being a bloody farm.

          It’s this continued delusional thinking that keeps getting us into trouble as the free-market system continuously fails to work as advertised.

          • ropata 5.1.1.3.1
            23 January 2019 at 4:08 pm

            From Poission’s brilliant link in the other thread:-

            This was the beginning of the mania for public declarations of impotence by democratically elected leaders. Globalization became their excuse for not dealing with difficult issues, for not using their levers of power and large budgets to effect. They made the forces of inevitability credible.

            Globalization had brilliant proponents–Mrs. Thatcher first among them, and economists like Milton Friedman… Government after government, as if in a fit of moralism, legislated away its right to take on debt or collect new taxes, even though both of these were fundamental governmental powers, central to the construction and maintenance of democracies…

            From the early 1970s to late in the century, multiple binding international economic treaties were put in place, while almost no counterbalancing binding treaties were negotiated for work conditions, taxation, the environment, or legal obligations. For 250 years the painful job of building the modern nation-state had depended on a continual rebalancing of binding rules for both the public good and self-interest. Now this balance was tipped violently one way by simply shifting much of our economic power out into the global marketplace.

      • greywarshark 5.1.2
        23 January 2019 at 11:41 am

        Perhaps development of forward progress maximised for all the people in this country, should develop in such a way that there is a replacement economy just humming along below the surface that will serve the sort of a simpler society here similar to that in the quote from Joseph Cederwall in Scoop.

        Okay, try to keep us afloat in the present asset-stripping money culture, but encourage community enterprise wherever it occurs. Often people just need funding for facilities and travel, they volunteer their time and expertise. We could make NZ more resilient and greater than it ever was. We will need to so we can attempt to cope with our looming future.

        I love the Gili Islands, they are like stepping back in time as no petrol vehicles or generators are allowed on the islands. They are Isles with no dogs but many stray cats, no petrol cars or scooters but coconut palm oil powered scooters, E-bikes and electric mopeds, and even horse and carts.

        The Sasak of the Gilis are a friendly, resilient, devoutly Muslim and community-focused people. They have made the best of a difficult task of rebuilding and welcoming back the tourists and I saw evidence of a highly community oriented and cooperative rebuild. I encourage people to consider going there and helping out with getting the economy back on track…

        http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1901/S00052/the-gili-islands-a-community-earthquake-recovery-effort.htm

        Note the highly community oriented and co-operative rebuild. We don’t have this sort of pulling together in our country, we are still locked into an individualistic go-getter capital-accreting type that seems to have been present from the colonialists.

        Perhaps we should institute sister islands and states as a way of making friends, and joining with, and showing solidarity with places like this who still have a system that works for them and can all pull their weight in running small business at a humble level that works both for the individual and for the greater good. I think a lot of our problems started with aspirational people who wanted to live a richer lifestyle in NZ than the country could afford.
        They had to change the system and get more moneyed people here at the cost of losing our simpler lifestyle.

        • patricia bremner 5.1.2.1
          23 January 2019 at 6:46 pm

          So right, Greywarshark, those who wished to turn us into another Switzerland with the likes of dodgy law firms looking after dodgy trusts dodging taxes… those people?

    • greywarshark 5.2
      23 January 2019 at 10:44 am

      Going from what is practical for shipping businesses to make a profit on their present routes and contracts to 0.5% sulphur content in that short of a time will definitely ’tilt the economic balance’. Full stop! The rest of the sentence “towards regional economies and resilience” may never get to apply as quick effects drive us in quick time to recession and the appalling conflation of all the problems we already are facing in so-called good times. Huh.

      A low limit, a low limit of time, a low level of achievability. Ships aren’t cramped together cardboard cartons. (Now is there a market for a new idea? “I have one word to say to you young man plastics [cardboard]: The Graduate.) Turn a bad situation into profitable ones, with a greenwash too!)

      There is the cost of perhaps a year of our nation’s income goes into the really big ships. (Go on correct me about this and ignore all my other points you nutty nitpickers.) Definitely a ‘He’s also warning us of an imminent structural adjustment to global trade.’

      What is the matter with these supposed wise businessmen and world advisors?
      They do nothing for decades, and then apparently panic, and set impossible targets to achieve from the height of their elevated tables and padded chairs having a Picard Star Trek moment “MAKE IT SO”.

  6. Adrian 6
    23 January 2019 at 8:29 am

    Shit ! Does this sulphur thing mean we’ve got to shut down Rotorua and bury it under 200 metres of dirt ?

    • Dennis Frank 6.1
      23 January 2019 at 9:14 am

      Think Green. 😊 Rotorua emissions are just nature doing it’s thing. It’s the artificial additives that are creating run-away global warming. If a Nat tells you we ought to stop all emissions, natural as well, tell him to email Bridges asking him to hold a press-conference and announce that National in govt will award a knighthood to the first person who successfully plugs an erupting volcano.

  7. Ad 7
    23 January 2019 at 8:55 am

    With Auckland house sales dropping 20%, but prices merely flat, looks like the desired outcome of killing the commodification of housing is heading to being achieved.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12194306

    The day I can go to an Auckland barbeque and people aren’t wanking on about whether one kind of landscaping increases their capital value over another, will be a welcome day indeed.

    • Sanctuary 7.1
      23 January 2019 at 9:30 am

      But you were branded a racist if you suggested foreigners were pushing up house prices!

      I wonder if the all the righties will start conceding they were wrong…

      Somehow I suspect they won’t.

    • AB 7.2
      23 January 2019 at 10:01 am

      Agreed – but the horse has bolted.
      Unless we see an ideally slow and graceful deflation by about 50%, the next generation will face lifelong debt serfdom in order to buy a home.
      And all it takes to restart the lunacy, is another National government deliberately cranking up demand via immigration and tax policy – to the point that demand overwhelms supply again.

      • Molly 7.2.1
        23 January 2019 at 12:01 pm

        Not just the next generation. At present there are people on working incomes that had no chance of buying a home, and have been trapped into renting. Unless you have access to low-paid/free accommodation, are able to fund the deposit outside of the banking system, or have an exceptionally high wage/income compared to others – you are already locked out of home ownership.

        The issue regarding overseas ownership of residential homes still requires attention, and effective management. (Along with many other issues, housing affordability is a problem that has been created by the failure to address many factors.)

        • KJT 7.2.1.1
          23 January 2019 at 9:26 pm

          See working people selling up in Auckland, and even losing their jobs, because Auckland rates, costs of housing are now beyound their reach.

          Pushing up towns like Whangarei. 25% in two years.

    • ScottGN 7.3
      23 January 2019 at 12:22 pm

      Since I moved back up north from the South Island Ad, I’ve noticed that Aucklanders spend a lot of their time engaged in rather vulgar talk about the value of their houses.

    • bwaghorn 7.4
      23 January 2019 at 12:34 pm

      Now they just need to find away to bring farms and orchards back into reach of young kiwis that don’t have family backing.

  9. esoteric pineapples 9
    23 January 2019 at 10:25 am

    Saw Ritchie McCaw and John Key on Seven Sharp last night. What I picked up from it (coming from a point of ignorance on the subject) is that that there is a rich foreign benefactor who wanted to help Christchurch after the earthquakes and set up some sort of organisation to use sport to boost morale. Now McCaw and Key are onboard with him and want to do some more sporty help stuff. However, no specific projects were talked about it, and all we learned was that it wasn’t Key’s fault there was a three way handshake at the Rugby World Cup.

    • SaveNZ 9.1
      23 January 2019 at 1:42 pm

      John Key’s deals with billionaires somehow seem to enrich the world’s billionaires at the expense of opportunities for locals to get wealthier and have access to the same tax payer funded ‘sweetheart’ deals as his billionaire mates….

      Billionaire Peter Thiel makes fortune after ‘sweetheart’ deal with Government

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11794020

      • SaveNZ 9.1.1
        23 January 2019 at 1:45 pm

        No doubt will be entered around a ‘sports stadium’, marina or convention centre for elite sports that already have funding and support at the exclusion of everyone else…

        meanwhile obesity levels for most Kiwis are increasing partly because there are little opportunities and government schemes at grass roots level as our schools swimming pools and sports fields are eroded like our public spaces, full of tourists and rubbish….

        • greywarshark 9.1.1.1
          23 January 2019 at 1:50 pm

          And our footpaths and walkways (both applying to feet and people movement) being hijacked by the machine-mad younger people and businesses. Just another way of putting some manufactured item or practice as a barrier to natural and simple ways that should be available to all without cost.

        • SaveNZ 9.1.1.2
          23 January 2019 at 2:31 pm

          Even the NBR had this to say about the Sky city deal John Key championed…

          Analysis: Close to corruption
          https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/skycity-debacle-offers-morbid-fascination

          they did not even get into the moral catastrophe ….

          http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6715420/Critics-slam-Sky-City-pokie-deal

          And don’t forget apparently not many questions asked when one of China’s most wanted gambled in excess of $500 million through Sky City – but apparently the penalty for money laundering was 5 months in his pent house in Auckland and giving back millions to China and NZ?????

          It looks like Yong Ming Yan alias Yang Liu alias William Yan’s alias Bill Liu’s only came to governments attention even though he used multiple identities and was money laundering because he did a business deal with Dot Com… if he had not done that it is debatable whether NZ government would have worried about the 500 million + money laundering and multiple identities because they prefer to turn a blind eye to Chinese big money and the activities in NZ…

          https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11837117

  10. rata 10
    23 January 2019 at 10:34 am

    All statutory holidays should be scrapped.
    They are all plain silly and unnecessary.

  11. greywarshark 11
    23 January 2019 at 10:46 am

    rata
    Stupid flame war starter.

  13. Cinny 13
    23 January 2019 at 11:58 am

    Bravo re the headline….. “ Sorry is not a PR exercise “

    ‘This week New Zealand saw two men – known for their mistreatment of women – address the nation, to tell their side of the story.

    Both men said they wanted to make amends by apologising and moving on with their lives, and their work.

    But in both cases, these so-called apologies felt more like PR exercises than a genuine effort to atone.’

    Good work Laura Walters via Newsroom

    • veutoviper 13.1
      23 January 2019 at 12:04 pm

      Sounds interesting, Cinny.

      Found it and here is the link; have yet to read it.

      https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/01/22/411114/sorry-is-not-a-pr-exercise

      • Cinny 13.1.1
        23 January 2019 at 12:58 pm

        Thanks beautiful, much appreciated, forgot to post the link lmao.

        Schools back soon, yay, a week to reclaim my sanity before work starts 🙂

    • greywarshark 13.2
      23 January 2019 at 12:10 pm

      I’ll hop straight to Godwin. If only Hitler had not dropped the ball and taken his own and Eva’s life, he too might have apologised and ‘moved on with his life and work’, or until the Nuremburg trials anyway. As there would have been for him along with his compatriots. But perhaps they should all have been let off on diversion so they could make recompense for their bad behaviour. The apology system and looking and saying sorry in Court which Judges seem to think is meaningful, may lead to less harsh sentences and offer a lot of savings for the justice system in NZ.
      /sarc

    • Peter 13.3
      23 January 2019 at 12:13 pm

      If apologies are splashed all over the media are they just PR exercises? If apologies aren’t splashed all over the media does that mean they’re not genuine? Or if apologies aren’t splashed all over the media does that mean they weren’t given?

      If someone says an apology sounds like a PR exercise and someone says of the same apology it doesn’t sound like a PR exercise who is right?

      • veutoviper 13.3.1
        23 January 2019 at 12:31 pm

        Good points, Peter.

        IMO, yet’ another case of ‘right’ in such situations being “in the eye of the beholder”.

        Or rather, there is no ‘right’ – it is purely a matter of personal opinion. Debating who is ‘right’ just becomes a circular (pointless?) argument with no absolute answer.

      • Cinny 13.3.2
        23 January 2019 at 1:06 pm

        The way in which an apology is given speaks volumes to me.

        In which instance jlr appeared more genuine than the spotlight longing roastbuster rapist.

        That ego driven roastbuster should be charged and chucked into the big house. Maybe he could learn a bit more about rape there. Yeah I’m majorly pissed about his recent actions.

      • Gabby 13.3.3
        23 January 2019 at 2:48 pm

        Actions speak louder than words petie,

      • patricia bremner 13.3.4
        24 January 2019 at 2:50 am

        The exclusions from JLR’s apology are worth reflection.
        A certain chinese gentleman ,100000.00 and the comparative worth of some races.

  14. Ad 14
    23 January 2019 at 1:33 pm

    Great to see Minister Woods providing more funding for low emission transport of $11 million.

    Foodstuffs, Meridian, Ngai Tahu Tourism, Taraua District Council and others are co-funders.

    “This funding is made up of $4.3 million of government co-funding and $7.3 million of funds from the private sector. That’s a smart investment that means the maximum benefit for the taxpayers spend.

    She notes:

    “From 100% electric campervans for tourists to hydrogen fuel cell powered buses at the Ports of Auckland to solar panel charged electric vehicles and trial of smart chargers in people’s homes, we’re backing new technologies that will make a difference.

    “We’re also funding a further 34 new public charging spaces for electric vehicles right around New Zealand, including several at South Island tourism hot-spots. This is about creating a truly national infrastructure of EV charging so that all major trips around our country are available to EV users.

    https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/record-investment-low-emissions-vehicles-announced

    Does anyone mind if I’m a little underwhelmed?
    Surely it’s time to look at what EECA is actually doing with itself as part of Shaw’s Carbon Zero thing?
    EECA are lovely people trying hard, but they are one of those little funds that pisses itself into tiny teensy weenie little pools and you really have to work hard to get wet.

    Please can we have something more muscular and believable for 2019 in transport energy?

  15. Morrissey 15
    23 January 2019 at 2:14 pm

    Animals Without Backbones
    No. 2: Sorcha Ryder

    Noelle McCarthy is not the worst thing to slither out of the Emerald Isle, it seems. Meet Sorcha Ryder, and try not to grind your teeth or smash a window. This spineless scoundrel rejoices in the splendid title of “President of the Trinity University Philosophical Society, Dublin.” Read the following and you’ll weep for Ireland, for the fate of academia, and for humanity….

    http://normanfinkelstein.com/2019/01/22/hello-darkness-my-old-friend-how-the-president-of-trinity-university-philosophical-society-rectified-an-error/

    Animals Without Backbones is an occasional series compiled and presented by RALPH BUCHSBAUM, for Daisycutter Sports Inc.

    No. 1: Bill English

    English condemned

  16. indiana 16
    23 January 2019 at 2:44 pm

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/110100100/phil-twyford-cant-guarantee-kiwibuild-will-meet-its-target

    Oh dear, never mind. Over promised and under delivered. Wasn’t it meant to be the other way around?

    • Gabby 16.1
      23 January 2019 at 2:50 pm

      Phil’s discovered that builders would rather build big pricey houses. He’s on the ball our Phil.

    • Gosman 16.2
      23 January 2019 at 3:33 pm

      Yes how terribly unsurprising.

      He has missed his targets by a whopping 70% though. What a muppet.

    • Gosman 17.1
      23 January 2019 at 4:01 pm

      Yes, as I have pointed out it is a serious clusterf#ck. Twyford needs to realise his limitations as a Minister and revise his plans.

      • Dennis Frank 17.1.1
        23 January 2019 at 4:13 pm

        Looks like the shortfall is actually explained by their reliance on builders: “It’s been more difficult than we expected to really shift developers off their existing business model”. Lame excuse, but what we expect from Labour.

        Come July, we’ll be able to award Twyford three out of ten for his performance. Will Ardern be able to replace him with someone competent? Probably not. Relying on builders to learn a new business model is like expecting old dogs to learn new tricks.

        So how did the first Labour govt succeed? Did they provide the designs and let competition between builders drive the output? If so, is the current govt copying that strategy?

        • joe90 17.1.1.1
          23 January 2019 at 4:26 pm

          So how did the first Labour govt succeed?

          By muddling their way through.

          Sir James Fletcher snr, perhaps fearing the Fletcher Construction Co Ltd would be nationalised, took up the invitation of the new Labour Government in 1935 to prepare a scheme to build state rental houses. This was opposed by his brothers as too risky, and they were initially right. The houses proved much more expensive to build than first thought. This was because of the high building and design standards insisted on by the enthusiastic parliamentary undersecretary to the minister of finance, John A. Lee, who had no experience of building.

          His scheme provided for most houses to be individual units and to be built from New Zealand-produced materials wherever possible. No two houses in an area were to be of the same design, and construction was to be of a high order. Lee also insisted that interior planning of all houses should conform to modern civilised standards. The New Zealand Institute of Architects’ president considered the scheme expensive and inefficient and Fletcher himself claimed that civil servants had provided house designs and demanded standards of construction on “too lavish a scale”.

          The first house was built in 1937 and by March 1939 more than 5000 state houses were built or were under construction, and contracts had been let for 700 more. Residential Construction lost between £200 and £300 a house and survived only by virtue of a £200,000 government-guaranteed overdraft. It was one of several contractors, and by 1939 it had virtually withdrawn from the business.

          http://www.businesshistory.auckland.ac.nz/fletchers/key_events.html

          • Dennis Frank 17.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2019 at 4:40 pm

            So they got 5000 built in two years. We need the media to explain why this success isn’t being replicated. Market failure, or poor govt design, or both? I’d like to hear from any experts who reckon they can account for the difference!

            • greywarshark 17.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2019 at 4:56 pm

              I thought everyone had decided that there was not enough available timber in NZ and that we would have to buy it back from Australian entities which had bought it from us originally.

              I know not that was a story Dennis,

              • Dennis Frank …
                23 January 2019 at 5:04 pm

                Interesting – I haven’t seen that story. You mean not enough dry cut pine? If so, does that mean nobody checked the resource stocks before designing the construction plan??

            • Chris T 17.1.1.1.1.2
              23 January 2019 at 6:40 pm

              4 letters

              Really expensive. Screwed by the RMA

              Starts with “L” and ends in “d”

              • Dennis Frank …
                23 January 2019 at 7:03 pm

                Yes, just a question of whether that is all the explanation or just part. It wasn’t there in the 1930s, so time was required to find or create usable land. But they knew that! Labour’s poll rating will slide unless they can explain themselves.

          • KJT 17.1.1.1.2
            23 January 2019 at 9:33 pm

            Said houses, thanks to JA Lee’s insistence on high standards, saved New Zealand millions in building replacement houses, and still provide value, even today.

            Fifties and sixties State houses attract a premium on the market.

            Doesn’t sound anywhere like the National parties expensive theft/fuckup, with selling them off.

        • Gosman 17.1.1.2
          23 January 2019 at 4:28 pm

          Kiwibuild is nothing like the First Labour Government’s State house building programme. Then again that wasn’t entirely earth shattering either. Only 30,000 houses were built between 1937 and 1950. That works out to be less than 2500 per year. Also most of them were still built by the private sector.

          • joe90 17.1.1.2.1
            23 January 2019 at 4:43 pm

            Sure, the government via it’s agencies financed, designed, and clerked residential construction but AFAIK the work was always done by the private sector.

          • SaveNZ 17.1.1.2.2
            23 January 2019 at 4:47 pm

            @ Gosman, The difference then, was that NZ immigration was not the third highest in the world per capita in the 1930’s to 1950’s, at the same time as they were constructing the state houses… hard to keep up with that sort of impact on population growth with housing, especially when NZ is not exactly choosy on who we are importing into NZ to reside here, with aged people, criminals, 11 day marriage and retail/hospitality workers being popular by immigration as new citizens and residents… many are not actually working but retiring or just living here and able to claim benefits within very short time frames…

            some are unemployed before they even get here aka the Chinese workers holed up recently after paying $40k and having no work or money to pay rent.

            Let alone all the alias that are being discovered by many coming and going from NZ…

            no wonder jobseekers benefits are up. Unlike Kiwi’s who have their benefit cut when they leave NZ, many on multiple passports under different names can come and go as they please and therefore their benefits are not cut, when they leave…

          • Herodotus 17.1.1.2.3
            23 January 2019 at 5:37 pm

            Not sure how motivated the govt was during 1939-45 to build houses and if there was a workforce available at the time.
            From memory there was some other event that captured the attention of the world at that time (though I must admit not recorded as part of my writings 😉) ??
            So the govt IMO had a valid reason of averaging 2,500/year Though I think you are being a little mischievous in how you have framed your point ??

        • SaveNZ 17.1.1.3
          23 January 2019 at 4:41 pm

          @ Dennis Frank What are they talking about, it’s the same business model the government uses as the construction industry approach.

          That’s the problems as is relying on very poorly trained, low waged imports to build our houses who many are sitting around unemployed after paying $40k to lawyers and third party recruiters, when what we needed was building and planning skills at a higher local level….

          As they say, from wiki

          “The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.”

          In terms of NZ building it seems that allowing hundreds of thousands of low skilled people into NZ will some how create a master piece of engineering and construction over the age of the universe as they all seem to use the infinite monkey theorem in construction here…

          could have been a better bet to give free trades training to NZ citizens already here which would take 2 -4 years and be on the ground now instead of the import strategy from National from 2010, (aka in that 8 years we could have had two rounds of new trainees who are NZ born and trained and likely to stay in NZ if the wage and conditions are high enough), or import in quality international people on $100k+ , use habitat for humanity man power for the rest, have people who speak and read English fluently to follow the plans and communicate on site so we don’t have remedial work and it taking forever to get a building completed, and with tradies with decades of experience (aka not likely to respond to $NZ 20 – 40 p/h jobs)….

          • SaveNZ 17.1.1.3.1
            23 January 2019 at 5:01 pm

            Even easier go back to the immigration levels that the new government planned for aka 15,000 max, stop the temporary work permits that are a massive burden on infrastructure, stamp on poor tourism and aged parents actually being in NZ and ‘working’ looking after kids on a tourism visa that use our hospitals etc, and actually look at people who want to live here and have something great to offer the country… and the appropriate level of insurance for people who are actually living here, but not qualified to do so, using a tourist or student visa but without means to properly support themselves in NZ…

            • DJ Ward 17.1.1.3.1.1
              23 January 2019 at 9:53 pm

              Build a wall, sounds less complex. Across the Bombay hills.

              I agree with the 15,000 figure. Some non partisan think tank looked at the issue. I would include more temporary work visa programmes for the pacific islands. Better than strait handouts to there governments.

              It won’t happen as our GDP growth and housing price stability is tied to immigration. No way Labour could survive a house price fall as its doing next to nothing to stimulate other parts of the economy.

              In terms of election margin a debate could exist about a few percent that Labour presently gets from poorer immigrants who are still by any method trying to get the extended family into NZ. They will vote against such a control on immigration. Hence since it’s the margin that wins or looses the election Labour can’t act.

      • Puckish Rogue 17.1.2
        23 January 2019 at 4:20 pm

        “It’s clear now that we won’t meet our first year target, and that’s a really disappointment to me,” Twyford said.

        Well its been clear to a lot of people for a very long time that those targets weren’t going to be met

        • Gosman 17.1.2.1
          23 January 2019 at 4:21 pm

          It was clear at the point that they announced it that he wouldn’t hit 1000 houses per year for a while and certainly ramping up to 3000 plus a year is pie in the sky dreaming at the moment.

          • Puckish Rogue 17.1.2.1.1
            23 January 2019 at 4:23 pm

            Over promising wins you an election but under delivering might may well lose you one

            • Gosman 17.1.2.1.1.1
              23 January 2019 at 4:31 pm

              They successfully avoided addressing their unrealistic targets in the first year in office as they could use the excuse that they were putting in place the framework for the programme. No such excuses exist now although I am sure they will attempt variations on this theme.

              • Puckish Rogue …
                23 January 2019 at 4:35 pm

                I’m pretty sure it’ll be Nationals fault some how

                • greywarshark …
                  23 January 2019 at 4:43 pm

                  What a lovely duet Gosman and Puckish Rogue make. Each feeding into the others negative warblings. I prefer Bjorling and Merrill in In the Depths of the Temple myself.

                  • Puckish Rogue …
                    23 January 2019 at 4:50 pm

                    I think this is more accurate 🙂

                  • McFlock …
                    23 January 2019 at 4:54 pm

                    I’ve always liked that one.

                    Always lends itself to a gentle sway, like the rocking of a boat on calm water.

                    • greywarshark …
                      23 January 2019 at 5:12 pm

                      I thought how do modern singers of The Depths compare to Queen’s style. Here are two with appeal and power.
                      (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2MwnHpLV48

                    • McFlock …
                      23 January 2019 at 5:20 pm

                      The thing about opera singers is that they can’t usually do pop for anything worth a damn. Their breath control is too deliberate and it screws the natural sound. But opera is totally my thing, some days. Just awesome.

                      On the other hand, Mercury had an amazing range (with no gaps) and style that is rare in pop music. It’s funny to try to follow his style in karaoke – most of the songs sound simple to sing, but then the note increments keep going up or down so far that one’s throat really gets into difficulty. I mean, you can sing them all in your own range, but they sound so much more flat.

                    • joe90 …
                      23 January 2019 at 5:39 pm

                      I thought how do modern singers of The Depths compare to Queen’s style.

                      Singer and voice coach on Freddie Mercury and his voice.

                      This is pretty damn special, too.

                      http://www.openculture.com/2013/06/listen_to_freddie_mercury_and_david_bowie_on_the_isolated_vocal_track_for_the_queen_hit_under_pressure_1981.html

                    • Molly …
                      23 January 2019 at 9:18 pm

                      Freddy Mercury still teaching people how to sing in 2017…

                    • McFlock …
                      23 January 2019 at 9:37 pm

                      There’s something special about that song – it’s like three different songs with some lyrics being oscure to the point of nonsensical, and the lyrics with obvious meaning are very loosely related if at all, but it just connects with people.

                      Great way to keep a bored crowd occupied, too 🙂

                    • Anne …
                      23 January 2019 at 9:37 pm

                      @ greywarshark

                      It’s hard to better this version of the Pearl Fishers duet though with Luciano Pavarotti and Nicolai Ghiarov:

                      An old recording but straight from the heavens.

                  • Ad …
                    23 January 2019 at 9:17 pm

                    Very nice work Grey.

                    Hope you’ve seen this duet live; it’s pretty magic.

                • Dennis Frank …
                  23 January 2019 at 4:59 pm

                  I doubt they could spin any such line but I don’t expect them to try. They need to take responsibility. All they need blame National for is creating the problem in the first place. If National had been responsible and only imported as many foreigners as the infrastructure could provide for, the problem would not exist, right? No need to point out that Helen Clark made the same stupid mistake. I know that already. 🙄

                  • Puckish Rogue …
                    23 January 2019 at 5:34 pm

                    “They need to take responsibility.”

                    Can you see them doing that though

                    • Dennis Frank …
                      23 January 2019 at 5:47 pm

                      Eventually. Depends if they can produce a feasible excuse from the logistics. Twyford ought to be demanding an explanation from the public servants responsible for implementing the policy. We still haven’t had any explanation at all.

                      Twyford could tell a press conference that it was lack of leadership: “Well, we contracted a CEO for Kiwibuild, then we had to shift his goalposts, which he decided was a breach of contract. But privacy law prevents me saying so. You know, the same lame excuse National always used to evade accountability. We always copy National!” 😎

        • bwaghorn 17.1.2.2
          23 January 2019 at 5:39 pm

          Some better then none which is what the nothing to see here nats would have built

      • rata 17.1.3
        23 January 2019 at 6:31 pm

        Yes but when you were in Parliament how many houses did you get built

        • Chris T 17.1.3.1
          23 January 2019 at 6:42 pm

          I don’t remember National promising 100,000 in 10 years

          That would be Ardern and her buddy Twyford

          • Drowsy M. Kram 17.1.3.1.1
            23 January 2019 at 9:07 pm

            Key highlighted NZ’s housing crisis in 2007. Like Chris T, I can’t remember what the National-led government promised either; how did they avoid criticism for failing to provide more affordable housing while ramping up immigation?

            Simple, really – National had no housing targets, homelessness isn’t their problem, and they have (blind) faith that the market will provide (never mind Mainzeal (Shipley) and Fletcher Building failures).

            If the number of KiwiBuild homes built so far is disappointing (and it is), then how best to describe National’s housing ‘achievements’ over nine years in office, and do we really want a repeat of those achievements?

            Looking forward to comparing the numbers after the coalition’s first nine years.

            • Chris T 17.1.3.1.1.1
              23 January 2019 at 9:11 pm

              Homelessness doesn’t appear to be Labour’s problem either given their 2 billion in last years budget looks like it will produce 300 houses that no one seems to want and will probably end up on the open market, while 2 billion could have housed the homeless.

    • McFlock 17.2
      23 January 2019 at 4:37 pm

      Actual accountability is a bugger, eh.

      We’ll see how far he misses by, and if it’s a fair effort I’m sure he’ll survive. If it turns into novopay he’ll be stuffed.

  18. joe90 18
    23 January 2019 at 4:10 pm

    Oh boy, popcorn time.

    • McFlock 18.1
      23 January 2019 at 4:16 pm

      Totally.

    • joe90 18.2
      23 January 2019 at 5:26 pm

      Hypocrisy on stilts.

      Two Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are urging Michael Cohen’s attorney to prove that his client’s upcoming February 7 public testimony before the committee won’t just be a “media stunt.”

      In a Tuesday letter, House Freedom Caucus Members Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) asked Guy Petrillo for firm answers on the scope of Cohen’s testimony, claiming that Cohen’s public relations representative in the probe, Lanny Davis, cautioned that much of what Cohen can say will be restricted by his cooperation with multiple ongoing investigations.

      The congressmen write that Davis told GOP committee staff that he “pushed” Cohen to testify, saying “this was my idea; nobody’s else.”

      https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/house-oversight-republicans-want-answers-cohen-testimony

  19. SaveNZ 19
    23 January 2019 at 5:12 pm

    The irony of a Brexit Leave supporter, now leaving Britain… also what happens with globalism it is a race to the bottom and company headquarters can come and go as they please, with few incentives of old like redundancy payments, or tax treatment to stop them…. more like encourage corporations to leave western countries and manufacture else where, while bringing in cheap products and selling them to the consumers of the western world… how free trade really works.

    And how thoughtful all those Leave people were… they are the first to leave the sinking May ship

    “Dyson will move its headquarters from the UK to Singapore ahead of Brexit
    Founder James Dyson is in favor of the UK exiting the EU. But even with Brexit going ahead, his company is now leaving for Singapore.”

    https://www.cnet.com/news/dyson-moves-hq-to-singapore-from-the-uk-ahead-of-brexit/

    • Gabby 19.1
      23 January 2019 at 5:16 pm

      Bet BlobbyJobby and Moggy move their dosh offshore well in advance of the deluge too.

    • Sabine 19.2
      23 January 2019 at 6:07 pm

      His company is leaving as Singapore has signed a free trade agreement with Europe and he now has the same access if not better to the european market then he is going to have by staying in Britain.

      And that is the crux of the matter, capital will always find a way to get out. Its just the ordinary workers that will stay behind. 🙂 Oh well, as some said, they voted for it, and all those that did not vote for it, sucks to be them, right?

      • SaveNZ 19.2.1
        23 January 2019 at 6:13 pm

        Time they redo the referendum before Britain loses more of their industry headquarters based there.

      • rata 19.2.2
        23 January 2019 at 6:34 pm

        It sucks to live in the UK.
        It rains every day and even millionaires live in tiny houses.

        • ScottGN 19.2.2.1
          23 January 2019 at 7:38 pm

          Yeah the houses of rich people are tiny.
          https://goo.gl/images/HA6Qcm

        • SaveNZ 19.2.2.2
          23 January 2019 at 8:00 pm

          Lucky there are so many billionaires that like to own a house there even if they only live in it for a few weeks a year.

          Being a millionaire is small fry these days.

          It’s easier to be tax resident in a tax haven and just own houses and assets around the world as gold bricks.

  20. Observer Tokoroa 20
    23 January 2019 at 7:34 pm

    The Scourge of the Wealthy

    The scum trolls led by hedonist non empathetic nationals, are delighted that the Coalition cannot meet the present extreme demand of housing and rentals.

    They are drunk with the success of their massive destruction of the low waged Kiwi family and their own rise and rise of ostentatious dirty Greed.

    Thanks to John Key and Billy English – and a number of other slobs Their success has been so Rapid. And Rabid.

    Knighted by a pleasant but unkowing Monarch. Who has not an inkling of Democracy – or Equity. The same Monarch appears to have no idea of a Treaty struck by a simple Queen Victoria, which has failed to keep the Maori peoples and individuals, in the same luxury as the wealthy of Auckland or Tauranga.

    The Coalition of NZ – will soon have to discuss with every Wealthy person in Aotearoa a meaningful reduction in their wealth.

    For, there will be many means of humiliating wealthy persons who have failed Democracy. The wealthy know that. It will not take many matches to burn off Greed.

    • DJ Ward 20.1
      23 January 2019 at 10:33 pm

      Housing was not just a National issue. The ramping up in prices, debt, rents, immigration began with Clarke and Cullen. National just did nothing to change as it was the haves that got more wealthy as a result.

      I don’t think saying that the few wealthy should have assets confiscated will solve anything. Such a move would cause a flight of wealth resulting in economic collapse. Then you will have a meaningful reduction of wealth. Our tax rates are already high. So any of the Moari that get educated and able to command high pay will just leave to work in the long list of low tax nations. Buisiness confidence would collapse, as the owners flee with whatever assets they can recover and unemployment would increase. Harming Moari the most.

      Have you heard of Venezuela.

      You want there stuff. Isn’t that greed.

  21. Observer Tokoroa 21
    24 January 2019 at 3:14 am

    Hi – D J Ward.
    Whitewash

    I am a bit more occupied with a place called New Zealand. Have you heard of New Zealand ?

    You wealthy guys and girls have been buying up houses and selling them off at some of the highest prices on the planet. Just dumpy old three bedroom stuff. at that.

    Heaps of them you turn into Rentals at outrageous weekly amounts. Most of them mouldy cold rat ridden slums. And then you run off to Simon and Paula (the one in the Leopard skin) and cry on his shoulder about how the poor wretches are complaining about low wages and poverty.

    Simon says in his unique obscure way, well we must tread on the throats of the Poor until they get used to their Poverty and become grateful. Children, Women and Men.

    Simon says the National Party exists to get rid of all people who have no wealth. It is what National People expect and you expect D J Ward. National stands for getting rid of the decent people of New Zealand.

    But you already know that. That’s why a lot of you pay hardly any Tax. Scummy eh .

  22. Eco Maori 22
    24 January 2019 at 8:24 am

    Kia ora Newshub Inflation is low in NZ that is only the case because the price of oil has come back from the highs of last year.
    Tawhirirmate is a powerful force and these strong winds are part of human caused Global Warming and climate change that’s a fact. Its good to see that the #metoo movement has given the young people the courage to call out the powerful in the movie making world who abuse their staff.
    Lloyd I say that Davos is going to make good changes they are taking about climate change and unequal income distribution finally . I also say that if national was still in power there will have been thousands of broken people under the bridge and on the bread line. The the Coalition Government has made a positive changes to Aotearoa.
    Its not on that people leave any living thing in a car on a hot day. duncan at least the Coalition Government is trying to fix the homeless people problems in Aotearoa national just denied it rubbing there hands together hogging the tax free capital gains they are getting from their housing market short.
    The digital language gives people a consciences one cannot just tell porkies or do bad things just because someone is filling there hip pockets with $$$$$$$$$$. Shamubeel the way the world is at the minute is a very good reason not to load the government with DEPT. Like I have stated before if programs are targeted at Maori that will give national a tool to hit the Coalition Government on the head with anyway its best to lift all poor minority culture up with policy’s not just one sector of OUR society.
    Good on Hinewehi Mohi for singing the Maori only national anthem at Twickenham All blacks England game 20 years ago. Its cool that most Kiwis are giving Maori culture respect .
    The provincial growth fund has helped Maori and rural communities all over Aotearoa. duncan their are hundreds of people who are not locked up in jail now collecting the dole that is better than pay paying A $100.000 a year to keep them in the farcical jail system just to keep you happy. No wonder Winston stayed away from the am show you are a disrespectful person. That $400 is a pack of porkies duncan that’s is what the contractor gets if a worker plants 10 bags a day the worker will get $200 gross a day from that a reasonable fit person will only hit that if they are good hard workers at the end of the season most people will only make $100 a day YOUR MEDIA mates telling bullshit again I seen that story $400 planting trees and know one wants the job YEA RIGHT to I no this for a Fact. Ka kite ano. P.S duncan I would like to see you on a spade you would break in half a day

  23. Eco Maori 23
    24 January 2019 at 10:30 am

    Americans’ concerns about climate change have surged to record levels, new polling shows, following a year marked by devastating storms, wildfires and increasingly dire warnings from scientists.
    A total of 72% of polled Americans now say global warming is personally important to them, according to the Yale program on climate change communication. This is the highest level of concern since Yale starting polling the question in 2008.
    Overall, 73% of Americans accept that global warming is happening, outnumbering those who don’t by five to one. This acceptance has strengthened in recent years, rising by 10% since March 2015. The proportion that grasps that humans are the primary cause of warming is smaller, with 62% understanding this to be the case.
    About two-thirds of Americans believe that global warming is influencing the weather, in the wake of a string of deadly extreme events in the US. About half say the disastrous wildfires in California and Hurricanes Florence and Michael, which flattened parts of North Carolina and Florida, were worsened because of rising global temperatures.
    “Global warming used to be viewed as a problem distant in time and space,” said report co-lead researcher Ed Maibach, a climate change and public health communications expert at George Mason University.
    “But Americans increasingly understand that global warming is here and now and are growing concerned about the threat to themselves, their communities and the nation.” Ka kite ano links below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/22/climate-change-concern-americans-poll

  24. Eco Maori 24
    24 January 2019 at 12:24 pm

    Giving money to the oil barons who are poising the enviroment that has to stop. I wonder how much Aotearoa gives to the carbon barons will check that out a put a post up about that.
    The UK leads the European Union in giving subsidies to fossil fuels, according to a report from the European commission. It found €12bn (£10.5bn) a year in support for fossil fuels in the UK, significantly more than the €8.3bn spent on renewable energy.
    The commission report warned that the total subsidies for coal, oil and gas across the EU remained at the same level as 2008. This is despite both the EU and G20 having long pledged to phase out the subsidies, which hamper the rapid transition to clean energy needed to fight climate change.

    Fossil fuels subsidised by $10m a minute, says IMF
    Read more

    Germany provided the biggest energy subsidies, with €27bn for renewable energy, almost three times the €9.5bn given to fossil fuels. Spain and Italy also gave more subsidies to renewable energy than fossil fuels.
    But along with the UK, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland all gave more to fossil fuels. The report is based on 2016 Eurostat data, the latest available, and found that across the EU renewable energy received 45% of subsidies and fossil fuels 33%.
    The commission report said policies were being pursued to cut carbon emissions and meet the Paris climate agreement goals of limiting global warming to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels. “However, despite this and the international commitments made in the context of G20 and G7, fossil fuel subsidies in the EU have not decreased,” it said. “EU and national policies might need to be reinforced to phase out such subsidies.”
    The total fossil fuel subsidies in the EU were €55bn in 2016, the report concluded. “This is a very high number, given we are reaching the deadline for some of their [phase out] promises,” said Ipek Gencsu, subsidies expert at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Ka kite ano links below

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/23/uk-has-biggest-fossil-fuel-subsidies-in-the-eu-finds-commission

  25. Eco Maori 25
    24 January 2019 at 2:03 pm

    Here is a good video for our muso’s

  26. Eco Maori 26
    24 January 2019 at 6:40 pm

    Kia ora Newshub That’s is Tawhirirmate and Tangaroa. Tawhirirmate gets a lot of Mana from a warning Tangaroa.
    That looked like a big slip at Cape Kidnappers small compared to the Tarndale slip in Te tairawhiti that one is the biggest in Australaysa.
    I bet if that suburbia rubbish dump in Auckland was in a affluent suburb it would have been cleaned up by the council.
    ECO MAORI will do more research before I comment on Foreign topics.
    Go on Winston for defending Jacinda not being present at the Ratana the biggest threat to US is Climate change and the faster we get on top of global warming the better Papatuanukue we will leave te Mokopunas. Its a big mess that national has left OUR Coalition Government with the Housing crisis to clean up it will be cleaned up. Mike Australia has just started there summer not so long ago Global warming record hot temperature are what some priditived that phenomenon here on thestandard but they we saying later on in about 5 to 10 years not 2019?????? Milisa shonky is a climate change denier he was just rednosing at Davos. Kate I seen the Movie AquaMan it was excellent watching especially with the sean of all the waste that we POUR into The Ocean being washed back on LAND a very Clean and Green MOVIE.KA PAI Ka kite ano

  27. Eco Maori 27
    25 January 2019 at 8:36 am

    Kia ora Newshub It’s a good business idea for a gondola zip line on Rangitoto Island championed By Ngai tai tamariki so long as the project does not indanger our beautiful wildlife. Ua te reira I teie ona ringihia I runga I reira parade whakawhiti I. national that is with there TX problems Ana to kai. Some say how did the tsunami of working poor people phenomenon eventuate well its quite clear for me to see that if the country is run in favour of one small sector of society business and all other sectors ills are ignored well there it is. I did said that the tsunami of boke poor people was just starting last year. It’s s so harlious that someone is trying to pin this massive transfer of wealth from the many to the few 00.1% on the Coalition Government YEA RIGHT. Only fools and horses Flogging the same
    Horses Kiwi build and the unjustice system and POOR people bashing Mitchell your complexion is going red because you no your party is losing and you are lying .
    Good on Hannah for swimming the Koveaux strait raising money for mental health awareness Kia kaha Hannah.
    AM Show your polls are rigged mark mitchell as leader of national for one he was closely linked to the whale oil bullshit how he got out of that crap is a wonder O that’s correct he is a ex Cop they look after there OWN I have Alot of reservations about this person possibly running the country on the ideals of a crooked cop mentality lock em up first and any bad facts getting covered up like the cops do it’s well known that the cops serve the wealthy first they give the biggest kick back and lock up the poor common people to show the world that they are doing there job and that they need more cops. Big know to mark Ana to kai. Ka kite ano P.S wasn’t mark’s family part of the Air force his parents would have known about the Gropper case.

  28. Eco Maori 28
    25 January 2019 at 8:58 am

    I’m looking after my Mokopunas to puppets trying to float marks toilet I will point the facts out on that you two look so sad that national is were they deserve to be and the only reason they stayed in power for so long is of the spinning the media put on shonky.

  29. Eco Maori 29
    25 January 2019 at 10:22 am

    The whole world needs to action a sharp reduction in OUR use of carbon that is poisning OUR GRANDCHILDRENS FUTURES.
    Removing coal from the global energy mix is taking too long, too many forests are still being destroyed, and fossil fuel subsidies are ongoing despite their distorting effect on the market, a study has found.
    There has also been insufficient progress in agriculture to stop harmful practices that increase carbon dioxide production, and heavy industry is not doing enough to use energy more efficiently, according to analysis carried out by the World Resources Institute thinktank.
    Without progress on all these fronts, the world is unlikely to see global greenhouse gas emissions peak in 2020, which is likely to be necessary to stay within the 1.5C or 2C warming thresholds that scientists have identified as key to the future safety of the planet.
    But the analysis also found important steps forward, on renewable energy, curtailing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping, and public sector investment in reducing emissions. These suggest progress in other aspects of tackling climate change is also possible, with greater effort from the public and private sectors.
    The WIR looked at six key goals that have been pegged as necessary to cause emissions to peak in 2020 and achieve the targets of the 2015 Paris agreement. They include goals on energy, transport, land use, industry, infrastructure and finance.
    The report found that renewable energy accounted for about a quarter of global electricity generation in 2017, and more than two-thirds of new power generation capacity. By 2020, electricity from renewables is likely to be consistently cheaper than fossil fuel energy, making it possible that 30% of electricity could come from renewable sources by 2030, one of the Mission2020 milestones.
    But coal-fired generation is still increasing, with coal-fired power plants continuing to be built in some areas, while existing plants are not being removed from service fast enough. Electric vehicles, meanwhile, comprise 1.4% of overall sales, making a 2020 milestone of 15% of new car sales hard to reach.
    The goals are the work of Mission 2020, a global coalition of several climate analysis organisations, headed by Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who negotiated the Paris accord. Mission 2020 has calculated that if these milestones are achieved by 2020, it will make the longer-term Paris goals possible – because progress now on reducing emissions will make it easier and cheaper to reduce them in the longer term – and wants to spur sufficient progress on climate change to bring that about. Ka kite ano links below P.S The people that shonky put in power running our industrys in Aotearoa will throw a spanner in the works on our Coalition Goverments goals of a sharp reduction in OUR carbon emmision’s they need to be weeded out and given a short sharp shift .

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/22/analysis-warns-lack-progress-2020-global-emissions-target

  30. Eco Maori 30
    25 January 2019 at 10:31 am

    Video for above post.

  31. Eco Maori 31
    25 January 2019 at 11:34 am

    How to solve the world’s plastics problem: Bring back the milk man
    It’s the early 1960s. Girls are fainting over the Beatles, Sean Connery is James Bond and a revolutionary trend is sweeping the United States: Plastic.
    Plastic is about to have its breakthrough moment in the food industry. The plastic milk jug, specifically, is on the brink of taking off: the “market potential is huge,” the New York Times correctly notes.
    To American families, a third of which are still getting their milk from a milk man, plastic is a wonder package. It’s lighter than glass. It doesn’t break. Unlike paper cartons, it’s translucent. You can see how much liquid is left in the jug. With a plastic container, everybody wins.
    Except for the milk man. And, as it would turn out, the planet.
    Fast forward to now. Plastics are expected to outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050. Marine life is choking on the debris: Microplastics are in our soil, our water, our air, getting into our bodies with potential consequences that we don’t fully understand yet. Massive amounts of plastic have piled up in landfills, some emitting greenhouse gases and contributing to global warming over the seeming eternity they take to degrade. Plastics are threatening the health of the planet and its inhabitants, and they’re not going away.
    Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Danone, Mars Petcare, Mondelēz International and others — some of the world’s largest consumer goods companies — are partnering on a potential solution to limit future waste. They’re working together on a project known as Loop, announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. It offers consumers an
    alternative to recycling — a system that isn’t working well these days.
    At this point, the partners are testing the waters. It’s an experiment they’ll roll out to several thousand consumers in New York and Paris this May, with plans to expand to London later in 2019 and Toronto, Tokyo and San Francisco in 2020.

    The Loop tote bag (Mark Kauzlarich for CNN)
    Loop is a new way to shop, offering about 300 items — from Tide detergent to Pantene shampoo, Häagen-Dazs ice cream to Crest mouthwash — all in reusable packaging. After using the products, customers put the empty containers in a Loop tote on their doorstep. The containers are then picked up by a delivery service, cleaned and refilled, and shipped out to consumers again. Ka kite ano links below P.S The movie AquaMan high lights the waste we are pour into our Oceans Tangaroa Also it a exelent move to watch

    https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/01/business/loop-reusable-packaging-mission-ahead/index.html

  32. Eco Maori 32
    25 January 2019 at 11:50 am

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute

  33. Eco Maori 33
    25 January 2019 at 12:11 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.

  34. Eco Maori 34
    25 January 2019 at 3:09 pm

    Here you go humans are the intelligent the most intelligent being’s but we can not come to a agreement to stop Burning Carbon we can see the effects of green house warming now . We let the media be brought by oil baron’s and let them manipulate the systems and the people to steal power from the many 99.9 %. We are letting them steal our grandchildrens future for there greed of power and money. IF we don’t stop them and stop burning carbon humanity will go extint .Life will carry on on Papatuanuku but with out most animal’s that we know of we will have to stop burning carbon or go BUST.
    Global Warming: News, Facts, Causes & Effects
    Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate. There is great debate among many people, and sometimes in the news, on whether global warming is real (some call it a hoax). But climate scientists looking at the data and facts agree the planet is warming. While many view the effects of global warming to be more substantial and more rapidly occurring than others do, the scientific consensus on climatic changes related to global warming is that the average temperature of the Earth has risen between 0.4 and 0.8 °C over the past 100 years. The increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture, and other human activities, are believed to be the primary
    sources of the global warming that has occurred over the past 50 years. Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate carrying out global warming research have recently predicted that average global temperatures could increase between 1.4 and 5.8 °C by the year 2100. Changes resulting from global warming may include rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps, as well as an increase in occurrence and severity of storms and other severe weather events.

    https://www.livescience.com/topics/global-warming

    Healthy corals grow in the shallows fringing a mangrove forest in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. This area is known as the “heart of the Coral Triangle” due to its incredible marine biodiversity.
    Credit: Shutterstock
    David Steen received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Auburn University and is now a Research Ecologist at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. Steen has published dozens of scientific papers about wildlife ecology and conservation biology and is also an award-winning science communicator known for his wide-ranging outreach efforts (find him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Finally, Steen is Executive Director of The Alongside Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit he founded to promote science-based solutions to living alongside wildlife in perpetuity. Steen contributed this article to Live Science’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
    Species are rapidly disappearing all around us; indeed, you and I are living through Earth’s sixth great extinction. Most reasonable people agree that losing species is a problem. However, as a conservation biologist and a science communicator, I am used to hearing the occasional argument from radicals about why we need not be especially concerned about that loss. Imagine my horror to see these arguments compiled into a Perspectives piece published in The Washington Post, and written by a professor of biology no less! I cannot believe that it is 2018 and I have to explain why extinction is actually a bad thing, but here we are.
    The piece works hard to make the case that we need not be particularly distressed about the loss of biodiversity by arguing, if you will humor me some loose paraphrasing, that we are going to lose species no matter what and extinction does not make much of a difference anyway because new species might evolve in the future. But for this line of reasoning to make sense one must ignore decades of conservation science and centuries of art, literature and philosophy, not to mention millions of years of evolution. Although there have already been many responses to the article — nearly unanimous in their disapproval — I feel compelled to go on record as well and explain why the article was so aggravating to me, as someone who puts a lot of time and effort into helping people appreciate and value biodiversity.
    Ka kite ano links below P.S I say that all climate change spinning denier’s are open for Eco Maori’s warth as they are indangering our Grandchildrens future.

    https://www.livescience.com/61548-saving-imperiled-species-op-ed.html

  35. Eco Maori 35
    25 January 2019 at 8:21 pm

    There you go the sandflys were playing heaps of silly bugger games on the road on my to and from Tokoroa TO DROP MY MOKOPUNAS OFF they even had some gturms puppet actor’s in their game playing to. They must have smoke coming out of there ass,s from my post on Mark the neo redneck national mp there were marked cop cars in their play to Ana to kai Ka kite ano P.S they love shonky as well they need big boxes of tissue LOL

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